Major News

The Democratic National Committee is cracking down on Florida for moving their primary into January when DNC rules state that only Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina can have their primary/caucus before February 5. The Republican National Committee could follow. I think it would be rather funny if the conventions rejected the Florida delegates. Funny and quite stupid. I’ve always thought the primary schedule was borderline retarded. Of those four states, South Carolina is the only one in the top 30 in population, and it is only 24th. Nominees are often decided very early in primaries because front runner status means more media attention and campaign donations. Should a bunch of pig farmers really have that much say in who the nominee favorite is? In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever voted in a meaningful primary because Kentucky’s primary election is in May when the race has been long decided. Plus, Donna Brazile mentions that one reason states want to move up is campaign and media spending that is brought in, but why should Iowa and New Hampshire be the ones to get an economic benefit from political campaigns?

The main reason I believe it’s stupid to take Florida’s delegates is because they have so many. Only California, New York and Texas have more. In fact, it has more than Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina combined. By not seating delegates, you have two problems. The first problem is candidates skipping Florida during the primary season. Presidential voting has been tight there recently so Florida votes are valuable. If your candidates won't get delegates in Florida, they won’t campaign there during the primary. Then they lose valuable face time for the general election. Not smart. It's especially dumb for Democrats because they are almost certainly going to win New York and California's electoral votes anyway. Florida can be a toss-up. By taking that state out, an advantage would have to go to the other party's eventual nominee.

The other problem is if there is a close primary race. Suppose no one runs away with it and two candidates are fairly close, but the second place candidate won Florida's "beauty contest" quite handily and would have won the nomination with those delegates. I wonder if there would be controversy? Well, duh. The loser will want the delegates seated (do I hear the word disenfranchisement?). The winner will insist that the only reason he/she/it lost Florida was because he/she/it knew the delegates wouldn't count so why campaign there. No matter what happens, someone's supporters will be pissed, and they may not wholeheartedly support the nominee. Whoever wins the nomination for the Democrats will want Bill Clinton to campaign for them. If Hillary is the one shafted, will his anger that she's always home keep him from supporting Obama? If Obama is the one screwed, that could affect the black vote. No, they won't for Republicans. The Democratic Party could run a Klansman and get the black vote. Actually, they do every six years in West Virginia. So, the Republicans won't be the recipient of more black votes, but the Democratic nominee would certainly be hurt by low black turnout. So, does it really makes sense to take a chance on these type of problems just so Iowa gets the first vote.

I hadn't planned on watching CNN's God's Warriors series, because Christine Amanpour is an idiot. Plus, comparing Christian and Jewish fundamentalists to Islamic fundamentalists is laughable. I guess there's some Jewish terrorists from the West Bank settlements, but I can think of one guys shooting up a mosque and another killing Yitzhak Rabin. Recent Christian terrorism consisted of ........well, Timothy McVeigh makes it hard since he was really a practicing agnostic. As for Islamic terrorism, where to begin? Two seperate World Trade Center bombings, the London subway, the Madrid trains.........actually, I don't think blogspot gives me enough memory to list them all. However, it's one thing for me to rip CNN for...well, anything, but the surprising part of God's Warriors is that MSNBC criticized the program's lack of objectivity. Let that sink in. Keith Olbermann/Chris Matthews' MSNBC (i.e. the most liberal news network) is criticizing CNN for a lack of objectivity. Let's be honest. Why would anyone expect it to be anything but a whitewash for Islamic terrorism? For one, Amanpour has always carried water for Islamic fundamentalists. Why stop now? Two, reporters know as well as anyone what criticizing Islam will get you. Look at the Washington Post. They refused to run an "Opus" comic strip that makes fun of radical Muslims. As noted, they didn't have a problem with one that made fun of Jerry Falwell. Does anyone think they made a point of asking staff members who were Baptist (they probably would have to leave the newsroom to find a practicing Baptist employee) whether or not they would be offended by the Falwell strip? Of course not. Baptists don't have a history of driving cars full of dynamite to people's front steps.

