Pressure has been mounting on all parties as the Dallas Cowboys' Nov. 29 matchup with the Green Bay Packers approaches. The game will only be shown on the NFL Network.

"I've had a lot more people contact me about NFL football the last two months instead of child protective services, windstorm insurance or worker's compensation, which are frankly more important issues," said Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale, R-Tomball. "I don't control what constituents call me about."

The NFL Network wants to be placed on digital basic cable with all customers paying about 60 to 70 cents a month for it. Time Warner wants to offer the network on a surcharged sports tier available to subscribers who pay extra for it.

The network has rejected Time Warner's offer to let the network charge a fee for the games that would be passed on to customers.

The Balkans' moment of truth

Serbia's destiny is in Europe and Belgrade should be on the cusp of membership in the European Union and NATO. Tragically, it is not. Some of the country's leaders seem determined to sabotage its future. Belgrade's recent decision to reject a deal with the European Union that would have provided Serb citizens with trade and travel benefits on the grounds that it would have meant capitulation on Kosovo was unconscionable. So is its failure to extradite fugitive war criminals. Serbia's people and especially its leaders must view Kosovo's independence as an opportunity to re-evaluate their country's course rather than as an excuse for more self-inflicted failure.

Russia has taken full advantage of the failings of Serbia's leadership. In what seems to be a reward for Moscow's obstructionism at the United Nations, Kremlin-controlled energy giant Gazprom is purchasing a majority stake in Serbia's oil monopoly at a small fraction of its market value.

L. Kent Wolgamott: Lincoln bands head to Austin

Other Nebraska bands playing SXSW are: Capgun Coup, Flowers Forever, Ladyfinger (NE), McCarthy Trucking, Neva Dinova, Tilly and the Wall and Vverevvolf Grehv.I’ll be heading down to Austin again as well and intend to try to catch a few Nebraska sets over the two days. But I’ve not figured out yet what’s when and where.I’ll be blogging every day of the festival, which runs March 12-15. I get there on Tuesday, so look for the first SXSW entry on the GZO blog at http://www.journalstar.com/blog/gzo.php on March 11. And if you’ve looked at the band list or know of a band playing the festival that I should see, shoot me an e-mail at kwolgamott@journalstar.com before the festival kicks off.Brimstone Howl to tour/recordSouth by Southwest will cap a U.S. tour for Brimstone Howl, Nebraska’s top real rock ’n’ roll outfit.

FactCheck: why do we need ID cards?

More hard-hitting words from Blair's monthly press conference in August 2006, when he said that ID cards were "major, major issue for us and will be a major plank of the Labour Party's manifesto at the next election, and that is for a very simple reason, if people want to track illegal migration and organised crime in this country you have got to have identity cards".In February 2007, he emailed more than 27,000 who had signed a petition calling for ID cards to be scrapped as they would not prevent terrorism or crime, and would be yet another tax.Blair kicked off his response by saying that, although ID cards will not prevent all terrorist outrages, they would have an important role to play in making our borders more secure, countering fraud, and tackling international crime and terrorism.

DeepLinks Archives, February 2008

Fouad Mourtada is the net user tortured and sentenced to three years jail for putting up a joke Facebook entry of a Moroccan prince. Join the protests on 2PM Saturday in Washington, London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Montreal, and Madrid. Lobby Groups Oppose Plans for EU Copyright ExtensionWikinews interviews EFF's European team, and ORG's Becky Hogge about plans to extend copyright in Europe. ISP Voluntary / Mandatory FilteringComprehensive list of state-determined censorship systems in the West, by country. UK Filesharing Law 'Unworkable'Experts say human rights, privacy laws and technical hurdles stand against the UK government's plans to force ISPs to spy on their customers for rightsholders. Australian Judge: Code Trumps LawNot if you craft law to work with the realities of code. Europe Spies on ItselfA round-up across Europe of how governments spy on their own citizens.

St. Patrick's Day parade Saturday in St. Charles

Watch for one of America's most popular attractions, the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

Homemade floats from area nonprofit agencies, children's groups and local businesses will delight young and old. And don't miss the opportunity to enjoy the South Shore Drill Team, which traditionally has entertained the crowds at the end of the parade.

Bounceback players: Furcal leads the way

Basically, everything Lugo hit went right at someone, and that's the biggest reason why his batting average dropped to a career low .237. Look for a rebound to his normal .270-plus average this year with at least 30 steals. Lugo's not exactly Jose Reyes, but as long as he doesn't bat like Mario Mendoza again, he can help you.

Nick Swisher, OF, White Sox

I don't really know what happened to Swisher last year. After a 35-homer, 95-RBI and 106-run breakout in 2006, Swisher slumped to 22-84-78 last season. But maybe, just maybe, last year was the fluke.

While Swisher's home run total took a nosedive, his extra-base total stayed nearly the same (71 in 2006, 69 in 2007). His walk rate also held steady, and he struck out 21 less times in 17 fewer at bats. With such a young guy having such an inexplicable decline, I'm willing to chalk it up as an aberration.

City in postal voting chaos

The council has commandeered three sports halls at Meadowbank Sports Centre for staff to stuff envelopes. Sports centre users have been called to rearrange their bookings for five-a-side football and badminton. The hold-up has been blamed on a failure to inform city officials about changes to the design of the voting slips, and extra checks to ensure the papers are suitable for electronic counting. The problems are understood to have affected several other local authorities across Scotland, though none in the Lothians. The city's returning officer, Tom Aitchison, chief executive of the city council, said he hoped the action taken today would ensure postal ballot papers were delivered in time for Edinburgh voters. The papers had been due to be sent out by the end of last week. Following the hold-up, Electoral Reform Services - the company contracted to manage the postal votes system - told officials the papers could be sent out by the end of the week.

Crystal Light and Mandy Moore Launch Unique Online Wellness Community ...

TARRYTOWN, N.Y., Feb. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The Crystal Light beverage brand has partnered with actress and musical artist Mandy Moore to launch uPumpItUp.com, a new social networking Web site that will help women harness the power of the Web. uPumpItUp.com will encourage women -- already consummate advocates for one another -- to empower, inspire, challenge and sustain each other to achieve unique personal goals.

"Crystal Light is thrilled to partner with Mandy Moore and our Wellness Experts to help women achieve their wellness goals," said Carolina Yepes, Crystal Light Senior Brand Manager.