Bill Snyder, the father of a fallen Marine, was ordered by the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Court to pay picketers at his son's funeral. After the funeral in 2006, he filed a claim against the picketers, Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka, Kansas. He was first awarded 5 million dollars by the court, but the Westboro Baptist Church, appealed the decision saying that it is their right to free speech. The Federal Court sided with the church saying that the original ruling was against their First Amendment rights. The new ruling is that Mr. Snyder must pay the Church $16,510 to cover their fees incurred during the first suit and threw out the 5 million dollars previously awarded to the Snyder family. After the appeal

Bill Snyder told Fox News that we would defy the court ruling as long as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are going on. He is also filing a brief with the Supreme Court to see if the picketers' actions are protected by the First Amendment or limited by privacy and religious rights of the mourners.

Being a veteran myself, I feel this is all wrong. If it is not illegal for picketers to stand outside of military funerals with signs saying things like "God hates Soldiers," it should be. For anyone who agrees with me they can go to matthewsnyder.org and donate to the Snyders to help them fight the Westboro Baptist Church in these law suits. I am personally donating $5 to this cause. I know it doesn't like very much, but if everyone who would like to see them succeed in fighting this CHURCH?? did the same, they would have plenty of money to fund their cause. And if you were wondering what will happen if there is any money left over after the law suits, any money left over is to be used as scholarships for deserving Vets to further their education. Good Luck to Mr. Snyder. I hope everything goes well for him and his family and everyone who the decision of these law suits affect and could affect in the future.

NO MAIL ON SATURDAYS

The USPS has been having a rough time for about the last 5 years. They have seen a decrease in the volume of mail due to technology. With more and more people going green and not receiving paper bills in the mail and making online bill payments, the USPS has taken huge hits. UPS and FedEx have also taken a lot of business away from the Postal Service. So the United States Postal Service is considering not delivering mail on Saturdays to cut costs and help reduce their deficit. They have even asked the Federal Government for help. I am opposed to this for most businesses (like GM). If a business can not stay afloat by itself just let it fail, don't give the rest of us the bill because someone high in management of the company is getting too large of a salary and bonuses.

But the Postal Service is a little different. We need them. If the USPS was to go away completely, who would deliver the mail that we do still receive? UPS or FedEx? At what price? Or would you have to hand deliver your personal greeting cards, Birthday Cards, Wedding Invitations, or Holiday Cards? What about magazine subscriptions? You could always buy your magazines from the News Stand for $3.00 or more.

Or mail delivery could be privatized. That does not seem like a very good idea either. Do you really want just anybody working for minimum wage handling paperwork that could have your personal information in it? I think the 5-day delivery option would be just fine. Besides, that way I might get to see my dad (a rural mail carrier) more often.

"MARCH MADNESS"

This is one of my favorite time's of the year. Thursday is the opening day for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, the beginning of "March Madness." My co-workers and I have an office pool for the tournament every year. It's not a big deal, but it is a lot of fun. Everyone puts in $5 dollars and the winner gets to take home the money and the bragging rights until the following year. The best part is that almost everyone from the managers all the way down to the part-time employees participate.

Another one of the great things about the NCAA tournament is that you don't have to be a fan of a certain team or any team for that matter. Truthfully you don't even have to be a fan of college basketball to fill out a bracket and test you luck in your office pool. There are even sites that can help you decide who to pick if you don't follow college basketball. It is almost like playing the lottery except that your odds of winning are probably better in the office pool.

There are also a lot of free giveaways. All you have to do is get on the websites and enter for your chance to win prizes like $10,000 at both yahoo and espn or a new car at cbsports. Fox sports even gives a chance to win $1,000,000. Good luck to all that decide to play. If you don't win there is always next year.

KU vs MU Rivalry

Last weekend I watched the Kansas Vs. Missouri basketball game with some friends. It usually turns out to be a great game when these two rivals meet. Their rivalry, known as the Border War, is one of the oldest in college sports dating back to 1891 when they met for the first time in a football game. But this is not the beginning of the Kansas-Missouri rivalry. These two states have been having conflict just before the Civil War. Differences in the their standings on slavery was the start of their conflicts.

Kansas University adopted the name Jayhawks for their sports teams in 1890 when they started their football program. Their team name is in remembrance of their local soldiers from the Civil War known as the Jayhawkers, not for the fictitious half blue jay half hawk. These Jayhawkers were not just local soldiers. They were more like terrorists. They stole cattle, burned houses and farms, and even murdered people throughout Missouri towns in their belief that this would help to free slaves. After several large attacks by the Jayhawkers in the early 1860's a group of border town Missourians called the Bushwhackers raided and burned the entire city of Lawrence to the ground in 1863. Two years later Kansas University was founded in Lawrence.

Missouri University also started their football program in 1890. MU adopted the Tigers as their team name. This name does not refer to the wild jungle cat. It actually represents the Missouri soldiers that stood guard in Columbia after the burning of Lawrence, KS. In the 1860's the Tigers from Missouri where known as the defenders and protectors of Columbia and Missouri University which was established in 1839.

I hope after reading this very brief history lesson you have a new respect for this great rivalry. If not respect, at least a new perspective about this almost 150 year old rivalry between the Jayhawks and Tigers and you know what and who you are representing when you cheer for your team.

