This insane college football season has boiled down to two things. Ohio State vs. LSU and the Heisman Trophy winner. I was kinda rooting for a WVU/Missouri championship game, but alas both teams failed me.
- Right now, I'm hoping and praying LSU wins...I only like Ohio State when they play Michigan :)
- As for the Heisman, Florida Gators QB Tim Tebow should win. Tebow set an all-time NCAA single-season record for rushing TD's by a QB...and he also was excellent through the air, as well. However, even more excellent than Tebow's legs and arm would be his girlfriend. She's hotter than one of Tebow's rocket-powered throws.
Hehe, sorry...I couldn't resist. I have heard (and I'm being honest here) that she is an exceptionally bright woman. Brains, beauty, and a Heisman Trophy...Tim Tebow can't get much luckier than that.
In other sports news...
- This weekend will be the Floyd Mayweather/Ricky Hatton fight. It's a battle of undefeated boxers, Mayweather at 38-0 and Hatton at 43-0. The last time Mayweather was in a "big fight" was when he won a 12-round decision against Oscar de la Hoya (that was a bit of a BS decision, in my opinion and in the opinions of many others). Hatton is a brawling, hard-hitting boxer who has a strong jaw and fears nobody. Mayweather is a slick, stylistic boxer who is a much better "point-scorer" than Hatton. However, Hatton believes that Mayweather has never been hit hard by a puncher like himself, and that he will wear out Mayweather and come out of this bout victorious.
My opinion...Hatton will punk out Mayweather, even though I like both guys. Mayweather hasn't faced anyone like this before, and he won't be able to run forever from Hatton, because once Hatton traps him in a corner, Mayweather will have to face Hatton's sledgehammer-like punches.
- Steelers/Patriots...if the Steelers don't beat the Pats, then New England goes undefeated. Simple as that. Nobody else left will challenge them like Pittsburgh will. I think the Steelers can pull out a win, here.
Then again, I also said that the Colts would hand New England their first loss and that the Redskins would give the Patriots a good game, which shows you what I know.
Friday, December 7, 2007
The Ron Paul Blimp
You read that right. There is going to be a Ron Paul blimp flying over the skies of the eastern seaboard.
It will launch from Elizabeth City, N.C. on December 10th (this coming Monday), and will arrive on December 16th in Boston...just in time for the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party and the base for Paul's latest "Money Bomb" event, where Paul will attempt to raise $10 million in campaign funds in one day. The blimp will also dump tea ("enough to be symbolic," blimp organizers say) into Boston Harbor to celebrate the anniversary of the historical event.
From the Politico...
Each payment will fund a portion of the $350,000-a-month blimp rental fee and associated costs ($10 pays for 1-minute’s worth of advertising on the blimp, while $1 million buys 10 weeks, according to the website).
The plan also calls for a spotlight truck, remote-controlled blimps trailing the main blimp and paid support staff, as well as the 10-seat blimp, which measures 190-feet long and 60-feet high and until recently was leased to the U.S. Navy.
The odd thing is...Ron Paul's campaign has virtually nothing to do with this blimp. This is an effort undertaken solely by Paul's supporters. Also, they'll be advertising the candidate more than the campaign.
The blimp itself will be affixed with banners asking “Who is Ron Paul” and will urge people to “Google Ron Paul.”
The other side will feature the distinctive “Ron Paul Love Revolution” logo gracing countless pro-Paul web forums and blogs.
“We specifically left off any reference to an election, because most people do not care about politics,” the effort’s website explains.
You have got to hand it to Ron Paul supporters, they come up with the most creative and innovative ideas to push their candidate. If you're interested in seeing the blimp, here is the blimp's itinerary.
It will launch from Elizabeth City, N.C. on December 10th (this coming Monday), and will arrive on December 16th in Boston...just in time for the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party and the base for Paul's latest "Money Bomb" event, where Paul will attempt to raise $10 million in campaign funds in one day. The blimp will also dump tea ("enough to be symbolic," blimp organizers say) into Boston Harbor to celebrate the anniversary of the historical event.
