Steelers Fever Forums http://forums.steelersfever.com The ultimate Pittsburgh Steelers fan message board. Talk to Steelers fans from around the globe and in your own hometown. en Fri, 09 May 2008 14:27:21 GMT vBulletin 15 http://forums.steelersfever.com/images/misc/rss.jpg Steelers Fever Forums http://forums.steelersfever.com Does anyone wanna chat Nascar? http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25036&goto=newpost Fri, 09 May 2008 10:55:13 GMT Now, I am a Dale Jr. fan and loved his dad like a brother. I feel like Jr will Never be his dad, but with the team that he is with now he has a great chance to win a cup. I also think that Teresa and DEI sabataged Jr's motors late last season. They knew that he would not be there this season and they decided to make his last few months there a living hell.
As far as last weeks race, it is very dissapointing to me that K. Busch and Jr got together and Jr had to wreck, but I really think that it was just racing hard. Of course, saturday night Busch still was not on my A list. If someone would like to chat about this and more I would love to chat back.
Have Fun..
:tt02: ]]> Locker Room Elvis http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25036 His SuperBowl Ring will be nicer...... http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25035&goto=newpost Fri, 09 May 2008 10:42:10 GMT Mendenhall lucky to escape robbery
Steelers' top pick to be more cautious in future
Friday, May 09, 2008
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Peter Diana/Post-Gazette
Rashard Mendenhall, 34, works out with his teammates today during the Steelers' minicamp at the team's facility on the South Side.Rashard Mendenhall lost more than his wallet and cell phone in a Chicago stickup early Monday morning. He lost his Rose Bowl watch.He was thankful he still had his life after the 2 a.m. robbery at gunpoint by men wearing ski masks.

"It's cool," Mendenhall said in his first public comments since the crime, little more than one day after the Steelers' first-round draft pick ended his first minicamp in Pittsburgh with his new teammates.

"It wasn't too bad. I'm safe. I was just hoping he wouldn't pull the trigger. I was just trying to cooperate so he wouldn't."

Mendenhall and a female friend were walking along Chicago's lakefront area when the men approached them. He said a little earlier there were other people around but by then things had died down and there were no other witnesses when they were robbed.

Although Chicago police said they thought the men, who remain at large, knew they were robbing an athlete, Mendenhall did not believe they knew specifically who he was.

"Not before, they probably did afterward," said Mendenhall, who said nothing to his assailants.

It's the first time he has been robbed, Mendenhall said, and he will try to take precautions in the future. Mendenhall was a star running back at the University of Illinois last season. He's the first running back the Steelers have drafted in the first round in 19 years.

"I figure I'll be conscious and wary of situations," he said.

Mendenhall's mother, Sybil, said she discussed just such a thing with her son before the robbery.

"This was wake-up call to know it's for real now," she said. "We had that discussion. When you're in downtown Chicago, you think you're OK. It's usually safe, with all the activities and things going on and a lot of people walking on the lakefront at night.

"But these are different times, people are desperate and some people do what they think they have to do."

After he was robbed, Mendenhall called his mother on his friend's cell phone -- she left her purse back in the car and had the phone hidden. Sybil Mendenhall canceled her son's credit cards and cell phone.

"I was little disturbed, but I've lived in Chicago all my life and understand those things happen there,' she said. "It's a relief he didn't get shot or anything, but that is sometimes the case."

Mendenhall plans to rejoin his new teammates May 20 when they resume their offseason workouts. He watched practice on the final two days of the three-day minicamp because of a hamstring injury the first day.

He said yesterday his leg feels "pretty good."

First published on May 9, 2008 at 12:00 am
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08130/880442-66.stm ]]> Pittsburgh Steelers stillers4me http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25035 Look how the bengals treat there own fansites http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25034&goto=newpost Fri, 09 May 2008 10:35:34 GMT ---Quote--- 06 May Bengals Threaten StripeHype with a lawsuit Well, looks like the Cincinnati Bengals are first in something. The fansided.com blog network is a collaboration of fan NFL blogs run by fans of the teams. Cincinnati has contacted our main office to threaten us with a lawsuit over...
Quote:
06 May Bengals Threaten StripeHype with a lawsuit

Well, looks like the Cincinnati Bengals are first in something. The fansided.com blog network is a collaboration of fan NFL blogs run by fans of the teams. Cincinnati has contacted our main office to threaten us with a lawsuit over using pictures (that are out in the public domain) that we gave copyright credit to the Bengals organization for. We have been forced into a redesign, as we cannot defend ourselves against Mike Brown’s deep pockets. Funny, we’ve been in touch with the Bengals (PR Director Jack Brennan) via email several times (me personally). I’ve invited him to browse the site, comment and make suggestions for our site to a benefit to the Bengals organization. Instead, we get a lawsuit threatened against us (why, Mr. Brennan, could you not just ask us to make changes?).