Brett

The NFL season has been over for a couple months and we are still waiting to hear from Brett Favre. I was just wondering if he has decided to play another season or if he is going to retire AGAIN. I guess it doesn't really matter if he retires now or not. He might play next season anyway. It wouldn't be the first time, or the second time for that matter. That is another NFL record that Brett Favre owns, even though it isn't talked about much. He has the most retirements and unretirements in NFL history.



His first retirement was from his team of 17 years, the Green Bay Packers, at the end of the 2007 season. He finished the season by throwing an interception against the NY Giants in over time of the NFC Championship game. They were just one game away from the Super Bowl and he still decided to retire. After his first summer as an ex-NFL player, he decided to come back. He wasn't done with football yet. The Packers had already decided on a different quarterback, son Brett ended up playing his 2008 season with the NY Jets.

After playing only one season with the Jets, and with his shoulder requiring surgery, he decided to retire AGAIN. He had the surgery on his shoulder and recovered while enjoying his second summer in a row as an ex-player. But as the 2009 season approached there were several reports that Brett was coming back AGAIN. This time to play for the Minnesota Vikings. At first Brett dismissed the reports as false, but about 2 months later he was, in fact, the quarterback of the Vikings.

Brett had one of his best statistical seasons of his Hall of Fame career with the Vikings last season. But the final game of the season ended on a bad note. It ended with an interception in the NFC Championship, AGAIN. Brett still has not made a decision for the upcoming season. Play or retire, does it really matter what decision he makes now. Everyone knows that he will be back next year. So, I am leaning towards retirement now then unretirement for another season, AGAIN!!

What Next?

I have had an extremely eventful week. It started on Saturday afternoon when my Internet went down for no apparent reason. I called my Internet provider and they told me that they would have to send a service technician to fix the problem, but there wouldn't be any available until Friday, March 5th (today) to work on it.

Then on Sunday morning my 5 year old son (Alex) woke up with a sore throat, so my wife and I took him to Freeman Urgent Care. After being there for almost 4 hours, we found out that he not only had strep throat, he also had a seasonal flu. Not to big of deal, he just had to take an antibiotic for the next 10 days and stay home from school on Monday.

But this lead into the next complication of the week. My son also had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday at Children's Mercy Hospital (Kansas City) to see a rheumatology (doctor dealing with rheumatoid arthritis) specialist. This appointment was scheduled almost 6 months ago by our family doctor who thought Alex might have juvenile arthritis. We could not reschedule the appointment without having another long wait. The reason this might have been a problem is because the specialist might have had to draw blood labs which the antibiotic could mess up. Fortunately, the specialist found that Alex does not have juvenile arthritis without having to draw labs. It turns out that Alex's problem is that he is more flexible than most people. The extra flexibility in his ankles and arches of his feet are causing extra stress on his knees. This means that all he needs is shoes with good arch supports and for us to stretch the muscles in his legs 3 to 4 times a week. This was a great relief to us because Alex has had trouble with his knees since he was about 2 years old.

But that still isn't all. My mother was giving an irregular heart beat on Monday. So on Tuesday, while my wife, son, and I were at Children's Mercy, my mother was admitted at St. Johns in Joplin. Her situation also turned out better than expected. After arthroscopic surgery, the doctor told her that everything seemed in order. Her heart was healthy and she had little to no buildup in her arteries. Her doctor attributed her problem to an herbal energy supplement (which happens to be on topic with my English paper I finished earlier this week) she had been taking. So, without finding any major complications, my mother was released from the hospital Wednesday afternoon.

So now that my Internet is fixed, everything seems to be back to normal, thus ending one of the most eventful weeks of my life, but still not the most eventful. That is whole completely different story.

Equal Punishment?

Did anyone else hear about the altercation between the Baylor Lady Bears' freshman basketball star, Brittney Griner and Texas Tech's Jordan Barncastle. I heard about it on ESPN this morning. After Barncastle fouled Griner during the game, Griner punched her breaking her nose. Griner was ejected for the rest of the current game and has to sit out the next game as punishment for her acton's. During the post game press conference, Griner said,"I let my emotions get the best of me," and basically went on to say she would never do it again. The Lady Bears' coach, Kim Mulkey gave Griner an additional one game suspension.

Is a 2 game suspension really a harsh enough punishment for Griner's actions? Dan Beebe, the Big 12 Commissioner, seems to think so. He stated, "I have accepted Baylor's action and commend athletics director Ian McCaw and head coach Kim Mulkey for taking a strong stance to support good sportsmanship." I personally don't believe that the punishment was harsh enough, especially after what happened last college football season to an Oregon player in a similar situation.

At the end of the season opening game between the Oregon Ducks and the Boise State Broncos LeGarrette Blount, an Oregon player, punched Byron Hout, on of the Boise State players, in the jaw. Hout provoked the incident by taunting Blount after Boise State had won the game. In a press conference after the game Blount basically gave the same apology that Griner gave yesterday. Oregon's athletic director and coach decided to suspend Blount for the remainder of the season. Their decision was upheld by the NCAA ending the senior running back's college football career, a very harsh punishment.

These two incidents, although very similar, were handled very differently. Their punishments were definitely not equal, but were either of the punishments fair?