Kentucky Derby Preview

Alright, from Swine Flu to the "Fastest Two Minutes In Sports" here is the preview for the 135th run for the roses, the first jewel in the elusive triple crown, the Kentucky Derby. There was some not-so-scientific way I did this, so there are no promises but this is how they ranked out:

Dunkirk (4-1) Top pick mathematically, and it shows. Before last year no horse with three or less starts had ever won the Derby. Horses that have won in Florida have won 3 of the last 5 Derbies. The under side to Dunkirk is he's only raced once against anyone in this field and finished second to the now scratched Quality Road.

Musket Man (20-1) This maybe a solid lock if your looking for a trifecta horse. Musket Man has won all but one of the races he's been in. He's only ever finished as low as 3rd, and that was behind General Quarters, who he has since beaten.

Hold Me Back (15-1)/ Pioneerof The Nile (4-1) Both of these horses look like they can be strong contenders. Hold Me Back is one of three stable mates looking to win the Derby, however has finished average against this field with a recent 2nd place finish against General Quarters in the Blue Grass. Pioneerof The Nile, another trifecta pick, is a solid horse, but what do you expect at 4-1. Surprisingly not the morning line favorite, Pioneerof the Nile has beaten I Want Revenge every time out and I really don't see why not this time.

Chocolate Candy (20-1) If your looking for a "safe long shot" this is it. California horses have done traditionally well in the Derby over the past decade or so. Chocolate Candy has fared well with top three finishes against horses in this field and may fair well on a trifecta ticket with a place or show. He's loss to Pioneerof The Nile twice, but has placed second and third respectively.

I Want Revenge (3-1) Morning Line Favorite. I think this may have something to do with the fact that I Want Revenge is a stable mate of Big Brown's and therefore getting a bit of an edge. It could also just be the handicappers trying to flush money going one way. I Want Revenge is not Big Brown, and has not shown that he could beat Pioneerof the Nile. In fact, the only horse he's beaten and taken first in was against 30-1 West Side Bernie.

Mine That Bird (50-1) Hasn't really beaten anybody. Placed higher than Advice in one race, but didn't find himself in the top three in that race. Not a real competitor, but at 50-1, that's what you get.

General Quarters (20-1) Hometown favorite, General Quarters is a one man show. The owner, a former area principal, his story being told everywhere. If your even thinking about it, I say take it in a trifecta. There, in my opinion, is a lot to be said about familiarity in racing and General Quarters has ran at Churchill Downs the most of anyone in the field. He's shown that he can win, winning the Blue Grass against Hold Me Back. I wouldn't be surprised to see an upset out of this horse.

Papa Clem (20-1) Strong horse who just may not be lucky enough to win. He's coming off a win but it was against horses that have since scratched. He's seen Pioneerof the Nile once before, so there is some familiarity. He was one of the favorites but has since dropped off. That's not to say at 20-1 he doesn't find himself in the mix.

Friesan Fire (5-1) An Arkansas horse who has beaten Papa Clem once already. 5-1 is a solid odd, and he's maintained his ability to stay on the lips as one of the favorites. He'd be a good take in a trifecta.

West Side Bernie (30-1) The inside most post position in a 20 horse field, West Side Bernie is going to need a great start in order to do anything. He's never really proven he could be a factor against this field, and will fail to do anything Saturday.

Regal Ransom (30-1) One of two horses that have spent the majority of their career outside the US. Him and Desert Party, while some peoples favorites, the Derby, in recent history at least, has never seen a horse win the roses who has ran in Dubai. Not to say that he won't do well, if he can get up front with Desert Party, the duo may push each other, but they'd have to be joined in a box.

Mr. Hot Stuff (30-1) One of those triplets who are stable mates, Mr. Hot Stuff has finished well against this field, coming in third twice. I think he's more there to help stable mate Hold Me Back than to be a competitor, I don't see Mr. Hot Stuff being strong in this field.

Desert Party (15-1) He, along with Regal Ransom, if they can both get near the lead may push each other, but I think they'd have to do it together. Desert Party and Regal Ransom have finished 1-2 in their last three races together in Dubai, but this maybe to much for them. The one thing Desert Party has is the outside, meaning he can get wide and make a run.

