Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Pierce Brosnan Gets One Right Maybe

First it was Britney Spears, now it's Pierce Brosnan beating up on a photographer. Supposedly, the leach (photographer) was just complimenting Brosnan on his James Bond films when Brosnan hit him. Come on...a "celebrity photographer" that was just saying something nice? Not getting in someones face taking pictures while trying to incite anger? I'm not buying it. I'm not buying it because it's all too common to see video of these misfits doing just that...trying to incite bad behavior in celebrities.

Ok. I do get that people like Pierce Brosnan are famous public figures and that if you're in the "biz" you should expect to be recognized, etc. But should these famous figures be mobbed everywhere they go so that some creep with a Nikon can make a few bucks? I don't think so and I make sure to do my part by passing up the gossip rags that support such poor tactics used by the photogs.

San Antonio Spurs Start Their Season

Tonight is Halloween and the Spurs are out and about as the current NBA World Champions. Last night was the Spurs home opener and it was a great night. I had the opportunity once again to be present for the championship ring ceremony and the unveiling of the new championship banner. It's fun and exciting to see these things live. The game? Yes, it was a good game against a young but good Portland Trailblazers team. A good game particularly because the Spurs won it.

Tonight they're now 2-0 having defeated the Memphis Grizzlies in a close game. While I'm happy the Spurs are starting off with 2 wins it's a long way to another championship. I'm optimistic that the Spurs can get a back-to-back championship though because it's pretty much the same team. There's still Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto, Michael Finley, Robert Horry, Francisco Elson, and Matt Bonner. Missing of course is Beno Udrih who has been traded to the T-Wolves. So, this year there's hope and I'm looking forward to the ride.

Dancing With The Stars Week 6

Wow, what a week on Dancing With The Stars. Mel B got a perfect score and deserved it. Jane Seymour got even better and seems to be a real contender despite being the oldest of the remaining competitors, as well as the best looking. But the real shocker....Sabrina Bryan was eliminated! You could have knocked me over with a feather. I had picked Sabrina to be a finalist but I guess she just didn't have the votes from the fans at home.

So who's gonna be in the finals of Dancing With The Stars now? I still think that Helio Castroneves is a favorite based on his dancing, but will he have the popular support? I think that Cameron has improved but I don't think he really can win it, but will his soap star status give him the edge?

I don't know what's going to happen but I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.

Congressmen and other Politicians Should Resign

I'm sure that if you've read any of my political commentary on this blog you won't be surprised at what I'm going to say in this post.

U.S. Representatives and Senators as well as sitting Governors and others elected to public office should resign prior to running for the office of President of the United States. Yes, I said RESIGN. In the current crop of presidential hopefuls you have sitting Senators like Hillary Clinton and John McCain receiving their pay and perks as Senators elected to serve their respective constituents. However, Clinton, McCain and the others are NOT serving their constituents because they're out on the campaign trail. They're not taking part in the business of the people that elected them. They're not in their home states. They're not in Congress casting votes. They're not there writing new laws...though I guess we should be thankful for that. They're getting paid to look for a new job and being allowed to keep their old job just in case they don't get the new one.

I say that this kind of ABUSE of the people's trust and tax money needs to end. If your elected representative is running for higher office let them know they need to resign instead of having a fall-back. The people's business needs to come before personal gain.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Dancing With The Stars Week 5

Dancing With The Stars finally saw the end of Mark 'The Mouth' Cuban. Yes, the boy billionaire lost 30 pounds and learned to move his feet without moving his mouth but couldn't buy the affection of the fans. People finally saw through his nice guy act. Oh, I finally figured out why he might have been chosen for the show to begin with....he's a producer....of movies. He has been the producer of several movies including the now showing "We Own The Night."

I don't know what else to say about this week on Dancing With The Stars...I finally can focus on the people that could actually win it without buying it.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Britney Spears Gets One Right

I'm not really a fan of Britney Spears. However, after a year or two of really screwing up royally Britney Spears finally gets one right. Being surrounded by scumbag photographers and trying to drive away Britney ran over the foot of one of them. Hah! She might not be the best mom, wife, or even lip synch artist but she got this one right. And it's almost poetic justice. I'm not saying that all of the photogs ought to be run over but anybody who's that much of a leach really needs to have some salt put on them. With the lenses available today there's absolutely no need to be in someone's face all the time unless you're trying to provoke that someone. If that's the case it should be ok to punch them, spit on them, or occasionally run over their foot. Way to go Britney Spears!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Dancing With The Stars Week 4

Dancing With The Stars said goodbye to a champion this week. Floyd Mayweather was the dancer released in round 4 and that's a tragedy. It's a tragedy because "Bigfoot in a suit", Mark Cuban, is still in the running. It's a tragedy because the other person in the bottom two, Mel B, is still in the running.

