Colorado - Nebraska

Wow.  That touchdown Nebraska just gave up to Colorado has to be one of the most embarrassing special teams plays ever run.  Can’t wait til it hits YouTube.

UPDATE and BUMP: It’s finally up on YouTube.  Nebraska’s lucky they won, so they don’t have to answer for this play call.

Plaxico Burress Shoots Himself in the Thigh

On the bright side, Dallas’ chances are improving in the NFC East.

Super Bowl hero Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the right thigh and spent the night in the hospital, another dramatic turn in a tumultuous season in which the star New York Giants receiver has been fined and suspended.

The Giants said the shooting happened Friday night and he was released from the hospital early Saturday. The team did not say which hospital Burress went to or how badly he was injured.

However, a team official told The Associated Press that Burress shot himself in a nightclub. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the team was still trying to sort out all the facts.

Obama To Nominate Clinton on Monday

Serious question here… can Obama “nominate” anyone before he is actually the president?

President-elect Barack Obama planned to nominate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as his secretary of state on Monday, transforming a once-bitter political rivalry into a high-level strategic and diplomatic partnership.

Sure The Citizens Don’t Want It, But Let’s Raise Taxes Anyway

First this.

As the economy tanks, Wisconsin residents overwhelmingly oppose raising taxes on businesses, according to a poll released Friday by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.

The telephone poll of 600 residents, conducted the second week in November, showed that 73% of the respondents opposed tax increases for businesses while 19% favored them.

But who cares, right? 

Staring at a multibillion-dollar deficit, some elected officials are asking whether all exemptions from the 5% sales tax are justified - exemptions that include legal services, veterinary care for pets, health club memberships and cloth-diaper businesses.

A state Department of Revenue report says sales tax exemptions total more than $3.7 billion annually - or close to the $4 billion the sales tax is expected to bring in this year. Because of the sagging economy, sales tax collections are expected to drop this year for what may be the first time in Wisconsin history.

No one wants to end the most popular tax breaks - on food and beverages, saving consumers an estimated $550 million a year; on services from health care professionals, valued at $495 million; or on prescription drugs and medicines, saving an estimated $116 million.

But legislators such as Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) say it’s time to reconsider some of the tax breaks that don’t make life-or-death differences at a time Gov. Jim Doyle says the two-year deficit is $5.4 billion..

That’s a tax increase folks.  Coming soon to a state near you.

Mumbai Attack Was Well Organized

This is extremely disturbing.

All the signs, officials say, point to a well-planned action carried out by a highly trained, determined group.

The men appeared to have surveyed their targets in advance and were well-versed in the use of weapons and explosives, a Indian commando said.

Their intention, he said, was “to create and spread terror”.

Investigators believe that a large group of men arrived in Mumbai from the sea around 2100 local time.

They believe that a larger ship - possibly a hijacked vessel, possibly an accomplice ship - brought them close to the shore before they switched to smaller dinghies.

Once ashore, they split into two-, three- and four-man groups to attack pre-selected targets.

Several of the attackers were caught on CCTV. Footage showed mainly young men, carrying automatic weapons and large rucksacks.

Officials said the rucksacks contained grenades, extra ammunition, plastic explosives and food supplies.

The carnage in Mumbai is truly terrible.  But even more troubling is the nature of the attack.  This was not a bunch of unorganized terrorists in a haphazard attack.  This was well planned, well financed, sustained for days, organized, attack by well trained and disciplined terrorists.  As I see it, this indicates one of two things.  Either this was an attack backed by a government (probably Pakistan or Iran) intended to hit India, or this attack indicates new sophisticated tactics by terror groups.  Neither scenario gives me any warm fuzzies. 

Macy’s Parade Rickrolled

Citing Economy, UW Cuts Raises In Half

It’s a step in the right direction.

Citing what has been called the worst budget crisis in state history, University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly today cut in half - from 5.2% to 2.5% - his recommendation for annual pay raises for faculty and academic staff.

“For now, we must demonstrate that our public university is sensitive to the public’s dire financial situation,” Reilly said in a statement.

