Theocracy freakout in 5...4...3...2...

We think its safe to say that the rabid-ness of a fan base’s devotion to its team is directly proportional to the creepiness of what is hung on its walls or placed on the mantle.

It doesn’t surprise us then that the diorama you see below is for the unbridled Kentucky Wildcat in you. Yes, they are offering this testament to your passion for Kentucky hoops for only $1,000 and yes, that is indeed a real cat that has been taxidermed(?) by Stuffman of Hoot-N-Nannies Taxidermy.




Read all about it plus the wonderful commenting, here, at DeadSpin.

H/T: AOL Fanhouse

Video of the day

Mongo was kind enough to pass along this video of some Afghan soldiers prepping for battle with the comment: "And then he had to get to 7-11 for some Doritos".

Theocracy Rescue

...while we're at the family compound with family celebrating Thanksgiving. Don't ask... just eat.


The Government proposes a revamped drug policy... crackheads hopeful.

KT has more here.

Radio KBwD is on the Air

With over 3,500 songs loaded onto our iPod, this song popped twice this past week... we figured it was a sign.

You know the artist… or at least one of the artists but you may not know the song. This duet is a re-uniting of sorts of the Cherokee Cowboys that also included Roger “King of the Road” Miller and Johnny Paycheck from back in the late '50s. We loved the sweet but sorrowful sound of this ballad.

Ladies and Gentlemen, from the great state of Texas, we are proud to present Willie Nelson and Ray Price (…and Crystal Gayle on backing vocals?) performing “Faded Love”.

Hooray! We've arrived!

"...within a centrally planned economic system, the distribution and allocation of all resources and goods would devolve onto a small group..."

Well, we're there. The wheels of our government are firmly in the rut of the road that Hayek describes.

B-Daddy who has been on a roll of late has more here.

I Got Mine! Pt. II

Warren Buffet is a big fan of the “estate tax” (aka the “death tax”) reasoning that dynastic wealth is not healthy for a democracy. We had some thoughts on Buffett and the death tax, previously. But is he being hypocritical for the manner of his donations to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation?

All of this leaves me perplexed by the way Buffett is contributing the bulk of his assets to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffett has received excellent legal advice to guarantee that his contributions will not generate federal tax. This provokes the question: Why?
Buffett could give his fortune to the Gates Foundation in a manner which generates federal tax. This would leave less for the foundation but more for the federal fisc. Indeed, Bill Gates, like Warren Buffett, advocates retaining the federal estate tax. He too could leave his assets to his foundation in a fashion which would share part of those assets with Uncle Sam

On the surface, we’re inclined to give Buffett a pass on this as his reasoning for the death tax was based upon the federal government merely being that instrument which would prohibit the continuance of this supposed dynastic wealth. Buffett’s logic did not seem to account for the death tax serving as a way to line the government’s pocket.

However, given that charities these days often become tax shelters in themselves and which profer their largesse in the form of salaries to its executives (family members?) and board members as well as other goodies via “administrative fees”, any sort of black and white conclusion becomes difficult to attain.

We do however, strongly resent now more than ever, Buffett’s support of the death tax. The fact that the government can take half of what a man who has worked hard for (and which has already been taxed on the front end) and invested wisely in order to leave behind as a down payment on a house for his children or as tuition help for his grandchildren strikes us as the actions of an out-of-control government that needs to be taken out at the knees.

So, again.... Screw you, Buffett!

Know the President...sell a book.

“We had served together on the board of a foundation, knew one another as neighbors and family friends, held an initial fund-raiser at my house, where I’d made a small donation to his earliest political campaign” (from a new afterword in Bill Ayers' 2001 book "Fugative Days: Memoirs of an Antiwar Activist")

Now that the election is over and Bill Ayers has provided a little more clarity as to the extent of their relationship than what the President-elect perhaps recalls, the best perspective on this given the breezy treatment of the whole episode is given by HotAir commenter, clnurnberg:

"Ayers is officially downgraded to a cool human interest story, 'Isn’t it neat that the president knows rebels like this? It’s practically Che!'"

P.S. By the time you read this, Ayers will have been on Good Morning America to plug his book.

Returning to some core competencies

OK. Here are the BCS standings and accompanying mystic numerology going into this weekend’s action with the Top 10 below:

1. Alabama .9814
2. Texas Tech .9715
3. Texas .8798
4. Florida . 8640
5. Oklahoma .8444
6. USC .7896
7. Utah .7692
8. Penn St. .6839
9. Boise St. .6783
10. Georgia .6156

At this point, ‘Bama, Texas Tech and Florida control their own destiny, everybody else is going to need some help. Potential regular “trip-ups” prior to the SEC and Big 12 championship games are Alabama at home to Miss. St. on Saturday, Florida at home Saturday to the Gators’ ol’ ball coach Steve Spurrier and South Carolina and then on the road Nov. 29 vs. a resurgent 19th-ranked Florida State. Texas Tech will play its own elimination game against Oklahoma on Nov. 22 at Oklahoma. BCS honchos are indeed praying for a “win out” scenario as it’s the least chaotic, although we know that’s not going to happen.

Some other thoughts:

At what point does the BCS start introducing some conflicts of interest? Take this weekend’s matchup of #7-ranked Utah vs. lowly San Diego State where State stands to lose $500,000 if they beat Utah. Utah, if it beats State and then No. 17 BYU next Saturday stands to play in a BCS bowl game which will result in a $9 million windfall for the Mountain West Conference of which $ 4 mil would be Utah’s take with the balance split between the other conference schools of which State is a member. Of course, we’re not suggesting anything untoward, but $ 500 large is not chump change to a struggling program like San Diego St and…. what’s one win against Utah in an already completely dismal 1-9 season? Stop it… stop it, right there.

