FITS Evening Post: War, Birdies, Coaches, Etc.

By fitsnews • on November 30, 2009

Alright … we’ll be the first to acknowledge that we’ve been incredibly slack lately when it comes to compiling and delivering the FITS Evening Post, something we attribute to the fact that we happen to be (gasp!) incredibly slack ourselves.

What? It’s not like that’s a secret or anything!

Anyway, from its inception the Post was always meant to be “semi-regular,” but like our founding editor’s genital grooming we’ve admittedly let it slide much longer than we should have.

Ewwwww.

So our bad. On both counts.

Of course none of that matters now, though. Your choice at the moment is to either complain about it or enjoy these stories … or, if you want, you can do both! Knock yourself out!

AMERICA

WARNING SIGNS IGNORED – Intercepted emails between Fort Hood shooting suspect, Nidal Malik Hasan, and a radical Islamic cleric preaching death to Americans were ignored by U.S. government officials because nothing in the messages “immediately presaged violence.” Yeah … nice catch there, guys. Look, if we’re going to do the whole domestic spying thing (which we’re not saying we should), what’s the point if stuff like this slips through the cracks? (Dallas Morning News – read)

LEFT TURN – Liberals are turning away from President Barack Obama? You’ve got to be kidding us. Believe it or not, though, several key players within America’s liberal establishment (including Michael Moore, Code Pink, MoveOn.org, etc.) are not at all happy with “The One” over his decision to send 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan. (FOX News – read)

PRESIDENT POKEY – Meanwhile, Obama is being blasted by two analysts for waiting too long to make his decision on Afghanistan. One even accuses Obama of neglecting instability in the region because it didn’t fit into his “communications strategy.” Ouch! (CNN – read)

DITTOHEADS LOVE PALIN – Whiny loves company? (Boston Globe – read)

GOOD STUFF

OUR FAVORITE – This is (literally) how you do it. (Zoo Weekly – read)

NOT A DOOR-BUSTER - Nothing will capture her heart this holiday season quite like a parakeet-headed pendant. (Dave Barry Blog – read)

SOUTH CAROLINA

SC DEMS OUTRAISE REPUBLICANS? – We knew Karen Floyd was going to be an unmitigated disaster as chair of the SCGOP, but she’s already getting out-raised by Democrats? Ruh-roh … (Wolfe Reports – read)

WHO’S BEEN NAUGHTY? - The political blog The Garnet Spy has created quite a stir by posting a letter from S.C. Senate “Ethics” Chairman (there’s an oxymoron for you) Wes Hayes basically telling his fellow S.C. Senators to stop breaking the law. Wait … what? Yeah … not only that, the “Spy” purports to have a list of the lawbreakers. (The Garnet Spy – read)

NO TURNOVER? – South Carolina’s Governor’s Mansion will stay in naughty … err, Republican hands, according to a website that is tracking all thirty-seven gubernatorial races scheduled for 2010. Of those thirty-seven races, twenty-five are viewed as “more likely” to see a partisan flip than South Carolina. (Election Advantage – read)

SPORTS

BOWDEN RETIRING – After thirty-four years in Tallahassee (and forty-three years as a head coach), Florida State’s legendary head football coach Bobby Bowden is retiring just a few weeks after celebrating his 80th birthday. One of four active coaches already in the college football hall of fame, Bowden has posted a ridonkulous 388–141–4 record over the course of his career, including a 315–97–4 record with the Seminoles. Of course, it’s been tougher sledding of late for Bowden. After posting 10-win seasons an amazing fourteen years in a row (from 1987-2000), he’s managed to do it just once in the last nine seasons. Still, he’s won two national titles, thirteen conference championships and finishes his career ranked second only to Penn State’s Joe Paterno in terms of career victories. Not too shabby.(ESPN – read)

WEIS GETS FIRED – Notre Dame has fired head football coach Charlie Weis after five unsatisfying years under the Golden Dome. Weis, who still had six years left on his contract, leaves with a 35-27 record, the worst in Notre Dame history over a five-year stretch. Of course in fairness, his predecessors Bob Davie (35-25) and Tyrone Willingham (21-15) didn’t fare much better. By contrast, Lou Holtz went 100-30-2 during his 11 seasons in South Bend, including the last national championship for the Irish in 1988. (ESPN – read)

TIGER CANCELS – Golfer Tiger Woods has canceled a Tuesday press conference that was to be held in conjunction with his charity foundation’s Chevron World Challenge. This comes after Woods refused to speak to Florida Highway Patrol investigators for a third time on Sunday in the wake of his bizarre auto accident over the Thanksgiving weekend. This is sad, folks. One of the sporting world’s shining stars appears to be in full-fledged meltdown mode. (NYT – read)

MORE ON TIGER – A great column from FOX Sports columnist Mark Kriegel. (FOX Sports – read)

RELIVE THE GLORY – If you’re a South Carolina fan, you’re going to love this. If you’re a Clemson fan, your blood is already beginning to boil. It’s Sideline Carolina photographer Travis Bell’s slide show from Saturday’s big game! Check it out … (Sideline Carolina – watch)

STAR STUFF

GOING GREEN? – It’s been a bad month for the climate change crowd. As if all those hacked emails and documents exposing the scam behind the climate change scientists weren’t bad enough, now we’ve got several “eco-friendly” A-list Hollywood celebrities leaving some pretty sizable carbon footprints. Oh the hypocrisy! (Times UK – read)

MOON SHINES ON - The second Twilight film New Moon continues to shine atop the box office charts, taking in another $42.5 million last weekend. It has now earned a total of $230.7 million since being released ten days ago. And no, we have no excuse whatsoever for resorting to the “shine” cliche not once but twice in the space of less than a paragraph. We officially suck. (Hollywood.com – read)

REESE UPDATE – We used to be head over heels in love with Reese Witherspoon. Then, for whatever reason, it just stopped (not unlike our affinity for women with really small breasts and really, really pointy chins). We’re sure there’s no correlation there, but we do attribute that shift in preference to Jake Gyllenhaal being alive right now. Well, that and the fact that Sic desperately want to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang his sister, Maggie, and our guess is it would be a lot harder to score if we “offed” her brother. Anyway, Reese does have some sorta nice tan lines kickin’, though. You know, for November. (Gossip Cop – read).