
Thank god so many well wishers were there to keep Andrea at bay.
...for Pop Culture and Other Stuff - I'll spare you the politics for later - no, really.


On a weekend that was "welcomed" by a Friday announcement that the deficit is at a new level of $1.4 trillion, triple what it was just a year ago, the big news at the Obama administration sponsored NBC's Meet the Press sunday talk show was a 40-minute piece on "women in the workplace". Seriously, with the healthcare debate in full throttle, an army general asking for more troops in Afghanistan for over three months now, the burgeoning deficit - and this show devotes almost it entire duration to this ground breaking topic. Astounding. 

It seemed everytime I looked up Vladimir Guerrero was striking out.
n so did the FOX announcers Joe Buck and former major leaguer Tim McCarver. They reacted in a way I thought was somewhat unimagineable. While it was clear that the Angel shortstop Aybar did not touch the bag they claimed that everyone knows about the "being in the neighborhood" play - which means - that in most double plays the shortstop or whoever may graze the base as they fire to first base but the play may not always be synichronous with the ball in the mitt and the foot on the base. Meaning when he catches it from the second basemen the shortstop may be past the bag. That's "in the neighborhood".
But on this play, the Angels player Aybar just stood behind the bag, took the flip from 2nd and then threw to first - without ever trying to TOUCH the BASE!!! But according to Buck and McCarver this is just normal stuff and "thank god the game wasn't determined on that play".
been recognized for years now in the NBA but to acknowledge it in the rule book is another thing. Now LeBron can take five steps in order to be called for travelling I guess.
(International Olympics Committee) talking about how her Dad had multiple sclerosis and "she sat on his lap while watching Nadia, Carl Lewis and Olga". Well that is some long lap to last over those 12 years of Olympics (and she was 20 when Carl Lewis was wearing his pumps). And who sits in anybody's lap to watch the Olympics? The commercials are too long. (Of course, we also had to hear from Michelle how it was such a "sacrifice" to jet to Copenhagen with Oprah to give her little speech.)
timulus, and just like cap and trade. The man doesn't understand details.
rash your country and talk about sitting on laps and you get bubkus - and then you got to turn around and get tough with Iran?
on the show all the time) and the band was fab also.
My 20th fantasy football season started this year in Biloxi, Mississippi at the end of August with a band of buddies from all walks of life. My team is known as the Juggernauts - a term I chose, from amongst other things, sports lingo and basic comic book lore. As I prepared to meet old high school, college, work and other aquaintenances (and basic gambling derelicts) for our annual draft (which had somehow grown from my simple back yard event, including pissing in the shrubs, - to now being held at any far flung casino resort that a simple majority of team owners could stomach) I looked for appropriate "draft-wear' - something that could hold up to the annual five-hour smoke-filled haze that for some reason we so drearily love. Last year my "I Wish I Was WaterBoarding" T-shirt scored both populist and political points from the mostly southern group so I was looking for something similar. However I was bored with various other political t-shirts of the day. As I looked for something on the Juggernaut comic character from the Marvel Spiderman and X-Men comics, I was surprised to find that someone had "goofed" on the Juggernaut from an old TV cartoon series - and that it had become such a You Tube sensation that it had spawned a whole level of t-shirts carrying the moniker shown above.
Of course everyone at the draft thought I had them made - but I didn't - just ordered off the site. Apparently the You-Tube video (made in 2005) became so popular that they even mentioned it one of the X-Men movies (shown below).
And yes, I think that bitch was Juno. Juno and the Juggernaut. How poetic.

Thanks for everyone who called and asked if the Hard Place was ok out here in la-la land. Yes we are - and we generally are all the time when fire season comes, although we had one close by for the second time in four years. Not to go into any geographical specifics but there just shouldn't be any fire west of the 405 freeway. Thankfully it was vanquished rather quickly - and like last time I was out of town anyway.
And then here it is after it was put out. Drove by it yesterday. A little scorched but pristine as ususal. And thank you God for the rainbow.
Here's to our firefighters who do a difficult job very well every day.


The President's ill-advised health care bill is taking some serious heat and is surely not going to be passed by his stated August deadline. More important it is a disaster waiting to happen. The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) has already stated that it will not cut costs (the bill's stated intent) but will increase costs. Still, Barry wants to get what he thinks is a win and a part of history no matter how much he damages the country. You see with this President - it's not what is right - but is what it is about him.
UPDATE: July 22 - After the President's press conference on health care - even MSNBC is unhappy with the President's performance - said he missed a big chance to explain his plan - and didn't. I haven't seen Chris Matthews this disappointed since Chappequidock. And then half of his show devolved into this stupid issue of a black Harvard professor being arrested in his own house - and why was this a question at this press conference? Because a losing President could play his own race card at the end of a terrible showing. Plain and simple. The entiere MSNBC crew seemed to be scratching their heads at what they anticipated was supposed to be a strong argument from the President about details to his "signature" health plan.

When did we reach the point that espousing what has been the view of civilized society for the past 5,000 years is suddenly considered “controversial”? It seems like only a few years ago that were told that we had to be more “tolerant” of the homosexual lifestyle. Most of us were willing to do that. Then it wasn’t enough to just tolerate them, we had to “accept” them. Then companies had to go bankrupt to offer them “domestic partner” health insurance benefits. (Anyone remember the expressions Moral Hazard and Adverse Selection from Economics class?) Then it was a call for “civil unions” which rapidly escalated to a call for full marital benefits. Now we have Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr. (AKA Perez Hilton), throwing a hissy because Miss California dared to express an opinion that deviated from the party line after he ambushed her. He then proceeded to attack her on
the most vile and personal level that would never be tolerated if it were directed at him. Now the pinheads from Access Hollywood have (light)weighed in on the subject as well. And E-Network chick Guilianna Rancic twittered to no one in particular that as a "journalist" she was sick to her stomach and couldn't stand this contestant!!! Then the guy who ran the Miss California pageant couldn't hide his displeasure on a tv interview with her view on gay marriage - basically saying somtimes these "mistakes" happen at pageants. Once again, I’m confused. When did this collosol shift in mores occur. And by the way - aren’t the liberals always preaching to us that we are the ones who need to be tolerant of opposing viewpoints?



roved and then jets to California to insult disabled children. And then he thinks its a great idea to tell everyone about his picks for March Madness. This guy is a frat brother - not a President. And he is a joke.