October 31, 2005      Happy Halloween

The USC Trojans are atop the BCS College Football Standings once again.  Texas moves down to the two spot.  posted 12:30am by jholmes

Get in on this week's College Football Line Game over on the Bumpshack Message Board.  posted 11:07am by jholmes

President Bush has nominated Samuel Alito to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court.

"Judge Alito .... has more prior judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in more than 70 years," Bush said, drawing an unspoken contrast to his recent choice, Harriet Miers.

Abortion emerged as a potential fault line. Democrats pointed to Alito's rulings that restricted a woman's right to abortion. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Republican who supports abortion rights, said that Alito's views on the hot-button issue "will be among one of the first items Judge Alito and I will discuss."   posted 8:49am by jholmes

Profile of Samuel Alito, Jr.

More Supreme Court News

The top movie at the box office this weekend was Saw II at $30.5 million, followed by The Legend of Zorro, and Dreamer.  posted 1:57am by jholmes

Celebrity ghosts reside in New York and Los Angeles according to some locals and folklore.  posted 1:41am by jholmes

Uganda has dropped the condom campaign and started promoting abstinence.  posted 1:39am by jholmes

The United Nations is set to pass a measure that would put pressure on Syria to cooperate into an investigation on the assassination of Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri.  I am sure a powerful measure like the ones the United Nations passed against Iraq year after year, and probably just as effective.  posted 12:46am by jholmes

President Bush is set to name his new Supreme Court nominee today sometime.  Harriet Miers withdrew her name for the spot last Friday.  posted 12:40am by jholmes

Civil Rights fire-starter Rosa Parks was remembered this weekend as her body lay in state at the Capital Rotunda in Washington D.C.  posted 12:35am by jholmes

A Texas pastor was electrocuted during a baptism yesterday.  The preacher was later pronounced dead at the hospital.  posted 12:32am by jholmes

October 30, 2005

I was at the USC game today here in sunny Los Angeles.  The Trojans stomped the Washington State Cougars 55-13.  The defense played their best game of the year for USC.  Several celebrities were on hand including Snoop Dogg.  Reggie Bush had a sub-par game for him.  Be sure to check out his Heisman page at ReggieBushforHeisman.com.  Submit your College Football Top 5 poll on the Bumpshack Message Board.  Hers is how the Bumpshack top 5 fared yesterday.

Bumpshack Top 5 College Football Rankings

1. USC (32 votes) beat Washington State 55-13
2. Texas (31) beat Oklahoma State 47-28
3. Virginia Tech (21) beat Boston College 30-10 on Thursday
4. Georgia (9) lost to Florida 14-10
5. UCLA (6) beat Stanford 30-17 in overtime

The UAE is saying that Saddam Hussein agreed to be exiled before the Iraqi war began.  posted 12:29am by jholmes

The state of Colorado has lost the records of over 1200 sex offenders.  posted 12:01am by jholmes

October 29, 2005

Notre Dame, who is known to go fire crazy before a coach has had a fair shot to turn a program around, has given new coach Charlie Weiss a contract extension until the year 2015.  posted 9:04am by jholmes

A Chicago judge has declined to drop sex charges against R&B singer R. Kelly.  Kelly is alleged of having sex with underage girls on videotape. 

And you thought the Chicago Cubs were gay?  They have nothing on the World Series Champ White Sox.  posted 2:04am by jholmes

Rambo is back!  Sly Stallone will star in Rambo IV.  Filming is set to begin after the new Rocky movie wraps. 

Nedivi said the $50 million "Rambo IV" will recapture the rawness of "First Blood," which launched the franchise in 1982.

A new "Rambo" script hasn't yet been written, but the story calls for the reclusive Vietnam veteran to return to his vigilante ways when a young girl is kidnapped.   posted 1:55am by jholmes

The city of New Orleans has fired 51 police officers for deserting the force during Hurricane Katrina.  posted 1:47am by jholmes

October 28, 2005

Check out the Bumpshack Message Board and get in on the College Football Pick'em Against the Line Game.  posted 5:34pm by jholmes

United Nations Oil-for-Food Scandal: Final report states that 2,200 companies and prominent politicians colluded with Saddam Hussein's regime to rob the humanitarian operation of $1.8 billion dollars.

The 623-page document exposed the global scope of a scam that allegedly involved such name-brand companies as DaimlerChrysler and Siemens AG, as well as a former French U.N. ambassador, a firebrand British politician and the president of Italy's Lombardi region.

It meticulously detailed how the $64 billion program became a cash cow for Saddam and more than half the companies participating in oil-for-food — at the expense of Iraqis suffering under U.N. sanctions. It blamed shoddy U.N. management and the world's most powerful nations for allowing the corruption to go on for years.

Most of the contracts went to Russian and French companies and individuals, who were rewarded for their governments' outspoken opposition to the sanctions. Still, even firms in countries supportive of the sanctions, such as the United States, found ways to manipulate the system illegally — sometimes by using Russian firms as middlemen.
 

The oil-for-food program, which ran from 1996-2003, allowed Iraq to sell limited and then unlimited quantities of oil provided most of the money went to buy humanitarian goods. It was launched to help ordinary Iraqis cope with U.N. sanctions imposed after Saddam's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

But Saddam, who could choose the buyers of Iraqi oil and the sellers of humanitarian goods, corrupted the program by awarding contracts to — and getting kickbacks from — favored buyers.

