The initial college football bowl games of the season have already been played. Thus, the deluge of 34 mostly meaningless matches has been unleashed. As a fan of Division 1-A college football, I must ask: WHY?!

            I wonder if anyone else remembers when securing a bowl bid served as validation of a successful season. Am I the only one who still believes that if this nonsensical post-season arrangement will continue to exist, that at least it should be limited to fewer teams? A large number of this year’s bowl participants never even made a cameo appearance in any of the three most widely cited top 25 opinion polls. Since the expansion of the regular season to twelve games, teams with the same number of losses as wins annually qualify for bowl games. Some of those teams plus others with 7-5 records only achieved that modicum a success by defeating team from the Division 1-AA level.

The driving force behind the overstuffed schedule of irrelevant match-ups is conferences’ overblown views of their members. Conferences with automatic bids to Bowl Series Championship games delusionally believe that their fifth and sixth place teams deserve to play an extra game, usually against another distant also-ran from another major conference. Also pushing for the inflation of the bowl glut, the five non-automatic qualifying conferences are equally culpable. These five groups of defectors from Division 1-AA, remnants of formerly relevant conferences and long-time independents clamor for any nationally televised games, even their second and third place members. Sadly, in this era when even last place in children’s competitions merits a trophy, the once highly prized bowl game berth has degenerated into a de facto thirteenth game for more than half of teams in the top echelon of NCAA football.  

            Previous generations of fans of bowl-bound teams relished trips to bowls to touristic locations. People escaped wintry doldrums to ring in New Year’s Day in warm locales suited to entertaining visitors. Currently, the absurd array of bowl games includes such curiously undesirable destinations such as Boise, Detroit and Shreveport. Compounding this line-up of inappropriate vacation spots, a bowl game has been scheduled for Yankee Stadium after the 2010 season. What purpose would this serve other than to lure even more loud and tipsy spectators to pack Times Square further past the point of overflowing?

            As the situation exists now, bowl games serve much less of a financial boon to either to bowls sites or participants. In some cases, universities actually lose money by sending their teams to post-season play. After the costs of transporting the players, coaches, support staff, marching band and university officials then paying for all those to stay at the location of the game for at least three days, little to none of the bowl payout remains. For fans of perennial top 25 programs, spending hundreds of dollars to travel and watch their underperforming teams play a glorified exhibition match before New Year’s Day often fails to motivate them to part with their money. Therefore, bowl committees deduct the value of hundreds, frequently thousands, of unsold tickets allotted to universities from the sum given to them for participating in the game.

            Unfortunately, for the devotees of followers of the most popular amateur sport in the United States, we will have to settle for yet another year with three weeks of inconsequential contests concluded by one game purported to crown the national champion. 

COPYRIGHT BY CHARLES KASTRIOT, DECEMBER 2009

Now that the regular season of college football has concluded, college football fans need some topics to fill the conversational void until the bowl games start. Since all the awards were handed out last week, they have to find another issue. The never-ending debate over conference superiority always generates interest, if not heated discussions.

 

In an effort to determine the strength of conferences in relation to each other, I have devised a formula to calculate objectively how they rate. I have reviewed the non-conference match-ups of the eleven Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division 1-A) conferences' members.

 

The formula consists of teams contributing points toward their conference's totals with each win against other teams outside their own conference. Teams receive no credit for defeating members of the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division 1-AA). However, conferences' members are penalized for losing to FCS/Division 1-AA teams. Wins on the road or at neutral sites carry more value than wins at home. Conferences earn bonus points if their members defeated other conferences' overall champions or divisional champions. The score of 1.000 is the highest possible score for a conference whose members played all of their non-conference games at home; in this case, the conference won all of them, beating only FBS opponents, none of whom won their conference or divisional championships.

 

After plugging in all of the numbers into my top secret formula, here are the results:

 

CONFERENCE NUMBER OF NON-CONFERENCE GAMES SCORE

Southeastern: 48 .891

Big East: 40 .788

Pacific Ten: 30 .617

Big Twelve: 48 .578

Big Ten: 44 .574

Mountain West: 36 .535

Atlantic Coast: 48 .521

Western Athletic: 38 .434

Conference USA: 48 .250

Mid-American: 52 .231

Sun Belt: 36 .083

 

The Atlantic Coast Conference had monumental victories. Virginia Tech's wins over the Big Twelve Northern Division champion Nebraska and Conference USA's champion East Carolina earned some respect for the ACC. Additionally, North Carolina also defeated ECU. Boston College defeated the Mid-American Conference champion, Central Michigan.

 

On the flip side, the ACC suffered several embarrassing losses. Virginia lost to William & Mary and Duke lost to Richmond; both of those winning teams play at the FCS level. The ACC struggled mightily, 2-5, versus the SEC. The only two wins occurred against the only two SEC teams who finished with losing records. The fact that both teams in the ACC title game lost to SEC teams finishing 7-5 further tarnished the ACC's image. Finally, BC dropped a game to the imploded program in South Bend, Indiana.

 

The Southeastern Conference piled up notable wins yet could have easily earned a higher score. Florida and Arkansas rolled over Troy, the Sun Belt champion. Georgia’s win at Georgia Tech combined with South Carolina defeating Clemson bolstered the SEC's claim to superiority over the conference derisively regarded as "a basketball conference". Also, Tennessee beat Ohio, the Eastern Division winner of the Mid-American Conference. Had nine of the members played FBS instead of FCS opponents, including Mississippi beating two formerly labeled Division 1-AA programs, then the SEC's point total could have easily exceeded 0.9, even if not all of those games were wins for the SEC.

 

The Big Ten continued its cherished tradition of inviting Mid-American Conference members to serve as punching bags. Prior to starting intra-conference games or just filling in open dates later in the year, the Big 10 bullied the MAC in eleven of the thirteen head-to-head contests.

