More Christmas Buzzkill by concerned Dumbasses.

So a news blurb I heard walking out the door this morning stated and I quote "His belly jiggled like a bowl full of jelly....Is Santa Claus' lifestyle giving the wrong impression to our kids?".....I paused at the door, shook my head, and kept walking to the car.  Not sure who/whom the jackass/jackasses are that prompted this whole line of questioning?  Whomever you are, I have one thing to say to you....."Shut the Fuck Up!!"  Buzzkill, politically correct, assholes just need to shut up right now.   Do you want to know what is giving the wrong impression to our kids?  Their damn sorry excuses for parents, that's who.   If Jr. is fat, it's probably because Mom and Dad are heifers.  If you shove shit down his throat all day you will get an unhealthy child.  Garbage in, garbage out.  Kids don't want to be fat, trust me on this.  Other kids are cruel and will make fun of them and no kid wants that.  Tell Jr...."hey if you don't get off your ass and go out and play you will get fat and the other kids will make fun of you" then Jr. will get off his ass and go play.   Or perhaps be a parent and tell Jr. "I'm sorry, only an hour of video games after school then it's outside for you to play." or get Jr. a Wii and Wii Fit so he has to get up off the couch and be active.  And for God's sake do yourself a favor and eat better crap and give it to Jr so he won't be unhealthy.

Tom Brady: The New Douchebag Champion.

Last time I wrote an entry like this it was to proclaim Kanye West the Douchebag of the Year.  Sorry Kanye, I'm going to let you finish but Tom Brady has that honor at this time.

As the readers of this blog may or may not know I'm a fan of the Oakland Raiders Football Team.  A team that won't ever be good again until Al Davis dies, but I digress.  Back almost a decade or so ago there was a playoff game with the Raiders vs. Patriots where the game was decided in the Pats favor by a questionable call.  Tom Douchey was in the pocket about ready to throw; he pump faked and brought the ball back, as he was bringing the ball back he was hit by a Raider defender and sacked, coughing up the ball which the Raiders recovered.   The turnover was overturned because the Official on the field said it was a forward pass and not a pump fake.  Everyone else, except Pats fans of course, says they saw a tuck and not forward pass.  There's the background of my dislike for Brady....although this is not what makes him the Douchebag of the year.  Oh no.  He has gained that title for his lack of caring about the crotchfruit he keeps spawning with various women.  Okay with two women....that we know about anyway!  So Doucheboy is dating some actress...don't care about the name honestly there's too much of this going around Hollywood lately.  Let's have unprotected sex and spawn!!!  Yay what fun!!!!  Folks have more money than sense.  While she is pregnant with his crotchfruit he dumps her for some Supermodel.....I hate that term.  Honestly I've never seen any of these bimbos in a cape flying through the air saving the day.   Someone needs to save them from being in a Skeletor look alike contest.  Three Words Bimbos: Five Dollar Footlong.   His son Jack is born but never once have you seen Doucheboy acknowledge the lad's existence.  Not once.  The kid is two now, and yet Doucheboy still acts like he doesn't give two shits about the kid.  Apparently Jack's Daddy is a check.  At least a check only disappoints when it bounces.  Now he and Bimbo Barbie have just had a child together.  They had a name picked out, but bimbo didn't like it and she's waiting for Doucheboy to have 2 minutes out of his "busy day" (you throw a damn ball Dude....how freaking busy can you be?  Besides, this isn't a pet it's a Human Freaking Being) to help her nail down another name.  It's been a week now.  Seven fricking days and this asshole's excuse is "Well I'm busy reviewing game tape and preparing for next weeks game...I just don't have time."  I got a name for the kid.  How about "Daddy don't give a shit about me" Brady or "Daddy just can't pull out in time" Brady or perhaps "Let the Nanny name it because she's going to be the one actually raising it" Brady. 

Update:  Yay!!!!! Karma has bitten Mr. Douche in the ass.  The Pats are out of the playoffs.......poor poor Douchey Boy......

The Christmas Truce

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce

Click on the link to read one of the best stories of WWI.  I like to post this link at this time of year because it's a great story for the Season.

Creepy Christmas Commercial

Belk's, a Department Store chain that has a few locations here in Tennessee, has a new Christmas commercials with some creepy, almost incestuous overtones going on.  The whole commercial is done to the song "Santa Baby" and features a 5 year old "Diva in Training" looking like the perfect WASP child with hints of Jon Bennet Ramsey skipping down the stairs and wherever she passes festive holiday decorations appear (most likely bought a Belk's).  Her perfect WASP parents are in the kitchen beaming at their little baby Beauty Queen and a perfect WASP boy of about 7-8 is lounging on the floor near the Family's Christmas tree.   From the commercial you get the impression that the little boy is her brother, yet when Ms. Diva skips into the living room she gives the brother a wink and a nod which prompts him to go into the other room and bring her a gift of a stuffed animal hidden behind his back.  He approaches her, shuffling his feet like a nervous suitor.  She responds with a shy smile while the Parents seem to encourage this behavior from the kitchen.   I turned to my Wife and said "kind of creepy commercial there huh?"  She agreed, especially with the part about the brother acting like a suitor to his sister.    Can I ask, who the Hell greenlights these things?  Seriously, did they hire the only ad agency run by Pedophiles on Madison Ave or something?  It was very surrealistic and creepy.   It's also funny to see the utter desperation of the retail establishments this time of year.  The Christmas season has started already for those not paying attention.  Hell it started shortly before Halloween.   Nintendo is sure marketing the Hell out of the Wii this Christmas I noticed.  Half the commercials on TV last night were for the Wii and Wii related games and peripherals.    I've also notice that yet again WalMart is on a rampage to convince America that we can save sooo much money by shopping at their stores.   One of their latest commercials claims that Grandpa can afford a ticket to fly out and see the family during the Holidays because he shopped at WalMart.   Really?  Not with the prices the airlines charge, and the fact that the Grandpa in the commercial has a suitcase that needs checking.  They claim they have "unbeatable" prices on Wii and Wii games.  No you don't.  Nintendo Wii's have a MSRP of 199.99.  That's anywhere you buy one.....anywhere that's legitimate of course.  There's nothing "unbeatable" about that really.  Target charges that price, Best Buy does, etc.  You're not beating anyone when the manufacturer suggests a price....which is business legalese for "you will charge this much for our product in your store or we will sue you....".  It's not price fixing, but it is close.  Actually Game Stop will sell you one for 149.99 when you sell them back two "qualifying" used games.   Not sure what games qualify but I'm sure it's not that crappy "Block Party" game we have for the Wii.   Must remember to always check Amazon's user reviews before purchasing another game.  Anyway, here's to a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday to all.  Just remember, shop smart, and don't go into debt.

Movie, Book and TV Recommendations

Since our 15 year old Daughter decided to go Trick or Treating this year (hey why the Hell not...it's free candy!) the Wife and I decided to rent some movies and kick back at home relaxing.  We rented Halloween Favorite "Hocus Pocus".  It's a great, goofy movie and I discovered that the part of Thackery Binks, the boy from Colonial times who gets turned into a cat, was played by none other than Sean Murray...for you who are fans of NCIS, that's the actor that plays McGee.  Highly recommend it as well as "Nightmare Before Christmas".  You should also check out "Coraline".  It's a Tim Burton directed stop moton animation movie of a Children's story that Neil Gaiman wrote for his Daughter.  Creepy fun for all ages.   I rented "Donnie Darko" for myself.  Love this movie.  I had seen it before and had to see it again because it's one of those movies that requires multiple watchings to "get it".   Trippy movie about a teen with borderlin multiple personality disorder who can travel through time.  His nemesis is a 6 foot evil rabbit named Frank.   Told you it was weird.  Next up is an odd little straight to DVD movie we saw called "The Maiden Heist".  It stars Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken and Willam H Macy.  That cast right there made the Wife and I want to check it out.   It's about 3 Security Guards in a New York museum who each becomes obssessed with a particular piece of art.  They've been working there for 30+ years and they find themselves every day staring at their particular piece of art.  Two paintings and a sculpture.  Along comes this new Avant Garde Curator who wants to change the entire Museum from a classical one to a Modern Art showcase.  A Gallery in Copenhagen has agreed to buy all the pieces in the Museum.  This apalls the 3 gents and they plot to steal their particular piece of art in order to save it.  I won't tell you more as the details would ruin the movie.  It was a funny film, even the Daughter loved it. 

As for books, if you haven't already read it yet, pick up a copy of the two books that have become to be known as the "first action novels ever".  I'm talking about "The Odyssey" and "The Illiad" by some guy named Homer.... ;)  not Simpson, just some Greek guy.  Next on the list is "Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road" by Neil Peart.   It's a tale of finding oneself on a long distance Motorcycle journey from Canada, Across the US and down to Costa Rica and back.  Neil Peart, the Drummer from Rock Band "Rush" had two personal tragedies befall him in the space of 10 months.  His wife of 20+ years had been diagnosed with Breast Cancer.  Their only child, a 19 year old Daughter, died in a solo spin out crash after hitting some ice and then a few months later his Wife succumbed to her cancer.   These events would leave anyone a ruin.  He decided to set out on a journey to lose himself and hopefully find himself again along the way.  The man writes great lyrics and I'm dying to read this book. 

