Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Tech Law Guru Larry Lessig Endorses Barack Obama



Well known tech law expert and Stanford professor Lawrence Lessig has thrown his support to Barack Obama for President. Here's what he wrote...

"DON'T DO THIS!" a friend wrote, a friend who never uses allcaps, a friend who cares genuinely about what's good for me, and who believes that what's good for me depends in part upon how easily I can talk to the next administration. "He is NOT going to win. She has it sewed up. DON'T burn your bridges before they're hatched -- so to speak."

So was my suggestion that I come clean publicly about what many here will have intuited long ago -- tha I support Barack Obama for President -- met by my friend. But I said as much in March, 2004, though I expected this year would be four years later. Barack was a colleague from way back. I've supported every campaign since the first. And from the very first moments I knew the guy, I thought that he was precisely the sort we should be able to elect as President.

Friendship, however, isn't the most compelling reason (for at least others) to support a candidate for President. I was therefore relieved and very happy that on substance, too, this is my candidate.

The closest leading competitor for my loyalty is of course Edwards. He's got great views about technology and privacy. He's got a fantastic commitment to changes that might well address the corruption that has become my focus. And he's come around to the right views about the war. I've long admired his passion and conviction. And but for fears about his flirting with protectionism, he would, in my view, make a great President.

The other front running Democrat, however, is not a close call for me. (Saying this is what terrified my newly allcaps friend.) She supported the war, but as my support of Edwards last time round indicates, I can forgive that. The parts I can't get over all relate to the issues around corruption. I signaled as much in my comments about her comments about lobbyists. We see two radically different worlds here. And were she President, I'd bet everything that we'd see radically little change.

But the part that gets me the most about Senator Clinton is the eager embrace of spinelessness. I don't get this in Democrats generally. I never have, but I especially don't get it after two defeats to the likes of George Bush (ok, one defeat, but let's put that aside for the moment). Our party seems constitutionally wedded to the idea that you wage a campaign with tiny speech. Say as little as possible. Be as uncontroversial as you can. Embrace the chameleon as the mascot. Fear only that someone would clearly understand what you believe. (Think of Kerry denying he supported gay marriage -- and recognize that the same sort of people who thought that would win him support are now inside the control room at ClintonHQ).

All politicians of course do this to some degree. And about some issues, I even get it. But what put me over the line with Senator Clinton was the refusal to join the bipartisan call that presidential debates be free. Not because this is a big issue. But because even on this (relatively) small issue, she couldn't muster the strength to do the right thing.

Her failure here was not because her campaign didn't know of the issue. I spoke directly to leading figures (or so they said) in the campaign. The issue was discussed, and a decision was made. And the decision was to say nothing about the issue. You can almost see the kind of tiny speak that was battered around inside HQ. "Calling for free debates might be seen as opposing copyright." "It might weaken our support among IP lawyers and Hollywood." "What would Disney think?" Better to say nothing about the issue. Better to let it simply go away.

And no doubt that was the safe bet, highly likely and politically sensible. But the issue of course didn't go away. The legal threats that motivated us to launch this call for free debates materialized in a threat against Senator McCain. But that again gave the Senator an opportunity to say something true and principled and consistent with values she certainly ought to hold dear: That Fox should not not silence McCain, even if his words were an attack on her. Again, there was an opportunity for principled, and strong character. Again, it was frittered away by tiny speak among the very same sorts who frittered away 2000, and 2004.

We (Democrats) and we (Americans) have had enough of this kind of "leadership." That (plus the Lincoln Bedroom) made it impossible for me, honestly, to support Senator Clinton. No doubt I would prefer her to any Republican (save, of course, the amazing Ron Paul). But I can't support the idea that she represents the ideals of what the Democratic Party must become.

And that leaves Barack -- an easy choice for me (except for the "trailing Clinton" part) for lots of reasons.

First, and again, I know him, which means I know something of his character. "He is the real deal" has become my favorite new phrase. Everything about him, personally, is what you would dream a candidate should be. Integrity, brilliance, warmth, humor and most importantly, commitment. They all say they're all this. But for me, this part is easy, because about this one at least, I know.

Second, I believe in the policies. Clearly on the big issues -- the war and corruption. Obama has made his career fighting both. But also on the issues closest to me. As the technology document released today reveals, to anyone who reads it closely, Obama has committed himself to important and importantly balanced positions.

First the importantly balanced: You'll read he's a supporter of Net Neutrality. No surprise there. But read carefully what Net Neutrality for Obama is. There's no blanket ban on offering better service; the ban is on contracts that offer different terms to different providers for that better service. And there's no promise to police what's under the technical hood (beyond the commitment already articulated by Chairman Powell): This is a sensible and valuable Net Neutrality policy that shows a team keen to get it right -- which includes making it enforceable in an efficient way, even if not as radical as some possible friends would like.

