A retraction

In my latest political rantings post, I said Senator McCain does not support nuclear power.

Well, I messed up on that one. The New York Times reports he wants 45 new nuclear reactors to be built in America by 2030. The Times also says McCain has long supported using nuclear energy.

So there we go. Thanks for correcting me, leftist newspaper.

Though I enjoy how you couched a reference to the Three Mile Island incident.

Although there has been a shift of opinion in the industry and among some environmentalists toward more nuclear power — it is clean and far safer than at the time of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979 — most environmentalists are skeptical of the latest claims by its advocates. They also say that no utility will put its own financing into building a plant unless the federal government lavishly subsidizes it.

No mention that there were zero casualties at Three Mile? Zero injuries? Tiny amounts of radiation leaked? Of course not. The more you ignore those facts, New York Times, they more you can push the radical environmentalist agenda of "We Should Just Walk Everywhere."

Finding I was wrong about McCain prompted me to dig more deeply into Senator Obama's policies regarding this nuclear energy. I found this on his site:

Nuclear power represents more than 70 percent of our noncarbon-generated electricity. It is unlikely that we can meet our aggressive climate goals if we eliminate nuclear power from the table. However, there is no future for expanded nuclear without first addressing four key issues: public right-to-know, security of nuclear fuel and waste, waste storage, and proliferation. Barack Obama introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate to establish guidelines for tracking, controlling and accounting for spent fuel at nuclear power plants.

Well, it's good that he admits that we will need to use nuclear power, but he couches it in terms of stopping global warming, and not energy independence, which isn't entirely surprising. It also appears he needs a lot more federal government involvement in nuclear energy if he is going to support it. I am willing to bet that not a single nuclear power plant will be built during his presidency. I could be wrong, but that's the interpretation I see here.

Obama supporters, feel free to correct me.

Anyway, now McCain has three things going for him: conservative Supreme Court judges, nuclear power and our staying in Iraq until the job is done. I might end up voting for the guy after all. We'll see.

A parting shot at the Lakers

L.A. Times sports columnist T.J. Simers took the Lakers to task today. Boy, is he upset.

One of my favorite parts:

They are an embarrassment. They went into the NBA Finals favored, the Celtics suffering injuries to several of their starters along the way, and still the Lakers could not measure up.

The Lakers had a 24-point lead at home, the best coach and player on their side, and they gagged.

Bam. I've always believed Jackson is overrated... the titles in Chicago are Michael's, not his. And winning in L.A. with two of the top-10 talents ever in the NBA was more a matter of keeping Kobe and Shaq from killing each other than any stretch of coaching genius. And even that didn't last very long.

And these Finals? Jackson either didn't care or he's not the second coming of Red Auerbach. Or he hates Kobe and decided it wasn't worth the effort to deal with him.

Interesting how the past couple weeks have majorly impaced the careers of so many individuals in the NBA. Doc Rivers went from beleaguered soon-to-be-fired coach to "better than Jackson?" Pierce went from second-tier NBA star to potential Hall of Famer. Garnett became Karl Malone with a ring. Kobe was exposed as far from clutch on the biggest stage basketball offers. Same with Jackson.

It's part of why I love this game. Everyone's got a story, and careers can be made or lost in one playoff series.

Time for politics

Now that the NBA season is over, there is a dearth of interesting sports to follow until college football in late August. Actually, this year we have the Olympics starting on August 8th, so the wait is shorter than usual.

That said, all we've got for the next 1.5 months is baseball and NASCAR. Meh.

So on to politics! The first presidential election I voted in was in 2000. I voted for George, Jr. that year and in 2004. I don't regret doing so in the least. The past eight years have been good ones, in my opinion. The economy has been good. There have been zero terrorist attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11. Bush has made decisions I disagree with; his refusal to deal with the border and lack of work on energy independence are big problems to me, but for the most part, I've been happy with where the country was going.

And here we are in 2008. For the first time since 1984, neither a Bush nor a Clinton is involved in the general election. That's a pretty long time.

