Thus far I have hesitated to use the word 'defeat' or any form or synonym thereof in relation to America's efforts in the Middle East. After all, who am I to judge the situation from thousands of miles away and based upon so little information?

However, recent developments have forced me to admit that America is indeed facing defeat in the Middle East. Our enemies blatantly oppose us, our national security, and our interests in the Middle East without reprisal. They oppose us and we refuse to fight them. That is the very definition of defeat.

And who do I blame for this defeatist strategy? Surprise, it's not the Democrats. I place the blame squarely on President Bush. His "stay the course" attitude was no more a recipe for victory than the Democrats' "cut and run." President Bush and the GOP led us through each of the exhibits below.

I also blame myself and other Republicans who kowtowed to leftist pressure in this country to acquiesce in the Middle East, and failed to encourage our President to do more and act more aggressively.

Exhibit A. Backed by Iran and Syria, Hezbollah kidnaps Israeli soldiers and launches rocket attacks on northern Israeli towns. We do nothing, nor even say anything, against Iran for their active support of a terrorist opposition against an American ally. Even worse--far worse--we tie Israel's hands, restraining them from launching a true invasion of southern Lebanon.

Exhibit B. Sunni insurgents in the Sunni triangle and Baghdad continue their attacks against innocent Iraqis and the U.S. fails to increase troop levels to attack them in both regions at once. Instead, our troops are forced to move from once province to another and are never able to fully squash the insurgency

Exhibit C. Al Sadr operates a Shia militia near Baghdad, committing atrocities against innocent Sunnis, and enjoys the protection of the Iraqi government. The U.S. stands by a "compromise" between Al Sadr and the Iraqi government and refuses to eliminate him and break up his militia, even though he is responsible for most of the instability in Baghdad.

Exhibit D. Syria assassinates a member of Lebanon's moderate government, directly opposing the U.S. interests there. Again the U.S. does nothing.

Exhibit E. Iran funds and arms Hezbollah as well as militia in Iraq, threatens violent terrorist action within the U.S., and continues its nuclear weapons program, and the U.S. continues to wed itself to a laughable UN diplomacy process which is doomed because of Russia and China's refusal to cooperate.

...

Now that the U.S. has discovered Iran's direct support of Al Sadr's militia, we must take immediate action or we will prove to our enemies yet again that we are content with defeat. The U.S. must immediately commence military action to kill or capture Al Sadr and break up his militia. We must demand that the Iraqi Prime Minister begin the dismantling of his party's own militia. And we must immediately impose unilateral economic sanctions and a naval embargo against Iran.

- Article on Iranian "president" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's letter to the American people...

- Evidence of Iranian support of terrorists in Iraq...

Iran is suspended from world soccer:

Iran was suspended from international soccer by FIFA on Thursday because of government interference with the country's soccer federation.

The decision was made Wednesday at an emergency council meeting of soccer's world governing body. FIFA said it had given Iran a Nov. 15 deadline to reinstate elected soccer federation president Mohammed Dadgan and comply with FIFA regulations.

The United Nations certainly could learn a thing from FIFA. Iran breaks a rule. The group meets and swiftly punishes Iran. The UN just talks.

Too bad FIFA handles soccer and the UN handles matters of global peace.

My attitude towards John McCain has been tumultuous lately. For several years I opposed him on the principle ground that I saw him as straddling a middle ("independent") position purely for politically calculated reasons.

In the last year or so he has worked to improve his conservative image and he even supported more troops in Iraq to achieve victory. My opposition to him began to wane, and with no other Republican presidential hopeful particularly appealing to me, I openly contemplated supporting McCain. But I still had doubts.

Matt Welch, editorializing in the LA Times, succinctly summarizes my real problem with McCain: he tries to make the government a solution to everyone's problems. He may or may not still be a wavering maverick, but he's never been a conservative.

Using a new/better method (sum of BCS reciprocals):

SEC: 85 (5 teams)
Big Ten: 67 (3 teams)
Big East: 44 (3 teams)
Pac-10: 34 (3 teams)
Big 12: 30 (4 teams)
ACC: 25 (3 teams)
WAC: 19 (2 teams)
Independents: 16 (1 team)
Mountain West: 5 (1 team)

Some of my assumptions behind my last bowl projections were faulty... Here's the new projections:


National Championship Game - Ohio State versus USC

- All USC has to do is not get upset by UCLA this Saturday.


Rose Bowl - Michigan versus ND or LSU

- The Rose Bowl will get the first 2 picks, since they lost the Big 10 and Pac-10 champs to the NCG. Michigan is the natural pick to replace Ohio State. The other pick is more tricky to project. It'll either be ND (probably more money with this pick, but it'd be a rematch that people don't want to see) or LSU (the likely at-large pick). The other option would be for the Rose to pick the winner of the Big East, but I think that chance is very low.


Sugar Bowl - Florida versus ND or Louisville/Rutgers

- Florida will likely win the SEC championship this Saturday. Who the Sugar Bowl picks to play them depends on who the Rose Bowl picks. If the Rose Bowl does not pick ND, then ND will play in the Sugar. But if the Rose Bowl does pick ND, then the Sugar would pick the Big East champ. Their only other option would be to pick the at-large team from the SEC, but that'd make it a match of 2 SEC teams--not likely.


