Author Archives: thompaine
Friday night punk I’m the One / Everything sucks
Maybe this’ll help get the taste of Lady Gaga out of your mouth. Wait a minute…. what… eh never mind.
Going back to the old school with some Decsendents. There was a regular video version of “I’m the One” but a like this version better because it’s a little dirty, liiterally. The guys are getting mud thrown at them and Milo seems to love it. I love that guy. He’s probably my favorite dork of all time.
You also get two songs for the price of one with this. BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE! Also included is an educational interview in between the songs.I leanred from it that not only is douche a word that can be used to describe Keith Olberman but it also means shower in German.
Thom’s quote of the day. Let’s call a spade a spade.
“We have a Muslim terrorist, who called for jihad, who shouted “Alahu Akbar” as he was killing unarmed soldiers in a health center, who had cards made up that said “Solider of Allah,” who spoke of pouring boiling oil down the throats of infidels, who has regular correspondence with a radical imam who preached to 9/11 terrorists . . . and, and, and, and . . . we call it not terrorism but a “killing spree” as if that is what it was and not a terrorist trying to kill as many Americans as possible for political motives.
There is a rot that spreads outside of Washington into the larger culture. It begins with a confusion of terms, and by not calling things by their proper names, it begins with a disassembling of the moral categories. We don’t hear about terrorism or radical Islam so we are surprised to find it in our midst, and when we do, we don’t even recognize it. We have Army generals who elevate diversity over life, we have a president who speaks not of radical Islam or terrorism — though life is what we are fighting for and radical Islam and terrorism is what we are fighting against. And so we are reminded again of the notion that the chief purpose of education is to know when a man is talking rot. Because, if unchecked, the rot will settle, it will metastasize. Soon we no longer know anymore what we are fighting against . . . or more importantly, what we are to fight for.”
Bill Bennet on his show this morning. You can find the whole thing here http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YjlhY2E5Y2UxYzUxMjc5YWFjMzVjZjE5MjczYjNmNDY=
Thom’s quote of the day – The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall
“We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”
Some poignant words on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall which was the symbolic end of the cold war. I remember that day clearly. Berliners from both sides danced on top of the barrier that once divided them. A barriers that witnessed the deaths of countless East Germans seeking freedom on the other side. Even with all the historical perspective of a 13 year old I knew that I was witnessing history in the making.
The full text of the speech after the jump courtesy of historyplace.com
Friday Night Punk – Link 80
A nice catchy little punk/ska song. Unfortunately you’ll never hear from this band again. The lead singer who happened to be author Danielle Steel’s son died of a heroin overdose at the ripe old age of 19. What a shame. Another waste of talent.
Fort Hood shooter’s last words
To the regulars at conclub please forgive the ridiculous title but it was done for a reason. To those of you who googled that and landed here I beg you to discontinue your search. No one yet know if Major Nidal Malik Hasan created some sort of Virginia Tech shooter style youtube video or rambling manifesto prior to murdering 12 American soldiers but if such a thing exists I ask you to ignore it.
Stop googling it, and please ask your freinds to do so as well. Website hits for such a thing only lend him credibility and give the next lunatic motivation. I appreciate that in times of tragedy we try to make sense of a senseless act but I assure you that you will not find answers in the ramblings of a homicidal maniac. It is an unfortunate reality that evil does truly exist in this world and man was not meant to understand why.
If indeed this man committed this heinous act in order to deliver some sort of message let the message fall on deaf ears. We live in a country where free speech is cherised and there are countless ways in the information age to peacefully deliver a message to the masses. Don’t give a voice to those who chose to deliver their message through murder.
Blue state blues
There is absolutely no reason why operating a business in New Jersey should be a losing proposition. I contend that we have the best infrastructure in place to accomdate manufacturing, distribution or most any other type of business in the nation. We have the busiest seaport in the nation at Port Newark, a major international airport in Newark, and are situated between two of the largest cities in the country in New York and Philadelphia. We are chock full of interstate highways and rail lines.
But businesses are leaving the state in droves. When I was growing up we had 3 auto plants in the state. We currently have none. The textile business in northern New Jersey and the glass manufacturers down south are all but gone.
Friday Night Punk Reel Big Fish
The title incorporates a few of my favorite things. Fishing, punk rock, and beer. I saw these guys wih Goldfinger way back when. What a great show. Lot of fun.
I’m all for waterboarding but this is just cruel
Bands want to know if their music was used on Gitmo detainees
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/10/22/musicians.guantanamo/index.html
Courtesy CNN.com
At risk of incurring some cut & paste backlash I couldn’t figure another way of doing this.
Yes once again those unsing heros (celebrities) are here to lend their razor sharp insight into the political spectrum. A group of musicians lead by REM and Pearl Jam petitioned via the freedom of information act to find out if they’re music was being used to torture those poor, misunderstood freedom fighters currently being held in Guantanamo Bay. The band REM released a statement saying in part
“We have spent the past 30 years supporting causes related to peace and justice. To now learn that some of our friends’ music may have been used as part of the torture tactics without their consent or knowledge is horrific”
If you go ’round carrying pictures of Chairman Mao. You ain’t gonna make any sense anyhow.
Let’s just start with the fact that it is patently absurd to compare Mother Teresa, who dedicated her life to helping the most unfortunate of God’s children, to a man who slaughtered nearly a million dissidents and starved out tens of millions of others. It is, in fact, rather a tragic contrast between a woman who struggled to feed the poor and a man who starved his own people.
Let’s forget for a moment that Mao killed upwards of 70 million people. Even though that’s kind of a big deal. Anita Dunn calls Mao “one of her favorite political philosiphers.” So let’s focus solely on his political philosophy. HE WAS A f$!#ING COMMUNIST! What she fails to realise is that communism is the enemy of free society. Has been since its inception. Got that Michael Moore? Communism doesn’t allow for you to make your own choices or find your own way as she suggests the new graduates do in her speech. The government makes your choices and chooses your path for you. It subjugates it ctizenry into faceless masses which discourage creative thought.
Everybody looks upon Hitler and Pol Pot as evil and brutal dictators which no doubt they were but how about Stalin? Mao? Lenin? All of these men killed innocent people so how is it that the communist leaders are looked upon with mixed feelings and occasionally even reverence?
Oh wait she was just kidding. Seriously? Did it SOUND like she was kidding? Do you think that lame excuse would fly if Mitt Romney called Hitler one of his favorite political philosophers? Somehow I doubt it.
Cramer vs Stewart tonight at 11.
Believe it or not I kind of like both of these guys. Yeah Jon Stewart is a flaming liberal but he’s funny and I just love watching politicans getting made fun of. He gives a pretty good skewering to the Dems too on occasion. I’ve read one of Cramer’s books and watch his show just about every day. Despite Stewart’s accusations to the contrary Cramer also has a better understanding of the economy than just about anyone in elected office.
All that being said these two have been in the midst of a war of words for the past couple of weeks and let’s be honest Stewart’s really talking above his depth here. Sure Cramer may have recommended Bear Stearns right before they went down the tubes but the man can’t be expected to be right 100% of the time. Moreove despite Jon’s accusations to the contrary Cramer advised people to get out of the market when it was 35% higher than it is now or as he puts it “That was a call that should have wrecked my career. And it would have, if the market had gone up. But I stuck my neck out and did it and saved a lot of people money.”
Furthermore Cramer didn’t used to be such a darling of the Republican party. He was brutally critical of the Bush administration’s economic policies and the lack of regulation of short sellers and hedge funds. He has only attracted the ire of Stewart and his cohorts in my opinion because right wing pundits like Rush Limbaugh have jumped to his defense.
