Buffalo Boy's Blog
Giving You More Than Just My Two Cents
June 2008 Archives
Gaustad Back for 4 More
Paul Gaustad is back signed for 4 years today by the Buffalo Sabres. What a difference a year makes, this is another in a line of solid moves the club this offseason and next on the list is Ryan Miller.
Gaustad isn't a first or second line center, but he is a heart and soul kind of guy, one that plays fearless and will anchor their third and fourth lines for the next four years. He has 15-25 goal potential and can drop the gloves if needed.
A brilliant move especially if they want to keep any sort of toughness in the lineup. Gaustad was one of the key guys they had to sign, the other two now are Miller and Pomenville. Keep up the good work Darcy.
John McCain Fails to Pay Taxes
Newsweek is about to run a story about John McCain and his failure to pay his taxes on one of his 7 homes. Thats right, 7 homes. His beach front condo in California has not had its taxes paid in 4 years.
How does he get away with it? After 4 years of not paying taxes on any of the average American's homes we'd be in jail on tax evasion. John McCain is running for office of the president. No the question begs, how can we as citizens of this country allow him to run for president with that record? I can see being late one year, but not with his kind of money. The guy and his wife are wealthy beyond any of our imaginations and they haven't bothered to pay taxes on their home for four years!!! Arnold Schwarzennegger endorsed the guy and here he is dissing the Governator's state. He had no intention of paying those taxes. I can see maybe getting behind but he had no intention, none. Now Cindy McCain comes out and says that when you are poor its hard to pay bills, when you are rich its hard to keep track of your bills. Well piss on her. Thats ridiculous. If you own one home or 10 homes, you know what your taxes are on every single solitary property you own. My question is where are the penalities? You or I go four years without paying taxes on our homes and there are penalities added to the bill. Theirs? about $6,000. Its unbelievable. Republicans talk about Obama being elitist, not even close to the balls and elitism John McCain shows with this one. Not even in the same ballpark.Category: News
Cut In Medicaire Payments to Physicians Necessary
A cut to Medicaire payments to physicians is a necessary step at this point. You can blame it on who ever you want but I blame it on the Bush administration.
Most of us, if not all of us will need Medicaire when we turn 65, we won't be in a position to afford our own health insurance when we reitre. So Medicaire is a form of universal (call it socialized if thats what you want to call it, because it is socialized health insurance for the elderly) heathcare for the elderly, that over the last 8 years the Bush administration has taken a step towards privatizing Medicaire by allowing a program called Medicaire Advantage. Medicaire Advantage allows seniors to choose to get their insurance through private insurers, which Medicaire then reimburses those insurers. The argument is that the Medicaire payments to those private insurers (who by the way are FOR PROFIT and profitting off the sick) are too high. I can totally see that being the case because as this president and his administration has always done is look out for the coorporate interests in this country, not for the little guy. So theres a 10% cut in Medicaire rates coming starting July 4th. Which why is that a bad thing. Look, first of all if we weren't in a money sucking wrong war in Iraq we could probably have universal healthcare in this country, second, privatizing of healthcare is the wrong thing to do and we have done that on many levels so far including drug companies which is costing the elderly and sick in this country a ton of money, doctors offices, medical equipment and hospitals have all been privatized in this country. There are very few not-for-profit entities left in the medical field. I don't feel sorry for anyone in the medical community and Im in the field as a physical therapist when this 10% cut goes into effect. Steam line services, be more efficient, do what ever you have to do but healthcare costs are out of control and a big reason is because of the privatization of those products and services. I honestly don't see doctors needing to get in line at the city mission for their next meal because of a 10% rate cut from Medicaire. In order to get universal coverage when the democrats take office there will have to be some cuts in payments, but as we all saw in the documentary SICKO, doctors in Great Britain, who has universal healthcare, were still making a pretty decent living on about $200,000 a year.Category: News | healthcare
No Ice At North Pole Is a Big Deal
No ice at the North Pole is a big deal no matter what your views on climate change are.
First, this has never happened, second, the ice at the top of the world is one of the big "air conditioners" of our earth. Without it we lose its cooling effects, which could really get global warming in high gear. What sickens me is the fact that people are looking at the benefits. What benefits? There are none. How can you look at this as a benefit? Shipping lanes and natural resources being accessible should be the least of our concerns. No ice at the North Pole is no different than if the Amazon Rain Forest were to wither away for the Winter. Same type of idea, or if the great lakes were to dry up every summer. The cause of this is from the increased melting last summer that left the Arctic with more new ice (ice less than a year old). If it all goes, it will melt even sooner than the expected date of September of this year. It is most certainly evidence of a warming planet and without that ice, a planet that will no doubt start to speed in its warming trends.The naysayers out there can keep on doubting but I think its better to play on the side of caution and respect the fact that the crap we spew into the atmosphere is having an impact. There is more evidence for it than against it with virtual consensus amongst any credible scientists in the field. Its happening whether you believe in it or not.
Category: Global Warming | environment
Hip For The Hell Of It
If you noticed the audio player test, I am learning with the help of my friend Mike Boon to post audio stuff. Its a bit more complex than anything I have posted to this point from someone who knows nothing about this stuff I am learning a little at a time. So, for a littel practice here is a Tragically Hip sampling off Roxy & Elsewhere. What is Roxy & Elsewhere? It is a very rare, but much sought after live Hip cd. It contains several tracks that are considered classic hip tracks. Alan Cross once told me that the copy of Roxy & Elsewhere that CFNY had was stolen from the studio. When I came across my first copy I was in college, making $5.25 an hour in the dishroom on campus but I had to have a copy of Roxy & Elsewhere. I found a copy from a guy online and I had to meet him at the Subway station on Main and Hertel Ave. It was like no other CD purchase I ever made. $25 got me that copy. It was literally a drug deal involving music. I thought the cops were going to bust us in the subway station. I played the blue paint off that copy and have since gotten another. I still have both cases and both copies, the blue CD is unlistenable due to use and scratches, I have another that I got off EBay that is an obvious burn. But to have the songs is well worth it.The track off it that Im sharing is one of the probably dozens of live versions of one of the Hip's signature tunes, it is probably the most famous amongst Hip fans, it is the "Killer Whale Tank" version of New Orleans is Sinking, its nearly nine minutes long but well worth the listen. Enjoy.
Category: Music
Test
Category:
Sunday Retro
I have a four CD collection called Left of the Dial, Dispatches From the 80's Underground, this track is from that collection from a group I didn't really like that much as a whole, but this song represented the music from back then well, its from Faith No More and its a song called, We Care Alot, say what you will about the music but back then we did care alot about our music and the radio we hear to the bands that played it, recognized as much by playing the stuff the fan cared about:
Category: Music
I Hate Political Coverage
I watch political coverage whether its CNN, Headline News, MSNBC or Fox News and the same crap gets covered time and time again. How candidates change and shift their positions and how this is a bad thing and the constant questioning of their shifts in opinion and plans.
How are politicians so much different from any other human being on the planet? Anyone else who starts a project and gets into it and realizes they need to change what they are doing in order to finish their task and succeed would stop, shift their point of view and change their plan.
The only person in the world who doesn't do this is George W. Bush who starts something and has to finish it the way he started it (see the Iraq war as an example). The Bush administration started a crappy agenda and is finishing with flying colors with an even crappier one.
So this morning Im watching political coverage on the NBC Today Show and they are talking about McCain's and Obama's shifting views as bad that they are not allowed to shift their points of view on issues.
These politicians are expected to provide answers on the spot, no one realizes how much work it is for them to be out there campaigning, doing their respective jobs as senators and researching the issues so that they can be as informed as possible.
In a position like the presidency of the United States, why should our president not be willing to shift his point of view on issues based on the data that he gets? George Bush refused to do this during his term and we all want him out of office. Id rather have a guy who is willing change what he is doing, think on the fly and come up with a new plan of attack when somehing isn't working.
We live in a world that is constantly changing and we need to be able to adapt with those changes or risk failure. For our next president, failure is not an option. 8 years of failure can not be followed by another 4-8 years of the same thing. That is why Im voting for the one most likely to change and adapt to what is being thrown at him. Through the Clinton campaign, Obama was able to do that effectively and he will no doubt defend and change as needed his policies against John McCain.
Category: Politics
Left Hander In Rotation?
John Parrish made his first start of the season. He went 6 innings allowing 1 earned run and walked only 2 in 4 hit performance. For a guy who has had control issues in the past, not half bad. He is a lefty and with Shaun Marcum out for at least one more start, Parrish will get another crack at a start before the All Star Break.
Here is my thought, if he pitches even reasonably well in his next start and of all things wins again to go 2-0, does the thought cross anyones mind to go ahead and trade AJ Burnett?
Im not by any means writing this team off on the season. the last week or so the bats have been going, the pitching has remained good and is what it has been all season, with consistency in the hitting as they have had recently, any pitcher has a chance to win a game. But Parrish may be getting a trial run here by injury. Burnett has been .500 this season and you could throw a lefty in there for a change of pace during series. If he goes .500 we expect it, AJ is getting paid $11 million a season to be a 15-20 game winner, something he has not been.
I know Parrish has had limited success at the major league level and hes a 31 year old minor league journeyman but he is 10-1 this year at Syracuse of the International League and has been begging for a call up all year. Left handers always seem to mature later in their career anyway. Why not. Just don't trade Burnett to anyone in the division like the Yankees and maybe this could be a possibility flying through JP's cavernous mind.
It would be nice to have a lefty in the rotation who would no doubt make the other four righties all the more effective. If it comes at AJ's expense so be it, he wants a trade anyway. That and trading AJ may actually get you something usable from a contender who is desparate enough for an arm. Again, Im not saying that you write off the season, Im just saying you could get out of Parrish what you are getting now out of Burnett and still do reasonably well and maybe get something for Burnett that is usable, the old addition by subtraction line of thinking.
If anything, the Jays can reinvest Burnett's and Frank the Tank's money in a high quality free agent left hander.
Category: Sports
Try Tequila
Category: comedy
Did I Miss Something?
The NHL has set its new 2008-2009 salary cap and its not pretty, at least not for any market outside of Toronto, NY, Detroit, Montreal or maybe Chicago.
The NHL reported that their salary cap is going up $6.4 million. The new minimum is $40.7 million while the top is now over $56 million a season. The maximum salary that a team can now sign a player for is $11.4 million.
Okay, last time I checked there was still no significant TV revenue coming in, no more tickets to be sold, no more marketing money coming in so what gives here? Where is the league making the money to pay their players and implement a higher cap?
The league is managing it themselves this time. After getting things under control, they have officially gone over the line again into dangerous waters where small market teams can't get to the high end of the salary cap without losing money.
Something has to give here, Gary Bettman if hes guilty of anything is failure to promote this sport and make it more than what it is on a revenue basis. His job as comissioner has got to be at least in part, digging it out of the 4th major sport (thats a distant 4th) and generating some TV revenue. Otherwise, the salary cap isn't really a salary cap anymore its a joke.
$56 million a year? I want to see where the league made more money that justifies them raising it another $6 million. More TV revenue is really the only way small markets survive.
Look at the NFL, a major reason why Green Bay remains viable, not because of the tickets they sell but because of the TV revenue the NFL takes in. The NHL will never be the NFL, but they can at least justify how they are doing what they are doing since the last CBA with salaries which are totally off the wall again.
The players were worried they wouldn't make the money again, well here they are and it doesn't take $100 million payrolls to do it, just even caps right across the board. Only difference is, half the teams won't make money at the bottom of this cap structure in 2008/2009 much less at the top of the structure. In a league that unlike the NFL derives most of the salary cap from ticket revenue as opposed to TV raising the cap this fast is dangerous.
This time if the league shuts down at the end of this CBA, they deserve all the negative press they get. They are digging their own hole.
Category: Sports
Budweiser Can Not Be Sold
The problem with InBev trying to buy Budweiser is that not only should Budweiser always be an American company, but it would be devastating to have to say that America's number one beer is owned by Begium/Brazil.
I don't drink Budweiser or any of the Budweiser product line (Im a Molson/Guiness guy myself) but there is still some tradition that has to remain intact here.
That all said, if InBev buys Budweiser, they would almost certainly have a monopoly on the beer market all over the world. They already have close to 200 brands under their name including: All the Labatt's products, Kokanee, Bass Ale, Lakeport, and St. Pauli Girl just to name the more familiar names on the list.
Budweiser currenty has products besides their own name that includes: Michelob, Busch, Natural, Rolling Rock and O'Douls N/A beer. There is just something really wrong about another company from outside the US calling the shots at an American Institution.
I also remember when Labatt owned the Toronto Blue Jays and life was good, then Interbrew who was later combined with AmBev and InBev bought Labatts and thus the team. I remember that money for the Jays declined from Interbrew after their purchase of Labatts. If you are a St. Louis Cardinals fan, I would be very worried. Life for Jays fans got a little less interesting after that take over of Labatts.
She Finished!
20 miles completed and a ride well done by Sandie! There are currently plans to go for the 30 mile ride next year. Maybe I will join them, I have been inspired. Of course if I do, Im riding to win.
