Tag Archives: Senate

Gutless…

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Terry| 1 Comment
Senator "Tiny Penis" McConnell

Senator Mitch McConnell, leader of the tiny penis GOP Senate.

Gutless.  Just one of many adjectives that come to mind as I think of the GOP.  Today, the term most definitely applies to GOP Senators.  Other adjectives that come to mind?  Selfish.  Corrupt.  Greedy.  Myopic.  Or, let’s just call it like it is…they’re just plain evil.

Today, a GOP Senate filibuster managed to derail a rather straightforward and sensible bill that would expand background checks for gun owners.  Just a few months removed from Newtown…just a few months removed from over 20 CHILDREN being gunned down by a nut armed to the teeth…our beloved GOP Senators decided that their next election was more important than the safety of our nation’s children.  Our gutless, piece-of-shit GOP Senators decided that getting that next campaign check was more important than barring criminals or the mentally ill from obtaining weapons.

Mitch McConnell, KING of the gutless, tiny-penis, evil piece-of-shit GOP Senators, has REFUSED to even meet with the families from Newtown.  What’s wrong, Mitch?  Having a little trouble sleeping at night?  Having a hard time dealing with the fact that you are helping to ENABLE the slaughter of children?

No…wait.  That’s giving these pieces of shit WAY too much credit.  It’s PAINFULLY obvious that basic morality and a normal conscience aren’t what get you to Washington.  What gets you to Washington is the single-minded focus on that campaign check.  What gets you to Washington is placing your OWN status and power above the well-being of your constituents.  What gets you to Washington is NOT worrying about the consequences of your actions, as long as the ultimate goal…your next re-election…is obtained.

Gutless?  Yes.  But perhaps evil is indeed a better choice of adjective.

Posted in Culture Wars, Politics

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Senator Johnson Among Last Dem Holdouts for Gay Marriage

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Terry| 2 Comments

Politics is a strange animal in South Dakota.  Unlike adjacent Minnesota and Iowa on our eastern border, there’s simply very little doubt in the vast majority of elections in the state.  If you’re a Republican and you’re running in South Dakota, you’ve got a hell of good chance to win by a wide margin.  Even as pitiful as Republican presidential candidates have been for, oh, the last 25 years or so, there’s been absolutely no doubt that the Republican would carry South Dakota.

Despite the state being very “red”, we’ve remarkably had at least one Democratic Senator for most of the last 50 years.  George McGovern held a seat for 3 terms, from 1962 to 1980.  Tom Daschle held a seat for 3 terms, from 1986 to 2004.  Tim Johnson served simultaneously with Daschle from 1996 to 2004 and continues to serve today, remarkably giving conservative South Dakota TWO Democratic Senators for a number of years.

Tim Johnson recently announced he is retiring at the end of his third term.  Three terms seems to be a magic number for South Dakota Senators.  South Dakotans in general are a little slow on the draw, and I think it takes them 15 years or so to realize their “mistake” in electing a Senator who isn’t a conservative nutjob.  Hence, South Dakota choosing to boot out Tom Daschle in 2004, despite Daschle giving South Dakota more power than it’s ever had as Senate Majority leader for years.

We’ve had the pleasure of meeting multiple times with both of our current Senators, Tim Johnson as well as Republican John Thune.  Well, let me rephrase.  We’ve had the pleasure of meeting with Tim Johnson.  I wouldn’t call meeting with John Thune a very pleasurable experience.  Our young son was diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes near his first birthday, and we’ve met with both Senators multiple times to discuss health care issues.  Senator Johnson was always very receptive, and very AWARE of the issues.  Senator Thune?  The first time we met with him, we talked about a stem-cell research bill that was up for a vote.  After we talked about it for 15 minutes or so, including the potential long-term benefits for children like our son, it was ABUNDANTLY clear that Senator Thune knew very little about the bill he was about to vote on.  It was ABUNDANTLY clear that Senator Thune knew practically nothing about stem cell research, other than the same old misguided Republican talking points that persist to this day.  What was MOST telling was Thune’s initial response when we were done talking.  He didn’t ask questions about our son.  He didn’t ask questions about the bill or embryonic stem cell research.  Instead, his first comment was, “Well, I can’t be expected to vote for that…I’m a REPUBLICAN!”.

