The United States is still the land of free. For now!

Billions of dollars spent on airline security and a "nut case" on the "terrorism watch list" boards a plane headed for the U.S. and tries to blow it up. Let’s merge the "terrorism watch list" with the "no fly list." This might keep a plane or two from being blown up!

Global warming? Ask the folks in the Midwest and Northeast about it after they did out from their 2 feet of snow! Instead of rioting because the charity could not get your kids some toys, why not EARN the money to buy your kids toys yourself?

Male athlete of the year a race car driver. What next, a bowler?  Thanks to the BCS, the January 1 bowl games are meaningless. Tiger Woods’ new corporate sponsor – a major zipper manufacturer.

The warning signal should go off when a preacher can give $1 million to his alma mater or can afford $3K suits or a Rolls or two or an airplane or a mega-mansion. It just doesn’t pass the Sermon on the Mount test.

Quote of the Day:
Progress depends on people knowing they’ll be able to profit from their ideas.
–Deborah Neville

With John Wooden, every day is a classic — latimes.com

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Other developing stories, besides Tiger Woods’ womanizing, may loom the largest in the Tiger Woods drama.

The news that Woods was treated by a doctor who is under investigation by the FBI, suspected of giving performance-enhancing drugs to some of the elite athletes in his care. According to The New York Times, a doctor, Tony Galea, has treated NFL quarterback Chris Simms, sprinter Donovan Bailey, swimmer Dana Torres,  and Tiger Woods.

This source states that Woods’ management team, “alarmed at the slow pace of Mr. Woods’ rehabilitation after knee surgery in June 2008,” got in touch with Galea, who performed a blood-therapy procedure known as “blood spinning” on Woods on four separate occasions. The procedure is said to have helped speed Woods’ recovery.

Does the PGA Tour, which governs most of the tournaments in which Woods competes, outside of  major championships, have any policy on the procedure?

Gary Wadler, a Long Island anti-doping expert and World Anti-Doping Agency consultant, said blood spinning is a trendy but controversial procedure. WADA modified its doping code for 2010 to define acceptable and banned uses of blood spinning; platelet-rich blood can be injected into joints and under the skin to help athletes recover from injuries.

The new code, implemented on the eve of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, bans intra muscular injections because they may promote muscle growth.

Woods’ treatment, according to this report, would appear to fit in the recover-from-injury category. But Galea is also under suspicion of treating athletes with human growth hormone and a drug called Actovegin, which is illegal in the U.S.

They reports that Galea said “he has never treated professional athletes with human growth hormone” and “did not use Actovegin to treat Mr. Woods or other United States athletes.”

Nevertheless, the fact that Tiger Woods was treated by a doctor suspected of prescribing illegal performance-enhancing drugs will inevitably cause suspicion about Woods himself, which is  very serious in the world of golf.

Does a person who cheats on his wife multiple times also cheat in other areas of his life, even golf? If a golfer was suspected of trying to gain an illegal advantage on the course, that would be absolutely devastating to his career.

Even the slightest hint of cheating would do enormous damage to a golfer’s reputation. In the golf world in recent years, there has been more concern about doped-up drivers and golf balls than players, but the PGA Tour last year began a random drug-testing policy.

In June of this year, Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, speaking at Woods’ tournament, the AT&T National, called the policy a big success. “We haven’t had any problems that have arisen,” Finchem said.

After more than 1,000 random tests, Finchem added, “There have been no suspensions because of doping…what’s clear is that we do not have a doping problem.” Finchem said the International Olympic Committee has observed the PGA Tour’s process,  golf will likely be an Olympic sport in 2016, and the Tour has also worked closely with the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The association of Woods with Dr. Galea is sure to raise questions. The other aspect of the Woods’ case that could damage his career involves drugs of another type.

After his notorious car crash outside his Florida home, a Florida state trooper “suspected Tiger Woods was driving under the influence” and “sought a subpoena for the golfer’s blood results from the hospital he was taken,” according to an Associated Press report. Prosecutors decided there was not enough evidence to go forward with a subpoena, but the trooper’s report says that a witness,  thought to be Woods’ wife, Elin. told the trooper that Woods had been drinking earlier in the day and also had prescriptions for the sleep aid Ambien and the painkiller Vicodin.

