Paul Harvey (1918-2009)

Radio mourns, America mourns.

Thank you, Paul Harvey, for the incredible legacy you have left for radio. You can never be placed, you will never be forgotten.

Good day.

Biden Pulls a Quayle......

But you'll never see this "potatoe"--type snafu on the Evening News.

Get your pencil out now to jot down the "web site number". WHAT?!?!?!?

Byrd on Obama Power Grab

Click on the title above---this should make headlines, but may not because there's no "price tag" to it, nor does it create jobs, and that's all the media wonks are talking about.

Give Senator Byrd credit here for looking at the much more important, bigger picture of the system of checks and balances that are so important to us. The Democrats certainly yelled and screamed about "executive prviliedge" during the Bush Administration. It'll be interesting to see how the Reids and Pelosis respond to Byrd's comments.

Do I dare suggest it? If Byrd stirs a pot against a Presidential move enough, will the Dems play the "age card" and begin to lead the man offstage?

Let's keep an eye on this one (see "Robert Byrd" on my Headlines to the right to do so....)

LIVE BLOGGING: The President's First Speech To Congress

Now that the clap-happy is done.....(that always trips me out)

I don't think it's ever taken a President 17 minutes to get in, shake hands, and start speaking.......

Well, here we go.

1) So far, one "crisis" and lots of word pictures of difficulty and loss.
2) "We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than ever before."

(Pelosi ruined that line by standing up too early; that was the cornerstone line of the speech, given to the press earlier, and some people missed it all. Why am I critical? She HAS A COPY of the speech in front of her, and has had it for some time!)

3) It didn't happen overnight. Here's the lineup. Energy. Health care. Education. Debt. "Short term gains were prized over long term prosperity".

OH, first notice of "wealth to the wealthy".

OH II----people bought homes they couldn't afford......

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We're five minutes in, have heard nothing new.

He gets applause for saying he wants to talk to us tonight. Dear heavens!!!

Our first split decision: That "Recovery and Reinvestment Act" is now law. GOP stays seated.

3.5 million jobs......when we're done building broadband, turbines, and rebuilding roads, what do we do then?? What jobs will be next to create?

UNEMPLOYMENT HEALTH CARE COVERAGE? WHAT?? I didn't get that option last year. No, I'm NOT jealous.

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9:25pm---"Nobody messes with Joe." And thus is the bone thrown tonight to the Vice-President, who won't be seen again for a week.

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Time for the "credit CRISIS". (I'm not being tongue-in-cheek with the CAPS, I am trying to keep tabs on the use of the word.)

3!

"A New Lending Fund"-----paid for by????????

"Plan to help Responsibile Families" on their homes------how do they determine who a deadbeat is?

"Provide Support to clean up (bad banks) balance sheets...."------is that code speak for some sort of "nationalization"?

4!

Everybody stands on accountability. :) No brainer.

CEO's: "Those days are over". What about the ball players who make eight figures?

(REMEMBER---I ASK QUESTIONS TO MAKE US THINK!)

SIDEBAR: I do VERY much appreciate Obama's speaking style. He is speaking "to" the American people. Not all Presidents do that.

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Hmmm......."our outdated regulatory system." Haven't heard anyone in the media tackle this one yet.

Ut oh.......Obama history lesson. Ah, the GI Bill was AFTER THE DEPRESSION AND WAR. Sorry, that one doesn't wash.

Government "catalyzed"??? "CATALYZED"?? We can't spark anything without the government??? What the????

Now it's time to hear the cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching.......

REMEMBER, we're in a trillion dollar deficit. Trillions of dollars in debt.


1) Energy----love the ideas. Who pays for it all?

Good line about cars. "The nation that invented automobiles cannot walk away from it."

2) Health Care-----a bankruptcy every 30 seconds. It COULD cause 1.5 million people to lose their homes. (Can we check that figure in a year, just to make sure that wasn't a throwaway line? Didn't say it wasn't true, but it should be fact checked.)

OMG----Pelosi is jubliant almost to the point of RUDE!!!! She wasn't sure whether to stand for a cure for cancer in our time, but she jumped up at that 11 million children figure. Legislation! I'll clap to that! I love it when children have health care. Who's paying for it? That's my only question.

"It will not wait another year."---oh, boy; so, who's paying???? And how does the GDP grow when you're thinking of taking 1/6th of it and nationalizing it?

3) Education-----Okay...the same public high schools he applauded in his history lesson are now desperately in need of fixing. It's either one or the other.

College affordable for seven million more students. Details??? Figures??? Who's paying the tuition???

Teacher incentives...."rewards for success". Criteria? Based on what?

WHOA----expand our committment to charter schools!!! Pelosi was STONE FACED on that one. Thank you, Mr. President, for realizing there are MANY ways to fix the education problem. I hope that wasn't a throwaway line.