Jon the guy just gives financial advice. Those who are best suited for finance are not political because thier opinions are aimed toward what is good for the economuy and the average investor no matter which side of the aisle they happen to agree with. Let’s face it that’s probably why politicians repeatedly make such a mess of the economy. Because they have an agenda.
Stayed tuned for this one folks. I have the feeling that barring some clever editing Stewart is going to come out of this looking rather sheepish.
Friday Night Punk Valentine’s Day edition
Happy Valentine’s Day to all my fellow hopeless romantics out there.
Sorry that it’s not the best quality but the venue brings back some fond memories. I remember the Bouncing Souls back when they were a no name band in the Rutgers bar scene in New Brunswick and CBGB was where I learned to love punk rock. It was the size of the living room in a nice home and the men’s room hadn’t been cleaned since the Ford administration but the music there was incredible. It WAS punk rock.
I’d send this out to all of the ladies in conclub but since there’s only one Happy Valentine’s Day Mo. Mr Mo is a lucky man. Eh what the hell happy Valentine’s Day to you too Dre even though I don’t swing from that side of the plate I’ll still spread some love especially since I’m usurping FNP.
And a reminder to all of the rest of you TOMORROW’S VALENTINE’S DAY!! Don’t forget how much your better half has to put up with. Go out and get some roses at least.
House of Cards
Last night CNBC aired a special appropriately titled “House of Cards” documenting the recent collapse of the housing market and the massive ripple effect it created. If you haven’t seen this I highly reccomend it. It’s a fairly non-partisan unflinching look at who was to blame for the recent collapse and why. I’ll give you a little spoiler EVRYONE was to blame. From the borrowers for lying on thier applications, to the lenders for basically encouraging them to lie on thier applications, to the rating agencies for taking these garbage mortgage backed securities and in explicably giving them a triple A rating to the government for sitting back and letting it happen and on and on.
They do lean toward being a bit sympathetic toward the borrowers but do point out that some of them WILDLY overstated thier income in order to be approved for loans. I didn’t see it on the listings quite yet but I believe the special is being aired again on Sunday. I suggest you all check it out
Stimulusususus
Like everyone else I have a couple of people who email 70 messages a day that have been forwarded around the world twice and are usually nonsensical warmings that I should be on the lookout for deadly spiders in my freezer, not to answer my door after 8 PM because gang members are randomly murdering people, and not to eat certain brands of smoked turkey because an odd combination of chemicals in it will cause me to grow a third nipple. Every now and then mixed amongst the flotsam and jetsam of messages intended to turn me into a paranoid agorophobe there’s something that gives me a good chuckle. I thought I’d share one about stimulus checks with the group. Perhaps it’s not enitrely accurate but it’s still pretty funny.
Try and picture Obama or one of his minions having this little back and forth at a press conference.
“This year, taxpayers will receive an Economic Stimulus Payment. This is a very exciting new program that I will explain using the Q and A format:
“Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment? “
A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.
“Q. Where will the government get this money? “
A. From taxpayers.
“Q. So the government is giving me back my own money? “
A. Only a smidgen.
“Q. What is the purpose of this payment? “
A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.
“Q. But isn’t that stimulating the economy of China ? “
A. Shut up.”
FNP not one for the kids
A little ditty from the Dropkick Murphys called Kiss me I’m S–t Faced.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Somebody buy this guy a beer
photo courtesy of CNN
I’m sure you’ve all heard by now about the US Airways jet that crashed in to the Hudson River today. Since I live in the NYC area let me attempt to paint you an even more vivid picture than you may be hearing on the news. First of all it is COLD today. Damn cold. We got up to a nice balmy high of 20 degrees this afternoon after this morning’s snow and we had a couple of little snow squalls blowing through over the course of day and winds have been gusting on and off all day.
In these conditions pilot Chelsey B. “Sully” Sullenberger reportedly struck a flock of birds shortly after takeoff disabling at least one and possibly two of his engines. The veteran commercial and former fighter pilot (the military trains them well don’t they) cooly turned the plane around in an attempt to get to Teterboro, a smaller local airport. Realizing he couldn’t make it there he piloted the crippled jet a scant few hundred feet over the George Washington bridge and set it down gently in a half mile wide stretch of the Hudson River.
Just to put it into perspective the man piloted this jet over a heavily travelled bridge and landed it safely into an icy river dividing downtown Manhattan from Jersey City and Weehawken, some of the most densely populated real estate in America, with ZERO fatalities and ZERO serious injuries. This could have gone so much worse in so many ways. Not only did the man save the lives and the 155 people on board but probably those of countless others on the ground as well. God was clearly watching over many people this afternoon.
Some well deserved praise also goes to the New York fire and police departments and the Coast Guard, from whom we have come to expect such courage and skill, for quickly snatching the passengers out of the water. Kudos also to a heads up ferry captain who piloted her vessel over to the crash site to throw life jackets to some of the passengers.
As one last act of heroism after everyone else was off of the plane Sullenberger made two more passes through the sinking plane to make sure that no one was left behind. Mr. Sullenberger hats off to you my good man. May we all be able to face life’s trials with such bravery, decisiveness and integrity. God bless.
One idiot’s opinion about the current crisis in Gaza
Once again when in time of crisis we can depend on Hollywood celebrities, those unsung heroes, to lend a totally nonsensical viewpoint to a major issue facing the world. Today’s contender: Roseanne Barr who bravely declares that Israel is “A Nazi state.”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230733139909&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
First of all I think she needs a history lesson. Call me crazy but doesn’t this seem just a little contradictory? I ain’t got no fancified history degree but from what I understand the Nazis were dedicated to eliminating the Jews. You know, those people who live in Israel. So unless they are suicidal I think it would be inaccurate to describe the Israelis as Nazis.
Rosanne goes on to “ liken Hamas to “street gangs” in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts, saying that Israel’s military campaign is the “equivalent to Los Angeles attacking and launching war on the people of Watts to kill ‘the Bloods’ and ‘the Crips.’”
Just to inject a little reality into her nonsense the terrorists are what passes for government in the Gaza strip. The Bloods and Crips are street gangs which the US government as well as the California and local Watts governments are actively trying to wipe out. Though they both may represent lawlessness and terror in their respective corners of the world the comparison is ridiculous. Israel is at war with a terrorist organization that has seized control of the Gaza Strip and overthrown an elected government. Gangs may make like tough for the residents of Watts but the certainly don’t control every aspect of life for them and their primary goal is not the destruction of a neighboring community. Moreover if they did have some kind of armed overthrow of the local government I would have to assume that the US government would indeed step in and seize back control of the region.
Much to the chagrin of pro-Palestinians everywhere the IDF is not targeting innocent civilians. in fact they repeatedly distribute flyers informing residents of the Gaza Strip of ways turn in their captors (yes the citizens of the Gaza Strip are being held hostage by terrorists) and ways to avoid being accidentally injured or killed by IDF forces.
Just for the record Roseanne Barr is Jewish. Seriously she is. Apparently she has converted to Christianity which is all well and good but way to sell out your people on the way out the door Roseanne.
Projections predictions and outright guesses for 2009
OK here goes. Odd numbered years are a bit tough since there’s not a whole heck of a lot going on election wise.
1. After a very rough start the economy will begin to recover midway through 2009. Although no one will be able to explain why everyone will attempt to take credit. Obama will garner most of the credit and conservatives will gnash what is left of their gnashed teeth in anger.
2. 6 teams will finish the NCAA football regular season undefeated and 4 of them will have nothing to show for it. The NCAA will finally cave in and develop a playoff system wherein Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and USC play every year in a two round playoff to determine the national champion.