Orange Bowl - Georgia Tech/Wake Forest

- GT and Wake play in the ACC championship this Saturday. The Orange Bowl's other pick will depend on whether the Big East champ is still available. If it is not, then look for LSU to be picked. An SEC-ACC game is always entertaining.


Fiesta Bowl - Oklahoma versus Boise State

- Oklahoma will likely be the Big XII champ after beating Nebraska this Saturday. Since the Fiesta is the last to pick, Boise State will be there as well.


*Of course, the Rose Bowl could pick somebody other than Michigan if they wanted and that would throw all of these projections into turmoil.

Bah...

1. Ohio State (0)
2. USC (+2)
3. Michigan (-1)
4. Florida (+1)
5. LSU (+2)
6. Wisconsin (+2)
7. Louisville (+2)
8. Notre Dame (-5)
9. Auburn (+2)
10. Boise State (+3)
11. Oklahoma (+3)
12. Arkansas (-6)
13. Rutgers (+2)
14. Virginia Tech (+2)
15. Wake Forest (+1)

Rationale:

USC's victory over ND was impressive for them. Good enough to put them at #2, though I think it's a toss-up between them and Michigan. Florida scraped by again, moving them up to #4. LSU's victory over Arkansas shows that they are the best 2-loss team out there and better than some of the 1-loss teams (their schedule is tough and their two losses were by thin margins).

Wisconsin and Louisville are both solid 1-loss teams that move into slots 6 and 7, taking advantage of ND and Arkansas's losses. ND, Auburn, and Oklahoma are all 2-loss programs, but Oklahoma's schedule is far weaker so they remain behind Boise State who I moved up because of their quality win over a decent enough Nevada team.

After this I really stopped caring about where to rank teams, so I just threw in a couple ACC teams.

I've got Rudy in the DVD player and I'm ready to go...

The Notre Dame Victory March!

Rally sons of Notre Dame:
Sing her glory and sound her fame,
Raise her Gold and Blue
And cheer with voices true:
Rah, rah, for Notre Dame
We will fight in ev-ry game,
Strong of heart and true to her name
We will ne'er forget her
And will cheer her ever
Loyal to Notre Dame

Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame,
Wake up the echoes cheering her name,
Send a volley cheer on high,
Shake down the thunder from the sky.
What though the odds be great or small
Old Notre Dame will win over all,
While her loyal sons are marching
Onward to victory.

I have written two posts about Autumn and why it is my favorite season. I find it interesting to see how the style of my blog writing has shifted from two years ago. My post from 2004 seemed too concerned with big adjectives and was not as structurally solid as my post from last year...

"Autumn: my favorite season" - Oct. 26, 2004

Undoubtedly Autumn is most awesome of the seasons. The climate is usually very pleasant, yet also exciting; the temperature is neither too hot nor too cold, yet an invigorating cool breeze sometimes ripples through the leaves awakening your senses. Oh and speaking of the leaves! No other time of the year can one observe the cornucopia of colors that are present during the Fall. Oh, and one more thing: fall is football season-- giving us plenty of reasons to hang around outside for large amounts of time.

Some criticize Autumn saying that the dying of the leaves is depressing-- but these people are shallow :-) Autumn is a metaphor for the resilience of life. The leaves die but the trees live on cloaking the portent of new life to come. To enjoy the Fall requires more depth than enjoying the obtuse symbolism of Spring, or the monotonous pleasantness of summer, or the ponderous introspection of Winter. To enjoy Autumn is Hope.

"An Ode to Autumn" - Nov. 5, 2005

Of the four seasons, autumn is surely my favorite. It possesses a complexity and depth that the other seasons cannot rival.

Unlike summer and winter which derive their value from their extremes, autumn is a period of change and turmoil. And unlike spring, autumn's metaphorical splendor is not so obvious. Spring may brag about blooming flowers and budding trees, life being reborn, but autumn's message is that life persists even when struggle and death are set against it. The leaves die but the trees live on.

As if to reassure us, this whole spectacle is not gruesome but beautiful. The dying leaves--and make no mistake about it, they are dying, not just changing--produce a pleasant scent, not a stinch. To anyone viewing the cornucopia of colors, the beauty is undeniable. There can be no doubt that when all is said and done, nature will prevail once more.

Furthermore, autumn is not just great for its intrinsic message, but also for the activities of man during its duration. Autumn is the season of football, that battle of talent, pain, and brute force which mirror so well the turmoil of the season. Autumn also contains the holiday of Thanksgiving in which families connect with each other and with the bounty of the land.

Such is autumn. Such is life.

Thanksgiving is about more than a big feast of course (though I'm certainly not one to forget the feast altogether! ;-) ). I think we all know the deeper significance of the holiday, but I can remember one particular event in my life which cements the meaning for me.

My senior year in high school, Roncalli made it to the state championship in football, which is held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We had a brief morning practice on Thanksgiving and at the end of the practice our coach had us take a knee. Instead of the usual short talk, he asked every player on the team to name a couple things they were thankful for. Some of things mentioned were obvious, but some were surprisingly deep. The power of this lie in the fact that while we all could have been completely absorbed in the upcoming state game, we took a significant amount of time to step back and look at ultimately more important things in our lives. Also, it's not ever day that you see 80+ highschool guys telling each other what they're thankful for in their lives.