 

The Pacific Ten responded positively following last season's embarrassing regular season record of 1-6 versus the Mountain West Conference. This year, the PAC 10 won all three games against the MWC. Fans might wonder if the smaller number of match-up between these two conferences contributed to the reversal. However, the PAC 10 appears more balanced and improved than in 2008.

 

For those higher rated conferences, take pride in your rankings. As for the rest, redemption can always occur in winning bowl games.

 

As the National Football League enters the final quarter of its regular season, the contenders for championships have been distilled from the mash of 32 teams. The fans of the dregs must come to grips with their fate. Their only solace is to check out the college bowl games to see whom their teams might draft in April.

American Football Conference
East Division: New England has stumbled the past two weeks but still leads the division by one game over the Jets and Dolphins. The Patriots split the meetings with both contenders so their game at Buffalo will weigh heavily when the tie-breakers are applied. A loss to the Bills would give Miami the tie-breaking advantage over New England. The Jets could easily make up ground versus the putrid Buccaneers, injury-riddled Falcons then probably complacent Colts. This race looks to go down to the final game of the regular season.

North Division: Only four losses to close out the regular season would prevent Cincinnati from wrapping up the division. The Bengals swept their divisional games so just one win will secure the division. However, they cannot become lackadaisical if they want to beat out the winner of the AFC West for the second seed and a first round bye.

South Division: The only remaining question here is “How hard will the Colts pursue a perfect season?” Indianapolis has already claimed the divisional crown. Merely by splitting their final four games, the Colts can earn home-field advantage for the playoffs. Due to the Jaguars 6-2 conference record, they remain in the thick of wild-card contention.

West Division: San Diego resuscitated its season with infusions of AFC creampuffs during an impressive seven game winning streak. The Chargers will step up in class in the next two weeks versus playoff contenders. Denver only trails by one game with these two having split their match-ups. The Broncos absolutely must win their remaining divisional games at home to have a shot at wresting the AFC West away from San Diego.

National Football Conference
Eastern Division: This division has provided down-to-the-wire finishes on an annual basis for several years. This year projects as yet another exciting conclusion. The Giants trail by one game but hold the tie-breaking advantage over the Cowboys; a win at home versus the Eagles is vital to keep pace while avoiding conceding the tie-breaker to Philadelphia. The Eagles currently holds the tie-breaker factoring in NFC games which might end up settling the deadlock. Dallas already has two divisional losses, both to the Giants, so the Cowboys must win their final four games, especially those two NFC East games to avoid falling behind the Giants.

Northern Division:Minnesota sits on the cusp of securing the division. Thanks to their sweep of Green Bay, the Vikings need only to win half of their scheduled matches to grab the divisional title and a first round bye. Minnesota has to hope that New Orleans stumbles twice in order to sneak into position for home-field advantage.

Southern Division: New Orleans has already wrapped up the NFC South. The Saints can even afford to throw in one clunker yet still receive the top seed in the NFC playoffs. One of the least successful franchises in NFL history has a realistic chance to become only the second team to finish 16-0. Atlanta and Carolina will require Herculean efforts along with some assistance from other teams to limp into the playoffs.

Western Division: Just like last season, Arizona is not playing in a consistently aesthetic fashion. However, the Cardinals will secure the division by splitting their remaining games. The Forty-Niners have teased their fans dreaming of a return to the glory years of the 80s and 90s. Unfortunately for them, San Francisco must win out and hope for Arizona to choke.

COPYRIGHT BY CHARLES KASTRIOT DECEMBER 2009

 After two months' of college football completed, two diametrically opposed yet equally intriguing outcomes to the regular season could occur. Will we see the finish foreseen by most talking heads during the summer or will unpredicted outcome of games throw he system into disarray? 

The widely predicted a showdown between Texas and the winner of the Southeastern Conference Championship between Alabama and Florida remains probable though not guaranteed. The Longhorns have proved themselves in a league of their own when compared to the rest of the Big Twelve. The top three teams still have to avoid the possible pitfalls in a regular season-ending grudge matches against in-state rivals.  Alabama is the only one if the three who will play a team in the Top 25 before the conference championship game. Such a seemingly pre-ordained national title game has not been foreseen so clearly since 2004.

The other extreme is a huge controversy if one or more of the following occurs:

-Texas stumbles in November or is upset by whichever decrepit squad emerges from the mire of the Northern Division of the Big Twelve.

-Neither Alabama nor Florida finish undefeated or, even more unsettling, neither one wins the Southeastern Conference. Although no one seems to consider the possibility that LSU could upset Alabama this Saturday then remember to bring its offense to a rematch against Florida in Atlanta, if that happens, LSU will possibly rise to the Top Two.

-Both Texas Christian and Boise State conclude the regular season as undefeated and find themselves among the Top 5 in the polls, if not higher. Could both expect bids to BCS bowls? Would either finish high enough to play for the national title?

-The only undefeated teams from BCS conferences are Iowa and Cincinnati. Would the lack of respect for their conferences curtail their number of votes, leaving them out of the BCS title game?

Half of this possibility seems tantalizing close to fruition. Would an undefeated Iowa team settling for the Rose Bowl instead of a shot at the national title light a fire under the Big Ten to support a playoff? The obstinacy of the Big Ten in its addiction to sending its champion to Pasadena on New Year’s Day instead of a multi-team playoff could dearly cost the Hawkeyes.

