Haley Madison

Born this morning at 9:26 AM. My second Grandchild, little Haley Madison......she's adorable and Nanu plans to spoil the crap out of her in the years to come.

Wow you learn something every day!!

So apparently every single drop of gas that is sold in the US comes from refineries in Houston Texas.....did you realize that? I mean it must right? Every single station save a handful around middle Tennessee has no gas! So apparently all those other refineries in the other States just make rainbows and Unicorn Farts. Can you freaking believe this crap? Seriously, we need to find another way to power our damn vehicles now. I would truly love some other industry to come up with another fuel source so we can watch the Ivory Towers of Oil crumble to the ground. It is pretty messed up of us isn't it? The technology of our cars has grown in leaps and bounds since Henry Ford first pulled the lever on his first factory. I mean we don't have to change points and distributors and rotors when we do a tune up anymore (remember that???). Heck we don't even have to change the plugs in our cars until 120,000 miles now! Yet the only thing that hasn't changed about the engine; they still run on internal combustion. They still need gasoline to power the generation of torque, etc. STILL!!! After 1,000 years....c'mon! It's 2008 for Christsake!! Weren't we supposed to have flying cars by now???

The Undecided Voter

I made a special badge for the Undecided Voter. The Undecided Voter is that guy in line ahead of you at McD's looking at all his choices conviently packaged into numbered combos or an entire .99 cent value menu but still hems and haws and just can't make up his freaking mind! Meanwhile behind him are about 5,000 people who already knew what they wanted coming in (for Christsake it's McDonalds...they serve Hamburgers, Fish Fillet sandwiches and Chicken items plus fries, drinks, salads and other sides...oh and dessert. Not really hard to figure out what you want. Beef, Chicken or Fish, something to drink and a side or dessert if you feel like it.) or figured it out within 5 minutes of standing in line. The Undecided Voter is the lady at the grocery store who has a debit card, but insists on still writing a check!!! And of course she waits until the guy/gal is done ringing her up to fish for her check book in her purse, fish around again for a pen, slowly opens the book, starts to write check, asks for the total about a dozen times (even though it's right there on the cashier's screen....) then fumbles through her purse again to find her wallet so she can show her ID. Then takes approximately 12 years or so to pack everything back in the purse and slowly walks towards her cart and takes her crap out to her car. Meanwhile the line behind her is to the frozen food aisle near the back of the store!!! Or the guy/gal that when you are out to dinner and has looked at the menu about 50 times but still can't make a bloody decision!!! This clown asks "what are you having?" to each of his/her dining companions. For folks like that I always want to respond "I'm having a hard time keeping myself from taking this butter knife and jamming it in your eyeball is what I'm having...".

This is the Undecided Voter. So to the Attention Whore Undecided Voter I say this: November is 2 months away!! You will be called upon on November 4th (or somewhere around there) to make a decision that affects you and your fellow Americans. Heck, early voting is going to start in a week or so around here. Here's your choices, and they are really easy.

A man who's only claim to experience is that he was a Prisoner of War for 5 years in Nam. This same man has lots of experience in the Senate and at one time was a Centrist but in the past 8 years has sided with the bad decision making process of his Party's main stooge 95% of the time. A man who's answer to our ongoing fuel shortfall is to "drill baby drill!" and to take tax revenue away from each State to give you that "tax holiday" during the summer on your gas....which if you really thought about it would really screw up our State's big time. Folks forget that the money from fuel taxes goes to maintaining roads, salt trucks to de-ice said roads in the wintertime (what do you think the City/County/State just magically waves it's wand and poof there are salt trucks that mystically appear as if out of nowhere????) but hey it will lower gas prices right??? Don't bet on it. It will just put that much more profit into the pockets of the oil companies. (side note here: The Republican Party used to be strong on defense and all about smaller Government and very Pro Corporation. Now it seems like it's become the Jesus Party and the take away every Civil Liberty our Citizens have because we need to be safe from the Islamic Facists.) A man who wants to basically continue the failed policies of the last 8 years and drive our economy further into the ground and a man who's running mate talks about women breaking the glass ceiling but wants to deny a woman her choice of what to do with her body and wants to stop scientific advancement. A running mate who thinks that Global Industrialization has nothing to do with the Planet's Climate changing.

OR:

A man who has only had two terms as a Senator but before that was a Lawyer and a State Senator. A man who could have worked at some big Law Firm getting crooks and murderers off but instead worked at a smaller Firm. A man who is a Community Organizer, essentially a person who gives of themselves to help take back a Community from the degradation and corruption that have ruined it. (Word of note for Sarah Palin: Jesus Christ was a Community Organizer and Pontius Pilate was a Governor......just wondering, why does she hate Jesus?) A man who made the South Side of Chicago a better place to live and stopped it from becomming Detroit!! A man who's only mantra is Change we can believe in and Hope (you know the last thing in Pandora's Box that helped make all the evil's contained therein palatable). A man who has written down what he wants to do across Party lines to help this Country pull it's collective head out of it's collective ass. It may be a painful process folks, but isn't birth/metamorphosis always a bit painful. Ben Franklin said "No gain without pain" (yes Ben said it first...). There may be an increase in taxes, but how the Hell do you people think crap gets done? With Rainbows and Unicorn Farts?????? The once almighty dollar still talks, although it's a bit short of breath right now. Everyone bitches about "those damn Chinese taking over" but yet still shop at WalMart. I hear these same people say "why don't we make stuff here anymore?" Because the present Administration and the one before it, yes Bubba I'm looking at you and your dumbass NAFTA, made it so attractive to the Corps to manufacture everything cheaply that they didn't stop to think of the impact on the Economy of the Country their consumers live in. You can stop bitching and do something about it. Barack wants to give tax breaks to Corporations that stop outsourcing manufacturing jobs and start re-opening factories here in the US. Make it more attractive to the Corps to give the Middle Class jobs back. Look let's face it, some people's skill set and education level only allows them to work certain kinds of jobs. There's nothing wrong with that, the world needs ditchdiggers you know. What's wrong is those folks don't have a place to work anymore because a bunch of Chinese folks are doing their jobs in Beijing or Shanghai for 25 cents an hour. The way to change that will be to vote for Obama, not McCain. McCain will continue to encourage the Corps to do business as usual. Obama may not be able to do everything he wants to do, but dammit he at least wants to try. Honestly folks, how much worse can he make it? I do know that if the present trend continues our Country may not bounce back. Nothing we do is going to make gas prices come down. Not happening. The only thing we can do is continue to research, and I mean non-oil companies doing the research, alternate ways to get us from point A to Point B. Seriously people think about it. We get our television via Sattelites now. Civilians have freaking sattelite dishes on their houses!!! Land line phones have gone the way of the DoDo now. You can use cable lines to speak to each other now. Hell we have cellular technology. Portable/Mobile phones have gone from a large box in your car with external attennae to something the size of a pack of smokes to something that fits in the palm of your hand!!!! We have cars that used kinetic energy from braking to store power in a battery and that stop using gasoline when the engine is running under 40 mph!!!! We've had all these advances, except in the crap that makes your car go. In all this time we haven't found another method of internal combustion????? We've got freaking mechanical arms that do heart surgery now but we still use gas to make a car go. We've improved engine technology for cars but it's still the basic internal combustion engine. Something's seriously wrong with us if we can give that up.

