Holiday Week Open Thread

The traditional "I'm sure glad I am only a fair-weather Giants fan ('cause baby, it's cold outside)" open thread.

And a bonus thought of interest mainly to my cardiologist - the NY Jets had an excellent chance to lose their game on the final play with no time on the clock, a weird confluence which would have turned sports talk radio in New York city into one huge exercise in suicide prevention.

But we live!

Comments

[Thomas Collins]

Nothing like the NY Post to describe an unsettling event in the NY sports world. See LUN.

[narciso]

This defies the minimum allowance for stupidity;

http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2010/12/20/nina-totenberg-i-was-forgive-expression-christmas-party

[Captain Hate]

Equally bad as that muffed punt was the way the Ginats got snookered on the onside kick, as if Philly doing that was the furthest thing from any of their minds. I don't think I've ever seen such a lack of players on the receiving team being around one of those, including the surprising way Green Bay started out their game with the Patriots.

[Old Lurker]

Did I mention how bad the Skins are, still?

[MoodyBlu]

OL:
Did I mention how bad the Skins are, still?

And the Broncos? Shanahan from the Broncos to the Skins and now 2 piles of mess.

[sbw]

I have to commend Coughlin for his grace. After having eviscerated Dodge on the field, he graciously covered for him in the press conference as trying to recover from a high snap.

I still think tryouts for walk-ons are Tuesday.

Please. No bumper stickers that say, "Not 'Get out of Dodge,' but Get Dodge out of NYC."

[Extraneus]

But we live!

[Whew!]

[Clarice]

Legal Insurrection shows the winners of the hotly contested 2d annual PUK contest.

[larry]

Hear, hear all the kudos for Janet on the D A D T thread. And, BTW, does the care fund need refurbishing? Let it be a lesson (or is it a teaching moment?), you don't have to refurbish anywhere near as much if you furbish right the first time.

[MarkO]

One punter, 10 supposed defensive players. Let's bash the punter.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

TC, I actually watched the Pats last night until I thought I was causing them to lose so I switched the channel and sure enough they came back.

But I did see that guy (who wasn't supposed to) run 70 yards with the ball cradled in his elbow to almost score a touchdown. That was one of the coolest sights I've seen.

[Danube of Thought]

I would pay money to listen to NY talk radio today.

[larry]

DoT-I would pay money to listen to NY talk radio today. Sirius/XM will handle that for ya.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

Clarice,

I can't believe how talented those PUK entrants are.

[narciso]

Todays just a day, for crazy notions, in the LUN

[Clarice]

I'm glad I wasn't the judge, Jane.

[Extraneus]

Here you go, DoT.

[Captain Hate]

I agree, C & J; in fact some of the lower ranked ones were so good I'm wondering what any that didn't make the cut looked like.

[Extraneus]

Here you go, DoT.

[Clarice]

Capt I saw all the nominees on a thread at IOwntheWorld and they were good.

[Thomas Collins]

Jane, on sports talk radio this morning, Brady was in a good natured way making fun of what a long time Connolly's run took. I actually thought Connolly was pretty quick given his weight and the fact that he usually doesn't serve as a kickoff returner. He certainly did a better job returning the kickoff than Brady would have!

[Thomas Collins]

I myself am ignoring the Patriots, Ravens, Giants, Eagles and other middling teams. It's that thrilling NFC West race among the Rams, Seahawks and 49ers that is holding my interest. One of those powerhouses is certain to capture the Lombardi Trophy this year.

[pagar]

From Narciso's 10:56 link

"These are law enforcement people don't know exactly what kind of money they can spend for what."

All of America has been living for years with the uncertainty of not knowing what was going to happen with the tax rates, etc, on 31 Dec 2010.
Then here we have some heathen worrying about what words to call a Christmas party.
While saying nothing about the failure of the Anti American leftists who run the Senate and house not doing their jobs or why the Anti American leftist media doesn't hold them responsible for not doling their job.

There should be people going to jail for not doing their job.

[Walter]

TC,

From your mouth to G*d's ears!

[Neo]

Turned on the radio for the last minute of that Giants/Eagles game.
1-2-3-kick-gameover

[Neo]

... and 49ers that is holding my interest

Yeah. I keep wondering when Westbrook will fold

[Danube of Thought]

The Bolts, one of the best teams in the game, look like they won't make the playoffs. Horrible special teams play cost them four early games. They are destined never to win before the leave for L.A.