Advice (30-1) The last of the three stable mates, I just don't see it. Again, more to help hopeful Hold Me Back keep pace more than anything, I think really. Advice had beaten now scratch Square Eddie, but that is really all he's done in his career.

Flying Private (50-1) The far outside post, is a long way away. He's never really beaten anyone in the field, which is why his odds are what they are, I'd have to pass on Flying Private, unless I owned him. Which I don't. The field is too strong, and Flying Private has proven what he's made of with a 5th place finish against the field.

Summer Bird (50-1) Remember all that about a horse with 3 wins never winning the Derby prior to Big Brown? Well Summer Bird is no Big Brown. He's finished 3rd against the field, but I think the inexperience will do him in. But for $2 you'd get a $100.

As of the time all my research had finished, there have been 3 additions to the Derby. Here they are, take them at your own risk:
Join In The Dance (50-1)
Nowhere To Hide (50-1)
Atomic Rain (50-1)

Here is two trifecta's you maybe interested to take: Pioneerof the Nile, Musket Man and General Quarters. The other: Chocolate Candy, Friesan Fire and General Quarters.

Good Luck to everyone.

Swine Flu and you

Allow for a second, some paranoia to set in. Imagine living in a nation where the government uses unwilling subjects to test and learn from diseases, a sort of "biological warfare" if you will. Now, imagine, if you will, a country that has already tested diseases on it's own citizens that after 40 years, was finally revelled, so now they have to use that disease on another countries population. Now imagine you live in that country, because you just might.

Here are the facts as we know them:

• Mexico is currently in a large drug war that has seen violence spill over into American soil
• There are many who feel strongly against illegal immigrants coming over from Mexico
• Mexico City, one of the largest, most populated cities in the world, was on lock down Sunday, April 26th
• TheUnited States has tested Syphilis on poor black sharecroppers from 1932 until 1972
• There was a Swine Flu "epidemic" over 30 years ago, that originated in the US

Take what you will from all of this, the most important thing you can do is be careful. Here are 5 things you need to know about the current swine flu.

Tea Party

I think that it's easy for those who we can call the "liberal, Obama loving media" to pigeon hole the Tea Party Movement into simply just a bunch of "whiny, poor loser, right-wingers" who are upset at having to pay taxes. And as a whole, this is what the media has done to dismiss the protest. Which is fine, it really is as expected and is what they have been accused of since President Obama won the election. And to some extent this pigeon hole is correct, and one can even say fueled by the fact that Fox News was the only "news" outlet that continuously covered it.

When I first heard of the tea party movement I was amazed. I also wondered where and what they were going to dump. When I found out it was a mere gathering to protest taxes on tax day, I thought it was a good start, but it didn't go far enough. Now, I'm not promoting violence, the original tea party was a non-violent act against the English rule. There needed to be a walk out, or a march, not a series of protest where political figures are allowed to speak. There should be no political figures speaking. This should be a gathering of the people who cry out in one voice "We will not take it anymore".

Another great way the media has dismissed the Tea Party was to say it was just a bunch of people who don't want to pay taxes and don't understand that President Obama has ct taxes for 95% of America. Well I would have to disagree. I don't believe that this was a blatant "I don't want to pay taxes anymore" protest. And while yes, the president has cut taxes for 95% of Americans, his government has raised taxes on other goods such as but not limited to cigarettes and liquor. So, while he technically cut taxes, keeping his campaign promise, he found alternative revenues to get the people. And of course, I understand the argument "well you don't have to smoke or drink", it has been seen that liquor sales have gone up since the recession.

I want to make this perfectly clear, and for the record, I am not now, nor have I ever been a member of the Republican Party. I just believe that our system of what we want really badly want to call a democracy is broken and has been for a long time, maybe since the beginning. Our checks and balances alone kills a democracy. Any one branch can cancel out the other, and they, whenever they want, can cancel out the will of the people, is not a democracy but a republic. We have representatives who the majority of us vote in and they do what they believe the majority of their people want.

However, since the formation of the colonies, and the first elected presidency, there have only been 2 major parties. It started with the tories and the wigs and has evolved into the Republicans and the Democrats. Anyone else running under any other party, especially for the highest office in the land is viewed as "waisting their time" and their supporters are "waisting their vote", again, not a very democratic view. And, on top of this two party "conspiracy", you need to be a card carrying member of one of said parties to 1) vote for who should run on that parties ticket and 2) work the booths during Election Day.

