I know I haven't been working with Blogger.com very long, but I'm moving the blog!
I just set it up, so I haven't had time to make a template or anything for it, but I've imported everything from here, to there.
The new location of the blog is
http://ngbbpc.wordpress.com/
I'll trick it out eventually, but it's a much better hosting site for what I need. It's more convenient for me and a whole lot better for what I'm doing. I have a lot of friends and acquaintances with blogs hosted on wordpress.
I've enjoyed my time here, but just as I left LJ for Blogger, I'm graduating the blog to bigger and better places!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Today's Idiot: Kyle Goeke
Today's Idiot may look familiar to you. He's my roommate and he also answers to Kyyyle. I have no link for you, because he's not important enough to warrant news coverage. But he's certainly stupid enough to be featured in his own Today's Idiot note. So sit back and scroll down through a tale of epic stupidity proportions.
-----------------------------------------
The story begins at Jen's place, where Kyle is helping Carl with his Calculus homework. After helping him to an assumed perfect score, Kyle hops into his truck and heads home.
"Hmm," Kyle thinks to himself, "My truck like literally has no gas in it. I don't think I'll make it home."
After realizing this, Kyle decides to do the only logical thing and stop by a gas station and fill up. As he rummages through his wallet and pockets, Kyle comes up with $33 in cash. Knowing his truck will require more than $33 in gas, Kyle starts to fill up his truck, planning of using the ATM inside the gas station to get whatever extra cash he needs to pay for the gas. His total came up to $43.91 and he went inside the gas station. He pulled out his wallet and took out his bank card, prepared to withdraw an extra twenty dollars.
"Insert card," Kyle thought to himself and did so, "Enter PIN."
Here's where it gets good.
"Crap," Kyle thought, "I can't remember my PIN." He proceeds to frantically punch in ****, **** and **** in hopes of stumbling across the correct PIN. No luck. Kyle didn't have a credit or debit card, so he hung his head and approached the register and the attendant.
"Excuse me sir," he said politely, "I filled up my truck for $43.91 and I had $33 in cash and was going to take out the rest out of the ATM but I'm an idiot and don't remember my PIN number. Can I leave real quick and go get more money?"
Naturally, the cashier looked at Kyle incredulously, not quite sure if he heard this little redhaired guy correctly.
"I'll leave you my license and be right back," Kyle pleaded, "I only need eleven more dollars."
"You could just leave and not come back," the cashier said, "you could just get a new license. It's not that hard."
"Please man," Kyle begged, "I'll be right back. I promise." This exchange went on for a while before the cashier finally let Kyle go after taking his license and phone as collateral and took a description of his truck and his license plate number.
"Be back in less than an hour or I'm calling the cops," the cashier yelled as Kyle dashed out the door and to his topped-off truck. He set the timer on his watch to 1:00:00 and stuck the key in the ignition. He watched it fall for a few seconds before driving off.
1:00:00
0:59:59
0:59:58
"Gotta hurry, gotta hurry," he thought as he processed his options. His always dependable roommate was at the Mizzou baseball game and Kyle's phone was back at the gas station anyway, carefully guarded by the attendant. He parked in the VAG and dashed into his room to get his PIN number.
"Crap!" he yelled aloud, "I was a number off!" He ran out of the room and across the street to Hitt Street market to use the ATM there. He slid his card in and was stunned when the ATM wouldn't process the card due to the excessive incorrect PIN numbers entered back at the gas station. He sprinted back across the street and into his room to see if he could rummage up some cash, all the while frantically checking his watch.
0:35:40
0:35:39
0:35:39
He unlocked the door to find his roommate just returned from Mizzou's 9-8 walkoff win over Indiana State.
"Nate!" he screamed triumphantly, "Do you have any cash on you?"
"I've got a dollar, maybe," I answered and Kyle's face drooped noticeably, "sorry."
"I need eleven bucks," Kyle reiterated, "I may go to jail." And with that, Kyle retreated out of the room and headed off to Amanda's to see if she had any money.
0:22:12
0:22:11
0:22:10
He sprinted into Amanda's room a few minute later and frantically explained his predicament. Luckily for Kyle, Amanda did in fact have some money to spare and fished $15 out of her purse, handed it to Kyle and wished him godspeed.
Kyle, noticeably winded at this point, returned back to his truck and sped out of the parking garage, in route to the gas station. He was forced to stop at a light and cursed silently.
0:11:01
0:11:00
0:10:59
The light turned green and Kyle sped off towards the gas station, returning with the needed money. Almost there, a little Honda pulled out in front of him and proceeded very slowly in front of him. He couldn't pass her and his hour was dwindling down.
0:04:09
0:04:08
0:04:07
The Honda soon turned off and Kyle made it to the light that the gas station was located at. He barreled a yellow light and turned into the parking lot for the gas station. He dug the money out and ran across the parking lot to the store.
0:00:12
0:00:11
0:00:10
He pulled open the door and moved inside.
0:00:05
0:00:04
0:00:03
Navigated through an aisle of chips and beef jerky
0:00:02
0:00:01
And slapped the money down on the counter. Breathless he watched as the cashier scooped up the money and made about four dollars in change for Kyle.
"Thanks," the cashier said, "here's your stuff."
"Can I buy you," Kyle panted, "a soda?"
-----------------------------------------
Kyle told me this story (albeit not quite verbatim) when he had returned back from the gas station. I felt that this story needed to be shared, coming a week or so after momentarily forgetting his social security number. I enjoy Kyle as a roommate, and these stories are a big reason why. Who wants a boring roommate that contributes nothing to the roommate relationship?
-----------------------------------------
The story begins at Jen's place, where Kyle is helping Carl with his Calculus homework. After helping him to an assumed perfect score, Kyle hops into his truck and heads home.
"Hmm," Kyle thinks to himself, "My truck like literally has no gas in it. I don't think I'll make it home."
After realizing this, Kyle decides to do the only logical thing and stop by a gas station and fill up. As he rummages through his wallet and pockets, Kyle comes up with $33 in cash. Knowing his truck will require more than $33 in gas, Kyle starts to fill up his truck, planning of using the ATM inside the gas station to get whatever extra cash he needs to pay for the gas. His total came up to $43.91 and he went inside the gas station. He pulled out his wallet and took out his bank card, prepared to withdraw an extra twenty dollars.
"Insert card," Kyle thought to himself and did so, "Enter PIN."
Here's where it gets good.
"Crap," Kyle thought, "I can't remember my PIN." He proceeds to frantically punch in ****, **** and **** in hopes of stumbling across the correct PIN. No luck. Kyle didn't have a credit or debit card, so he hung his head and approached the register and the attendant.
"Excuse me sir," he said politely, "I filled up my truck for $43.91 and I had $33 in cash and was going to take out the rest out of the ATM but I'm an idiot and don't remember my PIN number. Can I leave real quick and go get more money?"
Naturally, the cashier looked at Kyle incredulously, not quite sure if he heard this little redhaired guy correctly.
"I'll leave you my license and be right back," Kyle pleaded, "I only need eleven more dollars."
"You could just leave and not come back," the cashier said, "you could just get a new license. It's not that hard."
"Please man," Kyle begged, "I'll be right back. I promise." This exchange went on for a while before the cashier finally let Kyle go after taking his license and phone as collateral and took a description of his truck and his license plate number.
"Be back in less than an hour or I'm calling the cops," the cashier yelled as Kyle dashed out the door and to his topped-off truck. He set the timer on his watch to 1:00:00 and stuck the key in the ignition. He watched it fall for a few seconds before driving off.
1:00:00
0:59:59
0:59:58
"Gotta hurry, gotta hurry," he thought as he processed his options. His always dependable roommate was at the Mizzou baseball game and Kyle's phone was back at the gas station anyway, carefully guarded by the attendant. He parked in the VAG and dashed into his room to get his PIN number.
"Crap!" he yelled aloud, "I was a number off!" He ran out of the room and across the street to Hitt Street market to use the ATM there. He slid his card in and was stunned when the ATM wouldn't process the card due to the excessive incorrect PIN numbers entered back at the gas station. He sprinted back across the street and into his room to see if he could rummage up some cash, all the while frantically checking his watch.
0:35:40
0:35:39
0:35:39
He unlocked the door to find his roommate just returned from Mizzou's 9-8 walkoff win over Indiana State.
"Nate!" he screamed triumphantly, "Do you have any cash on you?"
"I've got a dollar, maybe," I answered and Kyle's face drooped noticeably, "sorry."
"I need eleven bucks," Kyle reiterated, "I may go to jail." And with that, Kyle retreated out of the room and headed off to Amanda's to see if she had any money.
0:22:12
0:22:11
0:22:10
He sprinted into Amanda's room a few minute later and frantically explained his predicament. Luckily for Kyle, Amanda did in fact have some money to spare and fished $15 out of her purse, handed it to Kyle and wished him godspeed.
Kyle, noticeably winded at this point, returned back to his truck and sped out of the parking garage, in route to the gas station. He was forced to stop at a light and cursed silently.
0:11:01
0:11:00
0:10:59
The light turned green and Kyle sped off towards the gas station, returning with the needed money. Almost there, a little Honda pulled out in front of him and proceeded very slowly in front of him. He couldn't pass her and his hour was dwindling down.
0:04:09
0:04:08
0:04:07
The Honda soon turned off and Kyle made it to the light that the gas station was located at. He barreled a yellow light and turned into the parking lot for the gas station. He dug the money out and ran across the parking lot to the store.
0:00:12
0:00:11
0:00:10
He pulled open the door and moved inside.
0:00:05
0:00:04
0:00:03
Navigated through an aisle of chips and beef jerky
0:00:02
0:00:01
And slapped the money down on the counter. Breathless he watched as the cashier scooped up the money and made about four dollars in change for Kyle.
"Thanks," the cashier said, "here's your stuff."
"Can I buy you," Kyle panted, "a soda?"
-----------------------------------------
Kyle told me this story (albeit not quite verbatim) when he had returned back from the gas station. I felt that this story needed to be shared, coming a week or so after momentarily forgetting his social security number. I enjoy Kyle as a roommate, and these stories are a big reason why. Who wants a boring roommate that contributes nothing to the roommate relationship?
Mizzou Baseball
Went to my first Mizzou baseball game of the season this afternoon. Mizzou opened the season as the number 5 team in the country and we had played like it during the two tournaments that we played in (one in Florida and one in California) to open the season.
We won 9-8 today on a walkoff triple in the bottom of the ninth. It was a really good game as it started slow (1-0 after five innings) and then got exciting for the last four innings. We started our third best starter and he allowed only an unearned run in 6 innings. Our hitting busted the crap out of the ball all afternoon and we played some really impressive defense. I'd say that Mizzou has a chance to win the national title, but the bullpen is going to have to improve drastically. We went through three pitchers in the seventh inning, when Indiana State scored five runs on only four hits. Each of the three pitchers walked a batter and none of them could consistently could throw strikes.
With three starters like Crow, Gibson and Berger and an offense that can really smoke the ball, this is a team that is certainly capable of contending and winning a national title (which would be sweet). But the bullpen needs to throw strikes and attack hitters. The team also needs to be smarter on the bases. We had a couple of botched stolen base attempts and had a guy thrown out stretching a single and one gunned down after he overran third.
We won 9-8 today on a walkoff triple in the bottom of the ninth. It was a really good game as it started slow (1-0 after five innings) and then got exciting for the last four innings. We started our third best starter and he allowed only an unearned run in 6 innings. Our hitting busted the crap out of the ball all afternoon and we played some really impressive defense. I'd say that Mizzou has a chance to win the national title, but the bullpen is going to have to improve drastically. We went through three pitchers in the seventh inning, when Indiana State scored five runs on only four hits. Each of the three pitchers walked a batter and none of them could consistently could throw strikes.
With three starters like Crow, Gibson and Berger and an offense that can really smoke the ball, this is a team that is certainly capable of contending and winning a national title (which would be sweet). But the bullpen needs to throw strikes and attack hitters. The team also needs to be smarter on the bases. We had a couple of botched stolen base attempts and had a guy thrown out stretching a single and one gunned down after he overran third.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Mizzou Condom Initiative
Over 18 months ago, a fraternity on Mizzou's campus proposed the idea of providing free sexual education information and simple contraceptives for Missouri students. They had no details mapped out, just an idea. For a few months, the administration of the University held open forums for students and faculty to seek opinions from the masses. I went to many of these forums, listening to other's opinions and offering my own.
At first, I was opposed to what has since become known as the Condom Initiative. My opposition wasn't based on any religious beliefs as many of the Initiative protesters were, but rather because I felt that if a college student deemed him or herself responsible enough to engage in sexual intercourse, then they should be responsible enough to obtain proper contraception. Condoms are not overwhelmingly expensive and are sold at every Mizzou Market on campus. They're also available for free at the student health center with education materials. But I was in a very small minority. The Initiative was very well-received and was soon being presented for support throughout the campuses' student organizations, mainly MSA and RHA. RHA unanimously voted to support the initiative and as an Executive Board member, representing the best interest of Mizzou's students, I switched my tune to support the process.
Because the people that I've been elected to represent want to see this initiative move forward, I feel that I am obligated to work to make this program come to pass. Therefore, I am working with the Missouri Student Association, Residential Life and the Missouri administration to find a way to make this work logistically and financially. Paying for all the dispensers and products will run up a bill of around $20,000. MSA has pledged to cover half of those costs, and while RHA has not discussed specific numbers within Congress, the Executive Board has tossed around covering half of the remaining costs, leaving $5,000 unaccounted for. We've talked about where to procure the remaining funding from and are pretty sure that we can raise the money through individual Hall Governments.
However, regardless of this hardwork by Missouri's student leaders, obstacles have arisen from the administration, particularly Chancellor Brady Deaton. He has for the most part, simply ignored the students' wishes and has continually added new stipulations for the project. The latest stipulation requires that the dispensers must be requested by students through their residence halls. Which means I have been tasked with visiting each Hall Government on campus requesting a petition of support from each government. Not an overly difficult task, but certainly a tedious and time-consuming one.
While the support from the student body is overwhelming, the cooperation from the higher-ups has been poor at best, and negligible at worst. Often the student opinion is overlooked by those that think they know better, but this time, the student leaders are not rolling over for the administration, but standing up for the student voices that have been adamant about the implementation of such an initiative.
There is a logistics committee that has formed and is currently meeting to hash out the finer details of the implementation. Another one of the Chancellor's stipulations is all dispensers must be tamper-proof and placed in areas that will guarantee the privacy of users while limiting exposure to other students. Which means more work for us. We'll have to find places that meet these requirements. The tampering is something that RHA included in their original resolution of support, so that's nothing new. I have been working tirelessly with MSA President and Vice President Jim Kelley and Chelsea Johnson to finalize things from the student side of this initiative.
