The Bacon Explosion

Nothing says love like 5,000 calories and 500 grams of fat.

Zombies Attack Texas

Every family should have a ZAP (zombie action plan).

Bipartisanship

I don't have much time to post today, but wanted to get something off my chest real quick.

Bipartisanship sucks. My biggest problem is that too often bipartisanship isn't about politicians working together, but rather politicians covering their asses. Get bipartisan support for something and you don't have to worry about the other side beating you up over it come election time. To get bipartisan support for something you include all ideas, but watered down versions. This is about covering asses as well. If the bill doesn't work Congressman X can simply say, well we had to water down what we really wanted to do to get bipartisan support it wasn't my fault.

Another problem I have with bipartisanship, especially as a liberal, is that too often Democrats see bipartisanship as 'give the Republicans what they want'. A perfect example is the family planning that is in danger of being taken out of the stimulus package. The Republicans have done a good job of mocking this, laughing about how we aren't going to get out of this economic mess by giving out more condoms. Since the media is more interested in sound bites, everybody 'har-hars' and family planning is out. A serious media, one more interested in the supply of information over entertainment, would point out that unwanted pregnancies put a huge burden on state budgets. This would require Democrats to stick to their guns and the media to cut into some of their Blago coverage so don't hold your breath waiting for this to happen.

In an ideal world, or at least mine, Democrats would forget about bipartisanship with the stimulus bill. Both sides have to want to work together for people to work together. It isn't happening here. The GOP leaders, before even meeting with Obama, were urging their members to oppose the stimulus package. If the GOP wants to work on the package, awesome, but they have to bring more to the table than tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts. Democrats should craft the bill they want and work like hell to get it passed. I don't know if they remember but we just had this thing called an election. Both sides presented to the American public their solutions to fixing the economy. The Republican's view was rejected. Democrats would do well to remember this.

Bipartisanship sucks.

Overnight Music

Matt The Electrician - Milo

Urban Design

Because I am a geek, I dig reading about this stuff. And as somebody who relies on a bike for much of his transportation, I find this very cool.

For many Chicago commuters the landmark of the $500 milliom (€371 million) Millennium Park is the bicycle station quietly tucked away in a corner. The two-level McDonald's Cycle Center provides indoor storage for 300 bicycles, lockers and private showers with towel service. Built with federal funds, the park sold the naming rights to McDonald's last year, which will cover the station's operating costs for the next 50 years.

They Should Get Some Macs

I wish I could find the article, but a couple of days back I saw a quote from Bill Burton talking about how untech the White House offices were. I guess most of their computers were running on Windows 2000.

Now, it looks like they are having server problems as well.

..and now the White House email is down. And has been for about five hours.

Gibbs mentioned it at the briefing, but really, what an embarassment. Not to mention making you wonder how they're going to get the nation's business done without it.

This must be a real headache considering that the Obama campaign was probably the most tech-savy we have seen. Perhaps a system upgrade is in order?

Very Cool

David Bergman took a cool shot of the nearly 2 million people at the inauguration. You can spend some time, CIA like, zooming in so close you can see people's faces perfectly.

Stimulus Worries

Maybe it is because during the last session of Congress Democrats seemed to think that being bipartisan mean giving into Republican demands, but I'm worried that Obama's goal to be more bipartisan means a shitty stimulus bill.

I have never gotten the goosebumps that some voters and many in the media get when they talk bipartisanship. Personally, I would like to see Democrats craft the type of stimulus bill that they talked about during the elections. Remember those? That was when Republicans and Democrats both put forth two competing ideas of where to move the country. The Republicans ideas where soundly rejected so why worry so much about getting the Republicans on board. It would be different if they had some ideas other than tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts, but they certainly don't seem to.

Gitmo

I find it interesting that part of the push back on Obama's plan to close Gitmo is that because the Bush administration released some prisoners that ended up joining or rejoining the bad guys, Obama should stick with the way Bush ran Gitmo.