On the good side of things the dancing of each star is really improving and getting more exciting. Both Jenny Garth and Jane Seymore turned in some of their best performances and have really stepped it up, but Helio and Sabrina are still right there at the top. Helio turned in a solid performance while Sabrina got the first perfect score of this season.

It's really getting good and I'm looking forward to next week.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Al Gore Wins The Nobel Peace Prize

It took me a while to get the nausea to subside. The idea of Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize initially made me feel very unsettled. After all, what has Al Gore done to promote world peace? Has he stopped an ongoing war, or has he just talked trash about leaders that have to face war each day? Has Al Gore prevented a war somewhere? If he has I can't find a reference anywhere. Has he even brought potential enemies to the table to talk out their differences? No, he hasn't stopped a war, hasn't prevented a war, and hasn't hosted a peace conference.

It turns out that Al Gore's nomination for the Nobel came about for his efforts to scare the public with stories of impending doom due to global warming. That's not how the Nobel committee characterized his original nomination, it's just my interpretation but I stand by it. But since global warming is the basis for Gore's Nobel, how exactly does his ministry contribute to peace...oh yeah, it doesn't.

Not only does Al Gore's global warming ministry not contribute to peace, it's not particularly good at educating young people. A recent ruling in a British court detailed 9 significant errors in Al Gore's movie about global warming and ruled that it could not be shown to secondary school children without notes that balance the errors and Gore's "one-sided" views. Did the Nobel committee know about this?

Did the Nobel committee get it wrong? Of course they did, just like the time they gave the prize to Yasser Arafat. Yes, the terrorist leader Yasser Arafat received the Nobel Peace Prize. Makes me feel globally warm and fuzzy, how about you?

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Congressman Bennie Thompson Hates NASCAR Fans

Congressman Bennie Thompson (D - Miss), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, thinks NASCAR fans are disease ridden and that his aides need to be inoculated before mixing with us. How's that for some elite behavior from an elected official? How's that for alienating a large portion of voters from his own district?

According to Yahoo Sports: "The seven-term Congressman recently instructed committee aides who visited Talladega Superspeedway last weekend and are also at this weekend's Nextel Cup race at Lowe's Motor Speedway to be immunized against a variety of diseases such as hepatitis A, hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus and influenza."

Something not in the story that I've wondered about...is this an indication that Congressman Bennie Thompson is a racist? I certainly hope not and I don't know of anything he's said that would make that case, but he's African-American and the overwhelming majority of NASCAR drivers and fans are white. If a Republican Congressman had made a comment like that about a predominately African-American event what would the press be doing right now? They'd be camped out on that Republicans doorstep and asking if he was part of the KKK. Where's the coverage here? Why didn't this story about a Democratic Congressman lead the 6 o'clock news?

Hopefully, even without heavy news coverage the voters in Congressman Bennie Thompson's district will shake his hand and let him know they've had their shots when he's out pressing the flesh. Hopefully they'll remember what he thinks of them when they vote in the next election.

But you know what? This type of thinking by a Congressman like Bennie Thompson is not unusual in Congress. These elected officials go to Washington, D.C. and start acting as though they're royalty and above the citizens they are there to represent. It's time we all got together and voted out ANY politician who has had more than two terms in office. Congressman Bennie Thompson has had 7 terms, look what it's done to him.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Congress And Pelosi Step In It Again

The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi (D - CA), is leading the Congress in alienating one of our allies. Pelosi and the Democrat majority are set to vote on a resolution calling an incident in Turkey a genocide. A resolution does not have the force of law, does not call for any action, or really mean anything other than appeasing a group that lobbies (makes contributions to) Congress. So why do it when it upsets the Turkish government - our ally in the War On Terror? Why do it now when the incident in question occured in 1915? Yes, that's right...92 years ago.

Is this what voters wanted when they elected Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats to the majority? Did they really want Pelosi and crew to go around screwing up alliances that have benefitted both sides for decades to appease campaign contributors? Did the voters of this country expect Congress to spend so much time and effort on a resolution that doesn't do anything? Well, they must have wanted it because you get the government you deserve.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Dancing With The Stars Week 3

Hard to believe three weeks have gone by on Dancing With The Stars. We've finally had to say goodbye to Wayne Newton and that's kinda sad but completely expected. I've been a fan of Wayne Newton for many years, probably because I grew up in Las Vegas but...he really had no chance on Dancing With The Stars. It's sad to see him go because he was probably the competitor most entitled to the "Star" designation.

