Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Gerald Ford
Former President Gerald Ford died a few hours ago. I was fairly young during his presidency -- my most vivid memories of him in office are of him falling down (and, of course, of Chevy Chase impersonating him falling down). However, I can say that he was one of the few Republicans that I did not dislike, and judging by the current crop of Rs, he may be one of the last.
Monday, December 25, 2006
James Brown
I just saw the news that James Brown has died. Just an hour ago, I was sitting in a car (driving, actually), arguing with someone over whether James Brown is a 'living legend' or not. I took the stance that he was, without question, and I think it was the first time that I admitted to this particular person that I thought so highly of James Brown, knowing that it would set me up for a load of crap from this person. (Earlier, he refused to admit that Chuck Berry was a living legend on the grounds that he thought that Berry was dead.)
I just told my wife about the conversation in the car about fifteen minutes ago, she agreed with me about JB, and others, and had her own picks. I just had to tell her that we can cross one off the list.
That sucks.
I just told my wife about the conversation in the car about fifteen minutes ago, she agreed with me about JB, and others, and had her own picks. I just had to tell her that we can cross one off the list.
That sucks.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Where We Are Now
I have no idea...
Seriously, this blog got way too serious, way too heavy-handed there for a while. The last thing I want to do is come on here and write about politics every day. So, in the future, IF this blog continues, we are going to change the tone. Will the tone change? No. Why did we ever think the tone would change? Whoops -- goddammit, there I go again. NO MORE POLITICAL JUNKI-NESS. I'm even out-geeking the geeks I know with this stuff.
Let's talk about something else. How about Michael Richards. I assume that you all have heard about his tirade, and hopefully have seen the video. But I am not here to give value judgements on him or what he said. I just wanted to say: by coincidence, that annoying guy from Seinfeld, the one who played 'Jerry', was booked to be on Letterman tonight. During his appearance, they interviewed Michael Richards on satellite (ooooooh! Satellite!!) from L.A., and let him have a nervous breakdown on the show while that Jerry guy sat in judgement, and the audience giggled and squirmed. WOW! Now THAT was some uncomfortable television!!
Seriously, this blog got way too serious, way too heavy-handed there for a while. The last thing I want to do is come on here and write about politics every day. So, in the future, IF this blog continues, we are going to change the tone. Will the tone change? No. Why did we ever think the tone would change? Whoops -- goddammit, there I go again. NO MORE POLITICAL JUNKI-NESS. I'm even out-geeking the geeks I know with this stuff.
Let's talk about something else. How about Michael Richards. I assume that you all have heard about his tirade, and hopefully have seen the video. But I am not here to give value judgements on him or what he said. I just wanted to say: by coincidence, that annoying guy from Seinfeld, the one who played 'Jerry', was booked to be on Letterman tonight. During his appearance, they interviewed Michael Richards on satellite (ooooooh! Satellite!!) from L.A., and let him have a nervous breakdown on the show while that Jerry guy sat in judgement, and the audience giggled and squirmed. WOW! Now THAT was some uncomfortable television!!
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Gameday (#3)
I have been informed that I need to do a witty and/or sarcastic post tonight regarding the election results. However, I shall hold off, as there are still a few races that haven't settled (MT-Sen, and VA-Sen, although realistically, I think they're done), and some House races that are still within 200-500 votes, and it seems silly to do final analysis on stuff like that.
Still, WOW! This was some night. MSNBC is currently projecting the new House at 235D-200R. I would like to squeeze one more R defeat out of there (are you listening, HEATHER WILSON, or you, MARILYN MUSGRAVE??), to drop the Rs below the Mendoza Line.
...to be continued (probably in court).
Still, WOW! This was some night. MSNBC is currently projecting the new House at 235D-200R. I would like to squeeze one more R defeat out of there (are you listening, HEATHER WILSON, or you, MARILYN MUSGRAVE??), to drop the Rs below the Mendoza Line.
...to be continued (probably in court).
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Gameday!
Let's start the big show today (yeah, start... it's already noon on the East Coast) with a quick prediction. I'm not usually one for making predictions (BWAHAHAHAHA!), and after my Lieberman/Lamont/Other Guy prediction, I should probably just shut up. But, I will offer this quick forecast and suggestion:
Tonight, in the CA Governor's race, after Angelides calls Ahhh-nold to concede, at about 8:02pm, Schwarzenegger will take the stage at his re-coronation ball and say the following:
(Using trumped-up Austrian accent that makes Holocaust survivors wake up screaming) "I told you I would be BACK!"
At that point, I believe that beginning recall proceedings immediately would be in order.
I told everyone -- vote for Arianna, vote for Arianna, vote for Arianna. Did anyone listen? Nooooooo...
