To support our troops does not mean becoming bloodthirsty and shouting for war, war and more war.

It doesn’t mean supporting the president, the defense secretary, the Republican-controlled House and Senate.

It means supporting our troops. Standing by them as they go into harm’s way, praying for their swift and safe return, grieving for our losses.

The president spent 90 minutes with grieving family members just the other day. Ninety minutes! I hope he could spare it. More importantly, I wish he could understand the sacrifice instead of mouthing hollow words that touch nobody’s soul or ease anybody’s pain.

I don’t want to be a soldier. I never did. There hasn’t been a war during my lifetime worth fighting for. That does not mean we do not need a strong and efficient military. That also does not mean that I believe those who do serve are evil and wrong. It just does not fit my personal standards of morality.

I support our troops. I worry every time I hear there has been yet another death or more serious injuries in Iraq. I worry that they will next be sent to Iran, North Korea, Lebanon, Syria or any other dangerous spot on the planet.

These brave men and women, their families, their friends, deserve better than a bunch of hypocrites who never wore the uniform , never put their lives on the line, never went into harm's way, making life and, sadly, death decisions.

Posted by Ed Kociela at 07:48 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 3 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

The usually quiet Bob Dylan remarked recently that he hasn't heard a recording in decades that was any good.

It wasn't a rap on musicians, it was a rap on the technology that makes stars out of the likes of Clay and Kelly, Faith and Shania.

The digital era has taken all of the soul out of recorded music.

Most musicians sound much better in live performance than on CDs. It's because the technology has become so sharply focused on the nuance of every tone, that every note can be manipulated to its purest quality, that every voice can become crystal clear, that recordings are flat.

Back when technology was not as advanced, musicians experimented in the studio to create new sounds and moods. Voices and instruments faded from a left channel to the right. Effects were sparse and imprecise, causing something unique each time a musician turned on the tape to lay down a track.

Musicians and record producers could create a wall of sound not that long ago, layering and building until they had a full-frontal assault on the aural senses. Don't understand? Check out the early Stones recordings against the digital remakes. Listen to early Springsteen on vinyl, then pop in your CD. It's just not the same. Not now. Bits and pieces can be sewn together, thanks to the digital world we live in. The warmth of the old vinyl is gone. Those little pops and skittles were all a part of the process.

The arts are random; the arts are of the moment, then the moment's gone.

Dylan's right, as usual.

Everything today sounds too sterile.

Posted by Ed Kociela at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

When one looks at Bristol Motor Speedway, it doesn't seem like much on the surface. A lap there runs barely a half-mile around - .533 miles, the second shortest track on the Nextel Cup circuit to Martinsville (.526). It has a distinctive shape with a full 36 degrees of banking in the turns and looks like Grandma's old salad bowl after it came out of the dishwasher.
But come Saturday night, that bowl will be surrounded by 160,000 screaming maniac race fans roaring for their favorite drivers.
That's the key about Bristol. No race on the schedule beats the night race at the Bullring.

With only three races to go until the Chase begins, this edition of the Sharpie 500 (pre-race show at 5 p.m., green flag just after 5:30 Saturday night on TNT) will have several nervous drivers.
While points leader Jimmie Johnson and second-place Matt Kenseth are likely locks for the Chase, the race for third through 11th is as tight as the turns the drivers will face at Bristol.
From Kevin Harvick to Kasey Kahne, the separation is just 216 points. From seventh-place Kyle Busch to Kahne, it's only 90 points.
Mistakes can't happen now. Qualifying spots will matter even more. Staying out of trouble is of paramount importance.
At Bristol, your basic race formula for success has three parts - stay on the bottom of the track, don't gamble on passes, and know where your pit stall is.
Pit road at Bristol, by necessity, is split in two parts. During green-flag stops, drivers will lose a bunch of spots if they pit too quickly.
But with so much on the line Saturday night, spotters will be communicating where their driver's pit stall is early and often.
And if Johnson and/or Kenseth falter, there may be some additional life for Kahne because all drivers within 400 points of the lead will qualify for the Chase. Currently, Kahne is 533 points off Johnson's lead.
It's time to sit back, relax, and try not to stress too much over your favorite driver's mishaps. Then again, his Chase chances may not survive if he can't at Bristol.

