Islamists kill dozens in Nigeria Christmas bombs (Reuters)

ABUJA (Reuters) ? Islamist militants set off bombs across in Nigeria on Christmas Day - three targeting churches including one that killed at least 27 people - raising fears that they are trying to ignite sectarian civil war.

The Boko Haram Islamist sect, which aims to impose sharia law across the country, claimed responsibility for the three church bombs, the second Christmas in a row the group has caused mass carnage with deadly bombings of churches. Security forces also blamed the sect for two other blasts in the north.

St Theresa's Catholic Church in Madala, a satellite town about 40 km (25 miles) from the center of the capital Abuja, was packed when the bomb exploded just outside.

"We were in the church with my family when we heard the explosion. I just ran out," Timothy Onyekwere told Reuters. "Now I don't even know where my children or my wife are. I don't know how many were killed but there were many dead."

Hours after the first bomb, blasts were reported at the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church in the central, ethnically and religiously mixed town of Jos, and at a church in northern Yobe state at the town of Gadaka. Residents said many were wounded in Gadaka, but there were no immediate further details.

A suicide bomber killed four security officials at the State Security Service in one of the other bombs, which struck the northeastern town of Damaturu, police said. Residents heard two loud explosions and gunfire in the town.

A Reuters reporter at the church near Abuja saw the front roof had been destroyed, as had several houses nearby. Five burnt out cars were still smoldering. There were scenes of chaos, as shocked residents stared at the wreckage in disbelief.

"Mass just ended and people were rushing out of the church and suddenly I heard a loud sound: 'Gbam!' Cars were in flames and bodies littered everywhere," Nnana Nwachukwu told Reuters.

Father Christopher Barde, Assistant priest of the church, said: "The officials who counted told me they have picked up 27 bodies so far."

"I happen to also live close by the church. Help was very slow in coming to the injured," he said.

Police cordoned off the area around the church. Thousands of furious youths set up burning road blocks on the highway from Abuja leading to Nigeria's largely Muslim north.

Police and the military tried to disperse them by firing live rounds into the air with tear gas.

"We are so angry," shouted Kingsley Ukpabi, as a queue of hooting vehicles lined up behind his flaming barrage.

ATTACKS INCREASE

Boko Haram - which in the Hausa language spoken in northern Nigeria means "Western education is sinful" - is loosely modeled on the Taliban movement in Afghanistan.

It has emerged as the biggest security threat in Nigeria, a country of 160 million split evenly between Christians and Muslims, who for the most part live side by side in peace.

Boko Haram's low level insurgency used to be largely confined to northeastern Nigeria, but it has struck several parts of the north, center and the capital Abuja this year.

Last Christmas Eve, a series of bomb blasts around Jos killed 32 people, and other people died in attacks on two churches in the northeast.

The sophistication of the explosives it uses and the number of attacks it carries out have increased this year.

The sect was blamed for dozens of bombings and shootings in the north, and has claimed responsibility for two bombings in Abuja this year, including Nigeria's first suicide bombing, which killed at least 23 people at the U.N. headquarters.

Rights groups say more than 250 people have been killed by Boko Haram since July 2010.

At the church near Abuja, a wounded man whose legs were almost shattered to pieces by the blast was loaded onto a stretcher near an ambulance by security services.

"I'll survive," he said in a hushed voice.

The blast in Jos, a tinderbox of ethnic and sectarian tensions that sometimes sees deadly clashes between Muslims and Christians, was accompanied by a shooting spree by militants, who exchanged fire with local police, said Charles Ezeocha, special taskforce spokesman for Jos.

"We lost one policeman and we have made four arrests. I think we can use them to get more information and work on that," he said. Police found four other explosive devices in Jos, which they deactivated, he added.

President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south who is struggling to contain the threat of Islamist militancy, called the incidents "unfortunate" but said Boko Haram would "not be (around) for ever. It will end one day."

The White House condemned "this senseless violence and tragic loss of life on Christmas Day." A statement said: "We have been in contact with Nigerian officials about what initially appear to be terrorist acts and pledge to assist them in bringing those responsible to justice."

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the Vatican hoped "this senseless violence does not weaken the will of the Nigerian people to live peacefully and promote dialogue."

