NFL Week 13 (cont.)

SF @ BUF
BAL @ CIN
NO @ TB
NYG @ WAS
MIA @ STL
IND @ CLE
CAR @ GB
ATL @ SD
DEN @ NYJ
PIT @ NE
KC @ OAK
CHI @ MIN

Mon, Dec 01
JAC @ HOU

Black Friday

I sincerely hope that this is not true:

"A male worker at a New York Wal-Mart was killed Friday when anxious shoppers trampled him in their rush for Black Friday bargains, witnesses say."

There's a woman saying she miscarried because she was pushed down in the crowd. I'm guessing that this will be tops on the evening news, competing with the Mumbai attacks -- I'll reserve judgment until tonight.

UPDATE: This is why I really, really, really dislike the media. No sooner than I posted this, WABC has a report that the guy died of an apparent heart attack (no trampling, I guess) and the lady's baby is fine. Way to go, NY Daily News!

NFL Week 13

TEN @ DET
SEA @ DAL
ARI @ PHI

Engagement

Ok, so as most of you probably know, my girlfriend and I got engaged this past weekend. And while this is a rather transparent attempt to notify people, it is also a way for me to get a head count of Taylorites that may want to attend the wedding. It is likely going to be in South Bend in Spring of 2010.

Leave congratulations and "RSVP's" in the comments! Thanks!

NFL Week 12 (cont.)

PHI @ BAL
NE @ MIA
NYJ @ TEN
CHI @ STL
BUF @ KC
HOU @ CLE
SF @ DAL
MIN @ JAC
TB @ DET
OAK @ DEN
CAR @ ATL
NYG @ ARI
WAS @ SEA
IND @ SD

Mon, Nov 24
GB @ NO

Open Thread: Bailout Edition

Just want to hear everyone's thoughts on the proposed auto industry bailout.

One Nut Hitler

No wonder he had such issues. You have got to love the headline here.

I think I got this one right.

From my Obama analysis post of August 31:

"Prediction: his calls for teacher pay/education reform will be the first to get traded away."

From today's appointment of Obama's education policy chief: "The appointment of Darling-Hammond, a teacher quality expert who opposes merit pay and is more critical than supportive of NCLB, signals that Obama wishes to avoid a fight with the unions."

I love being a pessimist: you're either pleasantly surprised or being proven correct.

Sinbad for Sec. of State

"Hey Putin, did you know black people do this and white people do that?"

Week 12

CIN @ PIT 8:15 ET

Week 11 (cont.)

Sun, Nov 16

PHI @ CIN
BAL @ NYG
DEN @ ATL
OAK @ MIA
HOU @ IND
NO @ KC
CHI @ GB
MIN @ TB
DET @ CAR
STL @ SF
ARI @ SEA
TEN @ JAC
SD @ PIT
DAL @ WAS

Mon, Nov 17
CLE @ BUF

Resistant To Base

Jeff found this gem on youtube.

Week 11

NYJ @ NE, Thursday, 8:15 ET

Economists versus scientists

Scientists often get a bad rap for being socially inept. One economist (and former Secretary of the Treasury) is much, much more socially inept than any scientist than I've ever met. Enjoy the following on Larry Summers, former President of Harvard and possible future SecTreas:

Summers was doing a meeting with a friend of mine at a hedge fund where they both worked, and he was drinking a diet Coke as he talked. I mean that literally: as he talked. Coke was pouring out of his mouth and onto his shirt, and Summers showed no outward recognition that this was happening. Needless to say, to my friend this was fascinating to the point of seriously distracting from the substance of the meeting.

After the meeting, my friend emailed a colleague to say: I just finished a meeting with Larry, and he left with his shirt covered in diet Coke. The colleague emailed back: the last time I had a meeting with Larry, he left with cheese in his nose.

NFL Week 10 (cont.)

Sun, Nov 09
NO @ ATL
TEN @ CHI
JAC @ DET
BAL @ HOU
SEA @ MIA
GB @ MIN
BUF @ NE
STL @ NYJ
CAR @ OAK
IND @ PIT
KC @ SD
NYG @ PHI

Mon, Nov 10
SF @ ARI

Best. Drink. Ever.

This ones for you Bruce!

Brady Quinn Sez:

We should all tune in tonight to watch everyone's favorite gay bashing Notre Dame alumn.

Week 10.

DEN @ CLE 8:15 ET.

Historic.

Election night open thread.

