As if there needed to be another reason...

...for our nation to kick the UN the hell out of this country, try this one on for size:


NEW YORK — Without fanfare, the United Nations this week elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women, handing a four-year seat on the influential human rights body to a theocratic state in which stoning is enshrined in law and lashings are required for women judged "immodest."
Just days after Iran abandoned a high-profile bid for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, it began a covert campaign to claim a seat on the Commission on the Status of Women, which is "dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women," according to its website.
Buried 2,000 words deep in a U.N. press release distributed Wednesday on the filling of "vacancies in subsidiary bodies," was the stark announcement: Iran, along with representatives from 10 other nations, was "elected by acclamation," meaning that no open vote was requested or required by any member states — including the United States.
The U.S. currently holds one of the 45 seats on the body, a position set to expire in 2012. The U.S. Mission to the U.N. did not return requests for comment on whether it actively opposed elevating Iran to the women's commission.
Iran's election comes just a week after one of its senior clerics declared that women who wear revealing clothing are to blame for earthquakes, a statement that created an international uproar — but little affected their bid to become an international arbiter of women's rights.
"Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes," said the respected cleric, Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi.
As word of Iran's intention to join the women's commission came out, a group of Iranian activists circulated a petition to the U.N. asking that member states oppose its election.
"Iran's discriminatory laws demonstrate that the Islamic Republic does not believe in gender equality," reads the letter, signed by 214 activists and endorsed by over a dozen human rights bodies.
The letter draws a dark picture of the status of women in Iran: "women lack the ability to choose their husbands, have no independent right to education after marriage, no right to divorce, no right to child custody, have no protection from violent treatment in public spaces, are restricted by quotas for women's admission at universities, and are arrested, beaten, and imprisoned for peacefully seeking change of such laws."
The Commission on the Status of Women is supposed to conduct review of nations that violate women's rights, issue reports detailing their failings, and monitor their success in improving women's equality.
Yet critics of Iran's human rights record say the country has taken "every conceivable step" to deter women's equality.
"In the past year, it has arrested and jailed mothers of peaceful civil rights protesters," wrote three prominent democracy and human rights activists in an op-ed published online Tuesday by Foreign Policy Magazine.
"It has charged women who were seeking equality in the social sphere — as wives, daughters and mothers — with threatening national security, subjecting many to hours of harrowing interrogation. Its prison guards have beaten, tortured, sexually assaulted and raped female and male civil rights protesters."
Though it touts itself as "the principal global policy-making body" on women's rights, the makeup of the commission is mostly determined by geography and its membership is a hodge-podge of some human rights advocates (including the U.S., Japan, and Germany) and other nations with stark histories of rights violations.
.
The activists' letter sent to the U.N. Tuesday argued that it would be better if the Asian countries proffered only one candidate, instead of elevating Iran to the commission.
"We, a group of gender-equality activists, believe that for the sake of women's rights globally, an empty seat for the Asia group on (the commission) is much preferable to Iran's membership. We are writing to alert you to the highly negative ramifications of Iran’s membership in this international body."
A spokeswoman for the U.N.'s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, which oversees the commission, did not return phone calls or e-mails seeking comment. (courtesy FoxNews)

Do I really need to comment on this? The same people who bring you "observers" in the Congo that aparently observe nothing other than local rape customs, the same people that bring you global warming "experts" who are aparently only experts in creating fairy tales, and the same people that want you to think that Israel is only a good citizen of the world so long as they take every murder, every, bomb, and every protest their lazy Palestinian antagonists dish out without responce, now want you to believe that President Iamanutjob of Iran will bring greater equality to the world's women. I have a suggestion: let him start by working on Nancy Pelosi's equality.

______________________________

And now, our final Euro-hockey note: TPS Turku, 6th place finishers in the S-M Liiga's regular season, win their 11th Finnish championship with a 6-2 over HPK Hameenlimma. So if my memory serves, this means that out of 13 leagues we followed this season, only France, Switzerland, and Denmark had their season champion become their playoff champion. The curse of being best also hit the NHL with Washington's brilliant (hee hee) performance aginst 8th seeded Montreal. I'm sure we'll hear once again all that stuff about the Caps' "window of opportunity" closing. I don't know about the window closing this year, but the screen door sure did. Perhaps, if they had come into the playoffs without the expectation that the league's lower lights would roll over and die for them, they may have gotten farther. Clue fer you, Ovechkin and co.; you aren't the Yankees. Teams don't wilt at the drop of your name. You still need to play the game that brought you there. Until you learn how to play with the target on your back, you'll be on the golfcourse in May more often than not. Now, we'll have to see if the second place Blackhawks can learn the lesson too.

More adventures of the clueless.

Ready for a rousing game of "who's dumber"? Contestant #1 comes to us all the way from the U.K. Demonstrating an amazing ability to push the envelope on what can be said by a politician without having his resignation letter in hand, I give you British prime minister Gordon Brown:

Gordon Brown prostrated himself as a “penitent sinner” yesterday after a brush with a voter triggered a calamitous chain of events that threatened to derail Labour on the eve of tonight’s pivotal TV debate.
The Prime Minister spent an unscheduled 45 minutes inside the terraced house of Gillian Duffy apologising to the Labour-supporting widow for insulting her behind her back.
His muttered description of her as a “bigoted woman”, picked up by a microphone as he drove off from their combative but apparently friendly encounter, plunged Labour’s high command into its most serious crisis of the campaign.


