Something to Truly Cheer About

This Master's was one for the books. With all the pre-tournament hype thrust on the multiple adulterer Tiger Woods, it is fitting that a the winner was a man fighting through his family battles with breast cancer - not only with his wife, but his mother as well. Phil hadn't even played that well in the past few months but for the first time in 11 months his wife and kids came with him to the Master's tournament and it helped boost his game. His wife Amy didn't even come to the course the entire four days until the last possible minute to be there for the final 18th hole.

And Phil's play? What many of his fans have always wanted from him. A gutsy scrambling show that stood sports on its ear. A truer champion cannot be found.

Death of a Nation 2

Still wondering how pro-life Representative Bart Stupak (and his nine other compatriate voters) could cave on his battle against federal funding for abortion in the new health care bill by buying the Executive Order BS that Obama sold him (and has not yet executed). Pure drivel. Sunday was a good night for Chicago politics. It’s nice to know some things never change; that back-room arm-twisting, extortion, blackmail, bribes, and pay-offs can still work wonders when applied to unthinking pie-in-the-sky I-don't-care-what-it-will-cost Democrats. Even ‘principled’ Democrats like pro-life Rep Bart Stupak folded like a Walmart lawn chair - or was it because of this? And isn't anybody the slight bit interested why 32 Democrats still voted AGAINST this?

Yes, our liberty took a serious kick in the teeth this weekend. The health care bill will put one-sixth of the U.S. economy in the hands of the federal government (it IS a takeover - just read the articles below). But even worse than assisting further in the bankrupting of our economy, our freedoms are now seriously diminished. And taxes will soar.

I seriously do not understand how we fight major wars to protect our freedom and then we elect socialists to rob it from us. We Americans became considerably less free on Sunday. And I don't buy this stuff the Obama ran as a centrist and went way left - he was a leftist from word one. When ABC anchor Charlie Gibson asked him during one of the debates why he would raise taxes when it would bring in less money - he didn't care - it was the principle to him - the socialist principle.

One of the best articles concerning the recent aftermath of Sunday's debacle can be found here in very simple and easy to understand terms. Some of you liberals might understand. And a twist by Jonah Goldberg about the inane end game of Obama is here.

Death of a Nation

Why am I Republican?

Because Democrats can't tell the truth. They either don't understand what they are saying or they are just liars. Either reason is not comforting. Watching our country devolve into a socialist gulag this weekend while flipping back and forth between March Madness (the basketball variety) and C-SPAN, I noticed this with regularity. Saturday afternoon I was able to see the inner workings of the Rules Committee as it setup the health care vote on Sunday. Many Republicans, most notably Paul Ryan (R - MI) and Pete Session (R-TX), gave very credible and fact filled presentations to make the argument that the health care plan is not paid for - that the CBO score does not include all of the elements needed to evalute the economic impact of the bill, that it will not reduce the deficit, that it will drive primary care physicians out of business and other small items. What was the Democratic response? Hyperbole, stories, metaphors, colorful soliloquies - and lies.

Not one Democrat can explain the economics of the deal - when cornered on the many missing items of the CBO score they go off on another story - they don't answer questions. And apparently they don't have brains. Because at a time when the economy is struggling, the deficit is high - and more baby boomers are joining the ranks of Medicare (another entitlement fund that is going broke) - they decide to raid Medicare of $500 billion to "partly" fund this monstrosity of federal miscreance. Meanwhile Paul Ryan (see video below) can rattle figures off the tip of his tongue. Representative Xavier Becerra D- CA who tried to refute him just basically said nothing. No substantive argument whatsoever.



And apparently no brains whatsoever. Please read here and here for two good quick analyses of what really happened Sunday night. And why you don't see these common sense discussions on normal TV - I have no idea. All you see is puffery.

Totalitarianism has begun.

Kiss Goes to High School - 1976

An excellent tale of the redemptive powers of rock and roll from my high school heroes (and great examples of capitalism in action). Stay through the opening commercial and enjoy - and, of course, shout it out loud.

And while I did not hail from Cadilac, I was a Class of "76'er from a bit farther south. And I did have Destroyer on my turntable.

