Thought police

According to a United States Senator, no person should be allowed to have an independent thought.

Link.

One doesn’t expect excessive amounts of wisdom from Sen. Jim Demint (R-SC), the troglodyte who recently told an audience, according to the Spartanburg Herald, that “if someone is openly homosexual or if an unmarried woman sleeps with her boyfriend, then that person shouldn't be allowed in the classroom,” but this is a new level of stupid. When asked to comment on Gov. Mitch Daniels’ suggestion that it’s time for détente in the culture war, Demint tells Fox News that one “can’t be a fiscal conservative and not be a social conservative.” Check out the video here, via Allahpundit (skip about 3 minutes in).

"Hoist with your own petard"

Definition: "Injured by the device that you intended to use to injure others."

Latest example.

Another recount

Just shoot me.

Minnesotans Wednesday woke up to a repeat of their long nightmare - a statewide race with a margin that leads straight into the depths of a recount.

Fire Childress

I said this same thing to people yesterday: He has lost the locker room. Once that happens, it is over.

On Monday afternoon, Minnesota coach Brad Childress lost whatever remaining control he had ver the Vikings locker room. In his own way, Childress has become the Captain from “Cool Hand Luke,” a smarmy, cruel and vindictive person. Yeah, he runs the show, but there is no respect.

Sports teams

My professional baseball team was swept by the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs for the umpteenth time.

My professional football team gets the least out of overwhelming talent that is theoretically possible, and loses game after game that it had every chance to win. And the coach is brain-dead.

My college football team is so bad that it fired its coach halfway through the season.

My professional basketball team: "As of right now, we're the worst team in the NBA."

Being a sports fan is a curse.

Fire Childress

The man might be able to evaluate talent, but he does not know how to coach a football team. Today, there were 2 minutes left in the game and we needed two scores. The only chance was a quick strike, and a successful onside kick. Slim chance, of course, but not no chance. So what does he do? - calls for short passes. He will say that you have to take what the defense gives you. But the defense gives that to you only because you can't possible win if you take it. Sometimes, you have to try to take something from the defense. He is an idiot.

Storm of the Century

I have never expereienced anything like the storm we had on Tuesday. There were Category 3 hurricane level sustained winds. Our neighbors 6"foot wood fence was destroyed. (I think our fence survived only because there are gaps between the slats that allowed the wind to get through.) When I was driving the car home from work, I had to fight the steering wheel to keep it on the road. We were without power, water, or heat for almost 24 hours. It has already been dubbed "The Storm of the Century."

Not good

Link.

A RUSSIAN police officer hit three girls with his car while driving drunk in Siberia and one was killed after being run over by the ambulance sent to treat them.

Cool photo

For the record

The Vikings traded for the return of Randy Moss today. For the record, I was in favor of this move 4 years ago. And I still like it now.

ALDS

Twins vs. Yankees (good vs. evil) starts tonight at Target Field. I was lucky enough to stumble upon a couple of tickets for tonight, and my wife and I are looking forward to it with great anticipation. The atmosphere is going to be like nothing I have experienced since the World Series in 1991. And the weather is going to be perfect.

I need to think good thoughts, so I have been watching this a lot.

Gliese 581g

This is fascinating.

Washington, D.C. - infoZine - A team of planet hunters led by astronomers at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz), and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA, has announced the discovery of an Earth-sized planet (three times the mass of Earth) orbiting a nearby star at a distance that places it squarely in the middle of the star's "habitable zone," where liquid water could exist on the planet's surface. If confirmed, this would be the most Earth-like exoplanet yet discovered and the first strong case for a potentially habitable one.

Will we visit that planet in my lifetime?

Gopher football

Once upon a time, the Minnesota Golden Gophers were a national powerhouse in football. Now, with a beautiful new on-campus stadium that should make recruiting easy, they are a complete joke under the reign of a guy that was hired because he was supposed to be able to recruit.

On Sunday sitting in the clubhouse after a nice fall round of golf, I said that that the Gophers should target either Tony Dungy or Marc Trestman. I guess that I should write a sports column.

Tim Brewster is still the University of Minnesota football coach. But if there is a change, speculation will immediately focus on two former Gophers quarterbacks, Tony Dungy and Marc Trestman.

And count on it — Dungy will be the first person contacted, as he was after the Gophers fired Glen Mason. . .

Trestman, who is from St. Louis Park, coached the Montreal Alouettes to the Grey Cup championship in his first season two years ago. Last season, Trestman took Montreal to the Grey Cup finals. This season, the Alouettes are 9-3 and in first place in the Canadian Football League's East Division.

Suggesting the obvious

I'm not trying to find humor in this story; it is obviously tragic. But the odds are that it was a spectacular suicide, right?

Cool SI cover and story

Link to SI story here.

Link to video of HR described in story here.

Twins win again

I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon at Target Field with my brother in his regular seats. First row, behind home plate. It was awesome. I took this pregame picture while in my seat, and it barely conveys the awesomeness of being so close.

I continue to marvel at how they did everything so right with this ballpark. This year, I have been in the upper deck in left field (2), lower deck on the third base line (1), in a suite (3) and, today, directly behind home plate. The views are obviously different from everywhere, but they are all magnificent. When the Twins were at the Metrodome, I would rather watch on TV than go to the game. Things are completely different now.

Today, with a lineup filled with guys who will not be on the post-season roster, the Twins won again. I am an eternal pessimist when it comes to my sports teams, but this team seems to have a special magic. I just hope that they can continue that magic for 6 more weeks.

Twins headlines from last night

Competing headlines at ESPN.com.

Twins nip White Sox

Twins Dominate White Sox, 9-3

Make up your mind.

It is all about me

This woman is a piece of work. Just look at the picture, and you will know everything that you need to about her vanity.

Twins win

I went to my 5th Twins game at Target Field last night, and I'm now 4-1. Unfortunately, I didn't get to stay for the whole game. In the 8th, my daughter told me that she was sleepy, the Tigers had just tied the game, and I thought that it could go on for a long time. So I hurried home and was there by the bottom of the 9th. After missing in person but seeing on TV this exciting walk-off in the 10th, I told her to go to bed. "But Daddy, I'm not tired." Daddy was not happy with her.

Odd story

Link.

Sometime in the past 50 years, Wisconsin lost a couple of
islands.

Minnesota found them and, like a good neighbor, is giving them back.