I have to tell you interwebs, the last few months have been complete insanity. Just to recap: Hot Mary and myself bought a house, had to maintain said house, Mary's been dealing with both taking masters courses and teaching at SU, I've gone through the most grueling work schedule of my life as we switch over to a new accounting system, we got married, Mary was maid of honor in a wedding, i was best man in a wedding, Mary was also involved in 2 other weddings, and our families have had hosts of birthdays, events, and goings-ons.
It has been crazy.
However, with my good friend, mutual best man, and life-partner, Casey, having his wedding last weekend, Mary and I are now able to forget about wedding-stuff and get back to regular life. Sure, the holidays are right around the corner and work is still extremely demanding, but we've successfully made it through the gauntlet.
That being said, I can honestly say that weddings are a blast. There is the downside of having to put on pants and ties and all that shit but I don't know if there are too many things much more fun than seeing people you rarely get the chance to hang with, getting drunk with complete strangers, dancing with a special lady, and just generally having a celebration. And the food is typically awesome as well.
So just this past weekend I had the honor of being the best man for my good buddy Casey and I had a terrific time. Some good people that I haven't seen in forever came in from out-of-town which was cool. The rehearsal dinner was at DBQ where I ate a stupid amount of pork. I understand that Dinosaur gets a lot of hype and the food is definitely worth it, but I really hate going there. You typically have to wait for an hour and a half and there is usually no waiting room. You either stand outside and freeze or go inside and have some dudes nuts on your hip while you wait. Good times. However, for this occasion they had the banquet room rented out and it took away all of that bad nonsense. Open bar: good, no waiting: good, bbq meats: good, not stuffy and crowded: good.
The wedding itself was short and sweet and it was a definite relief to not be the nervous groom. A quick photo session followed and then the limo whisked us away for a quick trip to Colemans for a bridal party shot of Jameson and more pictures.
I have to tell you, leading up to this event I was nervous as hell over having to give a best man speech. I do not do well talking. I do especially not well when talking in front of large groups of people. All the advice I saw online was not to get too drunk or I'd end up making an ass of myself. So, quite honestly, I tried my best not to. However, it was obvious that I was sneakily getting drunk: 2 beers before the ceremony, beer and champagne on the way to Colemans, shot of Jameson at the bar, more champagne on the way to the reception spot. At that point I was arriving at a location with a fantastic open bar with a belly full of liquid heaven and riding high.
Long story short I got drunk.
Beers, scotches, whiskeys, and tequillas (blah) were all going down the hatch. And you know what? The speech went great. People laughed at just about everything (except the one joke I thought would be the winner, go figure) and I was getting congratulated all night long. I really did not like the experience though. I'm definitely not the type of guy who enjoys ripping on people and to do so with a microphone in my hand makes me feel even more guilty. I don't think Casey was mad so that's good. However, he shouldn't be considering his speech for me consisted of blasting me for being a "short, sweaty, italian". Hehe, it's funny because it's true.
So, from that point on the night got fuzzy. It became a whirlwind of dancing with Mary, throwing down scotch, and eating chicken. I'm pretty sure I booed at fellow groomsman and brother of groom, Cory, more than was necessary but that's just one of the many obnoxious things that I do.
And that's how the wedding season came to an end. It's kind of funny, that whole wedding story was not at all what this post was supposed to be about. The real story is how I will now have a little more time on my hands and Fallout New Vegas comes out today and I am now completely perplexed with how to prioritize my video game playing.
Here is my current video game situation:
Fallout New Vegas-Did I mention that it came out today? I got it through Steam yesterday and preloaded it last night so that I could play it before work this morning. My thoughts so far? Well, so far it is very similar to Fallout 3. That is both good and bad. It's good because Fallout 3 is in my top 10 for games. It's bad because it doesn't quite bring that "wow" factor that I got from playing 3. Either way, it's mine and I plan on playing it as much as I can because I still have not caught up on games that I've been working on for years.
Fallout 3-Well... I beat the game, so why am I still playing it? A better question is: I originally obtained the game and all of its downloadable content and completed all of it for... umm... free, so why did I then go and buy it all again only a couple weeks ago? Well, it was on sale through Steam while they were promoting New Vegas, and I really liked it. That's the joy of a lot of the games that I dig. They're highly replayable. So now I have two Fallout games on my comp and both are huge games with much room to explore and alot of mods from the community.
League of Legends-Oh I am hooked on this little piece of work. So this game is a free-to-play online game that is built off of some online map thing that was popular with World of Warcraft III. The gist is this: you and a few other anonymous souls get online, choose from a roster of about 60 "champions" and battle on a map against a few other anonymous enemies. It's a little RPG, a little RTS, and a lot of fun. I've been playing a couple rounds of that per day for about a month now. Can't say that I pwn n00bs the way some hardcore gamers may do, but I hold my own. You can spend actual money to purchase champions that you can have access to every week (they rotate 10 champions each week that everyone can choose from) or to gain skins or buffs but you also earn points through your matches to do the same thing. At this point I have picked up a couple favorites. My most favorite at this point and the one guy I purchased is a guy named Heimerdinger. He is a bit different from most of the other champions in that his main power lies in using turrets that he can construct. Not an overly offensive unit but you can often catch overextended guys and make 'em pay. My next favorite is probably this little minx named Morgana who is excellent at bringing down waves of minions and has some terrific abilities that can gank opposing champions. I haven't bought her yet because she seems to be free every other week so far. We'll see. So anyway, this stupid game has sucked away a big chunk of my life lately.
Company of Heroes-Well I used to play this game a lot a few years ago and it was easily one of my favorites. There's a certain point in the campaign where I stopped having fun so I stopped playing it. However, it was recently on sale on Steam (Steam is the devil by the way) so I picked it up and started playing it again. All I can say is that the graphics are really dated. Still a very good game, I just probably shouldn't have bought it considering I am not a big RTS guy.
So those are the four games I have been playing lately. Sitting in the back of my mind at almost all times though would be the RPGs that I need to get to:Oblivion, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Dragon Age. All 3 of these are considered some of the best RPGs to ever exist and Id hate to just have them sit there and collect dust.
Now the obligatory list of games that I am in the middle of: Torchlight, Team Fortress 2, Civ 4 (Civ 5 is out too!!!), Crysis, Halo 2, FEAR, Kings Bounty, Battlefield Heroes....
Sigh...
I don't even want to think about what will happen when I have a kid.
So that's it for now. I have a bunch of stuff bouncing around my brain that I have neglected to talk about in this blog. You poor people (haha) have been denied the oppurtunity to hear about all the crap that I think about. Stuff like: how awful my fantasy baseball team was and what I should have done to fix it, the already-in-progress fantasy football and hockey seasons which i will win, my own wedding, my trip to colombia to propose, our honeymoon in Maui, other weddings, sandwiches, the Redskins, the Yankees (boo to cliff lee), stupid shit that has been said by idiots (Rush/Beck/O'Reilly/Hannity) who inspire bigger idiots, the absolute hilarity of the candidates taking over the GOP and how retarded Republican voters are for thinking they are viable (Christine O'Donnell? Really?), the failures and successes of Democrats, and the fact that I am going to try to grow a beard. Oh yeah, and my personal favorite, the shrill rantings of Sarah Palin.
Keep it real kids.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Just checking in...
Hey world? How's it going? My life has been a tornado of happenings this summer and fall. Home ownin', marryin', mowin', working super long hours, weddingin', best manin'... you know, the usual. Still no time for proper blogging, that's for sure. But here's a link to the site of our wedding photographer. Hopefully I'll get a chance to get back at this blogging thing. Later people.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Who's your name again?
Yeah, no time for blogging. My life is currently absorbed in various wedding preparations and making sure that I get enough work done so that I don't get dragged back to the office in the middle of the "Electric Slide". See you on the otherside.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
All-Star Break = serious work to do
So here we are at the unofficial midway point of the baseball season and my fantasy team sits at the bottom. I have since changed my team name from Logjammin to Turd Sandwich. This is because it has been shitty. I am currently something like 35 games behind. The one ray of sunshine is that the next 4 or 5 teams ahead of me aren't doing much better. A major rebound in the 2nd half can possibly cause me to sneak in the playoffs. All I would need for that to happen is that I will have to have a complete reversal in luck and everyone on my team will become healthy and dominate. Sounds likely, right?
So my team stands as follows:
C-I am currently rocking Geovany Soto at catcher. At first I was extremely bitter about cutting Napoli only to see him go on and start hitting but Soto has really worked out so far. He's not exactly dominating but he posts a solid average and a fantastic OBP while occasionally chipping in runs, RBIs, and HRs every now and then. He doesn't hurt the team and sometimes that's all you can ask from your catcher. ESPN ranks him 10th among catchers for the 2nd half but my rankings (which include OBP and Ks where ESPN doesn't) have him at 6.
1B- About a month ago I traded away Jon Lester to get Mark Teixiera and it is finally starting to pay dividends. After a painfully slow start he is now picking up his average and hitting dingers so I am pretty happy with that. I also recently dealt away Paul Konerko (my 1st half MVP) for Dan Uggla. This leaves me with Lance Berkman as a backup. His days of dominance appear to be over but he also seems to be picking up the pace having gone through a couple hot streaks and he is no longer useless. I may move him to one of the couple of teams that lack a viable 1B but trying to trade this year has been impossible. Teixeira 4th/5th. Berkman 21st/19th.
2B- Well, this has been my most difficult position to fill ever since Gordon Beckham decided he was going to be the bust of the year (had to finally cut his ass, as much as it hurt). For a time I filled the void with Orlando Hudson. Then it was Neil Walker. Finally it was Carlos Guillen. None of them were very good. So, finding myself with extra 1Bs I tried like crazy to find someone who would trade and finally the aforementioned Konerko-Uggle deal was completed. So now I have Dan Uggla. I've owned him in the past and he can be one of the most frustrating players to own. He can also single handedly carry a team on one of his hot streaks. He has a little extra appeal right as it appears that Colorado is talking to Florida about trading for him and all I can say is that a slugger like Uggla batting up there in them mountains could be awesome. I also currently have Brian Roberts and Asdrubal Cabrera stashed away waiting for them to come back from injury. If I can wait out the DL time then I might have myself with some excellent trade bait on my hands with the absolute lack of decent middle infield options available this year. We'll see how that goes. Uggla 6th/6th. Roberts 24th/45th. Cabrera -/53rd
3B- So ARod is showing some signs of life lately but he is still serving as a disappointment. His BABIP is low right now so I'd have to think that he will bounce back. Not like there's really anything I can do about it, right? ARod 3rd/10th
SS- Same as with ARod. Jeter 2nd/10th. Cabrera -/43rd
OF- This is perhaps my most frustrating position as all 3 of my main picks have not contributed much. Ellsbury still resides on the DL and is now arguing with Red Sox Management about the way his injury was handled. Span has decided that he loves the new ballpark in Minnesota so much that he's just going to suck on the road. Abreu is... not sure what's wrong with Abreu. Both Span and Abreu were starting to heat up a bit before the break so there's positive signs. Abreu also has a big career split in his pre/post all star numbers so I expect him to be a new man. Luckily I was able to strike gold by picking up Corey Hart and he has been reborn this year as a great slugger topping 20 dingers at the break. I've also picked up a very temporary hot streak from Andre Torres though I believe he will quickly fall back to earth soon. To round out the squad of underachievers I also grabbed a recently dropped Adam Lind who looks like he might be turning things around. All told I now have 6 OFs of which I'd only really like to have 4 at most. I figure that Torres is an easy drop once he cools off but then I will have to find a way to deal away another unless Lind continues to suck. If I could find a willing trade partner to take Berkman and an OF off my hands that would be fantastic. Hart 24th/14th. Abreu 18th/36th . Span 26th/35th . Torres 75th/15th . Ellsbury 43rd/114th . Lind 41st/112th .
SP- Well the state of this lineup has changed so many times this year that it's a little hard for me to assess.
Liriano was my stud for most of the year. In the last month, however, he has started getting lit up. I have full confidence that he will right the ship again but I won't start him again until he pitches well. 14th/77th
Haren seems to be settling down a bit after probably his worst 1st half ever. He's giving up less home runs and is still showing the great streakout and control ability that he is known for. If he gets traded to a contender it would be good for me. 17th/100th
Nolasco can be very frustrating to own. Much like his teammate Dan Uggle. For a while he was pitching well, then he struggled and couldn't strike anyone out, and now he is back to dominating. 26th/43th
Vazquez is finally giving me a reason to feel good about trading for him. It will take some time for his ERA to come down but it has been in a free fall for a couple months now. 36th/37th
Beckett is still injured but should be coming back in a week or two. 40th/111th
Floyd is pitching like a Cy Young candidate right now. He seems to go through this every year where he starts off completely useless and then is lights out for the rest of the year. Another trade I am starting to feel good about. 43rd/24th
Lilly has been awful the last couple starts. He was the beneficiary of some great luck in his first few starts to I have to believe that he was due for some regression. I'm sure he will straighten it out soon. He better. 45th/110th
As for my relievers... they've been ok. Bailey,Franklin, and Axford haven't been getting a ton of save oppurtunities but they tend to get it done when I need them to. There is the occasional bump in the road they're ok. I just need to keep my eyes open as the trade deadline approaches to see if I can snag some guys about to get the job.
So that's my team. My main issue is that I have been saddled with so many underachieving stars that I have no room to make moves to pick up the surprise guys like Scott Rolen, Trevor Cahill, Carl Pavano, etc.
If these turds can pick it up in the second half I will be a very happy guy. Hopefully it all works out.