From the Politico...
Each payment will fund a portion of the $350,000-a-month blimp rental fee and associated costs ($10 pays for 1-minute’s worth of advertising on the blimp, while $1 million buys 10 weeks, according to the website).
The plan also calls for a spotlight truck, remote-controlled blimps trailing the main blimp and paid support staff, as well as the 10-seat blimp, which measures 190-feet long and 60-feet high and until recently was leased to the U.S. Navy.
The odd thing is...Ron Paul's campaign has virtually nothing to do with this blimp. This is an effort undertaken solely by Paul's supporters. Also, they'll be advertising the candidate more than the campaign.
The blimp itself will be affixed with banners asking “Who is Ron Paul” and will urge people to “Google Ron Paul.”
The other side will feature the distinctive “Ron Paul Love Revolution” logo gracing countless pro-Paul web forums and blogs.
“We specifically left off any reference to an election, because most people do not care about politics,” the effort’s website explains.
You have got to hand it to Ron Paul supporters, they come up with the most creative and innovative ideas to push their candidate. If you're interested in seeing the blimp, here is the blimp's itinerary.
Chris Graham Interviews Lou Dobbs
Check it out over at The New Dominion's website. It's an interesting read.
Another Year of Dem Majority in Congress, Another Broken Promise
From Brit Hume's latest political grapevine...
Remember a year ago when leaders of the new Democratic majority in the House pledged 5-day work weeks and an end to what incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the Tuesday-through-Thursday "drive-by Congress"? Those full work weeks did not regularly materialize this year and now The Politico reports they have been all but abandoned.
A 2008 calendar distributed to congressional offices shows only three 5-day weeks are scheduled next year. Four-day work weeks will be the norm instead.
Well, so much for the "do-something Congress" that actually has done nothing yet. At least, they've done nothing they promised to do.
Remember a year ago when leaders of the new Democratic majority in the House pledged 5-day work weeks and an end to what incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the Tuesday-through-Thursday "drive-by Congress"? Those full work weeks did not regularly materialize this year and now The Politico reports they have been all but abandoned.
A 2008 calendar distributed to congressional offices shows only three 5-day weeks are scheduled next year. Four-day work weeks will be the norm instead.
Well, so much for the "do-something Congress" that actually has done nothing yet. At least, they've done nothing they promised to do.
Taxes, Budgets, Transportation...
Craig Vitter and I were bantering back and forth a bit over the proposed gas tax increase. Craig thinks it is a good idea because we need to improve roads and finish transporation projects. I, on the other hand, think that maybe some budget cuts would help, or at least some reallocation of funds.
So I'm looking at the 2006-2008 biennial budget for Virginia, and let's see where our money is going. My goal is to see if we can find $500 million that can be trimmed off of the over $70 billion that is budgeted for the current biennium. Here's a few spots I've found and that I would question in future, or cut down, the figures I use are combined from the General Fund and NonGeneral fund for Fiscal Year 2007 and 2008 unless otherwise stated....
I will also preface this with saying that this is just number flipping, I'd have to actually see a better breakdown of the budgets to make really specific cuts. I'm just throwing some numbers around and looking at where they're going in a slightly general sense.
- We should be able to cut the $15 million spent on Jamestown 2007...that's over and done with now.
- $55 million in grants to nonstate entities or agencies...I'd like to see this one explained a little more. Are the recipients of these grants doing anything to bring commerce and/or industry to Virginia? Are they doing anything to increase state income? I'll go on the assumption that they are, so I'll leave them alone...but I'd be interested in seeing how much we could cut from that.
- Department of Taxation has a budget of over $194 million. I imagine that we could shrink that down a bit. Maybe down to an even $180 million. I mean, honestly...the only reason to increase the budget for the Dept of Taxation is if we're going to increase taxes, which is what I'm trying to avoid here.
