Washington stays with Patriots

February 29, 2008 — Rick

This is a good move. Kelley Washington is a good receiver and great special teams player who easily could have gotten a good contract with another team. I am glad to see him staying in New England.

Pats re-sign WR Washington

The The New England Patriots entered the first minutes of free agency with four potential free agents at wide receiver, but reached a deal to keep one of them.

Kelley Washington, who had an option the Patriots weren’t going to pay, reached an agreement to stay with the Patriots. Terms of the deal — including the length of the contract — were not available.

While Washington is returning, the Patriots still have yet to offer deals to unrestricted free agent receivers Randy Moss and Jabar Gaffney. The Patriots also didn’t put up an option in Donte’ Stallworth’s contract that allows him to reach free agency.

Posted in Kelley Washington, National Football League, New England Patriots. No Comments »

Bruschi playing (at least) one more season

February 29, 2008 — Rick

I can keep wearing my #54 jersey next season…

The Patriot of Patriots, Mr. Tedy Bruschi, signed a one-year deal on Thursday, the day before the free agency period begins. Tedy has been my favorite player for some time and, beyond being a terrific player, is one of the best role models in pro sports. The man not only gives back to the community and is a devoted father, but has persevered through a stroke and a hole in his heart to continue playing.

Tedy may have lost a step, but his instincts and experience more than make up for it. In 2007 Tedy led the team in tackles and is the heart of the Patriots’ defense. Tedy will no doubt be a tremendous mentor to any new talent brought in to the linebacking corps this off-season.

Patriots, LB Bruschi agree to deal

BOSTON (Ticker) - Linebacker Tedy Bruschi is coming back for one more season.

Bruschi and the New England Patriots on Thursday agreed to terms on a new contract, according to a report on the web site of the Boston Globe.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal will bring back Bruschi for his 13th season with the Patriots.

The 34-year-old Bruschi has been a part of three Super Bowl championship teams with New England.

Bruschi suffered a stroke shortly after the Super Bowl in 2004 but made a miraculous return midway through the following season.

The Patriots’ bid for a fourth Super Bowl title in seven seasons ended with a stunning 17-14 loss to the New York Giants on February 3.

Voted the team’s defensive captain prior to the season, Bruschi started all 16 regular-season games and all three postseason contests. He led the Patriots in tackles (99) and solo tackles (69) during the regular season.

The 6-1, 247-pound Bruschi was a third-round pick in 1996 out of Arizona.

Posted in National Football League, New England Patriots, Tedy Bruschi. No Comments »

Comcast Sucks

February 27, 2008 — Rick

So I got this interesting e-mail today from savetheinternet.com in regard to open hearings on the Net Neutrality Act. Apparently, Comcast not only doesn’t believe in a free internet, but thinks free debate is overrated as well, as they paid people with no interest in the proceedings to show up 90 minutes early to “save” seats, thus leaving protesters with no room to sit when they arrived. The protesters were then promptly removed from the area.

This is exactly the kind of corporate, anti-democratic, anti-free speech crap that is ruining our nation. Comcast lied and said that the paid seat-holders only sat until Comcast employees arrived. But if that was the case, why not just send the employees in 90 minutes early? And why did no employees arrive to take those seats? Does anyone really believe this load of crap excuse?

Comcast executives should be ashamed of themselves. But on the bright side, Comcast claims its first “Moron of the Moment” Award.

Check out the video, then the article.

Allegations Fly in FCC Hearing Aftermath
From Associated Press, February 26, 2008
By Mark Jewell

The organizer of a federal hearing at Harvard Law School on Comcast Corp.’s treatment of subscriber Internet traffic on Wednesday said “seat-warmers” apparently hired by the company prevented other attendees from getting in.

Comcast has acknowledged that it hired an unspecified number of people to fill seats, but said the seat-warmers gave up their spots when Boston area Comcast employees who were advised about the hearing arrived.