The Bengals claim we used copyrighted photos and logos. However, we’ve been asking for access for months as a media outlet to be able to interview players, take our own photos, etc. We’ve been turned down, stating that the Bengals “do not issue credentials to non-traditional media”. They sure will sue non-traditional media though, won’t they?
http://stripehype.com/2008/05/06/ben...ith-a-lawsuit/

A guaranteed way to piss off your fan base or is that the public relations department in Cincy hopes to turn around the public perception for their organisation?

Welcome to the 21st century. ]]> Blast Furnace Aussie_steeler http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25034 Steelers Notes:Yahoo Style http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25033&goto=newpost Fri, 09 May 2008 10:28:38 GMT *Steelers Team Report* Yahoo! Sports 5 **Inside Slant** Steelers Team Report

Yahoo! Sports 5



Inside Slant



Troy Polamalu always has followed the beat of a different drummer, and this year it’s taken him back to California.

Polamalu will again follow the non-traditional training methods of non-conformist guru Marv Marinovich in California, returning to the man he trusted with his body until the past few years.

Marinovich does not believe in the traditional NFL-style weight-lifting and Polamalu was one of his prized students. But for the past few years, Polamalu remained in Pittsburgh to train rather than going to the West Coast. After a disappointing season in which he sustained three separate injuries—to his knee, his ribs and his oblique—Polamalu has decided to skip all the voluntary workouts in Pittsburgh to rejoin his California guru.



“I kind of went away from what I did previously,” said Polamalu, who attended but did not practice during the team’s mandatory minicamp last weekend. “I’d been staying here the last two years and training here in Pittsburgh, other than going to California. I’m trying to spend a little more time out there with my trainer in California.”

Polamalu has disdained the free weights and machines that football players traditionally use to train. He also believes certain aspects of training camp are unnecessary and he has criticized the NFL-sponsored consumption of Gatorade.

So, he’s off to California, where he will remain much of the summer. He said he will not practice with his teammates until training camp opens.

“I have some of the stuff here, but you can’t duplicate the facilities, the coaching that I have out there,” Polamalu said. “So I’m trying to stay out there a little more.”

Polamalu had surgery to clean out loose tissue in his knee, but his partially torn PCL went untouched because, he said, nothing could help it but rest. Coach Mike Tomlin did not publicly make an issue of Polamalu’s absence the rest of the spring.

“The prize is what we need to do this fall,” Tomlin said. “He needs to prepare himself to do that and he’s doing it.”


Notes, Quotes


• LB James Farrior said he is the designated defender to wear the new radio communication receiver in his helmet for the defense, although it was not tried in minicamp.

• The Steelers resume their OTAs May 20.

• Mike Tomlin rode his special teams hard last season, devoting a large portion of spring and training camp practices to them. They did not respond in kind during the season, so he’s taking a new approach.

“We’re emphasizing it but we’re emphasizing it in a different way,” Tomlin said. “I’m trying to create a little urgency through scarcity. We’re not going to do it as much; we’re going to work hard but we’re going to work smarter.”

• Hines Ward was scheduled to make his second trip of the year to South Korea, where he was welcomed as a hero following his Super Bowl MVP in 2006. Since then, he’s made the trip twice a year to work on his foundation to aid bi-racial people in that country. Ward was born in South Korea, son of a Korean native mother and black U. S. serviceman father.

• Even RB Willie Parker was surprised the Steelers waited until the fourth-round to draft an offensive lineman.

“Everybody said what I need is an offensive lineman,” said Parker. “That wasn’t my call to pick an offensive lineman. It would have been good to get one, but we didn’t.”