Yet in spite of this "new" political climate, I don't like either of these guys. It's fairly depressing that out of 300 million Americans, Obama and McCain are the best we can do.

Neither of them will do a thing about the border. They're both believers in the gospel of Prophet Gore's Climate Change. Neither of them will push for nuclear power.

Sure, McCain will select more conservative judges to fill vacancies in the Supreme Court. But as far as I can tell, that's the only positive he's got going for him.

And don't even get me started on the economy. Here's Obama's latest attempt to show how much he understands how things work:

Sen. Obama cited new economic forces to explain what appears like a return to an older-style big-government Democratic platform skeptical of market forces. 'Globalization and technology and automation all weaken the position of workers,' he said, and a strong government hand is needed to assure that wealth is distributed more equitably. He spoke aboard his campaign bus, where a big-screen TV was tuned to the final holes of the U.S. Open golf tournament.

Barack, technology weakens the position of workers? Computers, backhoes, tape recorders, cell phones, all this stuff makes workers more productive and therefore more valuable to employers.

Man, we're in for some hurting if this guy gets elected. Again, I doubt McCain will be any better. Sad that the one guy with a strong background in the public sector of business got bounced from the election for being Mormon.

Right now I'm planning on voting for a third-party candidate. If that helps give the presidency to Obama, so be it. In a twisted way, I hope the next four years of an extreme leftist president with a Democrat-controlled Congress will be horrible. Maybe that'll give the American people a kick to the pants and realize we need some common sense in Washington.

But then again, maybe not. Ugh.

Hooray Celtics

Congratulations to Boston, 2008 NBA Champions!

On the other hand, ugh. The rich get richer, as poor Boston fans who only had 16 championship banners hanging in their arena finally get one more. If they weren't playing the Lakers, and if they didn't have Kevin Garnett, I'd have rooted against them in the Finals.

So good job, KG. All those years languishing in Minnesota are finally exorcised. Your 26-point, 14-rebound performance was outstanding in the June 17th massacre that was Game 6 of the Finals.

And boo to Kobe. It's official, The Black Mamba is no #23. After being on fire early, Bryant ended the game with 22 points on 7-22 shooting and four turnovers. For those of you following along at home, that brings his shooting percentage for the Finals to a fabulous 40.4% (53-131).

Wow. Who is this guy, Allen Iverson?

Even with the ridiculous steal of a trade for Gasol, Kobe still isn't good enough to win a title without Shaq. Poor Kobe.

And for all you Laker fans out there pinning your hopes on Bynum coming back next year, I'd be a bit wary. Yes, the kid was impressive early this season, but recording 13 and 10 a game for a few weeks does not automatically mean he's the second coming of Kareem.

Besides, he was supposed to be back from knee surgery a few weeks ago. He's not. Isn't that a bit worrisome?

But by all means, keep being arrogant. It reminds me of Kobe in the first quarter of Game 6. "Not tonight!" he said. "Not tonight!"

A bit early for that kind of cockiness, Mr. The Black Mamba. Hopefully your fans can learn from your mistake.

Coming soon: NBA predictions for next season.

Lakers limp to their second win

The Lakers beat the Celtics by five points at home. It was a two-point game with under two minutes to go. At home.

I can't imagine Laker fans are comforted. If their boys can barely squeak out two wins at home in the Finals, their odds aren't so great going back to Boston.

And what's up with Kobe? Gasol and Odom bailed him out of another bad shooting night. Forgive me for blaspheming, but recording 38% from the field in a must-win Finals game isn't exactly MVP-esqe. He's now shooting 42% for the series. Who is this guy, LeBron James?

Impressive show by the Spaniard and the headcase, unimpressive show by KG. Pierce did manage to score 38 points, but as my "Kobe Show" theory tells us, basketball is a team sport.

