Premiership Betting Review - 5 February 2006

Alan Shearer broke Jackie Milburn's all-time Newcastle scoring record with his 201st goal in a vital 2-0 win over relegation strugglers Portsmouth. The Magpies were playing their first match under temporary manager Glenn Roeder and were 4/5 to win before kick off. An opener from Charles N?Zogbia and a second from Shearer gave Newcastle their first Premiership win in seven attempts.

In another personal goal scoring feat, Thierry Henry netted his 200th goal for Arsenal as the Gunners overcame their away day fragility to win 2-0 at Birmingham City. Arsene Wenger?s side had not won away since beating Charlton Athletic on Boxing Day and will have had plenty of support at 11/10 against bottom-three Birmingham. A debut goal for Emmanuel Adebayor and Henry?s landmark strike was enough to keep Arsenal in fifth place.

Chelsea extended their lead at the top of the Premiership by 15 points after beating Liverpool 2-0 at Stamford Bridge. The rather generous 10/11 on offer of a home win will have had punters drooling and goals for William Gallas and Hernan Crespo secured the Blues??21st win in 24 league matches this season.

West Bromwich Albion did their relegation battle the power of good with a convincing 2-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers at The Hawthorns. The Baggies have won more home games than any of their rivals in the bottom seven and were an attractive proposition to punters at 19/10. Kevin Campbell marked his 36th birthday with a goal and Jonathan Greening secured the points after 32 minutes.

Meanwhile, Middlesbrough slipped closer to the relegation places when they succumbed 4-0 at home to Aston Villa. A Luke Moore hat-trick and one for former England striker Kevin Phillips secured victory at 21/10 and Middlesbrough, with just one win in their last 11 Premiership matches, can be backed at 9/2 for relegation.

West Ham United condemned Sunderland to their fifth defeat in six league matches with a 2-0 win at Upton Park. At 1/2, the Hammers will have been on many punter?s accumulator?s but it took until 81 minutes for Dean Ashton to break the deadlock and repay some of the 7.25 million invested in him.

On Sunday, Jermaine Defoe continued Tottenham's claims for a Champions League spot with a brace against former club Charlton Athletic. Despite never beating thr Addicks at home in the Premiership, Spurs were odds on at 4/5 before kick off. Two Defoe goals sandwiched Jermain Jenas??strike while Jerome Thomas??goal after 70 minutes was a mere consolation for Charlton.

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The Top 10 Ways to Reduce Violence

I happen to live near the one of the tragic "school shootings" of the recent past, and I've seen how the grief, anger, heartache and turmoil have impacted our community. It has brought home that a general abhorrence of violence is not enough. While I'm sure others will have different, and perhaps wiser, suggestions about how to reduce violence, here are my Top 10 Ways to Reduce Violence. If you can improve them, I welcome your feedback, but I suspect it may be more important and more useful if you write a letter to your local newspaper or school board. Together, we can reduce and perhaps eliminate violence.

1. Disconnect anger from violence. I am convinced that human beings get angry, and that anger at injustice is often justified. There is healthy anger that insists, "There has to be a better way!" I shutter when I hear parents tell children, "You shouldn't be angry." Tell them instead, "You're feelings are OK, you can be angry, but you may not hit or hurt others."

2. See the connection between the love of violence and violence itself. Fascination with brutality, guns and bombs, war and evil must increase the chances for violent behavior. I can't prove that, it just seems likely to me.

3. See the connection between all levels of violence. Insults and taunting, humiliation and shaming are forms of violence. When we treat people badly, it should not surprise us when they seek a way to "get even."

4. Take all violence seriously. Playground bullies and sibling rivalries do not have to be accepted as part of life, at least not when children are getting hurt. Kids squabbling over "my toy" is one thing; hitting or pulling hair or knocking each other down is something else. We do not have to accept it as normal behavior.

5. Take troubled, angry people seriously. We talk about needing more early intervention with troubled kids, and I agree. But people of all ages get trapped in situations they can't handle, with emotions they don't know how to express. Domestic violence, violence among co-workers and among children should always be treated as a serious matter. Hitting and hurting, and threatening to hurt, are not OK.

6. Deal with the availability of guns. Knives, cars, and a thousand other things also kill people, but guns have a unique place in the American imagination. Of course, they also have a place in the rich tradition of hunting and target shooting. I don't have all the answers, but hunting seems different than having military-style weapons available in millions of homes across the country. There must be a better system.

