Misc. Ramblings : CBSSports.com Blogs

Duncan, Watkins lift UND to 6-2 exhibition win

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:24:33 EDT

A little bit of old blood mixed with a transfusion from the new kids proved to be a healthy combination for the University of North Dakota men's hockey team tonight.

Senior captain Ryan Duncan (Calgary, Alberta) scored two goals and senior forwards Andrew Kozek (Sicamous, British Columbia) and Matt Watkins (Aylesbury, Saskatchewan) had a goal apiece as the Fighting Sioux opened the season with a 6-2 exhibition victory over the University of Manitoba Bisons.

The game at Ralph Engelstad Arena drew 11,571 fans, the largest attendance for an exhibition game in UND history.

While seniors accounted for two-thirds of UND's goals, freshmen served notice as well.

Bakersfield, CA Fantasy Baseball Fans

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:37:17 EDT

Are there any Fantasy Baseball fans that live in Bakersfield, CA? Let me know who you are.

Biden-Palin debate not 100% accurate

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:24:09 EDT

Biden and Palin debated, and both mangled some facts.

Palin mistakenly claimed that troop levels in Iraq had returned to “pre-surge” levels. Levels are gradually coming down but current plans would have levels higher than pre-surge numbers through early next year, at least.

Biden incorrectly said “John McCain voted the exact same way” as Obama on a controversial troop funding bill. The two were actually on opposite sides.

Palin repeated a false claim that Obama once voted in favor of higher taxes on “families” making as little as $42,000 a year. He did not. The budget bill in question called for an increase only on singles making that amount, but a family of four would not have been affected unless they made at least $90,000 a year.

UND Fighting Sioux ranked number 2

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:44:54 EDT

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The Fighting Sioux men’s hockey team is picked to finish in second place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA), according to the 38th annual Grand Forks Herald WCHA preseason coaches poll. UND, which finished second in the league last season and advanced to its fourth consecutive NCAA Frozen Four, received two first-place votes and is projected to finish behind only defending MacNaughton Cup champion Colorado College. The Tigers received the remaining eight first-place votes. Denver was picked third and Minnesota and Wisconsin tied for fourth place in the voting. St. Cloud State , Minnesota State, Minnesota Duluth, Michigan Tech and Alaska Anchorage are ranked sixth through 10th, respectively. The poll also revealed that UND freshman forward Jason Gregoire was voted the league’s preseason co-rookie of the year. Gregoire and Minnesota Duluth forward Jack Connolly each received three votes to tie for the honor. Gregoire, a native of Winnipeg , Manitoba , spent the past two seasons with the Lincoln Stars of the United States Hockey League (USHL), where he was named the league’s player of the year and forward of the year in 2007-08. Gregoire was also named to the All-USHL First Team last season after amassing 37 goals and 69 points in 54 games. He was drafted by the New York Islanders in the third round (76th overall) of the 2007 National Hockey League Entry Draft. Colorado College sophomore goaltender Richard Bachman was voted the WCHA preseason player of the year. The Fighting Sioux take to the ice for the first time on Sunday, Oct. 5, when they host the University of Manitoba in exhibition action at Ralph Engelstad Arena. The puck drops at 6:07 p.m. Grand Forks Herald WCHA Preseason Coaches Poll 1. Colorado College 2. North Dakota 3. Denver 4. Minnesota Wisconsin 6. St. Cloud State 7. Minnesota State 8. Minnesota Duluth 9. Michigan Tech 10. Alaska Anchorage Player of the Year: Richard Bachman, G, Colorado College Rookie of the Year (tie): Jason Gregoire, F, UND & Jack Connolly, F, Minnesota Duluth

Presidential Debate...without the lies

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 11:30:02 EDT

Presenting the truth and nothing but the truth regardless of party. The thing that craks me up is that the washington machine will continue to run unimpeded with either one of these cogs inserted. Anyway, here you go......

McCain and Obama contradicted each other repeatedly during their first debate, and each volunteered some factual misstatements as well. Here’s how we sort them out:

Obama said McCain adviser Henry Kissinger backs talks with Iran “without preconditions,” but McCain disputed that. In fact, Kissinger did recently call for “high level” talks with Iran starting at the secretary of state level and said, “I do not believe that we can make conditions.” After the debate the McCain campaign issued a statement quoting Kissinger as saying he didn’t favor presidential talks with Iran.

$700 BILLION Hand Out

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:07:35 EDT

I wish the government would deal as fairly and generously with me when I screw up my finances. Dr. Evil didn't even ask for that much money. If these companies are so large and influential that they can single handedly devistate our economy with their greed then the citizens of this country should have more control over these companies. The rich get help and the poor get fucked!

