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Unfortunately the Eagles are not flying as well.  Before people start crying about losing Jeff Garcia it is important to note than none of the Eagles’s losses is the fault of McNabb.  None of the WRs with the exception of Westbrook can get open, and if they did they cannot catch the ball.  The Defense is playing decently without two of their best players.

To the untrained eye or people who think Garcia is better than Donovan will see the injury to Westbrook as the main reason the Birds loss tonight.  The real reason the Eagles lost is the injury to William “formerly Tra” Thomas.  He has been the backbone of the offense since he was drafted a year before Donovan McNabb.

 That said, the Phightens will win the World Series with the past (Howard), present (Rollins), and future (Chase) MVP

Done celebrating over Cappy’s retirement? Good, back to work with you.

Looks like the usual suspects are trying to replace him with another establishment pick.

A group of local legislators has sent a letter to Gov. Ed Rendell recommending that Northampton County President Judge Robert A. Freedberg be nominated to fill a vacancy on the state Supreme Court.

“Judge Freedberg is a highly respected and talented member of the judiciary,” says the letter. “His vast and varied experience has given him insights into all aspects of the legal profession.”

I will admit I do not know much about the honorable Judge himself, but based on who is supporting this, I do not see this bringing any real change to Harrisburg.

UPDATE: This make me like him even less.

But now we have the Forward reporting that Robert Freedburg, the presiding judge (and the first Jewish one) of the Court of Common Pleas in Northhampton County, Pennsylvania has called into question the legality of a Ten Commandments plaque that has hung in his courtroom for half a century—- and was presented to the court by a committee of local Jews to mark the 300th anniversary of Jewish settlement in America!

(Me linking to the above does not mean I agree with his point. To be honest, I did not read what the guy was tring to say in the above post other than the area around the quote.)

That game didn’t exactly make the Steelers look good. Especially when the Cardinals pretty much gave them the ball with a 1st and Goal and four yards and they failed to capitalize on it.

Well, they couldn’t stay undefeated forever, and the first loss is out of the way now. Steelers 3-1.

Nice. Hopefully some justice will be done.

A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss a defamation case against Rep. John P. Murtha and ordered the Pennsylvania Democrat to give a sworn deposition about his comments alleging “cold-blooded murder and war crimes” by unnamed soldiers in connection with Iraqi civilian deaths.

 

A Marine Corps sergeant is suing the 18-term congressman for making the charge, which the soldier claims is false. Murtha, who opposes the Iraq war, made the comment during a May, 2006 Capitol Hill news conference in which he predicted that a Pentagon war crimes investigation will show Marines killed dozens of innocent Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005.

 

Murtha’s office declined to comment on the ruling. A Vietnam veteran and retired Marine Reserves colonel, Murtha has said his intention was to draw attention to the pressure put on troops in Iraq and efforts to cover-up the incident.

 

The Justice Department wanted the case dismissed because Murtha was acting in his official role as a lawmaker. Assistant U.S. Attorney John F. Henault said the comments were made as part of the debate over the war in Iraq.

$7,000 more dollars from the Governor to charity.

Gov. Ed Rendell is returning campaign contributions from two donors associated with former fugitive Norman Hsu, a man facing fraud charges.

 

Rendell’s decision to give back $7,000 comes three weeks after the Democratic governor said he would donate to charity nearly $38,000 that came directly from Hsu.

 

The most recent giveback resulted from “sufficient questions” about the donors that were raised in press accounts, Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said.

 

The governor is returning $2,000 contributed in May 2005 by a resident of Daly City, Calif., and $5,000 donated in April 2006 by a resident of Long Island, N.Y.

Calling Senator Casey….. Senator Casey…. there are still fourteen thousands dollars outstanding.

… on the road to victory!

It took a 162 games, and 33 years to avenge the 1964 season!