On the men's side of the competition I still can't wait for Mark Cuban to be gone. I admit he's doing well especially since he had hip replacement surgery in June; however, he's still a guy that would get beat up frequently if he didn' t have a lot of money. I'm not saying he's a jerk but if you want to....go ahead. The favorite is still Helio Castroneves. For a race car champion he's pretty darned good. If enough people will watch the dancing instead of taking part in the popularity contest he has a good shot to win it all. Cameron? He's doing ok but most of his votes are from his fan base. Should I mention Floyd Mayweather? Wow, I thought he'd do pretty well and he is but there's still something missing there, maybe he'll step it up.

On the women's side of the competition does anybody really think that Scary Spice Melanie Brown can win? I certainly don't think she can get it done but who knows? Jennie Garth and Marie Osmond are also long shots. Jane Seymore is, at 56 years old, still a very beautiful woman but can she be a competitive ballroom dancer? I doubt it. It's just a guess on my part but Sabrina Bryan seems to have what it takes to go all the way.

What do you think? Helio and Sabrina in the finals of Dancing With The Stars?

Monday, October 8, 2007

Another Rose Ceremony On The Bachelor

I can't believe that I'm sitting here watching The Bachelor on the DVR, but it's what Lydia wants to watch after having seen Chuck and Heroes tonight. I don't know what season this is...something like the 10th...but there's something that kinda makes me laugh. Did you ever notice that on The Bachelor, when they do the personal interview with the women, that some of the women are crying and saying "this is so tough, I didn't sign up for this." What? This is not the first season of the show. All of these women have seen the show and...yeah, they did sign up for it. They knew what would happen on the show.

The other thing that makes me laugh is the host during the Rose Ceremony. It gets down to the last rose and the host, Chris, steps up and says "Ladies, the final rose." Duh. The women are five feet away and the rose is on a tray clearly visible...do they really need to be told it's the last one?

Speaker Nancy Pelosi Wants An Exit Strategy?

On Sunday House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi(D - CA) was interviewed on Fox News Sunday. Among the things she talked about was how she still hoped to get most US troops out of Iraq by the end of 2008, despite the party's repeated failure to win over enough Republicans in Congress to an exit strategy. An exit strategy? For Iraq?

OK madam Speaker, how about exit strategies for World War II, the Cold War, and Korea? Shouldn't we exit in a first-in-first-out manner? We're still in Germany, Italy, and England having been there since WWII. We spend billions of dollars maintaining bases and troops in Europe and the Nazi threat is over...where's the exit strategy? You could argue that the European bases were kept there for the Cold War but that's been over since the late 1980's. Where is our European exit strategy? We still have bases and troops in Japan but the Emperor of Japan gave a formal surrender decades ago. Where's the Japanese exit strategy?

How about Korea? Korea is a bit different than the WWII left overs. We have bases and lots of troops on the Korean peninsula some of which are killed in the line of duty each year. Where's the exit strategy for Korea? Why aren't we getting our troops out of harm's way in Korea? Heck, the DMZ is not a safe place. There was never an end to hostilities there but there was a cease fire...can't we get out now? South Korea is much more stable than Iraq so why isn't Speaker Pelosi demanding an exit strategy from Korea? If it was really about getting our troops out of harm's way Korea would be a good place to start.

Unlike Europe, Japan, and Korea we are still actively fighting in Iraq. We are fighting against people who want us gone. They want us out of the Middle East, they want us off the planet and they're willing to kill us to get their way. The best exit strategy is to defeat those who would kill us and then leave. Of course Speaker Pelosi conveniently forgets that if Congress discontinued funding our forces they would have to leave. She didn't push that and won't push that though because that would empower our enemies and she knows it. It would also be the end of her party's majority in Congress. She'd much rather mislead a sheepish public into believing some special exit strategy is needed and that the Republicans are to blame.

P.S. Yes, I know there are strategic reasons for being in Europe, Japan, and Korea.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Does An Opening Door Contribute To Global Warming?

Why isn't there more of an uproar? Everywhere you go there seems to be more and more automatic door openers. At every WalMart, Sam's Club, Costco, Grocery Store, home improvement store, and just about every other type of large place of business you can find them. Automatic door openers are opening entrances and assisting with your exit...while using electric power produced by power plants producing prodigous amounts of carbon dioxide.

