ECONOMIC GROWTH BETTER THAN EXPECTED

Since nobody else in the media is talking about it, i figured I wouldp oint ou to the dozens that come here daily, the economy is doing well, despite the oil prices. In a strange, recent phenomena, oil prices and the markets are not relating inversely. Oil has been up and up and until Thursday and Friday of last week, the markets had been climbing steadily.

Today offered more good news, as the "economy logged a solid 3.8 percent growth rate in the first quarter of 2005."

The new reading on gross domestic product, released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday, marked an improvement from the 3.5 percent annual rate estimated for the quarter just a month ago and matched the showing registered in the final quarter of 2004.

GDP, the broadest gauge of the economy's health, measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States.

Stronger spending on housing projects, more investment by business in equipment and software, and a trade deficit that was less of a drag on economic growth all played a role in the higher first quarter GDP estimate.

I feel a Eugene Kane column coming on...

Hmmm. The Bucks fire their black coach and pick up three white players, while vowing to resign Tony Kukoc...







C'mon Eugene, lets hear what a racist bastard Larry Harris is.

The Speech

Here is the text.

Here is the video.

As far as I am concerned, this is the gist:

The terrorists know that the outcome will leave them emboldened, or defeated. So, they are waging a campaign of murder and destruction. And there is no limit to the innocent lives they are willing to take.

We see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who exploded car bombs along a busy shopping street in Baghdad — including one outside a mosque. We see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who sent a suicide bomber to a teaching hospital in Mosul. And we see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who behead civilian hostages and broadcast their atrocities for the world to see.

These are savage acts of violence — but they have not brought the terrorists any closer to achieving their strategic objectives. The terrorists — both foreign and Iraqi — failed to stop the transfer of sovereignty. They failed to break our Coalition and force a mass withdrawal by our allies. They failed to incite an Iraqi civil war. They failed to prevent free elections. They failed to stop the formation of a democratic Iraqi government that represents all of Iraq’s diverse population. And they failed to stop Iraqis from signing up in large numbers with the police forces and the army to defend their new democracy.

The lesson of this experience is clear: The terrorists can kill the innocent — but they cannot stop the advance of freedom. The only way our enemies can succeed is if we forget the lessons of September 11 … if we abandon the Iraqi people to men like Zarqawi … and if we yield the future of the Middle East to men like Bin Laden. For the sake of our Nation’s security, this will not happen on my watch.

UPDATE: Roenick still a classless A* Hole

In his first comments since insulting hockey fans everywhere, Jeremy Roenick doesn't apoligize. Instead he says simlpy "show the whole interview."

"Before I went into my rant, I was talking about the game of hockey, about getting it back on the ice, about what we have to do for the fans and telling people it's not about who wins or loses, it's about the game," Roenick told the paper.

"But the media picked out the negative stuff ... Don't show snippets of the interview; show the whole interview, the whole message. My message during the interview was: How do we make the game more appealing to the fans?"

Telling fans to kiss your ass multiple times then telling them to stay away isn't the best way to "make the game more appealing to fans...moron.

I've seen the whole interview, it changes nothing. Jeremy Roenick is a classless prick.

By the way, ESPN now has video of this jag pulling a Sheffield and forever killing his image.

More Like Europe? Really?

Europe's socialist democracy is failing. The economy cannot sustain the convoluted system of "work if you want, we'll cover you if you don't." Tino over at Truck and Barter breaks down why "old Europe" is failing, almost irreversably so.

By all relevant measures the Western European economies are not doing well compared to America. GDP per capita is some 40% higher in the US than among the EU 15. Unemployment for many of the welfare states is stuck in double digits, and even higher using comprehensive measures.

The relative poverty is reflected in many areas, such as lower private consumption, and lower quality of public services despite higher taxes. One would expect a vivid debate in Europe of their economic problems, especially given how resentful many Europeans are of America’s superior wealth and power. But Europe has chosen a much more painless approach: Denial.