• Rookie RB Rashard Mendenhall was robbed at gunpoint in Chicago two days after he left his first minicamp in Pittsburgh. One of the two men put a gun to Mendenhall’s face and demanded everything he had. He turned over his wallet, his cell phone and his car keys. No one was hurt and the police have not made an arrest. ]]> Pittsburgh Steelers Elvis http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25033 Global Warming http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25032&goto=newpost Fri, 09 May 2008 03:30:39 GMT
Quote:
Originally Posted by GBMelBlount (Post 396207)
Agreed, It only takes a few minutes of watching the other major networks and I switch over to Fox. "Global warming" is a perfect example of why I do .... we can examine it issue by issue and Fox is where I usually end up.
LOL.......are you still to ignorant to admit global warming is for real.......Damn, the bush administration has even accpted that it is real...........

Take a look at the science............ ]]> Locker Room BIGBENFASTWILLIE http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25032 Another Printable Steelers 2008 Schedule (I made this myself) http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25030&goto=newpost Thu, 08 May 2008 23:25:48 GMT hi everyone!!
my name is Chris and i'm from Easton, PA. i'm sure you're all wondering who i am since i've never posted here before. i've been what you would call a "lurker" i guess. i've been on this forum a lot over the years, but i never thought of posting. anyway, i just finished making a Steelers 2008 Schedule for myself and i thought i would share it with everyone. please don't think i'm trying to take vader29's place as the resident schedule maker. :chuckle: i put A LOT of hard work into this design. over 12 hours to be exact. why 12+ hours you may ask? well, i'm in a wheelchair and i use a ventilator to breathe. i do everything on my computer by using my chin to move a trackball, which is very similar to a mouse, and i use an on-screen keyboard to type. anyway, that's one reason it took me so long to make this. that and the fact that i'm picky about my work. :chuckle: i have my own business, designing custom t-shirts, so i love doing creative things like this. i'm 31-years-old and the biggest passion in my life is the Pittsburgh Steelers. my parents tell me that i wasn't even 3-years-old when i began my dedication to the Black & Gold. ok, i'll stop rambling now. i'm sorry the image isn't bigger. i scanned a printed copy of the original and the file size was way too big to Upload on here. it was something like 4.8MB. so i got it down below the minimum file size for here, but it also shrank the overall size of the image. if anyone knows how to reduce the file size without shrinking the image or losing the quality of the image, please let me know. please feel free to leave any feedback about my work. thanks for taking the time to read this and i'll try to be more of a regular poster.

GO STEELERS!!!!

Chris P.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg pittsteelsched08.jpg (141.0 KB)
]]> Media Cricker24 http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25030 Environmental deal sets aside L.A.-sized tract http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25029&goto=newpost Thu, 08 May 2008 22:24:36 GMT http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/08/conservation.deal.ap/index.html LEBEC, California (AP) -- A group of environmentalists and the owners of a large stretch of wilderness have reached a deal that would set aside the largest parcel of land for conservation in California history. A deal between... http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/08/con....ap/index.html

LEBEC, California (AP) -- A group of environmentalists and the owners of a large stretch of wilderness have reached a deal that would set aside the largest parcel of land for conservation in California history.


A deal between developers and conservationists preserves most of Tejon Ranch, a habitat for condors.

After years of legal tussles, conservationists including the Sierra Club have agreed not to challenge proposed development on the sprawling Tejon Ranch north of Los Angeles in exchange for close to 240,000 acres, in a deal to be announced Thursday.

At 375 square miles, the preserve of desert, woodlands and grasslands would be eight times the size of San Francisco and nearly the size of Los Angeles, said Bill Corcoran, the Sierra Club's senior regional representative.

"There is, in my opinion, no other place like it in California. It's unrivaled in the diversity of native wildlife and plants," said Corcoran, who helped negotiate the deal. "Tejon is key to us because it's the only place where the Sierra Nevadas, the coastal range and Mojave Desert and Central Valley all meet."

Tejon Ranch sits atop the Tehachapi Mountains, 60 miles north of Los Angeles, and is home to elk, wild turkeys, coyotes, bears and eagles, as well as a critical habitat for condors.

The Tejon Ranch Co. has been trying for years to develop three projects, or 10 percent of the 270,000-acre ranch, while appeasing environmentalists.

The other groups that have signed on are the Natural Resources Defense Council, Audubon California, the Planning and Conservation League and the Endangered Habitats League.

