Cozy Corner

Aside from the fact that Bush proposed it, why doesn't the left like the health care proposal? After all, it's nothing if not a shift to a more "progressive" tax.

Posted by Andy at 09:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Haveil Havalim #104 is up!

Posted by Andy at 05:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

After the State of The Union address last night, I approached a coworker who leans very left for his take. I was honestly curious; I thought the President tried to embrace some of the issues from the left, even if he tried to sell only Republican solutions to them.

"I can't watch that man any more, he makes me too angry."

How is anyone supposed to reach across the aisle if there is no one there to listen? How can you argue to find compromise when your arguments can't even be heard?

He then challenged whether I supported the troop surge. I said yes, although I wished the number was even higher. He mocked that opinion, and when I asked for his success strategy, he asserted that success was impossible; our presence was the reason people were killing each other, and we should just give up and go home. At least he was honest, even if I can't grasp his reasoning.

Posted by Andy at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

What an amazing shootout. After the first half, I thought the game was well in hand, but the Colts found the Patriots' weakness - an exhausted defense. Apparently, the Pats didn't fully recover from the Chargers game, and Peyton Manning and team exploited that in the second half. Players that I had never even seen on the sideline were playing for long stretches to give the starters a break, and that opened up all that the Colts needed.

Ellis Hobbs had another stellar day, but even his help - several amazing kickoff returns, as well as breaking up passes - wasn't enough to tip the scales back.

We'll resume our Patriots coverage in another 6 months.

Posted by Andy at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thirteen years ago, Robert Kraft bought the New England Patriots. The Mike Reiss does a nice retrospective, and this statement caught my eye:

"When my wife doubted me in buying the team, I told her that if we did a good job managing this asset, we'd do more in terms of impacting the psyche of the community than if we were in position to give a million dollars a week away," Kraft said. "Sport can bring a community together in ways that nothing else does. It's the great equalizer."

Thank you, Bob and Myra Kraft.

Posted by Andy at 06:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sums it up.

Posted by Andy at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

What a game! Going into the game, my prediction was either a close Patriots win, or a huge Chargers win. I'm glad to be right in a good way. What happened? Ellis Hobbs (disclaimer: I wear number 27's jersey every week when the Pats play). And a lot of other great headsup play by the Patriots, I'll grant, but Ellis Hobbs had an amazing day - he had several last man tackles on LaDainian Tomlinson, and broke up a lot of passes to Antonio Gates. His goal-line stop of Lorenzo Neal was amazing, as well - like watching a ping-pong ball derail a bowling ball.

Heath Evans was the special teams guy today - he seemed to be in on every special teams tackle or knockout, which was nice to see (not enough credit is given to special teams tacklers, so here's one!).

Troy Brown, as usual, gets the offense/defense player of the game. Sure, he never took a snap on defense, but forcing that fumble on the interception? Amazing!

The CBS announcers are, in my opinion, idiots. Maybe they don't have as clear a picture as my HDTV, but several times they miscalled plays, or misanalyzed what was going on on the field. And then they'd do recaps that would run over the next play. Message to announcers: The Patriots do not have the traditional 22 second gap from end of play to break huddle. They often do a hurryup - so stop with cutting to clips!

Marty Schottenheimer: If you're going to make a point of not wearing a headset as a head coach, boy does it make you look nervous when you put one on halfway through the game.

LaDainian: The NFL is full of taunting. Both teams were aggressive and taunting - and note that it was your team with the two unsportsmanlike conduct flags. Storming off the field after your last game the season you're named the league MVP? That has absolutely no class. Your comment that they were mimicking Merriman's dance on their victory, and that was direct orders from Belichick to disrespect you holds no water. To quote Artrell Hawkins' comment to you, "You're better than this." You're going to need to apologize to Bill Belichick, and the Patriots, to get beyond this.

Next week is, yet again, the Colts and Patriots duking it out. Sorry to everyone who had been looking forward to the much-heralded shadow SuperBowl (Ravens at Chargers); you'll have to settle for this rivalry instead.

Posted by Andy at 08:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Governor Patrick has come up a way to pay for more police officers:

Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday that he had come up with a way to pay for more police officers in Massachusetts: charge convicted criminals a fee.
Unveiling his most detailed account yet of his plans for next year's state budget, Patrick said he would propose a "safety fee," which every person convicted of a crime would have to pay.