For TV Shows let me recommend "White Collar" on USA.  It's a story of an FBI Agent who is the only one to catch a slick, con man/forger who then gets him released to his custody in the hopes of using the crook to catch crooks just like him.  The chemistry between the main characters is great and makes the show fun to watch. 

The GOP's new motto.....

"When in Danger or in Doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!"
I have removed Adsense from this blog until the current Senatorial and Congressional elections are over....I will not allow any Political Party (even one I approve of) to advertise on my space.  Sorry, ain't happening.  Especially now that the Repubs are going apeshit trying to fill up the House and Senate with more assholes who don't give a crap about you and I.  Here's the Republican plan for Health Care Reform: 1. Don't get sick. 2. If you get sick, then die.  Until the Republicans actually start being a part of the solution and stop being a part of the problem, I will continue to do what I can to keep them from gaining any ground whatsoever.  So here's another hearty "Fuck You" to the Republicans.  Kiss my ass bitches and deal with the fact that any candidate you trot out for President in 2012 will be just as useless as McCain.  Run Palin...please......please please......the Democratic Party can find enough shit to bury her with in a 5 minute Google search.

Tennessee: Year Five

It's that time again; time for my annual update post about how my living in a Red State is working out.  Cathy and I will have been married a total of 6 years this January 2010, and we are still getting along just perfectly.  It's great being married to someone who is your friend, and I highly recommend that for every couple that is considering marriage.  If you aren't friends with that person then it makes the whole relationship a bit more challenging I think.  But enough philosophy for now, on to the update.

 

My oldest Step-Daughter Amanda is married now to a great guy named Drew.  He's a great Step-Dad to my Grandson Jaylin and he's a great Daddy to my 1 year old Granddaughter Haley.  Kevin, my Step-Son, is doing good too.  He's still plugging away in college and wants to attend a good Art School where he can learn sculpture (metal) and other things.  Livee, my youngest Step-Daughter, just turned 15 and I think I'm getting more and more grey hair.  Ah, Teenagers. 

 

No, the pond is still not done....I know it looked like we were going to get to it this year, but apparently this is the year of the Great Flood or something.  It has rained off and on all year long.  It's been nuts!  Of course finances aren't the greatest right now, just like everyone out there, and that is a big hindering factor.   It's also hard to find an electrician to come out and do minor residential jobs.  Most of them don't want to bother.  Cath and Drew and Amanda finished painting the dining room and primered the kitchen.  Hey all that horrible wallpaper is gone.  We are also starting to put aside cash to get the floors done.  We keep vacillating between laminate or just getting new carpet.   No one wants carpet in their houses anymore and it's become quite cheap to buy it and get in installed.  I believe Lowes and Home Depot both charge 39 bucks labor to carpet a whole house.  We like laminate/hardwood but have recently had discussions about not staying in that house forever but possibly moving out in a few years.  Look, the house was built in 1973 and it's age is starting to show.  It's a great starter house, but we're done with it.  The kitchen is small, and there is honestly no room to expand it without having to do some major remodeling of a large portion of the house.   We thought about moving the kitchen into the dining room but there's another huge cost....having to re-route water lines and electrical isn't cheap.  It would just be easier to let the value increase on this house for a few years then sell it and put that down on a newer one.  There are lots of new homes in the area and they will be well broken in by the time we are ready to sell ours (and besides Cath is a Realtor so she can probably find us a great deal). 

 

The Scion is paid for.  It's great to not have a car payment...okay to not have two car payments; we are still paying on Cath's Ford Focus....and it's also great to have a car that is paid for and only has 80K miles on it and still runs great.  We have another addition to the family...this one will probably be the last and will stay around for awhile.  No it's not a human child but another cat.  Milinky is her name.  Livee found her at school and brought her home.  She is quite a funny little cat but not the most graceful feline in the world.  Her and Diva Kitty Panther get along just fine.  Lot's of wrestling and chasing going on.  Keeps Panther young anyway.  Still have the same job, and no I'm not changing it for awhile.  We are doing just fine and a lot of the Pres' Stimulus money is going our way because of who our clients are. 

 

That's the report for this year, not much more to report.  Stay tuned for other developments in months to come.

They just aren't even trying anymore are they?

Not sure if you've noticed, but the price of gas is going up again.   What's the excuse this time?  We haven't had any hurricanes in the Gulf in awhile, no pipelines have exploded, it's not summer, so what's the excuse?  The excuse is the Dollar isn't doing well against other currencies.  Um...Oil Company Guys I've got news for you, the Dollar hasn't been doing good against other currencies for a long time now.  Do these guys even try to come up with legitimate excuses anymore?  Seriously, what the Hell.  The Dollar hasn't been doing well since the European Union formed and we went to war with Iraq.   The Euro has been kicking the Dollars pathetic ass since it was first minted.  Not sure how the dollar being weak against other currencies has anything to do with the price of gas.   Last week gas was 30 cents a gallon cheaper and the economic status of the Country and the value of the Dollar were the same as they are right now.   Why don't you Oil Company bastards just come out and tell us the real reason: we are being punished for buying more economical cars.  Plain and simple.  The Oil Companies aren't making their record profits lately because more and more SUV owners are getting rid of those gas guzzling pieces of crap and buying more fuel efficient cars, and the President is wanting to make it standard that all cars get 30+ miles to the gallon.  That will put a cramp in their style now won't it.  So to the Oil Companies I say "F**k You!!".   Here's hoping you go the way of the Dinosaur real soon.

The Person Under the Stairs.....

Well okay, Under The House is more like it.  As I've mentioned before, our house is freaking ancient.  It was built in '73 and it shows.  One place I cannot stand to go, but have to, is under the house.  I hate our crawlspace, I really do.  If I had the extra income I'd pay someone to go under there and cement over the dirt.  Thank God whomever owned the house previously put plastic down under there in the main crawl through areas.   The reason I had to play Tunnel Rat is our dryer has been sucking on doing its job.  It takes 3-4 times a load to dry things.  Obviously a clog somewhere.   One would think that the smart way to vent the dryer would be to run the pipe out to the wall closest to where the dryer is.   Nope.....not our house.  The dryer is in the front of the house and the vent is in the back....30 feet back.  For the most part there is a 4-6 inch diameter hard pipe attached to the back of the dryer by a flex hose.  The flex hose is where the clog was; a big clog, a wet clog, a nasty clog.   The flex pipe was obviously old as it tore as I was cleaning it, facilitating one of 4 different Lowe's runs that day.  Suffice to say with the new flex pipe and the clog removed and, with the judicious use of my leaf blower, the hard pipe cleared out the dryer is working like it's brand new (which it sort of is...about 2 years old now). 

Is It Just Me?

I wanted to remark upon something I saw on the news this morning.  Tonight across all of Tennessee there is going to be a Candlelight Vigil held by those in favor of Health Care Reform.   I just thought it was funny that those that are opposed to Corporate Greed and want a sensible, affordable option to the Insurance Companies for their health care or who want a little more regulation to keep said Insurance Companies from making a profit at "whatever cost" are showing their support in a peaceful fashion while those that are opposed to any kind of Health Care Reform because they believe the negative hype from the Right show their opposition by screaming and yelling and carrying on and walking around outside Town Hall Meetings with slung rifles.  Just goes to show you who the independent thinkers are and who are the scared, easily riled up sheep.  

 

Also it seems now that Steve McNair was a true moron and deserved his fate.   No, I'm not saying the Man deserved death, no one deserves that, I'm saying he deserved the bad karma that came his way.   Apparently after he bailed the bimbo that killed him out of her DUI, that night he went to his other mistress' house and slept with her.  She's come forward now and said that bimbo #1 was following her around a few weeks before McNair was killed.  And, to add insult to injury, another woman has come forward with a daughter she says is his.  Yeah, such a humanitarian.  Too bad all his good karma was outweighed by all of his bad.  Here's a lesson guys; if you are going to marry someone, don't cheat on them.  Especially if you have kids involved.  No good ever comes of it.  Gals, if you are the one cheating with a Married Man, stop it now.  Even if he leaves His Wife for you, he will dump you for someone else eventually.  You think you are special because he picked you over His Wife, but what you don't stop to think about is if he's going to cheat with you on someone else, he's going to cheat with someone else on you.  Guys, if you want to be free to date whomever you want, then don't get married.  Take a lesson from the Perfect Line on that one.  He likes his freedom and his tastes change like some people change socks.  I honestly don't think he would be happy as a Married Guy, he has too much fun.  He's honest with himself and the women he's with though.  Gals, seriously the married guy should be off limits okay.  Just isn't worth it and all he will do is use you.

 

 

Is it Just Me?

Here is a badge of honor I award to those that I consider Attention Whores.   Kanye West, Huge AW.  Is it just me or are all AW's also collosal Douchebags?   Recently we have had our fair share of these AW's.   I blame the American Tabloid mentality and Our love of Reality Shows.   Reality Shows, at least from my recollection, all started with MTV's "The Real World".   Take 6 diametrically different people, drop them into a roomate situation then film every move 24/7.   It was a social experiment that was in it's purest form when it started but has now devolved into "let's find the most controversial people we can find, encourage them to be complete assholes to each other, then not tell anyone else on the show we are doing this."   Reality TV is cheap to produce; basically any moron with a pulse who wants to have their life filmed and can push people's buttons can get a show.   Look at Jon and Kate Gosslin.....you know the ones....he's a bigger child than his kids and she's the "Shrew" from "Taming of the Shrew".    Jon apparently loves the negative attention, but hey you know what They say "any attention is still attention."   Parents, go home and give your kids lots of love and affection and attention so they don't grow up to be AWs.  Just saying.