But Catherine Bracy, the administrative manager at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, said most of the three dozen seat-warmers who arrived hours before the Federal Communications Commission hearing’s start on Monday remained during the event’s opening hours, as many other members of the public were turned away.

Bracy said she saw a couple of the hired people dozing in the front row during opening remarks.

“I think it’s disingenuous to say they were holding spots for Comcast employees,” Bracy told The Associated Press, a day after advocacy groups that filed an FCC complaint over Comcast’s network management accused the firm of trying to stifle debate at the hearing.

Bracy said when she arrived at 7:15 a.m. as doors opened for the 11 a.m. hearing, none of the 35 to 40 people waiting to get in appeared to know what the hearing’s subject matter would be.

“No employees came in to take those seats when the event started,” Bracy said.

Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said it hired seat-holders only after an advocacy group called Free Press urged its backers to attend.

“For the past week, the Free Press has engaged in a much more extensive campaign to lobby people to attend the hearing on its behalf,” Philadelphia-based Comcast said in a statement.

Fitzmaurice declined to comment further Wednesday in response to Bracy’s statements.

The event featured hearty applause — some in response to comments from a Comcast executive who testified before the FCC’s five commissioners, and some in response to Comcast critics’ testimony.

The practice of hiring people to fill seats in advance of public hearings isn’t unknown in Congress and other forums, but Comcast critics said this case was unique.

“First, Comcast was caught blocking the Internet. Now it has been caught blocking the public from the debate,” said Timothy Karr, director of an advocacy campaign backed by a coalition including Free Press. “The only people cheering Comcast are those paid to do so.”

FCC spokesman Robert Kenny declined to comment.

The hearing came in response to complaints before the FCC that Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company, hampered file-sharing traffic on its cable-modem service. The company has repeatedly said that its traffic management practices are necessary to keep other Internet traffic, like Web content, flowing smoothly.

During the hearing, FCC commissioners signaled that they were looking for greater openness from Internet providers about their traffic management practices, and were ready to step in to enforce the agency’s “open Internet” policies.

In addition to serving as the event host, Harvard’s Berkman Center has another tie to the controversy. A codirector at the center, Charles Nesson, is among the parties that signed a petition along with Free Press asking the FCC to find that such practices violate agency policies.

Posted in Comcast, Free Speech, Moron of the Moment, Net Neutrality, Save The Internet. No Comments »

Patriots release Colvin, Lua; Faulk cited for pot

February 27, 2008 — Rick

It’s no surprise that linebacker Rosevelt Colvin was released by the Patriots on Tuesday. Colvin was due a roster bonus, and had spent a significant part of his five year tenure with the team injured, including both a broken hip and a foot injury. A bit more surprising is that the versatile Kevin Faulk, who has been a tremendous asset to the team throughout their Super Bowl runs, was cited for marijuana possession, becoming the second Patriot to be caught with marijuana since the Super Bowl. Yeah, as if the team hasn’t had enough trouble lately.

Patriots release LB Colvin

FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts (Ticker)—The New England Patriots on Tuesday released oft-injured linebacker Roosevelt Colvin.

Colvin, 30, spent the past five seasons with the Patriots after being signed as a free agent in 2003.

This past season, Colvin played in the first 11 games and totaled 28 tackles, four sacks and an interception before being placed on the injured reserve on November 27 with a foot injury.

The 6-3, 250-pounder, who began his career with the Chicago Bears, suffered a fractured right hip early after his second regular-season game with the Patriots. It took Colvin a year to recover and he never returned to his original form, but did lead the Patriots with seven sacks in 2005 and 8 1/2 in 2006.

In total, Colvin has played in 117 career games over nine seasons with the Bears and Patriots, recording 414 tackles, 52 1/2 sacks and three interceptions.

Also on Tuesday, the Patriots released linebacker Oscar Lua, who spent last season on injured reserve.

