This is Apples and Oranges by Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett who was the founder of Pink Floyd. Apples and Oranges was released in 1967 and it was the last song Syd would do with the band.

They wonder why so many of us go to pirating and stealing music and videos. Its because big companies like ITunes place so many damn restrictions on imports and other items that there is no other choice but to look else where.

I openly admit, I steal music, because its the only other way. How else do I get those Tragically Hip live series only available on Canadian ITunes....I can't. How else am I going to get other rare and import material that is available via Itunes in other countries but not available through ITunes US. Its awful how that restrict it and personally if you are willing to spend the money to get the music then they should make it all available.

I gave up on record stores a long time ago and sites like Amazon are the same way. Music has no borders other than those that big media companies put in place.

Trent Edwards had this to say when asked about playing two extra regular season games:

"I don't know a ton about the situation. I don't know what the reasoning would be. I'm a little naive about the whole situation, but just on paper, to answer your question straight forward, I don't really like it to be honest. I feel like we already, like you said, take a ton of hits. We already go through a long season. Sixteen games is a long season no matter how old you are, but I would have to know a little bit more of the details. Right now, to be honest, I really don't like it."

First, how could you not know anything about it? You play in the damn league, thats been the talk all week, where have you been? Still recovering from your last concussion?
 
The quote above was from WGR 550's website by Paul Hamilton who I love listening to whether its about the Bills or Sabres because he isn't afraid to be a little skeptical about what hes reporting on.

I originally thought we had a chestnut tree in our backyard but last night after doing some research, we actually have a what I have found to be what is most likely an Eastern Black Walnut tree. The thing is huge and as you can imagine its bearing copious amounts of large green, thick shelled walnuts starting in late July to early August.

Well, if you have one of these trees you know that you have to be looking overhead or you may get one off the top of the melon.

My wife got in her car a few mornings ago and the tree is placed in the back of our yard with much of it overhanging our garage and so the walnuts will get picked off by hoards of squirrels that love these tasty treats and fall to the ground. Well, my wife's car is parked behind mine just in front of the garage so when the squirrel on one of those overhanging branches lets one loose it falls, rolls down the garage roof and bombards my wifes car. Shocked the hell out of her it did.

My dog, Molson, uses the back yard to squeeze out his business and he at times gets startled and has to dodge a small barrage from those very same squirrels. (He has actually caught two squirrels this summer and killed one of them so he is capable of getting his revenge). I think the squirrels have waged an all out war.

Today, I am going out there to get some landscaping done and to clean up the yard. Its overdue, I finally have a weekend to spare and its going to get done today but, Im going to get nailed, I know it, One of these large green nuts is going to hit me on the head at somepoint, I may wear a helmet and find some protective gear to provide myself with some protection from the blows these 2 inch diameter tree bombs will do to me as I work back there under the shade of our big walnut tree.

Or, maybe, Ill go back there and put up with it. If you see my face bruised its because I braved the numerous falling projectiles from this tree and I have waged war with the squirrels. I wonder if they really taste like chicken? The next one Molson catches we are going to have to do a ritual cooking of the little bastard and put him on display for all to see, that this is what will happen if you continue to pound us with walnuts.

Maybe Bill Murray can lend me some advice on how to get rid of squirrels, I hear he is pretty good with gophers:

Today I was driving in Niagara Falls and I had to pass through the Military Road and Niagara Falls Blvd intersection a few times today and in the middle of the intersection and turning lanes there are collectors for the Kiwani's Club of Niagara Falls. Let me say first I have nothing agianst these people or the organization itself, however their fundraising is a bit crude if they find that they still have to stand in the middle of one of Niagara Fall's busiest intersections.

First, its awfully dangerous. Kid's Day is a big day around here and I think the same thing as I weave through intersections trying not to avoid the idiot selling newspapers in the middle of the street looking to get a car rammed in his ass. There is always that really aggressive seller too who gets just to the edge where they take that chance of getting hit. Mark my words , its going to happen, someone during one of these fund raisers in traffic is going to get taken out and all hell will break loose, but it won't be the drivers fault.