Second, on the important: As you'll read, Obama has committed himself to a technology policy for government that could radically change how government works. The small part of that is simple efficiency -- the appointment with broad power of a CTO for the government, making the insanely backwards technology systems of government actually work.

But the big part of this is a commitment to making data about the government (as well as government data) publicly available in standard machine readable formats. The promise isn't just the naive promise that government websites will work better and reveal more. It is the really powerful promise to feed the data necessary for the Sunlights and the Maplights of the world to make government work better. Atomize (or RSS-ify) government data (votes, contributions, Members of Congress's calendars) and you enable the rest of us to make clear the economy of influence that is Washington.

After the debacle that is the last 7 years, the duty is upon the Democrats to be something different. I've been wildly critical of their sameness (remember "Dems to the Net: Go to hell" which earned me lots of friends in the Democratic party). I would give my left arm to be able to celebrate their difference. This man, Mr. Obama, would be that difference. He has as much support as I can give.

(Oh, and to my allcaps friend, this was my reply: "Don't be ridiculous. This isn't about misplaced courage. Barack is going to win this one easily.")

EARTHQUAKE - CHILE - Magnitude 7.7 - ANTOFAGASTA, CHILE

Magnitude 7.7
Date-Time
Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 15:40:53 UTC
Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 12:40:53 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 22.189°S, 69.843°W
Depth 60 km (37.3 miles)
Region ANTOFAGASTA, CHILE
Distances 40 km (25 miles) ESE of Tocopilla, Chile
100 km (60 miles) WNW of Calama, Chile
170 km (105 miles) NNE of Antofagasta, Chile
1245 km (780 miles) N of SANTIAGO, Chile
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 8.6 km (5.3 miles); depth +/- 12.3 km (7.6 miles)
Parameters Nst=192, Nph=192, Dmin=106.7 km, Rmss=1.09 sec, Gp= 76°,
M-type=moment magnitude (Mw), Version=6
Source
USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID us2007jsat

Colts sign DE Rice as Freeney could miss 4 games

November 13, 2007

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The Indianapolis Colts have claimed defensive end Simeon Rice off waivers, expecting him to fill in for injured Pro Bowler Dwight Freeney.

The announcement was made by team president Bill Polian on his weekly radio show Monday night and later posted on the team's Web site.
Rice, released by Denver on Friday, played one season for Colts coach Tony Dungy in Tampa Bay. He has 121 career sacks, second among active players to Michael Strahan of the New York Giants.

The Colts (7-2) are uncertain how much time Freeney will miss. Dungy said earlier Monday he had not yet met with the doctors and he did not anticipate it to be season-ending.

But Polian said Freeney could miss four or more games because of a left foot injury that caused him to be carted into the locker room during Sunday night's 23-21 loss at San Diego. The Colts have not yet released details of the injury.

"We anticipate that Dwight will miss some significant amount of time," Polian said.

The Colts signed Freeney in July to a six-year deal, paying an average of $12 million. He has 32 tackles and 3 1/2 sacks on the season.

The 33-year-old Rice was deactivated for two games in October and has six tackles and five assists on the season. He signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the Broncos on Sept. 3.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Jack Cafferty Reads My (Zennie Abraham's) Response To His Question On CNN's The Situation Room



On today's CNN Situation Room, Jack Cafferty asked why Black's economic mobility was declining over past years. I wrote in this answer:

Hi Jack,

Even though I'm Black, I'm going to resist the temptation to fall right into the question. First, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago found that economic mobility for ALL Americans has declined sharply since 1980. Thus, it's logical that Blacks would be part of that statistical whole. We have a HUGE problem which stems from America's lack of desire to support manufacturing industry and allowing it, and now service industry firms, to move offshore and not subsidizing American firms to pay a living wage and compete internationally.

Zennie Abraham, Oakland, CA


Well, to my surprise, Jack read the entire email -- just as you see it -- on the air! It was nice to hear my message get out in the open!

Houston Texans Offensive Lineman Fred Weary Sues Houston - Racial Profiling - ESPN & AP

Weary sues city of Houston, two officers over Taser arrest

ESPN.com news services

HOUSTON -- Houston Texans offensive lineman Fred Weary is suing the city and two police officers for a November 2006 arrest in which he was shot with a Taser gun during a traffic stop.

In his lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court, Weary is accusing the city and the officers of excessive force, assault, racial profiling, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.

