Buffalo Boy's Blog
Giving You More Than Just My Two Cents
March 2009 Archives
Reassuring News From a Class Act
I got this video from Rowdy Gaines this morning on my wall on facebook and wanted to share it all of you. Cancer sucks. A few months ago the swimming community was informed that Auburn head coach and six time Olympic swim coach Richard Quick was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Devastating for the tight knit swimming community.
Richard however is handling it the same way he has coached his entire career with dignity and class. There are two ways you can approach something like that, give up or fight it and live your life to the end. We wouldn't expect anything more from him than the latter.
If you are a fan of swimming or not take a peek at this well done video, its not so much about swimming as it is about life:
Category: Swimming
A Minor Setback in the Comeback
Today was my appointment with the orthopedic specialist and it was pretty much as expected. After some X-rays and some tests it was confirmed that I have bilateral shoulder impingement syndrome and acromioclavicular arthritis in both shoulders especially on the left.
As I was going through the tests with the Doc he was hitting the same spots that have been causing me irritation now for the last 10 years or so. I am only getting to it now because I never had the itch like I did back then to restart my swimming career or at least include it as a part of my fitness regime.
My hope was to race in a couple of 50 meter races at the Stingrays long course meet this summer, I may have to push it back to short course season in the fall.
Above is the X-ray of the anterior view of my left shoulder, you can see some involvement at the acromioclavicular joint.
6 weeks of therapy, then back to the Doc, hopefully all goes well, I got a shot of cortisone in each arm which are now aching right now.
Category: Swimming | Working out
Sunday Retro
I got myself into an 80's music battle and lost during the week and for that I promised to post a song by Roxette today.
My friend John and I were talking about 80's bands/artists and I told him if he could name more than one Roxette song that I would post one of their videos this week. So to keep my end of it, here is Roxette and Listen to Your Heart,
I think I just vomitted in my mouth a little:
Category: Sunday Retro
Sabres 4, Habs 3
I guess I should write something about this one since the Sabres have decided to get hot as of late. Its not to hop up on the faint hopes that those of you on the bandwagon have, its to provide some realism to this sense of hope that is going to be crushed with in the next week or so.
Sure they beat the Habs last night and that was great, emotional, kept their dismal hopes alive, and to some of you, their hopes are not as good as you might think.
Lets do the math, even with the win last night, they still coughed up a point to the Habs, the team they ultimately need to catch. So instead of being 3 back, they are now 4 back.
After last night, there are 7 games to go in this disappointment of a season and just to catch and tie the Habs, the Sabres need two of those games. Granted the Sabres have the tie breaker with last nights win, so all they have to do is tie the Habs in the standings.
So assuming they win their next two against the Atlanta Thrashers who have given Buffalo fits all season and The Washington Capitals who BTW are second in the East and have the worlds best player in Alexander Ovechkin who is becoming quite the Sabre killer, they still have the Devils, Red Wings, Leafs, Hurricanes and Bruins. Granted we always hand the Leafs their asses, they almost came back on us on Friday.
None of these games coming up are going to be easy, and my math says they have to without a question in my mind go 6-1, 5-2 minimum to do it. 5-2 with a horeshoe and their lucky charms that Florida and the Habs tank the rest of the year. I could see one team doing that and that would be the Habs, Florida is just playing damn good hockey.
So, to sum up the above, despite the win, it was nice, they were gritty, but looking at the big picture and the fact that they took some injuries last night that are going to hold some guys out for a game or two namely Kaleta and possibly Rivet, it just ain't gonna happen folks. Its still too little, too late. Where was this earlier in March?
*As an aside, but was it me or was the officiating as awful as RJ and Harry Neale were pointing out last night. It seemed as if Montreal was getting away with a lot of cross checks and garbage that had us retaliating, not to mention a holding penalty on I believe Sekera that wasn't anything at all and a retaliation on Hecht that should have gone to both players. Rivet got slashed, no call and Derek Roy got a few sticks to the chops, both no calls. The officiating in this league seems to have gone from bad to worse. Just wondering if anyone noticed the same thing.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Hip For The Hell Of It
Every so often I post a Tragically Hip video just for the sake of posting some Hip. Do we need an excuse to get some Hip on here? Hell no.
This is from the live DVD from their recent boxset Hipeponymous, Springtime in Vienna, a nice springtime tune with a beautiful day today.
Category: Hip For The Hell Of It
Buffalo 5, Toronto 3
Don't get your hopes up, they always beat the Leafs and they almost blew it last night again in the third.
This should be the new official soft drink of the Sabres:
I'd be surprised if they won tonight, their record on the back end of back to back games this year is terrible.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Patterson Must Go
Governor Patterson must go. I am a democrat and most of my ideals are left wing but what this guy is doing is just criminal. He is laying the ineptness of our state government on the tax payers and thats wrong.
Yesterday the article in the paper about his desire to tack on a 2% tax on the utilities was just amazing. He knows exactly where that cost will be passed on to, you, me and every other taxpayer who has a phone, heat, and electric bill in this state.
We can not afford anymore taxes, at all. This state and specifically Western New York has been artificially depressed for years now and to have these proposed taxes showing up every day just weighs on the minds of all.
Utilities will pass on the cost of that 2% tax to consumers with an obvious or not so obvious fee on the bill. The crazy thing is, our utility bills already have enough hidden and garbage fees and taxes that already make New York State the 2nd highest utilitiy costs in the country. I Guess Mr. Patterson wants to be number one.
Thats fine, we can have the highest utility bills in the country, but I think this state will have another number one ranking: the highest decline in population as people flee these high taxes. After people leave, then what do you do?
Eventually this government, both state democrats and republicans need to wake up and learn how to run our government without all the waste.
Hollywood's Cheap Extras
The cheap bastards running the show for Harrison Ford's new movie, The Untitled Crowley Project, need to dig a little deeper by my calculations. They are offering people a minimum of $68 for 8+ hours of their time or their cars time.
Im no Hollywood big shot but $68 seems a little cheap by Hollywood standards even for extras. Maybe the recession really is cutting deep or maybe Harrison Ford isn't the big draw he once was, thus a smaller budget.
All I know $68 isn't a lot of money for 8 hours of someone's time. Then again though, for the jobless out there, beggars can't be choosers.
2009 Toronto Blue Jays Preview
This week I take a look at the outfield and for probably the third year in a row this group looks like the most talented outfield in the American League East. Rios is one of the top three right fielders in the American League period, when healthy not many will argue Vernon Wells is among the best center fielders, and left fielder Adam Lind is poised for a breakout year.
The key to what I just said above is health. Vernon Wells has already had trouble with the same hamstring that had him miss time last year and though he may be ready for opening day his hamstrings are always a concern especially for him in a spacious center field on turf at Rogers Center. The Blue Jays offensively will sink and swim with the health of Wells. He stays healthy and this lineup with be right up there with the big boys int he AL. He goes down for any period of time or has to play hurt and they will struggle. A return to say 2004 form would be nice for this year, 25-30 HR, 100+ RBI and .300.