Second, if you have to stand out in the busy intersection, risking your life, maybe your fundraising methods need to be re-examined. Seriously, this is 2010 is it not? There are all sorts of ways that don't require buckets and cones in heavy traffic putting people in danger just to make a few cents from the drivers ashtray. Go get a table in the mall and collect or sell hot dogs at Tops or sell shit, something anything but slowing up traffic in a busy intersection and putting your lives on the line.

Third, it slows up traffic. at 11 AM on a weekday Im friggin trying to commute between patients homes, there is already too much construction and delays and your organization is not helping the crawl of traffic. GET OUT OF THE ROAD and I'll gladly send ya a dollar online.

I guess it must make them money otherwise why would they do it? So, Im sticking to my guns, Im not going to contribute to peddlers in intersections, I don't care what the charity is. Its a poor form of fundraising for all the above reasons I listed above. Maybe if we all kept our windows up and our money in our pockets when we see them they will realize its a lame form of fundraising and dangerous too for both the drivers and fundraisers. Besides, if I go out there with my bucket tomorrow I would get arrested, how fair is that?

Perhaps the most recognizeable song in the Tragically Hips catalog is New Orleans is Sinking. The Gord Downie rants in their songs are legendary and few and far inbetween now that their show has changed over the years.

I compiled three different versions of the infamous New Orleans Is Sinking rants and posted them on Youtube.

The first is the most popular of the bunch and its shown on Youtube, I checked it today and it has received over 10,000 views and had over 30 comments posted. Its the "Killer Whale Tank" version, I have it officially on a CD entitled Roxy and Elsewhere. I bought this from a guy at a subway station in Buffalo, that was where I had to meet him to pick it up. It felt like a drug deal, but I had to have it. $25 I paid for my first copy of Roxy. It was worth it. Every penny.

The fans of the Bills are as band wagony as any fans in the NFL, almost to a fault. When the Bills win a game we instantly think playoffs, when they lose a game, they stink like no one else's crap. Maybe that is because this team has flirted with winning but never gotten there and when they have lost they have lost bad. They have been 7-9 to 8-8 seemingly since their last playoff game during the Clinton Administration, When you have a team flirting with .500 you go through those extreme highs and extreme lows more so than when you outright suck or when you are great.

They aren't even my favorite team and I get that way about them too. I watch them every week because they are my second favorite team behind the Cleveland Browns who I don't follow as closely as I do the Bills because quite frankly I don't see every Browns game. Last year was the last year though until this team plays itself back to respectibility that I will get that way.

I refuse to feel as if a loss is the end of the world and win has them playoff bound. This year may be the 2-14 season anyway. The writing is on the wall.

Say what you want about Trent Edwards but hes no closer to being a better quarterback this year than he was last year, Gailey or no Gailey. Edwards just doesn't have it and Jauron may have ruined what ever Edwards did have. He plays like hes afraid to screw up, not like hes willing to take the risk to make the big play. There is a difference.

The defense while the secondary may have some standouts, the front seven is a mess. They don't have a true nose tackle and the defensive ends? Marcus Stroud is going to be a coverted defensive end, thats the best we can say. Other than Aaron Maybin and Chris Kelsay they don't have another defensive end worth mentioning and both of them have been converted to linebackers....Yikes. Is anyone playing their true position on the front seven of this defense?

The offensive line is not much better but at least they can say the middle of the line is somewhat healthy and able to play together. But they too are learning a new system from the coaching staff and we all know what the learning curve is in the NFL under new coaches.

Special teams through the first two pre-season games have looked awful. I know, preseason doesn't mean jack and thats fair enough but I haven't seen much to suggest they are good or even decent.

So, here it comes, get ready, 2-14. We have seen over a decade of losing football, but no season has seen rock bottom really. They have been a 7-9 to 8-8 team every year. So, its coming. rock bottom is coming, every team has to hit it to eventually get the talent to get back to respectibility. Im going to watch it though, because I think at the very least, the coach may be the man for the job, as long as everyone, fans included realize that this may be that rock bottom year.

