I got off to a rocky start with my college football picks, going 1-3-1. But the weekend is just starting. I'll have more picks on Saturday.

With regard to the "robust" discussions that sometimes break out in the threads, I am going to ask that they be confined to the Open Threads. They are getting in the way of discussions of the topics of the posts.

This is an Open Thread.

It's finally here - the opiate I have been waiting for to take me away from my mundane concerns - COLLEGE FOOTBALL! the first game of the year is Wake Forest versus . . . Presbyterian! I like the Blue Hose(+44.5)! Just kidding. Here are my actual first picks of the 2010 college football season - Rhode Island (+24) over Buffalo, Southern Miss (+14) over South Carolina (also Under 46), Middle Tenn St (+1) over Minnesota, Pitt (+3) over Utah and the Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii (+21.5) over the USC Kiffins.

Go Gators!

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The power of an endorsement - via Steve Benen, General Wes Clark endorses Alexi Giannoulas in the Illinois Senate race and revives an issue regarding Republican Mark Kirk's honesty:

During an endorsement of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias on Monday, retired four-star Gen. Wesley Clark criticized Giannoulias' opponent Mark Kirk's exagerations about his military career.

"[The exagerations] are a factor in this race," Clark said[. . . ] Earlier this summer, Kirk was embarrassed by revelations that he embellished his military record.

Endorsements give a candidate a chance to frame a story - bringing in Clark not only got Clarkophiles like me to notice, it also gave Alexi a chance to hit Kirk again on his lying about his military record, through Clark's appearance and endorsement.

This is an Open Thread.

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It's "Restoring Honor" Day. Bob Herbert:

America is better than Glenn Beck. For all of his celebrity, Mr. Beck is an ignorant, divisive, pathetic figure. On the anniversary of the great 1963 March on Washington he will stand in the shadows of giants — Abraham Lincoln and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Who do you think is more representative of this nation?

This is an Open Thread.

Here's some of the news I missed while at work today:

6,000 pounds of cocaine seized in Florida is worth $80 million. In Sacramento, 475 pounds of meth seized last week was worth $100 million -- until the Sheriff decided it was 600 pounds and worth $200 million. In India, authorities seized a lab and found 16 pounds of meth authorities value at RS 13 crore, around $3 million. (Rs 16 Cr = USD 4 million). Do they just pull these numbers out of a hat?

The India meme: The drugs were made in India, by companies using Iranian and Chinese chemists, and headed to cartels in Central and South America who would then send them to the U.S. [More...]

My daughter is taking her drivers test. Time flies.

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