A mortified Mr Brown issued six apologies over the next six hours, including one by e-mail to Labour supporters for letting them down. Despite saying sorry to Mrs Duffy over the telephone, he ignored aides and insisted on driving back to Rochdale from Manchester, abandoning his preparation for tonight’s third and final leaders’ debate, to atone in person for his blunder.
He emerged from her house smiling fixedly, saying that he had misunderstood her earlier words. But a more telling image showed him in a Manchester radio studio earlier, head in hands, the full horror of the episode dawning as he listened to a tape of his remarks.
The ghastly unfolding seemed unlikely when the pair parted on apparently good terms after a five-minute conversation in the street. Mr Brown told Mrs Duffy, 66, that it had been “very good” to meet her and she told journalists that she had found him “nice” and that he had won her vote.
But within seconds Mr Brown could be heard — courtesy of a Sky News microphone that he had worn for his walkabout — declaring their meeting a “disaster”, blaming aides for putting him in such a position, and describing Mrs Duffy as “a sort of bigoted woman”. He concluded, days into a new campaigning style in which he meets more real people: “It’s just ridiculous.”
His reaction was apparently sparked by a comment on immigrants, when she said: “All these Eastern Europeans what are coming in, where are they flocking from?”
“He’s an educated person. Why has he come out with words like that? He’s supposed to be leading the country and he’s calling an ordinary woman, who’s come up and asked questions, a bigot.”
Mr Brown’s aides said that when presented with a transcript he knew instantly that he had made a serious error. Their biggest challenge is to lift Mr Brown’s spirits before tonight’s 90-minute leaders’ debate in Birmingham. He was said to be distraught at the hurt he caused, primarily to Mrs Duffy but also to Labour’s re-election campaign. Party strategists had regarded the debate, the first half of which is to be devoted to the economy, as a chance to close the gap a week before polling day. (courtesy of the Times of London)

Contestant # 2 is an American born and raised, and one that fills me with such confidence for the upcoming football season. I give you Miami Dolphins general manager Jim Ireland:

DAVIE, Fla. -- Dolphins owner Stephen Ross will "take appropriate actions if necessary" against general manager Jeff Ireland for asking former Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant whether his mother was ever a prostitute.
Ireland apologized for the question, and the NFL players union raised concerns Wednesday about discrimination and degradation.
Ross issued a statement saying he'll look into the matter personally.
"As an owner of many companies and organizations, including the Miami Dolphins, I have always strived to comply with the highest standards in all aspects of my businesses, including recruiting," Ross said. "In interviewing employees, we always look to obtain relevant and appropriate information in adherence with the best industry practices."
An NFL statement said Ireland "exercised poor judgment in asking an insensitive and inappropriate question."
Ireland's apology came only after Yahoo! Sports reported that he posed the question several weeks ago during a pre-draft interview with Bryant.

"My job is to find out as much information as possible about a player that I'm considering drafting," Ireland said in a statement. "Sometimes that leads to asking in-depth questions. Having said that, I talked to Dez Bryant and told him I used poor judgment in one of the questions I asked him. I certainly meant no disrespect and apologized to him.
"I appreciate his acceptance of that apology, and I told him I wished him well as he embarks on his NFL career."
"My mom is not a prostitute," Bryant told Yahoo! Sports. As for his reaction to Ireland's question: "I got mad- - really mad -- but I didn't show it." (courtesy CBSSports.com)

"Yes, now this is very important to our determination of your ability to fit in with this team. Is your mother a hooker? What does she charge? Does she have a few friends?" For God's sake Ireland, Were you trying to learn information useful to the team or for your personal perversion?

I have to give the edge in sheer stupidity to Ireland; though in the p.m.'s favor, Brown has a long established propensity for such statements and a body of such work comparable to Joe Biden's. Either way, I think the main difference between them is that Brown will have plenty of aides to help him remove the foot from his mouth; I suspect Ireland should be a little more worried about where Stephen Ross' foot ends up.

And then there was one.

"Deadliest Catch" is done for another week, and its time to go to bed and dream of 40-hour weeks. Before that, though, congrats to Ak Bars Kazan, who blanked HC MVD 2-0 to win their second KHL title in a row. This leaves the last undecided European league Finland's S-M Liiga, as HPK Hameenlinna topped TPS Turku 2-1 to stay alive one more day. HPK trails the perennial powerhouse 3 to 1 in the series which I believe resumes tomorrow. More on the story then.

"Account suspended"-whaaat?

That's what I read went I went to international hockey forums, my font of euro-hockey info, to update the playoff scene. Not without resourcefulness, I and google translate made a tour of the various league websites and have news, if not the good details I was getting before. To wit:
Pardubice Eaton finished its 4-0 sweep over Vitkovice Steel to win its fifth overall and 2nd Czech Extraliga title.
HC Kosice beat Slovan Bratislava 4-2 in the Slovak Extraliga title series. That gives them 7 titles overall, 5 in the Slovak Extraliga, and three in a row.
In the Swedish Eliteserien, HV71 won the final game 3-2 in OT over Djurgarden to take its 4th title and second in three years.
In the Swiss National League A, SC Bern topped Geneve Servette 4-1 to come from a 2-0 deficit to win their 12th title in their 79th season.
In Germany, the underdog run of the 8th seeded Augsburger Panther is over, as the Scorpions of Hanover sweep the 3-game series to take their first DEL title. Hey, didya guess these guys are named after the rock band the Scorpions, who came from the area? No fooling!
Our only unfinished business is in the Finnish S-M Liga, where TPS Turku now holds a 3 to 0 lead over HPK; in the KHL, where Ak Bars came out of their coma to rout MVD 7-1 Sunday to tie the series at 3-3, Alexi Yemelin bagging a goal and 3 assists; and of course the NHL, which I'll look at closer in the rounds to come.
Hopefully, Alessandro, Karsten, and the rest will get the forum site up ad running again soon. Google translate is a marvelous thing, but it can give you a headache translating translate-speak into readable English!

NFL draft 2010

Here comes my brilliant statistical analysis of the draft, based on subjective judgements of the pick, its appropriateness to team and round, and weighted by round.