Alex Rios had a disappointing start to last season but toward the second half his power numbers started to heat up. A full year with Cito Gaston and his coaches should wake up the power potential Rios has in that bat of his. Defensively he is in the top three amongst right fielders and on the base paths Rios is a legit 40 stolen base threat. We are still waiting for that 30+ HR, 100+ RBI, 100+ Run, .300+ season out of Rios, this would be a nice year to get it.
Adam Lind showed glimpses of whats to come last year and should have a break out campaign, he will get most of the time in left field with DH Travis Snider giving him and the other outfielders a rest throughout the year. Lind is the X factor, if he has that breakout year they could have three outfielders with 20+ home runs. Defensively, hes adequate to above average.
If Wells stays healthy this group carries the team offensively and they may surprise some teams this year. Next week I will tackle the pitching as I finish up my 2009 Blue Jays previews.
Category: Toronto Blue Jays 2009 Preview
Changing Attitude
Literally a week or so ago if you would have asked me about Facebook I would have laughed at you about it. I wanted nothing to do with it, until my wife kept telling me that friends of mine were contacting her through facebook asking her to tell me to get onto Facebook.
I already had an account that I just never went to or used for over a year so I figured what the hell, Ill get on. Well, within five minutes I was hooked.
There is this game called Mobwars first off that is as addicting as crack, but most importantly the people Facebook allows you to interface with is amazing. Friends I wouldn't ordinarily see or talk to due to life's busy twists and turns all of a sudden become accessible.
My attitude toward Facebook has totally changed, Its so cool to see and talk to friends and family that are right at your fingertips. The only negative is that the thing is absolutely addicting and can swallow hours, but the friends it allows you to re-connect with make it all worth the time.
Category: Miscellaneous
Earning the Bucks With Ad Brite
Ad Brite is my answer to the Google Adsense problems I was having a while back. If you were trying to access my site by Internet Explorer you would get redirected to Maple Music's website.
Google Adsense are click dependent, this Ad Brite alternative is not. Advertisers pay X amount of money to post an ad on your site. Ad Brite negotiates the best rate for you and you get paid for the ad to be on the site instead of per click. Its free to sign up and to utilize on your site. By no means will this be significant income for me but its something to go towards renewing the domain name and keeping up the site. After I give it a few months I'll update on the effectiveness. The ads will appear on the right sidebar just under my links. I decided to go with another company because Google failed to contact me about the Maple Music redirect issue which somehow wrote its way into my script. Just a quick thanks to Mike Boon the all knowing computer god who continues to help me with the things that go above and beyond my level of knowledge. Check out his site as he did some re-structuring himself not long ago to his blog.Category: Blogging
Republicans All About The Scare
The Republicans have always been good at the scare tactics. They worked well throughout the first 4-5 years of the Bush Administration, especially in the election. Whenever John Kerry would start making progress they would lay out an orange alert for another terror attack until they could dig up some false dirt about swift boating on Kerry
Now that they have lost power it seems that is all they are doing. Trying to scare people from buying into Barack Obama's budget and stimulus proposals. Their latest call is that it will spell "doomsday" and we will fall into federal bankruptcy. I see Wallstreet bought into that today as stocks made a good recovery today. What gets me is that for all the bitching and whining the republicans have done since Obama took office has anyone heard one solid solution or suggestion as to what we do to fix anything? I haven't. All I have heard is whine, whine, whine, bitch, bitch, bitch. Not one good idea. That is why they have become the "Party of No". All they can do is say no but they have nothing to replace the idea they are saying no too. Government is supposed to be for the people, by the people, not against everything and for nothing. The latter is exactly what the Republicans represent. They would just assume to stand idly by and do nothing because doing something would involve them actually having to use their brains and that might hurt. Obama and his administration should implement a new rule for the Republicans. Bitch all you want, but everytime you do you have to come to my office with an idea, something tangible that we can work with to replace what you bitch about. The American people voted for something different and though the road thus far hasn't been perfect, its been constructive and full of enthusiasm and I think if you look around, we are starting to see the signs that some of this stimulus and spending is starting to find the light of day. Yes, there has been a lot of money spent, but our previous jackass of a president and his administration dug a pretty deep hole with a bad war that cost this country $10 billion a month and still is and was part of what got us here. So to dig out of the hole we have to spend some money, to fix the education system they broke, to reform healthcare that was promised to us by Bush and never addressed with the exception of some bad medicare bills and to fix our energy issues and make us energy independent. Patience folks, its only been roughly 61 days. Most presidents get 100 before we start pissing in their Cheerios.Category: Politics
NY 5, Sabres 3
I'll let the Stones and Homer Simpson sum up last nights game. Im done putting their horrendous efforts to words for this season. Go Leafs Go! Only three points separate us and an extra lottery ball in the entry draft. They were using Street Fighting Man before, maybe this can be the Sabres song the rest of the way when they skate out on the ice.Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Sunday Retro
As I do every Sunday I post a classic retro tune. This week I am posting two videos of songs off the ARB Volume One.
The first is a song from Public Image Limited called Rise. PIL for short was formed by former Sex Pistols legendary frontman Johnny Lydon AKA Johnny Rotten. The work he did with PIL was a completely new sound from what he did with the Pistols and led the way for the post-punk era of the late 70's and 80's.
My second selection for this week is an artist simply called Gowan and CFNY listeners will be very familiar with their work. Gowan (Lawrence Gowan) is a Canadian musician who in addition to performing solo, Gowan has recently done work as keyboardist and vocalist for Styx of all bands. This is some of his solo work call Strange Animals, a CFNY favorite back in the day. Check it out.Category: Sunday Retro
The Definitive All Request Breakfast Volume One
1. Trio- Da, Da, Da
2. The Alarm- Rain in The Summertime
3. The Squeeze- Cool For Cats
4. The Pixies- Here Comes Your Man
5. PIL- Rise
6. Gowan- Strange Animal
7. Flesh For Lulu- I Go Crazy
8. The Cocteau Twins- Fontzepolitic
9. Morrissey- Everyday is Like Sunday
10. Kate Bush- Running Up That Hill
11. The Cure- Love Cats
12. Simple Minds- Someone, Somewhere (In The Summertime)
13. The Extras- Circular Impression
14. The Demics- NYC
You can go check for it on Itunes IMixes
Volume Two next month?
Category: cfny
Ignorance
Category: Politics
The Ignorance of Fox News
Fox News is a lot of things but the one thing it isn't is "fair and balanced". What Barack Obama said on the Leno show in a comedic setting is nothing compared to what these idiots on the Fox News Network spewed about our neighbors to the north. Toronto Mike posted it today and its just amazing how we can talk about a country that borders us with such ignorance. This video my friends shows the ignorance, the stupidity and the outright lies that the Fox News Network provides its increasingly extremist audience. If you watch Fox News at all lately, they are making themselves more and more irrelevant due to their far right wing views. There is no two sides to anything on the station and really, they are no better than the one sided slanted views of Rush Limbaugh.They should be embarassed by the way they talked about ranking military officials of Canada. They are there helping us in a questionable military venture to begin with. As Toronto Mike said on his post, this is how you lose friends.
