Animal-Rights Activists Bully Dying Italian Girl

I saw this piece when I was looking over there for Eli Lake's report on NYT's bogus Benghazi whitewash.

At the Daily Beast (now at Memeorandum).

And at the Sydney Morning Herald, "'I would have been dead at nine': Caterina Simonsen in hospital after backlash over defence of animal testing":

An Italian woman who received death threats after declaring in an internet posting that she owed her life to medicines developed from testing on laboratory mice has been admitted to hospital with a severe lung infection.

Caterina Simonsen, 25, last week appeared on Italian national television to answer abuse from animal rights militants who took exception to her Facebook post in which she defended the use of testing on animals for medical purposes.

In that post on December 21, she uploaded a photo of herself with a message: "I am 25 thanks to genuine research that includes experiments on animals.

"Without research, I would have been dead at nine. You have gifted me a future."

Ms Simonsen, who is studying to be a veterinarian at the University of Bologna and has several dogs, suffers from four rare genetic disorders and cannot breathe without the aid of oxygen tubes.

Since she made the controversial comments on social media, she claims to have received more than 30 "death wishes" and 500 abusive messages on her Facebook page.

Continue reading.

Stay classy progs.

FLASHBACK: "The Progressive War on Science and Reason":

"Of all of today's political philosophies, progressivism stands as the most pressing problem for science. Progressives, not conservatives, are the ones most likely to replace scientific research with unscientific ideology."

Britney Spears Lip-Syncing Two-Year Residency Concerts at Las Vegas' Planet Hollywood

Here's the story at the New York Daily News, "Britney Spears caught lip-syncing during 'Britney: Piece of Me' residency shows in Las Vegas, despite management denials."

And her problems don't stop there.

At LAT, "Review: Britney Spears offers just a 'Piece of Me' in Las Vegas":

Wow… perfect audience for the 1st #PieceOfMe show! That was AMAZING! I <3 you Vegas!!! pic.twitter.com/7w0mGIH3BJ

— Britney Spears (@britneyspears) December 28, 2013

Scheduled to run through 2015, with Spears playing approximately 50 shows a year at the 4,600-seat Axis, “Piece of Me” represents a potential pivot point for the singer and the state of entertainment on the Las Vegas Strip.

For Spears, 32, the steady gig promises a path out of the turmoil and disappointment that have surrounded her since 2007, when she attacked a paparazzo’s car with an umbrella after shaving her head at a Tarzana salon.

Though Spears’ personal life appears to have stabilized, her career is still hurting: This month her album “Britney Jean” opened with the lowest sales of the singer’s 15-year career; it sits at No. 27 on the Billboard 200, well behind records by Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus, both of whom showed up Friday night as a sign of respect to a trailblazer.

Filling the Axis, the thinking seems to go, might restore some of Spears’ luster without her having to engage in direct competition with her younger successors.

Las Vegas, meanwhile, stands the chance to further dismantle its reputation as a home for has-beens. Successful casino shows by the likes of Celine Dion and Elton John have advanced that effort, but with its jackhammering dance beats and recent-vintage radio hits, “Piece of Me” bridges the gap between those old-school extravaganzas and the superstar DJ sets that have increasingly come to define the city’s night life.

In terms of show-business strategy, it seems to make sense. Yet as a concert experience Spears’ opening-night performance came up awfully short....

Whatever the scale of the number though, the singer’s presence felt so diminished -- her dancing a tentative shadow of what it used to be, her vocals apparently lip-synced for the majority of the show -- as if to make the production’s title seem a taunt.

That was never more true than in the song “Piece of Me,” which on 2007’s “Blackout” -- perhaps Spears’ best album, released right in the thick of her public meltdown -- arrived like a searing indictment of the tabloid surveillance state. On record the track still stings, yet here it flat-lined, with none of the intensity, energy or strut that made Spears such a focal point of mainstream pop.

RTWT.

Well, maybe she's right for Vegas after all. A lot of performers have wound down their careers on the Strip.

Melissa Harris-Perry, Despicable @MSNBC Wretch, Apologizes for Racist Attack on Romney Grandchild

I knew this was coming. The only question was how long it would take her to apologize, and yet, she still botched it. Only a disgusting left-wing reprobate would launch a hash-tag while apologizing for a despicable racist attack on a baby.

