Another super group?

Dave Grohl and Josh Homme must have the life. Their lives are like one big jam session.




I just found out today that the two of them teamed up with John Paul Jones to form Them Crooked Vultures and they already have a decent number of songs written and will be touring this year all around the globe (mostly the U.K). From what I can get off of youtube they sound pretty decent.

I still get a thrill out of seeing Grohl behind the drum kit. If he could bring that energy over to his frontman duties with Foo Fighters it would make the band at least twice as good.

Anyway, can't wait to hear more from the group, and kudos to the two young pups that they now have the clout to get a guy like Jones to join in. It's kind of funny to read the comments on the youtube page to see someone post, "who's that other guitarist?". Ahhh, the youtube generation at it's finest. I bet if it was Ciara or John Mayer they would have recognized him.

Exhibit B why politics are ridiculous

Ted Kennedy's passing has suddenly shaken up the political landscape in the United States Senate. Where before the Democrats had the 60 senators (58 Dem and 2 Independents) required to avoid filibusters they now only have 59, unless they manage to sway a Republican, which is highly unlikely to happen.

So, in the days leading up to Kennedy's inevitable death, Democrats were pushing to have an interim senator appointed by Governor Deval Patrick. No big deal right?

Wrong.

For the 2004 election, John Kerry, also from Mass., was running for President. Democrats were faced with the prospects of losing a senate seat should he be elected. The governor at the time was Republican Mitt Romney. Back then it was up to the governor to appoint an interim senator and the Democrats changed the law to put the power in the hands of the people with a special election to be held within 5 months of the seat becoming vacant. That took the decision out of the Republicans hands.

So now fast forward and it looks like Democrats are now pushing to put the power back in the hands of the governor. Maybe they are trying to get sympathy from Kennedy's death. I don't know. Whatever the case may be it's garbage self-serving politics. That in itself shouldn't be surprising considering that no politician can become successful without having first sold his or her soul to the devil.

But I can only ask, why does it matter to the Dems that they have their 60 votes? To this point they have showed no indication that they are willing to use some muscle to get their way. So far the Obama administration has been an essay on how to appease the minority party at each and every turn. So why bother? They've already shown they have no spine by caving on the single payer health care, which could be the set piece of the whole administration when all is told. Would reclaiming vote # 60 help them regrow their cajones? I doubt it. Maybe they saw the gleam in Mitch "I wear a catheter at all times just in case i get an opportunity to filibuster" McConnell's eyes when he found out that the Democrats were soon to lose their protection. That dude can talk.

Nothing gets support like scaring the elderly

Way too much politics in this blog lately, but what are you going to do. Just read this article this morning which I believe is a perfect illustration of how the GOP has little interest in actually getting reform done on the health care industry. A Bill of Rights for the elderly? Really?? Straw men get used all the time in politics as it is discussed by pundits with an audience and numbnuts like myself without one. When our politicians as a body use them they really are pushing the boundaries of their credibility. To propose something that really is not needed, especially when, in the past, they were pushing for the very same actions that they are now condemning is politics at its worst.

Does it bother the RNC when they see their own poll numbers dropping even lower than the numbers for Obama? It seems like they are basically t aking the stance that if they aren't going to succeed in governing, then neither can the Democrats. I believe in the military it's called a "scorched earth policy" and it's most fitting here as well as I can only describe the Republicans attitude towards Democrats right now as open warfare. I would like nothing more for these two sides to get along. But I highly doubt that I will ever see that in my lifetime.

Even more shit you probably already knew...

Back in 2003 Fox fought for their right that it isn't illegal to lie about the news.

Repeat after me:

Fair and balanced

Fair and balanced

Fair and balanced

Should I be sharing this???

Yes I should. Because it's my fucking blog.

Fantasy baseball. Either you dig it or you don't. I happen to dig it. I put together the perfect draft strategy this year. I had all my positions tiered and all that jazz and I came in to the draft full of piss and vinegar. It went a little something like this.


