Velasquez and The Giants

I'm not normally a sports guy, aside from Women's Volleyball and Softball, but I'm a sucker for an underdog.

Cain Velasquez vs. Brock Lesnar. Brock should have ripped Cain's arms off and beaten him to death with them - I mean, the guy has to diet to trim down to 265 pounds, he's a Division I wrestling superstar, and stronger than a gorilla on steroids. As much as I would have loved to see Cain win, I was absolutely certain he was going to get squashed.

But, it turns out that Cain knew something we didn't know - he had the goods to kick the shit out of Brock. He knew he just needed to be able to withstand his first bull-rush, and the rest would be gravy - and that's exactly what happened.

Cain ended up kicking Brock's ass so bad, he looked like he'd just walked into a barbed-wire fence face-first. It was probably the most exciting fight I've seen this year. Of course, GSP vs Koscheck II could trump it, but for now it's #1.

As for the Giants, they're probably the only team in all of baseball I give half a shit about - mostly because I'm from that part of California. The only thing is, the Giants will ALWAYS find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They are the perennial lovable losers.

So, I now have a reason to watch the World Series. Granted, it's likely to only be four games, but I'll be sure to tune in.

Then again, you never know... Cain Velasquez taught me to never give up hope, even when your opponent seems to have the deck stacked in their favor. Every now and again, the good guy wins.

Facebook schmacebook

So, as a couple of you know, I deleted my facebook account recently. I made the mistake of accepting way too many friend requests. I only got the account in the first place to keep up with my kids' lives. Little did I know I would be snowed under by a deluge of inanity, poor spelling and worse grammar.

My plan is to cool my heels for a couple of weeks, then create a new, super-secret account and only befriend those whose lives interest me. If you don't receive a friend request from my new account by this time next month, you didn't make the cut... ;-)

On an entirely unrelated note, I bought a used XBox from a friend of mine recently. It's really cool.

The end.

I'm voting Republican

You heard right. I'm sick of weak-ass democrats whining that they can't do anything without 60 votes - too frightened of a republican filibuster. I'm tired of democrats talking about social change but not having the courage of their convictions. I'm disgusted by the "we're on the side of what's good and proper" mindset which hampers any chance of winning the upcoming elections.

But, most of all, I'm 100% sick and tired of hearing republicans bitch about the state of the union while completely ignoring the previous 8 years of bush that fucked it up in the first place. Somehow all of the problems that we face as a nation are the fault of President Obama and his evil crew of socialist-communist-fascist supporters.

So I say, vote republican this year. Put them back in power and let's see what happens. Elect those tea-party asshats and see what they come up with to fix the economy and create growth.

They say that those who won't learn from history are doomed to repeat it - I believe that will be the case.

I view republicans the same way I view children - if I can't make them understand something, then they just won't believe it. If I tell my kids that they need to go to bed at 10pm because otherwise they'll be too sleepy to do well in school the next day, they'll argue with me since they think I'm just sending them to bed to get them out of my hair. They refuse to believe that I'm actually looking out for their well-being.

And, like children, republicans are easily frightened. Look at Glen Beck's ratings if you don't believe me. He runs entirely on fear. Fear that the brown man is going to steal your job; fear that all muslims are secretly working for Al Qaeda; Fear that Obama is a nazi/socialist who wants to create a new welfare state by stealing all the money from those poor, hard-working rich people and give it to those no-account, sub-human, poor people. A new-age Robin Hood, if you will.

So, I say fuck it. Even if everything everybody ever wanted, democrat or republican, suddenly came true, it still wouldn't be enough. People would still bitch and complain. Democrats want to save everyone from themselves and republicans want to decide everybody else's morality while trying to squeeze every last nickel out of every human being on the planet.

Sadly, the sane portion of the country - that 70% or so in the middle - doesn't give enough of a shit to actually go out and vote. So, it's left to the fringes to determine the future of our society. Good luck with that!

Impotent Rage

I was watching the Rachel Maddow show the other day and it occurred to me that shows like this fills the viewer with a sense of impotent rage. Rage because the viewer is incensed by the outrageous activities of an individual or group of individuals (BP for example). Impotent because, even knowing exactly what's going on, and even who's to blame, there's literally nothing that we, as individuals, can do about it.