So my team stands as follows:
C-I am currently rocking Geovany Soto at catcher. At first I was extremely bitter about cutting Napoli only to see him go on and start hitting but Soto has really worked out so far. He's not exactly dominating but he posts a solid average and a fantastic OBP while occasionally chipping in runs, RBIs, and HRs every now and then. He doesn't hurt the team and sometimes that's all you can ask from your catcher. ESPN ranks him 10th among catchers for the 2nd half but my rankings (which include OBP and Ks where ESPN doesn't) have him at 6.
1B- About a month ago I traded away Jon Lester to get Mark Teixiera and it is finally starting to pay dividends. After a painfully slow start he is now picking up his average and hitting dingers so I am pretty happy with that. I also recently dealt away Paul Konerko (my 1st half MVP) for Dan Uggla. This leaves me with Lance Berkman as a backup. His days of dominance appear to be over but he also seems to be picking up the pace having gone through a couple hot streaks and he is no longer useless. I may move him to one of the couple of teams that lack a viable 1B but trying to trade this year has been impossible. Teixeira 4th/5th. Berkman 21st/19th.
2B- Well, this has been my most difficult position to fill ever since Gordon Beckham decided he was going to be the bust of the year (had to finally cut his ass, as much as it hurt). For a time I filled the void with Orlando Hudson. Then it was Neil Walker. Finally it was Carlos Guillen. None of them were very good. So, finding myself with extra 1Bs I tried like crazy to find someone who would trade and finally the aforementioned Konerko-Uggle deal was completed. So now I have Dan Uggla. I've owned him in the past and he can be one of the most frustrating players to own. He can also single handedly carry a team on one of his hot streaks. He has a little extra appeal right as it appears that Colorado is talking to Florida about trading for him and all I can say is that a slugger like Uggla batting up there in them mountains could be awesome. I also currently have Brian Roberts and Asdrubal Cabrera stashed away waiting for them to come back from injury. If I can wait out the DL time then I might have myself with some excellent trade bait on my hands with the absolute lack of decent middle infield options available this year. We'll see how that goes. Uggla 6th/6th. Roberts 24th/45th. Cabrera -/53rd
3B- So ARod is showing some signs of life lately but he is still serving as a disappointment. His BABIP is low right now so I'd have to think that he will bounce back. Not like there's really anything I can do about it, right? ARod 3rd/10th
SS- Same as with ARod. Jeter 2nd/10th. Cabrera -/43rd
OF- This is perhaps my most frustrating position as all 3 of my main picks have not contributed much. Ellsbury still resides on the DL and is now arguing with Red Sox Management about the way his injury was handled. Span has decided that he loves the new ballpark in Minnesota so much that he's just going to suck on the road. Abreu is... not sure what's wrong with Abreu. Both Span and Abreu were starting to heat up a bit before the break so there's positive signs. Abreu also has a big career split in his pre/post all star numbers so I expect him to be a new man. Luckily I was able to strike gold by picking up Corey Hart and he has been reborn this year as a great slugger topping 20 dingers at the break. I've also picked up a very temporary hot streak from Andre Torres though I believe he will quickly fall back to earth soon. To round out the squad of underachievers I also grabbed a recently dropped Adam Lind who looks like he might be turning things around. All told I now have 6 OFs of which I'd only really like to have 4 at most. I figure that Torres is an easy drop once he cools off but then I will have to find a way to deal away another unless Lind continues to suck. If I could find a willing trade partner to take Berkman and an OF off my hands that would be fantastic. Hart 24th/14th. Abreu 18th/36th . Span 26th/35th . Torres 75th/15th . Ellsbury 43rd/114th . Lind 41st/112th .
SP- Well the state of this lineup has changed so many times this year that it's a little hard for me to assess.
Liriano was my stud for most of the year. In the last month, however, he has started getting lit up. I have full confidence that he will right the ship again but I won't start him again until he pitches well. 14th/77th
Haren seems to be settling down a bit after probably his worst 1st half ever. He's giving up less home runs and is still showing the great streakout and control ability that he is known for. If he gets traded to a contender it would be good for me. 17th/100th
Nolasco can be very frustrating to own. Much like his teammate Dan Uggle. For a while he was pitching well, then he struggled and couldn't strike anyone out, and now he is back to dominating. 26th/43th
Vazquez is finally giving me a reason to feel good about trading for him. It will take some time for his ERA to come down but it has been in a free fall for a couple months now. 36th/37th
Beckett is still injured but should be coming back in a week or two. 40th/111th
Floyd is pitching like a Cy Young candidate right now. He seems to go through this every year where he starts off completely useless and then is lights out for the rest of the year. Another trade I am starting to feel good about. 43rd/24th
Lilly has been awful the last couple starts. He was the beneficiary of some great luck in his first few starts to I have to believe that he was due for some regression. I'm sure he will straighten it out soon. He better. 45th/110th
As for my relievers... they've been ok. Bailey,Franklin, and Axford haven't been getting a ton of save oppurtunities but they tend to get it done when I need them to. There is the occasional bump in the road they're ok. I just need to keep my eyes open as the trade deadline approaches to see if I can snag some guys about to get the job.
So that's my team. My main issue is that I have been saddled with so many underachieving stars that I have no room to make moves to pick up the surprise guys like Scott Rolen, Trevor Cahill, Carl Pavano, etc.
If these turds can pick it up in the second half I will be a very happy guy. Hopefully it all works out.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Kilmeade shows us how it's done
I know I said no more politics but I just couldn't let this pass by...
(meh, having trouble getting this video embedded. Until I get it to work right, here's the gist-
Kilmeade: It took Obama only "hours" to appoint Petraeus, "so why is it taking months to plug the leaking oil?")
God... it's just so STUPID!
Just to remind you, this is the portion of FOX news that is considered "news" and not opinion.
In other excellent questions:
It only took Bush 6 years to damage the economy, divide the nation, launch multiple wars, and wreck political discourse... why hasn't Obama been able to fix all this yet?
It took decades of neglect by presidents and congresses of both parties for the country to fill up with illegal immigrants yet Obama has not managed to fix this situation? Why?
It only took a few moments for him to eat breakfast this morning, so why hasn't Social Security been fixed yet?
Obama had a successful meeting with Russian leaders this week, why hasn't he been able to end violence in Africa?
The questions are endless! We need Obama to stop pussyfooting around and solve these problems!
(meh, having trouble getting this video embedded. Until I get it to work right, here's the gist-
Kilmeade: It took Obama only "hours" to appoint Petraeus, "so why is it taking months to plug the leaking oil?")
God... it's just so STUPID!
Just to remind you, this is the portion of FOX news that is considered "news" and not opinion.
In other excellent questions:
It only took Bush 6 years to damage the economy, divide the nation, launch multiple wars, and wreck political discourse... why hasn't Obama been able to fix all this yet?
It took decades of neglect by presidents and congresses of both parties for the country to fill up with illegal immigrants yet Obama has not managed to fix this situation? Why?
It only took a few moments for him to eat breakfast this morning, so why hasn't Social Security been fixed yet?
Obama had a successful meeting with Russian leaders this week, why hasn't he been able to end violence in Africa?
The questions are endless! We need Obama to stop pussyfooting around and solve these problems!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
NewsBusters.org Esposing liberal media bias (agree with us or else!)
Last political post for some time, I promise.
So I recently signed up for the twitter feed belonging to NewsBusters since I so enjoy hearing/reading the viewpoints of people I don't necessarily agree with. Their motto seems sincere enough. Just as there is conservative media bias there is definitely liberal media bias and I am not naive enough to believe that only one side is guilty.
It took less than a week to find out that this site is full of crap and needs a completely different site to try and capture all of the bias that they are guilty of.
Almost every story I read is basically a hack job attempt at spin to make liberals look as bad as possible. It's exactly the type of site that a bunch of amateur bloggers would come up with where everyone can agree with each other without fear of having someone disagree with them.
As my previous post would indicate I like perusing the message boards and so I took the time one day to register so that I could join the discussion. Knowing how touchy these places can be I phrased a very articulate reply asking a reasonable question with a firm belief that it wasn't so inflammatory as to get my comment deleted.
It took less than a day for my account to be banned completely. I thought this weird and maybe I didn't verify my account properly so I tried again only to see that my email address had been banned from the site. From that point, with open eyes, I started reading the comment sections on a few pages only to see that is was chock full of lib-hating people in all their glory with nary a lefty comment to be seen. Ah ha.
So feeling oppressed launched a google query asking about getting banned from Newsbusters only to see that this is apparently how they operate. A site claiming to look for media bias rejects any and all two-sided discussions. Does that seem wrong to anyone else?
Ultimately it's not a big deal. These people have a club and there ain't no libs allowed. No biggy. I just thought it odd that a site attempting to be fair would be so close minded. I'll just have to find another enemy battleground to encroach on.
So I recently signed up for the twitter feed belonging to NewsBusters since I so enjoy hearing/reading the viewpoints of people I don't necessarily agree with. Their motto seems sincere enough. Just as there is conservative media bias there is definitely liberal media bias and I am not naive enough to believe that only one side is guilty.
It took less than a week to find out that this site is full of crap and needs a completely different site to try and capture all of the bias that they are guilty of.
Almost every story I read is basically a hack job attempt at spin to make liberals look as bad as possible. It's exactly the type of site that a bunch of amateur bloggers would come up with where everyone can agree with each other without fear of having someone disagree with them.
As my previous post would indicate I like perusing the message boards and so I took the time one day to register so that I could join the discussion. Knowing how touchy these places can be I phrased a very articulate reply asking a reasonable question with a firm belief that it wasn't so inflammatory as to get my comment deleted.
It took less than a day for my account to be banned completely. I thought this weird and maybe I didn't verify my account properly so I tried again only to see that my email address had been banned from the site. From that point, with open eyes, I started reading the comment sections on a few pages only to see that is was chock full of lib-hating people in all their glory with nary a lefty comment to be seen. Ah ha.
So feeling oppressed launched a google query asking about getting banned from Newsbusters only to see that this is apparently how they operate. A site claiming to look for media bias rejects any and all two-sided discussions. Does that seem wrong to anyone else?
Ultimately it's not a big deal. These people have a club and there ain't no libs allowed. No biggy. I just thought it odd that a site attempting to be fair would be so close minded. I'll just have to find another enemy battleground to encroach on.
What's in a name?
Ever since I started paying attention to politics I've enjoyed checking in on various websites and reading the comments that readers leave behind. As abrasive and crazy as people can be in public it doesn't even come close to what is exhibited when these people get the protection of electronic anonymity.
It is in these forums where you will see every example of awful debate, immaturity, ignorance, and zero class. You might think that people who immerse themselves in politics might be somewhat interested in a good eye opening debate. In fact they usually just want to stay safe within the secure confines of like minded people. Occasionally they may lead a sortie consisting of straw man arguments, blanket statements, ad hominem attacks, and the ever present violation of Goodwin's law but they will then retreat swiftly and ignore and points made against them.
Perhaps my favorite element of this little world would have to be the user names of conservatives on these message boards. It's very rare to see a simple last name + year of birth combo or anything equally innocent. Instead you get declarations that instantly make them better Americans than you. Take this page for example. On this page you get the following:
Old Yankee
Tea Party Patriot
Preacher 's justice
Patriot
wakeuppeople
Don't tread on me!
real American
One_Nation_Under_God
Statesman/Patriot
mad vet
Concerned_American
american boy
These are actually kind of tame compared to other pages I've seen but the point remains the same. Is it wrong that I think this is hilarious? It's kind of like a preemptive strike. "Sure you can try to refute my logic of why Obama is purposely trying to destroy the country but you can't win because the word 'Patriot' is in my username." That's the only way I can interpret this stuff.
Is there a reason that conservatives spend a good portion of their time telling each other how American or how patriotic they are? Is this part of the mentality that leads them to believe they can instantly discard any opposing viewpoint simply because they think the other person is a "libtard"?
I consider myself a "real American". I consider myself patriotic. I am firm in my beliefs and yet I have no need to tell everyone just how American I am. Part of me wants to ignore the circle jerk that is conservative discussion but the other part can't help but think about dudes who tell everyone how much ass they get to cover for the fact that they aren't getting any.
So it's absolutely fine that these people need to dub themselves "SuperPatrioticMan" or "MoreAmericanThanU" but it really does not mean a god damn thing. It also means nothing when Sean Hannity names 2 bimbos and himself the "Great American Panel". There is no validity behind the name "Keep America Safe" when in actuality all you are doing, Liz, is performing revisionism on the past.
So what's in a name? Absolutely nothing... as long as you're capable of seeing past the book cover.
It is in these forums where you will see every example of awful debate, immaturity, ignorance, and zero class. You might think that people who immerse themselves in politics might be somewhat interested in a good eye opening debate. In fact they usually just want to stay safe within the secure confines of like minded people. Occasionally they may lead a sortie consisting of straw man arguments, blanket statements, ad hominem attacks, and the ever present violation of Goodwin's law but they will then retreat swiftly and ignore and points made against them.
Perhaps my favorite element of this little world would have to be the user names of conservatives on these message boards. It's very rare to see a simple last name + year of birth combo or anything equally innocent. Instead you get declarations that instantly make them better Americans than you. Take this page for example. On this page you get the following:
Old Yankee
Tea Party Patriot
Preacher 's justice
Patriot
wakeuppeople
Don't tread on me!
real American
One_Nation_Under_God
Statesman/Patriot
mad vet
Concerned_American
american boy
These are actually kind of tame compared to other pages I've seen but the point remains the same. Is it wrong that I think this is hilarious? It's kind of like a preemptive strike. "Sure you can try to refute my logic of why Obama is purposely trying to destroy the country but you can't win because the word 'Patriot' is in my username." That's the only way I can interpret this stuff.