Watch this short video on the History Channel...

Read the Wikipedia article on Thanksgiving...

The Sayre15 versus...

Friday

Texas(12) plays Texas A&M
*Arkansas(6) plays LSU(7)

Saturday

Florida(5) plays Florida State
West Virginia(10) plays South Florida
Rutgers(15) plays Syracuse
Oklahoma(14) plays Oklahoma State
*Louisville(9) plays Pittsburgh
Boise State(13) plays Nevada
Notre Dame(3) plays USC(4)

Not playing

Ohio State(1), Michigan(2), Wisconsin(8), Auburn(11)

...

Big games:

Texas and Oklahoma both have small challenges this weekend...implications for the Big XII championship and thus for who goes to the Fiesta Bowl. In the SEC, Arkansas has a huge game against LSU. In the Big East, Louisville versus Pittsburgh is pretty important. West Virginia beat Pitt pretty darn easily this past weekend, so we get another point of comparison.** Finally, Notre Dame versus USC goes without saying.

**Okay, I looked up the Big East tie-breaking procedures. Here's how it can shake out. If Louisville beats Pitt, then the Big East championship hinges on whether or not Rutgers beats WVU next week. If Rutgers wins they'll be the Big East champ. If they lose, then Louisville gets the champion status (yes, if WVU wins that big game, it helps Louisville, because Louisville has the head-on tie-breaker). However, if Louisville loses to Pitt this weekend then the winner of next week's Rutgers-WVU matchup with be the Big East champ. My money's on Louisville.

Let's take a brief interlude from college football and turn back to politics for a bit. The topic: gerrymandering.

While most people agree that gerrymandering is a bad thing, nobody ever seems able to devise a system that could be apolitical. Like campaign finance, the drawing of district lines is an inherently political matter and any attempt at reform will always present the opportunity for political parties to leverage gain for themselves.

So why not take the matter away from humans altogether and give it to computers? This article in the American Scientist details how it could work. Basically, a computer formula would be developed that takes into account factors such as geographical contiguity, equality of population, and compactness.

Indeed, this sounds like an obvious and workable solution on its surface. Upon further examination, however, this would just shift the political maneuvering to the creation of the formula. Using factors such as demographic grouping, urban area dividing/inclusion, etc., a computer formula could do at least as good a job at gerrymandering as humans. Thus I would support computerization only if basic geographical and political factors were used.

The sad hilarious thing about this headline is that it REALLY HAPPENED...

Oh yeah, this isn't a new story, but it's still funny.

Oh yes, I'm going there... Btw, doing these college football rankings and projections makes me feel as much like a mathematician as a college football fan. These projections are based on ND beating USC, Florida beating Arkansas in the SEC championship, Georgia Tech winning the ACC, and Louisville winning the Big East:


National Championship Game (Glendale, AZ): Ohio State versus Michigan

- The National Championship Game automatically gets the #1 and #2 teams in the nation.

Rose Bowl - Pasadena, CA: USC versus Auburn

- The Rose Bowl gets to replace the Big 10 winner with another team. They will not fill it with Notre Dame, because USC will be the Pac-10's representative, and they won't want a rematch of that game. Arkansas and Auburn will be viable at-large opponents, but the Rose Bowl will pick Auburn, because Arkansas got creamed by USC earlier in the year. Plus, this year's BCS will only feature 1 at-large team, as the automatics will fill the remaining spots.

Sugar Bowl - New Orleans, LA: Florida versus Notre Dame

- The Sugar Bowl gets the champion of the SEC. After that it will pick Notre Dame who is an automatic bid since they rank in the top 8.

Orange Bowl - Miami, FL: Georgia Tech versus Louisville

- The Orange Bowl gets the champion of the ACC. They'll pit that against the champion of the Big East who I think is going to be Louisville. [I've updated this post based upon my analysis of the Big East tie-breaking rules here...]

Fiesta Bowl - Glendale, AZ: Texas versus Boise State.

- The Fiesta Bowl gets the winner of the Big 12. The at-large bid has been used up and Boise State is an automatic bid under BCS rules regarding mid-major conferences.


[read the BCS picking rules here... and good luck]

Using BCS rankings...

Big Ten: 4 teams; average rank 9.0
Independents: 1 team: rank 5.0
Big East: 3 teams; average rank 9.67
SEC: 5 teams; average rank 10.4
WAC: 1 team; rank 11.0
Pac-10: 2 teams; average rank 11.0
Big 12: 3 teams; average rank 16.67
ACC: 5 teams; average rank 19.2
Mountain West: 1 team; rank 23.0

Based on these radio ads he's putting out, he's willing to play dirty in this race ;-)

Troy Smith ad 1

Troy Smith ad 2

Full size/quality photos available for download through Picasa...

Eh...

