Automatic Rebalancing

Requiescat in Pace U.S.A.

2010-03-20T13:35:00.003-05:00

This whole Health Reform Bill process, is so surreal it should be a bad parody movie (think "Epic movie", "Scary Movie" etc...) I don't even know where to start addressing the ludicrous claims. How about the CBO stating the bill is budget neutral? ENNHHH. You can't include 2010 because it already started, so start with 2011 and the number goes from 940 billion to 1.2 trillion. Further, you can't pay into a program for 10 years, receive 6 yrs of benefits, and then start the next 10 years 40% in the hole, and expect it to be in the black. Basic economics my liberal friends. I'm also really psyched about the 10 billion set aside to hire 16,000 new IRS agents to police and levy fines on those not wanting to take part. That's all-American. But then, maybe that's wy Dem. Steny Hoyer instructed his members in Congress not to talk about the particulars of the CBO report. Interesting...
Or we could go to the pledge of Mr. Hope and Change, you know, the one that says no American making less than $250k a year will see any of their taxes increase. Welllllll, except for all of the taxes and fees in this plan that will hit Americans making $60,000 or more. I wish that would have been on all of the open, transparent C-Span negotiations that were televised when this bill was crafted...
Or wait, I know, there's the plan to further defund an already bankrupt govt. healthcare system, Medicare, to the tune of $500 billion. Super that should work out well...
I can't even talk about Pelosi, her comments makes my head hurt. So we'll move on to another Mensa grad, our very own Louise Slaughter. You know, the Congresswoman who wants to "deem" the bill law because, the Dems don't have enough votes for an up/down procedure? Yes the brilliant head of the Rules Committee had this recent thought-provoking insight...

Rep. Cliff Sterns (R) FL., "So the real question I have for you folks (Democrats): Why are veterinarians part of this health care bill?" [referring to $285 million loan forgiveness for vets]
Rep. Louise Slaughter (D) NY, "Have you ever heard of swine flu?"

These are the people who want to run healthcare for us? W-O-W...

Really?

2010-01-22T05:04:00.002-05:00

As if everything else this charlatan of a Puppetdent has done hasn't been an utter failure, now there's this

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203863204574346610120524166.html

Are you kidding me? So $2 billion of our dollars can fund offshore oil drilling for Brazil with the full benefit to go to China, why? Because, some lunatic named George Soros (one of the largest shareholders of Petrobras), has been such a huge financial donor to Obama and it's payback time? Congrats Liberal America, "Hope and Change" is going to lead to $4 gallon gas again. It's time to wake up and get a clue. The average American citizen doesn't want this crap anymore. Nov. 2010 and 2012 can't come soon enough...

"A Government big enough to give you what you want, is big enough to take away everything you have"

2009-09-10T00:02:00.006-05:00

I started this as a response to my good friend The Wannabe Outdoorsman's post regarding Barry's speech to schoolchildren (click his link on the right to read), but then it got too long-so here goes!

My friend,

Ok so Cap And Trade we'll have to agree to disagree on...

The stimulus bill is helping your industry? My business with my clients has soared this year. Great, but our industries aren't the sole buoy to hold up the nation's financial ship. We have to think bigger than the personal microcosm here...Banks are repaying loans? So what, that's not a major indicator of economic growth, and viability. In fact in this instance it's going to hurt us in the long run. Why? Because of the correct point you said about interest rates going up.

The packages’ spending (like virtually all failed govt. stimulus plans of the past 70 years) is based on the Keynesian theory that injecting money into government projects will eventually make its way to American workers. Theoretically then, when the economy is in better shape it can repay the debt through taxes.
The problem with this failed principle is that, if a government has to borrow or create capital to finance these types of public projects, (which ours is) GDP growth will be reduced as a result of debt, interest on debt, higher interest rates and taxation of the citizenry to repay the debt. The larger the sum of money borrowed to finance growth, the heavier a repayment schedule, the higher interest rates go, the larger the tax burden is to be repaid by all Americans and the greater a hindrance on economic stability and growth of GDP.

In fact, economic estimates already are calling for a precipitous fall in GDP by 2020 if not sooner... In the meantime my friend, unemployment hit 9.5%, while real unemployment hovers around 16.5%. Over two million jobs have been lost since Mr. Hope and Change took office. Foreclosures are rising, while economists expect 1.5 million people to file bankruptcy this year. Many states are facing severe fiscal crises, with California being on the verge of bankruptcy. And you say it was scary for a while?? Maybe it was, but now it's positively terrifying.

Now my favorite issue, taxation. Yeah bro, no one wants more taxes and no one wants a high deficit, but to have Barry raise taxes and quadruple the deficit in the same term is financial lunacy! Who the hell wants to hear or deal with both of those things at the same time? Moreover, just because you and those in D.C. deem the top 2% to have expendable income, (i.e. the fact that they won't miss a meal) doesn't mean that it's ok for the govt. to straddle them with more of the burden for everyone else than they already bear.

Yeah, no shit, no one complains about making more money...for now... Wait to see how many employers pay people anything over $250k when tax liabilities go up. How happy or motivated will people be then? Or should we all just be happy with that amount because, after all, that's more than the average person makes, why should anyone want more than that? That's not what this country was founded on my friend. In fact, I'll remind you:

“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the constitution which granted a right to congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents…Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government." -James Madison.

"To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.” — Thomas Jefferson

"A wise and frugal government… shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.” -Thomas Jefferson

This sums it up brilliantly...

2009-09-08T16:00:00.002-05:00

on why I refuse to my dying breath to be politically correct...

http://www.pjtv.com/v/2343

I would've bet the farm...

2009-08-27T03:12:00.004-05:00

...that the lionizing of Ted Kennedy would've happened. Really? Now look, I don't wish suffering on anyone, but am I in a state of mourning? Absolutely not. One only mourns what one misses. The fact that people want to cling so badly to some delusional notion that the Kennedy family is the paradigm of altruism, is itself ludicrous, but that Teddy was some kind of hero? Repugnant... Folks, we're talking about a man who:

1.) Honored politicians who threatened the poor, disabled, and marginalized. When George C. Wallace in February 1974 announced his candidacy for a third term as governor of Alabama, he noted that several prominent Northern politicians had flown to the state capitol of Birmingham to kiss his ring. One of those was Kennedy, who contemplated running for president in 1976, a time when the South was still up for grabs. All of those Northerners, Wallace told his followers at a morning press conference, had but one message: “How great thou art in Alabama!”

2.) Cheated on his first wife from the moment the two were married; in December 1985 grabbed a waitress at Washington’s La Brasserie restaurant, picked her up from the table and threw her into the lap of his oh so honorable friend Sen. Chris Dodd, whereupon he proceeded to rub his genital area against her; and in September 1987 screwed his blonde girlfriend on the floor of La Brasserie. (Class, Class, Class)

3.) In a little-noticed vote in April 1976, favored a joint Senate resolution to define personhood as beginning at conception. However, when it became politically expedient for him, he turned his back on this. Not only did Kennedy by the 1980s come out in support of Roe v. Wade; he also supported taxpayer funding of abortion. His most consequential pro-choice advocacy was the 1987 Supreme Court hearing of nominee Robert Bork. Standing on the Senate floor, Kennedy assailed Bork as a jurist whose rulings would force women to resort to “back-alley abortions.”

4.) Further, on the politically expedient "Teddy the Lion", in 2004 he was the driving force behind a law in Mass. (when Mitt Romney (R) was governor, and Sen. John Kerry (D) was running for Prez.) that essentially removed the right of the governor to appoint a potential successor for Kerry and instead left the decision to a special election. Ok, I guess... Though I found it laughable last week, when I read it was Kennedy himself who proposed the law be changed back, now that Mass. has a Democrat for governor and he needed to be assured that his soon to be vacant Senate seat would be filled by an appointed Democrat. Oh yes, what a "wonderful champion of law" was Teddy.

5.) Then there's the "booming-voiced lion of the Senate" who mysteriously was stricken dumb when his nephew William Kennedy Smith raped a girl at the Florida compound...Oh I know, Smith was acquitted, but then so was O.J., so don't give me that bullshit argument...

6.) In May 1951, anxious about maintaining his eligibility for athletics for the next year, he had a friend who was knowledgeable on the subject, take his Spanish language examination for him. The two were quickly caught and expelled, but in a standard Harvard treatment for cases of this kind, they were told they could apply for readmission in a year or two after demonstrating good behavior.

7.) On the night of July 18, 1969, Kennedy was on Martha's Vineyard's Chappaquiddick Island at a party for the "Boiler Room Girls", a group of young women who had worked on his brother Robert's presidential campaign the year before. Leaving the party, Kennedy was driving a 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 with one of the women, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, as his passenger, when Kennedy drove off Dike Bridge into the Poucha Pond inlet. Kennedy escaped the overturned vehicle, swam to safety and left the scene. He did not call authorities until after Kopechne's body was discovered the following day.
On July 25, Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and was given a sentence of two months in jail, suspended. (shocking, I know) That night, he gave a national broadcast in which he said, "I regard as indefensible the fact that I did not report the accident to the police immediately", but denied driving under the influence of alcohol and denied any immoral conduct between him and Kopechne. (Riiiiiight)
In January 1970, an inquest into Kopechne's death took place in Edgartown, Massachusetts. At the request of Kennedy's lawyers, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ordered the inquest be conducted in secret. (I wonder why?) The presiding judge, James A. Boyle, concluded that some aspects of Kennedy's story of that night were not true, and that "negligent driving appears to have contributed to the death of Mary Jo Kopechne." A grand jury on Martha's Vineyard staged a two-day investigation in April 1970 but issued no indictment, after which Boyle made his inquest report public. Kennedy deemed its conclusions "not justified."

So folks this is the man, who for all of his "successes" as a politician, had more than his share of a politician's failures...Honor him if you must, I'd prefer to honor true heroes that died this year. Men whose death, was merely mentioned in passing, if not altogether overlooked by the media at large. Men like Henry Allingham, Kenneth Reusser, Darrell "Shifty" Powers, George E. Wahlen, Robley Rex, Ray Nance, Russell E. Dunham, James E. Swett, Harry Kinnard and Robert Prince.

If it wasn't so ridiculous, it would be tragic...

2009-08-26T03:18:00.003-05:00

The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775 - they've had 234 years to get it right; it is broke, and even though heavily subsidized, it can't compete with private sector FedEx and UPS services.

Social Security was established in 1935 - they've had 74 years to get it right; it is broke.

Fannie Mae was established in 1938 - they've had 71 years to get it right; it is broke.

Freddie Mac was established in 1970 - they've had 39 years to get it right; it is broke. Together Fannie and Freddie have now led the entire world into the worst economic collapse in 80 years.

The War on Poverty was started in 1964 - they've had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our hard earned money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor"; it hasn't worked.

Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 - they've had 44 years to get it right; they are both broke; and now our government dares to mention them as models for all US health care.

AMTRAK was established in 1970 - they've had 39 years to get it right; last year they bailed it out as it continues to run at a loss!

This year, a trillion dollars was committed in the massive political payoff called the Stimulus Bill of 2009; it shows NO sign of working; it's been used to increase the size of governments across America, and raise government salaries while the rest of us suffer from economic hardships. It has yet to create a single new private sector job. Our national debt projections (approaching $10 trillion) have increased 400% in the last six months.

"Cash for Clunkers" was established in 2009 and went broke in 2009 - - after 80% of the cars purchased turned out to be produced by foreign companies, and dealers nationwide are buried under bureaucratic paperwork demanded by a government that is not yet paying them what was promised.

So with a perfect 100% failure rate and a record that proves that each and every "service" shoved down our throats by an over-reaching government turns into disaster, how could any informed American trust our government to run or even set policies for America's health care system - - 17% of our economy?

Couldn't have said it better myself. And people wonder why the "angry, un-American, Nazi-mobs" are showing up at town halls to voice their collective displeasure with this sham of a bill? Please...

Beat it...

2009-07-06T23:01:00.002-05:00

I'm so sick of the continuing coverage of the death of Michael "Nosferatu" Jackson. Really America? Really? How is it that a child-molesting, pedophile gets so much attention, but soldiers, volunteers, etc... are largely ignored? How is it that news like the bloated cap and trade bill stumbling through Congress, a disastrous unemployment rate, failed 'stimulus' packages, etc...are deemed not as important as the loss of this sicko who just happened to be able to sing and dance? Disgusting...
To NY representative Peter King, congrats for speaking your mind! To Michael Eric Dyson, who spoke on MSNBC, Michael Jackson on par with Mozart? That exceedingly moronic statement sickened me. Yet, Jackson is soooo important that the bankrupt state of California has to have its largest city pay for a public memorial? It's hard to feel sorry for these fools...

An inconvenient truth?

2009-06-29T11:37:00.002-05:00

Oh how wonderful it is to see that the perpetual hoax of man-made global warming has been exposed by none other than an insider within the EPA!

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has obtained internal EPA e-mails that show the agency willfully and recklessly disregarded scientific data that undermined the bureaucracy's global warming zealotry. This information is especially relevant as Congress rushes to pass the cap-and-trade nightmare on Friday.
Note especially this warning to the dissenting scientist (Alan Carlin): "The time for such discussion of fundamental issues has passed for this round. The administrator and the administration has decided to move forward on endangerment, and your comments do not help the legal or policy case for this decision... I can only see one impact of your comments given where we are in the process, and that would be a very negative impact on our office."
[...]
The emails, attached hereto, consist of the following:
1) a March 12 email from Al McGartland, Office Director of EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE), to Alan Carlin, Senior Operations Research Analyst at NCEE, forbidding him from speaking to anyone outside NCEE on endangerment issues;
2) a March 16 email from Mr. Carlin to another NCEE economist, with a cc to Mr. McGartland and two other NCEE staffers, requesting that his study be forwarded to EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, which directs EPA's climate change program. The email notes the quantity of peer-reviewed references in the study, and defends its inclusion of new research as well. It states Mr. Carlin's view that "the critical attribute of good science is its correspondence to observable data rather than where it appears in the technical literature." It goes on to point out that the new studies "explain much of the observational data that have been collected which cannot be explained by the IPCC models." (Emphases added);
3) a March 17 email from Mr. McGartland to Mr. Carlin, stating that he will not forward Mr. Carlin's study. "The time for such discussion of fundamental issues has passed for this round. The administrator and the administration has decided to move forward on endangerment, and your comments do not help the legal or policy case for this decision... I can only see one impact of your comments given where we are in the process, and that would be a very negative impact on our office." (Emphasis added);
4) a second March 17 email from Mr. McGartland to Mr. Carlin, dated eight minutes later, stating " I don't want you to spend any additional EPA time on climate change."
Mr. McGartland's emails demonstrate that he was rejecting Mr. Carlin's study because its conclusions ran counter to EPA's proposed position

I don't feel too bad for Al Gore though...After all he has made $100 million on this perpetual fraud...Hopefully this garbage cap and trade bill will be DoA when it reaches the Senate.

In other news...I saw Transformers 2 over the weekend. You know what? I liked it. Not as much as the first one, but I liked it. Did it have some silly points? Yes. The ebonic spewing autobot twins were a bit ridiculous, but contrary to the fragile psyche of those residing in the ever-nauseating PC world, they were not racist. Newsflash, there are indeed people in the world who act and speak like that. Thing #2 they are TALKING ROBOTS THAT TRANSFORM INTO CARS! Holy crap, get over it...Since when is it ok for the Wayans brothers to parody white girls, but the same can't be done with giant robots who are apparently from Compton? Please... Go see the movie, it's never going to be cinematic gold, but then, I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be. What it is, is entertaining and a film that makes me want a 2010 yellow Camaro with black racing stripes!

Dear Govt.,

2009-05-26T13:09:00.002-05:00

Some advice for the $hitshow that is our Government,

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence.
And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.

-William J.H. Boetcker

It's time...

2009-04-15T01:22:00.004-05:00

What's more befitting I wonder? This:

Or this?

Personally, while I enjoy the former, in this instance I'd prefer the latter tomorrow, without the actual tea-dumping of course. I'm hoping the rage is channeled in other ways, as that would be a waste of tea. It's about time Americans wake up and respond to this continued, blatant injustice as others have done before...

The excessive increase of anything causes a reaction in the opposite direction.
Plato (BC 427-BC 347)

I have been ever of opinion that revolutions are not to be evaded.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

Can't wait!

Tough Calls...

2009-03-25T20:18:00.002-05:00

I am seething right now...Rather than post what's on my mind, that being the actions/inactions of the curent administration and government, I'm going to stick to lighter fare. I am having a hell of a time with some of the "Pick 5" topics on facebook...How can I choose only 5 video games? Or top 5 movies (even more difficult for me)? Top 5 beers was easy for me, as was TV shows. My top 5 favorite albums was a little more difficult, but I was able to makes the tough calls. I think once it comes to the movies/video games topics there are just so many choices for me I don't know how to keep it to only 5!! I'll keep trying. Damn you facebook and your limits.

And now our choice to ponder for the day...

In Hell, would you rather be sentenced to

A gridlocked traffic jam with no end

or

an eternal concert where an exceptionally bad band painfully plays "Celebration" over and over?

Stay on topic...Stay on topic...

2009-03-22T03:43:00.004-05:00

I met Alex about a decade ago in college, along with the rest of the CC gang. Though the details of the first meeting are hazy at this point, I'm guessing it was in the Little Theater Club Room. Alex is a stand up gent, has a fantastic career, lovely wife (also a CC grad), and can talk about random topics over multiple beers, including the great debate as to whether or not video games are in fact an art form.* I believe he is a Cardinal, has a hell of a book collection, and no doubt will remember that his talent for claiming I cannot possibly hit a bullseye in a game of cricket, has helped Mr. Hoffmann and I pull out victories on numerous occasions!

My question for Alex would be, in keeping with my recent trend...

Would you rather live in a world...

where there was no such thing as war, but also no such thing as alcohol

or

where there was no such thing as crime, but also no such thing as video games?

*I watched the link on your blog and as I've stated from the beginning I believe they are an artform. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that I agree with one of the gents on that video short, in that it is best determined by the individual's definition of art. However, as you can guess, I disagreed vehemently with the other fellow who claimed automobiles cannot be art!!

Madness?

2009-03-20T12:27:00.003-05:00

...yes. While not really a basketball fan at all, I, like millions of other Americans, fill out an annual March Madness Bracket. This year I've chosen Memphis to take it all. Here's hopin'!

-In other news, my attempt to catalogue every movie I've ever seen is not going well. My previous estimate of "over a thousand", I believe, will ultimately be well short of the actual tally. So far, I've only made it through 1964, and we're closing in on 400 films...I dread hitting 1976 and going from there...

-and finally

Would you rather?

Have an ever changing tattoo, that you could will into being anything you want it to be?
or
Eyes that you could change to any color you'd want them to?

Ah literature...

2009-03-18T20:59:00.003-05:00

While on vacay last week I discovered a new author whose work I really enjoy. Steve Berry. Haven't heard of him? Well, if you are a fan of history (which I most certainly am) and enjoy mysteries, his writing will knock your socks off. I have already finished The Romanov Prophecy and I'm currently quickly flipping through The Templar Legacy. W-O-W. Speaking of books...part of what I'd like to start doing on the A.R. is to post some of the following questions. They are known as "Would you rather?" scenarios. I have a collection of them in a book I bought a while ago. Many of these crack me up, though some are actually thought provoking. Here goes.