“Who says the Europeans economy is doing badly? Our enlightened system is burying the McAmericans! Haven’t you heard of “Balanced Growth”?

There seems to be an entire industry devoted to making up more or less fanciful arguments why Europe is really doing better than the US. I want to exemplify and debunk some of those myths. In the process I also hope to convince you that Americans work less and have more free time than Swedes.

Forgive an econo-porn post every once in awhile.

Kohl Talks Some Sense

I am shocked by the senators remarks in the Stevens Point Journal today.

U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl on Monday broke from fellow Democrats who are demanding President Bush set a date for bringing troops home from Iraq...Kohl joins Republican Reps. Mark Green of Hobart, Tom Petri of Fond du Lac and Jim Sensenbrenner of Menomonee Falls, who say a timetable would encourage the insurgents to continue their fight until after the pullout..."The president needs to tell us where he's coming from - what his expectations are and what is his approach," Kohl said, referring to Bush's televised speech tonight. "People in Congress as well as people around the country are wondering where is this going."
A timetable, he said, might make the situation "worse for our goal, which is to provide a stable democracy there.

I can't believe it, but I couldn't agree more. I think we need to know what steps are being taken to advance Iraqi training, and if it is known, why the training has been seemingly slow. However, a timetable and benchmarks just give the terrorists and murderers solid and important targets. Timetables and benchmarks do nothing but aid the terrorists in planning.

Not surprisingly, Dave Obey (socialist - Wausau) has already declared defeat.

"There will be no victory in Iraq," Obey said. "The question is whether there is some way of salvaging the situation."

Dave Obey, socialist, democrat, and speaker for Iraqi terrorists.

Cross posted at BBA

In Your Eye Souter (KELO)

(from Drudge)

This is just plain fantastic.

On Monday June 27, Logan Darrow Clements, faxed a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road. This is the present location of Mr. Souter's home.

Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, points out that the City of Weare will certainly gain greater tax revenue and economic benefits with a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road than allowing Mr. Souter to own the land.

The proposed development, called "The Lost Liberty Hotel" will feature the "Just Desserts Café" and include a museum, open to the public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon's Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged."

Hey Kerry, save it...

Senator (yeah, still a senator, you lost the election sir) seems to think it is his duy to tell the President what to say when he addresses the nation tonight. Thankfully he didn't take the opportunity to again denegrate America's troops by claiming (untruthfully) that he witnessed atrocities. Nice to see the senator has grown up a bit.

Interestingly the Senator takes this opportunity to do something he never did during his presidential campaign, namely propose a different strategy for the war in Iraq.

The administration must immediately draw up a detailed plan with clear milestones and deadlines for the transfer of military and police responsibilities to Iraqis after the December elections. The plan should be shared with Congress. The guideposts should take into account political and security needs and objectives and be linked to specific tasks and accomplishments. If Iraqis adopt a constitution and hold elections as planned, support for the insurgency should fall and Iraqi security forces should be able to take on more responsibility. It will also set the stage for American forces to begin to come home.

Yes, the administration must draw up a plan with clear milestones and dealines so that the terrorists can plan better and only strike at important times in important places.

It is also telling that Kerry insists on calling the terrorists Jihadists (a euphemism for religious freedom fighter). Why doesn't he call them the murderers and thugs that they are, he didn't have a problem calling the men and women in Viet Nam war criminals, why does he sugar coat these disgusting human beings. I guess blowing up weddings and beheading journalists isn't quite as low on Kerry's list as Viet Nam.

I also like how part of his plan requires "United Nations Security Council approval." Yeah, keep touting the decrease of American sovereignty, US citizens love that...jackass.

A Walton Dies, DU celebrates

In a truly disgusting display not seen since, well, I guess this is the reaction everytimes someone they disagree with dies, the DU thread lit up at the news a Walton died.

This is sickening.

Maybe he will be re-incarnated as a slave laborer...

We may hope that he reincarnates as a slave.