Hopefully, something comes from all this hard work and we can see this plan come to fruition before the beginning of next year. It's been an arduous process and we're all looking forward to a resolution.
At first, I was opposed to what has since become known as the Condom Initiative. My opposition wasn't based on any religious beliefs as many of the Initiative protesters were, but rather because I felt that if a college student deemed him or herself responsible enough to engage in sexual intercourse, then they should be responsible enough to obtain proper contraception. Condoms are not overwhelmingly expensive and are sold at every Mizzou Market on campus. They're also available for free at the student health center with education materials. But I was in a very small minority. The Initiative was very well-received and was soon being presented for support throughout the campuses' student organizations, mainly MSA and RHA. RHA unanimously voted to support the initiative and as an Executive Board member, representing the best interest of Mizzou's students, I switched my tune to support the process.
Because the people that I've been elected to represent want to see this initiative move forward, I feel that I am obligated to work to make this program come to pass. Therefore, I am working with the Missouri Student Association, Residential Life and the Missouri administration to find a way to make this work logistically and financially. Paying for all the dispensers and products will run up a bill of around $20,000. MSA has pledged to cover half of those costs, and while RHA has not discussed specific numbers within Congress, the Executive Board has tossed around covering half of the remaining costs, leaving $5,000 unaccounted for. We've talked about where to procure the remaining funding from and are pretty sure that we can raise the money through individual Hall Governments.
However, regardless of this hardwork by Missouri's student leaders, obstacles have arisen from the administration, particularly Chancellor Brady Deaton. He has for the most part, simply ignored the students' wishes and has continually added new stipulations for the project. The latest stipulation requires that the dispensers must be requested by students through their residence halls. Which means I have been tasked with visiting each Hall Government on campus requesting a petition of support from each government. Not an overly difficult task, but certainly a tedious and time-consuming one.
While the support from the student body is overwhelming, the cooperation from the higher-ups has been poor at best, and negligible at worst. Often the student opinion is overlooked by those that think they know better, but this time, the student leaders are not rolling over for the administration, but standing up for the student voices that have been adamant about the implementation of such an initiative.
There is a logistics committee that has formed and is currently meeting to hash out the finer details of the implementation. Another one of the Chancellor's stipulations is all dispensers must be tamper-proof and placed in areas that will guarantee the privacy of users while limiting exposure to other students. Which means more work for us. We'll have to find places that meet these requirements. The tampering is something that RHA included in their original resolution of support, so that's nothing new. I have been working tirelessly with MSA President and Vice President Jim Kelley and Chelsea Johnson to finalize things from the student side of this initiative.
Hopefully, something comes from all this hard work and we can see this plan come to fruition before the beginning of next year. It's been an arduous process and we're all looking forward to a resolution.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Rivalry Renewed
Perhaps you heard what Hank Steinbrenner said about the infamous Red Sox Nation.
Perhaps he was upset about Theo Epstein taking a cheap shot at Mike Mussina. Perhaps it was just the inevitable Steinbrenner coming out. But he's right.
Red Sox nation wasn't a defined entity until 2004. And then it exploded exponentially with wannabes who couldn't spell Papi. Now I'm not sure if you counted Sox hats vs. Yanks hats who would have more, but the Yankees outsell any team in the country, and in the world.
Now let me address the morons that ESPN employs to "analyze" baseball.
About an hour ago, the Baseball Tonight men just ripped into Hank for his comments about ESPN being full of Red Sox fans. They went on to say Hank doesn’t know what goes on behind the scenes at ESPN. John Kruk even invited Hank up to Bristol to check it out himself.
Alright, that sounds pretty good. Hank probably has never been to the ESPN studios or witnessed the production of a baseball broadcast. But he's still right, and ESPN's hurt that someone of substance finally called them out on it. Not a minute after the Baseball Tonight guys finished ripping on Hank, they run off this beautiful commentary.
Kruk said that Josh Beckett was a HOF pitcher.
Hmm...based on what, Kruk? 4 postseason starts? His 77 career wins or his 3.74 career ERA? He had a great year last year and has had a handful of great playoff starts, but that doesn't make you a HOF pitcher. Only a year ago, Beckett posted an ERA over 5.00 and led the league in home runs allowed.
Noted Sox fan Peter Gammons said that Jason Varitek was more important to the Red Sox than any other player on any other team in the game.
Right. A catcher that misses nearly 30% of the teams games over the last two years and then hits around .240 when he's in. I don't doubt he's an essential part to that team, but he's not even the most important player on his team, let alone in the entire league.
Then they all agreed the Yankees will struggle due to the fact that they have to rely on two kids (Hughes and Kennedy) in their rotation.
But the Red Sox will be fine. Perhaps they failed to realize that lardass Schilling is out and Boston too, will be relying on two kids (Buchholz & Lester). But they'll be fine, they're the Red Sox.
You know, in that segment, Donald Duck predicted that Donald Duck would win both the AL MVP and the AL Cy Young. And I'm beginning to think Donald is more baseball-savvy than any of the idiots ESPN parades out in front of their cameras.
ESPN is located in Bristol, CT. If Red Sox Nation actually physically existed, Bristol would be it's capital. Washed-up Sox beat writers go to Bristol to wither up and die. I've heard the argument that the Yankees get the most coverage, but none of it's positive. Everything's criticized. Journalism should be fair and balanced, not blatant propaganda.
Red Sox Nation? What a bunch of [expletive] that is, that was a creation of the Red Sox and ESPN, which is filled with Red Sox fans.
Go anywhere in America and you won't see Red Sox hats and jackets, you'll see Yankee hats and jackets. This is a Yankee country. We're going to put the Yankees back on top and restore the universe to order.
Perhaps he was upset about Theo Epstein taking a cheap shot at Mike Mussina. Perhaps it was just the inevitable Steinbrenner coming out. But he's right.
Red Sox nation wasn't a defined entity until 2004. And then it exploded exponentially with wannabes who couldn't spell Papi. Now I'm not sure if you counted Sox hats vs. Yanks hats who would have more, but the Yankees outsell any team in the country, and in the world.
Now let me address the morons that ESPN employs to "analyze" baseball.
About an hour ago, the Baseball Tonight men just ripped into Hank for his comments about ESPN being full of Red Sox fans. They went on to say Hank doesn’t know what goes on behind the scenes at ESPN. John Kruk even invited Hank up to Bristol to check it out himself.
Alright, that sounds pretty good. Hank probably has never been to the ESPN studios or witnessed the production of a baseball broadcast. But he's still right, and ESPN's hurt that someone of substance finally called them out on it. Not a minute after the Baseball Tonight guys finished ripping on Hank, they run off this beautiful commentary.
Kruk said that Josh Beckett was a HOF pitcher.
Hmm...based on what, Kruk? 4 postseason starts? His 77 career wins or his 3.74 career ERA? He had a great year last year and has had a handful of great playoff starts, but that doesn't make you a HOF pitcher. Only a year ago, Beckett posted an ERA over 5.00 and led the league in home runs allowed.
Noted Sox fan Peter Gammons said that Jason Varitek was more important to the Red Sox than any other player on any other team in the game.
Right. A catcher that misses nearly 30% of the teams games over the last two years and then hits around .240 when he's in. I don't doubt he's an essential part to that team, but he's not even the most important player on his team, let alone in the entire league.
Then they all agreed the Yankees will struggle due to the fact that they have to rely on two kids (Hughes and Kennedy) in their rotation.
But the Red Sox will be fine. Perhaps they failed to realize that lardass Schilling is out and Boston too, will be relying on two kids (Buchholz & Lester). But they'll be fine, they're the Red Sox.
You know, in that segment, Donald Duck predicted that Donald Duck would win both the AL MVP and the AL Cy Young. And I'm beginning to think Donald is more baseball-savvy than any of the idiots ESPN parades out in front of their cameras.
ESPN is located in Bristol, CT. If Red Sox Nation actually physically existed, Bristol would be it's capital. Washed-up Sox beat writers go to Bristol to wither up and die. I've heard the argument that the Yankees get the most coverage, but none of it's positive. Everything's criticized. Journalism should be fair and balanced, not blatant propaganda.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Guns
I'm a gun man. Well, not really, but I completely support a citizen's right to own a gun, given that he or she proves that they're mentally right and able to own a gun without needlessly slaying others.
I am horrified whenever a school shooting happens, but I am also appalled when the day after, liberal nutjobs call for laws banning citizens from owning guns. They seem to think that simply making it illegal to own a gun will prevent criminals from obtaining and ultimately using them. Criminals break they law, that's kind of their whole deal. So breaking one more law may actually make them happier.
One year ago, Australia forced its gun-owners to turn in their guns. In total 640,381 guns were destroyed and cost the government over $500MM. The Aussies thought that by destroying guns, they'd get rid of their problem. I wonder how that turned out.
Actually, I don't because I could have told the Australians what would happen before they decided to go through with their stupid little plan.
Surprise, surprise. Here's a quote from Keith Tidswell, from the Sporting Shooter's Association, Australia's version of the NRA:
I'll present you with two scenarios now.
Scenario 1: Mentally troubled young man wants to commit suicide and take some people with him. He gets some loser adult to buy him a gun and goes to his school. He takes out 5 of his classmates before killing himself, knowing that none of his law-abiding classmates will have a gun.
Scenario 2: Mentally troubled young man wants to commit suicide and take some people with him. He takes his gun to class, but sees two other students carrying legally licensed handguns in his class. He just goes home and takes his own life.
Now this won't stop every crazy lunatic from playing Scenario 1, but if it stops just one innocent murder, it's worth it. Now I'm certainly not advocating selling a gun to anybody and everybody, in fact, I support tougher and more intense screening before a gun is purchased. All medical records should be considered (both physical and mental) and background checks must become mandatory. If it's a little more inconvenient, so what? Owning a gun is different that owning a TV or some other trivial item.
Oklahoma is headed in the right direction. A bill that would allow students to carry firearms on campus if they are at least 21 and are licensed to carry a concealed weapon passed 14-2 on Monday by the House Judiciary and Public Safety Committee. The bill would only apply to public colleges and universities, and is its status is being tracked by schools like Oklahoma State University.
I'm actually headed to Stillwater, OK in May to attend a national conference of student government leaders and I'm looking forward to discussing this bill not only with students from OSU, but with students from colleges and universities from across the nation.
Guns don't kill people. Pathetic and crazy losers kill people. And liberals don't want honest Americans to be able to defend themselves from these crazies.
I am horrified whenever a school shooting happens, but I am also appalled when the day after, liberal nutjobs call for laws banning citizens from owning guns. They seem to think that simply making it illegal to own a gun will prevent criminals from obtaining and ultimately using them. Criminals break they law, that's kind of their whole deal. So breaking one more law may actually make them happier.
One year ago, Australia forced its gun-owners to turn in their guns. In total 640,381 guns were destroyed and cost the government over $500MM. The Aussies thought that by destroying guns, they'd get rid of their problem. I wonder how that turned out.
Actually, I don't because I could have told the Australians what would happen before they decided to go through with their stupid little plan.
- Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2%
- Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6%
- Australia-wide, armed-robberies are up 44% (yes, FORTY-FOUR PERCENT)
- In the state of Victoria, homicides-with-firearms are up 300%
- Figures over the previous 25 years show a steady decrease in homicides-with-firearms (changed dramatically in the past 12 months)
- Figures over the previous 25 years show a steady decrease in armed-robbery-with-firearms (changed dramatically in the past 12 months)
- There has been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the elderly
- At the time of the ban, the Prime Minister said "self-defense is not a reason for owning a firearm"
- From 1910 to present, homicides in Australia had averaged about 1.8-per-100,000 or lower, a safe society by any standard.
- The ban has destroyed Australia's standings in some international sport shooting competitions
- The membership of the Australian Sports Shooting Association has risen to 112,000, a 200% increase, in response to the ban and as an attempt to organize against further controls, which are expected.
- Australian politicians are on the spot and at a loss to explain how no improvement in "safety" has been observed after such monumental effort and expense was successfully expended in "ridding society of guns". Their response has been to "wait longer".
Surprise, surprise. Here's a quote from Keith Tidswell, from the Sporting Shooter's Association, Australia's version of the NRA:
"...The best organization you've got there, the biggest organization you've got there is the NRA. We don't have an organization that size. We didn't have an organization that size, and as a consequence, we suffered. And we hope that you don't suffer..."
I'll present you with two scenarios now.
Scenario 1: Mentally troubled young man wants to commit suicide and take some people with him. He gets some loser adult to buy him a gun and goes to his school. He takes out 5 of his classmates before killing himself, knowing that none of his law-abiding classmates will have a gun.
Scenario 2: Mentally troubled young man wants to commit suicide and take some people with him. He takes his gun to class, but sees two other students carrying legally licensed handguns in his class. He just goes home and takes his own life.
Now this won't stop every crazy lunatic from playing Scenario 1, but if it stops just one innocent murder, it's worth it. Now I'm certainly not advocating selling a gun to anybody and everybody, in fact, I support tougher and more intense screening before a gun is purchased. All medical records should be considered (both physical and mental) and background checks must become mandatory. If it's a little more inconvenient, so what? Owning a gun is different that owning a TV or some other trivial item.
Oklahoma is headed in the right direction. A bill that would allow students to carry firearms on campus if they are at least 21 and are licensed to carry a concealed weapon passed 14-2 on Monday by the House Judiciary and Public Safety Committee. The bill would only apply to public colleges and universities, and is its status is being tracked by schools like Oklahoma State University.
I'm actually headed to Stillwater, OK in May to attend a national conference of student government leaders and I'm looking forward to discussing this bill not only with students from OSU, but with students from colleges and universities from across the nation.
Guns don't kill people. Pathetic and crazy losers kill people. And liberals don't want honest Americans to be able to defend themselves from these crazies.
That's A Lot Of Age
It's a video of England citizens aged 1 through 100. Some of them look pretty ragged, and they're more in the 20-50 range. The 80+ group look pretty good.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Today's Idiot: Unidentified Cake-maker
So, imagine you're a low-intelligence Walmart employee and your job is to decorate cakes with whatever words or phrases Walmart patrons want on their cake. Birthdays, graduations, weddings and every other occasion you would ever need a cake for. So today's idiot is whoever did this cake:
The lettering on that cake says:
Best Wishes Suzanne
Under Neat that
We Will Miss You
Okay. At first I didn't get it. You may not have either. Just think about it for a little while. I'll wait.
Still don't quite understand it? I'll explain. Let's go back to imagining we're a low-IQ Walmart bakery employee. A customer calls in with a cake request and you answer the phone.
“Hi this is (blank), what would you like your cake to say?”
And the customer tells you:
“‘Best Wishes Suzanne.’ Underneath that, ‘we will miss you.’”
"Alright," you reply, "we can totally do that." So you take your icing-squirter thing and do the cake.
'Best Wishes Suzanne. Under Neat that, We Will Miss You.'