There are levels to being an AW.  There are the showing off levels straight up to the Going on a killing spree because I want to be famous levels.   Let's examine them shall we.

Level One: Show off.  We've all been an AW at this level at least once or twice in our lives, it's human nature.  We've all been there when the TV crew pulls up and the cameras are rolling and you see the Journalist talking into a microphone with the camera on her/him and you see some goofball behind the reporter jumping up and down and waving his hands because there's a camera pointed at them.  Or the little kid who sings and dances when the adults are all gathered around sitting down after a Holiday dinner, these are examples of minor level AWness.  

Level Two: Stupid Human Tricks.  These are acts that are usually proceeded by the statements "Hey Y'all watch this." or "Hey hold my beer".   You've seen these dumbasses on those video shows...adults jumping on trampolines for their kids and falling on their asses, through windows, etc.    Or morons just doing stupid crap that is completely unplanned and either ending up with a Darwin Award (for removing themselves from the Gene Pool) or getting an Honorable Mention (injured, but didn't quite take themselves out).  This kind of AW is usually drunk or high, Male and between the ages of 15-23. 

Level Three: Dance/Cheer Moms and Sports Dads.   You've all seen these ones.  These are the Dads at your kids soccer/baseball/football/basketball games who yell at their kids for making mistakes, yell at the umps, threaten the umps, physically abuse the umps and generally make a loud, assholic, public spectacle of themselves.  These Jackholes are ex-Jocks who have yet to come to terms with the fact that being popular in High School usually doesn't translate to being Popular in the Real World and have crappy jobs and two mortgages and a shitty marriage (usually to the Cheer/Dance Mom).  These Asshats are pissed because they never made it pro as an athelete.  They were the Shit in High School, but not so great in college and either ended up injured or cut from the team because they weren't as great as they thought they'd be.  These Fubars are jealous because the Geeks they gave wedgies to are all High Tech millionaires and Jock boy lives in the crappy section of the Burbs.   Steroid boy lives vicariously through his "Boy" and was so proud when his breeding partner threw a male instead of a female (and he will usually have multiple kids because he kept trying until he got a male).  These Jackholes crave attention but have to get it through their offspring's efforts.   Dance/Cheer Moms are the same.  The former Cheerleader or Beauty Pageant Winner who forces their little girl into these inane competitions against their will.   You can usually find them getting their 5 year olds a facial and buying their teen daughters new breasts.   Yes these harpies have fought Father Time tooth and nail and are losing the battle fast so they relive their youth and beauty through their Daughters.   Celebrity examples of this are Joe Simpson and Dinnah Lohan, both Parent of the Year candidates.

Level 4: Narcissistic Douchebags.  These are the assholes that refer to themselves in the third person.  The one's that think they are successful because they bullied everyone in their path.   There are these three guys in their 20's on this HGTV show who sell Real Estate....the tagline is they are the Millionaire Bad Boys.   I watched 5 minutes of this one Douche the other day flipping channels.  He has the Ceasar Hair that seems to be all the rage with the 20 something dudes, goofy ass clothes (he was dressed more like he was going to a club than he was dressed like a serious Realtor running an Open House) and refers to himself in the third Person....example : This house needs a touch of The Chad...The Chad is happy he is having an Open House....WTF??  He went through a really nice Manhattan Condo refluffing pillows, turned down the bed....I'm sorry, but I thought a big selling point of houses was when you had the beds MADE so the rooms looked neat?  I guess The Chad was going for the just got off my boyfriend look (yes he looks and acts quite gay but yet would be the first to not admit it to himself or anyone else...coward.)  I had to change the channel, I was going to be nauseous.   There's this other Real Estate show on the same channel called "The Property Shop".  I features a curly haired (almost a 'fro), blonde who is an absolute BITCH.   She's going to have an annurism by the time she's 40 if she doesn't rein it in.  She rags her Clients to death, she bitches at them, yells at them, talks down to them and she never stops working.  These so-called Hip Hop Moguls are the same way.  Kanye West, Douche extraordanaire and his little awards show stunt.   Now we have Sean Combs who displays all the symptoms of an AW, he's a Douche, he's a show off, he's narcissitic and he refers to Himself in the third person.  His latest example of AWness was at the taping of a BET show.  He came into the studio throwing handfuls of cash....this is Rapper for "I'm so rich I can just throw money away".....and in the process of "making it rain" he lost one of his rings.   Now if you are so rich you can just throw money away, then you wouldn't give a damn about the ring.  Oh no.....Combs had the studio locked down and everyone frisked.   If I was in that audience, I'd be getting paid big time right now.  Then we have the "anything for a buck" folks.  The one's that plan elaborate hoaxes for the publicity and hopefully monetary gain....it's mostly for the publicity.    Remember the Wendy's Chili incident?  This stupid cow in San Jose claims she found a finger tip in her Chili.  When the news went to interview her she had her daughter with her, arm in a sling, saying that the cops did that to her kid when they knocked her down executing a search of the premises.   She and Her husband claimed they were victims, etc etc.....it was front page news for months until the Police and FBI finished their investigation.  To this day Husband and Wife are rotting in jail for extortion and fraud.   Which takes us to the most recent AW, the Jackass who's kid was supposedly caught in a balloon.   This huge metallic balloon launches from this guys backyard and there's news choppers, National Guard Choppers, cops, etc all tracking this balloon and trying to get it down to save this poor six year old boy trapped in it.  When it finally landed and they saw no kid, they frantically searched and searched for this missing and presumed dead boy.   He was hiding at home the whole time.   So they say.  On a CNN interview the other day the little boy was questioned as to why he was hiding and not answering anyone's calls and he turned to his Dad and said "Dad said it was all part of the show."  The Dad glared at him and the boy turned to Dad and said "But I thought you said it was all part of our TV Show Dad?"  Further investigation revealed that this Monkey had been on Wife Swap before and has been trying to pitch a Reality Show about he and his Wife and Kids but was turned down.  It was also discovered that he called the FAA and News Channels first before calling 911 and has just been determined today to be an elaborate hoax.

Level 5: Serial Killers/Home Grown Terrorists.  Believe it or not, these guys are Attention Whores too.

That's it on AW's (I think I've given them more attention than they deserve), so now you know what to watch out for.

Catching up.

Like my fellow GoGers, I haven't been bitten by the blog bug lately.   Today I have remedied that with my Columbus Day post and this one which will cover several topics.

 

1. WalMart.  The bastion of evil as I like to call them.   I've noticed lately that there has been a major marketing campaign by the Corporate Ghouls at WalMart, Inc to flood the airwaves with commercials.  Lot's of commercials, like two to three WalMart commercials per show.   Their new slogan is "Save More, Live Better".  I despise WalMart, I really do.  They weren't content with just being a Discount Department store, no no no.  They had to become the all encompassing, give us all your money, place.  They roll into town and ruin all the local shops.  Thank God back home in California they are smart enough to tell WalMart that if they want to come into a certain town, they have to be a regular WalMart only.  Thus the reason there are few WalMarts in California.  Out in Tennessee, these places are a dime a dozen, and they are the SUPER WalMarts.  Oh yes oh Lazy Housewife who Home Schools her kids, you can go to one place and get clothes, toys, cleaning supplies, groceries, you teeth checked, your hair done, your eyes checked, pay your bills, get some jewelry, cash your paychecks and other checks (this till throws me....who doesn't have a bank account in this day and age?  Seriously....do you like paying someone part of your paycheck so they can give you money instead of having the whole amount deposited into a bank account?) and get the car repaired all in the same store.  Why you might as well move on in, or better yet, get a job here.   We will pay you minimum wage and ask you to work overtime but not pay you for it because it wasn't authorized.  Their commercials are so deceiving too.  They start off with some kind of scenario; i.e. lunch for working adults.   They come up with some number they got from somewhere that makes you think that by buying lunch everyday you are wasting your money, but if you shop at WalMart and buy some of their lunch things, lunch meat, bread, lunchables, etc you will save X amount of dollars a month.   Okay, I have an even better way to save money each month, it's called LEFTOVERS!  When you make dinner the night before, make extra.  That extra you put aside in a separate container and take it to work with you the next day for...wait for it....LUNCH!!!!!  Or make a damn sandwich and put it in a paper freaking bag.  Eating out every single day does get expensive, that's the only part of the commercial that's true.  I know I can get the same price if not better with coupons and sales at Kroger than what WalMart claims.   Most of their crap is priced about the same as Target and K-Mart, although listening to their commercials will lead you to believe they have the "lowest prices in town".  The only time you can get a real deal their is if you bring in a print ad from another store and show them that the other store is charging less.  They will match the price.  Good example: we just bought Wii Fit Plus at Target.  I've seen it priced the same everywhere; 19.99.  At WalMart they have it priced at....drum roll please....19.96! OMFG 4 WHOLE CENTS CHEAPER...LET'S GO GET IT NOW!!!!!!!!  In this State with our almost 10% sales tax, that .04 ain't going to make a whole hell of a lot of difference.  Yes, I have shopped there (yesterday actually) but that was because there is no Target in Cookeville and we needed to get my Grandson a surprise.  Hey it's Nanu's job to spoil him, when he gets older he gets money.  

