All The President’s Men Vs. Sneakers

* = Gird your loins it's going to be a rough one...






Is it just me or is that the more I learn about certain aspects of ‘Merican society the more frightening they become? The disconnect between the Ultra-Rich & the Middle Class, the folks that run Ron Paul’s Super PAC, Gary Franchi, Brandon Jacobs talking about Tom Brady’s wife, the buying of the Primary as ‘Mittens’ continues to throw money at his opponents, how Sludge didn’t get a single entry into the Preposterous Statement Tournament IV, etc. it all seems like the more I stare at this madness the more it stars back at me, HARD.

I’ve stated again and again on this blog, in ‘quiet rooms’, and even screaming out into the cool night air that I’m a ‘Classist’. As a ‘poor’ or ‘Lower Middle Class’ person I’m not a fan of folks who rig the ‘game’ in their favor in order to make sure that the rest of us stay in ‘our place’. So upon reading Matt Taibbi’s response to Wall Street’s ‘rage’ over being ‘vilified’ all it served to do is shock and amaze me. This is just as evident when it comes to billionaire presidential candidate(s) that ‘don’t care about the very poor’. These are statements made by people who have never been, and most likely will never be ‘poor’. Sure you don’t understand his or her worldview or his or her situation, but as someone who wants to lead, you should at least try. As for the Wall Street folks, you got us into this mess and now you bitch because you can’t just continue to collect ‘bonuses’ for failures? Again, it’s a fundamental disconnect from reality. What really shocks me more than anything else is that they can’t or don’t want to understand why people of a lower socio-economic status than themselves are pissed off at how casually they’ve decimated the broken system in order to line their pockets. You’d think with all that money they could buy a clue.

I was reading about Ron Paul’s Super PAC head, Gary Franchi, who is one of those fringe elements that makes me very wary of Dr. Paul. See Mr. Franchi is a 9/11 ‘Truther’, meaning he feels that 9/11 was an inside job. He also believes that there is a New World Order now headed by our President building a hidden facist regime where we train boy scouts as pseudo-Hitler youth in order to, when they finally take over, take ‘freedom fighters’ to concentration camps at refurbished Air Force bases. The guy has made videos using current footage spliced with Nazi footage. So a rational guy. Oh since sarcasm doesn’t always come there on the Interwebs let me explain, THAT IS SARCASM! Again I’m down with the U.S. becoming less of the World’s Police Officer, I’m fine with making the government spend more efficiently, implementing term limits, having a vote of ‘No Confidence’ on the ballot, limiting the Federal Government's ability to take my rights for my ‘safety’, so by and large I have some Libertarian leanings. What I am not down with is racism, trying to single-handedly eliminate the Federal Reserve, implementing religious dogma into school systems, taking a woman’s right to choose, eliminating the American’s With Disabilities Act, etc. This is where Dr. Paul loses me. To me, he’s an ethical, honest, and ‘real’ person. The problem is some of that ‘real’ part is REAL F’N CRAZY. I firmly believe that you are part and parcel of those you choose to surround yourself with, so when you surround yourself by guys like your crazy son who wants to turn back Civil Rights or Gary Franchi who thinks there is a conspiracy around every corner it doesn’t paint you as the most rational man. It’s a damn shame we can’t get someone less extreme to be just as honest.

Which brings me to Brandon Jacobs. Has there ever been a player who has done less with that much talent while talking that much? First he’s a huge, fast, aggressive North/South runner, the problem is he thinks he’s Barry Sanders and likes to ‘dance’, but not like 'Gronk' or Matt Light like to dance. The other thing that bothers me is he’s a ‘Me First’ guy. When he doesn’t get the ball he bitches, in fact he bitches so much that he’s been in and out of his coach’s doghouse for about four years. He can’t be your #1 guy since he’s not reliable and he can’t handle the pressure. So when he takes a shot at a guy’s wife who was verbally defending him after being heckled by some classless morons he comes off like a thug. I agree with Osi Umenyiora who basically said he’d hope that his wife would defend him the same way after a devastating loss. What makes it really irritating to me is Jacobs immediate about face on his comments. Telling her to shut up is just rude and idiotic. It’s not your team, you should be spending your time gloating, shining up that trophy, and thinking about how fat you’re going to get in the off-season. Not bitching at the opposing quarterback’s wife.