The lettering on that cake says:
Best Wishes Suzanne
Under Neat that
We Will Miss You
Okay. At first I didn't get it. You may not have either. Just think about it for a little while. I'll wait.
Still don't quite understand it? I'll explain. Let's go back to imagining we're a low-IQ Walmart bakery employee. A customer calls in with a cake request and you answer the phone.
“Hi this is (blank), what would you like your cake to say?”
And the customer tells you:
“‘Best Wishes Suzanne.’ Underneath that, ‘we will miss you.’”
"Alright," you reply, "we can totally do that." So you take your icing-squirter thing and do the cake.
'Best Wishes Suzanne. Under Neat that, We Will Miss You.'
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Torgos Basketball: Game 4
MBAA 46, TORGOS 39 - F/OT
Having clinched a playoff berth in Week 2, and MBAA needing a win to make the playoffs, the Torgos let up a little and suffered their first loss of the year. Jaryd again led the team in points with 11 as the Torgos battled through a very physical battle. MBAA racked up 20 fouls, a RecSports record. The Torgos struggled on the boards and were heartily out-rebounded yet stayed in the game. With under a minute left in regulation and MBAA leading by one, Logan had a shot swatted and MBAA made an easy layup. With time winding down, Roberto hit a huge three with under 20 seconds left. MBAA held for the final shot and missed, sending the game to overtime. MBAA hit two quick baskets in overtime and never looked back, outscoring the Torgos 7 to 1 in the extra time.
My final line was 15 minutes, 5 points (1-2 FG, 2-2 FT), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal.
My regular season averages were 11 minutes, 2.3ppg, 5rpg, 2.3apg and 1.8spg
Having clinched a playoff berth in Week 2, and MBAA needing a win to make the playoffs, the Torgos let up a little and suffered their first loss of the year. Jaryd again led the team in points with 11 as the Torgos battled through a very physical battle. MBAA racked up 20 fouls, a RecSports record. The Torgos struggled on the boards and were heartily out-rebounded yet stayed in the game. With under a minute left in regulation and MBAA leading by one, Logan had a shot swatted and MBAA made an easy layup. With time winding down, Roberto hit a huge three with under 20 seconds left. MBAA held for the final shot and missed, sending the game to overtime. MBAA hit two quick baskets in overtime and never looked back, outscoring the Torgos 7 to 1 in the extra time.
My final line was 15 minutes, 5 points (1-2 FG, 2-2 FT), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal.
My regular season averages were 11 minutes, 2.3ppg, 5rpg, 2.3apg and 1.8spg
Monday, February 25, 2008
A New Look
Thought it was time for the blog to undergo a makeover.
Nothing new really going on with me. Found this new, sweet room for RHA meetings. It seats 61 people (always with the "1" in Cornell). The seats are arranged in 5 rows of a stadium-seating, semi-circle with an aisle down the middle. There's a sound system, projector and a camera projector. It's ideal for Congress meetings and Tanner and I instituted a seating chart to improve efficiency.
Just mirror-image this and picture a sweet projector in front
Good night.
Nothing new really going on with me. Found this new, sweet room for RHA meetings. It seats 61 people (always with the "1" in Cornell). The seats are arranged in 5 rows of a stadium-seating, semi-circle with an aisle down the middle. There's a sound system, projector and a camera projector. It's ideal for Congress meetings and Tanner and I instituted a seating chart to improve efficiency.
Just mirror-image this and picture a sweet projector in front
Good night.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
2008 RHA Election Results
A win for Bobby Wood and Nathaniel Ballance! For the second year in a row, I was part of the winning slate in the Residence Halls Association elections. Two weeks of frantic campaigning culminated this week with voting on Thursday, February 21. The following day brought the annual RHA Banquet. After a delicious dinner and some delightful speeches (keynote: Kirsten Kennedy) the results were announced. This year's results were to be close, we were told, and there was a distinct possibility that we would lose. But that wasn't the case. Bobby and I won and dancing ensued. We stayed for awhile, but left around nine or ten to go out and celebrate three generations of RHA Presidents. Finally putting some pictures up on this blog.
Justin & I
Myself, Marissa and Justin
Just after the election results announcement
Bobby and myself. Where's his jacket?
Justin and I are fans of awkward middle school slow-dancing
Traipsing through the snow to Tellers
Celebrating
Current VP and Pres. At least for a little while longer...
Buncha Executives Past & Present
Where's Justin's striped tie?
Emily and her boys
Perhaps a Perplexing President?
I love our treasurer
Hm...Greg you often time confuse me.
I moved seats sometime during the night
Emily said something stupid. Laughing ensues.
All around, it was a great night, albeit a bit nerve-wracking early on. If there's one thing in college that I've thrown myself into head first and come to love, it's student government. And tonight was a celebration of that love.
Justin & I
Myself, Marissa and Justin
Just after the election results announcement
Bobby and myself. Where's his jacket?
Justin and I are fans of awkward middle school slow-dancing
Traipsing through the snow to Tellers
Celebrating
Current VP and Pres. At least for a little while longer...
Buncha Executives Past & Present
Where's Justin's striped tie?
Emily and her boys
Perhaps a Perplexing President?
I love our treasurer
Hm...Greg you often time confuse me.
I moved seats sometime during the night
Emily said something stupid. Laughing ensues.
All around, it was a great night, albeit a bit nerve-wracking early on. If there's one thing in college that I've thrown myself into head first and come to love, it's student government. And tonight was a celebration of that love.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Pre-Spring Training Picks
I've decided to relent and make picks before Spring Training really gets underway. I want to preface this post by saying that no one should look back to these picks after the season and call them my preseason picks. I will publish a new set of picks a few days before the season starts and those will be my ultimate picks, for better or worse. Things happen between mid-February and Opening Day. People get hurt, players get traded and personnel decisions are made. Therefore, I reserve the right to change any or all of these picks. This is a very premature set of picks based on how the teams are set right now. I will change them. But here's my take as of February 21.
AL East
Boston Red Sox: 97-65
--World Series champs who didn't do anything wrong. Losing Curt Schilling hurts only if someone else goes down. Lester and Buchholz are probably better bets now anyway.
New York Yankees: 94-68
--Putting a lot of chips on The Big 3. This is a team that could easily win 100+ games, but also struggle to win 90. They're counting on rebound years from Giambi, Damon and Abreu.
Toronto Blue Jays: 83-79
--They're in a tough place. I think they should have made a move in a year when Boston's getting old and New York's banking on unknowns. Rolen helps the defense (and in turn, the pitching) but I have doubts as to how well he'll hold up on the turf.
Tampa Bay Rays: 82-80
--What? Over .500 for the never-good Rays? I like the young talent they've accumulated and I love the young talent that hasn't quite reached the bigs yet. They're definitely moving in the right direction.
Baltimore Orioles: 67-95
--They did what they needed to do. It's not going to be pretty, and it'll hurt pretty bad this year, but they'll be glad they did it in a few years.
AL Central
Cleveland Indians 90-72
--I still stand by the old truth that pitching wins. And I like Cleveland's pitching 10x more than I do Detroit's. I really think they need to add a bat before the trade deadline to put them over the top, but the division is down a little.
Detroit Tigers 89-73
--Dontrelle had a 5.17 ERA in a NL pitcher's park. Maybe he'll be more motivated in Detroit, but I wouldn't count on it. The offense is scary, but the rotation is paper-thin and the bullpen is ravaged by injury.
Chicago White Sox 77-85
--Bought when they should have sold. They wasted a lot of money and a lot of young talent to finish third. I didn't understand the re-signing of Uribe after the trade for Cabrera. Normally I like Kenny Williams, but he confused me this winter.
Kansas City Royals 73-89
--Didn't like some of their moves (trading for Callapso) but Moore's doing a good job bringing the Royals back slowly.
Minnesota Twins 71-91
--Overplayed their hand with Johan Santana and then swapped their next best pitcher in Matt Garza. Also lost innings-eater Carlos Silva to Seattle. They'll depend on some promising young pitching, but unlike the Yankees, they don't have the offense to bail them out.
AL West
Los Angeles Angels 92-70
--Stacked with pitching and outfielders. They should easily win this division
Seattle Mariners 77-85
--Bedard helps them a little this year in the fact he replaces Jeff Weaver. He'll probably leave after '09 and they traded a bunch of prospects to get him. Carlos Silva was dumb though.
Texas Rangers 73-89
--Like the direction and the farm system. Still a few years away from contention, but making forward progress
Oakland Athletics 72-90
--Yuck. Got a ton back for Dan Haren, but they certainly aren't going to win this year or anytime soon. Moneyball is nice, but hasn't really paid ultimate dividends for Beane and his A's.
NL East
New York Mets 96-66
--Johan Santana is worth about 8 wins or so for any National League team. I expect Santana to completely dominate the National League and the Mets should be the favorite to play in the World Series.
Atlanta Braves 86-76
--There should be some concern about how well the rotation will hold up, but the offense should be a go once they settle on a centerfielder to replace Andruw Jones.
Philadelphia Phillies 84-78
--They got hot at the right time last year, and I don't think it'll hold over to this year. Brad Lidge must return to pre-Pujols form to balance the bullpen.
Washington Nationals 76-86
--There's not much to get excited about with this team. They made some moves bringing in questionable character guys, but they certainly could pay off if they shape up.
Florida Marlins 72-90
--No Willis, no Cabrera, no chance. They're making strides for a new ballpark, but we may see more 325-attendance games.
NL Central
Chicago Cubs 89-73
--They'll feast on pathetic division competition and then be knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, just like last year. Fukudome won't be anything special and they certainly won't make Ryan Dempster look smart.
Milwaukee Brewers 85-77
--The pitching is hit or miss most days and they're moving their players all over the diamond. They'll be right around where they were las year.
Cincinnati Reds 79-83
--They've got some great prospects that will spend this year learning and adjusting. Just not contending.
Houston Astros 74-88
--The stripped their farm system for this? They didn't address their pitching enough and after Roy Oswalt, there's nothing.
St. Louis Cardinals 74-88
--Their starting pitching might be thinner than even Houston's. If Pujols needs Tommy John surgery, this season will be a complete waste of time. I am excited to see Rasmus in person though.
Pittsburgh Pirates 71-91
--Need a long time and a lot of moves. They should move Jason Bay and start rebuilding. Again.
NL West
Los Angeles Dodgers 88-74
--They underperform so frequently and consistently, it's almost painful to pick them. But when their pitching gets hurt in Spring Training, I'll pick someone new.
Arizona Diamondbacks 86-76
--Haren upgrades the rotation, but they gave up a lot for him. They had a lot of luck on their side last year, and will probably fall off a little in 08.
San Diego Padres 86-76
--If only Chris Young could pitch at Petco every time out. Jim Edmonds is a downgrade from Mike Cameron in every facet of the game. Except steroid suspensions.
Colorado Rockies 81-81
--Another team rolling the dice on young pitching. Another team that probably won't have the same amount of luck as they did last year. Beatdown in the World Series will probably take a toll on them.
San Francisco Giants 70-92
--They've got some great young pitchers, but no hitting. They overpaid to see Aaron Rowand's offense fall off the map and are stuck with Barry Zito for six more years.
AL East
Boston Red Sox: 97-65
--World Series champs who didn't do anything wrong. Losing Curt Schilling hurts only if someone else goes down. Lester and Buchholz are probably better bets now anyway.
New York Yankees: 94-68
--Putting a lot of chips on The Big 3. This is a team that could easily win 100+ games, but also struggle to win 90. They're counting on rebound years from Giambi, Damon and Abreu.
Toronto Blue Jays: 83-79
--They're in a tough place. I think they should have made a move in a year when Boston's getting old and New York's banking on unknowns. Rolen helps the defense (and in turn, the pitching) but I have doubts as to how well he'll hold up on the turf.
Tampa Bay Rays: 82-80
--What? Over .500 for the never-good Rays? I like the young talent they've accumulated and I love the young talent that hasn't quite reached the bigs yet. They're definitely moving in the right direction.
Baltimore Orioles: 67-95
--They did what they needed to do. It's not going to be pretty, and it'll hurt pretty bad this year, but they'll be glad they did it in a few years.
AL Central
Cleveland Indians 90-72
--I still stand by the old truth that pitching wins. And I like Cleveland's pitching 10x more than I do Detroit's. I really think they need to add a bat before the trade deadline to put them over the top, but the division is down a little.
Detroit Tigers 89-73
--Dontrelle had a 5.17 ERA in a NL pitcher's park. Maybe he'll be more motivated in Detroit, but I wouldn't count on it. The offense is scary, but the rotation is paper-thin and the bullpen is ravaged by injury.
Chicago White Sox 77-85
--Bought when they should have sold. They wasted a lot of money and a lot of young talent to finish third. I didn't understand the re-signing of Uribe after the trade for Cabrera. Normally I like Kenny Williams, but he confused me this winter.
Kansas City Royals 73-89
--Didn't like some of their moves (trading for Callapso) but Moore's doing a good job bringing the Royals back slowly.
Minnesota Twins 71-91
--Overplayed their hand with Johan Santana and then swapped their next best pitcher in Matt Garza. Also lost innings-eater Carlos Silva to Seattle. They'll depend on some promising young pitching, but unlike the Yankees, they don't have the offense to bail them out.
AL West
Los Angeles Angels 92-70
--Stacked with pitching and outfielders. They should easily win this division
Seattle Mariners 77-85
--Bedard helps them a little this year in the fact he replaces Jeff Weaver. He'll probably leave after '09 and they traded a bunch of prospects to get him. Carlos Silva was dumb though.
Texas Rangers 73-89
--Like the direction and the farm system. Still a few years away from contention, but making forward progress
Oakland Athletics 72-90
--Yuck. Got a ton back for Dan Haren, but they certainly aren't going to win this year or anytime soon. Moneyball is nice, but hasn't really paid ultimate dividends for Beane and his A's.
NL East
New York Mets 96-66
--Johan Santana is worth about 8 wins or so for any National League team. I expect Santana to completely dominate the National League and the Mets should be the favorite to play in the World Series.
Atlanta Braves 86-76
--There should be some concern about how well the rotation will hold up, but the offense should be a go once they settle on a centerfielder to replace Andruw Jones.
Philadelphia Phillies 84-78
--They got hot at the right time last year, and I don't think it'll hold over to this year. Brad Lidge must return to pre-Pujols form to balance the bullpen.
Washington Nationals 76-86
--There's not much to get excited about with this team. They made some moves bringing in questionable character guys, but they certainly could pay off if they shape up.
Florida Marlins 72-90
--No Willis, no Cabrera, no chance. They're making strides for a new ballpark, but we may see more 325-attendance games.
NL Central
Chicago Cubs 89-73
--They'll feast on pathetic division competition and then be knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, just like last year. Fukudome won't be anything special and they certainly won't make Ryan Dempster look smart.
