Monday, August 29, 2011

$100 Million Contract – Michael Vick

According to ESPN.com, Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles have agreed to a six-year, $100 million contract, a league source told ESPN's Andrew Brandt.



A league source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter that Vick's deal contains roughly $40 million guaranteed.

An Associated Press report stated the Eagles made the announcement Monday night. A source familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press the deal is worth $100 million, including about $40 million guaranteed. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because terms weren't released.
Vick has come a long way since spending 18 months in federal prison on dogfighting charges. He led the Eagles to the NFC East title last year, was the starting quarterback in the Pro Bowl and was the AP Comeback Player of the Year.




Wow! $100 million over 6 years! Nice!

And so it goes...



Sunday, August 28, 2011

Keselowski grabs 3rd win of season at Bristol

(AP Photo/Wade Payne)By JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer

BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) Brad Keselowski was a long shot, at best, to race for the NASCAR championship this season.

Then he turned it up a notch and became a legitimate contender to make the 12-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field.

Now, he's the hottest driver in NASCAR and is forcing everyone to consider him a serious threat to unseat five-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson.

Keselowski picked up his third win of the season - second since breaking his ankle in an Aug. 3 crash - and took a huge step toward making the Chase.

It's an amazing turnaround for Keselowski and his No. 2 Penske Racing team.

He was ranked 21st in points four races ago, when his struggling team went to a test session to work on road course improvement. But Keselowski was in a nasty accident during that session that left him with a broken ankle.

It's hardly slowed him.

Since the accident, Keselowski won at Pocono, finished second at Watkins Glen, third at Michigan and now has the Bristol victory.

Although he's walked gingerly in the month since the crash, he hopped up and down in excitement as he climbed from his Dodge.

"An awesome car, an awesome team!" he yelled. "Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt won this race. It's a race of champions. There are races that pay more, that are races that might have a little more prestige, but this is the coolest damn one of them all."

But Keselowski regretted all the post-race celebratory jumps about an hour after the race.

"Stupid is as stupid does," he said. "Last 100 laps I was certainly starting to feel it. But you know, I don't think anybody wants to hear me whine. Every once in a while I do and they tell me just to shut up anyway, and it hasn't been very productive. It obviously has felt better. I wish I wouldn't have jumped off the damned car."

The win moved Keselowski up one more spot to 11th in the standings, and he's jumped 10 spots over the last four races. He's currently in position to claim the first wild card spot, and could clinch his berth next week at Atlanta by virtue of his three wins.

Everette's Note: You have got to love this guy! He is as country as they come, but a genuine human being and a great competitor. Watch out for him in the Chase.

And so it goes...



Saturday, August 13, 2011

Freemansburg Police Officer Killed

This the face of a Freemansburg Police Officer, a son, a husband, a father.



Robert A. Lasso grew up in an immaculate Cape Cod on Chestnut Street in Freemansburg, where his parents taught him to respect others, love family and appreciate the coziness of living in small-town America.

He went to investigate a disturbance, which led him to 440 New St., less than two blocks from where he grew up. At a cluttered home that reeks of dog feces, Officer Lasso encountered George Hitcho Jr., who court records show trashed a school as a youth and grew into a man with a petty rap sheet and explosive temper he took out on his wife until she left him.

Hitcho, 46, is charged with killing Lasso with a shotgun blast to the head while Lasso tried to fend off two of Hitcho's 10 dogs with a stun gun under orders from police Chief George Bruneio, who had arrived as Lasso's backup.

This is the face of a killer!



This was a senseless killing. A disturbance call, that should have ended routinely, but ended in the tragic killing of a Police Officer. Hitcho was presumably protecting two of his dogs that were about to attck Officer Lasso. Lasso had pulled out a stun gun to protect himself from the dogs when he was shot and killed with a shotgun, fired by Hitcho.

Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said he will seek a first-degree murder conviction and the death penalty for Hitcho, who is in Northampton County Prison without bail on a homicide charge.

"Killing a law enforcement officer is an aggravating factor" that allows prosecutors to pursue capital punishment, Morganelli said Friday.

Unfortunately, appeals will take forever and Pennsyvania hasn't executed anyone in quite some time.

Officer Lasso leaves a wife and two young children, along with other family members. Our hearts and prayers go out to the family.




Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Elite Navy SEALs among 31 U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan

August 6 was a tragic day for all citizens of the Unites States when a CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down in eastern Afghanistan, killing 31 U.S. special operation troops, most of them from the elite Navy SEALs unit that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, along with seven Afghan commandos.



The incident took place in the eastern province of Wardak, an area rife with insurgent activity. There has been a swell of recent attacks in the country's southern and eastern provinces.

The crash of the Chinook helicopter, killing 38 people is the worst single incident in 10 years of war in Afghanistan. The helicopter was carrying elite troops sent to help
Army Rangers that were engaged in a firefight when it was likely hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by the Taliban.

The remains of the 30 U.S. troops killed over the weekend will be brought to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Tuesday, August 9, 2011.

Pentagon officials say there will be no public media coverage of the Military's "dignified transfer" ceremony because the remains are still being identified. Families are allowed to attend the arrival.


Currently, there are 150,000 ISAF forces in Afghanistan, including nearly 100,000 from the United States -- the largest NATO presence in the region since the U.S.-led war began in 2001.








Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Anyone reading my Blog?


My stats counter indicates 106 viewers, but that includes repeat visits from the same people.


Page Loads Unique Visits First Time Visits Returning Visits
Total 224 106 86 20
Average 112 53 43 10

Of the 106 visitors, 86 were first time viewers and 20 were returning viewers.

Appears people check it out and don't return. Yet, the content is constantly changing. Guess no one really cares what I am thinking!

But that's okay. I write this blog for my own pleasure; if no one else is interested, its okay. I am okay with it! I am okay!

And so it goes...

A friend of mine, Robert Gowan, a Kona Coffee farmer that lives in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii has been supplying coffee to our troops currently deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Since 2008, Gowan, the Hawaii state coordinator of the Hawaii Chapter of the Gathering of Eagles, has sent more than 5,000 pounds of coffee as well as other supplies to every service branch currently deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. In each service, the project has a different name. For the Marines, it is Operation Jarhead Java.

I am enclosing a link to the Marine newsletter, Hawaii Marine Lifestyles, July 29, 2011, Volume 42, Number 30.

Scroll down to the article entitled: "One cup of coffee, G.I. Joe".

One cup of coffee, G.I. Joe




If you have ever wondered if one man could make a difference, then read this article and become a believer.

Robert, You are my Hero!

And so it goes...