Category: Miscellaneous
Ride For Roswell
My lovely wife Sandie is riding with my mother-in-law and her aunt in the Ride For Roswell. They are doing the 20 mile ride today.
To be honest Im worried, last night my wife couldn't get the quick release off the front tire of my Tim Horton's mountain bike which is a $450 bike I won in the roll up the rim a few years back. Its a great bike with easy to use components.
So, last night her mom bought her a new bike due to her difficulties. Its a Target $140 model. I am laughing here but rooting for her to do well and finish safe, but when she told me of the troubles, it was quite comical.
We will look back and laugh and all for a good cause! I hope they take pictures with their helmets on! If they do, ill steal one and post it.
Category: Miscellaneous
5440 Discography
This is the 5440 discography. They were awesome last night as usual, whipping through a 90 minute set that covered material from every release in their 24+ year history. Next year will be their 25th Anniversery as a band. No small achievement for any band. The only downside to last nights show was no new material.
Its been awhile now since Yes to Everything came out, hopefully with their 25th anniversery as a group on the way, they will venture into the studio for some new stuff. Anyway, here is their complete list of all their releases and album covers:
2005: Yes To Everything
2003: Goodbye Flatland
2002: Radio Luv Songs
2001: Casual Viewin
1999: Double Live CD Heavy Mellow
1998: Since When
1997: Sounds of Truth: A Compilation
1996: Trusted By Millions
1994: Smilin Buddha Cabaret
1992: Dear Dear
1991: Sweeter Things (A Compilation)
1989: Fight For Love
1987: Show Me
1986: The Green Album
1984: Set The Fire
Category: Music
Oil Companies Paying Off US Supreme Court
Obviously the conservative judges on the US Supreme Court can be bought off by big oil. The US Supreme Court decreased the punitive damages that Exxon Mobil needed to pay for the Exxon Valdez Oil spill from $2.5 billion to $500 million.
Alaskans are none to happy about the decision and no one can argue that $2.5 billion is too much. Not when Exxon Mobil is making that 10 times over per quarter. $2.5 billion is a drop in the bucket, Consider it interest on what they should have paid back then to a community and state that is still recovering and obviously bitter about the spill today.
I guess its okay to have a drunk captain driving a oil tanker according to the US Supreme Court of judges who can now be bribed. The damage that that spill did to the Alaskan economy, its wildlife and that community is worth well over $2.5 billion and is yet another example of how little conservatives and the Bush administration care about the well being of the people and the land, air and water that we have a right to be clean and healthy.
Instead they will do anything to save the coorporate interests as long as they get their pockets lined. There is the other reason Obama needs to win the presidency, so he can balance the liberal vs. conservatives on the supreme court. At a time when Exxon Mobil could have been made to step up and do the right thing, they are let off the hook in a time when no one trusts them or the system this country was founded on. Almost 20 years later Alaska is being essentially told that big oil's profits are worth more than their environment and economy that was brought to a stand still by this spill.
Category: News | environment | oil/gas
Learning Audio Posts
The other day I posted my first post with an audio download. I am learning the media things like that slowly but surely thanks to the on the fly assistance from Toronto Mike. So when I post anything with audio and it doesn't work the first few times, be patient, After all, Im still in my first year of this thing called blogging! So for those of you who want to go back and listen, the Stephanie Miller audio clip is up and ready for download.
By the way, before I shove off to 5440 at Club Infinity tonight, make sure you all stop by Toronto Mikes site and wish him a happy birthday. Hes a year older today. Congradulations Mike!
I was going to leave you all with a little 5440 but I think Mike's birthday calls for something a little more birthday like:
Category: Blogging
5440
5440 will be in town this weekend, unsure if Im going to go yet, its $18. I have seen then just about every time they have come to Buffalo over the last 10 years or so. Probably seen them 15 times if I have seen them once. I have seen them several times at Thursday in the Square, Fort Erie twice, Molson Canadian Gateway Series a few times, The Tralf three or four times and in Lewiston, NY.
They are easily one of the top 5 bands to come out of Canada and probably one of the top 10 musical artists to come out of Canada. The same thing that puzzles me about the Hip, also puzzles me about 5440, why has 5440 never crossed over into the US successfully? They write great pop songs that rock. What could be better than that?
If ya have $20 burning a hole in your pocket go and check them out this weekend, you will not be disappointed, this is going back to their 80's stuff this is Baby Ran, check it out Ill post a little picture of my favorite piece of music collectible later:
.
Category: Music
Max for Mckee
The question around here lately is would ya do it? Max Nation to the Blues for Jay McKee.
Yes. If the deal is there to be had I'd do Max for McKee in a heartbeat. Hell, I'd even throw in Max's first three meals when he gets to St. Louis.
Max was awful this past season, injuries, slow start, forgot how to play both ends of the ice and overall, became a liability to this team even when healthy. He has always been looked at as a guy with a hell of a lot more potential than he showed, he was exciting to watch, but without the finish. A change of scenery may very well be the best thing for him. And you have to think someone around the league still values him, one of those teams may be St. Louis who is weak at forward and could use the speed in their lineup.
Mckee while not exactly injury free has been more unlucky with his rash of injuries. They haven't exactly been season enders just annoying little stuff. Things that you get when lying down to block shots on a regular basis. His work ethic would be welcome on this team again and hes only 31. He didn't play as much the last two years because of those little injuries and probably has a few extra years to give because of that.
Mckee would be a guy who wants to come back and play in Buffalo, still lives here and never really wanted to leave to begin with. He'd be a guy you could throw the "C" on right away if you wanted to as well. It would be cheaper than going out and signing a free agent defenceman and if hes healthy Mckee could be as good as any free agent out there. Spacek and Mckee as a tandem sounds nice on paper going in doesn't it?
So I ask, do ya do the deal if there is one to be done? Max for Mckee? (And Max's first three meals in St. Louis)
Jan Schakowsky on the Stephanie Miller Show
Stephanie Miller talked with Representative Jan Schakowsky yesterday and among other things they talked about oil and drilling. 68 million acres of land is currently leased by oil companies for drilling and they want ANWAR. How bout using the land ya got first.
Add to that the fact that the oil companies would drill more but they are currently at a loss for equipment to drill with!!!! How are you supposed to drill more if you don't have the rigs built to drill? Take a listen, shes a great lady who represents her constituents well. Stephanie Miller is a great radio gal as well. Download the mp3Charlie Black- McCain's Scum Bag
Here is an example of who John McCain has working in his campaign. He is not just any campaign worker, he is John McCain's senior advisor. He hasn't been fired yet but should be after he said that John McCain would benefit from another terrorist attack on US soil. If anyone in the Obama campaign had said anything remotely close to that they would be hung out to dry. The Republicans will obviously stop at nothing to get back into the White House and now you have to wonder if a terrorist attack on US soil will not only be secretly allowed but encouraged by our own government to test that theory. Personally, Charlie Black couldn't be more wrong. Spoken like a true asshole. His statements are ridiculous and he have been fired long ago for the germs he has dealt with in the past including many former dictators and terrorists he represented as a lobbyist. Another terrorist attack on US soil will do more harm than good for the Republican party and probably would slam the door shut on them period. Who wants another terrorist attack to benefit anything much less a presidential campaign? Another terrorist attack would show not just US citiizens who already have the lowest ever opinion of this president and his party but would show the world that the Bush administrations claims and the republican parties claims of them making the world safer over the last eight years are all a bunch of crap.The Cafferty File on CNN says as much:
This is an ad, it shows some of the scum Charlie Black has lobbied for, he is a true scum bag. Want to know what you are getting when John McCain gets your vote, this scum bag in the White House:
How Can You Not Agree With This
Barack Obama came out tough on child rape saying that the penalty of capital punishment should be considerer in the most narrow of circumstances when it comes to child rape.
Freddie P has been all over this since his days on CFNY and MOJO. Its absolutely true that there should be higher punishments in these cases because most of the time, these sickos get off with a penalty that does not match the crime. What is even nicer to see is that a politician, one running for the highest office in the land, has finally come out and said as much. Any rapist should be at the very least thrown in jail for life but when it comes to child molestation/rape, they should get the kitchen sink thrown at them. Look at how our judicial system works and you can understand, most cases that deserve a heavy punishment don't get whats coming to them, the ones that don't get more than they deserve half the time. The death penalty is appropriate for murder, it should also be appropriate for rape, especially child cases.Religious Whack Jobs, STAY OUT OF POLITICS!
Another religious reference to Barack Obama. Enough is enough. This time its and Evangelical wacko, (they all are wackos in the Evangelical world, each and every one of them) James Dobson saying that Barack Obama distorted the Bible.
Who cares? Obviously 90% of America. That story came out today that 90% of US citizens believe in God. Come on, you have to be kidding me on that one. 90%? Not all of those 90% believe in the same God or the same religion so how can you make that blanket statement? Thats besides the point.
All these religious attacks on Obama for his religion, his church, his pastor (who by the way last I checked he cannot speak for or control what comes out of his mouth) are nonsense. They HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH POLITICS OR THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE.
Don't even get me going on the likes that McCain associates himself or has in the past. Who is Dobson to say anyway whether Obama distorted the Bible or not? There is probably millions of different interpretations of the book depending on who reads it. Dobson and his Evangelical followings take it way to seriously and literally making him a dangerous man, Obama can and has every right to interpret the damn thing any way he please just like anyone else who is religious has a right to their own interpretation.
Chalk another religious leader who proves my ongoing point that if religion is not going to stay out of politics and trying to influence political races, then we should start taxing churchs. Think of the revenue that would bring in and what programs that could go to......say,,,,universal health care.
Welcome Back Cito, 14-1 Jays Over Reds
I turned on the Jays game tonight and it was only the 3rd inning but the score read like a final. 11-1 Blue Jays. Not only that but the long ball returned for Alex Rios and Scott Rolen. AJ Burnett also had a strong outing and last I checked the Yankees were losing too.
A perfect night for the return of Cito to Toronto. Lets hope this continues. They actually looked like there was a bit of a jump in their step tonight, lets see if they can keep it up. Today started a new season. The Weekend in Pittsburgh got the adjustments underway, now its time to throw this thing into high gear. We are 1-0 in the new 2008 season. I figure it will take about 55-60 more wins to sneak in for a wild card.
Category: Sports
Who Invented The Internet?
One of my frequent readers in a comment to the light bulb debate mentioned that Al Gore invented the internet, which, prompted me to actually look that up. Who did invent the internet.....
It goes back further than you may think, to the 1950's actually. J.C.R. Licklider began his work on "information technology" back in 1950 and recruited a guy by the name of Lawrence Roberts to start a network. They launched on October, 29 1969 what became known as ARPANET or Advanced Projects Research Agency Network, which was the predecessor of what we now visit in our everyday lives as the internet or world wide web.
From there, The British Post Office, Telenet, DATAPAC, and TRANSPAC came together to creat the first international network in 1978. The rest is all historical and technical jargon of updating TCP and IP protocols and joining various networks until in 1989 English scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the web in 1989. It was made public on August 6th, 1991.
There's your history lesson kids, Al Gore, did not invent the internet.
Category: Miscellaneous
High Gas Prices Killing Music
You can raise the price of gas as high as you want, you can raise the price of everything if you want, but for me, as soon as it starts to interfere with the ability of new, up and coming indie rock bands to go out on tour and essentially broaden their musical horizons, putting the whole indie rock scene in jeopardy, then its personal.
I love music and this article is all about that music scene being affected by high fuel costs. Most indie bands who are trying to survive don't get fancy record deals that pay for their travel and hotels, they like the band in this article get around in a rented van or someones personal vehicle.
They don't get guaranteed money and they don't get royalties on record sales because they have to play shows to generate interest and get people to buy their music. This will do a few things, I think you will start seeing many indie bands playing more local shows, you may even see more local bands try to organize mini festivals locally in order to generate more fans at the shows and more interest from outside the area. One thing I do know is, it limits the ability of any band to travel much unless they are in the top tier of live performing acts. Its tough for bands to pay hauling their equipment around and maybe even a small crew. It will be interesting to see how this affects the music scenes across the country and if it limits bands ability to survive or if they reinvent the way the expose people to their music. My thinking is through things like Youtube and other media, bands will figure it out. Though there is nothing like the live experience of a good live band perform. This is a clip from one of Canada's most successfuly Indie bands (indie meaning they don't have a major record label supporting them which does have its benefits) This is Sloan with Money City Maniacs:CFL VS. Incandescent Bulb
Listen to this jack ass republican give you every reason why you should not save energy and thus money on a CFL bulb. No mention of the energy saving benefits and how they will actually cost you less than the traditional light bulb.
I have all these bulbs in my house and here is what I noticed. My electric bill went down $10-15 PER MONTH on average. Since we made the switch in April 2007, not one of these bulbs have burned out. They last 8x longer than the traditional incandescent bulb. So for every eight incandescent bulbs you are now using in your home, you only need one of these. So not only have we saved money on our electric bill, I haven't bought a light bulb in over a year now. I have a few extra of the CFL bulbs but haven't had to touch them.
