To see what exactly is wrong with the United States government, look no further than the Senate confirmation hearings for Elena Kagen.
The first problem is Kagen herself. She would be a stretch to nominate to a District Court, let alone the Supreme Court. She has never been a judge and has barely been a lawyer. For her entire professional career she has been charging hard for radical leftists, whether for the Clinton/Obama administrations or as the Dean of Harvard. This absolutely no different than if George Bush had nominated Karl Rove for a spot on the Supreme Court.
Listening to her testimony, it seems as if she is hell bent on proving all the stereotypes about New England, ivy league elites true. She is actively trying to talk down and be condescending to members of Congress. She must know how truly meaningless this dog and pony show is.
It would be nice if she wasn't flat out lying and refusing to answer questions though. She was incredibly hostile to military recruiters at Harvard and tried like hell to keep them off campus, in direct violation of federal law. Somehow she spins this into her simply trying to protect all the gays and lesbians at Harvard who wanted to join the military. I'm sure there's tons of pro-military GLAAD members at Harvard.
In addition to that lie, she pretty much green lit government control of daily food intake by declining to state an opinion on whether government mandated diets were a proper use of the Commerce Clause. The good people of New York must be happy that their government is still free to save them from the evils of salt.
She was nominated to simply be an Obama representative in every case that comes before the court. It is a shameful choice that shows just how narcissistic Obama is. Say what you want about Sotomayor but at least she's a real life judge. Kagen is just a lackey and the fact that Obama would subject the country to her uneducated legal activism for the rest of her life just to smooth out the next 2 years of his administration is just selfish. Why not nominate her to replace General McChrystal while were at it? She's just as qualified for that job. This whole thing makes me wish he were simply nominating another Bader Ginsburg, Stevens or Souter. It's officially amateur hour in the Judicial Branch.
As bad as Kagen and Obama look in this whole deal, the real problem is Congress.
Since the atrocity that was the Bork confirmation hearings, this whole process has been completely delegitimized. The Senators involved certainly don't take it seriously, using the time to grandstand and bloviate. Why would any nominee actually answer any question knowing that the Chuck Schumers in the Senate will try and destroy them the minute it leaves their mouth? Poor Sam Alito's wife looked devastated during that sham of a hearing.
All to advance partisan politics. Both parties would happily confirm a Nazi fugitive if that's what the party leader wanted. The only instance where that didn't happen was when Bush tried to nominate Kagen the First (Harriett Miers) and conservatives went ballistic. Thank God they did or the Supreme Court could soon have been controlled by a Miers/Kagen axis of incompetence.
The real tragedy is that this problem of nominees not answering any questions is so easily fixed.
If a nominee stonewalls, Senators should just vote no. Eventually nominees will get the message and if they want the job they will start talking. Why this hasn't happened yet mystifies me. Congressman act like sticking with the President always helps them out come reelection time. Sticking with W sure didn't seem to help Republicans in 2006 or 2008 and sticking with Obama is going to result in a liberal Apocalypse come November. Yet everyday we hear more and more from Leahy, Schumer, et al. about how they are all in for Kagen.
If the Senators of the Judiciary Committee want to regain a little bit of the dignity and respect they have lost letting these nominees make fools of them, they need to grow some balls and play hardball with these potential justices. If they can't or won't do so, then we shouldn't even have these things, they are just an expensive waste of time. Go straight to the full vote and get it over with.
Now that the final shot has been poured and the final nail driven into the Kennedy family legacy, it appears that the United States Congress has decided to get busy undoing one of its most famous and senseless aspects.
The Agriculture Committee is getting ready to pass a bill lifting travel and sales restrictions against Cuba, put in place as part of the total embargo placed by JFK during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The bill seems to have bipartisan support and would no doubt be the first step in a total repeal of the embargo.
It's about time.
There is not a doubt in my mind that the reason this embargo has lasted so long is because liberals didn't want to piss on a historic JFK moment. A tragic fact of the JFK presidency was that it was so short that there wasn't enough time for a legendary President to accomplish legendary things. Historians seem to latch on to the Missile Crisis as his tough guy moment where he stared down the Russians in the face of nuclear holocaust. In reality, it was the culmination of mistakes, starting with the Bay of Pigs fiasco, continuing with the insane removal of European missile defense systems in Turkey in exchange for the removal of the nukes in Cuba to the lasting insanity of the embargo. I think that Congress has hoped for years that Castro would fall on his own, leaving them without the burden of having to remove the embargo in a blaze of failure.
