I'm from Boston. I was raised in Brockton. The Patriots practically play in my backyard. But even I, objective blogger that I am, can acknowledge that Bill Bellichick is evil, and Tom Brady is an asshole. Their 'fuck you and the world' attitude is a stain on Boston area pro sports. Older fans like myself, loved the Patriots of the late 1970s and 1985. Heck, we also love the happy team of 2001-2002. But since 2007, the Patriots have been angry and driven to notch five Lombardi trophies. Either you have loved this, you you have been disgusted by it.

And yet, after saying that I am somewhat disgusted by it, I have this strong feeling that the New Jersey Giants don't stand a chance in Super Bowl 46. Neither team will be able to establish a running game and control the clock. Both quarterbacks will throw long. But the key difference is that Brady finds his targets (actually he transmits where the ball is going through his throws), while Eli Manning simply throws the ball. 

My prediction? It won't be pretty. Patriots 45, Giants 10. It will practically be over after the first quarter.

Here's a big reason I don't like nor trust the Department of Homeland Security to keep us safe. It is either reluctant or afraid to acknowledge or pursue domestic terrorists. The largest civilian agency in the Federal government (over 200,000 employees, over 200,000 contractors) should have no excuse keeping tabs on domestic terror groups. Yet, it seems to constantly fail, time and again. And the latest press release (!) from Operation Rescue is an example how domestic terror groups can operate in plain sight without any hint of action from the Feds to stop them.

This past week, Operation Rescue launced two new websites as part of a campaign to ban pergancy termination on a state by state basis. Call it a reboot of their origianal objective, since up until this point, thier websites have been relatively low budget. But this new campaign, called Pro Life Nation, features all new branding, a Facebook page (which only has 100 likes so far), and a downloadable, 17 page booklet, explaining their new strategy. But the centerpiece of their new campaign is a separate, database driven website, called AbortionDocs. I try not to link to terrorist websites, since the National Security Administration supposedly keeps an eye on who visits them, right? What's that? The website has not been declared a terrorist website? My point exactly.

AbortionDocs is farily simple enough. It uses a SQL database and a Google Maps API to list the names and locations of stand alone clinics, hospitals, and individual providers who they suspect or know perform terminations. The database also contains the names of hospital executives and board members, in an attempt to intimidate hospital brass over the legitimate and legal medicine being practiced in their institutions. The site invites visitors to submit photographs and home addresses of doctors (presumably so they can be harassed or worse). There's even a link to volunteer one's services as a researcher, editor, or spotter. In addition to photographs and addresses, there is the capacity to upload documents for each entry so that lawsuits, patient complaints, and state prosecutions can be accessed by visitors. As of today, most providers who have photographs attached to their records are not real doctors at all. They are practitioners without board certification, and many have been prosecuted as such, which is good. I want fake doctors out of business. Operation Rescue, of course, wants to see all doctors out of business. And a few of Operation Rescue's followers want them dead.

And that's where terrorism comes into play. This website is not designed to lobby state governments to ban abortion. It is intended to intimidate providers and staff out of the practice of medicine. It is also intended to be used by people outside of Operation Rescue who are willing to break laws in order to stop women from obtaining abortions. Operation Rescue does not explicity say what should be done to clinics and doctors, but history tells us what has been done since the 1980s. There has been vandalism. There have been threats. There has has been harassment (via phone, email, and post). And there have been nine homicides since 1993. Five doctors have been murdered, along with two security contractors, and two clinic staffers. And there will surely be more. This new website is designed to ensure that vandalism, harassment, and violence continue under the guise of protected free speech.

You see, the website does not explicitly call its database a list of "targets" (althought it does label those who support abortion access as an illegal "cartel"). A list of names, addresses, and photographs is merely free information that Operation Rescule hopes others use as they see fit. Operation Rescue has one or more lawyers, so it has covered itself with a "disclaimer" on the site which reads:

This site is meant for informational purposes to aid in the end of abortion through peaceful, legal means. It is in no way meant to encourage or incite violence of any kind against abortion clinics, abortionists, or their staff. We denounce acts of violence against abortion clinics and providers in the strongest terms.

