Football, Critters, & Ward Churchill

Oh, what a wonderful football Sunday!  The three teams that I root for won their games - the Redskins, the Jets, and the Broncos.  And I was able to see all three - it was great.  For tonight's double-header, I'll be rooting for the Baltimore Ravens and the Oakland Raiders.  RGIII did the Redskins proud; the real offense showed up for the Jets (and Tim Tebow recovered a Buffalo on-side kick); and Peyton Manning threw for his 400th touchdown while leading the Broncos over the Steelers.  I make no bones about the fact that I heartily dislike Ben Roethlisberger - if he had been anyone else, he'd be in jail for his sexual escapades - so I really wanted the Steelers to lose, but there are also 3 Gators on the first-string offense.  I finally decided that Big Ben's transgressions were too great, and, so, rooted for the Broncos only.
   Shady slept with me last night, but Cloudy rubbed up against my hand, and then spat at me.  Lovey and Nedi have been really sweet this morning, and Remy was well enough for him to walk with me this morning.  He was very unhappy being left at home over the weekend when Rosie was out walking.  And the skunks are out and about in the neighborhood - Chelsea (a dog) was sprayed last week, and Bernie got sprayed Saturday, trying to stop a dog from chasing a skunk.  And someone broke into a series of cars in the Githens Acres neighborhood late Saturday night, or very early on Sunday morning.  Mark arrived home at 9 Saturday night, and was going to leave to ride in the Buffalo Bicycle Classic race at 5 in the morning on Sunday, when he discovered that all three of his family vehicles had been broken into.
   Ward Churchill, the ex-professor at the University of Colorado (CU), was finally heard by the Colorado Supreme Court; he wanted his job back at CU, as well as back-pay.  He was dismissed 5 years ago for plagiarism, but claims it was due to an editorial he had written about the bombing of the Twin Towers on September 11.  The Colorado Supreme Court found against Ward Churchill.  He and his attorney now state they will go the the US Supreme Court...  From The Denver Post:

'In its ruling, the Colorado Supreme Court said Churchill had five opportunities to present his own witnesses, cross-examine opposing witnesses and argue his case before the board following allegations Churchill plagiarized some of his academic writings, fabricated evidence and violated the university's academic standards. "Although we are mindful that a full-fledged, years-long investigation into a professor's academic record taken in bad faith could chill the continued exercise of free speech, we conclude that the federal case law in this area is too unsettled to defeat the regents' claim of qualified immunity," the state Supreme Court judges ruled. A civil jury in 2009 found the school unlawfully fired Churchill but awarded him only $1 in damages. However, a Denver District judge set aside the verdict and said university regents, who are elected, are a "quasi-judicial" panel with immunity from the lawsuit. Lane said the civil verdict was not about the damages but whether Churchill should get his job back with back pay.'