The Former Big Ten
Last fall we heard about how powerful the Big Ten Basketball Programs were... How they were going to be a dominating force nationally. But as of last night the Big Ten seems much less the Elite Conference because none of the teams qualified for the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
I remember the perennially great Indiana University Program and that more recently powerful program at Michigan State... But like its football programs, Big Ten Basketball has fallen into mediocrity... And it makes me sad.
There will still be hype... And I suppose that is a money thing... A financial consideration... But collegiate sports greatness seems to have moved on to other conferences... The truly powerful SEC in football, and the ubiquitous talent among schools of all sizes in college basketball.
So today I'll pull for Butler - less than 5,000 students - that has no business being there except for the character of its coach and athletes. Tomorrow I'll root against the shameful Kentucky Program with its one-and-done non-student-athlete NBA players.
And I'll hope that the process is cyclical... That the discipline of a Bob Knight, and the coaching of a Jud Heathcoate will return to the The Big Ten, and transform it into something the midwest can once again be proud of.
....
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
I told you so... I wrote this post back in October of 2009... Now this wonderfully entertaining novel is a major motion picture. Should you read the book before you see the movie? Oh yes... Yes you should.
Malott's Better-than-Oprah's Book Club
October's Selection
The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (paperback? But of course!)
I'm not a black woman and a heretic, but I do know good fiction when I read it. This New York Times #1 Bestseller is about a defense lawyer who rides around L.A. in a Lincoln. The most satisfying parts are the way he tricks and manipulates everyone from the prosecutors to his client. Very entertaining. One hundred pages in.... I couldn't put it down. I got three hours of sleep last night because I couldn't put it down. My butt is dragging today because I couldn't put it down.
On the Malott Reader-Meter it comes in at a solid 8.
....
Malott's Better-than-Oprah's Book Club
October's Selection
The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (paperback? But of course!)
I'm not a black woman and a heretic, but I do know good fiction when I read it. This New York Times #1 Bestseller is about a defense lawyer who rides around L.A. in a Lincoln. The most satisfying parts are the way he tricks and manipulates everyone from the prosecutors to his client. Very entertaining. One hundred pages in.... I couldn't put it down. I got three hours of sleep last night because I couldn't put it down. My butt is dragging today because I couldn't put it down.
On the Malott Reader-Meter it comes in at a solid 8.
....
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Stressing the Teat
Government payouts (handouts, as we say in Greentown)—including Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance—make up more than a third of total wages and salaries of the U.S. population, a record figure that will only increase if action isn’t taken before the majority of Baby Boomers enter retirement.
One third?
This isn't sustainable. The previous generation that retired at 65 have received ridiculously high returns on their social security taxes. Good for them. But it's a different world now.
How about this... When I retire I'll let the federal government keep half, maybe even two thirds of my social security payout, if they will let me work and make as much as I want and pay no income taxes on income less than $100k. Without taxes, two days of work will provide the income of three day's work.
See, I'd work a couple days per week, part time, and stay in touch with my friends... (probably healthier than sitting in my La-Z-Boy watching TV). Through my employer I'd have insurance to supplement medicare... I'd be making and spending money supporting our economy... I could even continue to save and invest. It's a win-win. With my lifestyle I would do great! I'd take that option and be happy.
The Federal government needs to come up with options and alternatives to social security and medicare. It's not greedy to expect a return on the Social Security promise, but Social Security became welfare a long time ago, and not every retiree needs welfare.
Let the uber-wealthy retire and be happy with the millions they've saved and invested... I'll be happy with my thousands if Uncle Sam will just work with me.
....
Government payouts (handouts, as we say in Greentown)—including Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance—make up more than a third of total wages and salaries of the U.S. population, a record figure that will only increase if action isn’t taken before the majority of Baby Boomers enter retirement.
One third?
This isn't sustainable. The previous generation that retired at 65 have received ridiculously high returns on their social security taxes. Good for them. But it's a different world now.
How about this... When I retire I'll let the federal government keep half, maybe even two thirds of my social security payout, if they will let me work and make as much as I want and pay no income taxes on income less than $100k. Without taxes, two days of work will provide the income of three day's work.
See, I'd work a couple days per week, part time, and stay in touch with my friends... (probably healthier than sitting in my La-Z-Boy watching TV). Through my employer I'd have insurance to supplement medicare... I'd be making and spending money supporting our economy... I could even continue to save and invest. It's a win-win. With my lifestyle I would do great! I'd take that option and be happy.
The Federal government needs to come up with options and alternatives to social security and medicare. It's not greedy to expect a return on the Social Security promise, but Social Security became welfare a long time ago, and not every retiree needs welfare.
Let the uber-wealthy retire and be happy with the millions they've saved and invested... I'll be happy with my thousands if Uncle Sam will just work with me.
....
What it Means to Be Chosen
From 1901 to 2007 a total of 777 Nobel Prizes were awarded to individuals for their contributions to mankind. Of that total, 176 were awarded to Jews. Less than 1/4 of 1% of the entire world's inhabitants are Jewish, and yet this Chosen People had won almost 23% of the Nobel Prizes.
That's what it means to be the chosen of God.
....