Same Time Next Year

The Democrats like to say they "book-ended" the start of the health care debate a year ago and followed it up with Thursday's (Feb 25th) Health Care Forum moderated by Barry O. In a word the Republican's smoked them with facts, constantly questioning the President on his own plan (of which he could not provide answers) and all the Democrats did was recite stories of poor people and their hand me down dentures. Please see this excellent synopsis of Barry's failed strategy.

For the first time this year Republicans were able to expose the flaws in the Barry's plan and show the nation what it truly is - an incomprehensible sham on the nation. They borrow, or raid, from Medicare - a program that is already bankrupt and also pay for this is new taxes - without providing anyone any new coverage until ten years from now. An absolute shame.

Sarah on the Rise

Even as she is constantly criticized by nattering nabobs she is gaining strength - something apparently unthinkable a year ago.

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Again - I like her as an eventual VP.

As for our friend Barry and his everchanging agenda, please read here about his upcoming photo op with the GOP on healthcare.

It's Official...

...Taylor Swift can't sing at all. Last night on the Grammy's she had a great potential moment to sing a handful of tunes on a huge stage with hero Stevie Nick's and ...well she was just horrible. Off key the entire time - couldn't even sing her own song - and you had to feel for Stevie who never had that problem. And what the heck was the Gold Dust Woman doing up with the off-key pixie. You could see Stevie regretting this guest spot at the end.

On several public forums this past year Taylor has not been able to keep a tune - Saturday Night Live, Dancing with the Stars - nice kid, great story - terrible public singer.

By the way - Mary J. Blige is not much better. At least Taylor is a nice person.

Sorry State of the Union Address

An unheralded mess of teleprompted sound bites and mediocre ideas/programs. An embarassment by any means. And a bunch of lies.

Just pathetic.

Mickey Mantle in Pads

Is it just me or is everyone pulling out there Brett Favre screwed it up script and just handing it to him (after his Minnesota Vikings dissappointing loss to the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship)? Yes he did throw an interception in the waning minutes while trying to find extra yards to get his field goal kicker on the field for the winning kick in the final seconds. Critics said he could run for the extra yards - but he had a gimpy leg after an almost fatal tackle just a quarter ago that left him severely hobbled - such that most did not even think he would come back from the hit and continue.

Yes. of course it Brett Favre's fault - he threw a pick -its all on him. I have never seen an athlete where people want to foist so much praise on and then in the next second tear him down. This season was a miracle of sports to behold. I have commented to many people, that where there are really few "sports heroes" - that this guy, history and all, is really Mickey Mantle. He is a guy you can root for, appears humble, says it like it is - and is pretty darn good.

But what was the real story of the game - it wasn't Favre's interception (or interceptions as the commentators wanted you to know about all game long - he had one after being crushed to the ground). The Vikings and more importantly running back Peterson fumbled five times (and actually more but that covered up some). THAT IS WHY THEY LOST.

In fact Brett Favre pulled himself off the ground and out of an injured ankle to lead the Vikings back to tie the game even though his teammates were laying the ball on the ground at will. they would have been NOWHERE without him. It was one of the guttiest performances of all time. And if they had won - and if there had not been 12 people in the huddle with 30 seconds left in regulation - the reporters would have been letting you know all about it.

But you won't hear that from the media - they just want to roast the arrogant and defiant Favre. How dare he actually try to take a team to the Super Bowl at the age of 41.

Media run amok.

Yes he can!

Thank you Massachussetts. Democracy lives.

In a stunning reversal of fortune a state congressman of MA drives his 200,000 mile Ford truck through bluster and White House nonsense to claim the 41st Republican seat in the Senate.

Thank God.

Speaking of God - that's Teddy Kennedy's car being pulled out of the Chappaquidiq with Mary Jo Kopeckne's body in it.

Karma, people.

Surf''s Up

After four days since a terrorist tried to detonate a bomb on a Detroit bound airliner from Amsterdam, President Obama took a break from his Hawaii Christmas vacation to deliver a terse and perfunctory message that provided no insight to the event, no passion or resolve and mostly indifference to the incident. "If the suspect was successful over 300 people would have died..." he read from a prepared statement. Well, "duh".