Is there a reason that conservatives spend a good portion of their time telling each other how American or how patriotic they are? Is this part of the mentality that leads them to believe they can instantly discard any opposing viewpoint simply because they think the other person is a "libtard"?
I consider myself a "real American". I consider myself patriotic. I am firm in my beliefs and yet I have no need to tell everyone just how American I am. Part of me wants to ignore the circle jerk that is conservative discussion but the other part can't help but think about dudes who tell everyone how much ass they get to cover for the fact that they aren't getting any.
So it's absolutely fine that these people need to dub themselves "SuperPatrioticMan" or "MoreAmericanThanU" but it really does not mean a god damn thing. It also means nothing when Sean Hannity names 2 bimbos and himself the "Great American Panel". There is no validity behind the name "Keep America Safe" when in actuality all you are doing, Liz, is performing revisionism on the past.
So what's in a name? Absolutely nothing... as long as you're capable of seeing past the book cover.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
When keeping it real goes wrong
So there's this issue that really has not gotten much press lately (sarcasm for those who don't pick that up). Apparently a Rolling Stone news reporter was spending time with General McChrystal recently and kind of exposed the ugly side of military-civilian relations. The article reveals a number of statements/impressions given by McChrystal and his aides that are not exactly complimentary of President Obama, Vice President Biden, Afghanistan ambassador Karl Eikenberry, and a few others. As usual, hilarity ensues.
My take: McChrystal fucked up. Pure and simple. Should he be fired? I believe so. Or at least his resignation should be accepted to save him some face. The first rule in business is that no one is irreplaceable. In this political climate with the longest war in US history taking place a man in his position has no place to be having this sort of report be released to the public. That is inexcusable. The office of President of the United States of America demands a certain respect, regardless of who fills that position. Turd burglars like you and I can feel free to run our mouths about these guys as much as we want but a certain decorum is expected for those in important government/military positions.
That isn't to say that I think that McChrystal should be punished for his (alleged) views. What gets him in trouble is that, a) a reporter was given the access to these candid statements, and, b) his aides and staff were under the impression that they could be this candid with the reporter. I am certainly not as naive as to think that every member of the military would be infatuated with Obama or those who have never served. That's just delusional. Regardless, the fact that this did come to light and will now grace the pages of Rolling Stone, a magazine that regularly places a shirtless Shawn White on the cover, is an incredible lapse of judgement.
I've heard a number of conservative pundits run their mouths in the time since this story broke and not too many of them have recognized the serious breach of protocol and are instead acting as if they are the damaged party. It's exactly the way a child acts when guilty. That's besides the point. They just don't seem to get it. Just because they and their couple million listeners want the president impeached/executed for made-up offenses is not reason. There has to be some actual substance. So while they are spending their air time finding justification for McChrystal's misstep the man himself is answering to his boss and taking responsibility for it.
Consequence. Again these people have proven they have no idea what consequence is about.
So it is a shame that something like this was exposed to the public. I've often heard that civilians have no business being privy to what goes on in military life and that is something that I agree with 100%. We the people are too squeamish. Too easily offended.
So McChrystal made a mistake. He's a four star general who will now be forever associated with this and that is unfortunate, but it is the truth. Political junkies are now eagerly awaiting the news of whether or not a replacement will be needed for the Afghanistan campaign but largely the actual military implications of this event will be far outweighed by the politics as each side will now jockey to inform/misinform the public on what it all really means. It's already getting wore out by Rush. Mark Levin was bitching like crazy last night. It's just the current bullshit du jour right now. McChrystal kept it real... and it definitely went wrong.
My take: McChrystal fucked up. Pure and simple. Should he be fired? I believe so. Or at least his resignation should be accepted to save him some face. The first rule in business is that no one is irreplaceable. In this political climate with the longest war in US history taking place a man in his position has no place to be having this sort of report be released to the public. That is inexcusable. The office of President of the United States of America demands a certain respect, regardless of who fills that position. Turd burglars like you and I can feel free to run our mouths about these guys as much as we want but a certain decorum is expected for those in important government/military positions.
That isn't to say that I think that McChrystal should be punished for his (alleged) views. What gets him in trouble is that, a) a reporter was given the access to these candid statements, and, b) his aides and staff were under the impression that they could be this candid with the reporter. I am certainly not as naive as to think that every member of the military would be infatuated with Obama or those who have never served. That's just delusional. Regardless, the fact that this did come to light and will now grace the pages of Rolling Stone, a magazine that regularly places a shirtless Shawn White on the cover, is an incredible lapse of judgement.
I've heard a number of conservative pundits run their mouths in the time since this story broke and not too many of them have recognized the serious breach of protocol and are instead acting as if they are the damaged party. It's exactly the way a child acts when guilty. That's besides the point. They just don't seem to get it. Just because they and their couple million listeners want the president impeached/executed for made-up offenses is not reason. There has to be some actual substance. So while they are spending their air time finding justification for McChrystal's misstep the man himself is answering to his boss and taking responsibility for it.
Consequence. Again these people have proven they have no idea what consequence is about.
So it is a shame that something like this was exposed to the public. I've often heard that civilians have no business being privy to what goes on in military life and that is something that I agree with 100%. We the people are too squeamish. Too easily offended.
So McChrystal made a mistake. He's a four star general who will now be forever associated with this and that is unfortunate, but it is the truth. Political junkies are now eagerly awaiting the news of whether or not a replacement will be needed for the Afghanistan campaign but largely the actual military implications of this event will be far outweighed by the politics as each side will now jockey to inform/misinform the public on what it all really means. It's already getting wore out by Rush. Mark Levin was bitching like crazy last night. It's just the current bullshit du jour right now. McChrystal kept it real... and it definitely went wrong.
MediaMatters: Will BP be Fox News' tipping point?
Just read this post over at MediaMatters and I couldn't agree more:
Will BP be Fox News' tipping point?
June 23, 2010 8:51 am ET by Eric Boehlert
Eight-two percent.
That’s the number you need to keep in mind as you listen to the right-wing caterwauling about how poor, helpless BP has been tormented and demonized by the bullying, Constitution-hating Obama White House.
Eight-two percent.
According to the latest CNN poll, a huge, huge, huge majority of Americans supports the $20 billion escrow fund that BP agreed to create in order to help pay for the Gulf of Mexico cleanup.
And get this: According to the same CNN poll, a microscopic 5 percent of Americans think Obama has been “too tough” on BP. Just 5 percent.
But apparently those 5-percenters all host radio and TV shows, or blog online, because that radical claim that Obama’s to blame for creating the hated escrow fund (not to mention for causing the oil spill in the first place), has been exploding within the GOP Noise Machine as pundits, bloggers, and talk show hosts rush to defend BP and denounce one of the most popular things Obama has ever done.
And, of course, helping lead the charge to guard BP from Obama’s wicked ways has been Fox News.
Fox News is programmed for Obama dead-enders, that much is clear. They’re the radical minority of political hyper-partisans who hold as a matter of faith that Obama is a Manchurian candidate. It’s not just that Obama was born in Kenya and isn’t truly of this country, or culture, and that his policies are misguided and wrong for America. It runs much deeper. It’s that Obama ran for the Oval Office with the explicit plan to ruin America from within once he was elected. He ran for president in order to destroy this country by stripping it of its freedoms and liberties and transforming the United States into some sort of socialist or communist outpost.
That’s how far out on the ledge Fox News now operates. And FYI, if you view the world from that demented perspective, it probably does look like BP got jobbed. (Just like of course the Clinton White House sold nuclear secrets to China during the `90s; Democratic presidents are a treasonous bunch.)
As I said, the dead-enders represent a radical minority. And yet they have an entire right-wing media complex set up explicitly to whet their Obama-hating appetite. There is no thought put into the rhetoric anymore, or their partisan jousting. Instead, the content revolves around a very simple premise: If Obama did it, it’s wrong. Not just wrong. More like, if Obama did it, it’s evil and dangerous and ghastly and un-American.
So the stimulus bill was evil and un-American. Bailing out GM and Chrysler was evil and un-American. Passing health care reform, of course, was evil and un-America.
But securing $20 billion from BP to pay for the cleanup and to compensate working Americans for the damage done to their livelihoods. That was evil and un-American?
According to Fox News it was.
And with that audacious claim, I’m wondering if Fox News isn’t pressing up very closely to its tipping point; to the moment where Fox News reveals how certifiably insane it is by rushing to BP’s defense, and just how distant its programming is from the American mainstream.
I don’t mean it’s the tipping point in terms of there being some sort of collective realization within Fox News that its signature form of partisan Obama hatred has jumped about 19 different sets of tracks and its incessant campaign of smears and lies makes a mockery out of the news business, as well as does real damage to democracy. (I’m pretty sure everyone at Fox News already knows that.)
I’m referring instead to a collective realization among people outside Fox News and the GOP Noise Machine that there’s something fundamentally wrong with a so-called news organization siding with BP after what the oil giant has done to the Gulf of Mexico and the reckless, cavalier way it has ruined the livelihoods of countless of residents.
That there’s something just plain wrong and illogical in being so robotically ant-Obama that the Fox News team would consciously side with today’s version of Public Enemy No. 1 and insist, with complete conviction, that it’s the president of the United States who’s to blame for the big oil disaster, and it’s the president of the United States who should be attacked, smeared, and ridiculed for getting BP to set aside $20 billion in damages.
The tipping point could come when everyday Americans, as well as mainstream reporters, observe the right-wing media’s radical embrace of BP (fueled by all-consuming Obama Derangement Syndrome), look at each other and utter various equivalents of, “WTF?”
Because not only is Fox News in effect defending BP, but it’s using the occasion of the $20 billion agreement to depict Obama as some sort of monster bent on destroying America. How? By holding BP financially responsible.
Again, you can almost hear the “WTF’s” as the realization of the Fox News attack campaign sinks in. Rupert Murdoch’s channel is siding with BP over the United States???
You better believe it. From Fox News’ Andrew Napolitano:
I think you could argue that the government is, in large measure, responsible for this mess.
The reason I’m (perhaps naïvely) suggesting there may soon be a collective A-ha moment about Fox News with regard to its defense of BP, whereas the channel’s outrageous programming in the past has not triggered that kind of response, is that this is different because it’s not about politics. That Fox News will relentlessly attack Obama and Democrats about every conceivable issue is, at this point, a given -- Fox News functions as the Opposition Party.
But the BP disaster, and the callous disregard for how it was handled by the oil company, is different. The environmental fiasco very much resembles an attack on the United States by a foreign entity. (An act of eco-terrorism, if you will.) And common sense tells us that that should never be a partisan issue. And common sense dictates that no sane person would side with BP, let alone condemn the government for securing $20 billion in private funds to pay for the disaster.
Or would they?
It’s difficult to put into words just how isolated and extreme the right-wing media’s embrace of BP has been over the last week. It’s mind-bending that a major political movement in this country, driven by its media “news” outlets, would rush out onto the battlefield of public debate in order to plant its flag alongside BP, even as the incompetent petroleum giant remains unable to turn off the underwater gusher that is destroying the Gulf of Mexico.
And yet turn on Fox News or tune into Rush Limbaugh or Mark Levin, or a whole host of other BP apologists, and get a daily earful about how BP is being unfairly maligned and that Obama should be condemned for securing $20 billion in cleanup funds. (Keep in mind that no one associated with BP has ever suggested the White House bullied the company, or that BP was the victim of a “shakedown.” No one.)
And yes, I realize some conservative loud mouths claim that just because they’re attacking the White House over the $20 billion “shakedown,” that doesn’t mean they’re defending BP, or that they agree with Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) and think the oil giant deserves an apology. But gimme a break. That’s a distinction without a difference because even before the “shakedown” meme was launched late last week, the same right-wing outlets, including Fox News, were weeping hysterically at how the White House was trying to “demonize” little ol’ BP, and how its poor executives were going to be paraded before Congress for a nasty “show trial.” Meaning, the right wing’s desire to throw its body in front of BP and protect it from alleged government abuse has been a constant for weeks now, and extends far beyond the “shakedown” defense.
The fact is, forced to pick a villain in the BP disaster, Fox News chose America and set its sights on the White House, not the foreign oil giant; a giant that even industry players have tagged as being reckless and guilty of “gross negligence.”
Has Fox News finally reached the point of no return?
Will BP be Fox News' tipping point?
June 23, 2010 8:51 am ET by Eric Boehlert
Eight-two percent.
That’s the number you need to keep in mind as you listen to the right-wing caterwauling about how poor, helpless BP has been tormented and demonized by the bullying, Constitution-hating Obama White House.
Eight-two percent.
According to the latest CNN poll, a huge, huge, huge majority of Americans supports the $20 billion escrow fund that BP agreed to create in order to help pay for the Gulf of Mexico cleanup.
And get this: According to the same CNN poll, a microscopic 5 percent of Americans think Obama has been “too tough” on BP. Just 5 percent.
But apparently those 5-percenters all host radio and TV shows, or blog online, because that radical claim that Obama’s to blame for creating the hated escrow fund (not to mention for causing the oil spill in the first place), has been exploding within the GOP Noise Machine as pundits, bloggers, and talk show hosts rush to defend BP and denounce one of the most popular things Obama has ever done.
And, of course, helping lead the charge to guard BP from Obama’s wicked ways has been Fox News.
Fox News is programmed for Obama dead-enders, that much is clear. They’re the radical minority of political hyper-partisans who hold as a matter of faith that Obama is a Manchurian candidate. It’s not just that Obama was born in Kenya and isn’t truly of this country, or culture, and that his policies are misguided and wrong for America. It runs much deeper. It’s that Obama ran for the Oval Office with the explicit plan to ruin America from within once he was elected. He ran for president in order to destroy this country by stripping it of its freedoms and liberties and transforming the United States into some sort of socialist or communist outpost.
