johnsrealmonline.com Blog

President Bush became the first U.S. president to Mongolia, the rural nation between Russia and China. Though many do not realize it, Mongolia has become a close U.S. ally in recent years, concern mounts within the country that it will be swallowed up by China, or even Russia. It will be interesting to see how this affects our relations with other countries in the region.

Any question as to why?

First, congrats to the Vanderbilt Commodores for their first state championship in 22 years.

Secondly, good luck to Philip Fulmer and his staff in all their future endeavors.

The trip to Atlanta was an adventure to say the least. Todd, Stefanie, and myself left Harriman about 1 AM Friday morning. While driving along the interstate in Chattanooga around 2:45 AM, we encountered some cinder blocks that had apparently fallen off a truck. We missed the intact ones, but some fragments punctured my back, driver’s side tire. So we had to stop in the parking lot of a Church of Christ in a residential neighborhood. It took about 30 minutes to get the doughnut put on, but it got us to Marietta, at about 5 AM. After enjoying a continental breakfast, we set off for the Phillips Arena in Atlanta at about 6:30 AM. After getting on I-75, we learned that the doughnut was flat, and thus had to pull off at exit 260 into a gas station parking lot. Fortunately, Todd has roadside assistance, so he called for a tow truck to take us to a nearby Goodyear. We had to wait three hours for said truck to show up, however. When it finally did, it was about 9:45 AM. Apparently, the Goodyear the truck was taking us to was shut down, so we had to go to a Michelin instead. They were able to fix the tire, after which I was able to drop Todd and Stef off and head back to the apartment for my first sleep in 27 hours… Hopefully, everything is in order now.

Some news items that caught my eye today…

Congress Eyes NFL, NBA, NHL Steriods Stace: Again, other example of our lawmakers wasting our tax dollars on nonsense.

Mark Levin takes on Iraq war critics, pointing out that Saddam Hussein did indeed pose a threat to the U.S. Oh, and does anyone remember this news story from 1999: “Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has offered asylum to bin Laden, who openly supports Iraq against the Western powers.” (via Fishkite)

Rep. John Murtha is getting tons of press for advocating withdrawal from Iraq. But why? He said something similar last year.

Senators Threaten to Block Patriot Act: The Patriot Act had a sunset provision, but of course it has been renewed. Paranoid leftist hysteria notwithstanding, there are certain parts of the act that need to be examined very closely.

Professor to soldiers: Kill officers in Iraq: Lovely. Free speech? Yes. Idiocy? Yes. Moral treason? Yes.

I knew this was coming…

Inbreeding was a stereotypical problem of Appalachia, but our friends across the pond have their own problems with it: Ban Asian marriages of cousins, says MP. (Via LGF)

And finally, Charles Krauthammer takes a look at Intelligent Design.

This weeks college football picks, as the season winds down…

Northwestern over Illinois (W, Northwestern 38-21)
Boston College over Maryland (W, BC 31-16)
South Florida over Cincinnati (W, South Florida 31-16)
Texas Tech over Oklahoma (W, Texas Tech 23-21)
Virginia Tech over Virginia (W, VA Tech 52-14)
Georgia over Kentucky (W, UGA 45-13)
Tennessee over Vanderbilt (L, Vandy 28-24)
Ohio State over Michigan (W, Ohio State 25-21)
North Carolina over Duke (W, UNC 24-21)
North Carolina State over Middle Tennessee (W, NC State 24-3)
Arkansas over Mississippi State (W, Arkansas 44-10)
Notre Dame over Syracuse (W, Notre Dame 34-10)
Utah over Brigham Young (W, Utah 41-34 2 OT)
Auburn over Alabama (W, Auburn 28-18)
Penn State over Michigan State (W, Penn State 31-22)
UTEP over UAB (L, UAB 35-23)
Oregon over Oregon State (W, Oregon 56-14)
South Carolina over Clemson (L, Clemson 13-9)
Miami over Georgia Tech (L, Georgia Tech 14-10)
LSU over Mississippi (W, LSU 40-7)
Southern Miss over Memphis (L, Memphis 24-22)
Southern Cal over Fresno State (W, USC 50-42)