One of our bulbs broke because of the dog and I took it to......HOME DEPOT where they gladly take them back to recycle them. Wow, theres a brilliant idea. This guy makes it out to be a war zone if one breaks and paints a horror story for anyone looking to save energy and thus money.
Would anyone be surprised if the oil and gas companies who by the way supply these resources to our power plants lined this hicks pockets with some chump change to get up there and make it sound like these bulbs are impossible to use.
Sorry Tom Edison but every good invention gets replaced at some point, the turntable got replaced by the compact disc and the CD is being replaced by the MP3 yet there are no congressmen getting up there making jackasses out of themselves. (okay maybe you do on that last change over)
He has a worry that these bulbs are produced in China, big deal! Its another example of how America isn't the smart, economic power we used to be. Why didn't we come up with the idea first? Our automotive industry is going through it now too, Japan and foreign automakers are putting our plants out of business because we can't build an energy efficient fleet of cars, Brazil and Iceland are energy independent, Canada, Cuba, France, Britain amongst others figured out how to have universal, affordable healthcare. So add Tom's light bulb to the latest things that we as a country have been out done on.
Maybe if we as a government and as a people had a little more faith in science instead of Bible thumping, we wouldn't be getting shown up by the rest of the world.
Lets look at another video which actually show the benefits of Americans switching to the new bulbs, which by the way, is supposed to take place in 2014.
Some other figures for you out of USA Today from last December: Consumers will save $40 BILLION DOLLARS from 2014 to 2030. (Im all for that, I already started). IT will avoid the construction of 14 coal fired power plants and cut global warming gas emissions by 51 million tons per year"
Id rather have that money in my pocket. Are the new light bulbs perfect, probably not, but like I said, if you are interested in saving $10-15 a month on your electric bill (I live in a two bedroom apartment, so some of you could save a lot more).
By the way, my wife is watching TV right now, NO interference what so ever so Monday Night Football is on at my house this fall. Again, trying to coerce the public from doing the right thing, conservation of resources and instead painting a dark picture over something that will help. The microwave we have in our kitchen causes interference with the radio in the kitchen when I turn it on, lets get a congressman to tell us how shitty microwaves are.
A Sick Story Happening Up North
In Vancouver, BC a disturbing series of events have been happening and last week another such incident took place. Feet have been washing up on shore in the Campbell River area just outside of Vancouver.
The sixth was found last week by a woman collecting rocks and brought the news to the attention of a woman working at an RV park.
There is no evidence linking these to anything yet although there are some theories, one being that they may be from plane crash victims that crashed in and around the area that this latest foot was found.
Reading the article from Global News though, it states that the latest one looks like a clean cut as if it were sawn off. Lets hope its the plane crash and for those of you in Canada who are also watching and especially those in Vancouver who may be close to this story, hopefully, it turns out to be just that.
The map above shows the six locations of the feet that were found via numbers on the map. Go to the link above to read more on this intriguing, yet potentially graphic and horrific story.
Category: News
Ryan Lochte has a bit of Western New York in him. He was born in Rochester, NY. He currently lives in Daytona Beach, Florida but he will no doubt have the locals around Rochester excited as he goes for another Olympics in 2008.
His accomplishments to this point:
2004 Olympics: Gold in the 800 meter freestyle relay which broke the American record and upset the Austrailians and Silver in the 200 meter IM.
He holds a world record in the 200 meter backstroke that he set at the 2007 FINA World Championships with a time of 1:54.32.
He was Swimmer of the Meet after breaking the American Record in the 200 yard IM at the 2005 NCAA Championships.
Currently Ryan is ranked 1st in the world in the 200 meter backstroke and 2nd in the world in the 200 and 400 IM.
His top times include: 200 meter freestyle 1:47.32 set in March of 2008, 100 meter backstroke :53.20 back in March of 2007, 200 meter back which is his world record time of 1:54.32 set in March of 2007, 200 meter IM 1:56.11 in August of 2006, and 400 IM 4:09.74 set in March of 2007.
Ryan will likely make it in the 200 backstroke, and the 200 and 400 IMs and probably the relays. This is video of his 2007 world record 200 meter backstroke in which he beats Aaron Piersol who was the former American world record holder, watch him catch Piersol off the walls, Lochte got off to a fast start but fell behind in the first 50 meters, every wall got better and better, he gets stronger as the race gets longer, a rare thing to have as a swimmer.
Category: Swimming
George Carlin 1937-2008
George Carlin passed away last night, he left us 50 years of witty, downright dirty, sometimes racy and overall brilliant comedy. He knew how to not just cross the line but jump right over and still be hiliarious by twisting his language. He was one of the smartest comedians ever to perform in the world. This is the 7 Words You Can't Say on Television, probably his most famous piece:Bigger, Stronger Defense
Ahhh, can you smell it in the air? Its almost hockey season!. The draft is over and its almost free agency time. There will be just as much news around here during the next two months as there is during the season and it started with the draft this weekend.
Im pretty impressed with the draft. The first two picks in the first round couldn't be any more opposite from each other. You have the 6'7" monster Tyler Myers and then you have the 5'8" squeaker Tyler Ennis. We will have a few Tylers in the lineup before long. Myers is 6'7" but still needs to fill in, hes only 205 pounds so hes a bit on the twiggy end of things, Ennis is talented but again needs seasoning.
The other 6 guys included three defensemen. We knew they would and they went out and got bigger and stronger with the picks and they also selected Luke Adams a center in the third round who is a 6'2" bruising forward.
I'd give them about a B+ on this draft for sticking to their game plan, but the only problem is, Max Nation is still located in Western New York. There are still 15 forwards on this team waiting to fill out 12 slots on the roster. A nice problem to have, but now what?
Something tells me there is a busy summer ahead with a few surprise trades starting with the one we know is moving.
Probably the more shocking news from the weekends draft wasn't even in Buffalo, it was the news that Toronto granted permission for Mats Sundin to negotiate with the Canadians? Huh? Id be a little upset, I thought Toronto fans hated Montreal and btw what are the Leafs doing trying to pawn him off in the division???????? Send him west or at least to a different division!!! Come on Cliffy, use whats left of your brain cells.
Blackout Rules Suck
How Major League Baseball determines their blackout rules is beyond me. I respect the NFL for doing it the way they do, they black out games in the home market if the game in that market doesn't sell out thereby forcing fans to buy a ticket if they want to see the game.
With Major League Baseball, the only teams that would have games on TV would be the Yankees and the Redsox. All the other teams would probably struggle to get all their games or the majority of their games televised.
This weekend I was pumped, Cito and the new management I wanted to see the heroic manager from the World Series years back in '92/'93 back on the job with his old team. Everything old is new again.
Well, I turned on the game on the package Friday night, no dice, I tried to tune in Saturday evening, no dice. I tried to tune in today, still blacked out. The channel was there, the game was listed but it was blacked out.
Apparently, MLB views the Buffalo area as part of the Pittsburgh market, thereby they blackout the Pirates broadcasts. I called Direct TV and bitched with little result, the only explanation that I got was that Buffalo is in the Pittsburgh market and in order to get the games I could purchase an ADDITIONAL local sports package that includes the Pittsburgh Fox Sports affiliate for $12 a month extra. What a hose job that is.
I pay close to $160 for a BASEBALL only package only to have a game blacked out that is 4 hours away. Its a bunch of crap. They put Pittsburgh in the "Buffalo" market dating back to the days when the Bisons were affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Now, its Cleveland of course through this season and the Indians games are always blacked out because due to Buffalo's affiliation with the Indians, they are considered an "in market" team and also 3-4 hours away.
No chance of making Indians games either but they won't show them here because apparently because the Bisons are affiliated with them we here in Buffalo must have special powers to telepathically connect with the Indians and live their games in our minds.
That kinda scares me a little, next year rumors are swirling about the Bisons new parent club being either the Blue Jays or the Mets. If its the Jays, does that mean Jays games will be all of a sudden considered "in market" games? Granted the Jays are closer, but I still can't go to all of them and their affiliation will only increase interest in the Jays in the Buffalo area. So either they should be on a local network that is not blacked out or the Jays present status should remain the same. Im rooting for the Mets to get the Bisons now. Ill live if the Jays are not the Bisons parents club in order to preserve my ability to see as many games as I do.
The whole reason I get the Extra Innings package is because I get 80-90% of all Jays games unless they are playing of all teams this weekend, the Pittsburgh Pirates or Cleveland Indians. Gee what luck.
The Yankees are also considered in market but the YES Network is included. If I purchase the Extra Innings package there should be no blackouts in non major league markets/cities. Buffalo, no matter how you look at it is not a baseball market. We can not reasonably attend a major league game on a nightly basis. The rules should not apply to this area. Period.
Category: Sports | Television
Oil Companies and Government Are LYING
All this hog wash about how the oil companies need more permission to drill off the continental shelf they need more areas to drill is a bunch of crap. They are also lying about the Chinese drilling off the coast of Florida. Show me proof of that and Ill shave the Yankees logo into my head. The Chinese aren't drilling off the coast of Florida, Cuba or anywhere close to the Gulf of Mexico. Its all a story. They are also feeding us a line of bull about the reasons why refineries haven't been built since the 1970's.
First, the big oil companies in this country have over 10,000 permits/leases with which they have permission to drill on 44 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico, the continental shelf on both coasts and on PUBLIC LANDS, thats right public lands!!!!. They are not using any of these permits or very few of them so even if there is oil, they have permission they just aren't drilling.
Second, the Chinese are not drilling off the coast of Cuba or Florida or anywhere in the Gulf, its a story to get house and senate leaders to give them more rights than they already have, more than the 10,000 permits they are already using!!!!!!!!
Third, the reason why there have been no refineries built is because no one has asked to build one! Since 1975, there has been ONE count them 1 permit submitted to the EPA for permission to build a refinery and permission was granted! So, they haven't applied for permits. They can't bitch that they can't due to restrictions, they haven't applied or asked to build any refineries.The one they did get, was approved!!!!!!! All they have to do is ask.
The fact is that this governement and big oil would rather have prices where they are so they are happy with the status quo.
The fact still remains, that even if they get any major field online, which Bush was quoted in the paper as saying that there could be 18 billion barrels, sounds like a lot, but 18 billion barrels at our current consumption of 20 million barrels a day, is about a years worth of oil for our country and that is assuming it came out of the ground that fast.
Realistically they keep throwing different figures around, Ive heard 18 billion, I have heard a trillion which would only be about 20 years worth, which would give us some room but again, unless that comes out of the ground in 20 million barrel a day increments, we need imported oil.
So, no matter what comes of this drill or not to drill, A) our government and big oil are lying through their teeth and B) we still need to develop alternative fuel sources that are not oil or gas and C) we need to improve fuel standards/technology and our habits to increase conservation.
Sunday Retro
Todays retro pick is a one hit wonder but oh what a hit. Most will recognize the tune before they recognize the bands name.
This Flesh for Lulu with their one hit, 1987's I Go Crazy:
Category: Music
Hip For The Hell Of It
One of the things the Tragically Hip is known for is the incredible number of Hip cover bands. There are a ton of Hip cover bands including Buffalo's own Strictly Hip and this band Tenaciously Hip. Today, I am featuring a cover band for Hip For The Hell Of It. I couldn't find one of my favorite songs off of In Between Evolution called Mean Streak.
This is Tenaciously Hip with a relatively good version of Mean Streak in Burlington, Vermont:
Category: Music
USA Swimming Previews
Natalie Coughlin is perhaps one of the most prolific and well known of the US women swimmers. This coming trials and summer games will be her 2nd trip to the games, assuming she makes it and there is nothing suggesting she will not.
She holds 5 medals from the 2004 games in Athens and for the California Aquatic swimmer this Olympics should prove just as successful. She will be 26 by the time they are over so it is likely her last.
Her accomplishments are as follows:
She is only the third American woman to win 5 medals in one Olympics
She holds world records in the 100 meter backstroke set at the 2008 Missouri Grand Prix, the 800 meter freestyle relay set at the 2007 World Championships, the 100 meter IM (short course: the difference between long course and short course is that short course is swum in a 25 meter pool and long course is swum in a 50 meter pool), and the 100 meter backstroke (SCM).
Her top events include:
50 meter freestyle: :24.92 seconds set in May of 2008
100 meter freestyle: :53.39 seconds set in May of 2008
200 meter freestyle: 1:56.43 set in March of 2007
100 meter backstroke: :59.21 set in February of 2008 (she is also the first woman to break a minute in the 100 meter backstroke)
100 meter fly: :57.34 set in March of 2007
In addition to times and records, Natalie was the 1998 Swimming World Magazine High School Swimmer of the Year, three time NCAA swimmer of the year 2001-2003, 2004 Sports Illustrated On Campus Female Athlete of the Year, a three time finalist for Sullivan Award as the nations top amateur athlete in 2001, 2002 and 2005, 2003 Sports Foundation Sportswoman of the Year, and 2002 USA Swimming Athlete of the Year amongst others.
