Randi Rhodes is a big bag of douche.

A school assignment took me to the usually untouched AM airwaves on my car radio as I was driving home earlier.  Since the antenna is broken on my car, I had some trouble finding a station that got a clear signal, but I stumbled across 1190 AM and The Randi Rhodes Show.

I can completely respect views that are different than mine and I am totally fine with strongly opinionated arguments from the other side of the coin.   But Randi Rhodes is way too over the top for me.   Her critique of John McCain didn’t bother me, her misunderstanding of a veteran’s point of view was even bearable, but when she accused all Republicans of being illiterate, I almost jumped through my speakers to punch her in the face.

I think the quote was something along the lines of “People that support Republicans, people that are affiliated with the Republican party… you can’t even have a conversation with them. They don’t read. They don’t know what they’re talking about, they’re not educated, they have these opinions but they don’t know what’s going on.”

I can recall only a few other times in my life when I was so offended. Really, Randi Rhodes? I’m not educated? I don’t read? I don’t know what’s going on in the election? Thanks. I must have got into grad school on a pure fluke. This isn’t the damn West Wing and you’re not comparing Jed Bartlet to Rob Ritchie, all right? So get off your intellectual high horse, jackass.

Let me say a big F-U, Randi Rhodes. You want to generalize? Fine, you’re the one with the mic.. You want to stereotype? Okay. It’s your show, so you’re entitled. But pull your head out of your own ass long enough to recognize that it’s POSSIBLE that someone who’s not on your way-liberal-left-wing-whacko-springboard-of-fun might actually have… a college degree. I mean, there’s just the smallest chance that there are a couple Republicans out there who are informed on the issues. I would LOVE to debate you on the tax plans.

And your radio show was boring. I was actually relieved when the signal started fading out.

I hope I never have to listen to this dumb broad again.

Like a Phoenix, rising from the ashes

So I have decided to come out of hiding.  The last two weeks have been, how do I put this mildly…… Troublesome.  Waiting eight months to watch your team play live and in person is bad enough, but the agony compounds exponentionally when you finally get to that Chrismas Morning, don your visiting team fan apparel and then head to the home team’s stadium two miles down the road, only to gasp in horror as your  Top-5 Power Ranking, pre-season Super Bowl favorite team winds up derailing into an overtime cloud of dust and the only thing you can do is bury your hands in your head as the hometown faithful go whooping and hollering past you on their way to a joyous celebration of drunken euphoria.  You will also soon be drinking, but it will be to wash away the heartbreak of the tragedy that just occurred on the football field.  Now, if you have experienced something similar to thie little scenario I just described, I would like to shake your hand, since I can now say I’ve walked a mile in your shoes.  Without any explicable reasoning, the Dallas Cowboys, the one true love of my life, the only team I’ve ever been faithful to, took my 24 years of fanship and happily bludgeoned it to pieces right before my eyes.  My only solace was that, as a female in a jean skirt, the raucous crowds of Cardinals “diehards” were not nearly as disrespectful to me as they were to any male Cowboys supporter.

Hell.

Then it came out the next day that good ol’ Tony had busted his pinky finger in overtime.  Which is phenomenal because he was on the field for exactly 3 snaps in overtime.  What a complete and utter disaster.  The Cowboys cost me my sanity that day.

Then, of course, they went above and beyond the call of duty to further my anguish.

Instead of say, playing, when they traveled to St. Louis to take on one of the WORST THREE teams in the league, they instead chose to have themselves a game of intrasquad dodgeball while the G.D. RAMS disenfranchised them 34-14.  Really it should have been 34-7.  Brad Johnson got lucky to Miles Austin near the end of hte game.  After the first quarter I could only continue to watch if I mentally removed myself from the situation and acted like I was not emotionally invested in the game.  Being a glutton for punishment true fan, I coudn’t actually bring myself to stop watching until the final play, but something inside of me died that day.  I don’t know if I’ll ever get it back.

4-3.  Romo out at least another 3 weeks.  Multiple injuries on the defense that I can’t even begin to type out because I’ve already purged myself enough in this blog and I prefer not to get any more depressed about the situation.

