A Rogue Tomato in Minnesota

We were in the Minnesota Mullet's home state for a book signing. Madame has had some shining moments here in the land of a thousand lakes. Remember this? While Madame was signing books books at the Mall of America, I spent the day riding the indoor roller coaster at the mall. During the signing, some looney liberal tossed a tomato at Madame, but he missed and hit a cop. Just like the Great Opologizer, this looney didn't have a very good arm.

Tonight, Madame is at a Republican fundraiser with perhaps the next Madame speaker, Michele Bachmann (she'd do a heck of a lot better job than Pukelosi). Just think of what the softy southpaws would think about these two ladies:



Even though Madame was super busy today, she did have time for us to do two Facebook postings. One was Madame's recognition of the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. She always remembers history and the American soldier. Madame also posted about the decision to allow some off shore drilling in Alaska. Wow, the Great Opologizer is allowing this?

Well, I'd better get to hibernating. Riding the roller coaster all day made me feel a little weird. I'll report more from our visit to Montana and Colorado tomorrow!

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Busy Week Ahead

As I stare down the next five days, it has become apparent that my time is at a premium when it comes to leisure. Longer hours at work combined with my commitments to the various sports I'm involved in has me away from the computer for significant blocks of time this week. I'm still going to post daily, but if it seems like some of the entries are far shorter or have less effort put into them, you're probably right. Antler Banter will be quite interesting on Wednesday after yesterday's antics in Rockford. The previous two games against Peoria and Milwaukee were less than pretty, but all will be covered. Otherwise, there are some things I want to post this week, and they deserve a look. Tonight is no different as we take a look at something from 1977.

Magazines have come in gone since the late-1970s, and some have been lucky enough to stick around. Others, however, have not been so lucky, and they have fallen to the wayside in the world of print media. Some of these magazines contained some interesting information regarding the world of hockey. Very interesting.

One such magazine was Texas Monthly. It occurred to me as I read through one issue that sometimes writers might fudge a few details in order to write an article that tries to convey a message rather than being objective. That's cool if the writer and editor feel comfortable in doing this, but when a writer reviews a movie, fudging the details makes it hard to believe that the writer even watched the movie.

Marie Brenner wrote for Texas Monthly in April 1977 where she reviewed films. One of the films she reviewed this month was the classic hockey movie Slap Shot, starring Paul Newman, Michael Ontkean, Lindsay Crouse, and Jennifer Warren. I've pieced together the article into one image, so feel free to read Miss Brenner's review here, and I'll discuss below. Especially when it comes to everything she got completely wrong.

In the opening scene alone, she manages to completely butcher the entire scene. Denis Lemieux, the goaltender for the Charlestown Chiefs, is a French-Canadian, not Spanish. I'm not sure how she got the name Lemieux to sound Spanish, but I guess French and Spanish sounded the same to Texans in 1977. Then again, when you misquote the movie as poorly as Miss Brenner does, you simply attribute it to mishearing Lemieux's Spanish accent, I guess.

Next, the interviewer does not ask Lemieux "what is flashing". He asks "what is slashing", a common penalty called in hockey, but I would suppose that Miss Brenner would have no idea as to what slashing is in 1977. The Houston Aeros had only played in the WHA since 1972, and I would have thought that she might have taken in a game at least once in five years. But I guess I thought wrong because she heard "flashing", not "slashing". Unless Miss Brenner has some sort of hearing problem, the video is fairly clear as to what Lemieux says.

Third, her view on the entire movie is entirely misplaced. Sure, they play up the violence in the movie a lot. But that's the entire point! The movie was based on the real-life North American Hockey League - the same one that Brian Conacher coached in and wrote about in his book, As The Puck Turns. The brawls that happened in that league were portrayed in the movie. Again, the film-makers played it up to be a lot worse than what actually happened, but that's entertainment. And it happened in real-life. Apparently, background information wasn't done on a regular basis in 1977.

As for being a "shameful spectacle", I would present these major flaws in Miss Brenner's work as exactly that. Slap Shot is a testosterone-driven comedy that exploits the insanity that was a real-life hockey league.

A "Spanish" hockey player who speaks French; "what is flashing"; unnecessary violence in the movie.

Who was she writing this review for? And who is the editor that decided to run this nonsense?

Ahhhh, the 1970s. Care-free and free-swinging. And apparently writers were allowed to write whatever they wanted, no matter how inaccurate and off-the-mark it is.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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US Mint Coin Production November 2009

The US Mint has updated coin production figures to reflect circulating coins produced through November 2009. The updated figures include final mintages for the Zachary Taylor Presidential Dollar and the Northern Mariana Islands Quarter.