Posted by Tom Zulewski at 08:32 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

Yep, I did it like I said I would. I switched from regular Coca-Cola to diet and then onto water. I’ve had a headache for two days. My body is missing the caffeine. I can hardly wait for it to be out of my system. Would you believe I’m even shaking?

I’ve always been told that if I drank tea, cola or my greatest thrill of eating chocolate that I’m using a drug. But I shrugged it off. I mean, it wasn’t as if I was taking speed or crack. After some research, to my astonishment, caffeine has the same pharmacological effects on the body as many of the substances we associate with doing harm.

Aside from being highly addictive and causing unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, which I’m discovering, caffeine is a psycho-active substance that can even transform an individual’s personality. Since I’m trying to lose weight, I’m wondering if this will have any affect on me. Last night I can tell you I was pretty down. I’ve only lost one pound in three weeks and I was quite depressed.

What I also learned from my research is that an ounce of sweet chocolate may contain between 75 and 150mg of combined methylxanthines and a cup of chocolate or chocolate milk may contain 150-300mg. Oh, boy. Looks like my next step is quitting the chocolate. That one is going to be the most difficult.

Also, in the United States, the permissible limit of caffeine in cola drinks and other carbonated beverages is 200mg per liter, higher than in other countries like Australia. The U.S. drinks also have higher levels of sugar. Caffeine's bitter taste acts as a flavoring agent to counteract the sweetness of the sugar. I found that interesting. Liquid candy that sits right around your middle – I’m living proof.

Furthermore, according to http://www.abc.net.au/quantum/poison/caffeine/caffeine.htm caffeine is absorbed rapidly into the bloodstream from the gastro-intestinal tract. It reaches maximum concentration within about one hour. The blood distributes it throughout the body. It even manages to pass through the blood-brain barrier, the Web site says.

It goes on to say that the half life of caffeine in the human body varies between 3 to 7 hours. Throughout the body it increases metabolic rate by around 10 percent. Females metabolise caffeine 20 to 30 percent more quickly than males. Early experiments showed that low concentrations of caffeine may produce small decreases in heart rate, whereas higher concentrations may make the heart beat abnormally fast, the site said.

In the brain it constricts the cerebral blood vessels. If you're used to drinking several cups of coffee or Coca-Cola, like I was each day, but then you quit, those blood vessels will dilate, maybe enough to give you a powerful headache. That explains it.

Some people may even experience tremors after drinking caffeinated drinks. That's thought to be due to over-activation of the central nervous system. The explanations are enough for me to stay away from caffeine for good. It also may cause insomnia, frequent urination and muscle fatigue. I’ve experienced all of those side effects.

Of course, caffeine isn’t all bad. It has been known to improve mental speed-related tasks, but I think I’ll exercise my brain without a stimulant from now on.

Now onto the next path in my weight loss journey, eating more raw fruit and vegetables and weaning myself off chocolate. I’m still exercising 4 to 5 times a week. I think my change in diet will help and I’m going to incorporate weight training. Let’s hope that will make the difference so I can say I’ve lost more than one pound in the next 21 days. Stay tuned! Work it, baby!

Posted by Jennifer Weaver at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 5 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

It was more than a little shocking - downright stunning, if you want to be picky about word choice - to see Dale Earnhardt, Jr. actually get booed following his win at the Busch Series CarFax 250 race Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
He's the driver of the No. 8, both for Budweiser in Nextel Cup and occasionally for Menard's in Busch.
Now just like his late father, he can rankle a few feathers when winning is on the line.

What made the showing all the more surprising is that Junior doesn't run in the Busch Series nearly as often as most of his Nextel Cup brethren do. As his main sponsor, Budweiser won't allow him to try.
But since the chance to run twice was available on the same track, Earnhardt took advantage.
If you read the print edition regularly, you know I'm not a huge fan of Cup guys taking most of the slots in the Busch race. A total of 23 Cup drivers were part of the field at the CarFax 250 on Saturday.
That's just wrong. Guys who are looking for a break in a Cup car need to pull off what David Gilliland did. He won at Kentucky in May. He's in the driver's seat of the No. 38 Ford Fusion today, replacing Elliott Sadler, who moved over to the No. 19.
The Busch guys are just learning what's necessary to win. The Cup guys need to stop pulling the rug of opportunity out from under them.
And maybe, just maybe, sideshows like the one Earnhardt, Jr. and Carl Edwards pulled in Victory Lane at Michigan will end up being just that - a sideshow that doesn't merit the press that it did.