My championship season is circling the bottom of the toilet bowl.  First the Tigers.  Now the Cowboys.  Apparently if you have me for a fan and the most talent on paper on your team this year, expect to wind up taking a fat shit haflway through the season and then hoping for the best the rest of the way.

Somebody please, pray for a miracle on Sunday, because if we want to maintain .500 status before our bye, we absolutely have to find a unicorn and come out with a W against Tampa Bay. God knows what New York is gonna do to us next week…

Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up the turnover ‘tude train for a quick second, would you Tony?

At least T.O. had legit reasons for the erratic behavior in his post-game interviews yesterday.  I must have missed it originally, but I just caught a clip from Tony’s podium dance with reporters after the Bengals game.   close one.   Near heart attack inducer.

What.  Are.  You.  Talking.  About.  Romo.

“I’m sorry that I’m not sorry that we won… ya know?”

First of all, and this may be the most difficult part to ignore, if I asked a 3rd grader to diagram that sentence, I wouldn’t be surprised if little Susie took out a pencil, sharpened it, and then stabbed herself in the eye.  But you didn’t have Mrs. Diane Maurer for an 11th grade English teacher, so I’ll (painfully) put aside my grammar nazi bias and continue.

More importantly, why are you getting a ‘tude with the media?  Do you think the AP was really unfounded in its questions about your entire team’s stinky-ass performance after the 1st quarter?  Sure, you won the game.  That’s awesome.  You’re supposed to win games.  Essentially that’s your job.  How about if I make one $400 sale at Buckle, then try on clothes the rest of the night and get snotty with my managers when they ask why my numbers were low?  You signed up to play with the league’s highest profile team, so if you’re offended when you get questioned about your continuing INT streak, you should probably hide it.  This is Dallas and you haven’t won a playoff game yet bro, so your “Awesome” file is pretty incomplete.   

“I think that’s something we have to fight sometimes around here is that if you don’t win pretty or something, it’s not a positive.”

Christ.  You’ve missed the entire point.  The fans aren’t worried about you guys getting it done in some sort of gritty, blue-collared, (dare I say it?) Brett Favre-esque fashion.  If you stunk the whole night and still somehow came out on top, we’d actually probably stand up and applaude you.  But that’s not what you did, Mr. Simpson.  Not just you, but the entire team.  17-0 in the first eighteen minutes… then outscored 22-7 for the next two and a half quarters!! Thank God we weren’t on the bridge when Thurston shot his nuts off or else we’d be dead!!  We’re not mad that you barely won the game, we’re nervous that it’s 1/3 of the way through the season and already the team is showing serious signs of apathy once a lead is established. 

No one’s asking you to be perfect.  No one’s asking you for a 0.0 turnover percentage.  We just want some sort of mild confidence that the team isn’t going to fall apart with 42 minutes left in the game.  Once you got up by 17, the next six drives went punt-punt-halftime-fumble-punt-interception.  During this original display of impotence, Cincinatti scored 16 unanswered points that could have easily been 20 or more if we didn’t get lucky on a Housh-holding call.   Drop the ball like that (no pun intended) against a team that’s, oh I don’t know, GOOD and it’s game over.  I guarantee the Giants/Redskins/Titans/Steelers would not have let us out of that alive. 

Play to YOUR talent level, not the level of your opponent.  Play for all 60 minutes.  Play as if you still need to win the game. Do you need to run up the score like the ‘07 Patriots? Maybe not that high… but it certainly couldn’t hurt you to send a message of “Don’t F*** with us.”  Hell, even if the other teams aren’t listening, the fans sure as shit are.  And we could use a little reassurance.  We know it’s important that you peak at the right time (preferrably January) but it might calm us down a bit if it didn’t look like you still had such a long way to go…

Despite your best efforts, you answered correctly (Cowboys Style)

Try as they might, the Cowboys did not lose a home game against the winless Cincinatti Bengals.  As I sat paralyzed on my couch, glued to the screen in sheer horror of the train wreck that unraveled on the field at Texas Stadium, I could have sworn the home team was hell-bent on handing Marvin Lewis his first Dub of the season.