Recently, I spoke with a buddy of mine who was talking about the Enron scandal and other scandals similar to it. He was convinced that people needed to know what had happened so as to keep it from happening again.

I fervently disagreed. My point was this: Even if everybody on the planet knows what happened and who's to blame (which I think they do), the people who can actually do something about it (the government) never will. It's not in their best interests to legislate a solution because most of them are either directly involved, or involved in something equally scandalous. They know that anything they do now will likely come back to bite them in the ass in the future.

Therefore, what is the point in becoming aware of the atrocities, crimes, and misdeeds of people in power? The knowledge alone will garner you nothing - and the rage you feel will be exacerbated by the fact that you are powerless to affect the situation.

So, your choices are simple: Ignorant Bliss or Impotent Rage. Guess which one will help you sleep at night?

I think I'll go back to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert - I can use a good chuckle. Sorry, Rachel.

Rachel Maddow

Ok, it's time to come clean: Apparently, I'm a Rachel Maddow fan.

I've been watching the show for the last week or so, and I find myself being drawn in. At first, I was just curious to see what all the buzz was about. She was a guest on the Jon Stewart show and she seemed pretty intelligent and sarcastically witty. I figured I'd tune in, get a quick feel for her style, then go on my merry way. I honestly don't have time for an hour a day of this gal on my DVR...

But, somehow or another she got me. Normally I shy away from people who are on what I refer to as the lunatic fringe (that's right, I coined the expression back in 1972). She's clearly quite liberal as are nearly all of the guests of her show. Also, she has kind of Glen Beck, or a Fox and Friends, habit of mocking the other side that can get a little stale. I'm all for slamming the conservatives (I heard they like that), but sometimes it seems a little forced.

On the other hand, she's obviously ridiculously knowledgeable when it comes to politics and spin.

So, I've decided to add her in so that my only legitimate news sources aren't limited to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert - brilliant though they may be.

I suppose, to be fair, I should include a right wing fascist, uh, I mean conservative to balance the input... I just don't know if I can stomach it now that I've left western Nebraska. My tolerance isn't as high as it used to be.

Yet another reason why Republicans suck...

Ok, this is just going to be quick and dirty.

So, I'm watching a little Fox news tonight... Actually, I was just flipping through the channels when I saw my hero, Barak Obama, talking about the oil spill. I didn't realize I was watching Fox news until it breaks back to the "reporters" in the studio. This retarded c-word bitch decided it would be hilarious to mock the President by using the line, "You're doing a great job, Brownie."

Like a frickin moron, she didn't realize that what she was really doing was mocking bush jr. by using his own stupidity as an insult when applied to Obama.

Not surprisingly, neither of the men on the show pointed out that she was an idiot, but it was pretty clear that they immediately recognized the mistake she'd just made. They knew, however, that they couldn't bring it up without making them all look even more ridiculous than they already did.

And, this isn't the first time I've seen or heard this backward ploy in action. For instance, they keep saying that the oil spill is Obama's Katrina - never realizing that they're admitting that bush fucked up when it came to Katrina.

I hate those people. Personally, I can't wait until the new, third party shows up. I might even head it myself! We'll be the FCSL party - fiscally conservative, social liberals. A party made up of people who represent the middle 70% of the country who are neither hard-core right-wing bastards, or left-wing bleeding heart pussies.

Surely, the rest of us can get some representation up in here! Vote for me, and your voice will finally be heard!

(paid for by nobody)

First SYTYCD post...

I only have one criticism about my favorite TV show, So You Think You Can Dance, and that is this: I don't give a rat's ass what your back story is. I don't care if your mom is unemployed, or your dad is fighting cancer, or your little brother is in a wheelchair - I just don't.

I watch the show to see good dancers become great dancers. I watch it because every now and again there's a breakout performance that I remember literally for years.