Supposedly that's all a domestic terrorist organization needs to protcect itself from prosecution and civil suits? I wonder why international terrorist groups haven't taken the same route. Oh, right. They can't, because they are internationally recognized as unlawful terror groups.

Operation Rescue has not been classifed as a terror organization by the US Department of Justice. Over 100,000 employees there and they still can't quite link 9 murders and millions in properly damage in 19 years. Not enough evidence I guess. Wanted posters hung in the victims neighborhoods apparently weren't enough to prove that there has been an effort to intimidate and discourage doctors from being abortion providers through acts of violence and threats, both direct and implicit. 

Back in the 1990s, there were two ways for anti abortion groups to target providers and staff. Once was to produce flyers and posters locally. The other was to compile information online. This latter method led to the creation of the now infamous (and illegal) "Nuremberg Files" website circa 1997, which listed the names of providers, judges, law enforment officers, and politicians who all practiced or help protect the medical practice of abortion in some way. On that list, eight names are crossed out (the first 8 homicides between 1993 and 1998, beore Tiller's murder in 2009).

The new Pro Life Nation downloadable booklet was written by Troy Newman and Cheryl Sullenger. Ms. Sullenger, you might recall, is the Operation Rescue executive who helped the organization move from California to Kansas, in an effort to to stop Dr. George Tiller from performing third trimester abortions -  either through legal or illegal means. She is also a convicted felon. In 1988, she and her husband pleaded guilty to Federal terrorism charges, for conspiring to detonate a gasoline bomb in the Family Planning department of the Alvarado Hospital Medical Center in Sn Diego. She served two years in Federal prison, and then relocated Operation Rescule to Kansas to concentrate on Dr. George Tiller, who was shot and wounded three years later.

Most people heard of her name in the wake of Dr. Diller's murder. She alledgedly assisted Scott Roeder in locataing and stalking Dr. George Tiller, before Roeder assisinated him in the foyer of a Wichita church. Scott Roeder is celebrated by anti abortion extremists as a "Christian Terrorist." That is a correct term for him and men like him. many of whom have been involved in locial militia groups, and in some cases, white supremicist groups. In my opinion, the Southern Poverty Law Center has done a better job in connecting these dots than the DOJ. It is simply outragous.

Why is going after Right Wing terrorist groups a poilticially sensitive issue? The US governemnt has stated for over 30 years that it has zero toloerance for terrorism, but this is clearly not the case. If this nation is serious about stopping all terrorists, then the harassment, assault, attempted murder, or murder of a medical care worker over idology, personal, or religious beleifs should be a Federal crime.

But it also needs to be made clear: Operation Rescue does not supply weapons or explosives to Christian terrorits. Operation Resucue does not coordinate bombings and assiassinations. But it does implicitly encourage them. Sometimes, in the case of Cheryl Sullenger, Operation Rescue is contacted by the terrorists and assassins and provides both moral and tactical support. 

We at this blog join other blogs and reproductive rights organizations in condemning Operation Rescue's public database of providers, their photos, and home addresses. And we encourage the Department of Justice to investigate the Pro Life Nation website as a possible violation of the 1994 FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances), as well as any other Federal law on the books regarding online harassment and intimidation of healthcare workers. As a step further, we ask the DOJ to investigate the site itself and find out if it is collecting queries from healthcare workers who might be trying to see if their names or clinics are in the database. And we ask that the webside be taken down, as it is effectively a reboot of the late 1990s Nuremberg Files website, which was taken down following a Federal appeals court decision in 2002.  (The site continues to be cached and mirrored in violation of that court order that ruled that the site is not procted free speech).

Here's where I should stop and let Rachel Maddow explain the rest of this history, since she explains it better than anyone in American TV news today:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Last month, Spyker's attempt to take full control of Saab fell through, and the company was subsequently forced into bankruptcy. It was hoped that a Chinese firm named Youngman would be able to purchase the car maker, but that eleventh hour deal fell through as well. It's game over.