Here a look at this season’s prominent overachievers so far:

1. Iowa: Kirk Ferentz has recaptured his highly successful formula which he possessed earlier in this decade. The Hawkeyes are in the driver’s seat to win the Big Ten, and with some help, sneak into the BCS title game.
2. Texas Christian: The Frogs have leaped over Boise State in the BCS standings. TCU is well positioned to try to prove that Utah is not the only Mountain West Conference team capable of winning a BCS bowl. 
3. Temple: This perennially atrocious program has its first winning season in nearly twenty years. One of the bowls with a tie-in to the Mid-American Conference might invite the Owls. Their hope is that residents of Philadelphia might actually be interested enough to watch a Temple football game for once in their lives.

In contrast, the following are the year’s most notable chokers:

1. Mississippi: The Rebels have crashed hard from their pre-season Top Ten loft. Ole Miss was mathematically eliminated from contention for the division before the start of November. The best case scenario is qualifying for a third-rate bowl game.
2. Southern California: The huge crashing sound reverberating across the country on Halloween night resulted from the huge number of media and fair-weather fans leaping from the Trojan bandwagon. The decade of domination on the Left Coast by the Trojans is nearly at its end. Will the team and fans throw in the towel already knowing they will not play in a BCS bowl for the first time since 2001?
3. Oklahoma: The season-opening loss to BYU foreshadowed a disappointing year for the Sooners. The only consolation available is sweeping the games in November and an invitation to the Cotton Bowl, assuming their fans still care enough to journey back Dallas for a third time this season.

COPYRIGHT NOVEMBER 2009 BY CHARLES KASTRIOT  

Some actions are so easily anticipated and foreseeable. When they occur, these incidents only surprise those ignorant of the causes or those willfully blind to reality. Such incidents include rabid dogs biting people, flies buzzing around freshly deposited feces and snakes sliding along the ground before striking their victims. Also in the category of expected occurrences, one finds the inevitability of Mohamadans murdering civilized people when the opportunity presents itself.

 

Today’s latest episode of a jihadi slaying American armed forces personnel has underscored the need for a ban on Mohamadans in the American armed forces. This continues a long string of fifth columnists within the various branches of U.S. Department of Defense who used their training to murder Americans. I provide a recap of just some of the jihads’ plots to attack and undermine for those who forgot or have buried their hands in the sands of useful idiocy:

 

-On June 1 of this year, Abdulhakim Mujahid fatally shot Private William Long and wounded Quinton Ezeagwula in Little Rock, Arkansas.

 

-On the twenty-third of March 2003, Sgt. Asan Akbar rolled live grenades into the tents of fellow soldiers then fired an automatic weapon at them at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait. This jihadi killed two officers and injured fourteen other soldiers.

 

-Jeffrey Leon Battle, one of the Portland Six tied to al-Kaida, joined the Army Reserves in order to learn how to kill American soldiers. On the fourth of October 2002 Jeffrey Leon Battle was arrested. According to the Justice Department, he planned to wage war against Americans in Afghanistan. On the second of December 2003, Battle pleaded guilty and received a sentence of 18 years in prison.

 

 -In May of 2002, the federal agents arrested Semi Osman, a Mohamadan cleric and a mechanic in the Naval Reserves, as part of an investigation of a terrorist training camp in Oregon. Osman had access to fuel trucks like those employed in the  bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia 1996 that killed 19 U.S. airmen. In January 2003, he pleaded guilty to a weapons charge.

 

-Ali Mohamed, a secret member of Islamic Jihad, enlisted in the U.S. Army and reached the rank of sergeant. He taught a class on Islamic perceptions of America to special forces at Fort Bragg in  North Carolina. He also taught at the JFK Special Operations Warfare School where he stole classified military documents. After leaving the Army in 1989, he joined al-Kaida. He spent the 1990s traveling around the world helping plot jihadist operations. The FBI finally arrested him in 1998. He pleaded guilty to conspiring with Osama Bin Laden to attack Western targets.

 

-John Allen Muhammad was mechanic, truck driver and specialist metalworker in the Louisiana National Guard and later in the U.S. Army. He earned commendations for marksmenship which used to shoo t and kill ten civilians and wounded three other in the autumn of 2002 in the metropolitan area of Washington, DC.

 

A person need only read any of the numerous violently totalitarian scriptures serving as the foundation of Islam. These Islamic plots to murder Americans, civilians and armed forces personnel, and undermine national security further highlight the danger of allowing Mohamadans into the organizations sworn to protect the United States. How many more treacherous savages have to infiltrate American armed forces then slaughter the true defenders of freedom before the U.S. government bars these hostile barbarians from its military?

 

COPYRIGHT NOVEMBER 2009 BY CHARLES KASTRIOT

So how did President Obama manage to win the Nobel Peace Prize? One might ask if this is a consolation prize for his utter failure to secure the Summer Olympics for his hometown. Considering that flop occurred less than two weeks after the announcement of the award, that seems impossible. Perhaps it is due to his election to the presidency. Was the committee allured by his frequent flagellation of his country in front of audiences while overseas? A review of the previous winners reveals much insight into the minds and motivations of the awarders.  

The Nobel Committee certainly has never shown a propensity to hand out the award to someone for simply being elected to the American presidency. Only three other American presidents have received the award; none of them earned it during the first year of their administration. In 1919, Woodrow Wilson received the prize for breaking his promise to keep the United States out of the First World War. Theodore Roosevelt secured the award in 1906 for convincing Japan to stop further routing the decrepit and inept armed forces of czarist Russia. In 2002, Carter took home the acknowledgement more than twenty years after leaving the Oval Office. Apparently, the committee believed his four years of emasculating the American armed forces and intelligence agencies did not suffice. He needed to perform two decades' worth of denigrating later occupants of the White House in their efforts to combat Communist, Fascist and Jihadist forces around the world. Notably, presidents such as Ronald Reagan’s and Franklin Roosevelt’s efforts to lead the United States to victory over the Soviet Union and the Axis Powers respectively were never acknowledged by an award from this committee.

