Hmmm...US troops fire at freed hostage

Interesting quote from the Italian PM.

The prime minister added he had "immediately" summoned the US ambassador, adding he would have to "clarify the behaviour of the US troops for such a serious
incident, for which someone will have to take responsibility".

Definitely something to watch.

Reading through the rest of the article, the author chose an interesting juxtaposition, which I found morbidly humorous...

Two weeks ago, Ms Sgrena appeared in a video begging for help and urging
foreign troops to leave Iraq. In the emotional footage, a tense and tearful Ms Sgrena said: "You must end the occupation, it's the only way we can get out
of this situation. I'm counting on you."

Shortly after the video appeared, the Italian Senate voted to extend the country's military presence in Iraq.

We'll see exactly who Mr. B wants to hold accountable for what seems like an accident, it could get somewhat interesting.

Of course, DU'ers jump to the conclusion that this vindicates Eason Jordan, and that our men and women are "trigger happy bastards." The American Left ladies and gentlemen.

Kessel choses the maroon & mustard

As you may have guessed from the baby giving Phil the finger, he has turned his back on all of us loyal Bucky fans. Call him what you want, defend his decision, he is now a Gopher. No better than any other gopher, indeed worse because he is a product of our fair state. He is our Frankenstein.

I have heard a lot over the past few weeks about how we should supports him no matter what his decision, and that he will always be a Wisconsonite, and has the potential to be the greatest to ever come out of the state.

Screw that.

He is a Gopher now, and he deserves as much ire and bile as we reserve for every other gopher.

I have no doubt in my mind that the first game he plays in Madison he will be roundly and soundly booed, as any traitor should be.

Save yourself the agony Mr. Kessel, play OHL. We wouldn't want you to go into a Kohl Center corner and not come out...

Hey Phil Kessel, on behalf of all Badger fans...

The hatred starts now!!

It took them two weeks to cook this up?

As the tin foil hat nuts like to say, he may have been "suicided!"

"Shocking" new stories seem to be pointing to a Hunter S. Thompson murder! The NY Post is there:

There are some serious irregularities surrounding the demise of the gonzo
author, who was found shot to death in the kitchen of his Woody Creek, Colo.,
ranch on Feb. 20, and local cops seemed to have done a lackluster job of
investigating.

There were no eyewitnesses to the shooting, only an "earwitness" —
Thompson's wife, Anita, who was on the phone with him at the time and who later
drank scotch with the corpse. Her account of the incident is inconsistent: She
alternately has said that she heard a loud, muffled noise and that she heard
nothing but clicking.

And this gem...

DiSalvo said he did not check the gun, adding, "I think a bullet from the
magazine should have cycled into the chamber" unless there was a "malfunction."
A spent slug was found in the stove hood behind the body. Conspiracy
theorists make much of the fact that Thompson had been working on a far-fetched
story about the World Trade Center attack at the time of his death.
As Canada's Globe and Mail reported, Thompson had "stumbled across what he felt was hard evidence showing the towers had been brought down not by the airplanes that flew into them but by explosive charges set off in their foundations."

I wonder if the same guy who killed Thompson also set the charges? Hmm, maybe he also brought down the Wellstone plane? You know, if the "Bush Cartel" had assassins this good, why wouldn't they just have Kim Jong Il killed?

Maybe Kim Jong Il is the assassin!!!

Crap, I'm next...

Even more Hitler/Nazi fun at democraticunderground.com

I don't know why anything coming from those folks surprises me anymore. Today I found that this gem is the darling of the day. The creatore decides to make a slideshow in which they intersperse various images of Abu Ghraib with various images of the holocaust. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but I do believe there was a slightly different death rate among the two issues being discussed. First, I believe there have been a handful of reported deaths at the hands of Abu Ghraib guards while the deaths number in the millions for the NAzi death camps. Second, the Nazi death cmaps were just that, death camps. They served no other purpose than to herd and slaughter. Nobody is claimign that anything even remotely like that went on in Iraq. The prisoners there had all been suspected of some sort of crime either related to the terrorism in Iraq or simply for breaking Iraqi domestic law. Third, the abuses in Iraq were carried out by a small group of soldiers, all on the same shift, who were apparently working without the proper supervision. This problem has not cropped up since in Iraq.

