Another legendary athlete honors Dad.

Tiger Woods further cemented his legendary PGA status by winning his second straight British Open title (third overall), finishing two shots ahead of Chris DiMarco. He is the first to win two straight Opens since Tom Watson did so in 1982-83.

At age 30 years and 7 months, Woods becomes the youngest player to win 11 major championships. Jack Nicklaus was 32 years, 5 months upon winning his 11th.

Every time Tiger wins a major, impressive stats such as those can be documented. But it was the sentiments he expressed afterwards on Sunday that made this an even more noteworthy victory. Since the passing of his father Earl in May, Tiger struggled to regain the mental toughness that has defined his illustrious career. He even missed the cut in last month’s US Open, the first time that has ever happened to Tiger in a major.

So upon winning his first tournament since Earl’s death, Tiger embraced caddie Steve Williams and sobbed uncontrollably. While witnessing this I couldn’t help but be struck by the similarities of this moment to what took place on Fathers Day, 1996. Another legendary athlete, NBA superstar Michael Jordan, helped his Chicago Bulls clinch the NBA championship on June 16, 1996. It was Michael’s fourth NBA championship, but the first title since the tragic death of his father James in 1993. Combine that with it being Fathers Day, Jordan spent several minutes after the game crying face down on the locker room floor. It appeared he was overcome with emotion on his dad not being there.

Yes, we often revere these athletes for their remarkable skill.

But I equally admire their ability to show raw human emotion upon completing another conquest.

I have a feeling we’ll see many more championships in the future of one Eldrick “Tiger” Woods.

Have the Twins peaked?

The Minnesota Twins start a key six-game road trip this evening when they take on the Cleveland Indians.

The Twins will play three games against the Indians this weekend and three more next week in Chicago against the White Sox.

Although the Twins have been phenomenal at home (37-11) they have been woeful on the road (17-29, including 0-12 against AL Central foes Indians, Sox and Detroit Tigers). This will be the trip which will determine what the Twins will do at the July 31st trading deadline. If the Twins have a good road trip (Say, 4-2 or better) they may retain all of their players for the stretch drive. If they go .500 or worse?

Sell, Sell, Sell!!

Hey, I’m not looking to rain on any parades here. The mere fact I am talking about a Twins playoff run this season is remarkable considering a couple of months ago I was calling for management to blow up the team. The Twins have gone a scorching 29-7 in their last 36 games so I say enjoy it while it lasts.

Even if Twins are virtually eliminated from the playoffs, there are still a lot of aspects of this club which are worth paying attention.

-Joe Mauer attempting to be the first catcher in a long time to win a batting title. The last to do it? You have to go all the way back to 1942 when Cincinnati Reds backstop Ernie Lombardi accomplished that feat.

-Justin Morneau becoming the first Twin to hit 30+ home runs since 1987. He also has a very good chance to become the first Twins player to hit 40+ since…what was that guy’s name?.....Oh yeah, Harmon Killebrew.

-Francisco Liriano has an opportunity not only to win the AL Rookie of the Year but also the Cy Young award. Not a bad double play for a rook.

-Liriano and Johan Santana have the opportunity to become only the second pair of Twins teammates to win 20 games in the same season. Dave Boswell and Jim Perry each won 20 way back in 1969.

Yes, I never thought two months ago that I’d be saying this:

The 2006 version of the Minnesota Twins have been fun to watch!

Random thoughts on a slow sports night.

There are only two days throughout the entire year when none of the four major professional sports (MLB, NFL, NBA & NHL) has a game scheduled. Those days would be the Monday before and the Wednesday after the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. This year’s game will take place this evening at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

Despite the lack of sports competition on Monday, I felt the urge to compile a blog post featuring some obscure trivia about America’s pass time. What better time to do so then on the eve of baseball’s Mid-Summer classic.

-On September 22, 1987, the Chicago Cubs send P Dickie Noles to the Detroit Tigers for a player to be named later. Noles is the player to be named later, going back to Chicago on October 23.

-In 1998 the New York Yankees compiled a record of 125 wins and 50 losses (including post season play). That is a winning percentage of .714. The most famous Yankee of all-time, Babe Ruth, is third on the career home run list….with 714.

-In 1974, Atlanta’s Hank Aaron surpassed Ruth on the all-time home run list by hitting his 715th career homer in an April game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 1985, Cincinnati’s Pete Rose surpassed Ty Cobb on the all-time hits list with his 4,192nd base hit in a September contest versus the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers first baseman in 1974? Steve Garvey. The Padres first baseman in 1985? The same Steve Garvey.

-In 1993, Rickey Henderson was traded from the Oakland A’s to the Toronto Blue Jays, where Henderson helped the Jays win the World Series. John Olerud, the Jays first baseman that season, wore a batting helmet while playing the field. This was done as a precaution due to having suffered a brain aneurysm while in college a few years earlier.

Fast forward to 1999, where Olerud was playing for the New York Mets. Later that season Henderson is traded to the Mets. Upon seeing Olerud working out prior to a game, Henderson says something to the effect of “Hey, I used to have a teammate in Toronto who wore a batting helmet in the field, too.” Olerud replied “Yeah, Rickey. That was me.” Yes, this is the same Rickey Henderson who allegedly took practice swings in the locker room in front of a mirror completely naked while repeatedly saying "Rickey's the best! You tha' man Rickey!"

-In September 1990, I attended a Minnesota Twins game where they were hosting the Texas Rangers. A friend of mine scored great seats along the first base line. While feigning interest in a meaningless game featuring my last place Twins, I noticed a group of well-dressed men walking down the steps near our seats. These men were escorting the owner of the Texas Rangers to his seat. I later came to find out that these men in suits and ties were Secret Service agents and the owner of the Rangers also happened to be the son of the President of the United States. Yes, George W. Bush was within 50 feet of where we were sitting that evening. Who would have thought that 10 ½ years later, he himself would become President?

The first six years!

Well, another half-year in the books. Can you believe it? The end of the first six months of a year are quite tumultuous for me in my profession. I work in the Finance industry for a Twin Cities company which means I spent the past week closing the books for the first half-year.

Since the company I work for is a division of a U.K.-owned corporation, I had to coordinate my deadline with the parent company. So when I inquired as to the UK recognizing the 4th of July, my English colleague replied “Of course. We also recognize the 5th, the 6th, etc.”

Yes, there’s nothing worse than an impudent Brit.

Anyhow, since July 3 & 4 were holidays, I had three days to complete my work as opposed to the normally allotted five.

In the immortal words of Rodney Dangerfield in the movie Back to School, “I feel like I just gave birth….TO AN ACCOUNTANT!”

Friday, July 7 marked six years of wedded bliss for my gal & me! I just realized that next year will be extra special. On 07/07/07 we will celebrate 7 years!! That’s quite the statistical anomaly.


Well, not really. What about those couples who celebrated five years on 05/05/05 or the ones who recognized their fourth anniversary on 04/04/04 or…


All right, already! I get it!

Anyhow, given the veritable whirlwind that was my work week last week, I ended up working until 8:30 pm on Friday evening --- MY ANNIVERSARY!

Ah, but there was never any need for panic on my part. In fact, I had a nice meal waiting for me upon my arrival Friday evening. Wow, am I married to great gal or what??!!


OK, what did you have to do to make up for being late?


Haven’t you been paying attention? I am married to the sweetest, most understanding woman I know. Just the fact that we have had a relatively smooth road the first six years brings all the happiness she could ask for.*

Happy Anniversary, babe!

The Best Is Yet To Come!




*OK, I promised a special vacation getaway on our 10th anniversary.

Who's afraid of the big, bad goose?

I have had many the strange fears and phobias over my 37-plus years on this planet. Thankfully, I have overcome most with one glaring exception:

Canadian geese.

It was about 1994 when I was leaving my apartment in New Brighton one summer evening. I was walking to my car when I heard this shuffling noise in the grass. I turned around to see three Canadian geese sauntering towards me, hissing all the while. I was able to retreat into my car before the geese were able to reach me. All I could think about was Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “The Birds”, a film depicting our fine feathered friends (in that case, seagulls) running amok by attacking humans.