Milwaukee Brewers 85-77
--The pitching is hit or miss most days and they're moving their players all over the diamond. They'll be right around where they were las year.
Cincinnati Reds 79-83
--They've got some great prospects that will spend this year learning and adjusting. Just not contending.
Houston Astros 74-88
--The stripped their farm system for this? They didn't address their pitching enough and after Roy Oswalt, there's nothing.
St. Louis Cardinals 74-88
--Their starting pitching might be thinner than even Houston's. If Pujols needs Tommy John surgery, this season will be a complete waste of time. I am excited to see Rasmus in person though.
Pittsburgh Pirates 71-91
--Need a long time and a lot of moves. They should move Jason Bay and start rebuilding. Again.
NL West
Los Angeles Dodgers 88-74
--They underperform so frequently and consistently, it's almost painful to pick them. But when their pitching gets hurt in Spring Training, I'll pick someone new.
Arizona Diamondbacks 86-76
--Haren upgrades the rotation, but they gave up a lot for him. They had a lot of luck on their side last year, and will probably fall off a little in 08.
San Diego Padres 86-76
--If only Chris Young could pitch at Petco every time out. Jim Edmonds is a downgrade from Mike Cameron in every facet of the game. Except steroid suspensions.
Colorado Rockies 81-81
--Another team rolling the dice on young pitching. Another team that probably won't have the same amount of luck as they did last year. Beatdown in the World Series will probably take a toll on them.
San Francisco Giants 70-92
--They've got some great young pitchers, but no hitting. They overpaid to see Aaron Rowand's offense fall off the map and are stuck with Barry Zito for six more years.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Phil Hughes' Blog
Blogs are great. I love them. They're an excellent source for timely updates on things, although they aren't always necessarily credible sources for important issues.
But they're also a fantastic way for individuals to write out their thoughts and opinions for others to read and then provide opinions and feedback. Lately, it seems that professional athletes have been getting caught up in the hype of blogging as well. Some athletes are better at it than others. Some athletes try to be actual journalists, which they certainly aren't (like Curt Schilling) but some athletes just get it. They understand that a blog should be fun and entertaining.
Yankees 21-year old uber-prospect Phil Hughes picked up a blog a few months ago. He understands what a blog is truly about for a pro athlete. He provides a great picture of what the Major Leagues are like for me, the casual fan. He tells his readers about what he does on his off days, posts pictures of his life and interviews his teammates (including non-baseball stuff).
But the one thing he does that's awesome is he holds contests. He picks stuff that's normal to him, but awesome to fans and gives it away. A game-used ball from his first playoff win, a ball signed by the Yankees and his extra warm-up pullovers have been featured in contests so far. It's not hard to enter them, it's sometimes as simple and just posting a comment and or guessing his favorite quote from The Office. He pays to ship it to you and everything.
This is a kid who gets it. He knows he's New York's poster boy and he doesn't go around thinking he's the big man on campus. He knows his place and he's simply a kid a year older than I am doing a man's job. It's awesome and I respect him for that.
But they're also a fantastic way for individuals to write out their thoughts and opinions for others to read and then provide opinions and feedback. Lately, it seems that professional athletes have been getting caught up in the hype of blogging as well. Some athletes are better at it than others. Some athletes try to be actual journalists, which they certainly aren't (like Curt Schilling) but some athletes just get it. They understand that a blog should be fun and entertaining.
Yankees 21-year old uber-prospect Phil Hughes picked up a blog a few months ago. He understands what a blog is truly about for a pro athlete. He provides a great picture of what the Major Leagues are like for me, the casual fan. He tells his readers about what he does on his off days, posts pictures of his life and interviews his teammates (including non-baseball stuff).
But the one thing he does that's awesome is he holds contests. He picks stuff that's normal to him, but awesome to fans and gives it away. A game-used ball from his first playoff win, a ball signed by the Yankees and his extra warm-up pullovers have been featured in contests so far. It's not hard to enter them, it's sometimes as simple and just posting a comment and or guessing his favorite quote from The Office. He pays to ship it to you and everything.
This is a kid who gets it. He knows he's New York's poster boy and he doesn't go around thinking he's the big man on campus. He knows his place and he's simply a kid a year older than I am doing a man's job. It's awesome and I respect him for that.
What Nate's Reading Now - Feb. 20
I peruse the the news every morning to see what's happening in our world and thought that for those of you who don't, I could share with you what I'm reading. What's Nate's Reading Now will be reserved mostly just for things I find interesting. Nothing earth-shattering or controversial, just short, fun little things I find on my daily excursions over the World Wide Web.
I love Gary Hubbel. He's a columnist for the Aspen Times Weekly and is a certified journalistic and satirical genius.He writes about a group being ignored in the 2008 Presidential race. While every candidate is pandering over special-interest groups, one is being ignored and overlooked.
Here's a nice, upstanding Mexican man. He's a hard-working 22-year old that was arrested the other day for human trafficking. Unfortunately for him, he's been arrested and deported 14 times previously. Hmm...perhaps 1, 2, 15 strikes and you're out?
This mand found a surefire way to deter his smoker girlfriend. How, you ask? Well, when his girlfriend lit up in his apartment he simply grabbed his fire extinguisher and emptied it in her face. I'm going to start carrying a fire extinguisher around with me and utilize this practice on the many smokers here. The man managed to put out the cigarette.
Bet you know a lot about the Presidents. Here's a few things you may not have known. Bet you don't know which President had an annoying habit of ringing the White House doorbell and then running off to hide. (No, it's not Dubya...)
ALBINO MOOSE!!!
I love Gary Hubbel. He's a columnist for the Aspen Times Weekly and is a certified journalistic and satirical genius.He writes about a group being ignored in the 2008 Presidential race. While every candidate is pandering over special-interest groups, one is being ignored and overlooked.
Here's a nice, upstanding Mexican man. He's a hard-working 22-year old that was arrested the other day for human trafficking. Unfortunately for him, he's been arrested and deported 14 times previously. Hmm...perhaps 1, 2, 15 strikes and you're out?
This mand found a surefire way to deter his smoker girlfriend. How, you ask? Well, when his girlfriend lit up in his apartment he simply grabbed his fire extinguisher and emptied it in her face. I'm going to start carrying a fire extinguisher around with me and utilize this practice on the many smokers here. The man managed to put out the cigarette.
Bet you know a lot about the Presidents. Here's a few things you may not have known. Bet you don't know which President had an annoying habit of ringing the White House doorbell and then running off to hide. (No, it's not Dubya...)
ALBINO MOOSE!!!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
What is Barack Obama?
I've been talking on and off again with people about Barack Obama lately. As a Republican primary voter, I'm not paying a whole lot of attention to the Democratic candidates or thoroughly researching their policies and plans. I only know surface information on both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, more so Hillary. This note isn't intended to berate either of the candidates, it's simply a fact finding mission.
I read the other day that there have been several faintings at Barak Obama appearances over the past few weeks. I assume it's the same thing that happened with the Beatles or Elvis. Women get so overcome with emotion upon seeing their idol that the excitement just gets the best of them and they faint. But I don't get it, apart from being an energetic and charismatic public speaker, I can't seem to see anything of substance that Barack Obama stands for.
So tell me, my democratic and liberal friends, what exactly is Barack Obama? At this point he's not much more than a campaign speech.
I read the other day that there have been several faintings at Barak Obama appearances over the past few weeks. I assume it's the same thing that happened with the Beatles or Elvis. Women get so overcome with emotion upon seeing their idol that the excitement just gets the best of them and they faint. But I don't get it, apart from being an energetic and charismatic public speaker, I can't seem to see anything of substance that Barack Obama stands for.
- What does Obama stand for? And don't say "hope and change." Those are non-answers. They don't count. They're vague ideas that wan't actually do anything
- Can you tell me two specific policy initiatives Obama has proposed? See if you can get past national health care and higher taxes on the evil rich, that's nothing new from Democrats.
- Name 3 Obama accomplishments - and being elected Senator doesn't count .. there are 99 others in office right now who pulled that one off.
So tell me, my democratic and liberal friends, what exactly is Barack Obama? At this point he's not much more than a campaign speech.
Torgos Basketball: Game 3
TORGOS 44, GARVEYS 35
The Torgos were down a player tonight due to an illness to Tepper, but still managed to pull out a tough win. Jaryd led all scorers for the Torgos with 12 and the Torgos had three players grab at least nine rebounds. The Torgos came out hot with Mike dropping in the game's first four points. The Torgos built a 10-point halftime lead, saw it cut to 4 with back-to-back threes early in the second half then pulled away near the end. The Torgos held a 16-2 second chance points advantage and out-rebounded the Garveys 50-22. The Torgos look to end the regular season on a strong note with a win against the MBAA team next Tuesday at 11pm on Court 10.
My final line was 14 minutes, 2 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 personal foul.
The Torgos were down a player tonight due to an illness to Tepper, but still managed to pull out a tough win. Jaryd led all scorers for the Torgos with 12 and the Torgos had three players grab at least nine rebounds. The Torgos came out hot with Mike dropping in the game's first four points. The Torgos built a 10-point halftime lead, saw it cut to 4 with back-to-back threes early in the second half then pulled away near the end. The Torgos held a 16-2 second chance points advantage and out-rebounded the Garveys 50-22. The Torgos look to end the regular season on a strong note with a win against the MBAA team next Tuesday at 11pm on Court 10.
My final line was 14 minutes, 2 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 personal foul.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Torgos Basketball: Game 2
TORGOS 43, TURKEYS 23
The game was called due to the mercy rule. The mercy rule is called if a team is winning by 20 points or more with two minutes or less left to play, or if a team is ever winning by 50 points. The Torgos shut down a second consecutive team, holding them to under 25 points. Jaryd Wilson and Roberto Ruiz led the offensive output and solidified another stout defensive effort. The Turkeys played a very loose 2-3 zone defense that Mike and Roberto routinely cut through the defense. Carl was injured (back) midway through the second half and Kyle was docked a sportsmanship point for inappropriate commentary throughout the game.
My final line was 10 minutes, 0 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals.
The game was called due to the mercy rule. The mercy rule is called if a team is winning by 20 points or more with two minutes or less left to play, or if a team is ever winning by 50 points. The Torgos shut down a second consecutive team, holding them to under 25 points. Jaryd Wilson and Roberto Ruiz led the offensive output and solidified another stout defensive effort. The Turkeys played a very loose 2-3 zone defense that Mike and Roberto routinely cut through the defense. Carl was injured (back) midway through the second half and Kyle was docked a sportsmanship point for inappropriate commentary throughout the game.
My final line was 10 minutes, 0 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Analyzing the 2008 PECOTA Yankees
PECOTA (Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm) is a sabermetric system for predicting Major League Baseball player performance that was invented by Nate Silver in 2002-2003 and introduced to the public in the book Baseball Prospectus 2003. Every year, PECOTA releases its predictions for everything baseball related. Every stat for every player and team records. And they're usually insanely accurate. Last year they predicted the final records of 26 teams to within 5 games of their actual records. That's pretty damn good. So I put a lot of stock into their predictions. This year, the top of the AL East looks like this:
Yankees: 103-59
Red Sox: 101-61
No team won 100 games in 2007 so having two winning 100 this year surprised me a little. And I was further surprised when I saw PECOTA's individual player predictions. Their player predictions are generally less accurate than their team predictions due to uncontrollable circumstances, but they are still closer on average than anyone else.
Note that the DH and 1B position is a mess (as well as LF if Hideki Matsui's knee is still troublesome) so I simply went with Damon and Giambi to fill out the lineup, although it's certainly possible that someone along the lines of Morgan Ensberg, Shelley Duncan or Juan Miranda steps up and take one or both of those spots. Still, with Giambi projected to a .796 OPS and Damon to a .772 OPS, it seems unlikely those guys will bring much more than that. That Yankees lineup would score 916 runs in 2008, down from the 969 they scored in 2007, but 916 will still probably lead the Majors. Offense is not a problem for the Yankees. It's the pitching.
The wins aren't what's important here, as they are the most unsubstantial stat in baseball. Wins rely more on the offense than the pitcher. All of PECOTA's pitching predictions are middle of the road predictions. Wang and Pettitte (barring injury) will throw more innings that 178 and 176, respectively. Of note is that the best ERA is Joba Chamberlain, which leads me to believe that he needs to be in the rotation as soon as possible, and in the playoffs. Because he'll need to be limited in innings, the Yankees are starting him off in the bullpen, which I think is a good idea as long as they bring him back to starting. Some plan along the lines of this would be the ideal situation:
And then the bullpen. Because of injuries and struggles of the starting rotation in 2007, the bullpen was abused and overused. That led to incredible efficiency and effectiveness in April and May and then resulted in a crash-and-burn during the summer and a total burnout (Joba Chamberlain nonwithstanding) by the end of the year.
PECOTA views the starting rotation as a more cohesive and effective unit this year with so many options, and therefore believes that the bullpen will rebound. The Yankees have 25 pitchers on their 40-man roster. That's a ton. They're hoping that one or two of those will stick as a reliable reliever. PECOTA seems to be high on Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez and even show some faith in Kyle Farnsworth. Joba starting out in the bullpen will help even more. And PECOTA doesn't project Humberto Sanchez as a bullpen option, but he may be able to go around August, and is more than capable of doing a good Joba impersonation.
The Yankees gave up 777 runs in 2007, and the 2008 PECOTA projections have the Yankees giving up 668 runs, 109 less than last year, and the main reason for the 9 win bump in their record.
I doubt that the Yankees will reach 103 wins this year, especially in the AL East, but they do seem to have some order and if they play their rookie cards right, 103 wins are certainly not out of the question. Either way, I still believe Boston is the team to beat in the American League this year, but the mix of veterans and youngsters in each organization will make for a very intriguing 2008 American League baseball season.
Pitchers and catchers report February 14th!
Yankees: 103-59
Red Sox: 101-61
No team won 100 games in 2007 so having two winning 100 this year surprised me a little. And I was further surprised when I saw PECOTA's individual player predictions. Their player predictions are generally less accurate than their team predictions due to uncontrollable circumstances, but they are still closer on average than anyone else.
Note that the DH and 1B position is a mess (as well as LF if Hideki Matsui's knee is still troublesome) so I simply went with Damon and Giambi to fill out the lineup, although it's certainly possible that someone along the lines of Morgan Ensberg, Shelley Duncan or Juan Miranda steps up and take one or both of those spots. Still, with Giambi projected to a .796 OPS and Damon to a .772 OPS, it seems unlikely those guys will bring much more than that. That Yankees lineup would score 916 runs in 2008, down from the 969 they scored in 2007, but 916 will still probably lead the Majors. Offense is not a problem for the Yankees. It's the pitching.