These are the principles that should have been, and were the foundations for the Tea Party Movement. And while the Obama-loving media may want to pigeon hole it's attendees into some nice little niche that they can easily dismiss by saying where was all this protest during the Bush years, maybe they should take into consideration the fact that not only did Bush's approval rating drop to historic lows, NOT only did they want to impeach Bush BUT it was with their help and love for Senator Obama and dislike of Sarah Palin that aided in Obama's 8 million vote advantage. Of course, McCain didn't help his cause either, but that's beside the point.

My only real question is, for those of you who want to so easily dismiss the Tea Party activist, can you do it without using the term "teabaggers" or "teabagging"? I mean seriously, who really is the immature ones here?

Open letter to my congressman

Dear Congressman Yarmuth,

I would like to start off by saying I believe that you are doing a fine job, and thank you for representing those of us living in the 3rd district.

However, the reason I am writing is out of concern for our nations schools. It has been reported that Detroit may be closing 23 schools and New Albany,IN may be closing 2 schools.

I am wondering what it is that the federal government is planning on doing about this? The federal government has given bail out money to financial institutions because the president has said they are too big to allow to fail, well I'd like to reply so are our children. He wants to improve our educational system but how is that going to happen if schools are closing causing other schools to become overcrowded?

As a tax payer, I was not asked if I'd like my money to go towards CitiField, AIG bonuses or multi-million dollar renovations for other financial institutions. BUT as a tax payer, I AM asking that my money go toward making sure that schools both here in the Louisville [area] and throughout the nation do not get closed.

Mr. Yarmuth, I am asking you to please put through some legislation granting bailout money for the education of our children. And while I understand the term "bailout" is meet with some hesitation in congress, this is indeed to help not only build but maintain a foundation for our future. Thank you sir.

Tea Parties and School Closings

Let me start off by saying, that I support the Tea Party movement as much as anyone. As I explained to my coherts, this is someone doing what we want to do, and in this case, the more the marrier. This is something that I have been waiting to see happen for a long, LONG time and I think that ultimately its good for the nation.

That being said, I'd like to switch the focus over to school closings. I know kids everywhere when they hear those words get excited, I know I did. However, this is no cause for celebration. Due to federal and state budget crunches, states are now considering closing schools to help right their ships. This simply can not be allowed to happen. Closing the schools down is worse then Bush's "No Child Left Behind" policy. Instead of vouchers for schools it will simply allow state governments to close schools that are deemed poor or failing. And allowing the government to do this is an injustice to the community, that schools students and teachers.

I think, in the spirit of the tea parties, that we as a Nation need to unify, in one voice that enough is enough. If the Federal government is allowed to give taxpayer money to financial institutions and auto industries under the guise of it being too big to allow to fail, then the same messures need to be taken to protect our schools. There is no bigger investment, no bigger entity in our nation nor anything bigger for the future of our nation then it's education system.

By allowing schools to close down, we are simply forced to transfer those students to alternative schools without the intention of making said schools bigger. This leads to the obvious problem, schools will become over crowded. Teachers, instead of the 15-20 students they currently have, will be forced to have double that, giving even less one-on-one time that students may need with their teachers.

This is not a worse case senario, Detriot may have to close 23 schools which would save the city $303 million dollars but put $600 teachers out of work. This is not a major city issue either, as New Albany, Indiana may be forced to close 2 schools. One of the schools in New Albany, a town just north of Louisville, Kentucky was visited by President Bush for it's improvments thanks to his "No Child Left Behind" and has recently recieved blue ribbons for being an exceptional school.

Ladies and gentlemen, I understand at times we may not agree. I also understand that this is a difficult time for all of us. However, President Obama promised us better schooling for our children. And while he may focus on higher education and making college more affordable, we need to keep elementary schools open so our children can grow up with dreams of going to college. This is where we need to draw a line in the sand. For a president who said that Wall Street was too big an entity to allow to fail, WE need to say that the children on Main Street are too important to allow to fail.

Friday Fun on Monday

Hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday weekend. But to help get rid of this "Case of the Mondays" here is some breaking news.

It appears that the first puppy, Bo, already has his first speaking engagement. He will be speaking at the Washington DC Kennel Club obedience graduation. Protesters have already expressed their outrage with scheduling Bo for this speech. It appears that Bo has bumped the dog that rides a skateboard from this gala.