So Undecided Voter again, in simple terms, here's your choice:

Business as usual (in the words of Dr. Phil, how's that working out for ya?)

or

An attempt to begin to fix the problem.

It's really not that hard.

Barack Obama 101

First let me correct a statement I made yesterday about Gov. Palin being a member of the organization that wants Alaska to suceed from the Union. She was briefly (probably thought it a bid idea considering she was probably running for Gov at the time) but isn't anymore. Her husband is though and she talks at their functions. Here's a link to a true false article about her....the truths are scary.. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/03/MN0012MQNM.DTL&hw=true+false+about+Palin&sn=001&sc=1000

Now for Gov. Palin and all the hard headed Repubs out there who still say "what is Barack Obama going to do...he hasn't said anything...". Well to use a Palin quote from last night, after he "Holds back the waters and heals the world" (you know it's funny, she said that last like it was a bad thing......not a real good sentiment from the Governor of Alaska....) he will do what he has laid out in this http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/ObamaBlueprintForChange.pdf . Now I know some of you Repubs (apparently Gov. Palin is one of these) are just figuring out how to navigate these here newfangled Interweb things, but if you click on the link and READ...oh that's right, it's not a book by Bill O'Reily or Man Coulter so I guess you won't bother....you will see, detailed, what the Senator wants to do for our Country as President. I love how some delegate told the news after Palin's speech last night "Biden better be scared...". Yeah right. Sorry Dude, but Biden has 35 years experience and will destroy the Pitbull with lipstick (well Palin did say the difference between a Hocky Mom and a Pitbull is the lipstick....) when it comes to foreign policy and life outside of the frozen tundra of Alaska. I can't wait for these debates.

Did you also notice that during the entire RNC, so far anyway, not a single speech has been about what the Repubs intend to do to help our economy, etc. Not a thing. All I've heard is "blah blah 9/11...blah blah blah defend our country blah blah Barack is EVIL blah blah blah stop the terrorists blah blah 9/11". Seriously! Giulianni was on his usual "Mayor of New York blah blah 9/11 blah blah" kick which was the reason he didn't get the nomination. And of course true to what Barak Obama said, I saw lot's of White Folks in the convention audience clinging to their guns and religion. See he was right after all.

I will try and contain myself.

I will let Ha Ha Guy make my snarky remark for me.....

Yes, you can all figure out what this is going to be about.....or can you? I know you are saying "go ahead Mr. Ranter, let's hear all about what a loser Bristol Palin is because she's 17 and preggers...."

Nay nay good readers, you do me a disservice. Bristol Palin is not running for office, and yes I believe that you are fair game but only when you are a certain age. Bristol is only 17 and she's not campaigning for Mom whereas Chelsea Clinton is in her 30's and was center stage stumping for Mom. Chelsea=fair game Bristol=leave the kid alone she has enough crap to deal with....especially because she is being forced to marry Levi her "f**in Redneck" boyfriend who "doesn't want kids". Too late Levi. So no, I'm not going to slam a teenager ill equiped to make an intelligent decision regarding birth control. Especially a teenager who was told to "just don't do it because it's a SIN!!!!!". Yeah, like that's going to stop raging hormones....... No dear reader, this is going to be about her Mom, Sarah Palin and the Ha Ha Guy is because of the hypocrisy of the Republican Party.

According to the Repubs, Obaman doesn't have the experience to lead. John McCain does because he flew a plane in the Navy in Nam and he got shot down and was a POW. Thanks for the Service John, but that doesn't make you leader caliber. Obama has been a Senator for 2 terms, McCain for a lot of years. Now we have Palin who Fred (dum dum....sorry had to throw the Law and Order thing in there.....) Thompson says "is qualified to lead this Country should she have to." Really? She was the Mayor of Podunk Alaska before becomming Governor and only serving.....a year!!!! Governor of a huge State with not a lot of population, also head of an organization who's goal was to have Alaska succeed from the Union! But you know McCain says "Country First".....I guess he forgot to as Sarah if she was for Country First or Alaska First.....it sounds to me like it's Alaska first. Yep folks, in her first interview after being picked as McCain's running mate she basically sad "I'm so happy with the things I can do for Alaska and Alaskans...." Ummmm I thought the President and Vice-President were supposed to be concerned with all 50 States and not just one? Sounds like she's still looking for that chance of succession.

I pause for one comment about the Bristol situation.....two things about her pregnancy that glaringly point out Mom's hypocrisy:

1. Just goes to show that "abstinence Only" education in schools is full of loads of Fail.

2. Proves that our Sex Offender laws can be way too strict. Levi is 18, Bristol is 17, according to the law he should be arrested and at least have to register as a sex offender for having sex with an underage girl. I think that 17 is one of those border line ages that should be viewed as if it was a crime by the age difference between the two parties involved. A 20 year old and a 17 year old...yeah he's a big perv. 18 year old and a 17 year old......pretty consenual if you ask me.

I also would like to point out that if Bristol was Obama's 17 year old daughter, the GOP wouldn't pull any punches and slam the crap out of the kid and it wouldn't be "a private matter".

Palin also was instrumental in getting funds for building a bridge to some island in Alaska that wasn't necessary to build a bridge to because no one went there. When the press got ahold of the truth and it was being called "The Bridge to NoWhere" she changed her mind and said she wasn't for it and it was a dumb idea. Did she give back the tax money? Hell no!!! This is a woman who like most Republicans think that the Government should be not so involved in our lives; unless you want to have an abortion or you want to take your Wife off of a life support system because it was her last wishes......then they can get up in your business. Or if they want to pull the 80 year old Granny out of line at the Airport because she could be a terrorist or listen in to your phone calls because it's their right because they are looking for terrorists. Yeah it's okay then. Apparently she is so Pro-Life that she thinks any form of birth control is abortion. Wow!!! Tell that to all those little 13 year old boys going through puberty. I guess all that choking of the chicken is abortion too.

Bbbb...but Obama has no experience and POW...9/11.....

Yeah right.....Ha Ha indeed.

New Link Added....

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

From Senator Obama's website, the truth behind all the crap circling the drain of the Internet. Next time I get one of these stupid emails from Family/Friends (mostly Family) I will send them this link. Although over on the Professors blog some goof commented that even though there is a picture of Barack's birth certificate on his site it's "totally fake......". You know, honestly, give me a break here. It's jackasses like these that you can literally bring the actually document to the guy, put it in front of him, have him examine the water marks, etc and he'd still say it's fake. It's like the Creationists that believe Satan sprinkled fossils around to foll Mankind because if you go by the Bible the Earth is only 6,000 or so years old. By the way, did you catch Michelle Obama's speech last night? Wow. She did good. I think her and her husband need to do more of that kind of getting to know us stuff. I support the guy because I believe that the man means well and actually wants to do something with this Country other than widen the gap between the haves and the have nots and make the Corporations richer while shipping every single American job overseas. The John McCain of old I'd have voted for; the McCain of 2000 and earlier. This McCain, no chance in Hell. He's become the new mouthpiece for the Republicans. Politically he and Barack are Centrists. The problem is that when the Republican Nominee tries to go against the grain in the Party lines, he gets yanked back to the Right and told to straighten up. The Dems did that with Kerry, and they try with Barack but he won't let them.

