Will Notre Dame win by more or less than the average 20 point margin of victory over Georgia Tech tomorrow?

I’ll vote “less”.  We’re only going to win by two touchdowns, 27-13.

In April, the New York State City Council passed a ban on metal bats in high school sports.  The ban was sponsored by Republican City Councilman Jim Oddo, on whose first campaign I volunteered.  Today, a judge upheld the ban, saying that while the law was passed without a factual basis, it was within the City Council’s rihts to pass such a law.

As a baseball purist, I don’t like metal bats, night games, relief pitching, or the designated hitter, but that’s beside the point.  Baseball league, not legislatures, should determine the rules for their own games, and parents and players should exercise their own judgment as to whether they choose to participate under those rules.  If they don’t like those rules, talk to the league, form a new league, or don’t participate.  The judge agreed, but he also knew that it wasn’t his call to make.

“Supreme Court Justice John Koeltl”, no matter how awkward of a pronounciation,  has a certain ring to it.

Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig will resign from the Senate amid a furor over his arrest and guilty plea in a police sex sting in an airport men’s room, Republican officials said Friday.

Craig will announce at a news conference in Boise Saturday morning that he will resign effective Sept. 30, four state GOP officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

AP

It’s for the best, not just for the Republican Party, but for the country.  I heard on the radio today on my way from work that Governor Otter already has a replacement ready.

Silvia Aloisi writes for Reuters about an upcoming film to highlight the Venice film festival.  The Venice film festival will be showing “Redacted” by director Brian De Palma along with at least eight other films focusing on the Iraq conflict.  “Redacted” is about the worst atrocities committed by US troops in Iraq.  De Palma is extremely biased in his film and is clear about his agenda.

De Palma, 66, whose “Casualties of War” in 1998 told a similar tale of abuse by American soldiers in Vietnam, makes no secret of the goal he is hoping to achieve with the film’s images, all based on real material he found on the internet.

“The movie is an attempt to bring the reality of what is happening in Iraq to the American people.  The pictures are what will stop the war.  One only hopes that these images will get the public incensed enough to motivate their congressman to vote agaist this war.”

This guy hates America and is dedicated to enraging  others with hatred for America as well.  But let’s look at some actual facts.  Any American who has been found guilty of crimes is prosecuted and punished in full light of public disclosure.  There is no attempt to cover up.  These incidences have been very few and when they happen are dealt with.  Mr. De Palma makes no attempt to show the amount of American blood, and treasury that has gone to help the people of Iraq or around the world for that matter.  He has made no attempt to distinguish between a few renegade individuals and that of the mission, objectives and heart of the American military and policy.  He does not mention that the few incidents that he bases his entire film on where daily occurrences under Saddam Hussein.  He ignores that the fact the Al Qaeda and the islamist extremist in Iraq are the ones whose proclaimed mission it is to kill, torture innocent people.

This aggressive propaganda is what we are up against, and we as a country need to combat it with new innovative and creative strategies to promote what America is about, as well as freedom and democracy.

As expected, Sen. John Warner announced that he will not seek reelection.  So what’s a conservative to do?  Neither Tom Davis nor Jim Gilmore seem like suitable replacements.  Gilmore’s a big spender.  Davis is a social liberal, even going so far as to support taxpayer funding of abortion in some circumstances.  Goodlatte for Senate anyone?

Offering federal help for strapped mortgage holders, President Bush is proposing to aid hundreds of thousands of borrowers hard hit by the housing slump.

The president on Friday was to talk about several initiatives and reforms to help homeowners with risky mortgages keep their homes, a senior administration official said Thursday. Bush also was to discuss efforts to prevent these kinds of problems from arising in the future.

The official said Bush will direct Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson to work on an initiative to help troubled mortgage holders get services and products they need to keep them from defaulting on their loans. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the initiatives ahead of the presidential event.

AP News

I’m going to get right to the point.  This is a bunch of crap.  This is a prime example of the  growing problem in the Republican Party that is causing us to lose Libertarians, independents, and Reagan Democrats.  What right does Bush have to bail out people who have defaulted on their mortgages using our tax dollars?  What kind of slap in the face is this to those of us who are responsible home owners?  Nobody told these people to take out a mortgage they couldn’t afford and this whole concept of predatory lenders is bogus.  Did the lenders hold a gun to their heads and force them to sign a mortgage they couldn’t afford?  Of course not.

These people chose to purchase homes that were beyond their means and now it’s biting them in the rear end.  The only ones to blame are themselves.  Anybody with a half a brain knows that you are taking a gamble with an ARM loan, which is what the majority of these have people who are defaulting have.  When I had bought my house I saved up the money for the down payment and I got a fixed rate loan.  I wasn’t stupid.  I knew the low interest rates weren’t going to last forever.  I also bought a home that I could afford.  It wasn’t anything grand and the neighborhood was questionable, but that’s what I could reasonably afford at the time.  Sure I could have bought a $200,000 house with a low adjustable rate mortgage, but what would have happened when the Fed started raising interest rates month after month?  I never missed a mortgage payment because I was responsible.  Bailing these people out only encourages further neglect.

And the left still thinks Bush is a conservative.

His Iowa showing is helping him across the country.

Huckabee, who scored a stunning second-place in the Republican Party of Iowa straw poll on Aug. 11, received support from 14 percent of Iowans and 9 percent of New Hampshire Republicans in the new ARG poll. He had been at 1 percent in each state in July. Huckabee stands at 9 percent in South Carolina, up from 3 percent in July, and is tied with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for fourth place.

Thompson’s Iowa support remained stuck at 13 percent for the second month after peaking at 14 percent in June, according to the poll. He trails Huckabee in New Hampshire and is down from 13 percent in July to 8 percent. The former U.S. Senator from Tennessee is also off his peak in South Carolina, down from 27 percent in July to 23 percent this month.

Don’t count out the former Arkansas Governor.