7. Acknowledge the connection between violent images and violent behavior. I abhor censorship, so this is a tough one. But if 30-second images can sell us lipstick and Buicks, and change the way we vote, it seems likely that hours and hours of explosions, shootings, fights and mayhem may also influence behavior. To be blunt, I am particularly troubled by the violence in video games and the number of violent "action adventure" movies we support as a culture. Something strange is going on!

8. Acknowledge the connection between sports and violent behavior. Again, sports is a sacred icon in American culture, but it seems that sports have been separated from athletics. Instead of every child participating in gym class and competing in intramural sports, we have a culture of super-hero super-stars who are virtually above the law. Hockey, basketball, football and other sports all tolerate behavior that would result in arrest for assault outside the sports arena. Competition and fitness are valuable; organized violence is not acceptable!

9. Acknowledge the connection between language and violence. Business uses the language of the battlefield, and sports is full of encouragement to "get out there and kill", "massacre them", and "beat their brains out". Our legal system is based on the idea of lawyer's doing battle. While hiring a representative to fight with words instead of clubs was a huge step forward in the middle ages, perhaps our society is ready for an even higher level of conflict resolution.

10. See the violence in ourselves. Sometimes I find myself so angry I "daydream" about violence, or "really showing them". I hear jokes that use the phrase, "Just shoot the bastards!" I know if "looks could kill" or if cutting statements actually drew blood, I'd be in deep trouble. Violence is not just someone else's problem. I must work for peace, love and improved conflict resolution in my own life. How about you?

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Germany Behind the Mask: Monster or Marshmallow?

For over 50 years, Herbert W. Armstrong warned that a German-led European combine would thresh the nations. When Germany lay in ashes after WWII, Mr. Armstrong had no doubt Germany would be back with a vengeance and he pounded this theme home through the pages of The Plain Truth magazine read by millions worldwide.

Are We Wrong About Europe? by Ryan Malone of The Philadelphia Trumpet magazine, reveals how they continue in Armstrong's tradition.

Konrad Adenauer said the West was "taking a calculated risk" when they started rebuilding Germany after the Holocaust. Before that President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill agreed: "It is our inflexible purpose to destroy German militarism and Nazism and to ensure Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace of the world."

Nevertheless, Helmut Schmidt reported Germany was again putting on "imperial airs," and author Bernard Conally wrote that France was struggling to "hold the old demons of Germany's character in check." Margaret Thatcher warned her deaf audience that "Germany is very powerful now - her national character is to dominate." Are they all just crying wolf? Or is the German beast about to devour again?

Robert Locke is opposed to the increasingly fascist Europe (but doesn't believe Germany dominates it) stated: "I can't agree with you about Germany. It is a castrated PC marshmallow of a country, not a lion preparing to rule the world."

Consider Luigi Barzini's reference to ?The mutable Germans??in The Europeans where he questions: ?Which is the shape of the German Proteus this morning? Which will be its shape tomorrow? Johannes Gross thinks his countrymen wear a mask. 'But the day may come when someone lifts the mask,??he wrote. ?The face that appears may be less full-cheeked and rosy than today's... So long as we wear the mask, we remain hidden and continue to conceal the situation from ourselves.'??/p>

Ron Fraser (Is a World Dictator About to Appear?) exposes: ?Although Germany is the prime mover in all these [European unification] efforts, in order to dispel any idea that the country may have expansionist intentions, these initiatives have generally been made under the cloak of being for the common good of the European Union.??/p>

This sentiment concurs with Bismarck, who wrote in his diary (Nov. 1876): ?I have always heard politicians use the word ?Europe??when they were making requests to other powers which they did not dare formulate in the name of their own country.??/p>

What is Germany hiding? Nuclear weapons? Who would be so foolish to imagine Germany without their own nuclear weapons when they were ahead of us in developing them? Certainly the grand design Franz Josef Strauss had in mind (with much at his disposal as Federal Minister of Nuclear Energy, and later Defense Minister) demanded independence from the United States. And Germany's Dolphin submarines delivered to Israel, equipped to handle nuclear weapons, underscore German military capabilities, yet the United States continues to blindly promote their control of the European continent, oblivious to The Dangers in US-German European Policy.

How many German plants in America are serving the interests of Germany's budding Fourth Reich? It's not only German factories and German businesses in America proving ?that basic thoroughness of the orderly German??(Johannes Gross), since the secret Nazis had predetermined such a strategy, but bought and paid for American prostitutes in diverse and perverse positions of power aid and abet them! They expose our country to danger and will leave us infected as a nuclear wasteland!