The good news? If this coach is the right man for the job, he has started the process of weeding out the junk and mapping out the players or type of players he wants to fill his team with. Its gonna take a draft or two and a few free agency signings to turn it around but in the NFL that turn around doesn't have to take longl. We have seen bad teams become playoff teams in as little as one year.

The bad news is, we have to suck really bad before we get that turn around.  

George Bell in 1987 had the following numbers:

.308 batting average, 111 runs, 47 home runs and 134 RBIs, the single greatest offensive season in Blue Jays history arguably in terms of power. Though Paul Molitor probably had a better season in 1993 overall.  

Jose Bautista is 8 home runs away from breaking the record George Bell set in 1987. He hit two more tonight to give him 40 on the year. So far Bautista's season looks like this:

40 home runs, 83 runs scored, 95 RBIs. At the pace hes going Im wondering if the RBI mark Carlos Delgado set of 145 might not get a run. Bautista could come close but hes definitely on pace to crush the home run mark.

Im targeting the weekend of September 11th/12th, Im going to try as best I can to find myself sitting in the stands watching the Jays live that weekend to either watch Bautista hit the 48th or his 50th. At the pace hes going it may be 50 he gets to, if so thats fine. But I want to see him break my favorite players record. Its been a fun year watching this team again, seeing either of those two feats would cap off a year that has turned a lot of attention back on this team. 

These things are getting all too common this year. Another one hitter, the second by a Blue Jays pitcher in a little over a week. Same thing happened last night as the last one too. I sat down around 10:00 to watch the first couple innings and Shaun Marcum looked fantastic so I stayed right there with it.

I was up until the final pitch, though not nearly as mind blowing as the 17 strike out game by Brandon Morrow. Shaun Marcum struck out a measly 5 batters, however he walked only one, the lone hit was a big one too, a home run to Conor Jackson for all you one-hitter, "who got the one hit in that start", trivia buffs.

Don't look now but Cito has this team within 9 games now with another three series coming up to end the month against Boston, New York and Tampa with a series in there against Detriot as well. All those teams could pose a threat to the Jays wild card hopes and all are ahead of the Jays in the league standings.

I'm not going to make any bold "we will make the playoffs predictions", Im just having fun watching a team, I have been a die hard fan of, again for the first time in a long time. Like truly having fun. Win or lose this team is young and exciting to watch and the players act like they care. At the very least, my lone prediction is that we will catch the Boston Red Sox. That is saying a lot too since the Red Sox have owned us this year considering what last offseason suggested to fans, the majority of which were wrong about this team that would be as good as making the playoffs, anything above and beyond that would be icing on the cake.

As the last few weeks have gone on if you watch and listen to democrats and republicans go at it over the whole NYC Mosque thing and the whole thing by the republicans to "change" the 14th amendment I have to ask just who is preaching for freedom and respecting our constitution.

Republicans will hide behind the damn thing and make sure every one knows how patriotic they are when painted into a corner yet they want to tear the thing apart and take away rights and freedoms.

Democrats want some civil discourse on the issues and republcans want to ban things and tell religious groups where they can and can't build recreation centers.Its laughable.

Yet republicans will readily call President Obama Hitler and a Nazi. Who are the Nazi's here?

Add to that the big argument that never seems to go away about gay marriage. Republicans and conservatives have no good reason for banning gay marriage other than they don't understand the gay community and thus they feel threatened by it. Either than or republicans and conservatives are just as racist as they sound.

Republicans and conservatives are the first ones to say how they don't want big government yet what are they doing in all the above examples? They want government to control certain peoples lives. They want the government to limit freedoms and rights given to us by our very constitution that they like to hide behind and say how perfect it is. Its enough to make your head spin.  

These are simple isses folks.

1. Gay marriage: There is no threat to traditional marriage, sure its different than a traditional marriage but there is nothing out there to show that kids brought up in a gay marriage have any less chance of turning out any different than if they grow up in a straight marriage. That is one of the arguments you hear from many republicans and its never backed up by data or anything they just state their same old talking points, most of them fear based.