Aside from the faulty historical nostalgia of the embargo, the simple fact is that it didn't work, is counterproductive and is now totally disproportionate to the current situation.
The reason it doesn't work is because communist states can continue to thrive in abject poverty just as well as prosperity. Over the years, the United States is the only country really participating in the embargo. Combine the trade from Europe and South America with various levels of financial support from China, the Old Soviet Union, Venezuela and maybe North Korea and Cuba can last indefinitely. If things get to bad, they can always send us (the US) thousands of their most criminal and/or useless citizens knowing full well we'll take them. This was how Scarface started.
It is also counterproductive because it makes the United States look weak and petty. We've been clamoring for regime change for 50 years now. We seem to have tried everything in the slapstick assassination playbook from exploding cigars to a chemical to destroy Castro's beard to deadly, disease ridden, covert prostitutes. Apparently the U.S. government decided to try every trick in the book except using the military. Why would they? The military is only specially trained to kill people and overthrow governments, how could they be of service? For God's sake, Castro has been giving four hour speeches, outside, with a ZZ Top beard and full military fatigues for years, could we not find him? It's only 90 minutes away. He could start a speech and we would have plenty of time to fuel and launch a missile before he got done thanking the comrades. Leftists seem to think that would make us look bad internationally but how much worse do we look by carrying on with these theatrical stunts? Failing to kill and overthrow a government with ridiculous stunt assassinations instead of waging a 2 hour invasion makes us look incredibly stupid.
The embargo also lacks proportionality of response. Fine, Castro led a Socialist Revolution and moved in nukes in the 60's. Got it. North Korea has been far more brutal and we have been giving them all the materials they need to make a nuke and they have been doing so in the face of all international pressure. Same goes for China, we gave them nuclear technology and decided to go completely into their debt as well. Buy gas from Citgo? Goes to commies. Spanish wine? Commies. Anything from Bolivia, Nicaragua, Egypt? Commie, commie, commie. You could make the case that the United States has never in its history been in bed with communists more than it is right now, yet we continue to harp about Cuba as if they are anything more than an annoying historical foil.
All together, the embargo has been one of the biggest diplomatic failures in American history, so lets end it. If we end it through legislation, fine. if we end it through putting some bullets into some Castros, fine. Either way it needs to end. Liberals don't care because they actually like Castro (and that T-shirt hero Che'). Conservatives only really care because it's a goods campaign point in South Florida. Meanwhile, if I try and buy a box of Cuaba perfectos or a bottle of Havana Club, the ATF can arrest me, fine me and throw me in jail. This is a ridiculous scenario and it finally needs to end, even if it's with a whimper and slap at the Kennedy Ghost.
The NBA was jolted into activity by two massive stories concerning player movement this offseason.
The first one was when Raja Bell held conference to let it be known that the Miami Heat are his free agent destination of choice.
Pat Riley was seen nearby rolling his eyes while telling the janitor "Well, I guess we can cancel that LeBron interview now."
In a non-related but equally ridiculous story, the Orlando Magic are thinking about trying to dump Vince Carter for Agent Zero (Gilbert Arenas).
Apparently the deal hinges on getting the ok from Dwight Howard.
Really Orlando? You need to get the green light from a guy who shoots 50% from the stripe, gets schooled by Rasheed Wallace every year and disappears in the clutch? I don't recall the Pistons being held hostage by Ben Wallace or the Bulls by Dennis Rodman.
Seriously, if you can dump Vince, you dump him. I don't care what Dwight "No Nickname" Howard thinks about it. If he complains, just show him some game film from the Boston series and send him packing. All we learned this year is that if Dwight is your best player, you ain't winning.
This is the problem with the NBA. Second tier players trying to make noise. Raja Bell is a homeless mans Toni Kukoc and that's only in a D'Antoni offense and at this point, Dwight is only the defensive version of Nique, nothing more.
When teams start clearing cap space 3 years in advance to try and woo you, then you hold a player summit. Not before.
The City of Cleveland has gone from being a joke, to sad to disgustingly pathetic. Apparently the City has all the intelligence and dignity of a love struck teenager girl.
A while back, Akron held a "We Love LeBron Day" to heap some more love on hometown hero LeBron James. This was after numerous stunts concocted on individual levels to try and convince The Chosen One to stay.
