Saturday, July 5, 2008

Jesse Helms (1921-2008)

I like most of the people I write obituaries for but this guy was a total asshole. The Racist Republican North Carolina Senator from 1973 to 2003 died of natural causes yesterday (July 4). Helms was a hardcore conservative who opposed abortion, homosexuality, affirmative action, school integration, etc. This man really hated civil rights.

"At the height of his power," the Rev. Jesse Jackson said, "he fought for the values of the old confederacy. He resisted the new South. He resisted the opportunity to fight for a more perfect union."

And this man was a Senator for 30 years. That's scary. He was also a pioneer of negative TV ads for campaigns. Sadly, all candidates use these now.

Washington Post columnist David S. Broder summed it up well in 2001 when Helms announced that he would retire from the Senate. Broder described Helms as "the last prominent unabashed white racist politician in this country."

This is another great quote from Mother Jones: Smart, fearless journalism: "He has a view of a fundamentalist Christian society in which everyone is not welcome. If you could pick up the South Africa of 20 years ago and transplant it to America, that's what he would do."

When Helms retired from Senate, President Bush said that the Senate was "losing an institution." After hearing about Jesse's death Bush said the following, "Throughout his long public career, Sen. Jesse Helms was a tireless advocate for the people of North Carolina, a stalwart defender of limited government and free enterprise, a fearless defender of a culture of life, and an unwavering champion of those struggling for liberty."

Our President called a rasict "an unwavering champion of those struggling for liberty."

Wow.

I am Back

So I am in a hot room in Chicago listening to "Everybody Must Get Stoned" by Bob Dylan. Sirius Internet Radio is amazing. This room needs some air conditioning, damn.

Anyway, I decided to take a break from blogging for a while. But I am back now. I am going home tomorrow (today at this point). I look forward to returning to NYC. I start my summer job on Monday so I will get some $$$$ yo.

Anyway, check back here for more posts soon.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Wednesday's World Cup Qualifying

Here are the World Cup qualifying matches which will be played today.

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying
HOW IT WORKS
They are currently in the first round of qualifying. Winners advance to the second round of qualifying which is just a two legged affair against another country. The third round contains 3 groups of 4 teams. The two best teams from each group advance to the final round. In that final round 3 of the top 6 advance to the World Cup. The 4th place team plays a team from South America in a two-legged affair to see who goes to the World Cup.
TODAY'S MATCHES
There are 10 matches today. They are mostly second legs and the numbers in parenthesis is the score of the first leg. Some of the teams are only playing one leg because they skipped the first leg for some reason. Those matches obviously won't have scores in parenthesis.

Barbados (1) vs. (1) Dominica: The winner faces the United States in the next round on June 15 in California. The second leg will be sometime between June 18 and 21 in out opponents country.
Belize (3) vs. (1) Saint Kitts and Nevis: The winner takes on Mexico in the next round.
St. Lucia (1) vs. (2) Turks and Caicos Islands: The winner faces Guatemala.
Netherlands Antilles (0) vs. (1) Nicaragua: The winner faces Haiti.
Antigua and Barbuda (3) vs. (0) Aruba: The winner faces Cuba.
Bahamas vs. British Virgin Islands: This is the first leg and the second leg is being played on March 30. The winner faces Jamaica.
Grenada vs. US Virgin Islands: There was no first leg played. The winner plays Costa Rica.
Puerto Rico vs. Dominican Republic: No first leg was played. This will be interesting. The winner faces Honduras.
Montserrat vs. Suriname: There was no first leg played. Montserrat is the lowest ranked team in the world. The winner faces Guyana.
Anguilla (0) vs. (12) El Salvador: That is not a typo. El Salvador won the first leg 12-0. The winner (gee, I wonder who that will be?) face Panama.

So to simplify it the US has to:
1. Beat Barbados or Dominica.
2. Finish top 2 in a group that is likely to have the US, Guatemala, Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba.
3. Finish top 3 in a group that will probably include the US, Guatemala, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama.

Asian Football Confederation World Cup Qualifying
HOW IT WORKS
They are currently in the third round which consists of 5 groups of 4 teams. You play each team in your group twice and the top 2 teams advance. They will then go into 2 groups of 5. You play all teams in your group twice and the top 2 from each group qualify for the World Cup.
TODAY'S MATCHES
All of the teams are in action today.
Group A
China 0 vs. 0 Australia: In the 89th minute Australia's keeper Mark Schwarzer fouled Qu Bo in the box and a penalty was called. But the Middlesbrough keeper saved Shao Jiayi's penalty kick and the match ended in a draw.
Qatar vs. Iraq
Group B
Thailand vs. Oman
Bahrain vs. Japan
Group C
North Korea 0 vs. 0 South Korea: This must have caused a lot of controversy.
Turkmenistan vs. Jordan
Group D
Uzbekistan 3 vs. 0 Saudi Arabia: I am happy to see an Arab absolute monarch lose to a country I have trouble spelling.
Singapore vs. Lebanon
Group E
Syria vs. UAE
Kuwait vs. Iran

Friday, March 21, 2008

USA Qualify for Olympics

The US Under-23 Men's National Team defeated Canada 3-0 at LP Field in Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday night to secure their place at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

The US will be retuning to the Olympics for the 13th time after missing the games in 2004. The 2008 Olympic Games run from August 8-24.

Read more here: http://www.americansoccerdaily.com/news/uscanoq200308.htm

A bunch of ESC guys went down for the match. Jay documented yesterday in his blog here: http://primetown.blogspot.com/2008/03/primetown-in-nashville-what-day.html. He included some great pictures.

It is great that the US qualified but Red Bull will be with out Altidore for as many as eight games due to the Olympics. Big Apple Soccer has more on that here: http://www.bigapplesoccer.com/article.php?article_id=13434

USA!