In 2006, the UW Board of Regents recommended annual raises of 5.2%, citing research that UW System academic salaries were about 10% lower than on competing campuses. The Legislature and Gov. Jim Doyle ultimately approved pay raises of 2% in the first year of the current budget, and 3% in the second year.

Of course, a wage freeze would be even better. 

First Shot

Phelony took a shot.  It’s always wonderful to see a new hunter learn the sport.

So my point is as follows. Today was the first time I ever even took a shot at a deer. Let alone a nicely sized buck. I’m one shot closer to getting mine.... but it was a really cool first.

Congrats, Phelony. 

Thankful?

The media seems hell bent on telling us that we have little for which to be thankful.  I heartily disagree.  I’m healthy (relatively), happy, loved, in love, free (relatively), have a full belly, have a roof over my head, get to watch the Cowboys win, get to watch the Lions lose, have a great job, get to spend time with family, am saved by my Lord, and on and on and on.  Every year I have so much to be thankful for that I can scarcely stay awake while lying on the couch watching football. 

For what are you thankful?

7.5% of Wisconsinites Never Heard of Brett Favre?

Capper finally makes a good point.

The surprising thing are the actual breakdown of stats (emphasis mine):

“Brett Favre” (600 total responses)

Favorable 47.8% (287 responses)
Unfavorable 24.0% (144)
No opinion 20.6% (124)
Never heard of 7.5% (45)

After 16 years of playing with the Packers, including two SuperBowl appearances and one SuperBowl ring, and the years of will he/won’t he retire nonsense, and the heavy, and I do mean heavy, media saturation over the summer with the retirement/unretirement/trade to the Jets, how the hell did 7.5% of the people not even hear of Brett Favre?

Bruce Lee Plays Ping Pong with Nunchucks

Here’s something you don’t see every day.  It’s part of a Nokia commercial, so it’s probably fake.

Alter Bridge—Watch Over You

Cocaine

Union Kills More Jobs

What a shame.

Company officials said the long-time Racine construction supply company at 1720 Taylor Ave. will close Dec. 20, just five months short of its century mark in business.

A funding shortfall in a Teamsters national pension fund, affecting just two employees, was the tipping point, Brannum President and minority owner Dale Anderson said Monday.

However, he said the forecast for Brannum was already cloudy because of how the local building products industry was affecting the firm.

Ironically, business has been up since August, said company General Manager John Burgess — who is also a grandson of company founder James Brannum.

[...]

But in the end, he said the small company, which has just two union employees, was torpedoed by the same issue that spawned a six-week August-September garbage haulers strike in this area.

That issue is the vastly underfunded Teamsters Central States Pension Fund which was placed under federal government oversight in 2005. The fund’s appointed special counsel, Frank McGarr, reported on Aug. 1 this year that the fund is on critical, or “red zone,” status, the most-endangered classification.

By federal law, when a union pension is underfunded, that liability is split among all employers of those collective bargaining groups. If a company closes or a union local leaves the union, the company must pay that liability, Teamsters Local 43 Secretary-Treasurer Jerry Jacobs confirmed.

[...]

Dale Anderson said Brannum’s latest “withdrawal liability” to the Teamsters pension fund, based on its total liability last Dec. 31, was about $197,000. That would be his cost if Brannum closed this year. “That itself is a lot for a small company like us to handle,” he said.

“But if we went into ‘09 by just one minute,” Anderson continued, the withdrawal obligation would be set by the Teamsters fund shortfall on Dec. 31, 2008. That’s where this year’s horrific stock market would raid the Brannum owners’ pockets, because market losses have deflated pension funds nationwide.

By waiting, Anderson estimated, Brannum’s withdrawal cost could jump to somewhere between $300,000 and $400,000.

Even if the two Brannum employees wanted to get out of the Teamsters, Anderson said, his lawyer tells him there would be no way for the local to decertify this year.

Hat tip Charlie Sykes.

Thanksgiving 2008

Have a happy Thanksgiving, y’all.  Be sure to save a pumpkin pie for me.