NFL 2008 Week 4 Picks

Week 4
I had a rough week last week because of a lot of surprises. This week I am sure I will make better picks.

Favorite vs Underdog bold=Home team
My pick

Bengals vs Browns 3.5
BENGALS
Buccaneers vs Packers 1.0
PACKERS
Panthers vs Falcons 7.0
FALCONS
Titans vs Vikings 3.0
VIKINGS
Jaguars vs Texans 7.0
JAGUARS
Broncos vs Chiefs 9.0
CHIEFS
Saints vs 49ers 5.0
SAINTS
Jets vs Cardinals 1.5
JETS
Chargers vs Raiders 7.5
CHARGERS
Bills vs Rams 8.0
RAMS
Cowboys vs Redskins 11.0
COWBOYS
Eagles vs Bears 3.0
EAGLES
Steelers vs Ravens 5.5
STEELERS

CORRECT WRONG

4/13

Past Results
Week 1: 8/16
Week 2: 7/14
Week 3: 5/16

NFL 2008 Week 3 Picks

Week 3

So far I have a .500 record let's see if I can keep that up.

Favorite vs Underdog bold=Home team
My pick

Falcons vs Chiefs 5.5
FALCONS
Patriots vs Dolphins 12.5
PATRIOTS
Bills vs Raiders 9.5
BILLS
Giants vs Bengals 13.5
GIANTS
Bears vs Buccaneers 3.0
BEARS
Titans vs Texans 5.0
TITANS
Redskins vs Cardinals 3.0
REDSKINS
Vikings vs Panthers 3.5
PANTHERS
Broncos vs Saints 5.5
BRONCOS
49ers vs Lions 4.0
LIONS
Seahawks vs Rams 9.5
RAMS
Eagles vs Steelers 3.5
EAGLES
Colts vs Jaguars 5.0
COLTS
Ravens vs Browns 2.5
BROWNS
Cowboys vs Packers 3.0
COWBOYS
Chargers vs Jets 9.0
JETS

CORRECT WRONG

5/16

Past Results
Week 1: 8/16
Week 2: 7/14

"The View" Deserves Some Credit For Taking on McCain

Now I'm not a natural "The View" watcher, but they do deserve some credit now. I don't watch the "The View" because I find the dialogue very amateurish and they usually don't bring much to the table in terms intelligent discussion, but last week they had John McCain on the show and they deserve a pat on the back for holding John McCain accountable. I know since Whoopi Goldberg joined the show she has been tapped as sort of the headmaster to move things along, but during the John McCain segment Barbara Walters took charge challenging John McCain about what he means about being a "reformer" in Washington. John McCain kept squirming avoiding a straight answer with a silly grin on his face as if he though was ambushed. Whenever McCain gave an evasive answer Walters kept hitting him back with follow up questions, and that is what made the interview good. It almost seemed as if Barbara Walters told everyone before the show that she would be the "special enforcer" and hold John McCain accountable while all the other hosts step aide. You also can't say enough about Joy Behar and her willingness to say what's on her mind. During the interview she challenged McCain for the lies in his ads, and he really just shrugged it off and said the tenor of the campaign was due to Barack Obama's unwillingness to accept McCain's town hall meeting request (I do agree with that to some degree) This doesn't excuse McCain for making slimy ads though. Even right winger Elisabeth Hasslelbeck asked a tough question to McCain on Roe v. Wade. WOW!

It was funny to see Cindy McCain upset with interview saying "they picked our bones clean", but can we blame her? The interview was tough no question about it, but if you look at the interview in the context of the show it was really "un-View like". As I mentioned above they really don't have a reputation for giving great interviews, but if I was betting man before the interview I would have expected this. "The View" needs ratings, and what better thing to do than grill John McCain and attract new viewers. I still believe "The View" round table discussion is like the "Fisher-Price" version of "Realtime with Bill Maher" because some of those characters on the show you can't take seriously. Whoopi Goldberg made the show better, but even she comes off very "above the fray" a lot of the time trying to play peacemaker. Even though this type of interview from "The View" might not be the norm for the show there's no reason why we can't tip our hat to them.

Click Here to watch the interview if you missed it.


Dre

Did Barack Obama Deliver the Slime on 9/11? You be the Judge

Did Obama break his 9/11 agreement to not air attack ads against John McCain? You be the judge.