[Neo]

Nine years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, the United States is assembling a vast domestic intelligence apparatus to collect information about Americans, using the FBI, local police, state homeland security offices and military criminal investigators.

Looks like we need a Republican President so the Left will take this "threat" seriously.

[Uncle BigBad]

Should have put this in the previous thread.

[Granny Jan]

I had the dubious distinction of being attacked by Obama friend and food "journalist" http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2010/12/team-obama-food-police-video-hysteria.html

Apparently, Ivy Leagued educated Ms Kohan couldn't recognize satire if it dropped on her head. A couple of points: The ™ is obvious satire, duh, and I don't know how to photoshop, oops.

Well, Team Obama Food Police ™ is back and I think even better. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVklJ0hYzMg

They found the new video but at least I was able to comment:
http://eater.com/archives/2010/12/20/team-obama-food-police-video-critiques-michelle-obama.php

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

I actually thought Connolly was pretty quick given his weight and the fact that he usually doesn't serve as a kickoff returner.

He was a hell of a lot quicker than me. But he looked so out of place that even a fair weather fan like me knew I was seeing something special. Made my night it did.

[MarkO]

Would someone explain to me [or us, if there are others as dense as I] what is not neutral about the net and a reason, other than suppression of free speech, for FCC involvement in the Internet?

[narciso]

There are some technical issues, about preferences by certain ISPs, but the give away is who is behind this, the Free Press
marxists, their counterparts at CAP, that gave
us Mark Lloyd, who speaks of 'Chavez's wonderful democratic revolution

[sbw]

The name is a dead give away. Anything named "Net Neutrality" has to be about taking it away.

[Rick Ballard]

It's impossible to airbrush history without control of what is allowed to be published on the internet. A very good example of airbrush use in the United States is provided by the National Archives. Try the search string "Kenneth Starr" or "Starr Report" or "Independent Counsel" or "Special Prosecutor" and watch history disappear.

Perhaps they're just busy - it's only been 12 years since Clinton was impeached.

[MayBee]

Oh, granny.
Those Michelle Obama worshiping bloggers are just tiresome.
This from your link:

with First Lady Michelle Obama being attacked as aggressively as the President was during his election campaign, as well as during the long debate over comprehensive health care reform.

She stepped in to help push actual legislation. She's in politics now, so she gets treated like a politician.
If they only want Michelle written about as a first lady, Michelle will have to butt out of the legislative realm.

[larry]

Heh heh, Maybee. Butt out. Why does the term axe handle come to mind?

[lyle]

"If they only want Michelle written about as a first lady, Michelle will have to butt out of the legislative realm."

Ahem.

[sbw]

"Amen!" also works in place of "Ahem."

[(Another) Barbara]

OT, but a bulletin from your correspondent on the front lines:

Flood warnings are up for Oahu and it's been pouring since the moment MO's plane landed Saturday. And I'm talkin' about standing-under-a-waterfall rain, around the clock.

I'm so sad for her, butt I'm certain she will use the storm to get some much-needed rest.

[peter]

I don't watch football until the playoffs. I know what you are thinking-- and likely a communist.
How would it be possible for the Jets to have lost with no time on the clock? I did not discern that from the article.

[Perhaps her saving grace.]

Well, we know what is lighter than water, anyway.
=============

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

I'm so sad for her, butt I'm certain she will use the storm to get some much-needed rest.

AB,

I heard the forcast is for snow when Michelle's husband arrives. Did they take Air Force one or is that not allowed to fly without the king?

(I'm trying desperately to find a way to use the word "butt" in this post, butt I can't.)

[Danube of Thought]

I have no idea about any of the technical aspects of modern communications, particularly including the internet, but when I hear people talk of regulating and controlling it I think of Wikileaks. It's sort of like the problems the Soviet Union faced when faxes, videocasettes and satellites proliferated.

Fuhgeddaboudit.

[Rick Ballard]

It may appear a gargantuan obstacle, Jane, butt there's still time.

[jimmyk]

The name is a dead give away.

I guess "net neutrality" means net of what the government controls.

On a related point, the Fed has decided it needs to micromanage the debit card business, I guess because it's working too smoothly. While they were required to do something, they went crazy and capped fees at something like 80 percent below what they'd been.

[Neo]

A “Christmas party at the Department of Justice” … now that is scandalous.