The committee may have decided that Obama's nascent efforts to undermine free enterprise and help facilitate the destruction of the Free World's notion of representative democracy have merited the award for him. In the past twenty years, others have been rewarded for merely trying in these endeavors. Renowned Marxist, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov received the award as a payment for attempting to delay for as long as possible the inevitable implosion of the Soviet Union in 1990. The 1994 Peace Prize went to Yasir Arafat for a lifetime of overseeing bombings, hijackings and other contributions to the International Jihad. In 2001, Kofi Anan and the United Nations secured the prize for successfully swindling billions of dollars from the Free World to provide a forum for Marxist, Islamic and other totalitarians nations to criticize capitalism, representative democracy and freedom in general. In 2005, Mohamad Elbaradei and his International Atomic Energy Agency won the endowment for paying lip service to halting Iran's efforts to develop a nuclear weapons while foot-dragging long enough for the Islamic regime to continue their program. Former vice-president, Al Gore Jr., took home the accolade in 2007 by touting alarmist predictions of gloom and demanding that the free and technologically advanced societies of the world slow down their economies in order for authoritarian countries to seem less backwards. Granted, the committee nominated Obama less than a month after he was inaugurated. Therefore, one must assume that the committee chose the winner based on potential for furtherance of the statists' goals.

So what has Obama accomplished to deserve this prize? He has curried favor with Islamists and their useful idiots around the world by ordering a halt to effective interrogation of jihadis and the closing of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. He announced that he will soon remove most of the American armed forces in Iraq thus, allowing jihadis an easier possibility of toppling the elected government and replace it with an Islamic regime. Much to the delight of statists envious of American prosperity, he has seized considerable federal governmental control over two of the three largest American automobile manufacturers in addition to several of the nation's largest banks. He has won the approval of such prominent dictators such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Libya's Muamar Kadaffy and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinewhackjob.

In conclusion, this decision foreshadows more lurching toward socialism and more dhimmitude for the United States of America. Obama had the influence of Saul Alinsky and Bill Ayers plus his indoctrination in an Indonesian madrassa motivating his decisions. After this announcement, he has to prove to the Nobel Committee that he deserves their confidence and will govern up to their authoritarian standards.

After the first quarter of the National Football League season has been completed, fans can step back and review the early results. I have noticed some developing trends. The following are my observations, broken down by division.

American Football Conference, Eastern Division: Before the quarterback Mark Sanchez finally played like a rookie, Jets' fans were dreaming of a "Subway Super Bowl" against their cross-town nemeses. Regardless of that loss, the Jets still hold a slight advantage over New England, thanks to their win in the second week. As of it appears now, both team are headed to the playoffs.

American Football Conference, Northern Division:No clear front-runner has emerged yet. Baltimore and Cincinnati are tied at 3-1, followed by 2-2 Pittsburgh. One has to wonder if the Bengals can sustain early-season success in view of recent years of failure. Also, are the Steelers simply feeling lingering effects of Super Bowl hangover and will recover in time to compete for the divisional title? Will the Ravens' offense play consistently enough to support their continuance of defensive domination? This muddled picture needs more time to clarify.

 American Football Conference, Southern Division: At first glance, Indianapolis appears to be Boise State and the rest of the division is imitating the rest of the Western Athletic Conference. Granted the Colts are bolting to the head of the AFC, yet Jacksonville is still within striking distance, thanks to its 2-1 record in divisional games. If the Colts stumble down the stretch while Jaguars go on a winning streak, the match-up between these two on the seventeenth of December could decide the divisional title. The Titans' 10-0 start in 2008 seems like ancient history considering their 0-4 start.

American Football Conference, Western Division: At this point, Denver would have to totally collapse to not win the division. Both Oakland and Kansas City are testing their fans' patience and season ticket holders' sanity with their continued putrid performances; neither seems ready to improve on recent years of ineptitude.

National Football Conference, Eastern Division: New York is out front early in this race. Assuming the Giants can avoid choking at home versus Oakland, the Week Six showdown with undefeated New Orleans would likely give the winner the tie-breaker for one of the top two playoff seeds. Philadelphia is danger of losing ground during Donovan McNabb's injury. We will find out if their gamble on Michael Vick or their drafting of Kolb will pay off for the Eagles. Fortunately, they have easily winnable games in the next two weeks. The Cowboys and Redskins can still sneak back into the race since they are only two games behind the Giants. However, they are both plagued by meddlesome owners and harsh scrutiny of their huge and impatient fan bases.

 National Football Conference, Northern Division: Minnesota appears to be on the verge of pulling away from the pack despite only one game ahead of the second-place Bears. Two wins within the division already further their cause. However, Chicago and Green Bay have the talent to make this a photo-finish. I suspect this race will be tight with the division not wrapped up until the last week of the season.

 National Football Conference, Southern Division: After only four weeks, half of this division is already looking forward to the draft. New Orleans and Atlanta will duke it out for the title. New Orleans' offense revved in high gear in the first two games as it has since Drew Brees arrived in 2006. The reason behind their 4-0 start is found in the defense which no longer acts as a brake on their momentum. Surprisingly, the Saints' defense allowed no points in Buffalo and outscored their offensive unit versus the Jets. The Falcons find themselves a game and a half behind the Saints but do have one advantage over the Saints at this point: a win within the division.

National Football Conference, Western Division: The Forty-Niners have awakened the fans in San Francisco from their decade-long nightmare of irrelevance. Arizona is slipping back to its perennial loser status after last season’s miraculous run to the Super Bowl. Seattle's performance have appeared nearly as ugly as the fluorescent green jerseys that the Seahawks wore versus Saint Louis  should petition the Canadian Football League for membership then let the Grey Cup winner take the Rams' place in this division. San Francisco will win the NFC West by default.