Overnight Music

Stephen Fretwell - Coney

Roy Bentley

I got an email from a friend complaining that I don't do enough poetry and as a poet, I should be doing more. I have spent a good part of the afternoon looking for The Wreck Of The Barbie Ferrari by Roy Bentley. Even though I haven't talked to Roy for years, I still consider him a pretty good friend and have always been a pretty big fan of his poetry. I got to know Roy through a poetry reading I used to run with a friend here in town. We were lucky enough to make Roy a bit of a regular among our group and considering the awards he has received and the publishing credits to his name, it was a pretty big get for us.

So Lefty, here is your poetry.


Roy's The Trouble With A Short Horse In Montana.

Creationism

I was a bit rushed with my last post yesterday and don't think I fleshed out just how stupid I think the whole bit is. I had to go see my nephew play some basketball so blame him. Anywho...

Suppose that we are in Home Ec. We are making muffins. The teacher, probably fat and wearing a hairnet, writes the recipe for said muffins on the chalkboard for all of us to follow. We will say they are blueberry muffins because blueberry muffins are delicious. In no Home Ec class in the world would the teacher also offer, as an alternative model for muffin making, a miracle. This is because you don't miracle muffins into existence, at least not in Home Ec.

Creationism, or intelligent design, is not science. In order for something to be science, it has to be testable. Until some mouth breather comes up with a way to test creationism or intelligent design, keep it the frak out of science classes. Our kids are dumb enough already.

Stop The Stupid

The flat-earthers seem to be gathering steam in Texas.

Already, legislators in six states — Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri and South Carolina — have considered legislation requiring classrooms to be open to “views about the scientific strengths and weaknesses of Darwinian theory,” according to a petition from the Discovery Institute, the Seattle-based strategic center of the intelligent-design movement.

I am so tired of this shit. Believe in creationism, Intelligent Design or whatever you want to call it. The bottom line is it is not science. It just isn't and using it to try and disprove the theory of evolution is just as stupid. Creationism and Intelligent Design is part of religion. Religion is faith, not science. End of story.

I do think this story further illustrates some of the problems with our school systems.

The chairman of the board, Dr. Don McLeroy, a dentist, pushed in 2003 for a more skeptical version of evolution to be presented in the state’s textbooks, but could not get a majority to vote with him. Dr. McLeroy has said he does not believe in Darwin’s theory and thinks that Earth’s appearance is a recent geologic event, thousands of years old, not 4.5 billion as scientists contend.

Mind you this isn't just a member of the board, but the fraking chairman. It is no wonder we lag so far behind in science.

Elections Have Consequences

Example 1

"I won."

-- President Obama, quoted by the Wall Street Journal, in response to Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) on why he's not including more Republican ideas in his economic stimulus plan.

I would like to hear him add a well deserved 'and' to that statement. Something like, 'And the ideas you are offering are the ones that got us where we are to begin with.'

Not Conservative = Liberal

Reading useless crap like Forbes Top 25 Most Influential Liberals lists just reaffirms my opinion that most people, especially in the media, have no fraking clue what a liberal is. As a result, the media seems to go with the definition of a liberal being somebody who isn't a conservative. Chris Matthews is a liberal? His show is certainly popular within the beltway which makes him influential, but Matthews isn't a liberal. And while Oprah may be liberal, I have no clue and could care less, but I wouldn't include here on a top 25 list simply because as Forbes said 'her status as an American cultural and racial icon gives her a uniquely influential position to mold political debate in the Obama era.' To me that reads, Oprah is black and popular so she is one of the top 25 most influential liberals. I don't read much Forbes and senseless lists like this doesn't encourage more reading. The most glaring omission on the list has to be Howard Dean. Much of Obama's campaign was modeled after Deans failed run. Dean, was largely responsible for shifting the Democratic party away from the practices of the DLC and his 50 state strategy helped bring the party back into the majority.

The biggest problem is Forbes definition of what a liberal is.

Broadly, a "liberal' subscribes to some or all of the following: progressive income taxation; universal health care of some kind; opposition to the war in Iraq, and a certain queasiness about the war on terror; an instinctive preference for international diplomacy; the right to gay marriage; a woman's right to an abortion; environmentalism in some Kyoto Protocol-friendly form; and a rejection of the McCain-Palin ticket.

