From CNN:

JONESBORO, Georgia (AP) -- On his first day on the job, the new sheriff called 27 employees into his office, stripped them of their badges, fired them, and had rooftop snipers stand guard as they were escorted out the door.

The move Monday by Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill provoked an angry reaction and prompted a judge to order him to rehire the employees.

"It appears ... that employees of the Sheriff were terminated without cause" and in violation of the county's civil service rules, Judge Stephen Boswell wrote in granting a 30-day restraining order.

Hill, 39, defended the firings and said the new sheriff has the right to shake up the department in whatever way he feels necessary. He told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he fired the employees to "maintain the integrity of the department."

"A lot of people are under the impression that the sheriff's office is under civil service laws," he said. "But my research shows the employees work at the pleasure of the sheriff."

I used to live in Atlanta about 3 years ago.  From what I've known of Clayton County, it's not very popular with the brothers, if ya know what I mean.  As with the rest of Metro Atlanta (Clayton is one of the metro counties), Clayton County has grown a bit, and has added an influx blacks and hispanics.  Hence, it was only a matter of time before a black sherriff was elected.

Hill used to be a Ga. state representative and an officer in Clayton County.  In fact, when he became a state rep he had problems with the former sherriff because he wasn't allowed time off to work in the state legislature.  I'm sure the animosity from that played in the decision to run for sherriff, and when he won, fire the hierarchy.

Only problem is, you can't just fire government employees without cause, and that's precisely what he did.  Those positions weren't appointments.  And considering the continuous shortages for cops all over the nation, where does he think he's going to get the new black cops from?  Was he simply planning to hire some buddies of his?  This isn't "Walking Tall" and his name isn't Buford Pusser.

As far as I can tell, no charges of corruption or abuse were ever flung at these officers or the former sherriff.  And notably, it was the new black county commission chairman - Eldrick Bell - who went to court and filed grievance to get the officers their jobs back.  So Hill comes across as a power-hungry bigot.

I'm surprised Michael "da" King hasn't said anything about this yet.  He is from around that way.

I hate making this post.

Last week was a bad week for the NFL.  Very bad.  Once again, Bizzaro World struck heavily.

Blah.  I guess it wasn't meant to be. 

After their first game with the Saints I thought Jim Haslett was as good as fired.  This time, their receivers covered Muhammad and Colbert quite well, and didn't allow any big plays to develop.  It was the exact opposite for us, as Gamble gave up a couple of bombs and they allowed McAllister to get a 71 yard run.  That combined with 3 turnovers was enough to put us away.  We were lucky to get a last shot at a 60 yard FG to put the game in OT (but I'd rather had Delhomme go for the bomb at the end of the game, but I'm only Monday quarterbacking).

I'm proud of them.  Not too many teams would give themselves a chance after losing a key receiver, three running backs, a safety, and two defensive linemen.  They can still hold their heads up high for the job they did this year.  If they can resign Muhsin Muhammad, maybe work on that secondary a bit more in free agency, and keep everyone healthy they should be considered Super Bowl contenders next year and regain the NFC South title.

Anyway, let's talk about the playoffs.  The NFC has the worst playoff teams I've ever seen: 

 - Philly, who's without TO and lost their last two (a legit excuse, as they did bench their starters).

 - Atlanta, who's got a hurt Vick, was upset by Seattle last week, and has a two-faced defense.  You never know which face will show up.

 - Green Bay.  Can quarterbacks go through a mid-life crisis?  Farve seems like he suffers from it every week.

 - Seattle, which has a porus secondary that couldn't knock a mosquito out of the air with a mudflap and finds a way to lose games.

- St. Louis, who has the worst head coach in football.  Any halfway decent coach would have had that team sitting home this week with a first-round bye.

- Minnesota.  See Seattle, but add a better quarterback and receiver corp.  But take that "finds a way to lose games" and multiply it by 10.  Don't believe me?  The Vikes lost seven of their last ten, and five of those games were by less than a touchdown.

Let's put it this way:  If Philly - even without TO - can't get the job done this year, they'll never get it done.  But all in all, this week's NFC wild card games are a tale of which team finds more ways to lose than the other.