 

2. The GOP and their utter disrespect for the President.   It's getting appalling actually to listen to it.  The Democrats the past 8 years were more respectful to President Bush than the Republicans are to President Obama.   He hasn't done anything wrong yet but they are constantly manufacturing shit that he's "going" to do.  They can't even give him kudos for winning the Nobel Peace Prize.  Folks like Liz Cheney has to say "he should send the mother of a fallen soldier to receive the prize because if it wasn't for that soldier there'd be no peace."  Um Liz, STFU okay?  Why don't you and Penis...I mean Dick go hunting somewhere in the woods and do the world a favor and don't come back.   He was given the prize because of his attempts to mend the rift between the US and the  WHOLE FREAKING WORLD that Bush built  8 years ago.   We are part of a global economy, and if we don't start playing nice we will be left behind.  Hell the Europeans are already kicking our asses with the Euro and the power of the European Union.   We suck compared to them.  These asswipes can't even find anything good about the President winning the prize, just another excuse to bash him and bring up his "lack of proof of citizenship" like Rush Oxycotin did this morning.  He said "this is the second Kenyan to win a Nobel peace prize".   God, I pray to you, please give Rush Oxycotin testicular cancer.  Please?  I don't want you to kill him, just leave him ballless like he already is.

 

3. Tennessee County and State Government.  Corruption and sneaky, under handedness at it's best.  Back home in California, when there was an election coming up, your mailbox was flooded with sample ballots, campaign flyers, etc.  Everything you needed as a registered voter to prepare yourself to exercise your constitutional right to Vote.  Not in Tennessee.  Oh no, by State law all they have to do is announce the vote coming up in the newspapers.  That's it.   They usually advertise these things in the throwaway papers that litter your lawn/driveway until they become a wet soggy mess that you end up regretting you let it get to said state before throwing it away.   Unlike back home, car registration is done by county out here so the charge and whether or not you need a smog test is determined by the County you live in.  In Wilson County we pay a 25 dollar wheel tax on top of the 25 dollar standard State registration fee.  Not sure what this Wheel tax is for, and I don't think anyone else does either.  We also have to get a smog test every year.  My total registration is normally 60 bucks: 25 State Fee, 25 Wheel Tax and 10 for Smog.  A lot of the cities in this county are growing and need better schools. Mt. Juliet managed to find the money to build a brand new High School, but Lebanon (where the County Seat is) can't seem to find the money to re-build/refurbish their's which is literally falling down.  The County Seat, where there is a lot of money can't seem to find anyone willing to pay for a new High School that most of their kids will be going to.  They waited until the last minute to have a special election to add another 25 dollar wheel tax that would be in affect for 25 years and in that time they'd have enough money to build a High School.  The only way I found out about the election was from the morning news.  I rushed to the polls that night to vote.  The tax was defeated, but only by 1,000 votes.   Now, what gets me is that their solution to the immediate need for a new High School is to impose another tax for 25 years to be able to make the money to build one.   You need a school NOW, not 25 years from now.  I remember something else that was supposed to be temporary, a fee that was only going to be paid until the product was paid off.  Both of them actually.  One was built in 1936, the other in 1938 and I'm sure they've been paid for 1,000 times over but we are still paying for.  That's right, I'm talking the Bay Bridge and the GGB.   Here's my big issue with this whole thing: A. My kid doesn't go to school in Lebanon, nor do I live in Lebanon.  If Mount Juliet asked Lebanon to help pay for our new High School they'd have laughed us off as morons.  B. A 25 year plan is the best you collection of talking apes can come up with?????? Seriously?

 

That's it for now.

Columbus Day

In 1492 a Genovese name Christopher Columbus set sail to prove to his skeptics that the world was indeed round and not flat like was popularly believed.  Notice I don't refer to him as an Italian because back then there really wasn't a unified Country called Italy yet.   Columbus was from the Province of Genoa, thus the term Genovese.  No one believed him, so he went to Spain to the Court of King Phillip and Queen Isabella who bankrolled the Genovese in his efforts.  You see Spain was on a global land grab and was stopping at nothing to expand their Empire.   Now all of this is common knowledge here in the US; we are taught about it in Elementary School and Middle School.  The issue I have is this; why do we in the United States celebrate Columbus Day?  Actually no one but the Banks, Post Office, Local, State and Federal Governments celebrate Columbus Day.  Columbus never set foot in North America, he discovered Central America and the Caribbean.  El Salvador, parts of Cuba, Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and parts of South America.   He was also responsible for the deaths of 15 million natives and the introduction of slavery into the European way of thinking.   Yes, let's be so proud of good 'ol Chris.   Heck the only thing that came of his "discovering of America" is that we get Cities named after him and some of the best Salami to be made comes from the Columbus Salami Company in San Francisco.

Irene! Irene!

Last month my Airsoft Team, The Order, went to Operation Irene VII.  For those that don't know what that is, it's the "Superbowl" of Airsoft events.  400-500 folks come and pay to play at the Urban training facility at Fort Knox known as Zussman.  It's a full scale city complete with sound effects and pyrotechnics that gives you the experience of being on a movie set.  It's some cool crap.  A friend of ours, Chuck Link, is the head of Securtiy/Staff at these events and works closely with the Organizer Mr. John Lu.  We get to play for free in exchange for a bit of work and being general Staff (assisting with parking, answering questions, etc).  What makes the event so cool is there are real life Heroes there.  Retired soldiers that fought in the crap and lived to tell the tale.  One notable is Col. Danny McKnight.  He lead the Hummve column through the streets of Mogadishu in October of 1993 in the battle dramatized in the movie "Black Hawk Down".  Operation Irene was the codename for that mission and this event is a reenactment of that day.  At the bottom of this blog you will see a video my Teammate Jason, aka Sureshot is making of all the footage he shot that day.  The video is just the intro, ala the beginning of the movie "Snatch", and the full thing is done and we will have copies shortly.  Check it out.

Edit: Sureshot just added all the videos in 10 minute segments on his Youtube profile.  Watch the Intro on Youtube then click on "all videos by this user" and you will see the rest.

Prohibition Has Ended!!!

No this isn't a blast from the past post.  Yesterday in Trigg County, KY Prohibition ended.   I will let that soak in for my Buds back home.   Apparently in the South, or as I like to call it "the land that time forgot", we still have Dry Counties.   That's right, it's more of someone elses morals being forced upon everyone else and being made into law.   Because alcohol is considered "The Devil's Drink" by alot of Southern Baptists (I know my fair share and they drink like fish....but I digress) they helped to pass laws that made the decision to ban alcohol by the County.   Now what I find hypocritical about this is these same folks say that the Government banning anything is Soclialism.   Hee hee....the Hypocrisy runs deep with these ones.   In most of these Southern States, there is no State Income tax so the Counties have to make due somehow.   Most of the major, metropolitan Counties have gotten smart about this and allow liquor stores and restaurants that sell alcohol by the drink.  Let me explain the odd booze laws out here first off.   A Liquor Store out here can only sell, you got it, Liquor.  That's it.   Now we need to define what they consider Liquor.  Beer is not considered Liquor; it can be bought at the grocery store.   I can see the GoG scratching their heads at this.  Back home, in Safeway (think Kroger in TN), there are aisles of Wine, Scotch, Whiskey, Vodka, etc as well as a cooler full of chilled beer.  Not here.  Only beer is sold.  Liquor stores can sell beer and they can sell wine and other alcoholic beverages too.  The one thing you will never see here is the big box Liquor Stores like Beverages and More.   Those stores not only sell alcohol but snacks and gourmet sodas, cigars, etc.  You can't do that here.   Not sure why, but you can't.    The strangest example of irony in TN is the County that Lynchburg, TN is in is a dry county.   Yep the place where Jack Daniels is made you cannot drink what is made at said distillery.   What gets me is that one of the Churches in Trigg County went so far as to threaten to kick people out of the congregation if they voted for it.   What's the big deal you say?  These little counties are all getting poorer.  The big metropolitan counties survive on the sales tax revenue from restaurant chains and bars.  Most restaurant chains won't open up in your area if they can't sell liquor by the drink.  Cookeville, TN survives to this day because they let this happen.   There is a huge restaurant row because they relaxed their alcohol laws.   This whole concept of Dry Counties escapes me; then again I come from an area of the world where Napa Valley was a few hours drive North. 

Kids and Weddings

In today's SFGate.com I saw an interesting article from of all people Amy Graff at the Mommy Blog (I'm not a big fan of hers...see an earlier post about her and her precious little snowflakes going to see Up).  The topic was about Kids and Weddings.  I've known of some couples to send out invites saying "No Children" before and I have mixed feelings about this.  When I got married the first time, we didn't know a lot of couples with kids save my former Bro-in-law and my Cousin's son, the Ring Bearer, so it really wasn't an issue.  I wouldn't have minded though.   Yes, kids are kids.  They get bored easily and sometimes don't have inside voices or don't know when being quiet means being quiet, but not including them is I feel is an insult to your guests.  The Ceremony is for the Couple, but the reception is for your guests.  If you think about it, you are asking folks to take a Saturday off to come sit in a Church (or wherever) and watch you and your sig other get married.   Most likely this person paid money for the gas to get there, a hotel room (if they are coming from a ways off), a gift and most likely either got their suit pressed or bought a new dress.  It would rude of you to tell them they have to pay for Babysitting as well.   Creative ideas I've seen done are what my friend Mike and his Wife Anne did.  At the reception they had a room set aside with a TV and VCR, games, coloring books and plenty of kids programs on tape with a Minder that they paid to be there.  It kept the kids busy during the reception to the point that they didn't get bored.  I think that was a great idea.   Of course knowing lots of folks with kids now, I'm always conscious of that fact and make sure that most things I invite them to specify whether the event is Kid friendly or not.