The ridiculousness of this video is incredible. To try and take a few pictures of "torture" and place them in between piles of corpses from the Holocaust and say they are the same of simply pathetic.

Watch the slideshow

My thought's on the Packer "exodus"

Allright, Wahle and Rivera are gone, and that stinks stinks. However, look at what the two got. There is no way that Rivera is worth the 9 mil signing bonus. There is just no way. I would have choked if the Pack gave him more than 3.5-4 mil guaranteed. The most important position for Brett Favre is left tackle, and we have Clifton. No worries there. For people who think that because we lost two guards, Favre's decision is now made, that's rediculous. Speaking from experience the left tackel is all a QB cares about. Coming from anywhere else you can see and evade.

The thing many are forgetting is that Flannigan is back from an injury that kept him out most of last year. So, we really only lost 1 starter in this deal. (Jue was never and will never be a starter. Watching that guy get on the field was the most painful experience for any Packer fan. Good riddance sir). Guards are expendible, and not worth the money they are getting. My biggest fear is that the Pack will not spend any of the money they are saving, and end up simply losing decent players, while adding nobody (a d-back?!?) of consequence.

How quickly we forget, Mr. Reid

In calling Alan Greenspan, one of the most brilliant ecnomic minds of his generation, a "partisan hack" it seems the senate minority leader has decided to forget what put his party in the White House for the better part of the 1990's. Had it not been for Mr. Greenspan's stubborness in refusing to partake in interest rate manipulation at the request of then President Bush the ecocomy probably would have turned the corner quicker, which would likely has lessend the effect of Ross Perot on the 1992 election, and Bill Clinton is never president.

In addition, Mr. Greenspan acted a bit slowly to the breakneck speed of the late 90's economy, mostly at the behest of Clinton's team who saw no real danger in an ecnomy far outpacing rational growth due to unrealistic expectations.

It's funny that when someone suggests that they sort of like the presiden't ideas, Mr. Reid finds them to be a "partisan hack" but when obstructing qualified judges and rejecting any social security reforms before seeing a solid plan, that's good politics.

I think you should be careful who you are calling a "partisan hack" when you are challenging people to "go behind the pool hall and see who wins this one." Mr. Reid ends the article by saying "We [dems] could do some real harm."

You sure could Mr. Reid.

"Benedict" Phil Kessel

Well, every source can't be wrong can they? TSN.ca is now also reporting that Kessel will be headed to the northern wilderness. I hope he gets eaten by a bear.

Phil Kessel, a native of Madison, Wisc., who seemed destined to be a University
of Wisconsin Badger, is heading to the University of Minnesota to become a
Golden Gopher, TSN has learned. The 17-year-old standout for Team USA at the
2005 World Junior Championship has scheduled a news conference in Ann Arbor,
Mich. for Friday afternoon, where sources have confirmed to TSN the skilled and
speedy forward from the American under-18 national program will announce he's
committing to the University of Minnesota for next season.

Congratulation to Kessel for reaching depths heretofore unreachable by any but Stuart Scott. I hope you never see the ice my friend.

Checking out a shuffle

From gizmodo

This is actually a really cool idea. I enjoy listening to audio books on occasion, when working out in particular. There is nothing like "gettin swoll" while listening to some Faulkner.

Checking out a new iPod now applies to more than shopping trips or web
browsing. This week the South Huntington Public Library on Long Island, New
York, became one of the first public libraries in the country to loan out iPod
shuffles.
For the past three weeks, the library ran a pilot program using the
portable MP3 devices to store audio books downloaded from the Apple iTunes Music
Store. They started with six shuffles, and now are up to a total
of 10. Each device holds a single audio book.