Yep, these people do not get much of my sympaty..as a union person. I doubt that this will change much in the payment structure of WalMart, but not sheading any tears here I can tell you.

*walmart jingle* "Smile!.... Put on a happy face!"..."Put on a happy face! We're slashing our prices planes all over the place... so put on a happy face!" Walmart, always low prices altitudes, always.

I wonder what he had on Bushco...and if he was getting ready to reveal it. I wouldn't be paranoid if they weren't out to get me.

one down.......four to go....

His plane went "rolling rolling rolling...."

Fuck him and his family.

A truely disgusting group of people.

Sutton the Scribe

I was at the game on Saturday night (I'm at almost all the games, so I'm not one of those who isj ust saying "I was there", although, I went with a group of twenty or so, and only eight of us made it into the park, those drunks in the lot were kicking themselves when they realized what they missed) so I missed Sutton and Uecker's reactions to the blasts. Luckily I have since heard them and they were awesome. Sutton follows that great night up with this entry into his blog:

There were amazing comebacks last season, Ben Sheets' 18 strikeout performance, Scott Podsednik's 100th run scored on a homer, but being able to call the first long balls of Prince and Rickie in the same night rank high on my list of memorable games. It was an honor to call the two blasts Saturday night that turned out to aid in winning a very exciting game. P and R, thanks for letting me share it with you. Here's hoping this is just the first step in what may be a long exciting journey with the two of you.

USA Today offers up a quick and dirty hatchet job (SCOTUS "short list")

In what seems like a piece written by the lefty war rooms that are amassing at the gates to smear any individual put fort hby the President, USA Today (albeit on the editorial page) goes through a list of people they think are likely to be nominated by President Bush.

Tellingly, they rate them based on Rove's (ideological purity) and hack away where they can.

Samuel Alito "called Scalito"

Emilio Garza "what he lacks in intellectual fervor he makes up for in ideological purity"

Alberto Gonzales only pluses are that he is a young hispanic from Texas.

Edith Jones "consistently hard right. You can set your conservative clock to her"

J. Michael Luttig "darling of the conservative bar," "decreased rights of criminal defendants" (is that bad?)

Expect this to be a bit of a primer for leftists and to be quoted early and often in literature and multimedia commercials.

Roenick IS a spoiled jerk

Jeremy Roenick is a prick. A spoiled prick. After watching the video this morning on FOXNews I was hoping they would play the video of Roenick getting hit in the jaw with a puck. Is that out of line? When someone calls me out as personally as he can (a hockey fan who feels the owners AND players had behaved like spoiled children) and tells me to kiss his ass, well that's the kind of guy who DESERVES to have his jaw wired shut.

"Everybody out there who calls us spoiled because we play 'a game,' they can all kiss my (butt). They can all kiss my (butt) because we have tried so hard to get this game back on the ice."

Honestly, the doctor who unwired this fools jaw can kiss my butt.

"I will say personally, personally, to everybody who calls us spoiled, you guys are just jealous, and screw you guys because we have tried so hard to get this game back on the ice to make it better for the fans," he said. "And if you don't realize that, don't come. We don't want you in the rink, we don't want you to watch hockey. Period."

Hmm, I wonder if Al MacInnis is available to wind one up? I would think ol Al could permanently shut this chucklehead up.



I was really stunned to hear Roenick acting like this. I know the guy is outspoken and I know he has a profound love of hockey, but to have such contempt for the average guy who has been denied a sport he loves because millionaires can't decide how to divvy their millions? Seems a tad "spoiled" eh Jeremy?

DU Celebrates: "the war is lost."

Democratic Underground - The Dam Breaks! Republicans are using the "lose" word now about Iraq.

The post speaks for itself, we'll see how the nutters respond.

I love language! It never fails to reveal what the zeitgeist of the times is.

Bill O'Reilly blames Air America for the U.S. losing the war in Iraq.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham now utters the "losing" word regarding the war.

And there have been others in the last week.

Folks, the damn has broken. The public has soured.

The war is lost.