Shane Ragland pleads guilty to second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Trent DiGiuro. A man was slaughtered. Of course, when you're accused of sniper assassination of a specific target, I don't see how it's "negligent". How incompetent is Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson? First he screwed up the original trial when a prosecutor improperly mentioned Ragland refused to testify which led to a new trial. Oh, and picked an expert witness who perjured herself. Now, the decision has been made to let Ragland plea out. What did Larson get? The same thing he would have gotten with an acquittal in a retrial - a walk. Oh, and an admission of guilt that rings somewhat hollow when I have to agree with Ragland's attorney that he pled guilty because it's smart to take a free pass over the possibility of life.

So, why give the plea deal? Larson explains that he wasn't going to make the main witness testify again. That would be Ragland's ex-girlfriend who says he admitted to her that he killed DiGiuro because he was blackballed by a fraternity (ex-girlfriend? How stupid is that?). Why didn’t she want to testify again? Larson says she was afraid for her life. Is it any safer with Ragland walking the streets? Actually, if Larson thinks Ragland is a threat to people’s life, what is he thinking making a deal to put the guy back on the street? For public safety, shouldn’t he be trying his hardest to put Ragland away for life? The only reason I can see this deal being made is if Larson didn’t think he could win and is simply protecting his conviction rate.

The Deuce was Juiced. Too easy. I did want to make a point about the steroid issue that is now surrounding Tim Couch. I’ve said many times before that sports need to clean up steroids. It’s not fair that players who don’t want to take the risk feel compelled to because they know other players are. I don’t really care what Couch is doing now since he’s been a Floridian for several years. However, I take issue with him treating me like a moron when he says he would have flunked a drug test taken in July when he signed with Jacksonville if he had been using. That’s just insulting my intelligence. The article clearly shows his last regimen would have ended in late January. Of the steroids mentioned, all would have been out of his system in three months so they wouldn't be detected when he signed contract. And there isn't a piss test for HGH yet, so that's completely undetectable by an NFL drug test. Picking up 35 pounds while dropping your body fat from 17.5 percent to 4 percent in that amount of time just doesn't seem probable. He wanted back in the league and probably took a shortcut. Personally, I think the NFL should make him the poster boy for steroids. They can hold him up to high school kids and show that steroids won't necessarily make you any good.

Senator Larry Craig (R-SD) was charged with disorderly conduct for trolling an airport bathroom looking for gay sex. Thankfully, he says he's not gay, and I'm sure a lot of straight guys cruise the airport bathrooms and know the universal come-on. It was interesting to see a liberal like Chris Matthews describe homosexuality as "deviant". My question is how public toilets became pickup joints? I guess since my clumsy advances are directed towards women, it would be difficult to act inconspicuous following them into the can. Yet, even if I could, what's the attraction? One thing I discovered a long time ago was that public bathrooms often have what I like to call a stench. Not what I really consider a turnon.

Mike Vick apologized and said he found Jesus. That was quick. I’m assuming he didn’t mean some Mexican convict named Jesus who will be his cellmate. I thought I was through with Vick, but then people started believing the apology. It was one thing for morons like Keyshawn Johnson and Emmitt “I can’t speak proper English” Smith to take buy his line on Monday Night Countdown. They aren’t very smart. However, when Mike Greenburg actually said he believed Vick was truly contrite, I knew something was wrong. How stupid can people be? This is the P/R scandal to the letter. When caught doing something you aren’t supposed: 1) apologize; 2) act contrite and 3) get religion. Paris Hilton would be so proud.

Then we get the “he made a mistake” and “used poor judgment”. Poor judgment leading to a mistake is generally poor judgment leading to an unintended consequence. Greenburg compared him to Leonard Little who drove drunk and killed a woman in a car wreck. Now, I do agree with Greenburg that Little wasn’t punished nearly enough by the courts (3 months in jail, 4 years probation) or the NFL (8 games). However, Little made a mistake as a result of poor judgment which had the unintended consequence of someone dying. I’m pretty sure he didn’t plan on killing anyone, but he did go to Tennessee so that isn’t a given. Vick intended to run a dog fighting ring. The only unintended part for him was getting caught and prosecuted. Pardon me if I seem a bit cynical about this miraculous transformation, but I find it hard to believe that someone who has been heavily involved in dog fighting for years would have a sudden epiphany that it was wrong.