When asked how he's taking this, skateboard dog said he was taking it "ruff".

Some students are biting at the chance to see the first dog while others know that he's going to stay no matter what they do.

Outraged, polar bears in Germany have already started taking their anger out. Meanwhile, back here in the States, some are protesting Bo's stance on anti-rolled up news paper training and anti-monogamy. The protesters are rumored to be in the dozens, but mostly squirrels just going nuts a the thought of the first dog attending this prestigious event. MORE NEWS AS IT BREAKS.

Everyones New Favorite Extremist

Glenn Beck, since jumping ship from Headline News to Fox News has taken the nation by storm. With Katrina like devastation, Beck has found himself on the lips of all news media outlets from TIME to Keith Olbermann's "Worst People". And he has done so by truly putting Barnum and Bailey's circus tactics on air. The man at any one time can go from crying about his love of the country to Pentacostal scare tactics about the fire and brimstone that is President Obama's Socialist agenda to playing Jenga to making fun of himself. For all it's over the top antics, it's got to be an awful joke right. Right?

There's a movie out there called >"The Last Supper". The 1996 film staring Cameron Diaz, is about five liberal grad students who take it upon themselves to kill off anyone whose views may differ from their own, and are deemed dangerous. This includes anti-environmentalist Jason Alexander, a redneck war vet Bill Paxton, so forth and so on. The group then puts the bodies in the ground and plants tomatoes around the bodies.

Well one day, while taking a vacation from killing they come across a television rightwinger right out of Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Lou Dobbs playbook. They invite this man, played by Ron Pearlman for anyone interested, over for dinner thinking they got their big catch. While having a discussion during dinner, per ritual, they come to find out his views are very simular to their own.

In a well put statement, Pearlman's character explains to the group that it is the middle that runs the country, its just the extremist on both the left and the right that talk the loudest. He also tells them that he doesn't do his show to gain fame for political gain, that his show gives him more power than the president. While the president has to answer to congress and to the people, his show, his "character" doesn't.

Well ladies and gentleman, that is where Glenn Beck finds himself. Maybe his views are like ours, and he's just playing a bit to get a rise out of people and it works. However, the danger with Mr. Beck lies in the times. We are at a dangerous crossroads in American history. There is an old saying, "those who don't learn from
the past are doomed to repeat it." After World War I, when the allies took everything from Germany as punishment, they were an angry bunch looking for someone to blame. Along came a failed painter whose charisma carried him to the heights of his socialist party all the way up to chancellor. He put together rallies. He told the down and out German's who was REALLY to blame. He even wrote a book about how they were going to change all their luck.

Now, I'm not necessarily saying that Glenn Beck is Hitler, instead he just wants to be famous. For 2 years in college I was a radio disc jockey. One of the first things the upperclassmen told me was you know you've made it when you recieve a letter or call from the prision. Well, in my 2 years, I recieved numerous calls and one letter from the prision, so I guess I made it. It's the same way for Beck. As reported on Olbermann's "Worst People" all Glenn Beck wants is for Saturday Night Live to parody him. Is that too much to ask for, I mean all the BTK killer wanted was a movie made about him and he got that, why not give Glenn Beck a parody on SNL?

More to the point, Glenn Beck now enjoys millions of viewers on the conservative flagship television station. What makes it dangerous is the fact that his base, the right wing conservatives are looking for someone to trust and listen to. The Republican party is on life support and is looking for anyone to take it back to the Grand Ol' Party days. Thanks to 8 great years under Bush, the party is lost and looking for someway to regain votes. And the way they are doing that is by fear mongering. If they tell you that Barack Obama and the Democrats are bringing about Socialistic changes and anyone who follows them is a commie-pinko, those who let the GOP doing their thinking for them will believe it. I mean it worked for Joe McCarthy.

Ultimately this ties into the point of "Political Liability" as a blog. We don't want you to follow either party blindly, that's not democracy, that's not even a republic. We are going to give you our opinions, think of them what you will, there is no right or wrong. Understand that there is always going to be a disenfranchised middle. During the Bush years, it was the intellectuals, the people who didn't want a government with a gestapo who had a list of enemies and interegated "the enemy" in the dark of night. Now, its the religious and the right. Those that were catered to for 8 years under the Bush administration.