The attacks were condemned by a number of other countries, including Britain, France and Italy.

Gun battles between the security forces and Boko Haram killed at least 68 people Thursday and Friday in northern Nigeria, authorities and hospital sources said Saturday.

Boko Haram became active in about 2003 and is concentrated mainly in the northern Nigerian states of Yobe, Kano, Bauchi, Borno and Kaduna.

The group considers all who do not follow its strict ideology as infidels, whether they are Christian or Muslim. It demands the adoption of sharia, Islamic law, in all of Nigeria.

(Additional reporting by Tife Owolabi and Buhari Bello in Jos, Mike Oboh in Kano and a correspondent in Maiduguri; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111225/wl_nm/us_nigeria_blast

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Mom: School put my autistic son in a bag

LOUISVILLE, Ky.?? A 9-year-old autistic boy who misbehaved at school was stuffed into a duffel bag and the drawstring pulled tight, according to his mother, who said she found him wiggling inside as a teacher's aide stood by.

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The mother of fourth-grader Christopher Baker said her son called out to her when she walked up to him in the bag Dec. 14. The case has spurred an online petition calling for the firing of school employees responsible.

"He was treated like trash and thrown in the hallway," Chris' mother, Sandra Baker, said Thursday. She did not know how exactly how long he had been in the bag, but probably not more than 20 minutes.

Mercer County schools Interim Superintendent Dennis Davis said confidentiality laws forbid him from commenting.

"The employees of the Mercer County Public Schools are qualified professionals who treat students with respect and dignity while providing a safe and nurturing learning environment," Davis said in a statement.

State education officials said they were investigating.

Story: Autism 5 times more common among low birth weight babies

Chris is a student at Mercer County Intermediate School in Harrodsburg in central Kentucky. The day had barely begun when his family was called to the school because Chris was acting up. He is enrolled in a program for students with special needs.

Walking toward his classroom, Baker's mother saw the gym bag. There was a small hole at the top, she said, and she heard a familiar voice.

"Momma, is that you?" Chris said, according to his mother.

A teacher's aide was there, and Baker demanded that her son be released. At first, the aide struggled to undo the drawstring, but the boy was pulled out of the bag, which had some small balls inside and resembled a green Army duffel bag, Baker said.

"When I got him out of the bag, his poor little eyes were as big as half dollars and he was sweating," Baker said. "I tried to talk to him and get his side of the reason they put him in there, and he said it was because he wouldn't do his work."

Baker said when school officials called the family to pick him up, they were told he was "jumping off the walls." Days later, at a meeting with school officials, Baker said she was told the boy had smirked at the teacher when he was told to put down a basketball, then threw it across the room.

Story: Autism can be an 'advantage,' says researcher

At a meeting with school district officials, the bag was described as a "therapy bag," Baker said, though she wasn't clear exactly what that meant. She said her son would sometimes be asked to roll over a bag filled with balls as a form of therapy, but she didn't know her son was being placed in the bag. She said school officials told her it was not the first time they had put him in the bag.

So far, almost 700 people have signed a petition on the website change.org. Lydia Brown, an autistic 18-year-old Georgetown University freshman from Boston, said she started it after reading a story about Chris.

"That would not be wrong just for an autistic student. That would be wrong to do to anyone," Brown said.

Advocates for the autistic were outraged.

Landon Bryce of San Jose, Calif., a former teacher who blogs about issues related to autism, said the school's treatment of Chris was "careless and disrespectful."

"A lot of the damage that we do to students with all kinds of disabilities is by treating them as though they deserve to be treated in a way that's different from other people," Bryce said.

Baker said she heard different accounts about her son's behavior that day.

Baker stopped short of calling for the dismissal of school employees, but she said they should be suspended. They also need more training, she said.

In Kentucky, there are no laws on using restraint or seclusion in public schools, according to documents on the state Department of Education's website.

A July letter from the state agency to special education directors said the state had investigated two informal complaints this year.

In one, "a student (was) nearly asphyxiated while being restrained," and in the other, a student vomited from panic attacks after spending most of an academic year "confined to a closet, with no ventilation or outside source of light," according to the letter.

Baker's case was first reported by WLEX and WKYT.

