Harry Reed in the spotlight, GOP celebrates; Maryland and Wake Forest tied for first in ACC Soccer

BALTIMORE, Maryland September 30, 2013 - Gallup says 53% don't approve of Harry Reid: If you are willing to take a gander at the MSM this week, you will see Senate President Harry Reid as he tries to make sure the United States Congress funds Obamamess (aka Obamacare; aka Affordable Care Act).  If you are one of the ones who turns his TV on only to see the dingy one, the odds are you will change the channel or turn the TV off (imagine that!) almost immediately.  That is because well over half of all Americans do not like Harry Reid.  A recent Gallup Poll put the number who disapprove of the Senate President at 53%.  And when he is in the national spotlight, the GOP starts celebrating.  For many Americans, the dislike of the mealy-mouthed Nevadan is visceral.  He just has that certain creepiness about him.  Who can forget - alright, most people have forgotten, and that is too bad - back when the Dems, laughably, gave Reid this job.  Soon thereafter he appeared on 60 Minutes and the reporter ask some question about the Supreme Court, to which Reid, remembering his brain-dead talking points from the DNC, said Clarence Thomas is stupid and the worst justice in the history of the Supreme Court.  So the reporter, back when the people on shows like 60 minutes actually were reporters, ask him to name a Thomas opinion that reflected the fact that he wasn't all that bright.  Reid got that deer in the headlights look on his face because he hadn't read even one such opinion, and the interview went to commercial.  In another segment, Reid said he was having lunch in a Washington Restaurant when a child approached his table - stop that laughing! - and said, Mr. Reid, I want to grow up to be just like you.  Folks, if you have a kid who says stuff like that, get him the help he or she desperately needs.  Mr. Limbaugh calls Reid "dingy," which, if you have ever seen even one video clip of Reid, fits him to a T. Reid actually won re-election in 2010 and people in Nevada are still washing their hands but folks, that stuff won't come off for six years.  Imagine that you are obama and you have to depend on dingy to carry the day for your "signature" legislation.  Talk about sleepless nights!  Maryland's Win Over Pitt ties it with Wake for ACC Soccer Lead:  Maryland moved into a tie with Wake Forest for first place in the ACC, and for the third consecutive week, the league standings are nearly the national rankings in reverse, or something like that.  Wake Forest (3-0-1, 5-2-1) is ranked No. 24 and Maryland (3-0-1, 3-2-3) No. 8.  Meanwhile, the nation's number one team, North Carolina, sits in a three-way tie for seventh place in the ACC.  Carolina is 0-0-4 in the conference and 3-1-4 overall.  It is tied - soccer standings are determined by accumulated points, with three awarded for a win and one for a tie -  with unranked North Carolina State, (1-2-1, 4-2-1) and unranked Virginia (1-2-1, 4-3-1).  In between first and seventh are third-place Notre Dame, ranked #4, and 2-0-2 in the ACC and 4-0-3 overall; in a tie for fourth place are No. 16 Clemson (2-1-1, 7=1=1) and unranked Boston College (2-1-1, 4-2-2); and in sixth place is unranked Virginia Tech (1-2-3, 3-2-3).  Below the No. 1 team, in eighth place, is Syracuse (1-3-0, 6-3-0). The ninth place team is Duke (0-3-1, 4-3-2).  In last place is Pitt (0-4-0, 0-4-2).  But Pitt fans should take heart.  They held Maryland scoreless throughout the first half at College Park, and lost only by 2-0.  The Panthers were 2-0-1 in the preseason, including a tie with the University of Detroit.  They then opened the season with home ties with Oakland and Longwood, before dropping a heartbreaking 1-0 overtime match at North Carolina State.  Their other matches are all tough ACC losses, 2-1 against Boston College, 2-0 against Wake Forest and the Maryland loss.  This week the Panthers have Xavier at home tomorrow night and Virginia in Charlottesville on Friday.  If they go 2-0 nobody should be surprised.

Al Qaeda Terrorists massacre 50 in rural Nigeria; CBS doesn't get it; far left network flaunts O'Reilly's admission he is Christian as a "gotcha"