The More Hate they spew...the more afraid they are...

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/obama.asp#anthem

When I first started navigating the seas of these here interwebs I, believing that I was helping out my fellow man, forwarded warnings of the dreaded Budweiser Frog virus.....you know the one that says a screen saver of the frogs saying "Bud....Wei....ser" would ruin your computer. As was pointed out by several folks I should look at a particular website called Snopes.com http://www.snopes.com/ who is an impartial group of folks who take every single one of these email warnings at face value and investigate it. What they find 95% of the time is that these emails are complete bunk. Now from the above link you can see every single Obama email that has circulated. All but 2-3 of them are false. I looked at all the McCain ones...there's about 5 total. So I guess the fact that Obama is the first candidate in a long time that might actually help out the people of this Country and not the 5% that hold all the wealth has got that 5% so scared that they are pulling BS out of their collective asses and trying to flood the internet with it. My extended family is guilty of not listening to me and passing this crap along. My Aunt in Florida took about 6 tries before she started checking before she forwarded.....its worked in the effect that her forwards are of the joke variety...usually about our Italian heritage. My Cousin, we will call her M, and her husband, we will call him T love to forward these things. I have referred them to http://www.snopes.com/ (notice a pattern here folks....it's a site worth bookmarking.) on numerous occassions. They haven't listened. Myself and a slew of other folks I don't know but are on their mailing list (well okay...two of the names were my Cousin's Mom my Aunt S and my Mother) just got forwarded the most recent Obama lie...how he wants to raise Capital Gains taxes and how McCain wants to make them 0%. Now mind you, even if this was true, and it's not, most of the people I know aren't selling their houses nor are they going to be able to get 500,000 dollars for them; not in this market anyway. But my Cousin is so worried, then again she tells me she's an independent but she's married to a right wing Repulican (and they're Catholic.....something wrong with that as the Right Wingers don't consider Catholics to be Christian.....that whole King James Version vs New Bible version thing...) who thinks that Michael Savage is God and that if it doesn't come from Fox News it's not News. He's also racist. Not openly but he is. When discussing sports with him and sports atheletes in particular one time his reply to me was, "Ah I don't care about those guys, I tend to only care about the White Guys." He's made other comments along those lines but that's one of the most telling. Not only did I reply with the Snopes link to the actually snopes report on the falsehoods contained in her email, but one of the other folks on the list did too and that person proceeded to lecture them on the spreading of lies about her chosen candidate and that they should learn a bit more about both candidates before spreading lies. My Cousin replied back to me with "aren't opinions great!! Choose wisely!!". Obviously she didn't read the link I sent her as the reports of the email being false isn't opinion but well researched fact. Even a sermon I heard on TV the other Sunday...yes I know, let me explain. We watch the Sunday morning version of the Today Show then proceed to get ourselves ready for the day, by the time we come back across the TV Cornerstone Baptist Church in Nashville has started or is in the middle of their Sunday Service broadcast which I usually turn off.....from a very Conservative Baptist Pastor (so Conservative that when Tennessee had a proposition on it's ballot one year to define Marriage as between a Man and a Woman or Person and a Person he purchased a 2 hour block of TV time to tell everyone how EVIL the gays are) who was talking about the candidates. He made a statement I agree with; if you can't take the time to educated yourselves on the candidates and at least know basic things about them you shouldn't be allowed to vote. Wow, I actually agreed with a sentiment from a Baptist Minister. Amazing I know. He said that in his travels he decided to ask folks what they knew about the Candidates. He discoverd that alot of folks believed the crap. Obama is a Muslim, being a POW makes McCain a good Candidate for President (I take it this Pastor is pro-Obama because his statment on this was "I don't think it qualifies McCain for President, I actually am not sure what does because we know nothing about his stance on things") that Obama is mixed-race (some Moron actually answered "His race is Democrat right?"). At least my Oldest Step-Daughter is honest about it. She tells me that she doesn't vote because she really doesn't care about Politics and that it's all the same. I'd love to smack her for that, but at least she doesn't waste a vote. It may not seem like it matters, but it does. There are people in other Countries who would be killed if they voted. People have died for the right to vote in many parts of the World, but yet here we are in the US with folks like my former Father-in-Law who told me "I vote for every Democrat and No on all propositions." Wow, thanks for participating. Then there are those that blindly vote Party lines. I voted for Clinton the first time around because he was the better choice. I ceased being a Democrat years ago because I noticed that both parties were interchangeable and really a True Dem and a True Repub didn't exist anymore. The second time around I voted for Ross Perot because Clinton had done nothing for me and kept beating the dead horse of Gays in the military to death. Look if you are Gay and want to serve in the Military, fine by me. Don't expect special treatment though, but do expect to be treated like everyone else. Along came the next election and Lo and Behold we had the Moron and Al "I invented the internet and I'm going to save the country from itself" Gore. I voted for Nader which I was told was "a vote for Bush".....no it was a vote for Nader. I didn't vote for Bush, I voted for Ralph Nader. What part of that did you not understand? I found out these friends "would have" voted for Nader but didn't think he stood a chance (apparently this was the attitude of a lot of Democrats....hmmm wonder if these "would haves" would have actually voted for Nader if he would have won????). The last election I was guilty of throwing away a vote. I wished the ticket would have been Edwards/Kerry not Kerry/Edwards (and yes I really don't care who a person has affairs with, it doesn't make them a bad/good President. It actually has no bearing whatsoever.) as I thought John Kerry was a dead fish who had no clue. I remember Obama then and thought he should have ran. My vote was basically one of those "Anyone but Bush" votes. Hell I'd have voted for Mickey Mouse if it got Shrub out. I am a big advocate of the "none of the above" option. Seriously, if neither Candidate can get it done you vote None of the above. Enough of those, and we get two new Candidates who have to tell us exactly what they will do, right now, at this minute. Might make people actually think about pulling that lever and what it means. I like how out here in Tennessee you don't have to register for a Party when you vote, you actually pick the ballot you want at the polling place. In closing, I'd just like to impart to you this little pearl of wisdom; please inform yourself about the candidates before you go making a decsion that will affect every Man, Woman and Child in the United States. Obama=a change for the better. A Candidate that admits when a choice he's made is incorrect and after hearing all the facts will publicly change his mind. Unlike Bush who still thinks there are WMD's in Iraq and stands by his decision to invade said Country. McCain=4 more years of business as usual. McCain used to be a Centrist, he really was. I've notice though that everytime he tries to go to the Center he's yanked back to the Right by the GOP. Bob Dole started off like that when he was running and I actually considered him, then it was like he had a Republican brainwashing session with Emperor Rove the evil Sith GOP Dark Jedi and started spouting right wing BS. McCain is doing the same thing. Read their websites, see what they believe in. Read the interviews, try and cut through the BS. It boils down to this: Obama wants to help the Middle Class (most of the folks reading this) and wants the term "made in America" to appear on more products sold in this Country (about 95% now say Made in China) whereas McCain wants to keep us in Iraq forever and still cater to the Corporations. Who has your best interest in mind? Obtain some knowledge please before you vote or stay the Hell away from the polls.

I guess it's working...