"I have to put closure on this situation and this is my first step to closure," Weary told KRIV-TV in Houston. "It's really taken a toll on my life and my family. I didn't know last year that it would affect me the way it has. It's my right that I need to do something about it.

"I feel my rights have been violated that day last year," Weary told KRIV-TV. "I have had to deal with that for this whole entire year. I've thought about it a lot. It's been on my mind constantly."

The two officers said they stopped Weary because he didn't have a front license plate and was driving "suspiciously."

According to the police report, the 6-foot-4, 308-pound Weary became angry and uncooperative after being stopped in an area near Reliant Stadium, where authorities were on alert because of criminal activity. Weary was coming from a team practice when he was stopped.

Police said Weary was shot with a Taser after he pushed one of the officers away and then tried to come toward them after being told to put his hands on his vehicle.

A misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest was later dismissed because of insufficient evidence.

Weary's attorney, Joe Walker, told KRIV that his client's lawsuit doesn't specify a dollar amount.

"I will leave that to the sound discretion of the jury," Walker told KRIV.

The officers "clearly used race as a factor for reasonable suspicion and making a traffic stop of Mr. Weary," Walker said.

Walker said Tuesday that Weary would not have filed the lawsuit if he had received letters of apology from Mayor Bill White and Police Chief Harold Hurtt.

He had also asked for monetary compensation, which would have been donated to a police charity, and that the city review its policies regarding racial profiling and the use of Tasers.

"He never got his letter of apology or a concrete review of tasering," Walker said. "He asked for a copy of [taser] policies and they sent him a policy that was completely blacked out, censored."

Walker said the city's policy on Taser use needs to be re-examined because some reviews done by local media and advocacy groups show that in more than 350 of the first 900 police Taser incidents, no person was charged.

Weary's taser incident renewed controversy over the stun guns' use, prompting White to call for a study of how officers have used the devices. The study, being conducted by the University of Houston Center for Public Policy, is set to be done by January.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Racism's Alarming Spread On YouTube

This video below shows on YouTubers concern over the rampant spread of racism on YouTube. It comes out in comments on certain videos and is so prevanlent one has to ask if YouTube is safe. I personally think so, but I do think this issue should be adressed before a crisis sets in.



And this is another video expressing concern.



We need a reminder that racism is mental illness and should not be tolerated or spread on any medium like YouTube.

Hillary Clinton Campaign Staffers Warn CNN's Wolf Blitzer To "Take It Easy" On Her

That's according to the Drudge Report and Sayanthingblog. Wolf made fun of it on The Situation Room, still it came from somewhere. Blitzer says he doesn't know where it came from. Stay tuned.

Hillary Clinton Iowa Student Question "Plant" Scandal Hits CNN

Hillary Clinton Iowa Student Question "Plant" Scandal Hits CNN




Wow. This is a story that's picking up legs and growing -- not going away. CNN has this exclusive interview with the student who's upset that she was picked as a plant by the Clinton campaign. Read it below and watch the video!

CNN Interview of Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff



GRINNELL, Iowa (CNN) -- The college student who was told what question to ask at one of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign events says "voters have the right to know what happened" and she wasn't the only one who was planted.


Student Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff said a staffer told her what to ask at a campaign event for Sen. Hillary Clinton.

In an exclusive on-camera interview with CNN, Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff, a 19-year-old sophomore at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, said that giving anyone specific questions to ask is "dishonest," and the whole incident has given her a negative outlook on politics.

Gallo-Chasanoff, whose story was first reported in the campus newspaper, said what happened was really pretty simple: She says a senior Clinton staffer asked if she'd like to ask the senator a question after an energy speech the Democratic presidential hopeful gave in Newton, Iowa, on November 6.

"I sort of thought about it, and I said 'Yeah, can I ask how her energy plan compares to the other candidates' energy plans?'" Gallo-Chasanoff said Monday night.

"'I don't think that's a good idea," the staffer said, according to Gallo-Chasanoff, "because I don't know how familiar she is with their plans." Watch the student describe how she was approached »

He then opened a binder to a page that, according to Gallo-Chasanoff, had about eight questions on it.

"The top one was planned specifically for a college student," she added. " It said 'college student' in brackets and then the question."

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Topping that sheet of paper was the following: "As a young person, I'm worried about the long-term effects of global warming. How does your plan combat climate change?" Watch the student ask the planted question »

And while she said she would have rather used her own question, Gallo-Chasanoff said she generally didn't have a problem asking the campaign's because she "likes to be agreeable," adding that since she told the staffer she'd ask their pre-typed question she "didn't want to go back on [her] word."

Clinton campaign spokesman Mo Elleithee said Clinton had "no idea who she was calling on."