I'll give you a for-instance: There's a guy tonight who's twin brother has an extreme case of Spina Bifida. It's tragic and I feel for him and his family. HOWEVER, that should not translate into a free ticket to Vegas. If the guy is good, let him go through - if not, boot his ass.

Now, after the fact, once the guy, or girl, has made it into the top 5 or so, sure, let's hear the whole story. But until then, you're just a number to me, pal. And if you suck, then get the hell off the stage and go suck someplace else.

That's it for now, but between this show and the College Softball World Series, don't expect any good posts for a while. They'll either be gay or REALLY gay.

Hoarding

I recently watched several episodes of a reality-type show called "Hoarders". It's a one-hour show similar to the extreme makeover show, where each week they profile a new set of freaks. At the end of the show, the houses are usually, relatively clean. I say relatively, because the absolutely deplorable condition of the house prior to the show is truly and unbelievably disgusting.

Hoarders are people who are extreme OCD sufferers. They throw almost nothing away and often live in absolute filth. In almost all cases, they constantly bring more and more stuff into their homes until their houses are literally unlivable. One family had to live in a tent outside their home due to a bed-bug infestation. My skin has been itching ever since.

Believe me when I tell you that there is no way for you to imagine the inside of their homes if you didn't see it for yourself. It's stupefying. In almost every case, there were rooms in their homes where they couldn't even enter anymore due to the fact that it was completely full of crap. Sometimes there were multiple rooms in this state.

I fancy myself a student of behavioral psychology insofar as I've read and/or watched numerous portrayals of bizarre activity. I'm fascinated with the freakish - Munchausen and Munchausen-by-proxy syndromes, Pica, Anxiety disorders, OCD, Tourette's, Anorexia, Bulimia, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, you name it. I'm also fascinated with physical extremism - Dwarfs, Giants, Morbidly Obese, rare and often debilitating skin/bone conditions, etc.

But, in all my endeavours, I've never come across hoarding. I've heard that at least one of my in-laws exhibits all of the symptoms of being a hoarder, but I never really believed it could have been as bad as how it was described. I realize now that I was mistaken.

Now, coming from a family with a restaurant-menu selection of neuroses, I'm hardly one to judge anybody else on their particular brand of crazy. That said, Hoarding might be the most devious (and possibly the most devastating) mental-illness I've yet encountered. As I understand it, it's a gradual process - like slowly boiling a frog. If done slowly enough, the frog will not realize it's being boiled and will simply eventually die.

Hoarders live in a constant fire hazard. Due to the fact that nothing can ever get truly clean with all the clutter, it's also extraordinarily unhygienic. So much so, as a matter of fact, children living in a hoarder's home are regularly at risk for being placed in protective custody.

I think the most bizarre aspect of this "disease" is the fact that, the people who have it, and realize they have it, STILL can't overcome it without a huge amount of psychological help. Even then, a lot of them fail. Even when the kids have been taken out of the home due to the hoarding, the parent(s) STILL completely lose their minds when faced with the prospect of throwing away ANY of their garbage. Seriously - garbage.

Finally, and maybe scariest of all, it seems to be somewhat contagious. For instance, there was a couple on one show where the wife was really angry at the husband for hoarding a bunch of useless crap all throughout the house, in the basement and the garage, and even spilling out onto the lawn.

The cleanup crew (a crew of about a dozen, with two or three trucks to haul away as much stuff as possible) and the therapists and the family friends convinced the guy that he needed to let go of his crap. He was upset, but willing to do it for the sake of his 3 year old son.

Was the wife happy? Oh, no, because when they got into the house, it turned out that SHE was AT LEAST as bad as he was. Worse, really, because she didn't think she had the problem - she blamed it all on him. She fought tooth and nail over EVERY SINGLE ITEM that they wanted to throw away - every item.

My takeaway from this was that, if you can stand to live in that kind of environment, you are probably a hoarder, too. You just don't realize it yet! The only situations I saw where there were people living like that and NOT feeling like it was normal or ok were the kids who had no choice but to live there. Adults have the luxury of choosing to put up with it - which is why the only reason many of the people who finally (and reluctantly) agreed to accept help for their disorder were people who were faced with the very real prospect of losing their loved-ones - their kids, their spouses, extended family members, etc.