That’s how far out on the ledge Fox News now operates. And FYI, if you view the world from that demented perspective, it probably does look like BP got jobbed. (Just like of course the Clinton White House sold nuclear secrets to China during the `90s; Democratic presidents are a treasonous bunch.)
As I said, the dead-enders represent a radical minority. And yet they have an entire right-wing media complex set up explicitly to whet their Obama-hating appetite. There is no thought put into the rhetoric anymore, or their partisan jousting. Instead, the content revolves around a very simple premise: If Obama did it, it’s wrong. Not just wrong. More like, if Obama did it, it’s evil and dangerous and ghastly and un-American.
So the stimulus bill was evil and un-American. Bailing out GM and Chrysler was evil and un-American. Passing health care reform, of course, was evil and un-America.
But securing $20 billion from BP to pay for the cleanup and to compensate working Americans for the damage done to their livelihoods. That was evil and un-American?
According to Fox News it was.
And with that audacious claim, I’m wondering if Fox News isn’t pressing up very closely to its tipping point; to the moment where Fox News reveals how certifiably insane it is by rushing to BP’s defense, and just how distant its programming is from the American mainstream.
I don’t mean it’s the tipping point in terms of there being some sort of collective realization within Fox News that its signature form of partisan Obama hatred has jumped about 19 different sets of tracks and its incessant campaign of smears and lies makes a mockery out of the news business, as well as does real damage to democracy. (I’m pretty sure everyone at Fox News already knows that.)
I’m referring instead to a collective realization among people outside Fox News and the GOP Noise Machine that there’s something fundamentally wrong with a so-called news organization siding with BP after what the oil giant has done to the Gulf of Mexico and the reckless, cavalier way it has ruined the livelihoods of countless of residents.
That there’s something just plain wrong and illogical in being so robotically ant-Obama that the Fox News team would consciously side with today’s version of Public Enemy No. 1 and insist, with complete conviction, that it’s the president of the United States who’s to blame for the big oil disaster, and it’s the president of the United States who should be attacked, smeared, and ridiculed for getting BP to set aside $20 billion in damages.
The tipping point could come when everyday Americans, as well as mainstream reporters, observe the right-wing media’s radical embrace of BP (fueled by all-consuming Obama Derangement Syndrome), look at each other and utter various equivalents of, “WTF?”
Because not only is Fox News in effect defending BP, but it’s using the occasion of the $20 billion agreement to depict Obama as some sort of monster bent on destroying America. How? By holding BP financially responsible.
Again, you can almost hear the “WTF’s” as the realization of the Fox News attack campaign sinks in. Rupert Murdoch’s channel is siding with BP over the United States???
You better believe it. From Fox News’ Andrew Napolitano:
I think you could argue that the government is, in large measure, responsible for this mess.
The reason I’m (perhaps naïvely) suggesting there may soon be a collective A-ha moment about Fox News with regard to its defense of BP, whereas the channel’s outrageous programming in the past has not triggered that kind of response, is that this is different because it’s not about politics. That Fox News will relentlessly attack Obama and Democrats about every conceivable issue is, at this point, a given -- Fox News functions as the Opposition Party.
But the BP disaster, and the callous disregard for how it was handled by the oil company, is different. The environmental fiasco very much resembles an attack on the United States by a foreign entity. (An act of eco-terrorism, if you will.) And common sense tells us that that should never be a partisan issue. And common sense dictates that no sane person would side with BP, let alone condemn the government for securing $20 billion in private funds to pay for the disaster.
Or would they?
It’s difficult to put into words just how isolated and extreme the right-wing media’s embrace of BP has been over the last week. It’s mind-bending that a major political movement in this country, driven by its media “news” outlets, would rush out onto the battlefield of public debate in order to plant its flag alongside BP, even as the incompetent petroleum giant remains unable to turn off the underwater gusher that is destroying the Gulf of Mexico.
And yet turn on Fox News or tune into Rush Limbaugh or Mark Levin, or a whole host of other BP apologists, and get a daily earful about how BP is being unfairly maligned and that Obama should be condemned for securing $20 billion in cleanup funds. (Keep in mind that no one associated with BP has ever suggested the White House bullied the company, or that BP was the victim of a “shakedown.” No one.)
And yes, I realize some conservative loud mouths claim that just because they’re attacking the White House over the $20 billion “shakedown,” that doesn’t mean they’re defending BP, or that they agree with Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) and think the oil giant deserves an apology. But gimme a break. That’s a distinction without a difference because even before the “shakedown” meme was launched late last week, the same right-wing outlets, including Fox News, were weeping hysterically at how the White House was trying to “demonize” little ol’ BP, and how its poor executives were going to be paraded before Congress for a nasty “show trial.” Meaning, the right wing’s desire to throw its body in front of BP and protect it from alleged government abuse has been a constant for weeks now, and extends far beyond the “shakedown” defense.
The fact is, forced to pick a villain in the BP disaster, Fox News chose America and set its sights on the White House, not the foreign oil giant; a giant that even industry players have tagged as being reckless and guilty of “gross negligence.”
Has Fox News finally reached the point of no return?
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Crying over spilled oil
Politics is hilarious. Can I just say that? There has been a ton of absolutely hysterical behavior lately so it's been kind of difficult for me to choose any particular issue to dive in to on this here blog. However, this whole oil thing has just been a joke. Before I delve in to that, though, I'll hit up a few other topics.
There's been a little bit of new musics lately. I last blogged about STP's new album and over time it has really just struck me as mediocre. It just appears to be more blah blah blah like the last couple albums with nothing particularly pleasing to get excited about. It's always disappointing when the lead single is the high point of the album. At this point I have to admit that my affection for STP is nothing more than a fading memory of the mid 90s. There is nothing in their current works that bears any resemblance to Core or Purple.
Coming out at about the same time as STP was the new one by the Deftones. This cd isn't too shabby but, like STP, I am remembering the band more for one of my all time favorite albums (White Pony). Anyway, the reviews likened the new joint to White Pony and raved about it saying it was a return to that style but I just am not seeing it. I actually see their last three (post-White Pony) albums as kind of similar. There's nothing amazing going on in this particular era but I also don't hate it.
Another cd for me to get excited about would have to be the recent release by Sarah McLachlan. I love me some Sarah. She's awesome. I can't quite explain why my usually hard rock music taste is infiltrated by this sweet singing Canadian but the fact is that I love it. She sings great, there's usually some sweet ass bass lines going on, she's got commercials trying to make you adopt animals... what's not to like? Keep bringing it Sarah. Don't change a thing.
- Musics
There's been a little bit of new musics lately. I last blogged about STP's new album and over time it has really just struck me as mediocre. It just appears to be more blah blah blah like the last couple albums with nothing particularly pleasing to get excited about. It's always disappointing when the lead single is the high point of the album. At this point I have to admit that my affection for STP is nothing more than a fading memory of the mid 90s. There is nothing in their current works that bears any resemblance to Core or Purple.
Coming out at about the same time as STP was the new one by the Deftones. This cd isn't too shabby but, like STP, I am remembering the band more for one of my all time favorite albums (White Pony). Anyway, the reviews likened the new joint to White Pony and raved about it saying it was a return to that style but I just am not seeing it. I actually see their last three (post-White Pony) albums as kind of similar. There's nothing amazing going on in this particular era but I also don't hate it.
Another cd for me to get excited about would have to be the recent release by Sarah McLachlan. I love me some Sarah. She's awesome. I can't quite explain why my usually hard rock music taste is infiltrated by this sweet singing Canadian but the fact is that I love it. She sings great, there's usually some sweet ass bass lines going on, she's got commercials trying to make you adopt animals... what's not to like? Keep bringing it Sarah. Don't change a thing.
- Body movin'
So with the upcoming wedding thing the Hot Mary and myself have recently taken a couple dance lessons. Quite frankly I don't think we learned enough to actually hold our own anywhere but the surprising thing was that it was actually kind of fun. We had these cats teaching us some foxtrot steps and speaking to us in accents I could barely make out but I kind of dug it. Of course it's all sorts of expensive and will require practice that we don't necessarily have time to do but it might be something that we'll have to revisit in the future. Don't knock it till you've tried it.
- Eh... the fantasy baseballs
Wow. This season has been a bust. Let me give a brief summary. Doumit is ok at catcher but the guy I cut, Napoli, has since blown up. Konerko is one of the league leaders in dingers but the guy I drafted, Berkman, still has yet to do some damage. Beckham still can't put some distance between his average and the mendoza line. A-Rod is hitting well but is only on track for 20 HRs. Jeter is also hitting well but is mysteriously lacking the patience he once had (OBP of around .350). Abreu and Span are no where near the .300 AVE and .400 OBP they normally hit and Ellsbury is still not back from cracked ribs. Lester and Liriano are fine but Nolasco and Beckett are not contributing much. Finally, my closers are ok but Bailey and Franklin never get save opportunities.
That is my season thus far and, again, it is a miracle that I am not in last place.
Alright, so, the oil spill.
First of all, I suppose it's not even correct to refer to it as a "spill". That was an accurate description of what happened with Exxon up near Alaska but this situation in the Gulf of Mexico is more of an oil gusher. Not good news. The worst part (that's not actually true but it makes for a better phrase) of it is that it isn't a singular incident for which the news cycle will come and go and become yesterdays news. Nope, in this situation, as long as the oil continues to gush, so do all of the friggin experts.
This whole incident was labeled incorrectly right from the get-go as certain morons deemed it "Obama's Katrina". How does one single natural event resulting in thousands dead that was forecasted to occur have any similarity to a surprise man made event killing a dozen? I don't really know. Both of them involved water and Louisiana. Great job connecting the dots.
What it comes down to, and this is no surprise, is that there is a certain segment of the population flirting with blatant treason/sedition in the hopes of pushing Obama out of office. Most of these people like to come up with justification in their feelings despite the fact that they decided on this course before Obama was elected and even had a chance to unleash "TEH ZOMG EVIL SOCIALIST AGENDA".
The conservative criticism is two-headed and quite contradictory. On one side you have oil lover conservative head. These people are motivated by shouts of "Drill, Baby! Drill!" and, not surprisingly, is led by intellectual genius on all matters, Sarah Palin. She blames the crisis on environmentalists. This makes sense because environmentalists would prefer that there was no drilling at all. This causes drilling to occur in deep water which causes safety lapse induced explosions. In actuality I have no idea what Palin is talking about and I rarely do. I tried just now to connect the dots on her logic but I forget that pretty much everything says is some sort of Tea Party slogan which doesn't really translate well to actual thought. Fuck that bitch.
The other two prominent conservative minds claiming the oil gusher ain't no thang are Brit Hume and Rush Limbaugh. Just with the fact that Rush's name is attached to this is enough reason to already know that this stance is full of shit. Rush says that the ocean is used to absorbing oil all the time, so what's the big deal? You know what else isn't a big deal? Getting a little sun, having a glass of wine and eating a little bacon. However, just as dumping tons upon tons of crude oil in to the water isn't the same as a little oil naturally escaping in to the water it's also a whole different story to tan 5 hours of day, drink gallons of wine and eat a shit ton of bacon. Rush is a friggin moron. By the way, rush also spends his day criticizing Obama for his handling of this "non" crisis. Again, Rush is a friggin moron and so are the people who believe him.
As for Hume, it absolutely blew my mind when he asked a couple weeks ago on that idiot-fest known as Fox Sunday Morning or something like that: "Where's the oil?". What the fuck?!? At this point I had been douched with images of the following: oil slicks visible on the surface of the gulf, oil washed up on shores, oil slicks on fire in controlled burns in the water, unidentifiable oil covered avian creatures, dead turtles and other animals covered in that shit and satellite images of the mess in a big-picture view. And Hume asks where the oil is? Listen, Brit, the only reason you had no idea where the oil was is either because you are willingly ignorant on these images or your employer has chosen not to run any of the images and that's where you get all of your "news". Either one is inexcusable.
This brings us to the next bunch of critics. These are the people who think that Obama is personally responsible for everything that has ever gone wrong in this country. I really don't even know where to begin on this one as the criticisms have been coming from all directions and for any number of reasons. I'll try to round them up as I remember them.
One of the bigger complaints during this crisis is that Obama hasn't appeared to be upset enough and is detached from the situation. That criticism is entirely based on each individual. Some people want to see their leader get worked up and angry at those who have wronged us. Other people want someone who keeps emotion out of it. Regardless of your own preferences there are those that didn't like that Obama did not appear to care. Obama then made the mistake of saying that he needed to kick some ass in this whole ordeal and also gave a speech about it. All of a sudden now he is acting like a "street thug" and being rude. I also heard that he was acting like a child throwing a tantrum. These criticisms in many cases were coming from the same people who didn't like his then emotionless response. The obvious conclusions: these people wouldn't be happy no matter how Obama responded.
Next up we have the people who complained that Obama was not being hard enough on BP. This of course leads to allegations of collusion. Maybe Obama wanted this to occur hmmmm? Fast forward to this week and BP has been hit with the $20 billion bill for the damages. Now of course we hear these morons upset that Obama would dare force BP to pay for this. It's an absolute joke. The conclusion drawn in the previous paragraph is also applicable here.
The other criticism which I have personally repeated on Hannity as well as Fox is that Obama is not accepting any foreign assistance in this. This is an absolute lie and yet it gets repeated every single fucking day. There are no less than 15 nations with a ship in the gulf right now helping out in the process. All you have to do is a simple internet search. Why is that beyond the capabilities of these "professionals"?
All told I really don't know what the critics expected of Obama. I honestly don't believe that any department in the Federal Government is knowledgeable or equipped to handle an oil leak miles beneath the surface. Obama certainly made a large number of campaign promises but no where in those speeches did he say anything about being able to swim down there and take care of shit like this.