- Can we shave a couple million from the budgets for each of the major public colleges and universities? The combined budget for the main campus of William & Mary/VT/UVA/JMU/GMU/VCU/ODU/Norfolk State/Virginia State/Radford/Longwood/CNU = $9,615,094,801 for '07 and '08. That's about 13 percent of the budget by itself.
If you averaged cuts that equaled $2 million per school (bigger budget = bigger cut, obviously, but let's just average it out for simplicity's sake), that right there could save the state $24 million, a $3 mil average would save the state $36 million. If you averaged cuts of $5 million, you would save the state $60 million. This is a large portion of the budget that is worth taking a peek into. Let's see if we shave $60 million over two years on this, what it would do.
Note: I didn't even count the $1.9 billion for the UVA Medical Center, VMI, or any special research or experimental divisions, or special colleges (like the Virginia Institute of Marine Biology). I also didn't factor in Community Colleges, general public education, museums, arts projects, or anything of the sort. We can leave those alone for now.
- Secretary of Education = over $1.4 million...for what? Anyway we can shave this down to an even $1 million, or $500,000 per year?
- Judicial Agencies combined = over $769 million. Take it down to $760 million even, if not further.
- The Virginia ABC = over $950 million. Somehow, I think we can cut $25 million from this without any problem.
- General Assembly - Senate = $21,229,665...HOD = $38,115,455. I say we get the Senate down to $20 mil, HOD down to $36 million. Total cut = over $3.3 million.
Just using round numbers, and making relatively modest cuts on only a few programs...I'm saving the state $126.7 million over two years. That right there is pretty much equal to the revenue that would be generated by the proposed gas tax increase.
And really, I've only scratched the surface.
So I'm looking at the 2006-2008 biennial budget for Virginia, and let's see where our money is going. My goal is to see if we can find $500 million that can be trimmed off of the over $70 billion that is budgeted for the current biennium. Here's a few spots I've found and that I would question in future, or cut down, the figures I use are combined from the General Fund and NonGeneral fund for Fiscal Year 2007 and 2008 unless otherwise stated....
I will also preface this with saying that this is just number flipping, I'd have to actually see a better breakdown of the budgets to make really specific cuts. I'm just throwing some numbers around and looking at where they're going in a slightly general sense.
- We should be able to cut the $15 million spent on Jamestown 2007...that's over and done with now.
- $55 million in grants to nonstate entities or agencies...I'd like to see this one explained a little more. Are the recipients of these grants doing anything to bring commerce and/or industry to Virginia? Are they doing anything to increase state income? I'll go on the assumption that they are, so I'll leave them alone...but I'd be interested in seeing how much we could cut from that.
- Department of Taxation has a budget of over $194 million. I imagine that we could shrink that down a bit. Maybe down to an even $180 million. I mean, honestly...the only reason to increase the budget for the Dept of Taxation is if we're going to increase taxes, which is what I'm trying to avoid here.
- Can we shave a couple million from the budgets for each of the major public colleges and universities? The combined budget for the main campus of William & Mary/VT/UVA/JMU/GMU/VCU/ODU/Norfolk State/Virginia State/Radford/Longwood/CNU = $9,615,094,801 for '07 and '08. That's about 13 percent of the budget by itself.
If you averaged cuts that equaled $2 million per school (bigger budget = bigger cut, obviously, but let's just average it out for simplicity's sake), that right there could save the state $24 million, a $3 mil average would save the state $36 million. If you averaged cuts of $5 million, you would save the state $60 million. This is a large portion of the budget that is worth taking a peek into. Let's see if we shave $60 million over two years on this, what it would do.
Note: I didn't even count the $1.9 billion for the UVA Medical Center, VMI, or any special research or experimental divisions, or special colleges (like the Virginia Institute of Marine Biology). I also didn't factor in Community Colleges, general public education, museums, arts projects, or anything of the sort. We can leave those alone for now.
- Secretary of Education = over $1.4 million...for what? Anyway we can shave this down to an even $1 million, or $500,000 per year?
- Judicial Agencies combined = over $769 million. Take it down to $760 million even, if not further.