Thousands upon thousands or maybe even millions of automatic door openers are working right now. They're using electricity everytime someone walks into or out of the door. With all the electricity they're using you would think more people would join the fight to ban automatic door openers around the world. As if it wasn't bad enough that automatic door openers contribute to global warming they're probably contributing to obesity too.

Automatic door openers might seem like small fries to those trying to ban the internal combustion engine. Automatic door openers might seem insignificant compared to the massive carbon footprint of Al Gore as he flies in a private jet to a speech that could have been given via satellite; however, when you add up all the electricity used by automatic door openers you can understand the threat they pose and their evil contribution to Global Warming. Do your part today...open a door by yourself.

By the way, the above post is a load of crap...kinda like the idea of man-made Global Warming.

Friday, October 5, 2007

What Was Senator Larry Craig Thinking?

OK, what was Senator Larry Craig (R - Idaho) thinking? First, he propositions a police officer in an airport public bathroom and immediately becomes the butt of late night talk show host jokes. Then he pleads guilty to the charge supposedly to make it all go away. Then this guy, a U.S. Senator who's supposed to understand the law, tries to take back his guilty plea. Huh?

Personally, I think the problem is that our Members of Congress including Senator Craig think they're above the law. Remember when a Congressman was found to have $90 thousand cash in his freezer? Remember what happened when the FBI searched that Congressman's office? Yep, the House of Representatives screamed bloody murder and came up with a bogus "separation of powers" argument...essentially saying that the FBI had no jurisdiction to come after a Congressman because the FBI is part of the Executive Branch. Law unto themselves.

So, when you're above the law you don't worry that you've already plead guilty to a crime because you couldn't have committed the crime in the first place. Oh well, guess it backfired on him because the judge wouldn't let him change the plea. I don't know where to go with this....I'm just really disgusted with all these political hacks. We really need some change and I've got some ideas about what kind of change but more about that later.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Dancing With The Stars Week 2

I knew it could happen. A "star" gets eliminated even though he dances better than the competition. I'm not sure how to "fix" Dancing With The Stars but something really ought to be done. Maybe what it takes is to change the voting system by giving more weight to the judge's scores in the first 4-5 weeks. By doing that the stars who give the best ballroom dancing performance would advance rather than the star with the biggest fan base. After all, how do you explain Jerry Springer doing so well last season? How about Wayne Newton this season? Ok, I voted for Wayne myself but that's the point I'm making.

This time around Albert Reed got eliminated though both his week 1 and week 2 performances were better than pseudo-star Mark 'the mouth' Cuban, or Wayne Newton. If the voting keeps going as a popularity contest then what's going to happen to Helio Castroneves? He's really a front-runner so far but how many people actually know who he is? Will he lose votes to a lesser dancer? How about Floyd Mayweather? He's doing pretty well, but will he lose votes to Wayne? On the women's side I'm really impressed with Sabrina Bryan. I'm wondering if she can take it all the way like Drew Lachey did. After all, he was a pop star with hip-hop dance experience like Sabrina's.

What do you think?

Does Senator Harkin need some busy work?

Do United States Senators have nothing better to do than attack radio talk show hosts? Apparently one of them has nothing better to do on the Senate floor. Senator Tom Harkin (D- Iowa) recently blasted Rush Limbaugh on the Senate floor during normal business hours. Harkin stated "I must say that as a veteran, I find it offensive that Rush Limbaugh, who never put on the uniform of this country, would attack the patriotism and the dedication of any soldier fighting in Iraq" apparently referring to a recent show where Limbaugh spoke about "phony soldiers" who had not served and that fraudulently sought Veteran's benefits. Harkin went on to say that "Maybe he (Rush Limbaugh) was just high on his drugs again." Is this what people get elected to the Senate to do? Isn't there a budget meeting to go to or a post office that needs a name?

As if wasting U.S. Senate time, the taxpayers time, wasn't bad enough...the whole thing was a lie. I heard the show that Senator Harkin was referring to and at no time did Rush Limbaugh ever insult any member of the U.S. Military. To the contrary he was highly complimentary of all U.S. Military men and women. In fact I listen to Rush Limbaugh's show as often as my schedule permits and I've never heard anything but high praise for the military from Rush Limbaugh.

As a U.S. Army Veteran with more years of service than Senator Harkin, I think he needs to find some busy work. Maybe he can lie about his combat service again.