Friday, November 13, 2009

The Mohammedan Major and Other Dudes

It appears that Major Nidal Hasan is now charged under the UCMJ and will have his day in court. I was pretty certain that somehow the DOJ would find a way to squirrel this up and move proceedings to a civilian court and I would not be surprised if that eventually becomes the scenario. I would not put anything past this administration. Now Major Hasan, being a member of the military and an American citizen, is entitled to the best defense that can possibly be mustered. That is his right as a citizen of this country. I also do hope that in the event he is found guilty that there is sufficient courage to send him to "meet the virgins." It will be interesting to see how this all eventually plays out. Contrast this case with the case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and apparently four other defendants who will be tried in civilian court in NY. Why is this going to occur? These dudes should by now have been gone long enough to turn their virgins into streetwalkers. It can be argued that, unlike the good Major, these men have no rights as citizens of the United States and probably no rights under the Geneva Convention. They were not captured while under the direction of any legitimate leadership; ie a government or military entity, they were non uniformed, and were not fighting in a declared or even technically an undeclared war against any nation state. They should have been therefore considered from the start terrorists and insurrectionists and when captured quickly tried before a military court. Any information that they may have had at the time should have been extracted from them by any means expedient and necessary. At any rate hopefully the outcome will be the same for Khalid, his co defendants, and Major Hasan (if Hasan is indeed found guilty). The virgins are waiting on you fellows. You might want to consider bathing before you leave.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

BCS is Bullshit

I just read an article by Dan Wetzel that piqued my interest and ire. According to Wetzel, Boise State has been trying to schedule a non conference opponent from a "major" conference for an open date on Sept 3, 2011. So far no takers. Why? BCS schools do not want to have Boise come to their house and embarrass them. Then when it comes time to dole out BCS bids, the outcry is "Boise State does not play a tough enough schedule." That is crap. While true their schedule is not that tough, there is so much parity in the college game that a good WAC, CUSA or Mountain West team could easily surprise a top SEC team. I would put Fresno State up against anybody at this point and of course Boise can beat any team in the country on a good day. The Pac 10 and Big 10 are perhaps only marginally better than the WAC in talent level so what is the problem? It is cowardice and collusion. According to Wetzel; Mr Harvey Perlman of Nebraska dissed the University of Utah program when confronted with the BCS question before Congress. Apparently he insinuated that Utah did not deserve to play for the BCS championship because they did not play a tough enough schedule. Mr. Perlman should look around. The Big Twelve and Nebraska in particular is not all that special either. Mr. Wetzel also points out that Nebraska has an open date, ironically just when Boise is looking for a "quality" opponent. Here is your chance to prove your point Mr. Perlman; or are you just a loudmouth? Don't be a pussy Harv. Schedule up.

Week 10 College Football Recap

Ok this week my record is 9 wins to 7 losses in predictions. Not good but better than last week where I had a losing record. The grand total stands at 102 to 60. There were some quite good games to watch this last week with a couple of minor surprises of note. I have noted that there is a lot of parity in the college game and that is holding true throughout the season.

The Sun Belt is still Troy's to lose. UlM and Middle Tn. the only two that may yet challenge Troy, were both victorious in conference action. The Trojans kept rolling with a victory over W. Kentucky. Next up on their slate is the University of Arkansas. That probably will be a loss, but will not figure into conference standings.

The Big Ten is now really intriguing. Iowa's loss to Northwestern and the Buckeye victory over Penn State throw this one up for grabs. Who will be the eventual conference champion? Iowa can not be considered for the BCS Championship Game, but still has a good shot at the conference championship. I did think Iowa would trip up before it was all said and done, but did not think the Wildcats would be the team to do it. It is easy to forget that Wisconsin is still technically in the mix also.

Over in the MAC it is still between CMU and Temple. Temple had some difficulty last week but did come out of it in the win column.

The SEC now is down to Florida and Alabama. They both clinched and will meet in the conference championship game. The season is not yet finished and one or both still may be tripped up, but they still will meet for conference honors regardless. The Hogs pulled off a minor upset against SC. LSU may still yet land in a BCS Bowl. At worst, they will play in an upper level non BCS contest. Most of the rest of the league played IAA opponents this week and there were no upsets. Furman did keep pace with the Bulldogs of Ga. somewhat. Memphis of CUSA did not fare well against TN. but that was to be expected.

Over in CUSA Houston pulled one out of the hat with a last second field goal that put them on top of Tulsa. I thought this would be a tough game and was right. U of H looked a little flat and Tulsa came to play ball. What is interesting is that some announcers have all but accused Todd Graham of having players fake injuries as time was running down. This is in effect a time out that Todd (allegedly) would use to give his offense time to score if U or H tied the game. If true, it bit him in the ass as the Coogs missed the two point conversion to tie. This apparently effectively ended the contest, but an onside kick recovery by Houston and subsequent long field goal put the Cougars in the win column. I put Todd Graham in the same column as "He who shall remain nameless" over at Alabama and that jerk over at Ole Miss. Graham screwed Rice University. That reminds me of something funny of note. When Graham bolted for supposed greener pastures after 1 year with Rice it was considered a slap in the face. When Tulsa and the Owls met at Rice Stadium the following year the MOB (Marching Owl Band) lampooned him viciously. Are you familiar with the MOB? They pull no punches. Often halftime at Rice Stadium is more interesting than the game. At any rate Graham demanded an apology. I do not remember if one was forthcoming, but I am not familiar with a case of the Marching Owl Band ever issuing one. Screw Graham.
Enough pontificating? I think so. Rice came pretty close to winning the game with SMU. This is the first time this season they have not been utterly blown out. Is that progress? The Coogs should be the winner of CUSA West but it is unclear who they will meet in the championship game. I think it will be ECU but it is still not settled. ECU did lose a contest with VA. Tech Thursday night but that was non conference and should not affect the conference standings.