Think of it this way,"we will not go quietly into the night, we will not give up without a fight" (courtesy of Independance Day).

Jailbirds...

Lexington's column in this week's Economist focuses on the prison system in America, and how unwieldy it has become. Lexington points out that Senator Webb of Virginia is one of the few politicans with enough guts to take a stand on this issue. And to be honest, it takes guts, as even a tinge of being "soft of crime" has dealt many a crushing blows to American politicians.

Mr Webb also has some powerful forces ranged against him. The prison-industrial complex (which includes private prisons as well as public ones) employs thousands of people and armies of lobbyists. Twenty-six states plus the federal government have passed “three strikes and you’re out” laws which put repeat offenders in prison for life without parole. And the war on drugs has pushed the incarceration business into overdrive. The number of people serving time for drugs has increased from 41,000 in 1980 to 500,000 today, or 55% of the population of federal prisons and 21% of those in state prisons. An astonishing three-quarters of prisoners locked up on drug-related charges are black.

America incarcerates a staggering number of its' citizens (about 1 in 31 adults) and it doesn't seem to get a lot for it. It is true that our crime rates have been lowered over the past twenty five years, but there are lots of underlying questions related to the cost of this decrease. The first, and perhaps biggest, is related to what constitutes crime? There are myriad options in defining crime, but I find it difficult to believe there is any real public policy interest in incarcerating low level drug "criminals." We also love to disenfranchise many of our citizens (disproportionately minorities, btw), as many states don't allow felons to vote... not only when they are in prison, or on parole, but forever. This seems like a very good way to convince someone that society doesn't care about them, or their opinions. Our system also seems to offer very little (in the aggregate) programmatic rehabilitation, as America has a quite high rate of recidivism. This doesn't even consider the huge amounts of cash we spend on the trials, appeals, incaceration and monitoring of those caught up in the system.

I have little doubt that there are a lot of people in the prison system that deserve to be there, and that it is to society's benefit to keep them there. I'm just not as convinced that 1 in 31 adults should be in jail... or that we can afford to continue the staggering growth rate in prison populations.

Opening Day

Let us put aside petty differences to follow a summer tradition, ney, ritual. A right of passage passed down from father to son, from generation to generation, Opening Day of the baseball season. It's the time to dust off the old glove, drop an unhealthy amount of money (during a recession, and even more unhealthy if your planning on going to the New Yankee Stadium) and watch your favorite players take the field with the hopes and dreams that a World Series Championship is just months away from coming to your team.

Sure, the players are roided up. And, as Houston Astro Lance Berkman has said, not all of the players are on steroids, but there is a cloud of suspicion over the league. Instead of pointing out great players, and reminiscing about times when they saw Micky Mantle, Nolan Ryan, Tony Gwynn, Joe DiMaggio, so forth and so on, father's now tell their sons that they shouldn't necessarily put too much faith into their favorite player because you just never know if they will end up on another steroid list.

And sure the Yankees built a new stadium and dropped over $400 million on 4 new players. Sure, tickets that went for around $60 at old Yankee Stadium now go for almost triple that. Sure, it even has a Martini bar in case James Bond stops in to watch the Yanks take on the Red Sox. At least it's not Citi Field, the new home to cross town rivals, the New York Mets. While CitiBank was asking the government and receiving bailout money, they continued their promise to the people of Queens, by continuing to throw millions into their new stadium. And what did the US government, who holds a healthy percentage of CitiBank do? The government that fired AIG's CEO, and has held the auto industry hostage? They let CitiBank keep on building.

Meanwhile, Major League Baseball didn't allow money man, and maniac owner Mark Cuban to buy the Cubs from the failing Tribune Company, thanks to the good ol' boy back room politics of MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and Chicago White Sox and Bulls owner, good friend, and Cuban hater Jerry Reinsdorf. In the end, however, the eventual buyer of the historic, lovable losers franchise (not to mention the Friendly Confines, Wrigley Field) went to a man who meet his wife in the bleachers of that very stadium, watching that very team, so it could have been worse, it could have been the conglomerate that controls Big Brown and I Want Revenge's stables. Wonderful business men cut from the same cloth as the Steinbrenners.