This whole business was very eye-opening for me. I've seldom seen such a disparity between being aware of a problem and being able to do something about. In this case, GI Joe was dead-wrong... Knowing is certainly NOT half the battle!

Now, excuse me while I go take a shower... yuck.

Karma is a bitch!

So, yesterday I blogged about the dickhead GT fans who tried to ruin my love of college softball.

Today, GT had to play Oregon, again, in the double-elimination tournament. If GT lost either of the next two games, they'd go home and have no chance at the college world series in June.

Not surprisingly, I desperately wanted to see this team lose - not because of the girls on the team so much as their dickwad fans. Only one girl on the team (remember Piggy?) deserved a beating - the rest just happened to be stuck with her.

Well, it appears that Gaia heard my unspoken prayers and handed GT a 4-3 loss. GT's star player, Jen Yee (college softball's best hitter) had a chance to end the game in the bottom of the 7th. Unfortunately for her, Karma kicked her right in the teeth as she grounded out to 2nd.

GT did end up coming back in the bottom of the 7th to tie, but Oregon stayed tough and was able to score a run in the top of the 8th. GT had no answer and were sent packing.

All because of Piggy and her idiot fans.

Thanks, Karma!

Draggin' out the old soapbox...

Women's College Softball. One of my favorite sports to watch on television. I rank it right up there with MMA, Indycar racing, Women's tennis, and Women's volleyball.

Besides the fact that it's good competition and filled with exceptionally talented athletes, I appreciate that the young women involved, as well as their coaching staff and their fans, are good sports who genuinely love the game. As a fan, I prefer this to what I usually see in men's sports.

Today, however, was the exception. I just finished watching the Oregon Ducks vs. the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets. It all started with some jackoff in the stands (a Georgia Tech fan) doing the whole, "Swing batter batter batter" business. Then it progressed to boos and catcalls. Then it was straight up asshole-ness. This particular fuckwad fan appeared to have been a football player (he was sitting with a bunch of his buddies who also looked like they were probably football players).

Somewhere around the second inning, this dickhead must have gotten a talking to by some other fans, or security, or perhaps his coach, because he quieted down and seemed somewhat abashed. There was still some noise coming from his section, but at least it wasn't just his voice.

I don't know if it was in spite of this moron or because of him, but the Oregon Ducks went on a tear and started kicking the living shit out of GT. In the first inning, they were down 0-2 when a batter deep in the lineup (maybe the 9th batter) hit a grand slam putting Oregon ahead 4-2 and they never looked back. They ended up winning (by mercy rule) 11-2.

By the end of the game, almost all of the fans were yelling and booing and carrying on like a bakery full of ass-hats. For the most part, they were booing the umpires due to a couple of questionable calls. This must have rubbed off on the team because even the losing pitcher (we'll call her "Piggy") was acting like a bitch. To be honest, however, Piggy was kind of a bitch before she threw the first ball, but she was quite a bit worse by the end of the game. She even threw a shoulder into the catcher out of pissiness.

My point is this: College Softball is supposed to be about talent, desire, but above all else, good-sportsmanship. I've never seen such an embarrassing display in my many years of watching. Fans should be all about cheering for their players and maybe yelling at the umpire, but it should never come down to being jerks to the players, regardless of the outcome of the game.

I was really hoping the first dickhead would have gotten ejected. Had he been alone, rather than sitting with a bunch of good sized guys, I doubt he would have had as much to say. Granted, he was a pretty big kid himself, and he was no doubt surrounded by like-minded fans, however I'm still convinced nobody acts like that without asshole support.

So, I say boo to Georgia Tech, its fans, coaches and players. What a sad, sorry state of affairs. Although, I have to admit it was very gratifying watching GT get their asses handed to them despite being a big bag of dicks. You don't hear that about a group of women normally, but GT is certainly the exception that proves the rule.

Let's just hope this is an isolated incident.

Go Huskies!

Coming up...

Pet Peeve time, kids.