Here's the apology, "An apology from Melissa Harris-Perry" via (Memeorandum).

Her tweets are embedded there, along with the selfish hashtag.

More at Twitchy, "‘Height of conceit!’ Pathetic Melissa Harris-Perry slammed for ludicrous hashtag-apology to Romneys," and "‘Lunatic!’ Melissa Harris-Perry ‘apologizes’ to Romneys (with self-serving hashtag); Do you buy it?"

She still literally doesn't think she actually did anything wrong. #MHPapology
— S.M (@redsteeze) December 31, 2013

Side note, who the heck uses a hashtag for an apology? #MHPapology
— Amy Lutz (@amylutz4) December 31, 2013

Also, "Romney grandson-mocking racist progressives of pallor at MSNBC in a truth-boom nutshell," and "Katie Pavlich crushes Lamont Hill’s Romney grandson-mocking defense with shattering point."

Keira Knightley for British Harper's Bazaar

She's a classy woman.

At Harpers, "KEIRA KNIGHTLEY IS OUR FEBRUARY COVER STAR":T

The dearth of women in film is partly what makes her consider directing, she says – because things will only change when more women are in positions of genuine power. "Hollywood has a really long way to go. I don’t think that anybody can deny that, really, and I think as much as you are getting more women playing lead roles… they’re still pretty few and far between." After 20 years of experience (she started acting at the age of 7), Knightly wonders whether she might move behind the camera, and gain more control. "As I get older I get more interested by it… There is a lot of 'You do what you’re told' [as an actor]. After watching it and being part of it for so long, you start going, 'I wonder if there is a journey to the other side.' I don’t know if there is, but I’m interested in seeing people who have done it."

Hmm, more Hollywood hypocrisy, it turns out.

Russia Still Vulnerable to Terrorism 14 Years After Putin Took Power

At WSJ, "The Volgograd Bombings" (via Google):

When Vladimir Putin became Russia's acting president on December 31, 1999, the country was reeling from terrorist bombings of apartment buildings in Moscow while it attempted to bring an insurrection in the Caucasus to heel. Fourteen years on, not enough has changed.

That's something the Russian president might consider following back-to-back suicide bombings in the Russian city of Volgograd (previously Stalingrad), which left 32 dead and dozens more wounded. Coming weeks before the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi more than 400 miles to the south, the attacks are an unsettling reminder of how vulnerable Russia remains to terrorism.

So far no group has taken responsibility for the attacks, though in July an Islamist Chechen leader named Doku Umarov released a video calling on followers to use "maximum force" in anticipation of the Olympics. Chechen terrorists have also been responsible for the 2002 seizure of a Moscow theater, the 2004 attack against schoolchildren in Beslan, the 2010 attacks on the Moscow subway and the Domodedovo airport attack in in 2011. The potential for further attacks leading up to the Sochi Games is high.

Mr. Putin has pursued a policy of maximum repression in the Caucasus—the second Chechen war alone is thought to have taken 100,000 lives—so it's tempting to view these attacks as a reprisal. But the Chechen jihadists are not much different from the Somali jihadists who seized Nairobi's Westgate mall in September, or the Indonesian jihadists who blew up a nightclub in Bali a decade ago. Terrorists will justify their murders with whatever political alibi is convenient.

Then again, Mr. Putin also needs to reconsider the merits of creating a security state, especially when it fails to provide Russians with basic security. Fourteen years of Putinesque discipline have done little to improve a corrupt and inefficient police force and equally bad conscript army. In some cases Chechen terrorists have succeeded in bribing their way through security checkpoints.

In the short term, Russia will have no choice but to heighten security throughout the country while it attempts...

And see the Christian Science Monitor, "Russia suicide bombing: Is Doku Umarov the Kremlin's worst nightmare?"

Trey Gowdy BLASTS New York Times Benghazi Report and In One Question DESTROYS Video Narrative

That headline c/o the Right Scoop.

A great interview with Represenative Gowdy, on Greta's shnow, with Dana Perino sitting in.

At that link.

Emily Ratajkowski: American Power's Woman of the Year for 2013

I didn't blog her that much actually. Just a few rapid fire posts when she was in the news 24/7 a few months back. But certainly this woman had an impact and is going to be around for some time.

VH1 has this, "25 Reasons Why 'Blurred Lines' Emily Ratajkowski is the Breakout Music Video Vixen of 2013."