1. (4) Miguel Cabrera 1B,3B - success!
2. (25) Prince Fielder 1B - success!
3. (32) Chase Utley 2B - success!
4. (53) Magglio Ordóñez OF - fail...
5. (60) John Lackey SP - traded for Reyes - fail...
6. (81) James Shields SP - traded for Reyes - fail...
7. (88) Joakim Soria RP - success!
8. (109) Matt Wieters C - traded... for somebody - success!
9. (116) Pablo Sandoval C,1B,3B - success!
10. (137) Adam Wainwright SP - success!
11. (144) Ricky Nolasco SP - first couple months fail... - since then success!
12. (165) Kevin Slowey SP - DL'd fail...
13. (172) Heath Bell RP - success!
14. (193) Ryan Theriot SS - traded for Reyes - fail...
15. (200) Chad Qualls RP - traded for somebody - success!
16. (221) Rick Ankiel OF - fail...
17. (228) Shin-Soo Choo OF - sleeper success!
18. (249) Cameron Maybin OF - fail...
19. (256) Hiroki Kuroda SP - success!
20. (277) Travis Snider OF - fail...
21. (284) Kenshin Kawakami SP - eh...!
22. (305) Skip Schumaker 2B,OF - success! but didn't need him

Sleepers, studs, and cheap closers were all part of the strategy. Then, with the idea that I didn't really like Lackey or Shields, and that I didn't really like Theriot, I pulled a preseason trade.

Mar 24 9:12pm

José ReyesDL (NYM - SS)
Denard Span (Min - OF)

Mar 24 9:12pm

Ryan Theriot (ChC - SS)
John Lackey (LAA - SP)
James Shields (TB - SP)

An infield of Fielder, Utley, Cabrera, and Reyes?? That's sick! Well, Reyes ended up being lost for the year and Theriot has hit a career number of home runs... whatever.

Also, most of my pitchers started the year playing like shit and my one OF i trusted, Ordonez, suspiciously lost all power around the time that players are starting to get scared off of PEDs. I cried about everything on the message board and was going to quit, much to my fiance's delight.

Then I decided I was going to get back in the game. I traded off excess talent and picked up new talent off the wire and traded those guys as well. Long story short, in Week 10 I was last out of 14 teams. Then, 10 weeks later, I'm half a game out of first... having gone 9-1, with every one of those wins being an ass whippin.

My return to glory goes a little something like this:

1 Smell the Glove Win 10 - 4
2 The Four Train Loss 6 - 8
3 Serenity Now Loss 3 - 13
4 Communist Kickboxers Loss 3 - 12
5 ChroniclesOf Reddick Loss 2 - 14
6 bases loaded Win 10 - 4
7 The Chinese Bandits Loss 7 - 8
8 Bars Of Clay Tie 6 - 6
9 Bulletproof Tigers Loss 5 - 10
10 0 Loss 5 - 10
11 Clemens Cell Mates Win 12 - 3
12 Spanish Pantalones Win 12 - 3
13 Happy Hour Heroes Win 14 - 1
14 Smell the Glove Win 11 - 4
15 The Four Train Loss 4 - 9
16 Serenity Now Win 8 - 7
17 Communist Kickboxers Win 13 - 3
18 ChroniclesOf Reddick Win 14 - 1
19 bases loaded Win 11 - 5
20 The Chinese Bandits Win 15 - 1
21 Bars Of Clay
22 Bulletproof Tigers

My team is currently pissing excellence scoring a dominating 114-37-9 since week 10. Woo!

Somewhere out there, Don Warren is proud

...and on to an athlete I love.

Chris Cooley is the shit.

It's taken a while for me to find new Redskins to really be down with since the choir boys Art Monk



and Darrell Green.





For a while it was Lavar Arrington



who had no idea what the play was at any given time, he just wanted to hit somebody.

