Irish Trojan in Tennessee

CNN Breaking News

By CNN

-- Official: Three dead at site of Florida chemical plant blast.

Santas under seige!

By Brendan Loy

First, Santa gets pie in his face in Missoula, Montana... then, Santa gets groped in Danbury, Connecticut... and then, Santa gets cold-cocked in Spokane, Washington. (Hat tip: Scott Fort.) What next? Taking out Santa's knee caps? Drive-by Santa shootings? I've heard of the War on Christmas, but this is ridiculous!

FYI

By Brendan Loy

Yes, I know that the TypePad comment-spam filter has been going crazy lately. I don't have too much control over the settings, but I did change one thing that I think will help decrease the incidence of both spam false-positives and unnecessary "captchas" (when you have to type a set of characters into a box to prove you aren't a spammer). We'll see if it helps. In the mean time, if you try to leave a comment and it gets caught in the spam filter, and you can't get it to post, please e-mail me and let me know. I can restore it, but I may not notice it if you don't tell me. (Even then, I can make no promises -- at some point soon, I'm going to be away from my computer for quite a while -- but I'll do my best.)

Bowl pick 'em reminder

By Brendan Loy

If you haven't yet entered the 3rd annual Irish Trojan Bowl Pick 'em Contest (hey, come to think of it, I haven't entered yet!), you (and I) have just over 32 hours left to do so. The deadline is 9:00 PM EST tomorrow, which is when people across the country will drop whatever they're doing, sit down on their couches, turn on their TVs, and unite as one nation to watch the eagerly anticipated San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl between a team that notched its first win of the season against UCLA (Utah) and a team that won for the first time in 44 years over another team notched its first win of the season against UCLA (Navy).

Speaking of UCLA... hey Mike, how's it coming on that car flag?

Er, so anyway, sign up now! And if you already made your picks but want to change 'em, just enter again. The deadline is the same regardless; your last entry will be the one that counts.

What is Dick Cheney hiding burning?

By Brendan Loy

"Bring wood and oil!"

It seems there was a fire in Dick Cheney's office this morning:

The historic Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door to the White House caught fire this morning, and D.C. firefighters broke windows and doused the second and third floors with water in order to extinguish the two-alarm blaze. ...  

[Witness Katie] Johnson said the smoke appeared to be concentrated in or near the ceremonial office of Vice President Cheney.

Oh, but it gets better:

[D.C. fire department spokesman Alan] Etter would not speculate on exactly where the fire originated -- citing both the early stage of the investigation but also a request for discretion by the U.S. Secret Service.

It's a cover-up, I say! A cover-up!! Cheney lied, buildings fried!!!

What was Vice President Cheney burning, you ask? Well, isn't it obvious? His weekly "ceremonial" kitten-and-puppy pyre (their cries give him strength!) caused a bit more smoke than usual this week, and now those nosy media and police types are sniffing around. They'd better watch themselves. If they get too close to the truth, Dick Cheney will shoot them in the face.

Breaking news!

By Brendan Loy

Britney Spears's 16-year-old sister is pregnant... with John Edwards's baby!!

Okay, I made that last part up. Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant, though.

All I want for Christmas is Ma Spears's parenting book...

CNN Breaking News

By CNN

-- Firefighters battle blaze in building on White House campus.

Not so awesome, baby

By Brendan Loy

Dick Vitale will be out of commission until at least February due to surgery on his vocal chords.

Hmm... I'm going to bet on February 6 as his first day back. Why? It's the first Duke-UNC game of the year.