Patriots running back Kevin Faulk allegedly found with pot

LAFAYETTE, La. (AP)—New England Patriots running back Kevin Faulk was issued a misdemeanor summons last Friday for possession of marijuana.

Capt. John Babin of the Lafayette Metro Narcotics Task Force confirmed the summons on Tuesday.

Faulk, a Louisiana native and former LSU star, was on his way to a suite in the Lafayette Cajundome to watch a performance by rapper Lil Wayne, when a routine search by a sheriff’s deputy turned up four marijuana cigarettes, Babin said.

Everyone heading to the suites was searched, Babin said.

Faulk was not arrested or required to post bond.

“He was cited for simple possession, which is a misdemeanor,” Babin said. “It’s based on an amount possessed for personal use.”

Faulk will be sent a letter notifying him of the court date when it is set.

“There was no trouble, Kevin was very cooperative,” Babin said.

“We are aware of the report, but I don’t have any additional comment at this time,” Patriots spokesman Stacey James said.

Faulk, a captain last season for the first time in his nine years with the Patriots, had 47 catches for 383 yards and one touchdown, the winner in a come-from-behind 24-20 victory over Indianapolis on Nov. 4. He’s the team’s all-time leader in receptions by a running back with 323.

Faulk also had 62 rushes for 265 yards in the Patriots 18-1 season, which ended with a 17-14 loss in the Super Bowl to the New York Giants.

He made big plays in two of the Patriots’ Super Bowl wins. His 2-point conversion reception gave the Patriots a 29-22 lead in their 32-29 Super Bowl win over Carolina in the 2003 season. The next year, he made a 12-yard catch to Philadelphia’s 2-yard line that set up the Patriots’ third touchdown in a 24-21 Super Bowl win.

The 5-foot-8 Faulk ended his college career as the leading rusher in LSU history with 4,557 yards.

On Feb. 5, one of Faulk’s teammates, defensive back Willie Andrews, pleaded not guilty to a marijuana possession charge in Lawrence, Mass., after police said they found him with a half-pound of marijuana. Andrews, who just completed his second year with the team, is free on his own recognizance. A pretrial conference in his case is set for March 18.

Posted in Kevin Faulk, National Football League, New England Patriots, Rosevelt Colvin. No Comments »

Marine Corps seeks answers on MRAPs

February 26, 2008 — Rick

Funny how it takes a civilian employee of the Marine Corps to become a whistle-blower before there is any outcry about the ridiculous and unethical business practices of our military that have led directly to the casualties of American troops.

I have all the admiration in the world for the grunts on the ground… the men and women putting their lives on the line on a daily basis. It is a mixed admiration, since these troops are not fighting to keep me, or any other American, free. Instead, they fight to serve a Master obsessed with empire building and domination of natural resources. But they do their jobs, and rarely complain despite working in some of the worst conditions in the world. Worse, the military brass seems locked into an incestual relationship with politicians and defense contractors, leading to decisions like the one described in this case… where a perfectly acceptable piece of equipment was ignored by the military because it wasn’t produced by our own military industrial complex. Although not mentioned in this article, there was a South African product already available that would have provided immediate safety to our troops, even if only as a temporary measure until another product was developed.

Marines want probe of armored vehicle delay
Pentagon inspector general asked to see if wait led to Iraq casualties

(AP) WASHINGTON - The Marine Corps has asked the Pentagon’s inspector general to examine allegations that a nearly two-year delay in the fielding of blast-resistant vehicles led to hundreds of combat casualties in Iraq.

The system for rapidly shipping needed gear to troops on the front lines has been examined by auditors before and continues to improve, Col. David Lapan, a Marine Corps spokesman, said Monday night. Due to the seriousness of the allegations, however, “the Marine Corps has taken the additional step” of requesting the IG investigation, Lapan said in an e-mailed statement.

