I've been an Oakland Raiders fan since I was little, and went to a lot of games. I've seen bad years, but this one's too much to take. For the second straight year, the Oakland Raiders are guaranteed of a high -- second pick in 2009 -- NFL Draft pick. It's not that the Raiders need the players; the Raiders need a coach and a system.
Right now, they're losing 42 to 20 to the New England Patriots at the Raiders home, a windy, cold Oakland Coliseum. The main problem is the defense; good in places, the Pats no-huddle strategy got them off guard. What's the best answer? Blitz and from different angles. Make them think about what they're doing. But the Raiders didn't do that.
Still, this 3 and 10 team could come back. It's 3:30 in the third quarter, and the Raiders just need to score three more touchdowns and a field goal to win.
Oh, and hold the Pats to zero additional points.
Let's see what happens.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
David Gregory on Meet The Press - White males rule Sunday news shows - SfGate.com
White males rule Sunday news shows: “This is David Gregory's first Sunday as the host of NBC's long-running "Meet the Press," beginning what one of his rivals calls a new, post-Tim Russert era for the network Sunday public affairs shows. But some wonder if anything will really change.
Not only does Gregory's promotion in the aftermath of Russert's death ensure that all the shows will continue to be hosted by white men, roughly 80 percent of the newsmakers and pundits who have appeared on the shows over the past eight years also have been white men, according to an ongoing study by the liberal think tank Media Matters for America. (The organization's latest figures for "Fox News Sunday" are from 2005-06. In that period, 80 percent of the show's guests were male and 82 percent were white.)”
Not only does Gregory's promotion in the aftermath of Russert's death ensure that all the shows will continue to be hosted by white men, roughly 80 percent of the newsmakers and pundits who have appeared on the shows over the past eight years also have been white men, according to an ongoing study by the liberal think tank Media Matters for America. (The organization's latest figures for "Fox News Sunday" are from 2005-06. In that period, 80 percent of the show's guests were male and 82 percent were white.)”
Bailout’s critics? Republicans from states with foreign automakers | Muckety.com - See the news
Bailout’s toughest critics were Republicans from states with foreign automakers | Muckety.com - See the news: “Richard Shelby of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, for instance, took a particularly harsh tone with auto executives, suggesting their restructuring bids “are not a serious set of plans.”
Since the 1990s, Alabama has won three assembly plants, from Honda, Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai, and an engine plant by Toyota.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who slammed the bailout plan Thursday, has a Toyota plant in Georgetown.
And Bob Corker of Tennessee, who played a starring role in efforts to broker a last-minute Senate compromise Thursday, has the American headquarters of Japan’s Nissan, several Nissan plants and a planned factory by Volkswagon in his state.
But Corker’s compromise effort collapsed after the United Auto Workers refused to accept Corker’s insistence of wage and benefit concessions in 2009 to create parity with workers at U.S. factories owned by Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai and other foreign companies.
“We offered any date in the year 2009 - any date - any date, just when will we actually get there,” Corker said on the Senate floor after his proposed deal collapsed.”
Since the 1990s, Alabama has won three assembly plants, from Honda, Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai, and an engine plant by Toyota.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who slammed the bailout plan Thursday, has a Toyota plant in Georgetown.
And Bob Corker of Tennessee, who played a starring role in efforts to broker a last-minute Senate compromise Thursday, has the American headquarters of Japan’s Nissan, several Nissan plants and a planned factory by Volkswagon in his state.
But Corker’s compromise effort collapsed after the United Auto Workers refused to accept Corker’s insistence of wage and benefit concessions in 2009 to create parity with workers at U.S. factories owned by Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai and other foreign companies.
“We offered any date in the year 2009 - any date - any date, just when will we actually get there,” Corker said on the Senate floor after his proposed deal collapsed.”
Barack Obama Outed Rod Blagojevich - Gov Punished By Obama
llinois Governor Rod Blagojevich paid the price for defying President-Elect Barack Obama. In setting-up a pay-to-play scheme for Obama's vacated Senate seat, he rejected Obama's choice Valerie Jarrett and in doing so, caused Obama to pull the strings to have Rod Blagojevich arrested.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
"Change" declared the word of the year -- in JAPAN!
Using a brush to write the single character on a wooden platform as tourists looked on at Kiyomizu temple in the ancient capital of Kyoto, chief monk Seihan Mori declared “change” to be Japan’s character of the year.The selection of the kanji character, pictured at the right, is “...an expression of the Japanese people’s wishes to see political, economic and societal changes..." as they anticipate Obama's term according to Mori.
The Kiyomizu temple dates back to 798, and its present buildings were constructed in 1633. It takes its name from the Otowa waterfall, where three channels of water drop into a pond within the complex, which runs off the nearby hills.
Iraq Report Spotlights Iraq Rebuilding Blunders - NYTimes.com
Huff Post: Report Spotlights Iraq Rebuilding Blunders - NYTimes.com: “BAGHDAD — An unpublished 513-page federal history of the American-led reconstruction of Iraq depicts an effort crippled before the invasion by Pentagon planners who were hostile to the idea of rebuilding a foreign country, and then molded into a $100 billion failure by bureaucratic turf wars, spiraling violence and ignorance of the basic elements of Iraqi society and infrastructure.
The history, the first official account of its kind, is circulating in draft form here and in Washington among a tight circle of technical reviewers, policy experts and senior officials. It also concludes that when the reconstruction began to lag — particularly in the critical area of rebuilding the Iraqi police and army — the Pentagon simply put out inflated measures of progress to cover up the failures.
In one passage, for example, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is quoted as saying that in the months after the 2003 invasion, the Defense Department “kept inventing numbers of Iraqi security forces — the number would jump 20,000 a week! ‘We now have 80,000, we now have 100,000, we now have 120,000.’ "
--- That waste can be used to help the American Economy!
The history, the first official account of its kind, is circulating in draft form here and in Washington among a tight circle of technical reviewers, policy experts and senior officials. It also concludes that when the reconstruction began to lag — particularly in the critical area of rebuilding the Iraqi police and army — the Pentagon simply put out inflated measures of progress to cover up the failures.
In one passage, for example, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is quoted as saying that in the months after the 2003 invasion, the Defense Department “kept inventing numbers of Iraqi security forces — the number would jump 20,000 a week! ‘We now have 80,000, we now have 100,000, we now have 120,000.’ "
--- That waste can be used to help the American Economy!
Paul Zimmerman Interview At The 2006 NFL Draft - Dr. Z Suffered Two Strokes
I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Sports Illustrated's legendary writer Paul Zimmerman at the 2006 NFL Draft. Here's we talked about why the Houston Texans picked Mario Williams as the number of pick over USC Running Back Reggie Bush.
But then the conversation turned to how he felt about Katie Couric being then the new anchor for the CBS Evening News. He hated the choice, whereas I felt she was right for...focus groups.
But then we talked about the biggest change in football and he pointed to the emergence of the Black Athlete and how fast the game has become. If you listen to Dr. Z, you understand the tremendous knoweldge he has of the game and how much of a treasure he is.
Dr. Z has suffered not one, but two strokes recently and there's talk that S.I. is cutting back his workload. I hope not. But read S.I.'s Peter King's column on the man who lives just 25 minutes from him in New Jersey.
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