Then there was Sean Taylor



I could watch his highlights all day. But a life full of bad decisions finally caught up with him just as he was starting to turn things around.

But now there is Chris Cooley





What's not to like about this guy? He's extremely accessible to the media and the public. He loves fantasy sports. He's a great ballplayer. He has wacky hair. He shows his junk to the world "accidentally".



The dude's awesome. Plain and simple. I don't have anything substantive to say about him right now. I just feel a little mancrush coming on and watching the Redskins-Steelers preseason game down in Virgina with good buddies Matt and Casey have me catching the football fever.



One final note, this is how Cooley is advertising some reality show he is getting in to with his wife (former 'Skins cheerleader fired due to Cooley love):

This guy almost makes me want to like Sid the Kid

I have to admit it. Ovechkin is sick to watch on the ice. He plays with an enthusiasm and flair that is extremely rare in the NHL. He celebrates goals in cheesy displays and loves the camera.

This dude is good.

But everytime I read an interview he does I get a little disgusted. It's hard to equate properly but he may be the NHLs version of TO or Ochocinco. I can't stand either one of those guys. While checking the baseball box scores this morning (Logjammin is on FIRE!) on Yahoo I saw another one of his interviews and a report of his clothing line release party. Some of the shit he says is extremely obnoxious. Maybe it's just because he's foreign but it seems like he goes out of the way to show how much of a pimp he is.

Look at him!

He's always talking about the ladies. Often times the guy who talks about how much tail he's getting is usually getting the least but maybe the rules are different in Russia. I don't know. I suppose he could serve as an example to every ass-ugly dude out there that anyone can lay some pipe despite a d-bag personality and a face only your mother could love. Of course all you need in that situation is to be the future of the NHL and make a shit ton of cash.

Putting validity to something most of us already knew

There's a rumor floating that former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has a tell-all book in the works containing another piece of information that will be yet another testament to how easy it is to motivate Republican voters. As it turns out, the ebb and flow of the security alerts during the Bush administration can possibly be tied to how badly Bush needed public support. Yes, that's right, Bush essentially used our fear of terrorist attacks in the wake of 9/11 as a tool to get votes in the 2004 election, allegedly.

So here we are again. Like Scott McClellan last year, yet another former Bush official has come forward with more tales of just how seriously fucked up their administration was, allegedly. But hey, at least there weren't any BJs in the Oval Office, allegedly.

Keith Olbermann did a piece on this over a year ago. Turns out he may have been right.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Coming next week: Rush makes fun of Nancy Pelosi's "cooties"

Rush administered some uber-epic pwnage yesterday to openly gay Barney Frank (although I had no idea he was gay until yesterday). Once again there was a town hall scene where an ignorant young lady holding a picture of Obama (with Hitler-stache) asks Jewish Congressman Frank why he supports a "Nazi policy".



Do I approve of Frank's response? I'm not sure. I am all for a dignified discourse and taking the high road but at this point it seems like a certain segment of the anti-health care reform movement have no interest in educating themselves on facts and engaging in an intellectual debate. If he had seriously attempted to explain to this young woman would she have listened? She came to the meeting equipped with her picture and set of talking points and already had her mind made up that the reform is similar to Nazi policies. If you had spoken to me a week ago I probably would have had a bigger problem with Frank than with the woman. She obviously does not know better and is only interested in the hate agenda. He, as an elected representative, should know better. However, my mind is quickly changing.

The Democratic party is, as usual, turning in to a group of cowardly bitches who back down and try to appease the Republicans. We don't need them in order to pass this legislation and the Republicans are really making it an easy decision by not even pretending to be bipartisan. So why are the Democrats? Fuck the Reps, pass the bill, if that's what they really want. After 6 years of bully tactics under Bush you would think that the Democrats in Congress would be chomping at the bit to finally be relevant.

