A NASCAR driver's habit

If you know anything about NASCAR, you know that it is very much geared toward its sponsors.  Every car is painted with sponsors' logos all over it.  The drivers are in a ton of commercials.  They make appearances at the facilities owned by their sponsors.  When they are interviewed before or after a race, they always mention their sponsors in some way or another.  For instance when Matt Kenseth won this past weekend, I'm sure he said something like "The Dewalt Ford Fusion ran well all night".

Yesterday, former NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace was involved in a car wreck in his Dodge Durango.  Thankfully everyone involved was fine.  Rusty had this to say after his wreck.

You hear car companies talk about safety a lot, but I can tell you that (wife) Patti and I are both really thankful for the research and development that Dodge puts into the safety of their vehicles."

LOL!  I guess that truly is a habit that is hard to break.  Rusty has been retired for almost a year now and he still has to find a way to endorse a product anytime a microphone is put in front of him.

It's pretty understandable though.  The man was a NASCAR driver for about 30 years.  It will probably take a solid three to five years of "detox" for him to get over this habit.  Good luck, Rusty.  :)

News of the day

Lots of things to blog about today, so I figured I would just put it all in one post. Is it because I'm lazy? (Girl in "Don't Say a Word" voice ) I'll never tell.

Yesterday, a few people made a lot of noise about NBC's opening skit on Sunday Night's Emmys because it showed a mock plane crash. They were mad because earlier that day there was a real plane crash that killed several people in Kentucky. Never mind that the Emmy skit was a PARODY OF A POPULAR TV SHOW (Lost). No, apparently mocking plane crashes on television within a few hours of a real plane crash is "inconsiderate". So today NBC has "expressed regret" over airing the skit. One question - were any family members of people killed in the plane crash actually watching the show? Nuff said. Get a life folks.

Funny news today is from this article. I don't really have anything to add:

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is being made to watch his appearance in cult cartoon South Park while he is behind bars.

The deposed leader on trial in Iraq was featured in the movie spin-off as the lover of the devil. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut featured Hussein and Satan attempting to take over the world together.

Speaking at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone said US Marines guarding the former dictator during his trial for genocide were making him watch the movie "repeatedly".

"I have it on pretty good information from the Marines on detail in Iraq that they showed him the movie last year. That's really adding insult to injury. I bet that made him really happy," Stone said.

And the third thing I'd like to mention is that today is the one year anniversary of the day Hurrican Katrina hit the US. Everyone knows there was a ton of damage and many people lost their lives and that the cleanup continues to this day. But I'd like to mention something that really gets on my nerves every time I think about Katrina. That is the horrible news coverage during and after the hurricane. I remember countless stories of people being raped in the Superdome - none true that I've hear of. Of a "toxic soup" that would be caused by all the dead bodies in the standing water - not true. And of course the idiots that said stupid stuff about people eating other people - obviously not true, but some believed it. I think the catastrophe of Katrina was made incrementally worse by the news media. All told, I think that FEMA did a pretty dang good job. They were there within a few days and many people risked their lives to pull the citizens of New Orleans off of their roofs. We've also learned that a lot of the problems that occurred had a lot to do with breakdowns on the state and local level. Regardless, I think it could have been a lot worst. But then again, I'm a Right-Wing, inconsiderate, gun-owning, war-mongering, close-minded, George Bush fanboy. So I should not be trusted, but at least I'm RIGHT. :)

This was the plan all along

News today is that scientists have found a way to harvest stem cells without destroying embryos. They are hoping this new procedure will open the doors to more federal funding on stem cell research.

That's what I'm talking about! All that had to be done was to challenge scientists to come up with something else that did not KILL HUMAN BEINGS.

I had no doubt that anything they were doing before could be done another way. We already had been hearing of research being done on adult stem cells. There was no reason to start destroying embryos for something that was not proven to work anyway. Even though the media and (especially) many celebrities wanted you to believe it, embryonic stem cells are not guaranteed to cure all of the diseases they claim.