32. Chicago (5 picks), 9.840. Having no pick till the third round really hurts them.
31. Washington (6), 10.583. No second or third round picks, and low-value lower round choices.
30. St. Louis (11), 11.154. Even Sam Bradford can't skew this number much higher.
29.New England (13), 11.161. The team that needs nothing opts for developmental picks( i.e., guys that may make something of themselves in 3-4 years).
28.Jacksonville (6), 11.183. For a team hurting as bad attendance wise as this, this was a crappy draft.
27. Carolina (9), 11.611. Jimmy Clausen helped; Tony Pike 3 rounds later did not.
26. Buffalo (9), 11.511. C.J. Spillers can't make up for no big-gun qb.
25. Indianapolis (8), 11.875. Just like New England. It was nice of them to take a flier on local boy Ray Fischer, though.
24. Minnesota (8), 12.225. Toby Gerhardt helps this out.
23. Oakland (9), 12.367. Despite typical 1st-round blunder, still their best draft in a long time.
22.Atlanta (7), 12.543.
21. Denver (10), 12.660. Tebow? 1st round? Really?
20. San Francisco (8), 12.688. WR Kyle Williams projected to be in the mold of recent acquisition Ted Ginn. OOOOOOkay...
19. Pittsburgh (10), 12.720. I guess no qb drafted high is a good thing for Big Ben...
18. Tennessee (9), 12.900.
17. Philadelphia (13), 12.907. A lot of good positional players.
16. Houston (9), 13.o11.
15. Green Bay (7), 13.543.
14. Baltimore (7), 13.543. I gave Ravens the higher spot because I thought that their 2 second rounders were better than Green Bay's 1 first rounder.
13. Miami (8), 13.668. Nothing spectacular, just all pretty good. No Ted Ginns!
12. San Diego (6), 13.750. Ryan Mathews in the first round drags this down a bit.
11. Tampa Bay (8), 15.350. And boy did they need it.
10. Arizona (7), 15.471.
9. NY Giants (7), 15.543.
8. Dallas (6), 15.633. Dez Bryant? Wow. Say goodbye, Roy Williams, and mind the screen door.
7.Cleveland (7), 15.850. The difference Mike Holmgren can make.
6.New Orleans (6), 16.000. Many of the teams from here on are skewed by having few picks, most of them in the higher rounds.
5. Seattle (9), 16.422. And LenDell White? Leon Washington? This is insane!
4. Detroit (6), 17.417. The anti-New England. A busload of great picks can only scratch the surface of their needs.
3. Cincinnatti (9), 17.567. I think the joke is over.
2. NY Jets (4), 18.250. Good job, but really skewed by few picks and higher rounds.
1. Kansas City (7), 19.714. Unlike some analysts, I think Dexter McCluster is a great pick.

The big whine

I'm not the best at dealing with all this OT at work. The prospect of all-day Saturdays does not warm the cockles of my heart. The associated thought that we are awfully early in the season to be this busy isn't a comfort either. I find myself, as I often do, arguing at God (note "at", not "with") about the necessity and purpose of the situation. Now realizing that I am a born and raised smart a$$, God tends to deal with me on my level. I say, for example, "I thought you don't give (yes, I know that this is about temptation, but remember my context) a person more than they can handle." And God replies, "Yes. But I said nothing about giving them more than they are willing to handle." Or this morning, when I asked, "If all of this is preparing us to handle some disaster on the other side, what is it that is waiting there?" About 5 minutes later, the computer's fan started making a nice loud noise. After about 5 minutes of "Not this, too!!", I discovered that lifting up the back end and about an inch and dropping it cleared up the problem- for now.
Overall, though, I think I've done a lot better than other times in this situation. The only big rant and rave I had in all this came when I got picked for the "random" urine test for the third time since coming off lay-off in January. Not to mention, they wait until almost the moment I step out of the restroom at break to inform me. Which naturally leads to the rushed consumption of sickening amounts of water so that after an hour of waiting they got their sample- and could have had another one every 15 minutes for the next hour and a half.
My problem is when getting tired coincides with the next bit of bad news; and I will become very quiet, very bitter, and chew on the problem like it was a bone instead of just letting it go. It's always the stupid thing that gets me. The big things I can tell myself, just keep your mouth shut and move on. But all the big things will piggyback onto some idiotic incident that a person in their right mind wouldn't even notice.
That's when the argument at God begins anew, and I have a hard time with the part where I'm supposed to say, "I repent in dust and ashes." Does this all sound whiny? Yes, because it is. I know it now and I know it when it happens. I doubt there's a category you could find in which I rank in the top 5 billion in worst lives on earth. God has surely put us in a wide place, and just maybe I'm finally getting to the point where I'm recognizing that. But inside, it sure don't feel like it.
Uggh. I'd like to go to bed, but the Dolphins traded down to the Chargers' pick, and they're still 5 slots away. On the bright side, we can't possibly draft Ted Ginn again.

In shorthand...

...is probably how I'll be doing this for a while. In its infinite wisdom, Arden corp. has went out and got so many orders- I'll let you speculate on the benefits of overcommitment in today's economy- that at least this week we have a 10-hr Saturday staring us in the face. Happy? So much so I don't want to rant about it. Although I haven't really offended anybody over it yet, which is really good for me. Usually I wear the frustration on my short sleeves so everyone can see it and no one can stand me. For the most part, I've kept it in so far, and I'm the only one who can't stand me.

So, just for my relaxation, I'm going to update the Euro hockey situation. In the KHL, MVD has come back with tight 3-2 and 2-1 wins to knot their final with Ak Bars at 2-2. I hear Kazan has lost 2/3 of their best line (Morozov is still apparently whining about Thoreson's crack upside his head at the start of the last round) and their best line, featuring Niko Kapannen, is playing behind their best Russian line. Not making judgements here, just the facts, ma'am.
HV71 has managed to take a 2-1 lead over Djurgardens in the Swedish finals. In the Czech Rep., Pardubice is steamrolling Vitkovice Steel, up 3 games to 0, with former NHLer Petr Sykora having a big series. In Finland, #1 JYP was knocked out by #6 TPS Turku and #2 KalPa was schwocked by #5 HPK Hameenlima, setting up the all-upset final between Turku and HPK whilst the 1-4 seeds start golfing early.
In Slovakia, top seed Slovan Bratislava finally got on the board with a 2-1 win, but Kosice won the next night 3-2 in OT to take a 3-1 game lead in their finals. In Swiss National League A, Geneve Servette topped SC Bern 3-2 in OT to go up 3 games to 2 on the top seed.
In Germany, I'm sorry to say that Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg lost to Augsburger 3-2 to fall from the playoffs. The final started yesterday between the 8th seed Augsburger Panther and the 4th seed Hanover Scorpions. The Scorps sting first, 3-1 to take game one.
And we have two new champions to crown. In Denmark, SonderjyskE, from the tiny little bugsplot of Vojens (pop. 7714) in the south of the country (Sonderjysk meaning "southern Jutland") defeated AAB Aalborg 4-1 to sweep the four game set and add their third title to the ones won in 2006 and last year. And in Norway, the Oilers of Stavenger, in just their fifth season of existence, Blanks top seeded Valerenga Hockey 4-0 to win the GET-Ligaen title 4 games to 2. Stavenger was a team founded by Finnish immigrants in a city on Norway's southern tip, facing across the North Sea from England. Congrats, guys!