"This is not acceptable campaign process moving forward. We've taken steps to ensure that it never happens again," she said in a written response to CNN.

Gallo-Chasanoff wasn't so sure.

"I don't know whether Hillary knew what my question was going to be, but it seemed like she knew to call on me because there were so many people, and ... I was the only college student in that area," she said. Watch the full interview »

In a separate statement in response to the campus article, the campaign also added, "On this occasion a member of our staff did discuss a possible question about Senator Clinton's energy plan at a forum. ... This is not standard policy and will not be repeated again."

Gallo-Chasanoff may have some doubts about that one as well.

"After the event," she said, "I heard another man ... talking about the question he asked, and he said that the campaign had asked him to ask that question."

The man she references prefaced his question by saying that it probably didn't have anything to do with energy, and then posed the following: "I wonder what you propose to do to create jobs for the middle-class person, such as here in Newton where we lost Maytag."

A Maytag factory in Newton recently closed, forcing hundreds of people out of their jobs.

During the course of the late-night interview on Grinnell's campus, Gallo-Chasanoff also told CNN that the day before the school's newspaper, Scarlet and Black, printed the story, she wanted the reporter to inform the campaign out of courtesy to let them know it would be published.

She said the "head of publicity for the campaign," a man whose name she could not recall, had no factual disputes with the story. But, she added, a Clinton intern spoke to her to say the campaign requests she "not talk about" the story to any more media outlets and that if she did she should inform a staffer.

"I'm not under any real obligation to do that, and I haven't talked to [the campaign] anymore," Gallo-Chasanoff said, adding that she also doesn't plan to.

"If what I do is come and just be totally truthful, then that's all anyone can ask of me, and that's all I can ask of myself. So I'll feel good with what I've done. I'll feel like I've done the right thing."

The Clinton campaign's acknowledgment that it planted a question re-enforces a widely held criticism of the senator -- that she is not entirely honest, said Bill Schneider, CNN's senior political analyst.

"It's the same criticism often made of her husband," Schneider said. "Most Americans never felt Bill Clinton was honest and trustworthy, even when he got elected in 1992 -- with only 43 percent of the vote. His critics called him 'Slick Willy.' ... Will her critics start referring to the New York senator as `Slick Hillary?'"

Asked if this experience makes her less likely to support Clinton's presidential bid, Gallo-Chasanoff, an undecided voter, said, "I think she has a lot to offer, but I -- this experience makes me look at her campaign a little bit differently."

"The question and answer sessions -- especially in Iowa -- are really important. That's where the voters get to ... have like a real genuine conversation with this politician who could be representing them."

While she acknowledged "it's possible that all campaigns do these kind of tactics," she said it still doesn't make it right.

"Personally I want to know that I have someone who's honest representing me."

Gallo-Chasanoff's story comes at a time when a second person has also come forward with a similar one. Geoffrey Mitchell of Hamilton, Illinois, a town located on the Iowa border, told CNN the Clinton campaign also wanted him to ask a certain question at an Iowa event in April.

"He asked me if I would ask Sen. Clinton about ways she was going to confront the president on the war in Iraq, specifically war funding," said Geoffrey Mitchell, a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois. "I told him it was not a question I felt comfortable with."

No questions were taken at the event. Elleithee said this incident was different than what happened with Gallo-Chasanoff in Newton. Elleithee said the staffer "bumped into someone he marginally knew" and during a conversation with Mitchell, "Iraq came up." Elleithee denied the campaign tried to plant him as a friendly questioner in the audience.

Mitchell said he had never met the staffer before the event.

Rackspace? Never Heard Of It Until Now; It's Got Bad Publicity On Technorati!

I had never heard of Rackspace until now, and I know I'll never use them! Look at this sample of posts over at Technorati! Wow. Apparently the system was taken out by a truck!


  • Photo of jlm382

    Rackspace.com had downtime? That’s impossible!




    It’s a pity that Rackspace, a company with a stellar reputation for uptime and “Fanatical Support” ... to be happy Rackspace customer. I studied the way they did business and implemented it in my own ...





    46 minutes ago
    by jlm382
    in Jessica Mah Meets World ·
    Authority: 41



  • No one has claimed this blog

    Web Host Rackspace Knocked Offline




    Web Host Rackspace Knocked Offline First, Web hosting company Rackspace had a “maintenance failure” at its Dallas data center Sunday, then a truck on Monday hit a transformer providing its power.





