Hardball and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz

I am not a fan of hardball, but last night a "debate" caught my eye while flipping channels. Last night Chris Matthews asked Ms. long last name (D-Fl) what should be done about the Iraq war and Afghanistan etc.. Her colleague for the debate was Chris Shays (R-Conn). I encourage you to watch the video and see how vile and hateful this woman is. When questions are posed to her she responds with only the typical "President Bush ruined the world" rhetoric. Watch Mr. Shays as he tries to answer questions and be cordial and this woman just spews hatred which is helpful to no one at all. She, and her party, offer nothing constructive at all.

These people, Democrats, promised us they would get the troops out of Iraq, and "work 5 days a week" until there was some sort of resolution. That quote is directly from Nancy Pelosi. Since they assumed power they have worked, at most, three days a week and have done nothing but bash the President. This is not helpful, PLEASE offer solutions and not character bashing. I am perfectly willing to give anyone a chance but how can you when all they say is "...failure of leadership..." PEOPLE, you are the leaders now and you can't even agree on issues within your own party. The republicans may have "screwed everything up" but at least they could agree and do SOMETHING.

Enjoy your two years folks, it'll be over before you know it. Keep up the good work and it also won't matter who gets your party's nomination.

"Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory."

P.S. what the heck is up with her blue eye-liner too?

Al Gore (tool)

What is wrong with this guy? He doesn't seem like a complete idiot yet when he opens his mouth he really tries to prove it. Yesterday day it was discovered that Mr. Global Warming spends $30,000 a month to heat and cool his home. His 20 room 8 bathroom Nashville Mansion. I am all for making all the money you can and living how you want, as long as you aren't telling other people they need to pick up your slack. It's also odd that people attach themselves to this guy as if he is anyone special at all. See Mike's blog as a reference.

On a lighter note I saw "The Hollywood Primaries" on Extra or some other TV rag. Celebrities always make me feel so smart. Jeff Goldblum was asked which candidate he currently liked and he said Al Gore, of course no one had the nerve to tell him Mr. Gore isn't running. It was nice to see some of the stars remain neutral on the question, but Oprah's buddy was the worst of all. She led some sort of retarded cheer for Barack Obama. It was sad to watch.

Movie Review (Ghost Rider)

Ghost Rider is a not-so-typical adaptation of the oh-so-typical "I sold my soul to the devil and now I deserve a second chance" genre. Right up front let me say I did not understand a lot of the movie. He is supposed to morph into this thing in the presence of evil yet several times he gets jumped by demons and doesn't change. That notwithstanding, the movie has some decent scenes, the action scenes are ok but corny, and the cast is decent. With respect to the cast I think Eva Mendes should have worn at least one shirt that fit her, and Nick Cage delivered the same performance from his last ten films. At the risk of sounding ghey for Nick Cage, he shredded his body for this role. In a rare shirtless scene he looks like an Olympic athlete. I apologize to the fans of the comic book, I am sure I am offending you but this movie just wasn't for me. On the bright side, Sam Elliot and Peter Fonda really gave good performances.

This one is a rental at best.

Movie Review (We Are Marshall)

The tragic true story of the Marshall University football team from 1970. In short the movie is fantastic if not a heart wrencher. Although necessary, the emotions for the story are difficult at best yet, in the end, it wraps up nicely. The story is brilliantly told during the dark days after the Marshall University football team was wiped out in an airplane crash on November 14, 1970. The movie takes you though the anguish of the entire town. The great sorrow affects players who did not travel to that game, a coach who gave up his seat for father, the student of the school, and the parents/townsfolk that so dearly loved their football team. One of the most impactful moments of the film for me was the introduction of Bobby Bowden; then head coach of the West Virginia University Mountaineers. Marshall needed a new offense (the veer) and WVU used that same offense so they traveled to Morgantown where Mr. Bowden allowed them unmitigated access to all of his coaching materials. For years I have heard what a classy man he is yet never understood why; you, Mr. Bowden, are a gentleman first class. The spirit of Jack Lengyel is wonderfully childlike and captured well by Matthew Mconahey (intentional misspelling). A lone bright light during the dark days following the tragedy he infused others with his spirit to bring the best parts of their spirit ( if not their abilities) forward. The cast is tremendous complimenting each other at every turn and nothing got too over-dramatic. The coach's character is summed up best in a scene where he is asked why he would want to coach a team that does not exist. simply stated he says "I thought I could help."

