Hope in Mudville?

Could there be light at the end of a looooooooooong tunnel for my Cleveland Browns? Yesterday's NFL Draft would suggest so.

The Browns took Wisconsin (ewwwwwwww!) OT Joe Thoomas with their first round pick, 3rd overall. Then, after Miami inexecplicably passed up on QB Brady Quinn to take my Buckeyes overrated WR/RS Ted Ginn, the Browns traded this years second round pick and next year's first to get Quinn. An expensive trade, to be sure.

But these were good moves. A pick other than Thomas at No. 3 would have created a fan revolt in Cleveland. The offensive line has been a complete disaster since the rebirth of the team on the field in 1999. Not that they haven't tried to address it (LeCharles Bentley), but their methods have been ineffective. And the Browns have a history of NOT spending high-round picks on linemen, much to the disgust of their fans who have watched Bernie Kosar, Vinny Testaverde, Tim Couch, Kelly Holcomb, Jeff Garcia, Charlie Frye and Derek Andeson get killed behind the line with no pass protection or run blocking. Pairing up Thomas with newly-signed guard Eric Steinbach could give us our version of the Munoz-Montoya Cincinnati Bengals lines of the 1980s.

Quinn I would not have wanted at No. 3. But when he slipped past the Dolphins it made sense to get him. Good talent, intangibles that make him comparable to Peyton Manning (unlike the lazy Tim Couch) and a looming need for a QB since neither Frye nor Anderson has solidified a hold on the job and Frye in particular has regressed. Plus, he's a Browns fan.

That's two needs addressed at QB and OT. They addrssed a need at corner in the second round buy trading up for Eric Wright. Amazing talent, but accused of rape? Not good. Then my mom, of all people, pointed out that it's not uncommon to hav a jilted girlfriend accuse someone of rape just as revenge. Maybe he'll be OK. Maybe he won't. But he addresses a need. They took anothe corner, Brandon McDOnald, who can also return punts and kicks, to replace the not-so-dearly departed Dennis Northcutt.

With the large but dispirited fan base, and suite leases up this year at Cleveland Browns stadium, the Browns needed to do something big. And they did. Good job.

I am far hapier with my Browns draft than that of my Chargers. WR Craig Davis? Who's he? I can understand not taking a safety, their primary area of need, since all the good ones were gone before their pick at No. 30. But Davis wasn't even the No. 1 receiver on his team. Plus, the Chargers had talented Dwayne Jarrett and killer Anthony Gonzalez available at 30. They left Gonzalez for the evil Colts to continue their annoying habit of taking my Ohio State Buckeyes (3 Buckeyes this year Gonzalez, Quinn Pitcock and Roy Hall).

Then they trade up for Utah S Eric Weddle, who is too slow and too small for safety. Somehow I don't think this will put them over the top.

This on top of ruining their uniforms (White helmets? Yuck!) Are they trying to drive me away?

Quote of the Day

"You know how liberals are always telling us to stay out of their bedrooms? Well, we should start telling them, 'Stay out of our bathrooms!' -- Laura Ingraham.

Am I the only one

who thinks Boris Yeltsin should have been on Dancing With The Stars?

Skirting the issue

I can't believe this:

It is difficult to shock New Yorkers, yet Rudy Giuliani teetered close to the line when he sauntered onto a stage wearing a platinum-blond wig, a face full of makeup, dainty white gloves and a frilly pink gown filled out in all the right places.

His appearance at an annual political roast was exactly 10 years ago, and at the time, the idea of the tough-talking mayor in a busty ball gown raised eyebrows but was mostly accepted as a good joke _ adhering to an unwritten rule for the shenanigans that take place at the roast, known as the Inner Circle dinner.

Shortly after winning re-election that year, Giuliani took his feminine side to a national audience. While hosting "Saturday Night Live," he appeared in one skit as a bosomy, gray-haired Italian grandmother in lipstick and a flowered housedress, with stockings pulled halfway up his calves.

Now that Giuliani is running for the Republican presidential nomination, experts and political observers are wondering whether those well-photographed and widely documented performances _ and others _ could damage his campaign. Some say conservatives won't get the joke and will be turned off by what they see as yet another peek at Giuliani's exotic, big-city liberal side.

Political observers say many voters associate a macho demeanor with Giuliani's post-Sept. 11 image as a strong national leader in a time of crisis _ an image that could lose its power if dressed in stockings and dancing the cancan.

Yes, there was another year when he wore fishnets and did high kicks with the Rockettes.

So he dresses like a woman in certain theatrical performances. Who cares? Need you ask:

"People think of him as a leader and a tough guy, and he has this image as somebody who tamed the city of New York and made the trains run on time, and seeing him dressed up like a girl would run contrary to all of those things," said political science professor Neal Thigpen of Francis Marion University in South Carolina.