Have you noticed, gas prices are going down slightly. Isn't it funny how it takes 2 days to go up 1 dollar a gallon but 2 months to drop .19? The price of a barrel of oil is down now too. I guess the Repugs are right...all that drilling we've been doing is working......oh wait, we haven't done any additional drilling have we? Yeah I guess all that "those damn Liberals won't let us drill for our own oil so we can lower gas prices" morons are now, wait for it.....FREAKING WRONG!!!!! God I loved doing that!! I can't believe the thousands of folks who think that drilling is the answer. The experts all agree (you know Geologists, Market Analysists, etc) even if we were to drill right now off both coasts, the oil we pull out of the ground (if there's any down there) won't reach market or make a difference (if it does make a difference) until the year 2015. So how the Hell is that going to help us in the year 2008? Besides, its a well known fact that the Oil Companies have acres of land just sitting there that they have permission to drill on. Acres of the stuff that they are not touching. Hmmm....so we need to drill offshore again why? Why not make those Oil Jackasses drill where they've got land before we go spending more money and doing more damage to the seabed.

Movie Reviews and a Great Deal....

First the Great Deal.....Big Fish games http://www.bigfishgames.com/ makes interesting puzzle/seek and find/hidden clue types of games. Casual gaming at it's finest. I've downloaded their Demos a ton, but could never bring myself to pay 20 bucks for one of their games. Some people will like them enough to do so, but not me. Well they have one game called Azada that they are blowing out until August 15th for 0.99......a regularly 19.99 game for 19.00 off!!! I bought it and it's a great little game.....worth, in my opinion, 10 bucks but a steal a 0.99. Now for the movies....

The List....Don't bother....and something my Wife and I have vowed to do from now on read more than just the movie synopsis on the back of the box....... What could be so bad about this movie....it had Malcom McDowell (he who played Alex in Clockwork Orange and recently Linderman on Heroes...) who always plays a great villain. It had a Secret Society of Confederate Plantation Holders who combined their fortunes and swore a pact....it helped them survive the inevitable defeat of the Confederate Army.....it had a Young Heir to the fortune who was about to upset the balance.......Sounds good doesn't it? It was interesting to start of with, then everyone was praying and quoting scripture and fasting and studying the Bible and this is how the Dark Magic of the LIST was defeated........at this point I looked at the special features description on the back of the box....."DVD Bible study passages recommended by the Author, How the Power of Prayer can overcome everyday Evil".........<>......If I had read that I'd have skipped it.

The Bank Job.....Hey it's got Jason Statham (Snatch, The Transporter..) how can it be bad? It wasn't, it was actually good.

In Bruges.....such an odd little film but a good one. About as odd and bizarre as Run Lola Run.....Colin Farrel was actually good in this one, and he's not good in much he needs to do tough guy action roles and they need to stop making him this romantic, leading man guy....his acting chops aren't the best.

Sweeney Todd.....YAWN!!!! I guess I'm just not into musicals.....I like Burton's stuff, like Helena Bonham-Carter, like Depp but this movie was just....meh

10,000 BC......YAWN!!! Made it through 5 minutes of this plodder.....

I am Legend......Good movie, different from the original Omega Man. I liked that the "mutants" in the original were just disfigured humans who the virus made insane instead of mindless zombies like in the new one. Still, Will Smith does a great job.

Dragon Wars....Okay I expected it to be bad and cheesy....it's a Monster Movie the way a Monster Movie should be (not like that Cloverfield Crap) where the focus is on the Monster destroying the town not on how scared the people are (who cares about the people in a Monster movie.....I want to see monster crushing, crumbling and chomping I don't want to know or care if Suzy and Johnny escape in time.....)....but this one was really bad.....it was kind of lame actually although when the Chinese Dragon pops up at the end to kick some Butt...yeah it was good.

The Big Lebowski....Yes I know, a classic, but I've never seen it. I'm glad I did, it was surrealistic and funny in that old school funny (ala Fletch and After Hours and Into the Night).

Now, I've mentioned two films you may have never seen or heard of...actually 3...

Run Lola Run. It's a German film that was inspired by the filmmaker watchin a Woman running on a track one day. Just the motion of the Human body running, the rythmn the trance that runner's get into because of the concentration on the task at hand. The movie starts off with a frantic phone call from Lola's boyfriend Manni.....he works for a Mob boss of some kind and has lost his boss' 100,000 Marcs and needs help now because if Lola doesn't get to him in a hour or two he's going to be killed. Thus the tale begins as Lola busts out of her house running at full speed through the streets of a German City (probably Berlin but the City name is never really revealed). As Lola passes certain people a flash "forward" sequence happens as we see that person's future.......the strangeness (and coolness) of the film is that it is a series of Codas.....Lola gets to her goal, something happens, someone shouts "no!" then the movie goes back to the beginning but there are subtle differences.....the people she passed before are in different clothes or miss crossing her path by a second or two or the car that almost hits her stops before she gets to it and lets her pass......then she gets to her goal again, someone shouts "no!" and it's back to the beginning with different sets of circumstances for the people she passes, etc and ends with a great twist ending. The Techno/Trance music soundtrack helps the mood and atmosphere of the whole film. Give it a try (you will find it in the Foreign film section of most stores) it's really worth it.

After Hours. With Griffin Dunne and Linda Firoentino (she of MIB fame). A mediocre guy goes into New York's SoHo district well out of his comfort zone (he's a cube jockey) and ends up experiencing the most bizarre night of his life....it's like everything that could go wrong goes wrong. I think he ends up having half of SoHo wanting his head.

Into the Night. Like After Hours one of those bizarre 80's comedies. Stars Jeff Goldblum and a very young Michelle Pfeifer. Jeff can't sleep, he's got insomnia and his best friend at work Dan Akroyd tells him to take the red-eye flight to Vegas (from LA it's a half hour flight at most) and take in a show, gamble, get a hooker whatever. He goes home at lunch and finds his wife in bed with her business partner. He wakes up in the middle of the night (actually he never went to sleep, just lay in bed) and takes his friends advice. He gets to the airport parking lot, pauses, then decides he just can't go through with it. At that point he hears a scream and Michelle Pfeifer lands on his car screaming "they're going to kill me we've got to get out of here!"......thus begins a few days of surrealistic craziness all filmed by John Landis in the same tone as what Jeff Goldblum is feeling.....in other words you feel like an insomiac sleep walker. It's darkly funny with a bizarre cast of characters (Michelle Pfeifers brother is playec by Bruce McGill and he's a Gay Elvis Impersonator....need I say more). The Iranian death squad that is chasing them are deadly as well as bungling and add to the dark comedy of the movie (John Landis plays one of the hitmen). The cameos in the movie are great: Jim Henson and David Bowie are two of them. It's a very 80's movie but it's a great film althogether. A definite one to check out....

Bonus Movie I just thought of: Boondock Saints. I saw parts of this at the Discoursers house and he said it was brillant so I rented it and loved it to the point I bought it. It never hit theaters (really not sure why) and it's a cult classic (much like Donnie Darko....a movie I'm still trying to figure out....need to watch it again). It's about two Irish Brothers in Boston (gee ya think...) who decide to become Angels of Death by killing only "Evil Men" and reciting bible passages while doing it. They are being tracked by Wilem Dafoe (as weird as usual) who is a great FBI profiler. Lots of action and crazy little bits of comedy.