Over the next 10-plus years, I didn’t have many occasions where I encountered the long-necked creatures. That is, until 2004 when I began employment at a Maple Grove office building near a pond. Near this particular body of water dwells a plethora of these geese. Each morning upon my arrival to work I always keep a sharp eye out for these devilish creatures. I am usually able to arrive at a time where the geese are gathering at a safe distance away from the two entrances near where I park.

On Saturday I had to tend to a couple of things at my office. Since I never fancy working on weekends, I didn’t arrive until 11:00 am. By that time, two large flocks of Canadian geese “manned” each entrance that I was attempting to approach. As I started to pull into a parking spot nearest to one of the entrances, there were two geese that ran towards my vehicle. Oh, I recognized that look. They were indeed hissing with all the vigor I witnessed in 1994. I felt trapped. I couldn’t go in either of the back entrances which were closest to my office. I drove around to the front of the building, where I proceeded to use that entrance.

I completed my hour of work and was ready to leave. Since I was the only person in the building, I would have to set the alarm before leaving. The dilemma I faced was setting the alarm and exiting within 30 seconds. The alarm panel was on the back door which meant I had to arm the building and run out the front door all within the allotted half minute.

If I didn’t get out of the building in the time permitted, the Maple Grove police would have responded to a burglary call in our office building. I then would’ve had to explain to Maple Grove’s finest that I was an employee of the company occupying said building. That would have resulted in me calling someone in management at home on a Holiday weekend. In turn, management would have begrudgingly come to the office and vouched for me.

All of that due to my irrational fear of Canadian geese.

There's a 5th amendment, too!

“I had the right to remain silent…but I didn’t have the ability.”
-Ron White, comedian.


Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen stepped in it recently when using the homophobic slur “fag” to describe Chicago Sun Times sports columnist Jay Mariotti. The subsequent punishment handed down by Major League Baseball was a fine and orders to attend sensitivity training. In response, Guillen , a native of Venezuela, issued the old non-apology apology “I’m-sorry-if-anyone-was-offended” line. But his reasoning for using such an offensive term in the first place was classic.


“In my country, you call someone something like that and it is not the same as it is in this country.''


Oh sure, it’s the fault of the English language for hijacking that word. I suppose next you will ridicule Chevrolet for making a car called “Nova”, which translates to “No Go” in Spanish.

But with any controversy, interesting alliances can be formed

Someone managed to chip out of an ice block find former MLB pitcher John Rocker, who himself was ordered to attend sensitivity training (in addition to paying a $500 fine) after his shockingly offensive comments in early 2000. Not surprisingly, Rocker came out in defense of Guillen.


"This is a free country. If he wants to use a lewd term, he should be able to use a lewd term," Rocker said. "Can't you use a lewd term in America if you want?"


Don’t you just love the old “free speech” knee-jerk rhetoric? Yes, it is true. We do have the right to speak freely, according to the first amendment to the Constitution. But the spirit of the 1st amendment was intended to allow citizens to speak out against the government without fear of retribution. Certain exceptions, of course, include slander, threatening the life of the President of the United States, etc.

Last time I checked, Major League Baseball is not a body of government. It is a business. Therefore, if any employee under the umbrella of MLB does something which would potentially harm said business, that employee is subject to whatever punishment that employer sees fit. Can you imagine if a McDonald’s executive denounced the quality of the Big Mac? He would have the right to say such a thing, certainly. But no one would decry McDonald’s if they reprimanded or even dismissed that employee.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “I’d rather be silent and assumed a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”

Guillen and Rocker have been doing plenty of speaking recently.

As a result, all doubt has been removed as to what complete buffoons they really are.

A weekend in the life.

For the second consecutive year, my wife is participating in the Susan G Komen 3-day walk for breast cancer. As if walking 60 miles over three days isn’t enough of a challenge, she must also raise $2,200 in order to participate in the August event. But since it’s such a wonderful cause, she has no qualms about doing whatever is necessary to raise the funds. That includes having a yard sale over a 3 day period this past Thursday, Friday & Saturday. She decided that all proceeds would go towards her money raising goal.

My wife was successful in her attempts to raise money for charity and coax a new gas BBQ grill and patio furniture.

I came home on Thursday afternoon to find both our patio furniture and grill gone from our spacious patio.


Whoa, whoa. Spacious patio? If you had kids and told them to go out back and play, they would only be able to play a game of checkers. That’s because a checkers board is the only thing that could fit.


Uhhh, you’re missing the point here. What I’m trying to say is that my wife decided to donate our patio furniture and gas grill to her yard sale. She did that knowing full well I would not balk because:

a) The money raised from the sale of those items would be going to a good cause.
b) I would insist on buying a new grill and furniture.


Wow, aren’t you a softy. I guess it’s a good thing that she didn’t include one of your cars in the sale.


Why do you think I parked our better car two blocks away from our house all weekend?

Anyhow, the procurement of a new grill and patio furniture turned out to be a whole different harrowing experience.

We first went to purchase our new gas grill at….well….I won’t name the store but it’s the one with the big red & white bullseye on the front of the building.

We picked out the grill we liked and then read the instructions that we were to contact a customer associate to check and make sure it was in stock. The woman assisting us (we’ll call her “Tami”, since that was her name) was told the item was in stock. Tami instructed us to go to the front of the store where she would wheel up the grill on a cart and ring us up at the register. Upon completion of the transaction, she stated “I hope you have a truck or van where we can load this.” No, but I assured her the back seat in our Toyota Corolla would be sufficient. Tami was quite skeptical of that, a point she was looking to prove to us when we pulled up. Sure enough, when I pulled the car up I saw her shaking her head “no”. I proceeded to move the front seats forward in an effort to create more space in the back. Tami still insisted the grill would not squeeze in there.

By this time, one of Tami’s co-workers came to assist in the task of getting our grill into the backseat. Tami grabbed one end and backed into our backseat with her co-worker pushing on the other end. It took about one minute of maneuvering but they got the job done. As Tami emerged from our car I had this look of vindication on my face. All along, I politely insisted that the grill would get in there despite her protests to the contrary.

Ah, but Tami wasn’t through spreading her rays of sunshine. As we were about to leave, I thanked her for her assistance. She replied with “Well, good luck getting that thing out. It will be a lot harder getting it out than it was putting it in.” In an attempt to bring a little levity to her sour demeanor, I said we would just give her a call since she was so helpful in getting the grill to fit in our backseat in the first place. Not amused, she replied “I’m turning off my phone right now” and she walked off.

I guess good help (as well as a sense of humor) truly is hard to find.

Oh, and by the way. We got the grill out of our car in ten seconds.

Ever the gluttons for punishment, my wife & I returned to that same store a couple of days later to purchase our new patio furniture.

The whole routine was the same, right up to the sales associate insisting the box wouldn’t fit all the way in our trunk. This time, we brought our Dae Woo…..


… Gesundheit!


…since the trunk and back seat were larger. The sales associate, Adam, placed the big box in the trunk, but part of the box was still sticking out. I thanked him for his half-hearted effort and proceeded to finish the job myself.

Thankfully, Adam didn’t try to rain on our parade by telling us that we would have a tough time assembling the patio furniture.

All’s well that ends well!!

The Cuban whistle crisis.

Let me start out by saying I am not a fan of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. It is in large part due to the antics of their kook owner, billionaire Mark Cuban.

Since buying the team in January 2000, Cuban has been fined in excess of $1 million, mostly for constant criticism of NBA on-court officials.

It appears Cuban will add to his total after his latest temper tantrum Sunday evening.


By the time Mark Cuban arrived in the Dallas Mavericks' locker room, he'd already peeled off the Jerry Stackhouse jersey he had been wearing in support of his suspended forward.

The symbolism was fitting: Stackhouse's hard foul in Game 4 of the NBA Finals was old news. The way Game 5 finished, Cuban had a whole new fight on his hands.

Cuban was irate over what he considered a series of officiating breakdowns at the end of Dallas' 101-100 overtime loss to the Miami Heat on Sunday night. The loss left the Mavericks trailing the series 3-2 and facing elimination going into Game 6 in Dallas on Tuesday night.