The Hypocrisy is Strong with the Right Side....

Let's hearken back 8 years.  Remember a certain group of female Country Singers called the "Dixie Chicks"?  Remember them?  Their lead singer Natalie Mane made a statement in front of an audience in England about how she was embarrassed that George W. Bush was her President.   The GOP went ballistic and called for their heads on a platter.  They made statements like "no matter how much you don't like the President or agree with him, statements like that make our Country look weak.  It makes us look like we aren't unified."   They had a point.  I actually agreed with them.  I don't think what Natalie Mane said was so horrible, but it did show the world we weren't as unified a Country as we claimed to be.   Now let's move forward to 1/20/09.   President Barack Obama was sworn in as number 44.  Ever since that day, the same GOP talking heads who wanted the death of the Dixie Chicks for defaming the President are right there, loudly defaming the current President.   So I guess when it's a Rich, White, Good ol' Boy, Republican it's "treason" to say you don't like him, but when it's a Rich, Black, Intelligent Democrat it's okay to bash the shit out of him....and lie doing it too.   Hypocrites.  The Grand Old Party is a bunch of hypocrites.  The Wife made an observation the other day in Books A Million.   She noticed that there were about a dozen or more books written blatantly calling the Pres a "crook, socialist, crackpot, etc etc".   You know if there were that many books written about Bush like that 8 years ago there'd be all kinds of shit stirred up.  Just goes to show you the calmer, more intelligent side of things.   The latest is by Michelle "the psycho Filipina" Malkin.   Yeah I said psycho Filipina.....SG and the Warden will go in to long discussions on the Psychoness of Filipinas, just ask them.   Not all, but I've met my share of them and the Warden was married to one.   That aside, Michelle Malkin is just nuts, whatever her Nationality.  This is the same chick that wanted the head of Rachel Ray because she claimed she was a Terrorist Sympathizer because she was wearing a white and black scarf on her neck.  MM said it was "one of those head wraps the Islamist Terrorists wear".   Um...MM, you are referring to a Shemagh, and every male in the middle east wears one.  Hell our own Soldiers wear them in Iraq and Afghanistan.  So I guess they are terrorists too huh MM?  Stupid bitch.  This is the same dumbass that said the Pres and First Lady were terrorists for doing a fist bump at one of the Conventions.  MM claims that's what Hezbollah does......really moron?  You honestly spew this crap and people take you seriously?  So I guess that means that every Athlete on every Sports Team in the US is a Hezbollah sympathizer.  I can't believe people actually fork out money to read this bitch's shit?  Then there's Beck....his latest is "How to talk to idiots".  I told the Wife that Beck does that every morning when he looks in the mirror.    Then we have Senator Heckler......just rude and disrespectful honestly.   No Democratic Senator or member of Congress EVER did anything like to the last President.  They'd have ended up in Gitmo being waterboarded I'm sure if they did.   The GOP should be ashamed of itself....but of course they won't be.   It's hard to be humble for the Grand Old Party....but hey being relegated to the Party of Irrelevance takes some getting used to I guess.

There's got to be something in the water.....

I heard a news item the other day that made me scratch my head and say "you're just now figuring that out?".  The news item was that a series of psychiatrists was going to be looking into what exactly is it in Florida that is making all of these female teachers have a need to have sex with their teenage students.  Anyone that reads Fark can tell you that the answer to this is "It's Florida".  Heck Florida has it's own news item tag on Fark.  I noticed this a long time ago.  There seems to be something about that State that either just makes late 20's and older women hornier than all get out.   They can't seem to contain themselves.....it's not just in Florida, although the percentage of these events speak to a disturbing trend in the Citrus State, it's in other States too.  It used to be the stereotypical "Dirty Old Man" but lately it's been the "Middle aged, attractive, Soccer Mom type".   It's hard to imagine what a Teen boy, for the most part, can do for these women.  I have a 15 year old Daughter, I've met her friends both male and female and I can tell you there's nothing about any of those girls that I desire or could want whatsoever.   Teen boys are worse...they are dorky and clumsy and they act the fool all the time.   Just don't understand it......and yes I know it's abuse, but all I have to say is

Where were these teachers when I was in High School?   Pseudo serious note, but if this had happened to me and my friends in High School, that teacher would never be arrested.   There were young (30's) attractive teachers we fantasized about and if they ever did what these women did, we'd never tell a soul.   I will give kids today that much credit, they will go a long with this for a bit then turn it around on the teach.  I honestly don't think we would have.  Then again, that was a billion years ago and what do I know?  Yes this is a serious matter, but I honestly don't think we would have reported said teacher back in the day.

The other place where they need to check the water is Ft. Campbell....home of the 101rst Airborne.   Within this past year we have had half a dozen soldiers accused of rape and murder and murder.....could it be the stress of constantly rotating in and out of a combat zone, or is there something more? 

It just seems we have two flux points of strange activity in the US and only now someone is starting to notice.

Two for one Day......

As those that follow this blog know, Heroes is one of my favorite shows.....well except for last season and part of the season before.   The Season before hinted at the formation of Teams.....Super Heroes vs. Super Villans....but it was short lived and the rest of the season went to crap.   Last Season was basically Days of Future Past....see the collected X-Men comics from the 80's in the Graphic Novel of the same name....but unlike that story, Nathan Patrelli's reason for rounding up Supers seemed to be flawed and make absolutely no sense whatsoever.   This Season started off well with a band of Irish Carnies who are a Family of Supers that adds to their ranks when one of them is dying.  They have an aging Time Traveler and they are looking to recruit Hiro to take his place.   It's kind of a "Something Wicked This Way Comes" kind of vibe.  They remind me of Marvel's Morloks....Mutants who have decided to live underground.   So far it's starting out well....then again most seasons of this show do then take a detour somewhere along the line to WTF??ville.  Here's crossing the old fingers that it stays good all season long.

It's about time.....

The Giants are actually coming to the end of a Season on a winning record!!!!  Guess getting rid of Barroid and freeing up all that cash and getting young guys is working out.  Our magic number is 4......let's see if we can make it to a Wild Card Spot.  I may actually have to watch Post Season Baseball this year.

Kanye West: Douche Extraordinaire

Last night at the MTV Video Music Awards;  I'm going to pause right there for a second.  Let's consider the OxyMoronic nature of that statement right there.  MTV Video Music Awards.   You remember MTV don't you?  You know, the cable channel in the '80's that everyone said was going to kill radio because they played visual versions of music.  Yep Music Videos and they had instead of DJs, VJs.   Oh wait, you don't remember that?  That's right, I forgot Music TeleVision hasn't played a freaking video since the mid-90's!  Why these Jackholes think they are experts on Video Music is beyond me.  Anyway back to your regularly scheduled rant.

 

Last night at the MTV Video Music Awards Taylor Swift won for some kind of video.  Not a huge fan of this young lady, but she is one of those rare Country Singers that can crossover and appeal to all listeners of any kind of music.  Not just Country Music fans.  Faith Hill, Shania Twain and Dolly Parton also come to mind.  As she was happily receiving her award and starting to make her speech, has been Kanye West jumped up on stage and grabbed the mic from her telling her congratulations, but that Beyonce's video was better and she should have won.  He was summarily booed off the stage and the shows producers cancelled his performance and they escorted his ass and his large ego out of the building.  I believe this is the second time he's played the Ass at an awards show.  If I recall correctly he had a hissy fit because someone else won over him and he thought he should have won.  I give Kudos to Beyonce (not a fan of hers either) for pausing before her performance to call Taylor Swift up and told her to finish her acceptance speech please and apologized for Kanye's Douchiness.....she didn't say it quite that way but the jist was there.

 

What's with these Douches anyway?  Sean Combs and this dumbass need to go away; far away.  Yes I said Sean Combs...sorry asswipe I refuse to call you P-Diddy or Puffy or whatever stupid ass name you want to call yourself.   Should call the guy Lame Douche.....L-Douchy.   So is this what they tell you to do when you are a failing and fading Rap/R&B star?  Make an ass out of yourself?   You may have an opinion, but we don't want to hear it.  The world doesn't stop to consult your asses before making decisions.  It goes right along without you.  So please, please fade into oblivion a little quicker.  Thanks.

The President's "Evil" Agenda or how Repug Parents are serving their Kids Sour Grapes now.