BALTIMORE, Maryland September 29, 2013 -Al Qaeda Executes 50 Nigerian Muslim Students:  A provost at a rural agriculture college in Nigeria says Al Qaeda terrorists killed up to 50 students, some asleep in their dormitory rooms seconds before the early morning attack, in the African nation of Nigeria.  Students said that many of the dead were gathered into groups outside of a dormitory, then Islamic Terrorists opened fire on the separated group.  Once one group was gunned down, the terrorists moved to another group that had been separated.  A provost at the school said some 50 students were dead.  The students were all Muslim, school officials said.  No reason or motive, other than the obvious thirst for publicity, was offered by anyone at the scene. CBS Flaunts Mis-Statement by O'Reilly: he admits he is Christian:  CBS has an interview with Fox's Bill O'Reilly as its big draw tonight, and even though they are counting on the segment to boost ratings, they still are playing gotcha with the successful anchor and author.  The interviewer asks O'Reilly if he thinks the Holy Spirit wanted him to write his latest book, "Killing Jesus."  O'Reilly says yes.  And that's the spot.  That's the big killer mistake they got O'Reilly to make.  Aren't they something?  The Ravens lost because...  The defending world champs were in Buffalo Sunday to play the Bills.  They lost the game, 23-20, because:  Save for Tyrone Suggs and Torey Smith, not too many of the Ravens took the game too seriously; Joe Flacco, the Super Bowl MVP, threw five interceptions; Anquan Boldin is not a Raven any longer; The Ravens forgot how to run the football; Unlike every other NFL team, the Ravens went into the season with only two running backs on the roster (not counting the fullbacks, who cannot, apparently, fill in at halfback; the vaunted Ravens defensive line did not make it to Buffalo for the game on Sunday; Ray Rice was double-covered on a pass play on a third and goal situation in the fourth quarter, but Flacco threw to him anyway.  He wasn't healthy enough to run the ball but he was a better target than Torey Smith and Marlon Brown.  We could go on and on.  Even though Torey Smith played an outstanding game by any standard, he did get caught from behind on the 74-yard bomb from Flacco.  The game officials, who were outstanding, did make a ridiculous mistake near the end of the game when they called a personal foul on Suggs for tackling the Bills quarterback as he stood in the Bills backfield without taking a knee and with the game clock running.  Suggs hit him harder than he had to, the officials told Harbaugh, or was it that he hit him too hard? The officials got caught in the crosshairs of the PC police and forgot this is football and Suggs job is to hit the man hard enough to perhaps cause a fumble.  They are killing the game, very slowly, perhaps, but they are killing the game.  The most ridiculous thing was when the officials were asked by the Ravens to say what Suggs should have done in that situation.  Talk about stumbling and mumbling.  Every real fan who sees a situation like that knows the game is being torn down, but the PC-influenced talking heads won't tell you this even if it makes them look like fools.  And while we're on the subject of talking heads, I heard one yesterday say Peyton Manning can't be stopped.  I would invite him to review the tape of the game against these same Ravens.  Well into the second half the Ravens led and might have continued to lead even longer were it not for the infamous brain dead officials' call followed by the nearly as bad screw up on the Ravens sideline in not flagging the call.  The Broncos were bottled up in their end of the field when Manning threw incomplete on third down, apparently forcing yet another Denver punt.  But the aforementioned official said the Bronco receiver caught the ball.  This was the second time in that game that they'd blown that routine call.  But somehow the Ravens sideline didn't get word to their coach to flag the call for a review.  On about the next play Denver scored on a long pass, then a Ravens punt was blocked and so on.  If you want to stop Manning this year, look at the first half of opening night.  You will see a defense, playing together for the first time with a ton of new faces, keeping Mr. Invincible quite uninvincible.

Momentary reprieve

BALTIMORE, Maryland September 27, 2013 -  The homestanding Buffalo Bills controlled the first quarter of their game with the defending world champion Ravens, but very early in the second quarter, they fumbled under a fierce Raven rush and in a play or two, the Ravens struck, Joe Flacco to Marlon Brown, and the Ravens grabbed a quick 7-6 lead.  But in Baltimore, the Red Sox struck for two runs in the top of the first and lead the Orioles, 2-0.

Treasury Inspector General Says IRS Cannot Account for $67 million in Allocated Funds

BALTIMORE, Maryland September 26, 2013 - IRS cannot account for $ millions allocated to implement obamamess: Some $67 million in allocated funds cannot be accounted for by the IRS.  The money was allocated to the IRS to implement obamamess, also known as obamacare or the Affordable Care Act.  The obama administration was so concerned that the legislation was too complicated to be implemented smoothly that it allocated millions of dollars to teach Americans how to apply for health insurance coverage under the law.  Now, the Inspector General for the Treasury Department says $67 million of those funds cannot be accounted for by the Government Agency receiving the funds.  That agency is the IRS. According to the Drudge Report, "the IRS did not account for or attempt to quantify approximately $67 million of indirect ACA costs incurred for Fiscal Years 2010 through 2012." Much of the abuse was due to "travel expenses," Drudge quoted the Inspector General as reporting.  "ACA" is the Inspector General's accronym for the Affordable Care Act.

Iran blows off obama's plea to curtail nuclear weapon program; obama seeks talks anyway

BALTIMORE, Maryland September 24, 2013 - obama orders Iranian talks despite failure of new President to even hint at possibility of slowing rush to build nuclear weapon:  Iran's new President, Hassan Rowhani, spoke to the United Nations today, but failed to even hint at flexibility in his nation's all-out effort to build a nuclear weapon.  Despite this, obama has announced that he has ordered Secretary of State John Kerry to open talks with the Iranian President.  Appearing on Fox News, former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton candidly predicted that Iran would use the talks to urge sanctions against Iran be lifted or at least lightened, but would do nothing to pull back on the race to build a nuclear weapon.  He noted that Rowhani was formerly a "negotiator" for Iran's nuclear build-up, and totally familiar with Iran's penchant for stalling as a cover for the nuclear program.  Orioles eliminated:  Another one run loss, this one in extra innings, coupled with a walk-off win by Cleveland, has officially eliminated the Orioles from playoff contention.  The Orioles led most of the game, thanks to brilliant pitching by Chris Tillman and back-to-back solo home runs by Brian Roberts and Nate McClouth.  But the Orioles failed to build on the lead and when Tillman departed the Blue Jays quickly tied the game, then won in the tenth inning.  Cleveland won their game with a walk-off rally, and eliminated the Orioles in the process.  The Orioles made the playoffs last season and advanced past the one-game Wild Card series to a best-of-five Divisional Series with the AL East Champion Yankees.  The Yankees won that series in five games, with the Orioles pressing the issue to the last.  Old Dominion ties Maryland after Terps move from 17 to 8 in polls:  A young Maryland Team was fresh off of two wonderful league games that propelled them near the top of the ACC standings and up nine spots in the latest polls.  But that meant little at Ludwig field Tuesday night, when the Terps, back at home, had to rally late to tie under-rated Old Dominion.  Although Maryland outshot the Monarchs and controlled the ball for far longer than did Old Dominion, they trailed entering the final ten minutes of regulation because of an own-goal on a corner kick.  Fortunately, David Kabelik blasted home an equalizing goal in the 83rd minute.  Then the two teams played two ten minute overtimes of scoreless soccer.  The Terps play Pitt in an ACC match on Friday night at Ludwig.  The Panthers are in last place in the conference in their first season of ACC competition.