In 2005, the company and a national land trust hailed an agreement to sell more than one-third of the ranch for use as a nature preserve. But that agreement failed to satisfy the Tejon Natural Heritage Park Committee, a coalition of 12 conservation groups.

Less than a year later, another promising agreement fell through. The developer promised to set aside 100,000 acres as a natural preserve, but environmentalists wanted more than double that.

At the time, Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope and other environmental leaders said they would make the Tejon Ranch their top priority in California. Conservationists threatened to unite and file a lawsuit against the developer under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Instead, they went back to the negotiating table.

"After nearly two years of negotiations, which were often difficult but always in good faith, we have achieved an unprecedented agreement protecting close to 90 percent of the ranch," Corcoran said.

The Tejon Ranch Co. is dedicating 178,000 acres, and about 62,000 will be purchased in part with state conservation bond money. Though it is not clear how much the land will cost, the developer agreed to a state appraisal.

An independent conservancy will be set up to manage the land, and the developer has agreed to donate some money for its upkeep, Corcoran said. The agreement also seeks to establish a large state park that will be open to the public.

"In my opinion, it's a near certainty that California will never again see a private land conservation agreement of this size and ecological importance," Corcoran said ]]> Locker Room Jeremy http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25029 Steel execs decry emissions bill http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25028&goto=newpost Thu, 08 May 2008 22:13:03 GMT http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt.../s_566376.html



The domestic steel industry would be hurt if the government forces steelmakers to follow stricter emissions standards proposed in Congress, industry executives said Wednesday.
"We need to make sure that we don't damage an industry like ours that is thriving. Inevitably, we will suffer" under those stricter greenhouse-gas emission standards, said U.S. Steel Corp. CEO John P. Surma to more than 1,100 people at an American Iron and Steel Technology industry conference at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown.

Industry executives at a town-hall forum expressed their concerns about the impact of emission standards proposed in the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007. The legislation is co-sponsored by Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and John McCain, R-Ariz., the presumptive Republican presidential candidate.

The steel industry will have a problem meeting stricter emission standards, especially the integrated steel mills that burn iron ore and carbon that creates carbon dioxide in the steelmaking process, said steel analyst Charles Bradford of Brdford/Soleil Research.

"You can't get around it," Bradford said.


Using an electric arc furnace to melt scrap to make steel isn't the solution to all the pollution problems because those mills can't make all grades of steel that can be made in a blast furnace, Bradford said.


"I think the steel industry has a distinct problem," he noted.

Under the bill, the industry must return to 2004 emission levels in five years, then reduce emissions by about 2 percent through 2020. The goal is to cut by greenhouse-gas emissions by two-thirds before 2050.

Improvements in technology can help reduce emissions, and the North American steel industry already has reduced its energy use by about 30 percent since 1990, Surma said. But, by 2050, steelmakers may need another way of making steel to meet the standards proposed in the bill, he said.

The problem with the congressional proposal is that no one has studied the economic impact, Surma said. What amounts to a greenhouse-gas emissions tax on steel products could drive production to foreign countries.

If the government would raise greenhouse-gas emission standards and place a tax on products made by gas-emitting industries, business would be driven to countries such as China and India, where environmental regulations are less strict, Surma said.

"We really can't afford to have the manufacturing base move to China," which accounts for about 34 percent of the industry's greenhouse-gas emissions, said Keith E. Busse, CEO of Steel Dynamics Inc. of Fort Wayne, Ind.

As global demand for steel increases, producers are finding ways to increase capacity of existing mills by "tweaking" plants, as well as building new ones, said Russ Rinn, executive vice president of Commercial Metals Co., which is building a 300,000-ton mill in Arizona.

Only since 2004 has the steel industry's market shown growth, said Louis L. Schorsch, chief executive of ArcelorMittal USA.

"The bad years are really fresh in our mind," Schorsch said. ]]> Locker Room Jeremy http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25028 Iraqi army says Iraqi al-Qaida leader arrested http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25027&goto=newpost Thu, 08 May 2008 22:01:56 GMT http://www.townhall.com/news/world/2008/05/08/iraqi_army_says_iraqi_al-qaida_leader_arrested The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was arrested in the northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman said Thursday. Mohammed al-Askari said the arrest of al-Masri, also... http://www.townhall.com/news/world/2...eader_arrested

The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was arrested in the northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

Mohammed al-Askari said the arrest of al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, was confirmed to him by the Iraqi commander of the province. There was no immediate confirmation or comment from U.S. forces on the arrest.