The President called the terrorist a "suspect" and treated the issue as a crime instead of a terrorist act. His press comments were fairly pathetic and not worth the time he took to get off the golf course. I'm not sure if alot of America is all in a tizzy about this in the middle of the holiday glare - but if you were looking for solace and comfort from the President you didn't get it. He is much more animated accusing honest and hardworking Massachusetts policemen than talking down red-handed terrorists.

This look at a few more fun facts:

• He banned the use of the word "war on terror"


• He wants to close the terrorist jail in Guantanimo, Cuba - a state-of-the-art and out-of-country haven for those who want to kill Americans


• He wants to move those terrorists - who want to kill Americans - to a place 90 miles from Chicago - to an old prison that will need major significant upgrades to come anywhere close to what Guantonimo provides. And nevertheless they will now be in-country.


• He wants to put the most significant terrorists on trial in New York city - instead of going to military tribunal - which all other war combatants have gone to. In essence he still is handling terrorism as a crime, assigning US citizen rights to terrorists and creating a mockery of this nation.
• His attorney general has further insinuated, under questioning from a Senate panel, that he would give those same rights to Osama bin laden if caught as well.


• This same attorney general has spent more time trying to imprison CIA operatives who have tried to save American lives than go after these terrorists.
• And his hand picked head of Homeland Security - Janet Neopolitano - the ex-Arizona governor who promoted amnesty for illegals in this country - said over the weekend that the security system on planes and in airports "worked".

And with this track record how are we going to "learn from this event". The administration has already scared federal investigators from trying to learn information from terrorist "suspects" by a number of means - how can anyone be confident "that the government is taking the proper precautions to keep the flying public safe"? Everything Obama has done has been to keep us less safe.

Unfortunately we have more to fear from our overly incompetant administration than maybe the terrorists themselves. It's okay Barry - just go back to your golf game. Have yourself a merry little christmas.

It's Still a Charlie Brown Christmas

It was becoming a frustrating mid-December evening - work that won't stop even at Xmas time, folks coming in the next day from out of state, a pending catastrophic health care bill - and a bunch of women unexpectedly congregating in my living room for some reason upon invitation by my significant other (see "Jerry McGuire"). Safely ensconsed in my den, I flipped between Fox and CNN until I found what I really needed in this hectic holiday halstrom. I hadn't seen this annual program the week before because it was pre-empted by that jolly old Barack Obama and his merry speech about war.

I was able to catch the back end of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" - and as many times I have seen it - I seem to always forget the calming and redeeming nature of its allure. It is the gold standard of decency, entertainment, teamwork and the truth. It is also amazing to me how it conveys so many feelings and sentiments with a minimum of scenes, dialogue and characters. The plot is simple, grows and crescendos to Linus's speech in the hushed auditorium - which really says it all. Linus tells Charlie what Christmas is really all about.

And I still get a kick that everyone thought Christmas was so commercial back then - in 1965! - and "aluminum trees" were apparently all the rage. I also think its interesting that the show was produced and developed by several of the jewish persuasion (check the credits), but of course that's Hollywood. But, nevertheless, even they believed in Charlie Brown.

And the Hard Place talked about this years ago - of course. God bless you Charlie Brown.

And Merry Christmas to the rest of us.

Arrogance Personified

President Obama - while pitching another new ill-advised program to "create jobs" (why not just "save" them) - continued on in his speech while claiming credit for things that have not happened and then contiued to blame the previous administration for all wrongs done to man.

Much of his speech centered on doing almost anything different than what has been done before. He will create boards and agencies to protect us. He will get us "green jobs" because "I want this nation to be the leader in that". Leader in what? A myth. He wants jobs and investment in retrofitting houses - who can afford it Barry?

What he really was selling was that he wanted to use excess TARP money to "create jobs" (or more accurately be used to "stimulate" lending to small business). Hmmm - why don't you just cut their taxes - and wasn't looser investment guidelines the reason we are in all of this mess (i.e. Fannie Mae).

Then he had the audacity to say that the deficit had been growing dramatically in real terms over the past 8 years (it was almost balanced in 2007!). He just made this up! Someone on his political team must have said to him "go ahead and say it - everyone will buy it - and we have the media in our hip pocket they don't know how to report news anymore anyway".