Support the troops and bring them home.

Firm and Patient Realism Needed in Iraq (Heritage Foundation

I just wanted to point out this great article from James Phillips of the Heritage Foundation. In it he lays out the reasons why we must not cut and run like Clinton and Feingold want. We must stay the course and show that we are not only strong militarily, but posess an iron national will as well.

Devised according to considerations in Washington rather than the situation on the ground in Iraq, a pullout would send a dangerous signal of weakness and fecklessness to our allies and enemies in Iraq and elsewhere. Iraqi government forces would be demoralized and could begin to hedge their bets by making deals with, or even defecting to, the insurgency. Insurgent groups would be emboldened to redouble their efforts against Americans to strengthen their claim to a military victory and attract more recruits. Many Iraqis who have been sitting on the fence, particularly in Sunni Arab areas, would have little choice but to support the insurgents in order to insure themselves against reprisal.

In addition to laying out an intelligent and reasoned argument for seeing this endeavor through, Mr. Phillips also manages to debunk the Vietnam comparisons so popular among leftists.

Iraq is not Vietnam. The Iraqi insurgents do not have the military strength, popular support, political unity, ideological cohesiveness, great power assistance, charismatic leadership, or alternative political program that the Vietnamese communists possessed. The insurgents are divided by ideology, religious affiliation, and factional rivalries into separate groups, including remnants of Saddam’s Baathist regime, Sunni Islamic radicals, Shiite Islamic radicals, tribal forces, and foreign Islamic radicals, such as Abu Musab Zarqawi’s Al Qaeda faction.

I apologize, Tom Cruise is in fact, an insane troll

I hastily defended Tom Cruise earlier in the week. It turns out, Tom Cruise is a crazy little troll who, frankly, scares the hell out of me.

I finally got a chance to watch Tucker Carlson's new show (a very good show actually, even with that idiot Max Kellerman having a segment) and when the subject of scientology came up, everyong shut up. They seemed genuinely frightened by the prospect of a mob of angry celebrity scientology wackos attacking them. I was a little stunned. Then I read Drudge today and see this incredibly odd excahnge between Cruise and Matt Lauer.

I know i know, I really don't care about celebrities, but this was just too odd.

Absolutely Brilliant Point in Hard Green

So I just started reading Hard Green. I struggled through the intro which waxed poetic about the great Theodore Roosevelt and ol' T.R.'s love of the wilderness and his idea to start conserving areas untouched by the hand of man.

Anyway, pretty dry stuff. Mr. Huber then goes into computer technology and I was lost. I had no clue where he was going with it, then he made it all crystal clear and I laughed out loud.

Standing shoulder to shoulder all the people on Earth would scarcely fill Delaware. All our copper, zinc, tin and deuterium could be culled from one billionth of the Earth's oceans. All our energy requirements for two thousand years could be supplied by one-quadrillionth of the thermal energy produced by radioactive decay in the core of the Earth. Suitably stacked and compressed, all our trash would fit in a pyramid just two miles high in southern Connecticut..

Mr. Huber goes on to list other illustrative figures meant to dillute the arguments from environuts. Then he slams the hammer down.

Where did I get all these numbers? I made them up. I could have dug up real ones from the extant Hard Green literature, and they would have looked much like the ones I invented, but why bother? People aren't going to live shoulder to shoulder in Delaware, or build pyramids in southern Connecticut. Exxon knows how to find gasoline, not deuterium. Annaconda knows how to extract copper cheaply from a mine in Utah, not from the sea, so forget about it. So that is what Forrester [a pioneer in computer modeling the environment] he forgot about it... He based his models on known technology, known mines, known reserves, known quantities of land...

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

Basically what Huber is saying, and what I assume much of his book will focus on (I haven't gotten past this fantastic tenth page) is that current environmental doomsday theories base their outcomes and messages on current technologies, without allowing for advances in not only technology but in efficiencies and alternative uses that may be developed in the future. It is conceivable (to me at least) that someday there may be a contraption that turns automobile emmisions into usable energy that can automatically be sent right back to the cars engine thus creating a constant, automatically renewed source of energy for that engine. I have no idea how that would work, but that is why we have teams of 40 year old virgins with pocket protectors locked to their desks crunching numbers. Thank you engineers.

