Irish Trojan in Tennessee

Hillary's 3 a.m. problem

By Brendan Loy

Mark Steyn:

Jeepers, will all business during this Clinton administration be transacted at 3 a.m.? Is it some union-negotiated flex-time deal? "Home foreclosures mounting"? We'd better wake the president. There are now so many foreclosures the banks can no longer foreclose on everyone they need to foreclose on during normal banking hours. "The First National Bank of Dead Skunk, Maine, has begun issuing midnight foreclosure notices, Madam President."

"OK, nuke 'em."

"Er, well, maybe this can wait till the regular afternoon meeting."

It's 3 a.m., and your children are safe and asleep. But there's a phone ringing in the White House. And ringing and ringing and ringing. Kim Jong-il No Dong missiles are heading for every major West Coast city, but the president's not picking up because at 2:57 a.m. the Secretary for Soccer Moms called to alert her to the growing crisis caused by the lack of federally mandated children's bicycling helmets.

Heh. (Hat tip: InstaPundit.)

P.S. On a more serious note, it looks like Hillary has been "misspeaking" again:

Over the last five weeks, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has featured in her campaign stump speeches the story of a health care horror: an uninsured pregnant woman who lost her baby and died herself after being denied care by an Ohio hospital because she could not come up with a $100 fee. ...

[H]ospital administrators said Friday that Ms. Bachtel was under the care of an obstetrics practice affiliated with the hospital, that she was never refused treatment and that she was, in fact, insured.

“We implore the Clinton campaign to immediately desist from repeating this story,” said Rick Castrop, chief executive officer of the O’Bleness Health System.

The idea of Hillary using the (false) tale of someone dying because they couldn't pay a $100 fee reminds me a bit of that wonderful old campaign ballad, The M.T.A. Song. But instead of "Fight the fare increase, vote for George O'Brien!" I guess now it's "Fight the premium increase, vote for Hillary Clinton!" Heh. Hillary descends further and further into self-parody...

P.P.S. Video of the M.T.A. Song:

I sing that song to Loyette all the time. :)

P.P.P.S. For those not familiar with the song, they actually did a lyrical switcheroo in the final verse in the above clip. You can view the real lyrics here. It's supposed to be "Fight the fare increase, vote for George O'Brien! And get Charlie off the M.T.A.! Or else he'll never return..."

Kansas wins; Whitfield vs. Greca in pool

By Brendan Loy

Incredibly, after falling behind 40-12 with seven minutes left in the first half (and having Billy Packer declare, "This game is over"), North Carolina has rallied to within eight points of Kansas, 54-46, with 12:16 left in the game. "It looks like panic is setting in" for Kansas, Jim Nantz says.

UPDATE: Now 54-48. UNC is on a 12-0 run, and more broadly, a 36-14 run. "We've seen some comebacks, Jim, but I have never seen anything like this," says Packer. "This would be the mother of all comebacks," Nantz agrees.

UPDATE 2: After pulling within 4 points at 54-50, North Carolina has gone cold, Kansas is on a 26-11 and 13-0 run, and it's 80-61 with under two minutes left. What a weird game.

UPDATE 3: Kansas 84, UNC 66, final. So it's Kansas vs. Memphis for the national title -- and Alex Whitfield vs. Amy Greca for the championship of the 13th annual Living Room Times men's basketball pool presented by the UCLA Bruins.

Whitfield (a.k.a. "CORNHUSKERS 94 95 97"), a Duke alum and Nebraska grad who lives in Brooklyn, New York, will win the pool if Kansas wins the championship. He is currently in first place with 367 out of a possible 452 points.

Dan Port, a 2004 USC alum, is in second place with 354 points, but he cannot pass Whitfield because they both picked Kansas to win.

Greca, a resident of Newington, Connecticut and wife of the man who designed the pool logo, Newington High School Class of 1999 Tom Greca, is third with 352 points, and will win the pool if Memphis wins the championship.

Rounding out the current Top 10 are Chuck Wessell (344 points), Ryan Morgan (336), Ken Inadomi (335), Liz Janelle (332), Shari Long (332), Chris Mulvey (332) and Logan Pugh (330). Long and Mulvey were eliminated by Kansas's win -- in Long's case, sparing her an agonizing decision over whether to root for her favorite team, Memphis, or for her own pool prospects (she picked UNC).

Full standings here and after the jump.

P.S. For posterity's sake, it should be noted that the original title of this post was "Rock, Choke, Jayhawk?"

Will Kansas make Roy Williams cry?

By Brendan Loy

It looks like the OMG BEST FINAL FOUR EVER is on the verge of turning into a total dud, as Kansas leads North Carolina 33-10 with 8:44 left in the first half. Yikes.

UPDATE: With 7:32 left in the first half, and Kansas leading 38-12, Billy Packer declares, "This game is over."