Now Cleveland has launched a "More Than a Player" campaign to try and get him to stay. This includes the absolutely tactless method of using kids to stage flash mobs to sing songs of praise to LeBron, much the same way that Indians used to sing songs of praise to keep the sun rising and the corn growing. Sadly, these kids/props were being exploited to sing Bonnie Tylers "More Than a Hero" at a shopping mall in Cleveland. full story
Despite the abject stupidity of trying to convince one of the worlds most famous men to stay in one of America's most beleaguered cities by singing some lame songs, what exactly does this mind set say about Cleveland?
It says that life there sucks pretty bad. I haven't done a full statistical analysis of this ad binge but most of the participants seem to black. Apparently electing a black President hasn't raised the bar of expectations in Cleveland the way it seems to have in other places. The citizens of Cleveland seem to be less empowered than they have ever been and that's saying something. They are essentially begging for a sliver of positive affirmation. Just something positive to hang their hats on. Even if LeBron stays, will any of these people actually feel good about it for more than a day? This guy hasn't even won anything. Kobe may have raped a chambermaid but at least he's got one for the thumb.
The saddest part is how completely the people of Cleveland have mistaken this relationship. They seem to think that they are like a family trying to convince the son to go into the family business. Love and community wins out. Not so my friend. LeBron is LeBron, the biggest athletic prize on earth. To use my high school girl analogy, he's the star quarterback. I'm afraid Cleveland thinks it's the hot cheerleader. In reality, Cleveland is the slightly cankly, Wiccan type who dresses in all black and smokes on the corner all day watching the true beauties (New York, Chicago, Miami) get all the attention from said star quarterback. Sad and angry by day, no doubt cutters by night.
And what if he does stay? I suppose all of these people will assume that their displays of adoration will have worked. Why not? Try telling the Indians that their dances were meaningless in the ultimate outcome and they'll show you a sunrise everyday as proof of their righteousness. Simply put, if LeBron stays it will simply be a calculation that he can achieve his stated goals of being the worlds largest brand by playing the hometown hero more easily than he can play the savior in one of those other cities. Instead of wasting time choreographing dance routines to bad 80's songs for a millionaire who doesn't care, why don't you choreograph a little community action to clean up some of that urban blight? Maybe coordinate some studying and job placement so these kids might have a fighting chance at success in life.
Cleveland is a hell hole. Stop wasting time, money and effort on LeBron until you can get all these other things straightened out. Once your kids are all educated, fed and drug/ghetto free, then feel free to put pen to paper and write some ballads for whoever you want. Until then, it's just a sad display by a corroding city that desperately needs a hug.
Recently, the European Union came together in a moment of crisis and flexed its collective muscle. Greece was one the brink of collapse, drawing the entire Eurozone closer to that fate as well.
Despite the fact that Greece got themselves into this poor state through rampant socialistic overspending and falsifying just how bad off they were when reporting back to Brussels, the EU browbeat the Germans into green lighting a 95 billion dollar bailout of the dismal nation.
As everyone knows but few will admit, this bailout has almost no chance of succeeding and Greece has now shown us why. Conditional with the bailout were promises made by the Greek government to drastically reduce the cost of government to get the books back in line with the acceptable debt to GDP ratios established by the EU. The Greeks lied before but for some reason the EU took them at their word this time. Fine.
Today, Greece announced a plan that would pay the room and board for any tourist stranded in Greece due to the weather (volcanoes) or industrial action (worker strikes). This is supposed to help rehabilitate Greece's image and get their tourism income back up to snuff. It's a typical, liberal, feel good, no thought, gee isn't the government great program. While the volcano was an anomaly, hopefully, worker strikes happen all the time in Europe and happen very frequently by unionized workers in Greece, angry over the potential cuts.
As we know, Greece gets lots of tourists. Greeks like to strike, especially in service industries (airlines, mass transit). It's a near certainty that the Greek government is going to have to start shelling out some dollars to cover stranded tourists. What I can't figure out is how exactly they can pay for it. I doubt the Germans had this in mind when they destroyed their own future to bail out the Greeks. While the overall monetary amount will be small compared to other government expenses, it shows why leftists can't be trusted to shrink government or save money. Mere weeks after throwing themselves on the mercy of Europe and grovelling for cash, the Greek government is once again busy creating programs that will drain the government checkbook without serving any real purpose other than to create a very temporary sense of goodwill towards the government. This one is especially stupid as it isn't even directed at the Greek people. If a country is going to try and buy favor, it should be with its own people.