Using the above definition I can't think of a single person who isn't a liberal, except the mouth breathers on Fox.

How To Screw Up An Ending

With so many things in my Netflix queue stuck on 'long wait', I resorted to watching some of the lesser pushed films from the past couple of years. Last night, I watched Henry Poole Is Here.

I'm going to ruin the ending of the movie for anybody who hasn't seen it, but since this isn't a movie review (and is my blog anyways) I can do that. Anyway, sometimes the lead character HAS TO DIE and Henry Poole needed to die in order for this movie to work. By letting him live, it simply turned into a film that rested on the mechanics of the 1,643 movies like it that came before. Yes it would have been a bit sad to have killed Henry Poole, but damnit that is life. I am so tired of movies that lack any sense of realism in their endings. And yes, I realize this was a movie and not real life. Forgive me if I like my movies to be a bit grounded. If I wanted to walk away from a movie with nothing but good feelings and singing I would watch Mary Poppins. Henry Poole Is Here is one of those movies that I want to rewrite the ending for and send it to the screenwriters with a note saying 'Here. I fixed your shitty movie'.

I'm With John Cole

I have never understood the Right's hate of the ACLU. The ACLU states that their mission is '...to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.'. I think that it goes back to a discussion that I have had with a couple of conservative leaning friends of mine. Too many people on the Right feel those rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws grant are privileges and not really rights.

Mr. Cole sums up my thoughts rather nicely here.

There simply isn’t a more American institution out there, and I do not understand why it is so hated by the right.

Apparently the ACLU has hit some rough times, like all of us. Donate here.

Overnight Music

Spoon - I Summon You

Inauguration

I didn't do much, or rather any, writing on the inauguration. I watched, but there really weren't too many newsworthy items. My thoughts on yesterday are basically summed up with, Rick Warren sucked and Dr. Joseph Lowery was awesome.

As a liberal, there was a lot to like about Obama's speech. If I had to pinpoint my favorite part it would be when he stated "We will restore science to its rightful place." The Bush administration did their best to ignore and suppression science for eight years, it will be good to see that change.

The Party Of Obstruction

You had the attempt to hold up Clinton's appointment. You have the attempt to hold up Geithner. Now you have the hold up of Lisa Jackson. A pretty clear pattern is starting to emerge.

The minority party certainly has the right to hold up appointments, but it doesn't make much sense to do it when the appointees are likely to secure their post regardless. I would be willing to bet that there will be much more like this from the GOP, but they will move to holding up legislation (as they did last session) with the game plan of making it look as if the Obama administration isn't doing anything or enough while hoping that the American public ignores the games going on behind the scenes. The sad thing is that they will probably succeed because the public does a bad job of paying attention and the media gives pretty weak coverage.

The Importance of Shaming

I have heard/read from more than a couple of pundits that the boos directed at Bush and Cheney at the inauguration yesterday were in poor taste. I couldn't disagree more. Though some (most of them former employees of the Bush admin) will deny it, the Bush years have been a disaster. Many of the problems that the new Obama administration face are ones that were either made much worse by Bush or were created by him and his administrations decisions. There seems to be common agreement that the TARP bailout was a failure, Iraq certainly was, the DOJ has been gutted, our standing in the world has been greatly diminished, environmental regulations no longer favor the environment and, well you probably get the point.

The problem is that there are no consequences for Bush. He will probably go on the speaking circut and make a ton of money. He might sit on a couple of boards and do nothing. He will no longer have to pretend to be a rancher and clear brush, but he will never be punished or suffer a moment of discomfort for the disaster that his presidency was. He just gets to ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after. It shouldn't be that way. People should have booed yesterday. Hell, I think they should have handed out rotten fruit for throwing.

As usual, Ezra says it better.

But he can be shamed.

And he should be. Forever. The self-delusion of his administration is startling. Last week, Chris Beam crashed the celebratory barbecue of the outgoing Bushies. It was hugs and kisses and high-fives all around. It was like watching Lehman's executives reminisce about the good times. Josh Bolten took the stage and emotionally toasted his colleagues. "If ever there was a group to leave government with their heads held high, this is it," he said. Yech. They can tell each other what they want. But they should have to hear from the country they harmed. Bush's awful, unpleasant, disrespectful post-presidency should serve as a warning to executives who would follow his path. Shaming him is not just appropriate. It's important.

