All Your Base Are Belong To Us — The Kip Lange Homepage

First, let me predicate this by saying that I think Troy Brown is a class act who has given his all to the Patriots in his years here. I also think he was a hell of a player.

I say “was” because, as most Pats fan will know, Troy Brown, who is the all-time leader in receptions for the Patriots (557), did not catch a single pass last season and played in only one game (not the Superbowl).

Most people have expected Troy Brown to quietly retire this year. However, Brown is not at all settled on the matter.

I think that it’s time for Troy Brown to go. I know how much he loves the game. There’s no doubt in my mind about that. But there comes a time for every football player where he has to decide to drop out or “die onstage”, as William F. Buckley, Jr., put it when he resigned as editor of The National Review. In this case, we’re talking about figuratively dying. Brown will not play next year. He will ride the bench.

There’s nothing dishonorable about that but I wish Troy would bow out now, leaving behind him an amazing career and the love of fans all across the nation. It’s what Brett Favre did, and I think Favre also made the right decision.

In other words, I’m saying, Troy Brown should bow out while he’s still on top. This is just my opinion.

Either way, Troy Brown remains one of those people who, to me, define what football is all about. He captures all of the intangibles.

I wish him luck whatever decision he makes.

And in other football news…

Brett Favre has finally bowed out of his 17-year football career.

I’m not a huge fan of the Packers, but…I would have liked to have seen Favre make the Superbowl this year. He certainly cleaned up his passing game, making a lot fewer of those trademark Favre shuffle-passes which were always pretty to watch but always so dangerous…

Still one of the best quarterbacks of all time.

Yep. Pats locked down Moss for three years and $27 million.

Of course, the Pats need Moss a lot more than Moss needs them, given his “resurrection” last season.

I’ve always loved Moss, even when he was supposedly doggin’ it with the Raiders (my favorite team for several years, until the goddamn tuck-rule knocked them out of the playoffs…I hate the tuck rule…I loathe the tuck-rule…I still think they invented it on the damn spot…).

Apparently the CDC and others misjudged which flu strains were going to be coming out this winter. This has ended up with the flu vaccine this year protecting against about only 40% of the flu strains out there. Normally the flu shot fights around 70%-90% of the flu strains.

I can also tell you, anecdotally, that I have met a number of people who have caught the real flu this year even though they got their flu shot.

Now, for young and healthy people, this isn’t so important; they can survive the flu, nasty as it is. What is very important is to let the people at risk of dying from the flu know about this. Those people are senior citizens and anybody who has an immune system problem (a victim of AIDS, for example).

I’m not trying to scare anybody, I just want those at risk to know that they have a much higher chance of getting the flu this year despite being vaccinated. So stay away from people who’ve had the flu if you can, and wash your hands after being a in a public place.

This is really important for those at risk of dying from the flu. Please spread the word on this one for me, if you can.

Another group of people who should watch out for this are people who work or care for senior citizens or people with immune system problems. If you get the flu, stay the hell away from your job for a little bit; try not to spread it. Again, wash your hands regularly.

Yes, yes, even if you’re a liberal, I still want you to watch out for the flu this year. 🙂

Alright, Obama and McCain are starting to take shots at each other. Not that bad yet, but here we go.

McCain derided Obama’s comments that he would go “back into” Iraq if al-Qaida surfaced there, pointing out that “al-Qaida is in Iraq. It’s called ‘al-Qaida in Iraq.'”

Obama fired back saying:

“There was no such thing as al-Qaida in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq…”

I’m sorry, but that’s blatantly false. Iraq was a safe haven for terrorists for decades (yes, we did help them against Iran, I know), and al-Qaida, or al-Qaeda, or however the hell you want to spell it, has had Iraqi ties for decades. There was such a thing as al-Qaida in Iraq before we went in. I’m sorry. They were there.

Obama knows this. He’s not a stupid man. He also knows this is a dispute that can go on and on and on. The Iraqi regime under Saddam was not exactly a transparent one.

But, for the record, that statement is simply false. If Obama said that our presence in Iraq had drawn more al-Qaida members there, perhaps I could agree with that. To say that there was no al-Qaida in Iraq before we got there is…being really naive on foreign policy.

And, just a side note, for the love of God, could we all agree on the way to spell al-Qaida? I go with al-Qaeda myself. It’s driving me nuts, though.

Even if you swallow Obama’s comment whole without blinking, the fact still remains that al-Qaida is on the ropes in Iraq at the moment, in large part due to the troop surge that McCain supported (he always supported going in with larger numbers, but Rumsfeld would never listen to those who called for that, preferring his own misguided vision of “smaller, elite units” doing the fighting — and simply ignoring the Powell Doctrine of overwhelming force).

William F. Buckley has died.

This is a truly sad day for me. William F. Buckley is a personal hero of mine, a founder of the modern conservative movement. His essay “God and Man at Yale” remains one of the cornerstone pieces of conservative philosophy.

And we’re talking true conservative here. He was a fiscal conservative, a philosophical conservative…he supported legalizing marijuana, as well as a number of other drugs…he was all about small government, and all about giving the power to people.

His famous quote that he “would rather live in a society governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone directory than in one governed by the 2,000 members of the Harvard faculty” still applies today — more than ever.

Buckley is also famous for being the founder of the National Review.

You can bash if you want, you can praise if you want…but for once, I will not publish any responses to this blog post, be they positive, negative, or neutral. This post stands alone.

Like Buckley once stood alone, for what he believed in.

William F. Buckley
1925-2008

I was asked to have a “fun time defending this jerk” (John McCain), who today apologized for comments that he didn’t even make, ones that were made by a talk-radio host introducing McCain — who slammed Obama and repeated his middle name over and over (gee, I wonder why anyone would repeat “Barack Hussein Obama” over and over *cough* fearmongering *cough*).

Then, of course, after McCain took full responsibility for remarks he didn’t even make, within hours, Rush Limbaugh was mocking him with his usual vitriol for — being a nice guy? Having some sense of integrity?

Is there any doubt left that, of the three politicians left standing (I’m not counting Huckabee, here), two of them are decent guys and one is not afraid to use the “kitchen sink” attack on her opponent in the primary?

Yes, it’s tough as hell to defend a decent guy and an authentic hero, I gotta say.

And is there any doubt left that the oozing pus-filled sore that is the Clinton Machine will do anything to get elected? I may not agree with Barack Obama on…well, almost everything…but I do think he’s a decent guy who doesn’t deserve to be smeared by a power-lusting bitch who is lashing out now that she’s cornered.

Ayuh. It was expected to happen, but now it’s official, the Patriots have cut Roosevelt Colvin. Too bad. For my two cents, I thought the guy was a hell of a player and a class act.

Kevin Faulk, meanwhile, got busted for pot — please, NFL, give me a break. And yeah, before you say it, if Brady got busted for pot, I bet we’d never even hear about it.

Anyway, farewell Rosie, and may you find success as a free agent…

(Note: Mr. C. — I hope you read my comments on Belichick stomping off the field like a three-year-old — and I’m sorry I root for the Pats :p)

Is there anything more disgusting than watching a Clinton attack when they’re against the ropes?

You probably already know what I’m talking about — the fact that Clinton staffers released a photograph of Obama while he was on a five-country tour in Africa wearing a Muslim headdress.

There are hordes of pictures of politicians dressing in traditional native garb. It’s what you do. Obama has nothing to apologize for, and a lot to get angry about. Hell, there’s a picture of Hillary Clinton herself in a headdress.

And it’s just going to get uglier…

Your next president: unelectable at any speed…

Na-der! Na-der! Na-der! Yes we can! Yes we can!