3. Illinois governor Blogoyocihinskiwicz will be convicted of attempting to sell Obama’s vacated senatorial seat and be sent to prison only to pardon himself after everyone realizes that they forgot to throw him out of office. Massive amounts of money will mysteriously appear in various offshore accounts.
4. “Guns N’ Roses” will record another album, release it and then pull it off the shelves when they notice that no one cares.
5. Despite being awarded an astronomical amount of money from taxpayers GM and Chrysler will still have massive layoffs.
6. After electing a pro wrestler for governor and a comedian for senate Minnesota will follow up by electing a transvestite midget porn star for attorney general.
7. Scientists will make an amazing breakthrough in cancer research.
8. India and Pakistan will go to war. The rest of the world will get smart and stay out of it. It will be damn near impossible to get any sort of tech support help over the phone temporarily. Shortly thereafter unemployment in the US will go down nearly 1% and Americans will rejoice at being able to understand what the hell tech support operators are actually saying.
9. Gas will go up to just over $2.00 a gallon.
10. OJ will still be in prison.
11. Caroline Kennedy will be appointed to replace Hillary in the senate. Sure she’s completely inexperienced but that didn’t stop Hillary from getting elected.
12. Despite the state of this state the people of the fine state of New Jersey will re-elect Jim Corzine.
The Real Meaning of Christmas
In case everyone forgot. It’s not all about presents and Santa. Could you even put this in a cartoon anymore?
From the bottom of my heart all of the best to all of you and your families this Christmas. Peace on Earth and goodwill to man.
Happy Festivus
Here’s a little clip outlining the origins of Festivus. Let me just take a moment to wish a very Happy Festivus to all of you and your families. May all of your grievances be aired and your feats of strength be impressive.
On snowstorms and politics
Let me open by saying that while a wintry mix may sound delicious it is quite annoying. Read the rest of this entry
Friday Night Punk – I’m destroying the world
Well not me personally. Here’s a nice little tune that’s been stuck in my head ever since my days of wasting countless hours playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 on Playstation. Enjoy
The assault on Christmas continues
The latest victim…. everyone’s favorite reindeer.
Yes a disgruntled parent of a student at Murrayville Elementary School in North Carolina decided that she could not sit idly by while the children sang a song with such religious overtones as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in the school’s upcoming Christmas holiday show. Of course all of us Christians remember the story in the bible of Rudolph. It was in the book of ummmm oh wait a minute that particular song is a fairy tale having absolutely nothing to do with the Christian faith except perhaps that it happens to take place at Christmas time.
We are talking about Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer here folks not Go Tell it on the Mountain or Onward Christian Soldiers. It is probably most secular, least offensive Christmas holiday song since Jingle Bells. There’s no pledge of undying love and devotion to Jesus just a silly kid’s song about a magic reindeer. Apparently this parent (only one by the way) objects to hearing the offensive words Christmas and Santa arguing that Santa is a religious character. I must’ve missed that story in the bible too. Moreover the only time the word “Christmas” is used in the song it’s in the line “then one foggy Christmas Eve.” So it is only used in the context of describing what day it is.
So I’ve taken the liberty of doing a PC rewrite of Rudolph in an attempt to make one of the least offensive songs ever written even more so. Sing along with me won’t you?
Rudolph the special endangered quadruped
Had a slightly different nose but he was just as smart and handsome as everyone else.
And if you ever saw him
And you even noticed it glows you would be an intolerant jerk.
All of the other endangered quadrupeds
Used to laugh and call him names because they were mean but it probably wasn’t their fault because they may have been abused by their parents or had some sort of genetic predisposition toward meanness.
They never let unfortunate Rudolph
Join in any endangered quadruped games
Then one foggy December 24th.
An overweight bearded man in a red suit came to say
Rudolph with your slightly different nose
Won’t you guide my eco friendly non carbon emitting vehicle tonight.
Then all of the endangered quadrupeds loved him
And they shouted out with glee
Rudolph the special endangered quadruped
You’ll go down in white christian male dominated history.
Has a nice little harmony to it doesn’t it?
Friday Night Punk – All
In keeping with my current “decline of society” attitude of late here’s “World’s on Heroin” from a couple of gents from Ft Collins Colorado. Not far from the birthplace of conclub.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Pirates!!
In the latest example of society’s inexorable decline there has been a shocking increase in brazen pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia. Pirates have recently captured a Saud oili tanker carrying $100 million worth of crude and a Ukranian freighter loaded with tanks, grenade launchers and other assorted impliments of persuasion. Reuters recently published this list of ships believed to be currently held in pirate control in the region. In perhaps the most shocking of the attacks pirates also attempted to take over a US cruise ship loaded with tourists only to be outrun by the massive vessel. What in God’s name a cruise ship was doing off the coast of Somalia is beyond me but imagine the horror of hundreds of vacationers being held captive by pirates.
What occurs to me when reading about these attacks is that they seem poorly planned and the handful of culprits involved are lightly armed with a few AK-47s and perhaps on RPG or two. Maybe I’m just a deluded 2nd amendment supporting American but it seems to me that were the crews of these ships armed with even a few assault rifles the could easily repel such attacks and shortly thereafter discourage the miscreants involved from attempting further actions. Think about it. These pirates are motoring up to these giant container ships in little skiffs and climbing their way on board to overpower the crew. I’m not sure if you folks have ever seen the size of those container ships but they are ENORMOUS! ships standing probably 20-30 ft above sea level so clambering you way on deck under fire from the crew even if you have superior firepower would not be an easy task. At this point several shipping companies have been taking the long way around the southern tip of Africa at an additional cost in time and money well into the tens of thousands. It just makes economic sense to spend a couple hundred dollars a piece for some AK-47 for the crew to repel such attacks.
US, Indian and Russian warships are currently patrolling the Sea of Aden to protect the ships but the area is too massive for them to do so effectively. So my advice to the shipping companies is to get yourself a few assault rifles and teach the crew how to use them just in case. Trust me if you pick off a few of these lowlifes word will get out that the sailors are shooting back and they’ll give up on playing pirate. Like any common street thug these guys are looking for a soft target and will turn tail and run once they realize people will fight back.
Gift ideas for the enlightened and progressive
As a joke a buddy of mine signed me up for NOW’s email list quite some time ago. It was an annoyance for a while but now I get a few cheap chuckles out of some of the stuff they send me. Here is their most recent email with some nifty gift ideas for some of you damn right wing oppressors.
Their hero……
More great stocking stuffers after the break
Secretary of State Clinton?
That’s the rumor going around for whatever rumors are worth. Of course not too long ago the rumor was Vice President Clinton. I suppose they could do worse. Since Obama’s almost certainly going to pick a Democrat for the position I would prefer Bill Richardson since he has some foreign policy experience. I’d really rather not have John Kerry in there.
Of course I’m an insane optimist sometimes so I’m still holding out hope that Obama will cross party lines and pick Rudy G for Attorney General. I wasn’t a huge supporter of Rudy’s for President but he did a fantastic job of cleaning up NYC when he was their Attorney General years back. Rudy’s probably considering a run again in 2012 so I doubt he’d take the job even if it were offered but it’d be nice. So would a winning lottery ticket……
I really do think the Clinton pick is pure speculation. Obama’s going to go with Kerry. They’ve been BFFs for quite some time now and I suspect some sort of deal was struck early on.
And now the auto industry
Up next in the great bailout bonanza of 2008 is the US auto industry. Long suffering US auto makers are now petitioning congress for a bailout package of their own to help their struggling industry and supply chain. While I do sympathize with those who stand to lose their jobs if it should crumble I’m really not too crazy about spending more taxpayer money to bail out the auto industry especially considering we just gave them $25 billion not even 2 months ago! http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/080929-Auto-Bailout-Passes-Big-Three-to-Get-Big-Check-from-Uncle-Sam/
On the bright side…..
