In Which We’re Longhorns for a Weekend

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UT put an end to Oklahoma’s unbeaten season yesterday in a hard-fought rivalry game I’m sorry I missed; the final score was 45 to 35, which kinda suggests something we’ve all been saying: the Big 12 is all offense. In any case, the win — along with some other amusing events — set up a rejiggering of the AP poll that puts Texas on top:

  1. Texas
  2. Alabama
  3. Penn State
  4. Oklahoma
  5. Florida
  6. USC
  7. Texas Tech
  8. Oklahoma State
  9. BYU
  10. Georgia

Mizzou falls to 11; LSU to 13. What stinks here is PSU in the #3 position. Penn State has played ONE ranked team all year, and it was #22 Illinois. Other than that? Nada. For this they’re ranked 3rd? It’s horseshit; they won’t even play another serious team all year, so they could stay unbeaten unless Ohio State (currently 12) or Michigan State (20) can knock ’em off. (The rest of their year is Michigan, Iowa, and Indiana — unranked squads to go with Coastal Carolina, Oregon State, Syracuse, Temple, Purdue and Wisconsin to fill out the rest of JoePa’s creampuff season). Florida — coming off its 51 to 21 domination of LSU — is a much more reasonable pick for #3.

Of course, Texas hasn’t exactly played titans, either, largely because the quality is on the back end of the Longhorns’ schedule; they still play #11 Mizzou, #8 Oklahoma State, and #7 Texas Tech before a stop at Baylor on 11/15, and then close out with #16 Kansas and the A&M game. Nobody will complain about UT’s rank if they keep winning, but the trick will be continuing to win.

Same goes for Alabama, though the Tide had more of a front-loaded schedule than UT. Still up for them: Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Arkansas State before the LSU game on 11/8. After that, MSU and Auburn. If the Tide that beat Georgia show up, they’ll win out, too, and set up a fine SEC-Big12 matchup in the championship game.

Sadly, this week also marked the end of Vandy’s win streak, as they were upset by Mississippi State. It sucks they lost here, but I’ve gotta say I love the idea that VANDY is the victim of an upset. You’ve gotta been seen as a strong favorite for a loss to be an upset, so in a way it’s still a moral victory. N.B. that the ‘Dores could still notch a bowl berth; they two more winnable games coming up (Wake and Duke).

Comments.

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Right, so, Heathen is under persistent spammer attack right now; we’ve trapped 2000 spam comments in the last 48 hours, so even a fraction of those getting through is enough to create a noise problem. With Mike D., I’m in the process of migrating to a new system that sucks less, but I’m also about to go out of town for business for a couple days, and I don’t want to keep getting swamped with 100+ spam comment alert messages in my email, so:

I have drastically altered the comment policy. Posts get locked up now after 10 days; say your piece before then, or suck it. Also, you have to have an AJAX capable browser to comment, which means you have to have Javascript enabled. This ought to drastically cut down the spammery.

We live in an age of miracles and wonders, or, We Are All Commodores Today

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Vanderbilt, one of the most academically elite schools in the South if not the nation, is traditionally the whipping boy of the SEC come football season. Granted, their offensive line has 4-digit SAT scores, so it’s almost not fair, but there you have it.

Except this year. Vandy started strong with a convincingly thorough whipping of Miami (OH) back in August, and really turned heads with its win over Spurrier’s South Carolina Gamecocks, then ranked 24 (that’s 2 in a row Steve’s dropped to the Commodores; maybe that should have told us something). Then came Rice, a true peer — they’re also an elite academic school playing football with state squads — but Vandy kept rolling. And the next week they beat Ole Miss, and all of a sudden Vandy was 4-0 with two SEC wins under its belt, and had a top twenty ranking (19).

Pretty much everyone thought that would be over once they met #13 Auburn today, though. Spurrier’s not having much luck in South Carolina, and Ole Miss is nearly always helpless when someone not named Manning is calling the plays. “It’s been fun, boys,” said the sports press, “but enjoy it while it lasts.” Indeed, that sounded reasonable: the last time Vandy beat Auburn was 1955, in the Gator Bowl.

