] But it's unclear whether a drawn out conflict will have
] an affect on military academies. While war can stir up
] patriotism and boost interest in military careers, the
] long, unpopular war in Vietnam was thought to have
] depressed application rates to West Point.
]
]
] "I really have seen it dwindle in the last year, and that
] to me is curious," Brenda Melton, a counselor at the
] Navarro Academy in San Antonio, said. "I think part of it
] is that the war is a major topic and they see people
] getting killed over there and not everyone is in
] agreement with it."

Curious, although not surprising.

Military Academy Admission Down

] Nine of the ten states that get the most federal fucking
] dollars and pay the least... can you guess? Go on, guess.
] That%u2019s right, motherfucker, they're red states. And
] eight of the ten states that receive the least and pay
] the most? It%u2019s too easy, asshole, they%u2019re blue
] states. It%u2019s not your money, assholes, it%u2019s
] fucking our money

Beautiful!

Fuck the South

] Instead, the battle for control of the Sunni city 40
] miles west of Baghdad has sharpened divisions among
] Iraq's major ethnic and religious groups, fueled
] anti-American sentiment and stoked the 18-month-old Sunni
] insurgency.

I'm sorry, but does ANYONE find it surprising that we go in, blow the crap out of this town, and oh yeah, kill what looks like a wounded, unarmed guy on camera (that's not getting airplay over here, but it sure is all over the mid-east) in a mosque of all places, making it look even better, and find that people are just as pissed off at us as they were before?

Folks, this isn't just how to lose the war in Iraq, this is how to screw up our national security for years.

The phrase "Waging Aggressive War" comes to mind some days.

Iraq Assessments: Insurgents Not Giving Up

] The NFL called the intro "inappropriate and unsuitable
] for our `Monday Night Football' audience."
]
]
] "While ABC may have gained attention for one of its other
] shows, the NFL and its fans lost," NFL spokesman Greg
] Aiello said.

Oh bullshit. It's a 9pm game, they made a joke and dollars to donuts, they got calls from people pissed off about alluding to a white woman jumping in the sack with a black man.

Now I'll grant that the show they were pushing is the latest in a long line of cheese fests, but come on. I guess the message is violence is good, sex is bad.

Yahoo! News - ABC Apologizes for Steamy Football Intro

] The scientific consensus is quite firm that abortion does
] not cause breast cancer. If reporters want to take
] science and its conclusions seriously, their reporting
] should reflect this reality - no matter what
] anti-abortionists say.
]
] But what happened next illustrates one reason journalists
] have such a hard time calling it like they see it on
] science issues. In an internal memo exposed by the Web
] site LAobserved.com, the Times's editor, John
] Carroll, singled out Gold's story for harsh
] criticism, claiming it vindicated critics who accuse the
] paper of liberal bias.

Reality has a "liberal bias."

In the words of Monty Burns, "Excellent!"

CJR November/December 2004: Blinded by Science

] On Sunday, a US military commander said order was being
] restored in the city, after several days of clashes with
] groups of insurgents.
]
]
] The American military commander in Mosul, Brigadier
] General Carter Ham, said calm was being restored and
] denied the city was out of control.

Yep, we're kicking those rebels out of Fallujah. Except it seems they decided to leave Fallujah first and may have been setting up shop in Mosul...

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | New attacks on Mosul police posts

] In an interview with ESPN The Magazine released this
] week, Clarett accused coach Jim Tressel, his staff and
] school boosters of arranging for him to get passing
] grades, cars and thousands of dollars, including for
] bogus summer jobs.
]
]
] Geiger said many of them were found to be baseless in
] investigations by the NCAA and the university.
]
]
] ``The allegations are so sweeping, so over the top that
] we are going to be forced to spend huge resources, so
] much time and energy and effort, to try and get this
] right,'' Geiger said. ``This isn't going to be solved by
] the Michigan game or by (the time of) a bowl game. It
] will take months, I imagine.'

Gee, wouldn't it be funny if those sweeping and "so over the top" allegations were true? Horrors! Having read some of the things Ohio State does to maintain athletic eligibility (Officiating Softball is a class!) it wouldn't surprise me if it were all true.

Yahoo! Sports - NCAA Football - Geiger glad NCAA is coming to campus to investigate Clarett's allegations

] Capping a season of suspicion and success, the San
] Francisco Giants left fielder became the oldest player to
] win the award. The 40-year-old received 24 first-place
] votes and 407 points Monday in balloting by the Baseball
] Writers' Association of America to earn the award for the
] fourth straight season.

While Barry tends to be much disliked and often maligned, he is also playing baseball like no one ever. Better than Ruth, Mays, Aaron, Williams, or anyone else you want to name.

Yahoo! Sports - MLB - Bonds wins record seventh MVP Award

] Although completely unreported by the U.S. media and
] government, the answer to the Iraq enigma is simple yet
] shocking -- it is in large part an oil currency war.

This was recommended by doddster98 as something to read coming off my concern about the continuing fall of the dollar. After reading through it is something that deserves it's own thread.

I was both impressed by the piece and curious to find out who this guy actually is. I mean I say this and it makes sense, but I could be just another conspiracy wacko. The answer to who the writer is came from Amazon of all places. "William Clark is Manager of Performance Improvement at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His research on oil depletion, oil currency issues and U.S. geostrategy received a 2003 Project Censored award, published in Censored 2004. He lives in Columbia, Maryland."

This piece is VERY dense, but more than worthwhile reading. There are reasons for maintaining good relations with your allies.

Revisited - The Real Reasons for the Upcoming War in Iraq: A Macroeconomic and Geostrategic Analysis of the Unspoken Truth, by William Clark, updated: Jan 2004

] Roger Clemens easily won his record seventh Cy Young
] Award after putting off retirement and being about as
] dominant as ever -- even at age 42.
]
]
] The Rocket received 23 of 32 first-place votes and 140
] points in balloting released Tuesday by the Baseball
] Writers' Association of America to win the NL Cy Young
] for the first time after capturing six Cy Youngs in the
] American League.

Funny, he doesn't seem that old, but then, he won two of those when I was in high school which was a long time ago. Good for you Roger!

Yahoo! Sports - MLB - Clemens wins record seventh Cy Young Award