Its amazing that the Republicans can’t seem to find a canidate. Now I know I just spent a whole paragraph talking about how Ron Paul simulataneously gives me hope that honesty can be a virture in politics while scaring the BEEJEZUS out of me, but the more I follow this circus side show the more I realize that even if it gets to the convention ‘Mittens’ holds all the cash. With the Citizen’s United era of Super PACs there are a few Uber Rich who are literally buying a canidate. While most of us struggle to pay our bills these canidates are spending Billions of dollars to ‘wow’ us with hate filled diatribes about each other. In fact I’ve heard only one of them talk about their virtues and their plans if they get elected, and that’s Newt Gingrich and he wants to build bases on the Moon. ‘Mittens’ just can’t help the fact that he has more money than me, my friends, my family, and their families combined and he wants to spend it to be President. I don’t have an issue with that, what I do have issue with is him being bought and paid for by interests that do not represent the VAST majority of his constituency. The thing that REALLY pisses me off is now President Barry has to go the same route because he’s ‘afraid’ that otherwise he’s going into fight with one hand tied behind his back. This isn’t populism when you are a corporate puppet. You can tell me how much you’re for the 99% and a fair system, but when your allowing the 1% to finance your campaign you can’t expect that they won’t want anything in return. I don’t need another four years of corporate interests ruling the country. I agree with Buddy Roemer, whose running as a Republican ‘Protest Candidate’ for President. He wants all politicians to be forced to wear patches that tell you where they get their money. So they would have to dress like NASCAR drivers. I want to know who bought and sold you. I want to be aware that when you push a bill to kill labor it’s because the Koch Brothers bought you, that when you endorse us going into yet another Middle Eastern country to ‘Peace Keep’ it’s because you take money from an Israeli Lobbyist Group, etc. I think you should have to be held accountable for these ‘deals’ you make that have little to NOTHING to do with the VAST majority of those of us who voted you into office and pay your salaries. I’ll I’m really asking for is transparency you remember that right? It’s what Barry campaigned on.

I’m not a huge fan of the Common Man Dan Cole, who hosts the KFAN 12pm to 3pm radio show, as well as being the Subway ‘Taste Fairy’. He has a bizarre show, that can be equal parts humor, annoying banter, and idiocy. I do have to say his Preposterous Tournament is one of the greatest ‘bits’ in the history of ALL THINGS. Basically, he and his sidekick Tenebee collect statements made in the last year that are completely assinine and then hold a March Madness like tournament where we the listeners get to vote. It’s genius. That being said how Corey Cove, aka Sludge, on the Powertrip Morning Show, also on KFAN, didn’t get a SINGLE nomination is beyond his understanding as well as mine. He was almost as disappointed as he was two years ago when he didn’t get in. If anyone speaks in negative hyberbole more on a public forum then I am unaware of their existance. He should have gotten in and it’s shame that he didn’t. Now on the bright side Paul Allen, a P.S.T. Hall Of Famer and a man who has a ‘Region’ on the bracket named after him, had an entire ‘Region’ of his own this year. That’s right Paul Allen received 16 entries. It should be an amazing tourney.

This has been a weird blog thus far, so I should just wrap it up with some…

RANDOM CRAP!