Today's news is very promising and I hope that it all works out the way scientists are saying it could. I'm thankful that President Bush held his ground on this issue, even to the point of vetoing a stem cell bill just last month. Wow, talk about awesome timing!

Weird Al is a genius

Lyric's from his new single, which you can listen to here

Once in a while maybe you will feel the urge
To break international copyright law
By downloading mp3s from file-sharing sites
Like Morpheus or Grokster or Limewire or KaZaA
But deep in your heart you know the guilt would drive you mad
And the shame would leave a permanent scar
'Cause you start out stealing songs, and then you're robbing liquor stores
And selling crack and running over school kids with your car

So don't download this song
The record store's where you belong
Go and buy the CD like you know that you should
Oh, don't download this song

Oh, you don't wanna mess with the RIAA
They'll sue you if you burn that CD-R
It doesn't matter if you're a grandma or a 7-year-old girl
They'll treat you like the evil, hard-bitten criminal scum you are

So don't download this song
Don't go pirating music all day long
Go and buy the CD like you know that you should
Oh, don't download this song

Don't take away money from artists just like me
How else can I afford another solid gold Humvee?
And diamond-studded swimming pools, these things don't grow on trees
So all I ask is, everybody, please...

Don't download this song
Even Lars Ulrich knows it's wrong
Go and buy the CD like you know that you should
Oh, don't download this song...
Don't download this song
Or you might wind up in jail like Tommy Chong
Go and buy the CD like you know that you should
Oh, don't download this song...
Don't download this song
Or you'll burn in Hell before too long
Go and buy the CD like you know that you should
Oh, don't download this song

Yep, must be about race

Usually, this series is dedicated to people using the "race card" in inappropriate ways.  Today's a little bit different.  Something racist did actually happen recently and (appropriately) it made national news.  From this article

 

Civil rights leader Andrew Young, who was hired to help Wal-Mart Stores Inc. improve its public image, said early Friday he was resigning from his position as head of an outside support group amid criticism for remarks seen as racially offensive.

Young, a former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador, was hired by Working Families for Wal-Mart in February.

In an interview with the weekly newspaper, Young was asked whether he was concerned that Wal-Mart causes smaller, mom-and-pop stores to close.

"Well, I think they should; they ran the 'mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood," the paper quoted Young as saying. "But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us, selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores."

I for one think all parties involved (Wal-mart, Mr. Young, Working Families, etc) got exactly what they deserved in this matter.  ALL of them are racists.  It just took six months for them to prove it to the world.  They FOCUSED ON RACE from the moment Mr. Young was hired to "improve Wal Mart's image".  We all know that the only image they were trying to improve was with one specific race.  THAT IS RACIST!

Now that's just plain stupid

News today (link) is that it appears that flight attendants for Nortwest Airlines may go on strike soon.  But this isn't the typical type of strike you normally hear about.  No, this is a "chaos strike".  Oooh.

During this chaos strike, workers will show up for work as though they normally would.  Then, as the flight is preparing to board, they will walk off.  This will cause chaos because the airline will have to scramble to find other available attendants to work on the flight, meaning the flight will likely be delayed.  This will also cause many flights to be canceled.

Stupid!  Stupid!  Stupid!  This is yet another way Unions are ruining America.  For workers to be able to get away with this just blows my mind!  I could never do anything like this at my job and get away with it.  Then again, I could never decide not to work for days\weeks\months and get away with it either.

This will really hurt customers.  The employees are so selfish that they don't care about that at all.  Really sad.  Sure, during a full-scale strike, customers are affected, but at least they know what to expect.  Here they have no idea what to expect.

I've had trouble finding detailed information on what is causing this strike.  The best I could find was that Northwest is trying to cut 40% of the attendants' salary and benefits, but I have no idea how that breaks down.  It doesn't matter though.  The situations is pretty simple to me.  If the employees don't like it, they should quit.  Find another job somewhere else and quit working for Northwest.  If Northwest wants to cut pay and benefits, they should do it.  If an employee walks out, fire them.

