Opinions in the Shorts: Vol 70

On the They’ve Earned It Rankings
Developing rankings requires time and effort – and my father’s passing took my mind away from comprehensively looking at college football for two weekends. With that in mind, I abandon that attempt for the rest of the season. However, I still maintain that pollsters and other ranking pundits continue to look away from my most important factor: who is the opponent.

On Christine O’Donnell
Sarah Palin endorses Delaware candidate Christine O’Donnell. Mrs. O’Donnell even wears her hair like her Alaskan promoter. Otherwise, Christine O’Donnell continues to demonstrate that she is nothing more than candidate who caters to a certain constituency with nothing more than populist rhetoric without substance. Then again, I’ve never heard a candidate start a campaign ad with “I’m not a witch.” I guess that beats, I am a witch or I used to be a witch.

Here are two good columns. Since Ms. O’Donnell is a Tea Party favorite, read Thomas Friedman. Since Ms. O’Donnell portrays herself as Palinesque, read Meghan McCain.

On Speech, Religion, and Privacy
Westboro Baptist Church is in an interesting case that is in front of the U.S. Supreme Court involving freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and privacy. I’m not a Bill O’Reilly fan, but this short video lays out the issue. This second link is a discussion between O’Reilly and Fox Anchor Megyn Kelly, also an attorney + more attractive and more articulate than Mr. O’Reilly.

On CNN’s Brooke
Not all that long ago I commented about CNN needing to increase Brooke Baldwin’s airtime. CNN recently fired Rick Sanchez for certain comments, and now Ms. Baldwin fills (at least temporarily, yet admirably) the late afternoon slot. A note to CNN: please don’t hire any opinionated buffoons like those on talk radio or some of the other news networks.

On MLB Playoff Shorts
Games in a divisional series every other day? Crap … just another way for MLB to milk as much money from television.

Speaking of the playoffs, a tip of the cap to Roy Halladay for a great performance. I wonder if being named to the All-Time Roys served as his inspiration?

Roy Oswalt’s career record against the Reds is off the charts – plus, when the Reds offense goes in the tank, it does so for several games. Are back-to-back no-nos in the works?

On Handbells
This weekend is our handbell choir’s first appearance of the year. Drop by tomorrow for a video of the song we are playing, which demonstrates an interesting technique.