Daily Links

The Bold-The Nuggets try to steal another game from the Spurs tonight in San Antonio, while the Warriors attempt to increase their playoff road record to 2-0 tonight in Dallas.

The Beautiful-Just because you deserve it, here's another one.

The Good-Next Week!

The Bad- From my buddy Greg, "I thought I'd let you know that there is a rather large ground swelling of support to Recall Harry Reid.It is gaining a lot of momentum especially with our local AM radio shows. Just this morning while they were taking calls, 5 calls in 5 minutes said he should be recalled and an LDS member even called for his excommunication. Go Mormons!"

The Ugly- When you subscribe to the same "View" of a party led by a fat, ignorant, ugly lesbian, maybe it's time to step back and take a good hard look at your opinions.

Jordin's for the Takin'

Look, I watch American Idol, ok? Before you start the razzing, realize that when you have a wife and daughter, you will be forced to watch every single episode as well. So as long as I am watching, I thought I'd provide a recap for those of you who were too busy watching the Suns destroy the Lakers.

They started the show with the theme "American Idol Gives Back," which means for the first fifty million votes they receive, News Corp will donate ten cents per call, or five million dollars. Very cool move.

In addition to the donation, we get to see footage of Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest roam through poverty stricken African villages. While Ryan seems very affected by the conditions and actually gets quite involved (I gained some real respect for Seacrest), a shocked Simon lays still in disbelief and resorts to what he knows best, judging the conditions the same way he judges contestants ("Absolutely horrible, this will not do. I'm afraid this is it for you.") It was pretty disturbing.

As part of the "AI Gives Back" theme, the contestants will be singing songs of inspiration. Lucky for us, Chris gets to start things off.


Chris- Continuing with his theme of taking songs we all like and destroying them, Chris decides to sing Eric Clapton's "Change the World." Sticking to his self-endorsed musical style of "nasally," Chris wanders around the stage screeching and smiling, pretending to be Justin Timberlake. Let me ask this question: If you could watch a video of Jessica Alba dancing or watch a video of a chick who kind of looks like Alba, only with a beer gut, hairy armpits, a wig, and is actually a dude, which would you choose?

Other than the freaks out there, we'd all choose Alba. It's the same with Chris and Timberlake. Chris only appeals to Timberlake fans, and even they would rather listen to Timberlake.

Melinda- Ho Hum. Melinda is a great singer. Melinda is humble. Melinda is a sweetie. The problem is, every time I cross a bridge, I worry that Melinda will jump out from beneath it, brandishing a club and demanding my gold.

Blake- I'm glad Blake decided on "Imagine" by John Lennon. Singing a song originally recorded by an Englishman helps justify Blake's random British accent. All kidding and side of mouth singing aside, I thought Blake did a good job with this song. You have to give the guy credit, he is one of those rare Idol contestants with his own unique style. His originality and star quality will make him the most successful Idol from this year's batch (Although I don't think he'll win).

Lakisha- I will talk more about this in a minute, but I don't think Lakisha has done anything to improve her chances since her first song of the final 24. Every week she does nothing more than waddle around the stage showing us her stink face (or 'stank' face) as she hollers out a song. The fact is, if you sing a song that makes everyone long for the original version, and the original artist was the worst American Idol champion ever, you've got a slight problem. Sorry Lakisha.

Phil- What is with this guy? Since www.votefortheworst.com selected him as the heir to the Sanjaya throne, I've been rooting for him. The problem is, even though every week the guy is compared to a vampire, he continues to come out all lurky and dressed in black. And how does he manage to make every song sound creepy? They could make "The Ring: Part III" and just have Phil sneak around an old theater singing "Ring Around the Rosie." To me, that would be just as scary as some drowned little girl.

Having said that, I'm rooting for Phil, and the guy can sing. If only he would put some life into it and stop acting like he's singing the names of the Va Tech shooting victims.

Jordin- The complete opposite of Lakisha, Jordin (who is only 17, as Randy continues to remind the pedophiles) has improved every week. Not just her voice and song choice, but the girl has lost about 60 pounds. She has gone from being an early third round pick to play linebacker for the Raiders, to becoming a stone-cold fox (Well, not exactly, but you get the idea). She obviously wants to win this competition. I've never seen the audience give someone a standing ovation starting midway through the song and continuing long after. My wife told me she had goose bumps on her face by the end of Jordin's version of "You'll Never Walk Alone."

