Thursday's throwdowns

NBA DIARY:
Los Angeles Lakers 100, Dallas 95: see, the Mavericks are good...but not good enough. On a night when Kobe Bryant only plays 11 minutes in the first half due to being banged up, the Mavs still trail by 4 at the break; and Bryant only scores 11 points for the game, but he hits the game-winner and the Mavs lose anyway. Another key stat: the Mavs shot below 40% for the game.

Frustrating, but then one supposes that pretty much everybody in the Western Conference knows they're playing to be #2 behind the Lakers.

NCAA HOOPS DIARY:
Michigan State 60, Minnesota 53: Another bruising Big Ten game. But the Spartans ground out a win. Crucial stat: Michigan State's bench outscored the Minnesota bench 27 to 3; and held the Gophers to 41% shooting from the floor.

Some say the physical style of play in the Big Ten hurts conference teams when it comes to tournament time. Hmmm---but didn't MSU make it to last year's final two???

POLITICAL NEWS DEPT:
There seems no doubt that, in Massachusetts, Republican Scott Brown has at least a chance at upsetting Democrat Martha Coakley in that special election for Ted Kennedy's old senate seat, as even the NY Times acknowledges that Dems are scrambling:
"With a crucial 60th vote in the Senate at stake, the perceived tightening has sent Democratic operatives scrambling to Massachusetts to help the Coakley campaign and has prompted groups on both sides of the aisle to bombard the state with advertising. Ms. Coakley forcefully attacked Mr. Brown this week, an unusual step for a front-runner, painting him as an acolyte of former President George W. Bush who is out of touch with the state’s values... Predicting the outcome of the vote on Tuesday grows more difficult each day. Many Democrats still insist that a Republican win is impossible, given that Democrats outnumber Republicans by three to one in the state and that Ms. Coakley, who was elected attorney general in 2006, has far more name recognition, money and organizational support. A poll published Sunday by The Boston Globe gave Ms. Coakley a 15-point lead. But the poll of 554 likely voters, conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, found those who were “extremely interested” in the race virtually split between Ms. Coakley and Mr. Brown. And Democrats are clearly unnerved by other recent polls that found the two neck and neck."

Meanwhile, according to Pew Research, a very respected polling firm, when it comes to the generic congressional ballot question for 2010, Dems lead Republicans only 46-44%--almost a dead heat, great news for Republicans. Again, remember, Democrats usually lead this poll by a good margin.

By the way, on another political matter: Democrats and progressives rant and rave about Senate Republicans' use of the filibuster against legislation they oppose, such as the Democrats' health care bill. A minority flouting the supposed will of the majority, blah blah blah. Indeed, Gail Collins of the NY Times railed about it today in her column--and Jonah Goldberg at NRO sets her straight:
"But here's one reason why "90 percent of the country isn't marching on the Capitol" to protest the filibuster: Americans like it. Another reason: Nowhere close to 90 percent of the American people support the Democrats' health-care bill. If anything, trends are moving in the direction of 90 percent opposing it. Another reason: Americans are more worried about keeping their jobs or finding one, and marching on Washington doesn't seem like good way to go about that."

And don't forget too that when Democrats are in the minority in Congress, progressives love the filibuster.

Wednesday's wash

NCAA HOOPS DIARY:
Women's basketball--Notre Dame 81, South Florida 64: Notre Dame got a tougher test at home than perhaps many expected from USF. But remember that this Bulls team won the Women's NIT last year. Key: ND went on a 19-3 run late in the game to clinch the victory. In that run, South Florida made only 1 of 8 shots and committed 5 turnovers; the Irish defense finally kicked in. Next up for Notre Dame--a trip to #1 and perhaps unbeatable UConn Saturday night. Can Notre Dame even stay close?

IN OTHER NCAA news...
So football coach Lane Kiffin leaves Tennessee after one season to take the job at Southern Cal. Wow--such loyalty he shows to Tennessee. That seems to be the reality of collegiate big-time coaching today--have new contract, will travel.

NEWS OF THE DAY:
...would have the earthquake in Haiti. We pray for the survivors.

It's certainly a good thing for President Obama to offer "unwavering support" for Haiti and its quake victims. I hope our liberal friends won't try to claim in the days to come that former President Bush wouldn't have done the same. He did--see for example the tsunami that hit south Asia and all the Bush administration did for them...

Tuesday's trackings

NBC'S LATE NIGHT MESS DEPT:
Conan O'Brien says he won't move to midnight:
"The murky mess that is NBC's late-night schedule got a little clearer today, as Conan O'Brien announced he would not host "The Tonight Show" at 12:05am to accomodate moving a shortened "Jay Leno Show" to 11:35pm. O'Brien, who took over the "Tonight Show" reins from Leno on June 1, issued a statement in which he explained "The Tonight Show" would no longer be "The Tonight Show" if it were moved back, and said he wanted no part in damaging what he considered the "greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting."

And who can honestly blame him? I still bet that O'Brien will move to Fox.

LIBERALISM AND AMERICAN SCHOOLS DEPT:
Maybe things are changing. Look at what liberal NY Times columnist Bob Herbert writes today:

"The president of the American Federation of Teachers says she will urge her members to accept a form of teacher evaluation that takes student achievement into account and that the union has commissioned an independent effort to streamline disciplinary processes and make it easier to fire teachers who are guilty of misconduct. In a speech to be delivered Tuesday in Washington, Randi Weingarten plans to call for more frequent and more rigorous evaluations of public schoolteachers, and she says she will assert that standardized test scores and other measures of student performance should be an integral part of the evaluation process. The use of student test scores to measure teacher performance has been anathema to many teachers. Ms. Weingarten is not proposing that they be the only — or even the primary — element in determining teacher quality. But she told me in an interview over the weekend that she wants to “stop this notion” that her membership is in favor of keeping bad teachers in the classroom. “I will try to convince my members that, of course, we have to look at student test scores and student learning,” she said....Ms. Weingarten’s ideas for upgrading the teacher evaluation process are good ones and should be embraced and improved upon where possible by those in charge of the nation’s schools. The point is not just to get rid of failing teachers, but to improve the skills and effectiveness of the millions of teachers who show up in the classrooms every day. If the union chooses not to follow through on these proposals, its credibility will take a punishing and well-deserved hit."

NY Times progressives calling for greater accountability for America's public school teachers! It's a welcome development.

OBAMA WATCH:
Three national polls have come out recently, looking at President Obama's job approval rating. The results? CNN has him at 51%, Gallup at 50, CBS at only 46%.

Again--my, how far he has fallen from a year ago, when the president was around 70%.
Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, apparently Rasmussen's next poll will have Democrat Coakley up by only 2 points.

Monday's musings

NCAA HOOPS DIARY:
Good news over the weekend for the hoops teams from Notre Dame. The Notre Dame men beat #8 West Virginia at home, 70-68. Most importantly: is not only the fact that the Irish beat a highly-ranked opponent, which it needed for its NCAA tourney resume, but that ND came out...in a huge game, at home...and played tough on both ends, hitting big shots, defending, and racing out to a 20 point lead. The Irish didn't play tight. Yes, they had to hang on, but in a league as tough as the Big East your opponents will make runs. But can you as a team hang in? The Irish did it. Maybe they have a shot at making the NCAAs this year after all.
Meanwhile the #3 ranked Notre Dame women's hoops team won again, 81-46 over Villanova. Most importantly: the Irish beat Villanova, a team which rarely turns the ball over, makes shots, and plays a slowdown, very patient style that usually gives ND fits. Not this time--the Irish forced 34 turnovers, by far a season's high for Villanova, and won easily. That pressure defense for Muffet McGraw's team is something special. They'll need it to at least stay close to powerful UConn.
News not so good though for the University of Michigan's men's team, as they blew a 17 point lead, at home, and lost to Northwestern. Loss of defensive focus in the 2nd half was probably the key, as the Wolverines gave up 40 points and lots of wide-open 3-point looks to Northwestern in the second 20 minutes. Young players just can never get it--you can never lose focus. It should be emphasized, too--Northwestern is no joke this year in basketball, either. They've got shooters and they execute their system well.

IS THE RECESSION OVER YET? DEPT:
Maybe not:
"The average price of regular gasoline in the United States is up 14 cents over a three-week period to $2.74. That's according to the national Lundberg Survey of fuel prices released Sunday. Analyst Trilby Lundberg says the average price for a gallon of mid-grade was $2.86. Premium was at $2.97. Cheyenne, Wyo., had the lowest average price among cities surveyed at $2.36 a gallon for regular. Anchorage was the highest at $3.28."

Moral? Drill, baby, drill!! We need more production...
By the way, Democrats just keep getting themselves in trouble, don't they? Now Dem Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2008 apparently spoke of Barack Obama being a good candidate because he was "light-skinned" and didn't use a "Negro dialect." I go along with Mark Steyn's take on it:
"You can talk about how light-skinned and clean the Negro is and that's perfectly okay as long as you support the president's policies or (as Mr. Obama put it in his acceptance of Reid's apology) "social justice." But, if you go along to a town-hall meeting and say you oppose the health-care bill because you're very concerned at what you hear about waiting times for MRIs in Canada, you're obviously a knuckledragging racist who's itching to string that uppity Negro from the nearest tree."

As for the 2010 electoral prospects question, more good news for Republicans today (and more bad news for Harry Reid).
A Las Vegas newspaper poll shows that Nevadans who oppose the current Democratic health care plan working its way through Congress outnumber those who support it by about 20 points. (and of course Sen. Reid is the guy on point trying to pass it.)
Oh, and Reid still trails likely Republican opponents by about 10 points. Reid's numbers haven't been much over 40% for months. Bad sign, Senator.
And at least one poll over the weekend has Republican Scott Brown leading Martha Coakley in that Massachusetts Senate race. I'll believe it when I see it--Massachusetts is just so darn heavily Democratic--but there does seem to be a lot of enthusiasm there for Brown, and so maybe he has a shot...

