bamatone.net

Original URL: http://bamatone.livejournal.com/282352.html

It's too bad it took her 32 years in prison to realize it.

'75 Gerald Ford attacker hoped to start revolution

In Sept. 22, 1975, Moore, then around 45, fired on Ford as he waved to a crowd in San Francisco. A man near her knocked the pistol out of her hand and the shot went astray. It was the second failed attempt on Ford's life in less than three weeks.

Moore was sentenced to life in prison but released on parole in December 2007. She has lived in an undisclosed location since then.

It was during the long years in prison, she said, that "gradually I began to realize that I had let myself be used. ... I definitely think that it was wrong. I think I was misled. I think I was mistaken. I think I made a serious error."

Moore, who had been loosely associated with leftist groups in California, said she "wasn't prepared" for the things she learned about the extent of poverty and other problems.

"It was a time that people don't remember. You know, we had a war ... the Vietnam War , you became — I became — immersed in it," Moore said Thursday.

"We were saying the country needed to change. The only way it was going to change was a violent revolution. I genuinely thought that (shooting Ford) might trigger that new revolution in this country."

She said she now knows she was hearing only one side of the story. "We thought San Francisco was the world, and it wasn't."

Original URL: http://bamatone.livejournal.com/281608.html

And that's a bad thing for the good ol' boy bowl system and the NCAA. Dan Wetzel and Josh Peter of Yahoo! Sports report:

A congressman said he plans to investigate testimony from Alamo Bowl executive director Derrick Fox at this month’s Bowl Championship Series subcommittee hearing after learning that Fox might have exaggerated by millions of dollars the amount bowl games donate to local charities.

Fox, while representing all 34 bowl games during his appearance on Capitol Hill on May 1, claimed in his argument against a playoff that “almost all the postseason bowl games are put on by charitable groups” and “local charities receive tens of millions of dollars every year.”

In fact, 10 bowl games are privately owned and one is run by a branch of a local government. The remaining 23 games enjoy tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service, but combined to give just $3.2 million to local charities on $186.3 million in revenue according to their most recent federal tax records and interviews with individual bowl executives.

“That doesn’t seem like something that’s really geared toward giving to charity, does it?” said Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) after being presented with Yahoo! Sports’ findings.

“It’s perjury if it’s knowingly said,” Barton said of the sworn testimony, which he called “misleading.” “It’s also contempt of Congress. You’ve got to give [him] some sort of due process, but ultimately the remedy is to hold [him] in contempt of Congress on the House floor or send it to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution of perjury under oath.”

The fact that the bowl games and BCS are tax exempt and "non-profit" is ridiculous in the first place. Here's the smoking gun: "Bowl games actually received more in direct government spending (almost $5.5 million) than what they gave directly to charity, according to the tax records." If the bowls took in $186.3 million in revenue, why is the government giving them any money?

Together, Fox and Swofford repeatedly cited two main reasons bowl games must be saved at all costs.

1. Donations to local charities.

2. Economic impact on host cities.

If that's the best argument you can come up with... that's pretty pathetic. Here's what it all boils down to:

The NCAA has no role in the BCS and does not recognize a champion in football’s top division, the only collegiate sport without a playoff. By bolstering the value of bowls through charitable giving and local economic impact, a playoff that potentially forces the closing of a few minor bowls seems like a potential negative.

Some playoffs plans, including one produced by the NCAA, concluded they could produce so much revenue that even a lesser percentage share would result in more actual dollars for the six major conferences. However, it likely would require ceding power to the NCAA’s central office, which presumably would run a playoff.

Believe me, I'm as anti-NCAA as the next Bama fan. But any sane college football fan knows that almost any new playoff system would be better than the current system of bowls and BCS.

Original URL: http://bamatone.livejournal.com/280933.html

Two weekends ago, a middle aged lifelong Auburn fan was talking some trash about Alabama and Saban in particular. He wanted to know what we would do when Saban left for Notre Dame.

Yeah. Auburn fans think Saban is going to leave us for Notre Dame.

As ridiculous as that is, let's just assume for the sake of argument that Saban does, in fact, leave Alabama after the 2010 season. My response to the Auburn fan was that Saban would have left this program is much better shape than when he found it, and that we would hire someone else and life would continue.

Incredulous that this man, fan of a school who just fired their coach of 10 years and who was 7-3 against their archrival, was casting stones at Alabama (a team fresh off a BCS bowl appearance) and Saban (a national championship winning coach), I asked him if he'd rather have Saban as a coach for four years or Gene Chizik for one.

That Auburn fan looked me square in the eyes and without any hesitation replied, "Gene Chizik."

And that is why Auburn has been and will always be a second rate power in college football. **

Chizik is supposed to a "defense" guy. Last year, out of 120 teams, Iowa St. ranked 111th in scoring defense, 94th in rushing defense, 117th in passing defense, 111th in total defense, 97th in sacks made, and 95th in tackles for loss. (ISU was top 10 in fumbles forced and recovered.) Could Chizik have turned it around? It's impossible to know. He was only in his 2nd year as head coach.

Now maybe Auburn made a good hiring decision here (and if they did, it's my opinion that it is purely coincidental), and maybe they didn't. But it takes some real gall to talk trash about a team that thrashed you to the tune of 36-0 last year and is clearly only going to get better.

** Sidenote: Auburn had a 7 game win streak against Alabama and could only parlay that into one conference championship. In the meantime, Alabama was on probation for a decade and also won one conference championship. Then of course there's Auburn's 6 conference championships all time vs. Alabama's 21.

And no, I did not have these numbers memorized. My point is Alabama has a history of relevance. Auburn does not. Try to keep that in mind when talking trash.

(Apologies to my Auburn friends. You're all very nice people.)

Original URL: http://bamatone.livejournal.com/280356.html

Trying to buy tickets to the Sunday afternoon showing of Star Trek in Montgomery. The Rave uses movietickets.com, and I know I have a login there. My usual passwords aren't working, though, so I have them email me my password reminder.

they call me tater salad

Very helpful, me. *facepalm*

Original URL: http://bamatone.livejournal.com/279915.html

So recently I heard this song called "Passing Afternoon" by Iron & Wine. Apparently it was featured in an episode of House, M.D., and eventually it made its way to me. And it is pretty much full of awesome and win.

So I go research Iron & Wine a little on amazon.com and notice one of the tracks is free. As in free beer. The album name is "Amazon Sampler," which sounds a little odd. Click on that and discover an entire album of freeee music offered by amazon.com. It even includes a song from this season of Flight of the Conchords ("Hurt Feelings")!

I haven't listened to everything yet, but I did download it. I mean damn, it's free. Come on.

Ch-ch-ch-check it out: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001W2YISK/