While the President did claim he wanted to use some methods that the right have clamored for the past year - cutting taxes for small business - he was unclear on how to do it and essentially wants to use paid back TARP funds (that were to go straight to deficit reduction) to "pay" for it - all in a rambling incoherent speech which did not explain specifics, blamed the past administration and set unrealistic expectations.

There's your "hope and change" - another photo-op for the Pres, a teleprompter, three-to-four "let me be clear" (s) - and with little to show for it.

You Mess with the Bull...

....you get the horns.

There's nothing worse than unbridled hubris - and this is what it looks like.

One of the reasons I started blogging was to comment on how media treats certain stories. This one is another doozy - not so much on how the media is treating it - but how they have deferred to the subject.

Ever since Tiger Woods burst onto the pro golfing stage he has been untouchable. When Fuzzy Zoeller uttered his absurd "fried chicken" remark right after his first Master's win, the press -and most of America - has been in Tiger's corner. And good for him - and maybe for golf.

I will have to admit I have never been a fan - I have never wanted Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 majors broken, never wanted famed golf courses (Augusta) completely overhauled because of his length, never liked the simple rejoinder about golf tournaments that were no good if Tiger wasn't there. I also didn't like his incessant arrogant attitude on the golf course where he threw clubs, threw fits and constantly stared and screamed at people in golf galleries (I've been there) when someone dares to click a camera. I mean come on - find a golfer where everything has been about him like this guy. But like anyone else I have been amazed at the skill and discipline form which he came from virtually nowhere (because of the steady hand of his father) and have come to dominate the game.

Then why couldn't he use such discipline to keep his house in order? Let's face it - he's a whore. And the sporting world and media have covered him - and his myth - for years. And to actually have to hear over the past few days certain on-air personalities (including pregnant morning LA "newswomen")(yes - that's you KTLA) actually DEFEND him on TV - well it absolutely disgusts me.

And it should disgust the rest of you.

And as of even as late as this evening (Thursday night - five days later) "pundits/experts" have still been debating on TV of whether this will hurt his endorsements - first of all why would anyone care. He can still play golf and support himself just fine - if fans actually let him on the course. And most pundits were still saying (after three women came forward and payoffs were obviously made) "oh this will blow over just fine". (Fools).

Really? This isn't just one slip somewhere. There are multiple women - at the same time (and there will be more for sure) - and all the while he has the faithfull wife on the 18th green and kids to welcome him after another great win. Joy Behar says "well at least he's not right-wing hyhpocrite politician who strays". Oh yeah?

He's actually worse. No one will ever look at him the same.

SingleWhiteFemale

Lunatic left-fringe reporter Andrea Mitchell crashed one of Sarah Palin's book signing's the other day. Guess living with Alan Greenspan wasn't exciting enough.

Looks like she also wanted Sarah to sign her copy of leftist rag Newsweek as well.

Thank god so many well wishers were there to keep Andrea at bay.

It also appears that Andrea wants to keep dressing like Sarah as well. Heard Alan likes that.....

Losers

Incumbant New Jersey Governor John Corzine spent $120 million, had big labor in his pocket, and had Mr. Celebrity President Obama campaign big time for him - and there was even a third-party candidate thrown in to pull votes off his chief rival - but he still lost to Republican Chris Christie.

Some coatails Barry.

Life's a Beach

For the record this is where we sometimes walk/run/stumble in the evenings after work. It's the beach near the Hollywood Riviera near Redondo. And trudging through that sand is one heck of a workout.

Meet the Mess

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.

The show started and ended with the underwhelming comments from Senior White House Advisor Valerie Jarrett who was introduced to the show with a slew of softballs from man-boy host David Gregory that was just an embarassing display of journalism. Gregory did not care about any of her answers because he was never going to refute or respond to anything she said - he just wanted to get to that fabulous "women in work" segment with Maria Shriver. (who surprisingly was not on her cell phone).

GREGORY: How is the President going to increase jobs?

JARRETT: Oh well the President has a plan, he passed the stimulous and it is only half spent and we just have to wait until it works...he wakes up everyday trying to find new ways to create jobs.......

Of course this is all paraphrased from the real show but it was plain embarrassing. Why does the world and the main stream media continue to impughn Sarah Palin, who actually held a real goverment job, and this woman can come on, say nothing and be thanked for her "contribution to the show". This woman who helped Obama get elected (good job Valerie) but has not one original principaled thought in her head - or at least did not show it. (And was perhaps going to profit mightily from the Olympics coming to Chicago since she owned real estate that would have benefited from the Games).