So, kudos to Frank for not even humoring her naivety. As time unfolds and we see that these "grassroots movements" are sponsored by insurance companies and are essentially an organized mob paid by them, it becomes more and more apparent that they are not interested in discussion. They are being deployed to prevent the discussion from even happening. So why humor them and give them relevancy? Tell them they're crazy. Do not dignify them with an explanation or a defense as to why health care reform has no similarities to the Nazis. If you need a reason why genocide has no resemblance to providing health care, then you are hopeless.

So this series of events evokes this mighty response by the GOP warlord:



That's right. A gay joke. Not only a gay joke, but a gay joke that would be more appropriate in middle school.

I am no fan of Barney Frank. The dude raked in serious cash and benefited from a sequence of events that resulted in the economy being in the state that it is in. He is not alone in this as many politicians also made some coin. However, I give him serious credit for his response to this new movement spreading among Republicans.

"Nothing back there for you to find,...Or was it you you left behind?"

You know it!

"Has the world gone crazy???"

The last few days have been a bit crazy for this young(ish) accountant and so I haven't been able to blog much. There are these people here who make me do work and sometimes it's so annoying. Know what I'm sayin'? So, I'll try to roll up the shit that's been on my mind in to one post.

• Palin and the attack of the "death panels".

By now I'm sure you know my feelings on Sarah Palin. I will leave the character attacks out of it for a change and just comment on her recent criticisms about the health care plan. I'm not sure what role she aspires to fill in the world of politics now that she has bailed on the people of Alaska, but so far it seems like she is trying to spread misinformation and hysteria.

Last Friday, on her facebook page, Palin made a statement claiming that the lives of her parents and her son with Down Syndrome would have to stand before Obama's "death panel" to get approval for medical treatment. First of all, why does she constantly bring her family in to political matters when she implores that everyone else leave them out? Second, what page exactly details this part of the plan? Third, didn't she tell the media to stop making things up?

There is no such measure being taken in the new health care reform but that doesn't stop such GOP standouts as Newt Gingrich and Glen Beck from supporting Palin's claims. It's so odd that the people in charge with spreading the talking points can find these conclusions so easily but people trying to verify them have a hard time of it. I wonder why that is. Palin then followed up her statement by urging her mates to "not give the proponents of nationalized health care any reason to criticize us", in response to the mob scenes active at the town hall meetings. How can she instigate one day and try to calm the next?

Palin has no business being involved with any sort of civil discourse. She has neither the integrity nor the intelligence to be discussing matters that can affect life or death.

• Rush and the "liberals are Nazis" b.s.

Last week I bounced out of the office on two occasions during lunch and both times I caught him in the middle of a tirade about how liberals are soooo similar to Nazis. I hate this and hate that I am even posting about it. To spare you most of my ramblings about this first please read about Godwin's Law and Reductio_ad_Hitlerum.

I already discount Rush as an actual informed political, sociological, economical, psychological, and whatever else -ical mind as I have heard him lying so often it's sickening. He just makes shit up so often and presents things to his viewers as fact, and these "dittoheads" go ahead and spew the same garbage without doing themselves the favor of researching anything.

Example, a few weeks ago the hearings were going on about Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor and, as I've previously stated, Rush was very unhappy about this because we Democrats want to put someone who wants to destroy the Constitution on the Supreme Court. He was playing clips from it and, if you recall, there was an exchange between her and Senator Al Franken about an episode of ... Perry Mason was it? Anyway, Rush played a clip where Franken was asking a question about the show and, just before he finished it, she jumps in. Rush then has a hissy fit about how she must have known the questions ahead of time. He went about this for quite a while. What he either lied, misled, or was ignorant of was the fact that he was picking up the question after Sotomayor and Franken had already been discussing it. She wasn't coached or anything of the sort. The thing that is ironic is that acts like these are the very same acts that he attacks in the drive-by media that he hates so much. And he does them multiple times a day. That could qualify him as a hypocrite. As would attacking drug users while being an addict himself. Nothing new here.