The list of outright lies and smearing that is being placed on the administration right now is so ridiculous that it really takes away from the actual tragedy. There has even been the lie spread that Obama was just fucking around for a month without visiting the scene despite the fact that Obama made an appearance right at the beginning of May. Again, it's all information that could be easily obtained should one want to know the truth rather than just tune in to sources that will tell you what you want to hear.
What the fuck would it really matter if Obama showed up on the Louisiana shores anyway? Perhaps he could stand on the beach and give the oil slick a stony stare that would send it scurrying back to the depths from whence it came. That's exactly what Reagan would have done.
As for Obama, he clearly has justification to give a hearty "fuck you" to those conservatives who find fault in everything he does. Simple as that. Why give a shit about people who hate for the sake of hating. All they want is a Republican in power. When you are the type of person to put the party above the country you have clearly fallen outside of reality. The ironic part is that these are the first people to declare themselves "patriots".
Stop getting your information from Sarah Palin facebook updates and wake up. It's either that or remain an idiot. Your choice.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Bittersweet reunion
I recently put up a post on Stone Temple Pilots in anticipation of their most recent album after a 6 year hiatus with reserved excitement and optimism. Since then STP has been garnering the expected amount of press and magazine articles that one can expect from a multi-platinum record selling band reuniting during a time when the musical landscape has since moved on from alternative rock and grunge. Being the huge fan of the group back in the day, I've read as much as I can find and I can only conclude that Scott Weiland is an absolute mess.
After the first bit of excitement over hearing of an STP reunion there were immediate signs that I shouldn't get too worked up over it. Amidst the gushing of band members about how great it was to work together again there was the confession that, while the DeLeo brothers and Kretz were recording together, Weiland had his own separate recording studio and was recording the vocal tracks by himself. Doesn't exactly speak of a glorious return to comradery, does it.
While reading through the track by track story on the Wikipedia page you see again and again how Dean DeLeo is impressed with how well Scott sang on the tunes. However, accompanying all the praise are remarks like "Scott is in a dark place". Songs that are to sound kind of happy and poppy are subject to the dark depression and drug influenced lyrics of the singer.
If you supplement these notes with articles like what was written in SPIN you can really only conclude that this reunion tour might not be very long-lived. Weiland simply sounds like a mess. He doesn't show up until the very last minute before concerts, has his own bus which he retreats to the second a show is over, needs an assistant to bring him food, chain smokes and drinks like crazy, pops pills but considers himself "clean" because he is no longer doing smack and is obsessed over ex-flames. It really sounds like he hates his current gig of "talented millionaire front man", which is a shame.
I recently gotten my hands on the newest cd and the first listen wasn't too bad. From what I have heard so far it isn't as hard as previous albums but it is definitely catchy. Without listening to lyrics it does sound like a happy album... but paying attention really exposes the current state that Weiland is in. The dude, quite frankly, sounds like he's one bad trip from suicide.
It must be frustrating as well for the other members of the band. They are talented as all hell but really have not amounted to much without Scott in front of the band. It would have been nice to see them continue the Army of Anyone project with Filter front man Patrick because the cd they did release was actually pretty good. It seems, however, that they really don't shine unless they have Weiland, and to have their success tied to such an erratic and unhealthy person can not be pleasant.
You'd think this wouldn't bother me as much as it does. The band has basically been dead for years and everything else they release is pretty much a bonus but just knowing that they are capable of much more pisses me off. I'll never be able to understand rock stars. You take a god given gift that is capable of getting you hordes of admirers and a shit ton of cash and yet it's not good enough. Ruin it all with drugs and self-loathing. Awesome. Have fun with that. I suppose the over-exposure of media is to blame as I could simply just listen to the cds and ignore the story.
Anyway, I'm hoping to take advantage of the long memorial day weekend by giving this new cd as well as the new release by the Deftones a good listen. I also plan on getting drunk at least once. There's a new bottle of brandy with my name on it. Have a good weekend kids.
After the first bit of excitement over hearing of an STP reunion there were immediate signs that I shouldn't get too worked up over it. Amidst the gushing of band members about how great it was to work together again there was the confession that, while the DeLeo brothers and Kretz were recording together, Weiland had his own separate recording studio and was recording the vocal tracks by himself. Doesn't exactly speak of a glorious return to comradery, does it.
While reading through the track by track story on the Wikipedia page you see again and again how Dean DeLeo is impressed with how well Scott sang on the tunes. However, accompanying all the praise are remarks like "Scott is in a dark place". Songs that are to sound kind of happy and poppy are subject to the dark depression and drug influenced lyrics of the singer.
If you supplement these notes with articles like what was written in SPIN you can really only conclude that this reunion tour might not be very long-lived. Weiland simply sounds like a mess. He doesn't show up until the very last minute before concerts, has his own bus which he retreats to the second a show is over, needs an assistant to bring him food, chain smokes and drinks like crazy, pops pills but considers himself "clean" because he is no longer doing smack and is obsessed over ex-flames. It really sounds like he hates his current gig of "talented millionaire front man", which is a shame.
I recently gotten my hands on the newest cd and the first listen wasn't too bad. From what I have heard so far it isn't as hard as previous albums but it is definitely catchy. Without listening to lyrics it does sound like a happy album... but paying attention really exposes the current state that Weiland is in. The dude, quite frankly, sounds like he's one bad trip from suicide.
It must be frustrating as well for the other members of the band. They are talented as all hell but really have not amounted to much without Scott in front of the band. It would have been nice to see them continue the Army of Anyone project with Filter front man Patrick because the cd they did release was actually pretty good. It seems, however, that they really don't shine unless they have Weiland, and to have their success tied to such an erratic and unhealthy person can not be pleasant.
You'd think this wouldn't bother me as much as it does. The band has basically been dead for years and everything else they release is pretty much a bonus but just knowing that they are capable of much more pisses me off. I'll never be able to understand rock stars. You take a god given gift that is capable of getting you hordes of admirers and a shit ton of cash and yet it's not good enough. Ruin it all with drugs and self-loathing. Awesome. Have fun with that. I suppose the over-exposure of media is to blame as I could simply just listen to the cds and ignore the story.
Anyway, I'm hoping to take advantage of the long memorial day weekend by giving this new cd as well as the new release by the Deftones a good listen. I also plan on getting drunk at least once. There's a new bottle of brandy with my name on it. Have a good weekend kids.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Rand Paul is an effing coward
So in the aftermath of Rand Paul's inability to answer a question about Civil Rights, he has resorted to some rather childish damage control today. Taking a page out of the Sarah Palin book of zero personal responsibility, his statements are now all Rachel Maddow's fault.
"It was a poor political decision and probably won't be happening anytime in the near future," the Tea Party endorsed Senate candidate said on the Laura Ingraham show on Thursday morning. "Because, yeah, they can play things and want to say, 'Oh you believed in beating up people that were trying to sit in restaurants in the 1960s.' And that is such a ridiculous notion and something that no rational person is in favor of. [But] she went on and on about that.
These are settled issues in the Civil Rights Act," he said. "I have no intention of bringing up anything related to the Civil Rights Act... I think [segregation] is sort of a stain and blight on our history -- so, no, I have never really favored any change in the Civil Rights Act or any of that. But they have seemed to unleash the loony left on me."
To his credit, he did issue a full a full statement which you can read if you follow the above link.
I'm sure the right wing blogosphere is currently vilifying Maddow and accusing her of gotcha politics. I bet there might even be people referring to her being a lesbian. The truth is that Rand took the cowards way out of this situation. Perhaps it was unwise of him to go on her program, but Rachel did not force him to say the things he said.
I think the Tea Party needs to find themselves a new hero.
"It was a poor political decision and probably won't be happening anytime in the near future," the Tea Party endorsed Senate candidate said on the Laura Ingraham show on Thursday morning. "Because, yeah, they can play things and want to say, 'Oh you believed in beating up people that were trying to sit in restaurants in the 1960s.' And that is such a ridiculous notion and something that no rational person is in favor of. [But] she went on and on about that.
These are settled issues in the Civil Rights Act," he said. "I have no intention of bringing up anything related to the Civil Rights Act... I think [segregation] is sort of a stain and blight on our history -- so, no, I have never really favored any change in the Civil Rights Act or any of that. But they have seemed to unleash the loony left on me."
To his credit, he did issue a full a full statement which you can read if you follow the above link.
I'm sure the right wing blogosphere is currently vilifying Maddow and accusing her of gotcha politics. I bet there might even be people referring to her being a lesbian. The truth is that Rand took the cowards way out of this situation. Perhaps it was unwise of him to go on her program, but Rachel did not force him to say the things he said.
I think the Tea Party needs to find themselves a new hero.
She turned me in to a newt!
... apparently he didn't get better, though.
My last post inspired me to attempt to recall all the political douchebaggery that has been going on.
First of all we have Newt Gingrich. I need to remind you all that Newt was made famous by conducting a witch hunt on Bill Clinton's extra marital activities while Newt himself was busy being a less than perfect husband. This by no means clears Bill's name, but it certainly does leave quite a shit stain on his own.
So in case you didn't hear, Obama recently nominated some lady to the Supreme Court. There isn't a lot of history on this lady but opponents have been doing their best to find issues and fucking run with them.
If there's one thing that conservatives can agree upon is that, despite their own Ivy League educations, they hate fancy pants faggy elitist Ivy League Schools. Harvard qualifies. So this Kagan lady at one point worked at Harvard. So here's what Newt comes up with:
"On the one hand, Harvard accepts money from Saudis. Saudi Arabia, by the way, executes homosexuals. Saudi Arabia represses women. Saudi Arabia does not allow Christians or Jews to practice their religion, but Saudi money is fine."
The irony? Newt was on Fox news at the time. He's a paid contributor. Fox news happens to be partially owned by a Saudi prince. That, my friends, is too good to be true.
On top of that, her lack of experience in court was a bad bad thing, says Newt & Co. However, similar lack of experience was ok with John Roberts. Why? Because Roberts was conservative.
So it's just political hypocrisy as usual. But whatever, let's burn the bitch anyways.
This is actually the only thing I'm going to get to for now. I should really get some effing work done.
My last post inspired me to attempt to recall all the political douchebaggery that has been going on.
First of all we have Newt Gingrich. I need to remind you all that Newt was made famous by conducting a witch hunt on Bill Clinton's extra marital activities while Newt himself was busy being a less than perfect husband. This by no means clears Bill's name, but it certainly does leave quite a shit stain on his own.
So in case you didn't hear, Obama recently nominated some lady to the Supreme Court. There isn't a lot of history on this lady but opponents have been doing their best to find issues and fucking run with them.
If there's one thing that conservatives can agree upon is that, despite their own Ivy League educations, they hate fancy pants faggy elitist Ivy League Schools. Harvard qualifies. So this Kagan lady at one point worked at Harvard. So here's what Newt comes up with:
"On the one hand, Harvard accepts money from Saudis. Saudi Arabia, by the way, executes homosexuals. Saudi Arabia represses women. Saudi Arabia does not allow Christians or Jews to practice their religion, but Saudi money is fine."
The irony? Newt was on Fox news at the time. He's a paid contributor. Fox news happens to be partially owned by a Saudi prince. That, my friends, is too good to be true.
On top of that, her lack of experience in court was a bad bad thing, says Newt & Co. However, similar lack of experience was ok with John Roberts. Why? Because Roberts was conservative.
So it's just political hypocrisy as usual. But whatever, let's burn the bitch anyways.
This is actually the only thing I'm going to get to for now. I should really get some effing work done.
Is this the face of the Tea Party?
There's been so much retarded business lately in politics that I haven't been able to pick which to blog about. However, in the wake of recent elections (the only things that really matter, I guess) this story was too good to pass up.
All too often politicians do not go on to talking head shows hosted by pundits with opposite leanings. It's much easier to stay within your bubble and get lobbed softballs from the likes of Hannity or Olbermann. I give Rachel Maddow a shit ton of credit as she often invites "the enemy" and gives a great interview.
Last night, Rand Paul discovered why it is good political strategy to remain safely within that bubble:
That is really not going to help his cause. Even Joe Scarborough was a bit taken aback by this saying that if Paul didn't come out with a fix soon it was going to turn in to racism battle much like what is happening in Arizona.
So here you have the most high profile victory for the Tea Party. In the brief time between yesterday morning and when the Maddow interview aired it has been reported again and again that Paul stands for all the values that the Tea Party holds sacred. Come to find out that also involves segregation. He couldn't come out and give a clear answer on whether or not minorities should be allowed to make a purchase in the same place as whites. It completely baffles me.
And yet we get told again and again that the evil liberal media is somehow causing the Tea Party to appear racist. No matter how many racist signs are held up at rallies or no matter what idiot statement comes out of their mouths it's always the fault of the liberal media.
I had a conversation with a conservative friend of mine recently discussing the Tea Party. The things they say they are for I am also for. Less taxes sounds good to me. Less spending is also good. My problem stems from the reality of the movement, rather than what they perceive themselves to be. It is not a non-partisan group. It is not a diverse group. Those are the facts. If there had even been a hint of this movement gathering momentum during the Bush years it would be much easier to believe. Instead, the Tea Party reared it's ugly head only after Obama's election as part of this massive wave of faux outrage over imagined insults.
Illegal wiretapping. That's cool.
Shady government actions and no attempts at transparency. Fine with me!
Fabricated intelligence as cause for war. No problem.
Taking the first surplus in years and turning it in to a deficit. Why not?
Health Care Reform... FUCK NO!
It makes no sense.
As I always do I've gotten completely off track. The point is that hopefully the voters will understand they have the power to not elect a man who opposes the Civil Rights Act. Hopefully they make the right choice.
