For this BBC story alone I hope we take it to Saddam. Let's bring the pain.

Iraqi TV has commented on the first anniversary of the 11 September attacks in two special reports.
State media said that the US itself planned last year's attacks on New York and Washington to justify its war against terror.
The reports also said that any future attack on Iraq would end in defeat for the Americans. Washington, it said, was using the attacks as a pretext to wage war, but it would be defeated if it attacked Iraq.
The second 20-minute programme was called "Who planned the 11 September events?"
An off-screen commentator said the attacks were knowingly prepared within the US to justify an unlimited war by the US and Israel against Arabs and Muslims.

Gavin summed it up in this email and I like his ending. Sunday will be tough vs. Oakland.

Kordell had no time, the Bus had no room, and Brady sat back their and picked
us apart with no pressure. Also, our safties might be the two poorest in the
league in pass coverage and support. Not a good start, though I still say
this year is looking like '95. Start the season as favorties, fall to 3 and
4, people wrote us off, made the super bowl.

The Pittsburgh Tribune Review discusses the enigma that is Kordell Stewart.

My brother predicts that Maddox will be the QB by game 4. In the preseaon he said game six but moved it up a couple spots after Monday nights showing by Stew. Personally I think he bounces back but we shall see on Sunday.

Stewart plays the quarterback position, which lends itself to alternating swiftly between hero and goat. But Stewart has taken the inherent boom-bust nature of the position and magnified it with his extremes of play.

Another articel on why Bin Laden will fail along with a nice Karl Marx quote. .

As Karl Marx presciently declared in The Communist Manifesto: "The bourgeoisie [ i.e., us], by the rapid improvement of all instruments of production, by the immensely facilitated means of communication, draws all, even the most barbarian, nations into civilization. The cheap prices of its commodities are the heavy artillery with which it batters down all Chinese walls, with which it forces the barbarians' intensely obstinate hatred of foreigners to capitulate. It compels all nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeois mode of production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilization into their midst, i.e., to become bourgeois themselves. In one word, it creates a world after its own image."

That's what Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda cannot stand, but also what they cannot stand against. It is only a matter of time before the "intensely obstinate hatred of foreigners" represented by bin Laden and his followers will capitulate. Modernization, which is to say westernization, will inevitably smash all cultures that don't accommodate themselves to it. They will be smashed chiefly not by bombs and military force but by the choices of their own peoples, who will turn their backs on the traditions and institutions that have kept them so long ignorant and poor.

A good article on forgetting Sept 11th and why that is a good thing.

I hope not. As bad as 9/11 was, it does not seem desirable that this terrible event should so radically change the ideals of a unique people. In many ways, America is about forgetting the past, or at least it used to be. From the Japan to Germany to Vietnam to former slaves and slave owners: the grudges slowly fade away, making America vastly different than so many other strife ridden clans and nations. This is a lesson we forget (or remember) at our peril.

Awesome story about a judge that made a weed smoker play him one-on-one and kicked his butt. The weed smoker said that the weed helped improve his play. The judge won 10-0 and is 45 while the weed smoker is 20 (from Dan Lewis).

Kelly challenged Alvarez to a game of one-on-one basketball - not only to try to beat him but to persuade him that dope won't help him win.
Stunned, Alvarez accepted the challenge. "I though maybe he was kidding," he said. Kelly's lightning speed and fancy dribbling landed him the first two points. He blew past Alvarez for easy layups. "Defensive player of the year, Alvarez? C'mon," the judge taunted. Kelly sunk two more layups. "You better regroup, Alvarez," the judge said. Another jumper by the jurist. Swish! Five to zero. Alvarez threw up a prayer, missing badly. Kelly tossed in another bucket. 7-0. "The marijuana's getting to you, Alvarez," the judge taunted him. "You're exhausted, aren't you?" Alvarez - looking, well, exhausted - took a water break.
"He's got to go to the water," Kelly said to no one in particular. "The marijuana's wearing on him."

Gavin offers his thoughts on team usa's performance or lack thereof... I blame the whole thing on the Michael Jordan effect. Everyone wants to be like MIke..aka dunking and showboating. Mike of course also could shot the J and play D but the flash is what everyone tries to copy. As Gav states, we obviously need to send a "TEAM" not a bunch of the one on one players. A disgrace though for our country for sure.

Just goes to show you that good basketball will still beat whatever
game the NBA has been playing the past five years. Its only going to get
worse - other countries actually teach their young kids how to shoot and
dribble, and play within a team concept. I guarentee that I can pick a team
among our amateurs with lesser talent that would have whooped any foreign
squad. I mean, Antonio Davis, Ben Wallace, Shawn Marion? Please. Give me
Jay Williams, Dan Dickau, Dunleavy, Drew Gooden, Juan Dixon, Chris Marcus -
people who still know how to play a sport which resembles what the rest of
the world plays. International rules force teams to learn to do something
else than back into the paint and play isolation ball.

That is not bananas.....Check out the website for the anti-banana foundation.

Wow... What happened last night? Once again the Steelers came out weak in the season opener. Can anyone say rebound? I can..