The Overlooked $170 Billion of American-Muslim Spending Power

Huffington Post today put up an excerpt from an article on the American-Muslim Spending Power. The full article found here is definitely worth a read. I've linked you guys to my cousin Saad's blog in the past....well, "Chill Yo, Islam Yo" got a mention in this article.

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!"

With all apologies to John McEnroe....."YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!"

So I mentioned yesterday that Fox News was claiming that Obama wasn't really the president yet because of the mix up at the oath ceremony. So imagine my anger when I see this just moments ago on MSNBC.

Barack Hussein Obama

Gotta say I was shocked he did use his middle name today when taking the oath of office. In the days to come it will be interesting to find out whether that was Obama's decision or if Roberts just threw it in there. When Obama was introduced at the inauguration he was introduced as "Barack H. Obama. " Gotta say the scenes were amazing. Really wish I'd been able to go. Loved the booing and serenading of Dubya with "Na Na Na.....goodbye." Amazing stuff.

You might have noticed a little slip up during the oath ceremony and the clowns at Fox News are now trying to stir up some trouble with that. You can't make this stuff up.

A sign of the times? Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri was twittering at the inauguration.

Wildcard Round Picks

So we all ended up going 2/4 for the Divisional Round. Everyone's picks are listed below.

Me:
Ravens +3
Cardinals +10
Giants -4
Chargers +6

Faraz
Ravens +3
Panthers -10
Giants -4
Steelers -6

Mike
Panthers -10
Eagles +4
Steelers -6
Titans -3

Ross
Ravens +3
Panthers -10
Giants -4
Steelers -6

Lance
Titans -3
Cardinals +10
Eagles +4
Chargers +6

Overall here is how the records look:

4/8
Faraz
Lance

3/8
Me
Mike
Ross

Kyle picked only the first round and was 1/4. Its all for fun so jump in even if you didn't pick in the first 2 rounds.

Eagles are a 4 point favorite over the Cardinals
Steelers are 6 point favorite over the Ravens

My picks are:
Cardinals +4
Ravens +6

Barack Obama and the Golden Ticket

So when Barack Obama created history by winning this election millions of people sent in requests to their local representatives and senators to get tickets to this historic inauguration. I wasn't one of them. So imagine my surprise as I open my mail today and see this.....




More on this in a bit.

Daily Show - Medicine Cabinet

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Medicine Cabinet

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Must watch piece from Asif Mandvi ( or should I say Dr. Asif Mandvi?) and the team at the Daily Show. Those of you who are Desi will really appreciate it. Here's the link.

Divisional Round Picks

Didn't mean to be this late putting up the results but it's been a busy week.

4/4

3/4

2/4
Faraz
Kyle
Lance

1/4
Me
Mike
Ross


As you can see the picks were nothing to write home about. Lets see how the 2nd round goes

Titans are a 3 point favorite over the Ravens
Panthers are a 10 point favorite over the Cardinals
Giants are a 4 point favorite over the Eagles
Steelers are a 6 point favorite over the Chargers

My picks are:
Ravens +3
Cardinals +10
Giants -4
Chargers +6

NFL Playoff Predictions

Just want to do a little prediction contest for the playoffs picking against the spread. I'll keep track of everyone's records here. I'll get the line off of yahoo. Anyways just post your picks in the comments section or send them to me via e-mail or IM. Pass this link off to others.


The lines are as follows:

Falcons are a 1.5 point favorite over the Cardinals
Colts vs Chargers is a pick'em game
Ravens are a 3.5 point favorite over the Dolphins
Eagles are a 3 point favorite over the Vikings


My picks are Falcons -1.5, Colts, Ravens -3.5 and Vikings +3

For those of you who aren't posting your predictions as a reply to this post but sending it to me by IM or e-mail I'll post your name here to acknowledge your pick. If you don't see your name let me know.

Received from:
Ross
Mike
Faraz
Kyle

Iraqi Journalists have bad aim

I'll post the video when I find it online somewhere but for now it is all over the news channels but here's a little article from BBC.

Mr Bush met Iraqi leaders to celebrate the new security agreement between the nations and was to thank US troops.

But at a news conference in Baghdad, a man threw his shoes at Mr Bush, calling him "a dog" but missing the president.

Mr Bush was speaking to reporters with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki when the footwear was thrown.

"All I can report is a size 10," Mr Bush said according to the Associated Press (AP) news agency.

The shoe thrower was taken away by security guards and the news conference continued.

Link



Edit:



Video

More RU fun

The entire stadium booed at the end of the play because everyone wanted a horse collar penalty called here. There was a replay from another angle on the stadium big screen and again the crowd booed. When you watch the ESPN Feed....you can see why there was no penalty on the play. Summaiyah found this for me.....wait.....what was Summaiyah doing on ESPN.com?

Kenny Britt is a Monster

Hoping to get it from another angle....and possibly the ESPN clip but here is the hit that Britt laid out on some poor Louisville WR to end the first half. For those not familiar with RU Football, Kenny Britt is a WR and will be a 2nd round pick in next year's NFL Draft.

63-14

What a night. 63-14. Need I say more? So right before heading to the game I made a pick for ESPN's Streak for the Cash....and went with the over at 53. I told my brother at the time jokingly that it was going to be 44-10.....definitely wasn't expecting this.

The night started with a bang with RU scoring less then 2 minutes into the game....and the intensity never stopped after that. Take the hit Britt lashed out on the last play of the first half for example with the score 49-0 at the time.

