January 4, 2014

IndyStar: Potential TV blackout is a black eye for NFL, not cities

No, the possibility of a blackout is not an embarrassment for the city of Indianapolis, any more than it's an embarrassment for Cincinnati or Green Bay (which has sold out every game since 1959, except for a 1983 playoff game during the strike-shortened year).

It's an embarrassment for the NFL, which continues to handle postseason tickets in a way that makes it too difficult to sell out stadiums for the country's most beloved and popular sport.

It's an embarrassment for a league that only had two blackouts all season, and hasn't had a playoff blackout since 2002.

It's an embarrassment, a black eye, for the NFL, which overprices playoff tickets — and this, right after the holidays — and leaves fans with too little time to get themselves together in order to make a purchase.

This doesn't require any civic navel gazing; this does require the NFL to take a long, hard look in the mirror. This is not Indy's problem, not Cincinnati's problem, not Green Bay's problem. It's the NFL's problem.


http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/kravitz/2014/01/02/kravitz-potential-tv-blackout-is-a-black-eye-for-nfl-not-indianapolis/4297657/

January 4, 2014

Politifact debunks GOP claim that Obamacare funds beheadings (Not Satire)

Apparently there’s a new Republican lie going around about Obamacare, this time alleging that the Affordable Care Act is going to cover the cost of “beheadings” in America.

While the rumor isn’t terribly clear about exactly when, and in what context, these beheadings will take place – perhaps it will be the preferred method of execution for Sarah Palin’s “death panels” – but the rumor has gotten enough legs for Politifact to feel the need to debunk it.

Honestly, as rumors go, this one doesn’t even explain itself well. It’s rather convoluted, but basically comes to the conclusion that health care reform will cover the cost of beheadings, so clearly the US government has a secret plan to behead someone, presumably Tea Party adherents (who seem to be behind, or at least associated with, this latest clearly-conservative anti-Obama rumor).

It’s incredibly convoluted, and naturally involves the typical Republican base conspiracy about the evil United Nations and WHO trying to take over the world.


http://americablog.com/2014/01/politifact-debunks-gop-claim-obamacare-funds-beheadings.html

January 4, 2014

NFL blackouts update: Packers, Colts, Bengals now have sellouts

The NFL averted the embarrassment of local TV blackouts of playoff games this weekend in Green Bay, Indianapolis and Cincinnati, with the teams announcing Friday that all their remaining tickets had been purchased.

The Packers announced just after noon ET that fans and corporate sponsors had purchased the roughly 1,000 tickets that remained for the 4:40 p.m. ET game Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, a game that is expected to be played in NFL-record cold temperatures. Associated Bank and Fox affiliates in Milwaukee, Green Bay and Wausau — which will broadcast the game — were among those purchasing the tickets, the Packers said.

A grocery chain in Indianapolis purchased the Colts’ remaining 1,200 tickets, ensuring that the 4:35 p.m. game Saturday against the Kansas City Chiefs is a sellout. Owner Jim Irsay hinted at the news Friday morning in his typically restrained way on Twitter, his favorite mode of communication.

Meijer, a Grand Rapids, Mich., retailer that is a corporate sponsor of the Colts, purchased the remaining tickets and plans to donate them to military families, the Colts announced.

The Bengals announced that Kroger and Procter and Gamble had purchased the remaining tickets for the 1:05 p.m. game Sunday against the San Diego Chargers.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2014/01/03/colts-avoid-nfl-playoff-game-blackout/

January 4, 2014

Senators: Are schools starving kids in the name of reducing lunch calories?

NOTE: This article is of special interest to me because our kid ALWAYS comes home starving.

“This has been a battle for common sense in the cafeteria,” Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said Friday. “These guidelines were leaving students hungry throughout the school day and athletic events; in the end we were able to convince USDA to listen to reason.”

Last year, the USDA issued a rule restricting how many calories a child could consume by changing school lunch menus. The administration was trying to react to the childhood obesity epidemic, but some lawmakers complained the administration went too far.