Of course, the projections are subject to change due to injuries to and arrests of players.

 

The first month of college football has been completed with the trends of the single digit years of twenty-first century continuing.

Southern California decided to perform its annual half-hearted effort leading to a loss in a road game versus an unranked Pacific Ten opponent early this year. That way, USC gave the talking heads at ABC and ESPN more weeks to gush fawningly over the Trojans after routs of the rest of conference. All which is left for the Trojans to accomplish is to finish plowing through the Pacific Ten then run circles around the snail-like adversary from the Big Ten.

Ohio State perpetuated its reputation for crumbling in non-conference games versus non-BCS opponents. The Buckeyes' reputation for folding under the national spotlight has been slightly exacerbated by three consecutive losses in BCS bowls and a 0-4 mark against the Southeastern Conference. In fairness to Ohio State, the Buckeyes have won eleven of the nineteen games with BCS non-conference opponents in the first nine years and one month of the 2000s. They also hold a four win and two loss record against the Big Twelve and a 4-3 tally against the Pacific Ten since 2000.

The media love to mention "BCS Busters" as candidates to upset the template of the national championship game. They relish the potential controversy of someone other than members of the conferences with automatic bids advancing to the BCS title game. Some of these "flies in the ointment", Utah and BYU, have already failed to maintain momentum after upsetting a ranked major conference member in the first week. The advocates for chaos need not fear for lack of Cinderellas. Houston remains undefeated after two wins over Big Twelve members while Boise State has improved on its pre-season top twenty ranking and snuck into the fifth position in the polls.

The Michigan bandwagon has returned with plenty of vacant seats. A sizeable number of riders have bailed out over the past two seasons. Losing the season-opener to Appalachian State two years ago followed by last year's 3-9 mark tarnished the winged helmets in many eyes. The widely predicted shift of power in the Great Lakes State seems to have only been an outlier of 2008. The cross-state nemesis, Michigan State, has stumbled embarrassingly to start the season. Last minute losses to Central Michigan and Notre Dame then an inept performance at Wisconsin bode a heartbreaking backslide for the Spartans. This Saturday's intra-state grudge match serves as the crossroads for both teams. A Spartan victory could start a reclamation of a season with the possibility of a Big Ten title. A Michigan win would further legitimize the return to the status of "Big Three" status for the Wolverines.

This author has been accused of promoting hatred of Mohamadans. I have been criticized for automatically concluding that Islamists are guilty of committing acts of war and terrorism against the Free World. "Never mind that the overwhelming number of bombings across the world, both of the suicidal and homicidal varieties, occur in furtherance of the jihad," say Islamists and their useful idiots. So do they have a point that the goons holding a Koran in one hand while torching churches and the Christians inside them or while vandalizing Jewish-owned business or cemeteries did not constitute a concerted effort by Islamists to attack infidels? In an attempt at cultural sensitivity, conflict resolution and reconciliation with Mohamadans, I will serve as the defense attorney in the court of public opinion for Najibullah Zazi, the Mohamadan in the United States recently arrested for involvement with a terrorist plot targeting New York. (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/18/national/main5321252.shtml?tag=stack)

Has anyone considered the possibility all of his secretive dealings were an effort to surprise New Yorkers? On the eighth anniversary of the jihadist attacks on the World Trade Center, maybe he was planning a citywide gift distribution. After consulting a list of traditional gifts for anniversaries, Zazi could have been secretly arranging the placement of improvised explosive devices in pottery or bronze receptacles through the city. The residents could have been greeted with lovely gunpowder-fueled displays spelling out "I heart NY" in shrapnel. Perhaps he preferred the modern suggestion of lace or linen so we can deduce what he had in mind: new burkas for every woman in the city! So, FBI, are you happy now that you ruined the surprise for everyone? What a bunch of spoilsports!

Did the FBI consider the possibility that Zazi's reference to an actual, planned wedding was, in fact, legitimate but just not recognized under the American legal system? News out of Sudan showed that Islamists do not discriminate against people with an alternative sexual orientation(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4748292.stm). Moral relativists certainly should demand that the FBI display a higher level of tolerance for this cultural aspect of Islam, in addition to other cherished Islamic practices like female genital mutilation, wife-beating and murder of rape victims. Once again, Americans have demonstrated their bigotry toward sexual minorities!

Undoubtedly, people in the United States will label Zazi as an "extremist" or a "radical" adherent of Islam. A more unfounded accusation could not be hurled at him. Zazi has faithfully devoted himself to following the tenets and commandments of the Koran. He has not strayed into un-Islamic activities like befriending infidels, repairing vandalized churches or synagogues, protesting against terrorism, composing music or creating works of art like sculptures or portraits. Therefore, those who have besmirched his allegiance to Allah should acknowledge Zazi's commitment to true Islam!

Is it too much to ask for Americans to view the situation from Zazi's point of view? We should consider his unease about seeing his relatives for the upcoming the celebration of Eid al-Fitr. He would have had to face yet another plethora of irritating comments from his parents such as "Your older brother Mohamad killed three infidels and one apostate during Ramadan. That's more than you killed all year! Even your younger brother Mohamad martyred himself last month. Why can't you stop being such a slacker and act like your brothers?" Due to his shirking of his responsibilities to Allah and Mohamad, Zazi's parents will not give him that brand new explosive vest on which he has had eye for months now. Instead, he will have to settle for a box cutter as the gift from his parents. That kind of torture would not be permitted by the United Nations yet we expect that this young man to suffer like this? Have you no heart, Americans?