1. Ohio State (0)
2. Michigan (0)
3. Notre Dame (0)
4. USC (+1)
5. Florida (-1)
6. Arkansas (0)
7. LSU (+1)
8. Wisconsin (+3)
9. Louisville (0)
10. West Virginia (+4)
11. Auburn (+1)
12. Texas (-2)
13. Boise State (+2)
14. Oklahoma (+2)
15. Rutgers (-8)

honorable mention: Georgia Tech
leaving: Wake Forest
joining: Oklahoma


Rationale:

I went with Michigan at position #2--USC looked average against 2-loss Cal, Florida played a cake opponent, ND got whipped by Michigan earlier in the season, and Michigan played OSU down to the last minute. It's not what I wanted to see happen, but my hands are forced.

ND stays at #3. USC jumps Florida because they beat a much better opponent. Arkansas stays at #6. LSU moved up a position, to #7, as a result of Rutgers' big drop, though I'm not sure they deserve it. I almost dropped them for barely beating Ole Miss. Wisconsin moved up 3 spots to #8, even though they only beat a cake team, because of Rutgers' demise and because I dropped Texas for not playing. I kept Louisville at #9, even though they could have moved a position up, because I'm punishing them for Rutgers' defeat. Tough.

West Virginia moves up 4--1 spot for Rutgers, 1 spot for Wake Forest, and 2 spots (over Texas and Auburn), because their speed impresses me enough that I think they belong higher. I feel like this is too kind to the Big East, but I also have run out of options.

Finally, Oklahoma earns its way onto the list, Rutgers hangs on for dear life at #15 (okay, I'm definitely too nice to the Big East), and Georgia Tech has clawed its way back to an honorable mention.

The Todd: Why won't any women talk to me?
Attractive nurse: Because you're slimy and you turn everything into a double entendre.
The Todd: I do not.
[Attractive nurse leaves, Todd stares at Turk]
Chris Turk: Go ahead.
The Todd: I'd like to double her entendre.

The closer ND gets to the National Championship game, the more the mainstream media will come unhinged. They are already in full-scale cover-up mode regarding destroying Brady Quinn's Heisman chances, and the myths and lies are now appearing out in the open.

Here's ESPN's Todd McShay today:

jeff (adamsville): Does ND really have a chance to win it all

Todd McShay: (12:16 PM ET ) Unfortunately, yes!
Todd McShay: (12:18 PM ET ) I'm shocked at how high ND is ranked in the BCS. Its schedule is a joke. The only reason ND is ranked ahead of Arkansas is because of preseason bias. Anyway, if ND beats USC and wins out, it could leapfrog to the No. 2 spot in the BCS. It also could catch a break if Arkansas loses to LSU in the final game of hte regular season and then beats Florida in the SEC championship.

Todd McShay: (12:19 PM ET ) Even if Arkansas and ND both win out, ND would likely finish higher in the polls because ND beat USC, which beat Arkansas in Week 1 in Fayetteville.

Gee, if ND beats a team that DESTROYED Arkansas on its homefield, is it really that much of an injustice to send the Irish to the BCS in lieu of the Razorbacks. I guess that makes too much logic for the Todd.

stuart mandel (NYC): I do not believe there should be a rematch between UM/OSU in the title game, but if Michigan loses, the thought of a one-loss ND team playing in the title game over UM is nausiating.

Todd McShay: (12:25 PM ET ) Very well put.

I think someone was trying to make a joke here. Of course, Stewart Mandel doesn't spell his name like that (reminiscent of the Seinfeld where George bought "John" Voight's car). It could just be stupidity though, being that they also spelled "nauseating" wrong.

Rick (Columbus, Ohio): why does everyone hate ND?

SportsNation Todd McShay: (12:37 PM ET ) ND is like the New York Yankees. Fans either love them or hate them. I obviously have nothing agianst ND. I just think other teams will be more deserving of a shot if there are several one-loss teams still standing at the end of the season. An impressive win at USC could change everone's mind, though.
SportsNation Todd McShay: (12:41 PM ET ) I seem to have hit a sensative subject with all you ND fans. Here's my argument against ND in the BCS title game... 1) They are a one-dimensional team with a good passing attack but a pedestrian run game, decent special teams and an awful defense. 2) They got blown out by Michigan at home. 3) Who have they beat? Georgia Tech is ND's best win... I'm not impressed. 4) The recent schedule is a joke (Purdue, Stanford, UCLA, Navy, Air Force and Army). They nearly lost to a below average UCLA team and they gave up 26 points to a pitiful UNC offense, which by the way got shutout by G-Tech last Sat.

Ass-hat! Sorry, couldn't make it through this post without profanity. Let's try to break this down.

No, Todd, you do obviously have something against ND. Just be a man, and admit. As Luke suggested in an unrelated previous post, maybe something happened in your childhood. Perhaps you were molested by an Irishman. I don't know, I'm just throwing out suggestions. There has to be something that is causing your hate.

Second, ND is NOT the New York Yankees. If we were, it would simply be out of jealousy that we are the most successful college football program of all time. I wouldn't even let this be the reason though, being we haven't won a title in past 18 years, and the Yanks have won, what? five? The real reason everyone hates the Yanks is that they use their millions to buy the best talent, without having to worry about a salary cap. There's no even playing field. ND on the other hand, if anything, is disadvantaged from getting all that talent because of its high academic standards. Can you tell I really hate this comparison?