It's not that KG had a bad game, exactly. 54% shooting and 14 rebounds is fantastic most nights. But when you only take 11 shots and go 1-4 from the free-throw line, it doesn't much help your team. Not to mention he disappeared late again. He was a rebound machine over the last ten minutes, but offensively he was just plain awful. KG's performance late:

10:03 Offensive rebound

9:25 Turnover

8:08 Defensive rebound

7:26 Offensive rebound

6:58 Defensive rebound

6:39 Turnover

4:35 13-foot jumper

3:54 Makes 1-2 free throws

3:36 Fouls Gasol

2:31 Misses two free throws

2:03 Misses tip-in

2:03 Offensive rebound

0:30 Misses layup

0:30 Offensive rebound

0:16 Defensive rebound

Final tally: Four offensive boards, three offensive boards, two turnovers, 1-3 from the field, 1-4 from the free-throw line. Yikes.

Will the Lakers make history as the first team to win an NBA Finals after being down 3-1? Probably not. But they took the first step. Let's see how they do back East.

On a final note, I love how Kobe brought his daughters to the microphone with him while answering questions after the game. What a family guy. What a nice guy. All that stuff people say about him being a horrible jerk of a teammate must be false.

Long live Kobe!

Frozen Wasteland

A reader asked why I named my blog From the Frozen Wasteland.

Snow earlier today.

Snow on Tuesday.

It's June.

That about sums it up.

Game 4

Boy, I picked the right night to get off work early.

I didn't have much to do at the office today, so I got it all done and headed home to catch Lakers/Celtics Game 4. I figured this would be a turning point in the series, but I didn't realize what a classic it would be.

The Lakers were playing perfect ball in the first quarter behind Lamar Odom, while Boston was about as terrible as they could be, missing layups and wide-open shots.

The Celtics were down 24 after one, the largest first-quarter deficit EVER in the NBA Finals. I wasn't ready to call the game, because three quarters is a long time, but it certainly was looking like the series would be 2-2 by tomorrow.

Boston played better in the second quarter while L.A. played worse, but that was to be expected. L.A. still led by 18 at the half after Jordan Farmar banked in a running 3-pointer as time expired.

The Celtics had every reason to come out flat in the third, but whatever Doc Rivers told his guys in the locker room worked. Boston came out and really clamped down on defense. The Lakers scored 15 and 18 points in the third and fourth quarters, which allowed Boston to dig themselves out of the hole they were in juuuuust enough.

KG answered some questions about his clutchness and willingness to bang down low. He settled for long jumpers too often, as usual, but I've started to come to terms with the fact that this is who he is. He's a 7-footer with mad skills and strength who prefers to take jumpers. It stinks, but okay.

Tonight he took it to whoever was guarding him at least six or seven times, with good results. And he didn't disappear down the stretch, like he did in Game 2.

He nailed a short jumper over Gasol with 7:13 left. Then he got fouled and nailed both free throws with 4:45 left. Another jumper with 2:10 left and a rebound in the last minute rounds off a solid late-game performance. Sure, Allen's drive and layup past The Machine was more high-profile, but Garnett's performance in the fourth was as important, in my opinion.

And then there was Kobe. Poor Kobe. When he shoots a lot he gets ripped on for being a ballhog (that would be me), and when he defers to his teammates, who then play terribly, he loses games. In the first half tonight, he let his teammates run wild, setting guys up for open shots and pretty much making the team go. Zero field goals and like seven assists for number 24 in the first two quarters.

Then Boston decided to play defense and suddenly his teammates were horrible. Odom disappeared after dominating in the first quarter. Vujacic was off all night, shooting 1-9. The lead started disappearing with seven minutes left in the third.

So Kobe decides it's KOBE SHOW TIME!

18 minutes later, and the Black Mamba ended up shooting 6-19 on the night. He's now 38 of 88 for the series, a solid 43%.

Can we please stop the Michael comparisons now? Please?

Shoot, you can argue that Ray Allen outplayed him tonight. 19 points, nine rebounds and some clutch shots late.

So here we are, on the brink of the Celtics' 32nd NBA Championship.

At least the series has been interesting.