Nothing white is taken seriously at the DOJ, so this is outrageous.

[(Another) Barbara]

Did they take Air Force one or is that not allowed to fly without the king?

AF one stayed behind to await the king's pleasure, Jane. But they needed a wide-body for MO, so she settled for some ol' military version of the 747 they had sitting around. Butt not to worry, I'm sure carbon credits were purchased to justify getting queen and princesses 5,000 miles on a plane that could hold 400 souls. They are not the little people, you know.

[Old Lurker]

"I'm so sad for her, butt..." Barbara, we just hate it when posters insert commas where they are not intended.

[bgates]

OL, I just hate it when people use the word "insert" while making a reference to MO's posterior.

[Rob Crawford]

Folks -- exclusive pic of the plane used on the First Lady's recent trip.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

Ewwwww BGates.

I forgive you.

LOL Rob.

[Clarice]

Bo's in quarantine--apparently Hawaii demands better papers for pets than we do for presidents; it's raining buckets there and in DC everything's falling apart --Merry Christmas to everyone's favorite first family.

[Janet]

It may appear a gargantuan obstacle, Jane, butt there's still time.

Hahahaha...and the plane, LOL!

[Danube of Thought]

Peter, the Steelers' final play began with two seconds on the clock. Once the play started the clock expired, but the game does not end until that play is completed. (It was an incomplete pass in the end zone from around the ten yard line.)

[bunky]

This Just In: Ivy league Schools to facilitate recruiting with new recruitment centers on campus and full reinststement of ROTC programs by 2012.

psyche

[Old Lurker]

You win bgates. Going to rinse my mouth out now.

[Captain Hate]

Slick administration sooper genius Bill Richardson is considering a posthumous pardon for Billy the Kid. Where are the adults to be in charge?

[lyle]

The basic difficulty arises from a false equivalence they make between our current "left" and our current "right." The truth is that the American right is much farther from anything that can fairly be described as "the center" than is the left.

Indeed, there is no far left to speak of anymore. Even among socialists — I'm talking about real ones — almost all now acknowledge the benefits of markets, no longer propose state ownership of the means of production, and accept the inevitability of inequalities in wealth and income.

Since it's an open thread (and the holidays!), let's play "Name The Author!" You must, however, stop laughing before submitting your answer.

[Dave (in MA)]

It's that thrilling NFC West race among the Rams, Seahawks and 49ers that is holding my interest. One of those powerhouses is certain to capture the Lombardi Trophy this year.

You're a funny man, Thomas.

[Extraneus]

Brooks?

[Extraneus]

Fidel?

[Captain Hate]

Frank BRich

[lyle]

Hint: It's not Chomsky or Zinn.

[Clarice]

E.J. (no labels) Dionne, fruitcake deluxe.

[Danube of Thought]

E. J. Dionne, demonstrating that where you stand depends on where you sit.

[caro]

This is from Steynonline:

Tonight Mark guest-hosts Hannity, coast to coast on Fox News. Jon Voight and Dick Morris join him to dissect the lamed ducks and much more, live at 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific. Steyn will also be in for Hannity tomorrow night.
... Mark returns to the Golden EIB Microphone to guest-host America's Number One radio show, live from 12 noon Eastern this Wednesday and Thursday, December 22nd and 23rd
~also on Thursday: at 6pm Eastern, Steyn makes a pre-Christmas appearance on The Hugh Hewitt Show

I have been missing him.

[Dave (in MA)]

Rob, I was expecting something that was large at the other end.

[lyle]

Good job, Clarice and DoT.

"E. J. Dionne, demonstrating that where you stand depends on where you sit shit."

For E.J.

[jimmyk]

Re Dionne, the irony is that most of the far left's ideas of 50 or 100 years ago have already been adopted. Milton Friedman liked to point out that a bunch of the planks in the Communist Manifesto are now standard and almost untouchable policies (progressive income tax, etc.). But shifting goalposts is a favorite leftist strategy.

[maryrose]

bgates and lyle:
please tell me it's not going to be that kind of thread-lol.

[centralcal]

Hey, maryrose, what is wrong with "that kind" of thread? It sure beats bubu, anduril, cleo, etc. etc. lol.

[Rick]

"This Just In: Ivy league Schools to facilitate recruiting with new recruitment centers on campus and full reinststement of ROTC programs by 2012."