So, anyway, Rush has been getting in the business of comparing liberals to Nazis. Why? I guess because it is the goal of his life to demonize them by any means as a way to earn votes for the Republican party. That's just a guess. Liberals are like Nazis because: liberals try to prevent pollution, liberals are against big businesses, and liberals hate Jews. The first two reasons sound good enough. Sure, that sounds like liberals. The third, eh, not so much. But, if you read the argumentative fallacies that I listed above you know that individual characteristics of an ideology does not a Nazi make. That's rookie shit. To play the same game as Mr Limbaugh I will list the reasons that conservatives are like Nazis: they were anti-homosexuals, they had an extreme sense of patriotism coupled with a racial superiority, believed that certain freedoms must be given up for protection, racism, nationalism was the core, they fundamentally rejected liberalism, they were a defense against and opposed communism (Russia), believed in self-sufficiency (drill baby drill!), diversity would only make a country weak, and finally militarism.

Now, because of those reasons do I believe that conservatism is similar to Nazism? No. You can find dozens of reasons why Nazis and Hitler are similar to anyone and anything. That is why the argument is so weak, and so irresponsible. I said it before and I'll say it again. Conservatives right now are overrun with loudmouths who cater to basest of emotions in order to push public opinion and push votes. It is disgusting, and it is irresponsible. This is why we have ignorant fools at rallies carrying signs with pictures of Obama and the Nazi symbol. This is why people referred to Hillary Clinton as "Hitlery".

I don't think these people understand just how evil Hitler and his machinations were. I don't think they understand how serious and soul-damning the Holocaust was. I don't think they can even fathom what kind of legacy these people left behind. This is hard to believe because alot of those who hurl these comparisons about on TV were alive at the time, so I can only assume they forgot. Hitler and his political party murdered thousands upon thousands and caused a war that killed even more. Yet, there is a reasonable explanation for some to compare that to the modern day liberal because of the Health Care Reform bill??? Un-fucking-believable.

• Are you ready for some football???

The NFL is back baby! I'm allowing myself to get amped for the season bit by bit. I've been so focused on baseball that I've barely had time to pay attention to what is going on in the NFL and, more specifically, my Redskins. Unfortunately, ESPN and FSR are spending way too much time on the trio of Favre, Vick, and Plaxico and they seem to leave out any actual sports news. I know it's the state of the business that people look for the drama but what I want to hear about is how Cutler is starting to look with the Chicago offense, how any number of running back battles are progressing, and which team has the finest cheerleaders. But that's just me. I just say no to T.O.

As for my Skins, I don't know. Normally there is a ton of buzz about the team because the would have gone out and signed some flashy free agents for too much money. This year they seem to be much more quiet. They did stir it up a little while looking for upgrades at QB (Mark Sanchez and Jay Cutler), but I'm kind of happy they stuck with Campbell. The kid obviously has tools, but he's had a different offensive system every single year that he's played ball, going back to college. I like him. He didn't make many mistakes at all last year and used his legs a few times to get him out of trouble. I am concerned with how well he will adapt to the West Coast offense. Campbell seems more of a strong arm guy, and not so much a short pass accuracy guy. But we'll see. He has one year of the offense under his belt, and hopefully the trio of rookies from last year will progress to the point where they can actually be useful. Portis will be Portis, but he needs some help from Betts and Cartwright if he is going to last a whole season. Finally Moss and Cooley need to keep doing what they're doing as well.

I loved the signing of Albert Haynesworth, even if I hate Hayneworth himself. I can't even remember the last time Washington has had a game-changing DT to force teams to game plan around. Hopefully he will make the other members of the line even better. I also loved the first round pick of Orakpo. Use him at OLB and DE and wherever you can to get after the QB. I predict at least 10 sacks in his rookie season. Seeing Shawn Springs go was a bummer. The dude was a lock down corner but I can understand the move. He missed multiple games every year due to injury and sometimes you just have to go with the guy you can count on week after week. The emergence of DeAngelo Hall made it possible to lose Springs and so the duo of Hall and Carlos Rogers will have to get the job done. You have to love LaRon Landry and Chris Horton at safety. Once those two got acclimated to each other they were a hell of a force.