The U.S. military in Baghdad said "we are currently checking with Iraqi authorities to confirm the accuracy of this information."

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said that Mosul police "arrested one of al-Qaida's leaders at midnight and during the primary investigations he admitted that he is Abu Hamza Al-Muhajir."

News of the arrest was also reported by Iraqi state television and Arab satellite TV stations.

The state channel, Iraqiya, said that Minister of Interior Jawad al-Bolani would reward Mosul police for the capture.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khalaf told the station by phone that a source close to the al-Qaida leader informed Mosul police that al-Masri would be at a house in the city's Wadi Hajar area at midnight Wednesday.

"The police raided this house and arrested him. During the primary investigation, he confessed that he is Abu Hamza Al-Muhajir, the leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq. Now a broader investigation of him is being conducted," he said to Iraqiya.

If confirmed, the arrest would represent a major blow to al-Qaida in Iraq, which has been on the run for the past year following a shift in alliances by Sunni tribesmen in western Anbar province, and elsewhere, and an influx of thousands of U.S. troops.

The U.S. military considers the organization its number one enemy in Iraq.

"The commander of Ninevah military operations informed me that Iraqi troops captured Abu Hamza al-Muhajir the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq," al-Askari told The Associated Press by telephone.

He did not have any further details nor did he say when the al-Qaida leader was arrested.

Mosul is currently a major battleground for U.S. forces and al-Qaida.

Ninevah governor Duraid Kashmola also said by phone that al-Masri had been arrested.

Al-Masri, an Egyptian militant, took over al-Qaida in Iraq after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed June 7, 2006 in a U.S. airstrike northeast of Baghdad.

The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella organization that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, last year announced an "Islamic Cabinet" for Iraq and named al-Masri as "minister of war."

U.S. officials said al-Masri joined an extremist group led by al-Qaida's No.2 official in 1982. He joined al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan in 1999 and trained as a car bombing expert before traveling to Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Few details are known about him, but he is believed to have been born in 1969 in Egypt's Nile Delta province of El-Sharqiya. He reportedly left school in the early 1980s to join Islamic Jihad, a group that opposed Egypt's pro-American government and linked to the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

According to associates in Afghanistan, al-Masri has been involved in Islamic extremist movements since 1982, when he joined Islamic Jihad, a terror group led by Ayman al-Zawahri, who became bin Laden's chief deputy.

Al-Masri fought with Muslim rebels against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s and later ran al-Qaida training camps there. ]]> Locker Room Jeremy http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25027 <![CDATA[What's Wrong with Republicans?]]> http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25026&goto=newpost Thu, 08 May 2008 21:46:05 GMT http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTdlNTIzZTI4NDMwYjcwZTIzZDkzMTMyNmE4YWEzYWE On this great debate, I tend to agree with Mark Levin and others that conservatives should reach out with conservative principles better framed and presented, rather than change the message for the perceived... http://corner.nationalreview.com/pos...TMyNmE4YWEzYWE

On this great debate, I tend to agree with Mark Levin and others that conservatives should reach out with conservative principles better framed and presented, rather than change the message for the perceived advantage of the hour.

What the Republicans need is not an abandonment of conservative principles, but a smarter, more articulate defense of even more conservativism, not less.

E.g., Gas Prices? More nuclear power, hydro-, refineries, clean coal, drilling off coasts and in ANWR. And why? As a necessary bridge to next-generation cleaner and non-petroleum energy so that in the time lag, we don't empower our enemies, demand that others abroad who are less environmentally sound produce the oil we consume, and watch our hard-won way of life decline.

Taxes? Not hikes, since revenues went up, not down with past cuts, but more fiscal discipline to end the deficits. The problem was not tax-cutting, but wild-eyed spending that ran up debt and discredited tax cuts.

The border? Close it, not out nativism or racism, but out of respect for the rule of law, the tradition of national sovereignty, the need to promote integration and assimilation, the need to be more concerned with American entry-level low-paid workers, and a desire to help Mexico wean itself off remittances and make the tough-love decisions to modernize its archaic government and economy.