Its faint, its quiet but for the first time you hear it. In the wake of Notre Dame’s “actually, could’ve been a lot worse” 17-0 loss at the hands of the hated little Catholics of Boston College, the mumblings regarding the fate of Charlie Weis’s coaching tenure at Notre Dame can be heard. Notre Dame is currently 5-4 with games remaining against at Navy, Syracuse and then out here on the coast against USC… so let’s just pencil them in for a bowl-eligible 7-5 (we’re being optimistic with that “win” against the mighty Midshipmen on Saturday). Upside: Weis could point to “progress” as their win total increased from 3 wins last season to 7 this season plus a bowl appearance. Downside: this season’s schedule was very manageable and many pre-season prognostications had them finishing with 9 wins. Bottom line: He is in year 3 of a 10-year contract. Our guess is that he is not going anywhere for a while.

Still not convinced that anyone plays any “D” in the Big 12. Take a look at some of these scores from last week. Half the conferences participants rang up scores of 35 points or more. Sorry, this shouldn’t be happening in the “best conference in the nation”.

Philip Fulmer is out at Tennessee after this season. Speculation is rampant on who will get the job. But is Tennessee a “good” job? Were not sure if Tennessee is a good job or not but it certainly is a strange job, at least in terms of its own conference. Tennessee is a football-crazy university in a state that is not necessarily football crazy. This puts it at odds with the other traditional powers in the SEC like Georgia, Florida and Alabama that are football-crazy institutions that also reside in football-crazy states that generate scads of Div. I-caliber talent that those respective schools do not have to cross state lines to recruit. As a result, Tennessee has always had to pursue a national recruiting strategy much like other schools that are in the same boat like Oklahoma, Nebraska and Notre Dame (actually, much of Oklahoma’s “national” recruiting strategy over the years has been the state of Texas). Former Raider head coach and USC offensive coordinator, Lane Kiffin is supposedly in the running and with his ties to the West Coast and particularly the fertile prep recruiting grounds of Southern California, Tennessee’s inherent recruiting strategy makes Kiffin an intriguing pick.

Enjoy the games tomorrow!

And in other news today...

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson doesn't hold press conference.... stocks rebound.

Your much anticipated post-Prop. 8 roundup

Cool, interactive maps of California displaying everything you would ever want to know about the fundraising and voting patterns state and countywide (L.A./Orange County) for the Proposition courtesy the L.A. Times here.

Instapundit has directed its readers to several posts at Gay Patriot (we love monolith-defying blog titles) whose central theme has been, “Where are the grown-ups?” Click on link and begin scrolling down.

And where are the grown-ups indeed? We keep reading about these protests that have been going on around the state since last week and wonder what it is that’s being protesting. We understand the No on 8 set may be angry, frustrated and may want to just blow off some steam but what is it exactly that they are protesting?

And wanting to vent and work out some angst is cool but this isn’t. The No on 8 crowd has a huge PR issue on their hands right now because of ugly incidents like the one in the linked video that took place in Palm Springs a couple of nights ago.

People will vote their conscious on what they believe to be principled grounds regarding Prop. 8… to a point. The point to which we refer is that tipping point when voters read about firefighters forced to participate in highly charged sexual events like the Gay Pride parade here in San Diego and the “teachable moments” of grade schoolers being taken to the same-sex wedding of their teacher or the treatment of the lady in the video and decide that “no, these are not the type of people I wish to support”.

Look at the video and ask yourself where they lost you. Was it the unrelenting in-your-face badgering of the woman? Was it the physical denial of that woman from being interviewed by the reporter? Or was it, possibly, where the woman appears to be knocked and/or shoved to where the cross she was carrying was loosed (or taken) from here grasp and then stomped on by these people?

Its sickening and it’s a shame. We have more than a handful of gay friends, acquaintances and co-workers and we know they would be disgusted by this. Rapidly disappearing, though, is the opportunity for any sort of rational civil discourse on the fate of same-sex marriage.

Inevitable

Some of this stuff is just like waiting for the other shoe to drop, anymore.

David Shuster, an anchor for the cable news network, said on air Monday that Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, had come forth and identified himself as the source of a Fox News Channel story saying Palin had mistakenly believed Africa was a country instead of a continent.

Eisenstadt identifies himself on a blog as a senior fellow at the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy. Yet neither he nor the institute exist; each is part of a hoax dreamed up by a filmmaker named Eitan Gorlin and his partner, Dan Mirvish, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

It would appear we have a “vetting” issue. But, wait… it gets better...

The hoax was limited to the identity of the source in the story about Palin — not the Fox News story itself. While Palin has denied that she mistook Africa for a country, the veracity of that report was not put in question by the revelation that Eisenstadt is a phony.

Fake but True…? It just never ends with these people. The degree by which their desire to play CYA over that of desiring journalistic integrity is staggering.

And before we go, the most pathetic excuse of the day:

And in July, Jonathan Stein of Mother Jones magazine blogged an item about Eisenstadt speaking on Iraqi television about a casino in Baghdad's "Green Zone."

Stein later realized he'd been had.

"Kudos to the inventor of this whole thing," Stein wrote. "My only consolation is that if I had as much time on my hands as he clearly does, I probably would have figured this out and saved myself a fair amount of embarrassment."

Full story here.