The wins aren't what's important here, as they are the most unsubstantial stat in baseball. Wins rely more on the offense than the pitcher. All of PECOTA's pitching predictions are middle of the road predictions. Wang and Pettitte (barring injury) will throw more innings that 178 and 176, respectively. Of note is that the best ERA is Joba Chamberlain, which leads me to believe that he needs to be in the rotation as soon as possible, and in the playoffs. Because he'll need to be limited in innings, the Yankees are starting him off in the bullpen, which I think is a good idea as long as they bring him back to starting. Some plan along the lines of this would be the ideal situation:
- Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy would stay healthy to form the rotation. All five would be needed from the outset because the Yanks have just two scheduled off-days from March 31 through May 4.
- Chamberlain stabilizes the area the Yankees profess offers their greatest uncertainty in 2008: Their setup crew in front of Mariano Rivera. The Yanks envision Chamberlain dominating in the eighth based on his 0.38 ERA and .145 batting average against in 19 regular-season games as a reliever last year.
- The Yanks see the Chamberlain/Rivera tandem helping them be a dominant late-inning team over the first two months of the season. At some point in June, the Yanks would send Chamberlain to the minors for 3-4 weeks to stretch him out to 5-6 innings in preparation to be a full-time starter in the second half.
- The Yanks hope is that over the first two months other relievers show enough fortitude/reliability to be moved into the eighth inning. Only Kyle Farnsworth and LaTroy Hawkins are guaranteed jobs. The Yanks think Girardi, who was a Cub teammate of Farnsworth for three years, might help the talented righty find greater consistency and grab the eighth inning.
And then the bullpen. Because of injuries and struggles of the starting rotation in 2007, the bullpen was abused and overused. That led to incredible efficiency and effectiveness in April and May and then resulted in a crash-and-burn during the summer and a total burnout (Joba Chamberlain nonwithstanding) by the end of the year.
PECOTA views the starting rotation as a more cohesive and effective unit this year with so many options, and therefore believes that the bullpen will rebound. The Yankees have 25 pitchers on their 40-man roster. That's a ton. They're hoping that one or two of those will stick as a reliable reliever. PECOTA seems to be high on Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez and even show some faith in Kyle Farnsworth. Joba starting out in the bullpen will help even more. And PECOTA doesn't project Humberto Sanchez as a bullpen option, but he may be able to go around August, and is more than capable of doing a good Joba impersonation.
The Yankees gave up 777 runs in 2007, and the 2008 PECOTA projections have the Yankees giving up 668 runs, 109 less than last year, and the main reason for the 9 win bump in their record.
I doubt that the Yankees will reach 103 wins this year, especially in the AL East, but they do seem to have some order and if they play their rookie cards right, 103 wins are certainly not out of the question. Either way, I still believe Boston is the team to beat in the American League this year, but the mix of veterans and youngsters in each organization will make for a very intriguing 2008 American League baseball season.
Pitchers and catchers report February 14th!
Monday, February 11, 2008
AL's Best & Worst Moves & Non-Moves
All right, time for teams that actually matter, time for the American League. They've dominated the National League for about a decade now, and it doesn't seem to be headed for a turnaround any time soon. The NL's better players keep heading over to AL teams and the American League keeps pumping out elite prospects.
AL EAST
Baltimore Orioles
Best Move: Trading Miguel Tejada to Houston. Visa and steroid problems non-withstanding, Baltimore needed to start rebuilding and bringing in a handful of decent prospects for a guy past his prime isn't too bad.
Worst Move: Doing nothing else. Bedard still hasn't been moved and if the Cubs had offered me two young arms for Brian Roberts, I'd have done it. Just ship all your guys off for prospects wait.
Boston Red Sox
Best Move: NOT trading for Johan Santana. They already had a World Series caliber rotation, and if the Yankees weren't in for him, there was no need to ship off a Jacoby Ellsbury or Jon Lester just to add $157MM.
Worst Move: I don't think they have one. Everything they've done is pretty much smart baseball. Even when everyone's least favorite loudmouth found out his shoulder sucked, they're still the favorites for the World Series.
New York Yankees
Best Move: Re-signing A-Rod. The Yankees needed Alex Rodriguez and Alex Rodriguez needed the Yankees. $275MM will most likely keep the best player in the Bronx for the rest of his career.
Worst Move: Not addressing their bullpen issue. With Joba Chamberlain looking to start and the only significant addition being LaTroy Hawkins, getting the ball from the starters to Rivera is still looking to be decided. Given, any number of the young arms could emerge as another Joba, but it probably isn't something the Yankees are too confident in counting on
Tampa Bay Rays
Best Move: Actually doing something. They started the offseason by dropping the "Devil" from their name and then spent some money locking up their young talent. They also used their extra outfielder to grab one of Minnesota's extra young starter.
Worst Move: Signing Troy Percival. He's probably not $11MM better than anything they could pull out of a loaded farm system. Maybe it'll help a little, but the dude's tossed 40 innings since 2005.
Toronto Blue Jays
Best Move: Trading Glaus for Rolen. Rolen may have the longer and larger contract and no bat, but he'll immediately help an already impressive pitching staff.
Worst Move: If there was a year that someone other than New York or Boston could win the division since the mid-90s, it would be this year. So what does Toronto do? Stockpile average-to-useless middle infielders like Marco Scutaro, David Eckstein, Russ Adams and Joe Inglett.
AL CENTRAL
Chicago White Sox
Best Move: Obtaining Carlos Quentin? The whole Brian Anderson experiment failed and Ryan Sweeney proved to be nothing as well so Quentin's as good a move as any.
Worst Move: Thinking they're a contender this year. They re-signed Juan Uribe then traded an average arm for Orlando Cabrera. They traded three prospects for Nick Swisher. And they'll still finish third at best in their division.
Cleveland Indians
Best Move: Signing Betancourt. He's been extremely reliable and consistent and $5.4MM isn't bad for two more reliable years.
Worst Move: Not adding to their offense. I'm probably talking about Jason Bay. They're weak at the outfield corners and even a Jason Bay down year is an upgrade. He's easily worth Cliff Lee and Kelly Shoppach
Detroit Tigers
Best Move: Obtaining Miguel Cabrera from the Marlins. Lots of teams talk about making a big move, but never do. The Tigers actually did. Cabrera gives them arguably the best offense in the game. Now if only Zumaya could stay healthy...
Worst Move: Extending Dontrelle Willis. That 5.17 ERA isn't going to look good once it gets through the AL exchange rate. I'd have waited until after this year to talk about an extension.
Kansas City Royals
Best Move: Moving their April 10 game from 1:00PM to 8:10PM. Now I can go.
Worst Move: Letting Arizona steal Billy Buckner from them for a middle infielder they have no room for.
Minnesota Twins
Best Move: Getting Delmon Young from Tampa Bay. The Twins had extra pitching and the Rays had extra outfielders. Very even swap and beneficial for both teams.
Worst Move: Well .. other than the Johan Debacle .. signing Adam Everett. He's just a good-glove, no-bat shortstop. But they already had Nick Punto...
AL WEST
Anaheim Angels
Best Move: Trading Orlando Cabrera. They've got a bunch of young shortstop prospects that are probably better than Cabrera. Getting a durable arm is just a plus.
Worst Move: Torri Hunter, easily. Along with GMJ2, they're paying $30MM for centerfield through 2010. And now the Angels have 6 outfielders capable of starting.
Oakland Athletics
Best Move: Gobbling up everyone's prospects. Some from the Braves for Kotsay, a bunch from Arizona for Haren and more from the White Sox for Swisher. And they still might deal Blanton.
Worst Move: Not trading Ellis and Johnson. They traded everyone else, and they want to rebuild. These guys don't belong anymore.
Seattle Mariners
Best Move: Finish the Bedard deal already. I'll tell you then.
Worst Move: Carlos Silva. Seattle is going to pay him like a #2 starter and he's probably more like a #5. Safeco helps flyball pitchers. Silva isn't one. Not even lose.
Texas Rangers
Best move: Stockpiling one-year contracts. They won't compete, but they'll stay respectable until that farm system starts paying dividends.
Worst Move: Hanging onto Hank Blalock. Chris Davis is quickly approaching. Move Blalock now for a prospect or two. San Francisco or Philly would give up a decent prospect for this guy.
AL EAST
Baltimore Orioles
Best Move: Trading Miguel Tejada to Houston. Visa and steroid problems non-withstanding, Baltimore needed to start rebuilding and bringing in a handful of decent prospects for a guy past his prime isn't too bad.
Worst Move: Doing nothing else. Bedard still hasn't been moved and if the Cubs had offered me two young arms for Brian Roberts, I'd have done it. Just ship all your guys off for prospects wait.
Boston Red Sox
Best Move: NOT trading for Johan Santana. They already had a World Series caliber rotation, and if the Yankees weren't in for him, there was no need to ship off a Jacoby Ellsbury or Jon Lester just to add $157MM.
Worst Move: I don't think they have one. Everything they've done is pretty much smart baseball. Even when everyone's least favorite loudmouth found out his shoulder sucked, they're still the favorites for the World Series.
New York Yankees
Best Move: Re-signing A-Rod. The Yankees needed Alex Rodriguez and Alex Rodriguez needed the Yankees. $275MM will most likely keep the best player in the Bronx for the rest of his career.
Worst Move: Not addressing their bullpen issue. With Joba Chamberlain looking to start and the only significant addition being LaTroy Hawkins, getting the ball from the starters to Rivera is still looking to be decided. Given, any number of the young arms could emerge as another Joba, but it probably isn't something the Yankees are too confident in counting on
Tampa Bay Rays
Best Move: Actually doing something. They started the offseason by dropping the "Devil" from their name and then spent some money locking up their young talent. They also used their extra outfielder to grab one of Minnesota's extra young starter.
Worst Move: Signing Troy Percival. He's probably not $11MM better than anything they could pull out of a loaded farm system. Maybe it'll help a little, but the dude's tossed 40 innings since 2005.
Toronto Blue Jays
Best Move: Trading Glaus for Rolen. Rolen may have the longer and larger contract and no bat, but he'll immediately help an already impressive pitching staff.
Worst Move: If there was a year that someone other than New York or Boston could win the division since the mid-90s, it would be this year. So what does Toronto do? Stockpile average-to-useless middle infielders like Marco Scutaro, David Eckstein, Russ Adams and Joe Inglett.
AL CENTRAL
Chicago White Sox
Best Move: Obtaining Carlos Quentin? The whole Brian Anderson experiment failed and Ryan Sweeney proved to be nothing as well so Quentin's as good a move as any.
Worst Move: Thinking they're a contender this year. They re-signed Juan Uribe then traded an average arm for Orlando Cabrera. They traded three prospects for Nick Swisher. And they'll still finish third at best in their division.
Cleveland Indians
Best Move: Signing Betancourt. He's been extremely reliable and consistent and $5.4MM isn't bad for two more reliable years.
Worst Move: Not adding to their offense. I'm probably talking about Jason Bay. They're weak at the outfield corners and even a Jason Bay down year is an upgrade. He's easily worth Cliff Lee and Kelly Shoppach
Detroit Tigers
Best Move: Obtaining Miguel Cabrera from the Marlins. Lots of teams talk about making a big move, but never do. The Tigers actually did. Cabrera gives them arguably the best offense in the game. Now if only Zumaya could stay healthy...
Worst Move: Extending Dontrelle Willis. That 5.17 ERA isn't going to look good once it gets through the AL exchange rate. I'd have waited until after this year to talk about an extension.
Kansas City Royals
Best Move: Moving their April 10 game from 1:00PM to 8:10PM. Now I can go.
Worst Move: Letting Arizona steal Billy Buckner from them for a middle infielder they have no room for.
Minnesota Twins
Best Move: Getting Delmon Young from Tampa Bay. The Twins had extra pitching and the Rays had extra outfielders. Very even swap and beneficial for both teams.
Worst Move: Well .. other than the Johan Debacle .. signing Adam Everett. He's just a good-glove, no-bat shortstop. But they already had Nick Punto...
AL WEST
Anaheim Angels
Best Move: Trading Orlando Cabrera. They've got a bunch of young shortstop prospects that are probably better than Cabrera. Getting a durable arm is just a plus.
Worst Move: Torri Hunter, easily. Along with GMJ2, they're paying $30MM for centerfield through 2010. And now the Angels have 6 outfielders capable of starting.
Oakland Athletics
Best Move: Gobbling up everyone's prospects. Some from the Braves for Kotsay, a bunch from Arizona for Haren and more from the White Sox for Swisher. And they still might deal Blanton.
Worst Move: Not trading Ellis and Johnson. They traded everyone else, and they want to rebuild. These guys don't belong anymore.
Seattle Mariners
Best Move: Finish the Bedard deal already. I'll tell you then.
Worst Move: Carlos Silva. Seattle is going to pay him like a #2 starter and he's probably more like a #5. Safeco helps flyball pitchers. Silva isn't one. Not even lose.
Texas Rangers
Best move: Stockpiling one-year contracts. They won't compete, but they'll stay respectable until that farm system starts paying dividends.
Worst Move: Hanging onto Hank Blalock. Chris Davis is quickly approaching. Move Blalock now for a prospect or two. San Francisco or Philly would give up a decent prospect for this guy.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Torgos Basketball
TORGOS 27, GRIFFINS 24
This semester I have ventured into the world of intramural basketball. My roommate and I joined our friends to form an 8-man team, The Torgos. Now, I won't claim to be a great basketball player, I won't even claim to be good. Actually, I'm pretty bad. But I like playing. So I figured if I joined a team I'd see a few trash minutes to run around and guard someone. On a team of eight, I'm probably the sixth or seventh best player. We play two 20-minute halves in a game with a continuous clock.
The Torgos focus mainly on their defense and we sacrifice a little offense in the process. We certainly aren't going to be putting up 50 points a game, but we're going to make every team we play work for their points. We play a 2-3 zone defense that forces a team to settle for tough outside shots.
We opened tonight's game against the Griffins strong and built an 18-8 halftime lead. I played three minutes in the first half missing my only shot, grabbing one rebound and dishing out one assist. We struggled in the second half, allowing the Griffins to pull within one point, 25-24 late in the game. After we inbounded the ball, they fouled us and Carl sank both free throws with 19 seconds left. We prevented a shot until they were forced to heave up a desperate 3-point attempt which wasn't close and we won 27-24.
My final line was 6 minutes, 2 points, 3 rebounds, one assist and zero turnovers.
This semester I have ventured into the world of intramural basketball. My roommate and I joined our friends to form an 8-man team, The Torgos. Now, I won't claim to be a great basketball player, I won't even claim to be good. Actually, I'm pretty bad. But I like playing. So I figured if I joined a team I'd see a few trash minutes to run around and guard someone. On a team of eight, I'm probably the sixth or seventh best player. We play two 20-minute halves in a game with a continuous clock.