In a Jan. 22 internal report, Franz Gayl, a civilian Marine Corps official, accused the service of “gross mismanagement” that delayed deliveries of the mine-resistant, ambush-protected trucks.

Gayl’s study, which reflected his own views, said cost was a driving factor in the decision to turn down a February 2005 “urgent” request from battlefield commanders for the so-called MRAPs.

Stateside authorities saw the hulking vehicles, which weigh up to 40 tons and can cost as much as $1 million each, as a financial threat to programs aimed at developing lighter vehicles that were years from being fielded, charged Gayl, who prepared the study for the Marine Corps’ plans, policies and operations department.

Full story here…

Posted in Corruption, Iraq, U.S. Military, United States Marine Corps. No Comments »

More hate-baiting from the Clinton camp

February 25, 2008 — Rick

Wow, is this getting old…

Here’s the Clinton strategy… circulate a photo depicting Barack Obama in dress that would scare those Americans fearful of any ethnic, religious or racial differences… circulate the photos with plausible deniability that you had done so, and then shame the Obama camp for being outraged over it.

Just another day in the life of a Clinton staffer.

*sigh* When is that convention?

Posted in 2008 Presidential Race, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton. No Comments »

Nader Running Again

February 24, 2008 — Rick

I am all for third-parties and third party candidates, but I have to wonder aloud if Ralph Nader is an egotist or has simply lost his sanity. Once again, the man is running for president.

While I have stopped short to date in offering any endorsement to Barack Obama, the fact of the matter is that I am far more inclined to support Obama than any other candidate. At this point, I will not even consider supporting Hilary Clinton for president.

I don’t think that Obama’s politics are inherently progressive. But Obama offers a potential for collaboration that we have not seen since the early days of Bill Clinton. But Obama is far less divisive a figure and a lot more inclined to keep his pants zipped up.

That’s why I really don’t understand what Nader is thinking. Yes, we need to break the corporate grip on America… on that we agree. But I don’t believe that this nation can afford four (or eight) more years of Republican rule. As much as corporate corruption is a critical issue in our nation, so is the loss of life in the Middle East and the loss of American honor and prestige in the world. As is the idea that people will be in power who wish to impose their own religious values on the rest of us. We need someone who can serve as a healer… someone to begin repairing the damage done by eight years of Chancellor Bush. Ralph Nader is not that man, and not a realistic presidential candidate.

Nader’s decision means that a repeat of 2000 is now entirely possible, if the vote between McCain and Obama should be tight And there is no reason to think that it won’t be. The election picture just got far darker for 2008, and one can only hope that Huckabee or some other right-winger launches an independent bid as well.

Posted in 2008 Presidential Race, Ralph Nader. No Comments »

McCain as Grim Reaper

February 24, 2008 — Rick

I think that the only saving grace of John McCain being the Republican nominee for President is that his penchant for sticking his feet into his very large mouth will likely result in many “Moron of the Moment” opportunities over the next nine months. God help us if this jackass actually becomes President.

In the spirit of “Bomb, Bomb, Bomb…Bomb, Bomb, Iran” and “let’s stay in Iraq for the next hundred years,” McCain now shows us what he moonlights as… Death. This asshat actually wished that Fidel Castro meets a speedy death now that he has resigned as Cuba’s leader. “I hope he has the opportunity to meet Karl Marx very soon,” McCain told a town-hall style meeting of about 150 people. Never miss a chance to curry favor with the idiots among us, eh John?

Frankly, every President since Cuba’s revolution has been dead wrong on Castro and Cuba. This has far less to do with the government of Fidel Castro than it does the desire of politicians to kiss voter’s asses in south Florida. And the hysterical thing about it, as depicted in the cartoon below, is that the Cuban ex-dictator has to be laughing his ass off at the United States, and that is what really burns McCain. Castro’s reign spanned ten U.S. Presidents and demonstrated that the United States was completely incapable of acting like a mature neighbor.