Menendez, Grahm urge obama to get tough on Iran; Manny Machado hurt, carried from field on stretcher

BALTIMORE, Maryland September 23, 2013 - Two Senators urge obama to stand up for U.S. interests:  Two U.S. Senators, one from each party, have said in a joint letter to the White House that obama should not be fooled by kind words from Iran's new leader.  The goal in any talks has to be the end of Iran's nuclear weapons program, something the new leader, Hassan Rowhani, has not proposed publicly.  Senators Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C, urged obama to tread with extreme caution in any direct talks with Iran's newly elected president.  They acknowledge that Rowhani's election is a reflection of the Iranian People's worries about their nation's aggressive weapons build-up.  Not stated in their letter, but swirling conspicuously in every conversation is the dismal record obama and his administration have in foreign affairs.  The Syria debacle is only the most recent failure.  IRS Scandal: Lois Lerner retiring:  The flash point in the IRS Scandal, former IRS head Lois Lerner, has announced her retirement.  Lerner plead the fifth amendment and walked out of a congressional hearing in the immediate aftermath of the scandal's revelation.  She is on paid administrative leave.  Some Congressmen have demanded that she give complete testimony in exchange for any consideration by those investigating the scandal, which more and more looks like the key factor in obama's inexplicable re-election.  Orioles drop heartbreaker to Tampa, are swept in four-game series; Machado injured:  Tampa pinch-hitter James Loney hit a home run to lead off the bottom of the ninth, sending the Orioles to another crushing defeat, their fifth straight at the season's critical juncture.  To make matters worse, All-Star Third Baseman Manny Machado was seriously hurt in the seventh inning and was taken from the field on a stretcher.  His knee appeared to bend inward as he raced to first base on a ground ball.  As he got to the bag safely, his right knee buckled and bent inward, sending him sprawling to the ground in great pain.  His replacement, Alexxi Casila, was also injured when his head hit into Right Fielder Nick Markakis' leg as the two chased a Texas League Pop Up in the Bottom of the Seventh.  Casilla stayed in the game until the end of the inning but was replaced by Danny Valencia when the Orioles took the field in the bottom of the eighth.  After three straight losses to the Rays, the Orioles had jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the final game of the series today in Tampa.  Chris Davis and Brian Roberts hit home runs and J.J. Hardy also knocked in a run for the Orioles.  The rally that scored the first three runs was cut short when the third base umpire fell completely asleep while Ryan Flaherty was at bat.  With two outs and runners at first and second base, Flaherty was hit by the pitch.  But the third base umpire said he swung at the pitch.  His bat hardly moved but facts don't matter when the umpire makes up something when he wasn't paying the slightest  bit of attention.  The Orioles now trail the Indians by five games with six to play, and the magic number to eliminate them from the Wild Card Race is two.  Any combination of Indian wins or Oriole defeats which total two eliminates the Orioles' playoff hopes.  Less than one week ago the Birds had pulled back to within one game of the Wild Card.

Perspective on obama while Maryland Shines

BALTIMORE, Maryland September 22, 2013 - On a Saturday evening when the news in Washington and the rest of the Northeast Corridor slows appreciably, many of us look for a meaningful summary of current events, someone who takes the facts, digests them, and puts everything in perspective.  I believe I have found such a piece.  It is in the opinion section of the Fox News site, and it is in the form of an article by a lad by the name of Wayne Allyn Root.  The headline on the article is "Is there a con man in the White House?"  This is how the piece starts: "I keep asking myself: why Syria? Why now?
No war in America history has ever been opposed by 71% of the citizens, or 75% of the military.
That’s how absurd and unnecessary this potential war is.
Then, when you realize Obama has had so many scandals and failures to hide, war is the perfect cover story to mask the most disastrous record in modern presidential history.
Obama is a desperate man. He has to cover-up the truth.
We have a CON MAN in the White House.
The sad thing is…it’s working. "
 
Mr. Root goes on to point out the many total screw-ups and intentional ploys run out of the White House.  Give obama credit: he is no president.  The Benghazi thing proves, no matter what the far left harrangues about, that he is not even a good man.  In fact, it proves he is not a decent man.  It proves he is of poor quality.  He does not belong anywhere near the White House.  He and the other usurper of national attention - Hilary Clinton - stood there next to the caskets of the four dead Americans killed at Benghazi, and, knowing that the jive about the video was completely false, said just the opposite to the grieving families.  Shameful?  It's not just shameful, it's despicable.  Decent people would not do such things.  But then again, neither of them are decent.