And at the Fashion Spot, "WTF? Both Esquire and GQ Named 'Blurred Lines' Model Emily Ratajkowski 'Woman of the Year'."



And from last year, "Kate Upton: American Power's Woman of the Year for 2012."

Why Obama Frets About Income Inequality, Not Family Breakdown

From James Pethokoukis, at AEI:

The Obama White House argues hard that rising US income inequality makes it tougher for Americans to climb the economic ladder. When President Obama gave a big speech on “social mobility” earlier this month – liberal pundits called it the “most important” of his presidency – he mentioned inequality more than two dozen times to pound the point home. And Team Obama has much publicized its chart illustrating the “Great Gatsby Curve” which suggests strong correlation globally between high income inequality and low earnings mobility.

How many times in such an important speech did Obama mention anything about American family breakdown perhaps impeding economic mobility? Just a couple of passing references.

Yet the issue of family breakdown deserves at least as much attention, if not more, from Obama than income inequality. Using data on local jobs markets from the Equality of Opportunity Project, e21 economist Scott Winship can’t find much of a statistical relationship between inequality – particularly of the 1% vs. 99% sort — and economic mobility. The EOP authors also find “a high concentration of income in the top 1% was not highly correlated with mobility patterns.”

What does seem to be highly correlated with mobility is family structure. In these communities, the share of families with single moms predicts mobility levels “quite well all by itself,” according to Winship’s analysis. Again, this result is not real surprising. Researchers on the left and right have found that kids raised by both biological parents fare better financially, educationally, and emotionally. And as the EOP scholars conclude: “Some of the strongest predictors of upward mobility are correlates of social capital and family structure.”

Some nice data plots at the post, so continue reading.

But seriously, leftists don't want to hear about family structure, because then the tangles of pathology that really drive poverty and structural unemployment for the underclass will blow up the left's lame inequality scam. It's all they've got to run on. The New York Times has more on that, "Democrats Turn to Minimum Wage as 2014 Strategy."

Miss Kennedy Summers

At Egotastic!, "Kennedy Summers Climax to the Year in Playboy."

The New York Times Revives Benghazi Video Lie to Save Hillary

From IBD on Twitter:

(IBD) NYT Revives Benghazi Video Lie To Save Hillary http://t.co/gNRxKQAM9L - pic.twitter.com/taA6m9tLUI

— Daniel John Sobieski (@gerfingerpoken) December 31, 2013

And see Eli Lake, at the Daily Beast, "Al Qaeda IS Linked to Benghazi."

Khodorkovsky and the Freedom Agenda

From Caroline Glick:

Until his arrest in October 2003, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the oligarch and oil executive, was the richest man in Russia. He might have still been the richest man in Russia today if he hadn’t started thinking about politics, and objecting to the fact that under President Vladimir Putin, Russia had abandoned all prospects for democracy.

With his billions, Khodorkovsky had the means to finance a challenge to Putin’s authoritarian rule. His arrest in 2003 and his 10-year imprisonment was ordered and orchestrated by Putin as a means of silencing and destroying the former KGB officer’s only potent challenger for power.

After 10 years behind bars, Khodorkovsky was suddenly released from prison last Friday, immediately after Putin issued him a presidential pardon. He held a press conference in Berlin the next day. There he showed that prison had changed his political thinking. Whereas in 2003, Khodorkovsky thought it was possible to transform Russia into a democracy by simply winning an election, after 10 years behind bars, he recognizes that elections are not enough.

“The Russian problem is not just the president as a person,” he explained. “The problem is that our citizens in the large majority don’t understand that their fate, they have to be responsible for it themselves. They are so happy to delegate it to, say, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and then they will entrust it to somebody else.”

In other words, until the Russian people come to the conclusion that they want liberty, no one can give it to them. They will just replace one dictator with another one. In his words, “If you have a ‘most important person’ in the opposition… you will get another Putin.”

So whereas George Washington was seen as the first among equals, an opposition leader who would succeed Putin, would be more like Robespierre in post-revolutionary France.

Khodorkovsky’s remarks show that you can’t instantly import democracy from abroad. The US defeated the Soviet Union in the Cold War. But the Soviet defeat didn’t make the Russians liberal democrats. Until the seeds of democracy are planted in a nation’s hearts and minds, the overthrow of its overlord will make little difference to the aspirations of the people...