My main concern is the O-Line. for the longest time that was the one part of the team you could count on for a solid performance at all times but these guys keep getting older and more nicked up. Jansen isn't even on the team anymore after one too many leg injuries. If they don't do well it doesn't matter how fresh Portis is feeling or how prepared Campbell is. I'm missing "The Hogs" already.

• Music sucks these days

For real

• Movies!

I've had the free time to watch a few movies lately. Some good, some awful. I'll start with those first.

Babel

I heard nothing but good things about this one and so for the longest time I've wanted to see it. Man, was I disappointed. Award-winning my ass. It was painful. Too long. Too full of itself. It was supposed to be the combination of four connected stories. Honestly, I really think they would have been better off splitting it in to 3 movies. The only story I was remotely interested in was the one taking place in Morocco. That seemed to be what it was really all about. Young herders accidentally shoot American tourist. Let both sides of the "is it a terrorist act" discussion commence. The third story taking place back in the USA seemed kind of forced. It was somewhat interesting to show the children of the tourists in Morocco and how conversations looked on either side, but the trip down to Tijuana for the wedding wasn't necessary. If that was forced, the Japan setting was a whole other pile of crap altogether. The resolution of that set piece leaves a half dozen unanswered questions and odd suggestions of incest.

Rachel Getting Married

Again, "Award Winning Performances"!!!! Oh boy, was I going to be in for a treat! Let me tell you something about me: I like just about every movie. Movies, in general, are a good time. Even if I'm feeling kind of blah about it I will still finish it, if only to know how it ended. This one I couldn't even finish. It just seemed to drag on and on. They shot it documentary style, which was interesting, but perhaps because of that they felt compelled to include alot of mundane non-events that wouldn't have been included in a normal movie. The most painful scene of all was probably the rehearsal dinner of said wedding. It seemed like at least 5 people gave speeches. Also, there were several impromptu music performances throughout the movie which were just plain awful. The one thing I will give credit for is how they included music throughout. Your average movie will have a soundtrack with whatever song playing at the appropriate time. Because of the way this was shot a soundtrack wasn't really appropriate, as it was was supposed to be sort of like a home movie. So, to substitute a soundtrack, they always had some sort of musician doing something in the background whenever they wanted to inject some music. It was kind of neat. The movie itself? Kind of crappy.

Changeling

I really liked this one. Angelina Jolie was great in it and the story was very interesting. Movies based on a true story are always better, eh? Woman willing to do whatever it takes to get her son back vs. Police chief willing to do whatever it takes to improve public image. And good times were had by all. Except the son. I think he dies.

Burn After Reading

Weird movies are typically good for me. I'm always down for a black comedy now and then. This one definitely fits the bill. Brad Pitt was kind of hilarious in the movie. There is a scene where he is hiding in George Clooney's closet and about to be discovered so he puts this smile on his face as he starts to stick his head out that is just ridiculous. This is seconds before George's character shoots him in the head. Anyway, all the actors in the movie do a great job.

The Watchmen

Ooohhh. I really liked this one. I had never read the comic but it was described to me as a "dark superhero" movie. It's not your typical Superman or Spiderman movie at all. There's people getting messed up bad, blood, shootings, politics, alternate reality where Nixon is a 3rd term pres, superheroes getting it on, and prison fights. I believe it was made by the same people who did the 300 so that would describe why the mood is the way it is. It's kind of facinating where there is a superhero genre that has only one person with any actual superpowers. The rest are all just people getting dressed up and distributing some vigilante justice. The ending is especially refreshing considering what you might normally expect to happen in a superhero movie. Hollywood must be running out of ideas at this point so anything new and creative is worth a look.