And so the story ends for Saab. The car maker was unique and one of the first to master practical front wheel drive as well as winterized accessories that are common on nearly all luxury cars today (heated mirrors, heated seats, winterized fuel injectors, etc.).

This week is particularly sad, as the manufacturer is forced to put over 100 cars from its private collection up for auction. Yes, even the Subaru B-9 Tribeca clone, the 9-6x is up for bids, which are due tomorrow.

I remember spotting Saab's final design chief, American-born Jason Castriota, at the 2011 New York International Auto show. He was in a fine gray suit and purple shirt and tie, showing off his baby, the PhoeniX concept. The PhoeniX is a beautiful design descendant of the Ursaab (92001), the first Saab automobile. I wonder if he knew his design would be the last.

The Saab PhoeniX Concept (Spring 2011)

Newcastle United did not make it through the November / December "Stretch of Doom" unscathed. It was hoped that they would emerge from their matches against Man City, Man United, and Chelsea with two points. Instead, they emerged with the luckiest point of any team this season and the loss of star defender Steven Taylor to a torn ACL. They were battered, exhausted, and undiciplined (as evidenced when Dan Gosling got dirty and earned himself a three game suspension).

I wanted to blog all about this stretch a month ago. But Newcastle's dense and busy scheule had me transfixed and nervous with each passing round. We Newcastle fans were on edge as the midfield and defense suffered failures and made too many mistakes. In effect, Newcastle went into a new Stretch of Doom as they dropped points to Norwich, Swansea, and West Brom. Three more matches, just one point. They needed to shift gears.

And the shift came rather organically. Manager Alan Parew didn't have to make any call ups from the reserve squad. He didn't have to start Alan Smith. He simply rested the right players (notibly Hatem Ben Arfa) and released them onto the pitch when they were ready. And the point scoring resumed (the dismal loss to Liverpool notwhithstanding).

Since Christmas, Newcastle have taken 9 out of 12 available points. They also won a thrilling third round FA Cup match to earn a very winnable fouth round draw. And the points earned in the last four league games have been obtained in very different ways. At Bolton on Boxing Day (a day Newcastle had not been victorious lately), two very quick goals caused an almost instant deflation and concession by the hosts. Then at home against Manchester United, Newcastle expected to face a furious Red Devil side, eager to avenge the pont Newcastle stole in November as well as the embarassing loss to Blackburn Rovers the week before. However, Manchester United's midfield didn't exert its superiority. Forward Wayne Rooney only got off one shot.

Newcstle played a spirited game that fetured two extraordinary shots by Demba Ba and Johan Cabaye to put Newcastle up 2-0 and cruising to victory. It was a win for this generation, despite Man United's lack of energy and drive. United's performance was unnacceptable, but Newcastle still had to break through twice to put Man U away, in difficult, windy conditions at a packed St. James' Park. It was a true team performance, and it was inspiring.

In the thriller against Blackburn in the FA Cup third round, the key to victory was playing Hatem Ben Arfa on the right wing. It had to be an epiphany for Alan Pardew, who has not seen eye to eye with Ben Arfa since his arrival as Manager over a year ago.

And then today, Newcastle simply had to play possession football against a depressed and sinking QPR squad. Three wins. Three different ways to win.

There are 17 matches remaining for the Magpies in league action this season. Today's game against QPR should prove to be the easiest through May. There will be no more easy points this season. But the Toon have 36 points, and sit in sixth place in the Premiership table. If they can upset Everton, Aston Villa, or Arsenal, they would have a shot at 60 points for the season. The Magpies have proven that they can defend well without Steven Taylor. Now they have to score goals without Bemba Ba and Cheik Tiote, as those players are serving their nations in the African Cup.

17 games. 51 points for the taking. I think they can take 24. They are on pace for it. They just need one upset against a stronger club, and defeat Wolverhampton and Swansea, among other events. 

Stay the course, Newcastle....and set fire to the rain.