I would like to offer a compromise. We should allow him to behead a few members of Code Pink or the John Adams Project to placate his demanding parents. The members of those groups would just blame the slayings on George Bush, Israel's existence, global warming or any other culprit except for Islam. So what would be the problem?

In conclusion, I wish to all my devoted Mohamadan readers, HAVE AN EXPLOSIVE EID AL-FITR!

COPYRIGHT BY CHARLES KASTRIOT SEPTEMBER 2009

Hidden by the ongoing debate and protests over the proposed socialization of the American health care system in addition to the recent death of the man responsible for Mary Jo Kopechne's death, the Obama administration has started its torment of the defenders of American security. The Obama regime has been returning political favors to those that supported his campaign. Among these are the self-loathing Americans who want the United States to accept defeat and retreat on all of fronts in the Islamic war against the Free World. Therefore, the Obamaniacs have demanded that their messiah's henchmen unsheathe their daggers then plunge them into the exposed backs of patriots combating jihadis. 

American service personnel have already been forced to concede to Islamists' demands regarding the treatment of the jihadis. American tax dollars were spent to provide a Koran, prayer rug and prayer beads to every captured jihadi. This funding of religious instruction exists in addition to the highly expensive provision of halal meals to cater to the savages' tastes. All of this undeserved treatment of these criminals flies in the face of the Geneva Convention. None of these goons were wearing a distinguishable military uniform while engaged in such activities as firing on American and allied forces, planting explosives and other acts of war.

There is no precedent for this appeasement of Islamists' demands for undeserved treatment. German prisoners during the Second World War never received free copies of <i>Mein Kempf</i> during their captivity. During that same war, the few Japanese soldiers captured by American  were not issued any means to commit ritualistic suicide as their ideology mandated. Additionally, captured communist forces during the wars in Korea and Vietnam never were issued copies of <i>The Communist Manifesto</i> or any other Marxist literature supplied by the country that they sought to defeat. One must ask why do adherents to Islam deserve complementary implements of their ideology when adherents to other strains of totalitarianism were denied similar luxuries. Not only were Axis and Communist forces never pampered in captivity, those who engaged in military operations while not in uniform were frequently executed. Anyone involved in acts of sabotage or other hostility while not in uniform are considered as spies; those have no protections under the Geneva Convention.  Instead of bowing down to Allah five times per day, these jihadis should reserve some gratitude for Uncle Sam for his naive and short-sighted magnanimity.

So what practices have drawn the ire of the useful idiots more concerned about pleasing Islamists than preventing further acts of jihad against the United States? Some of these prisoners were strip-searched, had ink smeared on their faces, were held in solitary confinement, were deprived of shoes, had cigar smoke blown in their faces or saw an interrogator squat over, stand on or kick a Koran. Can anyone hand-wringing over these incidents name just one person who has ever died or suffered disabling injuries from any of these actions?

Mohamad al-Kahtani, the would-be twentieth hijacker of the plot on the eleventh of September in 2001, faced annoyances such as sleep deprivation, exposure to cold  and insults to female members of his family. Many of the members of the American armed forces have endured the same treatment during their training. When will any member of the ACLU or any other jihadi-coddling group lift a finger to halt to rough treatment meted out to American service personnel?

In a pursuit of justice, someone should conduct of poll of survivors of jihadist violence. The question would ask, “Would you rather undergo the same treatment suffered by the prisoners at GITMO or would prefer the fate of the passengers of the hijacked planes and by the occupants of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon?” Maybe such an undertaking would open the eyes of the “Hate America First” crowd to see the folly of their myopic and self-destructive agenda.

COPYRIGHT CHARLES KASTRIOT SEPTEMBER 2009

Once again, the most wonderful time of the year is on the verge of arriving for fans of the National Football League. The NFL's exhibition games, euphemistically named "pre-season", have commenced with the annual kickoff at the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio. Fans know that their teams' weekly contests and all the days pre-game speculation and post-game dissection are just around the corner. The sensation for football aficionados resembles that of children when the Christmas merchandise appears in stores. Unfortunately, the anticipation has been needlessly extended just like the retail outlets do by decorating immediately after Labor Day instead of after Thanksgiving Day.

Honestly, does anyone still cling to the antiquated notion that professional football players need four meaningless games in order to prepare themselves for the regular season slate of sixteen? Teams engage in mini-camps throughout the off-season. Plus, players voluntarily participate in drills with teammates during the spring and summer before the official opening of training camps. The days when most, if not all, players showed up to training camp in mid-summer noticeably overweight, stiff or, in any other way, indifferent of any football related matter since their teams' final game of the previous season have gone the way of the phonograph and black/white televisions.

Granted, most fans enjoy watching the first and possibly the second exhibition games. Those two provide an opportunity to view rookies selected in the draft and new additions to the team acquired via free agency or off-season trades. Few fans have access to the scrimmages conducted during training camp so the first exhibition game remains the initial viewing of the newcomers in their new uniforms. However, the novelty soon dissipates in the knowledge that any outstanding performances must be weighed against the half-hearted level of effort of veterans in the games and the irrelevancy of the final scores. The only drama for those fans who watch the final two exhibition games lies in the holding of their collective breath in hope that none of the starting players of his/her teams sustain any injuries preventing them from playing the the games that actually count in the standings.

Therefore, this writer proposes the elimination of the last two exhibition games. Undoubtedly, the owners and others who benefit financially from the staging of these meaningless contests will object. After all, NFL teams charge hefty prices for tickets to these glorified scrimmages which season-ticket holders cannot avoid since these exhibition games are included in their season ticket packages. Those who make their living based on attendance at the games such as vendors, employees at parking lots and others would hate to see two of their ten opportunities for sales to vanish. Obviously, some recompense must be offered to assuage the pain of withdrawal.

