It's a shame that this year isn't anything like last year.

Last year the Super Bowl wasn't drowned out by egos, and people actually focused on the game.  Now we hear even the most stupid questions being asked about guys who will probably make little to no impact in the game itself.  Hence, that's what I'm here for.  Let's talk about the game.

The focal point of this game is the Eagles offense.  They have a lot of pressure on them, regardless of whether TO plays in this game or not.  It's not because I don't think they can put points on the board, because they will.  But will they put enough points on the board to keep this game within single digits?  That's the question.

My childhood days were spent in Hyde County, North Carolina, which is just off the famed Outer Banks.  Generations of my family have lived there, through both slavery and freedom.

One of the historical points in during those times was back in 1967 in Middletown, in which I went into a little bit here.  At the time, the schools were being forced to integrate (but black people in the county fought it.  If you wanna know more about it, read this book) and racial tensions were at an all-time high.

The Klan had a building in Middletown where they had their rallies.  There had been several incidents between the black teenagers - one of them being my dad - who had brushes with the Klan, and people could see it was going to come to a boiling point.  My dad and his friends/family were hiding their guns at my uncle's house, and the Klan were trying to intimidate black people in the area by spreading leaflets and spraypainting houses.

Well, one night my cousin and some friends of his were out riding around in Middletown, and the road just happened to go right by the Klan's building, and one of dem dere good ole boys decided to get that ole shotgun out and shoot into the back window of the car.

No one was hurt.  But it didn't take but a hour or so to round up a posse to take a trip on the Klan house.

By the time the county police got there, I think two were shot, one on each side.  No one was killed, though, and most importantly, the Klan was never seen in that county again.  My father wasn't there, because he had went with one of my uncles to Manteo that afternoon.  For some reason, he never mentioned all of that stuff to me.  I had found out about the book, and mentioned some of the stuff I had read.  I guess he never thought it was that important. 

However, I did.  It was a perfect example of how citizens in a community took things into their own hands to run the cess pool of society out of their county.  

So imagine how I felt when I read this (from Free Iraqi):

Citizens of Al Mudiryiah were subjected to an attack by several militants today who were trying to punish the residents of this small town for voting in the election last Sunday.
The citizens responded and managed to stop the attack, kill 5 of the attackers, wounded 8 and burned their cars.
3 citizens were injured during the fire exchange. The Shiekh of the tribe to whom the 3 wounded citizens belong demanded more efforts from the government to stop who he described as "Salafis".

I bet those maggots will think twice before they go back into that town again.  And that's what all Iraqis have to do in order to get rid of terrorism in their country; simply fight back.  They don't all have to be combative, but they should cooperate and target areas where these people are giving these terrorists aid and sanctuary, whether it's businesses or residences.  Terrorists can't hide if there aren't any hiding places.

Here's hoping there are more stories like these popping up.  Iraqis are learning what this so-called "insurgency" is about; they aren't rebels, they're invaders.  They are trying to take over the country, and a good number of them aren't even from Iraq to begin with.  They want to take over the country and place the Iraqis in even harsher conditions than Saddam ruled them under.  Thus, the sooner the Iraqis start rooting these worms out from under the rocks they're under, the better.

I don't get it, so maybe one of you can explain it to me.

Andrew Sullivan's blog, "The Dish" is one of the more popular sites on the blogosphere.  His huge reader base has been built on his reputation as a writer for Time Magazine, The London Guardian, and Free Republic.  From what I know his blog is consistently in the top 10 of the "Ecosystem", which ranks the most frequented and linked blogs in the blogosphere.

So Andrew decides last year that he'd start a fundraising drive in order to cover his blogging expenses.  He asks people to donate to help him with the upkeep of his site.  He collected over $80,000 on the first one, and some accounts have said altogether (he's done at least two) that he's collected over $200,000 from his readers.

That's right.  World domination is finally within my grasp.

Speaking of wanting something in my grasp:



Can someone give me a trip to Kenya for my birthday?

It's in June, so you have four months.  Someone in the blogosphere surely can hook a brotha up, right? :-D

   - While I'm thinking about it, congrats to Wake for whupping Duke, and subsequently placing the Tarheels back on the top of the food chain.  Damned shame that we can't pay you back for the game from Jan 15th until the ACC Tournament, but don't worry...it's just a delay in the inevitable.  We'll be ready.

    - Andy Reid must have put the lockdown on Freddie Mitchell's mouth.  First, Freddie complained that he didn't get his own podium for media day (someone obviously didn't give him the note that TO is playing on Sunday, which makes him the fourth option behind TO, Westbrook, and Pinkston.  Hell; possibly behind activated TE Jeff Thomason, too).  Eagles TE L.J. Smith stated Reid told the boys to chill out or face repercussions.  It's looks like it's taking a toll on Mitchell's mood, as Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel said Mitchell had a terrible Media Day on Tuesday.