Oh I forgot to add one.....Jumper. Great premise, but not even Samuel L. Jackson saved this one from Hayden "I'm the greatest Jedi evar!!!" Christensen's horrible performance....oh wait that's normal for him.........I did like the British Jumper better and felt they should do a movie about him not Darth Whiner......

PharmCo's. Fear Mongering since 2001

Back in 2001 the FDA relaxed the protocols for advertising Pharmaceuticals direct to the consumer resulting in the PharmCo's coming up with the most annoying and obnoxious and prolific TV ads around.  Nothing like sitting down top dinner and watching the tube and hearing things like "lower all kinds of cholesterol...." or "an erection lasting more than 4 hours (this is a problem????)"......or seeing a bunch of middle age guys sing out joyously "Viva Viagra!!!!!".   We've become a scared and sterilized society now.  NeoSporin has an antiseptic spray that Soccer Mom's can carry in their purse in case little Johnny or Tiffany fall down running during their "playdate" in the park.....(let me go off topic here for a moment.  Is that term not the stupidest term  you have ever heard????  Playdate??? WTF????  Yeah let's set them up for rejection right off the bat...."Mom....Johnny won't go on a play date with me...."  What happened to taking your kids to the park so they could interact with other kids.....you have to set it up and screen their friends now?????  This whole idea is utter BS....seriously.  Now back to your regularly scheduled rant)...because God Forbid that little scraped knee is going to turn gangrenous and you will have to amputate Johnny's leg.  What happened to Mom's spitting in a hanky or tissue and wiping it all off.....or good old Bactine.   Hurt like Hell but fixed it right up.   Oh wait.....we don't want the experience to be unpleasant....I forgot.  Let's see, kids medicine tastes so good now that kids might think it's candy and drink it up.  My Grandson did this.  He got into the medicine chest and managed to get through the child safety cap...he's too smart for his own good.....he ended up in the ER with my oldest Step-Daughter freaking out.   Why did he drink it....because it tasted like grape Kool Aid.....wonderful.   Remember how medicine used to taste awful?   It made you not want to get sick, and you definitely weren't going to go drink some because it tasted so bad.

 

Back to big PharmCos.....they have been pitching their snake oil on TV since 2001, and have been using the best trick in the book; Fear.  Yep, those aches and pains you have....we have a name for it now and a pill to go with it!!  Just tell your Doctor that's what's wrong with you and that you need a prescription for our Pill...  And that's the problem; folks are being brainwashed into thinking they have a certain ailment and are bound and determined to tell their doctor they need this Pill.  Even though their doctor is well aware of all the new medicines out there....trust me they get so many damn samples in the mail it's not funny.   I'd say the professional physician....you know the Doctor that spent almost 20 years in school.....knows what the Hell he's talking about.  If he says you just have sore muscles then you have sore muscles....you don't have Fibromyalgia and you don't need Lyrica.   The one's that get me are the new vaccines that are coming out for crap that isn't all that widespread.  The newest one is for Meningitis...Meningococcal (sp???) Meningitis to be exact.  Get your Teen vaccinated from Meningitis because, as you know, all Teens are walking crocks of disease that can infect your child.  Yes, tell your Teen not to touch anyone, talk to anyone because they will get infected with horrible diseases!!!!  Cooties, apparently are real now and they have a vaccine.   Then there's the Guardasil commercials which is a vaccine for HPPV....essentially a Sexually Transmitted disease.  This confused me as to why they were advertising this to Mom's to get their daughter's vaccinated, and showing Pre-Teen girls in the commercial!?!!?  Apparently it needs to be done prior to becoming sexually active.   I can hear this conversation.....

 

Mom: Suzy I'm taking you to the Dr. to get this shot..

Suzy: Will it hurt (Suzy's 9 by the way)?

Mom: Probably....

Suzy: Do I need it?

Mom: Not yet....it's to prevent you from getting a sexually transmitted disease later on in life....

Suzy: Um....ewww....sex???  Mom that's disgusting......so I can get diseases from sex???  Well I'm not having sex ever then!!

Mom: Um....wow this is awkward.....well I just want you to be One Less like the commercial says.....

Suzy: Isn't there another way to protect against this?  In school they were talking about Birth Control...

Mom: What's your school teaching you!!!!

 

Yeah I can just hear it now.   Helpful hint from the pros....Girls, make your partner wear a condom and you won't get HPPV.......or Aids or anything else.   Hey a box only costs like 6-10 dollars and you can buy them when you are ready to make that decision.....not at 9 Freaking years old!!!!! 

 

What gets me too is that they can release this crap on the market with only the most basic of research.   Sidenote: Guardisil is being recalled as I write this because of some really nasty side effects.....

 

Speaking of side effects, ever notice the laundry list of side effects that can happen from taking some of these drugs?  You know, infection, slow breathing, heart failure, blindness, loss of hearing, bleeding, infection of the injection site (I love that one...) or irritation of the injection site (ya think???), and even death (oh I really like that one.....hey take out pill, it will fix what ails you by killing you!!!).   Makes you want to say..."you know what?  I think I will just pop a couple of Tylenol/Advil/Motrin/Bayer and that will deal with the pain...Hell if I take an Aleve in the morning it will last until noon!!!"  You don't need a prescription, there's no risk of death (well unless you down the whole bottle of 500 pills in one sitting.....then you will probably die....horribly too most likely) and hey you can get generic versions real cheap that do the SAME DAMN THING!!!  Seriously folks, Ibuprofen is Ibuprofen....whether it says Tylenol, Safeway, Kroger, Target, etc on the label.  The only difference, besides Tylenol making there's with holes or fancy colors or tasting like grape KoolAid, is the price.  

 

It's this increase in Fear Mongering that is driving the cost of Health Care through the roof.  Insurance Companies are having to pay out more for treating ailments that really didn't need treating with expensive medicine before.  Doctor's Malpractice insurance rates are going up because more brainwashed people insist they need Pill A even though their Doctor says No.  

 

What do we do Mr. Ranter you may ask?  I'll tell you.  Stop giving in to advertising.  Meningitis is a real nasty disease, but when was the last time you heard of kids at your Child's school getting it?????   Probably never, so do you think it's necessary to pay for an office visit plus the expense of a shot (that's probably not covered under you insurance) for your Child?  If you thought about it you would say Hell No!!  Isn't it easier to tell your Teens about birth control and not have to explain to your 9 year old daughter why she's getting a shot to protect her from "Evil Sexually Transmitted Diseases"........Do we really need to add that stress on top of every other stressor that has been placed on our Teens??   Break that cycle, teach your daughter's that sex is sex.....you hear of so many Teens who think that they aren't having sex because they just "did oral"....got news for you ...that's sex.  Or anal sex isn't sex.....uh huh....just ask any Gay Man.....he will tell you different I'm sure.  Stop making these PharmCo's wealthier than they already are.  Instead of coming up with Vaccine's for stuff that's avoidable, why not cure diabetes or cancer?   Work on those.....stop trying to invent the miracle cure for everything........you don't need Flu shots...you have a healthy immune system and some Nyquil...works every single time!! The more we try to vaccinate minor viruses, they smarter they get and then we will have the Penicillin problem where there are viruses now that are immune to it.  How did this happen?  Several Countries used Penicillin as a miracle drug and gave it to everyone for everything.  Put some faith in your Doctor...after all he/she is a professional.......

