Week 10 picks

So I forgot to pick the 49ers-Bears game before it happened. So I'm going to be one short the rest of the season. Here we go:

falcons over PANTHERS
DOLPHINS over bucs
VIKINGS over lions
JETS over jaguars
STEELERS over bengals
saints over RAMS
TITANS over bills
broncos over REDSKINS
chiefs over RAIDERS
CARDINALS over seahawks
cowboys over PACKERS
CHARGERS over eagles
patriots over COLTS
ravens over BROWNS

Last week: 7-6
Season: 86-43

Maliki: I order you not to call me authoritarian!

So, surprisingly, it turns out that Nouri al Maliki is kinda sorta maybe turning into Saddam Hussein. Or so reports The Guardian. And Maliki's response? Well, he's gotten a court to order The Guardian to pay a 100 million dinar fine (that's about 52,000 pounds) for the offending article.

So basically, Maliki's response to a media report about him being authoritarian is to crack down on the media. Well done.

Hilariously, the article is almost sympathetic to Maliki's coming into his own as the new Iraqi dictator. It's like watching a baby grow up. "Oh, look, he's got his own intelligence service!" Oh yeah, here's the offending article on that:

Any self-respecting Iraqi politician who wants to build his own power base must first establish or acquire his own intelligence service. After a couple of weeks in Baghdad talking to politicians, members of parliament and intelligence officials I came to the conclusion that Iraq has seven separate intelligence units. Or maybe eight. No one could agree on the precise number.

I get tired of saying this, but... we went to war for this?

Week 9 results

FALCONS over redskins
BEARS over cardinals
ravens over BENGALS
COLTS over texans
PATRIOTS over dolphins
PACKERS over bucs
JAGUARS over chiefs
SEAHAWKS over lions
SAINTS over panthers
chargers over GIANTS
NINERS over titans
EAGLES over cowboys
BRONCOS over steelers

This week: 7-6
Last week: 7-6
Season: 86-43
vs. ESPN experts

another case of extreme Security Council overreach

Today the UN Security Council passed a press statement on the elections in Afghanistan. This statement went far beyond the Council's usual habit of just offering its opinion ("welcomes," "takes note of," "condemns in the strongest possible terms") and instead issued a blanket statement about how the world actually is which is demonstrably false.

The members of the Council ... reasserted that no terrorist act can reverse the path towards peace, democracy, and reconstruction in Afghanistan.

See, that's just not true. Of course a terrorist act can do this. In fact, it has. Quite recently.

The correct word, instead of "can," ought to be "should." "No terrorist act should reverse the path towards peace..." Or perhaps, "may." The terrorists "can" reverse peace but they "may" not, because the Council forbids it and condemns it in the strongest possible terms.

"Can," by contrast, is awfully optimistic.

Week 9 picks

FALCONS over redskins
BEARS over cardinals
ravens over BENGALS
COLTS over texans
PATRIOTS over dolphins
PACKERS over bucs
JAGUARS over chiefs
SEAHAWKS over lions
SAINTS over panthers
chargers over GIANTS
NINERS over titans
EAGLES over cowboys
BRONCOS over steelers

Last week: 7-6
Season: 79-37
vs. ESPN experts

How a bill becomes a lw, UN human rights style

1. The Human Rights Council asks Justice Richard Goldstone, a respected South African jurist, to write a report on human rights abuses by Operation Cast Lead.

2. Goldstone writes the report and submits it to the Human Rights Council. It says both Israel and Hamas violated international law. It calls on the Secretariat to give the report to the Security Council, and for the Security Council to force Israel and Hamas to investigate their conduct and to refer them to the ICC if they don't.

3. The Human Rights Council, after deliberations, passes a resolution calling on "all relevant bodies" including the General Assembly, the Security Council, and the Secretariat to undertake their duties.

4. The Security Council talks about the report for 6 hours and does nothing. The Secretariat pretends nothing has happened.

5. Tomorrow, the General Assembly will vote on a resolution telling the Secretariat to give the report to the Security Council. You know, the report everybody already has.

6. Once told by the GA, which it is somewhat subservient to, the Secretariat will actually give the report to the Security Council.

7. The Security Council will probably talk about the report for another 6 hours and do nothing.

8. The heinous, inhuman crimes of the extremist Hamas terrorist organization/Zionist Apartheid Aggressor Regime will go unpunished.

Week 8 results

houston over BUFFALO
CHICAGO over cleveland
DALLAS over seattle
DETROIT over st. louis
BALTIMORE over denver
INDIANAPOLIS over san francisco
NY JETS over miami
ny giants over PHILADELPHIA
jacksonville over TENNESSEE
SAN DIEGO over oakland
ARIZONA over carolina
GREEN BAY over minnesota
NEW ORLEANS over atlanta

This week: 7-6
Season: 79-37
vs. ESPN experts