PROFITING ON MURDER

I guess it just wasn't enough for Poor Ol' O.J. Simpson to get away with two murders--he wants to profit financially from it as well. J.O. reportedly has been paid a whopping $3.5 million to write about the double murder that shocked and riveted the nation in 1994, according to a detailed report in the new National Enquirer. But Simpson is not actually confessing to the murder — rather, he’s writing a “hypothetical” book — which the Enquirer reports is tentatively being called “If I Did It.” In the first part of the book, Simpson describes how he fell in love with Nicole and explains how the marriage fell apart. He goes on to describe in gruesome detail the killing of his ex-wife and Goldman but stipulates that the murder scenes are “hypothetical.” As noted by the National Enquirer, the descriptions are “so detailed and so chillingly realistic” that readers are left with little doubt as to what really happened. The National Enquirer also claims that Simpson aims to keep any book money instead of paying it out in a civil suit judgment against him by spending it all quickly.

We live in a political world,
Love don't have any place.
We're living in times where men commit crimes
And crime don't have a face …
We live in a political world
Where courage is a thing of the past.
Houses are haunted, children are unwanted
The next day could be your last. …
We live in a political world
Turning and a'thrashing about,
As soon as you're awake, you're trained to take
What looks like the easy way out.

— Bob Dylan, Political World (1989)

CLASSY INSULTS OF THE WEEK

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music." -- Billy Wilder

"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up." -- Paul Keating

"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts...for support rather than illumination." -- Andrew Lang

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." -- OscarWilde (used)

WHO'S THE "ASS" NOW?

Most of the time (99%) I do not agree with the rhetoric of the Democratic Party, and I am certainly no fan of Big Liberal Ted Kennedy. However, I just read a comment from a Republican congressman that disgusted me. In response to his defense of House Speaker Dennis Hastert's handling of the congressional page scandal, Republican Rep. Christopher Shays said no one died like in Chappaquiddick when Senator Ted Kennedy was involved. In The Hartford Courant he was quoted as saying, "I know the speaker didn't go over a bridge and leave a young person in the water, and then have a press conference the next day." He went on to add, "Dennis Hastert didn't kill anybody." First of all, in my opinion, if Hastert did know about Foley's propensity for sending sexually provacative e-mails and instant messages to underage male congressional pages, it IS as disturbing as leaving the scene of an accident, as did Kennedy in the 1969 Chappaquiddick incident. Secondly, I feel it is pathetic to defend someone using a reference to someone else's tragedy. Both incidents are tragic. Equally upsetting is why Shays compared the two: Last week Kennedy campaigned for Democrat Diane Farrell, who is locked in a bitter fight with Shays that could help determine whether Democrats recapture the House after 12 years of GOP control. In an interview with the AP, Farrell commented that Shays was "lashing out in anger", which is "symptomatic of Chris losing his composure in a tight race." Gotta love a campaign year!

JAMES MADISON QUOTE

"The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the World and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities to be impressed with it."-- President James Madison, Nov. 20, 1825

CAN WE DIG OUT OF THE HOLE AGAIN?

As all Steeler fans are, I'm hoping that the team can get it together for next Sunday's game against the Chargers. The Steelers have their work cut out for them. Thus far, Big Ben has a passer rating that is the second lowest in the league; he has thrown five interceptions and no touchdown passes. All this from a man who had won 27 of his first 31 games...the best of any QB that had started in the NFL. Suffering from a sore hamstring, Hines Ward missed most of his training camp and has only had one TD pass so far this season--by this time last year he had four. Troy Polamalu seems to be nursing a sore shoulder despite Cowher saying he isn't/wasn't. He gave up four TDs against Cincinnati last week. As for Cowher himself, he used his #3 punt returner against Cincinnati which resulted in a fumbled punt inside the 10-yard line, leading to to Cinci's game winning TD. Other mishaps: receivers (excluding Ward) dropped more passes than caught; multiple special teams mishaps; the taunting & excessive celebration penalties; eight turnovers in three games; and critical drops on 3rd downs. Cowher stated that the defense has been doing pretty good but "has not done a good job of holding them in the red zone." CulinaryHerb says that is like saying "we can stop them IF we stop them". From the Steeler website:"Coach Bill Cowher has said often that he believes it takes about four games at the start of each season for that particular team to find its identity, and after the loss to the Jaguars there were questions about whether the Steelers of 2006 would be able to execute the power offense that had helped them win Super Bowl XL." On the plus side: the Steeler's offense ran the football effectively and consistently against the Bengals and was the team's best unit that game. Parker finished with 133 yards and two touchdowns; the Steelers finished with 170 as a team, a total that was more than what they mustered in the playoff game against Cinci last January.

To sum it up, I quote Coach Cowher once more, "No one wants to be where we are right now, but it is where we are," said Cowher. "You just have to play. That's the hole we have dug for ourselves. It is what it is. I do like this football team. We are a good football team that is not playing consistent right now. This is collectively a better football team. We've done a lot of good things. I don't want them to lose sight of that. At the same time we are doing things that have not allowed us to win football games or play consistently week in and week out and yet it is still week three. There is still a lot of football left. I still think we are a good football team."