Mr. Root goes into all of this.  In detail, and with clarity.  Well worth a few minutes of your time.   Here is the site: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/09/18/is-there-con-man-in-oval-office/?intcmp=trending#ixzz2fe1Odqzs  A very good day for Terrapins:  Maryland's perrennially powerful soccer team has not been "powerful" so far this season, at least not until the last two games.  Then, sporting only a 1-2-1 record, the Terps had to go into also always good North Carolina.  But Maryland stood tall and walked out of Chapel Hill with a tie and a point.  On Saturday night, the Terps were back on the road at bothersome Clemson.  Maryland has had all kinds of problems with the Tigers in recent years.  Last night Maryland whacked Clemson, 3-1.  Their record is an un-Maryland-like 2-2-2.  But in their last season in the ACC, Maryland is now 2-0-1.  Despite their overall record, Maryland is ranked #17.  Wake Forest, ranked #9, is 3-0-0 and in first place.  Clemson, which was undefeated overall and ranked No. 13 is 2-1-0 in the conference and 6=1=0 overall.  Notre Dame, in their first year in the conference and ranked No. 2, is 1-0-2 in the conference and 3-0-3 overall.  They are in fourth place, tied with Virginia Tech with identical records in the ACC.  Tech is unranked and 3-1-2 overall.  North Carolina State and Boston College, both unranked, are tied for fifth, each with 1-1-1 records in the conference.  State is 3-1-1 overall while the Eagles are 2=2=2.  Tied for sixth place in the ACC is Number 1 North Carolina.  In the ACC the Tar Heels are 0-0-3.  Overall they are 3-0-3.  Tied with North Carolina is newcomer Syracuse.  The Orange are 1-2-0 in the conference and 5-1-2 overall.  In seventh place are Duke and Virginia, each at 0-2-1 in the ACC.  Duke is 3-2-2 overall while Virginia is 2-3-1.  Alone in last place is the other newcomer, Pittsburgh.  The Panthers are 0-3-0 in the ACC and 0-3-2 overall.  You'll recall that in soccer a win is worth three points in the standings and a tie is worth one.

The reason is was such a good day for Maryland is that the football Terps improved to 4-0-0 with a 37-0 rout of West Virginia at Camden Yards in Baltimore.  The Terps, off to their best start in forever, led 30-0 at the half in a game played in a steady rain that began at the outset of the second quarter.

Hamas as a Target

BALTIMORE, Maryland September 20, 2013 - Movement targets Hamas rule in Gaza: Independent reporter Paul Alster wrote earlier this month that the same movement that led to the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood Government of Mohammed Morsi in Egypt has now targeted the Hamas Government in charge in Gaza.  Called Tamarod, and appealing to what some observers call "the Facebook Generation," the growing and loosely organized movement has targeted November 11 as a date to begin mass demonstrations against the Hamas regime in Gaza.  November 11 is the birthday of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.  A Tamarod spokesman made the protest announcement in a video message posted on YouTube.  Wearing a T-shirt with the movement's symbol boldly splashed across the front, the spokesman was also wearing a black hood to hide his appearance.  He stood in front of three other similarly attired Tamarod workers.  The approximately seven minute announcement can be viewed at www.facebook.com/tamradgaza1.  In Maryland, the man in charge of the money - a liberal Democrat - is sour on the economy:  Peter Franchot's credentials tell us that the two-term State Comptroller is quite the liberal.  But while the Governor is an unequivocal Leftist, Mr. Franchot is not.  He has run the office that oversees Maryland's tax collection is much the same way as his predecessor, the Late William Donald Schaefer.  This week he candidly and without reservation downgraded the state's revenue forecasts, noting that across-the-board tax hikes sought by the Governor and passed by the General Assembly have put a crimp in the state's revenue.  He told the web site "Maryland Reporter" that “I’m sorry I’m not part of the cheerleading group.”
“We’re facing some very fragile situations.”  The one statistic that worried him the most was the static situation with wages across the state.  Any real economic rally will be reflected by wage statistics, and those statistics are not moving up.  Franchot filed this week for a third term.

Saudis empty Death Row for Syrian Jihad; Egyptian Army Launches Offensive Against Al Qaeda