Would you rather...

belch the sound of a gong or sneeze the sound of a bowling strike.

more tomorrow!

Crap!

2009-03-17T08:17:00.002-05:00

I did it again...totally screwed up the Bufboplofosho whatever the hell it's called. Sorry Garv. What's new with me? Been in Florida visiting wth my snowbird parents for the past week, so amid many rounds of golf, and swimming I started to remember that this whole two-week blog thing started while I was here! Here's something that I can say. For the past week, while we've been golfing, some (ok many) shots have wound up in the rough, along the tree-line. While going to find the wayward golf balls, my father and I have run across mutant squirrels. Why mutant? Because, they are greenish, the size of an oppossum, have black faces, furry-tufted ears, and attack like the beast from Monty Python's Holy Grail. Too bad we didn't have the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. More when I return to the Great White North of Buffalo...

Change huh?

2009-02-26T22:28:00.007-05:00

Really? Well Prez. Barry laid out his $3.55 trillion budget...Awesome. How are we going to pay for this Barry? Oh taxing the top 2% right? Hmmm, seems like someone has forgotten to use basic mathematics.

Check "this." At least someone has done some calculations.

That's right sheeple, even if Barry took every last dime the top 2% make, it still won't pay for his spending programs... Where's the rest going to come from? Hi middle class! Remember the group that wasn't going to pay "one cent" more in taxes?? Barry basically is saying, (in his best Dark Helmet voice) "FOOLED YOU!" My favorite part, the "evil" wealthiest 2% pay 62% of the country's tax burden, and the top 1% pay 40%. Let's tax them more though...I know, it's just so unfair now. Isn't that right Barry? Please... If you can't see that this is nothing more than the fomenting of class warfare by this administration in an attempt to secure a voting majority, you're either blinded by stupidity, a self-indulgent idealogue, or perhaps both. Logic, fairness, justice, and fiscal sanity have waved bye bye to this group quite some time ago. This is what happens when the herd follows a wolf in sheep's clothing...Congrats America, you earned it!

What a way to ruin Mardi Gras...

2009-02-25T04:15:00.002-05:00

...by having the President speak. I decided to go out, and then read the transcript later. Boy oh boy is he trying to sell this "stimulus" law. Wonder why? Couldn't be the drop in approval rating, or the fact that the public in general isn't too thrilled with this plan, could it? Someone should have told the President that it would be a good idea to get the facts straight before opening his mouth. But then that's not a charlatan's way... My favorite? "And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it." Well Barry, America has indeed been the birthplace of many phenomenal things. However, the automobile is not one of them. Karl Benz (yes that Benz, of Daimler-Benz, better known to Americans as Mercedes-Benz) invented the first 'true' automobile in 1885-6. W-o-w and everyone thought the last Prez. was a litle slow...

Oscar disappointment....

2009-02-23T00:33:00.002-05:00

I am an avid film watcher. In fact, part of this post is to announce I am conducting a major research project...I am attempting to catalogue all of the movies I have ever watched. I expect that it is well over 1,000, so stay tuned for details. That aside, I usually enjoy watching the Academy Awards. However, this year was a down year in terms of the films that were nominated (my pick would've been Gran Torino, but alas, good ol' Clint has had a hell of a run in the past few years). Two things in particular irked me tonight. Thing one, I understand that Meryl Streep is a great actress, I get that she has 15 nominations, but greatest living actress?? Perhaps a bit much. Did everyone forget Dame Judi Dench? For my money, I also believe Cate Blanchett to be a better actress, and think Kate Winslett is on par with Streep, if not already a bit above her. Thing two, can someone please tell me why the hell that "P.o.S. walking" Sean Penn can't for the life of him ever summon any dignity? Hey Sean, get on stage thank the Academy for your ACTING award, and get the hell off. Wrong place for your self-indulgent, soapbox diatribe about the liberal topic du jour. In fact, no place is ever right I think for the pseudo-"love toward fellow man" crap that falls out of your mouth. I guess that doesn't apply to wives, photographers, and well anyone else that you dislike right? Speaking of which, way to thank your wife, Robin Wright and the kids, class, class, class pal...

Meet my Swedish lady!

2009-02-16T15:49:00.005-05:00

I recently have acquired a new Swedish lady in my life...As many of you may know, I have an enduring love affair with automobiles. Mine are always female and all have had names derived from their countries of origin. (I need help, I know) Recently, I've been enjoying a Swedish auto. That said, my three year term with my Volvo, Elsa, has ended.

She was a wonderful lady, and was a joy to drive. However, realizing that my career has me on the road quite a bit more these days, I knew I had to purchase instead of lease. My experience with Elsa, has had quite an effect on me to the point where I've grown to love Swedish cars. Therefore, I decided to stick wth the Scandinavian ladies for a while, and so I introduce, Trina!*

Now this is not my exact auto, but it is the same model, and color. Yes, she has LED eyebrow headlights, and yes, she is a raven colored SAAB, and yes I'm thrilled with her. She came in Saturday off a truck from Florida and we've spent the long weekend bonding. Further reports to follow!

*It's stil very early to have chosen a name for her, but Trina was the Swedish name that immediately came to mind. We may need to spend more time together, but I think that moniker will hold. (Again, I need help, I know)

May have done a spit-take...

2009-02-12T13:49:00.002-05:00

I like watching stand-up routines... One of my favorites is Lisa Lampanelli. I love her attitude, she performs the way she wants, mercilessly, and everyone cracks up. Her act, to me, is very reminiscent of Don Rickles, though obviously updated for the new century. I just saw her special on HBO the other day, I nearly spit my beer out. Fantastic! Oh a word of warning, if you have a politically correct stick up your ass, don't watch this, it'll only lead you to want to start some silly, Pelosi* protest.

*I have decided to replace the word bull$h!t with Pelosi. More on this in a future post.

Stimulus? Smells like BBQ Ribs to me...

2009-01-30T02:38:00.003-05:00

That's right, this new "stimulus" plan being pushed by Prez. Barry and The Dems in Congress would be laughable if it didn't so tragically smell like my smoker on Kentucky Derby Day. $800 billion, 88% of which does nothing to stimulate the economy, but rather increases government spending wantonly. Does this spending take place now?? Oh no no no, conveniently it's slated to only start to kick in, in 2010, right around the time for the next congressional elections... In fact, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that only 7 percent of infrastructure money would make its way into the economy by the end of the year, and only 38 percent would be spent by the end of the 2010 fiscal year. Let's look at just some of the brilliant ways this bill will help our struggling economy:

$44 million for repairs at the Agriculture Department headquarters in Washington.
$200 million to rehabilitate the National Mall.* since planned to be cut
$360 million for new child care centers at military bases.
$1.8 billion to repair National Park Service facilities.
$276 million to update technology at the State Department.
$500 million for the Transportation Security Administration to install bomb detectors at airports.
$600 million for General Services Administration to replace older vehicles with alternative fuel vehicles.
$2.5 billion to upgrade low-income housing.
$400 million for NASA scientists to conduct climate change research.
$426 million to construct facilities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
$800 million to clean up Superfund sites.
$150 million for the Coast Guard to repair or remove bridges deemed a hazard to navigation.
$6.7 billion to renovate and improve energy efficiency at federal buildings.
$400 million to replace the Social Security Administration's 30-year-old National Computer Center.

Want some more info? Check "this."

Unreal...what a travesty for the hard-working American people. The fact that Nancy Pelosi, MENSA candidate that she is, and the other Dems in Congress actually insult hard-working Americans in this fashion is utterly repugnant. This is not a "stimulus" package, it's 4-8 years of Dem. agenda to further transform America into a welfare State shoved into one bloated pig. Can't see it yet? Let's take a look at some of the proposals,

Medicaid $81 billion
Food Stamps $20 billion
Public Housing $7.5 billion
COBRA extensions $30.3 billion
Welfare cash payments $2.5 billion

Hmmm, sure looks like Barry and Nancy et al. are looking to help create jobs and further increase the work force doesn't it? Yup sure is 'change' we can believe in! After all, we haven't seen a Dem. govt. try to spend itself out of dire economic straits before (cough FDR cough). It didn't work then, in fact, it hasn't ever worked in the history of mankind. No govt. has ever prospered fiscally by massive increased spending, nor by punitively taxing it's wealthiest citizens.

Kudos to the House Repubs. for sticking together along with the dozen or so Dems that used their common sense, and showed the only true bi-partisan vote, against this bloated hog of a bill. Hell of a way to start your term Barry, what a legacy you'll leave young America. Can't wait to be burdened with a 2-3 trillion dollar hole to pay for govt. entitlements and garbage spending. Awesome...

I would have killed Cameron...

2009-01-22T19:39:00.006-05:00

So I've been enjoying my newly acquired HD programming quite a bit. On DSTHD there is a show custom made for my tastes. It's called "Classic Cars" and it's about a guy in Connecticut who owns a rare/exotic car shop. This gentleman travels around the country buying up amazing automobiles and then selling them at auctions. The other day he was at an auction where this...

1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta sold for $4.5 million. W-O-W! Could not believe they had one for auction. It's extremely rare, and is the equivalent of selling a Monet, Degas, or Renoir...

So naturally, I did some research to find out what the most expensive car in the world is and lo and behold it's this...

1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder. If you have the means I highly suggest picking one up. Though at $9,140,732 that may prevent the payment of some college education for the kids! This is like selling a VanGogh or more appropriately a DaVinci...and that brat Cameron just kicked one out of the garage. I'd have had more than just a "talk" with him when I got home...

Shocking...Really...I'm Blown away...

2009-01-19T04:24:00.002-05:00

So the "Historic Inauguration" taking place in a couple of days will cost $150 million. Yes that's right, Pres. Elect Barry, "champion of the middle-class", "voice of the working family", and the man who vows to "change" America, went and showed us that the first step was to have the most expensive Inauguration ever...This is no more fiscally responsible than AIG execs. going to spa vacays after getting a bailout. Way to go Barry! The economy is in the crapper, jobs are scarce, and Lord knows when it'll turn around. But hey, throw yourself a $150 million party, that's a great example to set...Though what the hell could you expect America? This is the same guy whose 'infallible' judgment led him to nominate Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, Leon Panetta, and Timothy Geithner to key positions in the cabinet and atop govt. agencies. Change, huh? Awesome...

As for me, I'll not be watching a single second of this Jonestown-esque farce. In my mind, it's no more historic than any other Inauguration, save for the fact that it's the 44th time one will occur. I think I'll go see Defiance or Valkyrie and watch something that actually has had an historical impact on the world...

Really!?!

2009-01-07T23:16:00.011-05:00

I honestly thought this was a joke...So, President Elect Barry decided that the man that should head the Central Intelligence Agency should be: Leon Panetta!?! WTF? Um...ok Barry, are we just throwing darts at pictures of random people? If so here's a list of people that I feel should have been considered. They are just as qualified, if not more so, than Mr. Panetta:

1. Agent 99

2. Danger Mouse

3. Secret Squirrel

4. Either the white or the black spy

5. Inspector Clouseau

6. You

7. Me

8. A Bothan

9. Caroline Kennedy

10. A tree

Stay Tuned for our thoughts here at AR on who should be chosen in other depts...

Now let's get Beast-Man and Mer-Man...

2008-12-16T22:52:00.003-05:00

...to be offensive and defensive coordinators, because the Buffalo Bills apparently are happy with Skeletor Jauron.

Awesome...Yay for the Bills organization actually giving a $h!t about their fans! Now I'm especially glad, I'm more of a College Football fan. Though I will say that I'm also happy to be a fan of the Chargers from A Whale's Vagina. Granted their coach is no better, but at least the team isn't about to move after having sucked up the fans' hard-earned pay for nearly 50 years.

This story just keeps getting better and better...

2008-12-12T13:50:00.005-05:00

I love it...Yet another Dem. Illinois politician showing America the way...The way to be a complete piece of $h!t that is...

Well thank God that the paragon of morality, Pres.-Elect Barry Obama, has called for Gov. "Lego-man hair" Blagojevich to resign. I just wonder how far down the rabbit hole this might go?

What cracks me up the most is the fact that the Gov. after having been arrested for a crime that could spell a few decades behind bars, still essentially believes, "Hey, why step down? I can effectively govern the state of Illinois". W-O-W!! This is the kind of crap that has caused me to lose all faith in the governmental system and the executive offices of the United States of America. What a farce.

Book him now!

2008-11-10T13:32:00.002-05:00

This guy needs to play at the inauguration. It would be fitting, seeing as how it'll be nothing but a shit-show anyway.

I'm back...sort of...

2008-10-14T16:54:00.004-05:00

Still on extended hiatus, just had to post some hilariously pathetic developments I've been following over the past couple of days. First up "The Infallible" Sen. Obama and his wonderful ideas for "tax cuts" for 95% of us. I addressed this issue a month ago. You've read the back and forth vetween Humanist and I, I'm sure, so we'll not re-hash that. It is sufficient I think to merely post "this." What an interesting article, right? Seems the charlatan Obama has to explain this to the American people. Well now hang on a minute...he did do that didn't he?

Wow! Income redistribution right from the horse's mouth. Nice. So let me get this straight, "O wise and illustrious Obama"...The American Dream of rising to success in this country's free market, is only acceptable up to $250,000. After that, then the government (under your vision, Sen.) would have to clamp down just so others who took no part in what one accomplished can share in the fruits of a successful man's labor. "Spread the Wealth" you called it right? It is not a responsibility of the American govt. to take money from financially successful citizens, and merely give it to those who have not made as much (or millions who pay no income tax at all)for the sole purpose of "evening things out." That goes against EVERYTHING we've stood for (financially) as a nation. Unbelievable...

That was almost the most pathetic thing I heard this week...almost. As repugnant as that belief is, it pales in comparison to the actions of ACORN. Yeah, you know that paragon of voter registration, espousing democracy? That's right, it's the community organization that has registered individuals multiple times (one up to 73 times in Ohio), the Dallas Cowboys roster in at least 3 states, 105% of the pop. of Indianapolis, Mickey Mouse in Florida, and thousands upon thousands of homeless and convicted felons. S'ok though, because I'm just sure these votes have to be for McCain. Please...

We regret to inform you...

2008-09-15T17:57:00.002-05:00

...that I will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from the AR, due to an issue of a personal nature.* In the event that AR is not resumed, please know that I feel lucky to have had the great fortune to have so many of you read this blog over the past 3 years. I hope you've enjoyed doing so and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming back, again and again. To all, God Bless and Godspeed.

*Humanist, this has nothing to do with our recent, not so tete-a-tete, disagreement. However, I regret to inform you that I cannot engage further with you on the subject. (though I'm sure you'll no doubt rejoice over this news. )

Who are these teams?

2008-09-14T17:14:00.003-05:00

As many of my dear readers know, I am a huge fan of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team. Prior to last weekend's opener, I was a bit concerned about the fate of the team this year, what with last season's abysmal 3-9 record. However, after yesterday's dismantling of Michigan, I found myself saying, "Who the hell are these guys?" Yes, Notre Dame finally looks to have a defense, strong special teams play, and an offensive line. Now let's keep them together for the next couple of years and see what happens when they become upperclassmen. I have been equally surprised by the Buffalo Bills. W-O-W! What the hell did they eat in the offseason? Very proud of the hometown boys, keep it up!

-In other news, I'll finally have time this week ot go see Tropic Thunder, a movie that's been on my list for quite a while now. Stay tuned for my comments/review!

Remember...

2008-09-11T20:00:00.003-05:00

...but then hypocrisy and doctrinairism aren't too great either...

2008-09-10T21:08:00.012-05:00

Well ladies and gents, fear not! The Humanist is here for your protection from "conservative lies." Not to be outdone, and crowing about his self-ascribed prowess to "sniff out bullshit" Humanist posted his "rebuttal." What a masterful argument it was too, wasn't it kids?

To begin, he completely goes off topic and chides me for a post I placed in April of this year regarding a satirical, racially based joke. I laughed so hard at his attempt to chastise me for this, especially after I noticed one of his favorite films, as listed in his profile, is the brilliant, Blazing Saddles. Oh Humanist, your hypocrisy is of a unique brand, I'll give you that! Now I'm sure some bullshit will inevitably fall out of his mouth regarding what he thinks my intent was, how it's different that Mel Brooks's masterpiece, or some other "ivory tower" crap, but that's really about par for the course for him. (Don't read, try to understand, or converse with someone, just blurt, and condemn before you think.) But I digress... (I just found that far too amusing, thanks for the good laugh!)

Let's move on to the skill with which he addressed my response to him. Wait a second...no we can't, because well...he really didn't address yesterday's post.(9-9-08) Oh there was some passing references to be sure, but once again, it was a failure to read, no attempt to develop an understanding, and a general disavowment of the information I posted to you, my dear readers. He mentioned the "conservative nutjob" media I read, but then cites TPM.com and the Huffingtonpost.com on a near daily basis. What's next, that paradigm of sanity, the Daily Kos? Yes Humanist, way to show that pharisaical flair once again! Are you serious with this? Really? Because if so, this act of yours has to go on the road, you'll crack people up.

Humanist notes that Snopes and Factcheck 'debunked' the e-mail in large part by citing Obama's website, yet unsurprisingly, when I quoted Obama's words, and how those ideas of his would affect the numbers, Humanist had no reply...So are Obama's words less accurate than his website?

Speaking of numbers, we can't forget that Humanist quipped that I 'strangely' did not provide notations of my sites directly. Gee Humanist why could that be? Well I guess it was because the info. I gathered from those sites involved laws regarding Washington's tax policy and procedure, the tax codes themselves and the numerical data therein which all happens to be public knowledge. Well at least public knowledge for those wanting irrefutable fact. Why the hell do you think I left out the data from the spam e-mail that was 'absurd'? It was because obviously nothing supported it. However, the other info, I felt should have been examined through current, actual, statistics not 'debunked' through reliance of a campaign website espousing a candidate's plans. And I'm the 'numbnuts?' How's your glass house?

Look, here's the bottom line, the original post of 9/8/08 did not have any supporting data, I understand that. Yes it is a spam e-mail, and those who started it would have done well to show, as I attempted to in my 9/9/08 post, exactly how our nation's laws and codes would most likely come to those conclusions it stated, under an Obama presidency. Again, the problem is, Snopes and Factcheck, in their 'debunking', failed to apply the laws, codes, and procedures of Washington, and relied almost entirely on the campaign's website which states in theory what the candidate would like to do. But this fails to mention any of the reality of what would statistically happen.

Humanist, you did shock me though by being humble enough to admit you weren't an expert in economic matters. But then you had to add that you can "smell bullshit" and can "use a search engine". You can "smell bullshit" yet still are completely enamored with a politician and his 'great ideas for change'? God love you! Further... Did you ever think, Humanist, if you used that search engine to research the statistical, economic and procedural information I posted yesterday(which again, is public knowledge) you might actually learn something? What the hell, let's give it a shot!