South Carolina has one of the nation's earliest presidential primaries next year, and as the first Southern contest, it could set the stage for the region.

With conservative voters largely dominating presidential primaries, some experts say the footage of Giuliani cavorting about in women's wear could significantly damage his chances there and throughout the South. The images are already showing up on the Internet, including a mock campaign commercial on the popular video-trading site YouTube.

"You get out in more sophisticated places of the country, where they know Giuliani and they like him and they know about some of his antics, it's not going to be any surprise, but down here where they've never seen that kind of thing, it could do him some damage," Thigpen said.

[...]

For conservatives who already are leery of backing Giuliani because of his support for abortion rights and other positions on social issues, the feminine clothing may also remind them of his support of gays while mayor _ despite the fact that the majority of cross-dressers are not gay.

Still, a poison-pen mailer or e-mail could easily imply a connection, observers say.

"I'm imagining the negative ads _ they could use this as sort of an oblique reference to all of those positions," said Clemson University political scientist Dave Woodard.

Southern Baptist Convention official Richard Land said gay issues represent just one area of the problems religious conservatives have with Giuliani.

"There are so many dealbreakers for Giuliani, it's difficult to know where to start," he said.

So we're now going to have a gender-role litmus test for the GOP imposed by the self-styled moral arbiters of all, the Religious Right? My Gawd, is their no limit to the arrogance of these people? Their will to dominate how everyone lives?

Rudy can wear a skirt, hose and heels to work for all I care. In fact, I would encourage him to do so. He is the only presidential candidate of either party who has displayed a toughness on the issues that matter most -- security.

He is also the only Republican who has a chance of winning in 2008. I suspect that the AP did this story to damage his chances of getting out of the primary. And they may succeed.

America is in a war for its survival against Islamist fascists. The only party that has show any willingness to fight them is the GOP. The Dems, if they acknowledge a war at all, refuse to fight it.

But the people have grown tired of Republican incompetence and moral patronizing. The deck is stacked against us in 2008 for that reason. Rudy is the only candidate who can overcome that and hold the White House at this critical point in history.

If the GOP is so damn stupid that they knock out their only candidate with a chance of winning because he wears a skirt, then they are no more loyal to America than the John Kerrys of the world and don't deserve to hold the presidency or any political power at all.

The downside, though, is that America does not deserve the disaster that the Democrats would bring.

Naturally

my Pittsburgh Penguins are getting their butts kicked.

Saddam had no connection to 9/11?

Andy McCarthy wonders. He also details many of Saddam's connections to Al Qaida.

Star shows itself out of touch with Indy again

I couldn't help but scratch my head over this Indianapolis Star story:

White Lodging Services Corp., one of the two developers of the proposed 1,000-room hotel, was recently sued in Kentucky for refusing to hire four Muslim women unless they worked without wearing a hijab, the traditional head covering for women mandated by Islamic religious teachings.
The Muslim Alliance of Indiana, the Islamic Society of North America and a union group called Unite Here have asked Mayor Bart Peterson to make several demands before the city gives White Lodging and its partner, REI Real Estate Services of Carmel, more than $48.5 million in public subsidies.
The advocates want White Lodging to meet with them, conduct diversity training for its employees, create protocols that prevent discrimination and allow its hotel employees to organize in unions.
Peterson's administration last year chose the White Lodging-led partnership for the hotel that is part of the city's bid to host the 2011 Super Bowl, which requires a large number of nearby hotel rooms.
The Merrillville-based company operates nearly a dozen hotels and restaurants in Indianapolis, including the Marriott Hotel Downtown and several Residence Inns.
White Lodging declined to comment.

Why did the Star publish this story? Ostensibly, it's this:

The City-County Council must approve any financial incentives from the city. Patrice Abduallah, a City-County Council member, a Muslim and an advocate of Muslim rights, has worked to pressure White Lodging into changing its policy.
Abduallah thinks he has support from a bipartisan majority of the council to oppose granting a subsidy if the developer condones discrimination. He said he hopes talks between the company and the Muslim groups can reach a settlement.
"If Muslims want to wear our attire and women want to be modest and cover themselves in the workplace, then I'm shocked that a company would take a position against that," Abduallah said.
Lonnell Conley, the council's Democratic majority leader, and Scott Keller, a Republican who spearheaded earlier anti-discrimination efforts, said they have not heard about the case in Kentucky or Abduallah's concern about White Lodging's policy. Jackie Nytes, a Democratic council member, said Democrats have talked to union leaders about pushing White Lodging to allow union organization.