One thing I can not stand is right before a TV show goes to commercial, there's always a minute or two of "what's coming up after the break". I don't give a crap what's coming up - I'm perfectly happy to wait until it's up, at which point I'll be happy to watch it. I don't need to know why I shouldn't "change that channel" - if the show's a good one, I'll fast forward through the bullshit commercials and begin enjoying it again in 5 or 10 seconds.

Then, to add insult to injury, when the show's over, I get treated to a sneak peek of next week's show. And, no matter how they package it, it's always some bullshit to make it look way more exciting than it's going to be.

For instance, I watch "The Ultimate Fighter" every week. I love MMA and it's a pretty good show. But, at the end of every week, I'm guaranteed that next week's show is going to be the most exciting episode of the season! At the end of tonight's episode, for instance, it shows Chuck Lidell and Tito Ortiz seemingly about to start throwing down in the middle of the gym and all hell's breaking loose. In reality, it will probably boil down to the two of them yelling at each other then pretending to try to fight their way through their respective crowds at which point they'll be separated without so much as a slap from either one.

Good editing can make a boring show look fantastic. I give you "The Lightening Thief" as an example. The previews looked phenomenal and I was all ready to run down to the theater with my boys and check it out. Fortunately, my friend went the night before and pointed out that the previews were easily the best parts of the movie and I should save my money and just wait for the DVD.

I'm wise enough that I took his advice and thanked him for saving me $50 and two hours of my life.

I don't really have a good way to end this, so I'll just say this: Have you ever noticed that most of the women who are against abortion are women you wouldn't wan to fuck in the first place? -- George Carlin.

Lamest... Idol... Ever...

All of you Frank Sinatra fans out there, please raise your hand. Just what I thought... no one.

I watched the entire episode in fast-forward in a record time of about 7 minutes.

I like Harry Connick Jr, but you just can't make Frank Sinatra sound good no matter how hard you try, unless you ARE Harry Connick Jr. Even then, it's a stretch.

And what the fuck is Aaron still doing on the show? Siobhan (the only reason I even watched this season in the first place) is booted out - rightfully so, considering her last few weeks - but Aaron is still here???

First Lilly Scott and now this... I don't think I can watch any more of this season.

But just when I thought all hope was lost, tonight I saw the trailer for the new season of SYTYCD!!! So, you see, there is a god after all...

So, I'll probably fast-forward through the rest of the Idol season just out of morbid curiosity, but I have to say my heart just isn't into it. That is, unless Crystal gets voted off - at which point, there really won't be any reason to continue.

AND, should Aaron end up winning this season, I will never again watch American Idol (you heard it here first). Clearly, that will be the first sign of the apocalypse, so I'll need to start packing.

Stupefied

Why, American Idol, why?? Lilly Freaking Scott?! Are you kidding me???

So, all day I've been sitting here reading blog entry after blog entry of people who have lost their shit over the early dismissal of Lilly Scott from AI. I have to admit that I too am among the shit-losers. It's mind-boggling. Not only was she a great singer, I think she really had a shot of winning the whole show.

Instead, we're left with Paige and Katie? I mean, I like Katie, but she's been luke-warm at best the last few weeks. And Paige?! I honestly can't remember a single performance of hers that even approached mediocre. (Sorry, I forgot I was in Nebraska - it's pronounced Me-Dee-Oh-Ker.)

I've heard all kinds of reasons why Lilly was booted. Most suggested that it was because the 13 year old girls who do the majority of voting are capable of something called mega-voting (literally thousands of votes). Apparently, there is no apparatus that limits the number of votes from a particular cell-phone number.

I've also heard that Lilly and BowerSox split their votes with the majority going to Crystal. That's possible I guess.

In the end, we'll probably never know. For myself, I really liked her style of music and would probably download a tune or two given the opportunity. But, to be perfectly honest, as long as my girl Siobhan is still on the show, I'll continue to watch. For my money, she's the best of the bunch.

I'll continue to read the blogs for the next couple of days - I'm hoping Simon Cowell will have something to say... Cheerio.