I Didn't Vote For Obama Today

From TPMBlog November 4 2008...

I have a confession to make.

I did not vote for Barack Obama today.

I've openly supported Obama since March. But I didn't vote for him today.

I wanted to vote for Ronald Woods. He was my algebra teacher at Clark Junior High in East St. Louis, IL. He died 15 years ago when his truck skidded head-first into a utility pole. He spent many a day teaching us many things besides the Pythagorean Theorem. He taught us about Medgar Evers, Ralph Abernathy, John Lewis and many other civil rights figures who get lost in the shadow cast by Martin Luther King, Jr.

But I didn't vote for Mr. Woods.

I wanted to vote for Willie Mae Cross. She owned and operated Crossroads Preparatory Academy for almost 30 years, educating and empowering thousands of kids before her death in 2003. I was her first student. She gave me my first job, teaching chess and math concepts to kids in grades K-4 in her summer program. She was always there for advice, cheer and consolation. Ms. Cross, in her own way, taught me more about walking in faith than anyone else I ever knew.

But I didn't vote for Ms. Cross.

I wanted to vote for Arthur Mells Jackson, Sr. and Jr. Jackson Senior was a Latin professor. He has a gifted school named for him in my hometown. Jackson Junior was the pre-eminent physician in my hometown for over 30 years. He has a heliport named for him at a hospital in my hometown. They were my great-grandfather and great-uncle, respectively.

But I didn't vote for Prof. Jackson or Dr. Jackson.

I wanted to vote for A.B. Palmer. She was a leading civil rights figure in Shreveport, Louisiana, where my mother grew up and where I still have dozens of family members. She was a strong-willed woman who earned the grudging respect of the town's leaders because she never, ever backed down from anyone and always gave better than she got. She lived to the ripe old age of 99, and has a community center named for her in Shreveport.

But I didn't vote for Mrs. Palmer.

I wanted to vote for these people, who did not live to see a day where a Black man would appear on their ballots on a crisp November morning.

In the end, though, I realized that I could not vote for them any more than I could vote for Obama himself.

So who did I vote for?

No one.

I didn't vote. Not for President, anyway.

Oh, I went to the voting booth. I signed, was given my stub, and was walked over to a voting machine. I cast votes for statewide races and a state referendum on water and sewer improvements.

I stood there, and I thought about all of these people, who influenced my life so greatly. But I didn't vote for who would be the 44th President of the United States.

When my ballot was complete, except for the top line, I finally decided who I was going to vote for - and then decided to let him vote for me. I reached down, picked him up, and told him to find Obama's name on the screen and touch it.

And so it came to pass that Alexander Reed, age 5, read the voting screen, found the right candidate, touched his name, and actually cast a vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Oh, the vote will be recorded as mine. But I didn't cast it.

Then again, the person who actually pressed the Obama box and the red "vote" button was the person I was really voting for all along.

It made the months of donating, phonebanking, canvassing, door hanger distributing, sign posting, blogging, arguing and persuading so much sweeter.

So, no, I didn't vote for Barack Obama. I voted for a boy who now has every reason to believe he, too, can grow up to be anything he wants...even President.


Hayden joined me this morning, I didn't think of giving him the pen, but I showed him my vote, put it in the machine, and told him, "Today is a great day!"

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

I'm 40 pages into "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" and I'm impressed with his ability to write. The book is well written.

I've not got really into the meat of the book, but my first impressions are mixed.

On one hand I see his concern for the average American, and his disgust with the political machine. On the other, I see his philosphy of government intervention and where he wants to take the nation....

More to come.....

P.S. Thanks for the book, Rich.

Obligatory pre-election night post.

JCT: Obama: 374, McCain: 164. Obama: 55%, McCain: 43%.
RET: Obama: 337, McCain: 200.
MJS: Obama: 311, McCain: 227.
BJM: Obama: 353, McCain: 185, Obama winning IN, VA, NC

E-mail me your (UPDATED) electoral maps at jimtung -at- gmail dot com and I'll put them up.

Bill Maher

Say what you want about this guy, but his brash humor is great.

NFL Week 9

NYJ @ BUF
DET @ CHI
JAC @ CIN
BAL @ CLE
TB @ KC
HOU @ MIN
ARI @ STL
GB @ TEN
MIA @ DEN
DAL @ NYG
ATL @ OAK
PHI @ SEA
NE @ IND

Mon, Nov 03
PIT @ WAS