No, maybe they don't have the strongest army in the world but, neither do we. If we did Iraq would have been over in two years. And at least they put money into their citizens because they have something that we could only dream of, universal, single payer healthcare. I guarantee you that all the horror stories the same ignorance that generated this about long wait times and the things that go wrong with their healthcare system they would gladly take their healthcare system over a stronger military. Besides, its not their war, they are there out of the kindness of their hearts, they don't have to be there.
To my Canadian friends, I think its safe to say that most American's do not subscribe to the way these bozo's are talking on what is supposed to be a "fair and balanced" major media network. This is also the result of giving someone with the IQ of a peanut a "news" show. On behalf of myself and the 65% or so of the smart center-liberal minded Americans, I apologize to my Canadian readers and friends for this trash.
As for the other 35% percent of us who A) watch and B) believe this crap, well, maybe you should all take this so called news network and move to Alaska. We would then help Canada construct a fence to keep you all in Alaska.
The Definitive ARB Volume One
Over the last few days I have gotten a ton of requests for the definitive CFNY All Request Breakfast song list and so I decided that this week we will do Volume One. Instead of 20 songs, I decided to go 14 and 14 so we could spread out some of it. This is my list for volume one so far:
1. Trio- Da, Da, Da
2. The Alarm- Rain in The Summertime
3. The Squeeze- Cool For Cats
4. The Pixies- Here Comes Your Man
5. PIL- Rise
6. Gowan- Strange Animal
7. Flesh For Lulu- I Go Crazy
8. The Cocteau Twins- Fontzepolitic
9. Morrissey- Everyday is Like Sunday
10. Kate Bush- Running Up That Hill
11. The Cure- Love Cats
12. Simple Minds- Someone, Somewhere (In The Summertime)
13. The Extras- Circular Impression
14. The Demics- NYC
If anyone has any changes in mind let me know but keep in mind, there will be another volume, hell, if there are more suggestions maybe we will keep doing ARB volumes.
Sunday instead of Retro Sunday I will post the final Volume One list and also post it on ITunes IMixes, hopefully most of you will be able to get it, you know how ITunes is with the US/Canadian stores.
If not we will figure something out when we hit that bump in the road, in the mean time, keep throwing ideas, and stay tuned for the final version of the Definitive All Request Breakfast Volume One
Category: cfny
Would You Like Those In A Bag?
Three incidents this past week have me annoyed with the question "Would you like those in a bag?"
The first was at Tops about a week ago. I had about 8 items, one was a gallon of milk and some other basic grocery items and the cashier looked at me and asked "would you like the milk in a bag?" They always look up and give you this deer caugh in a headlight look when it comes to the milk. Of course I want my milk in a bag. The funniest part to me was she asked me first before she started scanning, would you like these in a bag....referring to all my groceries. All 8 items. I thought she was kidding. I looked at the counter, looked at her, looked down again and then quickly realized she was serious, so I quickly said, "Yes".
The second experience was at Wegmans over the weekend. What is it with newspapers? It was the Sunday paper. It wouldn't matter if it was the Wednesday paper, but it just happened to be the Sunday edition. Again the deer in the headlights look. "Would you like the newspaper in a bag?" I have $60 something worth of groceries and this is even a question? Why wouldn't I want the paper in a bag? is it going to rebel against the meat? Is it going to spoil the milk? What? Am I missing something? No matter what store I go to, the paper always give the cashier the puzzled look and elicits that very question.
The third experience and this is when I got annoyed was today at the Lexington Co-Op. I had about 11 items, no way was I walking out of there trying to perform a balancing act without a bag. But nonetheless, after scanning everything, had not bagged a single thing! Would you like these in a bag?.......11 items......I looked at her and said in a very sarcastic tone....."No, I would like to scoop them up and fumble my way out to the car with them, Yes I would like a bag." I couldn't help it. The question has been asked one to many times.
Note to cashiers: Look, I know you are trying to do your parts to save the environment, conserve resources, whatever the reason for trying to cut corners on the bags, thats fine, but use the shred of common sense that got you the job as a cashier to begin with. If you are in doubt, I don't need to be asked the question, just open the bag and place the items in the bag. Its a courtesy. If I don't need a bag, I'll let you know. Hows that? When I have a paper with me, just put it in the bag with the friggin bread and keep scanning. You don't need to ask me. Its not like Im going to find the urge to read the paper while driving myself home in the car.
The milk, put it in the friggin bag. Do you have any idea how cold that handle can be on the hand after lugging it out to the car? Beside, if the carton leaks in my car, it better be in a bag so it doesn't ruin the upholstery.
Bottom line, bag the crap unless we tell you not too.
Category: Miscellaneous
Bush's Biggest Blunder
No matter what becomes of George W. Bushes legacy the fact that we still have to see messages and videos from this guy should sicken everyone regardless of their political affiliation.
This is the man responsible for the 9/11 attacks and despite that fact Bush and Dick threw the propaganda at us and convinced the majority of their party at least that it was Saddam or at the very least that Saddam had something to do with 9/11.
Today, we got another message from the fish that our last president let get away, telling Somali's to overthrow their new president. I may be an Obama supporter and a democrat but that doesn't mean that I agree with everything the guy does and I think that he is so far ignoring the huge problems that are going on in Africa. Bin Laden is no idiot, I highly doubt he is in the hills of Afghanistan or Pakistan anymore, why would he be? He knows US forces and NATO forces are there and will be there for the forseeable future. Obama is right by withdrawing troops from Iraq but don't beef up in Afghanistan, send them to Somalia and Darfur, that is where Al Qaeda and Bin Laden are concentrating on. Africa is full of very poor countries. Poor countries equal weak countries and therefore easy to manipulate. Who better to manipulate those largely Muslim poor countries than Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. Yes we need to get out of Iraq, they are ready to be set free and its time to end the occupation of their country. But sending more troops to where this guy probably isn't is not wise. What would be wrong with paring down all our forces out there, bringing say 80% of them home, refocusing and rethinking a totally new, intelligence based strategy instead of a military one. The idea that our military was going to win the war on terror to begin with was an insane thought. The war on terror is not going to be fought with troops on the ground or air strikes. Its going to be fought with intelligence agencys like the CIA, FBI and making quick calculated pre-emptive yet highly thought out strikes. This mass troop build up is getting old and I hope that that line of thinking is changed before long. Bin Laden is the guy we want, if Bush and Dick had spent half their time focusing on Bin Laden as they did on priming us up for the invasion of Iraq 7 years ago we might have had him already, instead we are a good 7 plus years status post 9/11 and the head of those attacks is still at large, it makes me sick.Ottawa 4, Buffalo 2
It can't get much worse than the performance that was given by this team for the last 40 minutes of last nights game against the Ottawa Senators.
A 2-0 lead on the road against a team that has played poorly all season and the Sabres came out and basically squandered the game. Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder need to go back to the minors and have Kevin Dineen teach them the basic rules. I have never seen two defensemen look so lost.