BALTIMORE, Maryland September 19, 2013 - Saudi Arabia Frees Death Row Inmates, Sends them to Syria to Carry Out Jihad against Assad government: Even as obama declared that the Syrian problem was solved so he could stop dabbling in foreign affairs and get back to his true passion: implementing his far left agenda here in the USA, the flash points in that perpetually troubled part of the world seem only to multiply.  There is a report now that the Saudi Arabians have emptied their death row and sent all the inmates to Syria, where they are instructed to declare jihad against the Assad regime.  A number of web sites - most with only lightly camolflaged agendas - say that between 1200 and 1300 inmates have had their death sentences commuted and even provided with a monthly income in exchange for agreeing to fight in Syria against the Assad regime.  The Saudi government will continue to "host" the inmates families to coerce their continued participation against the Syrian government.  So, as the Americans attempt to supply arms and other assistance to the rebels, the rebels are increasingly a far worse crowd than Assad.  Egypt's Military Junta sends 20,000 troops to Sinai to roust Al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic Terrorist Groups Dug In There:  A reliable source has told Fox News that Egypt's Military Government has sent 20,000 troops to the Sinai in an effort to free the legendary desert of a coalition of Islamic Terror Groups said to be massing there.  In recent weeks there has been a number of pitched battles between the Egyptian Army and Al Qaeda-backed terror groups which had been pouring into the Sinai during the brief reign in Cairo of Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.  Things had so badly deteriorated in the Sinai that the Israeli resort town of Eilat, at the head of the Red Sea, came under direct attack from Sinai-based terror groups on August 13.  The terror groups are said to be fighting back against the Egyptian forces.  Last week up to nine Egyptian Soldiers were killed when an IED exploded under a bus carrying troops in the Sinai.  In Baltimore, Community Concerts at Second begins its 27th Season on Sunday:  One of the true perks of living in the city is the music series known at Community Concerts at Second.  The Second refers to the venue: the beautiful and accoustically wonderful Second Presbyterian Church on St. Paul Street in the Guilford section of Baltimore.  Each month from September to May the group sponsors two free concerts at Second Presbyterian.  One concert takes place in the later afternoon on a given Sunday and features a chamber group or soloist.  The other concerttakes place on a different Sunday evening and features chamber works performed by members of the renowned Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.  As a regular attendee of the evening concerts, I have witnessed some of the most superb performances imaginable.  Each concert typically features three works, each performed by different musicians.  The works include all of the classics along with a sprinkling of new works.  When I started attending about seven or eight years ago the church was typically about half filled.  But the audiences have increased of late and last year there were many concerts that played before a nearly packed house.  Admission, as I say, is free, but a collection plate is kept at the door and most people contribute $10 or $20, which is far less than a concert would cost were it held for profit.  The first concert for this season is Sunday, September 22 and features the Aspen Trio, which will be joined on one work by Pianist Boris Slutsky.  The concert starts at 3:30 pm with Beethoven's Piano Trio is D Major, opus 9, No. 2.  Following the Beethoven piece will be Martinu's String Trio No. 2, H. 238.  After an intermission the concert will conclude with Mr. Slutsky joining ranks to perform Dvorak's Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat, opus 87.  On September 29 at 7:30 pm members of the BSO will perform three works.  In the first, BSO Flutist Marcia Kamper will perform a Flute Sonata composed by Otar Taktakishvili (1924 – 1989).  Ms. Kamper will be joined on Piano by Lura Johnson.  Following that work, Oboist Michael Lisicky, and Pianist Katherine Needleman will perform Three Romances, opus 94, by Robert Schumann.  Concluding the concert will be Brahms' Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, opus 25.  The musicians for the Brahms work include Ivan Stefanovic on violin, Peter Minkler on viola, Kristin Ostling on cello; and Lura Johnson on the piano.  Beginning last season the evening concerts are performed without an intermission, which gets the audience out a bit sooner on Sunday evening, but isn't necessarily an improvement in my most humble opinion.  The web site for information is http://www.communityconcertsatsecond.org/index.php.  Orioles Revive, Maybe in the Nick of Time:  When the Orioles lost three straight home games against the Yankees last week, it looked like their playoff hopes had fallen by the wayside.  A long road trip awaited the Birds, who were battling five other teams for two Wild Card berths in the playoffs.  But baseball is a redemptive sport and just when all hope should have been lost, the Orioles came back to life.  They won two out of three in Toronto over this past weekend, then landed in Boston where they have won two straight thrillers against the league-leading Red Sox.  As I write this on Thursday afternoon, Tampa Bay, at 83-68, leads the Wild Card by one game over Texas (82-69), and those two teams conclude their series in Tampa tonight.  One-half game behind Texas is Cleveland at 82-70.  Then come the Orioles at 81-70, a mere one game out of the second Wild Card position. Both Kansas City and the Yankees are at 80-72, two and one-half behind Texas.  The only other team not mathematically eliminated is the Angels.  At 74-78 they are eight and one-half behind Texas.  The magic number for eliminating Los Angeles from the Wild Card is 3.  Any combination of Texas wins and LA losses totalling three will end the Angels' hopes.  They are 7-3 in their last ten games, which is better than all the teams in front of them.  What do they say about too little, too late?  John Lackey (9-12, 3.56 ERA) starts tonight for the Red Sox.  He will be opposed by Orioles' ace Chris Tillman, (16-6, 3.70 ERA).  Tillman this year is 3-0 with a 1.42 ERA against Boston, including an important win on August 29 when he held the Sox to two runs over seven innings.  The Orioles fly to Tampa after the game to begin a pivotal four game series against the Rays.  The last three will be afternoon affairs.  After the finale in Tampa Monday afternoon, the Orioles return home to conclude the regular season.  They will play three against Toronto and three against the Red Sox at Camden Yards.

