Listening to a series of GREAT pods from the BBC.  In particular today am listening to a brief history of London (45m).  At one point the panel is discussing the Great Fire.  A female panelist makes the point that many blamed the Roman Catholics for the fire and "what ensued was like the McCarthy Era in the United States.  Pepys was imprisoned, many people were killed ..."

Um.

No,

NO ONE went to prison due to the McCarthy hearings.  And no one was put to death.  "The McCarthy Era" lasted about 10 days, unlike the riots and destruction in London which went on for months.

 From an otherwise enjoyable historical discussion this is just abhorrent.

That's usualy my advice to people still reading dead tree papers.  So while others are laughing at POTUS proposal to mint a giant platinum coin or pass out IOU's to solve the debt problem, the rest of us saw this:

We're behind in our TV / DVR viewing.  Last week we saw a slew of Hallowen episodes.  This week?  Election week.

Did you know there were only two candidates?  Only two parties?  And only one point of view - Obama is our Lord and Savior, and Romney was going to kill children and the poor.

You learn SO much from watching TV.

Ed Schultz just keeps going and going and going.

from Monday:

no ... really.... this happened

Ravens @ Broncos.  Manning sucks outdoors in the winter but the Broncos are favored by 8+-9 points.  I'll take them to win but avoiding the spread

Packers @ Niners.  Niners favored by 2+-3.  I'll take the Niners to win AND to cover.  Lack of a GB running game will be the downfall.

Seahawks @ Falcons.  Hawks are getting 1-2+!  Is anybody playing better than them right now?  Take the Hawks to win the upset.

Texans @ Patriots.  Han goes back to the Death Star.   Pats are giving 9-9+.  Maybe a little high.  Take the Patriots to win but the Texans might be able to cover.  

1.  Alabama.  A TD better than pretty much everybody.

2.  Texas A&M.  The only team that made my reason above wrong

3.  Oregon.  The team that SHOULDA been playing 1/7

4.  Georgia.  The team that almost WAS playing 1/7

5.  Notre Dame.  One step at a time, boys.

6.  Kansas State.  An outsider.  Just gotta get used to playing that killer schedule.

7.  Florida.  Toughest schedule in the top ten.

8.  Florida State.  Easiest schedule in the top ten.

9.  South Carolina.  The ol' ball coach deserves his props.

10.  Oklahoma State.  

Sagarin puts the Buckeyes at 23 (with NO games against top 10 opponents) ... and Kent at  63 with the 107th toughest schedule. 

One of President Barack Obama’s earmarks has come back to haunt him--a $100,000 state grant that he obtained for a community garden in Englewood, on Chicago’s South Side, while he served in the state legislature. Like other Obama earmarks and crony projects--such as the Grove Parc housing project, exposed in a rare case of mainstream media vetting in 2008--the garden project failed. Now, the state wants its money back.

The Chicago Sun-Times brought up the Englewood project in 2008, noting that it had never been completed. Today, it reports that a garden has been developed on the site--by two non-profit groups not connected with Obama’s earmark, at a cost of less than $10,000. Attorney General Lisa Madigan began an investigation--with the support of the Obama campaign, reportedly--and determined that the state should recover the funds.

Not much has happened since then--but the Englewood earmark was hardly alone. In his short state and federal legislative career, Barack Obama left a long trail of earmarks.  They included subsidies for a variety of state and local special interest groups, including an infamous $1 million earmark for the University of Chicago Hospital, where Michelle Obama’s salary more than doubled after her husband took office in the U.S. Senate.