Blogs and Demagogues and Football.

It's been awhile. A few things have happened since I last blogged:

The Democrats took control of both houses of congress. Boo! Boooo!

Talk radio hosts Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill Bennet, and Laura Ingraham (among others) continue to demagogue the issue of illegal immigration with their characterization of anyone who supports a comprehensive approach to illegal immigration as an amnesty advocate. This is such a lie and it's shameful that Rush and Sean (et. al.) are calling comprehensive immigration reform amnesty. It is not amnesty that President Bush and many senators--both Democrats and Republicans--are pushing for. For one thing, illegally crossing the border is a misdemeanor, for cripes sake! Yet Hannity and his ilk want those who have committed a misdemeanor treated like hardened criminals. President Bush wants those who violated immigration laws to pay fines and past taxes. How is this amnesty? Amnesty is allowing illegal immigrants to not pay any sort of restitution. Yet no one in the Bush administration is advocating this approach. I think much of the hysteria on the right about this issue is because the chief law enforcement officer of the United States--attorney General Alberto Gonzalez--is Hispanic. No, I'm not accusing anyone of racism. I just think Rush and his buddies are afraid Gonzalez will sympathize and take it easy on other Hispanics, in this case illegal immigrants. There's no evidence for this but this kind of demagoguery needs no evidence.

My prediction of an Indianapolis Colts/Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl looks realistic as both Dallas and Indy are headed to the playoffs and both will likely win their respective divisions. Seattle--the defending NFC champions--are looking better and better and will pose a serious threat to Dallas. Chicago is still the best team in the NFC and that's a tough obstacle for Dallas to overcome especially since Chicago may end up having home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. The chances of anyone winning on the road in Chicago in January don't seem great. The Indianapolis Colts, meanwhile, are posed to clinch home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. And despite recent playoff dissappointments in Indy, the Colts have to be the favorites in the AFC. Keep in mind I'm no fan of the Dallas Cowboys--I'm a Forty-Niner fan--but I don't let personal feelings interfere with my NFL predictions. If it is indeed a Cowboys/Colts Super Bowl, I'll be rooting for Indy.

I'll try to blog more often. Seriously.