USA/Brazil

A large part of me didn't want to watch the game today. After the highs from the games against Egypt and Spain, I just wanted the whole thing to be over. I was scared to death of a let down. I didn't know if I could handle a 3-0 loss. Today's result was much worse than that, because for 46 minutes of the match I was sure the US was going to win. We were a bench player away from beating Brazil today.

I Predict Things

Brazil - South African

Kick-off is second away. The damn vuvus are buzzing. And Brazil will advance.

I've never been so happy to have been wrong in yesterday's US/Spain match.

Overnight Music

Ben Gibbard, Jenny Lewis and too many other people - Such Great Heights

It might just be me, but I really hate concert singalongs. I go to concerts to hear the guy/gal/band that I paid money to see sing. I did not pay money to hear some half drunk idiot belt out of tune notes in my hear.

I Predict Things

US - Spain

This might be a bit of a gimmie, but I'm certainly not against padding my stats here before football season rolls into town. The US side was much improved against Egypt, but I think a big part of the success was from Egypt doing a little looking ahead to the second round. The US just doesn't have the guns to compete at this level unless there is a massive letdown from the Spanish.

Current Prediction Record : 10-6

Why The Senate Sucks

You have a bill that could bring in $4 billion in revenue annually. The bill has 45 cosponsors with supporters from both sides of the aisle. The bill failed by a vote of 54-23. That isn't 54 no votes by the way. In today's Senate nearly everything has to overcome a filibuster, which means you need 60 votes.

It wasn't just the filibuster that killed the bill, but it certainly had more than a helping hand. The chart above (from July '07) shows how the filibuster has been increasingly used as a tool to stop any and all legislation.

Finding The Story

So Obama held a presser today. Michael Scherer did a write up on the whole thing. You might expect it to cover some of the give and take on health care. You might expect it cover Obama's response to the criticism levelled his way from GOP lawmakers. You might think that two of the most important issues of the day might garner a bit more than a passing mention. You would think wrong. The write up is all about the media and how it sparred with Obama. At some point, it would nice if some of the members of the traditional media were reminded that they aren't the story.

I don't think that I have ever read a sports article that focused solely on the tension between athlete and journalist or the give and take between reporter and subject. There are some pretty shitty sports writers out there, but all of them know that they aren't the story. The American public is, in general, pretty stupid when it comes to policy. A better media would do a lot to fix this. Guys like Michael Scherer aren't helping.

What He Said

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Stupid Is In The Air Today

Olive Garden thinks Letterman is a big jerk.
Following a week of back and forth between CBS late-night comic David Letterman and Sarah Palin over a crude joke he told about the Alaska Republican governor’s daughter, the Olive Garden restaurant says it is canceling all of its scheduled ads on Letterman’s “Late Show” for the rest of the year.
Does anybody even eat at The Olive Garden anymore? If so, why?

Just Like The Iranians

Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) is stupid. His tweet (god how I hate that word).

Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut down in the House.

I was talking to Chopenstein last night about Congress getting involved in baseball when they could be doing more meaningful things. I ask you Chopenstein (or whatever your sign-in here is) do you want such stupid people meddling in important things? Baseball is already screwed up, they can't really do much harm there.

On the positive side, there is some top notch mocking of Hekstra going on.

I got a splinter in my hand today. Felt just like Jesus getting nailed to the cross.

And.

Had to move all my stuff to a new office w/o a corner view. Now i know what the Trail of Tears was like.

Music Thread

Been slacking with my posting. I offer this as an apology and if it isn't good enough you probably have shitty taste and suck.

Frightened Rabbit - Swim Until You Can't See Land

Episode #5.2: Frightened Rabbit - "Swim Until You Can't See Land" from Off The Beaten Tracks on Vimeo.

Baseball, Steroids, Yawn.......

Heard Bud Selig basically refusing to comment on Sammy other than he was disappointed. Bud doesn't want to talk about the fact that there are 102 players still on that list. Bud doesn't wanna talk about the past. Bud sounds a lot like this Mark McGwire. It didn't work for him either.

In all seriousness, if Selig really wants people to move forward he should find a way to get the Players Association to agree in releasing the other 102 names on that list. You simply can't move forward when every couple of months a new name is leaked. Sure it will be a PR nightmare, but MLB is going to have to air ALL the dirty laundry before people will let him move on.

Does Not Compute

This.

If the incumbent holds on, some Iran experts suggested this morning, the post-election repression may actually make it more difficult for Obama to pursue a straightforward "engagement" with a discredited Ahmadinejad in the short term -- though it obviously reflects a deep dissatisfaction with the regime.

The number of people that seem to forget, including journalist who get paid for a living to cover stuff like this, that the President of Iran is nothing more than a figurehead amazes me.

Obama won't be dealing with Ahmadinejad or whoever ends up winning the election.

A bit off topic, but it would be nice if Martin would mention which 'experts' suggested this this morning so people can ignore them in the future.

Overnight Sorta Music Thread

I Predict Things

Game 4 tonight in the NBA Finals. I only have a passing interest in the whole thing now that my Cavs are out of it. Still, I'm in a bit of a sports mood today so why not toss one of these out?