Fairness Not Allowed in Middle East

So says Abraham Foxman national director of the Anti-Defamation League.

“Sen. Mitchell is fair. He’s been meticulously even-handed,” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. “But the fact is, American policy in the Middle East hasn’t been ‘even handed’ — it has been supportive of Israel when it felt Israel needed critical U.S. support. “So I’m concerned,” Foxman continued. [b]“I’m not sure the situation requires that kind of approach in the Middle East.”[/b]

Special Place In Hell

For parents like this.

Kara Neumann, 11, had grown so weak that she could not walk or speak. Her parents, who believe that God alone has the ability to heal the sick, prayed for her recovery but did not take her to a doctor.

After an aunt from California called the sheriff’s department here, frantically pleading that the sick child be rescued, an ambulance arrived at the Neumann’s rural home on the outskirts of Wausau and rushed Kara to the hospital. She was pronounced dead on arrival.

Please Don't Suck

Sci-Fi has taken Stargate and Stargate Atlantis from me and Battlestar Galactica is next on the chopping block. Had the last two seasons not sucked, I would be a bit more upset. Here is hoping that we get more Cylon Vs. Human badassness and less religion/philosophy crap.

Stimulus Musings

I have been doing a bit of reading on Obama's stimulus plans. Apparently there has been a bit of working of the original proposal due to concerns from Democrats in congress feeling that the plan was too heavy in tax breaks and too light on actual investment. This, imho, is how government should work. Both the President and Congress working together to craft legislation. Over the last eight years it seemed that it didn't really work that way. Instead, it was a lot of Bush wants X and congress gives Bush X. The interesting aspect here, for me at least, is that one group seems to be missing in the crafting of the stimulus plan.....Republicans. The major Republican voices that seem to be breaking out seem to be unified in being anti-stimulus. Republicans in the House have no shot at shooting down the stimulus plan. The Republicans in the Senate have, at best, a long shots chance at sustaining a filibuster to such a plan. Remember once Franken gets seated, Democrats have 59 votes (one short of the need 60 to break a filibuster). Considering that the plan has pretty solid backing from the American people accoring to a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll and a Gallup poll, one would think there would be at least a couple of Republicans interested in helping craft the final package.

I think the issue here comes in two parts. One, Republicans, other than wanting tax breaks for the upper class, simply don't have any ideas. Two, Republicans are banking on the short-term memory of the American people. I fully expect that shortly after the stimulus package is passed that Republicans will begin their 'See it didn't work 2009 tour'.

The Problem With Government

If, we the people, took government seriously people like Steve King (R-Iowa) wouldn't get elected.

The congressman says he doubts Obama’s sincerity when he explained that he chose to use his middle name so as to be historically consistent with past inaugurations, when America has heard the full names of its presidents echo from the inaugural stand.

“Whatever his reasons are,” King said, “the one he gave us could not be the reason.”

Really?

There are a number of things where I wish the person with the appropriate knowledge would sit me down and explain it to me. A short list would be.

1. The curvature of space.
2. Girls.
3. The popularity of Miley Cyrus.
4. How 75 percent of Republicans view Bush's job performance favorably.

The above list is in no particular order and if I am being honest No. 2 would usually be at the top of the list. Tonight, however, No. 4 would be sitting on my list alone. I just don't get it. Was it the needless war in Iraq, the near dismantling of our economy, the lowering of our standing as a world leader, the deficit or some combination of the disasters and near disasters that Republicans approve of?

Overnight Music

I warned ya Lefty.

Seasick Steve - Chiggers


I will make converts of you all!

Mission Failure

Israel has stated the the goal of their air strikes and incursion into Gaza is to weaken Hamas. The New York Times suggests it ain't working.

The more bombs in Gaza, the more Hamas’s support seems to be growing at the expense of the Palestinian Authority, already considered corrupt and distant from average Palestinians.

