Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Makes Total Sense to Me

QALAT, Afghanistan - Police killed four people Wednesday as Afghans enraged over drawings of the Prophet Muhammad marched on a U.S. military base in a volatile southern province, directing their anger not against Europe but America.

The U.S. base was targeted because the United States "is the leader of Europe and the leading infidel in the world," said Sher Mohammed, a 40-year-old farmer who suffered a gunshot wound while taking part in the demonstration in the city of Qalat.

It may take 200 years for the Middle East to come around

Here is quote from President Bush today-

"We believe in a free press," the president said. "We also recognize that with freedom comes responsibilities. With freedom comes the responsibility to be thoughtful about others."



I agree. Let's talk about Al Jazeera here and other press sources of Middle East populist anger. Why do they air comments, video, and audio from Al Quaeda? Do they not realize that this behavior is insensitive to Us(a)? Why do they ridicule and conduct violence over the Danish press for doing nothing more than airing their views (and cartoons) via freedom of the press? Oh, because of the sacred Koran? Is the Koran more sacred than human life? These people are imbedded in a culture thrown back to the Dark Ages. Their behavior is incredulous.

We are heading for a war between the 21st century and the 15th Century. I hope it is a cold war and not a nuclear war. I am an optimist by nature believe it or not. The only hope is for moderate Islamists to step up to the plate and lead. That is not happening. This is a slow burning fuse.

Add another team to the list--2005/6 UT VOLS basketball team

From John Pennington--I'd link you to the site, but it's a paid site--

The seasons that are the most special are the ones that no one sees coming. (I'm speaking of positives here, not of #3 football rankings that lead to 5-6 seasons.)

I remember the 1985 Tennessee football team that slugged it's way to UT's first SEC Championship in 16 years. The year before, the Vols had finished with 8 wins, but there were no high expectations for '85. No one saw the championship, the blowout of Miami, and a #4 national ranking coming. That's why the '85 team, that didn't even win 10 games, is in most circles more beloved than the undefeated National Championship team of 1998.

I remember the 1991 Atlanta Braves. "From worst to first," Skip Caray screamed. A team of ne'er-do-wells that won and won and won... nip and tucking their way past the Dodgers for their first division title in nearly a decade. No Braves fans (were there Braves fans in '91?) saw that coming before the season.

I remember the 1995 baseball Vols. Helton, Trammell, Dickey. "The team of destiny is going to the field of dreams," Mike Keith yelled. It was a feel-good moment for the entire area... especially Knoxville, which had provided many of Rod Delmonico's stars.

Not only were those teams and their seasons unexpected successes, but they all had something else in common, too... they all served notice of more success to follow.

Tennessee's greatest football era in history has covered the 20 years since 1985. The Atlanta Braves still haven't lost a division title since 1991. The baseball Vols have now been to 3 College World Series in 10 seasons.

Add another team to the list: The 2005-2006 UT men's basketball team.

(note --in case you missed it--The Vols slammed KY last night at Rupp Arena--if you are keeping up, they are in sole possession of first place in the eastern division, with an 8-1 SEC record and a 17-3 overall record)

Apple Geek Update

Most of us don't care how the things work, as long as they work. But there is a rabid local Mac community that watches every move that the (now fabled again) company makes, both with their new world of digital music players, and with their traditional hardware computers. No one I know is jumping up and down (with joy) about the switch to Intel chips (and they certainly are not buying the new laptop), despite the reveling in the traditional media and the praising by the analysts.

Here is yet another article that points to the possibility that they jumped the gun with the switch to Intel, which, in case you missed the post last week, can't even run the Adobe software yet.

I still say he is Guilty, Guilty, Guilty

But, this article shows how much I know about solving a crime at least when it comes to the Perry March/Janet Levine case.

Chris Matthews of MSNBC--Bloggers Can Cause Riots?

Here is quote from last night's "Hardball"--Chris Matthews posing a question to correspondent David Shuster--

"Let me ask you this. We have a blogging situation out in this country where people basically through their own ingenuity and their own wit are able to develop messages based on their own personal reporting and editing that they can send anywhere. They are their own editors. What happens when bloggers sending stuff out without even the institution of a newspaper or TV station behind them and that incites a riot? How do we avoid this?”


Chris, get a grip. Bloggers aren’t going to start riots unless all you mainstream media representatives get together to demonstrate against the truth.-- --Noel Sheppard from NewsBusters.com