In other words, Russia's authoritarian culture resists the freedom wave.

Continue reading. A great piece.

Ralph Peters: Sochi Olympics the 'Ugliest' in History

A great commentary.



And see Business Week, "The Biggest Olympic Security Risk May Not Be at Sochia":

Protecting visitors enroute to the Games from Feb. 7 to Feb. 23 could require beefed-up security at locations far away from Sochi. Unless they arrive on charter or private flights, foreign visitors can’t fly directly to Sochi, as the local airport has no service to destinations outside the former Soviet Union. Most scheduled flights arrive from Moscow and St. Petersburg. Trains to Sochi pass through dozens of Russian cities—including Volgograd, which is 700 kilometers (435 miles) northeast of the Olympic site.

The attacks in Volgograd, as well as a suicide bombing at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport in 2011, have underscored weaknesses in standard security measures at public transport hubs. People entering the Volgograd train station had to pass through a metal detector, but the bomb was detonated outside the station. Likewise, the bombing at Domodedovo, which killed 37, took place in an international arrival hall outside the airport’s secured area.

@MSNBC Panel Mocks Mitt Romney's Black Grandchild

Stay classy leftist hate-mongers.

At Hot Air, "MSNBC panel: Hey, get a load of Mitt Romney’s black grandson." And at Twitchy, "Racism is hilarious! MSNBC panel mocks, belittles Romneys’ adopted grandson":

Few things are more hilarious than a mixed-race family. Just ask MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry, who recently hosted a panel of doofuses picking at Mitt and Ann Romney’s adopted grandson Kieran.

Zero-Tolerance Stupidity at Schools

From Glenn Reynolds, at USA Today, "Educators can't distinguish between childish games and real threats":

Last week, the Wall Street Journal's Alison Gopnik reported on research from professors Jacqueline Wooley at the University of Texas and Paul Harris at Harvard that showed a surprising degree of sophistication among preschool kids. Apparently, though they spend a lot of time in fantasy pursuits, they're actually quite good at distinguishing fantasy from reality:

Children understand the difference. They know that their beloved imaginary friend isn't actually real and that the terrifying monster in their closet doesn't actually exist (though that makes them no less beloved or scary). But children do spend more time than we do thinking about the world of imagination. They don't actually confuse the fantasy world with the real one; they just prefer to hang out there.

On reading that, my first thought was that these kids are actually a lot better at distinguishing between fantasy and reality than the teachers and administrators in the schools that they attend.

At South Eastern Middle School in Fawn Grove, Pa., for example, 10-year-old Johnny Jones was suspended for using an imaginary bow and arrow. That's right - - not a real bow and arrow, but an imaginary bow and arrow. A female classmate saw this infraction, tattled to a teacher, and the principal gave Jones a one-day suspension for making a "threat" in class.

To be fair, it probably takes a lot of imagination to turn what sounds like a bit of old-fashioned cowboys-and-Indians play into a "threat." But while the principal, John Horton, gets an "A" for imagination, he deserves an "F" for distinguishing between imagination and reality. Sadly, he's not alone.

Continue reading.

Another example of far-left political correctness destroying not only basic decency, but creativity and imagination.

Homosexuals to Marry on Rose Parade Float — DURING THE ROSE PARADE!

I was just saying how great New Year's Day is in Southern California, although now parents will have to keep their kids from watching television as they try to preserve a little basic decency.

Who organized this bull? My God it's freakin' depraved.

At LAT, "Gay couple to marry on Rose Parade float."

And from the Mad Jewess, "“GAY” FASCISM -- Me & Mine REFUSE to Watch Militant LGBT FAGS Marry at Rose Bowl Parade."

More at ABC 10News San Diego, "San Diego woman calls for boycott of Rose Parade over plans for live gay wedding":

SAN DIEGO - In a Tournament of Roses Parade first, two men will exchange vows live on a parade float, but a San Diego woman isn't happy about the parade's plans for the same-sex nuptials.

Karen Grube has called for a boycott of the annual Tournament of Roses parade over plans for two men to be married on top one of the parade's 46 floats on Jan. 1.

Grube told 10News the traditional family event is not the place for political agenda, and she said, "Growing up and being a part of that whole tradition in Pasadena was just incredible."