Oil is down to $59.00 a barrel http://money.cnn.com/data/commodities/
So if we all still have jobs and can afford to make our car and mortgage payments gassing up our cars and buying heating oil should be a little easier.
EDIT: I just noticed that I mimicked the title of another post. Sorry Dave. This one is more apropriate to the content anyway.
My red state visit.
If this picture doesn’t make you smile it’s time to consider Prozac. My “nephew” Kyle and a famiy friend Sarah on Halloween. Grandma said “say cheese” which Sarah took to mean scream at the top of your lungs. Kyle was unimpressed. I put nephew in quotes since he’s actually my brother’s brother & sister in law’s son but I love that kid to death and threaten to steal him every time I go down there only to be reminded that his dad excersizes his 2nd amendment rights and unless I can run 3000 ft per second I won’t make it very far.
More after the fold
A brief reprieve
As I mentioned previously I will be taking a much needed vacation down to the lovely Myrtle Beach area starting tomorrow and I won’t be returning until election day. I doubt I’ll have the means or motivation to keep up with my blogging while I’m away, not that I need a vacation from you fine folks in fact conclub is a nice distraction for me from the drudgery of the daily grind. I digress. The only drawback is I will be missing what I suspect will be some of the best quality blogging in these last days of the election cyle. So be kind to one another in my absence and everyone get to the polls safely. If you’re still undecided come election day feel free to write in yours truly.
Predictions?
Maybe it’s too early for this but I’m going to be visiting family down south for a few days starting Thursday and I won’t be back until election day so here is my electoral map…
thompaine’s electorial map 2008
It doesn’t look too good for McCain in my comepletely UN-expert opinion. I’ve got him getting trounced 325-213. No real huge surprises here. I kept the solid red and blues more or less where they are and played around a bit with the “leaning” and “toss up” states until I felt somewhat comfortable with the predictions. Looks like IN MO MT and NC are the tightest races in the recent poll figures listed here. I put them all in the McCain column only because Bush took those states pretty handily in 2000 and 2004. I gave FL and NV to Obama. Nevada’s trending more and more toward Obama and Florida… well honestly I guessed on Florida.
The only solid one I changed was VA. My thinking there is that Bush’s numbers didn’t change much from 2000 to 2004 and he won pretty handily both years. Obama polling strongly there but I’m just going with my gut here. Sorry Dave, PG, E, etc. but I gave CO to Obama. I’m just going with a trend there. His numbers are trending upwards there. This is a really tough call too though. Obama’s numbers are far from dominating there and Bush actually fared better in 2004 than he did in 2000 there.
So what do you think folks? I know you’ve all probably played around with one of these maps before. Am I close? Way off? Let’s crunch some numbers.
PS I couldn’t figure out how to put my map as an image in this post so if anyone knows how could you help a brotha out?
Random malicious humor
In the interest of being fair and balanced I figured I’d spread the love around to both sides. A friend sent me the Obama poster and I had to hunt down the McCain one.
Friday Night Punk – Flogging Molly
A wacky little concoction of Flogging Molly’s Salty Dog with scenes from Pirates of the Carribean. It mixes rather nicely I think.
PC at home is still down so I’ll wish you all a lovely weekend now since I probably won’tbe checking back in until Monday.
Socialist = black??
Hey Wes PG has just been calling you black all this time so there’s no reason to get all up in arms if you’re as open minded as you claim to be. Yes according to Kansas City Star editor Lewis Diuguid, http://voices.kansascity.com/node/2493 every time McCain and/or Obama calls Barack Obama a socialist they are using super-secret slang which has been used to “describe African Americans who spent their lives fighting for equality.”
I’m not sure where to start with how ridiciulous this one is but I’ll try. Personally I can’t recall ever hearing McCain or Palin refer to Obama as a socialist. Please feel free to call me out on this if you have but I personally have not. It has certainly been implied but I do not believe they have directly referred to him as a socialist.
In addition if calling Obama a socialist indeed has some kind of deeper meaning it has escaped me all this time. Perhaps I am not as on point as some of my fellow conclubbers. Did you guys know about this? If so PG just dropped a peg in my book. Therefore where is the insult? If calling Obama socialist is an insult and no one understands what it really means, does it really matter? It’s sorta like that whole tree falling in the woods thing.
Also I do not have a college degree in poli-sci so correct me if I’m wrong on this one but as I understand it socialism is a political doctrine having to do with government ownership of property. OK I dumbed it down quite a bit admittedly but I didn’t want to occupy 27 paragraphs describing a concept we’re all familiar with. This is a political theory most closely associated with those on the left and those on the right have used the word “socialist” countless times in campaigns in an attempt to paint their opponent as a radical whether it be true or not.
Finally and most importantly in my opinion if being a socialist describes “African Americans who spent their lives fighting for equality” don’t you think Obama or any other African American would wear the socialist tag as a badge of honor.? Lewis just because one person in the entire course of history used that word in that context does not change the entire meaning of the word.
Sidenote: apologies to Wes and PG for using them as an example. I think you guys both understood the context though.
Light at the end of the tunnel?
The stock market was up over 900 points today so the big question has to be is the economy starting to recover? This is a very complex financial situation not limited to just the recent free fall in the stock market but being the cockeyed optimist I am I’d like to say that it’s at least a nice step in the right direction. I expect that tomorrow the market will probably drop back a bit while sellers try to take advantage of recent gains and sell while the sellings good but unemployment numbers look promising, the dollar is gaining nicely on the Euro, oil is at an almost reasonable price again and on a personal note my 401k is starting to make it look like I may actually be able to retire in my 80′s instead of my late 90′s
So what do the finance wizzes at conclub think? A lot of the buzz going around is that things will have to improve in Europe before we are truly out of the woods here but I open up the floor to comments. Is this just a fluke or is the economy going to start clawing its way back up to normalcy? Clearly we’ve still got some major issues to deal with and it’s probably too early to uncork the champagne and buy myself a Bentley but maybe I can safely switch from PBR back to Sam Adams.
Friday Night Punk Yom Kippur edition
NOFX – The Brews
Happy belated Yom Kippur and a happy even more belated new year to all of our Jewish contributors out there from the Goyem of conclub. Here’s a little comething celebrating your heritage from a couple of my favorite albeit less famous Jewish musicians.
Rough week
We see news reports like this http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=6435072 every time you turn on the evening news and we’re usually saddened but take comfort that it isn’t one of our loved ones. Unfortunately on Monday the news was about a friend. My friend Ame lost his mother tragically in a fire on Monday night. The poor guy is absolutely devastated. Having lost a parent suddenly myself some years back my calls and emails to comfort him seem utterly feeble. I know there’s not a whole heck of a lot I can say that’s going to make him feel any better.
Sorry for the bringdown folks but I think we all like to share the good times along with the bad in our little group. I hope everyone will say a little prayer for Ame and his family.
Rejected!!
After convincing us all that a financial bailout of epic proportions was necessary post haste to save our country and indeed the world from imminent disaster congress rejects the $700 billion bailout. Apparently in a few short days congress managed to turn a 3 page document into a 101 page monstrosity http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/09/28/ayo08c04_xml.pdf god bless you if you have the time and patience to read through the whole thing as I honestly did not.
Consequently Wall Street suffered the largest single day point drop in history so apparently the sword of Damocles continues to hang over our heads. I try very hard to not sound like the bitter old cynic who feels that only the government could possibly be responsible for such massive inaction in time of crisis but what other conclusion could I possibly reach? Of course Barney Frank blames the Republicans http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/09/29/sot.frank.bailout.reax.cnn
and Boehner is blaming the Democrats namely Nancy Pelosi http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/09/29/sot.gop.bailout.vote.reax.cnn
However the voting resulted in a curious split with dems supporting the bill 140-95 and the GOP rejecting it 133-65. So somehow they managed to take an idea that had nearly universal support and twist into something which neither side seemed to support with much enthusiasm.