A New Effort

BALTIMORE, Maryland September18, 2013 - Because of a number of extremely compelling factors the posts have not been consistent here.  That changes, effective at once.
News:
Criticism of obama comes from stunning source: Usually, when the headline reads something to the effect that "Former (fill in blank) Secretary" blasts obama, you expect the blank to be someone from a Republican administration.  You don't expect the blank to be filled by a democrat, and you really don't expect it to be filled by two of obama's former secretaries.  But Tuesday in Dallas, William Gates and Leon Panetta, obama's first two defense secretaries, openly criticized the marxists's handling of the Syrian crises.  Both decried the way obama announced military action, then decided to seek the approval of congress.  The foreign policy embarassments continued after that when obama decided he would trust his good friend, Vladimir Putin, and his assurances that Russia will take possession of all of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, making sure none of it is ever again used against the Syrian People.  Putin is also said to be offering an attractive deal on the sale of the Brooklyn Bridge.  And obama was surprised to discover that Putin owned the bridge in the first place.  Everyday is a surprise for our own little marxist...Boehner said to follow conservative's plan: John Boehner, the Ohio Congressman who is majority leader of the House of Representatives, is said to be reluctantly acceding to a conservative plan to defund obamamess (i.e., obamacare).  Boehner had previously been opposed to such a plan, fearing it would result in a government shutdown which would be blamed on the GOP (John also fears that shrewd and mysterious thing that keeps following him around: his shadow).  This, even though the congressmen who are behind the plan intend to couple the volley with constant reminders to the public that the GOP will fund the entire government save for obamamess and have no intention of shutting the government down.  Granted, the leftist-controlled mainstream media will only carry the obama talking points on the issue, but there is increasing evidence, in the form of obama's plummeting poll numbers, which indicate the public is not being fooled by obama's talkling points. Unexpected growth in 'Made in the USA' products: An article in TIME reports on a surge in Made in America manufactured goods.  From batteries to airplanes, products which had been outsourced for decades are suddenly finding a manufacturing home in the USA.  One key reason fueling the surge - the availability of cheap energy, thanks in large part to the increasing output of fracking operations - might be in imminent jeopardy, however, as obama seeks to curtail the cheap and environmentally safe method of extracting oil and natural gas from deep underground shale deposits.  The TIME article is at http://business.time.com/made-in-the-u-s-a/?iid=ent-article-moreontime.  Even Democrats cringe at obama's shrill partisan tone during speech that coincided with Navy Yard Massacre: On Monday, even as a gunman was killing 12 innocent people at the Washington, DC Navy Yard, obama was telling the nation that Syria was solved and he was returning his attention to bashing the GOP.  He was roundly criticized for ignoring the disaster at first, then blaming the GOP for not supporting his anti-second amendment initiatives.  Polls show the country, by a stunning majority, oppose any form of additional gun control.  The dirty little secret is that citizens oppose gun control because of the increasing bullying of the obama-controlled federal bureaucracy.

Ravens Reprise

BALTIMORE, Maryland September 6, 2013- The Ravens deserved better.  There is a ton of post-game braggadocio by those who once again have made Peyton Manning the doyen of their football dreams.  And you will get no criticism of the master here.  But if you actually watched the game, you know that the game started to turn even as the Ravens retook the lead at the end of the first half, and then really turned when the referees once again screwed up what should have been an easy call.  The Ravens were on the march in the waning seconds of the first half and looked for all the world like they were going in for their third touchdown.  On third and goal Joe Flacco deftly tossed a soft and perfect pass to usually sure-handed Dallas Clark, who was wide open and in a position to waltz in for the score.  If you were watching, you know ole Dallas dropped the ball.  I love Joe Flacco, but I'm not going to like a new, more expressive Joe.  He put his hands up on his helmet as if he'd seen a ghost, adding to Clark's humiliation.  Stoic, Joe, be stoic.  You are too good not to be. (Justin Tucker did convert a chip shot field goal to put the Ravens ahead at the half, but it wasn't what it should have been.)

And then in the second half, on Denver's first drive, they faced a third down around the middle of the field.  As he is want to do, Peyton Manning threw very low to Wes Welker and a national television audience saw the pass bounce off the ground before slippery Wes got his hands on it.  But ole Wes rolled over and came up with the ball, and the refs bought it.  This is a basic call.  Welker is the number one receiver for Manning and why the officials got fooled is beyond me.  Making matters worse, the replay was never shown to John Harbaugh and his coaches in the press box didn't inform him of the rotten call.  And so a drive that should have stalled was kept alive and led immediately to a Denver TD.  The TD gave the Broncos their first lead of the game. On the next drive the Ravens couldn't get out from under the shadow of their own goal post and had to punt.  For only the third time in his long career, Sam Koch had a punt blocked and the Broncos immediately scored again. Two or three years from now that absurdity will leave the game.  As with all officiating and all rules concerning officiating, the aim has to be to get it right.  If the call is goofy - like the one we discuss here - and the officials have at their disposal a video showing it is goofy, changing it to a correct call shouldn't depend on the coach on the field - without access to the video - getting word of it before the other team races up to the line and runs a play, ending any chance of correcting the screw up.  It is such a tawdry scene anyway: the Broncos, knowing that the officials screwed up, start acting like a bunch of ants scurrying up to the line and snapping the ball to seal the steal.  Shades of obama!

Ravens, Orioles, Terrapins, Claret, Football, Baseball, Soccer Times Two

BALTIMORE, Maryland September 4, 2013- The NFL season starts for real tomorrow night in Denver when the Ravens and Broncos reprise one of the most memorable playoff games ever.  