ND's recent schedule is a joke? Well, Purdue, UCLA, and Navy will likely all be going bowling this year. But aside from that, how is Arkansas' any better? Our best win? Two-loss Ga Tech, probable ACC champion. Their's? Two-loss Auburn, non-SEC champion. Still impressed with their win over 3-loss Tennessee? Yea, we've played service academies, but at least with didn't draft Division I-AA Southeastern Missouri State!

Bottom line, according to Sagarin:
ND's strength of schedule: 22
Arkansas: 81

Thursday

West Virginia(14) plays Pittsburgh


Saturday

Florida(4) plays Western Carolina
Wisconsin(11) plays Buffalo
Oklahoma(hm) plays Baylor
Arkansas(6) plays Mississippi St.
Notre Dame(3) plays Army
Boise St.(15) plays Utah St.
**Ohio St.(1) plays Michigan(2)
*Auburn(12) plays Alabama
*Wake Forest(13) plays Virginia Tech
Louisville(9) plays South Florida
*Rutgers(7) plays Cincinnati
*USC(5) plays California
LSU(8) plays Mississippi


Not playing

Texas(10)

...

Ohio State versus Michigan. Ohio State versus Michigan. Ohio State versus Michigan. WOW. We finally get to see Ohio State play their first decent opponent since Texas. We Domers want Michigan to win and win big in this game. A Michigan win makes ND look better indirectly and it makes it possible (though not necessarily probable) that Ohio State drop below ND by the end of the season. If Ohio State wins, do you think there's any chance they'll drop Michigan below ND? No way.

Besides that matchup, solid Alabama has a shot at Auburn in the bloody SEC. Wake Forest has a chance to say loudly that they belong in the top 15 against a decent V. Tech. Cincinnati has been playing toughly this season and I think they have a good shot at toppling Rutgers.

Finally, USC versus California is a pretty big game, though not as big as it would have been if Cal had not lost this previous Saturday. Still though, the game is critical for ND. It's a must win for USC.

Jim Kleinpeter of The Times-Picayune of New Orleans is wishing he didn't have that third Apple-tini Saturday night.

The AP member and poll voter has been expelled from the poll after it was learned this week that he had mistakenly downranked Oklahoma, thinking they had lost to Texas Tech. The Sooners were trailing in that game, but came back to win 34-24.

Kleinpeter was attending another game, and could not find the score anywhere, apparently. He claims that someone else told him Oklahoma had lost.

This explains so much!! After hearing about this, Jason Whitlock, who is not at all a racist, remarked, "Whoa! Notre Dame beat Michigan State??? Man, maybe I should move them up to 8 in that case. Yea, right after I finish this bearclaw. Oh I love bearclaws!!"

Stewart Mandel, who previously ranked Notre Dame 10th, was also unaware that the Oklahoma had one. His punishment was commuted, however, when he said, "Oh the Sooners won? Well, that means ND is back down to 11!"

Ok, back to the real quotes. Here's AP sports editor Terry Taylor, on the incident:

"We understand mistakes can happen, but we thought this one could have been prevented. The heart of the matter here is the credibility of the poll." (emphasis added)

Excuse me, just one moment...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
































That's what you deserve for putting the Irish at 5! Now Scram!!

"Conservative" radio talkshow host Michael Savage said the following during the November 13 airing of "The Savage Nation":

And I want to tell you something, and I'm going to say it to you loud and clear. The radical homosexual agenda will not stop until religion is outlawed in this country. Make no mistake about it. They're all not nice decorators. You better get it through your head before it's too late. They threaten your very survival. They went after the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is now caving into the homosexual mafia. They will not stop until they force their agenda down your throats. Gay marriage is just the tip of the iceberg. They want full and total subjugation of this society to their agenda. Now, if you want that and if you don't think it's a threat -- believe me, that is what's going to occur in this country.

Savage's comments represent blind hatred at its worst. To take Elton John's idiotic statement that all religion should be banned and to attribute that notion to some gay agenda in this nation is unfair and deceitful of Savage. There are millions of religious homosexuals and the goal of most homosexual activists is mere equality: the ability to marry and the ability to adopt.

But Savage goes much further. He says that homosexuals threaten "your very survival." Well who is he speaking to here? It's as if he's referring to his straight listeners as normal people and homosexuals as some sort of aliens. This formation of a dichotomy is the typical calling card of a bigot. This bit of rhetoric is so illogical it does not even deserve a response.

He continues: "The Catholic Church is now caving into the homosexual mafia." Here he is referring to guidelines recently released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops. In the statement, the Bishops stated that homosexual behavior is disordered and contrary to God's law. They repeated their call for homosexuals to remain chaste throughout their lives, but also called on homosexuals to be treated with dignity and respect. By calling this statement a cave-in by the bishops, Savage must be saying that homosexuals should not be treated with dignity and respect. Perhaps he'd support the type of "justice" Iran imposes on homosexuals... Think I'm exaggerating? Well, homosexuals do threaten the very existence of normal people right?