    28 minutes ago
    in Headline Watch ·
    Authority: 65



  • View all »

    Videos about rackspace





    1. Rackspace Fox 29 News at 9





    2. The Reasons I Chose Rackspace for Hosting





    3. Rackspace X-Mas Party 2006





    4. Rackspace






  • No one has claimed this blog




    Web Host Industry Review | Find Web Hosting, Reseller Hosting, ... Rackspace Servers See Downtime Web Host SoftLayer to Host Internap RatePoint Partners with IPOWER







  • Photo of TomRaftery

    US Data Center chillers not backed up by diesel generators?




    US Data Center chillers not backed up by diesel generators? Published by Tom Raftery on 13/11/2007 in cix and data centre. 0 Comments Rackspace are a high-profile data centre ... .







  • Photo of allspaw

    Datacenters can suck. Communication can be great.




    Datacenters can suck. Communication can be great. If you consider that you and your users are in some sort of a ‘relationship’, then good communication is pretty important. The Rackspace datacenter outage reminds me yet again that we’re lucky to have a handful of





    2 hours ago
    by allspaw
    in Kitchen Soap ·
    Authority: 23



  • No one has claimed this blog

    RackSpace Data Center Goes Dark After Accident




    [ Batteries_2] The internet may seem omnipresent and infallible, ... at 365 Main that brought down our site, one of RackSpace's data centers in San Antonio went dark ... for the count for almost three hours.







  • No one has claimed this blog

    Rackspace Hit By Outage Caused By Wayward Truck




    Rackspace reported that it had two separate incidents at its Dallas/Forth Worth data center Monday, which resulted in visible downtime at a number of Internet customers. The firm reported







  • Photo of tkeating

    MyBlogLog outage - civrf.yahoo.com lookup failed




    [ MyBlogLog outage]It must be outage week, since I not only discovered Skype had a brief outage but ... to a major outage at Rackspace, which is Om's hosting company, along with several other large websites. I wonder if Yahoo uses Rackspace - which would explain the MyBlogLog outage.







  • No one has claimed this blog

    Cooling Challenges an Issue In Rackspace Outage




    miller60 writes “If your data center’s cooling system fails, how long do you have before your servers overheat? The shrinking window for recovery from a grid power outage appears to have been an issue in Monday night’s downtime for some customers of Rackspace, which



  • Facebookers Launch Official Petition Against Hillary Clinton's Insult

    In The Politico.com , it was reported that On Saturday, November 10th, Clinton advisers told reporters this about Barack Obama's voters:

    “Our people look like caucus-goers,” Grunwald said, “and his people look like they are 18. Penn said they look like Facebook.”

    Penn added, “Only a few of their people look like they could vote in any state.”

    This was reported by Roger Simon in his column today and the well-reported quip angered more than a few Facebook users. It was one of the dumbest errors commited by the Clinton campaign, and could serve as another nail in the coffin of her Presidential campaign.

    The Clinton camp's way too arrogant, and comments like those of Gruwald and Penn prove it.

    The anger of Facebook users has materialized into a petition against Hillary Clinton, which you can see and respond to with a click here.

    Monday, November 12, 2007

    COMMISSIONER GOODELL Q&A - NFL Fall Meeting - Philadelphia, PA, 2007

    COMMISSIONER GOODELL Q&A
    NFL Fall Meeting
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – October 23, 2007

    Roger Goodell: We had a very productive day. We had a long day of meetings, but let me give you the highlights of some of the things we talked about and then I’ll take your questions and answer anything you have outside of this. We began the day with a report on the game. We always do that with a focus on the game and the key factors we look at with respect to the game; points scored, length of the game, pace of the game, and number of penalties. All of that was very positive.

    We did a report, within the context of that, on the draft and the changes to the NFL Draft for next year, which I believe you have a release on. We also did a report on the Pro Bowl and some of the changes we’ve been contemplating to try to bring back some excitement to that game. Then we had a very long discussion on the NFL Network. We have the chairman of the NFL Network, Jerry Jones, here who will be happy to answer any questions also. The importance of this to us is as a strategic asset and our future plans with respect to media.

    We also had some important votes on the NFL.com business model. It is an important step for us to make our site and all 32 sites, the clubs and our league site, better for our fans and we made some very big steps in that regard today.

    We had some discussion on the Buffalo-Toronto proposal. Ralph Wilson addressed the ownership. We had a report on it. We did not take a vote on that, but we will have further discussion.

    Then we had a vote on lowering the debt ceiling. All of you are aware of the current market conditions and the credit markets. We as a league like to make sure we are making prudent decisions about our business structure and what we are doing to respond to those credit markets. We have agreed to reduce the debt ceiling by $30 million per club over the next three years. I think that hits the key points and I’ll be happy to take your questions.

    Q: Length of Ralph Wilson’s proposal:

    RG: It is a five-year proposal. One regular season game and I believe three preseason games.

    Q: Any objections?