Grube said whether you're for same-sex marriage or not, the wedding is a slap to those that don't support it and the 30 states that haven't approved it.

"My stand is mainly to support the voters of California who have said no to this," said Grube.

Grube created a Facebook page asking people to not attend or watch the parade. She also has called parade sponsors asking them to pull their support from the parade, which draws a global audience of about 68 million viewers annually.

"It's an in-your-face political statement; it really is." said Grube, who has contacted the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the nonprofit group that organizes the parade.

In a statement, AHF President Michael Weinstein said boycotters should respect the law of the land and denied the organization is making a political statement saying, "Like all of our sponsors and float designers, AHF continues to help make the Rose Parade a premier event through original and creative expressions that connect to parade themes -- as this float does."

Grube is not alone, as Save California, an organization that promotes what it calls moral traditional values, has called on people to protest the parade.

Also atAmericans for Truth About Homosexuality, "Rose Parade’s Homosexual ‘Wedding’ Float Corrupts Children – AFTAH’s Seven Lessons for Christians."

At Least 10 Killed in Russia Trolley Attack at Volgograd

Man, those Chechens are really stepping up the terror.

At Reuters, "Second blast in Russia's Volgograd kills 10 on trolleybus."

And an analysis at the New York Times, "Bombings Jolt Russia, Raising Olympic Fears":

MOSCOW — A deadly suicide bombing at a crowded railroad station in southern Russia on Sunday, followed by a blast in a trolley bus on Monday in the same city, raised the specter of a new wave of terrorism just six weeks before the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

President Vladimir V. Putin’s government has worked to protect the Olympics with some of the most extensive security measures ever imposed for the Games. But the bombings, in Volgograd, underscored the threat the country faces from a radical Islamic insurgency in the North Caucasus that has periodically spilled into the Russian heartland, with deadly results, including several recent attacks.

Security has become a paramount concern at all major international sporting events, especially in the wake of the bombing at the Boston Marathon in April, but never before has an Olympic host country experienced terrorist violence on this scale soon before the Games. And would-be attackers may have more targets in mind than the Russian state.

Current and former American law enforcement and intelligence officials said Sunday that they were more concerned about security in Russia during the Sochi Games than they have been about any other Olympics since Athens in 2004.

Russian officials attributed the explosion on Sunday to a bomb packed with shrapnel, possibly carried in a bag or backpack. It was detonated in the main railroad station in Volgograd, a city 550 miles south of Moscow and 400 miles northeast of Sochi. The bomb blew out windows in the building’s facade and left a horrific scene of carnage at its main entrance. At least 16 people were killed, and nearly three dozen others were wounded, some of them critically, meaning the death toll could still rise.

On Monday morning a second blast struck a trolley bus in the city, killing at least 10 people, according to preliminary reports. Photographs posted by Russian news organizations showed that the force of the blast tore open the bus and shattered windows nearby. At least 10 others were wounded in what officials immediately described as another suicide bombing.

Continue reading.

And from Pamela Geller, "VIDEO: 2ND DEADLY BLAST HITS RUSSIAN CITY AHEAD OF OLYMPICS, ANOTHER 10 KILLED."

At Least 15 Killed in Russia Railway Suicide Bombing

This is interesting.

At the Sydney Morning Herald, "Sochi Olympics terrorism feared after Volgograd 'black widow' suicide bombing":

Moscow: A suicide bombing at a railroad station in central Russia killed at least 15 people Sunday, according to official accounts, raising the specter of a new wave of terrorism before the Winter Olympics in Sochi. More than two dozen were wounded, some of them critically, meaning the death toll could still rise.

The explosion, which officials said was caused by a bomb possibly carried in a bag or backpack, struck the main railroad station in Volgograd, a city about 550 miles (885 km) south of Moscow, at 12.45pm. It blew out windows in the building's facade and left a horrific scene of carnage at the station's main entrance.

The blast, captured on a surveillance video camera from across the central plaza in front of the station, occurred near the metal detectors that have become a common security fixture at most of Russia's transportation hubs, suggesting that an attack deeper inside the station or aboard a train might have been averted.

Vladimir I. Markin, a spokesman for the Investigative Committee, called the bombing an act of terrorism, though the exact motivation, target and perpetrator were not immediately clear. Within hours of the attack, the authorities blamed a suicide bomber, citing the gruesome discovery of a woman's severed head, which, they said, could aid in identifying her.