Instead of having an entire book take up several CDs, one book fits within
several MP3 files, usually ranging from 150 MB to 350 MB, he said. The library
currently stocks both of the two versions of the iPod shuffle -- six of the 1-GB
model, and four of the 512-MB model.
Weil acknowledged that some older
patrons might have some difficulty adjusting to the new technology, but was
hopeful that they would be able to catch on quickly, as was the case when
libraries began to switch from paper card catalogs to electronic versions.
In addition, the library has the potential to save a great deal of money.
Latini said that most titles on CDs cost the library around $75, whereas in MP3
format, they range from $15 to $25.

More sports... Calhoun nets 700!

In news that no one east of Lake Erie cares about, Coach Jimmy Calhoun has won his 700th game. The win came in an important drubbing of the G'Town Hoyas. This win was special to me because it harkens back to some of the great UConn games of all time...Ray Allen v. Allen Iverson. Those games were special because they meant something and while Doron Scheffer and Travis Knight may have chipped in, it was Ray Ray who hit the wild leaner at the end of the game to advance the Huckies in the Big East tourney (God I hope I rememberd that right, I was like 14). Anyway, I don't know why I love the Huskies, I just know it was the Marshall's (Donny/Donyell) and the Allen's and the Butler's and the RIP's who turned me onto college basketball, and it is Coach Calhoun who has continued to embody everything that is great and magical about college basketball and the Big Dance.




Congratulations Coach, I look forward to seeing you in person when our Huskies drop 115 (seriously, Rudy Gay, Villenueva, Boone, and Williams a year older next year...it's unbelievable baby!) on Crean and the MU (forever) Warriors.

Now lets go Rutgers, knock of BC and give the Conference to a loyal Big East squad!

More music to my ears

Finally, it seems the tax issue will be hitting the forefront. I wrote my senior thesis paper on the benefits of a flat tax. The most important being that the decreased revenues in the short term would lead to increased government efficienes in the long term, and the reduction in dependence on an income tax whose recepits would eventually meet present receipts. In short, a constant and abundant national surplus. (There is also the benefit of lowering and simplifying personal income taxes, but we here at Righting Wisconsin prefer to put the Nation first).

First President Bush spoke about the intelligent economic moves made by the Slovak Republic in implementing a flat tax and now Chairman Greenspan (truely one of the great economic minds of our time) is touting the benefits of a consumption tax. While I like this idea less, it is at least bringing to light the need for not only tax code tinkering, but a literal overhaul of the entire system. While burning the whole code may lead to a neverending Springfield tire fire type bonfire in DC, the fumes could serve as a reminder to those on the Hill that the people will only take so much crap before they, ummmm light it on fire...or something.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Thursday embraced the notion of
overhauling the nation's tax system and said that some form of a consumption tax
- such as a national sales tax - could spur greater economic growth...As you
know, many economists believe that a consumption tax would be best from the
perspective of promoting economic growth - particularly if one were designing a
tax system from scratch - because a consumption tax is likely to encourage
saving and capital formation," Greenspan said...The tax panel is responsible for
coming up with recommendations to make taxes fairer and simpler. In addition to
revamping Social Security, Bush wants to overhaul the nation's tax system - two
centerpieces of his second-term economic agenda.

"A simpler tax code would reduce the considerable resources devoted to
complying with current tax laws, and the freed up resources could be used for
more productive purposes," Greenspan said.

Bingo.

Yet another Kessel update

And yes for your information, I am getting "Kessel hits." It appears that the press conference will now be held tomorrow at 1:15 central time, where it still seems he will announce his decision to turn his back on the loyal and true Wisconsin hockey fans and greatly improve the chances for a (brace youself, this is terrible) 05-06 Gopher championship.

But according to one of Kessel’s teammates, he’s as good as headed to
Minneapolis. The teammate said Wednesday that he “would be shocked if Phil
went anywhere else at this point” and believes Kessel will choose the Gophers in
a news conference scheduled for 1:15 p.m. Friday.

