The End of an Era in Wisconsin

Brett Favre was traded by the Green Bay Packers to the New York Jets for a 4th round draft pick, which has the potential to escalate based on Favre's playing time or a Super Bowl appearance.

I'm glad that the soap opera is over. Am I a Brett Favre fan? Yes. I was 12 years old when Brett's storied carrier with the Packers had begun. I'm 28 years old now, so this trade of Favre is kind of a big deal to Packers fans in my age group. I'm also a fan of the Green Bay Packers, despite how this has all turned out.

In the end there is dirt on everyone. I truly believe that this whole saga sparked off when Mike Holmgren left Green Bay for Seattle. It's not that Holmgren was going to be the saving grace for Green Bay, but it was really the last time we had someone involved in the Packers organization that was actually interested in aquiring the weapons needed to win championships.

Over the years we did good getting a strong defense in place, but we never went out and got the big name wide outs that Brett could throw to for a season or two. Nearly every wide receiever to play on the Packers with Favre under center developed while on the team. The ones that were traded of left almost all flamed out. It kind of makes a fan ask "What if?"

Was a guy like Randy Moss someone the Packers should have picked up? I don't know, it probably would have worked out based on how he acted in New England last season. The Packers needed to get that kind of talent for the last 10 years of wasted time.

Do I think Favre being back on the Packers would have lead to another Super Bowl? Probably not, but what I do think is that it would have been more likely than with Aaron Rodgers under center.

In the end this probably is best for the team simply because of the bad blood between Favre and Packers' management. Had they not pushed Brett out (which I do believe they did, regardless of what anyone says with their media face on) I think it would have been great to have Favre back again.

I hope the Packers do well this year and I also hope Favre does well and isn't just playing to spite the Packers. I suspect this will be a short run for him, I really do.

School Shooting? Firearm Debate.

Most funerals for the victims of yesterdays shooting at NIU haven't even been planned yet, but already the news media is abuzz talking about the need to ban guns. If that wasn't enough, the media's panicked opinion on the matter seeps right into the minds of the American population. I'm not sure these people will ever get it.

I won't specualte about the shooter. Mostly because I don't care who he was or why he did what he did. All that matters is that it's done. The rest of the country wants to talk about how to prevent future incidents such as this. Ban guns, we need more police, we need more armed security guards, we need more metal detectors.

No, no, no, no.

We have this wonderful document called the Constitution. The 2nd Amendment reads as follows:

"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

We, as a country, have seemed to completely lost sight of this. NIU was a "gun free zone," which means that no adult outside of police and armed security were legally allowed to have a gun on campus that day. However, Steve Kazmierczak, who isn't a police officer or an armed security guard had 4 of them on February 14th, 2008. Two handguns hidden in his jacket and 2 shotguns hidden in a guitar case.

What I want to know is why this country has made it criminal for any one of the students who were in that lecture hall that day to have had a gun of their own? I'm not saying that any one of them would have had one, but at least that option would have been on the table for these American citizens to protect themselves and those around them.

Instead, this country has given all of the rights to the criminal element. Something needs to be changed. We won't ever be able to stop people who will do things like this, but we will be able to limit the lives they take and the lives they destroy.

Casting Stones

Oliver Stone is pushing a new script to the movie studios about the life of George W. Bush, who is purportedly going to be portrayed on the big screen by Josh Brolin. The movie is currently named "Bush." He sure is getting creative with the titles of his Presidential biopics. When Stone was questioned on his personal opinion of the President he declined to answer the question directly. Stone was sure to point out that he wanted this movie to be a "fair, true portrait of the man."

The movie will focus on the President's life and his rise to the most powerful powerful public office in the world. If you're anything like me you probably just rolled your eyes. Surely he knows that this movie will ultimately become whatever he makes it. In short, if he wants this movie to be fair and honest it will be -- if he doesn't, it won't be. Stone wasn't finished there, he then goes on to ask, "How did Bush go from an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world?" Fantastic, thank God he appears to be commited to that fair and true portrait of the President's life!

He goes on to to talk about the President's conversion to Christianity, which he says "explains a lot of where he is coming from. It includes his belief that God personally chose him to be president of the United States, and his coming into his own with the stunning, preemptive attack on Iraq." Oliver Stone has no intention of being objective with this film, as if it didn't seem obvious with the first sentence that came out of his mouth. Is this guy even trying or do liberals just expect they won't be challenged by the media when being interviewed?

Overall, this movie is likely to be nothing more than another bashing of Christianity and a distorted record of history, which has been kept under tight wraps under the working titles "POTUS," and "Misunderestimated." I certainly don't think I have misunderestimated Oliver Stone's intentions here, and I'll be sure to miss this movie. Somehow, I doubt I'll be alone in that.

Oliver Stone

Josh Brolin - "No Country for Old Men