STRANGE and sorry

Article from this morning's LA TIMES....by Paul Richards

RICE NAMES ADVISOR ON MIDEAST TALKS

A day after Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to start peace talks, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday named a high-level advisor to help guide the Bush administration through thorny security issues that could hobble the negotiations.

Retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, a former NATO commander and lone survivor of the Jonestown massacre will serve as a special envoy to deal with a broad range of Palestinian and Israeli issues.

General Jim Jones states that if they can't agree on anything then kool-aid will be served before lunch and negotiations will be terminated immediately.

For those of you reading this story who are too young to remember Jim Jones....I personally apologise for bringing it up but people my age have to deal with memories that sometimes just don't fit in the ENCHANTED Disney genre.

I can't imagine how people my father's age make any sense of some of the news.

Jim Jones as an advisor to peace talks between Israeli and Palestine....

I'm sorry..... but it's just too goofy to ignore.

And the picture above of Huey, Dewey and Louie.....with Louie explaining to Huey and Dewey how and why Jim Jones will be assigned to their peace talks. Of course knowing Louie he's probably talking about a catfish he caught while on vacation in Crawford, Texas.

I realize that it's not a big deal but Al Gore did spend 40 minutes with Louie the other day and Global Warming was the main topic of conversation. And Thursday the Bush administration announced that carbon emissions were down for the first time since 2001. The problem is that measurements that matter are usually done in decades but good news is good news and I'll take it wherever it falls.

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What's up with the teenagers in France? I'm trying to follow the story but I don't seem to understand the problem. It can't be Muslim related, can it? I would appreciate comments from anyone who has a better handle on that situation. I have mixed emotions about France and I don't want to step on or elevate up any part of the situation without more knowledge.

I'm trying to deal with the reality of USC moving to the Rose Bowl and leaving the Coliseum....so pissed off French teenagers just aren't a big story to me.

USC LEAVING THE COLISEUM

Next, you are going to tell me that the Rams are leaving and then the Raiders are leaving and.....oh wait a sec.....maybe the COLISEUM COMMISSION has hospitality issues. Maybe the COLISEUM COMMISSION thinks they can find another football team.....to replace a team that lives about 30 seconds away.

Somebody on that COMMISSION has got to recognize that control of the Coliseum needs to be surrendered to the last tenant they will ever get. The NFL will never play football in the Coliseum again. THE OLYMPICS will probably never be held in the Coliseum again....at least not for 24 to 36 years from now. BILLY GRAHAM cannot fill up the Coliseum on a weekly basis and probably can't fill it one Sunday in a year. Maybe it could be turned into a nine hold 3-par golf course but too much cement can ruin your clubs.

WAKE UP COLISEUM COMMISSION and give the Trojans want they want. After all they said they would pay for any of the upgrades and believe me....they've got the scratch......because they've got LUCAS, SPEILBERG AND O.J.

Speaking of O.J.

Has anybody noticed how strange the new O.J. situation is at USC.

They have a freshman basketball player who will probably only play one season before going to the pro's......as a first round draft choice (he is that good).

He wears number 32. Now for those of who you are too young to remember the other O.J. when he played football at USC....I'm sorry I brought it up. But O.J. the Heisman Trophy winner wore number 32.

NOW ANOTHER O.J. AT USC WEARING NUMBER 32.......

my question is.....did someone do this on purpose in order to create a new emphasis for a number that once once regarded as arguably the greatest number in USC football history.

And I know it's hard to take because of O.J.'s behavior but truthfully he was probably one of the greatest running backs in the history of college football.....if not the greatest.

And I realize that this topic is not brought up very often but my memories of his football abilities do not diminish just because he seems to have developed anti-social behavior patterns in his later years.

ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOR PATTERNS.....is legally all I say because the court system found him innocent....and the United States legal system is the system we go by....so until further proof I'll have to refer to his antics as ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOR PATTERNS.....but let's go back to the number thing for a second.

32 worn by the new O.J.????? Is it on purpose? Did he wear it in High School? Was he named after O.J.??????? Does he have a girlfriend named Nicole? How strange is this story?

The closer they get to the NCAA playoffs...the more my questions will be answered. Both UCLA and USC have very good basketball teams and it should prove to be an interesting cross town rivalry this year....but at the moment there seems to be something else in the air....something that matters more than basketball....

THE BIG GAME

And there are cities and towns all across this country who are waiting nervously for their BIG GAME to start but we are in LA LA LAND and we own the BIG GAME.....no matter what anyone says....WE'VE GOT THE GAME, even though people in Missouri and Oklahoma have a rather large event......and now it seems that USC's contract with the Coliseum is up after this game so there is slight possibility that everybody gets to go to the Rose Bowl....no matter what happens on Saturday.

Thursday is a very long day in the waiting process.

But knowing that Jim Jones is helping with the security issues at the Peace talks takes my mind off the waiting game.....and gives me fuel to write silly articles like the one you've just read.

Sorry

Michael Timothy McAlevey