Friday's football picks (and other stuff)

NCAA FOOTBALL DIARY:
Yes, Alabama's football team is very good, and one certainly can't say that the Tide don't deserve the national title. But Texas QB Colt McCoy's injury last night very early in the BCS national title game just flat-out took all the fun and all the magic out of that game for me. You too?

One really wanted to see McCoy, who's had a great, storied career at UT, get the chance to see what he could do against that Alabama defense. But now we'll never know.

NCAA HOOPS DIARY:
Michigan 64, Penn State 55: One of Michigan's main problems this season so far (well, one of many) has been cold 3-point shooting. But last night the Wolverines went 7 of 12 from 3-point land in the 2nd half, and rallied from 16 down to beat the Nittany Lions. Defensively, they forced some turnovers, too. All this will have to continue to Michigan to salvage this season...

ECONOMY WATCH:
Is the recession over, as some bumbling Obama administration flacks have claimed? You be the judge:
"Lack of confidence in the economic recovery led employers to shed a more-than-expected 85,000 jobs in December even as the unemployment rate held at 10 percent. The rate would have been higher if more people had been looking for work instead of leaving the labor force because they can't find jobs."

Meanwhile, Democrats and the Coakley campaign continue to get nervous over that Senate campaign in Massachusetts:
"And a new poll that showed a competitive race between Ms. Coakley and Mr. Brown has generated buzz on conservative blogs and energized the Brown campaign — though many news organizations dispute its methodology. In a sudden flurry of activity, the Coakley campaign released its first television advertisement on Thursday and accepted the endorsement of Mr. Kennedy’s widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, at a splashy event outside Boston. A Brown win remains improbable, given that Democrats outnumber Republicans by 3 to 1 in the state and that Ms. Coakley, the state’s attorney general, has far more name recognition, money and organizational support. But a tighter-than-expected margin in the closely watched race would still prompt soul-searching among Democrats nationally, since the outcome will be the first real barometer of whether problems facing the party will play out in tangible ways at the polls later this year."

One suspects some of that "soul-searching" is going on right now, hence the Times writing about it.
By the way, so what is the biggest mistake the Obama administration is making concerning this massive health care bill? Peggy Noonan diagnoses that today, and the consequences it could have for the president:
"What a blunder this thing has been, win or lose, what a miscalculation on the part of the president. The administration misjudged the mood and the moment. Mr. Obama ran, won, was sworn in and began his work under the spirit of 2008—expansive, part dreamy and part hubristic. But as soon as he was inaugurated ,the president ran into the spirit of 2009—more dug in, more anxious, more bottom-line—and didn't notice. At the exact moment the public was announcing it worried about jobs first and debt and deficits second, the administration decided to devote its first year to health care, which no one was talking about. The great recession changed everything, but not right away....The public in 2009 would have been happy to see a simple bill that mandated insurance companies offer coverage without respect to previous medical conditions. The administration could have had that—and the victory of it—last winter. Instead, they were greedy for glory. It was not worth it—not worth the town-hall uprisings and the bleeding of centrist support, not worth the rebranding of the president from center-left leader to leftist leader, not worth the proof it provided that the public's concerns and the administration's are not the same, not worth a wasted first year that should have been given to two things and two things only: economic matters and national security."

Note that Noonan criticizes Republicans, too--she mentions that a prominent Republican congressman told her that too many in the GOP hope to regain power merely by watching the Democrats "destroy themselves." That's not a program. That's not, as Noonan says, being "serious." I agree. One thing Repubs could do is read Jonah Goldberg's NRO column today.
In which he urges Republicans to--copy Domino's Pizza. Huh? Simple: admit, as Domino's is doing in recent commercials, that the GOP screwed up a bit in recent years. That it wasn't liberal enough? No, a thousand times no. Rather--it promised to deliver conservatism to the American people, but too often, it didn't.

Read Goldberg's whole piece; it's a good starting point.

Now, on to my NFL playoff picks for this week:

CINCINNATI 2.5 over NY Jets. PICK: BENGALS. Last week's game in NY meant nothing to the Bengals; they played few of their offensive starters and seemed disinterested. But I think now, with the playoffs here, and at home, it'll be different. Don't forget too the significant difference in experience, both in general and in playoff football, when it comes to Carson Palmer vs Mark Sanchez.

DALLAS 4 over Philadelphia. PICK: COWBOYS. Yes, I know, I've been slow to get on the Cowboy bandwagon. But last week's win was pretty darn convincing, and it wasn't a case of Philly resting starters or having nothing to play for. It's hard to see what the Eagles can do offensively to offset the dominance of the Dallas D. And in the end that will be decisive.

ARIZONA 1 over Green Bay. PICK: PACKERS. I still have a lot of respect for the Cardinals, and I don't think they've had a big post-Super Bowl letdown or decline. But it just looks like the Pack, both with their defense and Aaron Rodgers' efficiency, is playing too well right now to lose.

NEW ENGLAND 3.5 over Baltimore. PICK: PATRIOTS. I'm with those who doubt that the Pats have the defense to carry them all the way to the big game this year. But--in this game, at home, you just can't pick Joe Flacco to beat Tom Brady.

Thursday's throwdowns

TV WATCH DEPT:
Jay Leno's prime-time talk show appears to be in trouble:
"Two months ago Jay Leno said he'd take back his old job hosting NBC's "The Tonight Show" if the network asked him to. Now it looks like he might have to be the one doing the asking. About halfway through his first season hosting "The Jay Leno Show" in prime time on the Peacock Network, an industry Web site is reporting NBC is pulling the plug on Leno. FTVLive.com reported the story Thursday morning with the not-so-subtle headline C-Ya: NBC to pull the plug on Leno! "The Jay Leno Show" began on NBC in September, airing Monday through Friday at 10 p.m., where it has displaced several prime-time scripted dramas. For that, and for his less-than-stellar ratings thus far, Leno has taken heat within the TV industry as well as from critics."

Can't say I'm surprised. I was skeptical about this venture when NBC announced it. I have nothing against Leno, who seems like a nice guy and is often funny. But he faced difficult odds. People have so many choices now when it comes to television, what with digital cable, satellite, and the speedy growth of the DVR. There are talk shows everywhere, all day. And many still watch Conan O'Brien or David Letterman after their late local news. I don't think Americans had the appetite for yet another talk show, in prime time yet.
If indeed his show gets dumped, what will happen to Leno? Will he actually go back to the Tonight Show and displace Conan? Stay tuned...

NCAA HOOPS DIARY:
Michigan State 54, Wisconsin 47: Gritty, gutty, a bruising battle...the usual descriptors apply again as the Spartans battle the Badgers in the tough Big Ten. Michigan State won this one, thanks to being at home, making some key plays down the stretch, and winning the rebounding battle, all good signs. But they have to get better at making free throws and having fewer turnovers, areas in which they still struggle. Is Purdue the conference favorite now...?

2010 ELECTION AND ETC UPDATE:
In Massachusetts, in the special senate election to finally fill Ted Kennedy's old seat, it does appear that Republican Scott Brown has at least a slight chance to pull an upset, and defeat the heavy favorite, Martha Coakley. Given that this is solidly, complete Democratic Massachusetts, of all places, this is big news, and again shows how the political environment is changing--for the worse--for Democrats.
Note also that in Arkansas, Republicans for sure have a great chance at a pickup. There, incumbent Dem Senator Blanche Lincoln literally trails every single possible Republican opponent, and has had low approval ratings for quite some time.

Wednesday's wash

NCAA HOOPS DIARY:
Notre Dame 74, South Florida 73: the Irish get a big win on the road. The game shouldn't have been that close; ND had a 13 point lead in the second half, but their defense got a bit lax and USF made a predictable run at home. When will the Irish learn that they've got to play defense for an entire GAME? And yet, and yet...the Irish made some big free throws down the stretch, and some big shots, and they found a way to win a close game. Let's see if it can spur them on to greater things.

NBA DIARY:
Dallas 98, Detroit 93: The Mavericks were sluggish and sloppy, returning home after a 3-game road trip. But they managed to grind this one out anyway; it helped that they were playing the Pistons, who have now lost 10 games in a row. Looks like the Pistons are in full rebuilding mode for this year. Meanwhile, the Mavs are in first place in their division and have a lot of wins, but one gets the impression they haven't hit their stride yet.
Ah, well--in NBA-land, where the playoffs don't start for nearly 4 months yet (!), there's still plenty of time to find a groove, I guess...

OBAMA'S LOST CAMPAIGN PROMISES UPDATE:
So in the 2008 campaign, President Obama promised "transparency" and open meetings, especially when it came to health care reform. So will congressional Democrats open up their closed-door negotiations, Speaker Pelosi, and allow C-Span to televise them?:
"Republicans seized on a newly released letter from the head of the C-SPAN network calling on congressional leaders to open the final talks to the public, and cited Obama's campaign trail pledge to do just that. Asked about that promise, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remarked, without elaboration: "There are a number of things he was for on the campaign trail."

Translation: no.
By the way, this has been a bad day for Democrats--in Connecticut, Democratic Senator Chris Dodd is about to announce that he will not run for re-election. Same story for Dem Senator Byron Dorgan in North Dakota. And same-same for Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter.
All seem to agree that this gives Republicans an outstanding chance for a pickup in North Dakota. They all also seem to agree that Dems may be in better shape in Connecticut, as popular state attorney general Richard Blumenthal, with good approval ratings, will surely replace Dodd on the party's senatorial ticket. But still, you never know. Don't lose track of the really important thing here: with all these retirements, Democrats are showing definitively that they know the environment for them in 2010 is tough, really tough; that they're in trouble. Take heart, conservatives...