Now had you used your trusty "search engine" to expand your knowledge you'd have found that economists and market analysts have seen through the "plan" as nothing more than redistribution, not a "tax cut". In fact, here's a quote from 9/9/08 in The Wall Street Journal

"For both candidates, the fine print of their economic plans presents some messiness they'd prefer to avoid talking about. Sen. Obama's middle-class tax cut would take the form of a tax credit of as much as $1,000 per family, which his campaign says would eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans. He'd also launch a potentially expensive new government health-insurance plan, continuing to rely on employer-provided insurance but providing a big government safety net."

The WSJ a little too "nutjob" conservative for you? Ok, how about a poll by Reuters conducted in July, 2008 which stated the following:

"The U.S. stock market would fare better after a victory by Republican presidential candidate John McCain than by his Democratic rival Barack Obama, according to a majority of economists at U.S. banks and research groups polled by Reuters."

Yeah, you know Reuters' research probably isn't as valid as that of Snopes or FactCheck when applying Obama's plan to the real world, so how about this. from Grover Norquist at Politico?

Sorry, sorry, I know that was a tough read, So let's try this one last article that I think addresses the points I was trying to make very succinctly.

See what you can learn with that "search engine" of yours when it's used to find actual applications of Obama's plan? Amazing isn't it? Now most likely you'll go out and find economists that support Obama's plan. Well big surprise, naturally a candidate will have supporters and detractors. The point is not what angle you get the knowledge from Humanist, it's that you go out and actually find something concrete.

Am I surprised that you spoke/wrote out of your ass? No, I've grown accustomed to it by now. The worst part? You actually believe that by consistently acting doctrinaire about topics you know nothing about, the rest of the blog-reading world will just follow lock step with your pathetic arguments...and you talk about things that are "never a good idea?" Hilarious...

After school soundtracks...

2008-09-10T13:28:00.005-05:00

A friend and co-worker of mine were engaged in discussion yesterday regarding the very important topic of what 80s cartoon theme songs were our favorites...Perfect lunchtime conversation topic, right? Well here's what I had as my top ten...

#10

#9

#8

#7

#6

#5

#4

#3

#2

and the #1

Now mind you, I'm not saying this is the order of my favorite cartoons, merely my favorite theme songs. Have any that you liked that didn't make the list? Let us know!

Ah self-righteous indignation...Wonderfully droll isn't it?

2008-09-09T01:25:00.007-05:00

So I get this comment from The Humanist today...

You're such an "expert" that you cut and pasted a false spam e-mail that's already been debunked by snopes.com?http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/taxes.asp

Just of kicks, let's take the income tax claim of this nonsense...as snopes noted, Obama does not favor extending the tax cuts for households with incomes of $250,000 or more per year. None of the brackets you listed apply to that level, so their inclusion is not only irrelevant, it's a flat out lie about Obama's tax policy.
In fact, the taxpayers in the brackets you listed would see a greater reduction under Obama's plan than they would under McCain's "let's make the Bush tax cuts for the rich permanent" plan.

So much for the information having been "researched and verified". It's full of shit!

I would hope that you don't reproduce this same shoddy, lazy effort for your clients.

P.S. You can either publish this comment as is or it's going up verbatim on my blog

Now why didn't I bother to post this as a comment? Well the repsonse to educate the economic neophyte known as The Humanist just would have taken too long. Yet, now I have to do it anyway. Did I claim to be an "expert"? No. In fact, once again The Humanist has shown his lack of actually reading before opining. In fact, as my dear readers will note, I actually claimed not to be the world's foremost authority on economic matters. Did I post from an e-mail I received? absolutely. I wanted to try to make my post as compact as possible. Was it a bit lazy? perhaps, though not "cut/paste". Look again at the article Humanist and read closely this time. You'll find I ommitted the claims I felt were absurd, and kept the ones I felt were worthy of query. At any rate, I'm not an accredited journalist so who the hell cares what I write? God knows. However, is Snopes completely correct in its 'debunking'? well not exactly...The Snopes article itself uses a treatise published by The Tax Policy center, which states clearly that they did not have all of the hard details of either plan and thus had to make assumptions on key elements. So much for Snopes using 100% reliable sources.* Did I have other verification? Absolutely. Where you ask? How about The New York Sun, the book Fleeced by Dick Morris, as well as the "mouth that roared" Sen. Obama (just to name a few).

So here we go folks, free of the miasma that The Humanist would have you believe to be fact, because the omniscient Snopes "Debunked" something.

Under Obama:

-The top bracket of income taxation would be raised to 39.6 % up from 35%.

-Social Security Taxes (FICA) would be imposed on all income, not just earnings under $102,000 (remember that as part of the "new taxes" Obama would institute. New government programs such as socialized medicine aren't going to pay for themselves folks)

-Raise capital gains taxes from the curent 15% to 28% (or just about double)
Now Obama has stated it would go no higher than 28%, which means he'll pick a lower number than that. Riiiight...I'm sure.

-Nearly double the tax on dividends from 15% to 28% (see above).

-End the planned elimination of the estate tax and lowering the threshhold of which estates can be taxed, maybe to $1 million.

To begin with, let's examine the Humanist's wonderfully thought out challenge of "the illustrious" Sen. Obama's statement that he'll only raise taxes for those making $250,000 or more...Washington, by law, has to project 5 to 10 years ahead in any tax program. Because the Bush tax cuts are slated to expire in 2010, the 10 year projection shows that a big tax increase across the board is waiting for us. This increase is obviously theoretical until passed into effect by Congress, thus making Obama's proposed "tax cuts" nothing more than illusory ones. What that means is, the numbers, if Obama is elected, will likely revert back to what they were under Clinton, (aka the numbers provided in my last post) if not higher. Now why hasn't Obama said this? Well Humanist, are you really that naive to think that a man running for president is going to tell voters that in a year and a half they're all getting a tax hike?

Let's examine Obama's proposed capital gains/dividends tax hike: Where or where did I verify that from Humanist? Hmmmm, why it was from the "illustrious one's" own mouth. During the Democratic debate in Philly on April 16, 2008 Obama said in response to Charles Gibson, "Well Charlie, what I've said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness" Okay, then a hike from 15% to, let's be conservative and say 23%, is an 8% hike on investors of which 52% of Americans are. Let's also take into account that those investors already paid taxes on the money they are investing. How in God's name is that "fair"? This has economists projecting a decrease of about $250 billion of private investments/year. That comes out to about 2%/year in less economic growth. Why? Because what investor or homeowner is going to sell when they have to pay more in taxes? Quick numbers: When capital gains taxes were cut in 1981,1997, and 2003, govt. revenue rose by 49%, 49% and 88% respectively. When the same capital gains taxes were raised in 1986...revenues fell by 44%.

The worst? Let's look at Obama's brilliant plan for the payroll tax. Again Humanist, where on Earth could this come from? Oh that's right, it's from Sen. Obama. "If we keep the payroll tax rate exactly the same but applied it to all earnings and not just the first $97,000...we could eliminate the entire Social Security shortfall" What would that mean? Well...if the top bracket is up to 39.6% and the FICA tax is up to 12.4% (6.2%) and Medicare remains unchanged at 2.9%, 6% of Americans would be paying anywhere from roughly 50-55% in taxes Federally. Now let's throw in another 5ish% in state taxes, (even after deductions) and we're now up to about 55-60% in taxes. Moreover, Obama would lift the cap on benefits paid to people once they retire, but only on the taxes they pay into the fund while they are working. Taxes=not capped, Benefits=capped. Now is that kind of like "new taxes" on retirement accounts that my previous post mentioned? Hmmm, sounds like a duck, walks like a duck... What's the message in all of this? If these taxes are raised, what employer in this country is going to have any incentive to pay an employee $100,000? The answer: zero. So is that going to help or hurt the economy and the taxpayer in the end? Is it going to create new, upwardly-mobile jobs, or slowly push everyone into the same sub-100k boat ? Is it really a "fair" situation when the richest 10% in this country make one third of the total income but pay almost 70% (67%ish) of the total tax for the nation?? Meanwhile the bottom 50% pay 3% of total income tax payments.

Now Humanist, I could go on and on, I haven't even touched the AMT yet. But I'm tired, I can't believe I wasted 30 minutes of my life having to write a response to this and as I told you long ago, I agree that we disagree, and have left it at that. Believe me, you're not doing the world any great service by commenting on my blog in an attempt to, I don't know, "correct great wrongs" for America. It's a blog, a hobby, no-one cares. What is of concern though is you, once again, feeling the need to question things in my personal life, things that you haven't a clue of, and that are, quite frankly, none of your business. But as you've taken it upon yourself to assume you know all about my work, I must thank you for your concern with regard to my clients. You know you're probably right... I probably treat my career and people's financial health with the same attitude as one of my pastimes, that being, a blog... It only makes sense that I would be "lazy" and "shoddy" with upwards of now $50 million spread across 800 clients, school districts, unions, and corporations all over western and central NY. Of course, I would be...after all, it's not like there's any responsibility there. That was rather pathetic, even for you Humanist. I have left you alone, left your blog alone, and have refrained from commenting on your site after our last discussion. I would have hoped for the same courtesy but then there was the cute little, "You can either publish this comment as is or it's going up verbatim on my blog". What an excellent example of just how puerile you actually are...

*In the future might I suggest that using a website like Snopes or Factcheck to "debunk" information is not at all wise. It's kind of like one getting his/her news from websites like TPM.com or the Huffingtonpost.com...

Time to shed some light...

2008-09-08T12:17:00.006-05:00

My Fellow Americans...As I am a professional in the financial services industry it should come as no surprise that I follow the economy, markets, taxes, etc...closely on a daily basis. The information I glean proves to be helpful to my clients and their investing. That said, by no means am I under the delusion that I am qualified to be the world's foremost authority on economic matters, I just happen to know more about it than the average bear. Now I've given this preface because the following information has been researched and verified and I've attempted to explain what this means for you the American citizen.

TAXES: MCCAIN VS. OBAMA

CAPITAL GAINS TAX

MCCAIN
0% on home sales up to $500,000 per home (couples). McCain does not propose any change in existing home sales income tax.

OBAMA
28% on profit from home sales. (How does this affect you? If you sell your home and make a profit, you will pay 28% of your gain on taxes. If you are heading toward retirement and would like to down-size your home or move into a retirement community, 28% of the money you make from your home will go to taxes. This proposal will adversely affect the elderly who are counting on the income from their homes as part of their retirement income.)

DIVIDEND TAX
MCCAIN
15% (no change)

OBAMA
39.6% - (How will this affect you? If you have any money invested in stock market, mutual funds, college funds, life insurance, retirement accounts, or anything that pays or reinvests dividends, {and 100 million of you do} you will now be paying nearly 40% of the money earned on taxes if Obama becomes president. The experts predict that higher tax rates on dividends and capital gains would crash the stock market, yet do absolutely nothing to cut the deficit. Why? Because, what sane investor is going to sell when the tax is higher? None, therefore he/she sells before the new tax increase, thus market crashes, and the govt. receives $0 increase in revenue and actually suffers from a decrease in revenue)

INCOME TAX

MCCAIN
(no changes)
Single making 30K - tax $2,756
Single making 50K - tax $6,606
Single making 75K - tax $12,856
Married making 60K- tax $5,512
Married making 75K - tax $7,762
Married making 125K - tax $19,462

OBAMA (reversion to pre-Bush tax cuts)
Single making 30K - tax $3,157
Single making 50K - tax $7,262
Single making 75K - tax $14,262
Married making 60K - tax $6,585
Married making 75K - tax $9,426
Married making 125K - tax $23,426

Now none of these couts the AMT which now encompasses more people than ever before.95% of Americans not falling under "the illustrious one's" tax increase huh? Riiiiight....

INHERITANCE TAX
MCCAIN
- 0% (No change, Bush repealed this tax)
Though it is set to revert in 2011, there is a movement to keep it as is.

OBAMA
Restore the inheritance tax
Many families have lost businesses, farms, ranches, and homes that have been in their families for generations because they could not afford the inheritance tax. Those willing their assets to loved ones will only lose them to these taxes.

*NEW TAXES PROPOSED BY OBAMA
New taxes on natural resources consumption (heating gas, water, electricity) New taxes on retirement accounts, and last but not least....New taxes to pay for socialized medicine so we can receive the same level of medical care as other third-world countries!!!

Hope this clears up the tax plans of the two candidates...These are just cold, hard numbers that can't be spun.

-In other news...We at the AR headquarters are absolutely delighted to hear that Keith "FMKIA" Olbermann and Chris "Lips Manlis" Matthews have been demoted by their own company NBC. Apparently, people were sick and tired of the former sportscaster pretending to be a non-biased journalist, a venture that last week he failed miserably at. You check it out yourself here. Finally, NBC has done something right.

I wouldn't be able to respond either Barry...

2008-09-04T16:16:00.003-05:00

So let me get this straight...After the thorough shit-kicking delivered by Rudy and Sarah last night, Team Obama, the media and scores of Liberals have decided on the following reason to claim Obama has enough experience to be President. Ready? It's because he ran for President...Wait? WTF!?! Soooo because someone runs for President, wins 18 million votes in a primary and can speak and write about issues, that makes one qualified to be the leader of the United States? Are you guys serious with this shit? That's the most illogical, sophomoric response I've ever heard. As Rudy so beautifully put it, Obama has, in fact, accomplished nothing, zero, nada...

My Liberal countrymen, I know it's tough having to recognize that, I know you were hoping no one would call the "illustrious one" out on it, and I'm sure it hurts right now, but that's the truth.

-Acting as a "community organizer" is not an experience-building accomplishment,
-Voting "present" 130 times is not an experience-building accomplishment,
-Writing two memoirs instead of meaningful legislation is not an experience-building accomplishment,
-Serving as a virtual absentee US Senator for less than half a year before running for President, is certainly not an experience-building accomplishment.
-Being able to deliver a speech is not an experience-building accomplishment, nor is winning votes, nor is running for office.
-Age, Race, Physical Appearance, are most definitely non-accomplishments...

These facts harken back to the question I've asked in this forum from day 1. "Sen. Obama, what have you accomplished that you feel makes you qualified to be President?" Looks like even his campaign doesn't have the answer...

Oh wow...

2008-09-03T22:26:00.002-05:00

After the speech given by this great man...

And this AMAZING woman...

I think the only thing left to say to the "illustrious" Sen. Obama is: B.O.H.I.C.A. baby!!

Class...Class...Class...

2008-09-02T13:48:00.002-05:00

Ladies and Gents I give you Don Fowler former head of the DNC on a flight back from "The Island of Misfit Toys" (The Dem. convention)

Yeah, I guess natural disasters are hilarious for some reason...though I don't know what that is. "God is on the Dems side"? Really? Not too sure the Man upstairs has chosen a "side" Dandy Don..

Then just when I thought it couldn't get any more ludicrous there's this... Yes Gov. Palin's daughter is pregnant... My response, "Who the hell cares?" She's decided to keep the child and marry the father. End of Story. But for left-wing blogs, that couldn't be the end of the story...Nooooo there has to be some conspiracy, right? So let's see, Palin faked her pregnancy to cover for her daughter, the Down syndrome child, Trig, is actually Palin's grandson, oh and then Palin's daughter went out and got pregnant again? Assanine at best, purely repugnant at worst. Sounds about typical for these far-left whack jobs. However, why am I surprised? Palin's announcement wiped out any further coverage or mention of what was the "greatest political speech EVER" (Please..) and energized the GOP campaign even further, so natually the misfit toys are going to be throwing hissy fits, and believing their "investigations" are more thorough than the RNC. Yes of course they are...It'd be hilarious if it wasn't so pathetic.

-In other news, stay tuned for some economic statistics that may interest you...

Finally that's over...

2008-08-29T10:47:00.004-05:00

Thank God. The nauseating stepford speeches, the robotic enthrallment of the delegates, the convenient tears shed, it was all just too contrived for me to stomach. Granted that's what conventions have become and expect similar (not exact) events to take place next week. The kicker had to be the "wonderous" speech given by the only greek god left out of the pantheon, Sen. Obama. What a cacophony of crap. On the 45th anniversary of a brilliant speaker's best address, this buffoon, goes up in front of 80,000 misfits and preaches as though he were Rev. Brown in Coming to America.

Most genuine moment of the convention?

Asa Eslocker, and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures yesterday of Democratic senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the luxury Brown Palace Hotel. Way to protect and serve officers...

Hey Barack, you think your "promise" applies to this American? I'm thinking no, seeing as how he was going to show you suckling at the breast of special interest donors. Remember those guys? The ones you said you wouldn't be beholden to...The lobbyists you condemned in your "history-changing" speech. Please...

Classiest moment of the campaign? Well it didn't even take place in Denver, it was this ad:

I can't wait for the debate on moral judgment and character to begin! Good on ya Mac, this was a move that I sincerely doubt will be reciprocated.

In other news:

Mac has picked his VP!!!

Wow-wee Wee-wa!! What a brilliant move...talk about being a true DC outsider, and a voice of change! I'd love to see that self-righteous Biden try to use his "attack-dog" tactics on her. Hey Joe, lemme know how that works out for ya.

Oh Nancy, Nancy, Nancy....

2008-08-26T19:35:00.003-05:00

How on God's Green Earth could anyone claiming to be a practicing Catholic have dared to claim this?

That Bug-eyed whack-job honestly thought she could change 2,000 years of Catholic dogma, in order to help the "illustrious" Sen. Obama. In response, every human on Earth with a brain in his/her head, said, "WTF!?!"

Hey Nancy, as a "practicing Catholic" have you every heard of....The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states,

“Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person — among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life...Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law,”

Human life questioned by the Church over the centuries, huh Nancy?

Further, it cites Vatican instruction: “The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death.”

Hey Nancy, stick to continuing to screw up the legislative branch in our country, and maintaining that stellar 9% approval rating, or work to sell more than 10,000 copies of your literary opus in the next month. Trying to rewrite a central tenet of a 2,000 year old faith is above your pay grade.

Oh Barry, did u really do THAT?

2008-08-22T14:49:00.003-05:00

Yes he did. The "illustrious" Sen. Obama, seeing his lead evaporate, has started yelling in events, complaining left and right, and in an act that was unbelievably stupid, made an issue out of a comment about the McCain homes. Does John know all the properties his wife owns, probably not, but, not one of them was bought with the help of a shady, slumlord who just happens to be a convicted felon...

Oh Sen. Obama, who is running your campaign?

First they tell you to call people liars when referring to your opposition of the Illinois Born Alive Act. Well, of course then the media got a hold of the audio where you explain why you opposed it. Yeah, hiring another doctor is too much of a burden on the hospitals, let's just toss the child and forget about it. Good Plan...No wonder why defining the age at which human rights applies is "above your pay-grade". What I would love to know is...how in the world could your campaign tell you to attack a housing issue? Really? It's as if your managers are no more than trained circus animals.

What does all this have to do with the election? Well the substance of the ads is of little consequence, but perhaps the people are sick and tired of your "Chosen One" mentality, and maybe, just maybe, all of your equivocation, UMMMMM, and convoluted AHHHH answers have started to show the public that when the facts are brought to light you UHHHH really have a fatal flaw in the department of character, veracity, and moral fiber, not to mention your complete lack of understanding on anything regarding foreign policy or economics. Hey look at the bright side though, at least you're tech savvy and can be hip enough to text your VP selection. That's almost as hilarious as you honestly believing your own quotes (best summarized in this brilliant ad)

And the medals are awarded as such...

