To really put my feelings for the woman in perspective, you have to go back to the time during the last presidential campaign, Ms. Coulter apparently had a bad fall and broken her jaw.   The treatment required her to have her jaw wired shut for a few weeks, and this caused her to miss several public appearances on behalf of John McCain, and then running mate, Sara Palin.  Now I do not advocate violence or harm towards anyone – for the most part – but there was a conservative in a democratic chat group that I belong to that was being fairly belligerent towards several members, including myself, that were having a bit of fun at Ms. Coulters expense.  The conversation went something like this:

Me: “At least we don’t have to hear her for a few weeks.”

Moron: “You liberal pussies have no clue what a patriot that woman is, and how much she supports our troops.”

Me: “I support our troops.  I feel that they deserve a proper exit strategy out of Iraq, and more support where the REAL threat is in Afghanistan.”

Moron: “You wouldn’t know a patriot if he came up and kicked YOUR ASS!!!”

Me: “I disagree.  The doctor that treated Ann Coulter?  He’s a patriot.  He got to wire that mean bitches mouth shut.  I’d recommend him for the Congressional Medal of Honor if I could.  Course, then he’d have to be dead, and that seems a little unfair don’t you think?”

And it went down hill from there until the moderator stepped in and the guy was banned from the group for too much profanity.

Point is: Ann Coulter is a very mean spirited person.  She very rarely says a nice thing about anyone, even those she is supposedly supporting, and has a bad habit of fudging facts.  So we come to today, as I sat watching Rick’s List (one of my favorite cable news shows on television right now) and there was Ms. Coulter being interviewed from the 2010 CPAC conference in Washington.  I had to watch, knowing there was BS about to be spewed.  I wasn’t disappointed.

Rick Sanchez, the show’s host asked a simple question: “How do we justify the sacrifice of the Iraq War, when our own people were not even willing to sacrifice by paying higher taxes to support it?”  An honest question.  We payed for World War II, Korea . . . Nam, not so much, that was when the deficit really started to grow, but then again it was an unpopular war as well.

Ms. Coulter, the self proclaimed conservative, launched right into one of her classic off topic rants.  She sighted how we were attacked on 9-11 (having nothing to do with Iraq) followed by how we have a fantastic volunteer military (that costs billions to support and more to deploy into battle), and that it is because that military is volunteer based, that she does not understand why people whine about having to pay more, or how the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan are supposedly costing us more money.  (We don’t need to pay for our military through taxation, apparently it pays for its self.  Who knew?)  It continued with a reference to Al Qaeda being in Iraq prior to the US invasion (false).  She basically apologized for the Taliban, saying they were suckered into service by “Osama Bin Laden’s money”.  (Bling, bling.)  Then said all wars are “wars of opportunity at some level.  In World War II, Hitler didn’t bomb us”. (Very supportive of the cause there Ann.)  And she ended the rant with “Thank you George Bush, thank you”.  (. . . )

As I said, Ms. Coulter is not a true conservative, nor is any of the over talked idiots polluting our airways claiming to be.

Fact: you cannot balance a budget unless you have en equal amount of revenue to counter the expenditures.

Fact: taxes are government revenue.

Fact: George W. Bush lowered taxes, then spent hundreds of BILLIONS on two wars.

Fact: true conservatism is seeking less government, and peeling back taxation to a level accommodating the size of the desired federal machine.  NOT peeling back taxes (government revenue) and then going and spending hundreds of billions, bloating part of the federal machine to new, unheard of levels.

The right answer to the question (IMHO) would have been: “Yes, it was wrong to not sell the war in Iraq as an American endaevour, needing the sacrifice of all citizens to support and see it through to the end, Just like we did in World War II.  And it was wrong to grow the deficit to record levels by not doing so.”

Wow, does this mean I am more conservative than Ann Coulter?  Honestly, who cares.  She’s a moron.

- Aric

I’ll keep it short . . . It was over when Kyle Orton was sacked on the first play of the game.  This set the tone for the next four quarters, and showed why the Ravens are many peoples’ favorite team for winning the AFC Championship this year.  But Baltimore was not without fault, and Denver’s new Orange Crush was ever present.

Denver was – for the most part – out classed on the ground.  The Ravens ran one all the way in, Eddie Royal style, off of a punt return.  Joe Flacco found some deep targets, but for the most part was held to a dink-and-dunk game.  He was 20-25, but for only 175 yards.

The biggest issue facing the Broncos all day was the pressure on Kyle Orton.  He had no time for four strait quarters.  The best Bronco drive of the day was 86 yards, and 44 of those were off of penalties against the Ravens.