2. Birthright citizenship: One right that makes this country unique, whats the problem with this? And seriously how often does this happen where its a concern? Do we really need to feel threatened by giving a kid who is born in this country citizenship? The parents still don't have it. The fact is its not even the main immigration issue. Its how to handle those already here illegally who are not our enemies yet republicans talk about them like they are living out of their backyards or something. They aren't.

A start to the problem that would begin to satisfy republicans would be to get every illegal alien in this country on the payroll which would mean yes...spending money on law enforcement who would go to employers and not punish those workers working here illegally but get them on payroll and then get them on the pathway to legal citizenship. The main problem is they are here and not contributing to the tax base.

Lastly, once you get them on payrolls and contributing to the tax base one way or another there has to be a liveable wage not a minimum wage established in this country, lets face it no one can live on minimum wage, its hardly enough to feed yourself nevermind put a roof over your head and provide transportation to and from the job that feeds you and your family.

3. "The Mosque that isn't really a Mosque" is a non issue. If republicans want what is really a recreation center with a basketball court and prayer space relocated then they have to agree that every church regardless of denomination be moved X amount of blocks away, that includes Christian and Catholic churches and Jewish Synagogues.  And again, this would be the government interfering in our lives. Not to mention that there is a Mosque already that has been there for 30 plus years not far from the proposed Muslim recreation center.

The whole argument is that this center somehow poses a threat, it doesn't and getting your panties in a knot over it is making this whole country look like a scared little kid wetting its pants over absolutely nothing. Its been 9 years since 9/11, its time we let our guard down just a touch and realize that not all Muslims are radical and want to kill us,

Did anyone realize that our military is in Iraq and Afghanistan right now spending billions upon billions of dollars protecting and establishing governments for.....gasp.....MUSLIMS!!!!! We are America folks we are supposed to be a land of diversity, that includes Muslims. Muslims died in 9/11 too, not just the ones hijacking the planes, innocent ones died that day who were near the WTC.

So, its about time the republicans and conservatives zipped up and stopped the fear mongering crap that makes them look like whiny bastards. Its completely see through and there are much more important things like the economy that need to be addressed. But that is what the republicans are good at, they are good at directing attention away from real problems because they have no real solutions other than to tax cut everything and privatize everything.

They preach small government yet when government suits their agenda they want it to control the citizens of this country who don't see eye to eye with them like gays and muslims and illegal aliens. They have no backbone, no tolerance for those who aren't christian and white. Thats called being a racist. At the very least republicans and conservatives are prejudice, prejudice toward anything or anyone that doesn't agree with their morals, their beliefs and convictions. It seems to me that their approach is a lot more like Hitler than they are claiming the ever so patient to a fault, willing to work with both sides of the aisle President Obama.

I know its only preseason but the Bills looked crappy last night even by pre-season standards. Trent Edwards was okay for a series but the fact remains the offense still can't put the ball in the endzone. Add to that they have no reciever talent behind Lee Evans and their offensive line is in shambles already...its gonna be a long year.

How much does it say about your quarterbacks when the only one they drafted can only play out of the shotgun for fear of tripping over his own two feet, granted most of their games they will be playing catch up because the defense gave up a boat load of points so they may be playing out of the shotgun a lot in the second half of games.

Regardless of how bad this team performs this year remember one thing, this season will not be pegged on the coaching staff, it can't be, the players on the field have little talent to be in the NFL. They need talent to put out on the field and the Bills are lacking it in several areas. Namely quarterback.

Im not writing this season off yet but, 3-13 should be good enough to get into the top three draft picks next year and we can get a quarterback.

I went last night with great expectations for the show and I want to first start out by saying that the opening acts were, well they sucked. Who picks the opening acts for the headlining artists?

I understand the shows are free and many of the opening acts are local but come on, give me a break. They had no right being on that stage yesterday with the styles they brought up there. Do a better job at matching the openers with the style of the headliner.