There has been a lot of talk about a New Jersey family being massacred a couple of weeks ago, possibly by jiihadists.

I didn't pay serious attention to it until I read this on Little Green Footballs today.  From the New York Sun via The Counterterrorism blog:

A radical Islamic Web site systematically tracks Christians on PalTalk.com, an Internet chat service on which a New Jersey man received a death threat two months before he and his family were murdered.  The password protected Arabic Web site, at the address www.barsomyat.com, features pictures and information about Christians who have been particularly active in debating Muslims on PalTalk.

One page from barsomyat.com features a group of photographs of a Syrian Christian, "Joseph," who now lives in Canada.  Barsomyat.com's users have posted personal information about Joseph, including his brother's parole status, and make clear that they are actively trying to track down his current address.

Subscribers also post explicit warnings to Joseph.  One comment states, "Know, oh Christian, that you are not far from us and you are under our watchful eyes!"  Another user remarks, "Laugh, oh Chrisitan, and soon you will see a big hit."

I am a member of Paltalk, and have personally visited those chatrooms.  In fact, a friend of mine in Texas was an administrator in what is probably the most anti-Islamic chatroom on Paltalk:  America and Allies United Against Terror.  It's possible that I've even heard this guy speak in the chatroom before, since they are all voice-oriented.  I really don't frequent those chatrooms as much anymore, but I know the rhetoric is very thick and the sparks automatically fly that one as well as  other chatrooms on Paltalk.  I can almost guarantee you that the regulars in that chatroom are probably being targeted by these people.

I wish I could say this sort of thing surprises me, but it doesn't.  People can get very personal and it can get nasty in those chatrooms, and not just the political ones.  You have to be very careful when dealing with people on Paltalk.

The blog JihadWatch has been all over the murders from the get-go.  He had one of his contacts explain how this family was butchered:

A close friend of Hossam Armanious and relatives of the family murdered in New Jersey have revealed the following:

Shortly after the murders, members of the Egyptian consulate went to visit the family to encourage them to keep quiet. And many family members have obeyed, saying nothing to reporters or anyone else. However, two family members and another Copt viewed the bodies at the funeral home. One of these eyewitnesses said that he clearly saw that the family members had not suffered “stab wounds to the throat,” as the prosecutor’s report states, but rather the following:

A. Both adults, Hossam and Amal, had a horizontal slit across the throat. Below the slit, on the left, right and middle of the throat were three holes, big enough so that one could place a finger in each hole. According to the eyewitness, it was as if the assailant(s) took a knife and turned it repeatedly in a circular fashion, as if to screw holes into the victims’ necks.

B. The two young girls, Sylvia (15) and Monica (8), also had a horizontal slits in their throats, along with two holes bored below the slits, one on the right and one on the left sides of their necks. The holes were similar to those on their parents’ necks.

C. The eyewitness said although the bodies of the victims were all covered, he was able to see the arms of the little girl Monica. Although the tattoo of the cross inside Monica’s wrist was not defaced, he saw that her wrists were cut. He was not able to see the wrists of the other victims to see if the crosses on their wrists were defaced.

D. Though the family wants to reserve judgment until the results of the case are released, they did say that the way the four family members were bound and gagged and the way their throats were slit with holes carved is similar to executions that are shown on al-Jazeera. The American public is not aware of this because the details of the executions are not often described in news accounts.

Amal Garas’s father said that (contrary to many news reports and CAIR’s press release) none of the family’s jewelry was taken, and that Amal owned some quite expensive pieces that were not touched. At the time of her murder, Amal was wearing a ring worth $3,500 that was not taken.

This wasn't some routine burglary/homicide.  There's no question in my mind that someone wanted this guy dead in the worst way.

In fact, JihadWatch translates what was posted after the family was massacred:

Bibo 117: This is a picture of the filthy dog, curser of Muhammad (Hissam Armanios) and a photo of his filthy wife, curser of Muhammad (Amal Jaras). They got what they deserved for their actions in America. They were slaughtered along with their children as a punishment from the heavens to those who curse the most divine of all who were created.

Exception one: Allah bless you all! I read about this incident on the news websites, but how do you know they were cursers of Muhammad and that they were murdered by Muslims? Why were the children killed as well? I never thought this was the act of Muslims -- maybe there had been another reason for their murder? Oh well, Allah knows! Had they indeed been cursers of Muhammad this was a powerful punishment from Allah. We should ask Allah to let all their dog brothers who curse Muhammad and harm him to join their fate!