American Idol - Guys Night - 10 Mar 10

To start, I gotta say I wasn't blown away by any of the guys. Apparently, big Mike was amazing, but I didn't think it was all that great. I think he kinda overdid it a bit.

I had to agree with Simon that Andy Garcia is starting to get a little desperate to repeat his earlier success, but I think he'll find his way soon enough.

Casey was, for me, the best performance of the night. And, no, it's not because he's super-hot (so I hear), I think he just has more appeal than most of the other guys.

The most shocking thing I saw was Toddrick doing a queen tune. It's funny, because I immediately thought of Glee when I heard it, and then Randy called him out for sounding like Glee.

Oh, and before I forget, somebody please put Cara out of my misery. Man, she's annoying! With the crying and the standing ovation and the rambling critiques... ugh.

The other guys can pretty much be lumped into one massive pile of forgettable boringness - yeah, it's a word... Anyway, Aaron and Alex are my picks to be eliminated tomorrow night along with Paige and probably Katy.

And thus will we be left with the top 12. I'm already convinced it will be a girl winning this season because the top 4 girls (Didi, Crystal, Siobahn, and Lilly) are easily better than all 8 of the remaining guys. You might even include Lacy in the top 5, but that's probably a bit of a stretch.

Anybody else out there watching this show, or is it just me? Remember, AI is just a place holder until So You Think You Can Dance comes back on.

See ya in the funny papers.

American Idol - Ladies Night - 09 Mar 10

So, I just finished watching the girls perform and here are my thoughts:

1. Katie (17 year old) is in big trouble. She routinely picks the wrong tune. She has a fantastic voice, but whoever is coaching her should be kicked square in the nuts.
2. Lacy (crazy red-haired gal) - Much better performance - well-suited to her voice and look. She's one of my favorites, but I don't see her winning the show.
3. Siobahn (sp?) - kinda strange chick with the nose ring - I think she nailed the tune and there's still something about that girl that really appeals to me. I don't know if she can win the show, however...
4. Kaitlyn - keyboardist and Finalist in the Meg Ryan look-alike contest - If she makes it past Thursday, I'll be surprised... Horrible song choice and weak performance.
5. Paige - yikes... "Smile"?? How about "Slowly kill yourself to music"? What a horrible, horrible song choice, terrible outfit and just badly-done all around. Weak sauce for sure... she's definitely gone on Thursday.
6. Didi - Absolutely knocked that Stevie Nicks tune out of the park! What a great and original rendition - Simon got this one completely wrong.
7. Crystal - Bad Teefers - Fantastic job. I've been saying she should be singing Tracy Chapman since she came on the show. About damn time!
8. Lilly - Silver haired wierdo - It was a brilliantly performed song, but I don't think I'd have gone with Patsy Cline as my song choice to bring me into the top 12. Simon was right to call it brave... She should be fine, though, because she's easily one of the best people on the show.

So, tomorrow night's the guys' turn. So far this season, the fellas have pretty much left me flat. I think Andy Garcia will probably pull his head out of his ass and pick a song that works for him. And big Mike will probably play it safe with a fun, upbeat song to get him to the top 8. Casey will continue to be good-looking, and the mullet-kid will continue down the Emo path. Toddrick will no doubt try to dance his way to the top, and Tim will keep playing his role as the missing 4th Jonas Brother.

As for Aaron and the other one, they'll likely be gone on Thursday along with Paige and (I hate to say it) Kaitlyn.

So, stay tuned - many more blog-entries to come!

I'm freaking cursed!

So, I've been trying to attach a disk array to one of my servers at work for about 3 months now. But, there's always something going on with that server, so scheduling any downtime at all is a royal pain in the ass.

I FINALLY got it all installed and functional on Wednesday. I moved some data off of local disks onto the array and the IO speed went through the roof. Needless to say, I was quite the hero!

Naturally, that didn't last. Exactly one day later, the damn thing completely crashed on me. And, of course, the customers were going nuts because they're way behind and working long hours to catch up - understandable.

Anyway, I drive into work only to find that one of the so-called failover controllers didn't failover properly and took the whole array out of commission. I tried forcing a failover, but alas no joy.

