My alma mater won something

I guess UMM (i.e., the University of Minnesota, Morris [aka "affordable Ivy"]) won the UMAC (Upper Midwest Athletic Conference) football championship in late October. I guess I'm just finding out about it now because: (1) I'm not terribly interested in Cougar gridiron action (they were horrendous during my matriculation); and (2) the publicity monstrosity that is UMM is slow in getting the news out.

I suppose congratulations are in order, but I can't get too excited when their competition consists of:

• a Presbyterian school in Nowheresville, Illinois;
• a college for followers of Mary Baker Eddy that has a campus in St. Louis and one in -- surprise, surprise -- in Nowheresville, Illinois;
• a nondenominational school in Salt Lake City;
• a Baptist Bible college in small-town Wisconsin
• an Assemblies of God college in Ellendale, North Dakota (I could've said "Nowheresville, North Dakota," but that would've been redundant); and
• Rockford College, whose claim to fame is that Jane Addams (of Hull House) graduated from there 125 years ago.

Not exactly the SEC - or even the MAC.

Granted, UMM ain't the Ohio State University, but at least it's affiliated with a major university.

One more reason to like Michelle Malkin

Not even Britney Spears (who doesn't appear to have an "official" home page any more [unlike her less-than-musically-gifted ex] -- that is, any more than she cares to dress and act appropriately in public) can escape the punditorial (I know it's not a word, but it seemed to "fit" here) acuity of Ms. Malkin:

This article even suggests -- gasp -- that all of this gives K-Fed (i.e., he of the New Year's Day WWE tilt versus champion John "The Marine" Cena) more of a chance in the custody battle. Heaven help us all.

I feel safe -- don't you?

WaPo reports on the Schofield case, which is an egregious example of how "broken" the immigration infrastructure in this country is. Having followed the story for a while now -- and having seen this morning's Washington Examiner article on today's expected events in the case -- it boggles the mind to see that, as I searched Google for news stories on the case just a couple of minutes ago, the only major MSM outlet (not counting TV stations as "major" sources online) covering the story is WaPo, which is sad when one considers that this paper has consistently been on the "wrong" side of this debate -- both in its "news" stories and in its editorial pages.

I mean, come on, people! Look at Tuesday's Examiner (my emphasis added):

Years after immigration agent and Fairfax resident Robert Schofield was disciplined for having an affair with an Asian prostitute who was working as a government informant, he was given senior responsibility for handing out visas and citizenship documents in the Washington area.

The day after he started his new job, law enforcement sources and colleagues say, a line of beautiful Asian women formed outside his new office.

So it came as little surprise to insiders this summer when Schofield, 57, was arrested and charged with taking more than $8.1 million in bribes to sell phony green cards and citizenships to more than 200 immigrants, mostly from China and Thailand.

“That guy should have gone to jail a long time ago,” said Jim Goldman, a former INS director in Miami.

Let's see:

• Last I checked, the Chinese are not really our friends in the international community;
• We have too many illegal aliens -- be they illegal border crossers or visa overstays or whatever -- as it is without having corrupt officials letting in questionable folks in via fraud; and
• I can't get over the corruption and just flat-out sleaze aspect of this. Case in point (again, from the Tues. Examiner story[and, again, my emphasis added]):

Even before Schofield’s arrest, it was known that he had a weak spot for Asian women — often using binoculars to watch them from his office window. In the early 1990s, The Examiner’s sources said he was demoted after his affair with the prostitute came to light, a relationship that derailed a major federal investigation.

He later absconded to Bangkok and ran up tens of thousands of dollars on his government credit cards. It was only an apparent fluke at a San Francisco airport that led authorities to take concerted action against Schofield, court records and internal documents show. A phony visa was spotted, a suspect blurted Schofield’s name and private numbers and a full decade of alleged wrongdoing unraveled.

One word:

UGH!

Número 10 de Barcelona é muito bom

I would love to learn Portuguese, but I'm afraid my five years of junior high and high school Spanish would taint the experience and cause problems.

Ronaldinho is the man -- and proves it once again in scoring this sick goal.

For more crazy footie action, click here. It's not Ronaldinho (at least, not solely [he's in there at least once]), but it's pretty wild stuff nevertheless.

Today's baseball news

(1) If the D-Rays feel the need to move some of their games to the EPCOT parking lot, isn't that an indication that the team is not viable in Tampa and should be relocated -- perhaps to Vegas, Portland, Charlotte, or some other place where the population isn't: (a) transient (a strike against moving the Expos to DC [that organization now has a new marketing slogan -- whoopee!], I suppose, but that happened); and (b) coming out in force (relatively) for divisional rivals like the Sox and Bombers?

(2) Nick Lachey is going to be a part owner of the Triple-A (for Seattle) Tacoma Rainiers. Now, all we need is Jessica Simpson to get up and make some comment about it being strange that her former beloved is buying animals from Santa. (Wait a minute...wait...get it? Never mind.)

Most influential in American history

The Atlantic has put together a list of "the most influential figures in American history," but I think it's lacking (I can't really say how at this point, but...) and, as such, agree with Democracy in America's assessment of the list. What do you think?