The solution will prevent the loss of revenue by those with a stake in upholding the number of games played at an NFL venue yet give the fans more of what they deserve: games that count in the standings. The final two exhibition games should be replaced with two more regular season non-conference games. Just as college football teams typically play two or more non-conference opponents at the start of a season, the NFL would benefit by such a structure of scheduling. The number of games a team would host would not change so there would be no loss of revenue. Fans would not feel cheated by paying to see as many inconsequential games as they do currently.

To further bolster the appeal of these two additional non-conference games, each team would have a list of annual opponents that would spark much interest among the fans to see the teams play every season despite not being in the same conference. Several match-ups of teams in the same state or otherwise within close proximity to each other stand out as obviously interesting contests. The high level of anticipation would exist regardless of the records of the teams entering the contests. Opponents in the same media markets such the Jets and the Giants in addition to the Raiders and the Forty-Niners would provide an outlet for the antipathy between both sets of fans on the field during a relevant game of the regular season. Intrastate matches such the Cowboys versus the Texans, the Buccaneers versus the Dolphins, the Redskins versus the Ravens, the Eagles versus the Steelers and the Rams versus the Chiefs certainly hold more allure in a regular season game even though these teams often play their in-state counterpart in exhibition contests. Even annual meetings between teams of states bordering each other like the Colts versus the Bears, the Lions versus the Browns, the Chargers versus the Cardinals and the Falcons versus the Jaguars could develop into heated rivalries with a traditional early season date against each other.

An extra financial benefit of scheduling these games with teams within a close distance of each other should appeal to owners as well as fans. The shorter distance between the city of visiting team and the home team's stadium will reduce travel costs. For some of these proposed annual contests, the visiting team could easily take buses to their opponent's stadium. A person does not need a Ph.D. in economics or management to realize the tremendous savings in the substitution of one or two short bus trips for several dozen adults instead of flying across timezones for a handful of trivial exhibition games. Also, visiting fans will be more likely to attend games if they can drive to the opponents' stadium and return home the day of the game.

So when will Commissioner Roger Goodell and the owners of NFL franchises adjust to the current situation and abolish some of its needless games in favor of some that will draw much more attention from the fans? Hopefully, the change will occur sooner than the decades that passed before the NFL acknowledged the utility of the two-point conversion and implemented it.

COPYRIGHT BY CHARLES KASTRIOT AUGUST 2009

I thought that I could watch television news channels or surf internet news sites again. Certainly, our national period of mourning must have ended by now, or so I hoped. Alas, like the zombies featured in the music video for the song Thriller, the reports persist in haunting my search for coverage of worthwhile events.

The never-ending drama surrounding the death of Michael Jackson needs to cease. He passed away unexpectedly more than three weeks ago yet still remains far too prominent among media coverage. Despite the devotion of his blindly enamored fanatics, his superficial impact on the world does not merit the overindulgence of attention accorded to his life’s accomplishments, his funeral, the custody of his children and the division of his estate.

His cult of personality has ballooned to an absurd level, way out of proportion to his contemporary relevance or to human history. Statements crediting him with breakthroughs in the arena of civil rights resonate as curious hyperbole at best. As a role model for black Americans, particularly black males born since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Jackson left much to be desired. Granted, he transferred his success as a pre-teen pop star with his four brothers into a solo singing career. However, he chose to undergo multiple cosmetic surgeries over the course of his adulthood to obscure and eventually remove his distinctively black facial features. In the final few years of his life, Jackson resembled an alabaster and androgynous freak more suited to the day-time tawdry talkshows.

Further undermining the de facto sainthood accorded to Michael Jackson are the rumors and confirmed reports of his creepy interaction with children. Obviously, Jackson suffered from the deprivation of a healthy childhood. Due to his parents’ hard-driving exhortations to pinnacles of fame and fortune in the music industry, many of the joys of adolesence eluded Jackson. Evidently, he thought that by creating a fantasy-inspired home appropriately named “Neverland” that he could recreate the youth which he was denied. Nevertheless, any man who actively seeks the company of pre-teen boys who are not related to him stands out as strange. Jackson’s overt catering to preteen boys eerily resembles behavior employed by child molesters to lure in their prey. Regardless of whether he desired sexual exploitation of his young male companions or simply and selfishly wanted the typical boyhood experiences that he was denied, he rightfully deserved the scorn and condemnation that he received for his bizarre behavior.

Granted, Jackson’s albums rank as some of the highest selling of all-time. However, overblown statements labeling him as the greatest singer or musician or entertainer of all time need a strong case of tempering with historical perspective without the emotional tumult following his recent death. He never mastered any musical instrument; his ability to read and compose music has not been substantiated. Sadly, his legions of adorers mistake his effeminate voice, flashy gyrations and self-fondling for musical perfection.

What will cure the American, indeed, world’s obsession with this death of one man and its endless, overdramatized aftermath? Should we hope for the addition of another pet to the Obama White House? Will it necessitate O.J. Simpson's involvement in more felonious activities? Does another bubble-headed, bleached blonde, third-rate actress have to die unexpectedly? Perhaps, only the unexpected death of another washed-up pop star that also peaked in the 1980s will halt the gluttony of paparazzi's obsession with Jackson’s passing. So, will you help us out of this misery, Madonna?

COPYRIGHT BY CHARLES KASTRIOT JULY 2009

Popular rebellions throughout history have proved extremely difficult to gauge. Pundits and politicians attempt to project their final results. Often sparked by dour economic conditions combined with repressive governmental actions, rebellions open the portals for inundations of demands for economic and social transformations.