 

 

As if WalMart wasn't Evil enough....

Click the blog entry title for the article. So apparently WalMart is trying to defeat Barack Obama because they claim that a Democratic President will make it easier for employees to Unionize.......there's a problem with this how????? They are scaring their employees saying they'd have to pay big Union Dues without any benefits....HUH???????? No, there's plenty of benefits that go with those Dues....affordable health benefits and something other than slave wages. WalMart makes a huge profit margin because everything they sell comes from China or Mexico (where as we know labor is cheap). Why do you think they can sell their crap at such a low price..........They can pay their employees more and still make a profit but they won't. More of a reason to defeat the Repugs in this upcoming election.....the Corporations have gotten away with murder for 8 years and now they are threatened by one Man to the point where they are trying to outwardly exert their control on who runs our Country. Wonderful.......

That's So Tennessee

http://ifbrevityiswitthenwhydoikeep.blogspot.com/2008/07/thats-so-o-o-o-o-bay-area.html

Inspired by the Professor's entry above and suggested by the Supergoober...here goes.

1. You have Confederate Flag on your vehicle/business/house but say it had nothing to do with Racism but that it's "Heritage not Hate". Yeah right. The fact you have to quantify that means you really aren't sure. Besides, you lost the war!!! So I guess your "heritage" is being a loser. Something I'd be proud of.

2. You enter on to a freeway....I mean Interstate.....are ahead of someone but slow down because you realize you're not being polite. Or, someone wants to change lanes so you come to an almost complete stop ON THE FREEWAY to let them over. Or your light is green, but you stop to let the two HUGE semi's out of the parking lot because you believe in "Southern Hospitality"......I'll give you some Bay Area hospitality in the form of Road Rage in a minute....

3. You go to Church, but you're not really sure why you go....it's really because you feel ashamed if you don't because "all your neighbors" do. You can't pay other bills, but you never forget your monthly Tithe to the church. You believe that Jesus said "Love thy neighbor" but think that being a "faggot" is a "condition" that can be cured by prayer and if the "faggot" refuses to be cured by prayer then he can just go rot in Hell because he's EVIL.......but you still believe in "love thy neighbor". I guess there are certain conditions for that love.

4. You won't vote for Obama because he's one of the following:
a. Black (but you won't admit that in polite company)
b. A Socialist/Communist
c. He's a Democrat therefore a bleeding heart liberal who will raise every tax possible and make a bigger welfare state (of course you haven't read any of his stands on any issues, he's an elitist black, Democrat so he's going to screw us over...)
d. His middle name is Hussein so he's a Muslim waiting to take over the country.
e. He may be Christian, but that damn n***er's Priest is racist. It's okay to use that word because "they" use it....
f. He's a Yankee (this guy probably is the guy in number one with the flag).

5. You paint/or own something in UT Orange. (My neighbor has a UT mailbox, a Captain's Bell that was a really nice chrome now painted UT Orange and has an Orange Tabby cat named, you guessed it, UT).

6. You know the words to Rocky Top and get all excited when it's played. (My Wife and Step-Daughter actually scared me when it was played at Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede and stood up clapping an singing the song. It's apparently the State song (actually there's about 6 State songs). Curiously I don't ever remember the California State song at all....).

7. When, in conversation, you are describing or telling someone you are about to do something you say "I'm fixing to _____ " fill in the blank. I haven't picked this up yet, and doubt I will (40 years in the Bay Area has imprinted certain words, etc on my brain.)

8. You say words differently than they are said in other parts of the Country. Examples:
Lafayette. I always knew it as La-feye-ett....in Tennessee it's pronounced La-fey-ett. Hey it's a French word so who knows. Trousdale is another. I always knew it as Trewsdale.....out here its trowsdale. Lebanon is the same. The Country is pronounced Le-ba-non...like it's spelled. Out here it's pronounced Le-ba-nin........I guess it's to differentiate it from the country.

9. You like your Iced Tea with about 5 pounds of sugar in it. And you don't call it Iced Tea you call it Sweet Tea (more like diabetic coma Tea.....it's too sweet for me).

10. You know what Ockra is and you eat it fried in cornmeal. Heck you eat just about any vegetable fried in cornmeal even green tomatoes (they're actually not bad).

11. You eat grits and like them (actually I do and I do.....it's just like cream of wheat).

12. You wear RealTree camo as everyday wear..either in the form of a ball cap, jacket, pants, shirt, seat covers in your truck or all of the above.

13. You have a carry permit as does about a dozen other people you know. (apparently they are easy to get....have to look into this one possibly).

14. You go to the WalMart the next City over because the two in your town don't have "much of a selection". (Yes, these things are like weeds, they are everywhere).

15. You get excited buying a 100 dollars worth of groceries because you know when you fill up at Kroger gas it will be 10 cents off a gallon.

16. You buy groceries first because you know you are about to go over the 100 dollar mark then you get gas at Kroger Gas.

17. You don't pay for garbage service because the County Dump is nearby and its free.....(I'm guilty of this...but hey why pay someone when I can take a carload to the dump and separate recyclables and put them in their place instead of just one lump in the land fill.)

18. You think that Sweet and Sour Pork should have the sauce on the side. You think that any of the "order at the Counter" Chinese hole's in the wall places are "good". You think the PF Chang's and Fu Lins are "uppity Oriental Restaurants". You still use the term Oriental.

19. If you are from Western Tennessee...ie Memphis, then any other Barbecue (even if it's nationally acclaimed and has won numerous awards) sucks if it's not Memphis barbecue (even if the chef is originally from Memphis but moves to Nashville or Knoxville....apparently without the stench of the Mississippi tainting it it doesn't taste good....)

20. You're a Titan's fan but UT is still number one.

21. You've played mini-golf at one of the 5 billion golf courses in the Smokies...Pigeon Forge, Sevierville or Gatlinburg (just this side of the Tennessee/North Carolina border....talking way Eastern Tennessee).

22. You remember when the OpryLand Hotel used to be an amusement park called OpryLand and it was great and you are still pissed they tore it down and made that stupid Hotel and Ginormous Opry Mills Mall (The Discourser knows the Mall, he's been there).

23. You have an FFA Chapter in your High School.....and your City still brags about your High School team being "State Champs" about a billion years ago.

24. You've had the 3.95 lunch special at Demo's Italian Restaurant.

25. You've eaten at a Shoney's buffet for either Breakfast, lunch or dinner.

26. You shop at Cracker Barrel for Christmas gifts...after you've eaten breakfast/lunch/dinner first. You've also played checkers while sitting in rocking chairs on the Cracker Barrel front porch while waiting for your table.

27. You own a Cracker Barrel checkers rug (basically a big woven mat with a checker board on it and plastic pieces the size of tuna cans.)

28. You've been to Kentucky and Alabama and back that same day. (I was in Kentucky Saturday....)

29. You've heard about the Chattanooga Choo Choo, you've seen it, and you were highly disappointed because it's really lame.

30. You know at least 6 musicians/bands and have their CD's (you should hear my neighbor's...she's pretty good).

31. Half of those are "Christian" acts who's songs aren't really Christian, and you know for a fact that they did that because it's an easy way to get a recording contract...ahem the band Red.....

