Irish Trojan in Tennessee

Prince Caspian trailer

By Brendan Loy

Woohoo!! (Hat tip: Andrew Hiller.)

Get your facts straight, people!

By Brendan Loy

ESPN has posted its official bowl preview, and I have to say that I'm really, really annoyed by this factually erroneous statement about the USC-Illinois Rose Bowl game:

The Tournament of Roses chose tradition (sorry, Georgia) over a better matchup.

I've seen numerous sports "journalists" make similar statements over the last few days. Only problem: it's not true. The Rose Bowl did not have Georgia as an option.

Willingham not fired

By Brendan Loy

Washington will not fire Ty Willingham. (And thank goodness. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton might have led a march on Pac-10 headquarters if Dorrell and Willingham had both been fired in the space of a week.) There is speculation, however, that the Huskies will "clean house" with regard to the defensive coaches, starting with coordinator Kent Baer. That would please resident BrendanLoy.com Husky fan David K., who commented Sunday that "the biggest failure is our defense and our DC needs to be gone now. If Willingham does not fire him, I will move towards the fire Willingham camp." That's what a lot of Irish fans were saying back in 2004 with regard to Ty's coordinators, including Baer (who followed him from Notre Dame to UW), and it didn't happen, but hopefully this time Ty won't make the Bush-esque mistake of putting loyalty before competence.

In other Washington-state sports news, #17 Gonzaga lost to #8 Wazzu last night, the Zags' first-ever loss at home while ranked.

World War III delayed by spook nuke rebuke

By Brendan Loy

Between college football chaos and baby preparations, I haven't had much time to follow the news lately, but the big story from a couple days ago is that Iran apparently isn't going nuclear after all, at least not as imminently as we feared:

A new assessment by American intelligence agencies concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains frozen, contradicting judgment two years ago that Tehran was working relentlessly toward building a nuclear bomb.

The conclusions of the new assessment are likely to reshape the final year of the Bush administration, which has made halting Iran’s nuclear program a cornerstone of its foreign policy.

The assessment, a National Intelligence Estimate that represents the consensus view of all 16 American spy agencies, states that Tehran is likely keeping its options open with respect to building a weapon, but that intelligence agencies “do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons.”

Iran is continuing to produce enriched uranium, a program that the Tehran government has said is designed for civilian purposes. The new estimate says that enrichment program could still provide Iran with enough raw material to produce a nuclear weapon sometime by the middle of next decade, a timetable essentially unchanged from previous estimates.

But the new estimate declares with “high confidence” that a military-run Iranian program intended to transform that raw material into a nuclear weapon has been shut down since 2003, and also says with high confidence that the halt “was directed primarily in response to increasing international scrutiny and pressure.”

The estimate does not say when American intelligence agencies learned that the weapons program had been halted, but a statement issued by Donald Kerr, the principal director of national intelligence, said the document was being made public “since our understanding of Iran’s capabilities has changed.”

Rather than painting Iran as a rogue, irrational nation determined to join the club of nations with the bomb, the estimate states Iran’s “decisions are guided by a cost-benefit approach rather than a rush to a weapon irrespective of the political, economic and military costs.” The administration called new attention to the threat posed by Iran earlier this year when President Bush had suggested in October that a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to “World War III” and Vice President Dick Cheney promised “serious consequences” if the government in Tehran did not abandon its nuclear program.

I haven't read much of anything in the way of commentary on this, so I can only assume that the right is spinning this as "Iran is still a threat, those intelligence guys are a bunch of liberal ninnies anyway" and the left is spinning it as "See! See! We told you! Bush lies! It's a rush to war!" But if anyone can point me to some actually insightful commentary on the issue, I'd certainly be interested in reading it.

Personally, my initial take is that, first of all, this report, if accurate, is obviously a good thing, notwithstanding the fact that it gives Mad Mahmoud an opportunity to declare "victory" (he's kind of a cheap date, ain't he?), because Iran without nukes > Iran with nukes, and also, no war > war. It's only if those two equations come into conflict that we have a major problem, and this report -- particularly the part I boldfaced in the last blockquoted paragraph -- seems to suggest that maybe, just maybe, they might not come into conflict after all.

Also, frankly, even if we still have to eventually confront Iran over its nuclear ambitions (or about something else), it would be far better if we can wait until the president is no longer named Bush. He's damaged goods both internationally and domestically, and his incompetent administration has generally proven incapable of successfully carrying out its objectives even when those objectives are correct. So even delaying a confrontation would be a good thing, in my mind (provided that the delay doesn't worsen the problem, obviously), though obviously not as good as avoiding it altogether.

Secondly, the release of this report is actually a major rebuke to the "Bush lied" crowd. If the administration was the evil, soulless, fascist warmongering machine that so many on the left believe it is, then how did this report even get released? It sure throws a monkey wrench into the "Bush's rush to war" narrative when the president's own administration is releasing reports (with a big media splash, no less) that discredit said alleged rush. And if you want to respond that "Bush doesn't control these people," that rather seriously complicates the argument that he muzzled them in the run-up to Iraq. Either the spooks are his puppets or they're not, and if they're not, they must have actually believed the faulty intelligence on Iraq's WMD, no? In which case, Bush didn't lie! Either way, the release of this report almost seems to suggest that most people in the administration (possibly even including the president!) actually, you know, care about the facts, and are motivated by a genuine desire to do the right thing (leaving aside the separate question of whether that desire is misguided in a given instance), rather than by a motivation to take over the Middle East for oil profits, or kill all the brown people, or whatever it is the Kos & Kucinich Kidz are accusing them of these days. I am shocked, shocked I tell you.

Anyway, in summary, No Iranian nukes = good. No World War III = good. Honesty with the American people = good. Bush = incompetent, not evil. And that's about as sophisticated as my commentary is going to get at the moment. I'm curious what y'all think, though.

P.S. In other news, Dick Cheney says Democratic representatives John Dingell and John Murtha have small penises. Hey, remember that time Dick Cheney shot a guy in the face? HAHAHA. That was awesome.

Shuttle launch delayed by faulty sensor

By Brendan Loy

Today's planned launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis has been scrubbed due to a problem with an external tank sensor. They'll try again tomorrow at 4:09 PM after troubleshooting the sensor.

Today's planned launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis has been scrubbed due to a problem with an external tank sensor. They'll try again tomorrow at 4:09 PM after troubleshooting the sensor.

Makes me think about how Becky and I have been driving around her Camry -- which has put on about another 11,000 miles since hitting 100,000 four months ago -- with the "Check Engine" light on, apparently because of a faulty sensor, for something like 20 or 25 thousand miles. (We took it into the dealership in South Bend when the light first appeared, and they did all sorts of checks and repairs, but no matter what they did, the light refused to go off and stay off. Eventually we concluded it must be a sensor problem. The car drives fine; no sign of trouble whatsoever, other than the damn light.) I guess this is sort of like that. I suppose the stakes are a bit higher when you're "driving" in outer space, though. :)

3rd annual Bowl Pick 'em: enter now!

By Brendan Loy

It's that time of year again... time for the 3rd annual Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest!

Actually, I'm getting the contest started a little earlier this year than I did in 2005 and 2006, because you never know when the baby might come, and I want to be sure this is all set up in advance. :) The deadline to enter is December 20 at 9pm EST, which is when the Poinsettia Bowl kicks off.

Anyway, you can sign up now! If you wish to change any of your picks before the deadline, you can simply enter again. Only your last entry will count.

More details after the jump.