And finally, we are at four followers now! I can't always promise to be interesting, but at least I've mastered spell check. Thanks for following!

A whole lot of Sunday stuff.

First off, Laurie and I have returned to First Baptist. How does this happen? It started with a growing unease at being lost in a crowd not our own at Grace. Then, a few weeks before Easter I found and contacted my old fiend Rob Creek on Facebook. He said his family had returned there, the new pastor was really good, and we should join them there for Easter. In the meantime, we had heard a lot from other people about the pastor, David Trimble, as well, and how the church had went from about 100 at our pre-catastrophe peak down to 35 and was now back in the 80's. Then Shenan called and wanted to come out Easter weekend so she could go with us. Moments later, KC called and told us that pastor Trimble (a frequent customer of his at Mancino's) had invited him as well.


Returning there, we learned that many of those who left even before we did had returned as well- and that Trimble is a very good pastor. He sings, he laughs- when a baby screamed during his message, without batting an eye he said, "Who's grandbaby is that? and the place broke up. So, after attending again the next week, I sent this message to Pastor Chris Norman at Grace:





Dear Chris,
I wanted to let you know that Laurie and I are returning to First Baptist. We've given this a lot of thought, and there are several reasons. None of them have to do with anything that you or anyone at Grace have done or not done. A lot of it has to do with comfort level in a group you don't really fit in. Again, this is not on you; Grace is a big church and lends itself to being more involved with self-starters that have an easier time making friends. One of the things that connect Laurie and I is that neither one of us fit that definition. Another thing is that Grace is a church that by and large is a church driven by professional people (you might say management types) with a higher level of energy and resources than we have. Again, this is not a bad thing; however, it makes us a drain on you if you stop to meet us, and us left out if you don't. First Baptist is smaller, and more blue collar, as it were. Most importantly, as we have reviewed the situation, we have found that several of our old friends, who left First Baptist in the same time frame we did, have now returned. The circumstances of finding this out, and the invitations we received as a result, makes us feel that the time in our lives that Grace's blessings were meant for us is at an end and God is trying to put the FBC house back in order, and somehow we are a part of that plan. Also, I find that a more old time church with hymn-book music and one-and-out sermons are more beneficial to me personally. I'm trying hard not to make this sound like a critique; we all respond differently to different types of messages, and you are a very good teacher. I get more out of messages in which I find that one thing that attaches itself and speaks to me than I do series.
I want to personally thank you, for your patience, your enthusiasm, and the wonderful counselling that you provided during our sojourn with you. You encouraged me to put hard things in God's hands, and I appreciate that.I pray that God continues to bless the walk that all of you are taking at Grace. Keep in mind when you read this that what I'm basically saying is that God has made different kinds of churches for the different kind of people he made; and it is time for us to return to a church made for us. I know that God will do great things through you, and hope He has that in mind for us as well.

Our prayers will go with you.
Chris Martin





To which he replied:


Hey there, Chris. Thanks so much for the kind e-mail. I completely understand what you are saying, and I can certainly appreciate it. I pray for God’s blessings on you and Laurie and on First Baptist.

I have appreciated our interaction over the years, and I know you all want to serve God.

Blessings to you my friend.

Chris





Of course, as I write this, we missed church this week. 12-hr days and a nooner on Saturday really took it's toll; as services began at FBC, we were just struggling out of bed.





_________________________________________





The next thing of note is, did you see that the volcano I said might be the next big disaster has shut down air travel all over Europe- including President Obama's trip to the Polish president's funeral? You think God read my blog on that? I also make a more serious note of the far-from-widely-publicized quake in China that claimed over a thousand lives this week. The year of the earthquake rolls on.





__________________________________________


I found this picture on a blog I follow, thought you'd all like it.














__________________________________________
Finally, I was convinced in research last night that I should add the English Ice Hockey League (EIHL) to the Euro-leagues I follow. Coventry took the regular season with a 38-18 record; they lost in the playoff semis and it was #2 Belfast Giants who won their first championship in the perpetually-struggling British hockey scene. Now here's where it becomes typically British-backward. The first two rounds are best-of-twos (where if the games are split it becomes a total-goal series- a little soccer right here on ice). The championship, however, is a one-game, winner-take-all affair (unlike the rest of the world, which generally start at 2-of-3's or 3-of-5's and graduate to 4-of 7's). Belfast downed Cornwall in this match 3-2 to become the winner. Of course, in Jolly Ol', this isn't quite the end, as they have two more post season tourneys there. It is, however, the end of our coverage of the EIHL.

I also found a site dedicated to attendance figures of the Euro Leagues. It does not seem to have KHL updated past the teams that went on past the Quarterfinals, so no Lokomotiv and no Dinamo Riga. But at the point he was updated to, he had the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (Ger.) tops at a 5800 per game average (and Eisbaren Berlin the top draw at a 14,000 average), with the KHL second with a 5400 ave., the Czech Extraliga 3rd with 5200, Finland's S-M Liga 4th at 5000, and then dropping to the Austrian Erste Bank Hockey Liga at around 3300. The best draw of all the Euro teams, again discounting any KHLers who survived round one, were SC Bern from the Swiss National League A at over 16,000, followed by Eisbaren Berlin. Several teams in the Swedish, Finnish, and Russian second-tier leagues outdraw the smaller first tier leagues.

With nothing on the news to complain about tonight...

..it's time to update the Euro hockey scene. When last we met, it was Sunday, and My Lokomotiv team was ready to play it's semifinal clincher against MVD. MVD won that game 2-1 (hence my late report?) and it was the boys from Balashika who openned against Ak Bars in the Gagarin cup finals Thursday night. Ak Bars won a 3-2 match in which the pictured Dmitri Obukhov got the winner as Kazan came back from 2-1 down. This morning our time, Ak Bars made it a 2-0 lead with a 4-1 triumph which saw Obukhov get 2 more goals. I am informed that Ak Bars is actually Tatar for "snow leopard", while Barys (as in Astana) is the Kazakh phrase for the beast. Comparative linguistics here at Tilting at Windmills.