Minus the first 18 minutes of course, when Greg Ellis snagged the team’s first interception since last December.  You know, because 260-pound linebackers are known for their ball-snagging prowess…   Also, throw up a 2-8 for Felix Jones who’s found the end zone in every game he’s touched the ball.  I say Marion Barber should paper-rock-scissor him for the starting position.  Anyway, when the Boys went up 17-0, three minutes into the 2nd quarter, I was fairly satisfed even though Tony’s less than statistically superb performance was making my fantasy game much closer than it needed to be. 

Then, as per usual, all Hell broke loose.  In this case, Hell = Dallas’ Infamous Prevent Defense.

Really, it’s a legacy in the making.  Even during the Glory Days the Cowboys were groundbreaking in their ability to find new ways to stop playing any sort of aggressive football once they had a comfortable lead.  And by comfortable I mean “anywhere from 7 to 20 points” with no regard for the amount of time left on the game clock.  Up by 17 with 42 minutes to  go in the game is just the 10.5.08  version for the file. 

The Bengals lost this game, we didn’t win it.  But for a Holding call on Houshmanzadeh, a Chris Perry fumble and several dropped passes across the Cincinatti board, the Cowboys are 3-2.  Somehow, somewhere we came out on top to keep pace in the divsion with the Skins, but it was a pathetic display of ineptitude.

Carson Palmer’s leading a team with game averages of 14 pts (2nd to last in the league) & 240 total yards (Dead last in the league). We should have ROLLED over them.  We should have won 44-6, like the Giants did against Seattle.  An 0-4 team on the road against a 3-1 “powerhouse” should not be able to send TJ Whoshamazilly into the endzone TWICE without so much as a hand in the face.

Tony ThumbsForFingers threw a pick for the eighth straight game (yes, that dates back to 2007) earning the title of the League’s Longest Interception Streak.  If anyone’s counting that’s 5 this year, and as I pointed out, our All-Pro Corners & Safeties have combined for a total of 0 so far.  Excellent.  As long as we keep winning the turnover battle like this, we should easily continue to scrape by on flukes & sheer luck.  

This is maddening. We don’t look like a championship contender.  If Flozell Adams didn’t drop his Alaska-sized ass on top of Marion Barber’s fumble… If Patrick Crayton didn’t find a 4-leaf clover and happen to be jogging in the exact spot where Miles Austin tips the ball in the end zone… If Keith Davis got beat by Ben Utecht on the 2-pt conversion…  You get the idea.  Too many gaffes, too many holes that would have been exposed by ANY other team (except perhaps the Lions).  We’re supposed to be a Super Bowl favorite.  It would be nice if all 53 roster members got on board with that concept.

On a side note, did anyone catch TO’s post-game press debacle?  Why is he dragging God down into this mess?  Come on Terrell, gather yourself.  I gotta reel you back in, buddy.  You got a TD and a win, so put a kabosh on the emotionally distressed hyper-routine, would you?   Sorry about the loss in your family, Terrell and I apologize for jumping the gun on your reaction.  Nothing but love. 

It’s so frustrating, I can’t even get on my usual Sassy Pants to be clever and witty about it.  In case anyone missed it, the effing Cardinals  rebounded from 2 straight losses to manhandle the previously undefeated Bills and send Trent Edwards to the locker room for who knows how long.  I do  NOT need Grandpa Kurt rallying the troops like that when the Blue & Silver come to town in 6 days.  If they play like this again next Sunday, I’m going to have the world’s longest walk of shame out of the University of Phoenix Stadium.

In other (somewhat) comforting news,  Matt Cassell remembered how to throw to Randy Moss and I have secured a fantasy win, so long as Reggie Bush doesn’t lose 9 points tomorrow night.  Much like what happened in Irving, it was a depressingly unconvincing win, but I’ll take it, breathe a sigh of relief at a crisis averted and turn my attention to preparing for Week 6.

Airport rental car costs rising big in small numbers

PHOENIX, Ariz. – The bad news for rental car customers at Sky Harbor International Airport is that a 33 percent increase in an item on their billing statements could be enacted as soon as December. 

The good news is that most customers probably will not notice it.