I'm rooting for Green Bay.  I want to see Brett Farve go out with a trip to Jacksonville.

The AFC looks much better.  This could go either way. 

 - Pittsburgh has been the polar opposite of Seattle and Minn in that they find ways to win.  And Ben Roethlisberger, aka the Baby Jesus, has yet to taste defeat.

 - New England..well, they're New England.  They have a hellafied coach and the second-best quarterback in the league.  Will three times be a charm?

 - Indianapolis.  The best quarterback in the league having the best season a quarterback has ever had.  The major question is can that get him out of the shadow that is Tom Brady and New England?  Dwight Freeney needs to have a hell of a playoffs to get them to Jacksonville.

- San Diego is considered the sleeper of the playoffs.  They have just enough on both sides of the ball to beat any team in the league.

- The Jets.  I respect the whole team.  They have a good coach, a good defense, a great RB, among other things.  But that chokefest against the Rams bothers me THREE much.  Yeah I know Bulger returned, but cmon, that's no excuse for losing a crucial game like that.

- Denver is the only one that I am skeptical of.  I think Shanahan has done a bad job with their secondary and made a bad decision in the offseason by going after Jake Plummer.  While he was at Arizona he had an excuse, but now he's under a good system at Denver and has a decent offensive line and he has not done anything impressive.

The only bad thing about the AFC?  It's being covered by CBS instead of Fox.  For some reason I fall asleep on CBS's games.  It's as if they intentionally try to silence the crowd in the games.

It won't seem right without my Panthers in the playoffs this year, but I will still watch with interest.  It will be fun seeing how bad the NFC wild card games can get and how good the AFC wild cards can be.

Check this out:

I'm not a religious person (actually, my moniker is "heathen conservative"), so I'm not going to talk about the religious aspects of Christmas.  You know them.  If somehow you don't, then go read the Bible and find out.

All I'm going to say is relax and enjoy yourself during the weekend.  Whether you believe in the Christmas story or not, the foundation of this holiday is to spend it with loved ones and showing them how much you appreciate them.

I think that's what most people have forgotten.  We have been so busy worrying about who's going to be offended by some decorations or who won't say "Merry Christmas" that we miss out on what makes this time of year so special.

Well this should be an interesting week, with several key matchups coming into play starting this afternoon.  We'll see who can cut it and who can't.

Adding to that excitement is the fact that rocketman Michael Vick is now being paid more than Peyton Manning, as he signed a contract extension totaling over $130 million over the next ten years.  $37 million of that is guaranteed.  Peyton's extension was only $98 mill for seven years, with $34.5 of it guaranteed.

Now, despite the fact that the only record Vick will ever break is the quarterback rushing record, Atlanta has topped Peyton Manning's contract to the Colts, in which he will break another record this week.  Indy's also a serious sleeper for an AFC title.  Vick, who is nursing an injured shoulder at the moment courtesy of Carolina Panthers' hellcat Will Witherspoon (who was snubbed unfairly for a Pro-Bowl bid, IMO), isn't being taken seriously as an NFC title contender.

But hey; it's a great way to waste money, and considering I used to live there I know the City of Atlanta is quite known - or infamous...take your pick - for.  Teams like Indy and Minnesota, who have placed big money in their offensive stars, have trouble in the playoffs because they can't invest in top-notch defensive players. 

Atlanta has a couple of defensive players in Keith Brooking and Patrick Ramsey that they're going to have to resign in a couple of years, they claim they want to strengthen their receiver corps - after they "overpaid" Peerless Price (whether he can get open and catch or whether it's the system that he's in is questionable at this point), and they have to do something about their secondary. 

Problems problems problems.  And note; earlier this season they gave tight end Algee Crumpler - arguably one of the top 5 tight ends in the league - a contract extension as well.  Something's gonna give.  But hey; Vick puts asses in the seats, so that's all that matters. 

Better hope they keep winning next year as well.  If anyone knows anything about Atlanta fans, it's that they probably the most fairweather fans in the nation.  Getting 40,000 to see a football game by a losing team in the snow?  Where do you think this is?  Cleveland?  Ha.