Rick Perry is on his way out. Michelle Bachmann is on her way out. Herman Cain is likely out. Chris Christie is not running. Donald Trump played the role of creepy seducer for about two weeks. And the most sane men in the GOP 2012 presidential nominee field, Jon Huntsman, Jr., and Buddy Roemer, the latter I could actually vote for in another era, never had a chance in this field of wingnuts and freedom hating millionaires.

That leaves just two men. Two men who happen to be the veterans of the pack. They are the ones who have spent the most years trying to earn a GOP presidential nomination, and therefore, should have been the front runners all along. And those two men are Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Romney should still be the favorite, based on the history of these things. However this installment of the GOP presidential nomination race has broken the pattern set over the last 40 years. It has been fascinating to watch. Simply the record number of debates has been fascinating. There will be more GOP primary debates than any NFL team has games this season, including the eventual Super Bowl participants.

I think we might have finally put infidelity behind us as a destroyer of men's political careers. How else can we explain the return of Newt Gingritch? Here's a man who cheated on two wives and is thrice married. It should be pointed out that Gingrich left his first two wives not only in the middle of extramarital affairs, but while they were stricken with a long term illness. Here's a man who shamelessly had an affair with the woman who became his current wife while prosecuting Bill Clinton for having an affair with a White House intern. Then, just a few months ago, he spun the story in a unique way when he explained that his affairs were driven by his passion to serve the nation. Newt is a passionate guy. And passionate guys will scamble to replace their wives as they walk the long road to the White House.

Cheating on one's wife and divorcing her when she's in the hospital is the sort of behavior that destroyed Gary Hart and John Edwards, respectively. But not Newt. He has gone from former House Speaker with no elected future 13 years ago, to having about a 45% chance of becoming the star of the 2012 GOP ticket today. He has spent most of the last decade as a lobbiest and paid speaker at Republican conferences and events. He had no chance of being elected to public office ever again. He wasn't seriously considered as a presidential candidate between 1998 and 2008, when George W. Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney were the big three ticket condenters. And does anyone remember this video from 2003? 

Newt being punked by Sacha Baron Cohen was confirmation that he was done as a politician, yes? How incorrect I was, with a lot of other, more qualified people who appear on television to analyize politics.

While I took a look at Newt's growing web site, I couldn't help but notice this text in Callista Gingrich's blog within site (which is called Callista's Canvas!):

Acquaintances admit that Callista Gingrich’s stiff smile and crisp uniform make it easier for detractors to portray her as cold and manipulative, a characterization they say is not accurate, though she has apparently resisted internal campaign efforts to soften her edges. Those sources also say it is hard to overstate her ever-growing involvement in the Gingrich empire and her husband’s campaign, for better or for worse.

Actually, go and read that entire blog post. It is incredibly frank and revealing. Could you imagine any presidential candidate's wife not only allowing her cold personality to be acknowledged by the campaign writers, but also acknowledging just how much of the family's K Street lobbying income is diverted to her favorite private institutions? Yes, it's public information, available to those who seek it out. But I have never seen it disclosed so clearly on a candidate's web site. Expect Rachel Maddow or Chris Matthews to pick up on Callista and the "five Gingrich firms on K Street," or, as Callista calls it above, "the Gingrich empire."

An announcement from Marion, the owner of the wonderful Gallery Galleon in Vieques, PR:

Greetings Friends,

We hope you can join us for our first show, The Passion Show, Friday, November 25th 6-7:30pm, Passionate Art, Poetry, Passionate foods and drinks. Louise Guerin oil paintings from New Zealand, Richard Giglio: Pablo Neruda paintings and Sandra Reyes, mosaics and glass sculptures!

Please visit our website to see our Upcoming Events:  Cape Cod Artists: December 23rd, Women of Vieques Photography: Feb 3rd and Gallery Galleon Group show: March 16th. All openings are Fridays from 6-7:30pm. Gallery is open Tuesday-Saturday 11-5pm after the first show, and by appointment, 787-741-3078. Rt. 201 one mile from Esperanza!

http://gallerygalleon.com for full details.