How much do you pin on the coaches for this? I don't know. I don't put a lot of thought into the coaches causing this mess. This is the players playing stupid when they know that putting your stick up around the mid section of an opposing player is going to get you put into the penalty box whether or not it touches them or not.
13-1 was the shots on goal and after something like 7 penalties in a row this team lost the 2-0 lead and found themselves losing 4-2.
Missed opportunities. Thats all there is to it. Just like Atlanta over the weekend, a point was lost there and last night two points were lost. Three points lost over the last two games because this team can't take a lead and slam the door in the face of their opponents. That is not a coaching problem, this is a soft team playing with little or no confidence.
Change the players, the coach has proven he can be successful with players who are willing to pay the price and play his system, if the players don't want to play, the organization has the whole offseason to find them new teams and bring in players who will. There are at least a half dozen guys begging to be shipped the hell out of here.
Mikael Tellqvist showed where this teams head is at after the game when he commented that last night was a game that builds character!!!!!....WTF? Character? Maybe in Phoenix a 4-2 loss after leading 2-0 qualifies as a character builder. But around here Mikael, a loss doesn't build character. Winning last night would have built some character. Beating a team that has wiped their collective asses with Sabre jerseys all season long would have been a character builder. Last night was a joke. Come on Mikael, I expected more from you, you spent time in the Hockey Mecca of Toronto, didn't they teach you better? Hell, Gretzky was your coach, didn't he teach you what qualifies as a character builder?
As of today I am joining the Leafs ideology up in Toronto, I figure if we tank the rest of the season we can finish behind Toronto and maybe even behind Atlanta and get a better chance at the first overall pick in the draft and maybe take a run at John Tavares. It will be tough but I figure if we drop 9 of the next 12, Toronto has a good shot to pass us in the standings. Go Leafs Go.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Fantasy Hockey Update
Just like the real Buffalo Sabres, my fantasy hockey team the Sabres died a painful death last week. I had to settle for 7th place and a spot in the consolation bracket of my league. The only good news is that I get a bye week this week.
So now the mission is to be the best of the losers in my league and finish 7th overall after the dust settles from the playoffs.
Yeah! What a goal, the best of the losers. At least Im not the worst of the winners bracket.
Going into the playoffs my leading scorer is Travis Zajac of the New Jersey Devils. He was a mid season pick up and honestly was my most consistent player down the stretch besides Tim Connolly.
Goaltending was not my weakness it was offense and I think if anything, I learned that next year I need to go after offense a little earlier.
Miikka Kiprusoff led the way with 40 wins so far and 4 shutouts. Ryan Miller led in shutouts with 5 but has been on the shelf for a few weeks now with that ankle injury.
Updates will continue as I strive for best of the loser bracket.
Category: Fantasy Hockey Updates
Third Base
This is a no brainer if the Jays want to stay in the race this year. Scott Rolen or who ever plays at third base on a regular basis this year needs to be better offensively.
When Troy Glaus was traded for Scott Rolen before last year I thought for the clubhouse and defensively it was the best move they could have made. Glaus was a liability at the corner. Offensively he had become stale as well.
Well, as it turns out Scott Rolen was as good defensively as advertised but the offense was lacking because of his injured shoulder that plagued him much of the year.
This year he has apparently changed his swing and so far in spring games he has done some damage at the plate and appears to be back to being productive. Last year he had 11 home runs and had a less than stellar year driving in runs.
Assuming the defense does not fall off, Rolen has to come up with 20-25 home runs with a return to his 90-100 RBI, 80-90 run season and hit around a .275-.280 clip for this team to be considered solid at the corner.
Rolen will have Jose Bautista backing him up and if need be Marco Scutaro can come over and play if they need to go three deep. Bautista has power as well and should be interesting to see him if he gets a chance should Rolen go down.
Category: Toronto Blue Jays 2009 Preview
The Definitive ARB List
So far the response has been great, lots of good songs. Here is what I am going to do. Between now and Friday keep sending possibilities to go on the definitive CFNY All Request Breakfast list.
On Friday I will post a list of 12 songs to go on volume one. Thats right, there will be more than one.
On Sunday I will send the IMix over to Itunes and make it available as well as posting the final version of volume one in addition to some of the rare videos that go with those very songs.
I have another suggestion for our list as well. Kate Bush needs to be somewhere on that list as well as Simple Minds.
Category: cfny
Happy St. Patrick's Day
Nothing says Irish like the Pogues, shots of Irish whiskey for all today!Category: St. Patrick's Day
Happy St. Patrick's Day
Today is the day, not Saturday or Sunday, if you are a real Irishman (or woman) you are out drinking green beverages today. Actually, drinking Guinness. Screw the green beer, thats for wimps. The parades should be today and today should be a national holiday.
Category: St. Patrick's Day
The Definitive CFNY ARB List
Okay, this post is for fans of CFNY 102.1. Not the station in its current form, but for the old school folks. I have had this playlist sitting around on my ITunes playlist for a few months and I haven't really bothered to add to it but the thought has intrigued me.
There used to be a time years back when I would race to the radio on the weekends in the morning to listen the All Request Breakfast on CFNY. IT was different back then. There were songs requested that you wouldn't hear Monday through Friday. Those 3-4 hours on Saturday/Sunday mornings belonged to the fans.
Pete Fowler used to host it and then slowly over the years it lost its luster and recently those requests aren't as classic as they used to be and its not the same on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
I have started a list, I started with five songs, I want to turn this list into 20 songs that could be the definitive All Request Breakfast on CFNY:
Give The Money Back
If this White House has any balls what so ever they will ask AIG for every penny of bailout money they have recieved. If they can't give it back then they will either have to fold or be taken over by the feds until they can stand on their own with the proper over sight.
This is because apparently the top executives have learned absolutely nothing at AIG. After recieving the latest bailout money, what did they do? They handed out bonuses. Millions of dollars in bonuses to executives who are running the company into the ground and keep coming back for more from the government tit like a heroin addict going back to their dealer. Where do I get a job like there where I can run a company into the ground and still get millions in bonuses from my boss?
Better yet, where can I work for a company that can run itself into the ground, spend foolishly and then never have to worry about it because no matter what, the government will hand me more and more and more.
Enough is enough, the economy can take another hit to get these idiots off Wall Street. Obviously they have learned nothing.Sunday Retro
This is a clip of the last song ever played by the Sid Vicious version of the Sex Pistols. Their tour of the US was absolutely miserable and Johnny Rotten was miserable with the whole experience. They came out for this show, performed one song that lasted about 7 minutes and that was it.
The song was a cover of Iggy and the Stooges No Fun. You can just feel Rottens pain and anger over the whole situation. He was unhappy with Sid's drug addicition and specifically Nancy Spungen ruining Sid Vicious with drugs and pissed with things being thrown at them, spit on throughout the US tour.
Of course they have since gotten back together for an official US tour since then with the originall lineup featuring Glen Matlock as the original bassist.