Yeah Tigue, I saw ya.

Moving onward, today it's Minnesota vs. Green Bay.  Let's hope this isn't like Minnesota's earlier efforts this season, in which they find ways to lose football games that are handed to them.  They only lost by a field goal in the first encounter.  However, the Packers' offense is struggling, and Bret Favre looked more like Vinny Testeverde against Jacksonville last week.  Bret has a habit of blasting people after terrible performances, and he generally shows up for exclusive contests like this one, so we'll see.  The winner wins the NFC North and at least one game at home.  The loser gets a wildcard regardless.

On Christmas, watch basketball.  Believe me, Indiana/Detroit and Shaq/Kobe will be more interesting than watching four teams that will more than likely stink it up and aren't going to make the playoffs anyway.  Unless you are that much of a football nut, don't waste your time. 

My only question is why are they starting so early?  They got Indy/Det at 12:30, and Kobe/Shaq at 3?  At least Kobe/Shaq is on ABC (lets hope they've improved their announcing crew).

And if I haven't said it lately, fire David Stern.

Back to football.  Still a number of big games, with Steelers/Ravens, Pats/Jets, Panthers/Bucs, Colts/Chargers, Falcons/Saints, and Cards/Seachickens (did you know Arizona still has a chance to win the NFC West?  It would tickle me if they did.).

Here's my picks:

Minnesota over Green Bay

Kansas City over Oakland

Denver over Tennessee

Bengals over Giants

Detroit over Chicago

Colts over Chargers

Jags over Texans

Saints over Falcons (especially if Vick doesn't play in this game)

Steelers over Ravens

Jets over Pats (upset special)

Panthers over Bucs

Washington over Dallas

Arizona over Seattle ("up, there's another one" © Biggie)

Miami over Cleveland

and Monday Night....Philly over the Rams.

This isn't an easy week to pick, but it definitely will be fun watching my picks lose.

From the Washington Times:

Waters told the newspaper (LA Times) her family's businesses were separate from her political career.

Citing public disclosure records, the newspaper reported of the $1.7 million L.A. Vote, a Los Angeles political organization that publishes election mailers endorsed by Waters, collected in the last eight years, nearly $450,000 went to Waters' daughter, Karen, and her consulting firm.

Around $115,000 was reportedly paid to the son of the congresswoman.

Waters' husband, Sidney Williams, was reportedly paid nearly $500,000 for consulting work with Siebert, Brandford & Shank, a municipal bond company and from politicians the congresswomen has backed.

According to the Washington Times, none of it is unethical.

It might not, but it should be.

I wonder...are any of you suprised when a black political figure is found to be taking money off the top of some organization or engaging in cronyism?  I'm not.  Hell, I can think of six off the top of my head since 2000.  Ah well.

This was no doubt the best week of football this season.

Hell this was the greatest week in a few seasons.  And this is coming from a guy who's team lost again to that overrated Michael Vick.

Let's talk about Vick for a second, as well as his overratedness.  The defense is the only thing keeping that team together.  And Michael Vick isn't half as good as everyone hypes him to be.  He's accuracy is even worse than McNabb's and he doesn't know how to throw in the pocket.  Any time he gets in trouble you can guarantee he is going to try to run to get out of it. 

And at 5'11 and just over 200 llbs, you can guarantee that he will be caught one day and someone's going to put him on the shelf for a long time, much like what has happened in his career twice already.  But this time it'll be for good.  McNabb and Culpepper can get away with it because they are big guys that can move.  Vick is way shorter than them and smaller than a typical RB.  I doubt if we'll see Michael Vick playing in the league in five years, or at least not a starting quarterback.

As for the game itself, Carolina's special teams blunders have to be addressed.  Period.  We allowed Atlanta to start drives inside our 40 twice in that game and we fumbled a punt return.  That's just sorriness.  Our defense still shut them down twice, but even then it was a matter of time before we got caught. 