The President is going to make an Internet speech geared towards children today that has all the Conservative Parents who didn't vote for him in a tizzy.  You see they believe it's part of the President's Socialist "Indoctrination" of their children.  His "Evil" Agenda to warp their minds.  Now mind you, it was announced that the Speech was about education and geared towards keeping kids in school and hopefully lowering the dropout rate and encouraging these kids to work hard and excel so you can get into college.   Evil agenda indeed.  If that's what these frothing at the mouth, repugnican Kool-Aid drinking sour grape eating dumbasses consider "indoctrination" then I say Indoctrinate away.  The freaking transcript was released saying exactly what the President's speech will contain, yet there are still moronic parents and School districts that aren't taking time out of their day or not even showing the speech because they still believe it's crap.  Here's the kicker; that bastion of fear mongering, Bill O'Really, he thinks their's nothing wrong with the speech and that all kids should watch it.  Wow!!!  He's not even remotely a fan of the Pres but yet he even thinks that pushing education is a damn good thing.   So to all you moronic parents I say this; get used to your child lounging around the house at 30 years of age, doing nothing with his/her life.   Hope you didn't want to see your kids succeed because with your insular attitude they won't.  All the President is doing is making education, hard work, college, success a good thing; making it more attractive than dropping out and not getting a diploma or higher degree.   What the Hell is wrong with that?   Do you hate the man that much that when he does something positive you still don't care?  I'm all for free speech and all, but lately some of the shit folks are saying and doing is bordering on treason.  I think the Pres needs to start being a bit more of a Hard Ass.   When Beck called him a racist, hold a press conference and call Beck out for a discussion.  Tell him "put up or shut up".  Something tells me Beck wouldn't have the stones to go face to face with the Pres.  When Sorehead Palin talks about shit she has no clue about, call the bitch on it.  The Pres should have come out and said "all right Sarah the Quitter, where's your proof of these so-called Death Panels?"   The Dems in Congress need to stop being such wusses as well.  Man up Nancy boys and girls and let's go.  Back the Man, tell the Repugs to fuck off or come the next election you will all be history.  We put you in there to change shit; well get off your asses and start.

This is going to suck so badly....

http://thenextweb.com/2009/08/31/disney-acquires-marvel-4-billion/

As those that know me are aware, I'm a huge Comic Geek.  My childhood Super Hero is Spiderman and I was so glad the first two movies didn't suck, but was really disappointed in the last one.  Comics way back when were a great thing, until the '90's.  Those that remember Comics in the 90's will remember that they had become an investment.  Apparently folks in the 90's were looking for that quick investment that no one else had...thus the over abundance of Baseball Card Stores and Beanie Babie stores.  Comics were coming out with 6 different covers with foil and glitter and glow in the dark and you had to put them in plastic bags with a carboard backing so they wouldn't get wrinkled, and God Forbid you actually opened one up and read the damn thing!!!  What ended up happening is summed up by a quote from Stan Lee (one of the Marvel Founders) "We almost killed the Comic book industry with our fancy covers, etc.  We stopped writing books for entertainment and started cranking out crap for investment purposes."  Yes you did.   The company delcared restructuring bankruptcy and Marvel Studios was created to make quality movies.  There were a few movies that had come out over the years and they sucked big time.  Then came X-Men, Spiderman, etc and they were actually good.   Apparently after two sucky Hulk movies and various other failures...see Fantastic Four and Spiderman 3....the crap has hit the fan and Stan Lee is selling out again.  Yep The dreaded Mouse has bought Marvel!!!!!  Oh my God!!!!!  I can't tell you just how much that is going to suck.  I can see it now...Spiderman's new love interest will be Hannah Montana!!!!

Damn Spammers.

Since I've had a rash of comments in Asian....looks like Japanese........on one particular blog entry that are basically spam to some kind of pseudo Porn link I will be turning on Word Verification for all comments. I hate doing that but oh well. Funny little tidbit I noticed this morning:

On the back of a bottle of Target Brand Men's Daily Multi-Vitamins.....now mind you, in large white letters it says "Men's Daily Multi-Vitamins" so no mistaking as to what sex of human those vitamins are designed for.......it says "Warning: If you are pregnant or nursing, please see a doctor before taking these vitamins". Why? Why is that on there? Are there many pregnant and nursing males? Or is that for the illiterate women who can't read the label to know what vitamins they bought....oh wait, if they are illiterate than they wouldn't even know what the hell they bought let alone be able to read the warning label......

It's time to cut through the Bullshit!

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/settingtherecord

Click the link, then tell me if you still think the President is going to have a "Death Panel" to decided the fate of Seniors or if he's going to force you out of your current health insurance plan (which probably sucks anyway). To all you Birthers and ignorant fucktards out there who keep up the rumors and lies......to Hell with you. Choke on it.

Oh and for a bit of humor about this serious situation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNuCfD5bICQ

Is it Just Me? Part 6

In this installment I'd like to discuss Labor Unions.  I will wait for certain people's hackles to rise on that one.  As far as I'm concerned, there are only two Unions that are worthwhile still: Teacher's Unions and Police Unions.  Why those two?  Because those are the two professions that are still grossly underpaid for the shit they have to deal with on a daily basis.  You want Teachers to teach your children?  Then how about paying them a decent wage so they can actually work on teaching those children.  Or how about doing away with tenure so that those sucky teachers who don't even bother anymore can be replaced by teachers that actually teach.  Trust me, I had my share of Teachers who "phoned it in" basically.  You expect Cops to protect your ass yet you still only want to pay them 50+ K a year to do so.  These folks Unions really try to get their people a good deal without strikes and without costing the State (whichever State that may be) a ton of cash.  The other Unions on the other hand......we can honestly do without.   What prompted this was the Jackasses at BART threatening to go on strike again.  I remember the first BART strike.  I was commuting from Walnut Creek to SSF then and when the trains weren't running, there ended up being so much more traffic trying to cross the Bay Bridge in the Morning that it was more of a nightmare than usual.  God that sucked!!!!   The folks on strike?  The Station Agents.   First off, for those that don't know what BART is, it's the Bay Area Rapid Transit system...basically the San Francisco Bay Area's version of a Subway.   Like the Metro for those that live in the DC area.  The Station Agents are the lazy asses that sit behind a glass cube and basically say the same things:  "The Bathrooms are over there".  "No I don't have change, you will have to go find some change somewhere." "The next train is on the schedule over there on the wall."  "Look at the map and it will tell you the best route to take."  And various other non-helpful statements like that.   Back in 1998 they made about 50K a year to do this.  Of course they made that money because they were part of the Union and part of their salary went towards Dues.  Still, they got great benefits and a decent salary for a job a trained monkey could do.  You sit on a damn stool for Christsake!  Behind a glass cube and talk to people via a Microphone.  Recently these same pricks were threatening to go on strike.  But in the age of the Blog and Comment sections on electronic versions of news articles, the public's downright Outrage at the thought of those with "a stable job, with decent pay and great benefits" threatening to walk off their jobs because they want MORE....in this economy affected the quick outcome of not striking.  I remember back in 98 when the strike first happened.   When the Agents came back from their strike they were greeted with derision and hatred.  There were reports of passengers walking up to the Agents and saying "I wish you would die."  Basically these greedy assholes are threatening the livelihoods of a large number of people in the Bay Area who depend on their trains to get them to work in a timely fashion.   Without the trains running, folks would be late for work, or not make it there (some folks don't have a car) and could possibly be fired.  Unions are also the biggest contributor to the fall of the Big 3 US Automakers.....the other contributor was making piece of shit cars no one wanted, but I digress.   An UAW worker makes about 70-100 dollars an hour....but the moron only takes home about 30-40 dollars an hours salary.  The rest goes to the Union for Dues.  Maybe that's why they were cranking out shitty cars.  They were spending so much money on payroll, there was no money left for research of any kind.  Back home, especially in SF, there's a union for everything.   San Francisco could be a huge cargo port if it wanted to be, but the Longshoreman's Union put a stop to that.   They insisted that every cargo ship coming into port needed to be offloaded by hand.  Oakland said screw that and built huge cranes.....lots of them....to the point that Oakland is a hugely busy cargo port.   The one that gets me is there's a union for Hotel workers.  Really?  Is that really necessary?  You clean hotel rooms....not saying it's a horrible job but it's not worth 25 bucks an hour!!!!  It's not worth having a Union over.   Grocery workers back home have a Union.  Cashiers....yes the folks that scan your groceries over a red laser....make about 30+ K a year.  To pass your groceries over a scanner!!!!  For skilled labor, i.e. Carpenters, Electricians, Plumbers, etc I can see a Union, if only for the training that said Unions insist on.  Constant training.  What I think is wrong is the rates these guys get paid.  It's absolutely ridiculous.   Unions really don't have a place in our society today.  There are so many regulatory commissions out thee right now that keep the American Worker safe and sound.   Make them go away and I bet things might get better.....

