R's on The Road.......... To Watford

On Monday night we travel to Watford to play in front of the Sky cameras once again. Here are a few hints and tips for those taking the short trip to Hertfordshire.



The Stadium.

Current Capacity – 19,900

Watford have been at home at Vicarage Road since 1922. From 1922-2001 the ground was owned by Benskins Brewery and they bought the ground from its freehold outright and owned the stadium for the first time in its history. However due to the clubs poor financial state in 2002 they had to sell the ground and agreed a £6m deal but agreed a £7m buy back clause in the future. This option was taken up in 2004 and once again owned the ground.
Redevelopments at Vicarage Road have been prominent for the last two years as improvements are made to the ground. The South-West corner has been the main focal point of this and when it is finished it will house the new dressing rooms and a new media centre. The East Stand will be the next subject of redevelopment and they hope all work will be completed by 2011.

Away fans are housed in the Vicarage Road end for this fixture. The stand holds 2,200 people and offers a great view of proceedings on the pitch. The concourses however are the tightest you will ever come across and will struggle to breath down there. There is a betting facility down there also.



The History between the teams.

At Watford (54)

Watford 20
QPR 22
Draw 12

Vicarage Road hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Rangers. Since 1988 the R’s have once won once in eight attempts, the solitary win coming two seasons ago during the Christmas period with a fantastic display of football and ending up 4-2 victors.
In the last five meetings at Watford the home side have won four of the matches, with the outcome being either 3-0 or 3-1. This game promises goals and lets hope they end up in the right net as far as Rangers are concerned, especially with the Sky cameras on us.



How to get there.

By Car:- The post code for today is WD18 0ER.
There are many ways to enter Watford. Via the M1 you should come off at junction 5 and take the A4008 into Watford town centre. Via the M25 you should come off at junction 19 and get onto the A41 towards Watford and once again head towards the town centre. On reaching Watford you will be greeted by the inner ring road. For the easiest parking I would suggest the Church Street multi storey car park as it is open for 24hrs and will only cost you £2.50 for 4hours. The ground is a 5 minute walk from there.

By Train:- The overground station at Watford is the Watford Junction train station and is a 20 minute walk to the ground. You can catch the Metropolitan Line down to Watford High Street or alternatively walk for the 20minutes if you choose. The directions should you decide to take the walk are as follows. Leave the station & take main road straight opposite (Clarendon Road) all the way (over Ring Road at lights) up to the High Street. Turn left and go past Wetherspoons (Moon under Water) on your right and then take the first right after 100 yards into Market Street. Continue along again crossing Ring Road to T junction & then left at chip shop. Vicarage Road is the next right turn.
Watford High Street tube station is on the Metropolitan Line and is a short walk away from the ground. Come out of the tube station and take a left onto the High Street. A short way up the High Street is King Street on the left hand side, go up there and follow it up to the end of the road (Lady’s Close) turn right and this will lead you onto Vicarage Road. At the start of Vicarage Road take a left and then follow the road into the away end.


Pubs 'n' Grub.

With the ground being only a 5-10 minute walk from the High street you have a full array of food and drinking outlets to take advantage of. Everything you could possibly want is here and needs no build up.

Sarah Palin Goes 'Birther': Obama Birth Certificate 'A Fair Question'

Sarah Palin declared on Thursday that the legitimacy of President Obama's birth certificate is "rightfully" an issue with the American public, and that it is "fair game" for politicians to question Obama's citizenship.
The comments came during an interview with conservative radio host Rusty Humphries, who asked Palin whether she planned to "make the birth certificate an issue" if she runs for president in 2012.
"I think the public rightfully is still making it an issue," Palin said. "I don't have a problem with that. I don't know if I would have to bother to make it an issue, because I think that members of the electorate still want answers."
Humphries -- who began the interview with a rendition of the song "Sarah, Queen Of The Wild Frontier" -- followed up: "Do you think it's a fair question to be looking at?"
"I think it's a fair question just like I think past associations and past voting records. All of that is fair game," Palin responded, adding that "the McCain-Palin campaign didn't do a good enough job in that area. We didn't call out Obama and some of his associates on their records and what their beliefs were, and perhaps what their future plans were, and I don't think that was fair to voters to not have done our job as candidates and a campaign to bring to light a lot of things that now we're seeing manifest in the administration."
Palin later referenced "that weird conspiracy theory freaky thing that people talk about that Trig isn't my real son, and a lot of people that went 'Well, you need to produce his birth certificate, you need to prove that he's your kid,' which we have done, but yeah, so maybe we can reverse that, and use the same [inaudible] thinking on the other one."
UPDATE: At 1:16 AM ET, Palin posted the following on her Facebook page:

Stupid Conspiracies
Voters have every right to ask candidates for information if they so choose. I've pointed out that it was seemingly fair game during the 2008 election for many on the left to badger my doctor and lawyer for proof that Trig is in fact my child. Conspiracy-minded reporters and voters had a right to ask... which they have repeatedly. But at no point - not during the campaign, and not during recent interviews - have I asked the president to produce his birth certificate or suggested that he was not born in the United States.

WATCH:


FactCheck.org has done the most comprehensive debunking of the various conspiracy theories related to Obama's citizenship. Here is their bottom line:

In June, the Obama campaign released a digitally scanned image of his birth certificate to quell speculative charges that he might not be a natural-born citizen. But the image prompted more blog-based skepticism about the document's authenticity. And recently, author Jerome Corsi, whose book attacks Obama, said in a TV interview that the birth certificate the campaign has is "fake."
We beg to differ. FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship. Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false. We have posted high-resolution photographs of the document as "supporting documents" to this article. Our conclusion: Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said.

(H/T Ben Smith and Jed Lewison)

Christmas comes early for Boro.

Today we hosted a visiting Middlesborough side that under new manager Gordon Strachan have lost two and drawn two during his four game reign and hoped to beat an indifferent Rangers side.

In attendance today were Lofty, California Hoop, Sam and Me. Unfortunately due to a holiday and other reasons we were missing PK, Corp and Jenson. At least they didn’t miss much!

Only one change was made from last week’s 2-2 draw against Coventry and it was a forced one. Matt Connolly was replaced by Kaspers Gorkss in the heart of the defence.



In the opening exchanges it was Rangers looking the more threatening side. Three corners in the opening four minutes was the only reward Rangers had for their pressure.
Adel Taarabt had two good chances to open the scoring but his efforts went high and wide and he also had an effort deflected away for another corner. Once against the corner provided no real danger.
The momentum soon changed in favour of the visitors.
Mark Yeates unleashed a 30 yard drive, with a lethal dip on it, and Radek Cerny dived in despair as he saw the ball crash against the bar.
Moments later we had the opening goal of the game.
Boro had a free kick 35 yards out. Gary O’Neil floating in a lovely ball and Dave Kitson was on hand to flick home from 12 yards out. The marking from the set piece was once again awful and Kitson was left free in space to poke his effort home.
Boro continued to have the better of the half as Rangers looked a shadow of the team that dazzled us in October.

The half time gathering was mainly focused away from the game we had been watching as it was a pretty unentertaining half to watch.

The second half came along far too quickly for our liking but we returned to our seats to endure another 45minutes.
Boro had a corner two minutes into the half and ended up scoring from the corner but the ref spotted a handball before the goal was scored and awarded a penalty.
Leroy Lita, who Rangers fans just love to hate, stepped up and made no mistake from 12 yards out.
Straight after the goal a double substitution was made. Rowan Vine and Patrick Agyemang came on for the poor Akos Buzsaky and the lonely Jay Simpson.
The substitution soon paid dividends and a goal was quickly clawed back. Vine broke away down the left hand side and squared the ball in the box for Agyemang, who was off balance, he swung his foot at it and sidefooted home from 8 yards out.
Poor Rangers defending aided Boro to get a third goal of the game. Leigertwood gave the ball away cheaply on the right hand side. Lita was given the ball and he run at Hall before turning him inside out far too easily and placing his effort home from close range.
The show wasn’t over and on 75 minutes a 4th Boro goal was added. Lita again was at the heart of it, his effort struck Cerny’s left hand post and the ball fell kindly to Gary O’Neil and he put the ball into the empty R’s net.
It was at this point Lofty made a swift exit and 5minutes later Sam and Me headed for the exit after witnessing a dismal defensive performance.
After we left a 30 yarder from Mark Yeates made matters worse for the R’s.