Help me out here guys. How the hell do you screw this one up?
A couple of “other” opinions about the bailout
OK this one is a bit antagonistic but I figure it should spark some decent conversation. Here are a couple of opposing viewpoints/proposals regarding the current and present Wall Street bailout plans. First from Ron Paul http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/23/paul.bailout/index.html Read the rest of this entry
Friday Night Punk – Whole Wheat Bread
The cultural diversity edition of FNP. All of the actual videos had poor sound quality which is a shame because these guys are wild live. Enjoy
Patriot Day
September 11 2001 was an otherwise beautiful morning for me. The Ginats won on Monday night football the night before and it was one of those bright, blue, perfect weather late summer mornings. Nice enough that I decided to walk the half mile to work that morning instead of driving it on the donut I had on my car at the time. Read the rest of this entry
Worst celebrity endorsement ever
Thanks to the wise one for teaching this computer genius how to imbed a youtube vide.
Apparently on his radio show Beck goes on about this further http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/14723/
P. DIDDY: “What is the reality in Alaska? There’s not even no crack heads in Alaska, no black people”
Beck “Hang on just a second. Is that a good thing to P. Diddy that there are no crack heads? I mean, is it a bad thing that there’s no crack heads?”
Yes clearly you are a failure as a governor if there are no crackheads and no crime in your state. As for Diddy’s current living situation, I happen to live in Bergen county NJ just south of Alpine and I can tell you that ir is probably the safest most white bread community in New Jersey if not the entire northeast. Here’s some other facts about Alpine courtesy of http://www.city-data.com/city/Alpine-New-Jersey.html by the way this is a great website especially if any of you is looking to relocate. In 2006 which is the latest year for which data is available there was 1 assault, 2 burgalaries, 3 thefts and 1 arson in Alpine. Adding up to city-data;s crime index of 19.4 one tenth of the national average! My town is Detroit compared to this place! Hell if I made 2 or 3 million a year that’s where I’d move.
Also Is it just me or did he just throw his entire race under the bus? In the same sentence he says there are no black people in Alaska and no crackheads. He just equated black people and crackheads. Imagine Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton saying that to criticise Palin. Methinks it wouldn’t go over too well.
Do you think Obama saw this and shook his head and said “Oh God please shut up! PLEASE” I think in certain cases celebrity endorsements are more of a curse than a blessing.
You had to know this was coming……
Courtesy CNN http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Obama campaign is planning to send out some high-profile female supporters, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, to blunt Sarah Palin’s potential to draw women’s support to the Republican ticket.
Besides Clinton, Governors Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas are also scheduled to campaign for Obama in the coming weeks.
Obama’s chief strategist says the campaign respects John McCain’s V.P. pick. David Axelrod calls Palin “a skilled politician” who’s “deft at going on the attack.”
Sebelius got things started yesterday, saying of Palin’s acceptance speech that she had “mastered the words written by the Bush speechwriters” but didn’t address the issues voters speak about every day.
Clinton is set to arrive Monday in Florida.
I guess it was a pipe dream to hope that I had heard the last of Hillary. It’ll be interesting to see what she has to say.
Pallin: John, that crazy short haired woman in Obama’s camp trashed my office. And then listen to this; this is message she left me.
[Takes a tape recorder and plays the tape.]
Hillary’s voice: Sarah…I am going to find you. If not in your office then in the xerox room or the little conference room near to the kitchen…
Pallin: She must’ve got a blueprint of the building or something.
McCain: Did you tell Mike Duncan about this?
Pallin: Well, I tried, but he thought it was some sort of cat fight.
Guliani : Cat fight?
Pallin : Ok, why? Why do guys do this? What is so appealing to men about a cat fight?
Guliani : Yeye cat fight!
McCain: Because men think if women are grabbing and clawing at each other there’s a chance they might somehow kiss.
Guliani: T-t-t-t…
The above was blatently stolen from Seinfeld.
McCain’s second term? Open thread
Wess alluded in an earlier post to a “buzz” about John McCain only running for one presidential term. This question is mostly for the McCain supporters but I leave it open for whomever cares to comment. John McCain recently celebrated his 72nd birthday. With modern medicine being what it is that is not that old and the man obviously has all of his faculties fully intact however he will be 76 if and when he comes up for a 2nd term. Obviously a lot can happen in four years and for all we know he could very well be in great health come 2012.
So I open the floor to McCain supporters. Are you voting for a one term president or do you expect him to run in 2012? How much, if at all does the Palin nomination sway your opinion with regards to a second McCain term?
I think they are finally starting to grasp the concept of capitalism
Well copyright infringement at least
Courtesy Time magazine. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1823900,00.html
Yes that’s right there are not one, not two, but 4 knockoff KFC’s in Kabul none of which is officially associated with the actual fast food chain. Thankfully it looks like the folks in Afghanistan are starting to understand some of the concepts associated with capitalism. I think soon they will grasp yet another truly American concept….. the massive lawsuit.
“Opening a franchise in Kabul would cost him a few hundred thousand dollars, he opted to go the pirate route. He claims to have bought the U.S.-based KFC’s secret fried chicken recipe on the black market for $1,200″
That’s only $100 per spice!
“….. Nor have the authorities raised intellectual property concerns with the various local KFC imitators; officials from various arms of government are more likely to come looking for bribes. “
And we were worried about this country. Clearly these people understand capitalism a heck of a lot better than we give them credit for. Ideally they will soon start to understand the whole idea of honest business practices but it looks like they’re at least moving in the right direction… sort of.
I suppose as long as they don’t open up in south LA it won’t be a problem.
Vegas Vacation
Sorry for my recnet unexplained absence ladies and gentlemen but I spent the last week doing ummmm extnesive research in Las Vegas. In the course of my studies I have come up with a few observations . To wit:
Six days in Las Vegas is roughly 3 too many.
Taking the early flight out after the last day can lead to nothing positive.
addendum An airplane is the worst place in the world to be with a hangover
addendum addendum The healthy solution to the above problem is definitely not to just not bother going to sleep the night before.
You get a reciept every time you get a drink in a bar in Las Vegas regardless of whether you ask for one or not. Despite the fact that the first couple of days of my trip were actually for business purposes I highly doubt that I could get away with submitting ALL of those reciepts with my next expense report.
The Imperial Palace smells just a little bit like feet
Although prostitution may be technically illegal there it doesn’t seem to really be discouraged.
There’s a Bass Pro Shops in Vegas.
There seems to be some sort of shortage of Jameson out there which forced yours truly to drink Bushmills a few times.
Dry heat Shmy heat 107 degrees is HOT!!!!
Jimmy “JJ” Walker did not age well at all.
If you stay at the Hard Rock Casino Hotel and you’re too hammered to walk, the fine people there are actually kind enough to put you in a wheelchair and take you back to your room. For the record I just witnessed this…. didn’t experience it.
addendum According to the bathroom attendant that sort of thing happens all the time.
And finally even though you may be up at 4AM which is 7AM local time it is not a good idea to take that opportunity to wake your friends up. Come to think of it if you’re up drinking at 4AM leave the cell phone in your pocket regardless of what time zone you’re in.