Bottom line: Denver needs to work on the rush coverage, and shore up their offensive line.  The Broncos are easily the best team in the AFC West.  With the Chargers under performing even when they win, and the Raiders and Chiefs already out of the running, all the boys from the Mile High really have to do is play clean, managed football and let the chips fall where they will.  There is two or three more losses in this seasons schedule, but 12-4 seems very doable at this point.

Going forward the Broncos face the Steelers at Mile High next Monday night.  If anything, knowing McDaniels and how he runs his team, the Steelers may have had an easier time if Denver had won this week.  Now they face a Broncos team with something to prove once again, and that seems to favor them best.  Look at the Patriots game if you doubt that.

Bye Week, and they’re still 3 games ahead.  (Insert evil laugh here.)

2. San Diego Chargers (3-3)

Is this the beginning of yet another late start for the Chargers, or just  the fact that they were playing the Chiefs?  I think it is mostly a case of the later.   The Chargers did rush for 168 yards, blowing away their their average 58  yards per game, but Tomlinson was held to 71 yards, Sproles managed 41, and this was AGAINST THE CHIEFS!  This was one of three games this season where there was a perfect opportunity to dominate on the ground, and it was blown.  Instead, it was once again the Philip Rivers show with another 250+ yard game.  Until this team learns to move the ball on the ground, they are in trouble.  Oh, and counting on the Broncos to blow the last four games of the season this year is not really looking like an option.

3. Oakland Raiders (2-5)

There’s a saying a good friend of mine likes to use: the fish stinks from the head down. This describes Oakland perfectly.  From the owner to the coach to the joke of a quarterback, this is a team in trouble with a capital “T”.  The only way the Raiders are ever going to get this derailed train of a team back on track is if Al Davis steps out of the way, and allows a real coach the time needed to rebuild the organization from  the ground up.  As it is now, I do not see the Raiders winning more than one or two more games all season.  I am still astounded that they beat the Eagles in week 6, a team that I can see taking the NFC East.  It must have been the pigeon.

4. Kansas City Chiefs (1-6)

Someone in this organization thought it would be a good idea to start a professional bench warmer as their QB.  Sure Cassel had a great season with the Patriots, but let’s face it, Kansas City is no New England.

Raiders Upset Eagles:

So the 30th ranked Rushing Defense in the league stopped the Eagles . . . WHAT?  The Raiders made a good showing for the home crowd, holding the Eagles to only 9 points.  However, the Eagles relied almost solely on passing, putting the entire game on the shoulders of QB Donovan McNabb, calling only 14 running plays.  Why not run the ball against a team that has trouble stopping the run?  Well, that is the $60k question.  But for now, the Raiders have  second W for the season, and their first win at home this year, and QB JaMarcus Russell put up 224 yards, his best showing so far in 2009.

Tom Brady’s 6:

OK, what needs to be said here?  Tom Brady got his clock cleaned in Denver last week, totally shut down in the second half, losing in OT for the first time ever.  What does he do this week?  Comes back home and all but fists the Titans, that’s what.  Brady threw a career high 6  touch downs for 380 yards.  The patriots racked up a grand total of 619 yards for the game.  The Titans . . . well, they froze their butts off, then went home 0-6, losing 59-0.

Those Schizo Texans:

Steve Kubiak is a good coach.  I truly believe that.  However, he is cursed with a team suffering from an acute multiple personality disorder. One never really knows what to expect from them.  This week the Texans that win showed up and beat the Bengals in Cincinnati.  I give props to the Texans’ D, holding the Bengals to just 46 yards on the ground. (they have averaged 126 yards per game in their first 5 weeks.)  I was also impressed by Matt Schuab, who had 4 TD’s and total of 392 yards.  Of course I’m not getting my hopes up for anything big from this team next week, as they will most likely screw the pooch.

The Saints Come Marchin’:

What is there to say?  Drew Brees is the man.  Period.  23-30 369 yards.  New Orleans is the standard that all teams should be measured by this season, and I am completely confident in saying – baring no injuries – that they will be be in the NFC championship game.  Beating the number one ranked NY Giants D, putting 48 points on the board . . . can anyone say the Giants are yet another overrated media darling?  As a Broncos fan I feel so much better about the Thanksgiving game in Denver this season.

Well, we are a quarter of the way through the 2009 NFL season, and as predicted, all of the coaching changes and personnel shifts have had some major impacts on how the divisions are shaping up.  Sure there are the usually suspects vying for post season spots, but some of the teams with winning records right now are proving even the most seasoned prognosticators wrong.  And on the flip side, some of the biggest media darlings in the League are falling far short of expectations.  All in all, it’s the NFL, and here is how I see it . . .