Oh, yeah, and there were some games played too. A day before the other 30 teams got to start, the Atlanta Braves ruined the banner waving celebration of division rivals, and World Series Champ, Philadelphia Phillies. The Phils probably thought they were going to roll over the Bravos but it was not to be, as once again, Bobby Cox shows why he will always remain the head coach in Atlanta as his young kids started pounding the ball early on against Brett Myers.

Monday saw the "rest" of the league Spring into action. Most notably CC Sabathia and the previously mentioned millionaire Yankees saw their team fall to the Orioles. And what may turn out to be the greatest thing for fans in Baltimore, scorned as they are, every time the Yanks come into town, they now get to boo hometown boy Mark Texiera. Tex, who was a free agent this off season choose the Yankees over the O's, saying that he's always been a Yankees fan. And in true Hilary Clinton fashion (born a Cubs fan, ran for congress in NY and said she was a life long Yankees fan) ESPN's bio-blast reported that the Annapolis born, Mr. Maryland High School baseball star, was in fact, an Orioles fan. But, money has a funny way of changing your allegiances, right Johnny Damon?

The Cubbies held on to a lead, as the cardiac Cubs look to end a [editors note: this will not be spoken out loud until the season is over] with a win over Roy Oswalt and the Astros. And, as quoted in the movie Major League: "You can always tell how the season will go by the first batter". And with that, Alfanso Soriano blasted the second pitch he saw over the left field fence.

Other games happened. Both early Cy Young hopefuls Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians got rocked last night. Hanley Rameriez hit a grand slam. And several games got called due to weather. With the entire season in front of us, let's let out the true Summer war cry, in the words of the great Ernie Banks, aka Mr. Cub, "Lets play two".

The Binghamton tragedy...

The shootings in Binghamton are tragic. Facts are slowly materializing, and one of the few confirmations thus far is that the coward pyschopath who is resonsible for this has apparently killed himself. What would make someone attack the American Civic Association? We probably won't ever know for sure, but I'm wary that this could be one of the by-products of far too many in our culture demonizing immigrants. Xenophobic sentiments, mixed with trying economic times is a scary cocktail.

Friday Fun April 3, 2009

After a week of G20 talk, joblessness rising, and shootings on the rise, it's time to start the weekend off in a way I truely never thought I would have...a twitter update. Now, I'm doing this because we may actually be making some headway, however truely small it is. And to add on top of it all, I'll answer the ultimate question of one of America's most beloved almost first daughters...Meghan McCain.

Let me start off by saying that I like Meghan McCain. I think that if she wanted to, she could possibly do wonderful things for her party. So far she doesn't have any dirt on her, no rumored videoes of her doing coke, no sex tapes...all adding up to perfectly good reason's to follow her on twitter like we do. So lets start off this little journey...

Ms. McCain likes to inform her followers about her newest peices in The Dailey Beast. So she sent out her notice about her favorite freshman congressman from Illinois.

We sent out a reply stating that if you read ours we'll read yours. No respond. Well, Ms. McCain puts out a "Song of the Day" and so we put out song of the week was "How I Can Just Kill A Man" by Rage Against the Machine.

Later in the week she posted "Can I still be a fan of Rage Against The Machine if my Dad is "The Machine".....?"

Coincedence? Probably, I mean why would Meghan McCain want to read our silly little blog for? Or maybe, just maybe, she IS.

So, we will take it upon ourselves to answer your questions. And the answer is, I'm sorry to say...NO! Rage, unlike many other bands found on mainstream media are more then just a badass beats by the band and great flow from Zach de la Roach. Rage Against the Machine is also about the message. It's about anti-Capitalism. While they appeal to this young generation that is dissastisfied with the establishment to the point all you really have to do to win the presidentcy is threaten 4 more years of the establishment. We are SO hungry for change that we ate the word up and turned it into a catch phrase for capitalistic profit. That is not the change Rage talks about. It is the complete oppsite, it's what Rage rages against.

Upon looking back at Meghan McCain's twitter, she wrote that one of her songs of the day was Renagades of Funk. Lyrics of that song, more specifically as it opens, goes: "Renangades are the people, with their own philosophies. They change the course of history, everyday people like you and me."