STRAW MAN DEPT:
NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman in his piece today on terrorism:
"We can’t let this “war on terrorism” consume us. We can’t let our country become just The United States of Fighting Terrorism and nothing more. We are the people of July 4th — not Sept. 11th."

Calls to fix our security system, to make sure we're protected, and to understand the danger facing us are not calls to make us a terrorism-fighting nation and "nothing more." Indeed, making sure we're protected will allow us and all our people to, ahem, be all we can be...

And by the way--President Obama meanwhile reiterated yesterday his administration's determination to close the Guantanamo prison. Victor Davis Hanson, as always, takes his statement apart, piece by piece:
"Did a nonexistent Guantanamo terrorist detention center encourage al-Qaeda’s attacks all through the 1990s that culminated in 9/11? If Guantanamo serves no useful purpose other than to encourage the enemy’s efforts at recruitment, why has Obama kept it open for a year — and why is he not likely to close it for another year? Why not simply close it now? If Obama is really looking to identify the conditions that might have created a landscape for renewed attempts to harm the U.S. (there have been more terrorist attempts in 2009 than at any time since 9/11), he might consider his own administration’s rhetoric over the past year. Describing anti-terrorism efforts as “overseas contingency operations” aimed at “man-made disasters”; making references to a litany of American sins; confessing to underappreciation of pseudo-Islamic accomplishments like the printing press and the foundations of the Renaissance and Enlightenment; constantly trashing a prior American president — all of this has fostered the impression abroad that America no longer sees radical Islamic terrorists as an existential threat. If I were an Islamic terrorist, I would conclude that the present administration simply has lost interest in fighting, and that the time is ripe for a counterattack."

Indeed, one fears the counterattack is already happening.

Tuesday's trackings

ANOTHER OBAMA CAMPAIGN PLEDGE PUT TO THE TEST DEPT:
"The C-SPAN television network is calling on congressional leaders to open health care talks to cameras — something President Barack Obama promised as a candidate. Instead the most critical negotiations on Obama's health plan have taken place behind closed doors, as Republicans repeatedly point out. In a Dec. 30 letter to House and Senate leaders released Tuesday, C-SPAN chief executive Brian Lamb asked for negotiations on a compromise bill to be opened up for public viewing, as Democrats work to reconcile differences between legislation passed by the two chambers. Obama pledged during a presidential debate in January 2008 that he would be "bringing all parties together, and broadcasting those negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people can see what the choices are."

The Obama administration is put between a rock and a hard place here. You know Democratic congressional leaders don't want these negotiations televised (otherwise they wouldn't have held them behind closed doors in the first place). But Obama's 2008 campaign pledge is obvious. What will the administration do? And if it refuses to open these talks up to scrutiny, will our friends in the news media give that decision all the negative attention it deserves?
By the way, we noted yesterday how some members of the Obama administration tried to claim that the recession was over. Here's yet more evidence that such isn't true:

The number of buyers who agreed to purchase previously occupied homes fell sharply in November, a sign sales will fall this winter, undermining last summer's recovery."

LIBERAL CONFUSION ON TERRORISM DEPT:
This time it's Michael Kinsley who's confused, as he tries to explain why terrorists caught in the United States deserve court dates and Miranda protections:
"The charms of liberal democracy sometimes need to be defended by war, and Mr. Obama’s critics are right that war can’t be conducted with a high level of concern for individual justice. A liberal democracy aspires to punish only the guilty. But war is inherently unfair — it distributes suffering arbitrarily among enemy combatants, civilians and one’s own soldiers. A line has to be drawn somewhere to determine which of these utterly different standards of government behavior is applied where — and the nation’s border is as good a line as any.
Members of Al Qaeda are not the only ones affected by this double standard. The most repulsive and obviously guilty child molester — or drug kingpin who may also have information that the government could use — gets American justice, while an innocent child killed accidentally in our pursuit of terrorists gets no justice at all. (This second part of the equation doesn’t seem to bother the Cheneys and the Gingriches.) Any place you draw the line, it will be possible to come up with what lawyers call “a parade of horribles.” Any line you draw can be made to seem absurd, because it is absurd. But the line must be drawn somewhere."

Sigh.
Oh, but what drug kingpins or child molesters do does of course bother all of us. And yes, the "line must be drawn somewhere." But why the trouble for Kinsley and others in seeing the mistake in where they draw THEIR "line"? Look, druggies or child molesters are not involved in a WAR, full of violent attacks against U.S. military and governmental targets, against the United States. So, yes, therefore they go to the U.S. legal system. But terrorists, be they captured in Yemen or in Detroit, are engaged in just such a war. Therefore they should be treated as such--just as we surely, in World War II for example, would have treated a captured German or Japanese commando trying to wreak violent havoc in the United States. Such go to military courts. They don't deserve all the constitutional protections enjoyed by American citizens. What's so hard to understand.

Yes, indeed, "the line has to be drawn somewhere." And it's not hard to see that the Kinsleys of the world draw it at the wrong place.
Furthermore, Rich Lowry today on NRO puts the attempted Christmas Day bombing in perspective in re: what it means for progressive beliefs concerning terrorism:
"[The attempted bombing] put paid to the notion that terrorism is the byproduct of a few, specific U.S. policies and of our image abroad. This view dominates the Left and animates the Obama administration. It informs its drive to shutter Guantanamo Bay, to get out of Iraq, and to cater to “international opinion.” If we are only nice and likable enough, goes the theory, the Abdul Mutallabs of the world will never be tempted to violent mayhem. Only the young Nigerian didn’t appear the least bit moved by Pres. Barack Obama’s commitment to close Gitmo in a year. He didn’t seem to care that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will get a civilian trial in New York. He didn’t appear to be fazed at all by Obama’s Cairo and U.N. speeches, or a year’s worth of international goodwill gestures. He just wanted to destroy an airliner. It shouldn’t be hard to fathom why. Abdul Mutallab was in the grip of a violent ideology with an existential hatred of the United States at its core, an ideology promoted by a global terrorist conspiracy under the loose rubric of al-Qaeda. This is the essential fact that the Left tends to minimize or deny."

Read the whole thing.

NCAA HOOPS DIARY:
The University of Notre Dame women's team won its 13th straight game to open this season, 79-75 at Purdue. This Purdue team is only 7-7 on the season. Watching the game, I wondered how that could be. They played very well. Apparently they've been plagued with injuries. But look for them to be a factor in the Big Ten. For ND, it was a hard-fought win on the road; getting down by 10 in the first half didn't seem to faze them; and senior guard Melissa Lechlitner showed a lot of leadership, scoring 20 points and hitting some big 3s. Hopefully this game is another step in Muffet McGraw's team's growing process...towards March.

Monday's musings

NFL DIARY:
Buffalo 30, Indy 7: The Colts treated this final regular-season game as an exhibition game, and why not--given that the game was played in frigid conditions and heavy snow. But the most important starters on offense played a quarter, drove for a touchdown despite the cold, and hopefully maintained their edge. We'll see if the strategy works--the Colts now won't play until the weekend of January 16-17.
Bears 37, Lions 23: well, at least for the Lions, the season is over. Two more wins than last year; but is a 2-14 season "improvement"??? No, of course not. The Lions have a tiny few building blocks--Matthew Stafford, DB Louis Delmas, TE Brandon Pettigrew. But they still have a long, long way to go...but then, what else is new. Jim Schwartz found out this year how hard it is to break a culture of losing.

NCAA HOOPS DIARY:
Both Michigan teams from major conferences got needed wins over the weekend. The University of Michigan beat Ohio State, 73-64. Most important to this observer were the big games the Wolverines got from their stars, Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims, and the added energy with which Michigan played. But they've gotta play with that energy every game! When will teams learn that...
And Michigan State beat #25 Northwestern, on the road, 91-70. Everyone contributed for the Spartans, including their bench, which outscored the Wildcats, 40-18. Will the Spartans again build towards that March run? Maybe they're doing so now...

OBAMA WATCH:
The criticism continues to pound the administration, including from those who want to support Obama, such as this CNN op-ed piece from a progressive academic who points out problems with the administration's message:
"...the response to the Undiebomber underscores a problem the current administration does not share with its predecessor, which not only "stayed on message" but largely controlled it for the first six years of Bush's presidency: the ability to communicate a clear vision to the American people. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano initially suggested, in a tone intended to reassure, that the failed terrorist attack proved the system works. A few days later, when that comment could no longer even pass through airport screening machines, the president reversed course, calling the event a systemic failure of catastrophic proportions.
Napolitano's gaffe (which, to be fair, she later sought to correct) was not an isolated incident. It is emblematic of a seat-of-the-pants approach to speaking with the American people about issues that really matter to them that is increasingly undermining the administration's credibility (and with it, its poll numbers). Just two weeks ago, on the Sunday morning talk shows, one member of the White House economic team confidently asserted that the recession was over -- a statement that was tone deaf at best to a nation in which one in six people is out of work or has given up looking and one in five families is in danger of losing its home. An hour later, a second senior member of the White House economic team responded on a different show that the recession is definitely not over."

Indeed, what are the central themes of this administration? With Reagan, it was less taxes, tough on communism. With W, it was the war on terror and less taxes. With Obama...they don't come to mind.
Perhaps this is why in today's latest poll results, Gallup shows the president's approval rating at only 49%, while Rasmussen shows that those who oppose the Democrats' health care plans outnumber those who support them 52-42%.