I know this probably sounds pretty cut-throat to some of you, but it really isn't.  The people that quit will obviously be fine because they found a job that likely pays them as much or more than what they are making at Northwest.  And if Northwest loses enough key people, they will have to make concessions somehow.  Thus the same negotiations that are going on now will eventually happen.  They just will happen without this stupidity and Labor Union nonsense.

Evil Republicans?

You've all heard about how evil the Republicans are. They want you to be able to own guns so you can kill people. They want you to drive SUVs so buy a bunch of gas so they can get rich from all of their oil buddies. They want your kids to be uneducated and not have healthcare. Yadda Yadda Yadda.

What you don't hear enough is that it is the liberals who are pretty darn evil themselves. And no one has to spread unsubstantiated propoganda claims to prove it. From liberal organizations such as PETA scaring kids from buying milk to others like Planned Parenthood who are against any form of limitations on the cruelest measures of killing unborn children.

Today my good friend, Gary Z posted this entry to his blog about this site. You can tell how mature they are by the "Evil, Duplicitous, Ugly, [expletive] Republicans" caption on their home page. Looking through the site, you will see that they even go so far as to give you advice on the best ways to vandalize public property or the property of others. Of course, they say, "We don't advocate tagging. It's illegal! OK?" on their website...At the very bottom of the home page...Go ahead, see if you can find it amongst all of the hate on that page. Then read the tagging section and see where they say, "We're cooling out on the idea of tagging". Oh well, crazy people can send mixed messages I guess.

This site apparently really believes that it is the Republicans who are making American consumers buy SUVs and guzzle gas. I know you don't believe this, but just in case you are tempted let me provide you some points to ponder.

1. Today the DrudgeReport has an article about how Democrat Senator Barak Obama spoke against gas-guzzling SUVs and how they were causing global warming at a town hall meeting. From the article,

He says part of the blame for the world's higher temperatures rests on gas guzzling vehicles. Obama says consumers can make the difference by switching to higher mileage hybrids.
Today the Senator said, "It would save more energy, do more for the environment and create better world security than all the drilling we could do in Alaska."

However, the article later says that Senator Obama left the meeting in a GMC Envoy. His press secretary claimed that the Envoy was E85 ethanol ready and Drudge said it appeared that was not the case, but that doesn't really matter. Obama said people should drive hybrids and he was not doing so. In addition, it's great if his Envoy was E85 ready, but I'd be willing to bet that he rarely has actual E85 ethanol in his vehicle. It's very hard to find and he probably travels a lot.

2. Good ole Mr. Green himself. Former Senator and Vice President Al Gore. Very popular for his books and lectures on global warming and how we are ruining our planet with gas guzzling SUVs among other things. He even made a movie recently about this to scare the crap out of all of us. Aside from the fact that most of the points he tries to make are mocked by climatologists, let's look at Mr. Gore's record. From this article

Graciously, Gore tells consumers how to change their lives to curb their carbon-gobbling ways: Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs, use a clothesline, drive a hybrid, use renewable energy, dramatically cut back on consumption. Better still, responsible global citizens can follow Gore's example, because, as he readily points out in his speeches, he lives a "carbon-neutral lifestyle." But if Al Gore is the world's role model for ecology, the planet is doomed

...

Gore has held these apocalyptic views about the environment for some time. So why, then, didn't Gore dump his family's large stock holdings in Occidental (Oxy) Petroleum? As executor of his family's trust, over the years Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Oxy stock. Oxy has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas.

That's right folks. Mr. Green himself doesn't practice what he preaches either. As a matter of fact, the article states that Gore claims to drive a hybrid car, but, like Senator Obama, I seriously doubt that he is carted around to lectures and high-security events in hybrid cars. I laugh out loud at the thought of high-profile people riding in and being surrounded by a fleet of Toyota Priuses. Never gonna happen. Even if they are in hybrid SUVs, it's still a mixed message because those SUVs aren't near as efficient as a hybrid car.

