Pittsburgh blog scene
I've added a couple of links on the left side panel under the new heading, "Pittsburgh Blogs." I'm not into link trading, but both of these blogs have added links to Omblog without solicitation, and after taking a look at the sites, I've decided to recommend them to anyone looking for some local flavor. As I find more, they will be added.
Latest campaign shenanigan
The breadth and depth of the RNC's deceptive, dishonest, and downright
illegal tactics is making it difficult for me to cherry pick which ones I
should highlight. While the tactics are many and varied, one thing remains
consistent...as soon as local law enforcement turns up the heat on the
purpetrators, the RNC moves them to another state to continue the same scam.
Case in point...several employees of the RNC sponsored Republican Victory
Program face absentee ballot fraud charges in South Dakota. The former head
of the organization, Larry Russell, resigned earlier this month as the
investigation was heating up.
You might be thinking that the RNC would be desperately trying to distance
themselves from the people involved in that scandal. Instead the RNC
appointed Russell to head a similar program in Ohio, which is now staffed by
many of the same people that were with him in South Dakota.
Sort of reminds you of the old travelling salesmen who would stay in town
until the mob figured out he was selling snake oil. Then he'd high tail it
out and set up shop in the next town.
Liberal doses of hypocrisy
Word out of Philadelphia is that protestors prevented a showing of "Stolen Honor" at a local movie theater.
Sinclair has every right to put their movie into the public domain as long as it doesn't use intentionally false statements to libel. If they can get a local theatre to show it, more power to them. Nobody has a right to prevent that.
My guess is that some of the same people who were outraged when theatres refused to show Fehrenheit 9/11 are the ones leading the charge to get this film banned.
Sinclair to air revised special
In response to the pressure placed on it and its advertisers, Sinclair has decided not to air "Stolen Honor" in its entirety. Instead, Sinclair will air "only" the highlights of "Stolen Honor", accompanied by commentary regarding liberal bias in the media. (see "Irony, Death of")
How this is any kind of concession, I don't know. Over at dailykos.com (liberal blog alert) they have a hurried transcript of the original program, which you can read
here.
Sinclair's smoke screen throughout this whole episode has been that this is a segment produced by their news department as a legitimate news report. Hmmm. Of course, you don't have to read too far into the transcript (opening paragraph actually) before you get to the telling quote:
My name is Carlton Sherwood and I am a journalist. As an investigative
reporter I have written about corruption in government, corporations and the
military. I have helped to expose doctors who were actually ordering the
starvation of handicapped infants, and charlatans who preached faith from
the pulpit, but who practiced greed and deception in their personal lives.
In every case the guilty party dishonoured their professions and they were
made to answer for the hurt they caused.
Tonight's report is cut from the same cloth. Only for me, it's a lot more
personal.
Yup. Sounds like this is unbiased, hard news.
Let them eat Mesa
Those of us stranded in Pirates Shantytown would like to congratulate those
of you living in Red Sox Nation on your defeat of the Evil Empire.
Now excuse me while I mop up the sarcasm that I just dripped on the floor.
And the dead shall walk the Earth, or something like that
By coming back from a 3-0 deficit, the Red Sox have not only gotten King Kong off of their backs, but they have also rewritten one of the hard and fast rules of baseball. That is, you can't come back from a 3 game deficit in a 7 game series.
We've all grown up accepting that as a hard and fast rule. Coming back from a 3-0 deficit is like travelling faster than the speed of light. It's as if the Red Sox have violated the laws of physics. Now we must all adjust our thinking to the new reality that 3-0 doesn't close the books.
Sir Edmund Hillary (alias: David Ortiz) has earned his place in Red Sox history. As has Curt Schilling and Johnny Damon. For the sake of Sox fans, I hope nobody is hanging their Mission Accomplished banners yet. There are still games to play.
Run defense
Much has been made of the impact of the Casey Hampton injury on the run
defense. As I said previously, it hurts, but it can be overcome.
Less has been made of the impact of the Chad Scott injury on the Steelers'
pass defense. Once again, it hurts, though Scott is quite frankly, not good
in coverage.