A little while ago, though, it became clear it’s going to last at least one more week, and probably two, as the Vanderbilt Commodores edged Tuberbille’s troubled Tigers 14 to 13 in Nashville. Vanderbilt is 5-0 for the first time since 1943. Vandy’s ongoing top-25 position is also pretty new — its undergrads weren’t born the last time that happened (1984) — and they haven’t finished with a winning record since ’82. They still might not do that, but it’s certainly possible: next up is Mississippi State (1-4, 0-2 SEC). A win there puts them at .500, with wins at Duke and/or Wake Forest certainly possible. Sadly, their schedule is back-end heavy; they’ve still got to play four more SEC teams (#11 Georgia, #12 Florida, Kentucky, and Tennessee), too, and can’t realistically expect to bag more than one of those even if they’re lucky.

All that’s in the future, though. Today is still today, and as of this writing, they are in first place in the SEC East, and remain one of only three undefeated teams in the SEC (the other two, Alabama and LSU, are in SEC West).

Oh, yes, the Tide won, too, but frustratingly so, with needless errors and penalties in a game that was theirs to lose — Kentucky hasn’t ever beaten them in Tuscaloosa, and, like Vandy, is something of an SEC also-ran in football. The UK defense is real, though, and Saban will be justified in handing out some serious asskicking this week for gameplay that, against a more competitive team, would have cost them the game. Amusing stat, though: Tide RB Coffee had more yards on the ground than the whole Kentucky offense. At the end of the day, an ugly win is still a win, so Bama goes 6-0 with a bye next week, then Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Arkansas State cued up before the big show in Baton Rouge in November 8. (Thanks to Frank for the correction.)

Today’s Challenge

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In recent snippet of interview, Gov. Palin suggested she disagreed with Roe because she was pro life, but also supported the constitutional right to privacy that underpins Roe (and Griswold v. Connecticut and Eisenstadt v. Baird). This suggests a sort of basic confusion about Constitutional law, but never mind that. It also reminds me of something else I’ve been meaning to talk about.

Mainstream pro-life theory attacks the idea of Constitutional privacy as enshrined in these three decisions (and, later, Lawrence v Texas), and their main weapon is the doctine of Constitutional originalism, or the idea that the text of the Constitution must be interprested as normal persons of 1789 would have read it. Adherents to this theory insist that the idea of a penumbra of rights implied in the privacy decisions is invalid, since it’s not part of the original text. (This is tenuous, but stay with me.) (It’s also this theory that suggests to Scalia that torture is not “cruel and unusual punishment” because it’s not punishment; it’s interrogation — and that consequently torture isn’t unconstitutional.)

But here’s the thing: I’ve yet to meet anyone, ever, who holds to this point of view, but also believes abortion ought to be legal. On the contrary, it appears that this POV is adopted exclusively by persons who wish to see an end to safe and legal abortions in this country, and who view this as an issue of paramount importance. (N.B. that the absence of Constitutional privacy doesn’t mean abortion must be illegal; it just means that the government would be free to make laws forbidding it.) This strongly suggests to me a measure of intellectual dishonesty among the originalists — that they have simply picked a philosophical structure that supports their desired outcome. This is certainly convenient for them — and is made more so, and at least slightly respectable by such high-profile proponents as Scalia and his manservant on the Court — but doesn’t suggest overmuch analysis of related ethical or legal questions. Picking an endpoint and eliminating schools of thought until you find one that supports your conclusion is pretty bankrupt — it’s the philosophical equivalent of picking a scientific conclusion and discarding evidence that fails to support it.

So, dear Heathen Nation, find me a pro-choice originalist. I’ll be right here.

Post-Ike. Pre-Bell.

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Right, so, we understand. We’re really some of the lucky ones, since we got power back so quickly (for the record, three and a half days, give or take). We’re not even bitching — really — about the lack of TV, since we understand there’s only so many DirecTV crews, and our house too tall (by a lot) for either of us to be willing to go up there and straighten the dish ourselves. For one thing, we’d have to find a ladder that tall first. That’s on us. We’re cool with it.

But for the love of God, Jesus, and Bear Bryant, is it too much to ask for phone and Internet service to last for more than 36 hours without yet another 2-to-12 hour dead period? The storm was nearly three weeks ago, for Christ’s sake. See, this makes it bloody hard for half of us to work, and puts a serious crimp on our ability to keep up with our still-out-of-reach TV shows, and in general makes us both grumpy.