It doesn't matter.  Just as I said after we lost to Philly last year in the regular season, we're a better team than Atlanta, and if we face them again we'll beat them.  I was right then and I'm sure I'm right now.

- Peyton Manning only threw one touchdown pass.

- San Diego went into the snow and shut out Cleveland (okay that's not that surprising, but still).

- Jacksonville went into Lambeau Field in sub-degree temperatures and beat Green Bay.

- Philadelphia lost Terrell Owens for at least part of the playoffs (more on that in a second).

- Tom Brady summoned his inner Jake Plummer and threw four picks against 2-12 Miami.

- A team playing against Minnesota did the choking this week.

- The Giants acted like they wanted to win a game.

I don't know that much about Donald Rumsfeld, particularly before he became the Secretary of Defense.  The most I know is that he worked in the former Bush Administration and he was a member of a few corporate boards.

I also don't know the intracies of the decisions he has made while he has been Secretary of Defense....which decisions were his, and which ones weren't.  Which ones could be deemed failures and which ones can't.

So this post isn't about Rumsfeld's mistakes or failures in reference to the War in Iraq.  This is more about what has gone down in the last week or so, with Rumsfeld catching a barrage from criticism for a taped Q&A session he had with the troops while he was in Iraq:

Wilson asked Rumsfeld, “Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles?” Shouts of approval and applause arose from other soldiers who had assembled in an aircraft hangar to see Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld hesitated and asked Wilson to repeat his question.

“We do not have proper armored vehicles to carry with us north,” Wilson, 31, of Nashville, Tenn., concluded after asking again.

“You go to war with the Army you have,” Rumsfeld replied, “not the Army you might want or wish to have.”

First of all, the media is spinning the event, because that wasn't all Rumsfeld said.  Here's all of it:

SEC. RUMSFELD:  I talked to the General coming out here about the pace at which the vehicles are being armored.  They have been brought from all over the world, wherever they’re not needed, to a place here where they are needed.  I’m told that they are being – the Army is – I think it’s something like 400 a month are being done.  And it’s essentially a matter of physics.  It isn’t a matter of money.  It isn’t a matter on the part of the Army of desire.  It’s a matter of production and capability of doing it.

 

As you know, you go to war with the Army you have.  They’re not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time.  Since the Iraq conflict began, the Army has been pressing ahead to produce the armor necessary at a rate that they believe – it’s a greatly expanded rate from what existed previously, but a rate that they believe is the rate that is all that can be accomplished at this moment.

 

I can assure you that General Schoomaker and the leadership in the Army and certainly General Whitcomb are sensitive to the fact that not every vehicle has the degree of armor that would be desirable for it to have, but that they’re working at it at a good clip.  It’s interesting, I’ve talked a great deal about this with a team of people who’ve been working on it hard at the Pentagon.  And if you think about it, you can have all the armor in the world on a tank and a tank can be blown up.  And you can have an up-armored humvee and it can be blown up.  And you can go down and, the vehicle, the goal we have is to have as many of those vehicles as is humanly possible with the appropriate level of armor available for the troops.  And that is what the Army has been working on.

So you see, the media is only focusing on one sentence in a pretty lengthy passage, as if Rumsfeld was being insensitive and telling the soldiers to get used to it.  He explained that it takes time to produce the weapons and armor needed to fight a war.  That makes sense, although I don't know the time span nor do I know if it's taking too long for them to get it.

The fact is, everyone (well, that actually care about the troops) want to make sure the soldiers have adequate protection every time the leave the base and place themselves in harm's way.  Unfortunately that isn't reality.  While every measure should be taken to ensure the safety and well-being of our troops, not everything can and will be given to them precisely when they need it.  Hence the "go to war with the Army you have" statement.  Rhetoric aside, you've got to make do.  And the media placing spin on the story and politicans displaying fake outrage isn't going to change that fact.

But let's talk about the politicians for a second, particularly the so-called "maverick" John McCain and the "outcast", Trent Lott.  Both have displayed their criticism over this questionnaire over the past week.