When time ran out in Game 5, Cuban ran onto the court to vent at official Joe DeRosa, then stared down and screamed toward commissioner David Stern and a group of league officials, from the court, then the stands.


I have to admit that there is part of me who has an appreciation for Cuban. Prior to his buying the Mavs, they were one of the more pathetic NBA franchises. They hadn’t had a winning season in ten years, which included campaigns of 69 and 71 losses (The NBA season consists of 82 regular season games). Cuban’s willingness to spare no expense has resulted in the Mavericks averaging 56 wins per season in the last five years.

Despite all of that phenomenal success, Cuban receives most of his notoriety for his war of words with NBA commissioner David Stern and his scathing rebukes of NBA referees.


Cuban practically turned getting fined into an art form after going from an owner of season tickets to owning the Mavericks.

One comment about him not hiring the league's head of officiating to manage a Dairy Queen landed Cuban as a manager for a day; he also donned pinstripes and officiated a Harlem Globetrotters game.

As his team improved, there were fewer stunts. He remained a visible, vocal critic, though, enough for some to suggest that his team ends up not getting the benefit of the doubt from officials.

Mavs supporters have brought that up again in the wake of three players getting suspended this postseason, with Stackhouse the most recent.

Dallas had a chance to win without its top reserve, leading by 11 points early and by four late in the fourth quarter. Miami ended up winning on a pair of free throws by Dwyane Wade with 1.9 seconds left in overtime.

Cuban had several gripes about the play that sent Wade to the line, starting with Wade not being whistled for a collision that left Dallas' Jason Terry on the floor.

"I guess that's not a call," Cuban said. "I guess that's not a foul."


Can you imagine how much commissioner Stern would have to grit his teeth when presenting the NBA championship trophy to Cuban? It would be the equivalent of the NFL’s Super Bowl XV when Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis accepted the championship trophy from his perpetual rival, commissioner Pete Rozelle.

I’m not one for conspiracy theories. But one that will indeed be thrown out there is Stern asking the refs to be more a little more liberal in whistling Dallas for fouls.

Again, that’s just an unsubstantiated theory.

But an intriguing one at that.

UPDATE: Stern says Cuban's outbursts "not healthy for him or the game."

Do you know who's teaching your kids?

My wife, a public school teacher, recently received an e-mail from a co-worker of hers. This co-worker also happens to be the teachers union leader in this unnamed district.

This unnamed union leader decided to send an e-mail to all teachers in the district explaining why he is running for a seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives.



Some of you have asked why I am running for the House of Representatives.


Actually, no we haven’t. But I suppose you’ll enlighten us.


So to put it simply, here is how it happened:

I became a teacher to make a difference in the lives of young people.


By teaching young people that America is always wrong (verified by a former student of his).


I became a coach to help kids understand that discipline, hard work, and working as a team will raise the boat for all.


Raise the boat? Huh? Don’t you mean raise the bar? Come to think of it, public education is fast acquiring a reputation for being the proverbial “sinking ship”. In that case, raise the boat might be relevant.


I became a union leader to ensure that teachers would have the best possible environment to make a difference.


Didn’t Jimmy Hoffa have that same goal for the Teamsters? How’d that work out for him?


I became an endorsed House of Representatives candidate to fight for the needs of our working families, senior citizens and most importantly our children.


Endorsed by which party? Conveniently left that out, eh? Let me clear up the mystery by saying it’s that party on the left.


If you agree that:

-Our students need quality head start programs.

-Our students deserve affordable academic and extracurricular opportunities and quality curricular materials.

-Our students need a future that doesn't contain double digit tuition increases.


Cue the sound of a 10-key calculator.


Then we need to work as team to make this happen.

The hardest thing to ask a teacher is to donate more time or money to help a cause.

The hardest thing for me in this mission is the same.

If I could change the system on my own, it would already be fixed. I can't do this on my own, so I am asking you to join the team and together lets put the education of our children back at the top of the list at the Capitol.


At the TOP OF THE LIST??!!! About 40-50% of the state’s budget goes to education. Are you sure you aren’t looking at “the list” upside down?

For a first-timer in the political arena, he’s certainly mastered the art of demagoguery.

But here’s the best part. He responded to a colleague’s scathing e-mail by saying he’s neither a democrat nor republican. And this was after he promoted a town hall meeting with Al Franken as the keynote speaker.

Classic!

Separated at Birth: Karl Rove and....Yours Truly!!

Karl Rove, President Bush’s top White House aide (and chief Democrat antagonist).


Me: No introduction necessary.

It's hard out here for a Lib (you ain't knowin').

Someone once said “Our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized.”

Congressional Democrats have had this certain air about them for some time. They believed their greatest hopes of regaining power would come to fruition in November’s mid-term elections.

Amazingly, they seemed convinced that recapturing control of Congress would happen without an actual agenda.

-First they were going to ride the indictment of House majority leader Tom DeLay as a way to regain power. They were even going to use his mugshot as the poster for the Republicans and their “Culture of Corruption.”

-Another bullet in the chamber was the sinking public opinion of the Iraq war. This has been an issue the liberal Democrats will shamelessly demagogue at the drop of a hat. As long as the deaths of American soldiers continued, the Dems figured it was another step closer to power.

-But the piece de resistance? The sight of top White House aide Karl Rove being escorted out of the White House in handcuffs. This was to occur because of Rove’s alleged role in the leaking of a CIA officer’s identity.

As it turns out, the liberal’s worst fears are being realized.

DeLay? He gave a nice big smile for his picture. It was almost as if he were taunting his detractors. As of this post, DeLay has still not been convicted of anything.

Iraq? Al-Qaida’s chief insurgent, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is now taking a dirt nap. He’s pushing up daisies. Yes, he’s maggot fodder. No word on how many of the Congressional Democrats will be making an appearance at the funeral. They will in all likelihood be wearing black on that day, regardless of their attendance.

Rove? In gleeful anticipation of indictments being handed down by special prosecuter Patrick Fitzgerald, many libs coined the word “Fitzmas.” This described the cheerful atmosphere of Democrats possibly regaining control of Congress once the Bush staffers were indicted. Upon Rove being cleared of all charges, the liberals received the proverbial lump of coal.


What do ya think, Karl? Can the Democrats overcome their worst fears by coming up with an actual agenda and regaining control of Congress?
I had the same reaction to that question myself.

Beasts from the East.

My wife, brother and I took my Dad to the Twins game last evening for his birthday.

We left after the 11th inning with the score tied 5-5. Wouldn’t ya know it the Twins would go on to beat the Baltimore Orioles in the 12th on a Justin Morneau homer. One of the most exciting plays of a baseball game is a “walk off” home run and we missed it.

Now, let me get to why we left early. For the entire game there were three drunken buffoons sitting directly behind us.

That’s OK.

They were rooting for the Orioles.

Again, not a problem.

All three are residents of New Jersey with a sheer disdain for the state of Minnesota.

No skin off my Ashtabula. If asked about what I think of Jersey I would reply that I would rather light my remaining eight hairs on fire than reside there.

But that’s me.

While continually insulting our state and obnoxiously spouting profanity, my wife had finally had enough when one of the inebriated idiots declared “The best thing about being from the east coast is we get to leave Minnesota.”

To which, my gal replied with a sweet smile, “I’ll buy you a bus ticket.”

I think he replied with some incoherent statement like “We’ll I’ll move into your house and throw you out.”

Yes, when it gets to the point where I envision myself crushing someone’s skull with my cell phone, it’s about time to depart. So we did, peacefully.


Memo to the belligerent jackass wearing the orange shirt, Orioles cap and sitting in Section 132, Row 9 at the Metrodome last evening:

I didn’t get too upset that you spilled a little beer on my Dad and brother. Accidents happen, especially when you try to carry two cups of beer while schnockered.

I didn’t care one iota that you mocked my enthusiasm for the home team. I paid good money for those seats. I was going to have some mindless fun.

But if you so much as look cross-eyed at my wife…..?

Well, just keep your sorry rear in New Jersey and we won’t have anymore problems.

That is all.

Perseverance Pays!!