The point is that we have no clue, literally no clue, what types of innovations the human mind will come up with. Undoubtedly these innovations will stretch oil further, or perhaps invent cars that use zero oil. Personally, as long as I can slap on some dubs and hit my switches, I don't care what my whip is runnin on, just keep me bumpin.

Word.

Odd

I tried using that Qumma ap but it seems I or the program somehow screwed up. I'm trying to figure it out now.

Pissing Everyone Off

The Supreme Court managed an incredible feat today. They pissed off EVERYONE!

DUmmies, Freepers, and the good folks at BBA.

I agree with alll of them. This is a terrible ruling that opens the door for a myriad of things.

The first thing I thought about, strangely, was City News and NOvelty in Waukesha. It was a porn store, and seemingly a fairly popular one. The city didn't want the strore downtown anymore so it kept hassling it and revoking permits and what not, until the store finally moved to a different location.

Now, if I am looking at this ruling correctly (and thats what it is, a ruling, not a "vote") then governments can simply buy a busniess because they don't like it. The "emminent domain" idea has been expanded greatly. Governments can take a porn store or strip club they don't like, and give that land to a puppy store or ballerina clothing factory.

A country with no stip clubs and porn stores? The Judges are NAZI's!


Obviously I am being a little facesious but you get the idea. This seems far too broad and far too "big gov't" for me. It's odd to see that the country (this will poll at like 80% against) will side overwhelming with Justices Thomas and Scalia.

 

 

Today, I have experienced a broad spectrum of entertainment experiences that I feel compelled to convey.  I already promised a review of South Park Conservatives, which will follow in this post since I finished that particular book today.  In addition to finishing that book, I took the afternoon off to head out to the Ballpark for a fantastic game (a rare, enjoyable, Jenkinless game!) attempted to watch a Ben Affleck movie, and watched a bit of Senate floor fun.

 

Let me just say I am going to go from worst to first.

 

Surviving Christmas is literally one of the most pointless films I have ever attempted to view.  I tried watching it once when it first came out and was totally under whelmed.  However, since I was watching it on my computer (and having nothing else to do this evening after the ballgame) I watched a half hour or so of it on HBO.  Terrible.  At no time during this rambling, obnoxious completely unbelievable movie did I ever feel drawn in.  I'd rather watch the awful Frontline "expose" on Wal-Mart that oddly enough, I am watching right now.

 

Second. the senate floor was pretty interesting today.  Durbin was called a commie bastard (at least that's what the lefties and media will probably claim tomorrow) Kennedy tried to back Rumsfield into a corner and Rumsfield performed admirably, and Kerry opened his monstrous lower mandible and drawled something about Karl Rove.  I fell asleep just waiting for him to unfold his gangly self into an upright position so I missed the point of his remarks.

 

Somehow I doubt we'll be seeing a teary eyed namby pamby beg for forgiveness (from now on lets just call it a Durbin) from Mr. Rove. 

 

I don't have to tell you folks how much I enjoyed the ballgame,  I think my passion or the Brewers has come across in previous posts.  Stuart Scott still sucks.

 

On to the important point of this post.  I finished South Park Conservatives, an enjoyable book by Brian Anderson.  It wasn't exactly intellectual, it wasn't long, and it didn't really make me any smarter.  However, the book is still worth while.  It goes through the entire media spectrum and points out where conservatives can be found.  It doesn't cheerlead for the right, it merely point out where one can go to find conservative views.  The most uplifting chapter to me as the Campus Conservatism.  Despite much of the recent political blunders Marquette was fairly balanced when I went there.  Obviously the lit department was leftist through and through (I was way ahead of Coulter in trying to rehabilitate the legacy of Sen. McCarthy which didn't go over so well in Freshman Engish) but the Econ department (my home) was fantastic in it's unbiased, and often right-leaning (Prof. Brush in particular is a great anti-tax economist) instructors.  However, it seems that throughout the country conservative movements are growing throughout the nations Universities.  The chapter on "anti-liberalism" is fantastic, funny and informative for those who don't really know what South Park or Matt Stone and Trey Parker are about.  Overall, I enjoyed the book.  I may do a more in-depth review (doubtful) later on, but for now suffice to say that it is a good, quick read.