Hopefully Europe and the United States are watching and learning. Spain, Italy, Ireland and the U.S. are heading the same direction as Greece at varying speed. The EU will soon have to decide if they can bail out more countries and Americans have elections in November. Greece has been as close to financial catastrophe as any country has been since pre-WW2 Germany yet they still can only promise cuts and savings, not deliver. What the EU and American voters need to realize is that ideology is not something that can be rehabilitated in the face of overwhelming logic and facts. The only way to reverse the trajectory of a nations path is to replace the vital components of government. If they can't be replaced, they should be allowed to wither away and die.
Then and only then, can the pieces but put back together properly.
I was recently trolling around Ebay and came across a very nice 14 DVD collection of Coen Brothers movies being sold by a fellow movie enthusiast (bootlegger) from Hong Kong. They seemed to be of high quality so I immediately grabbed the set and decided to review all 14 as I watch them. I'll repost when I add new reviews.
Consider yourselves warned for spoilers
1. The Ladykillers (2004) - C+ - This movie actually wasn't as bad as I remembered it and it was light years ahead of the 1955 version. Marlon Wayans actually checks in with a decent performance as one of Tom Hanks' merry band of casino robbers. Good soundtrack, if you like church music, and amusing moments, if not actual laugh out loud moments. The ending is extremely odd though. The whole movie is a slow paced "old fashioned slow burn" kind of comedy, then it seems the directors realized the movie was dragging and decided to wrap everything up in about 15 minutes. Maybe in the third remake we can hash out those character endings a little more, yes?
WHY DO WE NEED . . . . . ?
1) Irritable Bowel Syndrome. How does Pancake having this disease advance any plot line? Does it matter that he met Mountain Girl at an IBS retreat? Nope. Does the condition ever really cause a problem? Nope. All we get is a lengthy conversation about being incontinent. Awesome. 2) Tom Hanks' affectations. Seriously, Hanks' Professor G.H. Dorr seems like the horrible lovechild of Ashley Wilkes, Truman Capote and Foghorn Leghorn. It was like watching John Edwards rob a casino while suffering from Asperger's Syndrome while having a stroke. Bad to the point of distracting. Not a bad afternoon watch though, all things considered.
2. Intolerable Cruelty (2003) - D - Well, only two movies and and we've hit a significant speed bump. I can only assume, because I'm too lazy to check, that this movie was made during the height of Sex and the City hysteria. It really seems like a 2 hour episode only with decent acting. At the end of the day though, well made crap is still crap. I could have lived with the sappy sentimentalism but the movie simply had no cohesive narrative. There was the jaded lawyer transforms plot, goldigger wife learns the value of love plot and the slapstick hitman/private eye/sex crazed train enthusiast plot all mashed together with an odd soap opera trick plot and absurd assistant plot. Too much friend.
DID WE REALLY NEED? - Any of it? All those long winded speeches?
WHAT WE NEED MORE OF - Billy Bob Thornton, Wheezy Joe, Cedric the Entertainer.
3. Bad Santa (2003) - A - This movie is awesome. A few years ago the wife and I were collaborating around the holidays and came to the mutual agreement that this was the Christmas movie that would be viewed on a yearly basis in our house. Move over Christmas Story and The Santa Clause. Billy Bob Thornton steals the show, drinking, beating up kids, defiling dressing rooms. Add major roles by the now dead John Ritter and Bernie Mac and it's a near perfect Christmas movie so long as your not looking for It's a Wonderful Life style uplifting messages about life and humanity. Although love does conquer all, in a deviant sort of way.
DO WE REALLY NEED? - All that anal sex. I don't care how consensual it is, it's still rape. Or at the very least assault.
WHAT WE NEED MORE OF - Christmas pickles.
NOTABLE QUOTABLES - "Are you fuckin with me?!"
4. The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) - B+ - I really enjoy this slow paced pseudo-noir. Ironically enough, the first time I saw through Netflix, I saw the black and white version released in the US. Because this box set is from China though, the version I saw today was the color version that was thrown in a box set that sold in France and Korea. See the black and white. The movie was clearly designed to be transferred to B&W, so all the sets, cloths, etc. really lack any color or pop. If you get the box set, just look for a cheap American copy on eBay to replace it, then give the Korean version to a film fan relative. The movie itself is a quirky tale of murder and adultery starring the always solid BB Thornton. The movie does suffer from plot vomit. There are about 5 movies going on here, luckily, they are all interesting. One question that kept coming up in my mind was why The Barber would have done what he did considering his wife was being a total bitch. After she got set up for the chair, I would've washed my hands of the whole affair. The movie would have only been 45 minutes but it would have made more sense.