2008-08-19T13:59:00.003-05:00

Ok folks...Here's the medal results for the most assinine comments/actions of the weekend...

-The Bronze medal:
Chad "ocho cinco" Johnson, and his supreme intellect and confidence, honestly believing that he and his inner-city friends could beat Michael Phelps in any swimming race. Well hey, "they did excellent at the city swimming pool, and Phelps hasn't faced the world's best, because inner city guys don't have the chance to go to the Olympics" Please... Hey Ocho, you're act is tired, give it a rest.

-The Silver medal (tie): achieving the same score in imbecility, and petulence.

The Obama camp, who bitched and whined that Sen. McCain must have had prior knowledge of the questions in Sat. evening's debate. How else could he have wiped the floor with the "illustrious" Sen. Barack? Well it wasn't too hard guys, you forgot to pack his teleprompter, and Obama really is more clueless than Paris Hilton on Thorazine.

The judges in the women's uneven bars event. How on Earth did you give Nastia Liukin the same score as the Chinese competitor when Stevie Wonder could've seen she performed better? Further, your "tie-breaker" system ranks up there as being the most convoluted thing I've seen since, well..Sen. Obama's "platform".

-And finally, the Gold Medal: for unparalleled achievement in stupidity, and earning top marks in the, "WTF?" category...

The "illustrious" Sen. Barack Obama, whose constant equivocation on every answer he gave on Saturday evening was exceptionally moronic. The greatest example though of this tremendously gifted buffoon, was seen in the following exchange:

Rick Warren: At what point does a baby get human rights in your view?
Sen. Barack Obama: Well, I think that whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade.

-Bravo Sen. Obama! That truly was a gold medal comment in the Assinine Olympics.

Only Now...At the End...

2008-08-14T12:38:00.006-05:00

Well what an interesting week. So Putin decided it would be best for Russia to once again start crap in Eastern Europe. Awesome...Iran has basically given the world the finger, again, by allowing the date for cessation of uranium enrichment to come and go. Spectacular... And the damn Chinese female gymnasts are underage Cirque Du Soleil performers ;) (which makes it even worse that a bunch of 14yr. olds whalloped us. Now if it could be proven that they are in fact robots...that's a different story) So what is my response to all of these piss ant, 2-bit dictators that keep baiting us?

I quote the words of the ever-wise Emperor Palpatine... "Wipe them out...All of them."

Now is this a bit tongue-in-cheek? Of course... However, I do feel that the greatest approach the United States can take in these global affairs, is best summed up in the following speech by the legendary Mr. Chirstopher Walken....

-It's time for the U.S.A to remind the world who the "King of the Jungle" is. I love it!

Buffalo Rising? hmm?

2008-08-07T11:49:00.002-05:00

Ah yes the city of Buffalo has earned yet another dubious distinction. My question? How the hell is mayor Byron Brown the only one who doesn't realize that yes, indeed, Buffalo is a dying, if not already rigor mortis, city. But go ahead Mayor Brown, write to Forbes magazine, tell them about all the great things that show Buffalo is "rising." In fact, I think you should mention the city's stellar school system, population boom, willingness to accept private investment to the tune of $330 million dollars, the influx of decent jobs, and of course the unions that work in step with Buffalo's leaders and never pose a problem. maybe Forbes just over-looked all of those wonderful things. I've said it before, I'll say it again...I love Western NY. The beauty and charm of the suburbs and colonial towns is hard to match. The urban areas of Niagara Falls and Buffalo? Giant black holes.

New Olympic sport please...

2008-08-04T20:38:00.003-05:00

Tubing. That's right you heard it here first, I think tubing should be in the summer olympics. We took the boat out yesterday and went to the mouth of the Niagara River where it empties into Lake Ontario. I truly do love my home town. The beauty of Lewiston and Youngstown along the river is unparalleled in Western NY. But back to tubing. Why the mouth? Because that's where the best waves are of course. What does that lead to? Air time...On my first run I managed to hang on after 3-4 consecutive jumps garnering 3 1/2 to 4 feet of air each time. Doesn't sound like a lot? Try it while being pulled by a boat travelling 20-30 miles an hour. My good friends that were with me achieved similar feats of aerial performance. However, that said, today every muscle in my body aches. Will that stop me from going again in a couple of weeks? Hell no!

-In other news...Some quick movie reviews.

Charlie Bartlett-Not quite the comedy it was billed to be, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Batman:The Gotham Knight- Horrendous. The story, while trying to be continuous throughout the different vignettes, was disjointed at best. The animation left a lot to be desired. (especially the 'manga/anime version of Batman) The only redeeming quality was the voice of Batman, and the fact that it was without the growling of the movie's version.

A hearty huzzah!

2008-08-01T11:44:00.002-05:00

To Big Dave at DHKA and Mike at the Royal Toybox. These two dear friends of mine just got through the grueling 2 month prison sentence of studying for and taking the Bar exam. I believe you both deserve nothing more than to have passed it with flying colors!

-In other news...

-Golf tournaments are amazing. I just haven't had the time to get out practice before have to play in one next Saturday. Last week my close friend Shaun came up from Orlando with his lady friend and we had a whirlwind weekend that began Friday at the Level Regatta in the quiet hamlet of Youngstown. (it's been an annual tradition of ours for the greater part of 12-13 years now) Saturday, we ventured forth to the Seneca Niagara Casino and wound up on one helluva run at the craps table. We shot dice for the better part of four hours, and then celebrated our victory at the bar. Favorite part? The band playing at the Club 101 bar in the Casino did not know the words to The Doors' "L.A. Woman" So what should have been, "Just got into town about an hour agooooo" was translated into, "Jes gam mama nama blabla nama I no" The rest of the song played out in a similar fashion. Granted it was 3:00 am at that point, but Good Lord how does that happen?

Pack up the Babies and grab the Old Ladies...

2008-07-24T11:16:00.007-05:00

The week in news has been so amusing thus far. Watching Senator "Brother Love" Obama's traveling salvation show in the Middle East has been equal parts nauseating and laughable. Some of my favorite highlights though:

-The constant stuttering: "Uh, uh, are, uh, uh, uh, um. That's -- that's a bunch -- so -- so let me tick these off. Deh... Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, um, uh. So the issue is not a perception that, uh... Weh, weh, let me put it this way. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, We're -- we're trying to -- you know, we've got a bipartisan group here and -- and -- and, uh, uh, uh, uh, um, uh, uh, uh."
Yes I know it's tough to get teleprompters while on tour, the roadies may have forgotten to pack them, but don't worry Sen., once you get back stateside all will be written for you.

-Then there's the coverage of our major news syndicates who pause every once and a while to take their lips out of the "illustrious one's" rectum to show how he's soooo loved and supported by foreign officials. Hmmmm? really? Well yes, there's that paragon of leadership, al-Maliki, who hasn't left the green zone, and has been stating for the past 2 and a half years that Iraqi security forces are ready to assume control. His statements have often been something along the line of "any day we'll be ready" "yeah in a couple months we're ready" Really? How funny that Obama and al-Maliki are just two cute peas in a pod with their refusal to acknowledge that it was the Surge that quelled the violence. But who else agrees with Sen. "Brother Love"? Well there's Brigadier General Bilal al-Dayni, commander of Iraqi troops in Basra. He is saying, "We hope the Americans will stay until 2020." He's the commander on the ground by the way. Then of course, there's the defense minister, Abdul Qadir, who says his forces "cannot assume full responsibility for internal security until 2012 and for external security, "meaning an invasion from Iran,"until 2018." So yeah I would say Obama's definitely in touch and acting accordingly. Finally, we have the Sunni tribal leaders that Obama credits with the decrease in violence. Ali Hatem Suleiman, a top Awakening tribal leader who was at the meeting in Ramadi, said they asked Obama to support the tribes -- and not the Sunni Islamic parties that rejoined Iraq's government over the weekend. ... 'You can pull out and withdraw all the forces in Iraq, but you have to keep the Marines in our province because we still have problems with the Islamic parties and we can face a bad situation at any moment,' Suleiman said they told Obama. Keep spinning up there Sen. post turtle*

-My favorite though, has to be the "illustrious" Sen.'s seemingly honest belief that he is always speaking ex cathedra. Even when, of all people, Katie Couric pressed him hard to explain the logic he used in saying he still would have voted against the surge, despite the fact that Petraeus explained how it worked. Rather than be a man and admit, "Yes I was wrong", the Bizzaro version of the pontiff can't admit it. He has to spin it with some bullshit:

COURIC: You raised a lot of eyebrows on this trip saying even knowing what you know now, you still would not have supported the surge. People may be scratching their heads and saying, "Why?"
OBAMA: Well, uh, er, ka, uh -- because uh, eh, er, what I, uhhh. What I was referring to and I consistently referred to is the need for a strategy that actually concludes our involvement in Iraq and moves Iraqis to take responsibility for the country, uh, and --
COURIC: But didn't the surge do that?
OBAMA: L-l-l-et me -- Let me finish, Katie. The, uh -- What happens if we continue to put $10 to $12 billion a month into Iraq, if we are willing to send as many troops, uh, as we can muster continuing into Iraq, uh, there's no doubt that that's going to have an impact. But it doesn't meet our long-term strategic goal which is to make the American people safer over the long term.
COURIC: Given what you know now, you still wouldn't support it.
OBAMA: Because the -- Because the --
COURIC: So I'm just trying to understand this.
OBAMA: Because -- because, uh, uh, i-i-it's pretty straightforward. By us putting $10 to $12 billion a month -- $200 billion -- that's money that could have gone into Afghanistan. Those additional troops could have gone into Afghanistan. That money also could have been used to shore up, uh, a declining economic situation in the United States.

WTF?

Good on ya Katie for asking tough questions, but I'm still wating for one of you to ask this simple one... "Sen. Obama what accomplishments in your political career as a Senator have you made that you believe qualify you to be President?"

Now let's add this to his recent changes in position on topics such as: public financing for the general election, the immunity of telecommunications companies re: wiretapping, the DC gun control issue, and a host of other issues. According to the infallible Sen., these aren't in fact changes in position but misunderstandings on our parts. Oh yes, let us peons grovel at the feet of the ever wise Obama. It has to be our misunderstanding. How could Sen. "Brother Love" Obama ever be wrong? It's so sad and pathetic that it's past being hilarious.

-Again, I can't express my sadness enough at the fact that there's so many sheeple who desperately want Obama that none of this will matter. Now mind you I'm not saying all Obama supporters are vacuous sycophants of the post-turtle*. One of my dear friends is an Obama supporter and has cogent reasons. But, there are other individuals that I know, who are the typical Obama supporters: sad, lonely people, so pathetically full of angst and self-righteous indignation that they refuse to see the forest for the trees. Or maybe they simply can't because their face is so buried in Sen. Obama's colon all they can see is how much he's full of shit, and they're so afraid, that like an ostrich they'll keep themselves buried and hope that the shit floats with the American voters.

*If you're unsure of what a post-turtle is: It's quite simply a turtle on a post, You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he is up there, and you just wonder what kind of a dumb ass put him up there to begin with.

Let's all go to the snack bar...

2008-07-21T12:23:00.002-05:00

So Bridie and I went to the Drive-In on Friday to see The Dark Knight. Here's a report:

1.) The Drive-In is awesome.
2.) It's more fun when you go with other people. We were accompanied by another couple, dear friends of ours, who parked next to our car, and joined in the pre-game festivities.
3.) The movie itself. Oh where to begin: Christopher Nolan nailed a ton of stuff, and missed the mark on some others.
-What's good? Heath Ledger, amazing performance. Aaron Eckhart, masterful work! Gary Oldman, phenomenal. (I've yet to see poor work from him) The pace, story-line, etc...Twists and turns that one could see coming but was surprised at how they got there.
-What could have been better? Batman. I hate his voice, his mask, his outfit. I think that all should have been re-thought. I know the movie is essentially centered around Joker and Harvey Dent. However, Batman is the protagonist, he is the super-hero, he has to be perfect and unfortunately, imho, he wasn't.

-All in all, I love the film, I thought it was far better than Batman Begins. Is it on par with other sequels like Empire Strikes Back and Godfather II? I'm not sure I'm ready to claim that yet, only because I felt BB was not a strong first film. (unlike A New Hope and Godfather) Therefore, I didn't think TDK had to make a monumental leap to top what had been done. Is it the best superhero movie I've ever seen? No that title is still held by Iron Man, but I'd put TDK right up there with Spiderman 2, possibly ahead of ol' webhead.

That's all for now...

Leaving a bad taste...

2008-07-18T00:26:00.002-05:00

So the "illustrious" Sen. Obama has finally decided, after setting his policy on the war in the Middle East (and claiming to know what's best for our troops) that maybe it would be a good idea to actually go there and hear what the generals on the ground have to say. Logical, right? The sickening part? All three major news nations ABC, CBS, and NBC are sending their anchors to tag along with their lips firmly embedded in his ass. Meanwhile Sen. McCain has made four overseas trips in the past few months, without a blip on national news. Nice, huh? What's sad is that the sheeple in this country won't even realize that this trip will merely be nothing more than a pandering, spin-filled, photo-op, instead of the meaningful, informative sojourn that it should be. Please excuse me now I have to go wash the vomit out of the back of my mouth.

-In movie news:

Bridie and I saw Vantage Point last night. All I can say is I thoroughly enjoyed the choice of pace and fliming style. If you've ever seen the classic Rashomon (a film I love!) You'll immediately recognize what the director was trying to do here. For the most part it paid off. There were only minor leaps of ridiculousness, but it's a movie and suspension of disbelief must be applied.

Winged Freak Terrorizes Gotham City?

2008-07-16T11:23:00.002-05:00

I've been hearing a lot of buzz about The Dark Knight. Though most of what I read confirmed my suspicions: TDK is a glorious action movie, and succeeds brilliantly in that role, but it's tough to consider it a comic book movie. That's exactly how I felt about it's predecessor Batman Begins. I love Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne, but I hated what they did to Batman. The suit looked laughable (though better than the polyurethane nipples on Clooney's abortion) and I loathed the gruff, laryngitis stricken voice of the Batman. I've seen more than a few minutes of the new film, courtesy of some friends of mine, and I still can't get past the horrible voice, and the batsuit is even worse this time out. It looks like a motorcycle suit, with a really bad helmet, and a cape. I'm disappointed in that. On to the good, no great... Heath Ledger is the definitive Joker. Forget Caesar Romero,(and his make-up covered moustache) forget Jack Nicholson (which for me was difficult because I love Jack) Ledger is now and forever will be the Clown Prince of Crime. From what I've seen, the movie excels at what I think it sets out to achieve. A portrait of the demented mind of the Joker. I'll wait until I see the entire film before I give my official review, but so far I was very entertained.

-In other movie news:

-Jumper: I really liked the concept, but I thought so much more could have been done with it. Unfortunately, the film is plagued with Hayden Christensen. He's not as bad as his woeful turn as the Dark Lord of the Sith, though that's not saying much.

-The Other Boleyn Girl-Horrible. Yet another SW prequel alum, Natalie Portman can be found acting just as horrible in this film. Scarlett Johansson.....wait, what...oh yeah sorry, I'm always a bit distracted at the mere thought of her;) but yes she was surprisingly ok. Eric Bana had almost a nothing role, and the movie just out and out sucked.

-What am I really excited about? Tarantino's latest film set in WWII: Inglorious Bastards. Can't wait!

"An All America City"? Yeah...

2008-07-08T16:02:00.004-05:00

Oh the plight of Buffalo continues. Today, U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny issued a decision against the Seneca nation and their casino building project. This is a project that goes back to 2006,when the Senecas unveiled designs for a $125 million permanent casino. They revisited it in 2007 and designed blueprints for a $333 million casino complex. It's billed as the largest privately-funded construction project in Buffalo's history.

The Senecas want to construct a 22-story, 206 suite hotel tower, to complement a 90,000-square-foot casino, with 2,000 slot machines and some 45 table games. The complex would also be home to four restaurants, a spa and include a 2,500-vehicle parking deck.

What about help for the city of Buffalo? Well, the casino complex is expected to employ more than 1,000 people and generate some $7 million a year in revenues to the host community.

The "Citizens for a Better Buffalo" led by Dianne Bennett and including such financially brilliant minds as Sam Hoyt, Joan Bozer, Judith Einach, and Arthur Eve filed the suit. Well "Citizens for a better Buffalo" way to go! You sure did it. I can't wait to find another private entity willing to invest $330 MILLION in the degenerate, dilapidated fixture, called the city of Buffalo. But you're right... I'm sure, Buffalo is "better" without having such a financial commitment. Buffalo's unemployed are certainly "better" without having a chance for a decent job. And hell, the city and county are certainly financially strong enough to not have to worry about $7 million annually. It's not like those municipalities can use all the financial help they can get. Hell no! Good plan...

Please don't give me any more crap about the "evils" of gambling and how people and families will be "destroyed". The "Citizens for a better Buffalo" claim they're looking out for the population of Buffalo. I say, "Who the hell do you think you are?" and I think the city of Buffalo should say, "Piss off, you sanctimonious shit-heads." People are adults, they don't need any liberal-minded govt. members, lobbyists, or quasi-intellectuals telling them how to run their lives, what to say, how to think, and what to spend their money on. If you believe gambling is wrong, don't go, don't partake, but don't assume that something that is legal is wrong for everyone, and that it is up to you to make decisions for everyone else. Because, if that is the case, you hypocritical mental midgets, then I want to see you file a suit against: the State of NY to ban the lottery, Erie County to get rid of the gaming at the fairgrounds, and the Buffalo Diocese of the Catholic Church banning bingo.

This is what sickens me about that rat-infested, hell-hole called the city. (and by rats I'm not referring to rodents) Every time an individual, organization, or other business entity wants to come and improve it's standing, a select few open their mouths, spew forth some liberal diarrhea and Buffalo is no "better" off. It's just mired by more shit. It's almost like these dumb-asses want Buffalo to have a nation-wide identity as a "Charlie Brown" city. Well, "Citizens for a better Buffalo" congrats! you've maintained that image.

You should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves...

*I'm sorry for the use of profanity today. I have tried not to use it on this blog, but I was so disgusted and outraged today that I felt it was warranted. Again, my apologies.

Echoing Bobby Jones

2008-07-07T12:51:00.002-05:00

I played my first sub 100 round of golf this season. I know most of you find this very exciting...

I had started to flirt with the barrier last season and wound up hitting more than a couple rounds under the century mark. However, this season had been a mess. My swing was all screwed up and my scores were reflecting that. So what to do? Well, not having a Bagger Vance of my own, I decided to go out Saturday by myself, and just work on the mechanics, forget the score. As it turned out, I remembered my swing positioning that had been forgotten and my score actually wound up quite nice. To Dr. Strongbridge, perhaps we shall continue our rivalry again sometime soon?

-In other news:

Definitely, Maybe-I actually liked this romantic comedy. I got it for Bridie to watch, but sat down and couldn't leave. Very cute film.

10,000 BC- Horrendous. Don't even think about renting this film.

