Sunday, September 19, 2010

Pats lose to Jets

The Patriots lost to the Jets today 28-14 after leading at the end of the first half. I didn't get a chance to watch the game myself but it looks like it is back to the drawing board for the Pats while New York backed up their talk with a win. Maybe New York will get cocky and think they can wrap it up in September and won't realize that all the chips will be on the table come December-when they come back to Foxboro.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Primary Recap

September 14th was the last day of primaries in the nation now onto the general election in November. Among the highlights:

Christine O'Donnell, the Tea Party candidate in the Republican primary, upset establishment candidate Mike Castle. The political world, including some Republican partisans, declared that it was a virtual lock that the Democrats would win/keep that seat. Having said that, Democrats, please still run that campaign hard. If this win left everyone shaking their heads, imagine if she did not role over and found a way to win the seat-remember what happened in Massachusetts? Let's not underestimate the Tea Party.

Vincent Gray defeated Adrian Fenty in the DC Mayoral race. I would always watch Mayor Fenty on TV and he never seemed like he could get to the point and dodged questions. There were always questions about the ethics of his office and his administration. I really don't know how much better Gray will be but it looks like he can bring a new type of administration to DC.

There were even some exciting hometown elections in Massachusetts involving people I know as well. First of all congratulations to my classmate Paul Adams for winning the (GOP) nomination for the 17th Essex House of Representatives seat. While I may not agree with his politics, I am thrilled to see a young voice and a classmate shaking up the political landscape. It is time for our generation to pick up the torch and have a real voice for our ideas. Also congratulations goes to my former colleague from my internship days with Marty Meehan Chris Doherty. He waged a great State Senate campaign in Middlesex County Massachusetts. I am sure he will have a bright future.

In addition to the Virginia races I will also be supporting Niki Tsongas who is the congresswoman in my home district. My first campaign was for her husband Paul Tsongas, a former US Senator from Massachusetts who ran for president in 1992. It is important to campaign for as many Democratic seats as possible to hold the majority in the House.

On to November, Democrat or Republican let the excitement begin!

Update on stuff

Gee, I didn't think I have been that busy but apologies for the lack of postings. Here is a quick update on things:

9/11-We will never forget and the Koran burning was called off. We essentially avoided an international crisis with that.

Ohio State beats Miami, Alabama beats Penn State, Michigan beats Notre Dame-There is still a long way to go but Denard Robinson could be the real deal. Ohio State survived an early test as well. However, they need to cover on special teams better. When the games get bigger, it is usually difficult to overcome big special teams plays.

Patriots win-Always good to get the season off to a positive start. You never want to be in a position where you have to win in week 2 to avoid starting 0-2. This weekend-the Jets, a traditional hate fest but this would also give them a huge leg up in the division.

Primaries-More on that in a later post. It has set the stage for November.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Burning the Koran?

A minister in Florida is organizing a Koran burning on the Saturday's 9-11 anniversary. This is wrong on so many levels. It is also during the end of Muslim Ramadan and during the Jewish High Holy Days. It will only fuel the fire and anti-American sentiment that lead to the attacks in the first place. When you have Obama administration, Department of State, Department of Defense and General Petreus condemning the actions out of concern for national security and American interests abroad you know that you are barking up the wrong tree. Religious leaders from all faiths are coming out against the actions. Authorities really need to step in and stop this from taking place in the name of what America stands for.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Big Ten stays Big

College football season kicked off this past Thursday with a full slate of games this weekend. Ohio State began their quest for a national title with a convincing 45-7 win over Marshall. It is always nice to get the first game under your belt in college as you never know how things are going to unfold. Among the highlights this weekend include UConn's first trip to Michigan Stadium and of course Notre Dame opening up their season-I have been to their campus and had lots of friends who went there. It should be a great ride.

There was news this week from the Big Ten. Nebraska joined for the 2011 season bringing the total number of teams to 12-which meant the would separate into two divisions. There was talk that Ohio State and Michigan would move into different divisions and changing the rivalry dramatically-possibly moving it to the middle of October which would be like Santa Claus coming on Labor Day. They did wind up putting the teams in two divisions but said that they would continue to play on the last Saturday of the regular season. There might be a possibility that they would rematch in the Big Ten title game.

My thoughts on this is that this rivalry being played on the last Saturday of the season is a time honored tradition and kudos to the Big Ten for putting the interests of the fans over money in this one. The nature of the conference is that nine times out of ten a team will have to win on the final Saturday to earn a spot in the title game so a rematch of OSU-Michigan will happen once a decade at most. If it does, whats wrong with an extra OSU-Michigan game, especially if your team wins!

Standoff at Discovery Channel

On Wednesday there was a standoff and hostage situation at the Discovery Channel building in Silver Spring, Maryland. It was resolved by the end of the afternoon. Unfortunately the gunman died. He had a long history of protesting the cable station since it did not carry enough program discussing global warming. As far as I am concerned-give me a break! They carry shows that make people think a lot about the world around them and will inspire them to protect the environment. If you are looking for a place to protest, go to E! Entertainment Television or CNBC. At least the fatalities were minimal.