Because Oriole-Owner Peter G. Angelos would not reschedule a baseball game scheduled in Baltimore at the same time, the Super Bowl Champs will not be playing their first game at home as tradition would dictate.  Instead, the NFL put the game at the site of one of the most memorable and thrilling playoff games of all time.  And they got the Denver fans, front office and even coaching staff and players more fired up - if that is possible - by hanging a four-story photograph of Joe Flacco on the Stadium scoreboard (for the record, the Flacco photo hangs on the left side of the scoreboard while a similarly-sized photo of Peyton Manning is on the right side.)

Manning gave a television interview blasting the photo.  The Bronco Management was outraged. The NFL said "get over it."  Fans are displeased.  

Both teams have changed, of course.  The entire Ravens defense has been retooled in the wake of Ray Lewis' retirement and Ed Reed's free agent departure to Houston.  With the defense, it is far easier to report on who remains.  Haloti Ngata, the huge and yet agile anchor of the defensive line, is still there.  Terrell Suggs, like Ngata a perennial Pro Bowl selection, is also still there.  Ladarius Webb, who missed the last three-quarters of the season and all of the playoffs with a serious knee injury, is back and looking like the same player who made the Pro Bowl in 2012.  As of yet, however, he has not returned punts.  In Webb and Ed Reed, the Ravens had the solution to the terror of fumbled punts.  During the preseason Tandon Doss returned a lot of punts.  Then he got cut.  Bobby Rainey also returned punts, but he, too, was cut and has been picked up by Cleveland.  Asa Jackson is also a punt and kick returner who did not get cut.  But he is suspended for the first half of the season.  Joining Suggs at Linebacker will be a man who had a big place in that Raven-Bronco overtime classic, except he was on the Broncos: Elvis Dumervil.  Coming off a season in which he had eleven sacks, Dumervil is expected to fill the void left by Lewis and the others who departed.  There are also some familiar names in the secondary other than Webb: Chykkie Brown, Corey Grahm, James Ihedigbo and former first round draft pick Jimmy Smith join last spring's number one draft pick Matt Elam and newly acquired Michael Huff to give stability to a unit rocked by the defection of Reed.  On paper the defense looks tough and they are coached by the man who devised a defense to hold the 49er offensive juggernaut in check enough to bring the Ravens their second Super Bowl Title since coming to Baltimore in 2000.

The offense wasn't hit as hard number-wise.  But the three players who will not be on the field tonight will be sorely missed, especially if the Ravens have to move the ball late in the game.  Wide Receiver Anquan Bouldin and Tight End Dennis Pita were to of Joe Flacco's most dependable targets in the Ravens stunning playoff run.  Bouldin's unequaled ability to catch the football no matter how closely he was guarded, and Pita's ability to get open and catch the ball in traffic will not easily be made up for.  Many (including this scribe) thought Bouldin was the Playoff MVP, and Pita wasn't far behind.  Both are in their element in the red zone.  But Bouldin was traded to the 49ers and Pita was hurt early in training camp and is lost for at least six more weeks.  The Ravens do have a highly competent replacement for Pitta in Ed Dickson, who started a lot of games for the Ravens.  And sensational No. 3 receiver, Jacoby Jones, will start in Bouldin's place.  And the Ravens front office did not sit idle when the player losses presented themselves.  Trustworthy and Skillful GM Ozzie Newsome signed former Raven (and Bronco) Brandon Stokely and former Colt Dallas Clark to help fill the void.  Stokely will get tons of playing time and Clark could, too, although neither are young men anymore.  Stokely made a handful of catches in the preseason.

The third missing Raven is center Matt Birk.  After a long career, Birk decided to go out on top and announced his retirement shortly after the Super Bowl.  Newsome saw this coming and the Ravens drafted center Gino Gradkowski out of Delaware to understudy Birk last season.  He played well when needed last year and has been with the first unit all preseason.  He will not be a problem.  In fact, the offensive line is about as stable and healthy as they were in the playoffs last year.  With Flacco and Wide Receivers Torey Smith and Jacoby Jones, look for the offense to take up where they left off last season.  And did I mention Ray Rice?  He's also back and has his blocking back, Vonta Leach, back also.  

Everybody thinks the Broncos will take some revenge on the Ravens after their stunning loss in the playoffs last winter.  In that game the Broncos appeared to have the win in hand when, you'll recall, Jones somehow got behind the Broncos defensive backs for a miracle catch and run for a game tying touchdown.  Then, the Ravens intercepted Peyton Manning in overtime to set up Rookie Justin Tucker's winning field goal.  Now, everybody has Manning and the Broncos marching right into the Superbowl.  Wouldn't it be funny if the Ravens won again?  I wouldn't bet against it.

Meanwhile, the Orioles are struggling...
The Orioles return home tonight licking their wounds after a disasterous road trip that saw them lose six out of nine games.  At each critical stop the Orioles won one out of three.  Not only has it knocked them out of realistic contention for the AL East Crown, it has dealt a severe blow to their Wild Card chances.