Judges? We need constitutionalists, because they alone follow the rules of the legislative branch and what is written in the Constitution, do not turn rarified, laboratory theory into the law that millions must suffer under, and bring respect to the judiciary sorely damaged by aristocratic elitists on the bench.

National Security? Not more U.N.ism, but careful explanations that both Iraq and Afghanistan have hurt jihadism, taken out odious regimes, and with patience will make the region safer.We need more reasoned and inspired explanation of just how the U.S. military allows the present globalized system of commerce and communications to survive, rather than asleep at the wheel reaction to cheap attacks on our foreign policy.

Ethics? Republicans by consensus in Washington need to be less tolerant of sleeze than Democrats, since conservatism and traditionalism are moral precepts. When they engage in tawdry sex, bribery, and influence peddling, they suffer the double wage of hypocrisy — in the manner supposedly men-of-the-people liberals like Kerry, Gore, Edwards, and the Clintons talk one way and live like 18th-century French kings.

In short, low taxes, secure borders, moral governance, sober government spending, ethical leadership, exploration and conservation of petroleum, and strong defense is what the American public wants — but those core principles have to be articulated hourly and can't be compromised. In an honest debate, Obama's alternatives to the above would be to turn toward more government, higher taxes, more bureacracies, more dependence of the individual upon the state, etc. And I can't believe the public wants a prescription that historically simply doesn't work.

I think in their depression, the Republicans fail to see that their problems were not in their principles, but rather in the sometimes sleezy and sloppy way they advanced them — and even more often in the manner that they abandoned them — and as a result, they are apparently eager to compromise on them.

To the degree McCain can articulate the above, he will win; to the degree that he either cannot or believes the latest gurus that he must abandon them, he will lose. Moving toward a lite version of the Obamian/European "bipartisan"and socialist view of government and calling it a new conservatism is a prescription for utter disaster.

No one can out-Obama Obama. ]]> Locker Room Jeremy http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25026 McCain: Major League Hypocrite http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25025&goto=newpost Thu, 08 May 2008 21:33:27 GMT http://www.gunowners.org/mchypocrite.htm

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) flamed out in his presidential bid on the issue of so-called "campaign reform."

The Senator's bill would have expanded the price controls that have already been unconstitutionally imposed on free speech. He targeted so-called soft money expenditures which discuss issues and candidates but do not urge people to vote.

McCain's plan was to protect incumbents, such as himself, by closing off discussions of public officials which are intended to inform the public about their voting records without urging people to vote one way or the other. McCain would have prohibited mentioning an incumbent by name 60 days before an election.

That would translate in a presidential race to prohibiting Gun Owners of America from criticizing John McCain's anti-gun votes (C-- on Gun Owners of America's rating of the Senate) from around Christmas of the year before the general election in November.

But this fall, Mr. Clean chose to drench the airwaves with TV and radio spots in Colorado and Oregon on behalf of voter initiatives to register gun buyers in the name of closing the so-called "gun show loophole." With an endless supply of soft money dollars from the CEO of Monster.com, Andrew McKelvey, McCain the major league hypocrite, told voters of these two states that gun control would be good for them.

The Oregon measure would have registered gun buyers for five years with the State police, as well as the FBI. One of the sheriffs supporting the measure asserted that Americans have no individual right to keep and bear arms.

Let's hope that when John McCain runs for reelection to the Senate, the voters of Arizona do what the voters in the Republican presidential primary did to McCain -- defeat him.

John McCain would then have a legacy based on his attempt to destroy the First and the Second Amendments. That might be good enough to get a statue of him put up in Washington, D.C. where contempt for the Constitution is a badge of esteem. ]]> Locker Room Jeremy http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25025 John McCain: Hypocrite http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25024&goto=newpost Thu, 08 May 2008 21:31:46 GMT http://www.nationalreview.com/levin/levin071002.asp



John McCain fancies himself a reformer, a trustbuster, a progressive. But the truth is he's a hypocrite.

Putting aside his dealings with convicted felon Charles Keating (as the mainstream media does), he's now all over radio and television, and in the print media, demanding corporate accountability. In fact, on a radio program this morning, McCain decried "unfettered capitalism."