- The Virginia ABC = over $950 million. Somehow, I think we can cut $25 million from this without any problem.
- General Assembly - Senate = $21,229,665...HOD = $38,115,455. I say we get the Senate down to $20 mil, HOD down to $36 million. Total cut = over $3.3 million.
Just using round numbers, and making relatively modest cuts on only a few programs...I'm saving the state $126.7 million over two years. That right there is pretty much equal to the revenue that would be generated by the proposed gas tax increase.
And really, I've only scratched the surface.
Comparing The Campaign Ads
Let's have some media fun, shall we?
Fred Thompson - "Revolution"
- The ad that stopped the GOP CNN/YouTube debate dead in it's tracks. It's a hammer-dropper of an ad.
Rudy Giuliani - "One Hour"
- Rudy does a good job invoking history, but the connection between that moment and Rudy is pretty vague.
Mitt Romney - "Historic Choice"
- Pretty generic stuff, really. This is where Romney's "presidential image" could work in his favor.
Chris Dodd - "White Hair"
- I liked this ad, actually, gets the point across with a slight bit of camp. One of the better ones I've seen from the Dems.
Bill Richardson - "When I Began"
- I liked the "job interview" and "resume" ads better. It was a better portrayal of his strong points.
John Edwards - "Rigged"
- Washington hates you, I love you...blech! And people say Mitt Romney looks and acts fake...
Your thoughts?
Fred Thompson - "Revolution"
- The ad that stopped the GOP CNN/YouTube debate dead in it's tracks. It's a hammer-dropper of an ad.
Rudy Giuliani - "One Hour"
- Rudy does a good job invoking history, but the connection between that moment and Rudy is pretty vague.
Mitt Romney - "Historic Choice"
- Pretty generic stuff, really. This is where Romney's "presidential image" could work in his favor.
Chris Dodd - "White Hair"
- I liked this ad, actually, gets the point across with a slight bit of camp. One of the better ones I've seen from the Dems.
Bill Richardson - "When I Began"
- I liked the "job interview" and "resume" ads better. It was a better portrayal of his strong points.
John Edwards - "Rigged"
- Washington hates you, I love you...blech! And people say Mitt Romney looks and acts fake...
Your thoughts?
Finally!
The Redskins beat the Chicago Bears 24-16 last night. It was a pretty solid win, with the Bears never getting closer than 4 points (14-10, and later 17-13).
However, the Skins also lost Jason Campbell for the rest of the season with a knee injury. However, veteran Todd Collins came into the game in the 2nd quarter and went 15-20 for 224 yards and two TDs. In fact, the Skins' passing game was excellent all-around. Before he left the game, Campbell had gone 10-16 for 100 yards. That's a combined 25-36 and 324 yards...the kind of game any NFL QB would want to have.
Collins, who had not thrown a touchdown pass in the 21st century, looked very good and will hopefully continue to look this good as the Skins attempt to make a run at a wild-card berth in the playoffs.
Urgency may have finally set in with these guys, as they were up 17-13 in the 4th quarter, but has blown so many leads previously. So what did they do? They marched downfield, and threw the ball several times, culimating in a nice Collins dump-off pass to Ladell Betts over the middle for a 16 yard catch-and-run TD.
Clinton Portis found it tough to run against the Bears' stout defense in the freezing cold, only running for 36 yards on 17 carries...but he caught 6 passes for 86 yards (a career high), including a 54 yard catch-and-run that put the Skins inside the Bears' 5 yard line and set up a 1-yard TD run by big Mike Sellers. Portis also missed some time in the 3rd quarter due to stomach illness, which he later attributed to eating some shrimp at a tailgate party as he entered the stadium, because he had not eaten anything all day.
However, the Skins suffered injuries besides Campbell's. Guard Randy Thomas suffered an elbow injury, Portis bruised his hand and was able to return, All-Pro TE Chris Cooley suffered a leg injury but he also returned, and Fred Smoot missed about 1 1/2 quarters due to his leg cramping up in the cold.