“The Palestinian Authority is one of the main losers in this war,” said Ghassan Khatib, an independent Palestinian analyst in the West Bank city of Ramallah. “How can it make gains in a war in which it is one of the casualties?”

Israel is proposing, with the tacit agreement of Egypt and the United States, to place the Palestinian Authority at the heart of an ambitious program to rebuild Gaza, administering reconstruction aid and securing Gaza’s borders. But that plan is already drawing skepticism. Mr. Khatib, for example, called the idea of any Palestinian Authority role in postwar Gaza “silly” and “naïve.”

Again, I am not saying that Israel should do nothing and simply allow rockets to be lobbed at them from Hamas. What I have been saying is that the response from Israel is shortsighted, hasn't worked in the past and probably isn't going to work this time. I actually believe it will make the problem worse.

*update*
As usual, Ezra does it better.

The fact that it's occupied by a verbal shrug of the shoulders is further evidence that Israel has no idea what it's still doing in Gaza, or what realistic outcome they favor.

Good To Have The Adults Back

Alberto Gonzales wouldn't answer the question, Michael Mukasey did his best to avoid answering, but Eric Holder doesn't have a problem stating the obvious.

"If you look at the history of the use of that technique, used by the Khmer Rouge, used in the Inquisition, used by the Japanese and prosecuted by us as war crimes. We prosecuted our own soldiers for using it in Vietnam. I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, waterboarding is torture."

Later on, when asked if the President could override the law against torture Holder responded:

"Mr. Chairman, no one is above the law. The president has a constitutional obligation to faithfully execute the laws of the United States."

As a bit of a sidenote, I get a bit tired of when Obama is asked if he will direct Holder to start some sort of investigation into the torture ok'ed by the Bush administration he responds with some form of 'we want to look forward, not back'. If Obama believes as Holder does, and considering he is his nominee he should, Bush and company are guilty of war crimes. There should be an investigation and there should be charges. Breaking the law should have consequences. I think the biggest thing people miss on this side of the discussion is that the Bush administration, on this issue, put us on equal standing with the Khmer Rouge.

Overnight Music

Nina Gordon - Straight Outta Compton

Stop The Stupid

When you have to refer to fictional shows in order to justify policy you support, that policy you support sucks.

Prison Break

Bye-bye.

Sorry to see it go. The show seemed to go off the tracks a bit in Seasons 1 and 2, but this past season has been almost as good as the first. A lot of my shows are being eaten by execs. I refuse to believe I have such bad taste.

Itunes to be DRM-free

And about damned time. Record companies need to realize that the music landscape has changed and that all the time and money spent fighting against that new landscape would be better spent finding ways to make it work for them.

I download a bunch of music, usually samples from small labels used to generate buzz for new signings or albums. I don't spend much money downloading music. I enjoy sharing the music I find with others and since most of the time I can't do that on Itunes, I rarely bother with the site. Getting rid of DRM is likely to squeeze more than a couple of bucks out of me and I doubt I am alone.

Myth Buster

Not an urban legend.

By accident or by design, she believed, surgeons in their unit had been transplanting black-market kidneys from residents of the world's most impoverished slums into the failing bodies of wealthy dialysis patients from Israel, Europe and the United States. According to Scheper-Hughes, the arrangements were being negotiated by an elaborate network of criminals who kept most of the money themselves. For about $150,000 per transplant, these organ brokers would reach across continents to connect buyers and sellers, whom they then guided to "broker-friendly" hospitals here in the United States (places where Scheper-Hughes says surgeons were either complicit in the scheme or willing to turn a blind eye). The brokers themselves often posed as or hired clergy to accompany their clients into the hospital and ensure that the process went smoothly. The organ sellers typically got a few thousand dollars for their troubles, plus the chance to see an American city.

Earmarks

I spent some time hanging out with a friend that complains about earmarks more than John McCain does. The problem with people that do this is that they usually don't have a clue as to what percentage of the federal budget earmarks account for. The answer is a little over two percent. So if you have a friend like mine, the next time your friend starts in on earmarks tell them to stop being stupid. Yes, there are some bad earmarks out there, but earmark reform will do little in getting the federal budget under control.