New Year's Eve football picks

This week's NFL picks--I was 7-9 the last week I picked them. Time to get back on that roll...

ARIZONA 3.5 over Green Bay. PICK: CARDINALS. With a win, Arizona can guarantee itself a home playoff game. That might give them the extra oomph they need.

ATLANTA 2.5 over Tampa Bay. PICK: FALCONS. They've continued to play hard for Coach Mike Smith, and even with all their injuries, they have a big talent advantage here.

Baltimore 10.5 over OAKLAND. PICK: RAIDERS. With the Ravens' inconsistent offense, I think this many points is too much to cover for Baltimore on the road.

Indianapolis at BUFFALO--off the board. PICK: COLTS. Because I think the Colts backups can beat the Bills first-teamers.

New Orleans at CAROLINA--off the board. PICK: PANTHERS. They seem to be playing better football right now.

Chicago 3 over DETROIT. PICK: BEARS. With all the Lions' injuries, their offense seems to have been hardest hit; they just can't score.

CLEVELAND 1.5 over Jacksonville. PICK: BROWNS. They're hot, and at home--ride 'em.

DALLAS 3 over Philadelphia. PICK: EAGLES. More big-time playmakers on Philly's side, and the Eagles' offense is clicking slightly better than is the Cowboys'.

DENVER 13 over Kansas City. PICK: CHIEFS. With Denver's offense, I still think odds are that 13 points is too much to cover.

HOUSTON 8 over New England. PICK: PATRIOTS. I wouldn't be surprised if the Patriots play their regulars in this game longer than many suspect.

Pittsburgh at MIAMI--off the board. PICK: STEELERS. The Steelers still have a shot at the playoffs, so they have more to play for. That might give them the oomph they need.

MINNESOTA 9 over NY Giants. PICK: VIKINGS. What do the Giants have left to play for? A promising season completely gone down the tubes.

NY JETS 10 over Cincinnati. PICK: BENGALS. My reading of the situation tells me that Marvin Lewis will play his regulars for a good while, and the Jets' offense has been iffy at best.

SAN DIEGO 4 over Washington. PICK: CHARGERS. San Diego is playing so well, and the Redskins' offense has been so putrid, that you have to go with the Bolts here.

San Francisco 7 over ST. LOUIS. PICK: 49ERS. That Niners defense should shut the injured Rams down.

Tennessee 4.5 over SEATTLE. PICK: TITANS. Look for Vince Young to have a big game.

Wednesday's wash

THE XMAS ALMOST-A-BOMBING TERRORISM UPDATE:
Wow, the Obama administration is taking it on the chin these days--from many of its allies in punditry and elsewhere, who deplore its failures and its attitude. From Ruth Marcus in today's Washington Post:
"The more I think about the Christmas all-but-bombing, the angrier I get. At the multiple failures that allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to get on the plane with explosives sewn inside his underwear. And at the Obama administration's initial, everything's-fine-everybody-move-right-along reaction....And how can it be, in the face of all this, that the administration's communications strategy, cooked up on a conference call, was to assure us that they were looking into things but in the meantime we should settle down? This was not just one supposedly out-of-context stumble by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano; it was the official line. Making the rounds of Sunday talk shows, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs resisted every effort to get him to acknowledge that something had gone seriously wrong."
And then there's this surprising evisceration from Maureen Dowd in today's NY Times:
"Before he left for vacation, Obama tried to shed his Spock mien and juice up the empathy quotient on jobs. But in his usual inspiring/listless cycle, he once more appeared chilly in his response to the chilling episode on Flight 253, issuing bulletins through his press secretary and hitting the links. At least you have to seem concerned.... Citing the attempt of the Nigerian’s father to warn U.S. authorities six months ago, the president intoned: “It now appears that weeks ago this information was passed to a component of our intelligence community but was not effectively distributed so as to get the suspect’s name on a no-fly list.” In his detached way, Spock was letting us know that our besieged starship was not speeding into a safer new future, and that we still have to be scared. Heck of a job, Barry."


NCAA FOOTBALL UPDATE:
So Texas Tech has indeed fired Coach Mike Leach. He was accused of, among other things, confining an injured player to a small, confined space more than once out of concerns for the player's work ethic.
This is sad to me because I've thought for some time that Leach, despite his at-times quirky strangeness, was an excellent innovator when it came to football offenses, and I enjoyed watching his teams play. If the accusations are true, though, I guess he may have done himself in. I'm not sure this story is done, however. I've read elsewhere (for example, read this story on ESPN) that a number of Leach's players, both current and former, strongly defend him; and that the player Leach is accused of mistreating, Adam James, has perhaps been a malcontent in the Tech program for some time and indeed had work ethic problems. So how credible are his accusations? This story may not go away quite so quickly.

NCAA HOOPS UPDATE:
The University of Notre Dame women's hoops team wins again, 85-52 over Central Florida. I saw the game on TV; I liked the Irish' aggressiveness, pressing, and overall defense. They've got a chance to be really good. Once again they forced their opponent to commit over 30 turnovers, and UCF was a team which had played Florida State and Alabama tough.

Tuesday's trackings

RICH, SPOILED, AMORAL CELEBRITY UPDATE:
Unfortunately, Charlie Sheen and his latest antics seem to fit the mold of a wealthy celebrity who thinks rules don't apply to him, though his wife apparently ignored it all:
"The bad boy image Charlie Sheen earned long before his Christmas Day arrest once seemed little more than a laughing matter to wife Brooke Mueller. Seven months before she dialed 911 to report her firsthand take on the actor’s bad behavior, Mueller explained how she saw Sheen. “It’s hysterical to me that he has this reputation,” Mueller told In Touch Weekly. “Charlie is just amazing.” So amazing, evidently, that the “Two and a Half Men” star’s laundry list of low moments hardly registered with his bride. That’s quite the oversight considering the highlights include a $50,000 call-girl tab, a “no contest” plea to past battery charges and an accidental gunshot wound to short-term fiancée Kelly Preston, just to name a few."

Perhaps Sheen's brand of selfishness and irresponsibility is a good reminder for all of us this holiday season, especially as we approach the celebrations of New Year's.

TERRORISM UPDATE:
National Review Online explains well today why the attempted Christmas Day terror attack is a good reason NOT to close Gitmo:

"On Christmas Day, we got yet another indicator of how reckless this obsession with closing Gitmo is. A well-to-do Nigerian jihadist, Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, tried to destroy Northwest Airlines Flight 253, carrying 289 passengers and crew, as it was preparing to land in Detroit after a flight from Amsterdam. The 23-year-old Mutallab attempted to ignite an incendiary chemical bomb, the components of which he assembled in flight after smuggling them onto the aircraft. He reportedly confessed to the FBI that he had been trained and tasked for the operation by al-Qaeda in Yemen. ABC News reported on Monday that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula — a merger of the network’s formidable hubs in Yemen and neighboring Saudi Arabia — has claimed responsibility for the attack. Hailing Mutallab as a “hero” and “martyr,” the organization boasted of its success in designing “advanced explosive packages” that can evade U.S. security measures. It promised additional strikes against Americans....What should not wait another day, however, is for President Obama to disavow his plan to shutter Guantanamo Bay. The chieftains of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) currently include at least three Gitmo alumni who have returned with a vengeance to the jihad. Said al Shihri, AQAP’s second in command, is a former Gitmo detainee who is believed to have been behind the 2008 attack on the American embassy in Sanaa. Gitmo veteran Ibrahim Rubaish is the Islamic jurisprudential authority responsible for approving AQAP terrorist operations. Muhammad Attik al-Harbi became an AQAP field commander after being released from Gitmo on the promise that he’d be rehabilitated in the Saudi re-education program — a scheme premised on the dubious notion that terrorists can be wooed away from jihad by immersion in Wahhabist principles. (Al-Harbi is reportedly back in Saudi custody, undergoing re-re-education.) AQAP’s senior operatives also include Anwar al Awlaki, the Muslim cleric with whom Nidal Hassan consulted in the months before carrying out the Fort Hood massacre. It is entirely possible, if not likely, that at least some of the former Gitmo detainees in Yemen are complicit in the Christmas Day attack, and that they are planning similar strikes. It is incredible that the administration would even consider adding to their ranks. Yemen’s record of permitting jihadists (including the bombers of the U.S.S. Cole) to escape from custody and rejoin the fight is appalling."

Monday's musings

WHERE DO TERRORISTS COME FROM UPDATE:
Specifically, whither the Nigerian terrorist who attempted to blow up a plane in Detroit?:
"As a member of an uppercrust Nigerian family, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab received the best schooling, from the elite British International School in West Africa to the vaunted University College London....Nigerian officials say his interest in extremist Islam prompted his father to warn U.S. authorities. As Abdulmutallab was being escorted in handcuffs off the Detroit-bound airliner he attempted to blow up on Christmas Day, he told U.S. officials that he had sought an extremist education at an Islamist hotbed in Yemen. A portrait emerged Sunday of a serious young man who led a privileged life as the son of a prominent banker, but became estranged from his family as an adult. Devoutly religious, he was nicknamed "The Pope" for his saintly aura and gave few clues in his youth that he would turn radical, friends and family said."