That pretty much sums up Senator Thune, and South Dakota Republicans in general…following the party line no matter what, independent thinking (or even basic KNOWLEDGE of an issue) be damned.  If there’s one thing that drives me absolutely nuts about politics today, it’s the polarization between Dems and Republicans, where there’s simply very little chance that any Republican would support ANYTHING Obama or the Dems support.  Democrats are almost as equally guilty, although it’s damned hard to top the pig-headedness of today’s Republican party.  What happened to independent thinking?  What happened to thinking about what’s best for your constituents or the country as a whole?

Senator Johnson is making headlines recently for being one of the rare independent politicians, bucking the party line.  Unfortunately, it’s not in a good way.  As momentum continues to build for equal rights and gay marriage, what was recently 9 Democratic Senator holdouts for supporting gay marriage is as of today down to 6.   Senator Johnson remains one of the 6 holdouts in the Democratic Senate, refusing to publicly support gay marriage.

I’m disappointed.  Senator Johnson has been a wonderful, understated voice for South Dakotans.  Unfortunately, he’s now letting the conservative views of South Dakota taint his views.  He’s taking the easy way out, avoiding backlash from South Dakotans for supporting something that definitely doesn’t jive with the very conservative culture here.

Senator Johnson, as you serve out the last year and half of your 18-year career, here’s hoping you decide to do what’s RIGHT, decide that it IS important to treat all Americans equally.  You’ll never have to again face the wrath of South Dakota’s conservative electorate.  Here’s hoping you worry less about your legacy within the state of South Dakota, and pay more attention to doing what’s RIGHT.

Posted in Culture Wars, Politics

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Tiny Penis Men Renew Fight to Compensate with Guns

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Terry| 2 Comments

Just a few months after the Newtown tragedy, America is getting back to normal.  With our incredibly short attention spans, the deaths of a few dozen children seems like a distant memory for most folks.  With the incredibly pathetic, half-hearted efforts by the Obama administration and state governments to strengthen gun legislation, we’re returning to the status quo.  Tiny-penis men across America are ramping up the fight to compensate for their shortcomings by ensuring their right to carry the largest, most destructive weapon possible.

The fight has been spearheaded by tiny-penis men in my very own state of South Dakota.  Yesterday, tiny-penis governor Dennis Daugaard signed a bill that makes South Dakota the first state that allows teachers to carry guns in class.  The bill was sponsored by tiny-penis state legislator Scott Craig, a freshmen Republican (duh), who states that now “dominoes will start to fall, people will see it’s reasonable.”  Of course it’s “reasonable”!  Do you have kids?  Picture your kid’s teacher, carrying a gun in class, trying to fight off a nut with an assault rifle.  What?  A little difficult to picture that in your mind?  Hard to see that as more “reasonable” than simply disallowing access to assault rifles?  This is the 2nd bold effort by tiny-penis South Dakota men to ensure gun rights.  Last week, they voted down a bill that would have limited gun access to mentally ill people who have been deemed “dangerous” to others.  Just like tiny-penis men, crazy people have gun rights too!!!

The tiny-penis men of South Dakota are hardly the only tiny-penis men fighting for their right to compensate.  Kansas, a state that along with South Dakota is known for having a large population of weak, tiny-penis men, is considering a bill to greatly expand concealed gun carrying on college campuses. 

Compensation efforts by tiny-penis men extend all the way to the Federal level.  At Congressional hearings this week, miniscule-penis Senator Lindsey Graham stated he owned an AR-15, arguing for folks to imagine a scenario in a post-disaster world where government breaks down and roaming gangs are a danger!  EXACTLY!  WELL thought out, tiny-penis Senator Graham!!  This is EXACTLY the kind of realistic scenario that screams for the right of tiny-penis men to carry large weapons!  In a “Mad Max” post-apocalyptic world that is sure to come, tiny-penis men NEED automatic weapons to fend off gangs of evil-doers!!