Category: Sunday Retro
Thrashers 4, Sabres 3
What a load of crap. How do you cough up a 3-1 lead against the bag of crap that call themselves the Atlanta Thrashers? There were some vicious hits thrown last night and most of them at Buffalo. It seemed as the game went on and Atlanta became more physical, the Sabres folded up their tents and gave in to Atlanta. And to lose the regulation win with 3.5 seconds left shows just how soft this team is.
Buffalo is just not a physical team. Where was Gaustad last night? Where was Adam Mair? Where was Rivet when Tim Connolly got drilled immediately after a face off? I can't believe I am saying this but Andrew Peters some how needs to have a spot on that bench for the rest of the season. Even if you have to sit Mair or my new whipping post Jason Pominville. Some one in this lineup send a message that it is not okay to drill your best center (who by the way has a history of concussion problems) right after a faceoff with a running start. Hell, anybody, stand up for your number one center!!!!
Pominville may have been the biggest piece of garbage on the ice last night. He coughed up the puck for the game tying goal after he couldn't clear the friggin puck and couldn't hit the net from the point if his life depended on it. Didn't we have Richard Martin a few years back working with our shooters? I think we need Mr. Martin to come back and give Pominiville some one on one lessons on how to hit the net. Why in the world does Jason Pominville think that every shot he takes from the point has to be a big, loud, booming slapshot? Just wrist it low, thats all.
Luckily for them, Florida lost in a shootout so they only got one point, Carolina lost in a shootout so they only got one point and the sucky Habs just plain old lost which will make my friend up in Toronto, Freddie P, very happy.
I am seriously doubting this teams ability to go anywhere in the playoffs, especially considering they cannot shut a team down in the third period. It has been a season long trend of blowing third period opportunities. Regardless of what happens the rest of the way, we can look back at last night and see a point lost. Mark my words, this team will miss by a point and they will deserve that exact outcome. When their heads are down and they are getting disappointed sounding soundbites on the news, no one is going to feel sorry for them, not this year. There have been too many missed opportunities and squandered leads.Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
No Excuse for Opening Beer
This guy has it all figured out apparently, he knows how to open those non-twist off beers with just about anything. No excuses if there is no opener around. I have my litte trick with the faucet on the outside of the house.....
This guy shows us using a pen:
Category: Beer
NO MORE TAXES
Governor Patterson just doesn't get it does he? You can't get blood from a rock. Thats about all that is left right now in some NY State communities is rock. If you haven't driven through the downtown streets of Niagara Falls in a while, try it, you will see what I mean. Some streets are just boarded up empty homes. Its sad. But its the result of an over taxed, over stressed upstate economy that has seen its population dwindle because people can't give anymore of their hard earned money, especially since salaries in this area especially have been lower on average than other parts of the country to begin with.
The news of how Mr. Patterson is using the federal stimulus money given to NY State should be maddening to all New Yorkers. This money was supposed to go to the states to create jobs, instead it is being put to use to pay down medicaid debt and the state budget and "avoiding nuisance taxes.
Nuisance taxes, lets go over those taxes for bit shall we? Taxes on music downloads like ITunes, concert tickets, sporting event tickets, theatre tickets, hair cuts, satellite television and radio, prewritten software games, pedicures, massages private gym memberships, fees for physicians, fishermen (don't we already pay for a fishing license? I just paid mine, so they are saying I have to pay more?), beer and wine taxes, and people who drive cars (just about everyone). Did I forget to mention the gross reciepts tax on hospital care.
Where the hell do the taxes end in this state? Its completely the opposite of what Barack Obama is trying to do on a federal level. He has decreased income taxes on the middle class and those making less than $250,000 a year. He is raising the taxes on wealthy individuals making more than $250,000 a year to Bill Clinton era rates from 36% to 39%.
Patterson in the mean time is taking out the inability to balance the New York State budget on everyone and its starting to show throughout the communities of this state. Most of the items listed above already are taxed...ITS CALLED NYS SALES TAX!!!!. Why do we need more on top of that?
He says he wants a non-diet soda tax to combat obesity yet at the same time there is a proposed tax on gym memberships? What the hell, I know he is blind but he doesn't have to be stupid too.
Concert tickets are expensive enough without adding more nuisance charges to them. I would love to see the tax on people who drive cars. Hopefully it is not one of those taxes based on miles driven, because if thats the case, Its time to pick up our shit and drive my family right on out of this state.
Maybe if more of us followed suit, the politicians, republicans and democrats alike in Albany would get the hint that they need to get their crap together and start being fiscally responsible or there won't be anyone left in this over taxed state to tax but themselves.
Brian Is In Jail, Help Get Him Out
Today I recieved this news from my friend Brian Porebski. He works at the Elmwood Health Center and is behind bars and needs bail money to get out. He is doing this for Jerry's Kids and the Muscular Dystrophy Association. This was his message:
"I'm proud to tell you that I'm being locked up...that's right, I'm going behind bars to help Jerry's Kids© and MDA. To be released on good behavior I have to raise bail and I need your help!
All you have to do is click here to make a secure, online donation before 03/24/09. Your donation will help families living in our community and help guarantee me an early release. I can't wait to add you to my list of contributors.
Thanks in advance for your help. Don't hesitate to call or email me with any questions.
Together we'll make a difference,
Dr. Brian Porebski, PT, DPT, ATP
Assistant Director
Elmwood Health Center- People Inc"
So if you have a few extra bucks please help my friend out! Times are tough but I have worked with individuals with MD and its not a fun disease and they could use every penny they can get. BBM
Category: News
Hitler is a Bills Fan? He's Pissed
Category: Buffalo Bills
National Lampoon's Vacation and European Vacation
I recently picked up both National Lampoon's Vacation and European Vacation on DVD. Both on the same one. I love those deals. One DVD with both those classics was too much to pass up. For $9.99 I have half the Vacation series with Chevy Chase and Company at their best.
Eurpean Vacation is my favorite of the non-holiday related Vacations. The Pig in Poke winners go to Europe.
Category: Movies
Bloggage
February's numbers were pretty good. 1224 visits to this site. The period from January to March last year brought 3484 visits to Buffalo Boy Mike. This year through March 10th I have had 2719 visits, so Im right on target to match or slightly out do last years numbers. Not bad considering I have posted fewer entries lately.
Thanks for reading and commenting! BBM
Category: Blogging
Philadelphia 5, Buffalo 2
Well if this team isn't going to show any interest in a big game on the road with playoff implications then why should I?
I have written about most of this teams games this year (I try to post on all of them but this year has been difficult due to schedule) and none were more disappointing than tonight. Now I am not going to do what many fans are ready to do and just write them off. I am not going to sit here and go overboard bashing them.
What I will do is say that this team as presently constructed, is just not good enough to win. There are players that need to find themselves in other places come next year. Henrik Tallinder, Jochen Hecht and Max Nation are just three of the the ones that have to go.
How can you play as uninterested a game as they did tonight. I am not going to blame the goaltending for this one, Every single goal they were hung out to dry by a soft defense. On top of that, until late in the game this team only managed one goal. One goal. You cannot and will not win games with one goal, I don't care what your goaltender does.
