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The Daily Dose/Novemeber 18, 2007
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
   
More notes from around the human experience, leading off with more partisan bickering, the latest from Pakistan, including our fave Benazir being freed from the comforts of home as the Deputy Secretary of State visits Pakistan's dictator as we then roll seamlessly into college football results as several old rivalries are renewed, plus On This Date and The Column Four Foto: the sexy, venerable Old Oaken Bucket.
RADIO DAYS: President Bush and Congressional Democrats continued their sparring over funding for troops in Iraq in their respective radio addresses Saturday. Bush chastised Congress for trying to pass a troop funding bill they knew he would veto, and Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania accused Bush of hindering Democrat's attempts to guide matters in Iraq, despite the fact it's not Congress' job to guide matters in Iraq.
This follows a week where Senate Republicans on Friday blocked a $50 billion Democratic bill that not only provided funding for the war, but also mandated troop withdrawals start within 30 days and all combat in Iraq end by December 2008.
Now Hear This: These are worthy goals, actually. Even better goals would be beginning troop withdrawals right now, and ending combat in Iraq by December 2007.
Hey, What's The Deal, Then?: Well, it's not Congress' job to legislate how our troops fight their battles. It's the president's job. It's not the job of Congress to tell the military what to do because conducting war is not the province of Congress. Declaring war is, but its execution is the responsibility of the president.
Dry, Technical Matter: The United States Constitution is very clear on the matter, Article 2, Section 2 stating, in part, that: The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States...
OTOH: It certainly is the province, even the duty of Congress, to make a ruckus when they disagree with the president.
And they should be making a ruckus now. This war is not necessary, and never has been. The weapons of mass destruction and the Al-Qaeda link we were promised when plans for the sequel to the first Gulf War were announced never materialzed. We were lied to; this war has been fought on false pretenses from the start and has turned into a complete mess, costing this country the lives of over 3,800 of our fellow citzens and over one trillion dollars.
SPEAKING OF COMPLETE MESSES: Shamed by Saturday's impending arrival of US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, Pakistani dictator General Pervez Musharraf released opposition leader Benazir Bhutto from house arrest - again - and even went so far as to also release a dangerous human rights activist, as well as letting several independent televisions back on the air, though we here at the Writer's Shack, mindful of the lowest common denominator slop shown on tee vee worldwide, merely view this as yet another form of government oppression and renew our call for all tee vee networks to stop go off the air immediately.
Brass Tacks: Negroponte met for over two hours with Musharraf and his deputy army commander and issued the US's highest-level rhetoric to date: an in person plea from the State Department's second highest ranking officer to end martial law, release opposition prisoners and set a date for elections.
Good Luck: For his part, Musharraf has remained non-committal, not saying whether he will, or will not give up absolute power for taking his chance on free elections.
STILL ANOTHER COMPLETE MESS: A complete mess of a college football season began winding down Saturday, as several traditional rivalries renewed. Not as many traditional rivals are played on the Saturday before Thanksgiving like their used to be, so television can spread them out until the first weekend in December, but all the traditional Big-10 rivalries were played. Ohio State claimed its third straight conference title with a 14-3 win over Michigan. Wisconsin eked out a 41-34 victory over Minnesota for Paul Bunyan's Ax, in the 115th meeting of the major college football's most played rivalry. Indiana won the Old Oaken Bucket by beating Purdue 27-24, the first time both teams have had winning records in this game since 1980.
Time Warp: In the 143rd renewal of college football's most played rivalry, Lafayette defeated Lehigh 21-17. The series was first played in 1884 and continuously since 1897 and through 1901 they played at least two and sometimes three times a season. Lafayette leads the series 76-62-5.
FunFact: The Lafayette-Lehigh series is so old it predates trophies and they never did get around to playing for a trophy, an axe or a bell. From the start, however, the victor has always kept the game ball, but even that tradition has somewhat gone by the wayside as for years teams have been providing their own balls when they are on offense and there is no longer one ball used for an entire game, so the winning team now just takes a ball they used in the game, paints the score and date on it and puts it in its trophy case.
And, Of Course: The #2 team in the Associated Press poll lost, as Oregon lost to Arizona 34-24 Thursday night. The Ducks join USC, Cal, Boston College and South Florida as AP #2 teams to lose.
This Just In. Literally: The #3 in the country, Oklahoma, grabbed the bull by the horns and also lost Saturday, 34-27 to Texas Tech.
Shameless Plug: The Bottom Ten, which itself has seen its own share of upheaval this season, is scheduled to move Monday afternoon. Don't miss it, only at the Writer's Shack.
I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR: On this date in 1950 the 14th Dali Lama is enthroned as Tibet's head of state, one month after China begins occupying portions of Tibet. He is 15, and nine years later will flee his native land to live in exile in India following the collapse of the Tibetan resistance.
Yeah, Whatever: In 1973, in a speech in Orlando, Florida, President Richard Nixon tells 400 Associated Press editors "I am not a crook" even though he really was, the first time a sitting president had ever lied to the press.
In 1869: The Suez Canal opens, creating a waterway connecting the Red and Mediterranean seas. Construction took nearly eleven years, and the builder, Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps, would later attempt to build what would later become the Panama Canal but would quit after six years.
God Save The Queen: In 1558, The Elizabethan Age begins, as Elizabeth I takes the English throne, following the death of her half-sister, Mary I.
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