Tonight, in the CA Governor's race, after Angelides calls Ahhh-nold to concede, at about 8:02pm, Schwarzenegger will take the stage at his re-coronation ball and say the following:
(Using trumped-up Austrian accent that makes Holocaust survivors wake up screaming) "I told you I would be BACK!"
At that point, I believe that beginning recall proceedings immediately would be in order.
I told everyone -- vote for Arianna, vote for Arianna, vote for Arianna. Did anyone listen? Nooooooo...
Monday, November 06, 2006
Calling Dixville....
Hello? Calling Dixville Notch, do you copy? We are awaiting your returns.
(They do the midnight voting thing for midterm elections as well as Presidential elections, right?)
(They do the midnight voting thing for midterm elections as well as Presidential elections, right?)
Thursday, November 02, 2006
The Game
Hello everyone, or whoever is left! (get it? Left? hehe!)
There are some things that I have been sure that I have written on this blog, only to come back and find out that I have said nothing about them. That means that my 'A' material is ending up as comments on other blogs, and whatever is left over is here. That's not a good way to run the show. Maybe I'll just post links to my comments from elsewhere. Hmmmm....
Anyway, I have to comment this morning about the Congressional races. I have been watching these VERY closely, especially over the last three weeks or so. The Senate race seems to have pretty much stagnated, somewhere in the 51-49 range, either way. As far as I am concerned, that will not cut it for the Dems, even if they have the 51. Here's why: If it is 51R-49D, then it is business as usual (for the sake of these numbers, we are assuming that Bernie Sanders (I) wins, and he will caucus with the Dems. Also, the pollsters continue to regard Lieberman as a de facto Dem, regardless of his new party affiliation.); if it is 50-50, Cheney is the tiebreaking vote, and we all know how that will turn out; At 51D-49R, things get a little weird. One of the Ds is Joe Lieberman, running on the Bullshit Moose party. It is my firm belief that, if he beats Ned Lamont, as it appears he will, he will caucus with the Republicans, knocking it back to 50-50+Cheney. Lieberman knows where his votes are coming from -- and he has a debt to repay. So, the magic number for the Dems is 52. I haven't seen a 52 yet.
Now, onto the House, where it gets interesting. The Dems need to pick up about 15 seats to take the majority. For a while, that was a possibility. But, going down the laundry list of scandals, problems, Iraq deaths, war profiteering, preying on children, etc., the game has gotten out of control, and FAST!
There is a term in baseball known as the Mendoza Line. The Mendoza Line is 200, or rather, .200 as a batting average. Named after a mediocre player who hit a lifetime .200 average, it is now regarded as the point where, if you are below the Mendoza Line, maybe you shouldn't be in the majors. I think the same rule could apply to the House. There are 435 members of the House; if a one party drops below 200 members, that means they have really screwed the pooch, and the party is in trouble.
According to my most-used polling site, electoral-vote.com, which I find tracks the most polls, things are getting weird. As of October 1st, the predicted House makeup was 216D-219R. By October 10th, it had flipped to 219D-216R (for simplicity, I am counting all 'toss-up' polls as Republican victories). By the 13th, it was 226D-209R. Things stayed the same for about a week, and then, IT happened. The Republican party imploded under the weight of it's own corruption & hubris. On November 1, the Republicans had smashed through the glass floor of the Mendoza line and were looking at a count of 239D-196R. I actually thought this was a bit over the top, since most of the polls were done by the firm Research 2000, but I took it under advisement.
Imagine my surprise today when a whole new group of Zogby (who I really like) polls came out this morning and put the numbers at 241D-194R! Bush & Cheney are being forced to campaign in Wyoming (!), Idaho (!!) and other places that should be locks for them. There is truly a move afoot to throw the bastards out.
I have said to some people, although not in this blog, that the way things are going this election cycle, if this campaign were to last a another month, we might be able to go straight from the election into impeachment hearings. I don't think we're going to get to that extent, but... wow! This should be an interesting (and, potentially long) Tuesday night.
There are some things that I have been sure that I have written on this blog, only to come back and find out that I have said nothing about them. That means that my 'A' material is ending up as comments on other blogs, and whatever is left over is here. That's not a good way to run the show. Maybe I'll just post links to my comments from elsewhere. Hmmmm....