Look for more of the same heading up to and at these games and she should qualify in all those events plus relays for the games. She has been swimming strong through May and tapered fairly well leading up to the time trials next week.
This is one of her 2007 swims in which she broke her own world record in the 100 meter backstroke in a time of :59.44:Category: Swimming
Ping Pong at the Olympics?
Seriously? Ping Pong an Olympic sport? Whats next? Billiards? Darts? How bout bowling. Of the 28 sports at the summer games ping pong or how they justify having by calling it "table tennis" (makes it sound more athletic) does not belong in there.
I can see adding golf. Its bad enough they were trialing ball room dancing. Thats just an embarassment. How do you win at ballroom dancing. I realize that diving, synchronized swimming and gymnastics all have a subjectiveness to them that makes them so difficult at times to choose a clear cut winner, but they do have a long time history of competitiveness throughout their respective sports.
No one, prior to reality TV competed in dancing. You dance because you enjoy it, you like music. Not to beat other people. Divers, dive to win competitions. Sychronized swimmers, sychronize their swims to compete against other sychronized swim teams. Gymnasts compete against other gymnasts and in all those there is a high degree of athleticism involved or skill.
Don't believe me, go watch the Tonawanda Aquettes. They are some of the most gifted swimmers around and when they do what they do, they require a high degree of balance and body control in the water along with extremely strong core musculature.
Ping pong? seriously? Ping pong as a sport in the Olympics has the ancient Greeks rolling over in their graves.
Category: Sports
Future of US In Iraq
Over the coming months, Obama and McCain are going to battle on the issues, one of which is the Future of the US in Iraq.
McCain is going to argue that the US needs to stay in Iraq, for 100 years if necessary, Obama wants out, the sooner the better.
McCain is wrong, Obama is right, there is no denying that. This thing has gone on long enough. Obama wants to pull out of Iraq and really, if we do, no matter when it happens, there will still be violence and unrest. The most important thing is that we start taking care of our domestic interests.
This "war on terror" is not one that is going to be one or lost overseas and especially not in Iraq. It has already been proven and shown via official investigations and documents that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and had no WMD's. So, the question remains, why are we still over there.
The only reasonable answer is: oil. Its all tied to our energy needs.
We need to get our troops home and let the CIA, FBI and law enforcement fight the good fight on terror. Prevention here at home is the way to fight it with good intelligence and precision strikes if need be overseas if and only if we get credible intelligence on a plot that leads us to the bad guys.
We need to pull back and concentrate on our energy needs. Yes, this will be oil, but domestic drilling is not the long term answer. No one can deny that. What ever we dig up domestically will not wet our massive appetite for oil no matter how much we drill here, no matter what we do at home to produce we will not get to a point where we are free from the middle east and OPEC unless we develop the technologies to get us off foreign oil.
Alternatives, fuel economy, conservation and just being smarter about the way we use energy. We are 5% of the worlds population yet hog up 25% of the energy. Thats excessive to say the least. If we do learn to change our ways, we don't need our troops in Iraq or the middle east. We don't need anything from that part of the world, except good middle eastern food. Thats about it.
So, when John McCain is telling you how we need to stay in Iraq blah, blah, blah, remember we don't have to be there and when you listen to Obama, you will realize he is the sensible one of the two. There is no reason for us to be there. The only reason we should be over there is to finish tracking down the real bastard who caused 9/11, his name is Bin Laden, The Bush administration failed us miserably for not having gotten the real culprit and instead lying his way to Iraq. And Bin Laden was not and is no where near Iraq.
Jays Miss Hill
Aaron Hill is missed in the Jays lineup. Watching several games over the last week or so, they are lacking that true number two hitter, a guy who hits for average who has some power and can run a little to put in that two hole.
They also miss his defense. Unfortunately, out with a concussion, Hill isn't due back any time soon. Is it just me or has their been a big jump in concussions around the league this year? This is supposed to be a non-contact sport so why are guys getting hit in the head?
If you trace these offensive woes back, they really picked up steam right when Hill went down. Hill wasn't off to a great start, but he was better than Scutaro and the current combination they have in there now. He was more of a threat to opposing pitchers than Scutaro is and made pitchers pitch to him.
Im not saying that Scutaro isn't a good player but hes good for coming off the bench, not your full time second baseman. It will be interesting to see if Gaston and his staff can get this lineup going without Aaron. Right now they have Lyle Overbay hitting second. I don't know what to think of Lyle, after his first year here, there was so much promise.
I wouldn't mind exploring a trade of Overbay with a prospect pitcher or AJ Burnett to bring in a big time 1st baseman and or shortstop. You look back at the World Series teams and they had two things. They were had a strong hitter at 1st (John Olerud) and they were rock solid up the middle Borders/Myers at catcher, Alomar at 2nd, Lee/Fernandez at SS and Devon White in Centerfield.
It will be nice if Gaston as any input to this formula. He also managed a team that though they hit the homerun, was extremely good, if not the best at manufacturing runs. It wasn't always about the long ball with those teams, it was about getting the ball to the gap and hitting for average.
Its not going to happen overnight, Gibbons and Company have had time to instill a certain system in these guys. Im giving Gaston and Co. till July to get the ship righted, then to rachet it up a notch or two once July hits and make up some ground.
Aaron Hill has to be part of that eventually.
Category: Sports
I Asked For A Move And Got It
John Gibbons out, CITO is back! I just got home and went to Mike Boon's Site for the news of the day and there it was. I thought it was a joke at first and made up but then I went to the Jays homepage and there it was. Gene Tenace and Cito are back.JP must read this site, hes not so bad after all.
The only surprise was seeing that they let Ernie Whitt go in the process. I was surprised that Cito did not keep Ernie Whitt around as he was a long time Jays player and now coach.
Anyway, this was the move I wanted, now if this doesn't produce results, either the players are just plain bad or Riccardi needs to go. Finally, we have a quality manager with some quality name coaches back.
I remember 1989 when the Jays hired Cito to replace Jimy Williams around this time of the season. The Jays were around the .500 mark and falling, 13 games out. By the end of the season, though they didn't win the division, they finished just 2 back of Boston that year.
Maybe a repeat of '89?
Category: Sports
Top Heavy Metal Bands
I have to disagree with a lot of this list of the top 25 heavy metal bands as posted by Yahoo Music. Black Sabbath while pioneers in their day, do not deserve the number one spot. My top five would be as follows:
1. Metallica- While not my favorite band (I own nothing by them) I do respect their contributions to the world of heavy metal. I love heavy rock music but never considered myself a fan of "metal". Metallica though did something with the genre, they actually made it listenable.
2. Led Zeppelin- The only top five pick I agree with. Zeppelin was all that and more.
3. Rush- Look, why they are on the list I don't know because I really don't consider them "Metal", but they are there and amongst the bands on there, they have lots of things going, first being that they are still after nearly 35+ years still making quality records and performing at their very best live. Neil Peart still navigates his collection of percussion better than anyone in the history of rock. You don't believe it, go pick up the live double CD of the Snakes and Arrows tour and then try to tell me other wise. They still rock.
4. Guns and Roses- Why would a band who saved us from the cheesy hair bands of the 80's be ranked 18th? If not for the three in front of them, they'd be number one for saving us from Poison and Cinderella. Again, not my favorite band, I own nothing by them, but their mix of punk and metal was unique enough to save metal and infuse some new blood into the genre.
5. Motley Crue- Yes, they became a cheesy hair band after about their third CD, but Shout At the Devil still scares the Shit out of me. They weren't even on the list!. For Shout At the Devil alone, Motley gets number 5.
A few that had me questioning their spots on this chart: Jimi Hendrix metal? I don't think so. Aerosmith? They aren't metal either.
Here is a lil of my number one:Metallica and a more recent video St. Anger
Category: Music
Its Time To Make The Move
Tap this guy on the shoulder and tell him its time. Time for JP Riccardi to leave. Pack up his shit and go home. He can take John Gibbons with him.
I have had it with poor management of an under achieving ball club. JP has made his share of good moves, but he has also made his share of garbage moves. He also doesn't know when to shut his trap. The Cincinnati Reds are coming to town next week and JP gets on the air and tells a fan that Adam Dunn can't hit and the Jays have no interest in bringing him to Toronto.
No wonder they had to pay AJ Burnett $55 million for his mediocre arm.
John Gibbons has shown time and time again that he cannot handle the players in his clubhouse, especially the ones with any kind of attitude. Well, maybe thats why this lineup is so flat, they need someone with a little "vinegar".
Ernie Whitt should be licking his chops because with each passing loss, John Gibbons is getting closer and closer to the trash dump. Ernie would be an instant fan favorite as manager and someone who bleeds Blue Jay Blue. Hes a competitor who would no doubt at the very least, put some asses in the seats during the remainder of what is soon to be a lost season.
As far as Riccardi's job, the Mets just fired the guy who could potentially do it. Willie Randolph. The Yankees would hate us for taking one of their own but wouldn't that be fun. Willie Randolph as GM in Toronto? It won't happen, its a pipe dream, but its about time management started putting a little money and time into a decent GM and manager to get this team a better reputation and back on track. Randolph as GM, Whitt as manager? Start screaming up there for it and maybe someone will listen.
Category: Sports
Welcome Home Molson
Molson, our 6 month old beagle came home today, this is a picture of the boy. In addition to having his neutering done, he also had both eyes operated on as he had cherry eye in both eyes.
He has to wear the cone around his neck for a week. Hes going to be miserable, but it prevents him from scratching at his eyes.
Next Thursday he goes to the vet to get his eyes checked again, until then its eye drops and the cone. Send get well wishes in the comments section and Ill be sure to pass them on to him.
Category: Molson
Dickey Case Should Bring Attention To Cell Phones
The Cara Dickey case at South Buffalo Charter School is another incident in a school in which a student had a cell phone. Yes I understand that Dickey is probably not innocent, but the young man who was potentially involved with her had HIS cell phone confiscated, which says he was probably no angel in this thing either.
Again, a case in a local school that has some form of modern technology like a cell phone in the hands of a young adult/student. Ultimately, it will come down to Dickey and the choices she may or may not have made in interacting with the young student, but if the cell phone was never in the boys hands, does he communicate as much as he did with her?
Cell phones and other forms of modern communication can get everyone into trouble if not used for basic communication needs, especially young kids who don't know the potential harm they can do if mishandled and used for other than good intentions.
Parents should not provide their children with cell phones, period. There is absolutely no need for a child, elementary, middle or high school age to have a cell phone. If they do, they are asking for things like this to happen. It makes improper communication all the more likely, especially if not monitored.
Dominator Belongs in the Rafters
The Dominator retired last week from professional hockey. He had 16 great and at times turbulent seasons filled with miraculous saves, fueds with the media, phony retirements, questionable injuries and many other moments we will never forget here in Buffalo.
Despite the tendency for the dramatic with Hasek, he was besides Gilbert Perreault, the single greatest player to wear a Buffalo Sabres jersey.
He's not my favorite player ever to play for the Sabres, that honor belongs to Danny Gare. But the saves and the incredible moments he gave us belong in the rafters at HSBC Arena, love him or hate him, the number 39 belongs there.
My favorite moments with Dominik involved him trying to hit a home run out of his end of the rink by throwing the puck in the air and swatting it with his stick. The most memorable game? Easily the 4 overtime 1-0 win against New Jersey in the playoffs.
Dominik made saves we never thought possible and with every part of his anatomy. I remember back in the 1997/1998 season Dominik had 13 shutouts, an incredible campaign by anyones standards. I was in Aiken, South Carolina at the time on my first clinical affiliation for physical therapy school. Three weeks went by with hardly a word down there about anything close to hockey, they simply didn't talk about it down there.
So, three weeks, I came back and Hasek had posted some 5 or 6 shutouts in the month of December. He simply amazed us. Off the ice he frequently had us questioning hwhat the hell he was thinking, which I suppose matches what he did on the ice, always had us guessing what he was going to do next.
So, does his jersey belong in the rafters? I say it does.
US Olympic Swim Team Previews
I coach swimming for a USA swim club called the Stingrays Swim Club. We swim out of Depew, Cheektowaga, Cleveland Hill, JFK and Maryvale pools throughout the course of the year. USA Swimming is the same organization that supports our National Team as they ready themselves for the Olympic time trials in Omaha, Nebraska this summer. Over the next week or so Ill be posting bios on our US athletes and giving everyone some background on them and their chances of making the team.
During Olympic years we typically see a bump in numbers of kids joining swim clubs and swimming related activities, this year hopefully will be no different and with a strong season from our US team hopefully we will see that not just on our club but throughout the country.
My first swimmer I will preview is Margaret Hoelzer. Though she is not quite a household name her resume is impressive. She is 25 so, this is likely her last go round at the games. She swims with King Aquatics Club and boasts the following accomplishments:
Bronze in the 200 meter backstroke at the 2008 World Short Course Championships
Fifth in the 200 meter backstroke in the 2004 Olympics
Silver Medalist in the 200 meter backstroke in 2003 and 2005 at the World Championships
1st in the 2002 Pan Pacifics.