Our progressive friends have too often lectured us concerning how terrorism arises out of poverty and ignorance. Yet looking at the backgrounds of real terrorists reminds us of just how false that old cliche is.
And by the way, it's clear now to everyone that Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano stepped in it again with her recent comments:
"Mr. Obama’s remarks to reporters were the first public comments he has made since arriving here Thursday and the first since a Nigerian man tried to set off explosives aboard a flight approaching Detroit on Friday. Questions about how the man slipped through the security system have been compounded by the Obama administration’s assertion over the weekend that “the system worked,” a judgment it reversed Monday. Just hours before the president’s appearance, his secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, appeared on NBC’s “Today” show to recalibrate the assessment she and another top official offered on Sunday. Ms. Napolitano said her remark had been taken out of context and that the thwarted bombing in fact represented a failure of the nation’s aviation security system. “Our system did not work in this instance,” she said. “No one is happy or satisfied with that. An extensive review is under way.”

The fact is, of course, that her statements were not "taken out of context", and that's why she's again had to backtrack. Don't be surprised if Secretary Napolitano is out of job by the time 2010 is over.

NFL DIARY:
Jets 29, Colts 15: Well, I would have loved to see the Colts go unbeaten...but I really can't argue with the logic of Jim Caldwell and Bill Polian. Peyton Manning and the starters played into the 3rd quarter, and played pretty well. But there was no point in getting somebody hurt, and that's why they were removed even though the final outcome of the game was still in doubt. The main goal has to be winning the Super Bowl, not going 16-0. As the Patriots learned in '07, going unbeaten but not winning the big one hurts...a lot. I think the starters played long enough yesterday to stay sharp. I hope they play long enough to accomplish that in the season's final game, too.
Meanwhile...49ers 20, Lions 6. The Lions just flat-out have a long, long way to go, in most phases of the game. Drew Stanton, the starter for yesterday's game, is their 3rd starting QB this year, and he couldn't move the team, either.

It's Christmas Eve

And here's some stories of Christmases long ago...:

"It is accepted among some historians that Hessian soldiers who fought alongside the British first introduced the Christmas tree to the colonies during the Revolutionary War. Others claim German immigrants who settled in Eastern Pennsylvania started the tradition. All agree that prior to the Revolutionary War, Christmas was not celebrated with much merriment and outward adornment, as this did not befit the proper Puritan of that day. Christmas celebrations were regarded as tributes to the practice of Bacchanalia-the worship of Dionysus, whom the Romans called Bacchus-and were therefore sacrilegious.

Some colonists did not hold to the Puritanical ban however. Philip Fithian, of colonial Virginia, recorded in his diary entry for December 18, 1773: "When it grew to dark to dance....we conversed til half after six; Nothing is now to be heard of in conversation, but the Balls, the Fox-hunts, the fine entertainments, and the good fellowship, which are to be exhibited at the approaching Christmas."

Fithian's Christmas Eve, 1775 diary entry from Staunton, Virginia, described other common pastimes of the holiday celebration: "The Evening I spent at Mr. Guys-I sung for an Hour, at the good Peoples Desire, Mr. Watts admirable Hymns-I myself was entertaind; I felt myself improvd; so much Love to Jesus is set forth-So much divine Exercise."

The month of December was ironically a turning point many times during the war. It was on November 28, 1775 that Congress established The American Navy. December 23rd of that same year King George III issued a royal proclamation closing the American colonies to all commerce and trade, to take effect in March of 1776. Also in December, Congress was informed that France might offer support in the war against Britain.

On January 5, 1776, the assembly of New Hampshire adopted the first American state constitution. It was on January 9, 1776, that Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" was published in Philadelphia. Paine criticized King George III and attacked allegiance to Monarchy in principle while providing strong arguments for American independence. "We have it in our power to begin the world anew...America shall make a stand, not for herself alone, but for the world," Paine wrote.

On December 6, 1776, the British captured the naval base at Newport, Rhode Island. On the 11th of that month, Washington took his troops across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. The next day, over concerns of a possible British attack, the Continental Congress abandoned Philadelphia for Baltimore. Among Washington's troops was the infamous Thomas Paine, who wrote of that event, "These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country: but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered. Yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

December 25, 1776, saw George Washington taking 2400 of his men and recrossing the Delaware River-this time to conduct a surprise raid on 1500 British-Hessians (German mercenaries) at Trenton, New Jersey. The Hessians surrendered after an hour with nearly 1000 taken prisoner by Washington who suffered only six wounded (including future president Lt. James Monroe). Washington reoccupied Trenton. Only a week later, January 3, 1777, Washington celebrated a second victory as his troops defeated the British at Princeton and drove them back toward New Brunswick. Washington then established winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey. During the harsh winter, Washington's army shrank to about a thousand men as enlistment periods expired and deserters fleed the hardships. By spring, with the arrival of recruits, Washington had 9000 men.

Of that turning point in the war, Mark Alexander wrote in The Collegiate Patriot (Dec. 22, 2002): "Indeed, our first national Christmases tell the tale of the Revolutionary War's ebb and flow. The so-called Christmas Campaign successes of 1776 at Trenton and Princeton were presaged by General George Washington's writings of December 18: 'If every nerve is not straind to recruit the New Army with all possible Expedition I think the game is pretty near up....No Man I believe ever had a greater choice of difficulties & less the means of extricating himself than I have-However under a full perswation of the justice of our Cause I cannot but think the prospect will brighten.' But these surprising victories were followed a year later by the Revolutionary Army's retreat to Valley Forge, the trail marked by bloody footprints in the snow. Washington's discouragement was evident in his writing of 'A character to lose-an estate to forfeit-the inestimable blessing of liberty at stake-and a life devoted, must be my excuse,' and about how 'it was much easier to draw up remonstrances in a comfortable room by a good fire-side, than to occupy a cold bleak hill, and sleep under frost and snow, without clothes or blankets.'"

It was also at Christmas-1783-that General George Washington chose to step down as leader of the Revolutionary Army. Author Stanley Weintraub wrote in his book "General Washington's Christmas Farewell": "In late November 1783 when Washington finally received formal notice of the signing of a peace treaty with England he had little more than a month to accept the transfer of power from British troops in New York; to bid farewell to his troops; and to resign his commission to Congress if he hoped to make it to Mount Vernon for Christmas. He could have remained in charge of the army and become a virtual king to the Americans who loved him. Control of the newly forming government was his to take - yet he chose to resign. It was that decision, coupled with his later decision to step down from the presidency after two terms, that rendered him 'the greatest character of the age' (according to none other than King George III).

Washington's homeward journey is one of the most moving and inspiring stories from his great and eventful life. When he bade farewell to his troops at Fraunces Tavern in New York City there were no dry eyes. When he reached Congress and gave a retirement speech, it cemented his greatness more fully than had his victory over the British. When he made it to Mount Vernon, finally, on Christmas Eve, it could not have been a happier homecoming."

It can be said, indeed, it is being said by this author, that Christmas has not only brought us the Prince of Peace, it has also brought us the freedom to worship the prince of Peace in the manner which we as a free nation choose. The fight for individual freedom for all Americans would come less than a century later."

Well said. Merry Christmas to all! And to all, a good night...

Wednesday's wash

AND the day before the night before Xmas, too...

OBAMA UPDATE:
But as we head into Christmas, we must acknowledge that, in politics, President Obama's actions have not at all lived up to his words of 2008, as Jonah Goldberg points out well today:

"...Clintonian means cannot further Obamaian ends. For the last year, Obama’s party has made a mockery of everything Obama was supposed to represent. The tone has gotten worse as his communications staff spent the year demonizing Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Fox News. House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer called opponents of their health proposals “un-American.” Over the weekend, Rhode Island’s Sheldon Whitehouse insisted that Senate opposition is being driven in part by “Aryan support groups.” Everywhere you look, the sizzle doesn’t match the steak. He won the Nobel Peace Prize as he (rightly) sent even more men off to war. He promised that the oceans would stop rising but delivered a nonbinding something-or-other in Copenhagen. In his special health-care address to Congress in September, he said, “I am not the first president to take up (the cause of health-care reform), but I am determined to be the last.” Those were just words, and everyone, including Obama, knew it. Indeed, the only grounds for supporting the bill, according to progressives, is that it is a “first step” or a “starter house” that they’ll build on for years, even generations, to come. In other words, the health-care debate is not only not going to end, it’s going to get uglier for as far as the eye can see."

MAUREEN DOWD BEING DOWDY DEPT:
Oh, gosh, Ms. Dowd of The Times has soured on John McCain:
"John McCain is no longer the media’s delight and his party’s burr, bucking convention with infectious relish. The man used to be such a constructive independent that some of his Republican Senate colleagues called him a traitor. Now he’s such a predictable obstructionist that he’s in the just-say-no vanguard with the same conservatives who used to despise him."

So let's translate that: McCain was a "constructive independent"---as long as he opposed George W. Bush.

Now that he's opposing Barack Obama, and acting like a conservative, oh, goodness, Dowd and her fellow progressives in the media have no use for him, none at all. The establishment news media loves "maverick" conservatives--but only when that supports liberal outcomes.

NCAA HOOPS DIARY:
I actually thought Michigan State played fairly well on the road against a Final Four-caliber Texas team, but they lost 79-68. But 22 turnovers are too many. Will MSU improve as the season goes on? Izzo's teams have a habit of doing so...
The University of Michigan's hoops team meanwhile needed a win, and got it...but it was only vs Coppin State, 76-46. Michigan's 3-point shooting though was still lacking. It needs to improve. But Michigan opens its Big Ten season New Year's Eve against a team it can beat, Indiana. Let's see if they can get it done, and get this season back on track...
And Notre Dame's men's hoops team played well again, jumping off from their past weekend's win over UCLA with a thumping of Bucknell last night, 101-69. But, it was only Bucknell. The Irish are 11-2 this year so far, with their next game in conference next week. But will their defense be good enough???