    RG: No. There were a number of issues that we raised for the membership that we would like to address. This is still relatively fresh for all of us so we as a league have a responsibility to look into a number of issues. It was made clear by Mr. Wilson and by the Bills’ people that the county and the state had passed their agreement that they could go forward on this. We don’t have agreement that I know of with respect to the parties in Toronto so we want to see all that and look at all of those issues.

    Q: Speaking with Mark Cohon, CFL Commissioner about the proposal…

    RG: I did. I believe it was last Friday. I assured him that we continue to have a great interest in the CFL and their continued viability. That is one of the issues that was raised today with respect to this. We would certainly want to understand the impact and have greater discussions with the CFL and the promoters of the games in Toronto to make sure that we do it in a way that is responsive and continues to promote CFL football because we think that has a great heritage. We have been very active in continuing to support that.

    Q: Belichick and spying incident…

    RG: I do a normal report to the membership which takes 15 minutes or so and then we start focusing on the game with our Competition Committee, but in the context of that we spoke about the integrity of the game and how important it is that all of our fans understand that our game is being played by the same rules. We continue to make sure that all of our clubs and the league are doing everything possible to make sure that our games are played within the rules that we’ve established and that our fans have that confidence. I think that they do and I just reassured them that if they have issues with respect to things that are happening in our game that they contact us so that we can pursue them.

    Q: Reaction to charges that this incident is being swept under the rug…

    RG: First, we were the ones who brought it out so if we’re sweeping it under the rug…we’re the ones who raised it. I don’t agree with that assessment. I think we dealt with it forcefully, aggressively, and effectively. The thing that you want in discipline is to make sure that it doesn’t happen again and the other clubs understand that there are very significant consequences if policies are violated. I think that message was sent. We also want to send that message to our fans so they understand that all teams are playing by the same rules. The inference that you make in regards to us destroying the tapes, that was our intention from the get-go. There was no purpose for those. We said that we wanted those materials destroyed because we didn’t want anyone to have that material or the notes that could’ve come out from that. We went ahead and did that as we expected to do. Everything that we found was consistent with what we thought.

    Q: Shortening on the draft and discussions about moving it to Friday night…

    RG: We’ve talked about that. We at this point don’t think that it’s the right move. We think that Saturday is still the better time for us. I don’t anticipate that in the short term but we have evaluated that.

    Q: Situation with San Diego…

    RG: When I get through here I am going to meet with Dean Spanos and the team people. I haven’t gotten an update because I’ve been in a meeting all day but I understand that there are thousands of people at Qualcomm Stadium and of course public safety is our number one concern. We certainly don’t want to interfere with anything in that area. Of course we also have to work with the local officials to tell us whether the facility is going to be available. In the meantime I think you’re aware that the team is on its way or about to go out to Arizona. They will be working out in that facility for the week. We’ll have to make a decision on the game as soon as we have more information.

    Q: Pro Bowl…

    RG: The big issue is how we can bring more focus to the Pro Bowl, to our star players, and to the event itself. We have discussed everything, including moving the time of the game to prior to the Super Bowl so that it is in advance and part of the buildup of the Super Bowl. We have also talked about whether we would alter the location on some kind of rotating basis to some site here in the United States, particularly around the Super Bowl or in the Super Bowl site. Hawaii would probably be part of that rotation in some fashion but I would expect some decisions would be made. This isn’t for this year’s Pro Bowl; this is for 14 or 15 months from now.

    Q: Debt ceiling…

    RG: It was very simple. One of the reasons that the NFL is one of the most admired businesses and sports leagues is because we manage our business properly. When you look at the amount of debt that is out there and where the markets are it is just a prudent business decision.

    Any discussion today on the disability issue?

    RG: No. We’re doing that first thing in the morning, Paul.

    Q: Vote on funding…

    RG: There very likely will. There is a resolution on the floor. I would expect a vote, yes.

    Q: What the proposal calls for…

    RG: The proposal is essentially a one-time funding to allow us to put some additional funds into the alliance that we’ve created so that there is sufficient funding and that we’d be able to handle issues in an ongoing manner. It is not pension related. It is for medical needs for people that have a specific need that we can take care of.

    Q: Joint replacement?

    RG: Joint replacement is one of those programs. Also cardiovascular screening and possibly assisted living.

    Q: Future of games internationally…

    RG: A year ago is when we passed the resolution allowing the regular season series. As you know we are playing in London this week and every indication is that we’re going to have a tremendously successful event. I think it is a logical step for us. Next year would be to add a second market. We’re going step-by-step but the reaction that we’re getting is extraordinary.