Only 76.06 million coins were produced during the month of November 2009. This is far below last month's total 353.8 million coins and the lowest monthly production since I started watching the numbers. Production at the Philadelphia Mint facility took place for cents and Presidential Dollars. Production at the Denver Mint facility took place for the cents and quarters.

The table below presents the coins produced by the US Mint for the month of November and the entire year to date.

2009 US Mint Coin Production Figures
	November 2009	Jan 2009 - Nov 2009
Lincoln Cent - Denver	53.60 M	1,248.00 M
Lincoln Cent - Phil.	8.00 M	1,106.00 M
Jefferson Nickel - Denver	0	46.80 M
Jefferson Nickel - Phil.	0	39.84 M
Roosevelt Dime - Denver	0	49.50 M
Roosevelt Dime - Phil.	0	96.50 M
Quarters - Denver	11.80 M	269.60 M
Quarters - Phil.	0	264.32 M
Kennedy Half - Denver	0	1.90 M
Kennedy Half - Phil.	0	1.90 M
Native Am Dollar - Denver	0	33.88 M
Native Am Dollar - Phil.	0	37.38 M
Pres Dollar - Denver	0	177.10 M
Pres Dollar - Phil.	2.66 M	175.28 M
Total	76.06 M	3,548.00 M

The following additional table shows the US Mint coin production by design. Several denominations feature rotating obverse or reverse designs. When the US Mint posts production figures for individual designs, these have been the final mintages. Newly posted figures include the Zachary Taylor Dollar and Northern Mariana Islands Quarter.

2009 US Mint Coin Production by Design
	Denver	Phil.	Total
Birthplace Cent	350.40 M	284.40 M	634.80 M
Formative Years Cent	363.60 M	376.00 M	739.60 M
Professional Life Cent	336.00 M	316.00 M	652.00 M
Harrison Pres Dollar	55.16 M	43.26 M	98.42 M
Tyler Pres Dollar	43.54 M	43.54 M	87.08 M
Polk Pres Dollar	41.72 M	46.62 M	88.34 M
Taylor Pres Dollar	36.68 M	41.58 M	78.26 M
Total			352.10 M
DC Quarter	88.80 M	83.60 M	172.40 M
Puerto Rico Quarter	86.00 M	53.20 M	139.20 M
Guam Quarter	42.60 M	45.00 M	87.60 M
Am Samoa Quarter	39.60 M	42.60 M	82.20 M
US Virgin Islands Quarter	41.00 M	41.00 M	82.00 M
N Mariana Islands Quarter	37.60 M	35.20 M	72.80 M
Total			636.20 M

Prior to this months figures, it had seemed that US Mint coin production was leveling off after posting declines for almost all subsequent design releases. The US Virgin Islands Quarter had shown only a 0.2 million decline from the overall production of the prior design. The James K. Polk Dollar actually marked a small uptick in overall production from the previous release in the series.

The latest update shows the Northern Mariana Islands with an overall mintage of 72.80 million, nearly 10 million below the prior release. This is divided as 37.6 million Denver Mint coins and 35.2 million Philadelphia Mint coins. For the series, these figures represent the lowest overall mintage and lowest mintage for each respective mint facility. The 2009-P Northern Mariana Islands Quarter also has the lowest mintage for a circulation strike quarter since 1960.

The Zachary Taylor Dollar came in with an overall mintage of 78.26 million, more than 10 million below the previous release. Production was divided as 36.68 million Denver Mint coins and 41.58 Philadelphia Mint coins. For the series, these figures represent the lowest overall mintage, lowest mintage for each respective mint facility, and lowest mintage for a single issue.

It has not yet been confirmed whether production of the 2009 Lincoln Cent Presidency design has officially ended. If it has already ended or will end without significant additional production, the mintage would set a new low for 2009 Lincoln Cents.

The lowest mintage is currently held by the 2009-P Birthplace Cent at 284.40 million. By backing the final mintages of the first three designs from the year to date production totals, possible mintages for the Presidency Cent come in at 198.00 million Denver Mint coins and 129.60 million Philadelphia Mint coins. These figures would be far enough below the existing low to cause some excitement. I will have more information posted once I can confirm the status.

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Going Rogue in the Heartland

Madame gave awesome and funny speech in D.C. last night. What's the difference between a hockey mom and David Letterboy? Clean humor and funny joke delivery. Today, Madame started her day by going to Walter Reed Medical Center to visit injured soldiers.

Then we headed to the heartland. First, we headed to Sioux City, Iowa. People seemed to make a big deal about this, saying things like "2012" and "caucuses". I think that people want to call her Madame 45 just like I do. Then we headed to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. A lot of people seem to think that Madame sounds like she is from the Dakotas.

Tomorrow, we're off to the Minnesota,where it all began for Madame at the RNC convention. I wonder if Madame will let me go shopping at the Mall of America while she signs books.