Do I wish that we could reduce our dependency on oil? Absolutelty. Our dependence on foreign oil is severely limiting our foreign policy. I'd love to see ethanol or some other alternative fuel become our major source of energy.

Do I think gas guzzlers are ruining our planet? Absolutely not. Go buy what you want. Be sure to have a lot of money for gas if you choose that big SUV though.

Do I think Republicans are evil? Sure, some of them may be. But there are just as many (if not more) Liberals\Democrats that are evil too.

We're all adults here, right?

So there's this story that I wanted to tell. Although it's a bit personal for me and my wife, Beverly, I wanted to tell it anyway because I found it pretty funny. I got the okay from Beverly to tell it, so here goes.

If you read my family blog, you will know that Beverly and I have two children, Kelsey and Roland. Kelsey recently turned two years old and Roland is almost eight months old. This story is about Roland and how I got punked out by my own son the other night.

A little bit of history on where I am coming from here. Beverly nursed Kelsey (meaning Beverly breast-fed Kelsey- I'm going to limit the b word here. Is that weird?). All went really well, so she decided to nurse Roland also. Kelsey was pretty attached to "natural" feeding, but didn't really give us much trouble when we switched her to formula. Roland on the other hand is on a completely different level. He REALLY likes for Beverly to feed him. He eats a lot more than Kelsey did. For instance, if something very minor gets him upset, it's time to eat. Any of you with babies know that it doesn't take much for a baby to start fussing or crying so there are times when Beverly is feeding Roland almost hourly. Another difference - Kelsey was very "gentle" when she ate. Not Roland. Beverly has to hold his arms so he doesn't beat her to death while he is eating. He seems to believe that Bev's "b-things" (that's just a silly way of wording it. oh well) are his and that he should be able to do whatever he wants.

So the other night we were traveling home from Sardis, MS. It's about a 45 minute trip from there to our house. Roland started crying from the moment we got out of the driveway. A few minutes later, crying turned in to screaming. We stopped somewhere and gave him some baby food, but he started screaming again as soon as we put him back in his carseat. So we decided to pull over again and see if it would help if Beverly fed him.

So Beverly moves to the back seat of our minivan, lays him down on her lap, and he starts to eat. I moved back there too to keep them company and to entertain my daughter.

That's when it happened. I've reran this in my mind several times and I've come to the conclusion that my son wanted to teach my wife a lesson. He wanted to teach her that he is the boss and she WILL listen when he tells her something (I'm visualizing my son in a sleeveless wife-beater t-shirt right now).

After a minute or two of eating, Roland sits up. And starts to move his head back and forth. Then he stands up and starts to move back and forth. He was a wild man! Hands all over the place, body swaying back and forth. All of this while still "hanging on" and eating. It was like he was saying, "All of this is mine. I own this." He seriously had something to prove. And it wasn't that he was hungry, because he didn't really eat much.

While this was one of the funniest sights I've ever seen, I have to admit it. It freaked me out. As a matter of fact, it freaked me out so bad that I had to move back to the front of the van and stop watching. My son did things to my wife that shouldn't be between a man and a woman outside of marriage! I have no idea what base he got to, but I'll guarantee that he got a lot further than the typical eight month old. I'm still a little bit freaked out just thinking about it and typing this blog post.

OK, enough of that. There was probably no value to you reading this story (is there value to ANY of my blog posts? Probably best not to ask). Some of my family are reading this right now and probably pretty mad at me for causing them to visualize Beverly and Roland in this scenario. Sorry about that. I'll move on to the regularly scheduled programming in subsequent blog posts.

Politically Correct Nonsense

Wow, liberals really must have a lot of time on their hands.  As this article explains, the libs at the New York Times are going nuts over McDonalds having HUMMER themed happy meals.  Having HUMMER's in happy meals is bad because they are the worst car on the planet according to libs.  And it is teaching kids to pollute the environment, waste natural resources, blah, blah, blah.