But you know that is not really the point here. The point is Valerie Jarrett? - empty suit; same old cliched circular explanations of nothing. And Meet the Press? - the Sunday version of the View.

Embarrassing, America. Just embarrassing.

In the Neighborhood

It seemed everytime I looked up Vladimir Guerrero was striking out.

That was how long Game 2 of the ALCS (American League Championship Series) went tonight in the rain and howling cold of the new Yankee Stadium between said Yankees and the Los Angeles, nee Anaheim, Angels. Frankly, as much as I love playoff baseball (I comment to many that it is the most dramatic of ALL sports) I was getting quite bored with the playoffs so far. The previous series bored me to tear (Phillies/Rockies) - and I am fairly a purist - but I couldn't take it.

But during the 5th inning of this Angels/Yankees game it started getting good - and while making tacos and brownies and margaritas, the night was becoming grand. Then in the 9th inning, I think, something strange happened.

On what looked like a routine double play, 4-to-6-to-3, the play at second base was ruled safe. At first I was outraged (because I am rooting for the Angels) but replays clearly showed that the Angel shortstop, Eric Aybar, didn't touch second base as he threw towards first. In fact, he didn't even step toward the bag! He had both feet behind it like he was the friggin' catcher.

Well, God bless 'em, Angels skipper Mike Scossia came out and argued vehmently and then 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".

And I understand that - but I never liked it. As long as I have watched professional baseball, I have always hated this slight of hand at second base. I can't tell you how many plays I thought have been wrong. But usually the instant replay shows that no matter how smooth, or bang-bang the play is - the umps usually get it right.

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".

This comes after the news announced yesterday that the offical NBA rules have been amended to say that a player in transition can take TWO STEPS towards the basket. Of course that has 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.

And a rule change I guess Buck and McCarver would applaud. I couldn't believe how they harped on this for every inning afterward as the game went into extra innings. Baseball men. Hardly.

Rules are rules. Play by them.

The Ego Has Landed

Irresponsible.

That is the only way to label President Obama's ill-conceived trip to Copenhagen and to give a campaign-style emotive speech to try to win his adopted home town Chicago the 2016 Olympics. This "presentation" occurs on the day that unemployment hit a 30-year high, while he has yet to "decide" on a strategy in Afghanistan, and also while he is apparently trying to rest nukes away from the Iranians - you know, the ones he thought he could placate by "talking" with them. And then a few hours later Chicago becomes the first City voted out of a four city contest.

Stupid.

That is what anyone had to feel when they heard Michelle Obama's speech to the IOC (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.)

Embarrased.

That is what this nation must feel as they watched their President trash the US again and say the only reason the Olympics should be awarded to Chicago is because 1) he had his presidential victory party there and 2)"he could take his daughters to see the games " at the end of his second term. What rubbish. One IOC member said "Obama's speech was high on emotion but lacked any detail". Well at least that is consistent - just like health care, just like the stimulus, and just like cap and trade. The man doesn't understand details.

I actually read two California papers this week that trumpeted how Obama's improved standing in the world and "overwhelming acceptance in the international community over Bush" would be just what was needed to get Chicago's bid. These articles just categorically assumed as fact that, since eveyone appeared to "like" Barry better, than people would fall over with their legs in the air and do whatever he wanted.

Well, the IOC isn't a host of deluded and ignorant elitist citizenery (and manufactured voters organized by ACORN) who respond to such emotional demogogory. And, in fact, in some circles it looks like this last minute trip, where it was just assumed that this mythical rock god imagery was just going to save the day, just simply backfired - and maybe even insulted the IOC.

And what is more important is you don't minimalize the office of the Presidency by going over and shilling for some contest. And you certainly don't do it unless you know it's in the bag. Talk about political miscalculation - you make a big show and go over there and trash your country and talk about sitting on laps and you get bubkus - and then you got to turn around and get tough with Iran?

Sheer idiocy my friends. I guess French President Sarkosy was right when he said this week that "Obama is extremely naive and has an endless ego". Well hopefully that ego has landed.