Boy, the downside for the military of overturning DADT sure manifested quickly.

Cordially...

[lyle]

"Slick administration sooper genius Bill Richardson is considering a posthumous pardon for Billy the Kid."

Wait! What? Clinton died? Is this a time warp joke?

[Old Lurker]

Lyle...you are aware, are you not, that when you post as you did at 4:01 using fancy indentations and selective bold type that some of us automatically scroll past without realizing it was not he whose name must not be mentioned.

Just sayin.

[maryrose]

It's a holiday week thread-anything goes!I'm still crying over the Browns/Bengals game of yesterday. At least New York has one team that is winning.

[Dave (in MA)]

OL, Lyle's post was nowhere near as long as the Rude Drooler's typical fare.

[Appalled]

Hi all. Thought you (especially kim) would enjoy the following from a very famous speech:

research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.

Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.

The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present

and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientifictechnological elite.

It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system -- ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.

[Jack is Back!]

Hmmmm!

Patty Ann Brown has a little more henna than usual in her locks. Must be a Christmas thing. I know, who cares.

[Old Lurker]

I know Dave, that's what slowed me down enough to notice. Plus his avatar was the wrong color.

[lyle]

I'm hurt, OL. Serpent's tooth and all. My short missives vs. adrool's magnum opera? Cuts to the bone! ;)

[MoodyBlu]

I'm in a pissy mood so Lyle, to answer your question:

http://home.comcast.net/~atckz/pissing-on.gif>EJ

[larry]

JiB-Patty Ann Brown Woohoo Potty Mouth Brown!

[Jack is Back!]

Clarice,

The LI winner of the Puk was better than the other runner-ups but disappointed no tried to fit in an image of a Lincoln Continental

Watching the Best of Beck on Radicals. He' d be much better touring with Steyn than that boob O'Reilly.

[Dave (in MA)]

Jack, the only one that made me actually LOL was the Formaldehyde one. There were a lot of good ones, though. The Milhouse one was brilliantly rendered.

[Captain Hate]

I'm still crying over the Browns/Bengals game of yesterday.

That was really putrid, no? I'm afraid it will cost Mangini his job.

[Extraneus]

I thought the orgy with the JavaScript hover messages was good.

[Janet]

I liked the orgy one too.

[bgates]

I'll take "Things I Never Expected Janet to Say" for $800, Alex.

[Extraneus]

heh

[Neo]

"Who's in charge of security in New Orleans?" I asked. My question silenced the raucous discussion in the Air Force One conference room on Friday, September 2, 2005. "The governor is in charge," Mayor Ray Nagin said, pointing across the dark wood table at Governor Kathleen Blanco. Every head pivoted in her direction. The Louisiana governor froze. She looked agitated and exhausted. "I think it's the mayor," she said non-committally.

[maryrose]

Neo:
What a complete and utter FUBAR Katrina was. The worst thing,all those busses sitting in water when they could have been used to transport people out of New Orleans.The upside- the current much better education system.

[Dave (in MA)]

http://www.fark.com/cgi/comments.pl?IDLink=5838150>This is kind of fun if you don't mind wading into the sewer a little bit.

[lyle]

Thanks for the animation, MoodyBlu. I have to confess it took me a while to finally notice the EJ in the corner. Perfect.

[lyle]

"The Milhouse one was brilliantly rendered."

Agreed. That was utterly amazing!

[larry]

OT I sing the praises of Kraft Vidalia Onion Vinaigrette. Make your tongue slap your teeth.

[daddy]

Interesting.

Just pulled into the Hotel room. Caught the BBC news at the top of the hour on the TV.

The entire first 6 minutes broadcast was devoted to the massive snowstorm in Europe which has clobbered Airports and Air traffic throughout the UK, France, Belgium Germany, Russia etc.

Amazingly, they never once mentioned the topic of Global Warming; no mention at all, not a single time. How the heck the largest snowfall in Europe in years, and the coldest winter in parts of Europe in a centruy can be reported on by these AGW propagandists without a single mention of AGW is beyond me. What a bunch of lying hacks.

[narciso]

They really can't be this dim, I'm being rhetorical here, in the LUN

[Army of Davids]

Worth keeping an eye on Illinois and California budget issues.

The two states with the worst credit ratings... and muni's for each state dancing w/ volatility.

bond vigilantes. Not a liberal politician's friend.

[BR]

100, turn the page :)