Overnight Music

Telekinesis - Tokyo


I can't stress enough how much I like I Am Fuel, You Are Friends who first pointed me toward Telekinesis and many other great bands.

Deep Thought

Jim Rome Is Burning would be a much better show if Jim Rome was literally burning.

*painful admission* I used to listen and actually like his radio show.

Won't End Well III

Dig around the site for versions I and II on this subject, I'm too lazy to link to them. However, I thought this post by Marc Lynch summed up what my problem with the whole Israel/Gaza/Hamas fiasco.

It was a profoundly dismaying experience. Because if Ambassador Meridor is taken at his word, then Israel has no strategy in Gaza.

Asked three times by audience members, Meridor simply could not offer any plausible explanation as to how its military campaign in Gaza would achieve its stated goals.

The military campaign by Israel in Gaza is looking more and more like our little trip into Iraq. We picked out our bad guys, bombed them, but had no plan for the end game. We disbanded the Iraqi army because we lacked any sort of plan for post military action. We misspent and just plain lost tons of money because we lacked any sort of plan for post military action. We appointed unqualified political hacks to key reconstruction posts because we lacked any sort of plan for post military action. And it certainly looks and sounds as if Israel has no plan for post military action.

Stop The Stupid

Make it stop.

Wurzelbacher says he'll spend 10 days covering the fighting and explaining why Israeli forces are mounting attacks against Hamas.

He tells WNWO-TV in Toledo that he wants go over there and let their 'Average Joes' share their story

How To Look Weak And Stupid

See Harry Reid.

How The Zombie Plague Will Spread

I imagine it will look something like Walmart's spread across the country.

Overnight Music

A request from Lefty, who was worried that I would post more Seasick Steve if I couldn't come up with anything new.

Wallis Bird - Counting To Sleep

Reid's Top Ten

A brief look at the top 10 things we should be seeing from Reid and company. Interesting that there doesn't seem to be anything there on financial regulation.

Thoughts On Robots

Yglesias comes down on the nay side of Spitzer's proposal.

After the human race is enslaved by robots, there are going to be small rebel groups hiding out somewhere and Elliot Spitzer’s going to be writing op-eds about how “no one could have predicted” that the robots would rebel and overthrow their masters

Won't End Well II

Instead of repeating what I said here, I'll just say this doesn't help things.

Overnight Music

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Shaft


via Balloon Juice

I Predict Things

I want Ohio State to win tonight even though it will probably cost me some money in a family run bowl pick-em contest. For Ohio State to win they need to throw everything they have on defense at Colt McCoy. They need to generate turnovers, sacks and get plenty of pressure. I think one of my biggest disappointments, as a Buckeye fan, this season has been the fact that too often the defense has seemed pretty passive. Statwise, they have done pretty well. The problem is that that those stats are helped by playing in a Big Ten not known for offense.

On offense, Tressel needs to stop being so conservative. They are going to have to score touchdowns tonight. Too often Tressel seems to shut things down once they are in field goal range. Three points and play defense seems to be the MO with Tressel's play calling once on the other side of the 50. He is going to have to take some risks tonight. I'm talking consistent agressive play calling, not just an occassional deep route and a reverse thrown in between 20 dives between the tackles.

I see neither happening. Gimmie Texas and please let me be wrong.

Current prediction record.
5-4

Lincoln Vs. Reagan

Ezra Klein makes a pretty good observation. One of the rules to being a Republican apparently is the need to believe that Ronald Reagan was the greatest president ever. Well, what about Lincoln? One possible explanation...

It's almost as if they think naming him will offend certain elements of their coalition. The elements that listens to songs entitled "Barack, the Magic Negro," for instance.

Good Thing We Don't Pay Attention To Iraq Anymore

Because this sucks.

A woman wearing an explosives belt packed with ball bearings blew herself up in Baghdad near one of Iraq's most sacred Shiite shrines, killing at least 40 people and wounding scores more in a devastating attack that shattered festive celebrations ahead of Shiite Islam's holiest day, Interior Ministry officials said.

Since the surge worked we can just ignore this.