___

Associated Press writer Janet Cappiello contributed to this report.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45770432/ns/us_news-life/

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Gingrich fails to qualify for Va. primary ballot (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich failed to qualify for Virginia's Super Tuesday primary ballot, the latest setback for a candidate whose standing in polls has been slipping. Gingrich's campaign said he would pursue an aggressive write-in campaign, though state law prohibits write-ins on primary ballots.

The state party said early Saturday that Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry had failed to submit the required 10,000 signatures to appear on the March 6 ballot.

Failing to get on the ballot in Virginia, where Gingrich lives, underscores the difficulty first-time national candidates have in preparing for the long haul of a presidential campaign.

And it illustrates the advantage held by Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, who has essentially been running for president for five years. Romney's team, larger than those of most of his opponents, has paid close attention to filing requirements in each state. He will appear on the Virginia ballot along with Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who also has run a national campaign before.

Ironically, Gingrich had a slight lead over Romney in a Quinnipiac poll of Virginia Republicans released earlier in the week.

The former House speaker surged in popularity in early December and tried to use that momentum to make up for a stalled campaign organization. But his standing in polls has slipped in recent days amid a barrage of negative ads in Iowa, where the Jan. 3 caucuses begin the contest for the Republican presidential nomination.

Three other candidates ? Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman ? did not submit signatures before Virginia's deadline of 5 p.m. Thursday.

Gingrich's campaign attacked Virginia's primary system on Saturday, saying that "only a failed system" would disqualify Gingrich and other candidates and vowing to run a write-in campaign.

"Voters deserve the right to vote for any top contender, especially leading candidates," Gingrich campaign director Michael Krull said in a statement. "We will work with the Republican Party of Virginia to pursue an aggressive write-in campaign to make sure that all the voters of Virginia are able to vote for the candidate of their choice."

However, according to state law, "No write-in shall be permitted on ballots in primary elections."

"Virginia code prohibits write-ins in primaries. He can't do it," said Carl Tobias, a law professor at University of Richmond.

Tobias said Gingrich may have had trouble meeting a requirement that he must submit 400 signatures from each of Virginia's 11 congressional districts.

Gingrich's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gingrich had been concerned enough to deliver his signatures personally. Rushing Wednesday from New Hampshire, which holds its primary on Jan. 10, he had supporters sign petitions before entering a rally in Arlington, Va.

Virginia GOP spokesman Garren Shipley said in a statement that volunteers spent Friday validating signatures on petitions that Romney, Paul, Perry and Gingrich had submitted. "After verification, RPV has determined that Newt Gingrich did not submit required 10k signatures and has not qualified for the VA primary," the party announced early Saturday on its Twitter feed. Shipley did not respond to telephone calls Saturday seeking comment.

Forty-six delegates will be at stake in Virginia's Super Tuesday primary. That's a small fraction of the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination. But they could prove pivotal in a close race, especially for a candidate like Gingrich, who expects to do well in Southern contests.

Gingrich already missed the deadline to appear on the ballot in Missouri's Feb. 7 primary, though he insists it doesn't matter because the state awards delegates based not on the primary but on a Republican caucus held in March.

Meanwhile, Virginia's Democrats said President Barack Obama's re-election campaign gathered enough signatures to get him on the state's primary ballot though he was the only candidate who qualified.

___

Associated Press writers Will Lester and Stephen Ohlemacher contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111225/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_ballot

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Legal scholarship highlight: Analyzing the candor of Supreme Court ...

In the past two decades, criticism of Supreme Court confirmation hearings has intensified considerably. According to the prevailing wisdom, today?s nominees are more reluctant to answer questions during their Senate testimony, and the hearings have suffered as a result. Recent proceedings have been described as ?a vapid and hollow charade,? an ?exercise in obfuscation,?and even a carefully choreographed ?kabuki? dance. In short, the message from critics is clear: Nominees now say ?nothing of value? during their testimony, and the hearings are no longer what they used to be.