In other leagues, Djurgardens topped HV71 4-3 to win the openner of the Swedish final. The Czech final is set with HC Pardubice facing Vitkovice Steel, not sure when that gets underway as my Czech is a bit rusty. Both of the Finnish semifinals are knotted at 2 games apiece.

In Slovakia, #1 Slovan Bratislava is in trouble, having taken 5-2 and 6-3 losses to HC Kosice, a team that Bratislava finished 36 pts north of in the season standings. The Swiss finals are a game apiece; SC Bern took the openner 3-2 in a shootout and Geneve Servette wins game 2 5-4.

In Germany, Wolfsburg Grizzly Adams lost the first 2 games of the semis against #8 Augsburger Panthers 3-2 and 1-0 before winning game three 6-1 to stay alive. The winner will face the Scorpions of Hanover, who swept ERG Ingolstadt 6-0, 4-1, and 5-4 in an OT game that saw them rally from 4-1 down, starting with 2 goals less than 30 seconds apart in the second period.

In Denmark, Sonderjyske leads AAB 2 to 0 after 5-0 and 5-3 wins that saw Alexandr Macijevski rack up 5 goals and an assist. The Norway finals are knotted at 2 games apiece; Valerenga winning game one 5-4 and game three 5-0, and Stavenger Oilers taking game 2 4-3 and game 4 2-1 in OT.

And finally, we crown two champions to join Austria's Red Bull Salzburg at the head of the table. The Dragons of Rouen have won their 10th championship since 1992, coming from 2 games to none down to sweep the last 3 games from Angers 4-2, 6-1, and 4-2. And Asiago upset season champ Renon 3-2 so, 4-1, 3-2 and 5-2 to take their 4th Italian championship. Good work, guys!

Stupid by any standard.

From Fox News:

The National Day of Prayer, honored in the United States for more than a half-century, is unconstitutional, a federal judge in Wisconsin has ruled.
In a 66-page opinion issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb said the holiday violates the "establishment clause" of the First Amendment, which creates a separation of church and state.
"I understand that many may disagree with that conclusion and some may even view it as a criticism of prayer or those who pray," Crabb said in her opinion. "That is unfortunate. A determination that the government may not endorse a religious message is not a determination that the message itself is harmful, unimportant or undeserving of dissemination."
The opinion comes in a case filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based group of self-described "atheists" and "agnostics."
Crabb said her ruling is based on "relevant case law," and it does not prevent religious groups from organizing prayer services or prevent the President from discussing his views on prayer.
"The only issue decided in this case is that the federal government may not endorse prayer in a statute," Crabb said.

Even the idiots that view the establishment clause as a ban on religion, you have to really stretch to find where a day for multi-religious prayer is an establishment of religion. I am not in a mood to explain how much I despise left-leaning activist sociopaths in judicial robes tonight. Fortunately for me, the emperor(ess) has no clothes.

I'm not sold on Marshall

Really, Miami? 2 second round picks for Brandon Marshall? Let's rewind to the career of Brandon Marshall:

For all his talents on the field, Marshall has had several run-ins with police and visits to commissioner Roger Goodell's office to discuss his off-the-field behavior. He was suspended for the 2008 opener following a series of domestic disputes involving a former girlfriend.
In February, an emotional Marshall was a witness in the murder trial of Willie Clark, who was convicted in the 2007 drive-by slaying of Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams.
Last summer, Marshall was suspended by the team for throwing a tantrum at practice during training camp. The source of his frustration was twofold: he was upset with the team's medical staff for misdiagnosing a hip injury that required offseason surgery and he was displeased with his contract. (following courtesy CBS Sports.com)

Now, let's fast forward to a few weeks ago, right after Ronnie Brown's DUI:

Dolphins coach Tony Sparano expressed displeasure with RB Ronnie Brown, CB Will Allen, and DT Tony McDaniel after recent arrests."I'm obviously not happy with any of this," Sparano said. "Any time any player brings a negative light to the organization in any way, I'm not happy about it. Those things have been addressed." All three players were present for the team's voluntary workouts on Monday, and Sparano said the Dolphins will allow the legal process run its course before doling out disciplinary measures. Mar. 23 - 5:42 pm et (courtesy AP)

Sing along with me now: "One of these things is not like the other..." So why is it that Sparano signed off on this? Well, back up to a few days ago:

The Dolphins are looking for playmakers at wide receiver, but coach Tony Sparano didn’t sound like a man who’s eager to make a move for either of the two biggest names available — Terrell Owens and Brandon Marshall.“I don’t know if they make sense for our ballclub, one way or the other,” Sparano said Tuesday morning at the NFL Annual Meeting, adding that, “I’m happy with the group of players I have right now.” (courtesy NFL.com)

Huh? So what the heck's going on? Oh, yeah. Here it is:

But football czar Bill Parcells, who has final say on personnel matters in Miami, has never shied away from talented-but-troubled wide receivers, working with Terry Glenn in New England, Keyshawn Johnson in New York and Terrell Owens in Dallas. (again, CBS Sports.com)

Got it now. Sparano says, "Arrests bad". Tuna says, "Catch ball, good". That also explains this litle note:

Wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr.'s days with the Miami Dolphins could be numbered if the team can find someone interested in a player with just five touchdown catches since he was the No. 9 pick in 2007.
Citing two NFL executives as sources, The NFL Network reported Tuesday the Dolphins are looking to trade Ginn, but might have trouble finding many suitors. (Courtesy Palm Beach Post)

Any one remember that 2007 draft? I remember screaming, "Quinn! He said Quinn, didn't he? Tell me he didn't say Ginn!"

Now tell me, with Marshall in Miami and Brady Quinn in Denver (watching Orton play? Really?), that we haven't screwed up again.