My apologies to those of you in Philly, but this is big news in Pittsburgh. The big networks actually carried live coverage of Bishop David Zubik’s installation Mass, and the news people had nothing but good things to say about the bishop and the church. Both Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and County Executive Dan Onorato attended the Mass. It would seem that Pittsburgh is still a very Christian city.

From this week’s Pittsburgh Catholic:

Photograph of Bishop Zubik

Bishop Zubik’s Letter to the Catholics of Pittsburgh

Coat of Arms of Bishop Zubik, in color

I’m not sure what to make of this letter in today’s P-G except to say that I don’t think most people actually know the words to “Imagine”, especially the folks who think it’s the greatest song ever:

Awhile back, John Lennon wrote a masterpiece called “Imagine.” I could not help thinking about the realities of imagination the last few days while the president of Iran was in our country.

With all the words written before, during and now after his stay, and with many protesting, I imagine what could have happened if each and every one of these people took their energy (and hate) and turned it into prayer for that man.

“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. …” Maybe in prayer we may someday be as one.

CECELIA L. MAZZARINI
Mount Washington

If we would be operating in the spirit of “Imagine”, exactly why on earth would we pray for Ahmadinejad, or anyone else for that matter? To quote a few more of the song lyrics:

Imagine there’s no Heaven / It’s easy if you try
No hell below us / Above us only sky
Imagine all the people / Living for today

Imagine there’s no countries / It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for / And no religion too
Imagine all the people / Living life in peace

If there’s no Heaven, no God, and essentially nothing to die for (or live for, for that matter), then prayer is completely meaningless. Honestly, I don’t know why the P-G prints such silly letters. Although… wouldn’t it be something if they printed a letter making a similar plea of President Bush’s enemies? Instead of hating on him, pray for him? That would certainly be a riot, wouldn’t it?

Well, anyway, I would gladly pray for Ahmadinejad to turn from his terrorist ways. I doubt he will, but who knows – as Pittsburgh’s new Catholic bishop likes to say, “Nothing is impossible with God.”

I have just sent the following letter to Senator Bob Casey. I don’t want him to think that we’ve already forgotten about this:

Dear Senator Casey:

During your campaign for the Senate, you made it clear that you are an advocate of contraception. While I disagree with you on the effectiveness of contraception and believe that it does very little if anything to decrease the total number of abortions in a society, I strongly disagree with your vote against Senator Brownback’s amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriation bill.

In voting against that amendment, you voted to give the money of your constituents and all Americans to overseas groups which perform abortions. You might argue that the money was going to pay for contraception, but the reality is that by giving these groups any money at all, you are helping them to commit abortions as well. When we give them money for other services, that frees up whatever other funds they have to use for the abortions.

Surely there must be some way to distribute contraception to people without giving money to those who take the lives of unborn children. To be clear, I repeat that I am against contraception, but if the choice is between funding groups which merely provide contraceptives and groups which perform abortions, we must not give our tax dollars to groups which carry out abortions any more than we would give them to charitable organizations which just happen to also support acts of terrorism.

The Catholic diocese of Pittsburgh once again has a bishop. We have been without one since Bishop Donald Wuerl was appointed to be the Archbishop of Washington, DC.

Like Bishop Wuerl, our new bishop is another ‘native son’ of Pittsburgh, Bishop David Zubik.

AP Photo: Bishop Zubik waves to supporters outside St. Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh today

“With faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and with the love of God in my heart, I do accept the pastoral care of the people of God in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. I resolve to serve faithfully the spiritual needs of this local church.” — Most Rev. David Zubik, accepting the Apostolic Mandate

KDKA: Pittsburgh’s Bishop Welcomed With Open Arms

WPXI: Pittsburgh Receives New Bishop

WTAE: Zubik Installed As Bishop Of Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Zubik installed as new Roman Catholic bishop in Pittsburgh

Allegheny County Times: Zubik calls flock to action

This is the Coat of Arms of Bishop Zubik. Click for a larger image:

And in case you’re interested, here is an explanation of the Coat of Arms.

“I dare you to join me in being excited about our faith.” – Bishop David Zubik