FEAR NOT, TINY-PENIS MEN!!!   In America, there are SO many of you weak, tiny-member men fighting for your compensatory gun-carrying rights, that I truly doubt you’ll never have to worry about your right to carry gigantic weapons that you’ll never have use for any practical purpose other than trying to overcome your own insecurity.  With tiny-penis men like Lindsey Graham, Scott Craig, and Dennis Daugaard fighting for you, your right to access massive weapons will forever be secure.

Posted in Culture Wars, Uncategorized

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House Repubs Shoot Down Violence Against Women Act

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Terry| 1 Comment

The Violence Against Women Act has been in effect since 1994.  It provides government funding for programs to combat domestic violence, including support for domestic violence victims.  The Senate passed a reauthorization of the VAWA back in April.  The House?  They first tried watering the Senate bill down so much that Senate balked and Obama said he’d veto the House version.  Since the House version didn’t pan out the House has chosen to simply ignore it, and not address the issue again in 2012.  As a result, for the first time in 18 years, the VAWA hasn’t been reauthorized.  Government funding for domestic violence programs is now set to sharply decline.

Unbelievable.  The fiscal cliff debacle was just the tip of the iceberg for the House GOP.  Over 2 months after Hurricane Sandy, and the House GOP was still refusing to bring up disaster relief…until Chris Christie and others blasted the incompetence of the GOP today.  JUST prior to the fiscal cliff vote, the GOP brought up a bill to freeze Government salaries for another year (this would be 3 years now with a pay freeze)…an incredibly transparent play to cover their asses for their embarrassing handling of the fiscal cliff.  Agricultural interests and many responsible politicians (are there any left?) are up in arms over the handling (or lack thereof) of the farm bill by the House GOP.

So…any confidence that the House GOP will be sensible in 2 months, when it’s time to address the sequestration delay, the debt limit, and funding government for the rest of the year?  Unbelievable…

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Nonpartisanship – Republican Style

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Terry| Leave a comment

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service recently authored a report to examine the potential effects of tax policy on the economy. Senate Republicans, apparently not happy with the results of the research, successfully pressured the CRS to bury the report.  The issue?

The nonpartisan CRS study found that lowering tax rates on the wealthy had no discernible effect on increasing economic growth or improving economic conditions in the U.S.  In other words…the CRS found that “trickle-down” economics is complete bullshit.  Senate Republicans, finding the report completely undermines the entire tax philosophy of their party, strenuously objected to the report content and pressured for the report to be withdrawn.

Such is life in the Republican Party.  Find a poll you don’t agree with?  You simply don’t believe the poll, and start denigrating the poll’s maker.  Don’t agree with the science of climate change?  You start attacking the science and the scientists who produce it.  Don’t like a nonpartisan report on tax policy?  You try to bury it, before the facts come out and the public sees yet more evidence that your entire party is built on a host of lies. 

THIS is the government under Republican “leadership”.  Facts?  Facts be damned, Republican Party ideology, no matter how freaking twisted it is, is the overarching concern.  So why not a Romney as president, Republicans?  You’ve already shown yourselves to be a deceitful twisted bunch.  Having Romney as president?  He’ll fit right in with this bunch.

Pathetic.  It has to be awfully damned embarrassing to be a Republican right now.

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Latest Election Odds – “Mittmentum” a myth

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Terry| Leave a comment

Eleven days until the election, and I’m battling an addiction. An obsession.  I’m ingesting every poll and either reacting with 1) instant heartburn every time a poll moves the slightest bit toward Romney, or 2) instant relief every time a poll bumps towards Obama.  But even more addictive than the polls is my obsession with looking at the betting sites for the election odds.

I’ve said out here before, that the more reliable source of information for who is going to win the election are the betting sites, rather than the polls.  Pollsters have it in their own best interest to get it right, and I do think polls are fairly accurate overall.  However, nothing drives “getting it right” more than having money on the line; hence, my trust of betting sites.