Is It Just Me? Part 4 A and Part 5

I forgot a couple of examples in the "how not to run a business" installment.  In the City I live in there are some ancient little strip malls still standing.  These were built with poor planning and have bad access to them.   One is built in a gully basically, you can't see anything from the road at all and getting in and out of one of the driveways is like rolling the dice that there is going to be a head on collision or not.  Bad planning.  A new pizza place opened up called Sir Pizza....well that was the original name anyway.  Apparently there is a Sir Pizza that has been opened already for years in another nearby City as is quite crowded most of the time.  We thought that this was either another location or they were closing that one and moving to our City.  Well as a name change within the first week of this place being opened proved, they had nothing to do with the other place.  The name changed to Sir Pizzaria.....like that is any different....  It was never crowded, from what I heard the food sucked, then tried to reopen under new management and it is now closed.   This was a record....six months I believe.   Here's the problem: Don't try and steal a name or pretend you are someone else.....the original place will find out and you will be ratted out as the schmucks you are.  If you are going to open a restaurant like that, be freaking original!!!!  Don't steal a name or style, just do your own thing.  Jeez, use the freaking creative mind you were given.  I can tell you of two successful Pizza restaurants back home that do their own thing: North Beach Pizza (with about 4 locations) and Mountain Mike's Pizza (with a few of their own).   These guys do delivery and sit down service, and they do it well.  The food's good too.  Mountain Mike's is a "go to the counter and order" type of place...it's very well stated when you walk through the door.  No guessing, no being seated then being told to go order at the counter.  You order at the counter then go sit where you want.  If they aren't busy they will sometimes bring your food out to you or call you to come get it.   North Beach Pizza is a wait to be seated, order taken at the table, food brought to you kind of place.  Both have great pizza and great service.   So why can't someone around here do the same?  It's not that hard.  The problem is that the wrong people tend to open businesses around here.  I should say independent, non-chain businesses.  All the chains are great, except O'Charley's but that's corporation wide issue because every single one I've been to so far sucks, but the majority of the independents opening up fail miserably.   They go the cheap route.  Buy the cheapest supplies possible and crank out a crappy product....then they wonder why they fail.  Another one is Big Bad Wolf eatery...apparently they do BBQ or whatever.  The Real Estate Office the Wife worked at had them cater lunch one day.  Wifey said the food sucked.   That would explain the lack of people in their restaurant every night.  Seriously, I have not seen a single person sitting in there eating, yet they are still open.  Why?  These folks probably have found the cheapest cut of meat they can find to cook, thus the crappy food.   When will folks learn?  You can't cut corners, especially if you are selling food for folks to consume.   If I had the cash I'd open an Deli.  Other than a Subway and a Quizno's there are no other Deli's around.   Oh sure, Kroger's has one, but good luck trying to have them make you a sandwich.   I tried to get one once and got the lamest excuse ever.  It was like the little bitty behind the counter didn't want to.  They have several condiment bins on a prep area but yet there's nothing in them.   The lady literally told me it would take 15-20 minutes to make a sandwich and then stalked over to the produce section to find tomatoes, etc to put on the sandwich.  I looked at her and the whole process with my chin on the floor.   It was surreal.  Like some kind of Twilight Zone episode.  I was thinking to myself, it's just a damn sandwich for christsake!!!!  I walked away.  We told the manager and he was pissed he said "we will get you a sandwich made sir".  I told him that it was okay, that I really didn't want it anymore and I was afraid the lady would be pissed enough to spit in it or something.   Even though the bitty was told, their policy still hasn't changed.  The only Deli sandwiches you can get at the Kroger Deli are the one's made up already and packaged.   Jeez I remember going to the Safeway Deli and getting a fresh, hand made sandwich in about 5 minutes with no hemming or hawing or looks like I was asking the person to cure cancer or fly to the moon or something!  I'd make a mint with a Deli especially if I played up the "Italian Deli" part.  Have the big ol' jars of vinegar with the layers of herbs and veggies in them, or the big collectors bottles of chianti (although with our stupid alcohol laws I probably couldn't sell that). 

 

Now on to part 5.  Health Care Reform.

Is it just me, or does it seem like the most vocal opponents of Health Care Reform are all conservatives who hate change and are opposed to the idea because President Obama wants this to succeed?   Seriously, I don't understand the anger from the most average of citizens to the whole idea of Government Health Care?  These old geezers scream Socialism but benefit from the biggest piece of socialistic process called Medicare.  Yeah we the People pay for your health care old fart....yet you don't want me to have any.  No it's okay for you to suck off the Government Teat but if I want to I can't.  I also don't understand why the average citizen is vocally defending greedy corporations?  Seriously folks, even those with health insurance are finding it harder and harder to get that insurance company to pay for anything!!!  Yet they will keep upping your premiums....basically taking more of your money but giving you less for it.  Yeah those folks are so worth defending.   I don't get it.   I see too many drinkers of the sour grape wine on the right.   They don't want to cooperate, or even offer another solution.  They come up with some kind of scare tactic...."Death Panels" comes to mind....completely false by the way.....and harp on it.  Apparently the uneducated, easily swayed voter on the right loves simple statements they can chant over and over again....remember "Drill Baby Drill" yeah that was such a great solution to the problem..... You don't want the government involved, yet you're okay with getting bent over and rapped by Insurance Companies while you grow fatter and fatter and dumber and dumber and die earlier than you should.   Yeah the "Free Market" is sooooo great.  I think not.  The problem I see is that the Free Market jettisoned all form of ethics and honor and emotions a long time ago in favor of PROFIT!!!  Profit at whatever means possible.  If that means killing people with an inferior product but not fixing the issue and covering it up because "its only 1 out of 100" then hey let's just keep making that shitty widget.  The Ford Pinto comes to mind.   It was determined, and this was put in writing which is a stupid idea to begin with, that it was cheaper in the long run to pay the wrongful death suits for people dying because the gas tank in the Pinto exploded than it was to fix the issue.   The issue was a bolt placed in a bad place that in the event of a rear end collision would cause the gas tank to scrap against it, causing sparks and rupturing the gas tank in the process which lead to an explosion.   So instead of moving the bolt or whatever they would just let people die and pay the grieving families.   But hey, let's keep defending the Corporations okay.  They have our best interest in mind right????  Right????  The more care the Insurance Companies deny you, they less they have to pay out to the Doctors and the more of your money they get to keep.  They make money off of you being sick.  Don't tell me there is competition either.....try shopping for individual/Family insurance online sometime.  I have.  There's no difference in price for similar policies at all.  They all cost around the same.   There's no competition.  Hell there's more competition to get a freaking shirt and a pair of pants than there is to go get your blood pressure taken.  It's no secret either, the costs of health care is one of the biggest causes of companies going bankrupt but yet these monkies show up screaming and yelling to Town Hall meetings energized by the Beck's and Hannity's of the world to cause havoc basically.  These people aren't disgruntled Americans exercising their First Amendment Rights, no these people are easily swayed, uniformed Assholes who think the President wasn't born in this Country and that he's going to "Take yer guns" and he's going to turn American into a Communist Country.     Oh and they're pissed because he's Black......actually these folks love to point out how "he's only half Black....so actually he's White too...."  It just pisses me off.  It really does.  These folks don't care about the truth or the facts, they just want to yell and scream and be bullies.  Plain and simple.  It's a mob mentality that is ruining our Country.   If you don't agree with the Bill before the Senate and House because you think it's going to cost too much money or disagree with some portion of it, that's fine.  Please call your Congressmen/Senator and tell them.  But discuss it in a civilized fashion.  Yelling bullshit and acting like an uncivilized Asshole isn't going to do any good.  It's just going to lose your side another election.  Honestly it is.  The Senators and Congress Folks are worse.   They bitch and moan about everything the Pres wants, but yet won't offer any alternate solutions of their own.  Seriously, these jokers just bitch because it's a knee jerk reaction (Jerk is the operative word here) to a Democratic President.  Enough of this shit.   Seriously folks, let's sit down and have a civilized discussion without the bullshit and frothing at the mouth.  If not then the Corporations are going to win and they are just going to keep screwing us over until we beg for it because we know nothing better.   Wake up America!  Stop thinking with your politics and start using your freaking head!

Is it Just me? Part 4

This installment will be about folks who open up businesses but have no business running a business.  Say that five times fast.  Anyhow, I've always been of the mindset that if you don't have any clue of what it takes to run a business, then you should go get yourself a clue before you open one up.  Learn about inventory, pricing, location, advertising, hours of operation, etc etc..... In the City I live in, we've had several examples of "what not to do" when running a business.   There is a chain called NYPD for New York Pizza Deli.  One opened up in the Providence Mall near my home.  They were advertised as being a deli style pizza restaurant where you could order by the slice or the pie.  Things were bad when they first opened as they were only open the first week to friends of the owner.  Excuse me?   Bad form.   When they were finally opened to the public, there was no ordering by the slice...or if you wanted by the slice it would take several minutes....say 15.....it was like they were saying "it's an annoyance for us to do that even though our Franchise says we have to".  We went in the sign said please wait to be seated.   There was a dozen folks working but no one sat us.  An employee on his way out the door told us to go sit wherever and someone will come to take our order.  Okay.  We did, and the waitress who's section it was just kept giving us funny looks.   Didn't come over and ask if she could help us or nothing, just kept giving us looks.   Finally she came over and said something to the effect of "Did someone tell you to sit in my area?"  Which I interpreted to mean "I don't want to have to work real hard tonight so why did someone seat you in my area?".    She took our drink order and food order (we had waited long enough that we actually decided on what we wanted at that point) and we never saw her again.  Oh, she came by to the other tables, but didn't once ask if we needed refills, how the food was, nothing.  Other wait staff delivered our food and drinks.  Hell I even had to get another waitress to get our check.  I went up to the counter to pay (it looked like that's where you paid) and the owner gave me a funny look like "why are you up here to pay?".    We chalked it up to new restaurant, shitty staff.   We went again a few weeks later.   We had to wait to be seated again, this time someone actually sat us right away.   The waitress then gave us our menus and said "When you are ready to order just go up to the counter and order."  Okay, last straw.  We left.   If I have to wait to be seated, and you have wait staff, then you are going to take my order and bring my food to me.  If I have to go stand in line and order it, then I get to sit where I want and don't expect a tip.  They have since changed their name to NYYP or New York New York Pizza.  I think they got their franchise pulled on them so just fudged the name to stay in business.  Honestly, it could be a crowded place, but it's not.  They suck that much.   Prime example of know what the hell you are doing before you open a business.  Now it may seem like I'm being petty, but honestly make up your damn mind.  What kind of restaurant are you?   It's like I won't go to a Korean BBQ restaurant.  I'm sure the food is good, but I'm not paying for food and service at a restaurant where I'm expected to cook my own damn food.  If you are not familiar with a Korean BBQ restaurant, they work like this.  There is a hibachi grill in the center of the table.  You order the food you want and it is brought out to you raw.  You are then supposed to use the grill to cook it the way you like it.  Of course their prices are still the same as if a chef cooked it for you and the waiters still expect a tip.  I know Papa Murphy's pizza is cheaper because you take it home and cook it.  That's fine by me.  If I have to do some work then you cut the price.   It's cheaper to wash your car yourself than go through a car wash. 