Our own little baby boom
In an attempt to repopulate the country with brilliant good looking people such as myself my family has undertaken a successful campaign to multiply en masse. Above is my beautiful new niece Emma who is one of 4 new babies my family has been blessed with in the last month and a half. Both of my brother’s wives, one cousin and one cousin’s wife managed to get pregnant within a remarkably short period of time last year and yours truly was deathly afraid to drink the water at Christmas dinner for fear that this thing was contagious. Unfortunately I do not yet have digital photos of Aris, Vivianna, and Sophie but I am sure there are many to come. Sidenote: I need to get a scanner one of these days.
All are healthy and happy and I feel like God is smiling down upon us right now. Life is indeed a sweet sweet gift and we all get reminded of that every now and then. As for me you haven’t been able to wipe the smile off of my face for months.
What would you ask this man?
I’ve got a buddy who is a big time Nader supporter. I know I know but he means well really. Anyway he’s been bugging me for quite some time to go to one of Nader’s rallies. I must admit it has been a tempting invitation. After all Nader, being a minor candidate despite all of the attention he is given, has a lot of smaller town hall type rallies which afford troublemakers like myself the opportunity to actually ask him a question.
Ralph will be holding a rally in uptown Manhattan on Wednesday. Now I’ll be out of town on busniess out in Dana’s neck of the woods Tuesday and Wednesday during the day but I may be able to make it back to the area in time to attend his little shindig so I ask you, my fellow conclubbers; what would you ask Ralph Nader if given such an opportunity? Please spare me the usual “Why did you ruin the election for Al Gore” claptrap. I don’t support Nader but the man’s got as much right to run for President as Obama, McCain or any other qualified individual. So let’s have it folks. What would you ask Ralph Nader?
RIP Tim Russert
Photo courtesy of CNN.com
Tim Russert died suddenly of an apparent heart attack today. The son of a newpaper truck driver Russert became perhaps the best known political pundit in America. Russert has been at the helm of Meet the Press since 1991. He previously served as press secretary for Mario Cuomo and Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He was 58.
Mr Russert recently gained some measure of notoriety for his (alleged?) role in the Scooter Libbey scandal. He had a knack for bringing the best and brightest in politics from both sides of the aisle onto his show. This Sunday’s guests for example were to be Joseph Biden and Lindsey Graham.
Better eulogies will be coming I’m sure but my prayers are with Tim’s family. May he rest in peace
I didn’t know he had a sense of humor.
Dicke Cheney apologises for his comment about West Virginia.
Cheney made the following remark regarding his heritage at a speech to the National Press Club on Monday:
“So we had Cheneys on both sides of the family — and we don’t even live in West Virginia,” the vice president deadpanned […] “You can say these things when you’re not running for re-election.”
Personally I thought the man was utterly devoid of a soul but I suppose I was proven wrong. I loathe Dick as much as the next guy but everyone’s entitled to make a bad joke every now and then. Besides he was just making fun of West Virginia. Well there goes his shot at being McCain’s running mate.
Pictures from Mars rover
Call me a dork but I think this is cool. NASA has just gotten back some images from Mars’ northern polar region transmitted from the Pheonix Mars Rover. The fissures you see in the familiar red surface are caused by the expansion and contraction of underground ice scientists postulate
Here is a link to some of the images posted on CNN’s website
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/05/27/mars.lander.ap/index.html#cnnSTCPhoto
Or NASA’s website has the whole offering of images from the rover. Enjoy
NJ handgun references
A friend of a guy who works for me recently applied for a handgun permit and used him as a reference. Just to clarify in New Jersey when one submits an application for a handgun he is asked to give personal references. The local police department then sends the references a little questionaire in an effort to determine if said applicant is insane, a drug addict etc. . These are the questions the town of North Arlington NJ asks of an applicant’s reference. Being the smartass that I am here is how I would have answered.
Has the applicant ever been convicted of a crime or disorderly persons offense? Isn’t this the sort of thing that should be covered in a background check? or You’re the police. You tell me.
Is the applicant an alcoholic? No There is no alcohol in paint thinner
Is the applicant a habitual drunk? (yes they actually used the term habitual drunk) Didn’t I answer that in the last question?
Is the applicant a narcotics user? Is LSD a narcotic?
Has the applicant ever been confined to a mental institution? No he is treated on an outpatient basis.
Does the applicant suffer from any physical defect or illness? Yes. he has an itchy trigger finger
Has the victim ever commited an act of domestic violence? Yeah but his wife burned the meatloaf. So it was justified
Has the applicant ever been a member of any organization which advocated the overthrow of the US or the state of New Jersey? (Overthrowong a state? that’s a new one.) Well he did vote for Lyndon Larouche.
How many years have you known the applicant? We met last week
To your knowledge is there any reason why the above named person should not be issued a firearms permit? No
Breaking news Ted Kennedy
It has just been announced that Ted Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor. He is by no means a favorite of mine but I wish this fate on no man. The Kennedy curse lives on I suppose.
So it’s over now right?
Obama takes superdelegate lead
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24556427/
That’s it now isn’t it? We can have a general election this year now?
I’m so confused
The nonpology
I would like to take a minute or two to salute the newest trend in public discourse… the nonpology. For those of you unfamiliar with the term a nonpology occurs when one who is in a position of public prominence and has been accused of a misdeed which perhaps cannot yet be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. One consequently holds a press conference where he or she issues a statment intended to illicit the sympathy and forgiveness of the masses while not actually admitting to said misdeed. It is a form of discourse brilliant in its insincerity. The finest example of recent note is from Roger Clemens who you may have heard has been accused of having an affair with country music singer Mindy McCready when she was 15. The following courtesy of the Houston Chronicle.
Clemens issues apology for personal ‘mistakes’
“Even though these articles contain many false accusations and mistakes, I need to say that I have made mistakes in my personal life for which I am sorry,” Clemens said.
“I have apologized to my family and apologize to my fans. Like everyone, I have flaws. I have sometimes made choices which have not been right.”
“I have been accused of having an improper relationship with a 15-year-old girl. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Clemens said
“This relationship has been twisted and distorted far beyond reality. It is just one of many, many accusations that are utterly false.”
In this following part he is ostensibly denying his steroid use “I realize that many people want me to simply confess and apologize for the conduct that I have been accused of, but I cannot confess to, nor apologize for, things I did not do,”
I didn’t do it so I want apologize for it and the following is regarding the alleged underage affair
“I have apologized to my family for my mistakes. And having offered this apology to the public, I would ask that you let me and my family deal with these matters in private.”
I didn’t have sex with a 15 year old either but I am apologizing about that, sort of.
But Clemens is not alone. How about this gem from Robert Packwood
“I’m apologizing for the conduct that it was alleged that I did.”
Trent Lott on his statement semmingly supporting the segregationist campaign of Strom Thurmond “A poor choice of words conveyed to some the impression that I embraced the discarded policies of the past.”
Lott and Packwood’s statement taken from www.CNN.com
I’m sure everyone has thought of a few examples of their own. No to dump on Republicans only I wanted to include the Hillary statement after the whole Bosnia sniper fire fiasco but in what was perhaps an even more brilliant move she never even faked an apology.
So let me offer my own nonpology for events that may or may not have occured on or about a New Years eve of many years past:
Accusations have been made of me that are patently false, however I will admit that mistakes were made that night. Perhaps eating that tray of sushi before consuming massive quantities of tequila was not the wisest of decisions, however I did not vomit in Joe Vernazza’s sink on that evening. I would like to apologize to Joe and his family for the negative attention that this incident has thrust upon them as well as to the fine citizens of East Rutherford and my own family. Their unflinching support has been the only thing that has allowed me to get through this difficult time. I am confident that the truth will soon come to light and I will be vindicated of these slanderous and hurtful accusations. Thank you and God bless you all.
Feliz Cinco de Mayo
Today our neighbors to the south and a few, ahem, visitors in our country celebrate their victory over the French in the battle of Puebla. Everyone has a holiday celebrating a victory over the French. Even the French!