DID WE REALLY NEED? - Alien abduction theory. All that brother in law.
WE NEED MORE OF - James Gandolfini, calling gays "pansy", wops.
5. O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000) - B - I think a persons decision about whether or not they like this movie hinges on your taste in music. If you like, or can tolerate, bluegrass, folksy music then you've got a fighting chance. If you hate that kind of music then don't even bother, it permeates just about every scene. Aside from that caveat, it's also a really good movie and a fairly faithful adaptation of Homer's the Odyssey. I gotta say though, the performance that could be abandoned altogether is the wife. Very, very schrewy.
GOD'S FAVORITE ACTOR - George Clooney. In addition to all the things he's got going for him, the man has absolutely tremendous hair. He rivals Tom Brady in the "most ridiculous amount of natural gifts" department.
NOTABLE QUOTABLES - "Damn, we're in a tight spot!" "The color guard is colored!" "Thank God your mammy died in childbirth. If she'd seen you, she'd died of shame."
EXCUSE ME? - How exactly did all four of the fellas get their hands untied from behind their backs before they drowned? Was being in the Klan really enough to lose you an election in Mississippi in that time?
LET'S DO THE TIME WARP! - Baby Face Nelson was three years room temperature before miraculously being raised from the ground by the Almighty Hand of Providence to kill cows and scream manically in this movie.
6. The Big Lebowski (1998) - A - Including this time, I've probably seen this movie 25 times now. It never gets old. I did notice some things that brought it down from an A+ First of all, Julianne Moore and her gimp associate Knox Harrington. They are eccentric and annoying for no discernible reason. In fact, I'm not sure why they exist at all. And I have more questions than the movie answers. What are the details between Tara Reid and her porn producer Jackie Treehorn? Why did she owe him money? Did the old Jeff Lebowski get the idea to marry her from porn? Doesn't seem right. Why does the Dude's front door swing out, instead of in? Why isn't there an In n Out burger in Colorado Springs? Did the nihilists not let Bunny in on their kidnapping plot? They were in a porn together, seems like they could've gotten together on that one. What happened to the money? Did the old man get it? Why couldn't we see the toe extraction scene?
MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION: Where can I can buy a Pendleton sweater, cowichan style, like the Dude wears? That thing looks seriously comfortable. Makes me wanna take a nap.
WHAT I NEED MORE OF: White russians, Vietnam, Logjammin, Jesus Quintero, Malibu sheriffs, CCR, actual bowling, spur of the moment prostitution, Brandt.
WHAT I NEED LESS OF: Bad accents, creepy landlords, ear ripping scenes.
7. Fargo (1996) - B- - You know, I've been to Montana in my days. They have people there. Lots of them, full of folksy charm. Covered in snow, wide open spaces, a bit of the old west come to life if you will. Perhaps a few of them could've been killed in this movie. Then I wouldn't have to drop this movie almost 2 whole grades due to THOSE RIDICULOUS ACCENTS!!! I swear the Coen Brothers are trying to drive me nuts with these friggin accents. They serve no purpose other than to bother me. The Dakota's are the worst, not quite Strange Brew, Not quite That 70's Show. I was hoping Steve Buscemi would just kill everybody and be done with it. So damn frustrating. Almost ruined a good movie.On the plus, they did distract the viewer from the absolute incompetent plot hatched by the dim-witted husband. Now, my wife has never nominated me for Husband of the Year but I would never pay strangers to kidnap her for the ransom. Why? First of all, I'm pretty sure I agreed not to do that in the vows, secondly, they strangers I would hire would probably crash her skull in with an axe. Law of probability.
WHAT I NEED MORE OF:Woodchippers, angry Native Americans.
WHAT I NEED LESS OF: Talking, naked Steve Buscemi, judgmental Brainard prostitutes.
This completes the first half of the 14 Disc Movie Review. I'll put the other 7 in a new post to spare the reader some scrolling.
It's always sad when a decent piece of art is ruined by incompetent businessmen. Sadly, this has been happening recently regarding the Scorcese pic Shutter Island. (spoiler warning)
I had forgotten about this movie until it showed up in my Netflix queue. Strangely enough, I hadn't heard much about the film since its release, other than that it was pretty good. Scorcese and Dicaprio, so I assumed that was true. And it was, for the most part. The best thing about it was that I knew the plot framework but not the actual details or plot twists. It was unspoiled.