If Your Last Name Is Manning . . . then you are 4-0, and no one really doubted that you would be there.  Even a new head coach in Indi couldn’t slow down Payton and his laser accurate rocket arm.  And with an offensive line actually giving him more time than usual to use that cannon of his, the Colts are looking very good for winning their division.  Of course, not to be out done, little bro, Eli, or the $90 Million Man, is leading his Giants with gusto.  What impact would Plaxico Burres not being there have on the this team?  None what so ever.  If Eli can get past a recent foot injury quickly, the Giants may just have the NFC East in a lock.

The Orang Crush Lives Again . . . in the Mile High City, and Denver Bronco Fans couldn’t be happier.  The team has gone from turbulent off season, to poor preseason, to 4-0 in the regular season under new Head Coach Josh McDaniels , Defensive Coordinator Mike Nolan and QB Kyle Orton.  Fighting off criticism of an easy schedule in weeks 1 through 3, the Broncos put the Dallas Cowboys to bed in week 4 with an incredible defensive effort, winning 17-10.  The team predicted to win just 3 games by ESPN analysts is not only undefeated, but is sporting the best ranked defense in the NFL, allowing only 2 touch downs and a total of 26 points, and is leading the AFC West by 2 games.

Living Off The Hype Rather Than Generating It . . . would be the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots.  Argue all you want,but these two teams are NOT performing to the level they should.  Call it a T.O. hangover, but the Cowboys are not firing on all cylinders, and Tony Romo is by far the most overrated quarter back in the NFL today.  The Patriots are suffering from an anemic defense and a QB (Tom Brady) that simply does not trust himself or his receivers.  Neither of these teams will be in the post season unless they turn the bus around by week 7.

A Kid Named Sanchez Lives Up To The Hype . . . after being drafted in the first round, there were many out there, myself included, that said Mark Sanchez was all talk and no walk.  Instead this kid has come out, lead the Jets to a victory against the Pats, and is now raising questions on whether or not the other New York  team is for real.  They’re 3-1.  I’m a believer.

And A Man Named Favre Will Show Them The Way . . . and Minnesota fans said it was good.  Say what you will about Bret Favre.  I personally can’t stand the guy.  But if you have watched the Vikings play in the last two weeks, you have seen some damn good football.  Week 4 saw a Monday Night Football match up between the Gun Slinger’s old team, the Green Bay Packers and the Vikings, and it turned out to be the most watched cable event of all time.  It was a beautiful game.  Both teams played their hearts out.  Both QB’s had record performances.  And the Vikings proved that they are a two headed monster when the Packers shut own Adrian Peterson and the run, forcing Favre to use his surgically repaired arm, and did he use it.   I pitty any team playing these guys if they stay at 100%.

It’s a bad year to be . . . a team named Browns, Buccaneers, or Rams.  I live in Vegas, and naturally I pay attention to the sports books.  One of the hottest bets on the boards right now is the combined wins total for all three of these teams, which is now at 71/2, and many are saying that may be too high still.  I’m one of them.  I would put cold hard cash on a total of 5 wins between them. (2 for the Browns, 3 for the Bucks, and 0 for the Rams)

Best of The Best:

How do the NFC and AFC stack up after 4 weeks of play? Here are my personal top 5 in each conference . . .

AFC

1. Colts
2. Broncos
3. Ravens
4. Jets
5. Patriots

NFC

1. Saints
2. Vikings
3. Giants
4. 49rs
5. Bears

As always, your comments are welcome, and encouraged.  I’ll have my Week 5 prediction up on Friday.  What are yours?

The Chiefs threw all their apples in one cart named Matt Cassel, and he will break their hearts. He is a pro bench warmer. Sure he did well in New England, but it’s freaking New England! You could plug a high schooler into that offense and win games.

San Diego . . . For years now, all we have heard is that they are contenders. Really? They barley beat out the worst Bronco team in recent memory for the AFC West last season, and only got there by the Broncos blowing the last quarter of the season. Can you say overrated?

The Broncos. Everyone loves to punch these guys. Lets be honest, they should have lost game one. It was luck. But the fact is they would be 2-1 allowing only 16 points rather than 3-0 allowing 16 points. And the “easy” Bengals beat the Packers and Steelers, putting 20+ points on both. The Raiders blow, and the Browns suck, but the Bengals are no push overs. Going into week 4, I see Dallas as a team with a major problem against a tough defense and Denver has one of the toughest in football right now. For that matter the Pats are showing a weakness to the D as well. I like the Broncos over both Cowboys and the Pats. What scares me? The Ravens, Giants and the Steelers with bad boy Trow back on the field.