I am also not going to blame Lindy Ruff. He puts his players in positions to win with a good game plan and expects them to execute and play to their ability. Thats all he can do. He can try to motivate them and the fact is if they are not motivated to play for this team, the players can leave. Lindy is a fixture here, he can't go out and play the game for the players. The players have to take ownership of what they do on the ice.
Derek Roy tonight was the biggest dope of them all tonight. He had me throwing small items at the TV as he thought he could skate through the Flyer team on his own only to get turned around the other way resulting in an odd man rush.
Darcy Regier handed this team two pieces to help them get to the playoffs and they have come up empty for his efforts with the exception of a pair of 5-1 wins against a bad Montreal club and a terrible Pheonix club.
The sad thing is that even these games against teams they are fighting for a playoff spot against are very beatable teams. The Flyers are not world beaters, the Florida Panthers are definitely not better than the Sabres. What is separating them from Buffalo is that they know when games count and they are playing like they count now. Buffalo on the other hand is folding their tents and packing it in.
They have 15 games left. At this point, they probably have to go 11-4 to have a chance. With the way they are playing right now, I don't see it happening.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
2009 Blue Jays Preview
Marco Scutaro will man shortstop this season for the Blue Jays. Last year Scutaro was picked up to play a role off the bench and play part-time after success in that role with the Oakland A's. He was a great depth player.
With injuries to Aaron Hill, Lyle Overbay and Scott Rolen we found out that Scutaro could play full time. Not something expected, but it was a pleasant surprise to see that he could contribute both defensively and offensively after having to fill an unexpected role after the Hill concussion.
Scutaro will have help from John McDonald and Joe Inglett throughout the season, both of whom impressed last year defensively and at time offensively. Who knew Joe Inglett would come in and hit close to .300.
So this year, Scutaro knows what to expect, knows that he will be the main guy at short. Though not the best of the bunch defensively, he is probably in there because he is the best bat between himself, McDonald and Inglett.
Look for Scutaro to hit 8-12 HR, .260-.280 batting average, 150-180 hits, 70-80 runs, 60-70 RBI's. If the Jays get that and some solid defense and reliable spot duty from Johnny Mac and Inglett, I think they would consider that a successful year for Scutaro.
In a division filled with the offensive variety of shortstop looking at Scutaro it is easy to question him and the Jays at this position, even if they had to go with Johnny Mac, Cito Gaston has pointed out a few times that the Jays in 92-93 didn't have a power hitting shortstop, they had Manuel Lee the first year with Alfredo Griffin as his backup and Tony Fernandez the second with Alfredo Griffin and Dick Schofield backing him up. Granted that Fernandez was one of the better hitting shortstops for his time, powerwise he was never much better than Scutaro will give in a typical year.
Overall, this should be a strong position for the Jays and Cito is used to not having that heavy hitting shortstop, just be excellent defensively or the lack of offense will be an issue from this position.
Category: Toronto Blue Jays 2009 Preview
Anti-Rush Slogans
I got an email from the Democratic Party yesterday asking me to vote on my favorite Anti-Rush Limbaugh slogan that would then be posted on billboards in Rush's hometown. You can go the Democratic Party website to vote on it. Personally, I like them all, put one of each in his hometown. If I had to choose one though, I would choose "We Can Fix America, Just Don't Rush It". It says alot. Realistically, Obama has only had about 50 days so far. Don't most presidents get at least 100 before we start bashing their heads in?
Category: Politics
Sunday Retro
Paul Weller and The Jam were probably one of the more underrated punk/new wave groups in the late 70's and 80's. Their greatest hits is amongst my favorite discs in my collection and this song, Town Called Malice is probably their best known, though not my favorite of their songs.
Paul Weller has also done a lot of solo work that is just as great.
Category: Sunday Retro
Buffalo In The Spotlight Now
"Holy crap!" was I think the first reaction to the Terrell Owens signing today. I was at a swim meet all day and got to Otto's in Cheektowaga to have a few drinks and watch the Sabres game and there on the TV they were watching Terrell Owens being signed by the Buffalo Bills.
Terrell Owens in Buffalo.....its surreal. Who would have guessed that Ralph Wilson, Dick Jauron, Russ Brandon and company were willing to take such a risk?
The question is, will it be a good risk. This move will either be a great move or a horrendous nightmare, there will be no inbetween. TO will either be a pro-bowler or a royal pain the ass.
What ever he ends up being, one thing is for sure, the Bills have found yet another way to sell out yet another season. Tickets after this move will fly out the windows and good or bad next year, the Bills will sellout.
TO creates a hype we haven't seen around here since the Kelly days as far as football goes and brings the national spotlight to Buffalo. We will be guaranteed to have at least one Monday night game and one Sunday night game as well, probably more, because where TO goes, so goes the national spotlight on the NFL.
So, get ready Buffalo, this is the attention we have all been craving, only we have to deal with it good or bad....in the end though, no one can blame the Bills on this move for trying to be aggressive and taking a chance that ultimately could pay off huge in the end. This move takes the AFC East and turns it on its head and probably takes New England totally by surprise.
Category: Buffalo Bills
Bible Bylaws?
I didn't know that the Catholic Church could just make it up as they go. Now apparently they can tell Catholics what to give up for Lent as opposed to the traditional meat on Fridays gig, which to my knowledge isn't even in the Bible, its just something they have imposed over the years.
This year, they are telling Catholics to give up their electronic devices such as Ipods, cell phones, and not using the internet until after Easter.
Where does it state that in the Bible that as a practicing Catholic you have to do this and why in a world run by technology are they asking Catholics to do this? It really makes me happy that I chose to stop practicing my religion and go the agnostic/atheist route. Religion is full of so many made up, BS rules and what you can and can't do that may or may not be in the Bible. Its in all religions too. Thats why on Fridays when I can, I get a rise out of ordering a nice juicy steak if we go out to eat this time of year because unlike most who follow the rules of Catholicism, I don't have those rules. I don't have to worry about the day or the time of year. I don't worry about waking up on Sundays to go anywhere to worship something that is no more real than Santa Claus. Today, I'll get in my car and turn on my IPod and drive off to work, text my wife a few times during the day and make some calls for work on my cell phone then I will come back here and post a few more posts after swimming. Meanwhile there are sheep out there who will deprive themselves of these items and live a sheltered life. Thats all fine and well. Giving up meat for a practicing Catholic should be plenty. Thats the standard. But apparently as always the church feels that people should do something more, so they make it up as they go.Category: religion
Workout Songs
I was having an ordinary day this morning working out until my IPod spit out The Enemy Within. Rush live on the Grace Under Pressure tour. This is that version of The Enemy Within, still a fan favorite of that and Geddy's bass line did it for me this morning on the eliptical:
Category: Music
Assessing Trade Deadline Day
If you listened to WGR 550 and the local media hype leading up to today they had you thinking two different scenarios could have happened today.
Scenario one had Tim Connolly traded and the Sabres give up on the season.