I am forced to wonder why Savage elevates his opposition to gay marriage and adoption to actual and severe hatred of the homosexual person. There must be something in his life. Perhaps he was molested when he was younger. Perhaps he's simply the product of a hateful family. Perhaps he's suppressing his own homosexuality. Or perhaps it's something far more mundane than any of these possibilities. I do not know the answer, but I sincerely hope that Savage is able to observe some positive and loving homosexual relationships and experience a change of heart. I wish that level of darkness on nobody's soul.


Update: I have e-mailed Savage with a link to this post. We'll see if he is too cowardly to respond.

The Onion is so brilliant and politically astute:

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO—Evangelical leader Ted Haggard, who stepped down last week after confessing that he purchased methamphetamines and various services from a male prostitute, revealed Wednesday that he was repeatedly molested by an unnamed Republican congressman in the late 1990s. "We would communicate on the Internet and then meet in his Washington office to, I thought, discuss faith-based initiatives," said Haggard in a tearful admission in which he asked for the forgiveness of God and his congregation. "Before long, he had progressed from praying alongside me to having me sit on his lap at his desk, and then to touching me in my bathing-suit area. I trusted the congressman, and he violated that trust." Authorities have not acted on Haggard's allegations, saying that Republicans are often accused of wrongdoings simply because so many of them lead secret gay or criminal lifestyles.

*Italics mine. That means make sure and read that line! :-)

Death Cab for Cutie's "Soul Meets Body":


I want to live where soul meets body
And let the sun wrap its arms around me
And bathe my skin in water cool and cleansing
And feel, feel what its like to be new

Cause in my head there’s a greyhound station
Where I send my thoughts to far off destinations
So they may have a chance of finding a place
where they’re far more suited than here

I cannot guess what we'll discover
We turn the dirt with our palms cupped like shovels
But I know our filthy hands can wash one another’s
And not one speck will remain

I do believe it’s true
That there are roads left in both of our shoes
If the silence takes you
Then I hope it takes me too
So brown eyes I hold you near
Cause you’re the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

While last week's election was generally a referendum on the President's handling of Iraq and on the Congressional Republicans' scandals, many people voted for change. Democrats offered little specifics of their agenda and instead ran as "not Bush." Now we get to see what they have in store for our nation. Here's a couple things:

- Withdraw our troops within a few months. Read: surrender!

- And this statement by Hillary: "Health care is coming back. It may be a bad dream for some."

Buyer's remorse, anybody?

A lot of people--politicians, journalists, business execs--all refer to a so-called "hydrogen economy" in which this nation's primary energy needs would be met by hydrogen-powered fuel cells.

Hydrogen's advantages are touted as producing zero emissions and as creating energy independence from the middle east. But how much promise is there behind hydrogen? The answer is much less than people would like to believe.

This Popular Mechanics article does a tremendous job outlining the specifics of how a hydrogen-economy might work and the challenges facing it. The main point the article makes, which sets the foundation for any discussion on the matter, is that hydrogen is a just a source of energy, not a fuel.

The distinction is that hydrogen is not readily available for human use but rather must be converted or extracted from readily available sources (fuels). And here we find our usual suspects: natural gas, nuclear power, solar power, wind, biomass, and coal. Each of these resources, whether reformed directly into hydrogen and biproducts or used to produce electricity for electrolysis, has its own distinct advantages and drawbacks.

Hydrogen, therefore, is no panacea for the challenges involved with our energy needs.

PM asked what it would take in each of the fuels to power the United States' entire auto fleet with hydrogen, and produced this wonderful chart telling the following: how much raw materials are needed, how much carbon emissions are produced, the cost of the infrastructure, the price equivalent for a gallon of gasoline, etc.

Natural gas, currently the leading option in use, still produces a lot of carbon emissions and does very little to lessen our dependence on foreign sources of energy. Nuclear power requires vastly more uranium resources than we currently use along with an entire collection of next-gen reactors, but it produces no carbon emissions. Wind is unworkable as it would require an area the size of California to be covered with wind turbines. Solar is unworkable as it'd require an area the size of Nevada to be covered with solar cells and it would require a $22 trillion investment in infrastructure. Biomass would require a large percentage of current U.S. crop production. And finally, coal gasification, while the cheapest option, would also emit tons of carbon emissions.

If engineers can make sequestration of carbon emissions underground a viable option, then coal would be the best option. It's the cheapest and it eliminates our need for middle eastern oil or natural gas. But that's a big 'if' at the moment.

The revelation of the massive anti-ND conspiracy continues this week, with the release of the AP voters' ballots after Saturday's games.

Notre Dame is 6th in the latest AP poll, and all in all, 6 is not a bad estimate of the Irish's position in the college football world. But dig a little deeper, and something more sinister begins to become apparent.

While I do not know the exact formula the AP uses to rank teams, it is basically an average of votes you receive. Which means, if you wanted to be an ass-hat, you could rank a team really low on your ballot, and their poll average would suffer as a result. Now obviously, not everyone is going to be of the same exact mind about where Notre Dame should be: 5, maybe 4, maybe 6, etc. You would expect there to be some deviation, but not this much.