Having watched Marshall for the past several years myself their spirit prevails and is exemplified even by their recent and current players. I remember Watching several years ago when Byron Leftwich broke his leg and refused to leave the field. His teammates had to carry him to the huddle after a long pass down the field. They did not win that game but, in that case, it showed where his loyalty was. When most college stars would sit down and wait for their Sunday paycheck, he wanted to win. I will leave you with this scene:

Senator John McCain

I am not a fan of Senator McCain though, currently, he will be the next President. Yesterday in a rare conservative sighting of the senator he spoke out harshly against abortion. Is the Senator going to go conservative? I will be watching him closely since I have previously thought he could run for either party.

EDIT:
I felt the need to clarify that I am a huge fan of Senator McCain as a man, a hero and servant to our country. I have not previously liked his politics is all.

Senator Scott Brown

The gentleman above had the fortitude to call out some high school sophomores the other day who thought they could use the Internet to slander this man and his family. I believe what he did was appropriate and shows these young people they must be accountable for their words and actions. You can click here to read the article. In a separate write-up one parent of a slandering teen says the Senator was way out of line but, of course, says nothing about her child being a complete turd. Typical, let's teach kids they are all the same and that there is no accountability for anything they do.

Restless Leg Syndrome (total crap)

I was watching TV last night and saw a commercial for some crap called Restless Leg Syndrome. More specifically it was a particular type of medicine to help people deal with this problem. Wow, a miracle! I hope these same brilliant people can develop a cure for the following equally catastrophic illnesses:

I'm fat but won't quit eating too much syndrome
I want to be rich but hate to work syndrome
I think I know everything but I am really stupid syndrome ( I may have this one)
I don't like anyone but want everyone to like me syndrome

I think these are all about the same since the real name for Restless Leg Syndrome is "My legs feel funny because I'm too lazy to ever walk" syndrome. Pretty soon they will be making pills for everything.

We've been sick

First off, yes I have the cutest boy on the planet thank you for noticing. Secondly starting Sunday we have all not been feeling well with the exception of Mrs. Dude. She had the wonderful task of trying to nursemaid all of us from Sunday afternoon through Monday as the entire house struggled with a stomach virus. I lost about 8 lbs via various means and slept on the couch in the "sick room." Mrs. Dude ran around with homemade Chicken Soup and Lysol trying to prevent the stuff from moving beyond the borders of the room I was in with one of the kids. I think the storm has passed, I hope none of my readers end up with this thing, it was awful.

Statistics suck

After reading the article I linked to in the post about black doctors I wanted to throw around some of the statistics that were listed. Statistics can be a nice way to determine a baseline or pattern but instead are often used to manipulate figures toward some predetermined goal these days. That said, let's look at the numbers:

9% = the percent of Knox county that is black
19= number of Knox county doctors that are black
1.2%= the percent of doctors in Knox county that are black

So should 9% of the doctors be black in Knox county or how do you determine the correct level? Which statistic do you use?

Some interesting quotes from the same article:

"When you think about Tennessee, it does not sound like it’s a happenin’ state," Davidson, 45, said. "You need social or cultural things that are appealing to African-American physicians that you would typically have found in a larger city, that we don’t have here in Knoxville."

Should Knoxville concentrate on becoming a booming diverse metropolis, even though that is not the city's history?

That’s unfortunate, he said, because young black professionals need a strong support base and want a diverse social outlet that often is lacking in Knoxville.

Could we have some examples please?

"That’s not only true for medical doctors but with other professionals as well. Knoxville is not a good place to be. That has been articulated to me," Rollins said.

What was articulated, and by whom? Who is telling anyone of any race not to move here?

Waters admits he doesn’t have any answers. But people should be concerned, he said, because a lot of blacks don’t want to locate here, and "that’s a big problem."

Should we drive to Atlanta, and move black doctors here against their will? I recall something like this happening a few hundred years ago with Africa and ships; no one seemed to care for that idea.

The black doctors in town, he said, are a "very eclectic group. Everyone does their own thing."

"I don’t speak on a regular basis with other black physicians," Foster said. "I don’t know why. I go to church with Evelyne Davidson but probably hadn’t spoken a word to her in three years."

Well crap, if the doctors in town don't even speak to each other how can we get them to bring in people who don't live here?

Recruiting Black Doctors

I was reading this article and have to ask why. The statement at the top is:

Physician, recruit thyself

Knox medical community, city must remedy lack of black doctors by finding ways to attract, retain them

What does that even mean? We should recruit people based on the color of their skin? Should more of the new black doctors be men or women? How tall should they be? What kind of cars should they drive? This is stupid, who cares what color your doctor is? If you care, why do you care?

Get the best candidates regardless of race or gender, that's what equality is.

Barack Obama is "fired up."