"Ladies and gentlemen, we got him."
L. Paul Bremer, civilian coalition administration, announcing the capture of Saddam Hussein in December 2003.


I will never forget the morning of Sunday, December 14, 2003 when our phone rang at about 7:00 am. My sister-in law, a Desert Storm military vet, called to tell us the good news. While it took a good thirty seconds to register, I quickly dashed downstairs to see if it was true. Sure enough, I was not dreaming. While viewing the news footage of Hussein I saw that the “Baghdad Lion” looked to be nothing more than a toothless kitten upon his capture.

I felt a similar sense of victory this morning when I heard the news of the #2 frothing-at-the-mouth lunatic al-Qaida leader being taken out.


Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida leader in Iraq who waged a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and beheadings of hostages, has been killed in a precision airstrike (see video footage here), U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday. It was a long-sought victory in the war in Iraq.

Al-Zarqawi and seven aides, including spiritual adviser Sheik Abdul Rahman, were killed Wednesday evening in a remote area 30 miles northeast of Baghdad in the volatile province of Diyala, just east of the provincial capital of Baqouba, officials said.

"Al-Zarqawi was eliminated," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said.

At the White House, President Bush hailed the killing as "a severe blow to al-Qaida and it is a significant victory in the war on terror."

But he cautioned: "We have tough days ahead of us in Iraq that will require the continuing patience of the American people."


This is why I have continued to support the President despite the enormous federal spending and his bungling of the immigration issue. He has never looked at the war on terror as a political battle. Rather he looks at this conflict as fulfilling his duty as Commander in Chief to protect this Nation from those who seek to kill us.

The President has always been able to see the “forest for the trees” in the Iraqi conflict. It has driven liberals and the liberal spin machine mainstream media crazy whenever Bush has declared we will “stay the course” in Iraq. Yes, it’s true that poll numbers indicate the majority of Americans currently do not support the war in Iraq. But does that fact alone mean we shouldn’t be there?

That very subject came up in this morning’s press briefing with White House press secretary Tony Snow.


Snow: The President understands what the polls are, but he also understands what his obligations are as Commander-in-Chief. And if the polling data is contrary to the national security interests, guess what -- national security interests win, period. That's how he views it. And so you can look at the poll data -- and we do, we've taken very cold and honest looks at the poll data -- but the one thing as Commander-in-Chief, he is not going to fail in Iraq. He is not going to permit failure, and therefore, even if at times that may seem to fly in the face of public opinion, he knows his job as Commander-in-Chief of the United States is to carry out his constitutional obligations. And one of the things that is a strong point of this President is that he'll do it, regardless of what the polls say.


Amen!

I also find it interesting that Al-Zarqawi’s death has been downplayed in some media outlets. In fact, some factions of the press have pointed out that we shouldn’t overhype this event since many al-Qaida members have been killed previously in the Iraqi conflict.

Really?

Why wasn’t that reported when it actually happened?

I guess that’s what happens when certain people are so invested in our defeat in Iraq. Whatever good news that has taken place is continually overshadowed by isolated incidents such as Abu Ghraib and Haditha.

People can try to spin this any way they want. But the fact remains that we’re the United States of America. Our military has never lost a war unless we were sabotaged from within.

Thankfully, we have a President who has never wavered in his quest to win the war on terror.

Bring on the Schwab!

I have applied to be a contestant on the ESPN game show “Stump the Schwab.” This is an extravaganza where three poor saps contestants try their hand at outwitting sports industry veteran Howie Schwab.

I have been a veritable sports junkie since I was about nine. I have always kept track of sports stats and trivia to the point where people would ask “What in the world could you do with such worthless information?”

It served me well in 1988. WCCO radio offered eight tickets behind home plate to see a Minnesota Twins game if someone could call in and answer a trivia question. What was the question, you ask?

What was the score of the first ever regular season baseball game played at the Metrodome?

Given the fact that this was the 80s, a quick Google search was not available.

No matter.

I confidently called in and told them the Twins were defeated by the Seattle Mariners, 11-7.

The host chuckled and said he was merely looking for a score and not all of those other factoids. I guess I have always had that tendency of throwing in a lot of extra details when not asked for. Nonetheless, the tickets were mine!!

In preparing for a possible appearance, I have now watched several episodes of “Stump the Schwab”. Let’s just say I have my work cut out for me.

Well, on to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Wish me luck!

United 93.

My wife and I finally saw “United 93” on Sunday.

To be honest, we both had reservations about seeing the movie given the horrific events that took place on September 11, 2001. We have never forgotten what happened that day and, to be honest, weren’t all that thrilled to relive the myriad of emotions we felt.

Nonetheless, we felt it was an appropriate tribute to the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93.

Of the four hijacked planes on that fateful day, United 93 was the only flight which did not reach its destination. Despite the fact the movie was written and directed by Brit Paul Greengrass, a self-proclaimed liberal, the movie avoided any political overtures. Thankfully, there was no implied sympathy to the terrorists’ cause.

I thought the film brilliantly paid homage to the bravery of everyday citizens. Flight 93 was approximately twenty minutes away from its destination, the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., when the passengers decided to thwart the terrorists’ mission. The plane ultimately crashed into an open field in Shanksville, PA.

What made the film even more impactful was the fact we weren’t caught up in the aura of big-name Hollywood types playing key roles. In fact, the majority of people in the air traffic control centers and military command centers were portrayed by the actual individuals working there on 9/11/01.

On Memorial Day, we usually take the time to remember the American soldiers who fought and died to preserve the precious liberty we enjoy in the United States of America.

On September 11, 2001, the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 fought and died to prevent further destruction to this nation’s Capitol.

They too should be remembered admirably.

C'mon home, Jason!!

Minnesota's “Mr. Right” is returning!!


Jason (Lewis) opened his show on Tuesday, May 23rd, with the sad news that he and his family are going home to Minneapolis, Minnesota.


Well, sad news for Charlotte, NC anyways.


"...I guess it was a Biblical passage that said 'this too shall pass'." Jason started. "I've got an announcement today that is very difficult to utter...but I've reached the decision with my family that it's time to go home." Jason stressed that his decision was a personal one, and is not related to any perceived pressure from elected officials or station management. Jason will continue to work through the end of his contract, which ends in October, or until WBT management can identify the new host.


There was a story in the Star Tribune yesterday which indicated Jason will be working for Clear Channel at the new FM Talk Station, 100.3 KTLK. He was also seen looking for a home in the Woodbury area recently.

Welcome back, Jason!

Kids: A great cure for writer's block.

“All the world’s a stage”.
-William Shakespeare



In the motif of Shakespeare, Katie @ “Yucky Salad” would concur that “All the world’s a blog post.”

The latest example is so brilliantly conveyed when Katie gives an account of the recent exploits of her 4-year old daughter.


Molly came running into the bathroom (while I was in there) the other day yelling in a panicky voice that she had to blow her nose. She blew 'n blew n' blew n' blew and then turned to me and shrieked, "Mommy it won't come out!"

I tilted her head back and sure enough, there was something in there...I closed her other nostril and barked "BLOW" and out flew a piece from the game "Battleship".

Why? Why?

I'll tell you why, it's simple really:

A) She's four

B) She had a small object in her possession and an empty hole in her face.


Speaking of something flying out of one’s nose, I happened to be drinking a cup of water when I read that particular excerpt.

Suffice it to say I then had to take a squeegee to my monitor.

A Snow storm in the White House press room.

Former Fox News personality Tony Snow this past week conducted his first White House press briefing as new Press Secretary.

Attached is some entertaining video of Snow taking on long-time battle-axe member of the White House press corps, Helen Thomas.

No disrespect to past press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan, but Snow has already set himself apart. He looks to be a guy who will coherently present the administration’s policies, something that has been woefully lacking in the 5 ½ years of President Bush’s leadership.

Did you have a question, Mr. Gregory?

Chicks no longer rule.

"Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas."
-Natalie Maines, lead singer of the Dixie Chicks and Texas native, during a March 2003 concert in London.


Personally, I never got too outraged over Natalie's comments. In fact, I just rolled my eyes thinking "Nat, we don't give a squat what you think. Thanks for sharing though."