As someone who has followed this election very closely and every dirty ad put out by the McCain campaign it was much to my surprise to see a dirty slimy ad coming from the Obama campaign. As expected this ad received very little coverage in the mainstream media and prominent liberal blogs. It was even more surprising that when I saw the date of upload it was "September 11, 2008"

First take a look at the ad for yourself:



First of all this ad might be one of the most stupidest ads ever created attacking a political candidate. Just how on earth does Barack Obama expect to get votes from senior citizens with this ad? This ad is extremely distasteful, and there should be outrage against this ad. The message in this ad is basically that John McCain is unfit for the Presidency because he can't use the internet or email. I don't know about you, but I know many people that aren't computer savvy and they aren't stupid people. Quite frankly if someone didn't know how to use a computer it wouldn't bother me, and shouldn't bother you. How this is even an issue is beyond me.

My second point being that this ad was uploaded on 9/11. Why is this relevant? Well, supposedly Barack Obama and McCain made an agreement to "suspend all TV ads critical of each other for the day." The Barack Obama campaign might contend that because this ad was uploaded on YouTube it shouldn't count, but realistically it should because all throughout many of the campaigns ads were put out through YouTube and played on TV from YouTube. I haven't heard any major thing about this ad, and quite frankly it bothers me. It doesn't bother me because I like to see bickering over ads, but this is a case of Barack Obama getting away with a dirty slimey ad.

I don't like John McCain, but this ad is inexcusable. Obama likes to contend that John McCain is not focusing on real issues facing America(which is true), but when Obama turns down town hall meetings with McCain and puts out ads like this one his argument becomes null and void.

NFL 2008 Week 2 Picks

Week 2
Favorite vs Underdog bold=Home team
My pick

Redskins vs Saints 0.0
SAINTS
Panthers vs Bears 3.0
PANTHERS
Packers vs Lions 3.0
PACKERS
Jaguars vs Bills 5.5
BILLS
Chiefs vs Raiders 3.5
CHIEFS
Giants vs Rams 8.5
GIANTS
Colts vs Vikings 2.0
COLTS
Bengals vs Titans 1.0
BENGALS
Seahawks vs 49ers 7.0
SEAHAWKS
Buccaneers vs Falcons 7.0
FALCONS
Chargers vs Broncos 1.5
BRONCOS
Jets vs Patriots 1.5
JETS
Cardinals vs Dolphins 6.5
DOLPHINS
Steelers vs Browns 6.0
BROWNS
Cowboys vs Eagles 7.0
EAGLES

7/14

I left off Texans vs Ravens because that will be replayed in November.

CORRECT WRONG PUSH


Past results
Week 1: 8/16

Ron Paul Promotes Third Party Unity Against Obama/McCain

Yesterday Republican Ron Paul held a press conference with third party candidates Bob Barr(Libertarian Party), Ralph Nader(Independent), Cynthia McKinney(Green party), and Chuck Baldwin(Constitution Party) urging voters to vote for a third party candidate this election instead of Barack Obama or John McCain. Ron Paul presented an agenda which is at odds with the two major parties, but that the third party candidates have agreed on:

We Agree

Foreign Policy: The Iraq War must end as quickly as possible with removal of all our soldiers from the region. We must initiate the return of our soldiers from around the world, including Korea, Japan, Europe and the entire Middle East. We must cease the war propaganda, threats of a blockade and plans for attacks on Iran, nor should we re-ignite the cold war with Russia over Georgia. We must be willing to talk to all countries and offer friendship and trade and travel to all who are willing. We must take off the table the threat of a nuclear first strike against all nations.

Privacy: We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons under US jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the notion and practice of torture, eliminations of habeas corpus, secret tribunals, and secret prisons. We must deny immunity for corporations that spy willingly on the people for the benefit of the government. We must reject the unitary presidency, the illegal use of signing statements and excessive use of executive orders.

The National Debt: We believe that there should be no increase in the national debt. The burden of debt placed on the next generation is unjust and already threatening our economy and the value of our dollar. We must pay our bills as we go along and not unfairly place this burden on a future generation.

The Federal Reserve: We seek a thorough investigation, evaluation and audit of the Federal Reserve System and its cozy relationships with the banking, corporate, and other financial institutions. The arbitrary power to create money and credit out of thin air behind closed doors for the benefit of commercial interests must be ended. There should be no taxpayer bailouts of corporations and no corporate subsidies. Corporations should be aggressively prosecuted for their crimes and frauds.

We support opening up the debates beyond the two parties and the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a private corporation co-chaired by former chairmen of the Republican and Democratic Party. It is time for our Presidential Debates to once again be hosted by a truly non-partisan civic-minded association.