“Today, the USDA made the permanent changes we have been seeking to the School Lunch Program,” Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said. “A one-size-fits-all approach to school lunch left students hungry and school districts frustrated with the additional expense, paperwork and nutritional research necessary to meet federal requirements.”

Hoeven and Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) recently introduced a bill called the Sensible School Lunch Act that did the same thing as this recent USDA decision to repeal limits on the amount of grains and protein that could be served in a school lunch.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/194360-senators-claim-victory-in-school-lunch-battle

January 4, 2014

Texas Man Fights to Take Pregnant Brain-Dead Wife Off Life Support

Marlise Munoz lies in a North Texas hospital, 19 weeks pregnant but with no chance of seeing her child born.

Her husband, Erick Munoz, says a doctor told him she's brain dead, but John Peter Smith Hospital is refusing to allow him to take her off of life support. The hospital says Texas law prohibits it from following a family directive when a pregnancy is involved, although three experts say the hospital is misreading the law in question.

The case is raising questions about end-of-life care and stands in stark contrast to that of a 13-year-old girl in California whose family is trying to keep her on life support after she was declared brain dead. In that case, the hospital wants to remove the ventilator keeping her heart pumping, saying the girl is legally dead.

In the Texas case, Munoz said he and his wife both worked as paramedics and have seen life and death up close.


http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/national-international/Pregnant-Brain-Dead-Texas-Woman-Kept-Alive-238644521.html

January 1, 2014

M$M already slamming De Blasio

They couldn't wait. I'm watching CNN and the talking heads are already blasting NYC De Blasio's speech as "bitter". They will not let up.

January 1, 2014

Former First Lady Barbara Bush Hospitalized

Former first lady Barbara Bush was hospitalized today for early signs of pneumonia, but the family said she was "in great spirits."

"Former First Lady Barbara Bush was admitted to Methodist Hospital in Houston's Texas Medical Center yesterday for treatment on a respiratory related issue," family spokesman Jim McGrath said. "She is in great spirits, has already received visits from her husband and family, and is receiving fantastic care."

Houston Methodist Hospital spokesman George Kovacik said she was being treated there.

Bush, 88, whose husband George H.W. Bush was president from 1989 to 1993, used her prominence as first lady to champion numerous civic and charitable causes, primarily as an advocate for global literacy.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/lady-barbara-bush-hospitalized/story?id=21387141

January 1, 2014

Karl Rove: GOP Will Capture Senate in 2014

Political strategist Karl Rove congratulated himself on Wednesday for getting 10 predictions right for this year — and he forecast that Republicans will keep control of the House of Representatives and end up with as many as 51 seats in the Senate in next year's congressional elections.

For 2014, President Barack Obama's "disapproval rating will end higher than this week's 53 percent" in the Gallup poll, Rove said in an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal. "Republicans will keep the House with a modest pickup of four to six seats.

"The GOP will most likely end up with 50 or 51 Senate seats (in the former case, keeping Vice President Joe Biden fully occupied for two years presiding over the chamber)," Rove added. "Control of the Senate may not be decided until December's Louisiana runoff.

"Propelled by union contributions, Democrats will outspend Republicans overall in House and Senate races."

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/karl-rove-predictions-2014-senate/2013/12/25/id/543786

January 1, 2014

WashPost's Chris Cillizza invites only Republicans to make predictions in column.

We asked a few political types to send us their fearless predictions too. Here's a few.

* Tom Davis (former Virginia Republican Congressman): "Republicans pick up Senate seat in Hawaii. Charles Djou will pick up the pieces of a late, bitter, internal Democratic primary that has generational and ethnic complications. Without a Presidential race to galvanize and polarize voters, the race will be a local cat fight."

* Dave Carney (Republican media consultant and adviser to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott): "Wendy Davis will lose the Texas governorship by the same or slightly less margin than Bill White did four years ago." (White lost by 13 points.)

* Rob Stutzman (California-based Republican consultant): "Dan Schnur will become the first No Party Preference candidate to win statewide office under the new system when he wins the Secretary of State race. Schnur's victory will be deemed impossible under the old election system and his victory will be hailed as evidence that a political middle can emerge via top two general elections."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/12/30/the-fixs-fearless-2014-predictions/