Teacher- good; Union- bad

At first I was just going to moan about how we are so busy at work, the cutters have been put on 12-hr days and 6-hr Saturday this week. But here's something much more entertaining.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie refused to back down Tuesday from his demand that teachers take a pay freeze and start contributing to their health care benefits as the state teachers union declined to take action against a local boss who prayed for the governor's death.
Christie, a first-term Republican, told Fox News that he met with New Jersey Education Association Chief Barbara Keshishian on Monday to discuss the schools funding formula and an e-mail sent by Bergen County Education Association President Joe Coppola that mocked the governor.
In that e-mail to union leaders, Coppola proposed a plan of action to protest Christie's budget proposals, which call for teachers to take a one-year pay freeze and pay 1.5 percent of their salary toward their medical, dental and vision benefits.
At the end, he included the statement: "Dear Lord, you've taken away my favorite actor Patrick Swayze, my favorite actress Farrah Fawcett, my favorite singer Michael Jackson and my favorite salesman Billy Mayes. I just want you to know that Chris Christie is my favorite governor."
Keshishian apologized for the memo but refused to oblige Christie's request that Coppola be fired.
"If a member of my staff ... had said something like that about her, they'd be demanding his resignation. But you know what? They wouldn't have had to wait because I'd have fired him,' Christie said. He said Kershishian responded to the request by saying no.
"And she left my office, in a huff," he added.

Chris' take, and feel free to apply this everywhere: the best thing Obama could do to save this country's educational system would be to invalidate the charter of each and every teacher's union in this nation. Much like any other union, they have all strayed from their original purpose and now serve no purpose other than perpetuating the lazy in their jobs and make the executives rich at the expense of the rank and file (and, in this case, our nation and our children).

Today's thoughts.

Well, we made it through March without a major disaster, but April has shifted us to man-made crises. On top of mining disasters in China and West Virginia, today we get news of the crash of a plane en route to a commemoration of the WWII Katyn Massacre near Smolensk. The pilots ignored ATC instructions to divert due to fog. 97 people died including the President of Poland, his army chief of staff, the chief chaplain, the head of the national bank, the head of the national security office, the civil rights commissioner, deputies in parliament and the foriegn ministries, multiple presidential aides and lawmakers, and the woman whose firing in 1980 sparked the strikes that coalesced into Solidarity. A who's who of dignitaries unheard of since the sinking of the Titanic. Makes me wonder who gave the order for the pilots to ignore instructions to turn off from the North Smolensk airport to Minsk. Did the pilots choose on their own? Or was it President Lech Kaczynski, who was already flying in the face of decorum by attending without invite instead of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who was officially invited by his Russian counterpart Vladmir Putin? In the long run, I guess it doesn't matter to the dead, who now add their ghosts to the 22,000 Poles who died at Stalin's hands there in 1940.
"This is unbelievable — this tragic, cursed Katyn," Kaczynski's predecessor, Aleksander Kwasniewski, said on TVN24 television.
It is "a cursed place, horrible symbolism," he said. "It's hard to believe. You get chills down your spine."


My other thought today is on the court battle shaping up in Greenwood, Indiana. Briefly, the student body voted to retain the traditional openning prayer at their graduation this year. Voting against was Valedictorian-to-be Eric Workman, who took the case to that bastion of the little guy, the ACLU. Now my main beef is not about the fight per se, since we see this kind of lunacy all the time any more. Nor is it at this pseudo-intellectual Workman, who thinks himself more important than the rest of his class. In my day, a handfull of football players would have taken care of his arrogance. Here's what pisses me off, excuse the appropriate language. Here's a quote from the ALCU minion fighting the case:
Ken Falk, Workman's lawyer and the ACLU's legal director in Indiana, said he's surprised that anyone would fight back against such strong case law.
"You cannot have people's rights depend on majority rule — that's the whole purpose here — the majority cannot vote to establish religion," he said. "It's pretty straightforward. That just isn't allowed."
Say what? I thought this country was run on majority rule. Does this mean McCain is actually president and health care failed? Falk seems to miss the difference between the minority's rights being protected and being highlighted to the detriment of the majority. I remember about 95 years ago, a nation was established on just the principle Falk claims we must live by. It was called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, I'm sure you remember, it used to be in all the papers. It died an ignorant death in the 1990's due to the fact that the majority finally got tired of taking crap from a minority who thought they knew better and was willing to step on majority rights to prove it.
I'm not saying in that analogy that Falk is wrong. I'm sure that Obama and Reid and that... woman, Pelosi, would agree 100% with him. I'm just saying it's a shame Putin didn't invite Falk, et. al., to Katyn. Perhaps (if the plane landed safely), one of them might look around and say, "You know, this was done by a government just like the one, a society just like the one, we're trying to build. The Nazis were murdering Jews at the same time they discovered it, and even they were disgusted. Is this what we truly want?"
I doubt that any of them would see that, though. Odds are better with the plane crash.

_____________________

I wanted to add a couple of animal sightings today. Shenan spotted a muskrat in the river when I took her down the IPFW river walk last week. And this morning, Scrappy and I found a dead squirrel on the sidewalk up by the office. By his position, I'm guessing that he missed his branch way up in the tree, but not the ground below it. Either that, or he smoked and didn't watch his diet or exercise.

--------------

Finally, Salavat Yulaev goalie Oleg Tverdovsky (formerly of the Washington Caps) was called for a hooking penalty with under 5 minutes to go in a 1-1 game- the only penalty they drew the whole game. Just before the power play expired, Illya Nikulin scored to give Ak Bars the 2-1 win and 4-2 series win over the boys from Ufa. Ak Bars will go to the Gagarian cup finals for the second straight year.

Addendum to stupidity

I've done a little research into the Slovenian hockey situation. Basically, they have their own league with its own playoffs. But seeings as their two best teams, Acroni Jesenice and Olympija Ljubliana, play in Austria's Erste Banke League, they follow their playoffs with a round robin that pits the two against the four best Slovenian teams in their league in a round robin. I say "Slovenian" because their league includes a team from Serbia (go figure) and the Austrian Graz 89ers minor leaguers. Acroni and Ljubliana both finished a putrid 16-38 against the much better Austrian competition, but were the class of the Slovenian crop, especially after a strange custom that allows team-shuffling amongst the round robin team which led to a half dozen skaters from Mladi Jesenice (the second place finisher in the Slovenian season) going to Acroni. So Acroni won its bracket in the r-r and faced Tillda Olympija, the 5th place finisher in the Slovene regular season (the 4th place team was the Serbian entry, Partizan, and thus weren't invited despite losing in the playoff finals to Triglav, who stunk up the r-r). Acroni won this series and thus the Slovenian championship, leading to their foray into how not to celebrate.