It looks like he will be telling the coaches today, so maybe it will leak early. I have little hope left that Phil will choose his home. I hope he understands that in hockey terms, if he goes north there is no coming back. He'll forever be tarred a Gopher.

Andy Baggot (broke the Jeff Sauer retirement story) is a pretty reliable source, and he seems to think there is still a chance Kessel goes to the minors. Trust me Phil, the minors is a much better option that the gophers...unless you still wanna be a Badger? Come on!

Two sources mentioned the possibility Kessel may be taking a closer look at
his Major Junior option, which involves a monetary contract that would make
Kessel ineligible for NCAA competition. The Saginaw (Mich.) entry in the Ontario
Hockey League own his rights. Bob Mancini, the coach and general manager of the
Spirits, is a former college and NTDP coach.

So anyway, it don't look good for Bucky, but at least I can get back to work when he finally decides. This week has been a total waste, as I have been scanning for Kessel info all day every day. Soon it will be over, and by that time Bucky will be sweeping Duluth and have clinched 3rd place for the playoffs.

There is still time Phil, turn away from the dark side. Imagine a line of you and Pavelski and Carlson or any combination of you, Pavelski and Earl on the power play. You could overshadow your rival Skille right from your own bench. What would be better than to steal the home town thunder away from Skille? If you really hate this guy that much, why make HIM the hometwon hero while turning yourself into a Wisconsin pariah? By the way, your girlfriend is still a junior Mr. Kessel, she'll be all alone in Madison next year while you're up in Dinkytown. What a shame.

Fine, back to the news

Is there anything more difficult than watching the news during these damn "celebrity" trials. Every single news program has at least one segment dedicated to the Jackson trial. Personally, I could care less. The man is sickening to me, regardless if he did the deed or not. Sleeping with children is wrong unless they are yours. I did see a pretty funny bit on Access Hollywood or one of those like shows. They decided to do a computer rendition of what Jackson would look like today if he hadn't taken the belt sander to his face. Alas, I have been unable to find the outcome, but suffice to say it was hillarious. Apparently the folks at Inside Edition (whatever) thought Jackson would get fat and super black.

Jiblog and The American Mind have good overall coverage of the Churchill "event." Jiblog has pictures and it looks like more are to come. American Mind has some quality pictures up as well.

Madison Channel 15 has some video on the whole deal, protestors and security.

The Churchill speech seems to be the only thing on WI bloggers minds today, not surprising.

Lisa Artis0n finally resigned after bilking taxpayers out of a month of "sick leave." Was she ever on the job? Honestly, incompetence thy name is Artison. Think Barret will be held to task for appointing such a buffoon? By the Urinal? Don't count on it.

Capital Times comes through again, this time in an editorial!?! Yes indeed. While our fair Urinal has been asleep at the wheel, burying a story about free credit reports in the business section, the Madison leftist paper is lookng out for you. Starting yesterday, al 'Sconieites can check out their credit histories for free at www.annualcreditreport.com.

In big Swing King news, the Brewers will be webcasting all of their spring training games! YEsterday they knocked the rust off in the first intersquad match, and in 2 days will be playing their first "real" ST game against the Mariners. For more Brewers info, check out my boy AMac's audio roundup.

Jonah Goldberg has an article about "blog triumphalism."

AskMen.com's cool website of the day is not so much cool as incredibly useful.

Words the NFL won't print on personalized jersey's.

A useful Marquette Interchange web site recently launched.

The saga appears over...

In a sad day for Badger hockey, indeed in a sad day for all Wisconsonites it appears Phil Kessel has made a decision. He has scheduled a press conference for tomorrow in Michigan, where he currently is working with the National under-18 program. According to "multiple sources", Kessel has decided to don the maroon and mustard (absolutely disgusting) and shun his native Badgers. It isn't exactly shocking, as we all assumed Phil would be heading to the Cities until this past weekend, when rumor spread he was not quite as committed as everyone assumed. If this is true and Kessel goes to Minnesota, then I will have more to say about it. For now, I will await to hear what he has to say before lavishing praise/mercilessly ripping him.