NDnation.com poster Dakota Domer ran the numbers, and here's what he came up with:

ND Voting Frequencies
3-----2
4-----6
5-----22
6-----14
7-----11
8-----4
9-----5
10----1

That's right! Eight different positions. Compared to 5 for USC. And what is more, as Dakota points out: "its not even close to a normal distribution, its skewed heavily to the right of our mode(im aware its not supposed to be normal...but you should not have more votes for 9 than for 8."

Jason Whitlock, who is not at all a racist, has ND at #9 (behind Oklahoma). Craig James doesn't give the Sooners that much credit: his pick for a two-loss team to jump ND is the LSU Tigers. Stewart Mandel, fresh off a Charlie Weis-bashing column on SI.com (a column deriding Coach Weis for having the audacity to question ND dropping in the polls after a win), is having delusions of Big East grandeur, with ND at #10 and all three Mountain East teams ahead of the Irish. He and Mark May should make plans to move to Jersey and get married. Seriously, I hear Scarlet Knights season tickets are still available for '07.

Fortunately, the AP doesn't factor into the BCS standings anymore. Which is good, because if Notre Dame were to go on and beat Ohio State in Glendale in two months, the AP would probably crown Boise State the champions.















Associated Press voters gather to cast their ballots. Jason Whitlock in the background, upper left, disguised as a pillar.

Using BCS rankings...

Big Ten: 3 teams; average rank 4.0
Independents: 1 team: rank 5.0
Big East: 3 teams; average rank 8.0
SEC: 5 teams; average rank 11.6
WAC: 1 team; rank 12.0
Pac-10: 3 teams; average rank 14.0
Big 12: 3 teams; average rank 17.67
ACC: 5 teams; average rank 18.8
Mountain West: 1 team; rank 25.0

(number in parentheses indicated change in ranking)

1. Ohio State(0)
2. Michigan(0)
3. Notre Dame(+2)
4. Florida(+3)
5. USC(+4)
6. Arkansas(+4)
7. Rutgers(+5)
8. LSU(+3)
9. Louisville(-6)
10. Texas(-6)
11. Wisconsin(+3)
12. Auburn(-6)
13. Wake Forest(+3)
14. West Virginia(+2)
15. Boise State(0)

honorable mention: Oklahoma

departing the list: Tennessee with 3 losses; California with a loss to an unranked opponent, and whose other loss was to Tennessee)

joining the list for the first time: Wake Forest with only 1 loss total and with a solid win this week)

...

Rationale:

A lot of movement in the rankings this week as Auburn, Texas, Louisville, and California lost. The relative positions of ND, Florida, and USC remain the same but they all move up to fill the gaps left by the losers. Ranking those 3 teams relative to each other is admittedly difficult. Florida's offense is unimpressive but so is ND's defense. ND's loss was to the 2nd highest rank team, but USC and Florida have had arguably better victories.

Arkansas and Rutgers are next. Arkansas whipped a pretty good team and deserves to be at least this high. They got killed by USC early in the season though (much worse than ND's loss to Michigan), so they don't belong higher than them. Placing Rutgers was difficult, but my faith in the Big East in general is declining. West Virginia earned their way back on my list (at 14), but for gosh sake why do so many pollsters have them in their top 10?

Wisconsin moves up to 11. Their only loss was to Michigan but their schedule is extremely weak. Still with only one loss, they deserve to be there. Wake Forest, another 1-loss team, also makes the list. The ACC is worse than the Big East, but not by far.

Fyodor Dostoevsky was born on this date in 1821...

"So long as man remains free he strives for nothing so incessantly and so painfully as to find some one to worship."

- The Brothers Karamazov


"There is no virtue if there is no immortality."

- The Brothers Karamazov

If you're a fan of ND football [you're not allowed on this blog if you are not ;-)] then check out Dietler's ND football videos...

He has cool highlight clip videos from each of last season's and this season's games. He has them posted in streaming YouTube form and in several formats for download. He also has a FREE DVD including all of last season's highlights and a bunch of bonus material such as Weis press conferences.

Iraq is "not a war to be won but a situation to be solved." - Rep. Nancy Pelosi, 11/8/06
















Now it's Vietnam.

You know the drill...

Thursday

*Louisville(3) plays Rutgers(12)

Saturday

West Virginia(hm) plays Cincinnati
*Wisconsin(14) plays Iowa
Auburn(6) plays Georgia
Ohio State(1) plays Northwestern
Michigan(2) plays Indiana
*Florida(7) plays South Carolina
California(8) plays Arizona
Notre Dame(5) plays Air Force
Boise State(15) plays San Jose State
*Arkansas(10) plays Tennessee(13)
LSU(11) plays Alabama
Texas(4) plays Kansas State
Wake Forest(hm) plays Florida State
USC(9) plays Oregon

Not playing

Nobody! Okay, that's a double negative I know.

...

This is a snoozer week in college football, as far as big games go. Thursday pits the 2 undefeated teams from the Big East: Louisville has nothing to gain and plenty to lose in this game, but Rutgers has plenty to gain and plenty to lose. Wisconsin versus Iowa is a modestly big game, a rarity from the Big 10 this year. A win here would help Wisconsin remain on the top-15 and maybe even move up a spot.