Cincy took down UConn over in the major Big East contest and most likely will land a BCS Bowl. They are a good team. I would love to see Cincinnati and Ohio State square off. WV still has a shot perhaps and were victorious in their contest. Same with the Pitt Panthers. This is a pretty interesting conference that does not seem to really get proper respect nationally. Frankly I would give Cincy and even chance against any other undefeated team in the land.

The Pac 10 just got more interesting with Oregon faltering against Stanford. Will Arizona be the top dog in this conference before it is all said and done? Why was Cal in the top 25? Tedford does a good job with the Golden Bears, but this has not been a good year for him. The rest of the conference (maybe even USC) is forgettable.

The WAC is still Boise's to lose. They did have some trouble against a pesky La. Tech team Friday night in Ruston. They came out victorious as usual however. Fresno State took down a vastly improved Idaho team last night in a pretty good game. It had all the earmarks of a complete blow out but Idaho kept is fairly close. Pat Hill's squad is under rated. They are a legitimate top 25 team. Tonight Nevada, which is still undefeated in conference play, meets SJSU and should have little problem with the Spartans. Nevada still has a shot but probably will not be able to get past Boise. The game next week against Fresno State will be a good game though. If Nevada wins, which would be a minor upset, they still have a shot. Their game with Boise State is their last of the season. This is an interesting conference and the top dogs should get a little more respect nationally.

The ACC is the ACC. Georgia Tech looks like they will represent the Coastal Division in the championship game. Miami took down Virginia and Clemson took out Florida State. The only other game of note was the NC victory over Duke. Not sure if any of the teams in this conference can be counted among the game's elite. Perhaps Ga. Tech. Look for Miami to be a power to contend with in the coming years.

Almost forgot about the Mountain West. TCU meets Utah next week and that should be the deciding factor in whether TCU (or for that matter Utah) is BCS qualified. This may well be the game of the week.

The Big Twelve should have Texas as the representative from the south. It is hard to see who in conference can beat the Horns at this point. The Big Twelve North is another matter. KSU is in the drivers seat and may well be the eventual winner here.

I will try to get week 11 predictions out at some point. Have a good and safe week.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

OK Now What?

Well of course by now everyone is aware of the shooting at Ft Hood where numerous American soldiers and at least one civilian lost their lives. The alleged perpetrator is a Muslim (imagine that) and a practitioner of witch science (psychiatry). That is a double whammy! Now we have finally reached a conundrum in this nation with no real easy answer. Well, that is not the case really, the answer is quite easy, but it does go against some basic American "rules of the game."
What am I talking about? I am talking about the role of Mohammedans in this nation's security services. As most of us know, this is not the first time that a Muslim serving in the armed forces has killed their comrades in a cowardly treasonous fashion. A similar incident occurred a few years ago when a Muslim Sgt apparently rolled a live grenade into a tent, killing and injuring the inhabitants. Is it now time to ask ourselves if Muslims belong in the armed forces of this nation? That is a very tough and touchy question. Even just asking such will bring forth cries of "Islamophobia." Islamophobia? Damn right! What thinking person, at least in the back of their mind, harbors some distrust for the followers of the Prophet. This is nothing to be ashamed of. While it is undeniable that there are Muslims who are Americans first, but due to the age old low intensity war with Islam (let us call it what it is), there is distrust. Is it wrong to put the welfare of the nation above personal religious convictions? Probably not. Most of us would be in favor of some decidedly Un-Christian like tactics from those whose job is to protect us if it would prevent another 911. Should we expect and demand Muslim Americans put this country above religious beliefs? Yes we should.

Now let us come back to the question of what to do concerning Muslims in the security services. Perhaps the time has now come to ban them from military service. That is hard and perhaps unconstitutional but it must at least be looked at. Can you imagine what damage an active duty Sailor, Marine or Coast Guardsman could do to a ship at sea? There is no place to run. I am sorry, but if I were the commander of a naval vessel I would be very leery of Muslims aboard my ship. Again that is hard, but nothing to apologize for. It is common sense.

Should this country go further? I am not talking about WWII internment camps that our government subjected Japanese Americans to. I am talking about taking a hard look at sensitive services and Muslims therein. Would it not be prudent to also look at Muslims in our nation's civilian police and fire services? Yes it would be prudent; every bit and perhaps even more so than the armed forces. Every police officer has ready access to firearms; something that not every military member has. It would be damn prudent to take a close look at Muslims in the civil emergency services.
What about private security? A very good many private security companies are under contract to protect some extremely sensitive installations such as chemical plants, water works, etc. etc. It would again be prudent to take a close look at Muslims thus employed in the private security industry. Sorry, but again this is nothing more than common sense.

It is a shame that it has come to this. It makes me feel sad to think this way but it is nothing to apologize for. Therefore I will not.