Barack Obama is right in stating that we have to engage with our enemies as well as with our friends. And so it should have been with Cuba for all of these years. Funny how we could find it in our own interests to constructively engage with Apartheid in South Africa… hell we were able to constantly engage with the Soviet Union and even sat at the table with North Korea, but could manage to ignore a nation only ninety miles from our shores. The answer? Two-fold… money and pissed off voters. South Africa was worth engaging in because they were far more profitable to do business with than Cuba, and we didn’t have thousands of exiled South Africans living in Florida.

But I can’t help imagine what life would have been like if Bush Sr., Clinton or any of the presidents in the past twenty-five years had acted like a mature adult and engaged the Cuban leader. My guess is that by now we would have normalized relations, trade and open tourism with our Caribbean neighbor. The Cuban people are good, industrious people… their leadership has been a mixed bag. In some ways Cuba is prosperous and in others they it is more akin to a third world nation. And we have passed up the opportunity on countless occasions to be a good neighbor and contribute to the development of this nation (and thus win friends) because politicians don’t want to disenfranchise Cuban American voters.

What I would love to see, just once, is a politician stand up for what is right (and actually be right, Dubya) and explain thoughtfully to Americans why it is that we need to change our mindset. Al Gore has been able to largely do this with respect to the environment but he was robbed of the presidency, but he is the closest example I can find. Dubya thinks he is right on everything, but of course fails any test of being able to produce credible evidence or convince even a large minority of Americans that he is right.

Maybe that explains McCain. He has watched a nutjob like Bush rule for the past eight years and call us all idiots without any accountability whatsoever. I guess he thinks that it is his turn now.

Thus, John reclaims his rightful place as a Moron of the Moment recipient. And I’d bet anything that it won’t be for the last time.

Oh, and John… if I were you I’d be real careful about wishing death on someone else… Karma is a real bitch.

Posted in 2008 Presidential Race, Cuba, Fidel Castro, John McCain, Moron of the Moment, Mr. Fish. No Comments »

NFL Salary Cap Projections

February 20, 2008 — Rick

This is from profootballtalk.com, and interesting for anyone following the off-season moves being made.

CURRENT 2008 CAP NUMBERS

PROJECTED PER-TEAM CAP: $116,000,000

Arizona Cardinals
$109,500,000

Atlanta Falcons
$111,900,000

Baltimore Ravens
$109,800,000

Buffalo Bills
$89,100,000

Carolina Panthers
$120,900,000

Chicago Bears
$96,000,000

Cincinnati Bengals
$92,000,000

Cleveland Browns
$99,400,000

Dallas Cowboys
$103,300,000

Denver Broncos
$104,800,000

Detroit Lions
$98,100,000

Green Bay Packers
$100,900,000

Houston Texans
$96,400,000

Indianapolis Colts
$125,800,000

Jacksonville Jaguars
$89,100,000

Kansas City Chiefs
$106,200,000

Miami Dolphins
$85,000,000

Minnesota Vikings
$101,200,000

New England Patriots
$112,900,000

New Orleans Saints
$89,300,000

New York Giants
$95,100,000

New York Jets
$98,800,000

Oakland Raiders
$95,700,000

Philadelphia Eagles
$104,000,000

Pittsburgh Steelers
$99,300,000

San Diego Chargers
$94,600,000

San Francisco 49ers
$86,700,000

Seattle Seahawks
$103,100,000

St. Louis Rams
$112,600,000

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
$97,200,000

Tennessee Titans
$79,400,000

Washington Redskins
$123,500,000

Posted in National Football League, New England Patriots, Salary Cap. No Comments »

Dear Hillary…

February 18, 2008 — Rick

Dear Hillary,

Enough is enough.

In what could only be described as a bitter and desperate attempt on your part to win the Democratic nomination at any cost, you risk doing harm to any candidate that would stand against the corruption of the Republican party. You have already damaged your own credibility and alienated many potential voters; will you not rest until you have destroyed any chance of defeating John McCain?