All too often politicians do not go on to talking head shows hosted by pundits with opposite leanings. It's much easier to stay within your bubble and get lobbed softballs from the likes of Hannity or Olbermann. I give Rachel Maddow a shit ton of credit as she often invites "the enemy" and gives a great interview.
Last night, Rand Paul discovered why it is good political strategy to remain safely within that bubble:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
That is really not going to help his cause. Even Joe Scarborough was a bit taken aback by this saying that if Paul didn't come out with a fix soon it was going to turn in to racism battle much like what is happening in Arizona.
So here you have the most high profile victory for the Tea Party. In the brief time between yesterday morning and when the Maddow interview aired it has been reported again and again that Paul stands for all the values that the Tea Party holds sacred. Come to find out that also involves segregation. He couldn't come out and give a clear answer on whether or not minorities should be allowed to make a purchase in the same place as whites. It completely baffles me.
And yet we get told again and again that the evil liberal media is somehow causing the Tea Party to appear racist. No matter how many racist signs are held up at rallies or no matter what idiot statement comes out of their mouths it's always the fault of the liberal media.
I had a conversation with a conservative friend of mine recently discussing the Tea Party. The things they say they are for I am also for. Less taxes sounds good to me. Less spending is also good. My problem stems from the reality of the movement, rather than what they perceive themselves to be. It is not a non-partisan group. It is not a diverse group. Those are the facts. If there had even been a hint of this movement gathering momentum during the Bush years it would be much easier to believe. Instead, the Tea Party reared it's ugly head only after Obama's election as part of this massive wave of faux outrage over imagined insults.
Illegal wiretapping. That's cool.
Shady government actions and no attempts at transparency. Fine with me!
Fabricated intelligence as cause for war. No problem.
Taking the first surplus in years and turning it in to a deficit. Why not?
Health Care Reform... FUCK NO!
It makes no sense.
As I always do I've gotten completely off track. The point is that hopefully the voters will understand they have the power to not elect a man who opposes the Civil Rights Act. Hopefully they make the right choice.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Fantasy baseball 1st quarter in review
Ugh...
It has not been pretty. So we have about 1/4 of the games out of the way and Logjammin is tied for 10th out of 12. My roster reads like an all-star list of what players are mysteriously slumping hardcore. People in my league are not biting on any but the most marginal trades. To add insult to injury I am saddled with three Red Sox.
Not good.
So here's the rundown...
My catchers thus far have been a disaster. My original draft pick of Mike Napoli has not worked out at all and he has since been dropped in favor of the Pirates Ryan Doumit... who is also slumping. I have no idea what happened here. Napoli has shown 20 homer power over the past couple seasons and absolutely mashed in spring training. The Angels promptly sat him down as soon as the season started and played defensive catcher Jeff Mathis instead. Mathis eventually was injured giving Napoli the full time at bats he needed. Napoli took advantage of that by batting about .230 and may lose the job again as soon as Mathis comes back.
At first my plan was to draft a DLed Berkman and use Konerko to fill in. That actually has been something of a success as Paul went on to be the early home run leader. He has since stopped mashing but is still hitting. It's nothing more than a stat correction as he was extremely lucky in his HR/FB ratio and unlucky in his BABIP. Yeah, I'm a stats nerd. And despite a slow start from Berkman he appears to be hitting his stride.
Second base was a complete failure. Rookie phenom Gordon Beckham appears to be experiencing something of a sophomore slump as he hasn't even sniffed .200 in some time despite a lot of patience from Ozzie Guillen. I recently gave in and benched him in favor for Orlando Hudson who was about the only decent available 2B on the waiver wire. It could work out as Hudson is a good AVE/OBP guy who bats in front of Morneau and Mauer. If Beckham is still this awful I may have to consider cutting him altogether.
Third has been ok with A-Rod. He isn't mashing taters the way I expected but he is hitting well and piling up the RBIs. Yet another slugger who's power dropped off in the wake of steroid scandal? hmmmm...
Short has been a mixed bag with dreamy Derek Jeter. He started off the season on fire but has since cooled off. I'm not looking for a replacement as there really isn't one and I expect that Jeter will heat up again soon.
The outfield oddly enough has been the strongest part of my team. Unfortunately this isn't saying much. First of all fucking Jacoby Ellsbury has been DLed most of the season but should be returning soon... possibly tonight. So there goes my assumed source of Rs, SBs, and AVE. Abreu and Span are doing what I wanted them to do by scoring runs, stealing a couple bases, and hitting the occasional dinger. However, they too, like every single other friggin guy on my team is hitting horribly. I recently picked up hot rookie Boesch of the Tigers to fill in for Ellsbury but he will most likely be cut as soon as the Jacoby comes off the DL. I also grabbed Luke Scott for his super streakiness although, with the way the rest of the season has gone, he will probably cool off now that I have him.
Again I must remind you that my team was built around getting on base and scoring runs. The fact that almost every single guy that I drafted is at least 20-40 points below their career batting averages is unbelievable. I have never dealt with this level of suck in all my team playing this silly game.
My pitchers are not much better, if not worse. My two "aces" Beckett and Haren have both started off extremely poorly. It kind of makes me want to punch myself. Nolasco and Liriano have been solid, probably my best two at this point. Gavin Floyd and Ted Lilly are kind of chancy and each time I throw them out there I'm basically rolling the dice. I got a bit lucky early on by picking up Brad Penny and Jaime Garcia but I immediately traded them off, along with Tim Hudson, for Jon Lester and Javier Vazquez. Those three are great pitchers and I may have gotten fleeced but there was little strikeout potential like I have with Lester/Vazquez and I needed to clear out some roster space. Lester is up there with Nolasco and Liriano to give me a solid core but Vazquez is a train wreck. If he can finally get himself settled down then he could also help out big time with Ws and Ks.
My closers are shit. Bailey, Franklin, and Qualls have been much less than I expected. I have to lay the blame of two of my losing weeks squarely at their feet. This past week all three of them finished with ERAs over 5, no saves, and 3 losses. The other guy beat my three closers with only Leo Nunez. Awesome.
I recently sent a twitter message of my roster to FOX analyst John Halpin asking if he had any suggestions on what I should do. All he said was "Cry, and hang on. Gotta get better."
That's really encouraging.
It's really all I can do, however. People in my league are not trading and there's no quick fix as a free agent. All I can do is think of last year, when I was in last place around the mid way point and managed to come in first place (pre-playoffs of course). Unfortunately, I had a lot more to work with then. Now, not so much.
Maybe I should pay more attention to wedding plans instead...
It has not been pretty. So we have about 1/4 of the games out of the way and Logjammin is tied for 10th out of 12. My roster reads like an all-star list of what players are mysteriously slumping hardcore. People in my league are not biting on any but the most marginal trades. To add insult to injury I am saddled with three Red Sox.
Not good.
So here's the rundown...
My catchers thus far have been a disaster. My original draft pick of Mike Napoli has not worked out at all and he has since been dropped in favor of the Pirates Ryan Doumit... who is also slumping. I have no idea what happened here. Napoli has shown 20 homer power over the past couple seasons and absolutely mashed in spring training. The Angels promptly sat him down as soon as the season started and played defensive catcher Jeff Mathis instead. Mathis eventually was injured giving Napoli the full time at bats he needed. Napoli took advantage of that by batting about .230 and may lose the job again as soon as Mathis comes back.
At first my plan was to draft a DLed Berkman and use Konerko to fill in. That actually has been something of a success as Paul went on to be the early home run leader. He has since stopped mashing but is still hitting. It's nothing more than a stat correction as he was extremely lucky in his HR/FB ratio and unlucky in his BABIP. Yeah, I'm a stats nerd. And despite a slow start from Berkman he appears to be hitting his stride.
Second base was a complete failure. Rookie phenom Gordon Beckham appears to be experiencing something of a sophomore slump as he hasn't even sniffed .200 in some time despite a lot of patience from Ozzie Guillen. I recently gave in and benched him in favor for Orlando Hudson who was about the only decent available 2B on the waiver wire. It could work out as Hudson is a good AVE/OBP guy who bats in front of Morneau and Mauer. If Beckham is still this awful I may have to consider cutting him altogether.
Third has been ok with A-Rod. He isn't mashing taters the way I expected but he is hitting well and piling up the RBIs. Yet another slugger who's power dropped off in the wake of steroid scandal? hmmmm...
Short has been a mixed bag with dreamy Derek Jeter. He started off the season on fire but has since cooled off. I'm not looking for a replacement as there really isn't one and I expect that Jeter will heat up again soon.
The outfield oddly enough has been the strongest part of my team. Unfortunately this isn't saying much. First of all fucking Jacoby Ellsbury has been DLed most of the season but should be returning soon... possibly tonight. So there goes my assumed source of Rs, SBs, and AVE. Abreu and Span are doing what I wanted them to do by scoring runs, stealing a couple bases, and hitting the occasional dinger. However, they too, like every single other friggin guy on my team is hitting horribly. I recently picked up hot rookie Boesch of the Tigers to fill in for Ellsbury but he will most likely be cut as soon as the Jacoby comes off the DL. I also grabbed Luke Scott for his super streakiness although, with the way the rest of the season has gone, he will probably cool off now that I have him.
Again I must remind you that my team was built around getting on base and scoring runs. The fact that almost every single guy that I drafted is at least 20-40 points below their career batting averages is unbelievable. I have never dealt with this level of suck in all my team playing this silly game.
My pitchers are not much better, if not worse. My two "aces" Beckett and Haren have both started off extremely poorly. It kind of makes me want to punch myself. Nolasco and Liriano have been solid, probably my best two at this point. Gavin Floyd and Ted Lilly are kind of chancy and each time I throw them out there I'm basically rolling the dice. I got a bit lucky early on by picking up Brad Penny and Jaime Garcia but I immediately traded them off, along with Tim Hudson, for Jon Lester and Javier Vazquez. Those three are great pitchers and I may have gotten fleeced but there was little strikeout potential like I have with Lester/Vazquez and I needed to clear out some roster space. Lester is up there with Nolasco and Liriano to give me a solid core but Vazquez is a train wreck. If he can finally get himself settled down then he could also help out big time with Ws and Ks.
My closers are shit. Bailey, Franklin, and Qualls have been much less than I expected. I have to lay the blame of two of my losing weeks squarely at their feet. This past week all three of them finished with ERAs over 5, no saves, and 3 losses. The other guy beat my three closers with only Leo Nunez. Awesome.
I recently sent a twitter message of my roster to FOX analyst John Halpin asking if he had any suggestions on what I should do. All he said was "Cry, and hang on. Gotta get better."
That's really encouraging.
It's really all I can do, however. People in my league are not trading and there's no quick fix as a free agent. All I can do is think of last year, when I was in last place around the mid way point and managed to come in first place (pre-playoffs of course). Unfortunately, I had a lot more to work with then. Now, not so much.
Maybe I should pay more attention to wedding plans instead...
Friday, May 7, 2010
Set Adrift on Memories of Lists
So lately I've had entirely too little time to devote to blogging. Quick and easy solution? Lists! Everyone likes lists. Lists are American. The only people who hate lists are terrorists, communists, and that Bieber kid. I'm on to you little boy.
Seeing as how I've been on an STP kick lately I figured I'd start there. I was recently trying to figure out a new iPod and going through my tunes I was reminded that STP did in fact come out with other albums than Core and Purple. They were just mostly forgettable.
Anywho, what can be more exciting than lists associated with the Stone Temple Pilots? Tons of shit. But that's what I'm doing.
Top 5 STP Albums (because there are only 5... until May 27th that is)
#5 - Shangri-La Dee Da
Oddly enough, my rankings are almost in the same order that these albums were released. There are very few stand out songs from Shangri blah blah blah. "Coma" is a pretty nice tune with a heavy riff that I enjoy. Others, not so much. "Song for Sleeping" is another song giving Weiland the opportunity to croon. The two singles were "Days of the Week" and "Hollywood Bitch", both of which were very pop-rock and neither impressing me too much.
#4 - No. 4
This cd was supposed to be their "return to Core-esque sound". There are a couple songs that are kind of awesome but they sound nothing like anything from Core. "Down" and "Heaven and Hotrods" are nice and loud. "Sour Girl" is one of their most popular songs and had an extra trippy video as well. Unfortunately, this cd continued a trend that Tiny Music started and Shangri perfected: too many filler songs.
#3 - Tiny Music
This was, unfortunately, the beginning of STP getting weird. At the time it was kind of cool because it looked like they were branching out (a la Pearl Jam's No Code) but after seeing where they ended up it's evident that they lost the ability to write some great songs that they exhibited early on. This is also when Weiland's voice was noticeably breaking down. On their first two albums he sang strong, man. Anyway, standouts were "Ride the Cliche" and "Big Bang Baby". The rest of the album was tolerable. "Lady Picture Show", "Tumble in the Rough", "Pop's Love Suicide" were ok as well but it's a bad sign when instrumentals like "Press Play" and "Daisy" were two of my favorites. My main take on STP has always been this: Weiland may have been the star but the talent contained by Eric Kretz on drums and the DeLeo brothers on guitar & bass put him to shame.
#2 - Core
Alright alright. From the first shouted verse of "Dead and Bloated" by a Weiland who had not yet destroyed his voice through drugs and alcohol I knew that I was going to love this band. STP was the first real "alternative rock" group that I really got in to. At that point I think my favorites were MC Hammer and Def Leppard and had not yet become the music snob that I am now. Core changed everything for me. Their first four singles of "Wicked Garden", "Sex Type Thing", "Creep", and their anthem "Plush" were so amazing that they really overshadowed that there was another half of the album that were nearly as strong. "Crackerman" remains one of my favorite songs ever and the nearly 8 minute segment of "No Memory" and "Sin" touch on an incredibly unique bit of song writing that they never again touched. To this day I still do not understand the criticism that STP came under upon releasing this album. If you have read my blog at all you know my take on the douches who review music albums. They can suck it.