So. Get on this, will you? KTHXBI.

And now everyone can please shut up about Georgia, too.

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What is there to say but Roll Tide?

Alabama is now ranked 2nd in the AP, behind only Oklahoma, who will doubtless fall to #5 Texas before too long. (USC, bless their overrated little hearts, is down at 9 — still ahead of Georgia, though, which seems unfair; I’d swap ’em and put USC down at 11.) The top five is now: OU, UA, LSU, Mizz, Texas. LSU is also the only game Alabama can lose and not cause grumbling (i.e., based on the fact that Saban’s only in year 2). If they take the Tigers, though, they could run the table IF Saban can keep their intensity up.

By the way, the AP poll features SIX SEC squads: Alabama, LSU, #11 Georgia, #12 Florida, #13 Auburn, and #19 Vandy (who are still undefeated after 4 games, including conference foes the Gamecocks and the same Ole Miss squad who beat Florida this week). That’s half the conference (left out are the two usually-helpless Mississippi teams, Arkansas, Spurrier’s Cocks, Kentucky, and Tennessee; of those, in any given year the Vols and the Razorbacks are typically rankable at some point).

Creampuff Watch: Who the hell really believes Penn State deserves to be #6? They’ve played 4 creampuffs and allowed 3 TDs and a field goal against Illinois. WTF?

CNN grows balls

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After Palin refused to allow actual reporters to a series of meetings with world leaders, they pulled their camera crew.

NEW YORK (AP) — Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who has not held a press conference in nearly four weeks of campaigning, on Tuesday banned reporters from her first meetings with world leaders, allowing access only to photographers and a television crew.

CNN, which was providing the television coverage for news organizations, decided to pull its TV crew, effectively denying Palin the high visibility she had sought.

Heathen Reminder: Pyrex isn’t Pyrex anymore

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In 1998, Corning sold the Pyrex brand to World Kitchen, and it appears that around then Pyrex sold in the US stopped being made out of borosilicate glass; instead, now it’s conventional soda lime glass. Borosilicate composition is the sine qua non of Pyrex; Pyrex was Pyrex — which is to say, able to go from oven to cooktop to freezer with no danger of breakage — because it was borosilicate, not normal tempered glass. Pyrex made form conventional glass just isn’t the Pyrex we all came to know in the years prior to 1998.

It’s a worse problem, actually, than the obvious, i.e. a sudden drop in quality. People buy Pyrex pan with the expectation that they can bake a chicken in it, but the new Pyrex pans just might spontaneously shatter (with some force!) under such heating. Needless to say, both Corning and World Kitchen would very much like everyone to shut up about this, but thankfully Consumer Affairs hasn’t, and won’t.

Bottom line: Do not buy Pyrex. Find a supplier who actually make borosilicate glass if you want what Pyrex used to be.

One reason we still have a Drug War

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It enriches law enforcement. You see, law-enforcement organizations are able to seize and use assets from drug raids — even in the absence of charges being filed, let alone convictions. Happen to like to keep cash around? Better hope nobody calls in a false report on you, because the cops will take it and you’ll have to sue them to recover it.

The Birmingham News, of all places, points out why this is a terrible idea.

God, apparently, hates Chase

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Check out this shot of Downtown Houston’s Chase Tower, which sustained bizarrely heavy damage during Ike; from the linked post:

This view is from the south, showing the southwest and southeast sides of the building. The topmost missing window is on the 47th floor. From about the 30th floor down, all of the windows on the southeast side are missing.

It’s really striking, but more striking is the fact that no other building in downtown Houston sustained this kind of damage at all. I drove downtown on Monday after the storm, and was hard pressed to see more than a random window or two broken in buildings that weren’t Chase. Weird.

Yet another Right-wing smear

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No, Barack Obama is not an arab. Jesus.

LIMBAUGH’S LATEST SMEAR…. I don’t want to alarm anyone, but it appears that Rush Limbaugh is blisteringly stupid when it comes to race and ethnicity.

Rush Limbaugh baselessly asserted of Sen. Barack Obama: “Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood?” Limbaugh continued: “He’s Arab. You know, he’s from Africa. He’s from Arab parts of Africa…. [H]e’s not African-American. The last thing that he is is African-American.”