After this week’s performances, I have to say I think Jordin will be the next American Idol, beating Blake in the finale

League officials gathered for a meeting with David Stern three days before the NBA Playoffs were scheduled to begin. There, they looked at the matchups to determine what teams they would need to advance in order to capitalize on sponsorships as much as possible.

"We knew we wanted the final four in the West to be Dallas vs. Houston and Denver vs. Phoenix, so we just had to make adjustments to the officiating in order to enable those scenarios."

While eliminating Tim Duncan and the more talented Spurs is no easy task, the officials real test came Monday night in Houston.

"The Jazz were giving us a tough time," sighed one official (who has asked to remain nameless), "Every time we put Tracy or Yao on the line, Utah would come back and get some tough baskets. The problem is we had such a gap between free throws, it starts to look suspicious."

Suspicious indeed. Houston shot 21 more free throws than the Utah Jazz, who lead the league in FT attempts during the regular season.

"It's hard because we try to go inside and play a physical game," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, "when guys aren't getting calls it's difficult to ask them to keep banging their bodies around down there. But I understand that this league is a big business and we need the money."

This breaking information comes as a shock to the casual fan, but for long time NBA die hards, a fixed outcome is old news. Further investigation has come to show that NBA basketball is about as real as Professional Wrestling. Talented athletes, sure, but the winner is chosen far in advance.

Bad news for Jazz, Spurs, Warriors and Lakers fans, but great news for the Suns faithful. After beating Denver in 6 games, Phoenix is scheduled to overcome Dallas in 7 games on their way to the 2006-07 NBA Championship. According to a source close to the commissioner, Steve Nash has shown a real knack for bringing in nontraditional fans, and although a deal with Deutsche Telecom in Germany forces the league to give Dirk Nowitski the MVP this year, the NBA felt that giving Nash a championship trophy would be a great way to show their appreciation.

I'm sure you've already received a barrage of opinions about the gun control debate, but I thought I would throw in a few thoughts. First consider a couple of statistics:

Incidents involving a firearm represented 9% of the 4.7 million violent crimes of rape and sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated and simple assault in 2005.
According to the 1997 Survey of State Prison Inmates, among those possessing a gun, the source of the gun was from -
· a flea market or gun show for fewer than 2%
· a retail store or pawnshop for about 12%
· family, friends, a street buy, or an illegal source for 80%

84% of inmates surveyed said they would avoid potential victims if they suspected the victim carried a firearm.

Amendment II (Bill of Rights)

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

It seems odd to me that so many members of the media stand in outright defiance of the Bill of Rights. It's concerning that those who rely so heavily on the freedoms allotted them in that same Bill of Rights are willing to stomp and spit on the precedents therein if they don't fit a specific agenda. How can we as the reading public trust any future reporting when a blatant bias reveals a willingness to march blindly to the beat of the liberal drum, conforming so easily to the mantra of the nonconformist cult?

I've read too many "columns" lately from writers who showed no effort to research and discuss a tough topic that America must openly and honestly face. The constant shots at anything white, male, Christian or Republican are obviously polarizing and immature. Violence exists in this country, and the debate must continue in order to find real solutions to controlling that violence. But pigeon-holing me and every other white male in the box labeled, "It's their fault, they are continually oppressing women and minorities," is no answer and comes across as weak minded and whiny.

Why are we always so quick to blame white males for things like the proliferation of guns, but so hesitant to point out the huge statistical margin between white male gun violence and minority gun violence? Black rappers continue to wax poetic about a thug lifestyle, the importance of carrying a gun, how to handle a drug deal gone wrong, and of course the consistent and violent disrespect of women. As soon as they finish we give them a Grammy and a movie deal, then turn around and blame the white man for placing minorities in such dire circumstances.

Yes, something needs to be done about violence. But taking away a person's constitutional right to defend themselves against said violence is no solution to the problem. Making it more difficult or even impossible for someone like me to buy a gun has no effect on the 80% of guns being purchased illegally in this country.

So if you want to help put out the violent fire constantly burning across this country, please don't pour ignorant, uneducated gasoline into the flames.