Alright, well I'm really running out of steam with this blog post so I'm going to call it quits. And, to tie it all back to the title I present to you some Lebowski awesomeness.

Mix it up again

Spinning some more favorites. This is a special Tool edition.

Kyuss-Demon Cleaner



Only found out about this song because of a live Tool cover I found a long time back off of Napster. The original is bad ass. Not too familiar with Kyuss but their singer is now the frontman for Queens of the Stone Age.

Peach - You Lied



Another song covered by Tool. Their bassist is now with Tool I believe.

Tool - No Quarter



Yeah!

Eli getting PAID!

Eli just went and got himself 97 million reasons to live today. If I were to rank the top 10 quarterbacks right now I highly doubt that I would be putting him in there but he's certainly built himself a decent resume. It's sometimes hard to look past the stupid face and the fact that he cried his way out of San Diego and remember that he is a Super Bowl winner and has kind of done pretty well for himself.

Now, in all honesty, I don't really think he earned this cash. His Super Bowl legacy was completely saved by one excellent drive and a very very very lucky catch. For a while he had the best end zone bailout you could possibly have in Plaxico. He's shown flashes of brilliance at times and complete boneheadedness at others.

But hey, I'm not here to hate. I'm here to appreciate. That's a ton of cash, and I'm happy for him. I just wonder if he and Peyton make Cooper do stupid shit and then throw dollar bills at him.

Congratulations Eli. I'm probably just a little bitter that my 'Skins have only had a small taste of playoff success in the last few years. Here's hoping Haynesworth doesn't try any funny business on you this year.

This is what we are up against

Recently a leaked memo has been the subject of much conversation. This memo:

Unfortunately it doesn't look too good here, but follow this link to see it better if you would like. The front page is pretty harmless, actually. It's the subsequent content that shows how disgusting the anti-health care reform people are. It's best supplemented with a number of videos on youtube, but Rachel Maddow has a great summation of it all here:

It was a surprise to find out this crap is going on in my own town of syracuse. This is the tactic of the opponents of health care reform: when a man stands up to ask his elected representative a question about the single payer system, another man stands up and tells him to sit down and shut his mouth. That is their strategy. Regardless of how you feel about the reform, this is not the way policies are supposed to be discussed. To think that there is a body at work spreading this strategy as helpful hints is repulsive.

As usual, the spin is coming from the right wing clowns. So far I have heard the alternate reality version from the likes of Limbaugh, Beck, and Hannity. Hannity tells his audience that representatives are being held responsibly for their socialist agenda. Limbaugh tells his minions how the people are starting to rise up against this awful plan that is planning the death of the elderly. And Beck, who I was able to catch on the radio on the way to work after being held up by both an accident and a dead battery, describes the scene as "real Americans" not standing for this.

Beck, I have a particular problem with. He must be particularly upset about health reform as it has caused him to liken our government to a monarchy. You see, when your "side" loses the election by a significant margin and you don't like what the winning party is doing, it means that their policies are not supported by the people. He seriously said that the antics of the people fucking around in the Town Hall meetings were the actions of "real Americans" who were upset that Washington politicians were doing things they didn't want them to do. Is he retarded? Possibly. The man is certainly unstable. There are a number of videos out there with him (fake) crying because he just loves his country so much. He also went on about how the government is using the cash for clunkers program to seize your computer. That is a lie, and the lie has already been refuted, but that doesn't stop him from repeating it for all of his idiot listeners to get worked up in a lather about it.