Limbaugh concluded his little rant by telling his audience, “Everything seems upside-down today in this country.”

The irony was rich.

As Media Matters reported, this “Obama is actually Arab” line has been making the rounds in right-wing circles, and has been featured in a variety of conservative settings. It’s also demonstrably ridiculous.

First, it’s probably worth noting that Obama is not “Arab” “from Africa,” he’s American from Hawaii. (You know, the place Cokie Roberts mocks for being “exotic.”) Second, his father is from Kenya, and Kenya isn’t an Arab part of Africa. Third, “African American” generally refers to black people in the United States of African lineage. “The last thing that he is is African American”? Please.

But let’s not overlook the point here — far-right hacks aren’t quite done with the smear. The efforts to label Obama “Arab” is just the latest twist in a larger effort launched by those motivated by fear and bigotry.

If the GOP thought they could beat Obama by getting surrogates like Limbaugh to call him “n—-r” on-air, you know they’d fucking do it in a heartbeat.

(Hat tip to Frank.)

You’ll forgive us if we’re a bit overwhelmed.

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I’m not feeling particularly moved by the Heathen spirit, for reasons that should be obvious. It’s been a shitty fucking week. Even so, here are a few things I might’ve gone on longer about given the absence of Ike, or the continued presence of Cary:

Mrs Heathen: “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

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It never rains, right? From the Chron: “Tiger reported loose on Bolivar Peninsula, judge says“

GALVESTON — Texas authorities busy trying to clean up after Hurricane Ike have a new problem on their hands: There’s a tiger loose. A county official said today that the animal somehow left its enclosure at an exotic pets center in Crystal Beach. Animal experts are coming in to try and catch the tiger. Galveston County Judge Jim Yarbrough put it this way: “Turns out there’s a tiger, and I understand he’s hungry … so we’re staying away from him.” Crystal Beach is on the Bolivar Peninsula. The area is one of the hardest-hit by Ike. The news follows reports of a lion holed up in a Baptist church with its owner on Bolivar Peninsula as well as livestock and other animals roaming amid Hurricane Ike’s wreckage.

(Note for non-Texans: for reasons lost to time and known but to God, the chief executive at the county level is called the County Judge. Despite the implications of the title, they are executive, not judicial, positions.)

Who McCain was, and who he has become

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Finally, it seems, the media is noticing the profound and craven about-face McCain has undertaken in his dogged pursuit of higher office:

From the latter:

McCain has turned ugly. His dishonesty would be unacceptable in any politician, but McCain has always set his own bar higher than most. He has contempt for most of his colleagues for that very reason: They lie. He tells the truth. He internalizes the code of the McCains — his grandfather, his father: both admirals of the shining sea. He serves his country differently, that’s all — but just as honorably. No more, though.

I am one of the journalists accused over the years of being in the tank for McCain. Guilty. Those doing the accusing usually attributed my feelings to McCain being accessible. This is the journalist-as-puppy school of thought: Give us a treat, and we will leap into a politician’s lap.

Not so. What impressed me most about McCain was the effect he had on his audiences, particularly young people. When he talked about service to a cause greater than oneself, he struck a chord. He expressed his message in words, but he packaged it in the McCain story — that man, beaten to a pulp, who chose honor over freedom. This had nothing to do with access. It had to do with integrity.

McCain has soiled all that. His opportunistic and irresponsible choice of Sarah Palin as his political heir — the person in whose hands he would leave the country — is a form of personal treason, a betrayal of all he once stood for. Palin, no matter what her other attributes, is shockingly unprepared to become president. McCain knows that. He means to win, which is all right; he means to win at all costs, which is not.

Wild, Wacky Stuff

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Over the weekend, the most interesting SEC contest had to be Auburn and Mississippi State. Despite 300+ yards vs. State’s 116, the final score was a bizarre and nearly unprecedented 3 to 2, with Auburn on top thanks to a second quarter field goal.

Dept. of Weddings

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George Takei and Brad Altman, his partner of 21 years, married over the weekend in California:

Walter Koenig, who played navigator Pavel Chekov in the original Star Trek cast, and Nichelle Nichols, who portrayed communications officer Lieutenant Uhura, served as “best man” and “best lady,” Asianweek said.

Best Star Trek wedding EVAR.