 

Any receipt printed from an airport-located rental company includes a $4.50 fee for each day the vehicle is in use, called the “rental car center customer facility charge.”  Thursday afternoon, the Business and Development Subcommittee accepted a proposed rate hike to $6, one-third of the current price, in the first of three necessary approvals for the change to be adopted by the city. 

 

Subcommittee members forwarded the motion with recommendation of approval to the Aviation Advisory Board for its Oct. 16 meeting.  If the Advisory Board accepts the proposal, it will be recommended to the City Council for consideration in early November.   The price change can go into effect as soon as 30 days after the Council approves the motion, although more likely it would be implemented Jan. 1, 2009, according to Tamie Fisher, deputy director of the Business and Planning Division. 

 

All vehicle rental businesses work out of a financially self-sufficient, consolidated building at Sky Harbor, which requires a shuttle ride to and from the terminals. Implemented in June 2002 at the rate of $3.50, the customer facility charge, or CFC, covers transportation costs associated with the shuttle system and rose to $4.50 in 2003. 

 

To finance the development of the center six years ago, the Aviation Department issued a bond sale of $270 million on a 24-year term and purchased bond insurance through the FDIC to obtain a better interest rate and avoid a debt service reserve fund.  In 2002, insurance surety for the department was at an A rating.

 

“Hardships in 2008 resulted in a downgrade to a BB rating, which triggered a requirement for us to fund a $21 million debt reserve fund in 12 equal payments in 12 months.  We have collaborated extensively with the rental car industry to explore all the options of repositioning the debt or funding the debt reserve fund and we believe the $1.50 increase will restore the debt reserve fund to its appropriate level by 2013, pending passenger activity,” said Fisher.

 

National travel trends have also taken their toll.  Through the end of August, Sky Harbor rental numbers were 70,000 fewer than the same period in 2007.  Last year, about 1.9 million rentals were processed at the airport, according to Project Management Assistant Robert Hawes. If current trends continue, it would mean an approximate loss of 105,000 transactions for the Aviation Department.         

 

“It’s a cyclical business,” said Project Management Assistant Robert Hawes.  “There are busy seasons and slow seasons.  February, March and April tend to be our busiest months, although this year we had a boost in January, due to the Super Bowl.”

 

Phoenix is not the only city with a major airport to increase its customer facility charge.  Dallas-Fort Worth is

comparable in size to Sky Harbor and also uses a consolidated rental center.  Recently, DFW upped its CFC to $6 when the airport decided to follow Sky Harbor’s initiative and fund its shuttle system with the fee.

 

Transportation costs are a variable expense, particularly in the area of gas for the shuttle buses.  The fixed rate of $4.50 has not allowed for the change in fuel prices, among other things.

 

“We get some questions about the percentage of fees here,” Fisher told the subcommittee.  “Phoenix is one of the largest airport markets in country, and has fees associated with the facilities developed for customer, but at a very low daily rate.  The bottom line for our customers is very comfortable, if not less than those such as Dallas.”

 

Polling data: fact or fiction?

PHOENIX, Ariz. – At 6:30 p.m. yesterday, Dr. Bruce Merrill told a meeting sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists that polls are “the most misused, most misunderstood tool in journalism and politics.” 

 

At 7 p.m., a new Merrill-directed Cronkite/Eight Poll was officially relased and revealed Republican John McCain’s 7 percent lead in Arizona over Democratic rival Barack Obama.  Home state support for McCain was down 3 percent from a similar August poll.

 

In his speech to the SPJ-sponsored audience, Merrill explained  sampling error and statistical equations and listed the reasons why polls cannot be used to determine who will win a presidential election.  At the top of the list was a poll’s representation of a snapshot in time.

 

Merrill’s poll, co-directed by Dr. Tara Blanc, was conducted over the weekend.  After Monday’s events on Wall Street, Merrill believes that the same poll taken yesterday would show a dead heat between McCain and Obama, within the margin of error.

 

“There’s no question that the breakdown of the economy is going to help Obama a lot, because the Republicans have been in office for the last seven years. Polling data supports the idea that people blame the Republicans much more than the Democrats for the financial crisis,” he said.