Defensively today we were awful and didn’t seem to have a clue. Leigertwood and Hall were really poor today. In fairness to the defence, last season we had one of the best defences in the league and that was mainly down to us having a settled back 4. So far this season we haven’t played the same 4 for more than 2games running and we need some stability in this area.
Its also evident now that Simpson really needs some proper help up front. We cant play Routledge up there with him as this takes away our width down the right hand side without him being there.
Another player that has disappointed me of late is Buzsaky. He looks a little disinterested, maybe this is because he is being played out of position? Who knows.

QPR: Cerny, Hall, Leigertwood, Routledge (Pellicori 82), Buzsaky (Vine 52), Gorkss, Watson, Faurlin, Simpson (Agyemang 52), Borrowdale, Taarabt.

Subs not used: Taylor, Ramage, Stewart, Williams.

Scorers: Agyemang (54)

Middlesbrough: Jones, Pogatetz, Yeates, Lita, St Ledger, O'Neil (Digard 79), Arca, R
Williams, Wheater, Kitson, Osbourne.

Subs not used: Coyne, Hoyte, Riggott, Emnes, McMahon, L Williams.

Scorers: Kitson (31), Lita (Pen 50 & 60), O'Neil (75), Yeates (87)

Bookings: Lita (50), Osbourne (58)

Referee: Mr P N Gibbs

Attendance: 13, 949

Lofty's Man of the Match today could quite easily be awarded to Damion Stewart as he warmed up exceptionally well and was the best defender to touch the turf during the 90 mins. However just for his effort the player receiveing the award today is Alejandro Faurlin.

Rumsfeld Rebuffed By Admiral Mullen, Teased By Gibbs After Disputing Obama Speech

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's response to a line in President Obama's speech on Aghanistan is drawing a sharp response from both the White House and military leaders.
On Tuesday, Obama asserted that before he took office in January, "Commanders in Afghanistan repeatedly asked for support to deal with the reemergence of the Taliban, but these reinforcements did not arrive."
Rumsfeld issued a written statement on Wednesday disputing Obama's claim about inaction under George W. Bush:

Such a bald misstatement, at least as it pertains to the period I served as secretary of defense, deserves a response. I am not aware of a single request of that nature between 2001 and 2006. If any such requests occurred, "repeated" or not, the White House should promptly make them public. The President's assertion does a disservice to the truth and, in particular, to the thousands of men and women in uniform who have fought, served and sacrificed in Afghanistan.

According to Politico, Rumsfeld's own claims were refuted by Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

Adm. Michael Mullen told a House committee Wednesday that Gen. David McKiernan, who led U.S. troops in Afghanistan between 2008 and this year, had asked for 20,000 troops for the effort but was rebuffed.

"We didn't have them because they were pushed to Iraq," the four-star admiral said during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in response to a question from Indiana Republican Rep. Mike Pence. "That was the priority of the president."

The White House had a little more fun with their response. While Press Secretary Robert Gibbs refused to engage Rumsfeld's claims directly, he did quip, "You go to war with the Secretary of Defense you have."
WATCH:



Neither Mullen nor Gibbs directly addressed whether Pentagon requests may have occurred during the Bush administration but not while Rumsfeld was serving as Secretary of Defense. General McKiernan served after Rumsfeld left the position.

Michaele Salahi At World Snow Polo Championships In 2008

More evidence of the Salahis' quest for fame is rolling in, this time in the form of a video from Plum TV. The Salahis took part in the 2008 World Snow Polo Championships and Michaele Salahi sought, as she says herself at the end of the video, her own "two minutes of fame" by doing intros for the tournament for Plum TV.
The Salahis have a history of not paying their debts, and according to the host of the snow polo event, they still owe him nearly $20,000 for their entry into the tournament.
Where will we find the Salahis next?
WATCH:

Palin And Twilight: American Pilgrimages

Two events were cause for Americans to leave the house this past week: Sarah Palin and The Twilight Saga: New Moon. The mass, separate interest in each has left many who are fans of neither wondering: What the hell is wrong with these people? Sure, nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. But there's more to it than that. The trips to the book store or to the movie theater were in fact pilgrimages of the faithful.
Each event was a form of cultural catnip for its respective, rather homogeneous audience. An indulgence for many who, at least for a stint, would rather see the world not as it is, but as they wish it to be. What attracts the fans and confuses everyone else is one and the same. It's about faith.
Faith is how our society conceptualizes -- and then puts a ribbon around -- intense desire. If one wants something bad enough, they begin to ignore the absurdities and believe that anything is possible. Substance gives way to wish fulfillment, and it's why those who are not fans are left so confounded.
Cinematically, the Twilight films hover somewhere between bad and god-awful -- a fact that some loyal fans readily accept. And yet they flocked to the theaters in droves. For many fans, it's actually quite difficult to explain exactly what the appeal is. But from a number of conversations I've had with them, one strong reason seems to be that element of wish fulfillment that attracts so many young women and teens (who overwhelmingly comprise the Twilight following). The cliché fantasy of being swept away, falling in love, and forever basking in the wardship of what was described to me as a "hunk" becomes an ephemeral reality.
The romance between Bella and Edward is presented as the joining of soul mates, with a theme of Romeo and Juliet-like forbidden love. It's the type of love that most teenage girls long for before learning from life's trials and tribulations. And in actuality, it more resembles an obsessive co-dependency than a healthy relationship.
Which is why the message the Twilight series sends is not without controversy. While young adult fans who enjoy escaping into fantasy for a few hours know full well that Bella and Edward's relationship is far from realistic -- and probably unhealthy -- many of the younger fans do not. Hence the concern of many parents that the films will imbue teen girls with a distorted and damaging view of relationships, to say nothing of their self-esteem. Natalie Hjelsvold, who has a 9-year-old daughter, summed up her concerns to a CNN reporter as such:

"I spent the entire movie interjecting things like, 'boys don't think about girls like that,' 'boys won't stare at you across the parking lot like that,' 'boys don't spend all day thinking about you and wishing you were sitting beside them in class,' 'boys won't sniff your hair,' " Hjelsvold said. "I think it got on her nerves after a while, but I worry that she will develop this totally warped sense of love and it makes me crazy as a parent."

And as it is with the Twilight phenomenon, so it is for the masses who bought Sarah Palin's book, Going Rogue -- which she didn't actually write -- and who are waiting for hours in the cold and rain just to see her. Many cannot explain why, and when they try, it becomes obvious that their adoration has nothing to do with substance or rationality.


As a politician, Palin is a veritable failure. As an abstract idea, she is the fulfillment of millions of Americans' wildest dreams. As it happens, something that stands for nothing can end up standing for everything.
The fact that Palin has no policies or constructive ideas to offer actually makes her the perfect vehicle for wish fulfillment. "Drill, baby, drill" is not a serious policy prescription. It's verbal gold that translates into practical lead. But that doesn't matter. It feels good to say for those who chant it, just as it feels good for the more mature Twilight fans to see the fantasy play out for a few hours. Who cares if the plot sucks and the characters are ridiculous.
The problem though is with that other group. The 'Twilight teenyboppers' who think it's real or possible or even remotely reasonable to believe. Faith of this kind is fine as a feel-good indulgence, but when it blurs the lines between fantasy and reality too much -- which it inevitably does -- one has to wonder what the damage is.
We're in hard times, it's reasonable to expect that people will look for saviors and fantastical escapes -- be they in the form of vegetarian vampires or meat eating pseudo-author/pseudo-politicians. The portion of Sarah Palin fandom who falls into that 'Twilight teenybopper' category -- those who fail to draw the distinction between fantasy and reality -- seems rather large (though it's not easily quantified). Let's just hope that sooner, rather than later, they realize it's just a movie.

Shashi Tharoor on India's "soft power"

India is fast becoming a superpower, says Shashi Tharoor -- and not just through trade and politics, but through "soft power," its ability to share its culture with the world through food, music, technology, Bollywood. As he says, "In today's world, it's not the size of the army that wins. It's the country that tells a better story."