Obama has stanched the bleeding that resulted from his pitiful 1st debate performance. All the BS in the media about “Mittmentum” is just that…BS.  Especially in the important swing states, polls and betting lines have stabilized, and starting to drift toward Obama in many cases.  National-level polls continue to show Romney with a slight lead, leading to some speculation that we may see a repeat of 2000 but with parties reversed, where Romney wins the popular vote, but loses the election.  Overall, here’s the odds some of the betting sites and pundits are providing for the election (As of Friday morning – click for links to the sites):

- InTrade – Obama 62.5%  Romney 37.6%

- Nate Silver’s Five Thirty Eight – Obama 73.1%  Romney 26.9%

- Iowa Electronic Markets – Obama – 61.0%  Romney 37.5%

- Betfair – Obama 68.9%  Romney 31.1%

“Mittmentum”?  Uh…no.  The numbers are certainly down from before the debates, as InTrade had Obama as an 80% favorite for reelection before Obama’s Denver debacle.  But overall…you’d certainly much rather be Obama than Romney right now, especially with the same sites above showing Obama with a 62% to 76% chance of winning Ohio.

There’s no way in hell Democrats are going to retake the House, but the other ‘race’ of most interest is who will control the Senate.  Before Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock offered their “wisdom” about rape, before Scott Brown revealed himself to be one cranky SOB, back in August, sites like InTrade had Republicans as favorites to retake the Senate.  Now, with the series of self-inflicted wounds by Republican Senate candidates, Democrats are solid favorites to maintain control of the Senate.  Odds for Democrats to maintain control of the Senate:

- InTrade – 65.6%

- Nate Silver’s Five Thirty Eight – 87.6%

- Iowa Electronic Markets – 77.1%

- Betfair – 78.1%

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Hairy Old White Men Strike Again

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Terry| 4 Comments
Hairy Old White Men

Hairy old white men strike again, voting against a bill that would improve women's pay equality in comparison to men.

A picture is worth a thousand words.  In this picture, Senate Republicans are explaining why they refused to vote for a bill aimed to improve pay equality between men and women.

And what is it you note about this picture?  Ah yes, that’s right…THEY’RE ALL HAIRY OLD WHITE MEN!!! (Again…a phrase coined by my wife).  In another example of how COMPLETELY out of touch Republicans are, not only did every single Republican vote against this bill, but the cadre of Senators they chose to come out and speak to the press about it are all HAIRY OLD WHITE MEN. 

The not quite as “old” Hairy White Man in the back is our own beloved Senator John Thune from South Dakota.  Or, as I like to refer to him….”Worthless Piece of Shit Thune“.  This is the same bold, independent thinker who responded with “I can’t vote for that!  I’m a Republican!!” when my wife and I met with him to talk about a stem cell research bill up before the Senate (research that could help my son with Type 1 diabetes).   PERFECT photo of what Thune is ALL about…standing in the background, hanging on every word that his older HAIRY OLD WHITE MAN colleagues are saying, so he can repeat the same exact words later.  I laugh whenever I hear the man mentioned as a possible VP candidate.  My GOD, has America become SO pathetic that a man like him is even MENTIONED for something like that?

Thune may not be “old”, but he definitely qualifies as a HAIRY OLD WHITE MAN nonetheless.  To qualify, you must:

1) Lack any kind of independent thought, always blindly voting the Republican party line.

2) ALWAYS vote against ANY bill that attempts to improve rights or living standards for any one who is NOT 1) white 2) a man, or 3) in the richest 1% of all Americans.

3) Be a rather repugnant human being overall, someone you’d hope to god your daughters wouldn’t ever marry.

In other words…you just have to simply be like seemingly 99% of Republican men nowadays.  I HEAR there are supposedly a few Republican men who aren’t HAIRY OLD WHITE MEN, but I have yet to find one.  As a birder, I’m still hopeful that birds such as the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Bachmann’s Warbler, or Eskimo Curlew may be hanging on somewhere and aren’t extinct. 

I’m starting to feel the same way about Republicans.  Are there ANY of the supposed “Compassionate Conservatives” (HAH!!!) that Bush talked about? Or have ALL Republicans gone off the deep end?  Have they all gone the way of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker or Eskimo Curlew??