-Still more news:

Bridie has started to really get into Guitar Hero III. She even moved up to medium difficulty last night and did rather well for her first foray. Now just wait until GH IV when the drum set comes in!

Ah yes, the wisdom of a General...

2008-06-30T21:37:00.002-05:00

It's been quite a long day, but I finally got a chance to sit down and read the news. Low and behold there was Gen. Clark, the "illustrious" Sen. Obama's buddy, commenting on the qualifications for Presidency. So the old warbird has turned out to be no different than Hillary in whoring himself out for the Liberal cause. Hilarious... You're right though Gen., getting shot down in a fighter plane doesn't in itself qualify one for the presidency. However, it does show one's committment to the military of which the Prez. is Commander-in-Chief. Furthermore, let's look at Gen. Clark's main point:

Because in the matters of national security policy making, it's a matter of understanding risk. It's a matter of gauging your opponents, and it's a matter of being held accountable.

Gee Gen. Do you think there could be any greater example of understanding of risk, and gauging opponents than one denying the right to early release and essentially volunteering to stay 5 and 1/2 years in an 8X8 tiger cage in some Vietnamese shithole, until the rest of his comrades in arms are released? Honestly...

What I find even more hilarious is that Gen. Clark couldn't even answer the question directly regarding Obama's qualifications. Why you ask? Hmmmm maybe because his buddy, the "illustrious" Sen. has yet to make any. Community organizer in Chicago? Well let's see, what with all of the violent crime recently I'd say that was a resounding success. Oh wait I know he made Harvard Law Journal, well that sure shows how one can understand risk, and gauge opponents. Please...

Now we come to the most ludicrous part of all...The Liberal Sheeple in this country that follow this story and Harummpff in agreement with the Gen. as though they were thousands of Governor William J. Lepetomanes. Really? Are you that starved to find something on McCain that will tarnish his character in the eyes of the public, that you'll think this jackass of a former Gen. made any cogent sense in his comments? W-O-W...sad really. Again I ask very plainly, "What has Sen. Obama accomplished that will lead you to believe the promises Candidate Obama makes?" In reality, attacking McCain on this subject by anyone on the left will do nothing but backfire immensely. At least Obama rejected the comments, no doubt this is a result of his "makeover", or maybe it was because his Cyranos told him to...

This crap is what makes the news? What a waste of airtime.

Viva Espana!

2008-06-30T11:53:00.002-05:00

After far too long, Spain has won a major football (soccer) tournament! It was at the 33rd minute that Torres made Spain's claim to end the drought. Germany just couldn't keep up with Spain's speed on offense, and were consistently frustrated by the Iberian defense. Good for Spain. they have long been my secondary team in international soccer. (Italia obviously being the first) Being of Italian and Spanish ancestry my support for those two football squads has stemmed from my grandparents. It was nice having Italia claim the world cup in '06 and now Spain the Euro in '08. I hope the streak can continue this summer at the Olympics!

Fine Summer Fun...

2008-06-25T20:47:00.003-05:00

Well Summer movie season began in earnest last month, and I have seen 4 of the 7 movies I definitely had to view...

Iron Man-See my previous comments on this blog about this spectacular film.

Prince Caspian-enjoyed it thoroughly. Eddie Izzard was a brilliant choice for voice over work.

Indiana Jones-I liked it. Subtle music cues were particularly interesting. I wish the movie was done 10 years ago, but that can't be helped. Still I thought it was great fun, even if it wasn't as good as the others.

Which leads us to tonight's premiere/sneak preview event that I got Honey and I tickets for: Wall-E. Let me preface this by saying, I love Pixar. I love every single one of the feature length films they've produced, and Wall-E is no exception. I was intrigued about the role of the main characters and ,well, you'll see why. It was nothing short of sheer brilliance on Pixar's part to choose to go the route they did. It is much more emotional a film than any of the others I think (maybe Nemo comes close). Two thumbs way up I say!

Now all that is left on the must see list for this summer is The Incredible Hulk, The Dark Knight, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Stay tuned!

Habeas Corpus, huh?

2008-06-19T12:29:00.004-05:00

Nice. So by now we have all heard of the Supreme Court's recent ruling. You know the one that says foreign citizens, who are held by the military, as enemy combatants on foreign soil, should have the US Constitutional right of Habeas Corpus extended to them? Yeah, that assinine one... Well, apparently the "illustrious" Sen. Obama thinks there's no problem with that. Moreover, his advisors said that if Osama Bin Laden was captured and brought to Gitmo he should be afforded the same rights. Really? I find it amusing that Obama would take this stance. Why? I thought you'd never ask...

Ok, so let's say Bin Laden is captured...He's brought to Gitmo, he has the newly afforded right to appeal his detention to the civilian courts of the US. Aaaaaand, cue the can of worms opening...

-Did the soldiers read him his Miranda rights? Well if not, a court could find anything he said non-admissible.
-Could a plea of insanity be proffered before the court, and if so would a jury find it plausible?
-Is there enough evidence to meet the criminal standard?
-Will his defense argue an impartial judge and jury cannot be found?

I could go on and on with the nearly infinite possibilities that could happen in a trial of Bin Laden. However, the simple question to ask the "illustrious" Sen. Obama would be, "Should a captured Bin Laden be considered innocent until proven guilty?" According to Barack and his advisors, the answer is clearly yes. That's what Habeas Corpus indirectly provides. Obama's statement that the right to appeal doesn't necessarily mean a trial, is ludicrous and blatantly naive. Of course there will be trials for most, if not all of these detainees. So let's say for some insane reason, one actually agrees with the "enlightened" Sen. Obama...I then would have to ask Obama, "Why sir, if you believe Bin Laden is innocent until proven guilty, did you say you would invade Pakistan (our ally) in an attempt to kill Bin Laden who is assumed to be hiding there?" I mean come on folks, really?

Black Gold!

2008-06-18T09:58:00.003-05:00

So the Prez. just got done giving a surprisingly phenomenal speech regarding proposed energy production. You'll recall a while back we here at A.R. pointed out the very same things that need to be done to ease the price at the pump (hate to say "I Told You So"). It was a refreshing thing to see it finally be said by the government though.

Thing #1: increase domestic drilling and production of oil. ANWAR has approx. 10 billion barrels, shale oil has approx 800 billion barrels, and offshore drilling another 90 billion or so. Grand total 900 BILLION barrels or enough oil for almost 200 years with no dependency on OPEC product.

Thing #2: increase production of new refineries and lower the restrictions on construction of said industrial centers. Brilliant, we haven't had new refineries in 30+ years. Something needs to be done to convert the new crude to gasoline.

Now will all of this help us overnight? No. Will it take less time for these measures to reach potential than converting all of our vehicles to alternate fuel source? Absolutely, seeing as how we still don't have viable alternate fuel sources. So what's the problem? We have a Democrat controlled Congress that refuses to act. Why? Hmmm...curious, well let's take a look. I believe it is due in part to the fact that they refuse to go along with anything the current Prez. proposes because, well then they'd have to admit he actually was right on something as serious as this. Heaven forbid our government works together to solve problems. I also believe that issue directly corresponds to the fact that Dem. leaders in Congress want so bad for their candidate to capture the White House, that they'll do anything to further the delusional notion that it is this President's fault our gas prices are so high. If any Liberal out there tells you that Congress has other motives for not accepting these proposals, that's merely an act of willfull naivete on their part.

The petulance of these Dem. leaders is astounding. "Change?" HA! A change would be for these buffoons to swallow their pride, stop acting like little children and work together with our Prez. to solve this crisis. There is NO EXCUSE. Environmental concerns are next to nil, the new proposals reduce dependency on foreign markets, and they'll bring new jobs to American workers. Wake up Congress, the time to act was Yesterday. Today is too late. Tomorrow will be a catastrophe...

Ok Major, fine...

2008-06-17T14:49:00.003-05:00

...we can have "YouTube" video wars till the cows come home ;)

Here you go:

Again, as I've said before, I don't think McCain is a particularly "good" candidate, just the best we have to choose from. Personally I'd rather take a 71yr. old war hero who plays the game of politics, than a 46yr. old half-wit that doesn't know his @$$ from a hole in the ground! My question still remains (and as such my "rebuttal" that you asked for) "What has Senator Obama ever accomplished that would lead you to believe he'll back up what Candidate Obama promises to deliver?" Check his political record, you'll find the answer is: zip, zero, zilch, nada.

"We are pilgrims in an unholy land"...

2008-06-15T18:53:00.004-05:00

Well that's how I felt this weekend. Toronto is awesome. Going every year for our wedding anniversary is a great idea. It also doesn't hurt that the weekend always works out to be the "North-by-Northeast" music festival. 130ish bands playing all over the city all week is great. The "unholy" part? Shoe stores...Oh yes we had Campers, Fluevogs, Aldo, and an assortment of Italian designed shoes that must be gawked at, tried on, selected, etc...It hurt. So after a marathon of shoe, dress, and girl-clothes shopping, having my wallet spontaneously combust, Honey was kind enough to go to "The Silver Snail" with me while I spent considerable time pouring over vintage issues of my favorite characters:

The statuettes there were also quite nice, especially this one:

Thank you Mr. McQuarrie this piece will look divine in my new Home Office...

All in all, it was yet another amazing weekend in TO. (Canadians still can't drive for $h!t though, but oh well.) Happy Father's Day to all you Fathers out there!

Goin' up North eh?

2008-06-12T10:46:00.002-05:00

Well Honey and I had our 2 year wedding anniversary this past Tuesday. W-O-W! Time has flown...Being that my career has me on the road to Roch-cha-cha 2-3 days a week, Honey thought a TomTom GPS would be a good idea for a present. Boy was that a good call. Loooove it. No more mapquest to find my clients' abodes, and the voice directions I selected sound just like K.I.T.T. Very fun. In turn, Honey is getting a weekend in Toronto starting tomorrow. So no blogging for me for a few days. I promised her a 2 day shopping spree, which led to squeals of joy on her part, and will lead to fire in my wallet. Awesome.

-In other news the house hunt has begun in earnest. We're at a very initial stage of getting ideas, deciding whether to move in to an existing new build, or build our own. Very complicated decisions. I'll keep you posted.

Um...You know...this was...a heck of a weekend...

2008-06-09T13:53:00.004-05:00

First it starts with Liberal Sheeple in this country selecting a buffoon such as Sen. Obama as their nominee. Yeah, "this was the moment" all right... The moment millions "settled" for this guy:

or was it this guy?

Not much sleep huh Senator? Yeeeahhh let's use that excuse. It couldn't possibly be because you haven't a clue as to what you're talking about. Don't worry though, I'm sure that if President, you'll have tons of time to sleep without worrying about having to solve problems on a minute's notice (without any speech writers behind you). I laughed my tail off when I saw these clips, because I find it hilarious that this man cannot speak knowledgeably or coherently unless there is a quasi-Cyrano writing for him. Sheeple are gonna vote for this insipid mouthpiece? As Chad-Michael Michaels would say, "Mind-Bottling."

Where to next? Oh how about my continued golf feud with my dear friend "Dr. Richard Strongbridge". He's been golfing far longer than I, so I know my quest to defeat him is rather Sisyphean, but alas, I must try. Let's talk about how he has a seemingly uncanny knack for pulling off miraculous shots on hole 17. Last time it was a shot from the edge of a drop, behind a shed, through tress, that landed on the green. This time it was a shot over tress, that landed a mere 8 inches from the hole...My response? "Why wouldn't that have happened?" Ugh...I'll get you yet my friend! Finally, and perhaps the most upsetting for me, Big Brown decided he didn't feel like running on Saturday, and so my 20 year dream of seeing a Triple Crown winner was thwarted yet again. For someone who loves Horse Racing as much as I do, this was quite disappointing to say the least. Oh well there's always next year.

The Final Jewel...

2008-06-03T14:30:00.003-05:00

It's sooooo close. This Saturday is the Belmont Stakes and I've waited quite a long time to see a Triple Crown winner. War Emblem gave me hope, Smarty Jones made me believe, Barbaro would have done it and now Big Brown is poised to claim it. Barring a rainstorm, a freak injury, or being bumped out of the gate, I think the Chestnut juggernaut will astound many. I don't expect this:

But then, Secretariat is the greatest horse ever to run. That video makes me well up every time I see it. To Big Brown I say, "Go for it!" I'm pulling for you.

-In other news,

I am an avid anime fan as many of you know. Previously I have held Ghost in the Shell, Steamboy, Howl's Moving Castle, and of course, Akira as my favorites. However, I just saw Appleseed: Ex Machina and was blown away. The story is good, but the visuals were what captivated me. If you like anime even a little, you must see this.

Stifle it...

2008-05-30T14:38:00.003-05:00

That's right, I'm channeling my favorite curmudgeon Archie Bunker and saying to America's politically correct police, "Stifle it." Reasons:

1.) The Dunkin' Donuts pulling of spokeswoman Rachel Ray's new ad because her scarf had the same colors as Arafat's kaffiyeh. Apparently, this paisley scarf was offensive. Are you kidding me? Really? Has this country been reduced to this petty crap? How assinine.

2.) Sharon Stone was ripped for her "kharma" comments regarding the Chinese Earthquake. Who the hell cares? Why is everyone jumping down her throat? I'm not saying she's right or wrong, I'm merely arguing that, "Why the hell should anyone give a second thought to the vapid ramblings of a has-been actress?" What has Sharon Stone ever done that deserves so much attention to anything she says?

America please stop. This constant bashing of people's words is waaaaay overblown. Newsflash, people have the right to say what they will whether you like it or not. If you don't like what people say, tough. They have just as much right to voice their opinions on something, as you do. There is no need to constantly try to correct people or tell them that their words are offensive to a certain group of people and they shouldn't say certain things. Bull$hit. Americans are not all children, we shouldn't have to be molly-coddled by pseudo-sophisticates who honestly believe they've never said anything that has offended anyone (Because guess what? They have.) To these quasi-intellectuals I say, "Grow the hell up and get over yourselves. Your antics are quite tiresome."

-In other news I was deeply saddened at the loss of comedian Harvey Korman. He always made me laugh. I think my favorite might be his character, Hedy (It's Hedley) Lamarr in Mel Brook's classic Blazing Saddles. Now I know some of you out there may bitch and moan that this shouldn't be recognized because of the racial jokes made in the movie. Get over it. Blazing Saddles is one of the funniest movies ever filmed. Mel Brooks is not a racist, neither is Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, or anyone else involved in filming this fantastic comedy. I wil always cherish Korman's style and his unique talent to completely morph into any character he played. Thank you Mr. Korman, you will be missed.

Way to honor our fallen, Senator...

2008-05-27T12:48:00.003-05:00

The "illustrious" Sen. Obama has accrued many titles over the past year or so:

-defender of the common man
-harbinger of "Change"
-friend to all
-seeker of unity and togetherness

he can now add one more:

"He who has the sixth sense"

In a Memorial Day speech in New Mexico yesterday, Obama said quote:

On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes, and I see many of them in the audience here today, our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.

Newsflash Senator, Memorial Day honors those who have died in our nation's military service. How is it possible that one seeking to become Commander-in-Chief does not know this? Sometimes the things that come out of his mouth defy understanding. Or maybe, he can see dead people, yet another "talent" of his that should give us hope and cause to vote for him all the more. As for me, I'll put my money on the fact that his speech writers took the holiday off...

To further enhance your viewing experience...

2008-05-22T23:21:00.004-05:00

Dear readers,

If you're reading this, you're most likely hearing music. Do not be alarmed. I've added my mp3 playlist to the right (just below the clustrmap). I thought perhaps all of you might enjoy some music to go along with your reading enjoyment. These are roughly 100 of my favorite songs, many of which are by some of my favorite artists. I add and change them quite a bit though depending on my mood. (Example: I just added Viva La Vida by Coldplay tonight. It's the newest single and I'm crazy about it, scroll down towards the end of the player to select and listen to it if you like.) It's a little device I've added to my myspace page, and thought I'd bring it here as well, so as to not exclude the masses from some quality tunes. Feel free to peruse, and play any of the songs that you like while reading. If you have any suggestions for tunes to add please let me know, I'll see what I can do to. Enjoy!

Sincerely,
Pater Patriae

A better analogy couldn't be found...

2008-05-22T12:05:00.003-05:00

=

Why does the "illustrious" Sen. Obama equate with the Democrat Jackass you say? Well here's some tidbits that seem to have missed the rounds on network news.

Barack Gaffes The Obama machine.
By Michelle Malkin

All it takes is one gaffe to taint a Republican for life. The political establishment never let Dan Quayle live down his fateful misspelling of “potatoe.” The New York Times distorted and misreported the first President Bush’s questions about new scanner technology at a grocers’ convention to brand him permanently as out of touch. But what about Barack Obama? The guy’s a perpetual gaffe machine. Let us count the ways, large and small, that his tongue has betrayed him throughout the campaign:

1.) Last May, he claimed that tornadoes in Kansas killed a whopping 10,000 people: “In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died — an entire town destroyed.” The actual death toll: 12.

2.) Earlier this month in Oregon, he redrew the map of the United States: “Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go.”

3.) Last week, in front of a roaring Sioux Falls, S.D., audience, Obama exulted: “Thank you, Sioux City. ... I said it wrong. I’ve been in Iowa for too long. I’m sorry.”

4.) Explaining last week why he was trailing Hillary Clinton in Kentucky, Obama again botched basic geography: “Sen. Clinton, I think, is much better known, coming from a nearby state of Arkansas. So it’s not surprising that she would have an advantage in some of those states in the middle.” On what map is Arkansas closer to Kentucky than Illinois?

5.) Obama has as much trouble with numbers as he has with maps. Last March, on the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march in Selma, Ala., he claimed his parents united as a direct result of the civil rights movement: “There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Ala., because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born.”Obama was born in 1961. The Selma march took place in 1965. His spokesman, Bill Burton, later explained that Obama was “speaking metaphorically about the civil-rights movement as a whole.”

6.) Earlier this month in Cape Girardeau, Mo., Obama showed off his knowledge of the war in Afghanistan by homing in on a lack of translators: “We only have a certain number of them, and if they are all in Iraq, then it’s harder for us to use them in Afghanistan.” The real reason it’s “harder for us to use them” in Afghanistan: Iraqis speak Arabic or Kurdish. The Afghanis speak Pashto, Farsi, or other non-Arabic languages.

7.) Over the weekend in Oregon, Obama pleaded ignorance of the decades-old, multibillion-dollar massive Hanford nuclear-waste cleanup: “Here’s something that you will rarely hear from a politician, and that is that I’m not familiar with the Hanford, uuuuhh, site, so I don’t know exactly what’s going on there. (Applause.) Now, having said that, I promise you I’ll learn about it by the time I leave here on the ride back to the airport.”I assume on that ride, a staffer reminded him that he’s voted on at least one defense-authorization bill that addressed the “costs, schedules, and technical issues” dealing with the nation’s most contaminated nuclear-waste site.

8.) Last March, the Chicago Tribune reported this little-noticed nugget about a fake autobiographical detail in Obama’s Dreams from My Father: “Then, there’s the copy of Life magazine that Obama presents as his racial awakening at age 9. In it, he wrote, was an article and two accompanying photographs of an African-American man physically and mentally scarred by his efforts to lighten his skin. In fact, the Life article and the photographs don’t exist, say the magazine’s own historians.”