The Magic put together one of the best Finals performance ever and barely eeked out a win. As far as the Magic performance goes, I think that was ceiling for them. Lakers win.

Current prediction record - 9-6

Big Balls

Karl Rove has em.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you take some responsibility, meaning you, the Bush eight years, for this...

ROVE: No.

VAN SUSTEREN: You take absolutely no responsibility? Because...

ROVE: No.

The deficit is 1.8 trillion for this year. When Obama took office he was handed a 1.2 trillion deficit. And it is all Obama's fault.

Fantasy Football Advice/Comments

Fantasy football season is starting to gear up. I just finished the restricted free agent part of my dynasty league offseason. We start bidding on free agents Monday. Dwayne Bowe will be mine!

One typical mistake that I see owners make in keeper leagues is that they confuse their keeper league with a dynasty league. A quick example....

Chopenstein (or whatever his login is....where are you dick?) is currently in a full keeper (one offense/one defense) league. With the second pick in the first round one owner selected Knowshon Moreno. In a dynasty league, this would be a very good selection. The problem is this isn't a dynasty league and it isn't a deep keeper league. In other words, there is a whole lot of talent out there better than Moreno. Guys like Stephen Jackson and Frank Gore were available. Moreno might produce better numbers than those guys, but you simply can't ignore draft value and Moreno doesn't have it there. This guy could probably have waited a round and ended up with Jackson/Moreno or Gore/Moreno, which is a much stronger tandem than what he will end up with.

I get what this owner was trying to do, get a keeper he can hold on to for years. Smart fantasy owners draft the best team, not the best team of keeper possibilities. Who cares if you rotate out keepers ever other season or even every season. Keeper leagues, especially shallow keeper leagues like this aren't about finding young possible stud running backs. That is what dynasty leagues are for.

Anyway, I thought this was a good example of somebody using a dynasty league strategy in a keeper league so there ya go. I would also like to add, that people need to stop thinking that whoever is the Denver running back is going to be a stud. The offensive line isn't near what it used to be and with a crowded backfield, new coach and nothing at QB, I would take a pass if I could.

If you got some questions or comments toss em in here.

Remember That DHS Report?

After the shooting of Dr. Tiller and now the shooting at the Holocaust Museum, do you think the conservatives that were calling for heads will now admit to being wrong?

I don't think so either.

Overnight Music

Not interested in blogging so I'll just throw this out.

Hockey - Song Away

Overnight Non-Music Thread

More stuff from my good friend Roy.

Roy Bentley - The Idea of A Rescue Dog

I Predict Things

If you want to see the best homefield advantage in sports, check out the US/Costa Rica match tonight on ESPN2. Here is a quick highlight of Costa Rica's last home match.



Costa Rica is 18-1-2 at home since 2000 and the US is 0-5-1 in World Cup qualifying matches played there. Hurting the US chances tonight will be the fact that they will be without their top two at right back due to injury and left back has once again become a pretty big concern for the side as Heath Pierce has gone from having a solid hold on the spot to fighting for a spot on the team. I think coach Bradley will go with his most experienced line-up tonight with the rule of thumb in World Cup qualifying being, three at home and one on the road. I think the US gets that one point tonight.

Current Prediction Record - 9-5

Speaking Of MSNBC

Chris Matthews gets a good deal of flack, from liberals and conservatives both, for saying really stupid things and deservedly so. What amazes me though is the outright racist shit Pat Buchanan gets away with on a regular basis.

In her world, equal justice takes a back seat to tribal justice.

Stay classy, Pat.

As a bit of a side note, I find it interesting the number of conservatives who express such serious concerns regarding discrimination whenever a brown person is about to secure a much sought after position......ok not really.

The People On My TV Are Idiots

Mika Brzezinski from Morning Joe talking about Unions :

"They cripple the system that makes a company work."

UPS, currently being crippled by unions, made more than 3 Billion last year. Even worse, GE which owns NBC and thus MSNBC has 13 different unions that represent their workers.

It says a lot about our political commentary that you don't have to be all that informed about public policy or even simple facts to make a comfortable living doing it.

TPM has a list of more companies being crippled by unions.

Stop The Stupid

Well, to be honest, I hope this kinda stupid keeps going strong.

“Hispanic polls, Hispanic surveys, indicate that Hispanics think just like everyone else. We’re not like African-Americans. "

The above quote is from Manny Miranda who is trying to lead the charge against Soytomayor. So not only are conservatives looking to alienate the three latino voters that they actually have, but they are now working on alienating African-Americans as well. For shits and giggles somebody should ask Manny just how African-Americans think.

I thought this was pretty good as well.

"When I was on the leader’s staff, someone called me once and asked me: ‘What’s Senator Frist’s Hispanic agenda?’ I said, ‘low taxes, better education, more jobs … what are you talking about?’ And that’s how Hispanics are. This is an opportunity to educate them on all of our issues and they will resonate in the way that they resonate with everyone else.”

The GOP has had their ass handed to them for two straight cycles. The message ain't resonating.

Thanks GOP!

Without you the country would be ignorant to how oppressed the white male is.

This Sotomayor crap is going to drive me crazy.