"Most likely, the victims could have been much higher if the so-called protective system had not stopped the suicide bomber from getting through the metal detectors into the waiting room where there were passengers," Mr Markin said in a statement on the committee's website.

It was the second such attack in Volgograd in two months. In October a woman identified as Naida Asiyalova detonated a vest of explosives aboard a bus in the city, killing herself and six others.

Also at the Los Angeles Times, "Suicide bomber kills at least 15 at southern Russian train station."

Sunday Cartoons

At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."




Also from Randy's Rountable, "Friday Night Funnies," and Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's SUNDAY FUNNIES."

CARTOON CREDIT: William Warren.

Rule 5 Sunday — #Rule5

Let's get right to the roundup.

That's Rachel McDonald at the pic.

And see Pirate's Cove, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup," and "If All You See……is a rising sea slowly destroying the beach-front, you might just be a Warmist."

Also from Doug Hagin, "DALEYGATOR DALEYBABE KELLY ANDREWS."

At 90 Miles From Tyranny, "This Is for Voting for Obama ... Twice!"

From Dana Pico, "From Around the Blogroll."

At Odie's, "OLD ITALIAN LADIES ~OR~ Rule 5 Woodsterman Style."

And at the Hostages, "BBF–Girls with Guns."

And see Proof Positive, "Best of the Web* Linkaround," and "SF 49er's Vs. Arizona Cardinals!"

At Soylent, "T-GIF Friday."

AoSHQ, "Late Afternoon Football Open Thread."

More from Ms. EBL, "Joey Heatherton Rule 5."

Here's an "In the Kitchen" flashback from Orbitup.

Now at Wine, Women, and Politics, "'Red' Hot."

Also at Randy's Roundtable, "Thursday Nite Tart: A few Christmas babes tart it up tonight..."

And from A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, "The Friday Pin Up."

Still more from Guns and Bikinis, "Blond on the Beach."

From Bob Belvedere, "Rule 5 Christmas Countdown: 24-Dec-13."

And at Barking Moonbat, "Old School Beauty."

At Blackmailers, "Friday Rule 5 with Shakira."

From Drunken Stepfather, "Steplinks of the Day."

And Popoholic, "Sofia Vergara Hits the Beach!"

Fan of Glamour brings "Rosie Jones."

At Diogenes' Middle Finger, "Fishnet Friday."

Theo has "Hot Smokin' Bedtime Totty..."

More at Knuckledraggin', "Totty Wakes Up."

At the Chive, "Some girls are just too cute for their own good (57 Photos)" (via Linkiest).

And from Egotastic!, "Cara Delevingne Bikini Booty Hotness in Barbados," and "Lady Victoria Hervey Goes Blue Bikini in Barbados."

And finally, from the Godfather, "Rule 5 Sunday: On Presuming to Be Modern."

And drop your links in the comments if I've missed you and I'll get you linked up at the next roundup!

Nothing Matches the Rose Bowl

When I was a kid, New Year's Day made me proud to be a Southern Californian --- especially because of the Rose Bowl. Pasadena was the center of the universe on that day, and back in the '70s, USC almost always played. Running back Anthony Davis was a household name. It's just tradition if you're from around here.

I'm reminiscing now with this excellent report at the Los Angeles Times, "For the best in bowls, the subject is Roses":

A popular national radio host, not from the West, recently wondered out loud why the Rose Bowl was so special. He should have asked Art Spander, the longtime Bay Area sports columnist, who this week will celebrate his 61st straight trip to the Rose Bowl.

Spander, 75, has attended every Rose Bowl since 1954.

The streak started innocently enough, when Spander was a boy growing up in Los Angeles and his father suggested Art could make extra money selling programs at the Rose Bowl.

Spander says he earned 10 bucks during Michigan State's victory over UCLA in the 1954 game. He kept the streak alive as a student at UCLA and then, for more than five decades, as a sportswriter in Los Angeles and the Bay Area.

"I just think sitting there is the greatest thing in the world," Spander said during a recent phone interview. "Watching the sun start to set about 4 o'clock, and the shadows falling, with the game going on. It's a great place to be. "

The Rose Bowl is special, first and foremost, because it was first. In fact, it was the only bowl game for decades.

RTWT. It's great.