Scenario two had Tim Connolly resigned and the Sabres would be serious about making the playoffs.
Beyond those two scenarios I don't think anyone anticipated the other moves of the day.
First, Mikael Tellqvist was acquired to back up Patrick Lalime for a fourth round pick. I think this will be an interesting move beyond this season for this reason. Patrick Lalime only has a one year deal and Mikael Tellqvist is five years younger. Tellqvist has accepted a backup role but is young enough and experienced enough to play everyday if needed and I could easily see Buffalo letting Lalime go and trying to lock up Tellqvist as a backup on a longer term basis until Jhonas Enroth is ready.
Dominic Moore was plucked off the Leafs roster for essentially Ales Kotalik ultimately. This is a better player than Kotalik. Kotalik for the 20 goals a year he could score was often a liability defensively and was overly prone to long scoring slumps. Much like another guy named Satan. He was frustrating a great shot and a big build but he never hit down low and that limited his game.
Dominic Moore on the other hand is a 6'1" center who fills a position the Sabres have been lacking in. He will be a third line center who can contribute for a change that will allow Adam Mair to go back to a role he can handle, fourth line winger/center. It was getting frustrating when Gaustad was out and even when he was back watching Adam Mair have to fill in in a scoring role or play with players who were miles ahead of him talent wise. Moore has shown this year with the Leafs that he can provide scoring as well as a little grit that you need on the third line. Most importantly, Moore will not be unsignable after the season. He may only fetch in the $1-2 million a year range and that could be a 3-4 year deal to secure him.
The Connolly deal to me, if he stays healthy, is a steal. I like Connolly and it does look like his injuries are behind him. If he is healthy for 80-100% of this deal the Sabres have one of the top five centers in the Eastern Conference locked up for $4.5 million a season. If he gets hurt for a long stretch again well, then they made a mistake that Buffalo can ill afford to make. It was a risk by Darcy, but for a GM that many feel doesn't deal enough, it was a risk worth taking.
I give Darcy high marks on this trade deadline day, if it all pans out, and we will know if it does in about a month or so, it was all worth it. Get into the playoffs and let the chips fall where they may.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Let Them Drown
What's another $30 billion right? They already got $150 billion from George W. and Hank Paulson why not give them another $30 billion, hell make it an even $200 billion.
I know most people out there are outraged at the rate the government and the Federal Reserve is handing out cash in the billions and thats fine. I see it their way just as much as I see it the other way that letting them go under could be devastating too. The key word there is "could".
How bad is AIG in the hole if $150 billion just disappears in what five months? How much time will $30 more billion really buy them before they are coming back with hands outstretched for more? A month tops?
I know all the doomsayers out there preaching the end of life as we know it if AIG goes down but life as we know it is going to end if the US treasury goes bankrupt handing them $30 billion a month too. If they are hurt that bad maybe its time to let them sink and suffer what ever consequences follow. At this point they have been shot and run over twice with a car and they are on life support, they can't stay on the ventilator that is the taxpayer forever.
I look at it this way, how much worse could things get? Since September the DOW has shrunk by over 50%, has our GDP really shrunk that much for the DOW to go down that much? So I think that things in the stock market have over reacted. So is AIG really going to hurt things if we just let them do their thing?
They have assets to sell, its not like they can't sell off parts of the company. But at the rate things are going, the government can't keep handing it to them when they ask for it, it doesn't make sense. Someone else will step up and fill their void in the economy if they cease to exist and I don't think things will get that much worse for it. Stick a fork in 'em they're done.
I Got One, But It Was a Pain In The Ass
If it was anyother band I probably would have said screw it, Im not going, but its the Hip, An evening with the Hip which will be a 21/2 to 3 hour show most likely. Luckily my wife was off from work today and managed to work both our laptops until she got through.
She got through around 10:45 this morning and landed me a ticket just outside of the "pit" at Artpark. At 10:00 AM if you tried to get through, the Hip's website had crashed due to all the traffic of fans trying to get through and get their first crack at presales.
Kudos to my wife for sticking it through and getting me one ticket. Yes thats right one. I refuse to pay more than $50 for a concert ticket anymore so I told her if they were more than $50 it will be just me going to the show. She didn't want to go to begin with so I would have bought the second ticket for no one in particular anyway.
This purchase pretty much insures that I will not attend opening day at the Dome though like I did last year, unless I get a nose bleed seat which I may still do.
Back to the ticket purchase. Tickets.com are theives. The ticket cost $59.50, okay by all standards a fair price to see a band who is in my mind anyway one of the top five North American live shows for 3 hours. But then I looked at the print out and there was two fees, surprise, surprise.
The first was a convenient charge of $8, I think they need to rename it to "an inconvenient charge". $8 on top of a $59 ticket? Thats almost a 15% tax ontop of the ticket price which Im sure they get a cut of anyway. Not to mention the fact that nothing of the ticket buying experience was convenient by all accounts. Most going to the show have day jobs, they have to work on Tuesdays at 10 AM that almost took me out of the equation until I found out that my wife was taking today off from work.
Lets face it, besides printing the ticket and putting in an envelope to mail it to the buyer, where is the convenience of buying a ticket through tickets.com or ticketmaster? No one does anything worthy of being called convenient besides charging huge fees on top of already expensive concert, sports and event tickets for a cash strapped public in a bad economy to buy.
Then there was the $3.25 "order processing fee". Okay, thats ridiculous. There is no one processing the order other than the computer and the customer typing in their own information. There really is nothing to process is there? What they have to take 20 seconds to deposit the tickets address side up into an envelope? Didn't we already cover that in the "inconvenient charge"?
After this, I am done. Im resorting to Thursday in the Square or Gateway Concert Series. No money other than for overpriced beers, which really, is beer ever overpriced?
New 54-40, Better Late Than Never
I was fumbling around the 54-40 website and I probably would have known about this when it first came out but I really don't listen to the radio much anymore for music. When I listen for music its on my Ipod so I rely on visiting favorite bands websites from time to time to see what they are up to.
Well, it appears that 54-40 has a new album out there. Unfortunately not available on US Itunes just yet and Itunes of course won't let you go to another countries Itunes to get music even though we live right here on the friggin border so I will have to order the hard copy of the CD in order to get it, which is all good and well as I would rather have the artwork and hard copy of the record of bands I really like.