#1 - Purple
I still remember the day that I went out and bought the this tape. I was literally counting down the days until it came out and then begged my mother to take me to Riverside Mall. Purple remains one of my favorite albums of all time as it is one of those rare albums I can listen to from start to finish with no weak spots.
"Meatplow" is kind of cheesy but I love the fact that I kicked off two albums with completely heavy meathead sort of songs. I want to get a kick in the pants when I throw a cd in. Give it to me! Give it to me HARD!
"Vasoline" is so simple it's awesome. 'nuff said.
"Lounge Fly" remains an odd favorite for me. It's great to sing to and touched on a weird sort of brilliance without alienation.
"Interstate Love Song" one of the best songs ever written, in my opinion. I remember spending days trying to perfect the bass line and it remains one of my favorites. If there's one other thing I can say about Purple is that it is chock full of sweet bass lines. Great to play along to.
"Still Remains" I really like this song. It served as a great change of pace tune and to this day I am still trying to figure out if he's telling ladies he wants a threesome.
"Pretty Penny" love this song. Absolutely 100%. There really isn't much else to say.
"Silvergun Superman" Yaaaawww! Not only was it awesome to get a kick in the pants at the start it's even more awesome to get an even great pants kickin in the second half. This song is yet another reminder that at one point Weiland did not sound like a drugged out coked out smoked out dranked out has been singer.
"Big Empty" another all time favorite and another sweet bass play-along. That little bass interlude remains one of my favorite licks of all time. The song itself is positively epic.
"Unglued" again, one of my all time favorite songs. Very simple, very fast, very short. VERY AWESOME.
"Army Ants" Yes! That drum fill leading in to the guitar solo is one of the reasons the Good Lord invented music.
"Kitchenware & Candybars" a perfect ending. Well played boys.
So there you have it. I can only hope that the new STP joint coming out this month is a return to the early 90s stuff.
Have a great weekend boners!
Seeing as how I've been on an STP kick lately I figured I'd start there. I was recently trying to figure out a new iPod and going through my tunes I was reminded that STP did in fact come out with other albums than Core and Purple. They were just mostly forgettable.
Anywho, what can be more exciting than lists associated with the Stone Temple Pilots? Tons of shit. But that's what I'm doing.
Top 5 STP Albums (because there are only 5... until May 27th that is)
#5 - Shangri-La Dee Da
Oddly enough, my rankings are almost in the same order that these albums were released. There are very few stand out songs from Shangri blah blah blah. "Coma" is a pretty nice tune with a heavy riff that I enjoy. Others, not so much. "Song for Sleeping" is another song giving Weiland the opportunity to croon. The two singles were "Days of the Week" and "Hollywood Bitch", both of which were very pop-rock and neither impressing me too much.
#4 - No. 4
This cd was supposed to be their "return to Core-esque sound". There are a couple songs that are kind of awesome but they sound nothing like anything from Core. "Down" and "Heaven and Hotrods" are nice and loud. "Sour Girl" is one of their most popular songs and had an extra trippy video as well. Unfortunately, this cd continued a trend that Tiny Music started and Shangri perfected: too many filler songs.
#3 - Tiny Music
This was, unfortunately, the beginning of STP getting weird. At the time it was kind of cool because it looked like they were branching out (a la Pearl Jam's No Code) but after seeing where they ended up it's evident that they lost the ability to write some great songs that they exhibited early on. This is also when Weiland's voice was noticeably breaking down. On their first two albums he sang strong, man. Anyway, standouts were "Ride the Cliche" and "Big Bang Baby". The rest of the album was tolerable. "Lady Picture Show", "Tumble in the Rough", "Pop's Love Suicide" were ok as well but it's a bad sign when instrumentals like "Press Play" and "Daisy" were two of my favorites. My main take on STP has always been this: Weiland may have been the star but the talent contained by Eric Kretz on drums and the DeLeo brothers on guitar & bass put him to shame.
#2 - Core
Alright alright. From the first shouted verse of "Dead and Bloated" by a Weiland who had not yet destroyed his voice through drugs and alcohol I knew that I was going to love this band. STP was the first real "alternative rock" group that I really got in to. At that point I think my favorites were MC Hammer and Def Leppard and had not yet become the music snob that I am now. Core changed everything for me. Their first four singles of "Wicked Garden", "Sex Type Thing", "Creep", and their anthem "Plush" were so amazing that they really overshadowed that there was another half of the album that were nearly as strong. "Crackerman" remains one of my favorite songs ever and the nearly 8 minute segment of "No Memory" and "Sin" touch on an incredibly unique bit of song writing that they never again touched. To this day I still do not understand the criticism that STP came under upon releasing this album. If you have read my blog at all you know my take on the douches who review music albums. They can suck it.
#1 - Purple
I still remember the day that I went out and bought the this tape. I was literally counting down the days until it came out and then begged my mother to take me to Riverside Mall. Purple remains one of my favorite albums of all time as it is one of those rare albums I can listen to from start to finish with no weak spots.
"Meatplow" is kind of cheesy but I love the fact that I kicked off two albums with completely heavy meathead sort of songs. I want to get a kick in the pants when I throw a cd in. Give it to me! Give it to me HARD!
"Vasoline" is so simple it's awesome. 'nuff said.
"Lounge Fly" remains an odd favorite for me. It's great to sing to and touched on a weird sort of brilliance without alienation.
"Interstate Love Song" one of the best songs ever written, in my opinion. I remember spending days trying to perfect the bass line and it remains one of my favorites. If there's one other thing I can say about Purple is that it is chock full of sweet bass lines. Great to play along to.
"Still Remains" I really like this song. It served as a great change of pace tune and to this day I am still trying to figure out if he's telling ladies he wants a threesome.
"Pretty Penny" love this song. Absolutely 100%. There really isn't much else to say.
"Silvergun Superman" Yaaaawww! Not only was it awesome to get a kick in the pants at the start it's even more awesome to get an even great pants kickin in the second half. This song is yet another reminder that at one point Weiland did not sound like a drugged out coked out smoked out dranked out has been singer.
"Big Empty" another all time favorite and another sweet bass play-along. That little bass interlude remains one of my favorite licks of all time. The song itself is positively epic.
"Unglued" again, one of my all time favorite songs. Very simple, very fast, very short. VERY AWESOME.
"Army Ants" Yes! That drum fill leading in to the guitar solo is one of the reasons the Good Lord invented music.
"Kitchenware & Candybars" a perfect ending. Well played boys.
So there you have it. I can only hope that the new STP joint coming out this month is a return to the early 90s stuff.
Have a great weekend boners!
Friday, April 23, 2010
I'm a homo...
...wner
Homeowner. That's what I meant to say. Stop being immature.
So yes, at 2:00 today Hot Mary and I will commence signing paperwork that will ensure that we will be in debt for the next couple decades. We may not have money to eat or throw at strippers but we will have a roof over our heads that we can call our own. Looks like someone needs to get himself a lawnmower and a couple illegal immigrants.
By the way, my interneting has been reduced lately as I try to make myself a much more efficient employee. That leaves little time for blogging and other useless garbage like that so I'll do a quick roundup on some of the other events going.
-I am quickly making myself become "Scotch guy". Not quite sure when this happened but there are a few liquors out there that I've never tried and scotch is the first one that I've delved in to. When I was in college my liquor intake was limited to vodka, whiskey, whatever it is they dump in a long island iced tea, and a couple stints with tequila. So i really wanted to give scotch and brandy a try. Scotch is good, i like it. The buzz it gives you comes with a lot of fuzzy warmth. Now my intake for the most part has been limited to super cheap brands like Old Smuggler, but good buddy Matt recently bought me some good stuff for my birthday and I can't wait to give it a try. The first step in my efforts to become just like Ron Burgundy is now complete. I must now go about acquiring many leather bound books.
-Next up, the NFL draft was last night, and I was pleased with what the Skins did with their #1 pick by selecting Oklahoma Offensive Tackle, Trent Williams. The only thing that would have been better would have been if they somehow managed to trade down and get some more picks as well as trading both Albert Haynesworth and Jason Campbell for picks. I definitely had my concerns that the Redskins would pull some crazy shenanigans and draft Tebow or something but this is good. The team that takes the field this year will definitely be different that what I am used to seeing. That has to be a good thing, right?
By the way, the draft coverage today has been awful. You'd think that Tim Tebow was the only selection last night. There is literally no talk of anything else. Tim Tebow Tim Tebow Tim Tebow... and what it means for Brady Quinn. Awesome. I'm not at all tired of hearing about Tebow. Keep it coming. Asses. All of you.
What else...
-My fantasy team is playing like garbage. No thanks to awful performances from my closers. Every time that my starting pitchers manage to put together a somewhat respectable job one of the closers comes along and allows 3 runs in an inning, thus ruining my ratios, taking a loss, and not giving me a save. Dan Haren and Josh Beckett are doing the exact opposite of what you expect from an ace. Granted, we're not even 3 weeks in to the season but it still sucks. Meh.
-So have you heard of this new sandwich from KFC called the Double Down? It's two pieces of fried chicken as the bread with cheese and bacon in the middle. I have to admit that I did go and try it and let me just say this: all hype. What could be better right? I love chicken. I love bacon. I love cheese. Sounds like a slam dunk. Wrong. It was ok, but it cost something like 6 bucks and all I could taste was sodium. KFC also had some secret sauce on that thing that was kind of nasty. I don't know what I expected but I figured I should try it as soon as it came out because otherwise I'd be wondering about it all the time. Now I got it out of the way and I can live happily ever after.
-Lost is an awesome show and I'll miss it when it's gone.
That's all for now I think. My heart isn't really in to the blogging this morning since all I can think of is what needs to be done with the house. So have a good weekend people. And lets get this shit done Red Wings!
Homeowner. That's what I meant to say. Stop being immature.
So yes, at 2:00 today Hot Mary and I will commence signing paperwork that will ensure that we will be in debt for the next couple decades. We may not have money to eat or throw at strippers but we will have a roof over our heads that we can call our own. Looks like someone needs to get himself a lawnmower and a couple illegal immigrants.
By the way, my interneting has been reduced lately as I try to make myself a much more efficient employee. That leaves little time for blogging and other useless garbage like that so I'll do a quick roundup on some of the other events going.
-I am quickly making myself become "Scotch guy". Not quite sure when this happened but there are a few liquors out there that I've never tried and scotch is the first one that I've delved in to. When I was in college my liquor intake was limited to vodka, whiskey, whatever it is they dump in a long island iced tea, and a couple stints with tequila. So i really wanted to give scotch and brandy a try. Scotch is good, i like it. The buzz it gives you comes with a lot of fuzzy warmth. Now my intake for the most part has been limited to super cheap brands like Old Smuggler, but good buddy Matt recently bought me some good stuff for my birthday and I can't wait to give it a try. The first step in my efforts to become just like Ron Burgundy is now complete. I must now go about acquiring many leather bound books.
-Next up, the NFL draft was last night, and I was pleased with what the Skins did with their #1 pick by selecting Oklahoma Offensive Tackle, Trent Williams. The only thing that would have been better would have been if they somehow managed to trade down and get some more picks as well as trading both Albert Haynesworth and Jason Campbell for picks. I definitely had my concerns that the Redskins would pull some crazy shenanigans and draft Tebow or something but this is good. The team that takes the field this year will definitely be different that what I am used to seeing. That has to be a good thing, right?
By the way, the draft coverage today has been awful. You'd think that Tim Tebow was the only selection last night. There is literally no talk of anything else. Tim Tebow Tim Tebow Tim Tebow... and what it means for Brady Quinn. Awesome. I'm not at all tired of hearing about Tebow. Keep it coming. Asses. All of you.
What else...
-My fantasy team is playing like garbage. No thanks to awful performances from my closers. Every time that my starting pitchers manage to put together a somewhat respectable job one of the closers comes along and allows 3 runs in an inning, thus ruining my ratios, taking a loss, and not giving me a save. Dan Haren and Josh Beckett are doing the exact opposite of what you expect from an ace. Granted, we're not even 3 weeks in to the season but it still sucks. Meh.
-So have you heard of this new sandwich from KFC called the Double Down? It's two pieces of fried chicken as the bread with cheese and bacon in the middle. I have to admit that I did go and try it and let me just say this: all hype. What could be better right? I love chicken. I love bacon. I love cheese. Sounds like a slam dunk. Wrong. It was ok, but it cost something like 6 bucks and all I could taste was sodium. KFC also had some secret sauce on that thing that was kind of nasty. I don't know what I expected but I figured I should try it as soon as it came out because otherwise I'd be wondering about it all the time. Now I got it out of the way and I can live happily ever after.
-Lost is an awesome show and I'll miss it when it's gone.
That's all for now I think. My heart isn't really in to the blogging this morning since all I can think of is what needs to be done with the house. So have a good weekend people. And lets get this shit done Red Wings!
Friday, April 9, 2010
Nukular stupidity
Oy! I can't take it! Short and sweet. Obama recently signed a treaty with Russian president Sergei Fedorov that will get the ball rolling on ending the presence of nuclear weapons. Now commence over-reaction from conservative pundits.
Hannity, Buchanan, Scarborough, Palin, Bachmann, Savage, Gingrich.... it's almost like they all received the same marching orders to go apeshit and announce that Obama has neutered the country. The way they are spinning it is that he has ordered the destruction of all nuclear arms. That is what they are telling everybody. These fucks are shamelessly running around like chickens with their heads cut off declaring that we are now defenseless. Oh where is Ronald Reagan to save us all!