I know some supporters of some the candidates may be angry that all of them are standing together supporting each other even though they may support different things other than the above, but this really is a win-win situation for everyone. First of all this generates publicity for all the third party candidates, and calls to attention the above agenda which John McCain and Barack Obama don't support. Second of all, because attention is given to this event it lets voters become more aware of their candidacies and hopefully it puts pressure on networks to allow them into debates. When Americans see the main agenda put forward by the third party candidates there's no question in my mind voters will realize that they are supporting the wrong candidate(McCain/Obama).

Dre

Video of Ron Paul's opening remarks can be found here.

Do National Presidential Polls Really Matter?

If you are an avid watcher of the mainstream media you may notice them bringing up many different poll numbers. While it adds great drama to political punditry the fact remains that national polls do not matter. All this over the top commentary about who's ahead by how many points means nothing. I give you two words: Electoral College

Everyone should know by now that the popular vote means nothing, and the electoral college is what determines the winner. So why do we give a crap about national polls? Like I said above I believe national polls are just used for causing a stir in the media. The only false relevance for national polls is to determine who is "viable" enough to be allowed to be in debates. For example for the upcoming Google Presidential debate a candidate has to be polling 10% nationally to be allowed in which in my personal opinion is a disgraceful rule for the sake of democracy.

But let's get back to the real point...The fact remains that state presidential polls are the only polls that matter because the electoral college is supposed to vote by the popular vote of their state.

NFL 2008 Week 1 Picks, Playoffs/Superbowl Predictions

I figured I would add another dynamic to this website and every week for the rest of the season ill make my NFL picks just to take a break from the drag of politics. I'm the type of person that likes to make picks on certain things. Not to brag, but a day or two before the Giants/Packers NFC Championship game I put money on the Giants(during my Las Vegas trip) to win the Superbowl at 12-1 odds. We know how that one turned out...Let's see if I continue to have the hot hand:

Week 1
Favorite vs Underdog bold=home team
My pick

Giants vs Redskins 4.5
GIANTS (understand I didn't post my picks before this game, but I did pick the Giants... who didn't?)
Patriots vs Chiefs Off(0)
PATRIOTS
Saints vs Buccaneers 3.0
SAINTS
Eagles vs Rams 7.5
EAGLES
Steelers vs Texans 6.5
STEELERS
Lions vs Falcons 3.0
LIONS
Bills vs Seahawks 1.0
SEAHAWKS
Bengals vs Ravens 1.5
BENGALS
Jaguars vs Titans 3.0
JAGUARS
Jets vs Dolphins 3.0
JETS
Chargers vs Panthers 9.0
CHARGERS
Cardinals vs 49ers 2.5
CARDINALS
Cowboys vs Browns 5.5
BROWNS
Colts vs Bears 9.5
COLTS
Packers vs Vikings 2.5
VIKINGS
Broncos vs Raiders 3.0
BRONCOS

8/16

CORRECT WRONG

Playoffs Prediction

NFC EAST - COWBOYS
NFC NORTH - LIONS
NFC SOUTH - SAINTS
NFC WEST - SEAHAWKS
WILDCARD - GIANTS, EAGLES

AFC EAST - PATRIOTS
AFC NORTH - BROWNS
AFC SOUTH - COLTS
AFC WEST - CHARGERS
WILDCARD - STEELERS, JAGUARS

Superbowl Prediction
COWBOYS vs BROWNS

Superbowl Winner: COWBOYS

There you have it folks! My Week 1 picks, and Superbowl picks.

Dre

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Please Stop Shoving McCain's POW Status Down Our Throats

It's been 24 hours and I still have a headache from listening to that non entertaining, non substantive Republican Presidential nomination acceptance speech by John McCain on Thursday night. There was nothing really interesting about McCain's speech except a very detailed description of him being a POW in North Vietnam, except to me it was uninteresting because we heard the summarized version during a few of the keynote speeches in the previous nights of the convention. Throughout the convention "Country First" along with John McCain's POW status became a central theme as if McCain's POW status made him the best candidate to be President of the United States.

I know some of you reading this may call me "unpatriotic", but honestly and seriously is someone being a POW a major qualifier to be President of the United States? I think not. We thank McCain for his service during Vietnam, but please let's not politicize it. It reminded of the Republicans politicizing 9/11 during the 2004 Bush re-election campaign. Simply disgusting. I was waiting for McCain to criticize the use of torture after his POW story because the use of torture is a danger to National Security and also because he himself was tortured, but nothing. And supposedly this is the guy that is breaking away from Bush? This must be the "maverick" in coming out in McCain to pander to the much bigger neocons because he once was against waterboarding, and in February 2008 he voted against a ban on waterboarding.