After exhausting all my options, I finally had to power off the array (they love it when you do that) and pray that the couple hundred gb's of data was still salvageable.

After a couple of hours of holding my breath and verifying/copying/restoring data, everything seems to be ok. The controllers are both up and cheerful, and the log files are conspicuously empty of content. It's ALMOST as if nothing happened - only, I know better!

What kills me is that I know that moving to the array was the wisest course of action. And I know that Sun equipment is, for the most part, hugely reliable. But godammit, I just can't catch a break!

Anyway, I'm planning on moving everything back to the internal disks (which will probably crash the server) and running a bunch of diagnostics against the array. If I can't find the root cause of the crash, I'm tossing the damn thing in the dumpster.

Yay me!

Now, go buy one of my houses!!

YIKES!

(This one is kinda gross - strap in)

Completely off-topic and way out in left-field, but the other night a bunch of us were watching a UFC bout at a buddy's house. One guy's girlfriend said something like, "blah blah blah, blumpkin, blah blah."

Not surprisingly, none of us older people knew what the hell she was talking about.

She was shocked and so decided to enlighten us. "Everyone knows", she began, "that a blumpkin is when you receive a blowjob whilst simultaneously taking a shit."

* stunned silence *

Naturally, we (adults over 30) thought she was full of shit, no pun intended. But, oh no, apparently this is a well-known bit of debauchery to these disgusting young people.

Maybe I'm an old prude, but that is just filthy. Who in the hell came up with this one??? Really, nothing better to do, eh?

How the hell do you even suggest this to your girlfriend/lover/whatever? "Hey, babe, you know what would go great after that wonderful Thanksgiving dinner you put together? A big old blumpkin pie!" - Yes, a blumpkin pie is an even more disgusting variation on this already horrendous act.

I worry for the state of our country.

Democrats suck

So, I just got done watching the news... Ok, it was John Stewart, but still.

Anyway, I just have to comment about how disappointed I am in those idiot democrats in congress. With a Fillibuster-proof senate and a majority in the house, why in the hell are these people so frickin ineffective??

There is so much that could be done right now - Gays in the military, health care, gay marriage - it's amazing that NOTHING is getting done.

What the fuck are they waiting for??? The only people they have to blame is themselves. Even Obama, who could basically effect the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" with the stroke of a pen, hasn't really done anything useful. He should be beating people to death with his bare hands, but instead he's too worried about his image (or getting re-elected, or who knows what) to risk making a command decision.

This is exactly what happens whenever the democrats take over. They have full control to do anything, but instead bicker amongst themselves and wring their hands over the difficulty of their jobs.

Idiots. I can't say very many complimentary things about the republicans, but at least they know how to take advantage of a situation like this. Granted, they're greedy, soulless bastards but you can't say they're ineffective.

This just makes me sad all over again.

I am Jon Stewart

Hello again out there in TV land, it's your old buddy Anthony back with another shot at health care.

I just finished watching last Thursday's episode of "The Daily Show". It featured an interview with a large breasted woman (Betsy McCaughey) who is an outspoken opponent of the new health care bill insofar as, in her mind, it is designed to kill old people.

The interview went so long that they had to air only the first 15 minutes or so and put the rest out on their website. It was a really awkward interview mostly because she would read a passage from the bill (that sounded like ordinary English) and somehow twist and morph it into something altogether alien.

Jon Stewart kept trying to point out the crazy in her argument, but she was not to be dissuaded. She also mentioned that President Obama wanted to cut 500 billion dollars from medicare in the next ten years which would almost guarantee that old folks would no longer receive quality health care.

It was the first time I can remember that Jon Stewart seemed genuinely frustrated and angry. He played it off pretty well, however.

I know exactly how he feels. I've got a lot of friends who are conservatives who are convinced that Obama is creating a socialist state and that their guns are about to be confiscated sometime in the next 6 months or so. I try to reason with them, but it's the same situation where, although it sounds like English to me, somehow it doesn't translate correctly on the other end.

Normally, I just laugh (because they're dumb), but it's also frustrating to try to point out the obvious to someone who is absolutely dead-set against seeing it.