Mostafahamed: Beware brothers of the plot attempting to blame Muslims for the incident, or maybe attempting to worsen their situation in America and Europe even more. We don’t need to speculate assumptions that may infer that we Muslims are behind it.

Bibo 117: (is asked to elaborate on his sources) My beloved sister FTAT UAE, I don’t know anything about the subject other than what has been published in the NYPOST. The above excerpt from the paper points out that he (Hissam) was one of the most prominent participants in the Christian chat rooms of the Middle East section of paltalk. As to he killed him and what were his motives that I don’t know till this very day. What I said in the message I posted was that there is a punishment from Allah to all who offend Muhammad!

Here is a image of the page from the website showing a picture of the slain couple.  It's a crying shame that this story is reduced to only a few news articles within the mainstream press.  More attention needs to be drawn to this danger before these maggots strike again.

"I'm sure she got dizzy by that 180 degree turn she did on abortion last week.  Hey; if you did a 180 that quick, you'd get dizzy too."

- Rush Limbaugh, after finding out Hillary was fine and going to make a speech this afternoon after collasping. (paraphrasing)

Wow.

From the Winnipeg Sun:

Entertainer Bill Cosby admits to having "consensual" sexual contact with a Pickering woman who claims the TV star drugged and molested her, according to ABC News.

"A source close to the investigation told ABC News that Cosby's version of what happened between him and the woman and his accuser's story are similar in many ways.

Early this morning, I was awake watching this weekend's edition of "America's Black Forum" (it airs at 5:30 on Sunday mornings in Raleigh) and they were talking about Armstrong Williams (again). 

Around the tail end of the show, Juan Williams, who was hosting in the place of JB, asked Deborah Mathis about the connections and opportunities certain journalists receive by the people they cover in accordance to how they report on them or certain issues.  Of course, it's well known that politicians cherrypick reporters on television, radio, and print in order to get the one that won't be too hostile towards them and will pitch the softballs they want in order to knock out of the park.

Whether this is right or wrong isn't relevant to the topic at hand.  Instead, the image that the media wants the American public to see them as and the one that the American public actually sees are definitely two different images. 

The press would like the public to imagine a guy with the old reporter's hat on sitting at his desk pecking away at a mechanical typewriter hurridly trying to beat a printing deadline to get the big story out for the evening paper.  Instead most of the public views them as manipulative propagandists rather than honest reporters.  Public perception of media bias has been well documented, with a number of opinion polls stating the press slants left.  In light of several scandals, including Rathergate, Jayson Blair, and others, the public's trust in the media is lower than ever.

There was a very good article on Slate.com by Stephen Rodrick that highlights the kinds of perks reporters can get for their position in his article Unpardonable Interruptions: How Television Killed The Newspaper Sports Column:

The Denver Post's Woody Paige, an ATH panelist, now writes from New York so he can appear on ESPN2's Cold Pizza every morning. The unifying theme of Paige's Jan. 2 column was … Woody Paige. "I moved from Denver to New York, had an emergency angioplasty, became friends with Nona Gaye and Joey McIntyre, became a nasty judge on the TV show Dream Job … lounged on a hillside at the site of the ancient Olympics and watched women's shot put, swam in the cobalt-blue sea off Hydra and alongside a dolphin in the Pacific Ocean."

Damn Woody.  Must be nice.

Paige is a sports columnist, and not a news beat reporter, which means he has more time than most news reporters to enjoy that kind of lifestyle.  But folks like Howard Kurtz can host his own television show on CNN, while reporting on CNN/Time Warner for the Washington Post, something that blogger Mickey Kaus has constantly criticized.

Perhaps that's why there isn't much hoopla about Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher, and Michael McManus - in which for the later two, there really isn't any scandal going on at all - outside of the press or in left wing circles.  The truth is, the public assumes media figures receive perks like this for simply being in the spotlight.  For the most part, they are right.

This is unreal.

From the Associated Press:

Freddie Mitchell's big mouth struck again.

The Philadelphia Eagles' other loquacious receiver -- the one without the Pro Bowl pedigree and ankle injury -- offended some Patriots when he dissed their secondary in a television interview.

Mitchell, a starter only because All-Pro Terrell Owens is hurt, said he just knew the numbers -- not the names -- of New England's cornerbacks. He singled out Rodney Harrison, saying he ``has something'' for the veteran strong safety.

“That’s pretty funny coming from a guy that doesn’t start,” he said. “This is his 30 seconds of fame. What Freddie needs to do is concentrate on what he needs to do.”

“You expect it from immature guys who haven’t experienced success on a pro level,” Harrison said. “Some guys are just immature and haven’t experienced things. When you go out there and play well, you don’t have to do these sideshows.”