Anyway, I have to comment this morning about the Congressional races. I have been watching these VERY closely, especially over the last three weeks or so. The Senate race seems to have pretty much stagnated, somewhere in the 51-49 range, either way. As far as I am concerned, that will not cut it for the Dems, even if they have the 51. Here's why: If it is 51R-49D, then it is business as usual (for the sake of these numbers, we are assuming that Bernie Sanders (I) wins, and he will caucus with the Dems. Also, the pollsters continue to regard Lieberman as a de facto Dem, regardless of his new party affiliation.); if it is 50-50, Cheney is the tiebreaking vote, and we all know how that will turn out; At 51D-49R, things get a little weird. One of the Ds is Joe Lieberman, running on the Bullshit Moose party. It is my firm belief that, if he beats Ned Lamont, as it appears he will, he will caucus with the Republicans, knocking it back to 50-50+Cheney. Lieberman knows where his votes are coming from -- and he has a debt to repay. So, the magic number for the Dems is 52. I haven't seen a 52 yet.
Now, onto the House, where it gets interesting. The Dems need to pick up about 15 seats to take the majority. For a while, that was a possibility. But, going down the laundry list of scandals, problems, Iraq deaths, war profiteering, preying on children, etc., the game has gotten out of control, and FAST!
There is a term in baseball known as the Mendoza Line. The Mendoza Line is 200, or rather, .200 as a batting average. Named after a mediocre player who hit a lifetime .200 average, it is now regarded as the point where, if you are below the Mendoza Line, maybe you shouldn't be in the majors. I think the same rule could apply to the House. There are 435 members of the House; if a one party drops below 200 members, that means they have really screwed the pooch, and the party is in trouble.
According to my most-used polling site, electoral-vote.com, which I find tracks the most polls, things are getting weird. As of October 1st, the predicted House makeup was 216D-219R. By October 10th, it had flipped to 219D-216R (for simplicity, I am counting all 'toss-up' polls as Republican victories). By the 13th, it was 226D-209R. Things stayed the same for about a week, and then, IT happened. The Republican party imploded under the weight of it's own corruption & hubris. On November 1, the Republicans had smashed through the glass floor of the Mendoza line and were looking at a count of 239D-196R. I actually thought this was a bit over the top, since most of the polls were done by the firm Research 2000, but I took it under advisement.
Imagine my surprise today when a whole new group of Zogby (who I really like) polls came out this morning and put the numbers at 241D-194R! Bush & Cheney are being forced to campaign in Wyoming (!), Idaho (!!) and other places that should be locks for them. There is truly a move afoot to throw the bastards out.
I have said to some people, although not in this blog, that the way things are going this election cycle, if this campaign were to last a another month, we might be able to go straight from the election into impeachment hearings. I don't think we're going to get to that extent, but... wow! This should be an interesting (and, potentially long) Tuesday night.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Davis vs. Limbaugh
Just a quick post. I've been following this disgusting attack by that idiot Rush Limbaugh on Michael J. Fox for coming out and saying that he would like to see some people elected that give a damn about stem-cell research, something that this country is falling FAR BEHIND on compared to the rest of the world. (Remember when we had a science agenda to be proud of in this country?) Just to recap: the permanently flaccid and admitted OxyContin junkie Limbaugh has been railing on and on that, in the ads, Fox is either acting sicker than he is, or that he has deliberately stopped taking his meds in order to make his disease look worse than it is.
Rush Limbaugh is an asshole.
First, he has no idea how Fox's meds work. If he did, he would know that he has his cause & effect mixed up. No meds = paralysis, meds = extreme movement. Pick one -- they both sound like really great options, don't they Rush. I realize that you have no problem just cramming more pills down your fat trap to fix whatever you say this weeks problem is ("Wahhh! I'm in pain -- I need 60 Oxys a day!"; "Wahhh! I have to meet some Carribean hookers and my dick won't get hard -- someone get me some Viagra under a fake name!"), but some people would actually like a cure for some of these problems that pills just don't make that much better.
Here's a piece written by someone who has some experience in the matter. Patti Davis (Reagan). Remember, she was the estranged Reagan daughter, who then came back to the family to make her peace with St. Ronnie before he died, and now believes, along with the other sane family members, that maybe stem-cell research wouldn't be such a bad thing, and that maybe real human lives carry more importance than blastocysts. Take a look here.
Rush Limbaugh is an asshole.
First, he has no idea how Fox's meds work. If he did, he would know that he has his cause & effect mixed up. No meds = paralysis, meds = extreme movement. Pick one -- they both sound like really great options, don't they Rush. I realize that you have no problem just cramming more pills down your fat trap to fix whatever you say this weeks problem is ("Wahhh! I'm in pain -- I need 60 Oxys a day!"; "Wahhh! I have to meet some Carribean hookers and my dick won't get hard -- someone get me some Viagra under a fake name!"), but some people would actually like a cure for some of these problems that pills just don't make that much better.