    Q: Advantages of Bills playing in Toronto…

    RG: The key point that was made by Ralph Wilson, and I share this, is that this is to make the team viable in the Buffalo market. It is an extension of the regionalization that they started 10 years ago that I actually had some involvement with, so I understand what they are trying to accomplish. That is to reach out to the broadest audience by regionalizing and the southern Ontario, Toronto area is an important market to them. They are selling more and more tickets there and I think this is an important opportunity to bring more fans to Buffalo from the southern Ontario area.

    Q: Just to confirm, is it one preseason and one regular season game every year for five years?

    RG: No. It is one regular season game for the next five years and three preseason games starting next year and the third and fifth year.

    Q: Regular season games would start next year also?

    RG: I believe so, yes.

    Q: Alternatives for Chargers game…

    RG: I’d be able to give you better information on that in about a half-hour from now. Our staff is working on that. They go everywhere from San Diego to Los Angeles to Texas to Arizona, and in between.

    Q: Is scheduling more attractive games one of the options for the NFL Network, i.e. Patriots vs. Colts, in order to have more leverage over cable companies…

    RG: First, we believe as it relates to the cable operators that we have a very compelling product outside of our games. We think that the production quality and content that we have on the NFL Network on a year-round basis is in great demand and the consumers want it. That is the issue that we are having with our cable operators. They are trying to restrict the distribution of that to a point that we’re not comfortable. We think that it should be available to a broader audience and that is really the fundamental aspect of our broadcast policy. As it relates to the games, we have a very attractive series of games this year. We are fortunate to have the Cowboys on twice; we have Cowboys and Packers on the second game of the year. We think all of our games are attractive but we have some great matchups that fell in place for us when we set our schedule last April.

    Q: How much leverage do these attractive matchups give you right now with the cable companies?

    RG: The bottom line is that consumers are the ones who should win here. The consumers should get the product and that is what we are trying to do. We are trying to make sure that our consumers understand that we have a great product, we have some great games that are going to be on, and some of them won’t get to see it because the cable operators are not distributing it. We have one cable operator that happens to be close to here which has taken us from nine million homes to one million homes. That is a significant difference. They have the right to put is in nine million homes. It is not a matter of negotiation. It is just a decision that they made.

    Q: Ongoing talks…

    RG: There are very little talks that are going on with Comcast right now. We’ve had some discussions with Time Warner recently but right now we don’t see that this is going to get resolved and that is a concern for us. Let me have Jerry speak now.

    Q: Assuming the Dallas-Green Bay was on FOX, how much of the country would see that?

    RG: There are really only two games that go on a national basis -- NBC’s game on Sunday night and ESPN’s Monday Night Football. Most of our games on Sunday afternoon are regionalized, so if it had been a Sunday afternoon game it would be regionalized like the rest of our Sunday afternoon package and go to a smaller percentage of the country.

    We have some games that to go six or seven percent of the country, and that’s one of the reasons why we think the NFL Network is so valuable here. This gives us a chance to bring more football to more fans 365 days a year.

    This takes a game that might have gone to 10 or 12 percent of the country to a broader audience now, if it’s fully distributed. That’s our issue.

    Q: What is the current number of subscribers, and what could it be if you got the cable companies to go your route?

    RG: It’s a tough question to answer. The first part of your question is 35 million. The tough part to answer is it would depend on what you negotiate in terms of distribution levels with those cable operators. They all have different amounts of homes. Comcast, for example, is nine million homes. They were at eight million last year, and their digital package penetration has gone up one million, so the network would have been available in nine million homes this year. People who got that last year don’t have that now. The only way to get that back is to spend $5 to $10 per month for a sports tier.

    Q: Any ongoing conversations with Comcast?

    RG: We discontinued discussions with them back in August because we weren’t getting anywhere. It was clear they were telling consumers that we were in negotiations, and we weren’t. We were disappointed in the fact that they tiered us, that they took this away from consumers, and now they’re charging consumers more money to get it back again. We thought that was inappropriate.

    Q: Same with Time Warner and Cablevision?

    RG: From time to time, there are discussions that go on, but I would say that right now we’re not optimistic a deal is going to get done.

    Q: When NFLN was first created, did you have an estimate of how many homes you’d be in by this point?

    RG: Yes, we’re slightly below that. We were hoping we’d be closer to 50 million homes right now.

    Q: Aside from DirecTV, what are the other options you can suggest to fans in an area like Philadelphia, which is monopolized by Comcast?

    RG: Telephone companies are now getting in the business of video distribution. Verizon, AT&T – they are now building up these services, which carry the NFL Network.

    Last game of the season on NFLN, if the Patriots enter that game 15-0, who would fans be angriest at? The NFL or the cable companies?