32. You know that the Bicentenial Mall doesn't have any stores in it. (it's a historical park in Nashville).

33. You've been inside the Parthenon, been to Sparta but have never been to Greece.

34. When driving, you stay in a block of traffic behind two Semi's because you "don't trust those guys". Then get annoyed when a Silver Scion XA comes zipping around you and has to change lanes a few hundred times just to get ahead of the rolling roadblock so the driver of said Scion can go the freaking speed limit!!!!! (who could that be?????)

35. To get somewhere you take about 12 or so backstreets instead of the Interstate.....it's definitely not a freeway culture out here.....something I don't think I will get used to.

36. You think it's okay to have a prayer circle outside your child's school and your "Christian Fellowship" church meets at the school on Wednesday and Sunday...oh and you keep your little signs up even during school hours..........

37. You go to Church on Wednesday night.

38. The retail establishment you work for is owned by Christians so they are closed on Sunday. (Hobby Lobby and Chik-fil-a).

39. You've shopped at Hobby Lobby or eaten at Chik-fil-a.

40. You think Fazzoli's and CiCi's Pizza are "real italian" food......

41. You've run into about a dozen Country Music Artists and they are really nice people....(of course unless they are Charlie Daniels, Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw or Kenny Chesney I'd have no fricking clue who they were.......we all know who the others are because we've seen them on TV so often.)

42. You've eaten Chess Pie....and you know what it is and how to make it.

43. You insist on gravy at breakfast.....have to dip those biscuits in it...(yes it's damn good too).

44. You realize that Hardee's and Carl's Jr. may be owned by the same company, but they are worlds apart as far as the burgers/food you can order from them. Hardee's=ultra greasy and messy. Carl's Jr.=Really tasty. I miss Carl's Jr.

45. You've eaten at a Captain D's fish restaurant.

46. You've been to a Friday Night Fish Fry......usually it was Fried Catfish being served to.

47. You've been to Legends in Nashville (the club where a lot of Country acts get their start).

48. You've eaten at Jack's Barbecue. (the brisket is amazing!!!).

49. You know that the Somnet Center used to be called the GEC (Gaylord Entertainment Center).

50. You know that Rockettown is a safe place to drop your Teen off at because it's owned by Michael W. Smith who is a Christian artist. (I still worry because I've heard the tales from the Prof, Discourser, et all about "Catholic" school boys and how crazy they are.....pure as the driven slush).

51. You wouldn't vote for Harold Ford Jr. for Congress, even though you know Bob Corker has done nothing for us, just because his first name is Harold and his last name is Ford and he's from THAT Ford Family in Memphis. (his Father, Uncle and Aunt have all been accused of being corrupt.....his Uncle was caught on tape in a bribery sting that happened a few years ago).

52. You hear about Public Transit and how it's a great way to save gas, but you don't work anywhere near downtown so know that it's all BS and you drive anyway. (It's like taking Bart and working at say Oracle. Bart to Millbrae, CalTrain from Millbrae to San Carlos/Belmont station...then walk.....which takes about 3-4 hours or you can drive it in 1.5......).

I think that's enough for now.

It's been awhile......

Like the Discourser, I just haven't had much to blog about lately. For an amusing anecdote on Gooberness please click on the link to the Supergoober's blog and read about the Goob rating we all have......I've got a 9.2.....I'm referred to as Cajun in his list.

Now on to my latest entry....

Awhile back I wrote about the Vehicular Cold War that seemed to erupt with the popularity of the SUV. A good portion of SUV owners have them as a means of keeping themselves safe from the "other" more "reckless" SUV owners out there who will run into them at any given moment of any given day. Most of these people are not equipped, driving skill wise, to handle a large vehicle with multiple blindspots. Again, the Soccer Mom with 2 kids does not need a Hummve to drive to the grocery store. Not sure where in Draegers small parking lot she was going to park it, let along get down the narrow streets of Downtown San Mateo. I have always purchased vehicles in a price range where I could afford the monthly payment and that got great gas mileage. Because at whatever price gas is, who wants to fill up their gas tank all the damn time!!!! If I can go a week and a half between fillups, I'm doing fine. Usually this means I've purchased some sedan or hatchback of one kind or another.....whatever. When one makes a certain salary one should only buy what one can afford. The Perfectline makes 6 figures....he has for awhile. He has no long term Girlfriend, no Wife (ex or otherwise) and no kids (that he knows of anyway.... ;)). He can afford the sports car or the nice BMW. He can also afford the insurance on such a vehicle. I can't. So I get what I can afford. Being a homeowner, I'm seeing more and more uses for a truck, but as a hauling crap to the dump/bringing stuff home from Lowes/Home Depot vehicle; not a daily driver. I wouldn't want a truck as my daily vehicle. I like my Scion. It's a great handling car and gets 35 mpg. I'd lose a street race, but I'm almost 43....who the hell cares about a street race at 43....sorry I'm an old Married man. Don't need to race thanks. If I want to race, there's a go-kart place near the house I can go to and race. Lot's of folks though don't see things the way I do. I know of Families with Kids who just "can't" get a minivan because they make you look like "you're an old married soccer mom". Let's see, you're married, in your 40's, have 3 kids who compete in sports (and yes soccer is one of those sports)....guess what? It doesn't matter what you drive, you ARE an old married soccer mom....So why get the ginormous vehicle when you can get a minivan which actually gets decent mileage. They are also easier to get crap in and out of.... Ever since gas started creeping up in price....okay who am I kidding.....ever since gas started going up in price by leaps and bounds by the minute (literally it would be one price at the Kroger gas station when I passed it in the morning on my way to work and it changed by the time I got home that day!!!), people have been stopping me on my way to my car asking me "hey how do you like that car? Does it get good mileage?". This is usually some person that is driving an SUV or some full sized Truck. I respond in kind, telling them the mpg of the vehicle and what I like about it, all the time resisting the urge to say "OH NOW YOU WANT ONE!!!! WHAT DID YOU THINK THAT GAS WOULD LAST FOREVER WITH YOU AND EVERY OTHER PERSON ON THE ROAD SUCKING IT UP EVERY SINGLE DAY??????" There are still some that don't get it. My Godfather told my Dad the other day that he was thinking of getting a SUV because they are only "8 grand now". My Dad replied "why the Hell do you think they're 8 grand...no one wants them anymore!!!!" Talking to a local car salesman on Friday revealed that the trade ins they are getting are just sitting there. I've also noticed that those "nerdy Mopeds/scooters" aren't so nerdy anymore. Neither are those "stupid" looking Hybrids (you can't get a Prius in the lot anymore......they have to be ordered now....).

The Obama Haters are too funny.......

The way I look at it, don't vote for the man if you don't like his stance on issues or if you feel he isn't experienced or not, but don't vote for him because of the following reasons:

 

His middle name is Hussein.....he must be a Muslim.

He doesn't wear a flag pin on his lapel.....he hates America.

He isn't a citizen because he won't show his birth certificate.

He's a socialist.

He will raise taxes on everything because he's a Democrat.