Here's a piece written by someone who has some experience in the matter. Patti Davis (Reagan). Remember, she was the estranged Reagan daughter, who then came back to the family to make her peace with St. Ronnie before he died, and now believes, along with the other sane family members, that maybe stem-cell research wouldn't be such a bad thing, and that maybe real human lives carry more importance than blastocysts. Take a look here.
Monday, October 16, 2006
The Stupidity Awards
Sorry for not posting much lately. It's been real busy getting our other blog, atomicnewwave.blogspot.com (tied to our Internet Radio Station) up and running, and also trying to, you know, make a living and such.
Anyway, I just had to comment on what has to be the stupidest thing I have heard this month, so far (I realize that 15 more days is plenty of time for people to say even more stupid things, and I don't doubt they will, but this gets the award for now): Supposedly, tomorrow, the United States of America will have a population of 300,000,000 people. I'm sorry, let me be more specific: at 4:46 am PDT on Tuesday, October 17, 2006, the giant odometer that tracks the population of the U.S.A. will roll over 300,000,000.
Now, I certainly don't want to rain on anyone's parade here. In fact, I hope that Baby "USA 300M" gets a lifetime supply of Huggies and a guest-hosting stint on The View. However, does anyone actually believe this crap? 300,000,000? How do we arrive at that number? By the census?!? Are you kidding?? I'm thinking it would be more accurate if news reports called it 300,000,000 +/- 20,000,000. We have already established (after the 2000 election) that we are unable to count votes in an election (seriously -- the Supreme Court said that -- look it up), and, to vote, people actually have to go somewhere and sign in and do something to be counted. For this, you either fill out a form or.... what? Someone goes and looks for you? Well, yes. Census officials actually walk around and look for people that aren't counted. Do you have an address? Well, you've probably been counted already. More kids? Homeless? Living on a Rural Route?? Hiding in a storage shed??? Well, whatever, we'll just mark down a few more people and we'll be on our way.
Don't get me wrong. I suppose a census is important for various reasons (I'm not going to go into them), but attempting to celebrate a 300 millionth person at an exact time is just stupid, and reeks of a society desperate to celebrate something, or mark some kind of milestone, or get some kind of feeling of accomplishment, even though nothing has really happened. It's like being proud of your blood-type. You didn't do it. We didn't do anything. It's not even a real event. Get over it.
In other news, I usually don't comment on football on this blog but, may I just say: Screw You, Leinart. I realize that as a graduate of the University of Spoiled Children, you're not used to a lot of disappointment in your life, and we all felt very bad watching you have your little outbursts on the sidelines, but, perhaps you need to get over yourself and perform a little better next time. USC grads normally don't have to hear that until later in life, but I guess you're getting advance notice.
Anyway, I just had to comment on what has to be the stupidest thing I have heard this month, so far (I realize that 15 more days is plenty of time for people to say even more stupid things, and I don't doubt they will, but this gets the award for now): Supposedly, tomorrow, the United States of America will have a population of 300,000,000 people. I'm sorry, let me be more specific: at 4:46 am PDT on Tuesday, October 17, 2006, the giant odometer that tracks the population of the U.S.A. will roll over 300,000,000.
Now, I certainly don't want to rain on anyone's parade here. In fact, I hope that Baby "USA 300M" gets a lifetime supply of Huggies and a guest-hosting stint on The View. However, does anyone actually believe this crap? 300,000,000? How do we arrive at that number? By the census?!? Are you kidding?? I'm thinking it would be more accurate if news reports called it 300,000,000 +/- 20,000,000. We have already established (after the 2000 election) that we are unable to count votes in an election (seriously -- the Supreme Court said that -- look it up), and, to vote, people actually have to go somewhere and sign in and do something to be counted. For this, you either fill out a form or.... what? Someone goes and looks for you? Well, yes. Census officials actually walk around and look for people that aren't counted. Do you have an address? Well, you've probably been counted already. More kids? Homeless? Living on a Rural Route?? Hiding in a storage shed??? Well, whatever, we'll just mark down a few more people and we'll be on our way.
Don't get me wrong. I suppose a census is important for various reasons (I'm not going to go into them), but attempting to celebrate a 300 millionth person at an exact time is just stupid, and reeks of a society desperate to celebrate something, or mark some kind of milestone, or get some kind of feeling of accomplishment, even though nothing has really happened. It's like being proud of your blood-type. You didn't do it. We didn't do anything. It's not even a real event. Get over it.
In other news, I usually don't comment on football on this blog but, may I just say: Screw You, Leinart. I realize that as a graduate of the University of Spoiled Children, you're not used to a lot of disappointment in your life, and we all felt very bad watching you have your little outbursts on the sidelines, but, perhaps you need to get over yourself and perform a little better next time. USC grads normally don't have to hear that until later in life, but I guess you're getting advance notice.
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