9.) And in perhaps the most seriously troubling set of gaffes of them all, Obama told a Portland crowd over the weekend that Iran doesn’t “pose a serious threat to us” — cluelessly arguing that “tiny countries” with small defense budgets can’t do us harm — and then promptly flip-flopped the next day, claiming, “I’ve made it clear for years that the threat from Iran is grave.”

Barack Obama — promoted by the Left and the media as an all-knowing, articulate, transcendent Messiah — is a walking, talking gaffe machine. How many more passes does he get? How many more can we afford?
© 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.

*What a brilliant article. I guess that's how Barack has been able to claim he is the nominee... I mean it is tough to beat when he's competing in 57 states. Ha! "Change is Comin' " God help us all if it does, I say.

For the love of God, just stop already...

2008-05-21T19:09:00.003-05:00

...A request to Spike Lee.

The diminutive director has recently opened his oversized mouth crying racism at Clint Eastwood. Apparently Spike is bitching that Clint did not portray black soldiers in Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima.

Dear Spike,

1. Flags of Our Fathers revolved around the story of a half dozen US servicemen who raised the flag on Mt. Suribachi. Newsflash to Spike, none of these men were black. I'm sorry if that upsets you, but that's the way it is.

2. Letters From Iwo Jima told the story of the famous battle from the Japanese point of view. There were hardly any shots of American soldiers in the film at all and the Japanese army did not have black soldiers in it. Again memo to Spike, sorry if that upsets you, but that's the way it is.

This is the kind of crap that no one needs to hear. Insead of bitching about Clint Eastwood's WWII movies not having black soldier/characters in them, (I notice he never said anything re: Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, or HBO's Band of Brothers) Spike should be grateful that he lives in a country where filmmakers (like he and Clint) can shoot any movie they want, on any topic they want. I applaud Clint on being the classy man that he is and not dignifying Spike's ludicrous comments with any response. Spike just stop, stop looking for racism where it doesn't exist, and instead focus on making a quality movie for once (outside of Inside Man). The day you put together movies like: Unforgiven, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Flags of Our Fathers, and Letters From Iwo Jima I'll be surprised. Until that day comes though, try not to let the green eyed monster cloud your mind so.

Heaven is 72 of these!

2008-05-21T13:01:00.006-05:00

Check this out:

The Barn...Amazing MUST SEE

A recently retired New York man wanted to use his retirement funds wisely, decided to buy a home and a few acres in Portugal .

The modest farmhouse had been vacant for 15 years; the owner and wife both had died, and there were no heirs.The estate was being sold to pay back taxes.

There had been several lookers, but the large barn had steel doors, and they had been welded shut.

No one wanted to go to the extra expense to see what was in the barn, and it wasn't complimentary to the property anyway... so, no one made an offer on the place.

The New York gentleman bought it as is, paying just over half of the property's worth; moved in, and set about to access the barn... curiosity was killing him. So, he and his wife bought a generator and a couple of grinders... and cut thru the welds.

What was in the barn...?

WOW!!!

Ferrari

Opel GT, Lotus Elan FHC, Lotus Super Seven Series IV, Lotus Elan DHC.

Porsche 356, Austin Healey Sprite MkII, Volvo PV 544, Ford Y?

Giulietta Sprint, Giulia Sprint Speciale (SS), Nash Metropolitan.

Alfa Giulietta, Lotus Europa, another Lotus Elan FHC, Matra Djet?

Lancia Flaminia Coupé

Abarth 1300 Scorpione

Lancia Flaminia Coupé, Peugeot 504 cabriolet& 404 cabriolet.

Mini, Alfa 1900 Super Sprint, Balilla.

Fiat Topolino II, Triumph TR4, Peugeot 202.

BMW V8, Formula racers, Chryslers, Mercedes, Austin A30.

Formula racers, Chryslers, Mercedes, Austin A30.

Amazing…Total value of all vehicles… over 35 Million!

The man and his wife had full title to the complete lot of vehicles. Needless to say, I think they're having a great retirement! Lord knows I would.

*I tried to identify these cars as best I could from the photos, if anyone knows more let me know!*

The more things change...

2008-05-19T12:23:00.001-05:00

Well you know the rest. Oh where to begin. There's honestly so much I just don't know, so I think we'll just dive in.

1.) The "illustrious" Sen. Obama seemed to have a bee in his bonnet the past two days. Why? Well as I'm sure you all know by now he was upset with what our Pres. said in Israel. I'll be the first to admit that our current Pres. is no Mensa candidate, has made some questionable decisions in his tenure, and has some problems with speaking the Queen's tongue. Pres. Bush's frequent butchering of the English language aside, this most recent quote might have been his most brilliant moment ever. By mentioning no names, and merely commenting on an opposing philosophy, he threw the fishing line out into the water, and poor Obama blindly took the bait hook, line, and sinker. All I heard all weekend was Obama whining and crying along with the liberal "keystone cops" in our Congress that support him. What that did was show anyone with a brain that Obama was acknowledging that the comments of the President applied directly to his (Obama's) proposed policy of unconditional talks with the likes of Castro, Il, Mahmoud, and Chavez.

2.) As if that wasn't bad enough for him, Obama follows that up by making the brilliant statement that Iran is less of a threat today than the Soviet Union was during the Cold War. Oh boy...Really? If this doesn't show his absolute lack of knowledge regarding foreign diplomacy and history, I don't know what will. USSR obviously was a bigger military power, but had legitimacy. USSR had a regard for its people and never thought to use nukes because of the concept of mutually assured destruction. Contrary to what Sen. Obama believes, diplomacy alone did not conquer the Soviets. Didn't he hear of the Pershing missles being installed in Europe? Or perhaps he may heard of Grenada, and Nicaragua? Nope guess not.

Iran has no such regard for its people, and if you think they're not developing nukes, please get your head out of the sand. If you think Mahmoud is going to calmly listen to some "brilliant" words of Obama, and realize the error of his ways, you're as delusional as the Sen. is. A megalomaniac like that will only have his ego fed more, by talking unconditionally with the Prez. of the US. He certainly isn't going to think Israel is anything different than a "bloated corpse" or a "nation that needs to be wiped off the map". Legitimacy should never be given to states run by tyrannical dictators, Obama could have learned a lesson from Prime Minister Chamberlain there. Then again, maybe he has had practice with nutjobs he is after all friends with the domestic terrorist William Ayers, and had Rev. Wright for a pastor for 20 years. Perhaps I'm missing something there.

3) Today the sanctimonious Sen. from Illinois complained about attack ads quoting his wife. Well Sen. welcome to the varsity game. If you're going to have your wife stumping on the campaign trail for you, and if she is going to say stupid things like how she hasn't been proud of her country until your campaign, she's fair game. You can't have it both ways.

-Now I know that far too many of you out there are drunk off the Obama Kool-Aid, and think he can do no wrong. I know that anything I write on here will be excused or explained away, and that's ok. Sad, but ok. I will simply ask this, "What has the Sen. Obama done that will back up the promises of the candidate Obama? When has the Sen. Obama graciously reached across party lines to work with Republicans? When has Sen. Obama done anything to "bring" together the masses as the candidate Obama promises he can and will do? The answer? ....(crickets chirping)... Bottom line, he's a typical politician promising the world on the campaign. The difference is he has done nothing to back up what he'll promise. America is in awe of him because he knows millions of Americans have so much angst that if you spout "Yes We Can", and "Change" and all that other crap, they'll lap it up like sheep. Obama bringing change? That's hilarious.

Eat Beano before...

2008-05-11T23:24:00.003-05:00

And there'll be no gas... The whole gasoline price escalation and the talk behind it really is nauseating to me. Here's why: oil is a necessary commodity dependent upon market economics. We need it, so we have to pay for it, simple as that. A "gas tax holiday" will not do much without other measures in place to coincide with such a plan. It may be a political gimmick used by 2 candidates as the "illustrious" Sen. Obama would have you think, though nevermind the fact that he himself voted for two such gas tax holidays in the state of Illinois, so let's not put too much faith in the sanctimonious "Change monger". There really is no quick fix. There are two ways this "crisis" is going to play out:

1. Like all markets, the price will be driven to a point where people en masse will refuse to pay, or not be able because they cannot afford it. (I''m talking $200 barrel oil, $7-$10 per gallon gas) At that point, gas stations won't be able to sell gas to consumers, wholesalers won't be able to sell the stations gasoline, refineries will lose out on production, oil companies will lose out on imports and production, sheiks will won't be able to sell oil, the price will drop. Nature of the beast people.

2. We have estimates (which btw are always lowballed) that between ANWAR and the Gulf of Mexico there is 110 billion barrels of oil that can be drilled for. If the US relied solely on that amount and took no oil from any other source, it would be enough to power 60 million vehicles for 60 years. If we drilled, and refined that oil and used it in conjunction with a lowered import of OPEC oil, that would last far longer, and OPEC would take a serious hit, thus once again dropping the price of oil per barrel.

Sounds easy right? Wrong. You see our esteemed Democratic Congress that has done soooo much to provide change for America won't lift the 25 year moratorium on drilling, and yet, they have not supplied us with any alterative plan. Why? Curious isn't it? Well they'll tell you it's an "environmental concern" My answer: Bull$hit. ANWAR is 19 million acres-- larger than Massachusetts, New Jersey, Hawaii, Connecticut, and Delaware combined. If oil is found, less than 2,000 acres would be directly affected. The area targeted for drilling looks a little like Mars, but not as red. Thus, drilling for oil on a 2,000 acre footprint, within a 19 million acre wildlife refuge (8.63 times the size of Yellowstone) will not have an adverse effect on wildlife within the remaining 365,019,360 acres (570,374 square miles) of Alaska's wilderness. So that argument is defeated. What then is the reason? Could it possible be political? Hmmm... You see Democrats are just as much beholden to the whims, and dollars of companies that work with oil as Republicans are. Not all of the $3.80 per gallon goes to Sheiks in OPEC nations. The oil companies themselves get at least 90 cents, if not more per gallon. So I'm not crying too much for them.

My solution:
1.) open up the drilling in ANWAR and the Gulf now, you're going to have to do it at some point anyway, no way will all that oil go untouched forever.

2.) Build more refineries. We haven't done so since the seventies. Yet another move by big oil to maintain the price of the commodity at a level they can somewhat control. More refineries, means more conversion of crude, which means more gas available at the pump, which means less cost to us.

Let's be realistic we all need gasoline, my career has me back and forth to Rochester 3 days a week, yet I refrain from whining about the cost of gas, because it is what it is. Complaining will do no good. Let's not panic or pretend that any other measures will make a difference, they won't.

A thorn in every rose...

2008-05-05T19:58:00.002-05:00

That's how I felt on Saturday. As excited as I was to see Big Brown cruise to victory and my 9th consecutive Derby prediction pay off, I was crestfallen almost immmediately after. As you all may know, the courageous filly Eight Beles who placed, broke down 1/4 mile after the finish line, and had to be put down on the track. That made me physically ill as I am quite an animal lover. I'm not a veggan by any means, but I have a soft spot for animals, always have. I don't hunt, I always throw fish back in after I catch them, and I wish I could adopt all of the pets at all of the SPCA shelters to prevent them from being unwanted or worse yet, put down. I love horses, I think they're majestic, benign creatures, which is probably why I love the Triple Crown so much. I was sick when Barbaro was put down and this weekend's calamity was terrible.

However, what was worse was PETA's reaction. That sanctimonious organization actually had the gall to claim the jockey was at fault. I wish to God someone would educate this liberal-minded group of jackasses. Now I don't claim to be the world's foremost authority on horseracing, but I love the sport, and I've been following it for nearly 20 years. That said, here are some thing that PETA should have thought about before opening their traps in protest:

1.) Jockeys don't intentionally hurt multi-million dollar animals that they don't own.
2.) The doomed filly had no chance of winning the race. Gabriel Saez, her jockey, is a professional he knows how to race a horse. Furthermore, he knew that Eight Belles had no chance of beating the winner. (which leads to...)
3.) Jockeys use the crop not just to urge the animal to go faster, but also to control its direction. The fact is: Saez, by using the crop, in the manner that he did, kept the filly of the rail, where she actually could have caused injury to herself and other horses during the final stretch.
4.) Watch the end of the race again-where the filly crosses the line with both ears up, in full stride and without any change in pace. No chance she had the injury before the end of the race.

The bottom line: one horse in a thousand races breaks down. It's not a common occurrence by any stretch of the imagination. However, it is unfortunate that it has happened on the national stage for all of America to see. That only leads to people claiming the sport is hazardous. Well newsflash folks, these are 1200 lb. animals running on small legs and hooves. It's always been hazardous. This isn't anything new. These horses are cared for in a fashion that perhaps no other animal on earth is (including some humans). Now I know some claim that modern thoroughbreds are weaker than their counterparts of past years, but that is not always the case, so it would seem no more than speculation at this point. The truth is, stud fees have gone way up and so horses are raced just enough to produce some quality wins for their owners who reap huge windfalls in the pasture, for longer periods of time.

-In the end, the jockey, trainer, owners and fans of horse racing feel terrible for Eight Belles. PETA's ignorance in protesting did nothing except exacerbate the grief already felt. Grow up PETA.

I am...

2008-05-02T21:52:00.006-05:00

Iron Man.

W-O-W!! Well it was worth the wait. My five year old nephew who is about as A.D.D. as his uncle is, was silently captivated for 2 hours, jaw-dropped...His uncle was the same. Robert Downey Jr. was quite possibly the most perfect casting choice I've seen in MANY years. (*amendment*-along with Johnny Depp's Cpt. Sparrow, I think these two are the only perfect casting choices I've seen in decades.) The film's pacing, visuals, story, acting, CGI, cinematography, writing, etc...were dead-on to the story of Marvel's gold and crimson crusader. He was humorous, charismatic, noble, womanizing, cocky, all at the same time. Unlike Mr. Wayne's film representation, Mr. Stark is a brilliant billionaire, who acts like the playboy he's supposed to be. He knows when to be serious and when not to be. The armor you ask? Awesome!

All in all, I can honestly say that without a doubt, this is the best superhero/comic book movie to date. I previously had Spiderman in that slot, but this film blows my favorite arachnid out of the water. Batman Begins was ok, but Downey's Stark is infinitely more complex, and meatier than Bale's Wayne. Superman:Returns was good, but as much as I love "Big Blue" he really is never challenged. X-Men, while among my favorite comic books, were not the best film adaptations. No folks, there simply is no topping Stark Industries' finest invention. I know Dark Knight is coming out, and it looks like it'll be good. You can bet I'll see it, but Iron Man has set an extremely high bar for comic book films. Go see it, now, I know I'm going again, and again, and again...

Jockeys take your mounts!

2008-04-30T13:16:00.003-05:00

Well it's fast approaching! My favoriite day of the year is nigh. I can't wait for the pageantry, the women in hats, the graceful, beautiful horses parading to the post, and the refreshing mint juleps. I've had a devil of a time researching the horses. I'm not sure what route is best. So here goes:

Big Brown-He's a machine, just a big, thundering juggernaut. But...as I've said before, he's only had three starts. The mental aspect of inexperience may come into play.

Pyro-Forget his horrible outing at the Bluegrass, it was on synthetic blend turf. This is a dirt track and Pyro's workouts this past week would suggest he's back to form.

Colonel John- Another big horse. He's not quite the physical specimen that Big Brown is, but he's more seasoned. His workouts this week have been e

So how does this help? Unfortunately, it doesn't. Therefore I'm going to put the above in a boxed trifecta, and decide on who I'll bet separately as the winner. Right now I'm leaning toward Big Brown.

In other news...
I saw The Number 23 the other night. Not a bad flick. I must say that I enjoy Jim Carey's work in serious roles far more than I do his comedic turns.

Whahoo!! Just picked up Mario Kart Wii, and it's an absolute blast. Excellent controls, either standard or with the new steering wheel. The inclusion of motorcross bikes is great, and the online play/support is phenomenal. All in all, I think it is the best console Kart outing that the big N has ever produced. If you have a Wii, I highly suggest picking this up.

New toys...

2008-04-27T20:23:00.003-05:00

So last week I decided it was finally time to get a new PC. I had already purchased a laptop for work, but the house needed a new desktop. Hello Best Buy, what do you have today? Well, I wound up wth the HP 8430F. What specs you say? Here's an overview:

Powerful multimedia desktop with TV tuner (NTSC/ATSC), personal video recording functionality, and programming guide
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor, 750 GB hard drive, 4 GB RAM (8 GB max), 16x LightScribe DVD drive, 54g Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
NVidia GeForce 8500 GT graphics with up to 1535 MB total available memory; Gigabit Ethernet; open bay for optional HP Personal Media Drive
Connectivity: 6 USB, 2 FireWire, 1 VGA, 1 HDMI, 1 DVI, 1 S-Video, 1 composite A/V, digital audio output, surround sound speaker output, 15-in-1 memory card reader
Pre-installed with the 64-bit version of Windows Vista Home Premium (Service Pack 1); includes remote control and wired keyboard/mouse

It has a built in wireless LAN, plays Blu-Ray, has the above mentioned HiDef TV tuner, with built in DVR, I got a widescreen LCD monitor with it, and, "I even like the color".

All in all, I am thrilled with it so far. The speed, power, etc...I've been able to run about 10 programs at once so far and the machine simply laughs at me and wonders if that's all I've got. Sooo I went out and picked up Company of Heroes Gold Edition. If you're not familiar with this, and you're a gamer, you better change that. This was game of the year in '07. It's a WWII themed RTS, and W-O-W. Very good game. So we're happy here.

-In other news,

The wife and I just got back from Baby Mama. Not my frst choice of films to see this month, but she wated to go, so I indulged her. Surprisingly, it was funnier than I thought it would be. Amy Poehler was fantastic. Cute movie.

This Friday I'm taking my five year old nephew to see Iron Man. He's been talking about it for 2 weeks at pre-school, and even had my sister-in-law go buy him the helmet that alters one's voice. Apparently his pre-school teacher is thrilled that my nephew wears it to school everyday. (I know I am, I find it hilarious)

Forget Ambien...

2008-04-23T20:50:00.012-05:00

One of the perks of insomnia? One gets far more accomplished. A few hours ago I commented on a good friend's blog regarding his most recent post, entitled, "The Racism Post" (go to the B.A. Start link at the right to find it). After a few hours of playing Call of Duty 4, and Castlevania: Sympony of the Night (btw Alex, WOW you were right, what a great game!), I realized there is much more that needs to be said. Expanding on my comment to the aforementioned post, I am surprised at the position taken by B.A. Start. Where to begin? I think with the term 'racism' itself. There are many definitions of the term, but I think a smart denotation would be: discrimination based on an individual's race; which can be expressed individually or through institutional policies or practices. Now then, what the heck does that mean, or what does that include? B.A. Start would suggest it includes white Catholics not favoring Obama. Here is the first time I query B.A. Start's statements. Why mention only white Catholics, not white Protestants, or white Buddhists, or for that matter whites of any other religion? Could lack of white Catholic support be because Obama is pro-choice, where the majority of Catholics are not, due to Papal edict and dogma of the Church? That is more likely the case, than the fact that Obama is black. So then does it really come down to his race? It would seem that if it did, then all whites, no matter religion would move away from Obama. We know that is not the case. Therefore, it has to be his political views, which last time I checked, a contrary opinion to them doesn't consitute racism, even though Obama is black. Are marketing schemes between urban and surburan communities racist? Hmmm I'm not sure on all said strategies, of every company., but naturally they have to be different. That's inherent in sales, or at least in good sales. One cannot sell the same product, the same way, to everyone. As a salesman/consultant, I can tell you, that would lead to disastrous failure. Yet, that doesn't mean these differing strategies are racist, unless products are not sold to certain peoples, or altered before sold to certain peoples, etc...