Then came the DVD ad campaign that was inescapable.
The twist ending! Twist ending! Twist ending! You won't believe it! Who's patient 67?! Mind blowing! Did we mention the twist ending?!
I guess they want me to know that the ending is truly mind blowing. I blame M. Night for this. The Sixth Sense was so good and caught everybody by surprise that now all the retarded PR/Marketing people are trying to force that magic down your throat again.
Unfortunately, armed with the knowledge that was in the trailer a person could figure out that "big plot twist" about 15 minutes into the 2 hour movie. I did anyway.
The problem with being told how the end is a compete 180 from the rest of the movie is that while you watch the first 60% of the movie, you know it's bullshit because the trailer told you so. In this case, DiCaprio is a cop trying to solve a case. But we know that can't actually be the case because a big twist is coming so what can it be? There are only about 4 characters in the whole movie, DiCaprio is getting 75% of the screen time so obviously it revolves around him, what could be so mind blowing about a cop investigating a mental hospital. . . . . . Oh yeah, he's actually a patient. The only real suspense was why he was in there in the first place. Which was heady stuff but hardly mind blowing.
This isn't to say the movie isn't any good, it's a solid B movie. I would put it slightly above similar movies like Identity and Frailty** (but behind Sixth Sense) but only because Scorcese makes such a beautiful movie and DiCaprio, Ruffalo and Kingsley all give such good performances. Story wise it's a wash.
It's one thing if some blogger or one of you buddies ruins the twist for you but why is the movie studio trying so hard to be the first in line to ruin it for you? Wouldn't a commercial that said "The new Scorcese pic with DiCaprio, you know you want it." work just as well? Of course it would. The problem is that PR/Ad people assume that everyone not in the biz is a complete moron. They themselves are a devious combination of stupid and liar so they think they can hammer you with the blunt hammer of the obvious and you'll be too stupid to notice that they've given away the climax.
I almost made it to the end without being tainted by this lunacy but all the ads during the Celtics/Lakers games were too much to avoid. By the time I put the disc in the player, I knew it was too late. It's a shame too, the movie was pretty good and would've been better if I wasn't constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop.
** Frailty and Identity are both really good movies and do a far better job of hiding their big twist, which differ substantially from the one in Shutter Island. See these before Shutter Island and you'll be happy you did.
Time to check in on how the Colorado midterm elections are shaping up.
CO 1 - No troubles for Diana DeGette(D). Couldn't even tell you if she has an opponent.
CO 2 - No trouble for that Polis fella. Last time I checked, Republicans couldn't even find a candidate to run in Boulder.
CO 3 - Cook political has kept this race at "Lean Democrat" but I'm not sure why. John Salazar isn't the most popular guy in the world but Scott Tipton and Bob McDonnell haven't generated much buzz or money to the best of my knowledge. I'm sure the public opinion of Ken Salazar isn't helping his brother much.
CO 4 - Cory Gardner finally beat out the also-rans and gets to take out Betsy Markey, who seems to have tons of cash (most of it from outside CO) but not much passionate support. If this seat doesn't go back to the R's, it will be a disappointment. Gardner has a real talent for making mistakes.
CO 5 - Doug Lamborn(R) rolls.
CO 6- Mike Coffman(R) rolls.
CO 7 - Ryan Frazier has all the momentum over McCain carpetbagger Lang Sias. Ed Perlmutter is doing his best not to be noticed nor spend money. Frazier continues to fund raise at a high level. This district has flip flopped between Republicans and Democrats over the years and Perlmutter has done nothing to distinguish himself as being unbeatable. Something to watch as polling gets going after the primaries.
CO REP. SEN. PRIMARY - Ken Buck has opened up a 10 point lead over Jane Norton in the Republican primary. This is amazing considering all the political machinery Norton has in her corner. Good lord she's unpredictable though.
CO DEM SEN PRIMARY - Andrew Romanoff somehow managed to get involved in a White House job scandal and still not be noticed. Why Obama felt the need to bribe this incompetent politician is beyond me. Michael Bennett should get the nomination.
CO SEN - Both Buck and Norton poll ahead of both Dem candidates although Norton is virtually tied. Oddly enough, Romanoff polls better than Bennett despite his pathetic campaign. Doesn't say much for Bennett's chances in November.