Gallery Galleon page on Facebook and info@gallerygalleon.com for further questions!

*****Our first Vieques student class taught by Louise Guerin is FULL! Thank you for all the supporters of the Gallery Galleon arts program!****

Gracias, Blessings to you, Marion

So the corrupt, draconian NCAA once banned UNLV basketball two seasons for hanging out with gamblers. They banned U Mass basketball because Marcus Camby accepted gifts and hookers from an NBA agent. So how long will they ban Penn State football for allowing children to be raped? Can they afford to? Can the networks?

This is not a matter internal to Penn State University. This is a massive criminal case. There will be prosecutions. There will be lawsuits. And there already is the investigation of a cover up or conspiracy. And it's going to get worse.

As much as I hate college division one sports and the NCAA, this cannot be something the body will ignore. Penn State must be banned.

Right?

No, writes Jason Kirk of SB Nation.

Newcastle have earned an extraordinary 19 points in 9 league games. They still need 40 points to ensure safety in the league. However, given how weak the Premiership seems to be this season, Newcastle should race to that total before the ground thaws in the spring of 2012.

But are they really good enough to qualify for an UEFA tournament next season? So soon? They are going to remain in the top six so long as Tim Krul remains brilliant in net, and the defense and midfield continue to develop as a unit. But their first league defeat has to be on the horizon. If not against Stock, then Everton, or Manchester City. The first league defeat is coming. How the squad deals with it will help define this season and the team's spirit.

Two highlights from Saturday's match against Wigan sum up the game. In the first half, Tim Krul made a tremendous save against Wigan's Vctor Moses, who fired a rising shot that was labeled for a spot under the crossbar. Then, late in the second half, the French midfield finally produced a goal. In the 80th minute, Sylvain Marveaux fed a beutiful pass backward to the outside center-right of the box, where Yohan Cabaye fired a rising shot into the top left corner. It was a perfect shot, perfect finish. Game, set, match, Newcastle. 

Here' wat my favorite NUFC blogs had to say:

Black and White and Read All Over:

Pardew had what he referred to as "<em>a little chat</em>" with the players at the interval - not quite the stirring oratory of half-time in February's meeting with Arsenal, you'd imagine, but certainly enough to urge them into a hungrier and more purposeful second-half performance.

Blog on the Tyne:

Cabaye's character is already shining through at Newcastle and long may it continue.

View From the Shite Seats:

It was an undeserved victory for a United side who had struggled all afternoon to create any chances of note and also to keep out a Wigan team who looked far more impressive than their lowly-position would suggest.

There shouldn't be anything to assist Newcastle on Sunday, aside from plenty of rest and the enthusiastic support of home spectators. Sunday's match will be a true test of Newcastle's potential. They will host the Spurs, a side that has arguably has one of the best four midfields in the English Premier League.

Newcastle's new Franco-centric midfield will be the focus as a goal will almost surely be needed from them to support Newcastle's forwards, Demba Ba and Leon Best. Best and Ba have begun to gel and score goals, but in a game like this, I think a goal from a non forward would go a long way towards victory. Could be a long range shot, or a set play. We'll see if I am correct.

Newcastle will not be facing a full strength Tottenham side, as the Spurs will be without their star striker, Emmanuel Adebayor. However, the Spurs are full of weapons against the Magpies, who are slight underdogs.

Newcastle will have the option of using Shola Ameobi and Hatem Ben Arfa as substitutes, since both have recently declared fit. Fatigue should not be an issue for the Toon. 

The game will be broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel in the US and Canada, and might be found at pirate video sites such as AtdheNet.

UPDATE, October 18, 09:48: Emmanuel Adebayor was fit to play for the Spurs after all. Newcastle got a well deserved point after coming from behind twice in Sunday's match.

Herman Cain opened himself up to uncomfortable, personal questions when he went on a tour to promote his new book, which promotes his run for president. In the book, he explains in detail why he chose not to get involved in the 1960s civil rights movement, depite being a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta between 1963-1967.