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Let's Go To The Video!

It surprises me that Flyers' GM Paul Holmgren decided to speak out against the four-game sit-down that the NHL gave Carcillo as a result of his sucker-punch on Washington's Matt Bradley. It surprises me that he would publicly disagree with the suspension when his team was already put on notice in 2007 for its undisciplined play. But then again, perhaps this is Holmgren's way of taking the heat off his players after they were humiliated at the hands of the Washington Capitals. Either way, Paul Holmgren's "disagreement" with the four-game suspension given to Dan Carcillo seems a little unrealistic considering Carcillo's past and his team's past.

"Decisions come down from the league. Do I agree with them all? No. I certainly do not agree with this one," general manager Paul Holmgren said in a statement. "We do not have a lot of recourse in this situation. Dan will serve his suspension, and we will move on."

First, let's go back to the video.

I don't want to spark any "NHL Conspiracy Against The Flyers" chatter, but Daniel Carcillo has a past with the NHL. First, the cross-check was entirely undisciplined. However, the fact that Carcillo was throwing a punch as Bradley was shaking his gloves off is entirely unsportsmanlike and completely cowardly. You read that correctly: COWARDLY.

It speaks volumes when two players agree to a fight, and both have a chance to throw the first punch. Carcillo's fist was striking Bradley's face before he could even get his hands up. That, kids, is the classic definition of a sucker-punch. And that, no matter what sport or background you come from, is cowardly. The Code is all about a fair fight, and Carcillo broke The Code.

"Everything happened pretty quick, I saw him drop his gloves, so I started punching him," Carcillo said after the game to Sarah Baicker of CSNPhilly.com. "He kind of came at me the shift before. He was talking to me before. I thought we were going to fight. I don’t know why he waited so long to drop his gloves."

Bradley and Carcillo had discussed the fight, and that's fine. Both teams were looking for a spark, and that would surely have provided it. But Carcillo's reasoning for throwing the punch is a little off. In fact, I'd say Carcillo's flat-out lying when he states, "I saw him drop his gloves".

First, Carcillo is in the act of throwing the punch before Bradley even has his gloves off. Secondly, Bradley's gloves haven't even hit the ice, and Carcillo has already hit him squarely on the button.

Guess what that is, kids! If you said "sucker-punch", you'd be exactly right.

Washington head coach Bruce Boudreau had some strong words about Carcillo's actions last night, making it clear to Corey Masisak of the The Washington Post that Carcillo's sucker-punch was bush league.

"[Bradley] might have been ready," Boudreau began, "but as he was dropping his gloves, Carcillo was already cold cocked and ready to throw them. He knew as soon as Bradley was ready to accept his challenge, the punch was there and [Bradley]'s gloves and hands were still down [at his waist].

"No matter how you cut it - and it's not like this guy is in his first year and first chance doing it - whether it is in this league or in the American League where I saw him for two years, he was just as big an idiot there. It is just a dirty play."

I, for one, completely agree with Boudreau, and the video evidence doesn't lie. If you want to be an enforcer in the NHL, you have to respect The Code. And make no mistake about it, Carcillo is an enforcer for the Flyers. While I doubt that there will be retribution sought in this case, you have to know that someone down the line may do to Carcillo what he did to Bradley.

And this is why I find it surprising that Holmgren is expressing his disappointment with the NHL's ruling. Holmgren played during the Broad Street Bullies days, so it's not like he doesn't understand The Code and the value of having an enforcer who follows The Code. While I understand that he may be standing up for his player, this is one case where Holmgren should be endorsing the league's findings.

If this had happened to one of his players, Holmgren would crying bloody murder for a suspension. He would state how this would have never happened when he played the game, and how someone would have rung Bradley's bell had it happened twenty years ago. He may have even called out the league for the instigator rule and how it has ruined the game, but all of this is merely speculation. Highly probable speculation, mind you, but speculation none-the-less.

With the NHL attempting to reduce the number of vicious checks to the head, a sucker-punch has all the makings of a concussion on it, especially when the player who was sucker-punched needs help off the ice after being knocked woozy by that punch. Holmgren has to know this. The NHL has been coming down heavily on players who are throwing questionable checks, so why wouldn't a sucker-punch be included in that examination?

If Holmgren thinks that a sucker-punch is acceptable, the NHL should look at suspending him as well. Anyone who throws a sucker-punch deserves to be suspended because it's simply not how the game was meant to be played under any circumstance.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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DO YOU BELIEVE AMERICA IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR?

DO YOU BELIEVE AMERICA IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR?


The following is an email letter I wrote to Mr. Frank K. Ani Jr., Co-founder, Senior Advisor of the American Patriot Commission. Mr. Ani was kind enough to sent it out as a PDF press release to all members of the Commission. Following this letter is a video that I urge all to watch and listen to. Your life, your freedoms and the future of America may depend on it.