The Torgos focus mainly on their defense and we sacrifice a little offense in the process. We certainly aren't going to be putting up 50 points a game, but we're going to make every team we play work for their points. We play a 2-3 zone defense that forces a team to settle for tough outside shots.
We opened tonight's game against the Griffins strong and built an 18-8 halftime lead. I played three minutes in the first half missing my only shot, grabbing one rebound and dishing out one assist. We struggled in the second half, allowing the Griffins to pull within one point, 25-24 late in the game. After we inbounded the ball, they fouled us and Carl sank both free throws with 19 seconds left. We prevented a shot until they were forced to heave up a desperate 3-point attempt which wasn't close and we won 27-24.
My final line was 6 minutes, 2 points, 3 rebounds, one assist and zero turnovers.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Just A Quick Thought
Alright. Sometimes Nate just decides he's bored and pages through old US Supreme Court cases. No reason other than things like this interest me. I found one this morning that got me to thinking.
In the case of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Robert P. Casey, the Supreme Court ruled that if a woman having a baby decides to have an abortion, she is freed from any legal obligation to tell the father about it. However, if the woman decides to keep the baby to collect child support, she can by all means go out and try and get it.
I won't discuss my opinion on abortion and how despicable it is, but how is this fair? I understand that men don't get pregnant, but part of that unborn child is his, he helped create it. The fact that the father has no legal say in what happens to his own unborn child is deplorable. But if the woman wants him to pay for the entire rearing of the child, even if she won't let him see the kid, is fine by the Supreme Court.
They claim that telling the father ("spousal notification") places an undue burden on a woman's rights and liberties. Excuse me, but what about the man's rights and liberties. The woman doesn't have a baby without the man (and vice versa, of course). I know that there are a ton of "dead-beat" dads in America that leave women completely alone with the child, but there are upstanding men out there that want to be fathers as well.
To allow a woman to make a decision as big as killing a child without even informing or consulting the father of the child infuriates me. But perhaps I'm just a stupid conservative.
In the case of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Robert P. Casey, the Supreme Court ruled that if a woman having a baby decides to have an abortion, she is freed from any legal obligation to tell the father about it. However, if the woman decides to keep the baby to collect child support, she can by all means go out and try and get it.
I won't discuss my opinion on abortion and how despicable it is, but how is this fair? I understand that men don't get pregnant, but part of that unborn child is his, he helped create it. The fact that the father has no legal say in what happens to his own unborn child is deplorable. But if the woman wants him to pay for the entire rearing of the child, even if she won't let him see the kid, is fine by the Supreme Court.
They claim that telling the father ("spousal notification") places an undue burden on a woman's rights and liberties. Excuse me, but what about the man's rights and liberties. The woman doesn't have a baby without the man (and vice versa, of course). I know that there are a ton of "dead-beat" dads in America that leave women completely alone with the child, but there are upstanding men out there that want to be fathers as well.
To allow a woman to make a decision as big as killing a child without even informing or consulting the father of the child infuriates me. But perhaps I'm just a stupid conservative.
The NL's Best (And Worst) Moves (and Non-Moves)
With the Johan Santana saga finally resolved the other day, I'm assuming all of the teams are done dealing. Now it's about time for pitchers and catchers to report. I've decided to look at each team's offseason move and finger their best and worst move. So here's the National League. I'll do the American League later on because as the dominant and more significant league, they deserve more of my attention. I know you're all looking forward to my picks, but those don't come until the day before the first game.
NL EAST
Atlanta Braves
Best Move: Trading Edgar Renteria to Detroit. They added two guys who will eventually make a major-league impact and opened short for Yunel Escobar.
Worst Move: Trading for Mark Kotsay. He probably won't be healthy and they don't have a ready-made solution if he goes down. They have a handful of good centerfield prospects, but they're all a year or more away.
New York Mets
Best Move: Trading for Johan Santana. Duh. And what makes it better is that the Yankees and Red Sox didn't want him, so the Mets didn't have to part with their best prospects or anyone that would be on their major league club this year. They stripped their farm system to thin levels, but they'll be the National League favorites.
Worst Move: Trading Lastings Milledge. For who? Ryan Church and Brian Schneider. Two guys who haven't been even good in a few years.
Florida Marlins
Best Move: Trading Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to Detroit. I hate the way Florida operates it's team, but if you're going to do it, getting a top 10 hitting and pitching prospect in baseball (along with a lot more) is the way to go.
Worst Move: Trading Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to Detroit. It helps for 2009 and 2010. But not now. They'll be terrible this year.
Philadelphia Phillies
Best Move: Obtaining Brad Lidge from Houston. Michael Bourn was expendable and worth a lot less than Lidge. Pujols killed Lidge's status as a dominant closer, but he'll be a lot of help to a usually suspect Philly bullpen.
Worst Move: Re-upping with JC Romero. In July he was worth a minor-league contract and after a short successful run, he's worth three guaranteed major league seasons?
Washington Nationals
Best Move: Obtaining Lastings Milledge from the Mets. A bad trade for one team is bound to be a good trade for their partner. A change of scenery will help Milledge and he'll have plenty of opportunities now.
Worst Move: Not picking their first baseman. Dmitri Young and Nick Johnson can only play first base at this point in their careers. Both a pretty good players. But they both can't play at the same time. They should have traded one of them for some pitching help.
NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs
Best Move: Parting ways with Mark Prior. Yeah, he had a good '03 and a ton of potential. But it was time for a much needed divorce.
Worst Move: Lack of middle infield activity. Fontenot, Theriot and Ronny Cedeno? The Cubs could do much better.
Houston Astros
Best Move: Trading Brad Lidge to Philadelphia. See Prior/Cubs relationship. Time for the separation on both sides.
Worst Move: Kaz Matsui's 3-year contract. What? Kaz Matsui can get a 3-year contract? Then I can probably demand one with a player option. He's no better than Chris Burke or Mark Loretta. But he is more expensive.
Cincinnati Reds
Best Move: Trading Josh Hamilton to Texas. They made room for Jay Bruce and strengthened their weak pitching staff.
Worst Move: Signing Francisco Cordero. Cincinnati isn't going anywhere this year or next, so why waste your money on a high-priced closer when you don't need one?
St. Louis Cardinals
Best Move: Uhh...I'm struggling with one here. They needed to trade Edmonds as he was a few years removed from being a threat at the plate and is still an overrated fielder. I'll settle on claiming Brian Barton in the Rule V. Solid player and lets Colby Rasmus get a shot in center.
Worst Move: If Rolen and LaRussa weren't babies, I'd have picked this one. But Rolen needed out. So signing Aaron Miles is a worse move. He'll take time away from Brendan Ryan, who they need to see if he's as good as he showed last year (I don't think so).
Milwaukee Brewers
Best Move: Signed CF Mike Cameron. Even considering his 25-game suspension to open the season, come May, the Brewers defense improves immensely. Cameron's addition enables the Brewers to move Bill Hall back to third and shift Ryan Braun's .898 fielding percentage to left.
Worst Move: Signing Eric Gagne. In a panic move after the lost Francisco Cordero, the Brewers got a closer who hasn't come close to approaching his 2002-2004 numbers.
NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Best Move: Obtaining Dan Haren. They moved quite a few pieces for him, but they were all expendable, and Haren will probably help them more the next three years than any of the pieces they moved.
Worst Move: I don't think I dislike any of their moves. Maybe moving Valverde, but he's much too inconsistent to not trade him for the old reliable Chad Qualls and change.
Colorado Rockies
Best Move: Signing Troy Tulowitzki to a six-year deal, with an option. He's really good and now his arbitration years and then some are bought out. Great deal for both sides.
Worst Move: Signing Kip Wells for $3.1 million. It's only a one-year deal, but it's Kip Wells.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Best Move: Signing Hiroki Kuorda. Instead of giving up their farm system for a Santana, Haren or Bedard or shelling out upwards of $50 million for Carlos Silva, they took a risk here. But it's a good one.
Worst Move: Signing Juan Pierre last year. With Kemp, Ethier and now Jones, Pierre is at the bottom of the depth chart. It hurts this year too.
San Diego Padres
Best move: Signing Maddux, Wolf and Prior to one-year deals. If they work out, great, if not, no long-term damage done.
Worst Move: Trading for Jim Edmonds. He's a very overrated defensive centerfielder, who won't be getting any better in a huge outfield and his offense has been slipping for four straight years.
San Francisco Giants
Best Move: Letting Bonds walk. Just like with the Cubs and Prior, it was better for both sides to move on. No one seems all that interested in Mr. Bonds now, but the Giants can finally move on not focused on Bonds.
Worst Move: Signing Aaron Rowand. The Giants aren't going to be contending anytime soon, yet they signed a centerfielder coming off a career year in a hitter's park for five years. But it's not worse than Barry Zito.
NL EAST
Atlanta Braves
Best Move: Trading Edgar Renteria to Detroit. They added two guys who will eventually make a major-league impact and opened short for Yunel Escobar.
Worst Move: Trading for Mark Kotsay. He probably won't be healthy and they don't have a ready-made solution if he goes down. They have a handful of good centerfield prospects, but they're all a year or more away.
New York Mets
Best Move: Trading for Johan Santana. Duh. And what makes it better is that the Yankees and Red Sox didn't want him, so the Mets didn't have to part with their best prospects or anyone that would be on their major league club this year. They stripped their farm system to thin levels, but they'll be the National League favorites.
Worst Move: Trading Lastings Milledge. For who? Ryan Church and Brian Schneider. Two guys who haven't been even good in a few years.
Florida Marlins
Best Move: Trading Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to Detroit. I hate the way Florida operates it's team, but if you're going to do it, getting a top 10 hitting and pitching prospect in baseball (along with a lot more) is the way to go.
Worst Move: Trading Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to Detroit. It helps for 2009 and 2010. But not now. They'll be terrible this year.
Philadelphia Phillies
Best Move: Obtaining Brad Lidge from Houston. Michael Bourn was expendable and worth a lot less than Lidge. Pujols killed Lidge's status as a dominant closer, but he'll be a lot of help to a usually suspect Philly bullpen.
Worst Move: Re-upping with JC Romero. In July he was worth a minor-league contract and after a short successful run, he's worth three guaranteed major league seasons?
Washington Nationals
Best Move: Obtaining Lastings Milledge from the Mets. A bad trade for one team is bound to be a good trade for their partner. A change of scenery will help Milledge and he'll have plenty of opportunities now.
Worst Move: Not picking their first baseman. Dmitri Young and Nick Johnson can only play first base at this point in their careers. Both a pretty good players. But they both can't play at the same time. They should have traded one of them for some pitching help.
NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs
Best Move: Parting ways with Mark Prior. Yeah, he had a good '03 and a ton of potential. But it was time for a much needed divorce.
Worst Move: Lack of middle infield activity. Fontenot, Theriot and Ronny Cedeno? The Cubs could do much better.
Houston Astros
Best Move: Trading Brad Lidge to Philadelphia. See Prior/Cubs relationship. Time for the separation on both sides.
Worst Move: Kaz Matsui's 3-year contract. What? Kaz Matsui can get a 3-year contract? Then I can probably demand one with a player option. He's no better than Chris Burke or Mark Loretta. But he is more expensive.
Cincinnati Reds
Best Move: Trading Josh Hamilton to Texas. They made room for Jay Bruce and strengthened their weak pitching staff.
Worst Move: Signing Francisco Cordero. Cincinnati isn't going anywhere this year or next, so why waste your money on a high-priced closer when you don't need one?
St. Louis Cardinals
Best Move: Uhh...I'm struggling with one here. They needed to trade Edmonds as he was a few years removed from being a threat at the plate and is still an overrated fielder. I'll settle on claiming Brian Barton in the Rule V. Solid player and lets Colby Rasmus get a shot in center.
Worst Move: If Rolen and LaRussa weren't babies, I'd have picked this one. But Rolen needed out. So signing Aaron Miles is a worse move. He'll take time away from Brendan Ryan, who they need to see if he's as good as he showed last year (I don't think so).
Milwaukee Brewers
Best Move: Signed CF Mike Cameron. Even considering his 25-game suspension to open the season, come May, the Brewers defense improves immensely. Cameron's addition enables the Brewers to move Bill Hall back to third and shift Ryan Braun's .898 fielding percentage to left.
Worst Move: Signing Eric Gagne. In a panic move after the lost Francisco Cordero, the Brewers got a closer who hasn't come close to approaching his 2002-2004 numbers.
NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Best Move: Obtaining Dan Haren. They moved quite a few pieces for him, but they were all expendable, and Haren will probably help them more the next three years than any of the pieces they moved.
Worst Move: I don't think I dislike any of their moves. Maybe moving Valverde, but he's much too inconsistent to not trade him for the old reliable Chad Qualls and change.
Colorado Rockies
Best Move: Signing Troy Tulowitzki to a six-year deal, with an option. He's really good and now his arbitration years and then some are bought out. Great deal for both sides.
Worst Move: Signing Kip Wells for $3.1 million. It's only a one-year deal, but it's Kip Wells.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Best Move: Signing Hiroki Kuorda. Instead of giving up their farm system for a Santana, Haren or Bedard or shelling out upwards of $50 million for Carlos Silva, they took a risk here. But it's a good one.
Worst Move: Signing Juan Pierre last year. With Kemp, Ethier and now Jones, Pierre is at the bottom of the depth chart. It hurts this year too.
San Diego Padres
Best move: Signing Maddux, Wolf and Prior to one-year deals. If they work out, great, if not, no long-term damage done.
Worst Move: Trading for Jim Edmonds. He's a very overrated defensive centerfielder, who won't be getting any better in a huge outfield and his offense has been slipping for four straight years.
San Francisco Giants
Best Move: Letting Bonds walk. Just like with the Cubs and Prior, it was better for both sides to move on. No one seems all that interested in Mr. Bonds now, but the Giants can finally move on not focused on Bonds.
Worst Move: Signing Aaron Rowand. The Giants aren't going to be contending anytime soon, yet they signed a centerfielder coming off a career year in a hitter's park for five years. But it's not worse than Barry Zito.
Today's Idiot: Veronica McNeil
Today's Idiot is a married woman with two children. She was recently fired from her job.
Mrs. McNeil, citing the rising gas and home heating oil prices, told CNN that money was getting tight for her family. While her husband managed to keep his job, the family was still struggling to keep their home heated during the cold Chicago months.
Awww, how sad, right? No, not really. Mrs. McNeil just purchased a flat-screen television with which to view the Super Bowl this Sunday. These are the examples that make me have to pity for the poor. When you complain about not being able to heat your home or afford healthcare, yet you make unnecessary and expensive purchases like cell phones, flat-screen televisions, car payments on fancy cars, vacations and lottery tickets.
Just because personal responsibility and wise financial decisions are lost to these people, doesn't give them the right to complain.