Now, anyone who has tried to start a small business, or has been in business for all of three minutes, knows that American capitalism is far too "fettered." You can't start a business in most places without securing and paying for a license. Most businesses are required to pay employees a minimum wage. All businesses are required to make payroll deductions for a host of programs, including Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workmen's compensation.

And then there are the other "fetters": affirmative action; unpaid family leave; the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Act; the Americans with Disabilities Act; the Fair Labor Standards Act; local, state and federal taxes; and on and on and on. Indeed, I can think of few transactions that occur between individuals in this country that aren't in some way taxed or regulated.

In truth, McCain has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of "fettered capitalism." All kinds of corporations have found their way to his door with campaign cash in hand. And some of these corporations are the very corporations McCain is railing against.

For example, from 1997-2001, McCain received $31,000 from Global Crossing, which makes him the Senate's top recipient of contributions from that now bankrupt company.

From 1989-2002, McCain received $23,900 from WorldCom, making him the Senate's third top recipient of contributions from that soon-to-be bankrupt company.

From 1989-2001, McCain received $23,250 from Arthur Andersen, making him the Senate's tenth top recipient of contributions from that soon-to-be defunct company.

And from 1989-2001, McCain received $9,500 from Enron, making him the twelfth top recipient of contributions from that bankrupt company.

Of course, I don't believe the mere receipt of campaign contributions is corrupting. In fact, it's evidence of representative government at work. The public has every right to try to influence the direction of their government. But McCain believes this activity to be corrupt, yet he took the money anyway.

If American capitalism is truly "unfettered," and if business contributions are intended to influence their recipients, there would be no reason for businesses to try to influence politicians like McCain through campaign contributions.

What would be nice would be less bluster and more "unfettered" honesty from Arizona's senior senator. ]]> Locker Room Jeremy http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25024 spygate shirts http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25023&goto=newpost Thu, 08 May 2008 20:03:53 GMT Image: http://www.spreadshirt.com/users/484000/483444/products/483444_3379645_1_huge.jpg Image: http://www.spreadshirt.com/users/484000/483444/products/483444_3379639_1_huge.jpg other color combinations available http://184977.spreadshirt.com

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http://184977.spreadshirt.com ]]> Classifieds section514 http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25023 <![CDATA[How about these 70's memories?]]> http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25022&goto=newpost Thu, 08 May 2008 18:54:05 GMT In the '70s, new coach, great drafts turned Pittsburgh into City of Champions

Sunday, October 07, 2007
By Robert Dvorchak, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette With the right to the first overall choice in the 1970 draft riding on a coin flip, Dan Rooney deferred to Chicago's Ed McCaskey to make the call while NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle readied his thumb beneath a 1921 silver dollar.
The Bears called heads. The coin spun about a foot in the air and thunked down on a table in a New Orleans hotel. Lady Liberty's image was face down. The eagle side was up. The Steelers had won the toss between the two worst teams in football.
So hardened to losing was the city that the Post-Gazette headline to the top story in the sports section was: "Honest to Goodness -- Steelers Win."
In hindsight, winning the toss was an omen. By the end of the decade, the headlines spoke of triumph after triumph. The team with the NFL's all-time inferiority complex developed a sterling silver swagger. And a city once described as hell with the lid taken off turned into the City of Champions.
Alchemy should work so well.
The franchise that had seen such quarterbacks as Sid Luckman, Johnny Unitas, Len Dawson and Bill Nelsen get away used the first pick to select Terry Bradshaw, a rifle-armed, fleet-of-foot bundle of raw energy who endured a rocky start to become an integral part of the glory days.
A new wind was blowing other ways as well. The Steelers moved into Three Rivers Stadium, and a scratchy-voiced showman named Myron Cope, with his impeccable sense of timing, joined the broadcast team.
"If that stadium had never been built, we'd never have won," Steelers founder Art Rooney once said. "We had second-class facilities in the old days, and we were a second-class team. We went to being a first-class club."
Only a handful of veterans made the transition from old Forbes Field and Pitt Stadium to the new multi-purpose facility and a new start in the American Football Conference, but they noticed a new attitude in the new players coming aboard.
"I don't think they know about the old losing image. They didn't know the Steelers are supposed to lose," lineman Ray Mansfield said at the time. "When I first came to Pittsburgh, even if we won a few games, there was always an expectation of doom."
Still, the bandwagon had plenty of room as the climb started.
Oh, those draft picks