    RG: I think the reality is they’d probably be angry at all of us. Comcast is a perfect example of that. Last year, eight million people would have been able to see that game. They’re not going to get to see that game this year unless they pay Comcast $8 a month for the next 12 months. We think that’s wrong, and that’s why we’re taking the position we’re taking. We are not going to take our distribution down. We know our fans want to see us. The last time I looked, 95 of the top 100 cable shows in history are NFL games. We know we are the most popular programming on cable television. That’s been proven by the facts.

    # # #

    Pittsburgh 31, Cleveland 28- Steelers Continue to Role Against Divisional Foe

    The Browns lead for the majority of the game, but their inexperience glowed towards the end of the game.

    By ALAN ROBINSON, AP Sports Writer
    November 11, 2007

    PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Cleveland Browns appear to be closing the gap between themselves and the rival Steelers.

    They're not there yet, though, not with Ben Roethlisberger able to beat teams two different ways in the same week.

    Roethlisberger scrambled 30 yards for a key touchdown during Pittsburgh's second-half comeback, then set up his own go-ahead 2-yard TD pass to Heath Miller with an important third-down run as the Steelers rallied from a 15-point deficit to beat Cleveland 31-28 Sunday.

    Roethlisberger's big second half, with two TD passes and some important scrambles, overcame Cleveland quarterback Derek Anderson's huge first half and two long Joshua Cribbs kickoff returns.

    Pittsburgh (7-2) beat Cleveland (5-4) for the ninth consecutive time. Barely. Phil Dawson could have tied it, but was short on a 52-yard field goal attempt with 6 seconds remaining.

    elying on Roethlisberger's ability to shrug off blitzes and gain yards on plays that appeared to have broken down, plus his two TD passes, the Steelers took a big step toward making the playoffs after going 8-8 last season. Only six days before, Roethlisberger's five touchdown passes led the Steelers to a 38-7 Monday night rout of Baltimore.

    "All I ever hear is about (Tom) Brady and Peyton (Manning), but this guy we have here is very special," defensive end Brett Keisel said. "He makes plays those guys don't make and that's what makes him so special. He can get out of the pocket, he can create, he's a beast and we're glad he wears black and gold."

    Cleveland led 21-6 in the first half as Cribbs' 90-yard kickoff return led to one of Anderson's three touchdown passes. But with the Browns offense managing only a single first down and no points in the second half, Roethlisberger's TD scramble put the Steelers up for the first time at 24-21 early in the fourth quarter.

    "I was ready to slide ... but Hines (Ward) was downfield blocking and when I get that close to the end zone, I'm trying to get it," Roethlisberger said.

    Still, the Browns were in position to beat Pittsburgh for only the second time in their last 16 games after Cribbs' improbable 100-yard kickoff return touchdown with about 11 minutes remaining. Cribbs fumbled the ball near the goal line and was forced to take off down the Steelers sideline out of desperation.

    "We had him stacked up -- it was a fluke and it just happened," the Steelers' Larry Foote said. "It definitely tested our character."

    A fluke? Cribbs finished with more yards on kickoff returns (204) than the Browns offense had total yards (163).

    "It was a couple of inches from going into the end zone and I had to make a decision and live with it," Cribbs said of his 100-yarder.

    With the Steelers down 28-24, Roethlisberger (23-of-34, 278 yards) calmly led the decisive 78-yard scoring drive that lasted 8 minutes and featured All-Pro guard Alan Faneca challenging his teammates in the huddle to win it.

    Roethlisberger kept the drive going with a 20-yard completion to Miller on third-and-18 and his own 10-yard run to the 2 on third-and-9 before Miller made a one-handed catch for the go-ahead score.

    "Their whole philosophy was don't give up the big play, see if Ben could read defenses and take what the defense gave them," said Ward, who had a 12-yard TD catch. "Ben did a tremendous job of it."

    The Steelers, playing six days after their 38-7 Monday night rout of Baltimore, quickly fell into a bad habit: trading field goals for touchdowns.

    They settled for three Jeff Reed field goals in the first half and fell behind 21-9 as Anderson threw TD passes of 4 yards to Kellen Winslow, 2 to Lawrence Vickers after Cribbs' 90-yard kickoff return and 16 yards to Braylon Edwards.

    Notes

    LB James Harrison, who had two forced fumbles on defense and another on special teams Monday, had two more forced fumbles. ... The Steelers are 4-0 in the division and 5-0 at home. ... Willie Parker, who ran for a club record 223 yards against Cleveland last season, had 105 yards on 25 carries, the seventh running back to gain more than 100 against the Browns. ... Roethlisberger has 22 touchdown passes, four more than his previous career high, with seven games to play.