Posted by Tom Zulewski at 03:42 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

Echoes of the O.J. Simpson and Scott Peterson trials are bouncing around my brain and I don’t like the sound.

I’ve had about enough of the sensationalism that is coverage of the break(?) in the JonBenet Ramsey case.

They picked up some sick-eyed loon in Thailand who said he was present when the 6-year-old beauty queen died 10 years ago. Never mind that his ex-wife said he was with her in Alabama on the night in question and never mind that he said he picked the tragic young girl up on her way home from school that day, even though school was out for the Christmas holidays. He’s guilty, darn it, and we’ll find a way to force those round-peg confessions into a square-hole death penalty. Oh, and let’s not forget all the lurid details.

Ashamedly, story has become the scoop du jour of the media.

The day the story in all its bizarro-world glory broke, a federal court issued a decision that the president’s telephonic spying program — part of the Patriot Act — was declared unconstitutional. It was followed up by word that Iran will dig its heels in and not curtail its nuclear program, which was followed by news of more killing in Israel, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The only way Osama bin Laden could have cracked the top news spot was if he was captured and admitted that he had killed JonBenet.

So far, the reportage has been scandalous innuendo and a very leaky confession. This guy wouldn’t be the first nut job to confess to a crime he did not commit.

And, despite all the attempts to cover stories of diversity, the media has fallen back into the trap of giving mega-coverage to a pretty, rich, white girl who was killed on what would have otherwise been a slow news day.

Rest in peace, young lady, and realize that it's nothing personal, it's business.

For the rest of those young victims who don't fit the JonBenet profile?

Those kids do count, but not in the Nielsen ratings.

Posted by Ed Kociela at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )

I was duped, I admit it.

For years, I bought into that whole Cedar City-St. George rivalry thing. I even had an editor once who tried to open my eyes, telling me that Cedar City had a "second city syndrome."

But, I bought into it.

Now that the FAA has given St. George approval to build its new airport, I'm sure this rivalry thing will rear its ugly head, again.

I mean, we'll hear how Cedar City has the second- (or, third-, depending on point of view) largest runway in the state. How the city recently poured a ton of entitlement money into building a new terminal, how air service there is substandard.

I just don't buy it any more. I no longer believe that the sun, the moon and the stars revolve around Cedar City.

It's a great place, I love the Utah Shakespearean Festival, I love the mountains and scenery. But, contrary to a once-soiled viewpoint, I have found that there IS intelligent life south of Exit 33.

Cedar City, with Mesa Airlines now servicing it through the essential air service program, now can fly you to Salt Lake City or Las Vegas, which is more than it had before.

St. George, with a new airport, will be able to land the larger commuter jets and take you to, if what I am hearing is true, destinations other than Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, which it now serves directly.

What more does the Southern Utah traveler need?

It's time to tie a knot in this rivalry thing. Cedar City needs to join forces with St. George on a number of issues -- from economic development to water and transportation.

I realized this about three years ago when instead of the narrow view I had, I took a step back and looked at the area as a region. When I did that, I saw how dependent these two areas actually are on each other and how some held tightly to mostly outdated, no-longer-practical grudges that continue to divide the two cities.

Competition is good. It keeps us all on our toes. I hope there continues to be a competition between the two cities. But, when it comes down to matters of importance, we need more cooperation.

I don't want to hear how Dixie State College takes precedence over SUU. If you truly believe that's the case, take it up with the president of the university (maybe the new one will act more and whine less) and the state regents. I don't want to hear how Cedar City residents are disloyal by purchasing their goods in St. George. If that's such a problem, bring in a developer up there who will bring in more choice than Wal-Mart.

I mean, other than Jolley's and the jewelry shops on Main Street, you really don't have a lot of other choices.

And, we all better take a look at who is settling here. It's not your daddy's in-migration crew.

We've got very bright people with a lot of money and higher expectations who are coming here to get away from the crime and smog, but expect a certain level of sophistication. They want to live in a town that looks like Mayberry, but is as progressive in thought and deed as Los Angeles, New York or Chicago.

That rivalry business?

Leave it to the high school football teams.

Posted by Ed Kociela at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBacks ( 0 )