All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes

Odds and Sods is still recovering from a pretty joyous weekend as the New York Rangers got their fourth duke in a row, while it is always good to see Bill Parcells get beat. Odds usually makes it home early, but Sods is the one that always seems to be getting into trouble. I hope they get it together, because I can't see the two not being tag team partners. Who would replace Sods? Could we have Odds and Ipods? Odds and Cod? No way. Here's hoping it gets straightened out. Meanwhile,let's give a warm welcome to All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes, something to ponder.

NEWS
President Bush will address the nation Wednesday night about Iraq. Most of you know from a previous post how I feel. But let me add that at some point in time, both political parties are going to have to figure out how the country and the world wants to deal with radical Islam. It's not going away folks! Many people say that the number of terrorists increased under former President Clinton, due to his failure to respond to repeated attacks on the U.S. and her interests by Islamists. While, some will say that President Bush has increased the populous of the mujahideen by going into Iraq. Those arguments do little to deal with the matter at hand. I don't care who is in charge, America has got to lead the world in having a multifaceted approach to dealing with this crisis. Because the reality is that millions of lives are at stake.

Some people really get fired up about social issues. To me, the most important issue of our time is Islamic terrorism. If we can't protect our country, if the world is not protected, then all those other issues are frivolous at best. I'll argue that all day!

So do you think the Pentagon is reading this blog? OK stop laughing. Really, I have been talking about Somalia and the dire need for there not to be a failed state in any part of the world, which is the case of that war-torn country in the Horn of Africa.

U.S. fighter jets have been conducting air strikes while helicopters have been bombarding a group of six rocky islands known as Ras Kamboniin in the south of Somalia in search of al-Qaeda fighters, some of whom are responsible for the dual embassy bombings in 1998. Namely, America is going after a chap named Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who allegedly planned the 1998 attacks on the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania that killed 225 people.

Somalia has not had a working government since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown by warlords in 1991. This country has been a breeding ground for al-Qaeda terrorists and the chaos that has been caused by a failed government in Somalia is a small fraction of what we would see if Iraq and/or Afghanistan are allowed to fall into the hands of Islamists.

SPORTS
A very classy ceremony for an even classier guy when Steve Yzerman's number was retired at Joe Louis Arena. The former Red Wings' Captain was surrounded by former mates at the January 2 festivities, including ex-defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov. The former Russian blueliner can only sometimes walk using a walker, after being seriously injured in a car accident following Detroit's Stanley Cup victory in 1997.

Good to see Igor Larionov who as a player had the uncanny ability to skate as fast backwards as he was able to forward, which by the way was pretty fast.

Other luminaries in attendance were Gordie Howe, Scotty Bowman, Brett Hull and Bob Probert.

A cool twist was when the current Detroit players wore the assorted sweaters that Stevie Y donned throughout his career while competing in Canada Cups, the World Cup, the Olympics, and all the All-Star games, etc.

Steve Yzerman's number 19, now sits besides Howe's 9, Sid Abel's 12, Ted Lindsay's 7, Alex Delvecchio's 10 and Terry Sawchuck's 1.

Yezerman played his entire 22-year career with the Wings and was Captain for 19 seasons, a record. There are few better than Steve Yzerman, anywhere!

BOOKS
If you are looking for something inspirational to read, again, I highly recommend Og Mandino's The Greatest Salesman In The World. I just began The Greatest Salesman in the World Part II, after I ripped through an awesome book about the USS Indianapolis, In Harm's Way by Doug Stanton.

Talk about inspirational! Many people know about the USS Indie from Jaws when the fictional character Quint talks about all the men who were eaten by sharks after a Japanese sub sunk the USS Indie. Here are the numbers: 1,196 men on board, 300 died when the ship went down; amazingly the ship was not missed and the remainder of the men were left floating in shark-infested waters with no lifeboats and no food or water. The survivors were spotted by accident four days later when only 316 men were still alive. There is even more tragedy that took place in the aftermath of this event, but I'd recommend the book.

These men delivered the bomb which saved 100s of thousands of lives. The U.S. was set to launch a full-scale invasion of Japan, and estimates said that 500,000 American lives would have been lost in a successful invasion.

Shouldn't we all thank our luck stars that such brave men existed? I think so.

MOVIES
I saw The Good Shepherd this weekend and absolutely loved it. The film was nearly three hours, but for me it flew by. I look forward to seeing The Kingdom with Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner which is about the chase of a notorious terrorist leader inside Saudi Arabia. No date was given for when it would be coming out, but that's next on my list. Unless, there is anything else worth seeing?

Finally, are there really still people who deny the existence of global warming?

Cheers!