Posted by Andy at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I realize I don't normally cover non-Patriots games except in passing, but this one was a doozy. After the first possession - in which Baltimore had three positive yardage plays, but opted to punt with 4th and 2 around their 40 - I turned to my wife and noted that I was switching from predicting a Ravens victory to a Colts victory. Why? The Colts have one of the most amazing offenses in the league. Peyton Manning, now that he's imitating Tom Brady, may be one of the greatest quarterbacks ever. For the Ravens to win - no matter how good their defense - they needed to score points. And to score points, they needed to be on the field. With three plays of two or more yards each under your belt, you go for it on 4th and 2. Instead, the kick gets returned to the COlts 45, for a net shift of around 15 yards.

The Ravens defense deserves great kudos. Keeping the Colts out of the end zone for the entire game is an amazing feat, forcing 5 Colts field goals (the Colts' acquisition of Adam Vinatieri paid off with the 51-yard, bounce off the bottom crossbar field goal). But the Ravens offense couldn't put it together to match the output of their defense.

Some accolades should also go to the Colts defense - which has twice forced us all to eat our predictions of a Colts meltdown from their porous defense. I don't think they'll make it all the way - but I could be surprised.

Posted by Andy at 09:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Jemele Hill at ESPN Page 2 notes a disturbing trend, of which Darrent Williams's killing is the latest instance:

Over the past 12 months, three NFL players have been shot, and in the past couple weeks, police discovered one NFL player, Bears defensive lineman Tank Johnson, had enough weapons in his home to mount a terrorist attack. University of Miami lineman Bryan Pata was shot to death at his apartment complex in November. In Denver alone, three notable athletes have been shot since 2003 – Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Joey Porter, Denver Nuggets guard Julius Hodge and now, tragically, Williams.

One unavoidable commonality about these episodes of gunplay: all of the athletes are black.

It leads to an inevitable question from all of us, but particularly mainstream America: Why do black athletes often seem to find themselves either holding a gun or staring down the barrel of one?

A good, and disturbing read; and a good followup to Juan WIlliams's Enough. Jemele notes some key problems:

While America is generally a violent place, no culture in this country glorifies violence more than the African-American community. And consequently, no other racial group is as disproportionately affected by it.
..
Two things you almost always see when "MTV Cribs" features a black superstar: a poster of Tony Montana and a poster of the Godfather. Montana and Michael Corleone, though fictional, are considered heroes by young black men everywhere. Montana and Corleone had one thing in common: both killed people to gain respect.
...
BET, the same network that saw fit to cut its nightly news program, has a new show called "American Gangster," which "chronicles the life and times of some of Black America's most notorious crime figures."
...
Black men constantly receive the message that they can't make it in life through using legitimate means, and the only way they gain society's respect is through the street game.

Posted by Andy at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ellis Hobbs honored fallen Darrent Williams yesterday:

Cornerback Ellis Hobbs paid tribute to Darrent Williams, the Denver Broncos cornerback who died last week, by wearing his name on the shirt he wore under his game jersey yesterday. Both grew up in Texas and got to know each other before the 2005 draft, when they both were coming out of college.
"I was doing it out of respect," said Hobbs, who started for the third straight week. "I had all the emotions that I wanted before this. This just gave me a purpose to go out there. I asked the Lord 'Let him play through me.' I know how bad he wanted it on the field with his aggressive attitude. I can say that we're the same type of player. I respected him and he respected me."
Hobbs's gray Patriots T-shirt had the words "R.I.P. D. Williams," on it, in addition to the No. 27.

Posted by Andy at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

is up at Esser Agaroth

Posted by Andy at 09:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Okay, third time's the charm. The Jet played a very good game; better than the 21 point gap in the score would indicate. But ultimately, the Pats played great football, and that was the difference. The Vince Wilfork 31-yard run after the "oops, was that a fumble?" play was just classic. And now on to San Diego.

SoccerDad gets his desire, and the Colts will go home to Baltimore. Kansas City's offense showed up in very predictable plays, and the Colts stepped up to shut them down. I'm not surprised at the Colts win - but I am surprised that with 40 minutes of possession, they only amassed 23 points. Unless the Colts get their game on, the Ravens are going to the championship.

