Watched the poorly reviewed pilot of this new series: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219024/

Stana Katic is cute and plays the female detective nicely.

I've always liked Nathan Fillion for no good reason.  Was Private Ryan!

Not a bad show but not a ratings grabber either.  Q&D: Writer wants to model new character on sexy female detective, doing research.  Characters are stock, pulling from multiple tried and true lines.  Nice cameos by James Patterson and Stephan J Cannell. 

This warrents a second watch and probably a third.  The chemistry between the leads is nice.  We'll see how it progresses, which secondary characters start getting attention, and how the crimes and crimesolving develops.  For the time being it makes the Tivo list but could be gone by mid-April. 

I make my living with numbers.....kinda....and several of my favorite hobies revolve around either numbers, statistics, words or some combination thereof.  So it was with GREAT enjoyment, mirth and glee that I found this ... it kinda sez it all

Contrary to what the current administration might be putting forward.  I first noted this kind of thing in the ravening of the Secretary of State Madeline Albright during the Clinton Administration.  And now THIS is the continuation.

But for any Albions who wander by here, please know this is NOT the default position of all Americans.  Some of us still think of you as the mother country.  We realize you gave us or legal underpinnings (dating back to 1066.)  That you gave us our language (even though some are attempting to legislate it away.)  That you have given us most of our great literature (From Shakespeare to HG Wells!)  That after fighting AGAINST us for 30 years you have fought by our side for most of the last 200. 

Burkina Fasso can't say ANY of that.  Neither can ANY of the "other 190 countries."  To suggest otherwise is silly and immature.  But that's who we've handed the keys too.  Someday the adults will be back.  Be patient with us 

Score one for our side.  My liberal Obama supporting co-worker is starting to crumble.  He used to be a small business owner.  We recently had an issue here concerning a Subchapter S  corp and I had to do a little Q&D training session on what a Sub S was.  Typical small biz, protections of a corp but often treated like an individual.  I reminded hiom that HIS biz was a Sub S.  I casually asked what his annual income for the biz had been. 

Him: S250 - $300k. 

Me:  So you're rich.

Him: (laughing) not me brotha'....I make less than you!

Me: But according to Obama's tax proposals we're going to raise taxes on the rich and by him that's anybody making more than 250k - and that includes ALL THOSE Sub S corps out there.  90% of the jobs in the US come from small businesses.  Like you.

H:  But I was just barely making it.  I wasn't rich.

M:  Exactly.  Now imagine your fed taxes going up 10%.

H:  It'd put me outta business!

M:  Exactly.  And that's what's happening across the country and has been since shortly before the election.  Small biz's have been downsizing or not replacing lost workers, in an effort to absorb the hit they're going to take when O's tax hike goes ito effect.  No new jobs.  Fewer old jobs.  And now you know YOU were the "rich" that the hike applies to.

H:  Well THAT explains alot.  No wonder all these folks is complaining about his plan and blaming him for the stock market and unemployment.  It's not all Bush's fault after all.  Maybe I oughta start payin' a little more attention before the next election.

And with that I returned to my desk, where no one could see the self satisfied smirk on my face.

Conferences tourneys are starting up.....

My top 5: 

North Carolina, Pitt, Memphis, U Conn, Duke

Overrated: 

Wake Forrest and Oklahoma

Underrated:

Gonzaga, West Virginia (yes, IMHO the Big East is that good this year), UCLA

My prediction on the Buckeyes remains the same.  They need to finish in the top 4 of the Big 1(1)0 tourney to make the dance.  10 or 11 seed.  Loose in the 1st round unless they get a miracle bracket.

Had lunch with a co-worker today.  He's a black guy from "inner city" Columbus, about 5 years older than I.  He's a huge Obama supporter.  Fair enough.  The conversation over lunch began with his observation that "Obama's being made the scapegoat for all of America's problems."  I found this quite a surprising assertion as I hadn't gotten a whif of this from any source, right or left.  So I decided to play a game we used to call "round robin skunk tease."  It went like this:

ME: So who's fault IS it?

HIM:  Bush of course - all that defecit spending for 8 years and all that money in Iraq.

ME: But didn't Obama vote FOR the war?  And Hillary?  And Edwards?  And Kerry?  In fact, didn't MOST of the Democrats vote in favor of the war?  And didn't some of them (Murtha et al) make quite a bit of money on the deal?

H:  Well ... um .... yeah.  But it's STILL Bush's fault.

M:  And that defecit spending - didn't the Democrat controlled Congress approve those budgets?  Didn't they get thier earmark money?  Didn't people like Sen. "Your Name Here" Byrd get dozens of road, building and bridges named after him all over WVa because of the sepnding in those budgets?