 

Another example is a coffee chain we have in our mall.  No it's not Starbucks it's called Billy Goat Coffee Company.  These folks issue is they are too damn expensive.  Hell Starbucks is cheaper.  We had two coffees and two slices of cheesecake...total 18 bucks!  You'd think a place like that who is trying to compete with Starbucks would be cheaper than...but no. 

 

Another example is a place that has seasonal stuff.  Here in Tennessee we have actual winter.  It's not like Michigan, but it gets damn cold still.   One of the first casualties of the new mall is the Keva Juice.  Think Jamba Juice for my California friends.   Healthy smoothies....heck smoothies in general are really only a summer treat.   Even then they weren't that busy.  I chalk it up to the fact that I live in the 3rd Fattest state in the union and smoothies are a "Yankee" invention.  Maybe if they called the Heavenly Smoothies and the cups came with a Jesus fish on them.....but I digress. 

 

Then you've got the NIMBY business folks who have been here for years.  For those that don't know the acronym it stands for Not In My Backyard.  These are the one's that were used to the City being a small, sleepy bedroom community with a smattering of businesses.  Heck the only prevalent businesses were Lawyers, Real Estate Agents, Insurance Brokers and Mortgage Brokers.  Then the mall came in.  It increased the population, okay the new housing that came with the mall helped with that, and increased the sales tax revenue.  But yet, we still have the NIMBY's who have copped a bad attitude and refuse to change to compete.  There's a little coffee/lunch counter place in our City.   I've never been there because their hours are the most inconvenient ever.  Our City is a commuter City.  Folks live here because they work in Nashville but don't want the hassle of living in a major City.  There aren't many office buildings in our City, nor is there the headquarters of any large corp, etc.  People drive away from Town to go to work, not into town.  Yet, this coffee shop is only open Monday - Friday from 8am to 5pm.  The owner has always had an attitude about everything.   I'm sorry, you bitch about no business, or that the "mall is taking" your business but yet you refuse to compete with the mall.  She's also in a crappy location.  A two lane road that is majorly busy and it makes it unsafe to get to her shop from one side of the road, and even worse to try and get out of the parking lot.  Bad location, bad attitude, bad hours=no business.

 

Another example are Hobby Lobby and Chik-Fil-A.   Both run by Christian corporations......neither open on Sunday.   Now one is a Hobby/Craft store and the other is a Chicken Fast Food place.  From what I know of Church around here, you are there the majority of the morning and get out about 11:30am.   Most folks work M-F and do chores/errands on the weekends.   Chik-Fil-A not being open....okay...they are open late and you can get the same food anytime of day.  Hobby Lobby though, sorry, but folks shop on the weekends, even after Church.  Hell people go out to eat after Church...trust me I know this from being at Cracker Barrel at the wrong time of morning on Sundays.......So why wouldn't you be open?  Especially a Known Christian Corporation....guess where the Church folks would flock to eat at......exactly.   Just not a smart idea. Banks too...they've always cracked me up when it came to their hours of business.  I can see being closed on Sunday, heck the Post Office is, but on Saturday?  At least most banks I've banked at had Saturday hours.  They weren't that long, but hey they were open at least.  But what always gets me is that their employees take lunch at the same hour as everyone else in the world.  Why is that dumb you ask?  Well if you have banking to do in person during the week, when do you do it?  You go at your lunch break.  So does everyone else in the world.  But yet, that's the time the banks have the least staff on hand.  Makes no freaking sense.

Town Hall Riots????

It seems that the latest GOP/Special Interest tactic to stop Congress from doing anything about Health Care Reform is to send out small groups of Jackasses to Congressional Town Hall meetings and have these folks start acting like assholes. It's been in the news lately, how these Town Hall Meetings have turned into the Jerry Springer show with a handful of these fraktards yelling and screaming and generally carrying on to try and intimidate the Congressman into not voting for the Reform bill. That's right folks, the Insurance Companies don't want health care reform because then they can't take your money each year and not give you anything for it anymore. No, they'd actually have to do something for you. Why are people so afraid of a National Health Care system? Why? The reason we need one is to introduce a bit of competition into the free market. Health Insurance Companies all offer the same thing for the same price basically. There's very little difference in premiums. Therefore, no competition. They're in it together. Free Market my ass. For almost a decade now, the Free Market has shelved any form of ethics in favor of making more profit at whatever cost. Look at the current banking and housing situation. Banks and Mortgage companies got so damn greedy that they were talking the average person into getting a loan that was the most riskiest piece of crap yet. But they would talk a great game, nearly "guaranteeing" the property would double in value then you could re-fi to a better mortgage. Now, a smart person, or a thinking person would say that was a crock. You cannot guarantee the value of anything doubling. The market fluctuates so much that all one could do is predict. Now the banks are stuck with worthless properties because of their greed. Health care is the same. The insurance companies have basically increased their rates in favor of giving you any actual benefit for that money. In most cases, for the cheapest monthly rate you can find (usually just shy of 300 bucks a month for a family) you have to incur a huge amount of out of pocket debt before the insurance even kicks in. So you pay 300 bucks a month for the benefit of paying your doctor out of your own pocket the same price you'd pay him if you didn't have insurance. Seriously? But hey, it's the "free market" after all....Government shouldn't be involved. Yeah that's like saying the Police shouldn't bust pedohiles or rapists. After all it's a "free market" right? By basically allowing these institutions to do what they are doing, we the people are allowing them to rape us; molest us. The Government doesn't want to seize control of every aspect of your life, they just want to do the will of the people. We the people want to be able to afford monthly health care premiums without having to not buy groceries that month. We want our insurance that we pay for to actually give us some benefit for the money. I want to be able to pay an affordable monthly rate and have a plan that lets me see my Doctor whenever I need to and only pay a small co-pay for that office visit. Say 30 bucks. Is that asking for alot? No it's not. But the insurance companies aren't going to change their ways. They make money off of our bad health. It's sad but true. What is wrong with paying a little more taxes in order to fund a Government sponsored program that will force the Insurance Companies to compete or die? Everyone will agree that we need to fix our system yet the majority of these people aren't willing to fork out a little extra cash to do so. Hypocrites I say.

Yay it's August....

Boo it's still freaking raining!!!!  Um, I can safely say we've basically had no summer whatsoever.   I feel like I'm living in Seattle here with the amount of rain we've had.   The Wife and I have been dying to get out the bikes and load them on the bike rack and head over to one of the many State Greenways we have near us to go riding. http://www.nashville.gov/greenways/maps.htm Here's the link in case you're curious.   I've been searching online for a pair of bike saddle bags that will attach to the rear rack that came with my bike.   We saw a rider with one and had to ask him about them.  Sure we've had some nice enough days to go riding, but the humidity makes any physical exercise unbearable.  It's just damn hard to breathe, and yes we are both in our mid-40's and out of shape.  We've been trying.  We bought a Wii Fit Balance Board and it's great.  Works your ass off I must say.  We also got Wii Sports Resort, the new collection of Wii Sports games.  You are at this Island resort with all these activities going on.  It's a great game and uses the Wii Motion addon...basically the third gyroscope the Wii remote desperately needed to offset the issues it was having.  What issues?  If you don't own a Wii, then you haven't experienced the Boxing game lag.  Basically in the game that comes with the console, there is a boxing game.  You physically can punch faster than the game reacts.  The original two gyroscopes in the remote can only react so fast, and it was discovered that most humans punch faster than it can react.  The addition of the 3rd gyro has fixed this.  August is also great because the child starts back to school.  Although I'm preparing for grey hairs because she will be 15 and that means a Learner's permit.  I finally own my Scion outright and the child will be driving it..........possibly...although I think I will let her practice on Mom's Focus first.   It's also my birthday month.  Yes I turned 44 this year, and no I don't get all freaky about age.  I look at it this way, there's always the alternative of not having birthdays :)  I'd rather be one year older than dead.  It also means I truly am old enough to say things like "you kids today xxxx" (fill in the blank) or "I remember when you ......." or my favorite "Get off of my lawn!!!"   Speaking of....I finally got a chance to mow the damn thing!  Here's the pattern around here.  You mow, it rains for a week.  It clears up, but you can't mow then because the ground is swampy but you really need to because your yard is now a jungle.   When the time comes around that the ground should be sort of dry it starts raining again and you still can't mow!!!!  You get these narrow windows of time when it's dry and perfect weather for mowing and you hear everyone's mowers going.  Here's hoping we can get out in September.....