What I haven't heard from any media pundits is any discussion of the impact
that Scott's injury will have on the Steelers' run defense. I believe his
injury will have a greater impact on the run defense than it will on the
pass defense, especially in combination with Hampton's injury.
How can that be? Simple. The only reason Scott is a starter in the NFL is
because he still excels at run support. This never gets mentioned in the
media because it's one of those hidden things that the casual observer
doesn't notice, but it's the only reason Cowher keeps Scott around. Scott's
replacement will probably be Ricardo Colclough. I haven't seen enough of him
to know how well he performs in run support, but his size indicates that he
probably is not as effective as Scott.
As I said in my previous post, defending the run is a team concept. With
Hampton out, the Steelers will be depending on others in the lineup to fill
the holes that Hampton previously clogged with his girth. Without Scott to
share that load, 4 yard gains might become 6 yard gains. It's a subtle
thing, but it bears mentioning.
Prediction: Pain
Despite my professed boredom with the nth edition of Yankees/Red Sox, I have
been paying attention to the series and watching a few looooooong innings
here and there. Even though the action has been exciting, I stand by my
pre-series commentary....YAAAAAAWWWWWNNNN. Baseball games should not take 5+
hours, nor should they last until midnight.
Anyway, as soon as the series went 3-0, I knew something was amiss. The
Yankees/Red Sox relationship is dominated by one overriding principle:
inflict as much pain on the Red Sox faithful as possible.
Working off that principle, it is obvious that a sweep of the Red Sox would
leave far too much pain on the table. Clearly, the strategy that maximizes
the Red Sox fans' pain is to take a 3-0 series lead, thus crushing the hopes
of the fans, only to extend the series to 7 games via a number of dramatic
extra-inning victories, and then win the series in dramatic fashion at the
end of game 7.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
That darn turf
It's official...Casey Hampton is out for the year with torn ligaments in his knee.
It's likely that the conventional wisdom will say that this is going to have a tremendous impact on the Steelers' defense. I disagree.
It will definitely have some impact on their run defense. However, the Steelers already have a more easily exploitable weakness: their pass coverage. Defending against the run is not as susceptible to individual breakdowns as is defending against the pass. If one man gets blocked, the man next to him or behind him can still make the play. However, when passing, the offense can be successful by winning a single man on man battle. Therefore, teams aren't suddenly going to change their game plans against the Steelers. They will continue to pass first and run second until the Steelers prove that strategy to be ineffective.
The real damage is that it is now more dangerous for the Steelers to fall behind late in games, because it's more likely that teams will be able to run out the clock. But as I said, defending the run is a team oriented skill, so the Steelers should be able to compensate somewhat.
Sinclair broadcasting
If you've been following the buzz, you are probably aware of Sinclair Broadcasting's intention to violate FCC regulations by forcing its affiliate stations to air a piece of anti-Kerry propaganda over the public airwaves just before the election (a Swift Boat mockumentary titled "Stolen Honor".)
Yesterday, Sinclair's Washington Bureau Chief, Jon Lieberman spoke out against the plans in
this Baltimore Sun article saying:
"It's biased political propaganda, with clear intentions to sway this election.
For me, it's not about right or left -- it's about what's right or wrong in news
coverage this close to an election."
Not surprisingly, Lieberman was jobless by the end of the day. Damn liberal media.
Gotta support your team
Hey you with the giant yellow ribbon magnet on the back of your F-150...gonna vote for Bush? Thought so. Then read
this and take that magnet off your truck cause it don't mean a thing. Sadly, there's a thousand stories just like this one.
In the end, it's the death of irony that I'll lament most of all.
Post game transcript
I was able to get my hands on the post-game transcript from Cowher's office.
Cowher: "What's the status on Ben's injury?"
Trainer: "He'll be a little sore this week, but it's just a bruise and shouldn't keep him out of the lineup."
Cowher: "Good, good. How about Chad Scott?"
Trainer: "Chad's injury is a bit more serious, we won't know until the tests come back. But he may have a tear which could keep him out indefinitely."
Cowher: "Hmmmm. Ok. How about Casey Hampton? I saw you taking a look at his knee."
Trainer: "Casey definitely has a tear and will miss the rest of the season."
Cowher: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