 

Sampling error, the undecided vote, and turnout also contribute to a poll’s inability to predict the next president.  According to Merrill, voter turnout should play the largest role in 2008.  If the 18 to 29-year-olds cast their ballots, Obama will win by a landslide.  On the other side, McCain may see a surge of voters from the religious right that could tip the scale in his favor.

 

“Presidential elections are decided by turnout and there’s not a pollster in the world who can predict who’s going to go to the polls.  I think it’s just crazy to try and predict that.”

 

The poll, which was also released overseas, surveyed 976 registered Arizona voters and also found significant polarization on both sides of the vote.  Numbers show that the state is divided on Sarah Palin’s ability to assume the role of president in the event that something should happen to McCain.  Obama’s strengths continue to be seen as the need for change and social issues, while McCain holds the advantage in experience and military background.

 

Merrill was the pollster for McCain’s first congressional race in 1982 when the current presidential hopeful earned a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.  A veteran in the polling industry, Merrill serves as Professor Emeritus at the Walter Cronkite School of Mass Communication where he established the media research program in the late 1980s.

Republic Exec confident in economy

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Tuesday’s stock market rebound of 485 points, the third highest in history, should come as no surprise to Arizona Republic Executive Editor Nicole Carroll.

 

A day prior, when the Dow Jones industrial average dropped a record breaking 778 points Monday, Carroll chose not to panic.   In fact, on the economically groundbreaking evening, she used her confidence in the nation’s ability to bounce back as the opening statement in an address to students at the Walter Cronkite School of Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

 

 “The biggest lesson is that we will come out of it,” said the 9-year Republic employee who earned her bachelor’s degree from the Cronkite School in 1991.  At the time of graduation, Carroll faced similar economic circumstances stemming from Black Monday, the 1987 stock market crash that claimed 22.6 percent of Dow Jones.

 

“The country came out of it.  The jobs came back and the innovation came back and that’s the biggest lesson I wanted to share with you: We will get through this too, even though it’s a really bad day.  The important thing is that we’re ready.”

 

 After 17 years in journalism, the reporter-turned-editor offered expertise advice to a group of 40 in the First Amendment Forum.  In response to the increasingly popular view that newspapers are becoming obsolete, Carroll emphasized that print journalism is neither a dinosaur nor a dying breed.  

 

 “There is a difference between readership and circulation,” she explained.  “Readership is up 6 percent from last year.  Between the paper and azcentral.com, we reach over 1.5 million people a day.  Our business model is pretty sound, it’s just the economy that’s giving us a ride right now and we can’t control that.”

 

 Freshman Cassidy Olson came to the forum not sure what to expect.  Growing up in Prescott, Olson had not been an avid reader of the Republic, but was interested in a print-editing career after graduation. 

 

 “I think this decline could have some positive effects on the news industry,” she said afterwards.  “The economy hits nearly everyone and more people are going to want to get as much news as possible on the situation.  I don’t think the situation should be taken lightly, but like Nicole, I am also sure that the economy will eventually recover. ”

 

Talk began to circulate mid-Tuesday that the Senate would hold a Wednesday night vote on a $700 billion bailout plan similar to the motion the House of Representatives rejected on Monday.  When it beame clear that the government was actively pursuing a solution to the financial crisis, the Dow Jones rose almost as quickly as it fell the day before, recovering nearly two-thirds of what it lost.  Carroll’s confidence seemed well-founded.

Tim McGuire, the Frank Russell Chair for the business of journalism at ASU, voiced a similar opinion. “I think that the future for journalism is very strong.  Look at what’s happened in the last 24 hours, as [Carroll] said.  I was just on an airplane and people had papers galore. People are tuned in to what’s happening; they’re very concerned.  Journalism is still the vast purveyor of information,” he said.

 

Carroll’s speech was a part of the Must See Monday series, a new initiative headed by Mike Wong, Cronkite career services director.  The series gives students access to successful professionals in journalism through a town hall style forum. 

           

“As the number two person at the Republic and an ASU alum, Nicole was a natural choice for this program,” said Wong.  “She’s had great experiences through her career and she knows her stuff.”

           

A Wednesday role call to adopt the bailout motion would not immediately cure the nation’s financial woes, but it would certainly cement credibility to Carroll’s confidence.