- Saturday is an EPIC D&D night. Zack & Bob are joining the group. I need to point out I don't know who did this picture or where I found it, but it is completely amazing. It's entitled "We Are Not Taking The Wizard". I can only hope that my games can be this strange, this fun, and this bizarre. Anwho, I’m putting the PC’s into a scenerio that I’ve been running through my head for a LONG time. The monsters are made, the scene is being set, all I really have left to due is start setting up the table. I really think this could go really well if I can establish the mood quickly enough, and put the PC’s in real danger. We’ll just have to see how it goes.
- CM Punk Is Not Amused on the Facebook(s) still never ceases to amuse me.
- I’ve been painting this week. I finished three Trolls the other night and they really turned out spectacularly. I’m working on some Ogre-Kin, some Beastmen, some Orcs, and then just some other random stuff. I’m taking my time really using some dry brushing and enjoying painting again. I just hope that my efforts pay off.
- I need card sleeves something fierce.
- Tuesday I needed something to get me off the path I was on mentally & emotionally, so I watched two Mel Brook’s flicks. First up was Young Frankenstien (***** out of 5) which I think I’ve probably seen about 50 times. It’s just pitch perfect, the actors are fantastic, Brooks is at his best, and the movie just ‘sings’ to me. Not to mention Teri Garr & Madeline Kahn are both looking ‘Fine As Hell’. Since one is never enough, I then watched High Anxiety (**** out of 5), which I had actually never seen. It was also really funny as a humorous homage to all things Hitchcock. However it didn’t get the same sort of belly laughs that Young Frankenstien ellicits every time I watch it. Overall it really helped turn around my dour mood. On a side note I never realized just how much Brooks set the stage for guys like the Zucker Brothers. If you watch Young Frankenstien it’s basically a comedy blueprint for what Airplane is.
- KU whooped Baylor’s ass again last night. Baylor is NOT a Final Four team.
- Valentine’s Day is a racket. I shouldn’t need an assigned day to tell you what you mean to me. I also shouldn’t feel pressured to buy you flowers. And while we’re on the subject of flowers, why? Why flowers? They’re expensive and they die. This holiday gives me some serious consternation and I’m debating checking out entirely and instead making some sort of grand gesture at a later date not assigned to me by Hallmark.
- It’s sad but I already want the NFL Draft to be here.
- This week we’ve had two AMAZING dinners, first was the Baked (Fake Fried) Chicken that we made Tuesday night. It was incredibly simple, and just consisted of making a dredge of paprika, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, & crushed corn flakes. We then made a wet dredge of two beaten eggs, which on a side note I’d add hot sauce to next time around. Using boneless, skinless chicken breasts, you dredge wet to dry then put in an oven at 350 degrees for ten minutes. While they are in that oven you get some oil and heat it in a skillet almost to its smoking point. Then you pull the chicken out of the oven and pour the super hot oil over it, put that bad boy, uncovered, back into the oven for 45 minutes to an hour and when you pull it out it you’ll have pure bliss. The next time I’d use a bit less oil, but overall we were blown away. The chicken was really moist, but had a crunchy crust, it didn’t dry out, and it wasn’t greasy. It however did need a punch up of spice. Last night we finally had the left over roast we had made, which was insanely good, as a beef stew. I had taken the vegetables from the making of the roast in the crock-pot and blended them into a liquid. The meat had been resting in the puree until being put back in the crock-pot yesterday for like 8 hours on low. It was beefy, filling goodness. The beef roast we picked up for like $14 is going to get stretched into 3 meals. Add in the cheap can of stock we used, some carrots, celery, onions, & potatoes and you have what is really a cheap way to stretch your food budget. I will be eyeing and buying more roasts in the future.
- I’ve got to convince the wife to start playing a video game with me this Sunday. Maybe Champions Of Norath.
- Can someone explain to me why Chris Humphries is so hated? Beyond being married to a media whore who crucifies him for her own gain, and him being a mediocre NBA player I just don’t get it.
- Am I a Hoarder? I do have a TON of minis, games, comics, & books. Hmmm, maybe some of these should get new homes.
- My Shapeways order finally came. I have to say that the scale of the miniatures is a tad small, not terribly small, just small. The detail is just ok, but you can’t beat the cost. It’s extremely intriguing, and I like the idea of supporting folks who are doing their own thing.
- Fair To Midland’s ‘Arrows & Anchors’ (*** out of 5) is pretty good, but I agree with Cassandra that I am not blown away.
- There is a ‘Kickstart’ writing/RPG project going on right now called Story Forge. Basically, what it’s a deck of like 88 cards that are meant to inspire storytelling. Each card has a top and bottom word or phrase, some hook ideas, and other notes. It’s perfect for making characters on the fly. In addition it’s setting or story neutral. It’s an interesting tool. I’m not sure I’m down to spend $20 on it, but I REALLY like the idea.
- Congrats Heidi!
- I have to say that thus far Dave is right, Mastodon’s ‘Crack The Sky’ with lyrics stands up EXTREMELY well to the instrumental version. I’m enjoying this album immensely. So much so that I’m already eyeing up their other highly lauded album ‘Leviathan’.
- It’s amazing how much you learn about yourself when you get to ‘see’ yourself through the perspectives of others.
- I’m three stories into August Derleth’s Mythos stories and thus far I’m not that impressed. Derleth likes to drop as many Mythos references in as he possibly can, he sort of morphs the stories into some sort of battle of Good Vs. Evil, while turning the Great Old Ones into Elementals. I’m not a fan of this, at all. The wonder and glory of the Cthulhu Mythos is that there isn’t a rhyme or reason for it; it’s just Cosmic Horror. The Great Old Ones are evil in as much as something that looks at us, as ants can be Evil. When you try to impose the feelings of humanity on the Inhuman it takes away it’s otherness, it’s frightening nature. I’m going to read the whole thing, as I don’t ‘quit’ books, but thus far I’m unimpressed.

Look at that! That’s a big ‘un!

“I flew beyond the sun before it was time
Burning all the gold that held me inside my shell
Waiting for you to pull me back in
I almost had the world in my sight

Lost love
Bright eyes fading
Faster than stars falling
How can I tell you that I've failed?
Tell you I failed

Falling from grace cause I've been away too long
Leaving you behind with me lonesome song
Now I'm lost in oblivion

I tried to burrow a hole into the ground
Breaking all the fingers and the nails from my hands
The eyes of a child see no wrong
Ignorant bliss, impending doom

Lost love
Bright eyes fading
Faster than stars falling
How can I tell you that I've failed?
Tell you I failed

Falling from grace cause I've been away too long
Leaving you behind with me lonesome song
Now I'm lost in oblivion

Falling from grace cause I've been away too long
Leaving you behind with me lonesome song
Now I'm lost in oblivion

Falling from grace cause I've been away too long
Leaving you behind with me lonesome song
Now I'm lost in oblivion

Falling from grace cause I've been away too long
Leaving you behind with me lonesome song
Now I'm lost in oblivion, in oblivion, in oblivion”




* = Would it be a Blog without the Wisdom of Ron Swanson? I thought not, I THOUGHT NOT!