Remember six months ago, when the press, the Denver fans and anyone with a pulse hated Josh McDaniels for pushing Jay Cutler out the door?  Remember three months ago when all the afore mentioned still hated josh McDaniels for what was by then dubbed “Cutlergate”, and then hated him more for his dust up with star wide receiver Brandon Marshall?  How about all those talking heads that said the broncos would only go 3-13 for the season?  Well, it’s the end of September, and the Denver Broncos are 3-0, Brandon Marshall is making plays and putting numbers on the board, still wearing Bronco’s blue and orange, and Jay Cutler . . . well, no one is really crazy about him being gone, but Orton is not the liability he appeared to be in the preseason.

What a difference a few months, and wins, make.

The first three weeks have proven that Denver has a dominating defense once again, like the Orange Crush, but in blue.  The offense is getting there.  Orton is by no means the play maker Jay Cutler was, but he is clean with a big fat 0 in the interception column so far.  There are plenty of weapons for him to chose from, including Brandon Marshall by air, and first round draft pick Knowshon Moreno on the ground.  There is of course plenty of room for improvement, especially on the part of the offense, who need to get the job done sooner in the Red Zone.  But overall I, as a fan, am impressed with where the Broncos are at.

Looking Ahead: There seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel, rather than the complete darkness that was the next seven weeks facing the Broncos.  Here’s how I see weeks 4 and 5 shaping up:

• Dallas Cowboys @ Denver Broncos – Denver enters this game riding high after beating their heated rivals the Oakland Raiders.  The most important thing here is the D.  The new Blue Crush has to show up, and show up strong.  Tony Romo is already giving out picks like candy early on this season.  A constant pressure to the pass will force much needed turnovers that the Broncos D can capitalize on.  That said, Kyle Orton must kick it up a notch and find his receivers.  He’s solid, and has yet to throw any picks, but he is not a major force on the offense of this team yet, and to take on the Cowboys he has to get the ball to his receivers right away.  A laundry list of injured Cowboys is not going to hurt either.

• New England Patriots @ Denver Broncos – There will be a lot of brown and yellow at Mile High in week 5.  It’s throwback night with the Broncos sporting their 1960 uniforms, striped socks and all, while the Pats will be taking a trip back in time to when they were the Boston Patriots.  Throwback or not, Tom Brady is slowly finding his way back to the top of his game, and the Broncos will have to hit him early and hard, and not let up a bit.  The Jets proved in week 2 that a constant pressuring from the D can and will force Brady to make mistakes, but again, Kyle Orton and his boys on offense must make a clean showing, and hope like hell that Brady keeps over throwing receivers when the blitz is affective.

I like Denver in both of these games.  There presence on the defensive side of things makes them contenders against anyone they face this season.  But the offense has to get to the same level to get this team balanced out.

Last Word: Denver does look better than anyone gave them credit for prior to week 1.  I honestly like them against the Cowboys and Pats, as I have said.  I would pick the Broncos – as they are playing now – over any other team in the AFC West.  The Steelers scared me until I saw the Bengals beat them today.  The Redskins are easily in contention with the Browns for the worst team in football, so no real threat there.  Where I do see real trouble is against the Ravens, Giants, Colts and Eagles.  I love my Broncos, but these are most likely the four games that they are guaranteed to lose.

So there you have it, my assessment heading into week 4.  For those of you out there asking, “did he just say the Broncos are going to go 12 -4″, the answer is yes, yes I did.

Boy were we wrong.

In reaching the park, there was a large crowd gathered for football and soccer games that were going on.  There were two playground areas at this particular park, so we first chose the equipment further from the loud games and the crowds.  Unfortunately there was a large Bar-B-Q in progress at the pavilion by that playground, and the children of those  attending were running amok pushing, shoving, and using the equipment in soaking clothes after running through the water fountain.  All completely unsupervised.

My youngest was too nervous to use any of the tows and equipment since there was a little boy just running around pushing kids, and I was already feeling the old blood pressure surging.  Instead of grabbing the boy and asking where his parents were – I already knew the answer, they were getting drunk at the pavilion - I suggested trying the other palyground.  My wif agreed and we went.

Loosing hope with every step we took, we approached the second, larger play ground, and saw that the situation there was even worse than the first.  All of the kids belonging to the parents that were watching the football games at the nearby fields were running unwatched.  There were literally children as little as two-years-old toddling around unsupervised.  Mom and Dad were nowhere in sight.

One little guy (maybe age 3) tried to wrestle a spring horse wrom my youngest.  I stepped in this time, pulling her away, telling the kid to go find his parents.  I got a blank stare, followed by  him just ignoring me and clinbin g onto the riding toy anyway.  I was loosing my cool, and my wife was too.  Or girls took turns with another riding toy – the furthest from the other equptment – only to have the same little boy attept to take over this to as well.