She swam 2:07.16 in the 200 meter backstroke in March of 2007, :28.53 in the 50 meter back in March of 2007 and 1:00.83 in the 100 meter back in June of 2008 all are still personal bests.
In addition Margaret also holds records in several relays including the 400 meter medley relay and the 800 meter freestyle relay. She also holds the American record in the 200 meter backstroke set in March of 2007.
Look for Margaret to make the team in any of the backstrokes and be in the running for the 400 meter medley and freestyle relays and the 800 freestyle relay.
In case you were wondering how these swimmers train, 10,000 meters a day, 5-6 hours per day, 5-6 days per week. Its literally a full time job.
Category: Swimming
Gore's Environmental Agenda Not Political
Al Gore does not have a politcal bone in his body when it comes to the environmental issues he so dearly supports. This article basically sums up where Al Gore is headed and despite last week's endorsement of Barack Obama, its not back into politics. He was just showing his support for the candidate he feels will be best for the environmental causes he supports.
His roots are as an environmentalist even if he started as a politician. His plans are to stay out of Washington, except to provide his voice on environmental issues. You can look at his track record dating all the way back to his days in congress and he has always been pro-environment. He has written more books than just An Inconvenient Truth. He wrote Earth in the Balance in 1990 that is a very solid and informative read for those who do have an environmental bone in their body.
I wanted Gore to run because I thought that he could make a huge difference in a time when we need someone to lead, but I respect his choice to stay on the outside looking in. He'll provide his expertise when needed Im sure, but he will pick his spots. His number one passion is now and really always has been the environment and "green" causes. No matter how you view him, you have to respect him for avoiding the spotlight.
He could have easily made it very interesting and jumped on board with Obama back when the primary was still a dead heat, but he stayed out. He wants people to recognize that hes not doing what he is doing for politcal reasons but for the right reasons. Hes doing it for that blue ball we call home.
Category: Global Warming | News | Politics | environment
Credit Card Companies Gone Ape Shit
This story is an example of how credit card companies screw everyone, from the consumer to the person selling the merchandise. I knew that credit card companies charged retailers a small fee for having credit card terminals available, however, I did not know that it is a 2% fee. So, gas stations with their small margin of profit on gas, lose money the higher the price of gas goes due to those credit card fees that eat into their profit margin.
The credit card companies don't kill us enough on interest rates, hidden fees, late fees and all sorts of other excuses to charge us extra, they have to charge the retail outlets more?
That is the other industry that needs to be monitored more closely after the government cracks down on big oil. Credit companies screw millions of Americans and young college students every year, offering cards with limits people never will be able to repay based on the interest rate.
Just remember the next time you fill up at the pump though, pay in cash it will help not only your credit, not to pile more debt on your credit card, but it will also help the small business/gas station owner who is making little or nothing on your fill up. As much as we bitch about the price of gas, its not the station owners fault, they are stuck in the middle of the bitching consumer and the oil company, and now credit fees.
Maybe Blue Jay Management Can Take Some Pointers
Maybe the Blue Jays could takes some lessons from the "wanna be" Mets. The Mets fired manager Willie Randolph last night at 3 AM Eastern. A junk move, but for the Mets a necessary one. You see, Omar Minaya the Mets GM, might be the one who should have gone but at least he recognizes when his team is under achieving and a move needs to be made.
Blue Jays management should take a lesson from that. They should not be accepting of the mediocre results of late, especially, when they have a pitching staff that ranks as the best in the AL. Their line up is simply too good to be hitting as bad as they are.
Notice, I said Blue Jay management, not JP Riccardi. If they need to start by axing anyone it needs to be JP, unfortunately though, if JP goes, John Gibbons will follow, and maybe deservedly so. They have been overly patient with this team and its time to see this lineup come out of its funk.
If that doesn't happen soon, Ernie Whitt should be managing and a new man should be in the GM's seat. This season can still be saved, its not unreasonable for a team to make up 8-10 games. The Yankees came close to doing that last year, the Jays have done it in the past, Oakland is known for doing it, so it can be done. Mike Wilner on Jays Talk after the game the other day, made the point that they just have to be average in the batters box to start winning games.
Well, if JP and Gibbons can't deliver on average, its time to start looking for someone who can.
Category: Sports
Chicks Wielding Guitars
The other night when I was driving home from the Casino and the light show in the sky, a song by Hole came on that fit the attitude of mother nature perfectly. What ever happened to Courtney Love? Hole I thought was a decent grunge/punk band in the 90's and then nothing lately.
One thing is for sure, Courtney could handle a guitar like no other chick out there, this is Violet from 1994's Live Through This:
Category: Music
Hail and Wacky Weather
This was the size of the hail stones I was driving through today. Luckily I was close to an overpass and got my car safely under it for the duration. I can remember small hail or ice falling in summer thunderstorms but nothing quite like this.
Last night, driving home from the Seneca Niagara Casino on the Grand Island Bridge I saw mother natures light show. I also can't remember when I saw lightning like that either. It was downright wicked.
Today again, driving home from swim practice in Depew a massive downpour, rain so heavy some were forced to pull over.
Now, the next three days we are going back to early spring temps. So, lets see if we got this right, April was summery, May was fall-like and frosty, June warms up for the first 15 days and now its going back to fall again with a little spattering of mother natures fury in between.
Im confused, what friggin season is it?
Category: Weather
Big Bird's Big Secret
Like most from my generation, I was a huge Sesame Street guy, this video surprised me about Big Bird. The guy who does his voice has been doing it for 40 years and still going. He is 73 and also does Oscar the Grouch.
Check it out:
Category: Television
Wang Out, And So Will Yankees
Good news Jays fans, Chein Ming Wang will be out until at least September after injuring of all things, his foot while running the bases. Coming into this season, Wang was and should have been the ace of this staff. To this point the ace has been Mike Mussina.
If you are a Yankee fan and think that Mussina is going to pick up the slack in Wang's absence, guess again. Mussina might be having a good year, but lets face it, the guy looked washed up last year and hes 39 this year.
This pitching staff going into the season was fragile, with Wang out, barring some miracle trade, its broke and its just in time for the Jays to get the bats going and capitalize on the Yankees upcoming pitching woes. The Yankees might be able to slug their way out of a few games, but you need pitching to win.
Category: Sports
Tim Russert 1950-2008
I found this video today and I think it says it all. The song is beautiful and so are the pictures that go with it. I thouhgt it was very well put together and worthy of a post, I woke up this morning and turning on Meet the Press and I thought it was very tastefully done by Tom Brokaw, I have no idea how he held it together.
For Father's Day
You ask anyone in my family, I am not known for mushiness on special occasions, so I thought something with a bit of humor would do. But first the mushiness is appropriate today but only a little otherwise ill ruin my reputation, Happy Father's Day to my dad John, (who has put up with enough of me to last him a life time yet still has been there through the years), my father in law Jim, and all the other father's out there. The events of Friday made us all realize how short life is yet again and to take every moment you can and make the most of it.
Thats enough of the seriousness, I thought we could use some laughs after the sombering start to the weekend from one of the greatest dad's in TV history, Homer:
Category: Happy Father's Day
Polar Bears Fair Game Again
Apparently the Polar Bear is not as threatened as we thought, either that or George Bush and his lack of an environmental conscience are at it again. Im sure Ill get all the negative comments about screw the polar bear we need oil and get called all sorts of names like commie pig or tree hugger or some shit like that and so be it.
This is another example of how the Bush administration makes a law only to break it. The polar bear is threatened yet, oil companies (because the Bush administration was probably paid off by the oil companies and they were to the tune of $2,500,000,000 for these contracts) get freedom from the threatened status and the penalties that go with it. The federal government gave away public lands to private oil companies who when they are through with it will leave it a shadow of its former pristine self with nary a penalty to pay.These are people in the White House that would take your home if they thought there was any oil under it.
Its not unlike the lack of the superfund bill that holds coorporations accountable for toxic landfill cleanup. Only in this instance, the federal government is basically saying, go in, do your damage and there will be no punishment if you damage it. Its disgraceful and an insult to our intelligence as citizens of a country that should have learned its lesson with the near extinction of the Bald Eagle.
I grant you that according to the article no polar bear has been killed by an oil company since the 1970s, maybe not directly. The habitat that will be taken from these creatures by the hundreds of miles of roads and refineries and loss of ice that will occurr will surely indirectly affect the bears habitat and ability to thrive in this area.
Im not saying that oil companies shouldn't drill for oil, but I see little being done to address the need for other sources of fuel. I see little being done to introduce more ethanol into the fuel we use, more hydrogen power, wind power and using other things to decrease our dependence.
For as much as they are going to get out of this, I hope its worth it. Realistically, we won't see a drop of this oil, even if there is any for at least 5-10 years and even if they do find oil, how much is there that is realistically going to put a dent in our appetite as a country that uses 20+ million barrels a day. You are going to have 5 companies competing for what? Maybe 1,000,000 barrels a day? Thats 1/20th of what we use now.
I one day want to take my future kids to Alaska and I would like to see polar bears still there without seeing huge refineries and drilling rigs.
Category: Politics | environment | oil/gas
It Is No Longer A War
I read in the paper this morning that there were fewer deaths in Iraqi war (15) than in Afghanistan last month (19). Thats great. Really. Its time to stop calling it a war and start calling it an OCCUPATION.
There are probably 15 murders a month in the city of Buffalo, the only difference is the federal government isn't sending Buffalo billions of dollars every month.
My point is, for 15 US lives do we really need to be there anymore? If its not about Bin Laden, its not about the oil, leave well enough alone, save face and get out. Stop wasting the billions there, that could be spent here.
Give me a break on the Al Qaeda is in Iraq bit, they are not going to follow us home if we leave. They want us out so they can govern themselves. They have no weapons of mass destruction and honestly, if they are going to start a civil war after we leave, good, let them go at it with each other, at least we are out safe and the money can be better spent here.
There is always, ALWAYS going to be violence in the middle east long after our troops are home, if you think otherwise you are just kidding yourself. So to stay there until there are no deaths, thats never going to happen. So call it what ever you want, but to me its an occupation of a country. Maybe, we can make it the 51st state before the election and count their votes for our next president. We send enough money there, we might as well make it one of ours.
No, This Is a Two Sport Town
VS 
I have to disagree with Bob DiCesare's column in Friday's Buffalo News.Not counting the Bisons, this is a two sport town here in Buffalo. Its not a "Football town" and its not a "Hockey Town".
The way I see it, fans in Buffalo are of three mindsets:
1. You are a die hard Bills fan and the Sabres come a distant second.
2. You are a die hard Sabres fan and the Bills come a distant second.
Or, most people in the area fit into this category:
3. You like both equally and you live and die with both.
I am of the second variety, always have, always will. I love hockey, I love baseball. I would say I like the Bisons more than I like the Bills. I have actually morphed into a Browns fan over the years so the Bills really don't fall on my radar other than they represent the area and I do root for them for that purpose, otherwise, Im looking for the Cleveland score during football season.
The Bills have had shitty team after shitty team the last 10 years or so and as fans why do you keep going back? Every year it seems they get sell out after sell out. Either fans are brainwashed or stupid for going back.
The Sabres, while they have had their problems are always there for us, they may not make the playoffs every year, but for all intensive purposes, they compete. What would we do here after December without the Sabres? We'd freeze our asses off and beg for spring for four months?
We need hockey more than we need a greedy NFL team here. I don't think its that Buffalo is too small a market for the Bills, I think its more that the NFL has outgrown Buffalo. They don't give a crap about ticket holders in the NFL. They don't need a fan in any seat to be successful because they have television money and get a hell of a lot more marketing money in revenue sharing than they can make in ticket sales.
Hockey starts in September and goes to at least April. We need that here, it keeps us busy and our minds off how shitty the weather is. Unlike the NFL, they are not too big for us, they need the ticket holders and ticket holders get treated as such. The Sabres and yes the NHL for all intensive purposes despite Gary Bettman's short comings have always had the fans in mind. Oh and by the way, the Sabres are also a well run, playoff contender, unlike the other franchise.
Hip For The Hell Of It
This is actually a pretty decent live version filmed by a fan of Gus The Polar Bear. One of the best live Hip songs. Its a tune off one of my favorite Hip cds, In Between Evolution. I saw them on that tour twice, one of the shows was New Years Eve in Hamilton.
Say hi to a live shot of Gus The Polar Bear:
Category: Music
Marshawn Lynch Needs To Come Forward
This Marshawn Lynch thing has had time to sink in and to be honest, why is the guy not coming forward and just saying yeah it was or wasn't me, and if it was, saying yeah, I screwed up, whats the punishment?
I understand people make mistakes, the guy had a crystal clean record before, hes a good guy prior to this, but a night on Chippewa Street makes very few people into saints.
Something is up here, I don't know what, but my gut tells me, maybe he wasn't driving the car. If he was, why is it taking so long? The guy seems like a stand up guy and if he was behind the wheel, he would have taken responsibility. Why else are they interviewing half the team, including Bills owner Ralph Wilson. Something just isn't right.