Anyway, thats beside the point, here are a couple tracks off the new 54-40 album Northern Soul:
Snap: One Hundred Songs:Northern Soul, its been out for awhile but easily is my favorite song off the record without even hearing the whole thing, it is also the most meaningful song on the record being an anti-war song, lyrically its one of the most touching and emotional songs I have heard period, one comment I read on the youtube page put simply,
"Its too bad the message in this song will never be heard by the masses. It seems bloodshed is the only answer we have when bloodshed has proved over the corse of time to change nothing" :
Northern Soul
Mama is your boy home I used to see him here
No my son is gone away you won’t find him near
Is he over there then fightin’ in that war
No my son has left that place we’ll see him never more
Chorus
War
And now this war has taken away our son
Has taken away our son
What ever happened to love sweet love
What ever happened to
Love your brother love your sister one another
in the darkest hour
Mama what was he fightin for did he really understand
No my son just went along he was told to by the man
Mama he was my son too I feel for him I can
Northern soul is what he had and I’d rather have him back
Chorus
Bridge
He’s a bird that flies in your yard
And he won’t be back again so put him in your heart
Cause you made him with your love and he flies above
And we both know he was better than this war
Mama is your daughter home or has she to run her time
No my girl has gone downtown carrying a sign
Hurray for the peace parade and the lovers of free will
Free to surrender the need to kill or be killed
Baby's First Hats
Yesterday I bought the baby's first hats. Seeing as the little guy will be born in October it will be the perfect time of year to show off his/her favorite teams hats so I used an old MLB gift card and got him/her these two beauties that will keep him/her very warm in the winter of 09/10. A couple of Blue Jays beanies. Very sporty for the up and coming Jays fan in the family. They were buy one get one free, total cost? $5.97 at MLB store.
Im working on a t-shirt that says with an arrow pointing "Future Jays Fan" and there is a Blue Jays onesie out there as well.
Molson will also be sporting a Blue Jays dog jersey. I swore I would never dress up my dog but hey as long as the team is right, what the hell.
Category: Baby Buffalo Boy
Sunday Retro
Siouxsie and the Banshees are one of those 80's punk/new wave groups that have led the retro explosion here in the 2000's. They have remained active musically with several best of collections and a tour as recently as 2002. There is actually another set of remasters coming out in 2009 as well as a DVD box set featuring all their British television performances.
This is one of my favorite Banshees tunes Cities in Dust:
Category: Sunday Retro
Desparate and Scared
So thats it huh? Yesterdays big Rush speech in front of what? 1000 people? The Republican Party is scared and desparate. Scared of losing control for an extended period because we actually have a president that makes sense. Desparate because they are relying on this wind bag Rush "Fat Ass" Limbaugh to spew crap out of his mouth to try to convice people that they are legitimate.
Im not going to glorify the douche bag by showing his youtube clips of his speech. I watched the whole thing and it was full of crap from start to finish. How can you rely on this extremist to bring the party that Republicans care about to any kind of party that the American people can identify with?
Most of his speech was hypocrtical in the sense that he spewed about the stimulus and spending yet, if you go back to the Bush years, George W., (Rush's gay lover) over spent every single year he was in office with record deficits and record spending. Some conservative government that was.
Remember the Patriot act that wire tapped American phones? Remember all the things we were told we couldn't do on planes? Remember things travelers were told we couldn't do?
Remember the record budget deficits under Bush? Only his spending was military spending for the invasion of Iraq. The wrong country. All that money wasted. Left with a huge surplus from the last democrat in office (Clinton) and left office with the largest deficit in history.
How Limbaugh could make it most of the way through the speech without bringing up Bush was beyond me but I found it fascinating that he brought up Reagan like he was president yesterday!
The chunks he spewed about Obama wanting control and the democrats wanting to control what we say and do and drive is total bullshit. He plays the republican game so well. Most of that was referring to the Fairness Doctrine. See Republicans are scared that this is some big bad piece of legislation that is going to limit what they can say or do in the media. Not the case. Its only going to allow more progressive talk on the air. Its going to allow liberal talk shows on more airwaves especially on the radio. He's scared. He shouldn't be, his show is going to thrive when the Fairness Doctrine passes because he will have competition. Exactly what he referred to throughout his long winded speech of crap. Competition. That means Rush, that you might have to have a liberal on your talk show from time to time. Gee wouldn't that be something? If there are any Limbaugh listeners when was the last time you ever heard someone call Limbaugh and disagree with him?
Listen to 1520 for an hour on a weekday, listen to Bill Press or Ed Schultz, they have callers who disagree with them all the time, they may not see eye to eye but they talk and have an open dialogue and it forces a sense of honesty. Limbaugh by not allowing anyone who disagrees with them on promotes this web of lies, its not a show where you are going to hear talking points based on facts because no one disagrees with him and therefore he is not forced to get his facts straight, he can basically say what ever he wants with no fact checks. No one calls in to hold what he says accountable.
His speech last night was much of the same. Full of talking points with no facts to back it up. If you truly watched the Obama speech the other night you heard none of what Limbaugh was referring to. Obama gave a speech that stated our realities yet presented hope and enthusiasm. Yes hes spending money but hes redirecting where the spending is going. Redirecting it from the military to education, healthcare, and energy. No country can be strong without an educated population, a healthy population and ample energy supplies. Yes he is raising taxes, on the wealthy, those making over $250,000. Hes not going to rape them of their fortunes as Limbaugh and his party would have you believe, he is raising their taxes to pre-George W. levels. To what they were under the Clinton administration. From 36% to 39%. I think we had prosperity under Clinton did we not?
Who spent this nation into "generational debt" as Mr. Limbaugh put it? George W. Bush....did I miss something here? Was George W. not a conservative? We did it his way for 8 years. It DIDN'T work! We have gotten to a point where Obama inherited a mess. A big ass (kinda like Limbaugh, a big ass) mess. It is going to take some spending to get out of it. Its long term spending. Remember the idiot we had before never included the cost of the war in his budgets, Obama is!
Rush is the ultimate spin man, Ill give him that. He may be better than Karl Rove. That doesn't make him good. He is the ultimate right wing extremist and the ract that they rely on him will only scare more away from voting for anyone in that party. Scare tactics. Obama while he was realistic at times and honest in his speech, did not speak to scare people, he spoke to give us a reality and to provide reasons for optimism.
The result of Rush leading that party in my mind is going to be a separation of republicans. Those that follow his blubbering crap and those that go and form an independent party. Rush is full of conspiracy theory. Hes full of hot air.
Here are two examples:
Rush talking of disaster under democrats (who's using scare tactics?):
Obama, did you hear anything even close to what Rush was talking about? I heard him mention the word "facts", geez, isn't that a nice change, governing based upon facts. Did you hear the part about the website that you can go to and see where the money is going? What an idea and change of pace, transparency. I say enough is enough of Limbaugh. He was the one with the brain washing scare tactics. Obama for every bit of bad news he talked about, he mentioned solutions.Islanders 2, Sabres 0
Despite Ryan Miller going down its not the goaltending thats crashing. The offense has all of a sudden gone from suspect to just plain bad. Patrick Lalime only let in two goals last night and the defense actually did a pretty decent job last night keeping shots to the outside.
The fact is that you cannot win games scoring no goals. They had their chances but for the second night in a row, no one was willing to pay the price to finish. It was very curious that Bill Guerin was a healthy scratch. The Sabres and Islanders have dealt in the past and with the need for scoring Guerin would be a nice fit seeing that the Sabres don't give up much to get him.
Thats beside the point. The fact is we lost to the Islanders, luckily Atlanta pulled a rabbit out of their hat and beat Carolina which leaves us in the same spot, just a little further out of 7th. I hope the reports are true that Thomas Vanek may be back this week.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