Now we come to the part of the post, that took me a bit by surprise. Knowing my dear friend for many years, and his self-ascribed stoicism, which is hand-in-hand with logic, I found myself confused. As I touched on in my comment on his post, I cannot figure out for the life of me how politically-correctness and all of its derivations help ease racial tensions. B.A. Start claims that it's ok because it helps alleviate past wrongs. Again I claim, "The sins of the father..." Yeah I didn't fight in WWII, but then I am not claiming I did, nor am I expecting any applause, reward etc... from anyone for our servicemen's victory. Just as in the reverse case, I recognize that slavery was a horrible sin, but not one that I, nor anyone in my family took part in. Thus, I should not have to apologize for it, nor have to feel like I was at fault for any of it. Here's what it boils down to: I don't believe any human being should be denied legal rights and privileges based on the color of his skin. HOWEVER, I also don't believe any human being should be granted any special considerations or get a "free-pass" because of the color of his skin. That my friend, would be true equality.

You cannot honestly believe that politically correctness, will get us back to the Declaration of Independence (which incidentally, as you know, didn't really proscribe the same freedoms and rights to all people in this country). You say,

"Any time we give the government the right to decide what people can and cannot say or think, we should get very nervous. A watchful eye must be kept on this, to be sure, but until we stop both individually and institutionally classifying people into genera based on tannin-level, it is for the best."

Wait, what!?! It is for the best for a government to be given the right to decide what people can and cannot say or think, as long as it helps ease racial relations? First, it doesn't. Case in point, do you think the institutionalized program of affirmative action actually helps ease racial relations, or redress past injustices decades, even centuries old? Of course it doesn't. It inherently futhers the racial divide by essentially stating that the individuals of the "protected class" it claims to benefit only achieved the benefit because of their skin tone. How does that bring us together and not further separate us? Moreover, how is that fair, just, and ok treatment for the protected class. I for one, would feel like crap if I knew that's how I got accepted into college, or got a job. On the issue of "politically correctness" controlled thought and speech being ok... Again, that only widens the gap in the long run. All in the Family is universally considered to be one of the greatest programs to have ever aired on television. What's sad is that our society became so self-conscious that a show like that could never be made today. Further, look at the classic Chevy Chase/ Richard Pryor skit on SNL, or the Dean Martin roasts. Could they ever be done today? Absolutely not. Why? Because around 15 years ago people started claiming that "protected classes" feel a certain way, and as such they shouldn't be offended, ever, by any means, even in the smallest degree. Well that's ludicrous. If that's the case why would those people then think it is ok to crack jokes regarding the majority. Watch Dave Chapelle, D.L. Hughley, George Lopez, and anyone on Def Comedy Jam. I do, and I crack up when they poke fun at whites. It's good to laugh about things. But, changing the rules so that the majority (whites) cannot do the same doesn't prevent racism, nor does it make up for past mistakes like black kids only being allowed to go to college because the National Guard was called in. No one is being denied any right/privilege or being persecuted through a joke, it is merely a joke. If that were the case, comedians would be out of a job, and humor would be virtually non-existant. That's what humor is, poking fun at something; politics, religion, whites, blacks, asians, blondes, etc... We have to have some rational thought, we have to lighten up and "pick our battles".

Look, at one point in time all peoples of all ethnicities, creeds, colors, etc...have been the subject of prejudice by others. That is a deplorable fact of human history, but a truth nonetheless. I defy anyone to find me a group of people from any ethnicity that has ever sailed through the course of human history unscathed by the hurtful actions of others. That's life, for good or ill. The answer is not to say, "it's for the best" to allow a government or a society as a whole to control individual's thoughts, opinions etc... until we get this racism thing sorted out". Hell, last I checked, certain countries that have allowed governments and societies that kind of power haven't fared too well. They've either been socialist failures, communist nations with horrendous human rights violations, facist failures, or they're under Sharia law. It certainly isn't something that will ever remotely bring us anywhere near the ideals of the American Nation, let alone the phenomenon that is the Declaration. What is needed is tolerance, understanding, and the ability to relax, (as I said, "pick your battles") Give the American people the respect they deserve. We're talking about grown adults for the most part. We have thick skins, we're not little school children. We certainly don't need people telling us what hurts our presupposed fragile, little feelings. If we can get back to that, and still be cognizant that the Constitution applies, in its laws to EVERYONE, I think we might be on the right path.

Whew...

Oh no...Not Again!

2008-04-23T20:50:00.002-05:00

This happened last year for the first time I could remember...There was no set of dominant horses for the Triple Crown run. I fear this year the same is about to happen. You'll recall in an earlier post that I had mentioned War Pass as a possible choice for me. Well, unfortunately, he has a minor fracture in his ankle and thus, is out for the Triple Crown Run. Pyro, my other choice, had an abyssmal finish of 10th in the Bluegrass. Now I hear talk that Pyro is still capable, but Colonel John and Big Brown are also getting a lot of hype. The latter is attempting to do what no other horse has done in 85 years. Big Brown has run only three prep races, and was a machine in all of them, but again, only 3 preps!?! Oh boy, now I'm just not sure...it may be time to bet a couple different trifectas and claim victory that way. We'll keep you posted.

-Movie Reviews...

The Water Horse-cute family movie, not particularly good, nor particularly bad. Just ok.

Walk Hard-This Walk the Line parody was just not good at all. It had some funny parts, but they were too few and far between.

I Am Legend-I liked it. The CGI was a bit too much. I would have liked t see more traditional work done with some of the film. The story has been played out to death (see 28 Days Later). Ok, but not great.

Wake Up America!

2008-04-19T02:20:00.004-05:00

After watching that pathetic excuse for a debate the other day. I realized one huge thing. Without someone writing their speeches for them, Sens. Obama and Clinton, cannot mutter anything factually correct, nor coherent. Case in point, the illustrious Sen. Obama's comments to Charles Gibson re: the capital gains tax. Obama showed just how little he knows of economics, one of those issues he claims Americans will care about (Guess what Senator? Character is too, but that's for a different post). Being that I work in the financial industry, I deal in numbers all day, and here's a cold hard fact my dear Sen...If you raise the capital gains tax, govt. revenue will decrease. There is no maybe or we'll see. His response of, "I'd raise the tax because we don't know what will happen" is ludicrous. Moreover, he showed his true colors by saying, when pressed, that it wasn't about revenue, or money, but about fairness. WTF!?! The top 5% wealthiest Americans pay 60-70% of the taxes for the whole country. Soooo, we should tax them more, because the middle class is getting screwed under the Bush tax cuts Sen. Obama? Here's some cold hard numbers for you...

Taxes under Clinton
Single making 30K - tax $8,400
Single making 50K - tax $14,000
Single making 75K - tax $23,250
Married making 60K - tax $16,800
Married making 75K - tax $21,000
Married making 125K - tax $38,750

Taxes under Bush 2008
Single making 30K -tax $4,500
Single making 50K -tax $12,500
Single making 75K -tax $18,750
Married making 60K-tax $9,000
Married making 75K -tax $18,750
Married making 125K -tax $31,250

Hmmmm. Curious how the current president's tax plan really screws the American middle class huh? I'm no fan of Prez. Bush, but I am a fan of cold hard numbers, and if you bothered to cut out the "Yes We Can" bullsh_t you'd see it too. Both democratic candidates will return to the higher tax rates. I'm reminded of a line from The Sting with Paul Newman; "You scam somebody out of some money and they don't even know what happened."

So maybe America these numbers don't phase you, and you're still all about "Yes We Can" and change and all that other crap, well let's see how change has worked for the U.S.A. in numbers shall we?
(Remember the "change" election in 2006?)

In 2005:
1) Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high;
2) Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon;
3) The unemployment rate was 4.5%.

Since voting in a Democratic Congress in 2006 we have seen:
1) Consumer confidence plummet;
2) The cost of regular gasoline soar to over $3.50 a gallon;
3) Unemployment is up to 5% (a 10% increase);
4) American households have seen $2.3 trillion in equity value evaporate (stock and mutual fund losses);
5) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $1.2 trillion dollars;
6) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure. America voted for change in 2006, and we got it!

Remember, it's Congress that makes law not the President. He has to work with what's handed to him.

I'm sure now you'll say, "Well the war, the war, it costs us too much!" Oh really? Hmm why don't we take a look at some expenditures shall we? You see I've been a bit confused, what with all the liberal propaganda telling me the war is bankrupting the U.S. So let's see...

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments.Verify at: http://tinyurl.com/zob77

2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.verify at: http://www.cis..org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.Verify at: http://www.cis..org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!verify at:http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.htmlhttp://immigration.about.com/od/ussocialeconomicissues/i/EduIllegalIss_2

5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.Verify athttp://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.Verify at:http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.Verify at:http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens forWelfare & social services by the American taxpayers.Verify at: http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html

9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US.Verify at:http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html

11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border; also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border.Verify at: Homeland Security Report: http://tinyurl.com/t9sht

12. The National Policy Institute, 'estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.'Verify at:http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf

13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin.Verify at: http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm

14. 'The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States.'Verify at: http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml

The grand total? A whopping $338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR. All for ILLEGALS!! Are we THAT stupid? If this doesn't bother you then, you need your head examined. If, on the other hand, it does raise the hair on the back of your neck, (as it damn well should) then I can only hope you'll throw off the wool that's been pulled over your eyes, and wake the hell up. (silently prays, "Please don't be sheep, please don't be sheep, please don't be sheep") Yes, we can change, but going to either one of the two incompetent, dimwitted Dems. is not the change we need. I'm not claiming McCain to be the Second-Coming and a cure-all, but I simply argue that he is the lesser of two evils. You may have differing opinions my fellow Americans, but you cannot deny any of these numbers, nor the impact that they have.

Who Flung Poo...

2008-04-16T19:17:00.004-05:00

Got this in an e-mail. It made my wife and I crack up out loud. Take a gander...

Learn Chinese in 5 minutes

(must read out loud)

1. That's not right= Sum Ting Wong

2. Are you harboring a fugitive?= Hu Yu Hai Ding

3. See me ASAP= Kum Hia

4. Stupid man= Dum Fuk

5. Small Horse= Tai Ni Po Ni

6. Did you go to the beach?= Wai Yu So Tan

7. I bumped the coffee table= Ai Bang Mai Fu Kin Ni

8. I think you need a face lift= Chin Tu Fat

9. It's very dark in here= Wai So Dim

10. I thought you were on a diet= Wai Yu Mun Ching

11. This is a tow away zone= No Pah King

12. Our meeting is scheduled for next week= Wai Yu Kum Nao

13. Staying out of sight= Lei Ying Lo

14. He's cleaning his automobile= Wa Shing Ka

15. Your body odor is offensive= Yu Stin Ki Pu

16. Great= Fa Kin Su Pah

Thought it was hilarious!

-Quick movie review time.

Sweeney Todd. I love Tim Burton, Johnny Depp is my favorite actor, the film visually was amazing, Depp's voice is surprisingly very strong. However, I hate musicals...I wish this was a film adaptation of the musical. Halfway through I had to throw subtitles on and fast forward to see the rest. I couldn't take the singing anymore.

Juno. Hilarious. That's all that needs to be said.

Flight of the Phoenix. Not the original with Jimmy Stewart, but the recent remake with Dennis Quaid. Okay. Not particularly great, but not horrible either.

what's new?

2008-04-08T11:58:00.003-05:00

Not much...Same ol' same ol'. I do wish that Memphis could have hit some free throws last night. Very sad to see them blow a 9 point lead. I just read that Guillermo Del Toro is slated to direct The Hobbit with Jackson and co. producing. That could be interesting. Del Toro, is also supposed to direct the second LoTR based film as well (the one focusing on unfinished tales, and appendices accounts) Sir Ian will be reprising his role as Gandalf, a must in my book!

-In other news, I was saddened at the death of Charlton Heston over the weekend. The loss of such a man, actor, and American icon, should not soon be forgotten.

I can smell it...

2008-04-02T19:36:00.004-05:00

The freshly mowed grass that is. The sun was out today! Granted it was only 45 degrees, but the sun was out today, so baby steps are starting. I cannot wait for cookouts, golf, horseracing...Ok that was the best segue into my initial Triple Crown coverage that I could come up with.

War Pass,

He's won all of his races so far, except for one, where he was bumped out of the gate, suffered lacerations to his forelimbs and subsequently did not run that well. I think that was obviously an abberration of the horse's talent, hopefully he'll have full recovery by May 3rd.

Pyro

He's en fuego. (couldn't resist) Won 3, placed 2, showed 1. That's one hell of a record so far. We'll see how he fares the next month or so.

It looks like these two are my early picks, I'm still waiting for news on the others. I'll try to come up with my "Dark Horse" as well. Stay tuned.

Campaign Promises?

2008-04-01T16:49:00.005-05:00

Now before everyone gets up in arms: calm down, take a breath, and understand this is a JOKE. I did not make this photo, it's an April Fool's Joke that was sent to me via e-mail. I found it funny.

WHY OBAMA WON'T WIN THE BLACK VOTE

-Now it's time for more quick movie reviews...

-Into the Wild: This movie was long, but well-acted. It is a true story, which will most likely make you shudder as it did for me. I came to the conclusion after the end, that the subject of the film was a selfish little jackass. You'll see why I think that after you watch it. I won't ruin anything for you.

-Enchanted- HA! I thought this was a clever little tongue-in-cheek, Disney movie. It is certainly geared toward little ones, but has some really funny parts nonetheless.

That's all for now, see you soon!

Really?

2008-03-26T03:13:00.002-05:00

So I just read the latest round of ridiculous rants. It seems certain black individuals are now claiming Vogue magazine racist. Apparently, the magazine's latest cover pictures LeBron James and Gisele Bundchen on the cover. From what I've read, some blacks are claiming LeBron looks too much like King Kong, or a stereotypical, angry, black male and Gisele is playing the "Fay Wray" role. Really? Are these people that hypersensitive that they can't grow up and act like adults, instead of crying racism at every remote possible chance like a bunch of babies? Gisele had the class and decency to not even acknowledge the comments, and to LeBron's credit he acted well beyond his years stating that people are going to comment on anything he does, for good or ill, and basically said he doesn't give a sh_t. LeBron, good for you! Talk about setting an example. To those who whined and cried racism, just stop. I'm sick of it already. The magazine obviously had no intent to disparage black men, get over yourselves. Focus your energy on being productive in society, and you might find that you'll wind up happy. What a novel idea.

Well, I'm back...

2008-03-25T02:03:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been a long time. Let's catch up:
-Ok went to Florida to visit my parents at their winter abode. I played a lot of golf, ate a lot of food, went car shopping, saw a ton of gorgeous autos. Bentley, Maserati, Astons, Porsches, MBs, all wonderful works of art. I love the Infiniti G35x, but with my job taking me to Roch-cha-cha 3 days a week, it's looking like whatever car I buy, will be driven into the ground. Thus, no need to waste money on a car I'll only beat the crap out of. It's looking like the Altima Coupe may be the winner. We'll see...

-In other news, I saw No Country For Old Men- It is an amazing first 2 hours and a horrible last 20 minutes. Utterly disappointing...

The Legend of the Black Scorpion-It's a Chinese version of Hamlet. Watch it, it's visually breathtaking.

-Went to a fantastic b-day party for Lisa, laughed a lot, had a great time, enjoyed the waitress! (what a nut job)

-getting ready for Kentucky Derby Day!! Early good horses look like War Pass and Pyro. I'll keep an eye out for you.

Some interesting tidbits about me...

2008-03-12T16:47:00.002-05:00

Things you all may not know about me:

-I've lost the taste for fruit. I like fruit juice, and will occaisionally eat an apple, or some raspberries, but I cannot eat fruit anymore. I don't know why, I just can't bring myself to do it.
-I once saw Richard Nixon at JFK airport
-I sat ringside at an Oscar De La Hoya fight in Las Vegas right behind Jack Nicholson.
-I have picked and bet the winner of the Kentucky Derby for the past 8 years.
-my d-i-s-t-a-n-t cousin is Coach John Calipari (like 5th 40 times removed or some such thing) of the University of Memphis basketball team (Go Tigers!)
-My favorite food is fried mozzarella. (I'm doomed)
-I cannot jump rope
-For that matter I cannot ice-skate, rollerblade, or water-ski
-I can "tube" on the water like it's my job.
-I hate flying (as a passenger, though I think I would be ok if I was actually flying the plane)
-I hate being a pssenger in a car.
-I'm a huge nature lover, not a tree-hugger by any means, but I love nature.
-If I won the lottery I would buy a ranch in Montana and move there (I'd love to have a horse)
-Rome (Italy, not NY) has been my favorite travel/city.
-Maui is not far behind.
-My favorite color is baby/powder/sky blue.

Well that's all I can think of right now...

-In other news, I saw Beowulf last night, and I loved it. I know it was a departure from the book, I've read it a few times, but I still thought it was quite entertaining. I'm leaving for Florida for the next few days. I may be able to post down there at my parents' house, time permitting. However, if not, I'll try to catch up (yet again) upon my return.

Survey time I see...

2008-03-12T00:02:00.002-05:00

For Today:

1. What is your favorite word? What is your least favorite word?
-My favorite word is probably, "Love".
-My least favorite word, "no".

2. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? What turns you off?
-Well anything involving romantic notions of an heroic death (ex: in battle), and anything involving Notre Dame football, (particularly the gleaming Golden helmets, the victory march, and the wearing of the green jerseys) gets my adrenaline going.
-Anything, and I mean anything, with even the slightest hint of liberalism, makes me feel a sense of revulsion.

3. What sound or noise do you love? What sound or noise do you hate?
-Sounds I love: flowing water, My wife's laugh, The perfection of a ferrari V8 traversing through all of its gears, guitar, an Italian soccer stadium chanting, Mass in Latin, Italian being spoken, the Great Lakes accent, sizzling from meats on a hot grill.
-Sounds I hate: protestors, Hillary Clinton's laugh, whining, nagging, complaining, jackhammers, babies screaming, anything coming out of Obama's mouth, the bleeps and bloops of slot machines (I'm a craps, and poker guy)

4. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? What profession would you not like to do?
- I have long claimed that I would love to someday race formula-one for team Ferrari. I also would love to have been a US Air Force Fighter Pilot, or at the very least, one of the guys that could control the predator unmanned drones. In addition, I think it would be a lot of fun to be a guitarist in a rock band (it is when we play Guitar Hero on my Wii!!)
-I once read an article about people in India that climb into sewers wearing nothing but loincloths and clean them out by hand. They emerge covered in shit and piss, and God knows what else. I would not like to attempt that profession.