This trend toward nominee evasiveness allegedly began after Robert Bork?s 1987 confirmation hearings. According to that well-known account, Bork?s lengthy and candid answers doomed his nomination, and subsequent nominees, seeking to avoid a similar fate, have become much more cagey and unresponsive in their testimony. Along these lines, the approach taken by Ruth Bader Ginsburg during her 1993 confirmation proceedings is now generally regarded as paradigmatic. By declining to discuss any issue that might come before the Court, Ginsburg is thought to have charted a new course for post-Bork nominees. Indeed, the so-called ?Ginsburg Rule? ? according to which nominees invoke their right not to answer questions about potentially unsettled legal debates ? has become shorthand for the idea that contemporary nominees duck and dodge difficult questions in a way that their predecessors did not.

But how accurate is this widely accepted version of events? Have nominees really become less forthcoming in recent years? Previous studies of Supreme Court confirmation hearings have focused on changes in the topics of the questions that senators ask.? But to date, there has been no systematic analysis of how nominees respond to those questions. Therefore, while it is possible that things have gone rapidly downhill since Bork, as the conventional wisdom suggests, the evidence supporting this view has been largely anecdotal.

In our article, ?No Hints, No Forecasts, No Previews?: An Empirical Analysis of Supreme Court Nominee Candor from Harlan to Kagan, we seek to overcome this gap in our understanding of the Supreme Court confirmation process. To that end, we present the results of a content analysis of every Supreme Court confirmation hearing transcript since 1955, the year that the proceedings became a regular part of the confirmation process. For each hearing, we coded all of the exchanges between a senator and the nominee, recording things such as the type of question asked, the degree to which the answer was forthcoming, and the reasons nominees gave for not answering more fully. Using this original dataset ? nearly 11,000 exchanges in total ? we then tested a series of hypotheses about nominee responsiveness in the face of Senate questioning.

Our results show that the conventional wisdom about Supreme Court confirmation hearings needs to be rethought. First, we discovered that there has not been a dramatic decline in nominee responsiveness since the 1980s. Recent nominees, such as Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan, were just as forthcoming as many earlier nominees, and even more forthcoming than others. Second, the overall rate of responsiveness for all nominees, including those who came after Bork, is much better than generally assumed. Nominees generally answer between sixty and seventy percent of their questions in a fully forthcoming manner. By contrast, only about twenty percent of the questions get a qualified response, and outright refusal to answer rarely tops ten percent. Therefore, whether we are talking about hearings from the 1960s or the 1990s, the notion that nominees evade more questions than they answer is unfounded. Lastly, we find that there have been subtle but important changes in the types of questions that are being asked, the topics of those questions, and in the ways in which nominees answer them, and that these shifts have helped to fuel the perception that responsiveness has declined where in fact it has not.

Taken together, these findings suggest to us that Supreme Court confirmation hearings have been largely misunderstood and mischaracterized in recent years, and that whatever one may want to say about recent nominees, one should also say about many of their predecessors as well. To be sure, the hearings have changed over the past few decades: they are longer, there are more questions, and they are more partisan and ideological. But on balance, they are neither more ?vapid? nor more ?hollow? than they have always been ? a finding that we hope will generate a lively debate about the role that these hearings play in the confirmation process.

Dion Farganis is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Elon University; Justin Wedeking is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Kentucky.

Posted in Academic Round-up, Featured

Recommended Citation: Dion Farganis, Legal scholarship highlight: Analyzing the candor of Supreme Court nominees, SCOTUSblog (Dec. 23, 2011, 2:16 PM), http://www.scotusblog.com/2011/12/legal-scholarship-highlight-analyzing-the-candor-of-supreme-court-nominees/

Source: http://www.scotusblog.com/2011/12/legal-scholarship-highlight-analyzing-the-candor-of-supreme-court-nominees/

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Holiday showdown over payroll tax tests Obama, GOP

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio walks of the floor of the House chamber on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011, in Washington. The House rejected legislation to extend a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for two months, drawing a swift rebuke from President Barack Obama that Republicans were threatening higher taxes on 160 million workers on Jan. 1. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio walks of the floor of the House chamber on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011, in Washington. The House rejected legislation to extend a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for two months, drawing a swift rebuke from President Barack Obama that Republicans were threatening higher taxes on 160 million workers on Jan. 1. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D- Calif., walks of the floor of the House chamber on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011 in Washington. The House rejected legislation to extend a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for two months, drawing a swift rebuke from President Barack Obama that Republicans were threatening higher taxes on 160 million workers on Jan. 1. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., walks of the floor of the House chamber Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011, in Washington. The Tuesday rejected legislation to extend a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for two months, drawing a swift rebuke from President Barack Obama that Republicans were threatening higher taxes on 160 million workers on Jan. 1. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Stuck in a stalemate, President Barack Obama and his Republican rivals are slugging it out in Washington rather than reaching for a holiday season accord to prevent payroll taxes from going up on 160 million workers.