Another key point, the Skins only turned the ball over 1 time, they did a good job avoiding the turnovers that plagued them over the past 4 games.
It was a solid performance by Skins, especially the defense. They took the lead right before halftime, and never gave it up. A great tribute to the fallen Sean Taylor, who was buried on Monday.
6-7, and still in the playoff hunt with 3 games to go! Hail to the Redskins!
UPDATE: Jason Campbell's knee does not need surgery, after all. He will be out at least one week (week 15, at the New York Giants), but could possibly be back in either week 16 at Minnesota or week 17 when Dallas comes to town in the regular season finale.
However, the Skins also lost Jason Campbell for the rest of the season with a knee injury. However, veteran Todd Collins came into the game in the 2nd quarter and went 15-20 for 224 yards and two TDs. In fact, the Skins' passing game was excellent all-around. Before he left the game, Campbell had gone 10-16 for 100 yards. That's a combined 25-36 and 324 yards...the kind of game any NFL QB would want to have.
Collins, who had not thrown a touchdown pass in the 21st century, looked very good and will hopefully continue to look this good as the Skins attempt to make a run at a wild-card berth in the playoffs.
Urgency may have finally set in with these guys, as they were up 17-13 in the 4th quarter, but has blown so many leads previously. So what did they do? They marched downfield, and threw the ball several times, culimating in a nice Collins dump-off pass to Ladell Betts over the middle for a 16 yard catch-and-run TD.
Clinton Portis found it tough to run against the Bears' stout defense in the freezing cold, only running for 36 yards on 17 carries...but he caught 6 passes for 86 yards (a career high), including a 54 yard catch-and-run that put the Skins inside the Bears' 5 yard line and set up a 1-yard TD run by big Mike Sellers. Portis also missed some time in the 3rd quarter due to stomach illness, which he later attributed to eating some shrimp at a tailgate party as he entered the stadium, because he had not eaten anything all day.
However, the Skins suffered injuries besides Campbell's. Guard Randy Thomas suffered an elbow injury, Portis bruised his hand and was able to return, All-Pro TE Chris Cooley suffered a leg injury but he also returned, and Fred Smoot missed about 1 1/2 quarters due to his leg cramping up in the cold.
Another key point, the Skins only turned the ball over 1 time, they did a good job avoiding the turnovers that plagued them over the past 4 games.
It was a solid performance by Skins, especially the defense. They took the lead right before halftime, and never gave it up. A great tribute to the fallen Sean Taylor, who was buried on Monday.
6-7, and still in the playoff hunt with 3 games to go! Hail to the Redskins!
UPDATE: Jason Campbell's knee does not need surgery, after all. He will be out at least one week (week 15, at the New York Giants), but could possibly be back in either week 16 at Minnesota or week 17 when Dallas comes to town in the regular season finale.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Fred Thompson: Iran Still A Threat
Fred's latest commentary at his campaign website is smart, on point, and also provides us with a little historical reminder. Here's 4 key paragraphs that are right smack in the middle of Fred's column.
Let us be clear about who we are dealing with. Iran has long-wanted to be the powerbroker in the Persian Gulf. Other states in the region know this and fear this. Iranian President Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs who run Iran have pledged to “wipe Israel off the map.” We also cannot forget that Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world, and that their support for Hezbollah, Hamas, and other terrorist groups, is all about achieving these ends. Iran has been modernizing its military for years, acquiring ballistic missile technology from around the world, and pursuing its nuclear program to facilitate its growing dominance and power. Would a country that is one of the world’s largest producers of oil and natural gas really spend billions of dollars just to acquire civilian nuclear power plants for electricity generation?
As a former member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, I can tell you that the intelligence business is extremely difficult. Complicating this challenge is our long-standing inability to secure credible intelligence about Iran, North Korea and other “hard targets”. The international community had inspectors in Iraq for years prior to 2003, and U.S. intelligence still got it wrong. ln 2005, the bipartisan Robb-Silberman Commission report underscored that “across the board, the Intelligence Community knows disturbingly little about the nuclear programs of many of the world’s most dangerous actors.” My experience as the recent Chairman of the State Department’s International Security Advisory Board confirmed this assessment.