Hoping to get it from another angle....and possibly the ESPN clip but here is the hit that Britt laid out on some poor Louisville WR to end the first half. For those not familiar with RU Football, Kenny Britt is a WR and will be a 2nd round pick in next year's NFL Draft.



Crazy play in the first half when everyone in the stadium thought there should have been a penalty.....turns out the refs were right in not calling one.

Rutgers has been on the other side of this score far too often over the years.....it was great to see this night. Gotta feel good for Mike Teel. I wanted to blog earlier about when is booing counterproductive but I'll save that for another day but what a turnaround he had. Definitely a well deserved night. Glad I brought out the Teel Jersey for the first time on this senior night.

Can someone explain to me why people leave early when it is their team that is winning big? It has always bothered me. Why are you there if you don't want to stick around to watch your team win?

Some postgame notes courtesy of the Knights' website:

POSTGAME NOTES

Team Notes
Rutgers’ 63-14 victory over Louisville was the Scarlet Knights’ sixth-straight win. It tied for the fifth-longest winning streak in school history to close out a regular season with the six consecutive victories. The win was also the Scarlet Knights’ fifth-straight BIG EAST victory, a school record.

It was the first home victory in the month of December since Dec. 7, 1878.

The 63 points scored was the most Rutgers has ever scored in a BIG EAST game. It topped the previous total of 62 scored in a 62-0 victory over Temple on Oct. 2, 1993. The 63 points were also the most scored in a game by the Scarlet Knights since the 1993 season, when RU defeated Colgate 68-6.

The 63 points was the most allowed by Louisville in a BIG EAST game.

The 49 first half points were the most Rutgers has ever scored in a half in a BIG EAST game and the 49-0 advantage was the largest halftime lead the Scarlet Knights have ever had in a league game in school history.

The 49 first-half point total tied for the third-most scored by a league member in the conference’s history.

Rutgers’ 98-yard, first-quarter scoring drive was the longest scoring drive of the season for the Scarlet Knights

Rutgers averaged 15.1 yards per play in the first half and finished the stanza with 468 total yards of offense.

The Scarlet Knights achieved a season-high 671 total yards, the most-ever by a Greg Schiano coached team at Rutgers.

Rutgers finished with a season-high 224 yards on the ground on 33 carries. The Scarlet Knights averaged 6.8 yards per rush.

I'll have more to say about this game once I watch it again....but man. What a night!

C.C Sabathia

I can't be the only person who does not want C.C Sabathia on their team correct? You have no idea how much it is bothering me that after being relatively quiet over the years with Free Agency the one year the Angels go after a pitcher is this year....and with Sabathia no less? This upcoming contract has disaster written all over it for some team....God willing it won't be the Angels. He'll be well over 300 lbs by the end of the contract.....and still stinking it up in the playoffs. Normally I would compliment an athlete who takes less money to go play somewhere...but not in this case. Please let Sabathia go anywhere but to the Angels. Come on Yankees....open up your wallets for him.

Should see a bunch of transactions next week with the winter meetings. I hope Teixeira is back with the Angels.

John Oliver and CNN's Magic Wall

The two new weapons unleashed upon America this election cycle were John Oliver and CNN's Magic Wall, a toy you saw John King playing around with for the past year. Well the wall and John King himself made a cameo in this piece with John Oliver on The Daily Show Tuesday night.

Link

Kudos to LeBron James

I am not a big Lebron James fan as a lot of you are already aware but Kudos to him here. Tiger and Jordan take a hint.

Its OffIcial!

So at 11 PM it becomes official. These pictures are surreal. How many of us really thought we'd see this day? I'll put up a more in depth post in a couple of days because this will take some time to soak in. Do I think all the negative views of the US go away with this? Ofcourse not, but this is a huge step forward. Its a shame what ended up happening here to McCain. Here is a man who is a shell of his former self. Had he run the campaign this time that he did in 2000 he probably could have ran away with this election.

What happens to the Republican party as we know it? Does the Republican party split away from the religius nuts that have hijacked it and rebuild? Does McCain leave the party? Does he leave the senate altogether.

Let us all pray for the safety and well being of the president-elect.

President-Elect Obama

The networks won't call it until 11 but Obama has won. Barring a major fraud there is no mathematical way for McCain to get to 270.

-Love the early win in PA
-Love the senate pickups
-Is Indiana really still up in the air!
-Did anyone else catch the hologram on CNN?

The Christian right makes me laugh

Growing up in Toronto and then in Edison I've been lucky enough to grow up around a diverse group of people. I've never been shy about political discussion but the Christian right is nuts. A message just popped up on my facebook newsfeed that a student from a "Christian" school had left for someone on my friends list. I'm fairly certain this friend is voting Republican(which is not the source of the trouble here). This person mention the need for prayer tonight because President Osama(and yes that is how the name was spelled) policies on abortion would kill babies.

Why isn't this same sanctity of life argument going the other way? Why aren't these "religous" people voting against McCain because tens of thousands of people who's only fault was being born in a country with oil have died as a result of an illegal war that he supports.

Election Day

Have not posted much lately as I have been busy moving but expect a few posts in the next couple of days. Election day is here and let me once again urge all of you to go out and vote. Our age group is always horrible at this but hopefully things are different this time around. By now everyone known my political affiliation so I'm hoping the early results from Dixville Notch are a sign of things to come. For just the second time in the last 13 elections and for the first time since 1968 the town has gone for the Democratic candidate. For those not familiar with Dixville Notch go ahead and google it because I am going to try and go to sleep as tomorrow will be a long night,