Tuesday's trackings

HEALTH CARE REFORM CORRUPTION:
So why is Senator Ben Nelson saying he'll vote for the senate bill now? Simple:
"Nelson got the feds to pick up forevermore 100 percent of the additional Medicaid spending that will be imposed on Nebraska by the bill. In stereotypically Orwellian fashion, the provision is called “Equitable Support for Certain States.” That, naturally enough, translates into special, inequitable support for three states, totaling $1.2 billion over ten years. Vermont and Massachusetts argue they are due the funds for prior expansions of Medicaid, but what’s Nebraska’s excuse?"

There is none. Read Lowry's entire piece--this is indeed an example of "shameless audacity."
Thank goodness polls continue to suggest the public is fed up with this nonsense. The latest poll to come out on health care is Quinnipiac--and they show only 36% in favor of the health care bills currently in Congress; 53% opposed.

Monday's musings

MISLEADING HEADLINE DEPT:
Many news outlets screaming "Democrats rush to pass health care reform by Xmas."

Which ignores the fact that perhaps the biggest hurdle yet remains--reconciling the House bill with the Senate version. There are huge differences, and huge problems with these bills. Conservatives need to keep highlighting them.
So, no, it's not over yet. NR Online points out other reasons why as well--for example:

"Public Revulsion. The bill was already under water in every major public-opinion poll, and opposed by a margin of almost 2 to 1 in the latest CNN poll. The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll put its support at freezing, 32 percent. A few ticks downward and the bill will be in the 20s. Is anything that has happened recently likely to change the trajectory? The Reid bill just got even longer, and the new version includes more tax increases. Even by the standards of the United States Congress, the process has been hide-the-children ugly: massive payoffs to the on-the-fence senators and a heedless, late-night rush to pass something, anything. The Democrats have shown no inclination to let public opinion hold them back, but the stiff headwind makes everything a little harder and reduces an already-small margin for error."

NCAA HOOPS DIARY:
The #4 ranked Notre Dame women's hoops team showed why they're so highly ranked this year, blowing out Charlotte 90-31. The Irish had 22 steals in the game--at halftime. Their pressure defense and its effectiveness may be one reason why this Irish team can go much further in the tournament than did last year's team...

NFL DIARY:
The Detroit Lions lose again, to Arizona 31-24. But at least younger players and backups, such as Drew Stanton, Louis Delmas, and Maurice Morris, show some fight. And right now Lions fans will take anything, anything at all...!

Friday's football picks

First, let's do all the upcoming college football bowl games!

NEW MEXICO BOWL: Fresno State 11 over Wyoming. PICK: FRESNO. They can score; and they've played some major-conference opponents tough.

ST. PETERSBURG BOWL: Rutgers 2.5 over Central Florida. PICK: UCF. I think they'll play well close to home.

NEW ORLEANS BOWL: Southern Miss 3.5 over Middle Tennessee. PICK: SOUTHERN MISS. Again, I think they'll play well close to home.

LAS VEGAS BOWL: Oregon State 2.5 over BYU. PICK: COUGARS. Look for QB Max Hall to have a big game.

POINSETTIA BOWL: California 3.5 over Utah. PICK: GOLDEN BEARS. Go with the team from the stronger conference.

HAWAII BOWL: Nevada 13 over SMU. PICK: PONIES. Look for Coach June Jones to have a bunch of new wrinkles, and for SMU to be ready to play.

LITTLE CAESARS PIZZA BOWL: Ohio 2.5 over Marshall. Again, here I go from the team from what I see as the stronger conference.

MEINEKE CAR CARE BOWL: Pittsburgh 3 over North Carolina. PICK: TAR HEELS. Because I suspect Pitt will have a letdown from that tough loss to Cincinnati.

EMERALD BOWL: Southern Cal 9 over Boston College. PICK: TROJANS. Too much talent, and Pete Carroll has an excellent record in bowl games.

MUSIC CITY BOWL: Clemson 7 over Kentucky. PICK: TIGERS. Look for C.J. Spiller to have a big game.

INDEPENDENCE BOWL: Georgia 7 over Texas A&M. PICK: AGGIES. A&M is playing better; they put up 39 points on the very tough Texas defense.

EAGLEBANK BOWL: UCLA 4 over Temple. PICK: OWLS. I think Temple, long starved for bowl activity, will be the more motivated team here.

CHAMP SPORTS BOWL: Miami 3 over Wisconsin. PICK: HURRICANES. I just don't think Wisconsin's defense will slow down the dynamic Miami passing attack.

HUMANITARIAN BOWL: Bowling Green 1 over Idaho. PICK: BG. I go with the team from the stronger conference.

HOLIDAY BOWL: Arizona 1.5 over Nebraska. PICK: WILDCATS. Because Nebraska struggles so much to score.

TEXAS BOWL: Missouri 6 over Navy. PICK: MIDSHIPMEN. They beat Wake Forest and Notre Dame this year, and their option offense can be hard to prepare for.

ARMED FORCES BOWL: Houston 4.5 over Air Force. PICK: COUGARS. Houston can put up a lot of points.

SUN BOWL: Oklahoma 8 over Stanford. PICK: CARDINAL. I think Stanford can and will move the ball against this defense, with Toby Gearhart leading the way.

INSIGHT BOWL: Minnesota 2.5 over Iowa State. PICK: GOLDEN GOPHERS. Their defense will lead the way here.

CHICK-FIL-A BOWL: Virginia Tech 4.5 over Tennessee. PICK: HOKIES. That defense will stuff the Volunteers.

ROSE BOWL: Oregon 3.5 over Ohio State. PICK: DUCKS. They will easily outscore the Buckeyes, who play way too conservatively to beat a team like this.

SUGAR BOWL: Florida 11 over Cincinnati. PICK: BEARCATS. 11 points is way too much in game like this, in which Cincy's offense can score, and Florida is bound to have a letdown from that Alabama game.

OUTBACK BOWL: Auburn 7 over Northwestern. PICK: WILDCATS. Hey, Northwestern is no patsy; they can move the ball offensively and they beat Iowa on the road.

GATOR BOWL: West Virginia 3 over Florida State. PICK: SEMINOLES. FSU will win one for Bobby.

CAPITAL ONE BOWL: Penn State 2.5 over LSU. PICK: NITTANY LIONS. Penn State QB Daryl Clark has for the most part played very well over the past 4 games.

INTERNATIONAL BOWL: South Florida 6.5 over Northern Illinois. PICK: USF. Stronger conference.

PAPAJOHNS.COM BOWL: South Carolina 4.5 over Connecticut. PICK: GAMECOCKS. The ol' ball coach will have some wrinkles for the bowl game.

COTTON BOWL: Ole Miss 3 over Oklahoma State. PICK: REBELS. They've played well at the end of the season.

LIBERTY BOWL: Arkansas 7.5 over East Carolina. PICK: RAZORBACKS. Stronger conference.

ALAMO BOWL: Texas Tech 8 over Michigan State. PICK: RED RAIDERS. Too much turmoil and uncertainty at State.

FIESTA BOWL: TCU 7 over Boise State. PICK: HORNED FROGS. Too much speed, too good of a defense, not to pick them; though this should be an excellent game.

ORANGE BOWL: Georgia Tech 4 over Iowa. PICK: YELLOW JACKETS. The Hawkeyes should be healthy; but that Ramblin' Wreck offense is hard to prepare for.

GMAC BOWL: Central Michigan 3.5 over Troy. PICK: CHIPPEWAS. Look for QB Dan Lefevour to once again showcase his talents.

BCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Alabama 5 over Texas. PICK: LONGHORNS. I suspect that maybe, just maybe, the Tide expended a lot of energy and emotion in that Florida game; and Colt McCoy has dealt with tough defenses before.

NFL PICKS:
Last Week I was 10-6 again, for the second straight week. Let's keep it going:

NEW ORLEANS 7.5 over Dallas. PICK: SAINTS. Nobody's slowed the Saints down yet; hard to see how the Cowboys will be much different.

Arizona 13 over DETROIT. PICK: CARDINALS. Normally this would be too many points, but it's hard to see how the battered, beaten-down Lions can slow down the Cardinals' attack...at all.

BALTIMORE 11 over Chicago. PICK: BEARS. The Bears will run it enough and put up enough opposition to Joe Flacco to keep this one close.

DENVER 14 over Oakland. PICK: RAIDERS. Again, I think 14 is too many at this point of the season; I wouldn't be surprised if the Raiders respond well to Charlie Frye, and the Broncos offense isn't that dynamic.

KANSAS CITY 2 over Cleveland. PICK: CHIEFS. Hey, somebody's got to win this one...

Minnesota 9 over Carolina. PICK: PANTHERS. The Vikings struggled in their last road game; I suspect they will here, too, as the Panthers will want to look good on a national stage.

New England 7 over BUFFALO. PICK: BILLS. Buffalo should have won the game back in week 1 at New England; they'll keep this one close, too.

NY JETS pick 'em vs Atlanta. PICK: JETS. Atlanta has too many injuries.

PHILADELPHIA 8.5 over San Francisco. PICK: NINERS. I suspect Philly will win this, but they might be looking ahead, and San Fran's defense and run game can keep them in this one.

PITTSBURGH 2 over Green Bay. PICK: PACKERS. The Steelers have faded; the Packers are coming on.

SAN DIEGO 6.5 over Cincinnati. PICK: CHARGERS. San Diego is playing some of the best football in the league right now.

SEATTLE 6.5 over Tampa Bay. PICK: SEAHAWKS. They're at home, where they usually play well; and the Bucs have played some of the worst football all year in this league.

ST. LOUIS vs Houston. This game was off the boards last I checked. PICK: TEXANS. Too much offense not to pick them over the lowly Rams.