The article sums up my feelings about this pretty well, but I seriously doubt that putting a toy HUMMER in a happy meal is going to make a huge difference in HUMMER sales.  Mainly because KIDS DON'T BUY REAL CARS!!!

It seems that half of the toys that my nephew has are toy cars and trucks.  From Hot Wheels to remote control F-150s to you name it.  I'd be willing to be that he has a toy HUMMER laying around somewhere.  And (shockingly!) my brother doesn't own any of these vehicles.  That's right libs.  He owns a Kia.  I'm pretty sure my nephew doesn't have a toy Kia, but if he does it did not influence my brother's car buying decision.  Since my nephew had NOTHING to do with my brother's decision, I think it's safe to say that having a HUMMER in his next happy meal will not cause my brother to run over to the closest dealership.

Maybe the argument is that it will affect my nephew's buying decision in ten years or so.  Yeah, because he'll remember every toy he got out of a Happy Meal when he is that age.  Just like he's going to be a pirate when he grows up because his last Happy Meal toy was from Pirates of the Carribean.  I don't remember if any of my happy meals included Toyota Tacoma or a Toyota Sienna (the two vehicles I own).  Somehow I'm pretty sure they didn't.

Just more proof that I could never be a liberal.  I have many more important things to worry about.  Like how to live my own life!

No World War III. Darn!!

Well, news this morning is that a cease-fire has been agreed upon between Israel and Lebanon.  Aside from the strange fact that Lebanon wasn't really involved in any actual fighting, the likelihood is that the conflict will end soon.

When this conflict started, I read several articles and had some friends that said World War III was about to start.  The reasoning was that since Iran and Syria were already helping the terrorists, that meant that other Islamic countries would get involved.  Then of course we would get involved.  Which would cause other large countries to get involved.  Hence, World War III.

Now, these weren't all doom-and-gloom liberals who were saying this.  It was people from all kids of different ideologies.  Several of them did have theme that we helped cause the trouble with our involvement in Iraq or that Bush shouldn't be president since he caused this.  Others were saying this was what would finally cause Armageddon to occur.  Oddly enough, both sides seemed quite excited that a long drawn-out war was about to occur.

The only problem was that neither side even cared to look at history.  The confilct between Israel and militant terrorist groups has been going on for DECADES!  I find it highly unlikely that this type of conflict could lead to a world war.  Mainly because the countries that get involved would have to be willing to risk an awful lot to commit troops.  Remember that countries that lose world wars tend to suffer some major consequences when they lose.

Let this be a lesson, folks.  Just because it CAN be bad doesn't mean it WILL be bad.  How about practice a wait-and-see approach?  I know it's not as much fun as scaring the crap out of people, but it does help your credibility.  Assuming that's important to you.

Never Forget

Just in case any of you were getting comfortable thinking that terrorism isn't that big of a deal, we've had several reminders recently.

1. A militant terrorist group has been firing thousands of rockets into Israel for the last few weeks. Remember, this is not Lebanon that Israel is directly fighting. This is a terrorist group that is being provided weapons by countries that support terrorism. And don't believe for a second that this is the only terrorist group that has these types of weapons.

2. A new movie is being released this week to remind us of what happened on our own soil almost five years ago and the sacrifices that were made by so many Americans on that day.

3. Britain foiled a plot by (at least) 21 people to simultaneously blow up several aircraft in mid-flight. Obviously this was a large scale attempt that took a very long time to coordinate.


As a result of # 3, airline security is now banning passengers from bringing pretty much anything on an airplane. I read that to bring baby bottles on board, the parents will have to drink out of the bottle to show that there are no chemical weapons in it. I feel sorry for the parents who have to drink that nasty stuff, but I also am angered and disgusted that there is a very real threat that scum terrorists would and could resort to such a way of hiding something dangerous.

We must not ever forget what our enemies can do to us. And we must never give up fighting them at every possible level.