“Impairment of the driver is also suspected due to the careless driving that resulted in the traffic crash,” the trooper wrote in his report.  Since the subpoena was denied, we probably won’t ever know whether Woods was under the influence the night of the crash.

This Vicodin prescription, which could be no big deal but just a brief, temporary use of the drug for a specific problem,  inevitably raises the question of why Woods needed a powerful painkiller. His knee? Some other ailment? Something that did not warrant such a serious drug?

The fact that Elin Woods reported her husband had been drinking and then mentioned Ambien and Vicodin, raises questions about possible mixing of alcohol and pills.

Taken together, the developing stories of Tiger Woods about Dr. Galea and Vicodin could  become more consequential than the sensationalized frequent reports about Woods and women.

Quote of the Day:
Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them – a desire, a dream, a vision. They have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must
–Muhammad Ali

Thousands, if not millions, of articles, columns, and blogs, including Bleacher Report, of course,detail the facts and rumors regarding Tiger Wood’s car accident on Black Friday 2009.

Tiger Woods also was setting record in Google trends (http://bit.ly/4R793U).

TMZ, who broke the news that Michael Jackson was in poor health before traditional news sources did, has been providing the most dramatic, and sensationalized coverage of this incident.

Twitter has been at the forefront of many such breaking news stories in recent months. And the latest is the car accident involving golfer Tiger Woods.

Early reports suggested Woods had hit a fire hydrant and a tree near his Florida home. And as noted by TechCrunch, while traditional media was still sitting on the story, the @breakingnews Twitter feed had broken the news.

Other people, including yours truly, began retweeting the news and the story was all over Twitter before the likes of CNN or ESPN had even reported it (see Twitter again beats CNN by 45 minutes for Tiger Woods news at http://bit.ly/78Y2Ko).

Google was almost as fast on the case, at about 10 minutes after the tweets were flowing, it started showing reports from local Orlando news outlets, where the crash occurred, giving details of the crash.

Within 15 minutes, readers knew what time the crash occurred at, apparently what happened, and some other important details, such as no alcohol being involved.

This incident has generated significant questions.

Why Was Tiger Woods Driving at 2:30 am the Morning After Thanksgiving? Was Tiger hunting early bird Black Friday specials?

Were Woods and his wife, Elin Nordegren, having a domestic dispute over an alleged affair of his?

Did the car accident or his wife cause his “facial lacerations?” 

Why did it take 12 hours for this incident to be reported to the media? Was there a Cover-up?  Or are the police  pursuing a domestic violence charge in this case?

I like Tiger Woods and I am glad he is all right. If he was seriously hurt, I could not laugh, look at the light side, and joke about it a little bit or even a lot.

If Tiger Woods owns a lot of cars, it’s a shame that he got a hole in one.

Tiger Woods just made a statement. He said it was the sh***iest drive he had all year.

I thought that Tiger Woods was a better "driver" than that.

However, after driving into a fire hydrant and a neighbor’s tree, Tiger Woods says he is happy with his improved form .

For the first time in his life, Tiger Woods misread something.

I finally outdrove Tiger Woods on Black Friday morning.

What is the difference between a car and a golf ball? Tiger Woods can drive a golf ball more than 300 yards.

Tiger Woods’ accident even impacts Fantasy Football (http://bit.ly/8PXMCu).

His next video game will be entitled Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11: Modern Warfare.

Misquote of the Day: "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!" – Tiger Woods

Quote of the Day: ”An ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness.” – Elbert Green Hubbard

Hey NASA. Americans want a job, world peace, clean and cheap energy, healthcare etc. A permanent moon base does not even make the top 50.

So we have spent millions of dollars so we know that there is water on the moon. Those schools that have laid of teachers and cut back on services will be happy to hear that.

Political correctness is the enemy of a free society.  I’m guessing the Ft. Hood shooter won’t be charged under the new "hate crimes" statutes, that would be politically incorrect.

If ACORN can sue Congress, then I have a never-ending laundry list of charges I want to sue Congress over.

Here we go again with the holiday/Christmas tree. Why and who, are we changing our cultures for?   HONK if you love Jesus! Text while driving if you’d like to MEET Him!

Quote of the Day:
Goodness is the only investment that never fails.
–Henry David Thoreau, 19th-century American essayist and nature writer