The French Revolution started when peasants' crops failed leading to famine. Decades of deficit spending precluded the ability of King Louis the Fourteenth's regime from doing much to alleviate the suffering. The knowledge of the aristocracy's opulence sparked the peasantry's rage. Intermingling with this anger, advocates of the Enlightenment, enthralled with novelties called representative democracy and liberty, joined the anti-monarchical chorus. The fervor eventually led to verbal and physical assaults on Catholic installations and clergy. The urge to overthrow all peripherals of the system even lead to abolition of the Christian calendar and its replacement by a week of ten days and a year that started on the day of the autumnal equinox.

The Russian Revolution grew out of opposition to Czar Nicholas the Second's decision to enter the First World War. Political minorities, factions of Marxism, anarchism and capitalism, became involved in the opposition to the monarchy; they disagreed on what form of government should replace it but all openly pushed for the end of the Czarist autocracy. Eventually, the totalitarianism of the Bolsheviks replaced the autocracy of the Czar. This upheaval led to fundamental changes such as the full-scale oppression of the Orthodox Christian Church and its institutions, even its calendar which the monarchy had used for centuries.

At the present, the world is watching the tumult occurring in Iran. After thirty years under a totalitarian government, the Islam-based oppression is chafing some teens and twenty-somethings. Despite the mullahs' efforts to isolate Iranians, increased ease of communication with the Free World has allowed the penetration of non-Islamic concepts. During the street protests, women have dared to pull back their legally-mandated head-coverings to un-Islamic standards, if not remove them completely. Reports indicate that demonstrators have yelled, "Death to the dictator!" and "Death to Khamenei!" If those have been occurring, the rebellion exceeds a mere burst of outrage by devotees of a candidate who lost an election. The suicide bombing of the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution which installed the Islamic regime, carries profound significance. That act of violence may portend opposition to the entire theocracy, not simply to the loony figurehead who holds the position of President of the Islamic regime.

Some question Mir Mousavi's alleged reformist agenda. Considering that politicians truly antipathic toward Islamic regime are never permitted to seek offices in the government, such skepticism is warranted. Therefore, one can rightfully question Mousavi's commitment to advocate for personal freedom and legitimate democracy in Iran.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad never attempted to hide his mental instability. He openly denies the Nazi genocide directed at Jews. He leaves a seat vacant just in case a supposed messianic figure called the "Twelfth Imam" happens to stop by wherever Ahmadinejad is making a public appearance. He actually says with a straight face that Iran wants a nuclear energy program for strictly peaceful purposes. How can any sane person justify the pursuit of nuclear technology for energy production in a country which is one of the largest exporters of petroleum in the world? I suppose Ahmadinejad expects that the "Twelfth Imam" will provide some sort of rational explanation or just bring the nuclear weapons himself, rendering the secretive program obsolete.

No one knows how this tumult will resolve itself. The theocrats in Iran may unleash a torrent of violence to crackdown on the protestors. However, that could possibly fan the blames of opposition causing undecided Iranians to side with the anti-regime forces. Middle Eastern experts might try to predict the outcome yet they have limited access to current developments inside Iran. Intelligence agencies of various countries are undoubtedly extracting all possible information that their agents can obtain. Nevertheless, a multitude of surveillance technology and inside sources cannot provide perfect clairvoyance and clairaudience. In the end, we will only know the fate of Iran after the demonstrations have concluded, either victoriously or in vain.

COPYRIGHT JUNE 2009 BY CHARLES KASTRIOT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Among the ongoing debates within the Obama Administration and the rest of the American society about the fate of the war criminals detained at Guantanamo Bay, jihadis reminded those paying attention why the facility exists in the first place. Four career criminals were in the process of waging jihad in New York. In the nearly eight years since the Islamic terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center, the Koran and its exhortations to violence and oppression of non-Mohamadans have not changed. The Islamists' will to impose Islamic dictates on the Free World has not evaporated either.

The continued detainment of jihadis at Guantanamo Bay does inspire other Mohamadans to respond to calls for jihad, as well as it should. If they die in the process of killing non-Mohamadans, they believe an eternity in a free bordello awaits them. If they succeed in murdering so-called "infidels" yet survive the attacks, they will be hailed as heroes throughout the Islamic bloc. If they are captured in the process of jihad, they will be rewarded with three halal meals per day plus a Koran, prayers beads and rug in addition to exercise equipment and furnished living quarters, all paid for by the suicidally naive U.S. government. With these three possible outcomes serving as the only consequences of engaging in jihad versus Americans, one must wonder why all Mohamadan males are not pursuing this path to limitless sex, fame or leisure.

This latest Islamic plot to attack Americans also raises an inexplicable phenomenon. The sheer stupidity of permitting Islamic clerics to enter American prisons stands out as astounding act of national self-immolation. These Islamists prey on criminals who already have little to no regard for the lives and property of law-abiding Americans. The Islamists give them an excuse for their rage against democracy, capitalism and freethinking. Then they encapsulate their lusts for murder, theft and rape by justifying such crimes as permissible by following the example of Mohamad ibn Abdullah (May he burn in hell forever) as recorded in the Koran and the hadiths.

Never in the history of the United States were enemy agents allowed to enter the country so openly and operate so freely as during this current war. The Nazi regime was not allowed to send representatives to scour Depression-era American jails for potential recruits for the SS or Wehrmacht. Without a doubt, Americans with Fascist or Marxist sympathies cruised "Hoovervilles" to stir up anti-republicanism or anti-capitalism. However, they did not do so with explicit approval of federal, state or local governmental sanction. The politically-correct acquiescence to Islamists' demands will continue to produce future enemy agents bent on murder and destruction within the United States. Prison authorities or the politicians controlling the funds supporting those authorities must halt this treacherous permissiveness before more home-grown jihadis strike again.