Mrs. McNeil, citing the rising gas and home heating oil prices, told CNN that money was getting tight for her family. While her husband managed to keep his job, the family was still struggling to keep their home heated during the cold Chicago months.
Awww, how sad, right? No, not really. Mrs. McNeil just purchased a flat-screen television with which to view the Super Bowl this Sunday. These are the examples that make me have to pity for the poor. When you complain about not being able to heat your home or afford healthcare, yet you make unnecessary and expensive purchases like cell phones, flat-screen televisions, car payments on fancy cars, vacations and lottery tickets.
Just because personal responsibility and wise financial decisions are lost to these people, doesn't give them the right to complain.
The "Poor" Poor
If you know me, then you know I have little to no sympathy for the supposed "poor" people living in poverty in this country. You tell me they've been screwed by big companies and evil Republicans. So imagine my outrage when I came across this article, outlining just how "poor" America's poor really are.
According to the US Census Bureau, 35MM Americans live in poverty. But only a marginal percent of those are actually poor. I like this quote from the article:
People say that I'm guilty of generalizing the poor, and often times I do. But for those that truly are victims of circumstance I do truly have sympathy for, and support programs to help them. But to support those people who could support themselves if they sacrificed a little is asinine.
People want me to stop generalizing the poor. I want them to stop categorizing the people in the studies above that aren't poor! People don't need televisions, extra cars, fancy DVD players and designer clothes. And if having those "wants" prevents someone from having "needs" then I have a problem.
- Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.
- Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.
- Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.
- The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)
- Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars.
- Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.
- Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.
- Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher.
According to the US Census Bureau, 35MM Americans live in poverty. But only a marginal percent of those are actually poor. I like this quote from the article:
The typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his essential needs. While this individual's life is not opulent, it is equally far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed by the press, liberal activists, and politicians."
People say that I'm guilty of generalizing the poor, and often times I do. But for those that truly are victims of circumstance I do truly have sympathy for, and support programs to help them. But to support those people who could support themselves if they sacrificed a little is asinine.
People want me to stop generalizing the poor. I want them to stop categorizing the people in the studies above that aren't poor! People don't need televisions, extra cars, fancy DVD players and designer clothes. And if having those "wants" prevents someone from having "needs" then I have a problem.
Monday, January 28, 2008
America's Stupid Sense of Entitlement
Here in America, we believe that this is a country of opportunity. The opportunity to escape persecution, the opportunity to live as we want and the opportunity to make something of ourselves.
But many people confuse these opportunities as things that someone else will provide for them. People expect the government to give them money to provide for their children, healthcare for themselves and their families, or money after they stop working. But this isn't the way that this country needs to operate. And why should it?
Why should anyone be required to provide for other people? I understand and completely support charities, but these sorts of programs and organizations should be completely voluntary.
You'll hear Democrats and other liberal figures tell you all about the "evil" rich. That these people didn't really earn their money, but rather stumbled into by good fortune. And while this philosophy pertains to certain cases, it's certainly more probable that these rich people made their money honestly, by working hard and making smart decisions. These people are excellent for America and its' society, both social and economical. By no means should they be taxed at a higher rate than the people that earn less than they do, at least, not for the reason of supporting the lesser-earners.
I can find no sensical reason for the government to pay welfare to families to support and maintain children that they can't afford, yet the government continually refuses to support and maintain a private jet for me. The Deomcrat's solution to families that have kids they can't afford is to pay them so they can afford to moderately support them. I have a better idea. Don't have the kids. Not getting pregnant is as easy as not having sex. I understand you're poor and therefore have nothing else to do except have lots and lots of sex, but it's irresponsible. America is slowly but surely turning personal responsibility and achievement out of our society. Successful members of our country are viewed as "lucky" or "underhanded" and unsuccessful members are simply viewed as victims of unfortunate circumstances. There are too few people willing to call these people what they really are: lazy and a drain on society.
These people have this unfounded sense of entitlement. They feel that they should be given free healthcare. Why? Because they a) don't have a job that provides it and refuse to try and get one or b) can't afford it. You'll hear Democrats from Harry Reid to Ted Kennedy tell you about the ever-growing number of people in this country that don't have a healthcare plan. What they fail to mention is that the fastest growing demographic without a healthcare plan is those that have worked hard enough and made enough money to in effect "self-insure" themselves. You won't hear that out of Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.
You are not entitled to anything of mine hear in America. The only people that are entitled to what I have is my wife (or, if you're female, your husband). I have worked hard for what I have and while I don't mind paying taxes to support the ensured safety of this country, or other domestic projects that better the quality of my life (sales taxes) I do take offense to having to provide for those who refuse to provide for themselves. While I may choose to provide relief for the "have-nots" I, and millions of other Americans should not be required by law to do so. By taxing high-income earners at a higher rate, you are effectively punishing personal achievement. But I forgot, to liberals, that's a bad thing that apparently should be discouraged.
But many people confuse these opportunities as things that someone else will provide for them. People expect the government to give them money to provide for their children, healthcare for themselves and their families, or money after they stop working. But this isn't the way that this country needs to operate. And why should it?
Why should anyone be required to provide for other people? I understand and completely support charities, but these sorts of programs and organizations should be completely voluntary.
You'll hear Democrats and other liberal figures tell you all about the "evil" rich. That these people didn't really earn their money, but rather stumbled into by good fortune. And while this philosophy pertains to certain cases, it's certainly more probable that these rich people made their money honestly, by working hard and making smart decisions. These people are excellent for America and its' society, both social and economical. By no means should they be taxed at a higher rate than the people that earn less than they do, at least, not for the reason of supporting the lesser-earners.
I can find no sensical reason for the government to pay welfare to families to support and maintain children that they can't afford, yet the government continually refuses to support and maintain a private jet for me. The Deomcrat's solution to families that have kids they can't afford is to pay them so they can afford to moderately support them. I have a better idea. Don't have the kids. Not getting pregnant is as easy as not having sex. I understand you're poor and therefore have nothing else to do except have lots and lots of sex, but it's irresponsible. America is slowly but surely turning personal responsibility and achievement out of our society. Successful members of our country are viewed as "lucky" or "underhanded" and unsuccessful members are simply viewed as victims of unfortunate circumstances. There are too few people willing to call these people what they really are: lazy and a drain on society.
These people have this unfounded sense of entitlement. They feel that they should be given free healthcare. Why? Because they a) don't have a job that provides it and refuse to try and get one or b) can't afford it. You'll hear Democrats from Harry Reid to Ted Kennedy tell you about the ever-growing number of people in this country that don't have a healthcare plan. What they fail to mention is that the fastest growing demographic without a healthcare plan is those that have worked hard enough and made enough money to in effect "self-insure" themselves. You won't hear that out of Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.
You are not entitled to anything of mine hear in America. The only people that are entitled to what I have is my wife (or, if you're female, your husband). I have worked hard for what I have and while I don't mind paying taxes to support the ensured safety of this country, or other domestic projects that better the quality of my life (sales taxes) I do take offense to having to provide for those who refuse to provide for themselves. While I may choose to provide relief for the "have-nots" I, and millions of other Americans should not be required by law to do so. By taxing high-income earners at a higher rate, you are effectively punishing personal achievement. But I forgot, to liberals, that's a bad thing that apparently should be discouraged.
Friday, January 25, 2008
My American Politics Class
I knew this class would be fun when I scheduled it. I expected trouble as a political-savvy and educated conservative at a liberal University. But it just got better.
On the first day of class (Wednesday) we introduced ourselves and named a figure in politics that we liked. There was too much Obama, Clinton and Oprah to make me think this class will challenge me politically. After these superfluous introductions, the professor passed out this short "Political Knowledge" quiz.
Name the following political figures/governmental facts:
1. President of the United States: ____________________
2. Vice President of the United States: ____________________
3. Speaker of the US House: ____________________
4. US Senate Majority Leader: ____________________
5. US Secretary of State: ____________________
6. Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court: ____________________
7. First US President: ____________________
8. Three Branches of the federal government:
____________________
____________________
____________________
Your truly, of course, was able to correctly answer all these simple questions about US politics. Could you? My politics class couldn't. Here are the correct answers and the percentage of the class that could answer correctly:
1. President of the United States: George W. Bush (100%)
2. Vice President of the United States: Dick Cheney (88%)
3. Speaker of the US House: Nancy Pelosi (28%)
4. US Senate Majority Leader: Harry Reid (8%)
5. US Secretary of State: Condoleezza Rice (56%)
6. Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court: Justice John Roberts (16%)
7. First US President: George Washington (88%)
8. Three Branches of the federal government:
Executive, Legislative, Judicial (68%)
So the class as a whole, managed a 57% on the quiz. Take out my ringer 100% and it goes down to 53%. So basically, I get to spend an entire semester debating against a bunch of Democrats who can't all name our first president. Ironic, isn't it that the two people who knew who Harry Reid (absolutely a Democrat) were conservatives? The liberals don't even know their own majority leader.
I'd be willing to bet more people that plan on voting for Barack Obama don't even know which state he represents in the Senate. And a lot of them are in my class.
On the first day of class (Wednesday) we introduced ourselves and named a figure in politics that we liked. There was too much Obama, Clinton and Oprah to make me think this class will challenge me politically. After these superfluous introductions, the professor passed out this short "Political Knowledge" quiz.
Name the following political figures/governmental facts:
1. President of the United States: ____________________
2. Vice President of the United States: ____________________
3. Speaker of the US House: ____________________
4. US Senate Majority Leader: ____________________
5. US Secretary of State: ____________________
6. Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court: ____________________
7. First US President: ____________________
8. Three Branches of the federal government:
____________________
____________________
____________________
Your truly, of course, was able to correctly answer all these simple questions about US politics. Could you? My politics class couldn't. Here are the correct answers and the percentage of the class that could answer correctly:
1. President of the United States: George W. Bush (100%)
2. Vice President of the United States: Dick Cheney (88%)
3. Speaker of the US House: Nancy Pelosi (28%)
4. US Senate Majority Leader: Harry Reid (8%)
5. US Secretary of State: Condoleezza Rice (56%)
6. Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court: Justice John Roberts (16%)
7. First US President: George Washington (88%)
8. Three Branches of the federal government:
Executive, Legislative, Judicial (68%)
So the class as a whole, managed a 57% on the quiz. Take out my ringer 100% and it goes down to 53%. So basically, I get to spend an entire semester debating against a bunch of Democrats who can't all name our first president. Ironic, isn't it that the two people who knew who Harry Reid (absolutely a Democrat) were conservatives? The liberals don't even know their own majority leader.
I'd be willing to bet more people that plan on voting for Barack Obama don't even know which state he represents in the Senate. And a lot of them are in my class.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Today's Idiot: Randi Kaye (and Jehmu Greene)
Randi (which is a misspelling of the name Randy) Kaye wrote an article today entitled "Gender or race: Black women voters face tough choices in S.C."
This is outrageous. Her article insinuates that black women in South Carolina should either vote for Obama because he's black or Hillary because she's female. Voting for someone because they're best qualified apparently isn't taken into a voter's consideration to Randi.
Jehmu (I'm not sure what that one's a misspelling of) Greene, a black woman they found in a salon said that in the black community she lives in "race trumps gender". She also goes on to say that "black women are politically savvy." My ass. Just take a look at yesterday's idiot. Using demographics, black women would be very low on my list of groups that are "politically savvy."
The article also discusses the "Oprah Factor." Jehmu gives some long-winded explanation about this factor which basically boils down to "Oprah supports Obama, and we do everything Oprah tells us to." Good voting strategy, it's the same one that is utilized in middle schools and high schools across America. It's good to see that these women are at least capable of following a middle school level practice.
I will admit, that I like Obama much better than I like Hillary. While Hillary wallows in attracting the uneducated Democratic masses with her promises of taking money from the evil rich people and giving it to these uneducated poor people, Obama is attracting support from the educated liberal academia folk.
Did you know that every Princeton faculty member that has donated money to a political campaign has donated to a Democrat? Not one has given money to a Republican candidate. And since these professors are educated, their candidate of support was Barack Obama. Overwhelmingly. Clinton was way behind, along with Richardson, Edwards and Dodd.
This election is probably going to see a higher turnout of voters than we're used to. The only challenge should be, "should I vote for this candidate's platform or this other candidate's platform." Not should I vote for the black guy or the woman. These people are going to kill the election. Black women that think a "hanging chad" is a well-endowed man named Chad are going to be voting for the first time in a long time, if not ever.
Voter Qualification Exam. Institute one, America.
This is outrageous. Her article insinuates that black women in South Carolina should either vote for Obama because he's black or Hillary because she's female. Voting for someone because they're best qualified apparently isn't taken into a voter's consideration to Randi.
Jehmu (I'm not sure what that one's a misspelling of) Greene, a black woman they found in a salon said that in the black community she lives in "race trumps gender". She also goes on to say that "black women are politically savvy." My ass. Just take a look at yesterday's idiot. Using demographics, black women would be very low on my list of groups that are "politically savvy."
The article also discusses the "Oprah Factor." Jehmu gives some long-winded explanation about this factor which basically boils down to "Oprah supports Obama, and we do everything Oprah tells us to." Good voting strategy, it's the same one that is utilized in middle schools and high schools across America. It's good to see that these women are at least capable of following a middle school level practice.
I will admit, that I like Obama much better than I like Hillary. While Hillary wallows in attracting the uneducated Democratic masses with her promises of taking money from the evil rich people and giving it to these uneducated poor people, Obama is attracting support from the educated liberal academia folk.
Did you know that every Princeton faculty member that has donated money to a political campaign has donated to a Democrat? Not one has given money to a Republican candidate. And since these professors are educated, their candidate of support was Barack Obama. Overwhelmingly. Clinton was way behind, along with Richardson, Edwards and Dodd.
This election is probably going to see a higher turnout of voters than we're used to. The only challenge should be, "should I vote for this candidate's platform or this other candidate's platform." Not should I vote for the black guy or the woman. These people are going to kill the election. Black women that think a "hanging chad" is a well-endowed man named Chad are going to be voting for the first time in a long time, if not ever.
Voter Qualification Exam. Institute one, America.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Today's Idiot: The Doss Family
I was watching Family Feud today for lack of anything else to do and for those of you not familiar with the game, I'll explain. 100 people are asked a question and contestants must guess the top answers.
Two families compete against each other and one of the families today was the family. The Doss family consisted of five black women. And they got this question.
Name the Presidential candidate that is most presidential.
Now there were seven answers that needed to be filled. In Family Fued if you miss three times, then the question passes to the other family. The Doss family proceeded to offer these answers.
Hillary Clinton (1)
Barack Obama (2)
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Ronald Reagan
Needless to say, the question passed to the other family that stole the points when they said Mitt Romney. The Doss family really struggled to come up with names. I'm fairly certain that the entire family seriously thought Washington, Jefferson and Reagan were Presidential candidates. But come November, they'll all be able to vote and will vote for either Hillary Clinton (because she's a woman) or Barack Obama (because he's "black").