Its really just the Bills luck, they are ready to have a respectable season and now this happens.There are other players potentially involved too. If this flows over into the regular season or his preseason is cut short by any of this he could get off to a slow start which is not what this football team needs.
Of course for Marshawn right now, its not entirely about the football now is it?
Tim Russert Dead At 58
Tim Russert passed away today. He died of a heart attack. The entire news world and the Western New York area will be shocked to hear and see this news. I know I was. At only 58, he was one of the most intelligent and politically savy news media members and always presented himself with poise and had great knowledge of the topics he covered with all politicians and guests on his show Meet the Press.
I watched Meet the Press religiously and always enjoyed hearing him because like some members of the media, he never took sides, always was fair and he was just a nice guy to listen to.
Its a shock and it hits home as Russert was a Buffalo boy as well, growing up in south Buffalo. He will be missed for his on air presence. This will hit the news world hard because he was well respected and liked amongst all.
The Real John McCain
Youtube puts a huge spot light on candidates with the ability to post bits and sound bytes immediately. They say that was part of what hurt Hillary on her way to the nomination and if thats the case, it should hurt McCain as well.
You all have been saying how Obama flip flops, check out grammpy McCain:
Category: Politics
Over Fished
Im an environmentalist at heart and this article is worth the read. Many commercial fisheries are struggling right now due to a decline in fish populations. The cod fisheries in the northeast have been struggling and many claim globalization of the fish market is putting a strain on the oceans ability to feed us.
This article is the first in a series from the Christian Science Monitor that goes in depth into the state of the oceans. Many fisherman are on the quota system and can only bring in so many before calling it a season. One fishing family in particular bought a second boat for clamming because that is an all year round species.
There are a few parts to it and several good links that provide some indepth looks at other environmental hot spots. It is a delicate balance between us and nature and many things point to the need for some balance and conservation in there somewhere.
Category: environment
New Ipod Laws in the Great White North
You walk into a record store like Borders Books and Music, Barnes and Nobles, Best Buy or one of those mass media/electronics music stores and you purchase a new CD. You take it home wanting to rip it to MP3 to use on your personal Ipod and you can't. Its coded and if you try to break it or are successful in doing so there is a $20,000 fine in it for you.
That is what the conservative government of Canada proposes to do if someone is caught downloading a CD or DVD to their computer even for personal use. Mike Boon posted on this today and for someone like me who has ripped over 6500 songs onto his Ipod and someone like Mike who has displayed his MP3s on his website, its scary.
I hope the US doesn't get a hold of this idea. It would simply not be fair to consumers. When I buy a CD or DVD I have a right to copy it for personal use however I want to. If I want to copy it to MP3, cassette, a blank CD, as long as I am not selling it for a profit, what does the federal government care what I do with it? Good luck peoples to the north, fight this one so we can show that it wasn't a good idea here too.
Category: Music
It's Gotta Be The Suit
As the Olympics get closer I'll be previewing my favorite sport, the US swim team but this was in interesting story.
Japan, lifted a ban on swimmers from wearing suits not made in Japan. This included many of the high tech body suits made by Speedo, Tyr and Nike. Japanese swimmers were limited only to those suits made domestically.
Now, I swam for nearly 10 years competitively and the suit has never made the difference for me, We didn't have body suits, we didn't have fancy suits, just a plain speedo racing suit.
As a coach, even I know its not the suit, its the technique that wins you races. So Japan can endorse or allow any suit they want, but in the end, ya just have to be good.
Category: Swimming
New Cure
The Cure have been around since 1976 and still going strong. In September they will release a double CD that will sell for the price of a single album, because as Robert Smith puts it, he believes strongly in the record. Until September 13th, the Cure will release 4 singles every month on the 13th of each month. So typical of Robert and the boys to tease and tease and tease the fans.
So far so good too. This is the first single The Only One:
Category: Music
Can't Eat The Fish
How sad is it that we have polluted the greatest mass of readily available fresh water to the point where you literally can't eat anything in it. Most species are limited to eating one a month and still others, you can't eat any due to pollution by humans.
PCBs are the main culprit around here. They are polychlorinated biphenyls. They were banned in the 70s but they don't go away and build up in the fat of the fish over time.
Dioxins also play a role around here especially the stuff that has leaked from the Love Canal and the S dump which is actually bigger than the Love Canal. Dioxins are the same but come from burning smoke of motors and ash/soot and trash burning. Gee can't think of anywhere we would burn trash around here.....(two big piles of garbage on either end of the Grand Island Bridges ring a bell?).
Its sad. The largest mass of fresh water and its essentially no better off today than it was in the 70's. From foreign species that have invaded them due to our lax laws on shipping to the chemicals we dump into them. I found this on the WGRZ Channel 2 website if you want to investigate further.
I try to go out fishing a few times a summer and I have been out twice so far this year. I love going but it sucks when you catch something and know that you can't eat it even if it was a keeper.
Category: environment
Beating The War Drums
Is Bush and the administration desparate or what? After all the bullshit and the potential impeachment, he wants to go out with a bang. You already fucked us good for the next generation to clean up your mess might as well do it up right there Mr. Idiot.
George is not ruling out military strikes in Iran. He can't be serious. IF he is, he needs to be committed and taken out of office now, not later, now.
This is the same bullshit war drums that were beating before Iraq, and with the end near for his administration you can see the spin machine trying to a) stir up some distractions so as to get the attention off the better candidate (Obama) b) Trying to save his legacy.
There is no saving anything at this point. There are 35 legitimate articles of impeachment on the table against them. They should be concentrating on staying in office till January at this point. The only thing this administration should even think about bombing at this point is somewhere that they think Bin Laden is, if its not Iran then they have no business being there. Iran is not threatening us.
Everytime the idiot opens his mouth and mentions military strike on Iran, gas and oil prices get jittery too. So, Mr. idiot, shut the fuck up, you have 7 months and 7 days left, give or take a day, and don't do anything stupid like you have done the previous 7 1/2 years and everything will be fine and dandy.
Iraq War Facts
I recently got a subsciption to The Nation, it is a progressive political paper that has lots of great articles on current political events. These are some numbers I noted in my latest issue that just scream for some attention:
Fact: Pay per day for a US Army Sergeant in Iraq is $71.53
Fact: Pay per day for General Petraeus is $493.15
Fact: Pay per day for a Blackwater Security Specialist: $1,221.62
Why are our armed services not on strike over this? Blackwater is the private contractor who contracts out their "security specialists" to fight next to our soldiers in Iraq. They are paid by our government to assist our armed services in fighting a military war.
If I am one of our military I put my gun down, take off my uniform and fly my ass back here demanding some answers as to why they are getting paid $71.53 a day vs. some private company's "security specialists" getting over $1000 a day.
George Bush and co. have effectively privatized our military and wasted taxpayer dollars on Blackwater. Chalk it up and yes, its in the articles of impeachment. No wonder why they haven't gotten the appropriate medical care and body armor, it has all gone to Blackwater.
Category: News
One More Little Tidbit
The impeachment articles were not just about the Iraq war. George W. Bush has also been the worst president involving the environment. Laws made to protect our precious resources have been obliterated by this agency including one that played a big role in my families life, the Superfund bill which was designed to force coorporations to cleam up their shit if they choose to dump into a landfill on public land. That bill no longer is funded and thus landfills filled with toxic waste are no longer being cleaned up because the Bush administration choose to let industry not be responsible for their fuck ups.
Here is evidence of this administrations brain washing its following on global warming and climate change, this directly out of the Kucinich impeachment papers:
"4. A December 2004 paper in Science reviewed 928 studies published in peer reviewed journals to determine the number providing evidence against the existence of a link between anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide and climate change. "Remarkably, none of the papers disagreed with the consensus position."
In addition:
" In December of 2007, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued a report based on 16 months of investigation and 27,000 pages of documentation. According to the summary: "The evidence before the Committee leads to one inescapable conclusion: the Bush Administration has engaged in a systematic effort to manipulate climate change science and mislead policy makers and the public about the dangers of global warming." The report described how the White House appointed former petroleum industry lobbyist Phil Cooney as head of the Council on Environmental Quality. The report states "There was a systematic White House effort to minimize the significance of climate change by editing climate change reports. CEQ Chief of Staff Phil Cooney and other CEQ officials made at least 294 edits to the Administration's Strategic Plan of the Climate Change Science Program to exaggerate or emphasize scientific uncertainties or to de-emphasize or diminish the importance of the human role in global warming."
Thats just great, an oil lobbyist as head of the COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY!!!!!!!!!!! HOW DO YOU APPOINT HIM TO A ROLE THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE A WATCH DOG FOR THE ENVIRONMENT. His interests are big oil's interest, he doesn't give a shit about the environment.
How much more evidence do you need that we have all been mislead by this administration. I beg you to go read the rest of this its horrendous what this administration has gotten away with.
Clinton got a blow job and got impeached, Bush has a 65 page rap sheet of things a hell of a lot worse than Clinton having sex.
Category: Global Warming | News | Politics | environment
Articles of Impeachment
Congressional leaders Dennis Kucinich and Robert Wexler finally were two who had enough balls to do what should been done to Bush a year ago. Present articles of impeachment. Dennis Kucinich was one of my choices for president before he bowed out of the race, but he is doing more good right now bringing the heat to George W. and deservedly so. These are all 35 counts of impeachment that Dennis Kucinich read to congress yesterday, he will most likely take them to the senate next.
INDEX
Article I
Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq.
Article II
Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression.
Article III
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War.
Article IV
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States.
Article V
Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression.
Article VI
Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of H. J. Res114.
Article VII
Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.
Article VIII
Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter.
Article IX
Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor.
Article X
Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes.
Article XI
Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq.
Article XII
Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation's Natural Resources.
Article XIIII
Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries.
Article XIV
Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Article XV
Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq.
Article XVI
Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors.
Article XVII
Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives.
Article XVIII
Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy.
Article XIX
Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to "Black Sites" Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture.
Article XX
Imprisoning Children.
Article XXI
Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government.
Article XXII
Creating Secret Laws.
Article XXIII
Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.
Article XXIV
Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment.
Article XXV
Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens.
Article XXVI
Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements.
Article XXVII
Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply.
Article XXVIII
Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice.
Article XXIX
Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Article XXX
Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare.
Article XXXI
Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency.
Article XXXII
Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change.
Article XXXIII
Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.
Article XXXIV
Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001.
Article XXXV
Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders.
Want more info, go to Dennis Kucinich's website, it provides in depth detail on each charge. 65 pages that he spent 4+ hours reading to congress.
Rookies Coming From Portland
The Sabres have been stocking up on rookies and draft picks, signing new players into the fold because officially, as of today, they have their own farm team, the Portland Pirates will replace long time farm team the Rochester Americans as the affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres.
Im a little sad to see Rochester go, not only because Buffalo has a ton of fans in Rochester because of the proximity but because its been such a long history with Rochester.
However, Rochester has had their problems and the problems were too big to be ignored and so Buffalo picks up a farm team with a rich history and one that has a lot of support from the community.
What it will also mean is a full squad from which Buffalo can draw upon for call ups instead of a half team in Rocherster, which for the last few years they were sharing with the Florida Panthers. It will mean a little more depth is available and with the injuries they have had at times the last two years, it will be nice to know your not limited in your call ups.
So, welcome aboard Portland peoples!
Can't Blame Democrats
When you take all the non-action into consideration over the oil price spikes you can't blame the democrats. They tried to pass a bill that would put a wind fall profit tax on big oil. The Republicans voted it down.
Big oil should be taxed more heavily. They are taking huge profits, $36 BILLION in the first three months of this year alone in profit and doing what exactly? They are not using it to research and provide alternative fuels for us. I have never, not once, seen an ethanol pump or a hydrogen pump.
So where are these profits going? The American people should demand more from big oil and they should demand more from our government. Most of the taxes that they would be asked to pay would be putting back what was there before the Bush administration gave them tax breaks when he took office.
Republicans would argue that taxing big oil would result in higher prices at the pump because if you tax something they have to charge more for it. Well here comes my argument:
1. Even if you tax them say, 10%, thats about $4 billion out of the $36 billion profited. Im sure that they can survive with only $32 billion and not have to raise prices.
2. They have been given tax breaks already, 8 years of tax breaks under Bush and look where that has gotten us. If this is where prices have gone with those tax breaks, then tax the shit out of them.
In addition, these are not just oil companies, they are energy companies. At least thats what all their executives said at the senate hearings as the senators questioned them. They all said they were more than just oil companies. If thats the case, their responsibility is to develop alternatives that would replace the oil that George W. said we were addicted to.
If they are not responsible enough to do that with their profits then the government needs to stand up for the American people and do something to solve the problem. That is where the taxes from big oil should and probably will in part go to.
Lastly, each and every executive at that senate hearing forgot their salaries and each and every one of them conveniently forgot how much money their respective companies were spending on research and development of alternative energies. One executive and I believe it was Exxon Mobil said he believed it to be $20 million. Hes got to be kidding. They can spit $20 million for how much profit they take in. $20 million into research of alternative energy is NOTHING.