Traffic was curiously light driving into work this morning. However, I suspect that the percentage of unlicensed drivers dropped dramatically.
BTW, I tried to find the most sterotypical, politically incorrect image on the internet to attach to this decidedly politically incorrect post. I think I done good.
Identity theft? That’s just something that happens in the states bloke
There’s stupid, theres idiotic, and then there’s this
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm
I was wrong and I have been punished 
Snubbed again
Yet another NFl draft has come and gone and once again yours truly has been snubbed. I worked really hard this off season to get myself into shape to no avail. It’s all politics in the NFL these days. They just can’t stand the idea of a 5 foot 7 inch white man running circles around all of those super athletes.
Hindsight being 20/20 and all I suppose it was ill advised of me to cash in my 401k and spend it all on whiskey and lottery tickets in anticipation of that enormous signing bonus but what’s done is done. On the bright side toiling my way through the next year at this job is still better than playing for the Bengals.
Getting the government one deserves
Some time ago the Scribe scribbled a thought from George Will that I thought was fairly brilliant. That being the idea that in America sometimes one gets the government that one deserves. I got to thinking about this in more detailed terms and came to realize that in most cases conservatives tend to be more prepared for getting the government they ask for whereas liberals do not. This is not to say of course that one side is right and the other wrong, but some on the left have no qualms about hurling us down the slippery slope toward socialism with reckless abandon failing to realize that the end result could be a government more fascist than the evil Republican regime they all imagine in their darkest nightmares.
Communism, the troublemaking older brother of socialism, does not work. It was a failure of catastrophic proportions throughout Eastern Europe. It was in all the papers so I’m sure you’ve all heard about it. It was a failure fundamentally because of simple human nature. Sure communism is a lovely idea in theory. Everyone shares and shares alike. All people are equals and live in utter harmony tra-la-la-la-la-la. The fact of the matter is, however, that once you surrender to communism you relinquish all control to the central government. Said government is ostensibly ruled by the people but in actuality turns into an oligarchy, a government ruled by a small elite group. One needs look no further than the eastern bloc to see evidence of this. When the entire wealth of a nation is put into the hands of a few to dole out “equally” simple human nature will cause this few to take a larger share for themselves and their friends and associates. Perhaps if Jesus decided to stick around for a couple thousand more years there would be a person around who was above such temptation but unfortunately that is not the case.
Does liberalism definitely lead to socialism leading to communism? Not necessarily, however the tendency of the left to push a more and more socialist agenda without regard to the future consequences could serve to do so. Where would it end after all? So at long last to my point, while those on the left may not wish to turn our country into one ruled by the elite few the ultimate consequence of their policies could very well lead to that end.
This is not to blame the American voter for falling into their trap. We give a lot of our hard earned money to the government and people have come to accept that as a fact of life but they want to see something in return for their investment. Liberal social programs provide a tangible result which comforts people into thinking that their money isn’t being wasted which in reality it is and more of it, might I add. To sum up as my dear friend PG Warner once said. …..
Communism is just a form of socialism. The whore of collectivism uses her makeup to tart herself up in many guises. In the end she makes love to you in the same fascist authoritarian way.
Be happy where you are…
The only purposes of this thread are A) for me to vent and B) to make the rest of you feel al little bit better about where you live. As I may have mentioned I live in New Jersey which is inexplicably referred to as the garden state. Folks for those of you who hail from lovely Colorado, the arctic tundra of New Hampshire, or other assorted locales in this lovely country of ours, if you are feeling a bit down perhaps this will cheer you up.
http://www.njskylands.com/pk_closures.htm
Check out the comment from the guy from Colorado who just moved back to Jersey.
The geniuses in my state government in their infinite wisdom have decided to close nearly a third of our state parks in an attempt to resolve our never ending budget crisis. Included is one of my favorites, Round Valley, which has the best lake trout and smallmouth bass fishing in the state, as well as some beautiful hiking trails. The campgrounds in these parks have also always been a vacation destination for families in our state (mine included in my younger days) who can’t afford to whisk the family out to the Hamptons or down to the Bahamas.
Let me just put a few things into perspective. We are the most overpopulated state in the union which means we have precious little open space as is. We also pay the highest property tax rates in the country as well as one of the highest state income tax rates. In fact if I’m reading this thing right
http://www.taxadmin.org/FTA/rate/ind_inc.html
We’re the highest
So where does all of that money go? Well in addition to many other wasteful state agencys our highway department spends by FAR the most per mile of roadway in the country. The next closest state is is MA. Oh yeah I said Massachusetts who paid for the big dig
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/26/bostons_148b_big_dig_finally_complete/
which went famously over budget by over $12 billion and we’re STILL paying more6 per mile what they are, and our roads aren’t that nice.
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2007/06/29/81312.htm…
In fact they’re still downright horrible.
In addition we pay the highest car insurance rates in the country, home prices and rents are astronomical and we have brownfields and cancer clusters dotting our map, but hey we have the lowest gas prices. So while you guys may pay 3.35 a gallon we are only paying 3.27. This is why if I had any sense I would find myself a new job and move down to South Carolina where my brother had the sense to go.
So my fellow conclubbers why don’t you all take a moment to go outside and breathe in some of that nice, fresh, mountain air and enjoy the land in which you live. Thanks for reading my rant. Believe it or not I feel much better now.
McCain’s VP?
I read an interesting poll the other day from this site
http://www.buckeyestateblog.com/surveyusa_mccains_vp_choice_will_help_determine_if_he_carries_ohio
Which yeilded the following quote:
A SurveyUSA poll focusing on the impact of VP choice reveals this little tidbit. 30% of Ohioans say they will vote for John McCain no matter who his running mate is. 40% say they will vote against McCain no matter who his running mate is. The remaining 30% say his VP choice will determine whether they will vote for him. That’s a pretty big number, so McCain had better choice his running mate wisely.
I won’t comment on the validity of this survey but it sounds viable to me. I also realize this is ”only” Ohio but Ohio is a very important state. So what do my fellow conclubbers think. More importantsly who do my fellow conclubbers think will be the next Republican VP candidate.?
There’s a lot of buzz around Minnesota gov. Tim Pawlenty. many think that his loyalty to the McCain campaign even when things weren’t looking so good will be repaid with a chance to be McCain’s running mate. He’s not a very well known entity though which could work either way for him I suppose.
McCain’s been seen with Mitt Romnay a lot lately. Neither McCain nor Romney is a favorite of hardcore conservatives but he may help McCain draw more of the indpendent vote to the right.
The nest two of these are pure wild speculation on my part. For argument’s sake only
How about Huck? He would serve the opposite purpose of Romney. Solidifying the conservative (especially religious conservative) base. He may serve to push away more of the all important independant vote but at the same time even those who oppose his views see him as honest and having strong integrity.
Condi? I may be the only one who sees this as even a remote possibility. She said she’s not interested but let’s face it that’s what she’s supposed to say. She is better schooled in foriegn affairs than perhaps anyone who was involved in the 2008 campaign and she is a black woman. Of course she will always be associated with BushII who ain’t exactly Mr. Popularity these days.
Among the other choices being kicked around in the media who are lesser known in the national picture.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (Florida another important state)
Georgia Gov. Sonny “Chicken Man” Perdue. Former Democrat…. interesting although as we know quite a few former southern Democrats are now on the other side of the aisle.
Please forgive the lack of detail on the last 3. First of all I don’t know much about them and I didn’t want to take up too much space. So who would you pick? Who do you think McCain will pick? Feel free to come up with your own choice if you wish.
If you thought that was ignorant…..
