It's 2010 and The Ducks Are In The Rose Bowl

First of all, Happy New Year. Most of us, we believe, are happy to see 2009 go. What a weird year. We'll be discussing that aspect in further reports this weekend.

But the big story of the moment concerns the University of Oregon Duck football team, who will be playing tomorrow in the Rose Bowl. Most everyone in Eugene who has a recognizable pulse is pumped up, and the phrase "gonna watch the game?" is repeated repeatedly.

My son, pictured here, is a huge Duck fan. He knows more about the team than I ever will. His prediction for the results of tomorrow's game: 28-17 Ducks win. The game starts tomorrow at 2:00 PST, on ABC.

Go Ducks!

Postgamescript: My son's prediction did not come true this year, but we're all very proud of our Ducks and what they accomplished this year. Just remember, most of them will be coming back next year, and it's quite possible they will revisit the Rose Bowl. Way to go Ducks!

Weekend Update - X-Mas Edition

• Glenn Beck has been named by Media Matters as "The Misinformer of the Year." The honors for Mr. Beck are piling up, as we're proud to announce that Glen has been chosen for our "Bad Hat Douche Bag of the Year Award." There's no monetary reward involved here for Beck, just his own joy in knowing that he's a fat racist pin-headed greaseball just like his daddy, Rush Limbaugh. (How's that for seasonal name-calling?) Happy New Year.


• And in further tribute to Mr. Beck and his lies and conspiracy theories, a gentleman in Virginia, a Mr. Warren Taylor (his friends call him "Gator") held three hostages in a local post office because "the government is taking over the right to bear arms," and he was angry about "overtaxing." I just betcha he listens to Limbaugh too.


• I'm not making this up: Here are The Top 50 Assclowns of 2009.


• "The Charge of the Light Brigade" was a poem written by Lord Tennyson to commemorate a moment in the 1854 Crimean War, when British officers misdirected more than 600 troops into an area known as the Valley of Death to face 25,000 Russians. There were hundreds of casualties, the British officers were disgraced, and the Russians won the day. And so Rep. Michelle Bachman, who would still be called crazy even if her brain functioned normally, cheered on the latest misguided efforts of a group of "teabaggers" by yelling "It's the Charge of the Light Brigade!"


• You know the tune. For the loveofgawd you can't seem to get it out of your head around this time of year. Over and over and over ... 'Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad ...' Well, of course in the spirit of the holidays our Conservative Idiot Friends decided to make a racist parody of Jose Feliciano's classic Christmas annoyance, and it pissed Jose right off. The parody, titled "The Illegal Alien Christmas Song," was created by radio producers and writers Matt Fox and A.J. Rice and was posted in mid-December on the Web site for Human Events, a Washington-based conservative weekly publication. For your "enjoyment" here's the song.


• Render your garments. Tear out your Liberal hair by the roots. Cry and wail. Previously Democratic Congressman Parker Griffith of Alabama has gone over to the Dark Side and is now Republican Congressman Parker Griffith. But wait, there's a lot more to this story, and some of it is mighty curious indeed.


• Sarah Palin has come out strong and has flatly stated "I'm NOT the biggest liar of the year." Our response: "Are too, are too."


• Hostile, vindictive, sarcastic - what's happened to John McCain? Sure his pick of Palin for running mate will rank as one of the worse political blunders in history, but what's happened to the good ol' boy we knew and loved? Maureen Dowd asks, "Is There a Real McCain?"


• And here's one more little gift from under the tree: The Top 20 Funniest Political Moments of 2009.

Iran Keeps Simmering

What is going on in Iran currently has been, and seems likely to continue to be, an upending of conventional wisdom as to who the Iranian people are, or are not. One thing we learned from the "Green Revolution" movement in the wake of a laughably fraudulent election is that many Iranians, young and old, are not very happy with the way things are. There is a faction within Iran who are fervent conservative thugs (can we say "thugs" on this website?) and they are no different from the opportunistic thugs in any other nation. They are Iranian Brown Shirts, pure and simple. Bought, paid for, protected and mindlessly loyal to those who support them. Such creatures will always be with us, in those societies that let them thrive and use them to suppress the people.

But bad things keep happening to the badly-corrupted Iranian Revolution; the people are fed up with it and spend their nights on rooftops calling out across the city, giving heart to one another and announcing protests, key figures in recent Iranian history are speaking up and taking strong stands in support of a sweeping change in the Iranian government. Opposing these populist forces are the predictable organs of state control. The odds seem good that the state, as the state usually does, will prevail. But things keep happening, like the death of this outspoken and principled senior figure in Iran's religious establishment. His death reminds Iranians of all that he stood for, all that he said over the years. This is very inconvenient for the current regime, based as much on cronyism as principle, deeply corrupt and no longer popular with the average Iranian, the majority of whom were not alive during the time of the Shah, so cannot be swayed by calls to recall what they never saw, never knew personally. Keep an eye on Iran. It still may change that part of the world in ways that none of could ever predict.

Arthur

Weekend Update - December 5th

• They're Out There Dept.: The Mayor of Arlington, Tennessee, Russell Wiseman, has accused President Obama of deliberately timing his speech about the war in Afganistan this week to block the airing of the "Peanuts" Christmas television special. We quote His Honor: "We sit the kids down to watch 'The Charlie Brown Christmas Special' and our muslim president is there, what a load ... try to convince me that wasn't done on purpose." Wiseman did not immediately return phone calls from The Associated Press on Friday.


• Many are saying Obama's not all he's cracked up to be because he has yet to completely revolutionize every aspect of human life as we know it by instantly turning everything organic, curing all diseases and setting all gay military personnel free to romp in the fields of boot camp. Mark Morford begs to differ.


• We used the trusty old debit card the other day, but apparently we went about three dollars over. The bank paid it, of course, but charged us $25 dollars in fees. Now listen to this: Our nation's financial institutions will collect some $1.8 billion during the 28-day holiday shopping season, through practices such as charging $34 for an average $17 debit card overdraft and manipulating the order in which they subtract debits from their customers' accounts. And remember, we bailed these bastards out with our tax money. Our suggestion? Break up these "too-big-to-fail" institutions and let some of the cockiest ones fail. Fail, big time. In the mean time, let's all just use cash. Happy Holidays.


• Uncle Bob and I had several lively arguments concerning the death penalty in America. Uncle Bob always was dead set against it. I, of course, played "devil's advocate" and did all the standard pro-death arguments, what-if-he-killed-your-family things. Uncle Bob always won of course, and now there's this: Some innocent dead men walking can now take hope. Two cases have been decided in the last four months that suggest that in the United States, at last, it may actually make a difference whether or not the prospective visitor to the death chamber is guilty or innocent. From Common Dreams.


• Women are smoking more pot. That's right. And here's a fascinating article about why women have signed onto marijuana reform -- and why they could be the movement's game-changers. Oh, you go girl!