However, the country music scene itself did not take kindly to Maines' remarks. With their fan base primarily in states where President Bush's popularity is highest, people responded by destroying Dixie Chicks CDs and boycotting the concerts. Some radio stations even refused to play the Chicks' songs.

After a self-imposed three year exile, the Dixie Chicks are releasing a new CD this week. The first single off the album "Taking the Long Way" is a little ditty entitled "Not Ready to Make Nice." The song is essentially a response to what they say was the intolerance and hatred they faced for expressing their opinion.

Intolerance?

Hatred?

Come on!

People trashed some of your CDs in their own expression of free speech. It's called a dissenting viewpoint. Radio stations refused to play your music. It's nothing personal, just business. Radio stations need listeners in order to stay afloat. So if the listeners demand to not hear the Dixie Chicks' music for whatever reason, the station will make a decision that will most benefit their bottom line.

Doug Powers nailed it in a column he wrote shortly after the March 2003 incident.


Bruce Springsteen has said that a radio station not playing a song because of the artists political views is "un-American," and that the Chicks were simply exercising their basic American right of free speech (exercising it in a gym on the other side of the Atlantic, but that's another story).

If the chairman of McDonalds came out and said "hamburgers suck," would Bruce Springsteen come and support his free-speech rights after he got fired? Doubtful. He'd probably agree that it was a dumb thing to say, given his position. For some reason, with musicians and actors, "artist" is the only career in which you should be allowed to open your blithering yapper free of consequence. "Free speech" is a two-way street, and if you use it, you'd better be prepared to dodge oncoming traffic.


Given the sharp decline in the Dixie Chicks' album sales, it appears they have become the entertainment version of road kill.

Lack of border security can lead to Social Security.

No wonder the Congressional Democrats applauded President Bush when in his January State of the Union address he stated “Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security…”

Apparently they had another idea on how to solve the crisis.


The Senate voted yesterday to allow illegal aliens to collect Social Security benefits based on past illegal employment -- even if the job was obtained through forged or stolen documents.

"There was a felony they were committing, and now they can't be prosecuted. That sounds like amnesty to me," said Sen. John Ensign, the Nevada Republican who offered the amendment yesterday to strip out those provisions of the immigration reform bill. "It just boggles the mind how people could be against this amendment."

The Ensign amendment was defeated on a 50-49 vote.

"We all know that millions of undocumented immigrants pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for years and sometimes decades while they work to contribute to our economy," said Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican.


Work to contribute to our economy? You mean by lowering the wage scale while the employers get wealthier and the middle class is slowly whittled away? That’s the equivalent of the “contribution” my neighbor’s dog left on my lawn the other night.


"The Ensign amendment would undermine the work of these people by preventing lawfully present immigrant workers from claiming Social Security benefits that they earned before they were authorized to work in our community," he said. "If this amendment were enacted, the nest egg that these immigrants have worked hard for would be taken from them and their families."


Part of the immigration reform would call for a substantial fine for those who came into this country illegally. Sounds to me like the “nest egg” could be used to pay those penalties.

Just a thought.


Mr. Ensign was among 44 Republicans and five Democrats who voted to block such payouts.


The 11 Republicans who voted against the Ensign amendment?

The usual suspects:

Brownback (R-KS)
Chafee (R-RI)
DeWine (R-OH)
Graham (R-SC)
Hagel (R-NE)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
Specter (R-PA)
Stevens (R-AK)
Voinovich (R-OH)

Edit job has me seeing red.

One of my all time favorite 80s movies, “Back to the Future”, was being aired the other night on the ABC Family channel. Having seen the movie approximately 20-30 times beginning to end, I could practically quote every line.

That said, I noticed a very obvious edit job done in the scene near the end of the movie where Marty writes a warning letter to the Doc about events 30 years down the road.


TV versions (of “Back to the Future”) that aired shortly after the World Trade Center Attack in September 2001 featured certain alterations to the Libyan terrorists subplot. When Marty reads aloud his warning letter for Doc, he says "You will be shot," instead of "You will be shot by terrorists," and the "by terrorists" area of the letter is digitally erased.


Hey, why stop there? Why not make the terrorists into natives of Alabama or Kentucky. Better yet, dub the voices with Southern accents. Since the Southern states overwhelmingly voted for President Bush (who actually has the audacity to combat terrorism), they’re the real bad guys right?

Here’s a sample of the newly dubbed scene where Doc is shot:


Doc: Oh, my God, they found me, I don't know how, but they found me. Run for it Marty.

Marty: Who? Who?

Doc: Who do you think? The (dub word here) Rednecks!!

Terrorist (as he’s firing the machine gun at Doc from a van with a digitally added confederate flag decal): Praise the Lord, the South has risen again!!!


Howard Dean would give his shriek of approval.

Separated at Birth: Sam Cassell & Gollum.

Sam Cassell is an NBA player for the Los Angeles Clippers.

"Gollum", the character from the "Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy.

Code Blue.

The film “The Da Vinci Code” is set to debut in theaters soon. With that come vigorous protests.


The Greek Orthodox church reportedly criticized the best selling "Da Vinci Code" thriller, the film of which comes out in the coming days, as offensive and mistaken.

The semi-official Ana news agency said that a leaflet to be distributed to churchgoers at all Orthodox churches next Sunday states "From a religious and historical point of view the content of the book is wholly false."

"The work attacks and undermines in a treacherous manner religious knowledge," said the leaflet, produced by the church's supreme body, the holy synod.

The thesis of the book, which has sold millions of copies, is that Jesus Christ married, and had a child by, Mary Magadalene.


Thus continues the double standard in Hollywood. There was no hesitation in making a movie that skewers the life of Christ. After all, the entertainment industry didn’t anticipate the kind of retribution like they feared would occur with mocking the Islamic prophet Mohammed. Who cares if a few “Jesus freaks” get all in a twist, right?

A cable station like Comedy Central will allow their show “South Park” to air an episode of Jesus Christ defecating on President Bush and the American flag. And during Holy Week, no less. Yet if that very same show entertains a thought of merely showing an image of Mohammed, it’s censorship city.


The Orthodox church, to which 97 percent of Greeks belong, "does not call on people either to see or not to see the film, or to read or not to read the book ... but it is sure that those who do will see the lies and reject its ridiculous content."


That’s a far cry from violent mobs burning things in the street.

UPDATE: Actor Tom Hanks hits back at the "Da Vinci" critics.

Separated at Birth: George Michael and Joe Biden.

George Michael (left) is a sportscaster and host of “The George Michael Sports Machine.”

Joe "Karl Rove used dirty political tricks to win Ohio in the '04 election" Biden is a Democrat senator from the state of Delaware.

A great champion mourns the loss of his Dad, friend and mentor.

Who could forget the big bear hug that Tiger Woods shared with his Dad after winning the 1997 Masters?

From the first time we heard the name Tiger Woods, it was so very apparent the pivotal role his Dad played in his life.

So it was with great sadness when Tiger announced the passing of his father, Earl, on Wednesday.


I’m very saddened to share the news of my father’s passing at home early this morning. My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply. I’m overwhelmed when I think of all of the great things he accomplished in his life. He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend. I wouldn’t be where I am today without him, and I’m honored to continue his legacy of sharing and caring. Thank you to all who are sending condolences to my family and our Foundation. We are truly blessed to have so many who care during this difficult time.


December 2004 was the last time Mr. Woods attended a tournament involving his son. He was present in Augusta, GA in April 2005 when Tiger captured his fourth Masters title. However, unlike the three previous Masters titles when Mr. Woods and his son would embrace just off the edge of the 18th green, Tiger’s Pop couldn’t be at the golf course. But there was no doubt that Tiger was thinking of him. "I can't wait to get home to see him and give him a big bear hug", a misty-eyed Tiger said at the post-tournament news conference.

One would get the impression that Earl Woods was a dictatorial father who pushed his son into the game of golf, given the often cold-hearted precision & perfection with which Tiger pursues his craft.