Recently conclub prodgial son Andre the Defiant posted a thread regarding so-called ”Flintstone Creationism,” the assertion by certain religious groups that man co-existed with the dinosaurs in apparent harmony. Well Dre you may have thought that was bad but have a look at this.
http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/
That’s right folks there are still people out there who are convinced that the earth is indeed flat and surrounded by a giant ice wall. The round earth you have learned about in school is just an elaborate conspiracy by the space agencies (NASA et al.) to hoard billions of dollars of taxpayer money. How this conspiracy came to be centuries before such agencies existed I could not tell you and why the “truism” of a flat earth would prevent mankind from being interested in space exploration I also cannot explain.
I still can’t help but think that this is an elaborate joke by the people who made the site but if that is the case it is far beyond Monty Python proportions. I had to restrain myself from registering on this site and asking quite a few questions which they either did not address or answered speciously (Yes I used a PG Warner word.) For example if the earth is flat and does not rotate how do you explain the Coriolis Effect. I know Andre Coriolis does not prove that the earth is round but it does prove that it rotates therefore it must be round. Or more simply I wonder if any of them has a DSL connection?
My favorite snippet from their FAQ section
What’s on the other side?”
A: This is unknown. Some believe it to be just rocks, others believe the Earth rests on the back of four elephants and a turtle.
Those have to be some big damn elephants!
Feel free to have a look at that site but try not to take it too seriously or your head will explode.
Happy St. Patrick’s day
My grandfather used to say there are two types of people. Those who are Irish and those who wish they were. To all my fellow conclubbers Irish-American or otherwise Happy St. Patrick’s day.
As usual I decided to take the day off to hoist up a few pints in honor of the man who lead my ancestors out of the darkness of paganism to show them the light. Like Christmas and Easter this holiday has come to mean different things over the years and many have forgoten that it is a celebration of the man who saved the souls of the Irish people for generations to come. For most it has become a celebraion of the culture of a proud people who are exemplary of the American dream. A hard working lot who came to this country to better their lives expecting nothing but a chance to make things better for their children and their children’s children.
So hoist up your points boyos and may ye be in heaven ten minutes before the devil knows your dead.
The “Enron loophole?”
This topic has been getting a lot of play on the local radio here in the last couple of months. Is anyone familiar with this? I checked out the site that was plugged on the radio spot
http://www.closetheenronloophole.com/
and as expected it is decidely one-sided. Unfortunately all of the results I got on a google search on the topic were very similarly opinionated. They accused oil speculators of everything short of torturing kittens to drive up oil prices and make themselves rich. Not to mention the invoking of that E word which conjures images of fat cats and massive corporate fraud.
I’m generally a free trade, free market type of guy but not vehemently so, therefore I hesitate to jump on the bandwagon however I also cringe every time I need to gas up lately. I am also naturally a bit of a cynic so when I see this much negative press on a topic I assume there has to be another side. Any of you ladies or gentlemen have more in depth insight on this topic?
As one wise man once told me there’s 3 sides to every story. In this case, that of the “loophole closers,” that of the speculators and finally the truth. Econ guys you have the floor.
Fred Phelps – everyobody’s favorite preacher
I’m sure many if not all of you are familiar with Mr. Fred Phelps. This would be the man who, among many other acts of attention grabbing insanity, shows up with his followers (members of the Westboro Baptist church) at the funerals of young men and women who lost their lives for our country carrying sign that say things like “God hates fags,” ”Thank God for dead soldiers,” and “They are not heroes.” Apparently he is expanding his horizons and praising the deaths of children killed in car accidents.
(Below quote taken from the site linked below)
In January 2008, the group picketed the funeral of five members of a Baltimore, Maryland-area family who were killed in an Ohio car accident. Among the deceased were children aged 10, 7, and 8 weeks. The WBC praised the deaths as God’s punishment of the city of Baltimore for a recent legal judgment against the church that had occurred there. A few weeks later, the group also announced plans to picket the funeral in Wisconsin of a two-week-old baby that had been murdered in Milwaukee by his mother. They praised the act as God’s retribution against a Wisconsin sheriff who they allege assaulted a member of the group in 2005.
http://www.adl.org/special_reports/wbc/default.asp
Yes good old Fred has the uncanny ability to offend the entire political landscape. Liberals hate him for his gay bashing and virulent pro-life stance, conservatives for his protests of the war, Christian conservatives for allowing people the opportunity to lump them in with this psycho, and any human being with a soul loathes him for praising the deaths of innocent children.
As all of you know I am a big supporter of free speech and although I abhor this idiot and feel he has an especially hot place waiting for him in hell for using the Lord’s name to glorify himself and spew hatred, I must grudgingly accept his right to do so. Picketing funerals of children and soldiers however is way over the line. One of the few things Dubya has done that I agree with is to sign into law an act prohibiting these morons from holding their protests at federal cemetaries. Many other states have enacted similar laws.
How ironic is it that prior to his disbarrment Phelps made a name for himself as a civil rights lawyer of all things. Much as I support the right of any American to have an opinion which offends the masses, this guy’s just nuts. One has to wonder if he even believes half the crap he says or if he’s just in it for the attention.
Steroid testing liberal fascism?
In the wake of the steroid controversy surrounding major league baseball and professional sports in general many communities have begun to test their high school athletes for steroids. I’d like to know how the people who label themselves conservatives on this blog feel about steroid testing on these kids. Does this not fall under the catagory of “liberal fascism?” Drug testing intrinsically intrudes upon the privacy of the person being tested does it not?
Moreover while steroids have become the hot button popular issue they are hardly the most widely used drugs. Heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine kill far more people every year than steroids do. Why waste your time testing student athletes for steroids when there are kids in the very same schools on the verge of throwing their lives away by getting addicted to hard drugs? Why test student athletes at all? Any teacher or child psychologist will tell you that these kids are less likely to do drugs than those not involved in extra-curricular activities. I’m not trying to minimize the effects that steroids can have on a high school kid but they are hardly the biggest threat.
Is it a case of tracking? Are we just protecting the kids that we think are woth saving and giving up on the rest? E the Wise I must say I’m particularly interested in your opinion as you are both a teacher and football coach.
Thom’s tips for being a decent member of civilized society
OK folks, I decided to dig into the archives and find a thread I started quite some time ago for my first entry. While it’s a bit of a departure from the political content I’m sure you all will appreciate it.
This will be the first of lord knows how many (perhaps 1) posts on the subject of how to conduct ones’ self in the company of others in a “civilized” society. Some of you may think “Thom, you of all people should be the last person to lecture the rest of us on how to behave as you are, after all, a bit of a douchebag”. While I can’t diasgree with your assessment of my douchebaggery I submit that this very characteristic lends me the ability to recognize behaviors converse to the maxims of decent society in my fellow citizens. That being said let’s get started shall we.
1. Let someone in. Regardless of whether you arrive at a doorway, intersection or merge at the same time as one of your fellow citizens, let them go first. I assure that unless you are bleeding profusely and on your way to the hospital, transporting a ticking time bomb to a safe uninhabited location or your name is Jack Bauer the extra 7 seconds it will take you to do so will not drastically effect your life or the course of history..
2. When a rare kindhearted individual has the common decency to extend to you the courtesy stated in item 1 at least acknowledge said person’s existence. A simple wave of the hand in traffic or a thank you in the door opening scenario will suffice. You need not invite them to your daughter’s wedding or paint their house. A mere thank you will be just fine. In fact for those of you who don’t speak English everyone knows what gracias means. This act unlike item 1 doesn’t even require you to break stride. thus negating the excuse that you are far to hurried to extend such a courtesy. In fact the extra 2 calories you burn with a simple hand wave may be the difference between a long healthy life and an early heart attack.
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