Both you and President Clinton seem angry. Angry at the media and angry at the voters, perhaps because you have been denied of what you perceive is your entitlement to a coronation. How dare the people not vote for you! How dare the media challenge you and pay any attention to the upstart Senator from Illinois! How dare any of us deny you something that you believe is your birthright!

Let me offer the perspective of someone who supported your husband during his two terms in office. I supported his politics, even though now I have become far more progressive and would not hold the same views today. I supported him through his inability to keep his pants zipped up and his subsequent lying about it. I separated the man and his faults from his politics, because I feel they deserved to be separated. But there were plenty of times during his presidency where I found myself weary, praying President Clinton would resign, not because of the actions of the vast right-wing conspiracy, but because of the actions that he committed that fueled that conspiracy. In retrospect, his resignation might have been enough to boost Al Gore and avoid the disaster of Chancellor Bush, but that is pointless speculation.

So now you come along with great fanfare and beginning the campaign as the presumptive nominee. The only trouble was, Senator Obama didn’t get the memo that you were the chosen one. He has chosen to campaign on the moral high road, not perfectly, but far more consistently than your own campaign. He has an ability to connect with people and ideas in a way that is far more inspiring than yours, and that just really frosts you, doesn’t it? In response, you have attacked Senator Obama on a personal level and your husband, of all people, has engaged in angry and arrogant race-baiting during the conduct of this campaign. Both you and your husband have taken Senator Obama’s comments out of context at times in order to torpedo his candidacy.

Even more, rather than respect the wishes of the party and your own previously stated position, you now argue for the delegates in Florida and Michigan not because it is right, but because it serves as a means to an end - your end - even if it is unethical. You now accuse Senator Obama with plagiarism for remarks he has made that he clearly acknowledges were the words of his friend Governor Patrick of Massachusetts. Ironically, both Obama and Patrick discussed using each other’s language in a Boston Globe article last April and at times Obama has cited Patrick by name. But that didn’t stop your campaign from trying to capitalize on a nothing issue. And recently you added that you would take your fight to the convention even if you were behind, no doubt counting on the party elite super-delegates to do your bidding.

Well as I said, enough is enough.

Call it suffering from “Clinton fatigue,” but I can’t take any more of this. Your politics are not progressive; you began as First Lady as a maverick with a mission, but the woman who has replaced her is bought and paid for by special interests, most notably health insurance companies. You have steadily voted to fund the Iraq War and have failed to demand any accountability from this administration. You were even so ignorant as to empower the current president to take action against Iran. What the hell is wrong with you, Madam Senator? You have been missing in action, Senator Clinton, and I have no reason to believe that you will fare any better as president.

Your campaign is verging on being in the gutter and President Clinton’s conduct during the campaign has been reprehensible. I can only pray that Senator Obama continues to do what he is doing, continues to stay positive, and continues to win states and delegates. The sooner you fall behind in this race, the better it is for all people who believe that the “conservative agenda” is a poison that will kill America.

Yet it is still very possible that you will win this nomination, either because you are able to regain momentum or because enough super-delegates kiss your precious read end. But let me make clear, Senator Clinton, that you have cost yourself any possibility of securing my vote in the general election. I would rather stay home, or vote for a third party candidate, than to subject this nation to eight years of your sliding ethics and polarizing nature. Attack away at Senator Obama if you must, but with me your fate is sealed.

I am not arguing that Senator Obama is my choice for president… he has yet to earn that, and I question whether or not his politics are progressive enough for my tastes. But in looking at Democratic candidates that have the potential to be progressive and to bring people together and end the politics of division, if that can be done, Senator Obama is clearly a better choice than you. If he can muster the courage to be both bold and a consensus builder, he will make an excellent president.

And that will save all of us for another polarizing presidency.

Posted in 2008 Presidential Race, Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton. No Comments »
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