Well, it is MY belief that your own philosophies can't be conserned with the strenght of a dying party. And now the dying GOP has talk of a mutinious third party. That is great, even if it is lead by Rush. The country needs more parties then what we have. The two party system is not democratic, it leads itself to the rediculous thoughts that we found in the Kerry/Bush elections of "lesser of two evils". At no time should anyone in a "democratic" society say that they voted the way they did because it was the lesser of two evils. Don't vote then. You have just as much right NOT to vote as you do to vote. This country needs to learn that we will do more to improve our nation if we voted based on the people running and less on the party they're affiliated with. And at NO TIME should there ever be a "straight ticket". Take the time out to learn everyone's position and then vote.

Well, back to the mainpoint. I just don't necessarially think that someone so deep set in one party, especially the Republician Party, can truely appreciate the message sent by Rage Against the Machine. But then again, I could always be wrong, maybe she is a fan and can use their message to change the party, afterall, renegades are everyday people like you and me. C'mon!

Cannabis Crusaders Unite

Dr. Chaos calls out to the Cannabis Crusaders to Unite! We now have proof that we will continue to be persecuted in this new administrations’ attempt to enslave the nation. We have but one last tactic to fall back on, TERRORISM. I believe it is the civic duty, nay constitutional right of any terminally ill American who was denied the use of this wonder drug to easy their suffering to SUICIDE BOMB THE OPPRESSORS! Weather it be the DEA, FBI or local police, they should pay for their ignorant enforcement of unjust laws. Now now, good people, I’m not suggesting that any other PEOPLE are harmed in these blasts. Only the equipment and facilities of the oppressors are to be destroyed while sending our message of desperation. If I can’t alleviate my pain, I will end it. Which brings me to another point, why is suicide illegal, but that’s a rant for another day.

London calling...

Cross post from AM Donkey regarding the G-20 summit this week in London.

Boiled down to special sauce:

One of the few solid economic principles over the past century is that aggressive stimulus actions from governments work. Yet, as we flounder today, a confluence of domestically based partisan politics and internationally based protectionist economic nationalism is creating an environment that is not conducive to any form of a globally coordinated fiscal stimulus action...

WE are the April Fools

America, come in close, I want to talk to you. (cue Glenn Beck style close up) I want you all to sit around the flag and lets have a real conversation. (cue Lou Dobb's backdrop) America, it's time that we shout from the highest of heights the question WHY?

Today starts the tax hikes on tobacco products to offset debts that both the nation and states have occurred due to poor money management, a dying economy and numerous other factors across the globe. And while many Americans are losing their jobs, and gas prices do their two dollar dance again, the obvious answer to our politicians is TAX THE PEOPLE!

TAX THE PEOPLE being the war cry, a small rumbling through out congress becomes, "Well, who do we tax?" And the quick, simple answer is, and always will be, the smokers. Why is that? Why is it the smokers who always get the short end of the stick? Wasn't tobacco a HUGE cash crop during those important early years of our nations history? Yet it is the tobacco industry that gets the logjammer.

First the tobacco industry is forced, and rightfully so, to pay people because they made you believe that smoking rat poison and other carcinogens are good for you and make you cool. Ok, that I understand. Then they make the industry pay for educational commercials as well as allow the TRUTH campaign to harass them. Fine, again, understandable. But lately, within the last couple years, whenever the nation or state needs money, they are automatically out taxing cigarettes. And on top of all of that, on top of taking more money out of these peoples pockets, they want to tell you that you can't smoke them anywhere. What kind of sense does that make, seriously?

Is it just me, or does this logic not make sense to anyone? If they accomplish their goal of getting everyone to stop smoking, who are they going to tax next? More taxes on condoms and birth control? Higher taxes on alcohol? All I'm saying is that this is HAS become way too much. If your going to single out a group of users, the least you could do is allow them to keep on keeping on. If your going to tax a product you should make that products usage more accessible, its simple economics.

Of course, this is all coming from a president who openly wrote that he did cocaine, then held an online town hall discussion and since a great number of people asked about legalization of marijuana, he scoffed at them and said "I guess that says something about our viewers" and we all went on our way too stupid to be insulted because we all want so bad to believe in "hope" and "change". So, we as a nation will let the highest power in the land keep kicking us around because he's articulate, charismatic, tells us change is coming, all while smiling at us and telling us "yes we can" do anything we want to do. Well, I want to smoke reasonably priced cigarettes in a bar, and I'm sure I'm not alone. But if we unite all we get is TAXED more. God bless America.