TENNESSEE vs Miami. This game too was off the boards; lots of injury concerns. PICK: DOLPHINS. Chad Henne has played remarkably well; and while Vince Young might start for the Titans, I question whether that hamstring will allow him to finish the game.

NY Giants 3 over WASHINGTON. PICK: GIANTS. The Redskins have played better lately, no doubt. But the Giants still have more talent and they need this game more.

Thursday's throwdowns

ECONOMY UPDATE DEPT:
Our economy, after close to a year of Obama, is mending, but only slowly, and...note what else is being found:
"A report on unemployment claims and a forecast of U.S. economic activity pointed Thursday to an economy mending slowly, without the job growth needed to fuel a vigorous recovery....employers across the country remain reluctant to ramp up hiring. "People who have already lost their job are having incredible difficulty finding a job," Dan Greenhaus, an economist at Miller Tabak, said in a research note Thursday. A big problem is that companies lack confidence in the strength and sustainability of the recovery. FedEx Corp., for example, offered a tepid outlook Thursday for the quarter that ends in January. The package delivery company expects the recovery to continue next year. But FedEx questioned whether demand for its services will stay strong after the peak holiday-shipping season."

Hmmm. So little job growth, and little confidence. And this months after the hundreds of billions of dollars of "stimulus" money pumped into this economy by the Obama administration which, they told us, would really help things. But it hasn't. Conservatives told you so.

And by the way--the RCP average of the generic congressional vote for 2010 now has Republicans averaging out on top by more than 2 points.

HEY, WHAT'S UP IN IRAQ THESE DAYS? DEPT:
Answer--not much, and that's a very good thing, as stability is being found there along with a lot less casualties:
"e don’t hear all that much about Iraq these days, do we? The war at one point almost tore apart this country. Public anger sent George W. Bush’s approval ratings plummeting. And the outrage over our losses helped elect vocal anti–Iraq War candidate Barack Obama. But Iraq is hardly in the news anymore. That seems odd, given there are still 120,000 American troops stationed there. So, why the silence? In short, Americans are not dying in Iraq as they were from 2006 to 2008. Twice as many Americans have died in Afghanistan this year as in Iraq. As of this writing, in December, there have been four coalition fatalities. That’s about one-tenth of the number of people murdered per month in Chicago in 2008."

And don't forget--much of that is due to the fact that the Bush administration refused to abandon the mission there, put in more troops when it seemed like everyone was screaming not to do it, and now...we may be approaching victory there.

NBA DIARY:
The Dallas Mavericks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder last night. The Mavs are now quietly sporting a 19-7 overall record, and are 10-4 on the road so far. What was impressive about last night was that they trailed at one point by 4 in the 4th quarter...but rallied impressively to win comfortably. That's what good teams do--take control in the 4th quarter.
The Detroit Pistons, though, blew a 16 point lead and lost to New Orleans on the road, 95-87. Typical thing for a road game--the Pistons moved the ball well and executed in the first half, and that got them the lead; but in the second half, when the home team made its inevitable run, they got away from it.

Wednesday's wash

HEALTH CARE REFORM UPDATE:
Bad news today for those on the left advocating major health care reform, but good news for conservatives. Democrats and liberals are fighting again:
"Former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean argued Wednesday that the health care overhaul bill taking shape in the Senate further empowers private insurers at the expense of consumer choice. "You will be forced to buy insurance. If you don't, you'll pay a fine," said Dean, a physician. "It's an insurance company bailout." Interviewed on ABC's "Good Morning America," he said the bill has some good provisions, "but there has to be a line beyond which you think the bill is bad for the country"....Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., a prominent House liberal, protested the absence of any government-run insurance option in the Senate bill. "We can't let the perfect be enemy of the good," Weiner said on CBS' "Early Show," "but we are reaching a tipping point."
It's sputtering in the senate, too.

And by the way, the public still doesn't like much of any of this:
"More than half of those polled, 53 percent, see higher costs for themselves if the proposed changes go into effect than if the current system remains intact. About as many (55 percent) say the overall cost of the national health-care system would go up more sharply. Moreover, just 37 percent say the quality of their care would be better under a new system; 50 percent see it as better under the current set-up. Even among those who presumably stand to benefit most from a major restructuring of the insurance market -- the nearly one in 5 adults without coverage -- there are doubts about the changes under consideration. Those without insurance are evenly divided on the question of whether their care would be better if the system were overhauled....Obama's domestic battles have taken their toll, as his approval ratings on key issues have sunk to the lowest points of his presidency. On health care, 53 percent disapprove of his performance, a new high. On the economy, 52 percent disapprove, also a new high mark in Post-ABC polling. Same on the deficit, on which 56 percent now disapprove of his stewardship. On the politically volatile issue of unemployment, 47 percent approve of the way Obama is dealing with the issue; 48 percent disapprove. Under the weight of these more negative reviews, the president's overall approval rating has dipped to 50 percent, down from 56 percent a month ago."

Have fun, Democrats!

And we can't be too sad that the "climate change" conference in Copenhagen is having trouble, too, can we? There too we have too many folks seeking potentially economy-busting regulations, taxes, and whatnot, all at the behest of those claiming that human action has caused global warming, a conclusion that seems less and less settled by the day. Interesting times we live in!

NBA DIARY:
The Detroit Pistons lost last night at Houston, 107-94. But the Pistons had won 5 straight before that, despite being riddled with injuries. And even last night, Detroit played with some toughness. Let's hope that continues.

Tuesday's trackings

BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID DEPT:
Vice-President Biden tries to frighten Democrats into supporting the administration on health care reform:
"If the U.S. Congress fails to agree on a healthcare bill soon, the opportunity for a sweeping overhaul of the $2.5 trillion system will be lost for a generation, Vice President Joe Biden warned on Tuesday."

But will it work? Polls usually speak louder than these kinds of warnings, and polls suggest that the public isn't behind this. Congressmen and Senators don't want to get booted from office in 2010...
And by the way, right now the RCP average of all the polls on support/opposition to the health care proposals currently in Congress stands at 38% supporting, 53% opposing. Wow...

FOCUS ON 2010:
Respected political analyst Stu Rothenberg echoes what others are seeing (including me): when it comes to Senate contests next year, Republican prospects look much better than they did in January 2010:
"...GOP recruiting successes and a change in the national political environment have shifted the outlook for next year's Senate contests. Suddenly, Democratic seats started to look more and more vulnerable. As 2009 draws to a close, Democrats now could lose seats, a dramatic change from January that could end the party's 60-seat majority in less than two years. And GOP gains could be large enough to sink any major Democratic initiatives not passed before Congress adjourns for the midterm elections."

Monday's musings

FOCUS ON 2010 ELECTION DEPT:
Keep an eye on the Senate seat currently held by Democrat Barbara Boxer in California--one senses there's a lot of energy on the part of those opposing her:
"The widely played video clip of U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer reprimanding a general for calling her "ma'am" is the gift that keeps on giving for the two Republicans hoping to challenge her next year. Republicans Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore are trying to capitalize on the exchange by making it a key ingredient of their fundraising efforts and attempts to recruit grassroots support. Both campaigns say the video revs up a GOP base that already has long-standing animosity toward Boxer, among the most liberal members of the Senate."

As the rest of the article points out, there are certainly plenty of folks in California and elsewhere who pooh-pooh this and claim it won't be an issue. But I wonder. This is an off-year election. Turnout will be lower. Often the race goes to the candidate with the most energized, motivated voters, who turn out and vote. That's why this kind of issue can help Republicans in a race like this. And Republicans CAN win in California, as somebody named Schwarzenegger, whatever his failings, has shown.

NFL DIARY:
Colts 28, Broncos 16: The Colts struggled some. The Broncos have a tough defense. But again, we saw the Colts go on an 80 yard, 7-minute march in the 4th quarter to secure the win. And the Colts' defense was tough in the red zone again, forcing turnovers, holding Denver to field goals. Here's an interesting stat: the Colts have turned the ball over 18 times this year. How many times, after those turnovers, has the opposing team scored a TD? Answer: zero.
Meanwhile--Ravens 48, Lions 3: the Lions as usual were manhandled by a tough, physical team. Did they give up? Maybe. They certainly shied away from a fight, and showed a lack of heart.
Lions fans keep thinking the horrendous, horrible performances have come and gone and can't get any worse. Then comes days like yesterday...

NCAA HOOPS DIARY:
The University of Michigan men's hoops team got a much-needed win yesterday, over Detroit Mercy, 75-64. Michigan's defense improved some, it appears; and it needs to, because Michigan was nationally ranked when the season began, but is now only 5-4 and goes to play #1 Kansas later this week.

IS THE GOP/CONSERVATISM DEAD? DEPT:
Nope--for example, conservative Republican Pat Toomey continues to lead Democrat Arlen Specter in polling for the 2010 Pennsylvania Senate election.
And yet another poll--this time from Bloomberg--shows Republicans leading Democrats in the 2010 generic congressional ballot. Wow!

HEALTH CARE REFORM UPDATE:
Remember--many of the claims coming from liberals and Democrats concerning health care reform and the need for more government involvement are simply false. For example:
"Sen. Richard Durbin (D., Ill.) said that half of all bankruptcies are caused by medical bills. A 2006 study found that only 9 percent of bankruptcies were primarily the result of medical bills. The study where Durbin’s claim originated used very loose criteria to classify bankruptcies as medical in nature; even in that study, only 29 percent of those surveyed blamed health expenses for their bankruptcies."

Read the whole thing--lots of good links to lots of good evidence.