Now to the truth. Short and simple. We are reducing our nuclear arms to a level of over a thousand. We are still able to use nuclear force against countries not signing on to this treaty. We can only use nuclear weapons against countries that have nuclear weapons. That pretty much sums up everything.
Jon Stewart does what he does here, pointing out the fact that these people are misleading:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The Big Bang Treaty | ||||
| ||||
The best part of that clip would perhaps be Reagan declaring that he would like the complete elimination of all nuclear weapons. I can not get over how the same schmucks that repeat how we need to return to Reagan conservatism would be the first to declare Reagan a RINO if he were president today. It's hilarious.
On the way home from the awesomeness on Tipp Hill last night I found Mike Savage on the radio and listened in since all three of the sports stations were talking golf. ZOMG!! Tiger Woods is playing golf again! Anyway, I kind of like Savage. He seems sincere in his beliefs. Hannity I find to be the most sleazy scumbag to walk the earth, O'Reilly seems mostly senile and tries to pretend too much at being reasonable, Beck is a manipulative scare-mongerer, and Rush is a fuck; but Savage seems to be tolerable. That might seem odd as he is easily the most insane of the flock of pundits but at least when he speaks I believe him. Last night, however, he was just being stupid.
He was discussing this treaty and concluded that Obama signed it because he thinks that Obama wants us to get bombed by other countries. Seriously. He then played a clip from the speech where Obama says that he wants to make progress towards a nuclear free world. Savage then stopped the tape and went on for 5 minutes that when Obama said "progress" he was sending a secret message that would signal to all the communist progressives that he was working towards the goal of leaving us defenseless. It was kind of crazy. Almost like in movies where they used to flash some food on one section of film and all of a sudden you're all like "damn, i want some fucking junior mints". Like I said, Savage is a bit nuts.
I should be used to it at this point but it becomes more evident every day that conservatives are waging a massive misinformation war on Obama that does nothing but manipulate and mislead their viewers. It's disgusting that issues important to our lives would be turned in to a game for these ass hats but I really don't know what else I would expect.
I applaud Obama in his efforts to end the role of nuclear weapons. Reagan would applaud Obama in his efforts as well. In fact, we all should applaud him. He is not leaving us defenseless. We still have multiple nukes left for each country if need be. It's another step in a long journey since the Cold War and the opponents of this action are either ignorant or self-serving. Either one is a fucking shame.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Stand up and be counted... or not
Lately there's been too much stupid going on in politics in the wake of the health care debate for me to sort it out. Combine that with a rise of many exciting sports happenings and all the political noise quietly takes a back seat. Lately though I've been hearing some really really idiotic bickering about the friggin census. The census? That's right. The census.
Only in today's political retard-ery can you find seemingly normal Americans arguing about the census. I'm not quite sure how the whole debate began but it seems to me that someone on the right started spreading the idea that the census was a tool of the Obama administration used to keep track of everybody in an evil Big Brother sort of way. Michelle Bachmann and others like herself have also been pushing the idea that participating in the census would somehow allow the Obama administration to round everyone up and stick them in internment camps like we did with Japanese-Americans during World War II. Michelle Bachman is also a crazy person.
What is it that could drive seemingly normal people to become this paranoid? The current mindset of the most vocal opposition of Obama seems to take every single piece of propaganda and treat it like gods-honest gospel. We are less than halfway through one term of Obama's presidency and I have heard just about every accusation that you could make of a man. There is no interest in anyone educating themselves. It's simply a daily process of people listening/ reading/ watching hour after hour of political punditry and then repeating it ad nauseum to anyone who will listen. It's an all too frequent event where I hear conservative individuals all use the same phrases and talking points almost the exact same day.
These people were the same that caused an uproar that Obama was going to indoctrinate our children when he addressed schools last year. It's a shame they have no idea they are allowing themselves to be indoctrinated for hours every single day.
You know the people. We have a local radio guy who comes on after Rush and Beck who actually has a level head. He will say something on the show about how the propaganda du jour is ridiculous and all of a sudden a flood of phone calls come in from all the sheep. They'll say "It's true that blah blah blah". He'll respond, "Ok, why?" and these people have literally no answer other than, "Well Rush said...", or, "Don't you think Obama wants this country to fall apart", and absolutely nothing to back it up. When pushed further they start sputtering nonsense and start calling the host a liberal and it just descends from there. That's right, because if you have no idea what you are talking about then the host must be a liberal.
These ideas are easily picked up through rote learning but it does absolutely nothing for your critical thinking.
As opposed to several other essays in stupidity, I actually want these people to continue believing this horseshit about the census. When Eric Erickson from Redstate and CNN says he is going to shoot a census worker, just let him talk like that. The best thing about this is that the more these people refuse to complete the census it simply means that their district will be counted less in upcoming elections. That's the beauty in this whole hot mess of dumb. These people are allowing their own nonsense to render them irrelevant. It'll be awfully hard for them to "take their country back" if this keeps up, don't you think?
Only in today's political retard-ery can you find seemingly normal Americans arguing about the census. I'm not quite sure how the whole debate began but it seems to me that someone on the right started spreading the idea that the census was a tool of the Obama administration used to keep track of everybody in an evil Big Brother sort of way. Michelle Bachmann and others like herself have also been pushing the idea that participating in the census would somehow allow the Obama administration to round everyone up and stick them in internment camps like we did with Japanese-Americans during World War II. Michelle Bachman is also a crazy person.
What is it that could drive seemingly normal people to become this paranoid? The current mindset of the most vocal opposition of Obama seems to take every single piece of propaganda and treat it like gods-honest gospel. We are less than halfway through one term of Obama's presidency and I have heard just about every accusation that you could make of a man. There is no interest in anyone educating themselves. It's simply a daily process of people listening/ reading/ watching hour after hour of political punditry and then repeating it ad nauseum to anyone who will listen. It's an all too frequent event where I hear conservative individuals all use the same phrases and talking points almost the exact same day.
These people were the same that caused an uproar that Obama was going to indoctrinate our children when he addressed schools last year. It's a shame they have no idea they are allowing themselves to be indoctrinated for hours every single day.
You know the people. We have a local radio guy who comes on after Rush and Beck who actually has a level head. He will say something on the show about how the propaganda du jour is ridiculous and all of a sudden a flood of phone calls come in from all the sheep. They'll say "It's true that blah blah blah". He'll respond, "Ok, why?" and these people have literally no answer other than, "Well Rush said...", or, "Don't you think Obama wants this country to fall apart", and absolutely nothing to back it up. When pushed further they start sputtering nonsense and start calling the host a liberal and it just descends from there. That's right, because if you have no idea what you are talking about then the host must be a liberal.
These ideas are easily picked up through rote learning but it does absolutely nothing for your critical thinking.
As opposed to several other essays in stupidity, I actually want these people to continue believing this horseshit about the census. When Eric Erickson from Redstate and CNN says he is going to shoot a census worker, just let him talk like that. The best thing about this is that the more these people refuse to complete the census it simply means that their district will be counted less in upcoming elections. That's the beauty in this whole hot mess of dumb. These people are allowing their own nonsense to render them irrelevant. It'll be awfully hard for them to "take their country back" if this keeps up, don't you think?
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Overreactions for Opening Day
My team is off to a mediocre start. I was sitting on a fine batting average last night but I woke up to find out that Denard Span and Bobby Abreu combined to go 0/9 with 3 Ks. That was less than impressive. Panic mode!
Anyway, at catcher I may have a situation. I already knew that Napoli would lose playing time to Jeff Mathis but I didn't think Mathis would get the first start. On top of that the guy went yard. Luckily, I may have unearthed a gem as I am drawing on the strategy that got me Sandoval as a catcher last year by playing Pittsburgh first baseman Jeff Clement. I guess Yahoo is basing is position eligibility on two years ago (last time he played in the majors) when he was a back up catcher in Seattle. I'm not saying that Clement is Sandoval by any means but getting a full time position player to play in your catcher slot is a definite advantage. However, Clement's success in the minors hasn't quite stuck in the majors so far. There's a reason why I was able to pick him up since I realized I wouldn't have to waste a draft pick on him: No one else wanted him. We'll see how this experiment goes.
My temporary fill-in until Berkman returns from the DL may end up staying on the team. I grabbed Konerko and he immediately responded with a home run and two walks. Not too shabby. He most likely won't touch 30 homers ever again but he isn't a bad temp at all. As a matter of fact, he's currently on pace for about 160 dingers. I'm going to ride that out and see what happens.
My second base job temporarily belongs to Scott Sizemore who went hitless last night but did pick up a walk and a run. He is getting some early predictions for AL ROTY but I'm most likely going to cut him as soon as Gorden Beckham gets 2B eligibility which should happen by the end of the week. Beckham had a decent debut as the White Sox second baseman by picking up a couple hits.
The Yankee combo of third and short did ok in the shootout against Boston. A-Rod didn't do to much but Jeter did get me a steal.
My outfield... ugh. Hitless. All three of them. Ellsbury, Abreu, and Span. That's two lead off guys and a guy who bats second. 0/14. I should cut them all.
Pitching was... ugly. Beckett got beat up by the Yanks Sunday night but he also signed a flashy new contract. Haren put in a solid performance yesterday, but my numbers for the day were awful thanks to three of my five closers getting roughed up. Jason Frasor responded to getting named as the Toronto closer by getting absolutely destroyed and Franklin allowed a couple runs himself in a non-save situation.
What does all this mean? Well, it's opening day... so... nothing. The fantasy gurus are all invoking the name of Tuffy Rhodes as a means of reminding fantasy players not to get all worked up over opening day statistics. Rhodes is a a guy who, back in 1994, hit 3 homers off of Dwight Gooden on opening day. He then proceeded to hit 5 more for his career.
Good lesson to learn. However I am still trying to trade away my pitching staff so it apparently hasn't sunk in to my think skull yet. If you aren't overreacting then you aren't trying. That's my motto.
Anyway, at catcher I may have a situation. I already knew that Napoli would lose playing time to Jeff Mathis but I didn't think Mathis would get the first start. On top of that the guy went yard. Luckily, I may have unearthed a gem as I am drawing on the strategy that got me Sandoval as a catcher last year by playing Pittsburgh first baseman Jeff Clement. I guess Yahoo is basing is position eligibility on two years ago (last time he played in the majors) when he was a back up catcher in Seattle. I'm not saying that Clement is Sandoval by any means but getting a full time position player to play in your catcher slot is a definite advantage. However, Clement's success in the minors hasn't quite stuck in the majors so far. There's a reason why I was able to pick him up since I realized I wouldn't have to waste a draft pick on him: No one else wanted him. We'll see how this experiment goes.
My temporary fill-in until Berkman returns from the DL may end up staying on the team. I grabbed Konerko and he immediately responded with a home run and two walks. Not too shabby. He most likely won't touch 30 homers ever again but he isn't a bad temp at all. As a matter of fact, he's currently on pace for about 160 dingers. I'm going to ride that out and see what happens.
My second base job temporarily belongs to Scott Sizemore who went hitless last night but did pick up a walk and a run. He is getting some early predictions for AL ROTY but I'm most likely going to cut him as soon as Gorden Beckham gets 2B eligibility which should happen by the end of the week. Beckham had a decent debut as the White Sox second baseman by picking up a couple hits.
The Yankee combo of third and short did ok in the shootout against Boston. A-Rod didn't do to much but Jeter did get me a steal.
My outfield... ugh. Hitless. All three of them. Ellsbury, Abreu, and Span. That's two lead off guys and a guy who bats second. 0/14. I should cut them all.
Pitching was... ugly. Beckett got beat up by the Yanks Sunday night but he also signed a flashy new contract. Haren put in a solid performance yesterday, but my numbers for the day were awful thanks to three of my five closers getting roughed up. Jason Frasor responded to getting named as the Toronto closer by getting absolutely destroyed and Franklin allowed a couple runs himself in a non-save situation.
What does all this mean? Well, it's opening day... so... nothing. The fantasy gurus are all invoking the name of Tuffy Rhodes as a means of reminding fantasy players not to get all worked up over opening day statistics. Rhodes is a a guy who, back in 1994, hit 3 homers off of Dwight Gooden on opening day. He then proceeded to hit 5 more for his career.
Good lesson to learn. However I am still trying to trade away my pitching staff so it apparently hasn't sunk in to my think skull yet. If you aren't overreacting then you aren't trying. That's my motto.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Nothing says Opening Day like a good political controversy
It's that time of year again. Today the rest of the MLB (this being the "payroll under 100 million bracket) kicks off and that means Obama will be throwing out the first pitch at the Nats-Mets game. If you recall, this is what happened last year.
If I have to sit through another day where the first pitch of the season is politicized I'm going to choke someone. It's already a given that the amount of "boo"'s will be analyzed but I'd rather not hear about if there is a camera man conspiracy to hide the results of a bad throw.
So, for the sake of everybody, Mr Obama, please throw a damn strike.
Update: Judging from what I'm seeing on the Twitter it looks like Obama may have repeated last year's performance and threw the baseball like a limp-wristed girl. Oddly enough he is now in consideration for the 5th man in the rotation for the Nationals. Heyyy ohhhhh!
If I have to sit through another day where the first pitch of the season is politicized I'm going to choke someone. It's already a given that the amount of "boo"'s will be analyzed but I'd rather not hear about if there is a camera man conspiracy to hide the results of a bad throw.
So, for the sake of everybody, Mr Obama, please throw a damn strike.
Update: Judging from what I'm seeing on the Twitter it looks like Obama may have repeated last year's performance and threw the baseball like a limp-wristed girl. Oddly enough he is now in consideration for the 5th man in the rotation for the Nationals. Heyyy ohhhhh!
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