__________________

While I was there, I decided to update the European playoffs. Sweden is down to #1 HV71 and #2 Djurgarden in the finals. Not too surprising for HV71, who've been winners and runners-up the last two years.
Czech Republic is still awaiting the winner of #4 Vitovice Steel and #7 Slavia Praha, the winner to play #3 Eaton Pardubice. Top team Plzen got dumped in the first round.
The #1 (JYP Jyvaskyla) and #2 (KalPa Kuopio) teams in the Finnish S-M Liga are still alive as the semis open.
In Slovakia, it's #1 Slovan Bratislava v. #3 HC Kosice in the finals.
Switzerland has a 1-2 final of SC Bern and Geneve Servette.
Denmark's final is also 1-2, Sonderjyske v. AAB.
Norway's #1 Valerenga Has a 1-0 lead in the finals against #3 Stavanger Oilers after a 5-4 win in the opener.
In the aforementioned Austrian EBEL, #2 Red Bull Salzburg wins the crown, dumping #4 Black Wings Linz 4 to 2, after spotting Linz the first 2 games.
Italy's Serie A finals have started, with #3 Asiago beating #1 Renon in the opener 3-2 on a shootout goal by Canadian Michael Henrich.
France's finals have a surprise going, with #3 Angers winning the first two games against top seed Rouen 2-1 and 4-2.
In Germany, the top two are out, with Eisbaren Berlin losing to #8 Augsburger Panthers and #2 Frankfurt Lions falling to #7 ERC Ingolstadt. The top ranked team left are the Wolfsburg Grizzly Adams at #3, and #4 Hanover rounds out the semifinalists.
And of course, the KHL. MVD wins a 3-1 game over Lokomotiv to tie the series at 3-3; Salavat and Ak Bars will go at it tomorrow with Kazan leading 3 to 2.

Stupidity in hockey

And now I know why I never posted on the Slovenian league.

JESENICE, Slovenia -- Six Slovenian ice hockey players who beat up their American coach after winning a league title were released by the team Thursday.
Mike Posma, a former American Hockey League player who took over as coach last year, was beaten up by his players Saturday following Acroni Jesenice's celebrations for winning the title. The 42-year-old New Jersey native was cut and bruised but not seriously injured.
The team denounced the incident Thursday and announced the end of the players' contracts. Club president Slavko Kanalec said the team was "shocked" and "strongly condemns" the incident.
The team said it also suspended further contract talks with Posma, who reportedly left Slovenia for the United States earlier Thursday.
Slovenian media say that both the six players and Posma were drunk while celebrating the team's third consecutive national league title.
The six players were reportedly angry at Posma because he allegedly told a 19-year-old backup goaltender to drive a car - even though he knew the man was drunk. The goaltender subsequently crashed the car.
The six then turned on the coach, reportedly beating him with wooden traffic signs that they found by the side of the road.
Earlier this week, five of the six players denied that they attacked Posma, claiming they attempted to convince the coach to go to the police and take the blame for the goaltender's accident.
The Slovenian public and team's fans warmly welcomed Posma when he took over as coach last November. He had previously coached rival Olimpija Ljubljana.
On Friday, Acroni Jesenice beat Olimpija to win its eighth Slovenian league title since the country's independence in 1991. Olimpija has won 11.
Posma played defense for the Utica Devils in the 1990-91 AHL season and later spent several seasons playing professional hockey in Switzerland and Germany.

Obviously, brains are no more a requirement to coach than they are to play.

_________________________

Salavat avoided elimination for a second night, as Alexander Radulov- all of the sudden a familiar name on this page- assisted on the game-tying goal by Igor Grigorenko halfway through the third and scored the winner with 1:16 left for a 2-1 victory over Ak Bars that tightens the series to 3 games to 2. Former and possibly forgiven thug Patrick Thoreson assisted on both goals.

And here we go...

...with the OT. 1 extra hour tonight, 2 tomorrow, and 1 on Friday, with 12 hour days starting next week. Here at Arden, we sacrifice our lives for your butt. (not the official company slogan, but I think it has potential.)

________________________________

In the KHL playoffs, Salavat stayed alive yesterday with a 4-2 win over Ak Bars. Alexander Radulov scored twice, including an empty-netter with 8 seconds left, to give Ufa their first win in the series, but it's still match-point for the boys from Kazan. Today, Lokomotiv followed up their 6-1 win two nights ago with a 4-0 whitewash of MVD. Each team managed only 20 shots, but Georgy Gelashvilli stopped all of his to give the Yaroslavl sextet a 3-2 series lead.

__________________________________

And a tip o' the hat to my Oakland Athletics. The opener Monday night was not a good one- Ben Sheets pitched like he hadn't played in a year, and Brad Ziegler showed the form that lost him the closer job last year. The fans booed owner Lew Wulff for threatening to move to San Jose, booed Milton Bradley because, well, he's an ass; Milton obliged by reacting to his multiple strikeouts by splintering his bat against the ground (with the bat, no doubt, screaming, "Hey, dumbass! You're the one swinging, I'm just along for the ride"), and finally Eric Chavez celebrating his debut as DH by going 0-fer-4. Last night, though, was a different story. Dallas Braden looked great, the 4 through 9 hitters for Seattle went 1-fer-24, Kurt Suzuki homered and Ichiro Suzuki got picked off first, and Mark Ellis singled in a run in the 10th for a 2-1 win. 1-1, baaabeee!

Openning day... look familiar?

Welcome to owning the Cubs, Tom Ricketts! Top of the first, a three run Marlon Byrd hr, to give you the requisite false hope. Then Carlos Zambrano gives up 6 runs on 5 hits, two walks, and a home run by rookie Jason Haywerth in his first MLB at-bat. Then you leave Zambrano in for the 2nd inning, and he promptly 1) hits the first batter; 2) covers first on an easy out, but sees the guy he hit going all the way to third and tries to cut him down with a throw that sails over 3rd Baseman Aramis Ramirez's head for the seventh run; and 3) promptly serves a gopher ball first pitch to next batter Brian McCann to make it 8-3. 1 1/3 innings, six hits, eight runs, two walks, a HBP and two long hrs. Add a little more false home on a Ramirez 2-run hr and let it simmer for a while. Top off by giving a bewildered Jeff Szmardjia a Zambrano-like 6- run inning to push it to 14-5 and even I've been amused enough.