 

 

I could go on, but the rhetoric gets old quick.  If you go to the man's website, you will see that he wants to implement programs that will get people off of Welfare and into jobs and make it Mandatory.   Bootstrap programs they are called.  You go on welfare, but the whole time you are on it you have to go to job training classes and get yourself some training so that when you are done you can go get a job.  If you don't want to take the classes, then you get no Welfare.   His Father was a Muslim but he was raised by his Christian Grandparents.   So the fact that I don't wear a flag lapel pin does that mean I hate America too?  Why does the man have to show his birth certificate.  If he wasn't a verified citizen, he never would have been allowed to run for a Senate Seat.   As for taxes, the man wants to take away the tax breaks for anyone making over 250K a year and give those breaks to the Middle Class.....you know the people who keep the rich richer by buying their company's products........maybe if the average consumer had a tax break he'd have more money and therefore be able to spend more thus stimulating the economy.........he also realizes a gas tax holiday is a disastrous idea.   Why you say?  Think about it.  The gas tax goes to the State DOT to pay for road improvements/repairs, etc.  It helps with infrastructure.  The rest goes to profit for the Oil Companies.    Now if you take away money going to the State's coffers during the months when people generally buy the most gas then you will effectively bankrupt your State.  If you think gas prices will go down because of no tax you have another thing coming.  They will remain the same, and all we will be doing is giving even more profit to the oil companies.   Drilling for more oil in this Country will do no good either.   The majority of the oil we drill is sent to the Middle East for processing.  The increase in production will be negligible.   What Obama wants to do is take away the tax breaks from the Oil Companies and encourage them to switch to alternate fuel sources. 

 

Now if that sounds Socialist to you...so be it.  It sounds like a good start to me.

4th of July in Tennessee

When I first moved out here I was shocked that you could basically get all the fireworks that were considered "illegal" back home.   Back home the way to get firecrackers, cherry bombs and bottle rockets was to know that "guy" in the neighborhood that knew someone in Chinatown.  Alot of folks in San Francisco's Chinatown have firecrackers, etc because they contribute it to being used in cultural rituals.  If you've ever been to a Chinese New Year Parade you will know what I mean.  Out here we bought some fireworks for Liv one year and we were given two items free.  One of those was a pack of firecrackers.  I just kind of stared at them thinking that we could never use these "openly" back home and yet here I was in my driveway lighting them and throwing them towards the street.  You can also buy these boxes that look like cardboard mortar launchers that launch a mini-fireworks show worth of air bursters.  Last year my Step-Son had one that was a mortar launcher and you set the shell in it and lit the fuse (just like when I used to help hand fire professional shows put on by my buddy Steele).

Goodnight George....We miss you already.

Click on the blog entry title to go to the full article. George Carlin has passed on to that great Comedy Club in the sky. Now he can ask the question of his last book in person "When will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?". A pioneer in modern comedy and someone that never failed to make me laugh....never. His movie roles and recordings and cable specials always kept me in stitches. I remember how Kevin Smith actually gave him a likeable role in "Jersey Girl". He potrayed Ben Affleck's Father and instead of the insensitive smart ass he normally plays he was caring and wise. It was a different role, but great nonetheless. Goodnight George, we miss you.

Dear George Lucas...hang it up!!!

Dear Mr. Lucas,

Please put down the pen and back away from the paper; for all eternity!!! Star Wars Chapters 1-3 (the movies who's existence I refuse to admit) were all pieces of crap. Darth Vader is the Ultimate Villain yet you portrayed his beginnings as a whiny, wuss who always pouted and bitched. Seriously, Anakin Skywalker, the worst character EVER!!! I guess have billions of dollars and thinking that since you created it you could do whatever you want with it (those "improved" versions of the original three movies.....) does go to one's head. Apparently you think you know what you are doing. You used to, like Spielberg, but now you basically are King Feces...everything you touch turns to crap. Take the latest Indiana Jones movie for instance. Thank God you had Harrison Ford in it. He can make a crap movie good just by his presence. I can tell from the opening scene that you wrote it. All the other movies started out with an action sequence. Indy is looking for something in a temple or what have you. The other three all started on a high note and kept up from there. This new one, not so much. Oooo a bunch of military trucks going down a Nevada Highway being challenged to a race from some Happy Day's rejects in a Hot Rod. Really dragged down the tone of the movie there George. The script you wrote basically was lame. Thank God for the action and the characters. Please, I implore you, stop now! It took you 25 years to "pen" Phantom Menace.........and that was 25 years too long. Just stop making movies and jump into you large vat of money and swim around.....really just continue to make special effects and leave the movie making to those that know what they are doing and aren't so impressed with the sound of their own voices that they forget where they started.

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So watched the other two movies we rented finally.  Alvin and the Chipmunks is hysterical.  Seriously it's funny and you can watch it with the kids and they will laugh too.  Very nostalgic for those of us that have heard that Chipmunks Christmas song over and over again.   No Country for Old Men is typical Cohen brothers.  It just ends, and leaves you hanging in parts.  But, an awesome movie nonetheless.  The guy playing the killer was downright Evil......Lord he was brilliant.  Tommy Lee Jones was awesome too.  He gave you the sense of the Little Town Texas Sheriff putting in his last days before retirement....you felt his fatigue and his "I'm to old for this shit" pain.  You also felt his boredom and lack of sense of worth in the very last scene of the movie.....it's his first day of retirement and he hasn't a clue what to do with himself........you feel the frustration.  Great job and a great movie.

Movie and Game Reviews.

Rented 3:10 to Yuma plus No Country for Old Men and Alvin and the Chipmunks.....(yeah I know...but I loved those cartoons when I was a kid....and it has Jason Lee...). So far I've watched 3:10 to Yuma....wow! What a great movie. It's less of a shoot 'em up Western and more of a study of the character of a Man....his honor and drive and sacrifice. Two great performances by Russell Crowe and Christian Bale (it still amazes me how well these guys hide their accents in movies......Russell is an Aussie, but you couldn't tell at all and Christian is a Brit.....). Just a really good movie. Also on Friday night got together with the guys from The Order (my Airsoft Team) and we cooked out and hung out at Skinny's In-Law's Cabin. We pretty much played the game Rock Band all night long (after a brief stint of Laser Tag...). What a fun game that is. I played drums the majority of the time and sang too. Even tried my hand at guitar. I've come to the conclusion that like myself, the majority of my Team couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. Sureshot has about the only singing talent out of the group. It doesn't matter how well you sing in this game, as long as you follow the rythmn of the words.......and if one member of the band is blowing it...guitarist keeps missing the right colored button or drummer doing the same or singer failing miserably to keep up.....then another member can make a "cover" move to save the performance. It's really a cool game......it's so much fun we played until like 5 am......

John Mayer=Giant Douche???

Click the link for the news bit.....so apparently John Mayer (yeah you know the C-List singer who has been sleeping with every celebrity he can get a hold of) is "pissed off and disgusted" with the Guitar Hero games. He, in so many words, is saying that it "deludes" kids into thinking they can really play guitar and that they shouldn't be losers but should pick up the real thing themselves. Okay jack ass...WTF???? It's a freaking game Dude. It's Simon to rock music. Jesus why do people always want to be negative about something that encourages interaction. It's not like kids playing Guitar Hero sit on the couch like other video games, no they stand up with a plastic guitar and "play" it basically. Odds are, most of these kids are moving to the music as they play so it's basically EXERCISE...........Mayer, your music sucks and now so do you. Go away.