By 2020----the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. CONGRESS IS ALREADY FILLED WITH THEM! Just a reminder, folks......

Responsibility begins at home. AMEN, MR. PRESIDENT!!!

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Okay, now the fun. Listen CAREFULLY. All this spending, and don't pass on debt. Hmmm......

WHOA---DEMS ARE DRUNK WITH POWER! Did U see Chuck Schumer laughing at the GOP while clapping over the "inherited deficit".

NO EARMARKS? EXCUSE ME?? 2 Trillion Dollars in the next decade. POST IT ALL ON RECOVERY.GOV!!!

"Cold War Era" weapons programs gone. Okay, so what do we REPLACE them with?

Notice, so far, NOT A WORD on defense. All this will be wonderful, so long as we don't get hit with "9/11 II", or, God forbid, beyond.

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"Not one single dime." Wonder how many people making between $250,000 and $500,000 owns small business and are about to get "gouged", now that they've been branded "rich"? I don't know a lot of people that make more than $250K that isn't either an owner or seriously invested in the company where they hang their hat, do you?

Americans-----PLEASE, PLEASE think for yourselves when it comes to the "definition of the rich".

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Yikes! We won't allow terrorists to plot attacks in safe havens halfway around the world. Do you realize what that means??? Did you see all the Democrats clapping?? That means CONTINUAL WAR for the FORESEEABLE FUTURE, FRIENDS! Don't you get it? Don't you understand?

And that's the reality of war that could never be wiped away by the campaign slogan, "ending the war in Iraq". There are people in that hall tonight simply not thinking. They're listening to soundbites and responding like Pavlov's dog to make sure they're doing the politically expedient "thing" if the camera comes upon them.

And DON'T get me started on "The United States does not torture......"

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Time for the conclusion.

Bank CEO in Miami shares wealth. Private citizen; private decision. That rocks!!!!

"We are not quitters."-----The Bible says "...out of the mouth of babes...."
Great story, and yes, government can answer the need and cry of a neglected public school system.

5!!!

And 51 minutes later, we're done. Let the pundits with cameras begin. :)

WHOSE recession??????

As usual, my first blog love hits the nail on the head regarding the first essential element of the house of cards that created the economic mess we are in.

As opposed to people like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, my girl uses FACTS to prove her point.

WHO warned us about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

WHO praised them for almost a decade?

Moby Rebuttal brings the facts; you decide. Click the title above for the TRUTH!

The Truman Papers.......

Since there are no sex scandals or 18 1/2 minute gaps, you won't see this in the headlines, but for history buffs, 24,000 pages of former First Lady Bess Truman's papers were released recently.

Click the title for the article. Surely this was the last "common" man with some good sense to be our nation's President.

And before you go nuts on me over our current President, my use of the word "common" is used under the connotation of someone who did not use power, money, "party influence", a family name, a Hollywood career, a father's huge fortune, or elements of the Chicago political machine to be President.

No "common" man or woman, under this definition, will ever be President again, thanks to all that being forever linked to the process of becoming the Chief Executive.

And that's a shame.

THIS is why TV breaks into Oprah and Dr. Phil for weather.......

Watch this video---live coverage of a tornado on the ground near Oklahoma City today, beginning near a middle school, proceeding toward an interstate.

I tire of reading blogs and people's comments at Richmona media Web sites complaining of how the meteorologists break into their favorite shows to talk about "breaking weather that's nowhere near me".

Deal with it.

Your community is one of many served by any television station. And if ONE life can be saved by pre-empting Jeopardy, then so be it.

If my child were at this middle school, or my wife commuting on I-35, I'd be grateful to this station for their service, and MOST especially if I lived just the other side of I-35.

Greatest Super Bowl?

Ah, sorry Peter. Not even close.

Last night's Super Bowl (in spite of Roger Goodell's pronouncement at the trophy ceremony that the NFL somehow topped last year's game) was NOT the greatest of the 43 played.

It reminded me of Super Bowl 38, when a slow, plodding first half between New England and Carolina turned into a good game in the 3rd quarter, and a classic, mind-boggling 4th quarter. (Remember, don't go for two unless absolutely necessary!)

The first half was decent, but got a huge exclamation point with James Harrison's record-setting INT return for a TD. That changes many people's perspective on the entire half, and it shouldn't.

There was a point in the 3rd quarter where I thought Pittsburgh was almost ready to put it away, but credit Arizona's defense for the TWO goal line stands resulting in a 20-7 score after three, rather than 24-7.

The fourth quarter was nuts. Classic II, throwback to five years ago. Both Fitzgerald and Holmes putting on receiving clinics. It was so much fun to watch.

But all this has me thinking......what are the "greatest" Super Bowls of all time? Here are my five, counting down.....