I hope for the rest of the campaign McCain's POW status wont be used as a tool to gain votes, but just as biographical information. What the RNC did during this past week was disgusting, but you know as well as I do nobody had the guts to call them out on it's politicization except Wesley Clark. After that Wesley Clark was basically black balled by the Obama campaign and they told him not to come to the DNC because his services weren't needed. I'm sure they agreed with Clark, but Barack Obama is too gutless to say it himself.

Every time the McCain campaign uses McCain's POW status as a tool to gain votes we know it's a tactic to stray away from talking about actual issues like let's say the economy, health care, or Iraq.

Dre

Palin Comes Up Big in a Big Spot

Last night I watched Gov. Sarah Palin's Republican Vice-Presidential nomination acceptance speech, and I have to say putting all my personal political differences aside she knocked it out of the park. Her speech probably drew big ratings and deservingly so. I actually think that Gov. Palin's speech last night was more critical than John McCain's speech tonight. We know enough about McCain, and not enough about Gov. Palin on a national stage. The few reservations I had about her speech were that she didn't mention any social issues, and we didn't really learn anything new from what we knew about her already.

I was a little surprised about the arrangement of Palin's speech, but it seemed to work in the end. I kept asking myself during the speech(and probably social conservatives also) "When will the talk of abortion come?" Palin painted herself as a reformer, and listed accomplishments during her career as Governor of Alaska. She also indirectly criticized Obama saying that being a mayor is being a "community organizer with responsibilities". She attacked Obama some of the time, and promoted McCain throughout her speech.

What she did very good was paint herself as a regular American(a Hockey mom) with a large family. There is no doubt in my mind that this aspect of Palin will resonate with voters around the country. That fact of the matter about this speech was that the delivery and her command of the speech was superb. I don't agree with any of her positions, but at the end of the day she came up big in a big spot. Palin proved last night that she's ready for the main event, and even if the McCain/Palin loses in November she will be a major face within the Republican party in the future.

Dre

What the Ron Paul Convention Meant to Me

I won't do a speaker-by-speaker review like I did for the DNC because everyone that I heard at the the Ron Paul Convention was spot on. I will give my overall opinion regarding what this convention meant to me.

For starters I am not a huge Ron Paul supporter, but I have a great amount of respect for him because of the positions he takes within the Republican Party which has drifted away from traditional conservatism. Yesterday I turned on the Ron Paul Convention "Rally for the Republic", and I listened to the various speakers, and I thought to myself "Why am I watching this and why is this a big deal?" I was watching it because the Campaign for Liberty was a movement that came about from the Ron Paul campaign for President. It was also a movement that built itself up by utilizing YouTube, and other means of communication to get out it's message because mainstream media wouldn't give Ron Paul fair coverage and would be trashed by Republican commentators for not supporting the neocon agenda. This is a much more remarkable accomplishment than Ron Paul is being given credit for. Not only that but there was also a big age barrier between Ron Paul and his supporters. As you watched the convention and you noticed all the young faces in the audience sometimes you still couldn't believe that they would support a candidate three to four times their age.

This convention was the culmination of a great, exciting, and fun to watch(at least for me) Ron Paul campaign, and also a "passing of the torch" (so to speak) to the younger generation to continue to fight for liberty and never give up. When I was campaigning for Congressman Dennis Kucinich in New Hampshire it was always fun to talk to a Ron Paul supporter. We obviously had our differences, but you could tell they were passionate. What I also found was that they were very knowledgeable on the issues, and that's basically what put the Ron Paul campaign above most of the other campaigns. The mainstream campaigns like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and John Edwards may have had strength through number of supporters, but the Ron Paul campaign had strength through the quality of supporters that ultimately helped the campaign be very successful.

Whether you are a Democrat or Republican you can't discount the success of the Ron Paul campaign. Ron Paul received more votes than mainstream backed Rudy Giuliani! If there was anything that I was left with after this convention it was that the movement will only get stronger over time. Even though I am a very liberal Democrat, and I disagree with Ron Paul on social issues I would still consider voting for him in the future just on the basis that he is a principled candidate. It's hard to find those kind of politicians nowadays.

As this election cycle is coming to an end I will have many memories about everything that has happened the past couple years. For me I will have many memories about campaigning on the streets of New Hampshire for Kucinich. One thing I know I'll miss is seeing the Ron Paul sign waves that happened frequently on the campaign trail, and their enthusiasm no matter where they were. I will look back at everything and realize that I experienced something special, and possibly the beginning of something much bigger in the future.

Dre