Let’s also remember that NIEs are snapshots. As recently as 2005 the intelligence community said that “Iran currently is determined to develop nuclear weapons…..despite its international obligations and international pressure.” The new NIE says Iran “halted” its nuclear weapons program in the fall of 2003 in response to “increasing international scrutiny and pressure.” Both are “high confidence” conclusions; however, both can’t be right.
Even if the current estimate is accurate, too many people are too focused now on the assessment that Iran has “halted” its nuclear program. This is good news if indeed it has, but “halted” is much different than “abandoned.” We were told by the Clinton Administration in 1994 that the North Koreans had halted their nuclear program, and look what happened there. And other questions should concern us as well: is this an Iranian “disinformation” program; has their military program has gone too “deep” for us to detect it; or maybe they “halted” their program simply because they lacked the key ingredient—enriched uranium—that their increasingly successful civilian program is now producing.
It is good news, but Fred is right..."halted" is different from "abandoned". We can't simply throw up our hands and say "Oops, sorry, our mistake...we thought you were still trying to acquire nukes. Have a nice day, President Ahmadinejad. We'll be on our way." Remember, this is the same government that has provided IEDs that have killed American soldiers.
So, score one for global safety and security if Iran's nuclear weapons program has been halted. However, I have a feeling this game is far from over, because Ahmadinejad still has ambitions of Iranian dominance over the Middle East.
Let us be clear about who we are dealing with. Iran has long-wanted to be the powerbroker in the Persian Gulf. Other states in the region know this and fear this. Iranian President Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs who run Iran have pledged to “wipe Israel off the map.” We also cannot forget that Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world, and that their support for Hezbollah, Hamas, and other terrorist groups, is all about achieving these ends. Iran has been modernizing its military for years, acquiring ballistic missile technology from around the world, and pursuing its nuclear program to facilitate its growing dominance and power. Would a country that is one of the world’s largest producers of oil and natural gas really spend billions of dollars just to acquire civilian nuclear power plants for electricity generation?
As a former member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, I can tell you that the intelligence business is extremely difficult. Complicating this challenge is our long-standing inability to secure credible intelligence about Iran, North Korea and other “hard targets”. The international community had inspectors in Iraq for years prior to 2003, and U.S. intelligence still got it wrong. ln 2005, the bipartisan Robb-Silberman Commission report underscored that “across the board, the Intelligence Community knows disturbingly little about the nuclear programs of many of the world’s most dangerous actors.” My experience as the recent Chairman of the State Department’s International Security Advisory Board confirmed this assessment.
Let’s also remember that NIEs are snapshots. As recently as 2005 the intelligence community said that “Iran currently is determined to develop nuclear weapons…..despite its international obligations and international pressure.” The new NIE says Iran “halted” its nuclear weapons program in the fall of 2003 in response to “increasing international scrutiny and pressure.” Both are “high confidence” conclusions; however, both can’t be right.
Even if the current estimate is accurate, too many people are too focused now on the assessment that Iran has “halted” its nuclear program. This is good news if indeed it has, but “halted” is much different than “abandoned.” We were told by the Clinton Administration in 1994 that the North Koreans had halted their nuclear program, and look what happened there. And other questions should concern us as well: is this an Iranian “disinformation” program; has their military program has gone too “deep” for us to detect it; or maybe they “halted” their program simply because they lacked the key ingredient—enriched uranium—that their increasingly successful civilian program is now producing.
It is good news, but Fred is right..."halted" is different from "abandoned". We can't simply throw up our hands and say "Oops, sorry, our mistake...we thought you were still trying to acquire nukes. Have a nice day, President Ahmadinejad. We'll be on our way." Remember, this is the same government that has provided IEDs that have killed American soldiers.
So, score one for global safety and security if Iran's nuclear weapons program has been halted. However, I have a feeling this game is far from over, because Ahmadinejad still has ambitions of Iranian dominance over the Middle East.
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