UPDATE 2: Wow! UNC rallied within 42-27 just before halftime... though Kansas got a layup at the buzzer to make it 44-27.

Meanwhile, Jay sends along this photo from the first game, of Kevin Love getting pwn3d by Chris Douglas-Roberts:

Nice.

Beat the Bruins!

By Brendan Loy

It's Memphis 56, UCLA 47 with 10:31 left. As Jay would say, GO TIGERS GO!

UPDATE: Memphis 78, UCLA 63, final. WOO!!! Three straight Final Fours for fUCLA, but no championships. Are the Bruins becoming the Buffalo Bills of college basketball?

Meanwhile, for all the talk about this being OMG The Most Stacked Final Four Ever, that wasn't exactly an instant classic. Kevin Love was basically a non-factor in the second half, foul trouble killed Darren Collison and Russell Westbrook, and the whole Bruins team went ice-cold down the stretch. All credit to Memphis for forcing fUCLA into those problems, of course, but this wasn't exactly a memorable clash of titans; the Bruins looked overmatched. It's like I said: a whole bunch of powerhouse teams advancing to play one another doesn't guarantee great games, any more than the presence of a Cinderella team guarantees blowouts. That concept is just a silly fallacy.

Also, apparently Memphis can shoot free throws. I almost think John Calipari instructed them to miss on purpose during the Conference USA schedule, just to lull everyone into a false sense of security. :)

P.S. Updated scenarios for who can win the 13th annual Living Room Times men's basketball pool presented by, ahem, the UCLA Bruins:

If UNC beats Memphis for title: Shari Long wins
If Memphis beats UNC for title: Chris Mulvey wins
If Kansas beats Memphis for title: Alex Whitfield wins
If Memphis beats Kansas for title: Amy Greca wins

Joseph Hiegel, Robert Dokes, Chuck Wessell and Keith Evans were mathematically eliminated by UCLA's loss.

Current standings here and after the jump.

CNN Breaking News

By CNN

137 children have been removed from a polygamist compound in Texas, and more being sought, a state official says.

Comcast update

By Brendan Loy

In light of my recent negative post about Comcast, as well as my earlier litany of complaints about the company's "craptastic" service, I should point out, in the interest of being fair & balanced, that a pair of friendly, articulate, and highly competent-seeming Comcast employees just showed up and gave me the quickest and most well-explained answer to a support question I've ever gotten from their company. Details after the jump.

A little piece of history

By Brendan Loy

Digging through some old computer files, looking for job-related stuff, I stumbled upon a text file titled "message to drudge - katrina," dated Friday, August 26, 2005, at 10:23 PM. That would be about 8 1/2 hours after my oft-quoted "New Orleans in peril" post (i.e., the one I read aloud in Spike Lee's movie), less than a half-hour after my post titled "Models 'cluster' on near-worst-case track" -- which accompanied the final westward shift of the National Hurricane Center's official forecast track, which ended up being almost exactly accurate even though it was ~60 hours out -- and an hour before my frequently referenced "get the hell out" post.

Even as all that was going on, the Drudge Report was still focused on the possibility of another Florida landfall (recall that the Sunshine State had been hit by six hurricanes in the preceding 14 months or so, including Katrina's first landfall on the peninsula), and much of the media was following suit, focusing on the Florida panhandle instead of the looming New Orleans doomsday scenario, despite the clear change in the forecast over the preceding 12 hours. Exasperated, I wrote to Drudge using his anonymous tips form thingy. I don't think I've ever published my message before, and I thought it might be of some mild interest, so I've posted it after the jump.

Final Four tonight

By Brendan Loy

With the men's Final Four tonight, just a reminder of the stakes in the 13th annual Living Room Times men's basketball pool presented by the UCLA Bruins:

If UNC & Memphis win: Title game is Shari Long (UNC) vs. Chris Mulvey (Memphis)

If UNC & UCLA win: Title game is Joseph Hiegel (UNC) vs. Robert Dokes (UCLA)

If Kansas & Memphis win: Title game is Alex Whitfield (Kansas) vs. Amy Greca (Memphis)

If Kansas & UCLA win: Title game is Chuck Wessell (Kansas) vs. Keith Evans (UCLA)

In other news, Tulsa won the inaugural CBI last night, and fans rushed the court. (Hat tip: Chris Newbury.) As for the WNIT, I, er, misspoke earlier: the title game is tonight.

Mexico conquers U.S. ... in vodka ad

By Brendan Loy

I guess this means Lou Dobbs will be switching to Stoli:

Obligatory outrage here, here and here. And more links here.

My reaction? It's a vodka ad, people.

Vladimir Putin, Trojan?

By Brendan Loy

Okay, but I'm not sure we want him roaming the sidelines:

Then again, I'm not sure we ever wanted Snoop Dogg roaming the sidelines, either. Unfortunately, nobody listens to me about these things. :)