When Phil Kessel officially announces where he will enroll and play college
hockey starting in the 2005-06 season, he will end one prolonged drama and
likely start another. Multiple sources close to the family indicate Kessel,
a 17-year-old from Madison, is leaning toward committing to Minnesota over the
University of Wisconsin. But Phil Kessel Sr. Said he didn't know for certain
where his celebrated son was headed.

There is a possibility something will be leaked early, since Phil Jr. will be calling the coaches tonight to tell them his decision, which means the "winning" coach may want to gloat early. I swear, if his girlfriend had anything to do with this, she better be gorgeous. And if it has to do with some sort of Skille rivalry, I just pray we got the better end of that feud.

Kessel's girlfriend and some of his closest friends from the NTDP will be
on the Minneapolis campus in the fall. There is the notion that Kessel has
issues with the defensive-oriented system currently featured at UW. There also
is a behind-the-scenes rivalry with NTDP teammate, NHL prospect and fellow
Madisonian Jack Skille, who will play for the Badgers next season.

The Junior option would also be much better than becoming a goph... woah, a little vomitous bile just jumped into my throat there.

Two sources mentioned the possibility that Kessel could also be taking a
closer look at his Major Junior option. The Saginaw (Mich.) Spirits of the
Ontario Hockey League own his rights.

The last time an elite state player comparable to Kessel bypassed UW for
another program was in 1984, when Lane McDonald of Mequon signed with
Harvard.

Don't be that guy Phil, don't be that guy.

Totally unable to focus...XM radio suggestions

I can't keep my head straight for the few minutes it takes to read about the semi important news of the day, not when Kessel is still keeping us in the dark. The worst part of it is not knowing where to find the most late breaking college hockey recruitment news. At least the football players get press conferences televised on ESPN News. I am forced to sift through Gopher newspapers and countless message boards in hopes of stumbling onto the latest. So far, nothing. The 75% does seem to indicate more and more that Phil Sr. want his boy to come home after a few years of accelerated learning and ODP play in Michigan.

In addition to the Kessel sweepstakes, there is still the lil' EK sweepstakes that should begin shortly. We are assuming that coaches and recruiters will wait til the afternoon when school is out to call, and since this is the first year of 3-1 calls, no one knows what will happen. Basically, college hockey has me flummoxed right now and focus is impossible.

For this reason, I am researching XM satellite radio. If anyone has it, liked it, hated it or has a comment, let me know please. Basically with baseball season looming, I like the idea of listening to every single game on XM for no extra charge. I will not listen to football on TV, since I watch every game on sunday's anyway, therefore I see no benefit to Sirius.

Do me a favor and take my mind off Badger hockey (1 measley point at UND, COME ON Bruckler, get that glove up buddy!) and give me some satellite info.

Or, photoshop Kessel as a Badger:

Phil Kessel update...

As much as I hate the Capital Times, they do a darn good job of reporting on Badger hockey. Honestly, I don't think the Urinal knows the Badgers have a team, much less one of the best programs in the country. This news is huge, and according to people in the know (hey, I have hockey sources, my little sister, a Shattuck player in her own right is getting a deluge of recruitment calls as we speak; March 1st is the first official contact day for women...come on BC!) he made a strong lean towards UW over the weekend, but has since possibly shifted back towards the Gophers (disgusting).

College hockey's most coveted recruit continues to struggle with his
decision of which school to attend, but the conclusion should come soon.
Phil Kessel is in the process of letting schools know they're no longer on
his mental consideration list, which now numbers two, his father, Phil Sr.,
said. When the Verona native finishes that task, he'll get down to deciding
between the two schools, which are believed to be the University of Wisconsin
and Minnesota....

