Super Prediction

It's that special time when everyone on the web turns in to a football expert. I'm no exception. Here's how today's big game in Tampa will end:

Pittsburgh: 31
Arizona: 14

The Cardinals have had almost no running game all season. Although they have had some success running in the playoffs, Pittsburgh's run defense is too good for that to continue. That will make the Arizona offense one dimensional, and the Steelers' D is too good for a one dimensional attack to work. The Steeler's line backers are going to pin their ears back and blitz Warner to death.

Arizona's defense just isn't very good, and Big Ben will be good enough to win his second championship ring. Of course the Steelers will be helped by a defensive touchdown.

Before you go out and bet the farm on my prediction, please keep in mind that I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Enjoy the game.

White House of Sport

I read an interesting article today about sports facilities at the White House. Apparently over the years the People's House has had indoor pools, an outdoor pool, tennis courts, a putting green, a quarter mile track, an outdoor basketball court, a horse shoe pit, and a bowling alley. It's pretty cool to explore all the sport preferences of our nation's leaders, and how they have influenced the White House.

Apparently Obama is considering turning the White House bowling alley in to a basketball court. It's a small thing (very small), but in light of the criticism the new President has thrown at Wall Street for misusing public funds, perhaps he should forget the hoops court on the public dime. Even if private funds are used for the renovation, it might be better for the Prez to ask contributors to give that money to a soup kitchen or battered women's shelter instead.

A little leadership by example in tough times could go a long way.

Cake or Death!

It's late on Friday, and it's been a long week. So instead of something boringly serious I give you Eddie Izzard.



Plus a few interpretations of his work.

I Hate to Say...

Perhaps the ground hasn't shifted as much as Obama thought. Despite having watered down the very important stimulus package to appease House Republicans, not a single House Republican voted for the President's plan.

Here's Maddow echoing my thoughts:



Sometimes I think Democrats in Washington are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

Bipartisan - Shmipartisan

Bipartisanship went hand in hand with hope during the campaign. At the inaugural we heard that the "ground has shifted!" But as expected, what remains of the Republican party has slapped Obama's hand of "bipartisanship" on the stimulus package.

The White House has told us that the stimulus package is crucial to our economic recovery, yet despite having enough votes to pass the plan, our new President insists on trying to get Republican support. Why? Compromise has resulted in watering down the legislation he says is key to getting America moving again. Republicans want massive corporate tax cuts, and caps on infrastructure spending. Obama appears to be willing to give it to them in the name of "bipartisanship."

In what bizarre parallel universe does this make sense?

Didn't Obama just win the election? Didn't America elect Democrats to a majority in both houses of Congress? Doesn't that mean the President can pretty much pass anything he damn well pleases without asking the Republicans? Why water down the legislation you claim is key to our future, if you don't have to?

As always, I have a few ideas:

1. Obama believes that bipartisanship is its own virtue and should be pursued at all costs;

2. Obama actually thinks he needs the elephants for some reason;

3. Obama is looking for political cover.

I find it hard to believe that a guy as smart as Obama is naive enough to believe options one or two. The answer lies in political cover. Like so many other experts, the President has no idea if the stimulus package will work. If it doesn't, he wants to be able to turn to his detractors two years from now and say; "but the Republicans voted for it too!" Politically shrewed, but a little cynical for the man with hope.

I have my concerns about the stimulus package. How do we massively increase spending while cutting taxes? Why are we giving money to private companies who managed themselves in to bankruptcy? Why haven't taxpayers gotten the benefit of voting shares in the companies who got funds? Why isn't most of the money going to a public works program?

Clearly the president doesn't share my concerns though. If Obama believes this package is the right thing to do, he can do it. Show some guts and do what you claim is right. This bipartisan approach is only going to get us half measures.

Jesus Hates the Eagles!

Well we are just days away from Super Bowl Sunday. Some people might consider it a sign of the apocalypse that the Arizona Cardinals are going - but not Kurt Warner.



In what has now become standard post game interview drivel, Kurt told us after the NFC championship game that Jesus was the reason he was standing on the winner's podium. Does Kurt even think about what he says? If Jesus propelled the Cardinals to victory, doesn't that mean he also made the Eagles lose? How does Kurt explain that? Are there no good Christians in Philly? Is Donovan McNabb a heathen? (He always seemed so nice in the soup commercials with his Mom.)

But the real test is coming up. What happens if the Steelers win the Super Bowl? Will we hear Kurt bemoan the fact that Jesus loved Pittsburgh more than Arizona? Better yet will we hear something like this: "Every thing was going great until my lord and savior made me throw a pick six in the fourth quarter?"

Somehow I doubt it.

Have We Overcome?

This month Smithsonian Magazine is running an article on The Freedom Riders Then and Now. It is a fascinating look at the people who ran to the front lines in America's struggle for racial equality.

The stories are compelling, and reading them makes me realize just how far we have come as a country. Take, for instance, this quote from one of the riders:

"It's the right thing to do, to oppose an oppressive state where wrongs are being done to people," said William Leons, a University of Toledo professor of anthropology whose father had been killed in an Austrian concentration camp and whose mother hid refugees during World War II. "I was aware very much of my parents' involvement in the Nazi resistance," he said of his 39-day incarceration as a rider. "[I was] doing what they would have done."

Here is the story of a man whose own family suffered horribly under Nazi oppression. Yet he used that experience as a spring board to fight against the oppression of others. The quote is interesting not only for the obvious bravery he displays, but also because Mr. Leon clearly saw some correlation between America's racial policies and those of fascist Germany.

There was a time not so long ago when Americans could credibly compare their government to Hitler's.

That point is further driven home by the existence of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission. I had never heard of this commission until I saw it mentioned in the Smithsonian article.

Following the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education, aimed at desegregating schools, Mississippi and other southern states formed commissions aimed at shoring up segregation laws. The records of the commission are now available online, and provide chilling insights to the horrors of segregation and racism. The poster shown above - offering a reward for the body of Martin Luther King and others - is from the archive.

Having stumbled on this material, I'm once again struck by how unlikely it is that we have elected an African American as president. Given that these horrors are part of our recent history, it seems we have overcome a lot quickly.

Still, when I see the economic disparity between minorities and whites, combined with de facto segregation in my own city, I can't help but think we have a long way to go.

Is there a bus we can get on to fix these problems?