You Know You Suck

You aren't good at your job when people replace you with Stuart Smalley?

There Should Be A Rule

I haven't really followed the who Bernard Madoff saga. I'm no financial expert and apparently the people that gave Madoff money as well as those tasked with regulating the whole industry aren't either, but if you scam people out of 50 billion there should be a rule that you don't get bail.

Digging Up Old Stuff

I've mentioned An Apology From An Arab to many people and never pass the link on to them. You people can stop your complaining now.

Apparently I'm A Terrorist

Who knew that when I wrote this, that I could be labeled a terrorist in some states.

and labeled as terrorists -- activists devoted to such wide-ranging causes as promoting human rights and establishing bike lanes.

Won't End Well

Diving into the Israel/Hamas fight is more than over my head, but I will at least stick my toe in the pool.

Israel is being stupid. Before anybody gets in a big huff, I in no way think Hamas is justified in their actions. Still, Israel is being stupid. Hasn't this dance happened before? Has anything changed? Once Israel is done with their military action there will probably be a short period of peace, but as a betting man, I wouldn't put money on it being a lasting one. I would, however, put money on the fact that they are creating more terrorists down the road and building more roadblocks to a lasting piece.

Israel foreign minister Tzipi Livni had this to say regarding the current situation.

“Countries send in forces in order to battle terrorism, but we are not asking the world to take part in the battle and send their forces in — we are only asking them to allow us to carry it out until we reach a point in which we decide our goals have been reached for this point.”

We (the US) tried this. The lesson that we learned, hopefully, is that a military victory does not defeat terrorism. Especially if on the way to your military victory you end up with scenes like this...

Inside Gaza City, where windows are blown out, electricity is cut and drinking water scarce, residents’ telephones rang repeatedly with recorded Israeli military messages saying, “We are getting rid of Hamas and we will use still other means to do so.” Leaflets dropped from airplanes say: “Hamas is getting a taste of the power of the Israeli military after more than a week and we have other methods that are still harsher to deal with Hamas. They will prove very painful. For your safety, please evacuate your neighborhood.” But many in Gaza said they had no place to go since no many neighborhoods received the same message.

It sure beats the hell out of me what the solution is, but I think it is pretty clear that military action isn't going to create the end sceniro that Israel wants. I would say a good place to start would be here.

In addition to Zeitoun, the neighborhoods where the Israeli military has been most active are Toufah and Shajaiah. All are poor areas where Hamas has strong political support.

Working to lift such areas out of poverty, rather than creating more like them with military strikes, will do more long-term good than Israel's current solution.

Peyton Manning = MVP

MJD has a pretty smart take on Peyton Manning being named MVP.

Here's what I think happened. A lot of guys were fantastic this year. There were MVP-caliber performances all over the league. But there wasn't that one guy who stood out clearly above the rest. And it also happened to be that lot of the guys who did have MVP years don't necessarily fall in the "superstar" category. Chad Pennington, James Harrison, and Michael Turner aren't moving a lot of Fatheads, you know?

And since they don't have those big names, it might have taken a little bit of a pair to write their names down on an MVP ballot. Peyton Manning, meanwhile, because his name is Peyton Manning, is very easy to write down. Because not only is he a great player, and not only did he, like a lot of guys, have an MVP caliber year ... but he's Peyton Manning. Everyone knows how great he is. And the familiar name and his history with the award made writing his name on the ballot feel like snuggling up against a warm, comfortable, familiar blanket.

There isn't much that I disagree with there, but I think there is something that MJD missed. Because of Peyton Manning, the Colts can win the Super Bowl or at least make a pretty serious run. I can't see the Falcons making the Super Bowl because of Michael Turner, the Dolphins making it because of Chad Pennington and defensive players get zero love in such balloting. On the other hand Manning battled through early season injuries, revamping on the offensive line, injuries elsewhere on the team and is just now hitting his stride.

As well, so much of this type of voting is based off of how you finished. Manning has completed over 70 percent of his passes in the last six games. He has 10 TDs and three interceptions during the same period of time.

Manning certainly isn't a sexy pick, but it does make sense.