Granted, I've been married for most of my adult life (to women) so I realize that some people (half the population) just can't be reasoned with. (I'm looking at you, ladies...) Even so, it's still really annoying to have all the facts, come to a sane conclusion based solely on those facts, and yet still have somebody argue the opposite. It's maddening.

And yet, that's what I deal with on a regular basis.

Thank the gods for Barnie Frank. He recently smacked down some retard in a town hall meeting who was talking about supporting Obama's Nazi programs (or some such horseshit). [It's funny, but I've read "The rise and fall of the third reich" and I don't remember anything at all about Nazi health care.]

Anyway, he basically told her she was stupid and there was no point in arguing with somebody like that. Naturally, he took a little heat for it, but I was wholly impressed. I wish more politicians would follow his example.

As for Jon, he eventually got her off his show and didn't lose his shit. I don't know that she'll be making any repeat appearances, if only because it wasn't particularly entertaining watching the stupid dripping from the set.

Americans are stupid.

That's right, I said it. But, before I begin, let me blow some of the dust off the ol' blog here... Ok, now to begin.

So I'm watching the news about Obama's health care plan and people are freaking out. I'm trying to understand the fear and confusion, but all I'm hearing is the same thing that the morons on Fox News are saying. What I don't hear is anybody attacking any of the actual points in the plan, just the plan itself.

Some of my favorite arguments are:
- They're going to kill old people!
- They're turning us into socialists!
- This is just what the Nazi's did!
- It's going to cripple the health care industry!
- I won't be able to keep my own doctor!
- Why should I have to pay for health care for poor people!

The only one of those that is close to factual is the last one, of course, which is why you will seldom hear anyone admit it openly. Also, few people have the balls to admit that they're just greedy fucks who couldn't care less about anyone but themselves - especially when it comes to poor and/or brown people.

What bothers me most about this isn't that people are greedy fucks (I've come to expect that), it's that nobody actually investigates anything, they just take Rush Limbaugh's word for everything. Or Sean Hannity's, or Bill O'Reilly's, or one of the other bastards on Fox and Friends.

As long as I've been an adult, people have bitched about the cost, or level of service, of health care. I remember 10 years or so ago the big thing was HMO's (remember those?). Talk about socialized and fucked-up health care! That had to be the worst!

Obama's new plan will take money away from insurance companies and give it to doctors and, indirectly, the patients themselves. Boy, won't that suck. Also, people who aren't rich will still be able to get decent health care for themselves and their families. Even worse!

TANGENT: The other day, somebody was telling me how lucky those freeloading welfare families were... I honestly had no response for about 30 seconds. Then, once I finally composed myself, I remembered that I was at work so I couldn't really say what I wanted to say, so I ended up saying nothing.

IRONY: Most of the people I hear bitching about health care for poor and/or brown people are (supposedly) christians! This is the one group of people who are supposed to give a damn about the down and out! WTF. Apparently, they're not as familiar with their mythology as am I. I can probably quote three or four bible passages that would make my point...

TANGENT #2: christians don't get a damn about you, or your soul, or your well-being. The only thing that these repressed fuckwads give a shit about is stopping you from doing something that they'd really secretly like to do themselves, but haven't got the courage to potentially piss off their invisible man. I have to imagine that they believe that if they don't get to have any fun, nobody else should either.

Don't people realize that the people who are telling them that this new plan is bad are the same people who fucked over the economy and got us into at least two effectively unwinnable wars? Are Americans really this stupid?

Um, turns out - yes.

I was listening to the radio today and I heard an ad about how bad this new plan will be. They had the sound of a train in the background and I guess the idear was that the train was going to run us over or something. It reminded me of the "wolves in the forest" ads that they ran when "W" was running against Kerry. It turns out that fear might actually be the best motivator after all...

In the end, I don't really give a shit. I make a lot of money and my family and I are reasonably healthy, so I don't worry about health care. I don't like spending $300 a month, but I guess that's the cost of doing business in this wonderful (and apparently infallible) country of ours.

Don't you just hate freedom of speech? ;-)