The Star's story is very sympathetic to the Muslims' situation. But what they expected to accomplish by publishing this story is anyone's guess. If it was to generate sympathy for the Muslims, it failed miserably. As of the time of this post, 631 comments have been posted in response to this story, an enormous number. The vast, vast majority of them are not only opposed to allowing the employees to wear the hijab, but are outraged by it.

Indiana has never been known as an easy-going, tolerant place. "Live and Let Live" will never be the state motto, and certain "family-oriented" special interest groups are doing their best to keep it that way. It is a major reason why the young and educated generally find Indiana to be unattractive and unpleasant. (Can you say "blue laws?" We still got 'em.) All that said, this instance is not an example of that attitude.

Most employers have dress codes of one sort or another. Religion is no exception to that rule. It's hardly a pleasant reality, but it is a reality. Religion or religion-inspired attire is generally no more acceptable at a place of business than a San Diego Chargers jersey. Nor is politically-inspired clothing. That is the issue here.

Islam is not just a religion, but a political movement. There is no distinction between the two in Islam. The current strain of Islam emphasizes the political end of it. In the US, Islam's status as a religion is being exploited by many as an avenue to impose the political end of it -- the efforts of the cab drivers in Minneapolis, the clerk at Target who refused to scan pork products, the Traveling Imams, and others are examples of this phenomenon. This is another.

Islamic attire sends a message of refusal to assimilate into American culture, and strongly suggests an intent to replace American culture with an Islamic one, an idea which the vast majority of Americans, including me, find not only objectionable but offensive and unacceptable. I realize and understand that many, perhaps most in America, may not have that intent. But their intent is now being viewed through the prism of the Minneapolis cam drivers and Imams. It is understandable that many non-Muslims would find Islamic attire to not be innocuous.

If they can wear their Islamic attire at work -- religion and politics -- then I should be able to wear my "John Kerry -- A Failure to Excommunicate" T-shirt.
Or at least my San Diego Chargers jersey.

To all sports announcers

Shut up!!! I'm sick of you guys jinxing my teams. My Gawd. Do you people not get it? Every time you make a definitive statement about how the game is going, you ruin it.

Latest example, during the Penguins-Senators broadcast today, Ed Olczyk commented in the 3rd period about how Pens goalie Marc Andre Fleury was having a great game. Less than 30 seconds later, Fleury gives up a soft goal.

I blame Olczyk. If Edzo had kept his big mouth shut, Fleury woudn't have had a problem.

So shut up, guys!

Why

does anyone in the US have the slightest shred of respect for the United Nations?

It used to be

that though I disagreed with Nancy Pelosi on just about everything, I respected her. Loyal opposition and all that. Not anymore:

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday she gave Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a message from Israel that the Jewish state was ready for peace talks.

“(Our) meeting with the president enabled us to communicate a message from Prime Minister (Ehud) Olmert that Israel was ready to engage in peace talks as well,” Pelosi told reporters in Damascus after talks with Assad.

“Peace in the Middle East is a high priority ... We were very pleased with the reassurances we received from the president that he was ready to resume the peace process. He was ready to engage in negotiations (for) peace with Israel,” Pelosi added.

This is why liberals cannot be trusted with defense or foreign policy. Their sheer stupidity. Thomas Sowell has more:

Congressman Tom Lantos, who is a member of the delegation that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leading to Syria, put the mission clearly when he said: "We have an alternative Democratic foreign policy."

Democrats can have any foreign policy they want -- if and when they are elected to the White House.

Until Nancy Pelosi came along, it was understood by all that we had only one president at a time and -- like him or not -- he alone had the Constitutional authority to speak for this country to foreign nations, especially in wartime.

All that Pelosi's trip can accomplish is to advertise American disunity to a terrorist-sponsoring nation in the Middle East while we are in a war there. That in turn can only embolden the Syrians to exploit the lack of unified resolve in Washington by stepping up their efforts to destabilize Iraq and the Middle East in general.

My latest addiction

Star Wars: Galaxies.

The Emperor has no clothes

I hate CBS' Billy Packer. He's almost as washed up as Ted Kennedy, but he did make a good point on Saturday when he said Greg Oden, center for my Ohio State Buckeyes, is not all-world, and may not even have the potential to be all-world.

Ohio State's run has been led by the development of freshman Mike Conley, Jr. and the refuse-to-lose attitude of senior Ron Lewis. Ohio State has actually played its best when Oden is on the bench. That by itself suggests Oden isn't quite ready for prime time. He needs at least another year at the college level.

That said, unfortunately, my Buckeyes will lose by 19 tomorrow to Florida. Ick.