Go on... preach, preach.

"I could have turned everything into a crime scene, like O.J., cutting everybody's throat. You live half a mile from the 20,000-square-foot home you can't go to anymore, you're driving through downtown Clearwater and see a 19-year-old boy driving your Escalade, and you know that a 19-year-old boy is sleeping in your bed, with your wife … I totally understand O.J. I get it."
-- Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan

The Curious Case of Brad Pitt

Watching 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button':

I said, "I had no idea Benjamin Button would be such a ladies' man."

The boy responded, "It is Brad Pitt."

Football, again

Brett Favre knows that cock punches slow pass rushers down like nothing else. That's why they call him a wily old vet.


What's with the penalties? We're trying to unleash hell here!

Tom Powers

... if it weren't for that consecutive-game streak, I'd say send him to Hawaii for a week and let him cool out. Let Favre throw a pass or two and then yank him quicker than the Vikings dumped their partnership with the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission. Never mind the score, get him out of there. Play Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels, or bring back Ron Vander Kelen. But chain Favre to the bench.

after the article is this disclaimer:

The Pioneer Press is happy to host community conversations about news and life in the Twin Cities. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Witty is great. Abusive is not. If you think a post violates these standards, don't escalate the situation. Instead, flag the comment to alert us. We'll take action if necessary.

It's not hard. This should be a place where people want to read and contribute -- a place for spirited exchanges of opinion. So those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post at all.

Wouldn't it be nice if the whole world could get just a little closer to living by those words?

That's odd.

A dome team has the third best NFL record (over the last decade) in road games played in December and January.

This runs counter to every preconception of dome teams. Trust me, I live with a doctor.

"If you ever want some tips from an old veteran about really wrapping the media around your finger, you give me a call, OK?"

"I can't take Cutler anymore. I just want to lie down and die."

140 private jets and 1,200 limos(at the climate summit).

From Gregg Easterbrook:

As the Copenhagen climate summit grinds on with -- big surprise! -- nothing specific agreed upon, here's my summary of what you need to know about the global warming issue, bearing in mind yours truly is the author of an 800-page book about environmental policy (that book was so fast-paced, it only seemed like 700 pages):

• There is indeed a strong scientific consensus regarding climate change. The deniers simply aren't honest about this.

• The consensus is that in the last century, air has warmed by about one degree Fahrenheit while the oceans have warmed a little and become slightly acidic; rainfall patterns have changed in some places, and most though not all ice melting has accelerated.

• That consensus is significant, but hardly means there is a crisis. Glaciers and sea ice, for example, have been in a melting cycle for thousands of years, while air warming has so far been good for farm yields. The doomsayers simply aren't honest about how mild the science consensus is.

• Predictions of global devastation -- climate change is a "profound emergency" that will "ravage our planet" -- are absurd exaggerations, usually motivated by political or fund-raising agendas.

• Climate change has serious possible negative consequences, especially if rainfall shifts away from agricultural regions.

• Global poverty, disease, dirty air and lack of clean water in developing world cities and lack of education are far higher priorities than greenhouse gas emissions.

• Smog and acid rain turned out to be far cheaper to control than predicted; the same may happen with greenhouse gases.

• The United States must regulate greenhouse gases in order to bring American brainpower, in engineering and in business, to bear on the problem.

• A carbon tax, not some super-complex cap-and-trade scheme that mainly creates jobs for bureaucrats and lawyers, would be the best approach.

• If the United States invents technology to control greenhouse gases, no super-complex international treaty will be needed. Nations will adopt greenhouse controls on their own, because it will be in their self-interest to do so. Smog and acid rain are declining almost everywhere, though are not governed by any international treaty; nations have decided to regulate smog and acid rain emissions on their own, because it is in their self-interest to do so.

As for the e-mails hacked from a greenhouse research center in the United Kingdom, e-mails are private correspondence. Copying them without permission is at the least unethical, and perhaps a crime. If you saw private letters on someone's desk, photocopied them and posted them on the Web, you would be considered a person of low character. Whoever hacked the climate e-mails is at the very least an unethical person of low character, and one should be wary of the agendas of unethical people.

That said, many climate scientists are rigidly ideological and believe dissent must be shouted down. This is partly because of money and privilege. The United States and European Union spend about $6 billion annually on climate change research, and every penny goes to alarmism, because it can be used to justify government expansion. Being a climate doomsayer is a path to cash and tenure -- even to celebrity, as making wildly exaggerated claims got Al Gore a Noble Prize plus stock in companies now winning government subsidies triggered by alarmism. The doomsayers are lauded by foundations, go to parties with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and attend taxpayer-subsidized conferences in Nice. They've formed a guild with intense focus on maintaining guild structure. The 1962 Thomas Kuhn book "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" is best-known for introducing the "paradigm shift" concept. Kuhn's larger argument was that science is not an abstract truth-seeking realm, rather, subject to fads and what is now called political correctness, and one in which many scientists are concerned foremost with safeguarding their sinecure by toeing the line.

Plus the alarmists need to divert attention from the inconvenient truth that 20 years ago, Gore and James Hansen of NASA began to say that without immediate drastic action against greenhouse gases, there would soon be global calamities. Nothing was done -- and no problem so far. That is no reason to be complacent -- warming-caused problems may be in store. But for the self-interested alarmists, this is a reason to shout down their critics.