Five members from one family could only come up with 2 Presidential candidates. My family could probably come up with over a dozen. Why? Because we care more about the welfare of this country than who's going to give us the most stuff from the rich.
There needs to be some sort of voter qualification test. We can't expect our country to improve if we allow people to vote that think George Washington is running for President.
Even more disturbing is that 38 out of 100 people thought Hillary Clinton was the "most Presidential" candidate. She's probably the least Presidential of all the candidates.
At least the Doss Family will have the option of writing George Washington in on the ballot.
Two families compete against each other and one of the families today was the family. The Doss family consisted of five black women. And they got this question.
Name the Presidential candidate that is most presidential.
Now there were seven answers that needed to be filled. In Family Fued if you miss three times, then the question passes to the other family. The Doss family proceeded to offer these answers.
Hillary Clinton (1)
Barack Obama (2)
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Ronald Reagan
Needless to say, the question passed to the other family that stole the points when they said Mitt Romney. The Doss family really struggled to come up with names. I'm fairly certain that the entire family seriously thought Washington, Jefferson and Reagan were Presidential candidates. But come November, they'll all be able to vote and will vote for either Hillary Clinton (because she's a woman) or Barack Obama (because he's "black").
Five members from one family could only come up with 2 Presidential candidates. My family could probably come up with over a dozen. Why? Because we care more about the welfare of this country than who's going to give us the most stuff from the rich.
There needs to be some sort of voter qualification test. We can't expect our country to improve if we allow people to vote that think George Washington is running for President.
Even more disturbing is that 38 out of 100 people thought Hillary Clinton was the "most Presidential" candidate. She's probably the least Presidential of all the candidates.
At least the Doss Family will have the option of writing George Washington in on the ballot.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Drivers In Between GA & MO
I made a 12-hour drive from Atlanta to Missouri today. And for fun, by the time I hit 75 N, I decided to count the number of times I silently cursed at a driver and make a tally.
By the time I exited I-70, exit 126 I had tallied 114 different vehicles, some of them multiple times. Here's how they broke down:
-67 women
-38 men
-9 unidentified (windows tinted, exited highway, etc.)
-About 40 or so weren't white (Asian, Black, Indian, Middle Eastern, Hispanic, etc.)
-About 20 on the phone
-About 20 older drivers
-8 cars had Greek letters on them.
-10 or 12 had liberal bumper stickers
-1 had a conservative emblem on the back
Which pretty much solidify my assumptions on stupid drivers. I wish I could have collected more information like car model, where they were from and such, but those are harder to record while driving.
By the time I exited I-70, exit 126 I had tallied 114 different vehicles, some of them multiple times. Here's how they broke down:
-67 women
-38 men
-9 unidentified (windows tinted, exited highway, etc.)
-About 40 or so weren't white (Asian, Black, Indian, Middle Eastern, Hispanic, etc.)
-About 20 on the phone
-About 20 older drivers
-8 cars had Greek letters on them.
-10 or 12 had liberal bumper stickers
-1 had a conservative emblem on the back
Which pretty much solidify my assumptions on stupid drivers. I wish I could have collected more information like car model, where they were from and such, but those are harder to record while driving.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Today's Idiot: Cynthia Tucker
Allow me to introduce you guys to Cynthia Tucker. Ms. Tucker is black, a woman and a journalist – the editor of the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s editorial page to be precise. Now, using the facts that we have about Ms. Tucker we can make an educated guess that she is liberal. By reading her opinion article on voter ID requirements we confirm that she is indeed a liberal. And the stupid, bleeding heart type.
States are beginning to move towards adopting policy that all voters must present a valid, government-issued ID. I don’t have a problem with this and neither should any legal US citizen. But Ms. Tucker does. She complains that a Mary-Jo Criswell had her vote nullified because she failed to show a valid ID. Tucker goes on to say
“Citizens like Criswell are Americans, too, and they have every right to vote, just like it says in the Bill of Rights.”
Assuming that Criswell is in fact an American citizen, then Tucker is 1-for-3 in her statement. Criswell is an American, but she does not have “every right to vote” and it certainly doesn’t say that in the Bill of Rights. Not America’s Bill of Rights, anyways. Sometimes I wonder if these left-leaning journalists know that what they’re saying is a complete and utter untruth or if they’re actually just dumb enough to believe the crap they make up.
Addressing her claims, there is no Constitutional right to vote in a federal election. There is no Constitutional right to vote for the President of the United States. It isn’t in the Bill of Rights. Makes me wonder if she actually knows what the Bill of Rights is, or if she’s simply another democratic drone distorting information she heard, but can’t fully remember, from another bleeding heart.
Remember Bush vs. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board? It’s a Supreme Court case from 2000 that ruled that there is no right to vote in a Presidential election. Or Alexander vs. Mineta, another 2000 Supreme Court case that ruled that the US Constitution “does not protect the right of all citizens to vote, but rather the right of all qualified citizens to vote.” And it’s the state’s job to determine which citizens are qualified to vote.
HJR 28. Sound familiar? Probably not. It was a proposed amendment by US representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. in 2005 entitled “A Proposed Amendment to Establish a Constitutional Right to Vote in America.” Hmm…I bet you’re wondering why we would need this amendment, Ms. Tucker, since the right to vote is suposedly already in the Bill of Rights.
Michael Dorf, the Vice Dean and Professor of Law at Columbia University (possibly the most liberal university in our nation) wrote an article entitled ”We Need a Constitutional Right to Vote in Presidential Elections.” Which would probably strike Ms. Tucker as odd considering that that right is supposedly already in our Constitution.
Ms. Tucker argues that requiring voter identification is an attempt to eliminate votes for Democratic candidates, because people that don’t have proper identification vote overwhelmingly Democrat. But that’s not the case. Any citizen can get a driver’s license for identification purposes only. You simply fill out some forms, pay a minimal fee (maybe $15) and bam! Identification.
I personally love that there is no Constitutional right to vote. There are millions of eligible voters in this country that fall under the “dumb masses” category. We don’t need those people deciding who runs our country. We need voters who understand that voting is a privilege and a duty not to be taken lightly. Too many idiots vote simply to get their hands in someone else’s pocket. They vote to help better them and their pathetic existence, not to help the betterment of the country.
States are beginning to move towards adopting policy that all voters must present a valid, government-issued ID. I don’t have a problem with this and neither should any legal US citizen. But Ms. Tucker does. She complains that a Mary-Jo Criswell had her vote nullified because she failed to show a valid ID. Tucker goes on to say
“Citizens like Criswell are Americans, too, and they have every right to vote, just like it says in the Bill of Rights.”
Assuming that Criswell is in fact an American citizen, then Tucker is 1-for-3 in her statement. Criswell is an American, but she does not have “every right to vote” and it certainly doesn’t say that in the Bill of Rights. Not America’s Bill of Rights, anyways. Sometimes I wonder if these left-leaning journalists know that what they’re saying is a complete and utter untruth or if they’re actually just dumb enough to believe the crap they make up.
Addressing her claims, there is no Constitutional right to vote in a federal election. There is no Constitutional right to vote for the President of the United States. It isn’t in the Bill of Rights. Makes me wonder if she actually knows what the Bill of Rights is, or if she’s simply another democratic drone distorting information she heard, but can’t fully remember, from another bleeding heart.
Remember Bush vs. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board? It’s a Supreme Court case from 2000 that ruled that there is no right to vote in a Presidential election. Or Alexander vs. Mineta, another 2000 Supreme Court case that ruled that the US Constitution “does not protect the right of all citizens to vote, but rather the right of all qualified citizens to vote.” And it’s the state’s job to determine which citizens are qualified to vote.
HJR 28. Sound familiar? Probably not. It was a proposed amendment by US representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. in 2005 entitled “A Proposed Amendment to Establish a Constitutional Right to Vote in America.” Hmm…I bet you’re wondering why we would need this amendment, Ms. Tucker, since the right to vote is suposedly already in the Bill of Rights.
Michael Dorf, the Vice Dean and Professor of Law at Columbia University (possibly the most liberal university in our nation) wrote an article entitled ”We Need a Constitutional Right to Vote in Presidential Elections.” Which would probably strike Ms. Tucker as odd considering that that right is supposedly already in our Constitution.
Ms. Tucker argues that requiring voter identification is an attempt to eliminate votes for Democratic candidates, because people that don’t have proper identification vote overwhelmingly Democrat. But that’s not the case. Any citizen can get a driver’s license for identification purposes only. You simply fill out some forms, pay a minimal fee (maybe $15) and bam! Identification.
I personally love that there is no Constitutional right to vote. There are millions of eligible voters in this country that fall under the “dumb masses” category. We don’t need those people deciding who runs our country. We need voters who understand that voting is a privilege and a duty not to be taken lightly. Too many idiots vote simply to get their hands in someone else’s pocket. They vote to help better them and their pathetic existence, not to help the betterment of the country.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Today's Idiot: An Anonymous Lady from Louisiana
This one's stemming from Hurricane Katrina. First, let me start by saying suing the government because of a natural disaster is ridiculous and insane. Hmm...I didn't want to pay more taxes to secure the dykes the government provided me. I also ignored evacuation notices, figuring a could withstand a little rain. Oops! Now my house is flooded and I think I'll sue the government!
Note: nobody sued their governments in 2004 when a tsunami wiped out 225,000 people over in Asia, yet US claims were over 3,000 trillion for 1,600 deaths.
Now back to this anonymous Louisiana lady. US Army Corps of Engineers just received a claim for $3 quadrillion dollars. For those of you that struggle with prefixes, that $1,000,000,000,000,000 dollars, or, one-thousand million million. $1 quadrillion would dwarf the US gross domestic product, ($US13.2 trillion in 2007), and a stack of one quadrillion coins of any currency would reach Saturn.
This woman is from Baker, LA which is pretty well removed from Katrina's epicenter but according to the article, she lives in a trailer park which has house evacuees since the storm.
Yes lady, the government sent this storm to interrupt your fulfilling and successful life in that trailer park. Now they want to make sure that you're compensated with a quadrillion dollars. The total lawsuits before your idiocy were 3,000 trillion. You surpassed that all by your lonesome. Might I suggest another alternative to the lawsuit: personal responsibility and advantageous decision-making.
Oh, and Al Sharpton? Shut up, it was a joke. I can't put into words how much I hate this man, but it's probably a quadrillion times more than this Louisiana lady.
Note: nobody sued their governments in 2004 when a tsunami wiped out 225,000 people over in Asia, yet US claims were over 3,000 trillion for 1,600 deaths.
Now back to this anonymous Louisiana lady. US Army Corps of Engineers just received a claim for $3 quadrillion dollars. For those of you that struggle with prefixes, that $1,000,000,000,000,000 dollars, or, one-thousand million million. $1 quadrillion would dwarf the US gross domestic product, ($US13.2 trillion in 2007), and a stack of one quadrillion coins of any currency would reach Saturn.
This woman is from Baker, LA which is pretty well removed from Katrina's epicenter but according to the article, she lives in a trailer park which has house evacuees since the storm.
Yes lady, the government sent this storm to interrupt your fulfilling and successful life in that trailer park. Now they want to make sure that you're compensated with a quadrillion dollars. The total lawsuits before your idiocy were 3,000 trillion. You surpassed that all by your lonesome. Might I suggest another alternative to the lawsuit: personal responsibility and advantageous decision-making.
Oh, and Al Sharpton? Shut up, it was a joke. I can't put into words how much I hate this man, but it's probably a quadrillion times more than this Louisiana lady.
Monday, January 7, 2008
New Year's Resolutions
I do my resolutions differently than other people. Many people say they'll lose weight get more organized or reattach themselves to something they've drifted away from. Personal objectives that are completed by the individual that don't really directly affect anyone besides themselves. My resolutions are generally ones that will affect other people.
Mostly, I pick out words or phrases that I think are overused, misinterpreted or skewed by America today. Last year I chose "hooking up" and managed to more clearly define the meaning of that phrase.
So here are my choices for 2008.
These are two of the most misused terms in American society and politics today. They're often associated with each other and they shouldn't be. And people who use them as such shouldn't be taken seriously. Both are terms used by liberals to devalue individual accomplishments and are blindly used by liberal sheep being herded into a corner.
Let's first look at the term "giving back". This phrase's basic premise is that the rich did not earn their wealth through hard work and smart decisions. It insinuates that the rich were simply given their money and wealth. When you ask someone to give back, then you're implying that whatever they have was given to them. You can't give something back that wasn't given to you in the first place. The liberals belittle Republican charity with this method. I fully support charitable efforts, but realize that charity is "giving" not "giving back".
Then the "less fortunate" idea. By calling people "less fortunate" we're insinuating that those people are victims of bad luck rather than their own laziness, horrific work ethic and questionable decision-making abilities. To say that the poor are "less fortunate" means that the rich are simply lucky that they wandered into their wealth. Which is true in select cases, but it's just another way to belittle individual achievement again. Which is basically the Democratic Party's main campaign issue, so they'll try every measure possible to take your stuff and give it to these "less fortunate" people.
My resolutions aren't solely mine. You can help too. Just remember to replace "giving back" with "giving" and change "the less fortunate" to "those lazy people with horrific work ethics and questionable decision-making abilities". Nothing to it.
Happy New Years!
Mostly, I pick out words or phrases that I think are overused, misinterpreted or skewed by America today. Last year I chose "hooking up" and managed to more clearly define the meaning of that phrase.
So here are my choices for 2008.
- Giving Back
- The Less Fortunate
These are two of the most misused terms in American society and politics today. They're often associated with each other and they shouldn't be. And people who use them as such shouldn't be taken seriously. Both are terms used by liberals to devalue individual accomplishments and are blindly used by liberal sheep being herded into a corner.
Let's first look at the term "giving back". This phrase's basic premise is that the rich did not earn their wealth through hard work and smart decisions. It insinuates that the rich were simply given their money and wealth. When you ask someone to give back, then you're implying that whatever they have was given to them. You can't give something back that wasn't given to you in the first place. The liberals belittle Republican charity with this method. I fully support charitable efforts, but realize that charity is "giving" not "giving back".
Then the "less fortunate" idea. By calling people "less fortunate" we're insinuating that those people are victims of bad luck rather than their own laziness, horrific work ethic and questionable decision-making abilities. To say that the poor are "less fortunate" means that the rich are simply lucky that they wandered into their wealth. Which is true in select cases, but it's just another way to belittle individual achievement again. Which is basically the Democratic Party's main campaign issue, so they'll try every measure possible to take your stuff and give it to these "less fortunate" people.
My resolutions aren't solely mine. You can help too. Just remember to replace "giving back" with "giving" and change "the less fortunate" to "those lazy people with horrific work ethics and questionable decision-making abilities". Nothing to it.
Happy New Years!
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