Dear Frank;

We all know what it would mean to our freedoms, to our Constitution and to the future of America if Obama signs the Copenhagen Agreement and if he signs Cap and Trade and the government health care into law. We all are also aware that when he signs the Copenhagen Agreement (and he plans on doing it in such a way that he by-pass the need for Congress to ratify it) it will become binding. Also, once Cap and Trade and the government run health care are signed into law, it will take years to undo them if ever. So, with all of this in mind, why in God's name are we allowing it to continue and go on?

Every body I know, just shrugs their shoulders and says; "We can vote Obama out in 2012," and people like Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck tell us that we have to fight this in a peaceful, non-violent way. Well, I have a news flash for America, WE DO NOT HAVE THE OPTION OF TIME! We cannot afford to wait until 2012 because in the meantime we will have lost a hell of a lot of our freedoms that we might NEVER get back, and what guarantee would we have that Obama will be voted out or that there will even be an election in 2012? There is always the distinct possibility that the political thugs in Washington, will cause an incident so that Obama can declare martial law and thereby suspend the election and the Constitution. The underhanded dirty tricks employed by Obama's pet organization, A.C.O.R.N, in last years election will be nothing compared to what his Chicago political thugs and Soros have planned for 2012. I have read a couple of articles where George Soros is planning on bankrolling a nation wide effort to see that only radical leftists get elected or appointed to the Position of Secretary of State in the majority of states, for the purpose of literally stealing the election in 2012, because it is each state's Secretary of State who validates the election results for their state. It was Josef Stalin who once said, "It doesn't matter how many people cast votes, what matters is who counts those votes."

Also, it should be very obvious by now that we have just about completely RUN OUT of legal and peaceful means to STOP Obama, his corrupt administration, and his corrupt supporters in Congress. Obama and all those in Washington have shown us time and again that they do not care what WE THE PEOPLE want, they refuse to listen. All of our petitions, rallies, demonstrations, phone calls, faxes, emails, and attending Town Hall meetings, do not mean a thing. Oh, some of them lead us to believe that they are listening to us and agree with us, then they turn around late at night in Congress and vote in the very things we fought against. The courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear our cases or they support the unconstitutional acts and laws enacted by Congress and signed into law by the president, or they tell those of us who bring the cases, that "We do NOT have standing to bring the case before the courts." My God, if American citizens do not have standing to bring cases concerning the violation of the Constitution, then just who the hell does?

All of this should tell the American people something. If we cannot win at the voting booth, if we cannot win through peaceful demonstrations, signing petitions, contacting our elected representatives, and if we cannot win through the courts, then that leaves only one option. As the head of the SEIU stated during an interview, "We will get what we want through the power of persuasion and if that fails, then we will get it through the persuasion of power." We all know what he meant by that, and we do have documented cases of SEIU members assaulting and beating up Conservatives who disagree with them. So when are those on the right going to wake up realize that we MUST take a page from the left's playbook and use it against them?

As I have stated, we no longer have the luxury of time and no longer have any peaceful or legal options left to save our country and our freedoms. I suggest that Patriotic Americans grow a set and as soon as Obama leaves the country for Denmark, then we should march en mass on Washington, D.C., armed with whatever we can get our hands on, and surround the White House (the people's House) and the Capitol Building to prevent Obama and the members of Congress from entering, and to demand an immediate END to this administration and for the immediate installation of an interim government until the next election can be held. We must also DEMAND an immediate investigation, by an independent non-partisan group, into acts of malfeasance, dereliction of duty and crimes against the Constitution and the people of the United States by Obama, members of his administration, members of Congress and the courts. We must also Demand that the guilty, no matter who they are, are punished to the fullest extent of the law. If it means using violent means to achieve this, then so be it, because peaceful means have failed and will continue to fail. If America and our freedoms are worth saving, then they are worth saving by what ever means necessary. The sooner American citizens realize this, the better.

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Legacy

I think this is sad:

"[The long gun registry] was the centrepiece of their legacy, the biggest thing we did over the last 20 years," said Sylvie Haviernick, who lost her sister, Maud, to Marc Lépine's killing spree. "We can't in all decency let it go."

So apparently we've given up on achieving a society where men don't resent women for entering "male" professions like engineering. And we're not focusing on improving our capacity to identify and treat psychotics before they explode. Can it be true that all we have done in two decades for the Montreal massacre victims is spend millions of dollars to make it more bureaucratic for hunters to own rifles?
Seems to me that the only real accomplishment of the long gun registry has been to make it almost impossible for Liberals to get elected west of the Lakehead.
That's not the memorial these women deserved.

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