As for the NFC, such a comedy! Of the four, the Eagles definitely looked like they might belong in the NFC championship game. Maybe.

Okay, maybe not. We'll have to see how the Saints perform next week; but as it stands, it really feels like the SuperBowl is going to be decided in the next three AFC games (and I'm hoping it's settled in Baltimore).

Posted by Andy at 09:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The legislature split its understanding of the SJC yesterday - voting on the same-sex marriage ban, but not on the affordable health care initiative. Both are citizen initiatives, which needed two consecutive votes in the legislature to then be placed on the ballot. (Affordable health care already had one). What's interesting here is that both of these are bad initiatives, each one favored by one end of the political spectrum. And, that sadly, both are likely to pass if put before the people.

But first, a primer on how the Massachusetts initiative system works: First, you get ten signatures, submit your initiative to the Attorney General for validation (the crayon rule). Then you take a petition out and get a bunch of signatures. Now it goes to the legislature - they have to vote, as noted, in two consecutive sessions, but they only need 25% yea votes to pass (the leper rule). Then it goes on a ballot. It needs more "yes" votes than "no" votes, and 30% of the votes cast (the mob rule).

So it's pretty easy for an initiative to succeed if put before the people - because a number of folks might abstain (on the 2006 ballot, 6% abstained on Question 1, and about 11% on Questions 2 & 3), a lot might not show up (only 60% of registered voters showed up in 2006 (and only 80% of adults are registered to vote)).

Why are both of these bad, though?

The same sex marriage ban is bad - simply because government needs to be careful on its interaction with the bedroom. This initiative is, unfortunately, the logical next step in the battle - same sex marriage proponents need to get same sex marriage enshrined in law, and out of the wacky limbo state it is in, to take away the precedent argument (exercise for the reader: Argue the cases for polygamy, line marriages, and incest marriage using the current state of same sex marriage as a precedent). We shouldn't ban it, but we need a law here.

Affordable health care is not a right. And, in fact, we already have it; what advocates really want is the institution of the Dole, because that controls the mob's votes.

Update: The number of required signatures on a petition is 3% of the ballots cast for governor in the prior election; that currently means 66,594 signatures.

Posted by Andy at 06:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

SoccerDad summarizes the history the Ravens have with the various AFC teams:

the final coach of the original Cleveland Browns was Bill Bellichick, current coach of the Patriots. The final year of the Browns in Cleveland wasn't good and Bellichick was fired after the season. Might the Ravens history have been even better if Art Modell had stuck with Bellichick?

Posted by Andy at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Via Betsy Newmark, this wonderful story of man's triumph over nature: raising fish in the desert. Seems a little odd, of course, but that's what Israelis are good at - coming up with clever solutions to problems:

Scientists here say they realized they were on to something when they found that brackish water drilled from underground desert aquifers hundreds of feet deep could be used to raise warm-water fish. The geothermal water, less than one-tenth as saline as sea water, free of pollutants and a toasty 98 degrees on average, proved an ideal match.

Posted by Andy at 01:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Darrent Williams is dead. It looks like a targeted murder:

Broncos right cornerback Darrent Williams was shot and killed this morning after leaving a nightclub in a limousine, Denver Broncos sources say.
Two other people, a man and a woman, who were in the back of an H2 Hummer limousine, were also shot but their injuries were not considered life threatening, said Sonny Jackson, Denver police spokesman.

Even though the Broncos are our nemesis, I had a lot of respect for Darrent Williams' skills on the field. You could certainly see his maturation under Champ Bailey's mentorship, and I'd looked forward to dreading matchups against them in the future.

Farewell.

Update: Captain's Quarters has a little more, including this tidbit:

In December, Williams spoke of returning to his hometown this offseason to talk to youngsters about staying out of gangs. Williams, who has two young children in the Fort Worth area, recently talked to Criss about establishing a free football camp for youth players.

Additionally, from his Dec 3 interview with the Denver Post:

I think I would have been in an office somewhere, an office manager. I've got my own entertainment company now, a record label. Ryno Entertainment. We've got a CD about to come out in the next couple of weeks.

Posted by Andy at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)