The former model, a dead economist, and a quote

(1) From SI.com and Lew Rockwell.com (with some links added by me):

Tiger Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, has filed a libel lawsuit against an Irish magazine story that included fake nude photos of her and claimed that she appeared on Internet porn sites. If the lawsuit is unsuccessful, Tiger plans to simply buy the mag and shut it down.

* * *

Murray Rothbard believed that there should be no libel laws, as one does not "own" one's own reptuation. (A reputation is what others might think about someone.) However, Murray certainly would have supported Woods' Plan B. A private property solution!

I have to say that buying up that which defames you and yours is a pretty good solution, albeit one that's available only to a select few.

---

(2) Another quote from my favorite net pundit, Ilana Mercer:

In a truly free society, the kind we once enjoyed, one honors the right of the individual to associate and disassociate, invest and disinvest, speak and misspeak at will.

Happiness is...redux

Yesterday (11.27.06), everybody's favorite NHL owner, Ted Leonsis, blogged on the "five traits of happiness" ("Not much different than what has made me happy recently," MCW said, rolling his eyes) after seeing "another study on happiness." Leonsis argues that the happiest people he knows all share:

1. Being connected to multiple communities of interest in an active way. The more people on your buddy list the happier you are;

2. Giving back through volunteerism and sharing with others. (YouTube, MySpace and other social networks prove this point on the importance of sharing);

3. Pursuing the higher calling in all of your major efforts, by doing what is right in the right way.

4. Self expression. Having a good third place to exchange ideas, be creative and have your voice be heard (why do you think there are 54 million blogs out there?)

5. Showing gratitude by being thankful and optimistic.

From what I've heard about Ted, he sounds like a pretty "good" guy, but then again, if you take a look of the things he's done over the course of his life (through January of '06) and how much he's achieved and earned, it's pretty difficult to not be happy (IMHO, at least). However, when I just Googled him, both his Wikipedia entry and a posting on ESPN's Page 2 referenced surviving a 1983 plane crash, after which, according to the latter, he made the list of things he wanted to accomplish, which tempers my cynicism about his happiness quite a bit; getting through 70% of them in 50 years of life is pretty impressive.

Best living songwriters? I think not!

While fiddling around on Paste's website, I found the publication's list of 100 best living songwriters. Of course, not seeing the creative forces behind my favorite group in this inventory irritates me -- especially so because there are numerous artists on the list who haven't produced any significant work in years, if not decades (e.g., Yusuf Islam née Cat Stevens née Steve Georgiou at #49 [he does have a new album, it's true, but I question its quality, given that his fairly strict Muslim beliefs have largely precluded him from singing secular music for the better part of three decades]) and several who -- at least, to my liking -- don't have the breadth (e.g., Josh Ritter at #97 [I don't have the inclination to comb through this list extensively, but anyone younger than me has little or no business being on the list]) or depth of work to justify inclusion (e.g., Michael Jackson at #72 [yes, he's a pop icon, but, to my ears, many of his songs are interchangeable]).

Here are the top 10:

10. Prince
9. Joni Mitchell
8. Elvis Costello
7. Brian Wilson (The Beach Boys)
6. Leonard Cohen
5. Paul McCartney (The Beatles, Wings)
4. Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan
3. Bruce Springsteen
2. Neil Young (Buffalo Sprinfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
1. Bob Dylan

I must admit that I don't listen to most of these folks. I've just gotten "into" The Beatles, so I'm finally coming to like Paul and John's '60s output. (From what I've heard, however, the former should stick to popular music and leave the oratorios and the like to the professionals. The link for the latter is "courtesy of" his much-reviled widow, so haters beware!) Pet Sounds is a landmark in American music, so kudos to the reclusive Wilson (or should I say "the formerly reclusive Wilson"). There are a couple of Leonard Cohen songs I like ("Everybody Knows" [sample available here] and "Waiting for the Miracle" [first heard by me as part of the Natural Born Killers soundtrack album]) and I must give mad props to my fellow Twin Citian at #10. (The Purple One's official website "was abruptly shut down on July 3, 2006" and the MySpace link provided on his Wikipedia page doesn't work, hence the link to his club in Vegas [at which, coincidentally, Esthero is performing tomorrow night].)

Perhaps my musical tastes are not well-developed (read as "he's closed-minded"), but maybe I like it that way, so there!

Sign of the apocalypse, number 583

And I thought I had no social life.

Pause "Snowbound" as to avoid an unpleasant audio experience.

I realize I am coming to this Internet phenomenon a bit late, but having seen it last night on Mythbusters (who, according to Skeptic may be "inspiring the next generation of scientists"), I had to make sure that all have seen it.

Liberals and libertarians (small "L" for both)

On one hand, Democracy in America (an Economist blog) gives some constructive advice as to the improvement of political thought in the good ol' US of A, whereas Richard Maybury reaffirms why I will never be a true libertarian (i.e., the market rules all for starters and they appear to be as willing to be revisionist about historical events as the "statists" they oft decry); I first saw this because I'm on an e-mail list providing announcements from the Libertarian Party of Virginia.

Lacking in inspiration today

That's all I'll say for now. Hope to have more for you later.