Who knew honest Abe was also the father of the labor union?

If I were given 8 hours to chop down a tree, I would spend 6 of them sharpening my axe- Abraham Lincoln

will we never learn?

"The old parties are husks, with no real soul within either, divided on artificial lines, boss-ridden and privilege-controlled, each a jumble of incongruous elements, and neither daring to speak out wisely and fearlessly on what should be said on the vital issues of the day."

-Theodore Roosevelt, August 5th, 1912

Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats. --H. L. Mencken

That is all.

this week in football humor

• "I'm just sayin', one more loss and I'm not trying for anything you throw."

and from TMQ:

"Single Worst Play of the Season -- So Far: Dallas leading 17-14 in the third quarter, Jersey/A had first-and-10 on its 26. Eli Manning threw a simple flare pass to lumbering power back Brandon Jacobs, who lumbered 74 yards down the sideline for the touchdown. Jacobs isn't a speed player -- yet none of the Cowboys' speed players ever got near him. The safety on the play side was blocked by backup tight end Darcy Johnson; but free safety Alan Ball and cornerbacks Terence Newman and Mike Jenkins didn't bother to chase the play, not even appearing in the picture until Jacobs was in view of the goal line. Dallas, obviously you were out to prove that reputation for December self-destruction is no fluke. Collapse-Boys, you are guilty of the single worst play of the season -- so far.

the NFL -- the league organization, not the individual teams -- is a nonprofit! The National Football League is a money-crazed organization with revenues of about $8 billion annually; its owners and top officials buzz around in private jets; commissioner Roger Goodell has a salary of $11.2 million per year; yet officially the NFL is a nonprofit under New York State law.

first, DJ Gallo:

More football humor

"Cleveland
First, the Cavs choke in the 2009 playoffs. Second, the best two starters on the 2008 Indians start Game 1 of the 2009 World Series for two teams not named "Cleveland." Third, the Browns clean house and hire Eric Mangini, who takes that same house and sets it on fire with a flame thrower. Fourth, what could end up being LeBron's final Cavs season is distinguished early by Shaq looking like a bald Aretha Franklin and LeBron's body language occasionally lapsing into "I can't wait to find a new team; I am tired of playing with crap teammates" mode. And fifth, there are two nights of star-studded concerts to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame -- located in Cleveland, as you know -- and those concerts happen at Madison Square Garden.

Here's my question, God: What did Cleveland do to you?



Oakland
Let's say you're Shane Lechler. You are the best at what you do. You are your team's single most valuable guy. Through 11 games, you have punted 70 times for 3,633 yards (an astonishing 51.9 yards per kick). Not only are you No. 1 all-time for yards per punt (47.1), but you're also on pace to break the single-season record (51.4, held by Sammy Baugh) and become the first person to pass the 5,000-yard mark for punting yardage in one season. Why is this career year happening for you? Because, over the last six years -- and especially this season -- your franchise's ongoing incompetence allowed you to practice your craft in game situations more times than any other punter. Life is about reps, and you get an inordinate number of no-pressure, just-kick-the-ball-as-far-as-you-can reps.

Here's my question, Shane Lechler: Deep down, you kinda like being a Raider, right?

Seattle gave me one of the funniest moments of my book tour. We had stickies in each book that told me what each person's name was, only because we didn't want a situation where I thought I heard someone say, "Can you make it to Brian?" when he really said "Ryan." In Seattle, I was talking to someone when the guy behind him also put his book on the table. I grabbed what I thought was the first guy's book as he said, "Can you sign it 'F--- HOWARD SCHULTZ?'"

If you didn't know, Howard Schultz is the local Starbucks magnate who sold the Sonics to Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett even though everyone knew Bennett would immediately move the franchise. That's why Seattleites blame Schultz more than Bennett. Their feeling is that Bennett may have been a thief, but Schultz was the guy who left their house unlocked with the Sonics gift-wrapped along with a big sign that said "TAKE ME."

Anyway, it turns out that I had mistakenly grabbed the book of the second person in line, saw his stickie, wrote his name, then started writing "F--- Howard ..." The first guy in line noticed and said, "That's not my book; that's the guy behind me."

And the guy behind him goes, "No, no, that's fine; I was gonna ask you to write that, anyway."

The only reason they'd [the Jags] make for an interesting wild card? To see whether they could become the first NFL team to have a home playoff game blacked out."

The Talented Mr. Roto on fame and the Woods

"I don't know what went on behind closed doors, I have no authority or expertise to offer there and, speaking as someone who has gone through a divorce, I can tell you that no one knows the real story of a marriage except the two people in it.

But, there's one part of the story I am qualified to write about. Here's part of Tiger's statement that appeared on TigerWoods.com.

"But no matter how intense curiosity about public figures can be, there is an important and deep principle at stake which is the right to some simple, human measure of privacy."

No. No, no, no, no, no, no. I can't tell you how angry this statement made me. And the fact there are so many others who seem to agree with it. Leave him alone! Well, guess what, Eldrick and the defenders of privacy? That's the gig.

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Thanks for reading, Tiger Woods. Not that Tiger read this, but putting his name in here one more time will help the search results. Tiger, Tiger, Tiger."

I concur.

TMQ distillery

In its last two games, Cleveland has surrendered 10 points after time expired -- two scores on untimed downs following penalties.

Slow week at TMQ, really.