“Where is your parents?” My wife said.  But there was no answer.  The kid had no clue what she was even asking.

He just kept asking her and I to put him up.

As we left the playground, a girl (age 10ish) yelled, “Hey! Hey! He wants on the swing.  Put him on the swing!”

Realizing that she was talking to us, I turned, and at the same time as my wife, yelled back “Go find your parents!” to more blank staring.

We went home that night, after spending a whole twenty minutes a the park, knowing that there was no such thing as cheap, safe entertainment left in this city.  If you want to take your kids out to have fun, safely, surrounded by others who watch their kids an respect others, you have to pay for it.  It’s a sad fact.

It is also sad that we as a society have gotten so careless when it comes to our children.  We live in an age of child molesters and murderers.  Anyone could have walked onto that play ground and made off with a kid or two.  I could jut picture turning on the news that night, seeing some mother crying.  He little son grabbed up and gone forever.  The reporter would say how someone had swooped onto the playground, stealing little Smith Jr. away before anyone was the wiser.  But in truth, a creep could have taken his time and made off with several kids at his leisure.

We are a society of generally good people.  I do believe that.  But to take advantage of the good of others is wrong.  If you take your kid to a park or any public place, watch them.  Take care of them.  For it is not my job, or anyone else’s, to raise and support your child.  It takes a village to make our children’s world a better place, but it takes a parent to raise them.

So the boys and girls over at Google are at it again, this time expanding their hit web browser Chrome, and taking to the next level as a full fledged operating system.  Titled Chrome OS, the news of the project has caused quite  a stir in the tech world.  Some of the more Google friendly bloggers out there say that freeware will finally have a viable product to compete with Mac and Windows.  Others, a bit more realistic, are skeptical about how effective the touted “Cloud” operating system will really be.  I fall in the second grouping.

In order to compete with the big boys, Google is going to have to offer something entirely new and innovative, but at the same time allow access to all of the popular goodies we have all grown to love.  This is not just a tall order, it’s damn near impossible right out of the gate.  Three things (In my humblest of opinions) that must be offered by Chrome OS in order to crash the Mac/Windows party, or at least tailgate on their lawn are:

Compatibility: This is the biggest challenge facing Chrome OS.  Already skeptics are screaming, “told you so” from the rooftops, as Google leaked in several blogs that they will be basing the new system on the Linux kernel.  Not a great plan since Linux – even the new user friendly Umbutu – is extremely spotting in the compatibility department. This has always been the biggest drawback to Linux, and Google will have to do some major arm twisting to get providers on board.

iTunes:  Yep, I went there.  This really falls under the compatibility umbrella, but it’s the single largest media handling/sharing program out there and is NOT Linux compatible.  Not a good thing considering that there are tens of millions of loyal iTunes users worldwide. Alienating your potential base users is bad.

Must Not Be Completely Cloud Based: Let’s face it, there are many great reasons to have more access to the web and web based applications. But there are a lot of things I personally do offline. I’m sure you are ht same way, and like to use programs like Office, Photoshop, and do things like save music and photos. Limiting any user to a web based only environment, which in it’s truest sense means no saving anything to disk, is unrealistic, and goes right back to compatibility (See the trend?) There needs to be some access to offline usage.  Plus there is the issues that will carry over from the Chrome browser.  Anyone using Chrome now knows how glitchy, and some cases unusable, it is on certain websites.  What happens when all you can use is Chrome?

Bottom line: I cannot wait for Chrome OS. I love the Chrome browser, and earlier this year I replaced Firefox as my primary browser with it. (Despite the issues with certain websites.) But my excitement is shadowed by skepticism. How can this be so innovative of a system if it is based off of the Linux Kernel? Essentially, we have been there, done that, and since gone away from it.

I guess time will tell . . .

]]> http://millersthoughts.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/7/feed/ 0 Miller http://millersthoughts.wordpress.com/2009/09/20/welcome/ http://millersthoughts.wordpress.com/2009/09/20/welcome/#comments Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:04:41 +0000 Aric Miller http://millersthoughts.wordpress.com/2009/09/20/welcome/ Continue reading →]]> Hello, and welcome to my new blog. This is a work in progress, and I will be making changes over time to make this my own little place on the web. Different pages and categories will be coming soon, including a sports section, a politics area, and a page filled with just for dads info.

So check back. I will be posting every Monday and Friday, and as with any blog, comments are not just welcomed, but encouraged.

More to come soon . . .

A.