Between the Michigan-Michigan State game and the ongoing Purdue-Notre Dame game, I'm not sure I've ever seen two separate Big Ten games officiated so poorly on the same day. What the hell happened? With rare exceptions like the "phantom second" debacle of 2001, Big Ten officiating used to be something to be proud of. What did it all go so wrong? The way the two games cited were and are being officiated, the Big Ten might as well bring in NBA referees. They would probably know more about the rules of football than the current zebras. This is a disgrace.

China Has Stood Up
Hyperlink. Fifty-six years ago today, on October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, stood atop the Gate of Heavenly Peace in Beijing and declared that after centuries of intimidation and humiliation by the Western powers, China had stood up. So began the People's Republic of China, a ruthless and mercurial dictatorship that has been, sadly, the best government the Middle Kingdom has had since the fall of the Ming Dynasty in the mid-seventeenth century. These are interesting times that prompt myriad questions. How long will the CCP be able to maintain it's unchallenged dominion over the people of the PRC? How many more Tiananmen Square Massacres will there be between now and the establishment of a government truly of, for, and by the people in China? Will the fear and loathing in the Strait of Taiwan escalate into full-scale war?