From 1901 to 2007 a total of 777 Nobel Prizes were awarded to individuals for their contributions to mankind. Of that total, 176 were awarded to Jews. Less than 1/4 of 1% of the entire world's inhabitants are Jewish, and yet this Chosen People had won almost 23% of the Nobel Prizes.
That's what it means to be the chosen of God.
....
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Bi-Cultural America
You've probably seen the PBS-Ron Schiller-Sting video that was filmed by James O'Keefe of ACORN-Sting fame.
It is striking to witness how east coast elites talk about middle-America conservatives, their values, and the Tea Party movement. I believe this attitude permeates Washington D.C. in both Parties and, of course, the media.
Their belief-system and culture... their "altered state," is foreign to all things traditionally American. These Left-Wing Elitists wield such power, and yet every poll indicates that they are in the minority. They are empowered by their unchallenged influence upon the ignorant, the lazy, and the gullible... And they are relentless in their efforts to undermine traditional and Christian values.
Schiller is suddenly no longer with Public Broadcasting... PBS executives approve of his beliefs, but not his indiscretion.
You've probably seen the PBS-Ron Schiller-Sting video that was filmed by James O'Keefe of ACORN-Sting fame.
It is striking to witness how east coast elites talk about middle-America conservatives, their values, and the Tea Party movement. I believe this attitude permeates Washington D.C. in both Parties and, of course, the media.
Their belief-system and culture... their "altered state," is foreign to all things traditionally American. These Left-Wing Elitists wield such power, and yet every poll indicates that they are in the minority. They are empowered by their unchallenged influence upon the ignorant, the lazy, and the gullible... And they are relentless in their efforts to undermine traditional and Christian values.
Schiller is suddenly no longer with Public Broadcasting... PBS executives approve of his beliefs, but not his indiscretion.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
I've Had Enough Bush
----
----
So a couple days ago Obama goes to Florida... Basically a 2012 campaign stop... And there to embrace him and give him credibility with independents... Good old Jeb Bush.
Obviously, like his brother George, Jeb has the political instincts of a 
marshmallow.
marshmallow.----
When Jeb Bush embraced Obama... He embraced the vulgar political machine that trashes his brother to this day... He embraced the administration that laundered billions of stimulus tax dollars into the hands of unions which will invest those dollars in Democrat Campaign Coffers... He embraced the selfish, immoral political tactics that undercut our soldiers in Iraq and cost countless American lives... I could go on.
----
The context of the appearance was education, and "Obama Education" means the ultra-liberal National Education Association, which is in the process of turning our feckless public schools into the indoctrination centers that our universities have become.
----
The Deal: Obama took the stage and praised Jeb for his work improving Florida schools, work that Florida Democrats fought tooth and nail to discredit and undermine.
----
So, for a pat on the back, Florida RINO Jeb Bush, sells out and props up an incompetent socialist president and his Party of reprobates.
----
I hope the GOP has seen its last Bush.
....
Friday, March 04, 2011
Good Muslim Bitches
An ABC pilot called “Good Christian Bitches” has religious and women’s groups up in arms over what they describe as an extremely offensive and distasteful show title.
The plot centers on the life of reformed “mean girl” Amanda, played by “Talladega Nights” actress Leslie Bibb, who returns to her hometown of Dallas to find herself fodder for malicious gossip from the women in the Christian community.
Oh... I guess ABC was concerned that "Muslim Bitches" might be offensive. Maybe the Burqas weren't sexy enough... or at all.
Has anyone noticed that it's open season on Christianity? I don't think we are becoming the European Jews of the mid-twentieth century... Not yet. But it is definitely politically correct to trash us.
....
An ABC pilot called “Good Christian Bitches” has religious and women’s groups up in arms over what they describe as an extremely offensive and distasteful show title.
The plot centers on the life of reformed “mean girl” Amanda, played by “Talladega Nights” actress Leslie Bibb, who returns to her hometown of Dallas to find herself fodder for malicious gossip from the women in the Christian community.
Oh... I guess ABC was concerned that "Muslim Bitches" might be offensive. Maybe the Burqas weren't sexy enough... or at all.
Has anyone noticed that it's open season on Christianity? I don't think we are becoming the European Jews of the mid-twentieth century... Not yet. But it is definitely politically correct to trash us.
....
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Reagan Not Popular with Krauts
A poll for the German news magazine Focus found last month that a majority of Germans -- 52 percent -- would oppose a Reagan street in Berlin while 42 percent would support it.
Normally this would tick me off. After all, Reagan more than anyone else was instrumental in the demise of communism, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, and the reuniting of East and West Germany.
But think about it... If the people who came up with the idea of Auschwitz and Treblinka... And enthusiastically supported the rise of a paranoid sadist named Adolf... If this pathetic spawn of Nazis wanted to name a street after me... I'd really have to stop and examine my life.
So I'm really not ticked off about it.
....
A poll for the German news magazine Focus found last month that a majority of Germans -- 52 percent -- would oppose a Reagan street in Berlin while 42 percent would support it.
Normally this would tick me off. After all, Reagan more than anyone else was instrumental in the demise of communism, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, and the reuniting of East and West Germany.
But think about it... If the people who came up with the idea of Auschwitz and Treblinka... And enthusiastically supported the rise of a paranoid sadist named Adolf... If this pathetic spawn of Nazis wanted to name a street after me... I'd really have to stop and examine my life.
So I'm really not ticked off about it.
....
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