The Florida-South Carolina contest should be really interesting. South Carolina has had close losses to a lot of quality teams, and they're due to pull off an upset. If Florida wins, they'll have a strong argument for moving up in my ranking. The SEC comes through again with an Arkansas-Tennessee matchup. Whoever loses this one will almost certainly drop from the top-15.

Beyond that, I wouldn't be surprised if Cincinnati or Alabama pulled an upset, though I'm not brave enough to call either of them. Air Force has been all over the place this year (only losing to Tennessee by a point, but also losing to SDSU), so its contest against ND could be crazy and closer than Irish fans would like. ND's defense is going to be tested, that's for sure.

There will be exactly 372 columns and 13,969 blog posts written today answering this very question, but nevertheless let me indulge your patience. My analysis will be tripartite: historical, strategical, and philosophical. By no means, however, are these parts distinct; rather, they must be considered together, with philosophy as the climax of the argument.

History

Midterm elections in the 6th year of a presidency are historically difficult for the party in power. So many events have unfolded under so much scrutiny that a laundry list is formed by which the electorate holds that party responsible.

This election's list was large indeed: Hurricane Katrina, a wavering war in Iraq, lobbying scandals, the Foley affair, etc. It is no matter whether or not the Republicans deserve blame all, in part, or not at all for these things; the buck stops with them. Now does this mean that a party in this situation, faced with such hardships, is guaranteed to lose? Not if they heed the advice in the next two sections.

Strategy

Tom Delay put it best when he said that Republicans "played not to lose." Republicans responded and played defense instead of aggressively pushing a coherent agenda on government spending, taxation, the war on terrorism, and other core issues.

But this goes beyond not vocalizing these issues in the campaign. An agenda has to be embodied in a legislative plan. Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress and the Presidency, yet what did they accomplish in the last 2 years--hell, in the last 6 years? Immigration reform? No. Actual energy reform? No. Social security reform? No. Tax simplification/reform? No.

The simple principle that governance and politics cannot be separated seems to have eluded the Congressional GOP leadership. The problems began when the GOP elected Dennis Hastert as Speaker of the House, after Newt Gingrich's demise. Newt had a legislative agenda and he pushed it. After Clinton outmaneuvered Newt and the GOP, they made the safe pick of Hastert, and the party's been wandering aimlessly ever since. This takes us to the third section.

Philosophy

Without a coherent philosophy of governance, a party cannot form a legislative agenda off which it can politick. This is the foundation of party politics in a representative democracy and it is a foundation the Republicans allowed to crack.

The Republicans' philosophy on domestic and foreign policy matters barely resembles that of the last several decades. In terms of foreign policy, as clichéd as it sounds, 9/11 changed everything. The party is now divided between those who see regime change and continuous military presence as the best method of fighting terrorism and rogue state challenges to America's security, and those traditionalists who would prefer using limited and strategic engagements to play the realist 'balance of power' game.

I cannot blame the party or anyone in the party specifically for this division. The truth is that 9/11 pushed us into a new foreign policy environment in which a new theory would have to be tested against the traditional theory. Many questions, such as how transformative democracy can be in the Middle East, still need to be answered.

On domestic matters, however, blame lies squarely on President Bush and the Congressional leadership. They eschewed Reagan's principle that government is not the solution and they ignored Lincoln's adage that a nation who buys the favor of its people with their own money is doomed to failure.

They became so intoxicated and reliant on the religious vote, which the Democratic party so recklessly abandoned to them, that they collapsed the "big tent" and made themselves prone to scandals such as the Foley affair.

...

Now that Republicans are in the minority, many will engage in some soul-searching. In doing so, it is my sincere hope that they rediscover the conservative spirit that has energized and promoted the party for so many years.

Okay, so the Senate and the House are both gone. There will be a recount in Virginia, but I'd rather there not be. Let's move on.

So how were my election predictions? Fairly terrible. On the Senate side, I was wrong about Montana (but it was much closer than any Democrats were predicting), Missouri, and Virginia. I was right about Maryland, New Jersey, and Rhode Island though. On the House side, I was between 10-15 seats low in my forecast of Democratic pickups. In Indiana I was wrong about Sodrel, Carson, and Hostettler's races.

Conclusion: I should stick to ND football predictions...

1:18 a.m.

Well, one last post before I go to bed. Things are fairly clear now and very bad for the GOP

- The GOP has lost control of the House and will end up losing 30-40 seats before all is said and done.

- Control of the Senate hinges on Montana where Conrad Burns (R) is losing, with just under half of the precincts reporting... Virginia is going to have a recount, but kiss the Senate goodbye if you're a Republican.

10:43 p.m.

I posted some results from my mobile phone, but they didn't actually post. Apologies. Let me catch you up.

Indiana and the House

I was wrong about 3 of the races and right only about one.

- Hostettler lost big; Dickerson's going to lose, if it hasn't been declared already; Hill has been declared victorious over Sodrel (there was a libertarian candidate in the mix that I was unaware of), and Chocola has lost as well.

- The House is on track to go Democrat by about the margin I predicted, or perhaps a bit more.


The Senate

- Barring unexpected disaster, the GOP is going to keep the Senate, with 51 or 52 seats. Rhode Island and New Jersey went Democrat as I predicted. Allen is leading in Virginia by about 1% but with only a couple percent of precincts yet to