Friday's football picks

Next week we'll pick all of the college football bowl games.
But now, on to this week's NFL picks; I was 10-6 last week, and I'm 1-0 so far this week, having picked Cleveland to cover last night...and boy, did they ever. Who woulda thunk, 5 weeks ago, that the Steelers would appear to be done and out of the playoffs by now? But, barring a miracle, it would appear they are. On to this week's games...

BALTIMORE 13.5 over Detroit. PICK: LIONS. Not to win. But to cover. They covered last week at Cincinnati, and they're starting Daunte Culpepper, who's likely not to turn it over as much as does Stafford. Meanwhile the Ravens come off a short week, and have a lot of problems on offense.

DALLAS 3 over San Diego. PICK: CHARGERS. They've got more big playmakers than does Dallas. And let's face it, they have a much better track record in December than do the Cowboys.

Green Bay 3 over CHICAGO. PICK: PACKERS. I like the way Green Bay's defense is playing right now; while no Bear fan really likes the way the Bears' offense is playing.

HOUSTON 6 over Seattle. PICK: TEXANS. Time for the Texans' big guns, like Andre Johnson, to break out at home.

INDIANAPOLIS 7 over Denver. PICK: COLTS. The Colts were very solid last week. I like their defense's chances to control Denver's offense.

JACKSONVILLE 2.5 over Miami. PICK: DOLPHINS. The Dolphins are on a roll, and finding ways to win. Ride 'em.

KANSAS CITY pick 'em vs Buffalo. PICK: CHIEFS. Just a feeling--mainly because I sense Buffalo won't be mentally focused for this road game.

MINNESOTA 6.5 over Cincinnati. PICK: VIKINGS. Look for the Vikings' defense to step it up before a sold-out, loud Metrodome crowd.

NEW ENGLAND 13.5 over Carolina. PICK: PANTHERS. 13 points gets to be too much to cover for favorites like the Patriots, who have superior talent, no doubt; but who are struggling, finding ways to lose, dealing with injuries, etc. And the Panthers' defense can still play.

New Orleans 10.5 over ATLANTA. PICK: FALCONS. Again, too many points at this point in the season. The Falcons have little to lose now, and the Saints face another trap game (a la last week's game at Washington). I suspect the Saints will find a way to win, but at home the Falcons will play them tough.

NY GIANTS 1 over Philadelphia. PICK: GIANTS. Because they're at home, they seem to have righted the ship a bit, have momentum...and the winds and cold at the Meadowlands help the Giants, too.

NY Jets 3 over TAMPA BAY. PICK: JETS. The Jets' defense will shut down Josh Freeman. And I suspect the New York offense will play well for Kellen Clemons.

TENNESSEE 13 over St. Louis. PICK: RAMS. Remember--the Rams covered last week at Chicago. This is a trap game for the Titans, after a tough loss at Indy. I'm sure the Titans will win this one, but I suspect their focus won't be what it should be.

Washington 1 over OAKLAND. PICK: RAIDERS. Hey, they're on a roll. And this is another trap game--for the Redskins, who played well last week at home vs the Saints, but lost. Now they have to take a long trip out west and face a Raiders team that, believe it or not, is playing better than many of us thought they could.

Arizona 3 over SAN FRANCISCO. PICK: CARDINALS. They're getting on a roll. They lost to the Niners way back in the season's first week, but the Cardinal defense is playing much better, and their offense has so many more weapons than does that of the Niners that it's almost not fair. I really like the Cardinals here.

Thursday's throwdowns

SARAH PALIN UPDATE DEPT:
She speaks again, this time in an op-ed in the Washington Post, on "Climate-gate"--the leaked e-mails from climatologists that suggest some dirty dealings on the part of scientists who advocate that "global warming" is man-made. Here's the most effective section of her essay:
"I've always believed that policy should be based on sound science, not politics. As governor of Alaska, I took a stand against politicized science when I sued the federal government over its decision to list the polar bear as an endangered species despite the fact that the polar bear population had more than doubled. I got clobbered for my actions by radical environmentalists nationwide, but I stood by my view that adding a healthy species to the endangered list under the guise of "climate change impacts" was an abuse of the Endangered Species Act. This would have irreversibly hurt both Alaska's economy and the nation's, while also reducing opportunities for responsible development. Our representatives in Copenhagen should remember that good environmental policymaking is about weighing real-world costs and benefits -- not pursuing a political agenda. That's not to say I deny the reality of some changes in climate -- far from it. I saw the impact of changing weather patterns firsthand while serving as governor of our only Arctic state. I was one of the first governors to create a subcabinet to deal specifically with the issue and to recommend common-sense policies to respond to the coastal erosion, thawing permafrost and retreating sea ice that affect Alaska's communities and infrastructure. But while we recognize the occurrence of these natural, cyclical environmental trends, we can't say with assurance that man's activities cause weather changes. We can say, however, that any potential benefits of proposed emissions reduction policies are far outweighed by their economic costs."

Is former Gov. Palin trying to improve her "policy" props? Yes. Is she doing a good job of it? You betcha.

IS THE GOP DEAD? DEPT:
Nope. Rasmussen now has the likely Republican candidate up 13 points on Democratic Senator Chris Dodd in Connecticut, in advance of the 2010 Senate race there.
Dodd knows he's in trouble and has upped his visibility, news releases, etc lately. Hasn't helped him at all. Indeed, he's now further behind than he was 2 or 3 months ago.
As for President Obama's job approval, there have been 7 polls taken in the past week or 10 days or so. Five of them show Obama's approval rating under 50%. Again, a year ago, who'd a thunk it!

NFL THURSDAY NIGHT PICK:
I was 10-6 this past week! Let's keep it going...

Pittsburgh 10 over CLEVELAND. PICK: BROWNS. A pattern develops in the NFL late in the season, I believe (it's a new theory of mine). Superior teams just have a tough time covering big spreads. The weather is bad, they're injured and beat up, other teams have little to lose. That's the case here--I expect the Steelers to wind up winning this one, but they've lost 4 in a row, they're not playing well, they have injuries, and even the lowly Browns can keep it closer than 10. Did you notice what happened this past Sunday? The lowly Lions, Rams, Redskins, AND the Raiders ALL covered! (and the Raiders even won!).

Wednesday's wash

NCAA HOOPS DIARY:
The University of Notre Dame women's hoops team continues to look strong. They're ranked 3rd nationally, and beat IPFW last night 96-60. Which was expected--but still, what's encouraging was that ND had a balanced attack, with no single player scoring over 20 points. Their defense forced a bunch of turnovers. And the Irish, who in the last several years have struggled from the 3 point line, were 6 of 11 from 3. All good signs. The only bad sign? ND still needs to do better in defending the 3-point line, as the Mastodons shot over 50% from there.

TIGER WOODS' WOES DEPT:
They mount yet again today:
"The world's richest athlete and most famous golfer appears to have slept with at least 10 women while married to Swedish ex-model Elin Nordegren, before a day-after-Thanksgiving car crash led to a bevy of allegations and unwanted publicity, as well as Nordergren moving out. To be sure, Woods is not going to starve - or even have to give up his massive yacht - as a result of the lost endorsements and reported hush money payoffs to erstwhile lovers and the unhappy Nordergren. But PepsiCo Wednesday became the first major corporate sponsor to dump a Tiger Woods-related product -- a Gatorade drink called Tiger Focus. The company says it made the decision before the golfer's car accident led to a media firestorm surrounding his personal life."

Sure, sure they did.
But no worries, Tiger--I betcha Viagara would love to sign you up as a spokesman...
A guy with proven experience!

HEALTH CARE REFORM UPDATE:
Much news the last day or two concerning the Senate Democrats' supposed "deal" that will satisfy both moderates and liberals. The NY Times seems to see hope for the deal:
"The “broad agreement” that Senator Harry Reid announced Tuesday night on the proposed overhaul of the health care system was less a comprehensive accord among Democrats than an effort by the party’s leaders to keep the process moving ahead, even as Republicans attempt to prolong a seemingly endless floor fight....Many Democrats had not even seen the agreement on Tuesday night, much less signed on to it. But by offering something to liberal Democrats and centrists, the tentative deal announced by Mr. Reid created a framework for an agreement with a chance of winning the 60 votes necessary to pass the health care bill in the Senate."
Indeed, Harry Reid has been claiming that any impasse has been resolved.
But he might not want to count his chickens before they're hatched; liberal groups remain mighty restless:
"After months of demanding a government-run health insurance option from Democrats, health care reform supporters are still pushing for the "public option" in the wake of an announcement of an agreement by Senate Democrat to forgo the plan. The Health Care For America Now Campaign (HCAN), comprised of more than 1,000 organizations in 46 states, sent an e-mail to its supporters Tuesday night asking them to oppose the compromise devised by a group of five liberal Democrats and five conservative Democrats. More than 40,000 people have signed on so far, the group reports."

Have fun, Democrats!

Tuesday's trackings

CONSERVATIVES WHO ENDORSED OBAMA IN '08, TAKE NOTE DEPT:
Is this really what you voted for? Does this advance conservatism:
"President Barack Obama outlined major new government stimulus and jobs proposals on Tuesday, saying the nation must continue to "spend our way out of this recession." Without giving a price tag, Obama proposed a package of new spending for highway, bridge and other infrastructure projects, deeper tax breaks for small businesses and tax incentives to encourage people to make their homes more energy efficient."

At least Obama no longer seeks to hide what he's doing behind conservative rhetoric.

POLL WATCH:
Not that Obama's big-government policies are helping either he or his party at the polls these days:

For the latest generic congressional ballot survey from Rasmussen for 2010 still has Republicans up 4.

Again--back in January 2009, when Barack Obama was being inaugurated as president and pretty much every media outlet was fawning over not just Obama but most Democrats---who woulda thunk we'd be talking about poll numbers like the above????