What is Germany hiding behind the mask? Even if skeptics dismiss the mystic relationship between Germany and the Vatican (both forging Europe into their image believing ?the German spirit will heal the world??-Emanuel Geibel), and doubt the Bavarian pope is soon going to promote a particular strong man and platform to save Europe and the world from the threat of Islam, shouldn't those responsible for our national security seriously consider the scenario of a United States of Europe betraying us? Shouldn't the intelligence experts consider that possibility and prepare for it? Why suffer the element of surprise that Germany is infamous for? ?The German is acquainted with the hidden paths to chaos...??(Nietzche).

??..it is once again important to keep an eye on the German Proteus in an attempt to fathom the probable shape of things to come. What form will he assume next? After all, Germany is still le coeur de l'Europe??(Barzini). Is the German marshmallow about to mutate into the German monster? Will the EU mask come off and expose the beast? Will the heart be healthy for Europe or dark and dangerous?

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Premiership Transfer Window Review - Part One

The January transfer window gave Premiership clubs the opportunity to add new players or ship out those surplus to requirements. David Walker looks at who came and went and how these moves will impact on each team?s success.

Arsenal

The Gunners have invested in the next generation of young talent after a disastrous season. Vassiriki Diaby joined from Auxerre and Togo striker Manuel Adebayor arrived from Monaco but the most talked about transfer was the capture of Southampton?s 16 year old Theo Walcott. The transfer fee could rocket to 12 million.

Quincy Owusu-Abeyie and Jeremie Aliadiere joined Spartak Moscow and Wolves respectively while David Bentley joined Blackburn permanently.

Such change is vital to both Arsenal?s immediate and future success. They currently lie in sixth place but a massive 25 points behind leaders Chelsea. The bookmakers aren?t convinced and offer them at 12/1 in the ?without Chelsea??market to win the Premiership.

Aston Villa

After a pre-season transfer investment with very little to show for it, there have been no more funds made available. The Villains, despite spending 11 million on new players in the summer, are only seven points clear of relegation.

Kevin Phillips has scored just three goals, Milan Baros has netted five and defender Wilfred Bouma has been something of a 3.5 million misfit. Poor home and away form could see a bit of value in the 22/1 relegation odds.

Birmingham City

Struggling in the bottom three is never the best position to be in when trying to attract new players but with goals in short supply, two new attacking options arrived in January.

Striker Chris Sutton arrived on a free transfer from Celtic after scoring 63 goals in 130 league appearances and Brentford?s DJ Campbell, 24, signed for 500,000. Campbell may be an unknown quantity for top flight defences but his two goal salvo which dumped Sunderland out of the FA Cup will send out a warning to Premiership managers.

The bookmakers are not convinced Steve Bruce?s side are relegation fodder just yet, at 4/6 to stay up or 5/4 to go down.

Blackburn Rovers

Rovers may be out of both Cups but are making good progress in the league under manager Mark Hughes. Unbeaten in their last six matches and sitting in eighth position is marked improvement from last season?s flirt with relegation.

Arsenal striker David Bentley made his loan move a permanent transfer and scored a hat-trick in the 4-3 win against Manchester United on February 1. Rovers also boosted their bid for a UEFA Cup place with the loan signing of Liverpool striker Florent Sinama Pongolle and Martin Olsson from Hogaborgs for a nominal fee.

Bolton Wanderers

There wasn?t much evidence of the usual wheeling and dealing at the Reebok Stadium with only Matt Jansen?s free transfer arrival from Blackburn. Despite losing five players to African Cup duty, manager Sam Allardyce has kept faith with his current squad.

January has seen more interest in Big Sam?s future at the club following Sven Goran Eriksson?s decision to quit as England manager after the World Cup. He is one of the favourites to take over the role and can be backed at 5/1.

Charlton Athletic

After a slump in form which saw the Addicks lose seven out of 10 Premiership matches from the end of October to New Year?s Day results are beginning to improve and they are unbeaten in their last three league matches.

Marcus Bent arrived with a bang following his 2.5 million transfer from Everton by scoring the equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Chelsea. Manager Alan Curbishley will hope he can ease the goalscoring burden off 11-goal Darren Bent who can be backed at 20/1 to finish the season as the Premiership?s top goalscorer.

Chelsea

With a 15 point lead at the top of the Premiership and having spent 53 million on new players this season so far, it is not a big surprise that Chelsea have been quiet in the transfer market.

One new player arrived in the form of Portuguese winger Maniche, making a loan switch from Dynamo Moscow although defender Wayne Bridge has headed out of the Stamford Bridge exit door to join West London rivals Fulham on loan.

The Blues are unbackable now as far as Premiership success is concerned with odds of 1/66 the most generous available. Frank Lampard is available at 12/1 to finish as the Premiership?s top goalscorer.

Part two will look at the transfers impacting Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough and Newcastle United.

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