Sunday, January 22, 2012

GIFFORDS IS STEPPING DOWN FROM CONGRESS




MOYERS & COMPANY: CRONY CAPITALISM



Moyers & Company Show 102: On Crony Capitalism from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.

2011 NFL SEASON CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY





It is finally here.

Conference Championship Sunday

I think this is one of the best Sundays of football next to opening Sunday and the Super Bowl.

This is it.

This is the last game where homefield advantage matters. For the 49ers and Patriots this is their final home game of the season.

Are their fans going to go home happy, or will they have to wait until the season starts in 2012? For the Ravens and Giants, this could be their next to the last road trip they take before heading to Indianapolis…

So… what seems to be the story that we are going to look back on for the 2011 NFL Season?

KICKOFF TIMES ARE CENTRAL TIME

Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots, 2 PM CBS
New York Giants at San Francisco 49ers, 5:30 PM Fox

Saturday, January 21, 2012

TURNS OUT THAT IOWA DID NOT END UP WITH A ROMNEY WIN…



If you recall from the Iowa Caucus it was reported that Romney won by eight votes.

Well… through some double checking, it turns out that Rick Santorum won the Iowa Caucus by 34 votes.

IOWA GOP CAUCUS
VOTE PCT.
SANTORUM
24.56
ROMNEY
24.53
PAUL
21.43
GINGRICH
13.30
PERRY
10.33
BACHMANN
4.98
HUNTSMAN
0.61
NO PREF/OTHERS
0.21
CAIN
0.04
ROEMER
0.01


The standings will be updated to reflect that change.

Here is something interesting to consider… Republican led legislatures in the states have been pushing for Voter ID Bills to combat the supposed epidemic of rampant voter fraud that is taking place across the country.

By the way, it’s not taking place. In 2007, the Justice Department released a study from the last five years showing there was scant evidence of organized voter fraud taking place. Even though the article sites that from October 2002- September 2005, 95 cases were brought to the government on charges of voter fraud. 70 of those cases resulted in a conviction and of those convictions, 31 of those involved party or campaign workers. The next highest number of convictions involved individual voters through a list of problems; most were convicted due to being found to be ineligible to vote.

The same article pointed out that prosecutors in Wisconsin were unable to win a conviction by a two-to-one margin.

Anyways…

So Republicans want Voter ID Bills to combat this made up conspiracy that there is rampant voter fraud out there…

Then why can’t they conduct their own caucus without people raising questions about the results?

SOUTH CAROLINA 2012 PRIMARIES PREDICTION




Saturday, January 14, 2012

2011 NFL SEASON DIVISIONAL ROUND






This first round, while not memorable, had some exciting moments to them.

Not so much for my picks. 1-3 in the first round. Ms. Roberts, on the momentum of the Texans first playoff win in team history, successfully went 3-1. She would have been 4-0 IF it wasn’t for Tebow Time in the shortest OT finish in regular season and the playoffs in NFL history.

If Houston wins this coming Sunday, they will match the number of playoff wins the Cowboys have had since their last championship…. (sigh)…

That’s the problem with the playoffs. You look at every possible angle and you try to find that ONE team that could make that deep run. I figured the Falcons were due for a playoff win, but for them to put up THAT performance…? Their only score came on Eli Manning intentionally grounding a pass in the end zone that resulted in two points. Atlanta was 0-3 on fourth down conversion plays; two of them were short yardage situations. If you can’t convert those…. You don’t deserve to advance!

Now, here is the REAL challenge: which of the teams that won the first week have the ability to move on to the Conference Championship Game Round? I will tell you… but you have to read on.

All the home teams held their own so both the AFC and NFC playoffs feature 1-versus-4 and 2-versus-3 matchups in the divisional round.

Again, my Baltimore-Green Bay Super Bowl prediction at the start of the season is holding because both those teams had the week off. Is this the week where that prediction is busted…?

KICKOFF TIMES ARE CENTRAL TIME

New Orleans Saints at San Francisco 49ers, 1/14 3:30PM Fox
Denver Broncos at New England Patriots, 1/14 7PM CBS
Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens, 1/15 Noon CBS
New York Giants at Green Bay Packers, 1/15 3:30PM Fox

Saturday, January 7, 2012

SHE WON'T BE MISSED



On Wednesday, Michele Bachmann announced that she was ending her run for the Presidency after winning 5% of the vote in the Iowa Caucus.


Here are my thoughts on it…

2011 NFL SEASON: WILD CARD PLAYOFFS










My pre-season pick of Baltimore-Green Bay is looking really good.

On to the playoffs!!

KICKOFF TIMES ARE CENTRAL TIME


Cincinnati Bengals at Houston Texans, 1/7 3:30PM NBC
Detroit Lions at New Orleans Saints, 1/7 7PM NBC
Atlanta Falcons at New York Giants, 1/8 Noon Fox
Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos, 1/8 3:30 CBS


RAZOR THIN DOES NOT DESCRIBE IT





In the early hours on Wednesday morning, Mitt Romney won the Iowa Caucus by a margin of eight.

Not eight percentage points…. Eight votes.

Short lesson: voting matters.

The long lesson…

Sunday, January 1, 2012

2011 NFL SEASON: WEEK 17



Happy 2012!

Since the 2006 season, the NFL instituted the policy of Fox and CBS to both air doubleheaders in Week 17 to maximize coverage of playoff clinching scenarios. There is one snafu with it… The NFL’s television rules. If you live in an area where the local team is at home, the NFL cannot air another game at the same time the home team is playing.

For example, in Houston, the Texans are at home so that means that there will be no Fox early game aired within 75 miles of the Houston area. Meanwhile, in Dallas, there will be doubleheaders on Fox and CBS because the Cowboys are playing on Sunday Night. And even if the Cowboys and Giants were playing a day game, there still would be another game aired at the same time.

Got it…? Good!

Now the picks…

If the playoffs started right now...