H  Well yeah but Bush .....

M:  No - the Dems had a lot of diagreements with him, but his spending habits weren't among them ... until now.

H:  But he deregulated the lending industry and that let predatory lenders cause the collapse of the housing market.

M:  Wow.  Singlehandedly?  He did all that?  Just for kicks, give me ONE regulation that Bush did away with that wasn't approved of by a majority of the Democrats in Congress.

H: Er...um....well that's what "they" all say.

M:  This isn't about "them" it's about you and me having an adult conversation about an adult topic.  Think for yourself.  Name one.

H: I can't.

M: Fair enough.  Now lets talk about Obama.

H: Here we go....

M: No, really.  Why did you vote for him?

H:  He's black.  And he talks good.  And he gave us hope.  He was gonna change things.

M: WAS?

H: IS gonna change things.

M:  So he has the answers.  The solutions.  He's going to fix the economy and all the problems that Bush left the country?

H:  Yep.  That's why we voted for him.

M:  So what's he waiting for?

H:  Huh?

M: What's he waiting for?   He just tripled the defecit, socialized about 1/3 of the US economy, keeps appointing tax cheats and former lobbyists to high level positions and the stock market just keeps sinking.  When does he pull the rabbit out of his hat?  If the trillion dollar Obamulous wasn't his solution, what is?  Why is he allowing people to loose money in the stock market every day?  Why is he allowing the continued decline of the US economy if he has the answers to stop the decline?

H:  Hey, didja see the Blue Jackets traded thier goalie?

Thus endeth the lesson.

What's the statute of limitations on blame? The war on terror and the current economic situations are to be blamed on Bush. The Obama team is going to blame as much on him as they can. No surprise. That's the way the game is played. But for how long?

Example: The stock market just finished it's worst January since EVER and an equally dismal February. While the economic situation can be blamed on many things, the stock market is an indicator of the future. And it's continued free fall does NOT bode well for The One. If investors truly believed his solutions were viable, wouldn't we see a return of capitol? An uptick (or at lease a flatline) of the consumer confidence level would show that Mr. And Ms. America have some confidence that the Obama-Reid-Pelosoi Plan will work. But that's not happening.

So now that the Donk's plan is in effect, for how much longer will Bush be blamed? My guess is about 2o minutes less than the recession lasts. As soon as there's an upturn, the Donks can claim “Mission Accomplished.” Fair enough. I predict another year or so. According to most measures the recession's been around for just over a yars. The average US recession lasts 1.5 years with a mean of about 2 years. So if we'd done NOTHING this one has about 6 -12 months left to run.

On the terrorism front – how long until the next attack on US soil CAN'T be blamed on W? I think the time limit on this one is MUCH shorter. The blame game for 9/11 is split with the Donks blaming W and the Elphs blaming Clinton. Personally I'm about 20/80 on that one. Here's the deal – we'd all been relatively safe up until then. NOW we kinda know it's out there. Ignoring an amorphous threat when you think your safe is one thing. Ignoring it when you've already been punched in the nose is quite another. We now have a Homeland Security official who used the word “terror*” a grand total on 0 times in her first major policy pronouncement.. She referred to hurricanes three times! In Hertford, Hereford, and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen. So in THIS case I'm thinking the torch has already been passed and The One gets NO further grace period on the terrorist front.

Here's my updated top 4 or 5.  Hope I don't jinx anybody since OU lost to Texas the day after I suggested they probably weren't even top 10 worthy.

North Carolina and Duke are the class of the bunch.  No surprise.

I have U Conn as my #3 esp after thier coach's outburst at his presser last week.

Memphis is still impressive and getting stronger but have probably played the weakest schedule of the bunch.

My #5 is Pitt.  The other beast of the east.

 So who comes out of the west?  Gonzaga.  My #10

And the Buckeyes?  Same as last time.  They need to finish in the top 4 of the Big 1(1)0 tourney and will probably be a 1 and done.  Bracketology has them as high as a #9 seed but I just don't see it.  11 or 12 at best.

it's right around the corner.  Here's my take on the top 5 & the Buckeyes.

North Carolina, Pitt, Duke, U Conn and Memphis. 

That's right, no Oklahoma.  Sorry - just not convinced yet. 

 As for OSU: they need a good run in the Big T(elev)en Tourney to secure an at large bid.  Final four.  Once in the dance they MIGHT win one game IF they get a good geographic and style matchup.  Otherwise they loose in the first round.  Just not enough horses. 

side note:  looking like absent a complete meltdown the BlueJackets might make the NHL post season.  Need to kick it up a notch to see a win though