The tax increases, as well as cuts to Medicare doctors' fees and a lapse in jobless benefits, are due Jan. 1. They are looming even though Democrats and Republicans agree that they shouldn't happen. Instead of stopping them, the factions have painted themselves into a corner.

House Republicans are demanding that the Senate join negotiations to produce an agreement within days; Senate Democrats insist no talks will take place before the House approves a stopgap measure to buy more time.

A House vote Tuesday scuttled a bipartisan Senate deal for a two-month extension of all three policies: the payroll tax cuts, jobless benefits and Medicare fees.

After the House killed the Senate measure on a 229-193 vote, Obama signaled he'll use his presidential megaphone to try to force Republicans controlling the House into submission.

"Now let's be clear," Obama said at the White House. "The bipartisan compromise that was reached on Saturday is the only viable way to prevent a tax hike on Jan. 1. The only one."

The Obama campaign promptly took to Twitter and Facebook to fight it out. With their candidate's poll numbers rising, Democratic operatives seemed almost giddy at the prospect of a prolonged battle.

Republican lawmakers relished the battle as well, though some of them are too inexperienced to know that presidents ? regardless of party ? usually win such high-profile fights, like President Bill Clinton did over a 1995-96 government shutdown or President George W. Bush did in skirmishes on anti-terror policies.

House Republicans instead rallied around a plan passed last week that would have extended the payroll tax cut for one year. But that version also contained spending cuts opposed by Democrats and tighter rules for jobless benefits.

If legislation isn't passed by New Year's Day, payroll taxes will go up by almost $20 a week for a worker making a $50,000 salary. Almost 2 million people could lose unemployment benefits as well, and doctors would bear big cuts in Medicare payments.

Whatever the stakes, there was little indication that Republicans would get their wish for negotiations with the Senate any time soon. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., issued a statement saying he would be happy to resume talks on a yearlong measure ? "but not before" the House ratifies the two-month bill and sends it to Obama for his signature.

Given Obama's remarks and Reid's refusal to negotiate, it was unclear what leverage Republicans had in the year-end standoff. It appeared likely the partisan disagreement could easily persist past Christmas and into the final week of the year.

A little-noticed element of the brawl was that the House-Senate parliamentary situation, which can be a critical factor, is all messed up. The Senate adjourned Saturday until Jan. 23 except for so-called pro forma sessions in which legislative business ? like responding to the House moves ? is basically impossible unless all 100 senators agree. That's never a sure thing.

The standoff was sowing confusion among business executives, who were running out of time to adapt to any new payroll tax regimen. Even the Senate's proposed two-month extension was creating headaches because it contained a two-tiered system geared to ensuring that higher-income earners paid a higher rate on some of their wages, according to a trade group.

"There's not time enough to do that in an orderly fashion," said Pete A. Isberg, president of the National Payroll Reporting Consortium trade group. "We're two weeks away from 2012." He wrote a letter to congressional leaders this week warning that the Senate bill "could create substantial problems, confusion and costs."

Meanwhile, Medicare announced Tuesday that, as it has in the past when doctors' reimbursements have been cut through congressional inaction, it would withhold physicians' payments for two weeks in January to avoid passing on a 27 percent cut in Medicare fees. The hope is that the problem gets fixed by then.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-12-21-Congress-Payroll%20Tax/id-2de5923a5459422fa0a605b33334859b

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How the major stock indexes fared on Wednesday (AP)

Technology stocks fell Wednesday, dragged down by a weak earnings report from business software maker Oracle Corp. Broad market indexes were flat. The Dow Jones industrial average eked out a gain of 4 points after having been down 104 points at midday. Technology stocks were the issue, with IBM the biggest decliner of the Dow's 30 stocks. IBM fell 3.1 percent, and Oracle fell 11.7 percent.

The Dow gained 4.16 points, or 0.03 percent, to close at 12,107.74.