And can one doubt why the United Nations is worthless now?  Can one find reason that Saddam had to go?  $64 billion dollars that Saddam, the United Nations, the French, and Russians robbed from the poor and needy Iraqi people.  I guess it is easy to see why the French and Russians voted, within the United Nations, against the United States using force to oust Saddam.  It is now easy to see why the United Nations did not want the United States to attack Iraq even after Saddam had violated U.N. sanctions more than 16 times. So the guy who killed nearly two million of his own people is in jail.  The Iraqi people have had democratic elections twice now concerning a constitution referendum that have been highly successful.  Higher voter turnout than in the last United States presidential race.  The beginning of trials over war crimes against Saddam and his thugs.  Yet, the liberal mass media wants to tell us how bad Iraq is?  That doesn't make too much sense to me.  Talk to the troops that have served over there and you will get the facts.  Read their blogs on the internet and you will find the truth.  posted 12:24am by jholmes

October 27, 2005

Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers has withdrawn her nomination for the lands highest court.

Under withering attack from conservatives, President Bush abandoned his push to put loyalist Harriet Miers on the Supreme Court and promised a quick replacement Thursday. Democrats accused him of bowing to the "radical right wing of the Republican Party."

The White House said Miers had withdrawn because of senators' demands to see internal documents related to her role as counsel to the president. But politics played a larger role: Bush's conservative backers had doubts about her ideological purity, and Democrats had little incentive to help the nominee or the embattled GOP president.

Miers' withdrawal means the justice she was chosen to replace, Sandra Day O'Connor, will delay her retirement further. O'Connor has been a swing voter on numerous emotional social issues, and more are set to come before the Supreme Court, including two abortion cases this fall.    posted 9:19am by jholmes

Text of Miers' resignation letter.
More Bumpshack Supreme Court News

The government is mulling making a do-it-yourself AIDS test available to the public.

Swab the inside of your mouth. Put that swab into a vial of test fluid, and 20 minutes later you'll learn whether you're infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

Supporters of home kits say they will spur more people to get tested and get treatment sooner if infected. However, concerns have been raised about whether a doctor or counselor should be nearby when people find out they are HIV-positive.

The test is accurate more than 99 percent of the time, Spair said. Still, a positive result from the test should be confirmed through an additional test by doctors or public health officials, he said.   posted 12:57am by jholmes

Iran's president has repeated that Israel should be "wiped out from the map."

Ahmadinejad quoted a remark from Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran's Islamic revolution, who said that Israel "must be wiped out from the map of the world."

The president then said: "And God willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism," according to a quote published by IRNA.

Ahmadinejad is quoted as saying, "Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury."   posted 12:46am by jholmes

A Roman Catholic high school has ordered its students to remove their blogs from the internet. 

McHugh told them in an assembly earlier this month to remove any personal journals they might have or risk suspension. Web sites popular with teens include myspace.com and xanga.com.

Officials with the Diocese of Paterson say the directive is a matter of safety, not censorship. No one has been disciplined yet, said Marianna Thompson, a diocesan spokeswoman.

"The rights of students at private schools are far different than those of public schools because administrators at public schools are agents of government," he said. "That's not the case here."   posted 12:41am by jholmes

Britain's Prince Harry was forced to drop his trousers by a sergeant during a parade to prove he did not have his girlfriend's name tattooed on his backside.  posted 12:38am by jholmes

Actor Tab Hunter writes memoir on being a closeted gay actor in Hollywood during the 1950's and 60's.  posted 12:34am by jholmes

Four million people remain in Florida without power.  posted 12:27am by jholmes

The Chicago White Sox are the 2005 World Series Champions.  It is the White Sox first championship in 88 years.  posted 9:00pm by jholmes

Photo Ethics? Do they exist?  See how USA Today demonized Condoleezza Rice.  posted 4:22pm by jholmes

Sheryl Swoopes, who is a three-time Olympic gold medal winner, three-time WNBA MVP, and former college player of the year, has come out of the closet.  Swoopes is the largest, most successful sports star, male or female, to announce being gay.

Swoopes, 34, is the most recognizable athlete, male or female, to come out in a team sport. Former WNBA player Michele Van Gorp, who played for the Minnesota Lynx, publicly acknowledged she is a lesbian in July 2004. Before Van Gorp, former Liberty player Sue Wicks had been the only member of a female professional team to publicly come out while still playing. Previously, Swoopes has said she plans to continue her career.

The news could be particularly perplexing for the WNBA, which has struggled to both recognize the homosexual element connected to its league and grow its fan base. Ironically, in its infancy, the WNBA marketed a pregnant, married Swoopes to put a heterosexual face on its promotional campaign. Now the league, which will play its 10th season next summer, has to decide what to do now that one of its best and most recognizable players has announced she's gay.   posted 9:41am by jholmes

Weekly Bumpshack College Football Top 5 Poll from readers of the Bumpshack Message Board.  Log in and become a part of the College Football Poll voting.

College Football Top 5 for October 26, 2005

1. USC (32 votes)

2. Texas (31)

3. Virginia Tech (21)

4. Georgia (9)

5. UCLA (6)

Others Receiving Votes: Alabama (2), UCLA (1)
Dropped Out: LSU
Voters: Bumpshack, LilTony, Paige, Latinkerbell, Mlevy, Gatoraide25, Tfactor