The fact of the matter is the exact opposite was true as Mr. Woods explained in a 2001 interview with Rush Limbaugh:


Unequivocally I will deny that I ever pushed Tiger. Tiger came in the garage as company for me, and he entertained me and I entertained him while he learned the golf swing. Later, Tiger chose golf as the sport of his choice. I tried to get him to play baseball and he would tell me, “Daddy, it gets in the way of my golf.” At two years old he memorized my work phone number. He would call me each and everyday religiously, because he knew exactly what time I got off, at 4:12, and he would ask me if he could practice with me that day. I would hesitate until there was a doubt in his mind, and then I would say yes. Oh, he was so happy! He was so happy. This happened everyday. We would go to the driving range, where Tiger learned all the things that he displays now. I taught the value of hard work, the sheer joy of practicing.


It was very apparent the love and admiration Tiger Woods had for his Dad. It was equally obvious that the feeling was mutual.


I’m very proud of Tiger. Not as a golfer, but I’m proud because he’s a better person than he is a golfer.


In the last thirty of his 74 years on this planet, Earl Woods raised a champion on the PGA tour.

More importantly, he appeared prouder in the fact that he raised a champion in life.

Keep your Sox on, Doug's on his way.

So, how was your commute to your job today?

I bet it was nothing compared to that of baseball player Doug Mirabelli on Monday.

Mirabelli, a catcher, was traded by the San Diego Padres to the Boston Red Sox in the morning. Mirabelli promptly boarded a flight in San Diego in hopes of being in uniform Monday night in Boston.

He lands at Logan airport at 6:48 pm and gets to Fenway Park in 13 minutes, thanks to a police escort. Since he was changing into his uniform in the car on the way to the ballpark, Mirabelli was able to be behind home plate at 7:13 to catch the first pitch.

And here I had trouble opening my e-mail when I got to my desk barely on time this morning.

Keep a knockin' but you can't come in.

I was prepared, but no Democrats came knocking on my door this past weekend.

The Democratic National Committee had volunteers in all 50 states go door-to-door on Saturday, April 29 in an effort "to share the Democratic Party's bold vision for America and begin a series of conversations with the American people about the upcoming elections."

So if some young gal in a VW Beetle with a “Keep you laws off my body” bumper sticker affixed had come to my door, this is what she would have witnessed:

Then again, some Democrats may have shown up. However, they thought twice before ringing the doorbell.



Disclaimer: This blog post was made in humor. No Democrats were (nor will be) harmed in the depiction and illustration of these events.

Twins torched; Fire Sale next?

I have been a fan of the Minnesota Twins since 1978.

Before they would win two World Series titles (in 1987 & 1991), I witnessed some pretty pathetic baseball. From a 102 loss season in 1982 to the team nearly relocating to Tampa, FL prior to 1984, this franchise went through some dark times before reaching the proverbial Promised Land in ’87 &’91.

However, shortly after capturing a second championship, the Twins fell into an abyss of eight consecutive losing seasons (1993-2000).

Yup, in my time as a Twins fan I have seen some pretty porous baseball.

And then, there was this past weekend in Detroit.


(See that big red button with the word “PANIC” engraved on it? Don’t just press it; STEP ON IT!!!!).


Whatever delusions the Twins had to making the playoffs this season have officially been imploded; obliterated; blown to smithereens. Much like the pitching offered up this past weekend by the trio of Brad Radke (2 1/3 innings pitched, 9 hits, 6 earned runs), Carlos Silva (2 2/3 IP, 9 H, 9 ER) and Kyle Lohse (5 2/3 IP, 8 H, 6 ER). What was supposed to be the strength of the team (starting pitching) has become its’ Achilles heel.

How low are the expectations for this ’06 Twins club? Twins TV announcer Dick Bremer on Friday, after Radke gave up a run on three hits in the first inning, proclaimed “All in all, not a bad first inning.”

After being outscored by the Detroit Tigers in three games by a whopping 33-1 (yes that’s THIRTY THREE to ONE!!!), how will manager Ron Gardenhire say with a straight face “We battled our tails off”? After all, that’s Gardy’s usual pithy explanation for every tough stretch this team has gone through in his four-year tenure.

OK, Gardy. Let’s say for argument’s sake that the guys did “battle their tails off” this past weekend. Heck, the game was scoreless all the way until the fifth inning in today’s contest. If this is the best you can hope for from your current crop of players when they give their all, what chance do you have for a winning season?

Torii Hunter (making $10.75 million this year), Radke ($9 million), Shannon Stewart ($6.5 million) and Lohse ($3.95 million) are all in the final year of their contracts. All (with the exception of Stewart) have had an absolutely dreadful month of April. I say, cut your losses now. None of those four players will be back next season anyways. Why not have the July “fire sale” a few months early? Just go ahead and trade that collection of veterans. You might even receive in return some promising prospects who can get a year or two more of seasoning in the minor leagues.

That way when the new ballpark opens in April 2010 the Minnesota Twins might actually have a credible franchise once again.

Still crazy after all these years.

The National Football League draft is this weekend.

This annual event is so over-hyped that it has NFL rubes (like me) waking up at the crack of 11:00 am on a Saturday to tune in to the coverage on ESPN.

Have I told you how much I miss former Vikings coach Dennis Green? It wasn’t for his porous clock management or dismal playoff record. No, it was the nonsensical rhetoric spewed by ol’ Denny which made for some classic soundbites.

In this his third season as Arizona Cardinals head coach, Green was commenting today on where their #10 draft pick, USC quarterback Matt Leinart, will fit in the Cards’ QB rotation.

“Kurt Warner is coming in at number one and Leinart will battle John Navarre for the #2 spot. Whoever wins that will be #2 and the other guy will be #3.”

One thing is for certain: Denny has not lost his grasp on the obvious.

Making up for lost time.

On my daily commute to my workplace, my driving route includes a stretch of Hwy 169 from 93rd Ave in Brooklyn Park to the Hwy 94/694 West exit, approximately 3 ½ miles.

Within the first mile or so on 169, there is typically bumper-to-bumper traffic due to there being traffic lights in that area. Inevitably, I’ll scan the cars surrounding me while waiting for a light to turn green. I usually don’t have search too strenuously to find a woman applying makeup on her face while stopped in traffic. In fact, the application normally continues when traffic initially moves forward.

This begs the obvious question: Isn’t it a lot easier to do that in front of a mirror at home?

Now, let me emphasize one thing. I am not making this inquiry out of anger or frustration towards women who apply their cosmetics in traffic. If the truth be told, I’m quite impressed with the precision of the application while trying to maneuver your standard size vehicle.

All of that said, I would like to take a very non-scientific survey.

Why is it that women choose to put on their makeup in the car?

You overslept?

Too busy getting the kids (and husband) ready so they can get out the door on time?

For you single gals, maybe it’s a spontaneous thing as you see a nice-looking gentleman in the next car.

Please respond in the comments section of this blog post.

He was no Manic Monday.

On this date, thirty years ago……


Rick Monday never tires of answering questions about that memorable day 30 years ago, when he performed his own Patriot Act and unwittingly became an icon to millions of American war heroes and their loved ones.

Monday was playing center field for the Chicago Cubs on April 25, 1976, at Dodger Stadium when he noticed two protesters kneeling on the grass in left-center, intending to burn the American flag. He immediately bolted toward them and snatched it away.


I would venture to say that if a similar incident took place today the attempted flag burners would sue, claiming a violation of their constitutional rights.


"I was angry when I saw them start to do something to the flag, and I'm glad that I happened to be geographically close enough to do something about it," said Monday, now in his 13th season as a Dodgers broadcaster.

"What those people were doing, and their concept of what they were trying to do was wrong. That feeling was very strongly reinforced by six years in the United States Marine Corps Reserves. I still think it's wrong to do that."


In 1976 we were only a few short years removed from Vietnam. You think anti-Americanism is prevalent today? Most people would have responded with pride to being called “unpatriotic.” Thankfully, Rick Monday was not "most people."


"I know the people were very pleased to see Monday take the flag away from those guys," recalled Manny Mota, Monday's teammate that season and now a Dodgers coach. "I know Rick has done a lot of good things as a player and as a person. But what he did for his country, he will be remembered for the rest of his life as an American hero."


Now if we could just convince Monday to attend some of these pro-illegal immigration rallies.

Worthy of an Oscar?