The S&P 500 index gained 2.42 points, or 0.19 percent, to 1,243.72.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 25.76, or 1 percent, to 2,577.97.

For the week:

The Dow is up 241.35, or 2 percent.

The S&P 500 index is up 24.06, or 2 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 22.64, or 0.9 percent.

For the year to date:

The Dow is up 530.23 points, or 4.5 percent.

The S&P is down 13.92, or 1.1 percent.

The Nasdaq is down 74.90, or 2.8 percent.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111221/ap_on_bi_ge/us_wall_street_box

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PFT: Barkley taking big risk by delaying NFL move

Getty Images

Though it would be fitting for a kid named ?Luck? to play for a team with a horseshoe on its helmet, the Colts are experiencing an unlikely late-season surge that could cost the team that had presumably locked up the first overall pick a clear shot at their franchise quarterback of the future.

Thanks to an unlikely come-from-behind win over the Texans, the Colts have moved to 2-13 on the season.? If the Vikings lose to the Redskins and/or the Rams lose to the Steelers on Saturday, Week 17 would feature not only the resolution of multiple playoff spots and positioning, but also the final resolution of the ?Suck for Luck? sweepstakes.

If the Colts lose to the Jaguars in Jacksonville on January 1, they?ll clinch the pick via the strength of schedule tiebreaker, which is the first measure used to determine draft position among non-playoff teams.? But if the Colts continue their hot streak and beat the mediocre-at-best Jaguars, either the Rams or the Vikings would slide into the top position position, if either or both lose in Week 17.

And so the fate of Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck won?t be decided for at least a week ? unless both the Rams and Vikings win on Saturday.? Even then, the question of whether Luck will make an Elway/Eli-style power play will move to the front burner, and likely stay there for weeks if not months, once it?s known where the first pick will go.

The Colts? presumed stranglehold on the first overall pick evaporated via their ability to stay close to the Texans throughout Thursday night?s NFL Network season finale, even though it appeared the Texans would roll over Indy after a first-snap-from-scrimmage sack-fumble forced by linebacker Brian Cushing.? One play later, running back Arian Foster gave Houston a 7-0 lead (with the extra point, of course).

Hampering the Texans was a pathetic 10-percent conversion rate on third down.? The only time Houston turned a third down into a first down came late in the game, on a bouncing-ball pass that receiver Jacoby Jones snatched out of the air and carried past the sticks, extending deeper into Indy territory a drive that culminated in another Neil Rackers field goal, making the score 16-12.

But the Texans left the Colts with enough time to piece together a 12-play, 78-yard drive fueled by an uncanny ability of Colts quarterback Dan Orlovsky to sense the pressure and step up in the pocket, a 34-yard pass from Orlovsky to receiver Reggie Wayne on third and seven from the Indy 46,?a pair of penalties on Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, a pass interference call at the Houston one, and a one-yard touchdown pass from Orlovsky to Wayne.

The touchdown and the extra point gave the Colts a 19-16 lead, and with only 19 seconds remaining the Texans couldn?t mount a serious threat for a game-tying field goal.

The loss virtually ensures that the Texans will not earn a playoff bye, forcing them to host the No. 6 seed in the wild-card round.? In fact, there?s a chance that the Texans could fall to No. 4 in the AFC, if Houston loses to Tennessee next week and the Broncos win their final two games.? The resulting 10-6 tie wouldn?t be settled by the first four tiebreakers, pushing the issue to strength of victory then strength of schedule then all sorts of crazy stuff based on points scored and allowed, culminating in a 12th-step coin-toss.

Regardless, the suddenly slumping Texans will host a team like the Steelers or the Jets or maybe the Bengals on the weekend of January 7, making the first postseason game in franchise history a very challenging one.? Based on the way the Texans played against the Panthers on Sunday and the Colts on Thursday night, a one-and-out postseason debut seems to be looming in Houston.

But at least they possibly have saved themselves from having to face Andrew Luck for the next 15 years.

UPDATE 12:21 a.m. 12/23/11:? As a reader wisely points out in the comments, the Jaguars could avoid seeing Luck in the division as well by laying down for the Colts next Sunday.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/22/barkley-takes-a-big-risk-by-sticking-around/related/

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