Phil Kessel Sr. said his son has never been in a rush to decide, and added
that his son wanted to get through the portion of the NTDP Under-18 team's
schedule where it played against college teams to see whether those experiences
had any impact.
A game against Michigan last Saturday was the Under-18 team's
final contest against a college team. Kessel scored two goals against the
Wolverines, who were on his original list of six possibilities. Boston
University, Boston College and North Dakota also are believed to have been ruled
out.
Kessel, expected to be a top pick in the 2006 NHL entry draft, leads the
Under-18 team with 30 goals and 58 points in 31 games.

Personally, I am of the opinion that he'll be a one year and done player which makes no sense for the Gophers, sinc they are years away. The Badgers on the other hand have an extremely young an talented team this year, which will only be better next year. Their only question mark next year will be in goal, assuming Earl, Pavelski and the defensemen don't leave early. Imagine if Suter had stayed for this year......

According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Kessel will make his decision on Wednesday, possibly today. Included in their story is this quote, taken different ways on the USCHO message boards:

Phil Kessel Sr., did not identify the programs to the State Journal. But he
indicated one is a clear frontrunner, saying, "It's 75-25 [percent] on the two
that are left. In his heart he feels there's one that's a little bit better for
him."

Talk about a uniter! Dean "hates" republicans, thinks they're "evil."

"This is a struggle of good and evil. And we're the good."

A line from a speech given to folks in Kansas (at a media-barred event heard via loudspeakers) shows Howard Dean calling anyone who opposes his ideas evil. When President Bush called people who wanted to kill our troops and run dictatorial regimes "evil" he was mocked as a simpleton who could only see the world in black and white, no nuance allowed. Well, it seems Mr. Dean feels the same way. In a speech just before he was appointed chairman of the dem party, Mr. Dean also stated that he "hate[s] the Republicans and everything they stand for."

So, when President Bush renominates blocked judges to federal benches that are extremely qualified but have ruled against leftist issues in the past he is being a divider but when Scream Dean rails about hating the evil republicans, he is simply being fiery and igniting the passions of an opposition party? I can't believe it, but we may have found one of those extremely rare cases of leftist hypocrisy. By extremely rare I mean it rarely happens more than twice a day.

To summarize Dean's first few weeks as chairman: it's fine to assume that the hotel staffers are black, he hates republicans, and anyone who disagrees with him is evil.

Please sir, keep up the good work. You are doing an incredible job for our (GOP) party. YEEEAHHH!!

Thoughts after the long weekend

After a long weekend spent with family it is time to get back into the swing of things and catch up on some news. I am struggling to take in everything that has happened over the weeend, from the happenings in Syria/Lebanon to the charges in the Jude case that seem to have upset Mr. Kane.

Taking a cursory glance at some headlines, it seems that President Bush's attempts to spread Democracy seem to be taking a preliminary foothold in the most tumultous parts of the world. Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Iraq...is it possible that we are now seeing the Communist dominoe theory applied to democracy? It is an incredibly interesting and historic time. I have recently finished reading Sharansky's "A Case for Democracy" and it seems that everything he writes is truth. It certainly appears teh president believes his ideals. All people want freedom, and when given a true choice, will always choose democracy. Since the United States has made it absolutely clear that we are committed to spreading Democracy and dealing with oppressive leaders individually in an orderly and timely fashion, the oppressed people of the world and beginning to grow courageous. As Sharansky calls them, the double thinkers (citizens pretending to be nationalistic ideologues while striving for freedom and government change) are seeing the light and becomming more open in their resistance. The streets of Lebanon this past weekend are a perfect example of this. Those who are living in fear societies aer starting to realize that someone is actively working to change their lives for the better, and there is real hope that soon they too will be able to participate. Soon they too will be able to have a say in their countries future. As Sharansky says, all it takes is a tiny spark to ignite the flames of Democracy and the passion for freedom.

It is very possible we have witnessed that spark.