For an outfit notorious for botching the draft, the Steelers set a standard that was the envy of the NFL. Chuck Noll believed in molding young talent by building through the draft. Art Rooney Jr., son of the founder, was in charge of personnel with super scout Dick Haley,
Joe Greene was already on board, and Mel Blount arrived in the Bradshaw draft. Jack Ham was added in 1971. The coach preferred Robert Newhouse as a running back in 1972, but the scouts sold him on Franco Harris. Then came the mother lode in 1974 -- Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth and Mike Webster before the fifth round was over. There was no other draft like it before or since.
But in addition to all those future Hall of Famers, the Steelers scored big in lower rounds, especially with players from traditionally black schools. Credit went to a new talent evaluator, Bill Nunn Sr., who as sports editor of The Pittsburgh Courier had named an annual All-Star team of players from black schools.
He recommended draft choices and free agents such as L.C. Greenwood, Ernie Holmes, Joe Gilliam and Donnie Shell.
By the end of the decade, not a single player on the Super Bowl roster had ever worn another team's uniform. They were all home-grown. A total of 22 players were measured for all four Super Bowl rings.
In a sporting sort of way, Steelers history has a biblical quality. The first 40 years of wandering through the wilderness is the football version of the Old Testament. The new age dawned with a play known by a religious name and interpreted as an act of providence.
'Dee-fence! Dee-fence'

But before the Steelers ascended to the ranks of winners, they had to vanquish the Browns. Cleveland had won 34 of the first 45 games played against the Steelers, and the radio stations in a city where the river caught fire looked down their noses at Pittsburgh.
The breakthrough came on a gray, gloomy Sunday in 1972, with the teams tied for first place, in a game The Pittsburgh Press called Armageddon. It was a chance to right everything for all the bad years, and a resolute bunch of blue-collar fans packed Three Rivers Stadium to be part of it.
A throaty roar went up an hour before the game and never let up. Those who were there on that Dec. 3 game to witness a 30-0 victory can attest that the reinforced concrete actually pulsated as primal voices, without prompting, chanted "Dee-fence! Dee-fence! Dee-fence!" while savoring every delicious moment.
"I got the feeling that if we didn't win, the fans were going to come out of the stands and win it for us," said linebacker Andy Russell, who intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble, leading to 10 points.
From that day on, the Steelers have never failed to sell out a game.
After finishing first in the division for the Steelers' first title of any kind, the Oakland Raiders came to town for the first playoff game here in a quarter century. It was as fun to watch as a street fight. The Steelers allowed their first touchdown in December and fell behind late in the game.
On fourth down, with time nearing expiration, Art Rooney got into the elevator on his way to consoling his team. Then a 17-second sequence buried the Same Old Steelers for good.
A pass thrown to Frenchy Fuqua, who was belted by Jack Tatum the instant the ball arrived, caromed backward end over end. Franco Harris picked it out of the air at shoe-top level at the 42-yard line and ran into the end zone with five seconds left.
In the bedlam, referee Fred Swearingen phoned the press box to confer with Art McNally, the NFL's director of officiating. "You have to call what you saw," the referee was told.
Since none of the officials saw anything to negate the result, Mr. Swearingen raised his arms to signal a winning score, making official the single most electrifying play in NFL history. The fact that the collision and the reception maintain an element of controversy only adds to the mystique.
There was no Super Bowl trophy that year, but the play lives on. Two figures greet passengers headed to baggage claim at the Pittsburgh airport. One is of a young George Washington, who fought to claim the fort that became Pittsburgh. The other is of Franco Harris reaching out to recreate the city's moment of unabashed joy -- the Immaculate Reception. ]]> Pittsburgh Steelers Elvis http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25022 <![CDATA[Lions' Kitna expects 10 wins again this season]]> http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=25020&goto=newpost Thu, 08 May 2008 13:40:13 GMT Lions QB Jon Kitna repeated his spring statement of last year and this year that anything less than 10 wins will be a disappointment. "Our expectation is, we will be disappointed if we don't win 10 games because that will mean we are not in the playoffs," Kitna said. "I can't make it any simpler than that. Anybody who says that's not their expectation level is unfortunately not very much of a competitor."

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