So, the Republicans should be feeling the heat from the American public after this latest vote and I hope the democrats keep their feet to the fire because to vote this down is disgusting. It shows just how deep the oil companies are into the GOP's pockets. Im sure every republican senator who voted this bill down got their pockets lined with big oil money.
Come November, big oil will not have Bush and his cronies in power and it will be a whole new ball game.
Happy Birthday Les Paul
Les Paul is 93 today. He was born Lester William Polsfuss on June 9th, 1915. He is a jazz guitarist and invented the first electric guitar.
Where would music be without Les Paul? I shudder to think. He still plays two shows every Monday night at the Iridium Jazz Club. At 93, thats friggin awesome. He ranks as the 46 best guitarist of all time according to Rolling Stone. How could the inventor of the electric guitar be ranked so low? Rock On Les!
This is a sample of his show at the Iridium. Its a clip from 2006 at 91 years old, still sharp as ever.
Category: Music
Closet Fan
From time to time Ill post on a band or anything that I would consider myself a closet fan of. I don't know if Huey Lewis and the News counts because I think they have some really good tunes. Their greatest hits collection just flat out rocks.
I saw them a few years back play at what was then Pilot Field in Buffalo after a Bisons Game and Id like to see them again. They are playing Seneca Allegany Casino this month, though Im going to miss them again.
How can you not like a band that sings about a new drug, a couple days off and the power of love? This is one of my favorite Huey tunes, Couple Days Off: (Notice in the video, he is filling his car up for .91 a gallon, those were the days)
Category: Music
Listen to the Lies
Here ya go, this video features George W. Bush getting asked straight out what did Iraq have to do with 9/11 (the whole reason this administration advertised as the reason for going in there in the first place). His answer: NOTHING! After he says that, he stumbles over his words and looks like a fool trying to make up the next batch of lies, He would have been better off bending over, pulling down his pants and speaking into the microphone through his pasty, white ass.
He is sooo full of shit when he says that nobody in the administration suggested that Saddam had anything to do with 9/11, please, that was their whole argument.
BTW where is Bin Laden?
Category: Politics
Socializing Energy and Healthcare
Two things that should be socialized are Energy and Healthcare. Canada has done it successfully, Britain has done it successfully, France, Cuba, and last time I checked not all those countries are communist countries.
Those who are against it are ultra republican, free market rules everything. Fine for you, we will privatize schools, police and fire. However, if we do this, we must warn you that before the police or fire can come to your home you will have to be able to pay up front.
Think about that, if police and fire protection were not socialized we would be paying for those too. We do pay for them in taxes, but I guarantee that its cheaper paying taxes to get those services than it would be paying out of pocket for a fire truck to pull up to your home. Who would want to live in a country where police and fire protection are not available 24/7 if needed.
The same can be said for energy. The government shouldn't necessarily be responsible for drilling and exploration but they should have some price controls in place.
Healthcare should be guaranteed to every citizen of the United States. Healthcare is not a privilege, its a right. plain and simple. It should be a single payer, government run system which would guarantee health coverage to every single solitary US citizen.
Category: Politics | healthcare | oil/gas
Sabres News
Its been awhile since I felt like saying much but so far the offseason has been decent. The draft is coming up and Im expecting a few moves out of Darcy and the Sabres.
Dimitri Kalinin not being offered a contract came as expected yet I viewed it with mixed emotions. I think they will miss Kalinin. No he wasn't a great defenseman, but he had more good games than bad and even on nights where he was a non-factor, he at least did you no harm.
I think we will look back on his departure as we did Richard Shmelik. We wanted him gone too (well most of us). Next year we are going to get to a game and wish we had Dimitri on that bench.
There remains to be a few more moves that need to happen in order to move this team forward:
1. Andrew Peters must go. Enough wasting the league minimum on this guy.
2. Max Nation must relocate. Sorry Max, we have waited long enough to see your talents not come to their full potential, we wish you luck else where, say in LA or somewhere west.
3. Teppo- It was great while it lasted, maybe there is room behind the bench.
I love the signings of the young prospects Nathan Gerbe and Tim Kennedy. I would not be surprised in the least to see more trading to shore up defensively or once Max is off the books a semi-big name free agent defenceman. or two. I also wouldn't be against trading Spacek for a prospect and turning his salary into a younger stud defenseman.
History of the Past Week
I am going to finish off today with what was the most historical moment that my generation will see. Barack Obama becoming the nominee for the democratic party.
The first African American to run for President. Think about that and the reality and the history of the moment really sets in. In November we could see history.
This guy puts fear into republicans because he is the first presidential candidate since Kennedy to excite the people as much as he does. He may not have a ton of experience but what he lacks in that area he will more than make up for it in enthusiasm, honesty and integrity.
Yeah, I said it, an honest politician. I think he may be the one and only honest one. He will surround himself with experience and when you listen to him talk, he is not a divisive speaker, he speaks as someone who is out to unite people, this country sorely needs that.
Unfortunately, the bad news of the week including oil prices, job losses, financial woes, and senseless talk of Hillary for Vice President has clouded the importance of this moment. So, I think its so important to watch this speech and understand the importance of the man making it.
Absolutely Disgusting
I was driving down Elmwood Ave. to do groceries and the Gay Pride Parade was concluding. I saw the most dispicable sight I think you could ask to see up close and in person. People who say they are doing God's work by holding signs like this.
Yes these racist, overly religious assholes were hanging out by the Gay Pride events. I felt like rolling down my window and telling them off, but some people having a good time in front of a home on Elmwood were already giving them a piece of their mind. Add to the fact that it wasn't just adults holding up these signs, it was children too.
Do they really have nothing better to do with their pathetic lives than to use God as a front for what their real problem is? These people are sick. I had a chance to run them over, which is probably what they deserve and I didn't take it. They crossed right in front of my car at an intersection and my stomach churned with every step they took. I wanted to run them down and I didn't, for that I am sorry. I thought about it, and thought for as much as I might be doing the world a favor, this is not what this day is about for people who are gay.
Its about love and freedom. So as much as this message is wrong, they have the freedom to be psychos. Though as much as I support free speech and our constitution, this kind of free speech should be eliminated, its a hate crime and their signs say as much. God doesn't hate fags, the people holding the signs do. They are not doing gods work and gays are not going to hell, you are for being racist, backwards slugs. They are no better than the sickos who stand out in front of abortion clinics. They are wack jobs.
You can't defend what they are doing and if you try to get into a battle, without even knowing you they say you are going to hell for supporting gay rights or for not being on their side. They can't defend it except for repeating what their signs say, which actually, the mentality and education these people have, Im surprised they can even read to make these signs. They are the most ignorant of all ignorant people.
The religion that they say they are from features a God if you believe in that sort of stuff who would love all, no matter what they are or what walk of life they come from. But seeing this is why I am glad I don't follow any religion and don't believe in God. Because people like that exist and believe me, they are in every church. They are the ones who take the Bible and interpret it literally or in the case of these people, misinterpret it, and that folks, is dangerous.
Category: religion
Northern Soul
A new song from 5440 features the animated video from Ontario artist Sol Friedman. Its a great video and a great song with a great anti-war message. Hopefully 5440 will have a new full length release out soon, I miss the music of these guys. They are playing Club Infinity here in Buffalo June 27th, unfortunately I will not be in town to see them as Im flying to Florida that day.
Category: Music
Whats The Big Deal?
The new 3G iPhone is being compared to sex. They ask the question in the article whether or not it is better than food and sex amongst other things.
Frankly, I don't see the big deal. Its a friggin phone. My cell phone is perfect, it rings, it dials numbers when I need it too and I talk to people on it. I don't need a fancy cell phone that stores more than my computer and I don't need one that plays music or games.
I have my IPod for music and thats enough. I don't need anymore than that. Cell phones have gone way overboard and to me they get so many features that they border on annoying. Some people get going with crap on their phones to the point where you want to tear it out of their hand and throw it into a friggin toilet.
Our society has become so ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and cell phones have contributed significantly to that characteristic of us. With all this information at our finger tips we get distracted easily from the real time. Sometimes to the point where it borders on just flat rudeness.
Throw in the trouble that kids are getting into using cell phones these days and you have yourself something that is over priced and over ratted. Its a luxury to have one of these and nothing more. Does anyone ever buy one of these things and use every single feature? My guess is no.
Maybe its just me but I don't need anymore than what I have, the iPhone can stay right where it is, locked up on a shelf at the Apple Store.
Category: Miscellaneous
Sunday Retro
Today's Sunday Retro involves a little history lesson as well. OMD (aka Orchestral Maneuvers In The Dark) released the 7" single for Enola Gay on September 26th, 1980. It was about the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945. They wrote the song protesting the use of the bomb back then and the lyrics suggested as much. Listen for lines like "Is mother proud of Little Boy today", which specifically refers to the name of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima they called it "Little Boy" as it was the first to be dropped.Its a great little synth pop/new wave tune that really helped define the synth movement of the 80's without the cheesiness of other crappy synth bands/artists that showed up later.
Category: Music
Jim McKay 1921-2008
Jim McKay passed away and I remember him like most of us do for Wide World of Sports on ABC. He told of the unique sporting events he covered in such story book fashion that you couldn't help but be hooked.
As a kid I really enjoyed watching Wide World of Sports. In a day and age were the money dominates, we could use a sports show like Wide World of Sports, providing us a different view other than the big money, greedy athletes we see.
Category: Celebrities | Sports | Television
GO TO THE GREEK FESTIVAL!
I have been going to the Greek Festival every year pretty much since I was 13. Its one of the best festivals in all of Buffalo, it keeps the Greek Heritage as part of the festival unlike some other festivals that "Americanize" the heritage like the Italian Festival that is really just a bunch of American-Italian restaurants. It is the true start of summer for me.
The Buffalo Hellenic Festival offers Greek dancers and traditional Greek music, foods, wines, beers including my favorite, the lamb slouvaki.
One man who we honor when we go is Mr. John Koukaz. He was a Greek man who I saw for homecare. He was a business leader in the WNY area and was respected by many. We became good friends and he passed away a few years back. It was because of him that I passed my physical therapy board exam.
I was going to go study, but he had other ideas for me to pass, he said "here take this, ($50), go to the Greek Festival, have beer on me" in one of the thickest Greek accents you ever heard.
And so we did, and the tradition lives on. Long live the spirit of Mr. Koukaz, and see you all at the Greek Festival tonight celebrating the Greek in all us.
Category: Miscellaneous
Wake Up!
Alright, time to wake up from this four game nightmare....TOMORROW.
I got in last night just in time to see the leagues 2nd best bullpen blow a 4-0 lead by giving up 3 home runs. Two of those from now departed Armando Benitez. Bye.
Today the Jays made some rather interesting moves, taking Vernon Wells off the disabled list from his broken wrist, predictable that as soon as their good fortunes turn to dust that they hurried him back into action. Aaron Hill who has been out since May 30th went on the DL.
I hope they are not rushing Vernon back, we saw this last year with Lyle Overbay and his bad wrist/hand. He hit like shit all year because of the pain in his hand. Wrists are not easy to heal so I hope Vernon is 100%. While they are starting to miss him, it would really suck if he has come back too early and he ends up missing more time because of it.
So today was another loss 9-5. Will the real AJ Burnett please stand up? He has a great start then a junk start. He also made a sarcastic tip of the hat to the fans which Im sure that will go over well with the Blue Jay faithful.
As far as I'm concerned, if there is a taker for AJ at the trade deadline who is willing to overpay for an injury prone, .500 pitcher, make the move, maybe Gustavo Chacin will be ready for some action by then.
Category: Sports
We Should Be Listening To This Guy
Peak oil, this expert on MSNBC is the guy we should be listening to when it comes to the oil price spikes. Not only should we be listening, we should be getting more leadership from our president and willing to work with the house and senate on getting an energy bill drafted that makes sense.
Category: oil/gas
Arnie Singing About Steroids
With the Olympics coming up we are almost certain to hear more steroid stories in addition to the baseball stuff especially with Barry Bonds going to trial.
In this a cartoon Arnold makes a comedic case for the juice:.
Category: Miscellaneous | Music | Sports
I Woke Up, Went To Work And.......
Some loose ends then Im out to sweat and cut our postage stamp size lawn, then to a time trials at the Tonawanda Aquatic and Fitness Center.
- Oil goes up $11 in one day a one day record spike, the stock market plummets, Israel wants to bomb Iran (good luck with that Israel, let us know how that shakes out cause the US should not come to your aid), Clinton and Obama make niceties, unemployment increases......
- Whats next? According to Morgan Stanley $150 oil by July 4th. Yeah....Im going to find a third job, can we lengthen the work week? I want to work more hours but I need more time to sleep if Im going to work more. Lets have 36 hour days, so I can work 20+ hours in a day and still have a decent chunk for "me/family time".
- I feel sorry for the people working two and three even four jobs to make ends meet. Our secretary/aid works three jobs, thats not a life, thats insane and no American should have to do that just to get by. Everyone needs some down time, working three jobs there is none.