He did it! Barack Obama just knocked himself and Hillary right out of contention for the democratic Presidential nomination. The two least qualified people on the planet should negate each other in the primaries. Thank goodness he decided to run now and dash Hillary's chances. On the plus side, Senator Obama gave a rousing speech but unfortunately called out "failure of leadership." Whether he is talking about the President, congress, or both this was a mistake. The congress has flopped to the other party and so far they haven't done anything either so you can't stand on them, and the President is leaving in 2008 no matter what. He also threw out something about universal healthcare, but he will soon see that no one wants to pay for such a grandiose idea. Lastly, he says he has a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq by sometime next year. I hope we get to see this plan since, so far, no one can produce anything except to tell the President they don't like his plan. If you're going to complain, at least come up with an alternative.

If you are a Hillary Clinton supporter and believe that this man is not qualified based on his lack of experience, just remember this:
1. He's been a Senator almost as long as her.
2. He actually lived in the state where he got elected.
3. He actually got elected for who he is, not who he is married to.

A friend told me the other day that it's amazing watch Democrats snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with their crappy candidates. John Edwards is the front runner for their nomination by default. The sad truth is Al Gore, complete moron, could announce his candidacy a week before the primary and beat all these clowns for the nomination. Why you ask is that; he invented the Internet and then discovered global warming since being thumped in 2000. I hope we get someone with their own ideas running. I don't want anyone elected because we think their skin color or gender qualifies them for anything, that applies to Republicans as well.

The astronaut debacle

So this stuff is cracking me up. Our astronauts are the best and brightest both physically and mentally, of that I have no doubt. Unfortunately it looks like they might be would a little too tight in some cases. I can't believe what this woman was attempting to do. It does verify my argument about men and women working together closely for extended periods of time though.

Things like this are one of the reasons men and women shouldn't be on ships at sea together for months at a time. You wouldn't believe the crap those goes on on those things when they are underway for 6 months.

Movie Review (Deja Vu)

I saw Deja Vu last night and wasn't terribly disappointed. Denzel Washington takes the lead as ATF Agent Doug Carlin who appears to be very good at his job. Able to see crime scene and rapidly observe the most critical details. After "the disaster" enter Val Kilmer (looking chunky) and the FBI who have a new way to warp time so that they can watch the past. They notice Agent Carlin's nunchuck skillz and want to use him since they cannot record or rewind their ability to watch the past and need a keen observer. So the time warp thing is whack for sure but they do a believable job with the sci-fi aspect and don't throw it over the top anymore than they have to.

If you want to pick up the physics and science of the movie it will not be fun for you. If you can sit back and enjoy the ride it's a great edge of your set thriller. The only thing I did not like were the two or three reference made to "Oklahoma City" in reference to Denzel's character. That was never cleared up for me. The other thing I did not like is that some woman brought her 2 or 3 year old to the theater and that poor little girl saw and heard things no little person should. That said the violence/gore is CSI level stuff and not gratuitous at all. I would say they swore less then ten times in the movie and the only thing that absolutely didn't need to be there was a nude shot of the main chick.

Go check it out, it's at the dollar theaters.

SuperBowl 41

This just in! Apparently Rex Grossman sucks. Rarely in a team sport can you blame a loss on a single player; however, this is the second Super Bowl where I have seen this happen. Neil O'Donnell did it against Dallas several years back and Rex Wanted to see if he could duplicate the effort. I also thinks it's retarded that Dominic Rhodes and/or Joseph Addai and/or Jeff Saturday weren't the MVP. Once again, Peyton Manning was given something based on his name and not his play. Lastly, the best moment was this:

Peyton (What's in a name)

Congratulations again for making it to the SB Mr. Manning.
Now I opened the paper today and saw, on the cover no less, 49 children named after this dude. That is so freakin' weird! I am all for supporting a team and being a fan, but why do people attach to this individual? 2/3 of Tennessee became Colts fans when he got drafted, this confounds me. reading the sports section and hearing people brag about naming their kid, some when he was an incoming freshman, makes me think the world is actually ending. On the plus side, it does make me fell better about myself since I can name my children independently.

William Arkin (tool)

The gentleman pictured above is William Arkin, he is also a first rate tool. He was watching
an NBC Nightly News piece where a number of soldiers were expressing their frustration with the giant idiots in this country who claim to support the troops but not the war. Arkin then decided to write this article for his blog. What an idiot! Just so you know, this is what people who make that bogus troop support statement think, I don't care what they say. This jackass claims to have been an intelligence analyst in the military for four years, but his records seem a bit hard to track; his civilian life is pretty plain though. This article sums up Sir Jackass pretty well. For the record I want people to feel free to support or not support something but please stop the tiresome double talk.