I take heart that given the Republican’s love of rich people and HAIRY OLD WHITE MEN, pretty soon those few Republicans who AREN’T HAIRY OLD WHITE MEN will realize they’re supporting the wrong party.  GET A CLUE, REPUBS!!  There are one HELL of a lot more of us out here than just HAIRY OLD WHITE MEN.  Continue to make the HAIRY OLD WHITE MAN political platform the platform of the Republican Party, and your party is doomed.

Posted in Culture Wars, Equality, Politics

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Sen. Grassley – Crossing a Line

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Terry| 1 Comment

On the blogosphere, partisanship and strong language are generally the norm.  As normal every day citizens, bloggers venting about a topic certainly aren’t averse to using harsh, abusive language.  I certainly have done my share of that from time to time.  Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Mitch McConnell, Rick Santorum, and John Boehner have all felt my verbal wrath at times.  Rush Limbaugh has CERTAINLY felt my verbal wrath, given the very public, hate-filled messages he spouts from his radio show every day.  Given some of my past posts, I suppose it could be viewed as a wee bit hypocritical to say what I’m about to say, but Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa has DEFINITELY crossed a line with a tweet he made over the weekend.

The Senate USED to be the place of “gentlemen” (and women) Senators, where partisanship took a back seat to civility and cooperation, at least in a MUCH stronger sense than civility and cooperation has been a cornerstone of the House.  Those days are gone.  Republicans in general have followed Rush down into the gutter, increasingly relying on stirring up hatred to drive their politics.  Evidently the Senate is no longer immune to that trend either.

In Sen. Grassley’s tweet yesterday, he said “Constituents askd why i am not outraged at PresO attack on supreme court independence. Bcause Am ppl r not stupid as this x prof of con law.”  When Grassley’s staff were asked about the tweet, the Grassley contingent took full ownership of the statement, stating that the tweet did indeed come from Grassley himself, and that he wasn’t backing down on anything he said.   

It’s one thing for a sitting Senator and the President of the United States to disagree with each other.  It’s QUITE another for an active Senator to personally attack the office of the President of the United States, and call the President “stupid“.   What bothers me the most about the current crop of Republican Senators and Representatives is that there seems to be absolutely NO respect for the President of the United States.   It’s damned hard to have a functioning government when basic disagreement on policy has morphed into a complete lack of respect, and a complete unwillingness to even LISTEN to the other side of a story, much less cooperate and compromise to reach a solution on an issue.

It’s one thing for bloggers or every day Americans to call out a politician.  I don’t like the messages of pure hatred that have permeated political discussion, but hey, it’s America, we all have the right to have our voices heard.   However, having our highest elected officials hurl personal insults at each other crosses a line, and damages the structure and functioning of our political and governmental framework.  Senator Chuck Grassley, congratulations…you have won my “Scum of the Week” award.

Posted in Politics, Scum Of The Week

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And the hits keep on a comin’ – SD Legislature

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Terry| 2 Comments
R-Stan Adelstein

Stan Adelstein, another grumpy white male SD legislator with a personal agenda he wants to impose on the entire state.

Man, when the South Dakota legislature gets on a roll, there is NO stopping the endless string of bad legislation. We already know our South Dakota legislators are gun-totin’, bible-thumpin’ white boys who want the rest of the world to be, well…gun-totin’, bible-thumpin’ white boys. I also swear to god South Dakota legislators are the most easily influenced group of people this side of middle-school girls at a Justin Bieber concert.

Unions are evil!! The REST of the right-wing GOP establishment SAYS so!! So by god, our brilliant and innovative South Dakota legislators are going to fall RIGHT in line with the rest of the GOP, and do away with all the harm unions have done in the South Dakota. Repubs have filed a bill that would eliminate the right of public employees in the state to collectively bargain. After all, the idea has gone over SO well elsewhere, like in Wisconsin or Ohio, where voters rebelled against laws that restricted the rights of public workers to unionize and collectively bargain.

But hey, this is South Dakota. Our boys here are a little slow on the uptake. They’re JUST startin’ to pick up on this anti-union thing, and decided that they too needed to restrict public unions that have caused SO much harm in the state. Right? I mean, there has to be SOME reason they’re introducing this bill, other than the fact that our legislators here are a bunch of slack-jawed nincompoops who aren’t capable of doing anything but following the rest of the right-wing wackos in this country.