5. What is your favorite curse word?
-Well, F_ck and its infinite derivatives, is the obvious choice. However, I find that I use the phrase "Son-of-a-whore" quite a bit, so I vote for that one.

6. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
- I would like to hear God say, "Well it's about time... You've been down there so long, everyone's here, we're so glad you are able to join us. You lived according to My plan for you and I am pleased my son."
-What he may say however, "How in My name did you get in here?"
Yet, whatever He says, I'm ok with, as long as I get into Heaven. I mean really He is the Almighty, He can, and will, say whatever He wants.

Catching up again...

2008-03-10T23:40:00.003-05:00

I can't ever keep on schedule it seems. Well, my favorite summer day involves golf, going on the boat and tubing in Lake Ontario, driving a convertible, on river rd. Lewiston/Youngstown, and ripping through the gears on the long country roads. (all of these activities are done obviously with my wife, except the golf part) I like the Buffalo region, it's the city I'm not too fond of. I'm a guy that likes trees and animals. I love Amherst, Wheatfield, other suburbs where the forest is, and of course Lake Ontario. My favorite restaurant in the area is Sinatra's Trilogy, I think the best restaurant is The Western Door. I'm a huge fan of Ted's, Loganberry, Charlie the Butcher, Bocce Pizza, Just Pizza, and Palladino's Pizza. Listening to WGR 550 in my car on the way to meet clients may be the most amusing part of my day.

-Now to write the post about whatever I want, hmm let's see. How about discussing the events that unfolded here today with our governor. You know Mr. "Lone Ranger" Spitzer the "paradigm of law and order", "the straight talking liberal" that was going to clean up NY state like it was Dodge City. Yes, well it seems Mr. Spitzer is going to be indicted for transporting a $4500/day prostitue across state lines to DC. (the presumption being he nailed her as well) It couldn't have happened to a more deserving fellow. Good luck trying to "concentrate on your family" Mr. Spitzer. To Mrs. Spitzer, I say you should take him to the cleaners. To NY state I say, we can do better.

catch up time...

2008-03-08T21:05:00.002-05:00

Ok the blizzard left me a tad bit occupied. So here we go:

What's in yerrrr wallet?? Well let's see here...
Not a Capital One card that's for sure. I have cash, business cards, credit cards, a shamrock, and the receipt for my wife's engagement ring. Not too much else.

What am I listening to?? Honestly, 930AM, 550AM...
Musicwise? not too much new. Amy Winehouse, Jack Johnson, The Silversun Pickups, and The Smashing Pumpkins. Although the other day I found myself listening to "Stagger-Lee" by Lloyd Price. Why? because it was on the radio, and I like the song, damn it.

Let's wax nostalgic shall we?

2008-03-07T02:25:00.003-05:00

Ok another list, this time of what I was into as a kid (since I still am one in many ways, I believe I am still into most of this stuff).

-He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. The action figures and vehicles and playsets are packed away neatly in my parent's house in lewiston.

-Star Wars. Same thing as He-Man. I love Yoda, and do an uncanny Obi-Wan Kenobi impression. Has this had an effect on me? Hell yes.

-G.I. Joe, Transformers, M.A.S.K., Thundercats, Voltron, I love these cartoons and toys, and they are light years ahead of the cartoons kids today have (except Spongebob of course).

-Choose Your Own Adventure books. I still have them somewhere, they're a trip to look at now.

-Like Garvey, anything pertaining to Robin Hood, and Arthurian Lore.

-History. Well I knew every Roman emperor by name, and in order by the time I was 6. So I'd say that has had a profound effect on me.

-The Muppets, Fraggle Rock, Sesame St., and anything else by Jim Henson.

-Anything Disney.

-Same for Dr. Seuss.

-Play-Doh, Laser Tag, Construx(wow memory lane on that one DHKA), toy soldiers, etc...

-Automobiles. One of a select few of my dad's hobbies has been collecting automobiles. (nothing Jay Leno or Ralph Lauren mind you, just a few here and there over the years.) It got me into cars as a young kid, and now I love them. Most are an artofrm to me, and well...yes...it has had a profound impact on my life today.

That's all I can think of right now, I'm tired, it's late/early. See you tomorrow.

-In other news, Gone Baby Gone was phenomenal. If you haven't seen it, go see it now. That is all.

Where do I begin?

2008-03-06T02:25:00.003-05:00

The topic for today, essentially, what do people do wrong that bothers you, is one that I can write on for quite some time. However, I know full well that it doesn't matter what I think people do wrong, because hey, who the hell am I to tell them what right and wrong is, right? Well, in fact, my hypocracy knows little bounds, so here's a short list:

1.) Drivers who hesitate. Make a decision and do it. "Should I turn, Should I go, stop, etc..." Just pick one and go. If you're over age 65, a mandatory license exam must be taken, if you're foreign, you should be relegated to taxi cab service only.

2.) Professional athletes who say, "It isn't about the money" Stop. It is. Your 'career' is a joke, You play a game, for part of the year. You shouldn't be paid a fraction of what you get, and not nearly as much as firemen, teachers, physicians, nurses, policemen, or soldiers (in short, people who contribute positively to society). So stop whining, do it right by being honest and admit, "It's always about the money"

3.) Improper etiquette. Damn it use a napkin, and always, always chew with your mouth closed. Men, open doors for women, treat them as ladies. Women, cut the bullshit, and let men treat you as a lady if they are willing. Trust me it's a rare thing these days, you'll thank me in the long run. If you stay on your "I'm a strong, independent woman, and don't need a man to do everything for me" high horse, he'll leave your uptight, pretentious ass and you'll wind up with a belly crawler, not a gentleman.

4.) The use of "yous" in speech. ugggh

5.) Those Liberals (not all) who vehemently call for tolerance and open-mindedness, so long as one is not: male, caucasian, Christian, and God forbid, a conservative. You must practice what you preach.

6.) pseudo-yuppies in Buffalo. News-flash, you live in Buffalo, not a shining beacon of economic prosperity. The X amount of dollars you make that you piss through to make people think you're wealthy, does not in fact make it so. Rather, it makes you a fiscal moron. Get over yourselves, travel, see the country, hell the world. Try to understand what real wealth is, and why most of those people are, in fact, not pretentious. Then come back and try to be more humble and aware of your environment.

7.) text messaging, Oh God how I hate this. Look, people have a numerical code that you can punch in and talk to them in real time. If you can't make the call, wait until you can, if they can't receive it, wait until they call you back. Texting in a workplace, or in the middle of a corporate meeting (like some co-workers of mine in the past have done) is no different than calling the person. You're not paying attention, you're distracting those who sit near you, and it's plain rude. Please stop.

8.) The media. I don't care what your network owner's viewpoints are, don't slant the news to favor your bias, just freaking report on it. Be fair, and unbiased. If you need help, look no further than Sgt. Joe Friday, "Just the facts ma'am." Where's Walter Cronkite when you need him?

9.) Shitty salespeople. Don't patronize me, don't call me when I'm home after work, don't call on Saturday morning, Heaven help you if I get a call on Sunday, and don't ever refer to me by first name, unless I know you on a personal basis.

10.) Human sheep. please don't tell me what's cool, who to vote for, what to watch, listen to, buy, etc... Further, when I shy away from these tips, I am not a pariah. I'm an individual who thinks, acts, buys, etc... according to my own desires (and those of my wife's). I don't need CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, MTV, etc...to establish the norms for me, if you knew what was good for you, you wouldn't either.

-And done.

-In other news, I saw American Gangster last night. W-O-W! Loved it, great film. However, how in the hell did Ruby Dee get an Oscar nod? She is in the movie for all of maybe 5 minutes, and might have 10 lines. Really? An Oscar nomination for that? Tomorrow is Gone Baby Gone, and soon we'll have seen Beowulf, and No Country For Old Men. Stay tuned.

This is your life, starring....

2008-03-05T01:00:00.003-05:00

I had a bit of trouble trying to decide on today's topic, that being: Who would play you in a movie, and who would play Mike Garvey? I finally settled on Jake Gyllenhaal for me

and for Mr. Garvey: Richard Karn

Replace the tools on Mr. Karn's shoulders with babies, and Ta-Da you have Garv. See you tomorrow!

topic three...

2008-03-03T14:37:00.002-05:00

Today's sponsored topic is "What went right?" Well it's 65 degrees out and the snow has melted. That's right with me, because that means we're getting ever closer to the start of golf season. Hmmmm, what else? Well, I closed some business at work, which leads to $, so that's always good. Netflix is sending me American Gangster and Gone Baby Gone. (damn I love netflix) Um...well that's all I can think of right now. Oh no wait, wait! I think honey is making a pot roast tonight, so that is definitely going to be good. I'm amped.

Whoops a little late, so let's catch up

2008-03-03T01:41:00.007-05:00

Ok, ok, so I forgot about BufBoPloFaSoLaTiDo...whatever the hell it is.

ok thing #1, Why did I start the blog?
-I started in '05, because all my friends were doing it and I missed it when they all jumped off a cliff.
-What does it mean?
Well as I deal in the financial industry, "Automatic Rebalancing" is a term used in the trade describing how many, if not all of my clients can rest easy knowing that every fiscal quarter their portfolio's asset allocation is in perfect working order as it is automatically analyzed, and then rebalanced to provide optimal returns. Now, how does that relate to this blog? I have no idea. Perhaps, only in the sense that I like to provide a little perspective to random thoughts that I jot down here in my little corner of autocracy. My profile icon? That is the Imperial eagle of Rome, and the title of the city. "Roma Invicta" loosely translated means "Rome Eternal" Or as we know it the "Eternal City". There you go.

thing #2
What is the greatest gift I've ever received?
-W-O-W. Well here's a short list, in no particular order, of those that stand out...(they all have their own meaning and are important to me in their own way)

1.) my wife's hand. No, not literally, but rather her's in marriage.

2.) The Millenium Falcon- received from the Doc when I was around 5. Begged him for it after I shattered my nose and had to have it sewn up. Got it that Christmas morning. A hunk of junk? Nah I still have it (along with the rest of the original Star Wars toys)

3.) My Gold Chain and Diamond Ring. At age 7 I made my first communion, The Doc and Patti Goose presented me with a gold chain and a medallion of the face of Christ. It has yet to leave to my neck for any extended period of time. This was closely followed on the 30th Goosemas in ordinary time, when the Doc and Patti Goose presented me with a diamond ring. These are two of my most treasured possessions.

4.) My current career. Does this count? I don't know...My cousin has put me into a position that takes years to achieve in my industry. He had a vacancy, needed it filled, liked what I had done at my previous employer...I gladly accepted.

ok well hope we're all caught up, can't wait to see you tomorrow.

Where did that come from?

2008-03-03T01:41:00.002-05:00

It's a question I've found myself asking quite a bit over the past few days, as I've been relaxing and playing a lot of COD 4 on the ol' 360. In a word: AMAZING! Although, as I am new, it is difficult. The good part is the "kill cam" which shows you where the enemy that killed you took the shot from. The bad part? So much death...

-In other news, I am counting the days until golf season opens. Next friday is looking like a trip to Frog Hair virtual golf. Then it's off to Florida for a few days, to take care of some business and hit the links with the Doc if there's time. Oh May, you cannot get here quick enough.

Serrrrprise Serrrrprise Serrrrprise...

2008-02-22T22:08:00.003-05:00

To follow up on Mr. Obama's anecdote during last night's debate... It seems the 'annointed nominee' needs to do some homework on the military if he hopes to command it: (I'll help him)

1. Lt's command rifle platoons, not Cpt's

2. no Taliban weapon can be used interchangeably with a US weapon. (caliber size, parts etc...)

3. When an inquiry like this is brought to you, (as a Congressman) it is immediately forwarded on to Dept. of Defense to be addressed. The findings of that proceeding should have been discussed, but curiously were not. (especially when the supposed shortage took place 5 YEARS AGO in 2003.)

How in God's name is this man still relevant?? Honestly, I feel Gomer Pyle USMC would be a better C-in-C than Mr. Obama.

Welcome aboard!

2008-02-21T12:24:00.002-05:00

To Big Dave: glad DHKA is back, can't wait to resurrect my guest appearances!

Hope this makes sense to America...

2008-02-18T23:49:00.003-05:00

So the debate on ILLEGAL immigration continues...Why? I have no idea. But for those that think nothing of the word "illegal", I hope this helps to explain why such immigration is wrong and outright ridiculous. (Now before I post the following analogy I found, let me state for the record, I have no problem with immigrants. My family, like many, came to this country as immigrants. However, they did it LEGALLY.)

The argument for ILLEGAL immigration can essentially be brought down to what this author states:

Let's say I break into your house.
Let's say that when you discover me in your house you insist that I leave.
But I say, "I've made all the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors, all the things you don't like to do.
Im hard working and honest (except for when I broke into your house)

According to the protestors:
a. You are required to let me stay in your house.
b. You are required to add me to your family's insurance plan.
c. You are required to educate my children.
d. You are required to provide other benefits to me and my family (my husband will do your yard work, because he is also hard-working and honest, except for the breaking-in part)

If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my RIGHT to be there.

It's only fair after all, because you have a nicer house than I did, and I'm just trying to better myself. I'm a hard-working and honest person (except that I broke into your house)

But what a deal it is for me!
I live in your house, contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused of cold, uncaring, selfish, prejudiced and bigoted behavior.

Oh and before I forget, I DEMAND that you learn MY LANGUAGE so you can communicate with me.

**Now then, doesn't that explain how ridiculous illegal immigration is? I thought so too.

May is going to be a great month!

2008-02-18T23:49:00.001-05:00

First this!!

Then this!?!

Really can't wait!!

Autoganza!

2008-02-10T18:45:00.000-05:00

Today I ventured out into the frigid Buffalo winter, to mill about the Convention Center downtown, and do my annual automobile recon work at the Buffalo International Auto show. So here's the report:

1. I found out that Volvo is discontinuing my model after next year. That really sucks because I love my car, and wanted to get a new one in a year and a half. So needless to say, I was quite disappointed from the beginning of the show (Volvo was my first stop) Now I had to do a lot more work than I thought, in choosing Ilsa's potential successor.

2. Oh Sweet Baby Jesus how I love Porsches. The 911 Turbo was especially sweet! Awesome to dream about but $110k is way out of my price range, and well it's not really a winter car at all.

3. Jaguar's new XF model. Well how can I say this delicately...it blows. IMHO the design is horrendous and the interior leaves much to be desired. So that leaves that out.

4. BMW 3 series. Overrated, Overpriced. Chris Bangle, BMW's lead designer has yet to win me over with any of his new models. Next.

5. Saab-The 93 Aero is quite nice, AWD slated to be out in 90 days, so that is a possibility. It's Swedish, sniffle, just like my Ilsa, sniffle...(maybe a good successor, we'll see)

6. Mercedes Benz C350 Sport-It is no secret to those that know me that I have long had an affinity for the world's first automobile. Their newest model has a gorgeous exterior, but I was less than thrilled with the interior. (it's not bad, just not great) One important lesson for all of you out there: when car shopping, make sure that you choose a car that makes you happy, and that you love. If there are any doubts or some things you absolutely don't like, don't get that car. You have to be in it every day, those things will eventually bug the crap out of you.
(A possible successor, but unlikely)

7. Lexus IS itdoesn'tmatter- I've never liked Lexus, they've never done it for me. This year is no different.

8. Infiniti G35x-OH WOW! I was shocked, a fully loaded, everyoptionyoucanthinkof car, for a reasonable price and all wheel drive. The exterior is beautiful, the interior-heavenly. A 306HP v6 and, "I even liked the color". (definitely the leading contender as of today)

9. Nissan Altima 3.5SE coupe- Again...OH WOW! Loved the new style, exterior is really sharp, interior is very nice, except for the crappy steering wheel, hopefully there are alternate wheels offered. (the second choice as of today)

So there you have it, any votes?? Let me know your thoughts. I have a little over a year so there's time.

As for other highlights, the new Chevy Camaro was there, and it was spectacular. I think Mustang is going to be in trouble deep. The Coke bottle lines of this '09 Camaro were exquisite. Other than that, not much worth while reporting to you all and so I bid the '08 car show adieu, see you next year!

-In other news, I saw Elizabeth:The Golden Age, the other night. I enjoyed Ms. Blanchett's first turn as the Queen, and this one was excellent as well. Clive Owen as Walter Raleigh, what a dashing fellow.

Hooray!

2008-02-06T16:05:00.000-05:00

Hooray for G.I. John McCain! Way to trounce your opponents on Super Tuesday!

Hooray for the NY Giants! Thank you, Thank you for humbling the arrogant, crybaby, poor sport Patriots!

Hooray for...well that's pretty much all of the hoorays I can think of today.

-In other news,

Thanks to Mjr. Beers for recommending King of Kong, I was mesmerized by that documentary, and laughed my @$$ off during it.

I also saw The Invasion with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. I loved it. It was quite entertaining and was more than what I had expected it to be.

OOOOOH I almost forgot the trailer for Iron Man during the Super Bowl was excellent! I still stand by my prediction that it will be the best Comic Book based movie to date, and will be the benchmark for all future movies of the genre.

That's all for now!

Choices....Choices...

2008-02-02T14:14:00.001-05:00

Ok well Primary season is in full swing, and Super Tuesday is fast approaching. The question for many people is, for whom do I vote? Here's my breakdown:

Barack Obama- All I hear is, "Oh he's young, handsome, blah blah...JFK" Really? Really? He has about 10 minutes of political experience and people are seriously considering him for the most important political position on Earth... Think about it, that's like most of you that will read this, seeking the CEO position of your company. Does that make any logical sense? Most likely no....So he's clearly out.

Hillary Clinton- Oh wow where do I begin...Well as a WNY resident I can tell you how much honest attention she's paid us...Slim to None and Slim left town. Hillary as Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful military on Earth. I can't stop laughing at that. Hillary "puppet-mouth" Clinton as someone to rally behind to lead this nation? Really?? She can't even stand up for herself with respect to her galavanting husband's actions. Yet, she can be a stand up president for America? Please...Queen Indecision FlipFlop of "Idon'thaveaplan village" (you know the one it takes to raise children?) is clearly out.

Mike Huckabee-Next.

Mitt "Reed Richards" Romney-Oh that's right I said it. you be the judge...

Well I like the fact that he's a savvy businessman, I think people reacting negatively to his Mormon religion is ridiculous. He is a likeable guy, and has a very strong presidential air about him, but I'm concerned about the whole of the substance behind it. Which leaves me with...

John "G.I.Joe" McCain-Well let's see he has the most experience (I think more than all of the other candidates combined). He is the most qualified to be Commander-in-Chief, bar none. I honestly believe there is nothing that can rattle him, nor prevent him from sticking to his guns. In other words I don't think he's going to put up with any shit, from anyone. Read up about his little vacation in Vietnam, and then tell me whether or not you honestly think his will power, determination, and ability to handle a crisis can be questioned. I also like that he has the ability to achieve bi-partisan goals. Thus, logic dictates he's the best choice, out of field of candidates that I wish was better. Therefore, I am proud to say that I throw the full weight of my support behind Senator McCain. Yo JOE!!