Michelle Malkin has also been running her dirty hooker mouth about how wonderful this grassroots movement is. Why do all of these right wing tools completely ignore the fact that the proof is out there that there is nothing grassroots about it. Does it give the idiots that actually go to these town hall meetings to fug it up a warm and fuzzy feeling to think that they are part of something like that? Do they have any idea that they are tools? I don't know. But judging by the lady waving a bible in the video I can only guess that these participants were produced from a questionable gene pool. It's right up there with the lady in the birther video who suggests that everyone stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I don't remember where I read it, maybe facebook, but someone said that scene reminded me of a scene during National Lampoon Christmas Vacation where the old lady stands for the pledge at dinner. As far as I'm concerned, this is the only grassroots movement I want to be part of:




Yeah!

Where was I... oh yeah, here's my real problem. The purpose of these Town Hall Meetings is to spread information and answer questions in such a way that the public can understand what it is that the people we elect are trying to do. Most of us are smart enough to understand when those people doing the explaining are lying out there ass or being evasive. We can use that information and combine it with whatever we are able to dig up on the internet or at the library or whatever the case may be to come to a rational conclusion about legislation. That is part of the democratic process. We can then cast our vote depending on who we think has the country's best interests in mind. So what I don't understand is why these people think that this harassment and disruption is good for the country.

These are the first people to preach about the Constitution, our forefathers, the Declaration of Independence, patriotism, and calling Democrats/Liberals such things as nazis and fascists. And yet their contributions to the democratic process consists of bullying and harassment? How does that make sense? You would have to be a complete moron to come to that conclusion. If this legislation is so bad, why are they afraid of the people getting a chance to learn about it? Wouldn't you think that asking intelligent questions and hearing the details would derail the effort if it is that horrible? What are they afraid of?

That is the key question. What are they afraid of, indeed. The far-right wing pundits and politicians have been using fear as their main motivation tool for most of my politically involved life. The peak of this was when Bush told us that if we didn't vote for him we were going to get nuked. Fear is extremely useful when used the right way, and it is being used expertly right now in the health care debate. A local radio guy, Jim Reith, took the time to read the bill and answer questions on it a couple weeks ago, and it only proved to emphasise the amount of ignorance out there. He calmly listened to lie after lie and found the appropriate page of the legislation and set it right. No, the new system would not kill off the elderly. No, you would not be forced to take this insurance if you change jobs. No, you would not be denied because the government does not decide what help you can have. The listeners would get angry because Sean Hannity told them otherwise, and would hang up. Reith is not a liberal commie, by the way. He's as middle of the road as you can get.

So, it comes down to fear and the manipulators who spread the fear. I just hope that the people can be intelligent enough to know that they can make decisions for themselves. All they have to do is shut out the noise.

Update: And the spin continues. Hannity last night led off his radio show gushing about how "proud" and "inspired" he was about these great patriots shouting down elected representatives and bullying town hall attendees in to silence. That man is a disgusting piece of work. He's actually hoping to promote this activity. The irony comes with his scathing discussion of speculated anonymously reported bully tactics used by Rahm Emanuel.

Also, my hometown area (Utica) once again made the news. Michael Arcuri and Steny Hoyer were there speaking about a high speed rail system they are trying to implement when a bunch of rednecks, dubbed the Fort Stanwix "Patriots", started yelling at them about health care. Now, I may not have been present at the time that Fort Stanwix was in full operation but I visited it once in elementary school and at no point did they mention how they successfully fought off socialized health care or anything of that sort. Perhaps my Mohawk Valley history is lacking. Here's the video. The Utica stuff is at about 3:00.

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I'm starting to like Rachel Maddow more and more...

"What I got you got to get it put in you"

Random office tunes just surprised me with some Chili Peppers and caused me to wonder what those crazy SOBs have been up to. Turns out the chumps are on a hiatus. What the F??? Is there anything that fans love to hear more thatn a band they can get down to is on a hiatus? I suppose they earned it as Stadium Arcadium is the shit. But, come on, it's been 2 years or so now. Let's stop all this "taking a break" and "spending time with children" business. Some of us have to work for a living. The least they could do is provide me with ample beats to help me through the day.