FIRST, the honorable mentions, in no order.

Super Bowl 42: Greatest upset. Period.
Super Bowl 3: Second most important game in football history (after the '58 NFL Championship)
Super Bowl 32: Elway helicopters his way past the Packers and out of futility.
Super Bowl 10: A sloppy game that stayed close and gave us a Hail Mary ending.
Super Bowl 23: An overrated game, with a great winning TD drive from Joe Montana.
Super Bowl 16: The second half of the first SF/Cincy matchup is highly underrated and mostly forgotten, but shouldn't be.

NOW.......(well, there will be six in the five slots....)

5) Super Bowl 34: St. Louis completes the miracle season with the 23-16 win over Tennessee. Caught most of the 2nd half of this game on NFL Network last week. I had forgotten how the flow of that half unfolded. And not just the Warner story, but the Mike Jones play, leaving Tennessee one yard short. I never did understand why McNair didn't throw it into the end zone. McNair's performance in that fourth quarter was off the chart.

4) Super Bowl 38 and 43 (tie): For the reasons unveiled above. Two fourth quarter classics create fantastic finishes.

3) Super Bowl 13: In my eyes, the game that changed the Super Bowl into "an event", rather than just a "championship sporting event". Pittsburgh vs. Dallas II, Bradshaw vs. Staubach, Hollywood Henderson's mouth, Swann's classic catch for a TD, Dallas' frantic comeback from 18 down, Jackie Smith's TD drop, all the drama you could ask for was in that game. Super Bowl I wasn't even known as Super Bowl I until after the fact. Super Bowl III was stunning. But Super Bowl XIII was the first "Super" Super Bowl.

2) Super Bowl 36: Against the backdrop of a nation still reeling from 9/11, with Paul McCartney and U2 bringing the nation hope, a then HUGE underdog Patriot team comes in, makes the now memorable "team" entrance, stops the "greatest show on turf", and punches right back after Warner and Company scored the tying TD. John Madden said at the time it would be smart for the Pats to prepare for overtime. Good thing for Tom Brady he had his coach on the in-helmet speaker. This young guy from nowhere moves his team down the field and Adam Vinatieri calmly nails the winning FG (from 47 yards no less!) for the Super upset.

1) Super Bowl 25: I will be accused of being biased due to me being a Giants fan. But note, Super Bowl 42 isn't in the top five, and I've been a Raider fan even longer and none of their Super Bowls made the list (no cliffhangers....but lots of Cliff Branch!) So, hear (read) me out......

It's early 1991, and America is less than ten days removed from entering Operation Desert Storm. Whitney Houston's rendition of our National Anthem is still the greatest I've ever heard. The nation was at a critical moment.

Enter two football teams from different roads. Buffalo had been building and building into a team capable of winning it all, and 1990 had seemed to be their year. The fast-paced offense, a defeat of their Super Bowl foes in the regular season (the game where Phil Simms blew out his knee), and a complete blowout of the Raiders in the AFC Championship.

Then there's the New York Giants. Someone forgot to tell them that the 49ers were supposed to be going for the "three-peat", because the Giants traveled west, and shocked San Francisco to become the party crasher.

So the Giants come onto the field a decisive underdog to the Buffalo Bills. Somehow, Jeff Hostetler had handled the pressure of having to rally the team behind him and he was the starting QB in Tampa that Sunday night, having led them through the playoffs.

The game was close all the way, many critical moments that could have decided it, but two drives will forever be etched in Super Bowl history.

---If you are a running football team, and you are playing a team with a prolific offense, the blueprint for a drive is the opening drive of the 3rd quarter for the New York Giants. 14 plays, 75 yards. 5 passes, 9 runs, taking 9:29 off the clock. The Giants now had the lead at 17-12 after being down 12-3. Buffalo didn't run an offensive play until nearly 10 minutes of the 3rd quarter were gone.

---The final drive. First, the set-up. Buffalo scores the go-ahead TD on the first play of the fourth. The Giants proceed to run another long drive....13 plays, 74 yards, taking another 7:32 off the clock, kicking a field goal to go up 20-19. They exchange drives, setting up Buffalo at their own 10, 2:16 to go.

Jim Kelly has to scramble for yardage three times on the drive, and two huge "shotgun draws" to Thurman Thomas get the Bills to the Giants 29 with eight seconds left.

We all know the next play. The underdogs survive, the backup quarterback comes through and the 20-19 upset was a final.

THAT is the greatest Super Bowl of all time.

What's your pick? :)

Super Bowl XLIII

My brain says "Steelers 30, Cardinals 17"

My heart says "Cardinals 32, Steelers 25"


GO CARDINALS!!!

(P.S.---Kudos to Jennifer Hudson on a fantastic rendition of our National Anthem!!)