That said, once Tears for Fears hit the stage all that was forgotten, they were one of the top 10 shows that I have seen and that includes 18 or so Tragically Hip shows, a once in a lifetime Police show, Elvis Costello twice, The Cure twice and numerous others.

The musicianship was simply amazing, vocally they were better than ever and the new stuff they played that I admittedly have not added to my collection was just as relevant and some of it better than their hits of the 80s and early 90's.

There was reportedly 15,000+ in attendance and hopefully they will hold up their word and come back to WNY more often, Id see them again. I can officially cross them off my bucket list of bands to see before I die. They didn't make my original list, they would have made top 15 had I gone that far, but knowing what I know now about their live show, they probably should get a bump up into the top ten.

So, Boner thinks we are a bunch of kids who need to grow up....maybe if you have the leisure time at your job to play 119 rounds of golf per year you can make it to 70 at your job with all your mental capacities intact, but most of us aren't even going to make it to 70 especially if the GOP gets their way and repeals a healthcare bill meant to lower the costs of healthcare. They want to take away healthcare from millions of Americans and they expect us to work until 70 years old?

Boehner, get in touch with reality. I hope his district and all those districts up for votes in the midterm vote these repuke clowns out of office. How about George W. Bush back in 2001 making sure that his tax cuts he implemented to the very rich in this country were paid for. They were paid for, by the huge surplus Clinton and Gore had for us. The surplus that was squandered that was meant to solidify social security and medicare was squandered on tax cuts and a war that was never budgeted for. So don't let Boner or the repukes fool you. They are full of crap.

John Boehner talking on Meet The Press about whether the Bush tax cuts are paid for (They never were). He wouldn't answer the question. Its more repuke spin.

Boehner is full of shit. He goes out and plays his 119 rounds of golf during the year in the ritzy golf resorts and rubs elbows with the obscenely rich and sits there and talks about tax cuts that are not paid for and says how much damage they will do if they expire.

I hope most people, repuke and democrat watch this and learn from this. If you don't get it I will explain this in the following paragraphs

The Bush Tax Cuts have been around since 2001. They were tax cuts for the wealthy....those of us making $250,000 or more individually, this is not even household income. This pertains to individual finances. 9 Years of tax cuts that were never paid for in the George W. Bush budget, the law that implemented these tax cuts is expiring.

Boehner will have you believe that letting these tax cuts expire will be a doomsday scenario. However, if they haven't been paid for it has been basically ADDING to the budget deficit that all you repukes and conservatives yell and scream and get your panties all tied in knots about. So how can you maintain and keep those same tax cuts if they were never paid for?

Also, Boehner will have you believe that these same tax cuts that are currently still in place until this January will create jobs somehow. Somehow, those tax cuts, that are currently still active will create jobs if we renew them in January.....(m taking a deep breath)...... Someone who is smarter than myself needs to come out and answer this question....IF THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO CREATE JOBS WHY DID WE HAVE A BIG RECESSION AT T HE END OF BUSH'S TERM IN OFFICE? WHY AREN'T THEY CREATING JOBS RIGHT NOW AS WE SPEAK?????

My answer: THEY AREN'T DOING DIPPY DO TO CREATE JOBS, THEY AREN'T. IF THEY WERE WE WOULDN'T BE IN A RECESSION WOULD WE!!!!!!

(Breathing)......Mr. Boehner is so full of crap, folks he is the leader of a republican party who answers the question about those same tax cuts like that? Thats because all the repukes care about is the obscenely wealthy coorporations who line their wallets. Thats it. Thats my only explanation. And of course are ever so wise supreme court made it possible for those coorporations to pour the money into any politician's pocket who is willing to protect their investments which means the middle class and poor in this country are screwed.

What incentive do business have to take those tax cuts and provide jobs with them? They don't thats the problem. There is no incentive for them to create jobs. Here's an idea, any business/coorporation that creates jobs in a give year (More jobs going in, than coming out) get to keep the tax cuts. If you cut more jobs than you create you pay the 39% rate until you prove you are creating jobs in this country.