_____________________________

Catching us up on KHL playoffs, Lokomotiv got beat in a sloppy 6-4 game Sunday, in which Evgeny Federov scored twice for MVD. But today, they evened the series back at 2 apiece with a 6-1 win. Richard Zednik scored twice, and my boy Josef Vasicek registered 3 assists. Not so rosy for top-ranked Salavat Yulaev today. They blow a 2-0 lead given them by Viktor Kozlov's pair of goals, with Ak Bars' Illya Nikulin tying the game at 1:18 remaining in regulation and losing on Nikita Alexeyev's goal 8:51 into OT, Ak Bars winning 3-2. Kazan now holds a 3-0 stranglehold on the boys from Ufa, making it look extremely likely that Salavat will have won their second straight regular-season title without making the finals either year.

McNabb to Redskins... hmmm...

My opinion here is, now we'll know where the rats were in Philly. Washington has had black qbs before, most notably Doug Williams. Never once have I heard the words "racism" and "Redskins" in the same sentence (except for idiots that think "Redskins" is demeaning to "native Americans.) If we hear the same stuff about "racists in Philly wanting me traded" etc., etc., in Washington, we can be reasonably sure that the problem wasn't racist white reporters and fans as it was the NFL's version (albeit a milder one) of baseball's Milton Bradley. My guess is, if you're that bothered about Rush Limbaugh buying a team you don't even play for, it's time you grow up and lose the chip on your shoulder. The money you guys make should buy a lot of "kiss my black butt, I don't hear you".

_________________

And Oakland designates Jack Cust (AKA the guy who hit 60% of your HRs the last 3 years) for assignment (translated: dumps him) to keep roster room for Eric Chavez (AKA the guy whose allegedly bad back has limited him to about a week's work in those 3 years), Coco Crisp (AKA I got it, I got it... oops, I broke my pinky. I think I'll start the year on the DL), and Daric Barton (AKA I could hit my weight... if I was anorexic). Let's see. Dump Cust, let Adam Kennedy go, give the #1 and #2 pitching spots to 2 guys who pitched 0 innings last year, and fail to fire what may be the single most incompetant manager in franchise history. Yeah, we're trying REEEEEEAL hard to compete this year. Thanks Billy Beane. I hope your summer is all wine and cheeses too.

once around Europe in hockey, week 2.

Today's KHL game saw the Patrick Thoreson-less Ak Bars Kazan down Salavat Yulaev 2-1 in a game won by Hannes Hyvonen in the fifth minute of OT. 3rd seeded Ak Bars now leads top-ranked Ufa 2 games to 0.

I decided to update the playoffs in the other Euro leagues. In Sweden's Eliteserien, the semis are set with HV71 facing Skelleftea AIK and Djurgarden against Linkoping.

In the Czech Extraliga, Mlada Boleslav awaits the winner of the Vitkovice Steel/Slavia Praha series in the final.

Slovakia's Extraliga is just into their semis, while Finland's SG-liga is still in the Quarters( after finishing their "pity-playoffs").

Switzerland's top league is still watching the Ev Zug/Geneve Servette semi to see who plays top ranked SC Bern in the finals.

Germany is about 2 games each into their quarterfinals. I know you'll be happy to hear that Wolfsburg's Grizzly Adams leads their matchup with DEG Metro Stars 2 to 0.

Denmark's finals will feature # 1 SonderjyskE vs. AAB.

Norway's final pits Valerenga against Stavanger.

In the Austrian Erste Bank Liga, Black Wings Linz, the 4th seed, leads #2 Red Bull Salzburg 2 to 0 after 3-2 and 6-4 wins.

In Italy, where one team's mascot ( a 13-year-old girl dressed as a wolf) was assaulted by an opposing player for "peeing" on their goal, both semifinals are within one game of being decided.

In France, Rouen has won their way to a matchup in the finals against either Angers or Briancon.

To give you an idea of relative importance here, according to the IIHF, these are the world rankings. Canada and Russia are 1-2, Finland 3, Sweden 4, USA 5, Czech Rep. 6, Slovakia 7, Switzerland 8. Belarus and Latvia (whose leagues I haven't followed since their best teams play in the KHL) are 9 & 10, Norway 11, Germany 12, Denmark 13, Austria 14, Italy 15, and France 16.

Guess what I saw!

Yes, a pheasant! On cty. rd. 1000 e, on the way home from work Thursday night . Not a very bright bird, he was near-oblivious as he almost walked into our path and followed that by almost getting clobbered by the guy coming the other way. I was a bit on the slow side, as my mind did a cartoon double take. "That's a pheasant. HEY, THAT'S A PHEASANT!" followed by "Omigod, Laurie did you see that?" about the time he was walking in front of the next car. Also, a few days back on Wallen I spotted a black squirrel. Scrappy in the meantime, not so lucky. Coming home from a walk last night, he decided to peek in a neighbor's window. You'd think he was going to look at the cat sitting in the window not a foot away; but no, he was evidently casing the joint and paid no mind to the cat, who got up and went to touch noses through the glass with him. By the time the cat had taken the 3 steps necessary, though, Scrappy had apparently satisfied himself with the lay of their living room and moved on.

___________________________________________

The KHL final four began yesterday with a familiar story for Lokomotiv. My boy Vasicek ties the game with 2:45 left to send it into OT. Some 8 minutes later, one of his teammates decided to prevent a goal by knocking the net loose, and Alexi Tsvetkov scored on the ensuing penalty shot to give MVD a 3-2 win in game one. Game two today also went into OT, with Alexander Gallimov tying the match at 1-1 late in the 3rd. But this time, it was Konstantin Rudenko for Lokomotiv with 28 seconds left in the 1st OT for a 2-1 win and a tied series.
In the meanwhile, the match in the east was a back and forth affair, with Ak Bars jumping out 2-0 early only to have Salavat Yulaev come right back to tie; then Dmitri Kazionov got the second of his 2 goals to put Ak Bars back on top. Again the top team in the KHL tied it up at 3-3, but Alexander Ridulov scored inside the last 9 minutes to give Ak Bars the 4-3 lead and eventually the win. But with 18 seconds to go, Ak Bars' Patrick Thoreson gave a check "to the head and neck" and received a game misconduct. That will mean he will miss the next game at least, and Kazan can ill-afford to lose the Swede, who put up 2 assists in the game.