We already have wages that are the lowest in the country. Unions aren’t exactly causing businesses to fret over wages and benefits.   State and local governments aren’t being driven to the poorhouse by union-negotiated contracts.  So what possible reason IS there for Republicans to bring this bill up in South Dakota?

How about one MORE redneck, ass-backward South Dakota legislator with a burr up his butt?  R-Stan Adelstein is the major sponsor of the bill in the South Dakota Senate.  As Adelstein makes sure to point out, “I carry a concealed weapons permit“…something I guess Adelstein wants all those rabble-rousing union folk to know, in case they had any plans of messin’ around with him.  As the Argus Leader story above notes, Adelstein has had “run-ins” with unions before, in association with his engineering business.   What the hell, might as well take his own personal issues and make South Dakota teachers, fire fighters, policemen, and other public employees pay the price.

It’s ass-backwards.  It’s the South Dakota way.

Posted in Politics, Uncategorized

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Perusin’ & Musin’

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Terry| Leave a comment

Thinking AnimationSome random thoughts from perusing the web…

2010 a Record Year for Greenhouse Gas Emissions – Despite a slow global economy, global greenhouse gas emissions set an all-time high in 2010, with greenhouse gas quantities in the atmosphere now even worse than the WORST-case scenario projected by experts several years ago.  Just another day in climate change news, a day that also noted a giant crack found in an Antarctic glacier. 

Perry Drunk?  On Drugs?  Or just being himself? – Rick Perry today was forced to respond to allegations that he was either drunk or on pain medications during a recent New Hampshire speech.  Perry said no, he wasn’t drunk or on drugs.   You know, there just MIGHT be a problem with your qualifications for president if people can’t tell if you’re acting normally, or if you are drunk or on drugs. 

Senate GOP Blocks Infrastructure/Jobs Bill - Republicans again today showed that they will not allow any legislation to pass which might help the economy before next year’s elections.  They know their best chance to oust Obama is for the weak economic conditions to continue until the election.  Democrats have been trying to pass pieces of Obama’s jobs bill, without any success, thanks to GOP obstruction.  Today, GOP senators blocked a $50 billion infrastructure bill designed to get Americans working again by funding work to repair road and rail networks.  The bill would have been paid for by a 0.7% tax increase on people making more than $1,000,000 a year.   The debate today is also yet another example of what a joke Republicans are when they call for “shared sacrifice”, when they continue to shield millionaires from even the tiniest of tax increases. 

National Zoo Scientist Convicted of Poisoning Cats – A researcher at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. was convicted of poisoning stray cats in her neighborhood.   My first thought is that there’s no end to the sickening things people will do.  My second thought…I wonder if she’d be willing to help me with the neighbor’s cat that keeps EATING THE BIRDS AT MY FEEDERS!!!  Ok, no, I would never do such a thing.  But my GOD, what do you do with neighbors that refuse to restrain their cats?  What do you do with neighbors who deny that their precious cat could ever catch, much less eat, a bird?   It IS a very sweet cat, other than when it’s killing every living thing it comes across.  But I have about had it with that cat, and with my neighbors behind me.  We HAVE talked to them about it.  They MUST see me when I’m chasing their cat out of my yard about 10 times a day on the weekend.  If people want a pet, then for god’s sake, be prepared to act responsibly.

Nebraska 45, Northwestern 27 – I’m taking my 8-year old son to his first Nebraska football game this weekend!  He’s not a sports fan at all, but I think he’ll get a kick out of it.  He’s never been in an atmosphere like this.  Northwestern has a bad record, but they led in each of the 5 games they lost, including leads over 3 ranked teams in the 2nd half.   Northwestern has a great mobile QB in Dan Persa, and they can score on anyone.  They can’t stop anyone though.  I think Northwestern will give Nebraska all they can handle for the first half, before Nebraska pulls away in the second half.

Posted in Birds, Climate Change, Perusin' & Musin', Politics

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