- I think with how high prices are going we could raise minimum wage to say where it should be $10-15/hr. Whats the friggin difference if retailers have to raise their prices up a few more cents to cover the cost of increase minimum wage, somehow you need a cost of living adjustment for working people.
- Then the senate votes down the energy bill because they think that using less fuel and developing cleaner energy will cost more? I see how that won't work after all our current strategy is working just fine. (see above oil prices)
Category: Miscellaneous | News
Chicks on Trampolines
I used to be a big fan of The Man Show, which starred Jimmy Kimmel on the comedy channel. One of their little fun clips during the show was chicks jumping on trampolines. This is for you Hank by request, straight from The Man Show, hot chicks jumping on trampolines:
Category: Miscellaneous | Television | comedy
Why Isn't This Bigger News
The talk the last couple days has been about Hillary, the loser of a long, drawn out and often over discussed democratic primary.
Why isn't the talk about Barack Obama becoming the first African American to become the presidential nominee for either party? This is historical.
Who cares what part Hillary is going to play, Barack Obama is the presidential nominee and no matter what anyone says about Hilary, it is his choice and no one elses. There is even a petition going around to get Hiliary on the ticket.
I have a petition and its for Hillary to shut her trap after she bows out of the race this Saturday unless it is in un-dying support for Barack Obama. In the mean time, we should be celebrating this moment, 150 years ago we were in a civil war over slavery, now, an African American has a chance to be the president of our country.
Im sure Martin Luther King and every other person who has fought the civil rights fight is smiling over this moment in our history. Shame on the media for making this about what Hillary wants.
Category: Politics
Defending Ethanol
Brazil is set to defend its position and use of ethanol stating that if done right, ethanol can sustain energy needs. At a UN summit on food security, with all respect to South America and specifically Brazil, why is it that it is not the US doing the talking at this summit and teaching the world about its successful energy independence.
I think its sad. Even if not the US, why not Japan, China, Russia, or Canada? Some industrialized country should be taking the lead on this. But instead we bitch and argue over a treaty about how best to solve global warming and ignore high fuel prices. Instead we bitch about fuel prices and ignore the solutions.
We can all learn a thing or two from Brazil and the sooner we do, the better. I hope that our leaders in this country are listening. They certainly don't listen to us. Instead their ideas include drilling for more oil, which really, is what got us to this energy conundrum in the first place. Its time for our elected officials to step it up and promote this issue. There are times when the government has to force choices upon us for the good of the people and this is one of those times.
The problem is, as long as our president's last name is Bush or is a republican, we will continue with the same energy policies we have right now.
Category: News | Science | environment
Extinctions At Highest Rate Ever
This is a May 16th article that discusses the mass extinctions we have seen globally in the last 35 years. The rate of extinctions is currently 10,000 times what is considered normal by scientists and we haven't seen an extinction rate like this since the dinosaurs disappeared.
The cause? Humans. For you who doubt it, the most interesting statistic in the article is that since 1960 the human population has doubled while animal populations have declined by 30%.
How can this be stopped? By not destroying natural habitats. We want to go into national parks and wildlife areas and drill, drill, drill for oil and we think this is fine because it won't hurt anything. Yes it will. It will hurt the biodiversity of this planet that is probably already damaged beyond repair.
Look at the coral reefs and rain forests that are dying out and destroyed, all due to humans. We need coral reefs and rainforests, they support thousands, if not millions of species some that could provide cures for diseases, yet in another article I read the second largest rainforest in the world is expected to be 50% of its former self by 2020.
So whether its via global warming that many still don't believe in, or via loss of the planets species, that we absolutely need to support food chains and thus ourselves, we do need to conserve and change our mass consuming life styles. Maybe you don't believe in global warming, but you can not dispute the loss of important species to this planet and their importance to us.
Category: environment
CAN WE PLEASE END THE JOBA WATCH?
Okay, he started, can we please stop calling it the Joba watch? Whats the big friggin deal? He got eaten alive by the Jays, he showed nothing special with a 2 1/3 inning whopping start and threw 62 pitches thats about 186 pitches over 7 innings, thats awful is what that is.
He has been treated like some god or something and he is just another pitcher. If I were the Yankee faithful, I'd be more interested in watching their freefall down the standings than watching mediocre pitchers and their god awful starts. They treat this guy with kid gloves and why? Hes a professional pitcher being treated like hes a little leaguer getting ready to throw his first curveball. Enough already. Jesse Litsch is 7-1 and the Jays 5th starter. Theres a guy to watch, Roy Halladay is leading the world in complete games, there is a guy to watch.
If I were the Yankees fans out there I would start asking why they signed A-Rod to a 27+ million a year deal that will see him turn 40 as a Yankee and probably under perform in relation to the size of the contract and instead didn't go out and fortify their awful picthing.
After Chamberlain, the bullpen was awful. If thats what the Yankees have before Mariano gets out there, its a wonder they ever get to Mariano in the 9th. They are a team that looks flat and overpaid.
Don't put this on Girardi's shoulders either, he is managing a collection of egos and a team that is aging and going to see more of the DL than they have in the past. Its amazing that Mike Mussina is 8-4. Im sitting here listening to the Yankee announcers say that they didn't think that Joba's start today wasn't that bad. What game were they watching? If that wasn't bad then its going to be a long rest of the year for the Yankees.
Theres still plenty of room on the Jays wagon. Im starting the Doc watch, because I only watch quality ball players do quality things. What is the Doc at? 5 complete games. The Doc Watch Starts today
Category: Sports
US Automakers Have Only Selves To Blame
As Toyota and Honda and other foreign car makers continue to outsell Ford, GM and Chrysler, really the US car companies have only themselves to blame.
As fuel prices go up they refuse to change their models to reflect what the American consumer wants. Economy and a car that performs consistently. I have owned two Toyotas and both have lasted me 8 and now 7 years respectfully. Both have taken well over 100,000 miles on them and my first could have kept going.
My current Toyota is a 2001 Corolla that gets me anywhere from 27-35 miles per gallon. What US carmakers are not doing is improving the technology to get higher fuel economy. They can't sell US trucks and other vehicles that get crappy economy overseas because other countries ahve stricter fuel economy standards. Therefore, many US cars and trucks are obsolete overseas.
So, the only country that will buy US made, poor economy cars are US citizens. And now, even US citizens are going other places to buy their cars because gas prices are driving them to do so.
If US car makers don't wake up soon, it will be more than just the local auto plants around WNY shutting down, it will be the whole companies.
Category: News
Jays V. Yanks
This is it folks, Jays versus Yanks in the Bronx. This is the first big test. The Jays have a busy division schedule coming up before inter-league and the Yanks are step one.
Go to the Bronx and win the series. Thats all. Don't need a sweep though that would be nice, just win the series. Take two of three and show the Yanks that the Jays are for real.
We have a nice shot at getting half way there tomorrow with Doc on the mound. This series is where the new guys like Eckstein and Rolen need to show what they are made of and provide the leadership we all knew they would bring. This is also where a healthy Overbay and hot hitting Rod Barajas start making their contributions.
Nothing fancy, just win the series and do what the Jays have been doing all season, pitching well, the rest will come.
Category: Sports
Save The Clock Tower!
Back To The Future ranks right up there in my top ten favorite movies of all time. Huey Lewis and the News on the soundtrack, MJ Fox and the actors in that series of movies (especially the first one) put it way ahead of its time.
The fire at Universal Studios destroyed the Clock Tower from Back To the Future, a piece of movie history is gone folks! There is some extra junk at the end of the first scene of this Youtube video of that scene from BTTF.
Closet Fan
Everyone has something they are a fan of that they don't want anyone to know about, whether its watching American Idol or in my case I have several musical artists that I am a closet fan of.
Anyone who knows me, knows my musical taste ranges from anything relevant including including older artists like the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones to The Tragically Hip, Pearl Jam and The Cure to current stuff like Arcade Fire, The Arctic Monkeys and Hot Hot Heat.
What you may not know about me is that I have always liked: Debbie Gibson. I really liked her first two releases that included Shake Your Love and Electric Youth. Here is a little taste of some old Debbie:
Category: Music
Celebrating the Life of Diddley
Bo Diddley passed away today and all I can say is that musicians have come and gone, some have left their mark and influenced all sorts of bands and others come and go quietly.
Bo Diddley was one of those that influenced everyone from the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix to The Sex Pistols and the Clash to modern day rock bands like the The Tragically Hip and Pearl Jam. He came from a time when rock and roll was in its infancy with the likes of Chuck Berry.
His mark on music probably hasn't even been close to realized yet. I have a greatest hits of Bo Diddley and it was in my cassette player this afternoon (yes I still have those).
Here is a video of Bo Diddley vintage 1960 with Roadrunner.
Upgrading The Tunes
I decided to upgrade today, I am selling my now outdated and filled 30 GB IPOD and I went to Best Buy and bought an IPOD Classic. It is 160 GB, that is the same size as my laptops hard drive.
This will hold 40,000 songs. Right now I have 6,500 give or take a few. I think Im safe for a while. My next thing which will completely update all of my music collection and allow me to get rid of hundreds of cassettes, is to get the Plus Deck Ex which allows you to high speed dub cassettes directly to MP3 as well as all sorts of other sound bytes including radio and other sounds that you can't normally record to MP3.
I have literally hundreds of cassettes including the Barenaked Ladies Yellow Tape that I can't wait to get to MP3 as well as recorded Humble and Fred shows from the 90's. I also have lots of Retro 102 from Sunday nights to download as well.
Category: Music
Thanks For Reading
Heres a little bloggage update:
After a couple of down months (April was under 900 hits) this month I rebounded back to 1,250 hits. A nice rebound and I attribute some of that to the weather being shitty and people being indoors.
My goal is to crack 2000 hits in a month. I have a little more time to work on the site and learn how to post various media (with the help of wonderful Mike Boon who has been helping me learn various aspects) and I am planning on adding a few items over the summer.
For now, I just wanted to say thanks for reading and hopefully its enjoyable. I have fun doing this, its a release and allows me to voice my stubborn opinions and to have some fun with everyone.
Category: Blogging
New Morrissey
Morrissey is set for a new release this September and while I didn't really enjoy his last full length release, this one sounds like it has some potential.
Speaking of reunions of classic groups, when is Morrissey and Johnny Marr going to set their differences aside and reunite the Smiths for one more go round? That would be great.....Anyway here is the video for the new Morrissey single (maybe it will get some SLS consideration), from the forth coming Years of Refusal, this is All You Need Is Me:
Category: Music
What Do They All Have In Common?
All three of these pop stars have something in common, according to Yahoo Music its that they are all having babies. One of them however, is not a woman.
I dare you to pick out which one. Seriously, one of them is Clay Aiken. I looked at this and seriously questioned that. He can't be that girly can he? Then again, Ive heard enough of his music, yes he can be.
Category: Celebrities | Music | News
Sunday Retro
This week is an early 90's retro tune from one of the best groups to come out of the Seattle grunge scene. There have been questions directed at Chris Cornell about a possible reunion which he has politely squashed, unfortunately.
This is Soundgarden and Jesus Christ Pose:
Category: Music
Whats the Cost of Doing Nothing?
The Senate is posed to sit down and discuss climate change and transforming the energy structure of this country. The critics continue to argue the same argument that it will cost us more to do anything about it. These are the people who just don't want to be bothered with the hassle fo changing for the better. They are also the oil executives buddies who want to continue to squeeze every penny out of the ground that they can.
Whats the cost of doing nothing? Lets say for the sake of the critic that they are right (which we know the data is in and global warming is real) but just to appease them lets say they are right for now, if we change our energy usage and the structure of the energy industry it could only mean good things.
For instance, we are going to need scientists and people to research and design the new technology necessary to put new infrastructure and design new fuels/ways to use them. We are going to need lots of jobs in the "green sector" to establish this change. So for the economy, job creation is good right? Thats not a problem.
Some critics say that we would spend more money on energy...but wait a second, the whole premise is that we want to use less energy or alternatives like solar, that may cost a little in the short term but long term solar energy will pay for itself, ethanol, if the right vegetation is used can yield the energy we need. Its all there. We would also be striving to create more efficient vehicles, appliances and homes which means we save when we use less. So that argument dies.
So whats the issue? Is that you just don't want to have a conscience when it comes to taking care of the planet? Its like an alcoholic that refuses to acknowledge that they drink to much yet the empty beer cans and liquor bottles are on the floor all around them.
Even if global warming isn't caused by humans, high energy prices are here to stay because supply will not keep up with our demand. So by changing our ways it will at the very least be good for our wallets.
Wake up people. Do nothing and continue to pay high fuel prices at your current energy efficiency and continue whining about it, because no matter what side of this fence you are on, we are all whining about fuel prices. Or, change our energy infrastrure, improve efficiency, use less, conserve, develop new and renewable which equals cheaper in the long term, and if global warming is human induced which to appease the nay sayers im saying it isn't, but IF it is, then we solve that problem too and take care of the planet.
The choice is simple and our senate should have some easy decisions to make.