You see, I'm going to be a frame of mind one day to deliver a rant with John McCain's name all over it.  Knowing me, it'll be sooner than later.  As for Lott, his comments are very funny and ironic because 1.  He's lucky he even has a Senate seat at all, which will probably change in 06, and 2.  He never showed he had a set of cajones while he was Senate Majority Leader.

But here's a good question for those two, along with RINO Susan Collins: what are you doing to make sure the troops get the protection they need?

You see, Rumsfeld isn't an elected official.  He only works for one.  However, McCain, Lott, and Collins are elected officials.  They are the ones that allocate the money into which budget and can pass legislation speeding up the production of weaponry.  What have they done?

For the last month or so John McCain has been more concerned with baseball and boxing than he has with the War in Iraq, even to the point of holding up legislation in the Senate through the lame duck session for his boxing bill.  Perhaps if McCain were more concerned about things that actually mattered, like the War in Iraq, troops would have more of the things they need.  Instead, McCain would rather act as if he is the President of U.S. Sports.

And the last thing that the Democratic Party should ever complain about is troop preparedness, considering they made two men who voted against funds that make troop preparation possible their candidates for President and Vice-President.  Their credibility on military and foreign issues is mostly shot, IMO.  When they actually start showing some sort of initiative of actually caring about defending this country or adequately funding the military, someone might actually take them seriously.

Rumsfeld had a Q&A session with the troops when no other elected official, senator or representative, would do the same.  He gave an honest answer to an honest question.  Add to the fact that the question that was causing the controversy was planted by an embedded reporter.  When McCain or Lott go to Iraq and get grilled, then they can talk.  Until then, they are nothing but talk.

I've been trying to avoid discussing Bill Cosby.  To be honest about it, I think he makes more of a fool out of himself as he gets older.  Cosby will always be Cosby no matter what, so when talking about him, NGCCOT (Nothing Good Can Come Of This).

The sports talking heads have hyped up two big games this week:  Steelers vs. Jets and Vikings vs. Seahawks. 

To a point, they're right to hype these games.  Steelers/Jets is a potential AFC playoff game, and the Steelers have shown they are vulnerable to a defeat in the last three weeks.  Minn/Seattle is for playoff contention, and chances are that whoever loses this one will not make the playoffs (Although I think both will end up making it anyway.).  Also, both Mike Tice and Mike Holmgren are in the hot seat this year to make the playoffs.

One that's going under the radar is Tampa Bay/San Diego.  Let's see if the Bucs are as good as everyone is hyping them to be.  I haven't been impressed, and it's irked me that people are picking Tampa Bay to get that sixth spot in the NFC playoffs when Carolina is on a four game win streak and beat Tampa Bay in the process.  Considering both Tampa and Carolina are 5-7 every game is crucial from here on out.

Could we see another upset from Marvin Lewis and his Bengals?  It's possible.  They snuck the Ravens last week.  Now they face the defending Super Bowl Champions.  The only chance they have lies on the arm of newly-hyped Carson Palmer.  Will he show he's on the level of Rothlisberger, or as shaky as Kyle Boller?  I know one thing, I'm not screwing up my picks by betting on a youngster.

Here's what I got:

- Atlanta over Oakland (although this one will be close)

- Baltimore over Giants (this will be an ugly game)

- Buffalo over Cleveland

- New Orleans over Dallas (once again, people are hyping up Dallas too much.  Jones cant do it on his own)

- Indianapolis over Houston (Peyton will break the record today.  Watch.)

- Jacksonville over Chicago

- Minnesota over Seattle

- New England over Cincinnatti

- Denver over Miami

- Jets over Pittsburgh (the woo-ride is over)

- Detroit over Green Bay (yup.  I said it)

- San Francisco over Arizona (yup.  Said that too)

- Carolina over St. Louis (this needs to be a blowout.  Wrap up Chandler's career, guys)

- San Diego over Tampa Bay

- Philly over Washington

And Monday Night...Tennessee over Kansas City.

Key games are Steelers/Jets, Minn/Seattle, San Diego/Tampa, Det/G.B., Carolina/STL, and Cinn/N.E.

All in all, this should be a great week of football.