The Birds have 21 games left and are fourth among the five teams battling for the second Wild Card spot.  Only the fact that Tampa Bay is 3-7 in their last ten games has kept the Orioles in that race.  The Orioles are four games behind Tampa, which is bad enough, but Cleveland and the Yankees are in between them and the Rays.  Because Texas and Oakland are tied for the AL West Lead with 80-59 records, the loser of that race will get the first Wild Card berth and be the home team in that one-game playoff.  Tampa is two and one-half games behind them.  The Yankees trail Tampa by 2.5, with the Indians one-half game behind the Yanks and three behind Tampa.  Kansas City, at 72-67, is five and one-half games behind Tampa and just one and one-half behind the Orioles.  

If there is a bright spot, it is the fact that the Orioles are home now and begin a four game set with the woeful White Sox.  A sweep would be wonderful.  Anything less than three out of four will be their swan song.

Terrapin Soccer:  West Coast Blues
It looked nice on paper:  Nation's Number One team goes west for two games to start the season.  On Friday night Maryland needed a desperate rally to tie Stanford, 3-3.  On Sunday evening, Maryland needed a desperate rally to send the game against California into overtime.  Sadly, the Bears, who had watched Maryland overcome a 2-0 deficit, scored in the twenty minute overtime to get revenge for the rout the Terps put on them last season at College Park.  

The Terps return to College Park and jump right into league play when they host arch-rival Duke on Friday night at Ludwig Field.

Burnley Rejuvenated
Across the pond in dear ole Lancashire there is a soccer club called Burnley.  It is one of the original soccer teams that started English Football back in 1882.  The Claret, as they are known, play at Turf Moor, and there is not a more historic pitch anywhere in England.  In 2009 the Claret battled their way into the Premier League for the first time since it started being called the Premier League, some 33 years ago.  Then the Claret started the season in dream fashion.  After losing its first game on the road, Burnley returned to Turf Moor and proceeded to knock off, in a period of five days, both Manchester United and Everton.  Even after that Burnley played winning soccer at home and then, near Christmas, the rug was pulled out from under them.  The "manager" of the Claret, Owen Coyle, quit to become the head coach of another Premier team, the Bolton Wanderers.  After that Burnley's season imploded and at the end they were relegated back to the Championship League, which, despite its name, is the league below the Premier.  While Burnley has played some good soccer since then, they have not made a serious run at promotion, until this season.  After five games Burnley is 3-1-1, good for ten points and a third place position among the Championship's 24 teams.  They trail the two teams ahead of them - the Queen's Park Rangers and Blackpool, by three points.  Of course it is early - the English regular season lasts from the first of August until early May - and many many matches remain to be played, but Burnley is looking for all the world like a team that wants to climb.  In the concurrently contested League Cup, the Claret have already battled into the fourth round with three convincing victories.  In 2009, at the same time they earned promotion in the Championship, they battled deep into the League Cup and were a whisker away from the final game.  If this is deja vu, so be it.                                                                                       

Real World Bully Haunting obama

BALTIMORE, Maryland September 5, 2013- He lives to please the far left marxists which served as his base during his rise to power.  Now, his base, his dismal foreign policy record, and his reputation for being a 'peacenik' at all costs are wreaking havoc on obama as he comes face-to-face with his worst nightmare, Vladimir Putin.  Putin has told obama he can do whatever he wants in Syria, but Russia isn't cooperating and in fact, may send Syria a missle shield.  Shades of the Cold War!

All of this is happening because obama is under the misguided idea that all world leaders love him and want what he wants: worldwide soft marxism.  But the former marxists are his biggest enemies.  Putin and his regime have a huge chip on their shoulders and they display it arrogantly.  When they run into somebody like obama, who only wants peace and for everyone to get along and play nice like barack, they are in their glory.  It wasn't that long ago when somebody like Putin could do all the saber rattling they wanted because the United States had a vast military superiority in almost every imaginable category. Geoge Bush stared across the table at nonsense like the kind Putin is spewing forth and didn't bat an eye. But obama is in the process of dismantling that military because, well because that is what far left apparatchiks like obama do.  If it has to do with freedom and liberty - and no matter what obama and his ilk say, freedom and liberty are built on a strong military - obama doesn't want anything to do with it.  He really doesn't want anything to do with Putin, either.  He's like the bully that keeps punching obama in the face.  Sadly for obama, he can't get his functionaries in the media to make the whole thing go away.

Back to what? School? Reality? Not when obama is President...

BALTIMORE, Maryland September 2, 2013-  The Congress is drifting in and out of town, preparing, so they say, for a vote on whether the United States should take military action against the Assad Regime in Syria for allegedly using chemical weapons against its people.  

The political class is fully abuzz because obama first said, unequivocally, that he was taking military action.  His current Secretary of State, John Kerry, the same John Kerry who, in all his many years in the Congress never once voted to fund a weapons system for the military, said the need for a vigorous military response to the inhuman Assad's attacks is a necessity, now protests when some reporter suggests he was undermined.  Oh really.  Rand Paul, the Republican Senator, points out that Assad, for all his inhumanism, has a remarkably good record on protecting Christians in Syria from the radical muslims itching to take over power.  One doubts - well, let us be honest - one knows, that if Al Qada or the Muslim Brotherhood slips into power, that protection will disappear so fast it will be like it was never there to begin with.  Pre-eminent Historian Victor Davis Hanson also joins the growing group of persons asking obama to resist the temptation to get involved in what all agree is a Civil War.