CO GOV. - Last poll I saw had McInnis holding a 6-7 point lead for the second consecutive polling period. Clearly the Democratic fervor over Hickenlooper has died down since his record on taxes and job creation have become known. He too has gone into hiding to lessen the exposure.
Maybe not the most inspired line Mojo Risin ever came up with but fitting for today. It seems that Nebraska has decided to be an also ran in the Big 10 rather than feign respect in a weaker Big 12 causing Missouri to make an equally stupefying decision to follow them into permanent mediocrity.
Assuming of course, the Hidin' Irish don't make the sensible decision to join the Big 10 as well, then Mizzou gets to find out the exact dimensions of the shaft.
But the real interest here is what to make of Colorado possibly moving to the Pac-10.
At first glance it sounds ridiculous that CU, along with the Texas/OK contingent, could go Pac-10. They have about as much in common with the left coast as mint juleps and gator tossin'. The only real link is that all parties share the never ending cash-lust that seems on fine display in Los Angeles, so maybe they deserve each other.
Given a second examination, the idea of sending the Buffs left might just be a stroke of genius. Outside of football concerns, where CU should be an upgrade over the bottom feeders in the Pac-10, the Pac-10 would also be getting the City of Boulder, in all it's glory.
It's no secret that the Pac-10 is full of crazy liberals (Cal), spoiled students (USC, UCLA) and binge drinking and drug abuse (Arizona, Arizona St.). Well, I've got good news for guys, CU is no slouch in any of those categories. The only reason we haven't had any crazy tree people (Cal) is because everybody in Boulder is a crazy tree person. Poor babies have nobody to protest.
The revelation that the Buffs joining the Pac-10 is simply the reuniting of twins separated at birth, changed my whole perspective on the situation. What the rest of us see as a cash grab by greedy conference presidents is like a POW getting to return home for CU. No more dealing with Nebraska, Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma. Now they get to lose with dignity in California, Oregon, Washington. Plus, they get to party in Arizona every once in a while. Who wouldn't take that deal?
Alabama Florida Florida St. Miami South Florida Georgia Georgia Tech LSU Auburn Arkansas Miss. St. Ole Miss South Carolina Kentucky Louisville Vanderbilt
Big East (14 teams, 2-7 team divisions)
Virgina Virginia Tech. Clemson North Carolina NC St. Boston College Syracuse Pitt West Virginia Maryland Wake Forest Connecticut Rutgers Tennessee
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was recently speaking to a group on the state of education in Jersey. Needless to say, it was pretty pathetic. Low test scores, low graduation and burdensome union contracts were topics for discussion. During the speech Christie let it slip that Jersey is currently spending $ 24,000 per student, per year on education. Take one class of 20 students plus one overpaid teacher and you're paying $ 300,000 to turn bright lights into dim bulbs.
It got me thinking though, what kind of education can you get for around 24 K a year?
You could go to:
Rutgers - $ 22,968 per year Colorado State University - $ 18,022 University of Colorado - $ 25,752 Arizona State University - $ 21,924 University of Massachusetts - $ 20,898
And to think these prices also include room and board. Something tells me the good people of New Jersey are not quite getting the bang for their buck. Maybe they should just send their kids to Rutgers for K-12 as well.
Word has come down from casa de Bud that MLB has decided not to overturn the bad call that cost Galaragga a perfect game last night in Detroit.
While overturning the call and awarding the pitcher a perfect game would have been a noble thing and spared the umpire and pitcher more days of press harassment, it would've been the wrong move.
Statistics are like Halls of Fame, they are historical references to what has happened on the field over the years. As bad as the call was, it was made. Play continued and Galarraga got the 28th out one batter later. To change the ruling would be to pretend that these things never happened which would undermine the whole purpose of statistics.
There is a way to fix it though. Simply change the hit to an error and award the pitcher a 28 out perfect game. This kind of stat manipulation happens all the time regarding hits, why not for this call? Call it an E-0.
The umpire gets relief but not forgiven, the pitcher gets his deserved perfect game and the history books will accurately reflect what actually happened on the field.
A far better option than ignoring the problem or pretending it didn't happen the way it did.