Jessica Alba new bikini pics!

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:10:20 EDT

Made you look.

Out of Context on Health Care

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:07:19 EDT

Obama ad twists McCain's words on health care "deregulation." Summary An Obama-Biden ad falsely claims McCain says he wants to "do the same to our health care" that "Wall Street deregulation" has done to the banking industry. The ad relies on a single phrase from a journal article under McCain's byline, in which he said he would reduce regulation of health insurance "as we have done over the last decade in banking." But the full context reveals that McCain was referring narrowly to his proposal to allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines. Analysis The Obama-Biden campaign released the ad Sept. 22 and said it will air on national cable TV networks. It claims that McCain said he would "reduce oversight of the health insurance industry ... just 'as we have done over the last decade in banking.' " But the ad takes the comments out of context, failing to explain what exactly McCain meant by the comparison to banking. He was talking specifically about allowing the sale and purchase of health insurance plans across state lines. McCain's words come from an article under his byline in the September/October issue of "Contingencies," a journal of the American Academy of Actuaries. Here's what the McCain article actually said, in full context: McCain: "I would also allow individuals to choose to purchase health insurance across state lines, when they can find more affordable and attractive products elsewhere that they prefer. Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation. Consumer-friendly insurance policies will be more available and affordable when there is greater competition among insurers on a level playing field. You should be able to buy your insurance from any willing provider—the state bureaucracies are no better than national ones. Nationwide insurance markets that ensure broad and vigorous competition will wring out excess costs, overhead, and bloated executive compensation." Note that McCain began by speaking of buying insurance "across state lines." His comparison with banking regulation was limited to "opening up the insurance market" to "nationwide" competition to "provide more choices" to consumers. McCain has in fact touted this aspect of his health care plan for months. His Web page on health care prominently says: McCain health care plan: "An important part of his plan is to use competition to improve the quality of health insurance with greater variety to match people's needs, lower prices, and portability. Families should be able to purchase health insurance nationwide, across state lines." Obama used this misleading accusation on the campaign trail over the weekend. In Daytona Beach, Florida, on Sept. 20, Obama said: "So let me get this straight – he wants to run health care like they've been running Wall Street." The analogy to banking in the article was poorly timed, given recent financial events, though it's likely it was written well before Wall Street's crisis reached its climax last week. McCain senior adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin complained to reporters that Obama misunderstood what McCain meant: "If Barack Obama thinks that today's financial troubles were caused by policies which allowed Americans to use an ATM anywhere in this country, then it is better that he continue to be silent about solutions to the crisis on Wall Street," he said. Holtz-Eakin told the Wall Street Journal that the article was talking about provisions that allowed for banking across state lines, which were approved in 1995 – not "over the last decade," as the article said. Obama adviser Jason Furman said that it seemed to him that McCain was referencing 2004 rules that, the Journal reported, "pre-empted state banking regulations and that, [Furman] argues, helped bring on the current financial meltdown." McCain did not cite specific legislation. But it is clear he was comparing such regulations to his proposal to allow the sale of health insurance across state lines. We’d also note that this was not "an article praising Wall Street deregulation," as the ad says. Wall Street itself is never mentioned, and the only reference to banking or the financial industry is that one line about regulation over the past decade. This ad reminds us of another by the Democratic National Committee that took McCain's comments out of context. That ad charged that McCain wanted to stay in Iraq for 100 years, but his full remarks showed that he was talking about a peaceful presence in the country, much like U.S. troops' presence in Japan or South Korea, two examples McCain used in his remarks. McCain said staying in Iraq for a hundred years "would be fine with me, as long as Americans, as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed." The DNC left that part of the quote out of the ad. An Accurate Quote The Obama-Biden ad ends by calling McCain's plan "a prescription for disaster," as those words, credited to the Boston Globe, flash on screen. Unlike the first quote cited in the ad, this one is accurate. It comes from a Sept. 21 Globe editorial that compared McCain's and Obama's health care plan, raising objections to McCain's. Here's the quote in context: Globe editorial (Sept. 21): "There is no comparable lab test, however, for the radical revision of healthcare that McCain is proposing. For all of his moderate positions on immigration and climate change, on healthcare he has endorsed a right-wing ideologue's vision: destroy employer-based coverage and turn Americans over to the tender mercies of private nongroup insurers in an unregulated environment. It's a prescription for disaster." Obama and Biden may share that assessment of McCain's plan, as their ad says. But the ad's main criticism rests on distorting McCain's words rather than evaluating an actual component of his health care proposal.