I’m just finishing up lunch so I thought I would make a quick post.

I had trouble sleeping last night so I decided to flip on the TV to see if there was anything on that might sedate me. That's when I came across the 1993 movie “The Firm”, starring Tom Cruise, on Bravo.

It was near the beginning of the movie when Cruise’s character is hired at a prestigious law firm in Memphis, TN. He exclaims to his wife something like “Did you ever believe in your wildest dreams I’d be making $96,000 a year??!!!”

My immediate reaction was to wonder how many takes it required for Cruise to utter that line conveying such excitement. I mean, come on. $96,000 a year?

I bet he spent at least that amount on his banquet honoring his promotion to Operating Thetan Level 7 in the church of Scientology.

Love the sinner, hate the sin.

This morning at our home church, Emmanuel Christian Center, we had a guest speaker in the person of Dr. Gordon Anderson, president of North Central University in Minneapolis.

Dr. Anderson had a powerful message, talking about the Christian faith and how it has become more and more unpopular with each passing day. He even alluded to an incident that took place this past Monday at the North Central campus. An activist group called “Soulforce Equality Riders” paid a visit to the school.


The 33 activists, who are traveling by bus to 19 U.S. colleges with religion-based policies opposed to homosexuality, were locked out of school buildings when they arrived at North Central, which is owned by the Assemblies of God.

They responded by sitting in front of the doors for most of the afternoon. "There was no open mind or heart for us there," said Haven Herrin, 23, of Dallas. "A few students spoke to us, but it was sad to me that most didn't seem to question why we were locked out."

For rider David Coleman, 23, of Delano, the North Central stop was especially resonant. Last year, he was asked to leave the college when he revealed that he was gay.

"I'm afraid that North Central is at the very beginning of the process for thinking through change," he said.

Jacob Reitan, 24, of Eden Prairie, who organized the tour, said the colleges they are visiting "equate homosexuality with sickness and sin. It's time to have a conversation instead of defaming our humanity."


The Christian bible clearly condemns the homosexuality, calling it sin. Mind you, our Heavenly Father still loves us and claims us as His. But He abhors our sin.

So why is it whenever a certain person or entity (in this case, North Central U) upholds biblical truths or takes a moral stance, they’re supposedly “defaming humanity?”

The first amendment of the US Constitution contains the following:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

It appears to me that Soulforce is not only attempting to coerce these 19 colleges into denying what’s in God’s Word but also to surrender their Constitutional rights.

Only the wealthy find April 15 truly "taxing".

Look for those politically left of center (koff koff liberals koff) to demagogue these latest findings:


The number of very rich people in the US grew last year at the fastest pace in at least a decade as their moves into international stockmarkets, real estate and alternative investments paid off.

The number of households with $5 million or more in investable assets – excluding the family home – rose by 26 per cent to a record 930,000, according to a study by Spectrem Group. That is the biggest jump since Spectrem began its survey in 1996. The number of millionaires rose by 11 per cent, to a record 8.3 million – the second biggest jump in the decade since they were surveyed.


With tax day recently having come and gone, you had the obligatory protestors decrying the current tax system by claiming the rich don’t pay their “fair share”.

However, the latest IRS statistics on record concern the 2003 tax year. Those findings conclude that the top 50% of wealthiest Americans paid over 96.5% of all income taxes!! That tells me that we are getting ever closer to that “point of no return” when it comes to tax reform. If the current trend continues, it will get to the point where more than 50% of Americans pay ZERO income taxes. Once that happens, no politician will be able to run on the “tax reform” agenda. How will anyone get elected if the platform they run on is to overhaul a system where more than half of the country benefits already?

It would behoove the “super rich” to continue strong growth of their investments.

They’ll need to just to pay their exorbitant tax bill.

Sports on Easter.

You can’t go wrong with Church on Easter Sunday:


Ryan Church hit a pair of two-run homers, including a tiebreaking drive in a three-run ninth inning Sunday that led the Washington Nationals over the Florida Marlins 7-5.


In other sports news on the day celebrating Christ’s resurrection:

MATTHEW Brian Meadows (Tampa Bay Devil Rays, MLB) picked up his first victory of the season in Tampa’s 9-5 triumph over the Kansas City Royals.

MARK Bell (Chicago Blackhawks, NHL) scored a goal in his team’s 4-3 win over Columbus.

LUKE Ridnour (Seattle Super Sonics, NBA) scored 17 points in helping his club to a 114-98 win over the L.A. Clippers.

JOHN Lackey (L.A. Angels, MLB) pitched eight strong innings in the Angels’ 9-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

Junk Bonds.

As it turns out, Hank Aaron’s all-time home run record may be safe.


A federal grand jury is considering whether to indict San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds for perjury because of testimony he gave to another grand jury 16 months ago, CNN has learned.

Bonds told the first grand jury in 2003 that he was clean. The new panel has been hearing testimony for a month about whether the baseball superstar lied about his steroid use during the hearing, several sources said.

"This is extremely bad news for Barry Bonds," said CNN senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin, "because a federal prosecutor doesn't start looking into perjury unless he has a pretty good idea he's going to find perjury at the end of the day."


I have always admired the talent of Bonds. Ever since he won his first National League MVP award in 1990 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, I realized he was something special. He was the catalyst behind the Pirates winning three straight NL East division titles from 1990 thru 1992. In his debut season with the Giants in 1993, he collected his third MVP award in four years. As of this post, he is only 48 home runs away from surpassing Aaron for most career home runs.

However, Bonds has never been the most popular amongst fans, media and even some teammates (koff koff Jeff Kent koff). His cockiness was preceded only by his “kiss my butt” demeanor when dealing with all the adulation he constantly received. He gave the impression that he just wanted to be the best on the field and left alone off of it.

Then came 1998.

Mark McGwire (St Louis Cardinals) and Sammy Sosa (Chicago Cubs) were engaged in a hot pursuit to determine who would be the first to break Roger Maris’ single season home run record of 61. McGwire wound up hitting 70 and Sosa clubbed 66. Bonds had a nice season with 37 home runs and 122 RBI. But those numbers were paltry by comparison in ‘98. And with his Giants not even on the radar screen as a playoff contender, Bonds was persona non grata.

This is the period where Bonds was alleged to have begun steroid use. There is no doubt that he wanted to be the most prolific power hitter the game has ever seen. Steroids may have been the way to give him that competitive advantage. In 2001, just three seasons after McGwire hit a seemingly insurmountable 70 homers, Bonds topped it with 73. Yes, he was back on the front page. And he didn’t seem to shun all of the accolades like he once did. One of the theories bandied about was that he really did like the attention he received. He just didn’t realize such feelings until he no longer had people fawning all over him. Could it have been out of sheer envy that Bonds decided to indulge in such performance enhancers?

The sad fact here was that Barry Bonds already had hall of fame numbers through 1998. With 411 home runs and multiple MVP awards, his stellar accomplishments were unquestioned.

But allegations of steroid use, and his potential lying about it, could deny Bonds the Hall of Fame enshrinement he seemingly had in his grasp.

--------------------------------------------------------

"Burn"about is fair play.

The burning of the American flag (all while citing 1st amendment rights) has been ever the trendy protest in proclaiming opposition to policies of the United States government.

My thought has always been that it is incredibly hypocritical (as well as stupid) for anyone to burn the very symbol of the land which affords you such free demonstration. Needless to say, it is not my protest of choice.

The most prevalent story over the past few weeks has been the attempt to reform immigration, with a heavy emphasis on Mexicans illegally crossing the borders into the U.S. As the matter has been discussed amongst members of Congress, mass protests by Mexican immigrants (legal and illegal) have occurred throughout major U.S. cities. Part of the activities taking place has been the seemingly proud raising of Mexico’s flag while at the same time burning America’s.

That has to be the most convoluted message ever sent out. Some Mexicans risk life and limb to get into this country because it affords them a much better way to make a living. Yet they burn our flag in protest of our laws but hail the flag of the country they are fleeing.

I always wondered what would happen if fed up Americans burned the Mexican flag in protest.

Well…..