Finally, the Securities & Exchange Commission has developed a new strategy to combat massive crashes in stock prices such as the one experienced in May. You may remember this incident vividly as the being the only time a stock crash was blamed on a fat fingered trader who typed in "billion" instead of "million". Having been unable to actually find this obese, dim-witted titan of Wall Street as of yet, the SEC was forced to act on the logical assumption that there was no fatty screwing with the Dow, rather it was an actual, market driven occurrence.
Normal, capitalist minded individuals would look at a massive stock crash and try to examine the reasons how it could have happened. Europe's credit collapse, rampant American debt and sagging credit, the current administration's hostility to all non-crony related forms of capitalism are all plausible theories that spring to mind.
Unfortunately, the United States bureaucracy is not populated by normal, capitalist minded individuals.
The solution devised by the SEC is to monitor stock prices over a floating time frame and if there is a massive devaluation of stock prices, to simply stop trading.
Awesome.
Nothing more to see here folks! No need to figure out why your investment is worth about 1/32 what it was five minutes ago. Big brother stopped trading, don't you feel better now?
You shouldn't. This plan won't work because the underlying problems aren't being addressed. Trading can't be halted forever and as soon as the freeze is lifted, whatever root causes were in play before will be in play again.
Finances are like a river. You can't stop the flow, you can only dam, divert or delay. All those things can do is buy you time. You ultimately have to fix the main problem. If you don't, those tactics will fail and the failure is often times more spectacular and costly than the original problem you were trying to avoid.
Boy, those Jews sure know how to get the world riled up don't they?
How dare they walk into a trap set up by Turkey armed with only pocket knives and paint guns. How dare the kill 9 people trying to save their own lives and prevent arms from entering Gaza.
Ever since it has been a steady stream of Palestinian this or Palestine that.
There has been so much patriotic Palestinian flag waving that it is sometimes easy to forget that there is no such place as Palestine, outside the fevered minds of radical Islamists anyway.
Go ahead and find a decent map. I see lots of things in the middle east but Palestine isn't one of them. It has no boundaries, no government, no capital and no official recognition. If you're thinking about the Gaza Strip, that isn't a nation-state. It's a pathetically small strip of land that was hijacked by terrorists that the Israelis essentially use as a jail camp. Is Kurt Russell part Jew? Escape from Gaza starring Simon Plisken! It writes itself.
You never know how far back Arabs go when they are talking about historical rights to property, etc. I'm sure they would take all of this back to the Crusades (while ignoring the fact that the first crusade was in response to militant Muslim expansion) if they could but for rational people, we will look to the last time there was a Palestine on the map. That would be the British Mandate of Palestine, that ended after WW2.
Yes indeed, to look at a map of the British Mandate, there appears to be a rather large section of this earth called Palestine. Certainly large enough to house all the "Palestinians" in Israel today, so what happened to all that land?
Well, the vast majority of it was used to create Lebanon and Jordon while also expanding the territory of Syria. The tiny sliver that wasn't used up expanding those Muslim states was used to create Israel. Even that wasn't a fair enough split though as Israel was supposed to be set up as a partial independent Jewish/partial independent Arab state. The Zionists agreed to this compromise. The Arab League gave a big hell no and promptly tried to eradicate the Jews. As has been the case, the Arabs were soundly thrashed by the Jews, setting the stage for the last 60+ years of conflict.
Since then, Palestine has ceased to exist in any tangible way. It could easily exist if Syria and Jordon ever decided to give some of that former Mandate up to become Palestine. Certainly those two countries aren't doing anything productive with it. Why not just create a Palestinian state that way and end this nonsense?
Arabs will tell you that they have some right to Jerusalem, etc. If you go back far enough there isn't a culture that doesn't have some claim to the Holy Cities. I'm pretty sure if you dig deep enough you can find some artifacts from the little known Eskimo Reign of Terror period in Bethlehem.
The real reason though is that if Palestine were to become a legitimate State, then the surrounding Arab nations, in addition to Hamas and Hezbollah, wouldn't have a built in excuse to kill Jews, which is all they really want to do. No two-state solution, no original partition plans. These groups want a free license to kill Jews at will and the perceived oppression in "Palestine" is the convenient cover they need. The UN, who created all this partitioning nonsense, seems more than willing to buy that tripe hook, line and sinker.
So next time the world gets righteous and indignant about the plight in Palestine, just remember, that it's all a myth.
You can't steal land that is legitimately yours.
You can't oppress criminals engaged in seditious rebellion. It's called law enforcement and every country on Earth does the same thing.
You can't reason or rationalize with dreams or ghosts.
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