I want to make it very clear that it involvement in the civil rights movement should never be a litmus test for office, much in the same way military service in Vietnam used to be a litmus test for national, male politicians. No black man or woman who was an adult between 1955 and 1970 should be required to reveal their involvement in the civil rights movement, nor should it be expected or assumed that they were involved simply on the basis of their skin color. Everyone had reasons for speaking out or remaining silent, and a lot of it had to do with geographic location and income.

No one should have to be interrogated about what they did in the 1960s. That is, unless they are running for president and bring it up themselves.

Lawrence O'Donnell went straight for the jugluar in his interview with Herman Cain last week. Mr. Cain, in his book, tells the story that while he was in high school, his father advised him not to get involved in civil rights rallies, marches, petitions, or other public events. For everyone who lived through that era in the south, getting involved was assuming at least some risk, be it legal, professional, or in some case, physical. I would agree that a black teenager being arrested in 1962 or 1963 Atlanta would not have been easy to shake off. I don't judge Herman Cain's reasons for not getting involved.  

But I do think it is appropriate to ask Mr. Cain about 1963 if he himself brings it up. In his book, Mr. Cain writes: 

On a day-to-day basis, because the civil rights movement was a few years in front of me, I was too young to participate when they first started the Freedom Rides, and the sit-ins. So on a day-to-day basis, it didn't have an impact. I just kept going to school, doing what I was supposed to do, and stayed out of trouble--I didn't go downtown and try to participate in sit-ins. But I well remember, as a young teenager, seeing signs printed in large black letters at the fronts of buses: "White seat from front, colored seat from rear." One day when I was thirteen, my friends and I were riding home from school in a half-empty bus--this was at the time when the civil rights movement was just getting off the ground and some police officers were just looking for a reason to shoot a black person who "got out of line." So, counter to our real feelings, we decided to avoid trouble by moving to the back of the bus when the driver told us to. By that time, the sit-ins and the Freedom Rides had kind of broken the ice, even though things hadn't fully changed. So we saw it every day on TV and read about it in the news. Dad always said, "Stay out of trouble," and we did.

That passage almost makes it seem as if Mr. Cain would have gotten involved in sit ins and protests if he wasn't so young at the time. However, Mr. Cain was 19 years old and in college during Freedom Summer. He must have been surrounded by fellow students who were involved. So if he agreed with ending segregation and discrimination, why didn't he step forward just a little when history came knocking on his door in Atlanta in the mid 1960s? He wasn't in a northern city. He wasn't overseas. He was living near the epicenter of a movement that changed this country and opened the door for him to run for national office. 

Now if I were interviewing Herman Cain here, I might start the line of questioning with something gentle like, "Did you ever consider participating in a civil rights event while at Morehouse?" Or I might ask if he had friends who did. Or I might ask if he ever regreetted not getting involved, especually after the Freedom Summer of 1964, which was a media breakthrough for the movement. But that's why I am not an aggressive journalist. That's why I don't have Lawrence O'Donnell's job. Civil rights era questions at 07:20:

And on Friday October 7, a day after his heated interview with Cain, Lawrence O'Donnell got some constructive feedback from Al Sharpton, Professor Mellissa Harris-Perry, and Goldie Taylor.

For all the shit Democrats have had to go through after volunteering their service and putting their asses on the line (both Al Gore and John Kerry volunteered for Vietnam and skipped the draft lottery process), should the news media be giving a pass to candidates who almost boast about sitting out opportunities to put themselves on the line?

It is obvious that the book passage (which seems very random, sandwiched betweeen other little stories from Cain's teenage years) was meant to reassure the GOP and potential voters that he is not a rebellous black man. He's no community organizer. He never flirted with liberation theology or black power. He's a corporate manager. And he is runnign to protect corporate interests. The GOP need not fear the color of his skin. They'll just have to put up with his volunteer peanut gallery (which can be heard in the O'Donnell interview videos).