Dozens of protestors and counter protestors showed up in front of Tucson, Arizona's Mexican Consulate as a Mexican flag was burned in a heated debate that saw tempers flare.

Border Guardians, a group formed along the Arizona border to speak out against the estimated thousands of illegal immigrants that enter the U.S. every day through the Tucson sector, led the protest.

"Flags are symbols of government, not of people," shouted Roy Warden, as a member of his group, Border Guardians, set fire to the Mexican Flag.

One woman speaking out against the Border Guardians yelled, “This is not a gesture of humanity, this is a gesture that provokes.”


Oh, but if we take exception to the burning of our flag in our country by people who are here illegally, we’re intolerant, oppressive, racist, etc.


The demonstration began before the flag burning as protestors verbally sparred with ACLU members showed up to observe the event.

One man stomped, and danced on the Mexican flag. He also taunted the empty, Mexican Consulate to express the group's view:

"(This protest) is against the Mexican government and the Mexicans that are illegally present in the United States right now," says Laine Lawless, Director of Border Guardians, “I want the American people to know that we're going to stand up for them."


Again, the key word: ILLEGALLY!!! There has never been any exception taken to those Mexicans who have gone through the proper channels to become naturalized citizens.


A half-dozen observers from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also showed up. Caroly Trowbidge, an ACLU spokesperson, said, “We are here to make sure that everybody's first amendment rights are respected."


Just so long as nobody was there that day to recognize Palm Sunday.

But I digress.


“I’m picking more on (Mexico’s) government than anything else, because their government promotes their illegal status here," said Lawless.


“Border Guardians” have said they will continue to burn Mexican flags at future protests.

I know I’m going to keep a watchful eye on these events!

Who in his "right" mind would take such a hard "left" turn?

I was thumbing through the latest edition of “People” magazine when I came to a blurb about Katie Couric. It has been well publicized that Couric, after 15 years co-hosting NBC’s “Today” show, will become the new anchor for the “CBS Evening News.”

One of the pictures in said article was of Katie and her alleged new beau, a guy by the name of Jimmy Reyes. Yes, the same Jimmy Reyes who last year at this time was engaged to be married to….

...Laura Ingraham!

Wow, talk about a stark contrast (politically speaking) in women!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not looking to turn this into a gossip column.

I just thought it was interesting, that’s all.

Tom "Obi Wan" DeLay.

We all remember the movie “Star Wars” and the climactic light saber duel between Darth Vader and Obi Wan Kenobi. Vader tells his nemesis “Your powers are weak, old man.” Obi Wan replies “You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.”

Moments later, Obi Wan supposedly surrenders and thus allows himself to be slain by Darth Vader. As the movie concludes, we realize his alleged demise was all part of a greater plan. While Obi Wan is no longer present physically he communicates with Luke Skywaker in sort of a “behind-the-scenes” fashion. It is that “omnipresence” that assists Luke in destroying the evil empire’s dreaded “Death Star.”

For over a year now we have heard ad nauseam the alleged ethical problems facing former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX). Instead of coming up with an actual agenda, Congressional Democrats have waged a tireless campaign to smear DeLay and have him removed as majority leader. The Democrats were essentially telling DeLay that his powers were weak.

A while back, House Republicans instituted a rule that if their leader is indicted, that leader (in this case, DeLay) would step down immediately. The Democrats did not need proof of an actual crime (since there wasn’t any crime to begin with), they merely needed an indictment. Enter Ronnie Earle, king of fraudulent indictments. DeLay was indicted last year and, as a result, stepped down as majority leader. Then earlier this week, he announced he would not seek re-election in November. It appeared a move of surrender, much like it did with Obi Wan Kenobi.

However, also in the motif of Obi Wan, DeLay actually left on his own terms. It may not have appeared that way to his detractors. But in an interview done yesterday on “The Rush Limbaugh show”, DeLay said he could actually be more effective in other areas.


"I think I could have won (re-election in November), but it struck me that I can fight in another arena and still hold the seat for the Republicans. Now I feel totally liberated. I'm going to be out there talking about the conservative agenda. I'm going to be working very hard to get rid of the federal tax code and replace it with the FairTax. I want to continue my effort to hold the judiciary accountable. There's just a lot of great things I could be speaking out about, and I could not do that. I'm going to work very hard to elect Republicans to carry the conservative cause."


As Luke Skywalker was maneuvering against time to destroy the Death Star, he heard Obi Wan’s voice saying “Use the force, Luke.”

I can absolutely imagine the sound of DeLay’s voice in the head of new majority leader John Boehner (R-OH).

“Abolish the IRS, John”

Without Frese, Gophers are left in "Deep Freeze."

While her old program seems to be imploding, her current team just won the women’s NCAA basketball championship.

In just her fourth season as head coach at the University of Maryland, Brenda Frese guided her squad to a 78-75 overtime victory over Duke in last evening’s title game.

Frese took over a moribund University of Minnesota women’s program in 2001-02 when she was known as Brenda Oldfield. After one successful season with the Lady Gophers, Frese caught the attention of the entire women’s college basketball world. She took a program which couldn’t fill a 5,800-seat gym to a 22-victory season and a second round appearance in the NCAA tournament. With that kind of resurrection not seen since the days of Lazarus, Frese was lured away to Maryland in hopes she could work that same kind of magic.

It’s interesting to see the stark contrast in the two programs. The Lady Gophers have gone from a Final Four appearance two seasons ago, under Frese’s replacement Pam Borton, to a team who lost 6 of their last 8 games this year and then had to endure four players exiting the program within the past two weeks.

Meanwhile, the Lady Terps have gone from a 10-18 record in 2002-03 to winning it all three years later.

Yes, Frese once again has pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat.

Unfortunately for her old program, they’re left with the bunny droppings.

Separated at Birth: Cynthia McKinney and Scary Spice.

Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), who recently went “Zsa Zsa Gabor” on some Capitol Hill police officer.

Scary Spice (a/k/a Melanie Brown) of the defunct girl band “Spice Girls”.

Favre out of favor?

Will he or won’t he?

The question is quickly becoming “Who cares anymore?”

By continually being granted more time to decide whether or not he’ll play in 2006, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre is giving the appearance of staging a publicity stunt. The future hall of fame QB has reiterated that he still has the desire to play – provided the Packers front office makes enough moves to field a playoff-caliber team.

So what exactly has the Packers organization done to entice Favre to come back?

They’ve added non-descript wide receiver Marc Boerigter via free agency and re-signed WR Rod Gardner as well as running backs William Henderson and Najeh Davenport. They also get back RB Ahman Green, injured most of last season.

On the down side, the Packers lost kicker Ryan Longwell, offensive lineman Mike Flanagan and WR Antonio Chatman to free agency. Worse yet, WR Javon Walker has expressed no interest in playing for the Packers again, potentially leaving Green Bay without a significant downfield threat.

Now, tell me how all of that is going to propel a team that finished 4-12 last season to a playoff berth in 2006. I don’t see it.

It would be an absolute public relations disaster for the Packers front office to just come right out and say “We wish to move in a new direction” and simply let the iconic Favre go. However, GM Ted Thompson and company seem to be making clear that very sentiment. Given the fact that the Packers have had a substantial amount of money under the salary cap and have spent very little to actually upgrade the roster, what does that say? Thompson definitely does not want to be the bad guy here. Therefore, it appears he’s hoping the organization’s non-activity this offseason will force Favre’s hand. The 36-year old Favre has made it perfectly clear he does not want to go through another miserable season like the one he endured in 2005.

What it all boils down to is Favre merely looking for a little love. He dangles out the possibility of retirement in hopes the Packers organization falls all over themselves begging him to return for another year. Obviously, that hasn’t happened.

A word to the wise, Brett: Retire!

In the 14 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, you’ve resurrected a moribund franchise into a perennial contender, including a victory in Super Bowl XXXI. You’re a lock for the Hall of Fame. And given the town of Green Bay has already named a street after since-departed coach Mike Holmgren, what do you think they’ll do to honor you (How does “Favre Township, Wisconsin” sound)?

You want love, Brett? Go ahead and retire with your legacy intact.

I guarantee the state of Wisconsin will shower you with all of the warm fuzzies you seemingly desire.