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Fans of Dark Humor and Satire

This is unbelievable. Funny and disturbing all at once.

Interesting Observation (Barnes and Noble)

So I am browsing the web looking for new reading material and I head on over to Barnes and noble, something I don't often do. Anyway, I went to the nonfiction section (lately reading fiction seems like a waste of time) and am a little stunned by the "Featured New Releases " page. Did the website somehow decide I was a leftist who would want to read leftist drivel, or is this the same "featured" page for everyone?

Twelve books are featured on the first page. Secrets of the Kingdom, The Plot Against Social Security, Return to Greatness, Promises Betrayed, The Interrogators, and Don't Eat This Book are all to one extent or another leftist screed's with many attempting to denegrate the current administration.

Strange indeed. There is more of the same on the second (and last ) page of books recommended by Barnes and Noble.

A quick jump over to buyblue.org shows that this is no mistake. Barnes and Noble is given a 100% rating by the kooks at BuyBlue.org.

Barnes & Noble currently has a 100% BuyBlue rating due to political contributions for the 2003-2004 election cycle. Barnes & Noble executives contributed heavily and exclusively Democratic in the past election contribution over $78K in total. Barnes & Noble does not have a political action committee.

Hmm, that explains it.

Stossel offers wage gap ammo

I like John Stossel. His book is on my Amazon wish list. With his most recent article over at Town Hall, John discusses something few dare to touch; no not Marth Burke's naked body but the gender wage "gap."

Suppose two people have equal potential, but one takes on more demanding, consuming, lucrative jobs while the other places a higher priority on family. The one who makes work the focus will be more productive for an employer than the one who puts his or her home life first. The latter will get more of the pleasures of family. So he (and it tends to be "he") will make more money, even though she would be equally productive and equally rewarded if she made the same choices.

"Women and men look at their life," said Farrell, "and women say, 'What do I need? Do I need more money, or do I need more time?' And women are intelligent enough to say, I need more time. And so women lead balanced lives. Men should be learning from women."

One irony is that some people, especially young women, may make the choices that lead to the pay gap precisely because they have been taught the job market shortchanges women. Women who see the market as hostile may put their hearts into their homes instead of their careers -- thus making less money.

That cyclical argument is one I have not heard before. It makes sense however. If a woman assumes she is going to make less money why would she demand to be the breadwinner, when she thinks her husband will be compensated better for the same efforts?

But the market isn't hostile. The market is just. It rewards you for the work you do, not for the work you choose not to do. If men want the family time many women have, we must accept lower financial rewards -- and if women want the money, they have to work like money-grubbing men.

Amen.

Kenneth Tomlinson (a fact the left tries to hide)

I was watching FOX News last night (leftists just tuned out) and learned something I hadn't known before. "Embattled" CPB (PBS's purse) chairman Kenneth Tomlinson, was appointed to the board by none other than the Big Dog himself, Bill Clinton! So the left's new whipping boy was appointed by the do-no-wrong hero of the neosocialists. Fantastic.

I read the story that Drudge links to in the New York Times and they do a nice job of sneaking in this important nugget of info.

"Mr. Tomlinson was first nominated to the board by the past administration and was renominated in 2003," said Erin Healy, a White House spokeswoman.

As Kornheiser might say, that's it, that's the list. That is the extent to which they venerable NY Times goes to reveal the truth. Not even a mention of Clinton, just quoting a White House spokesperson six or seven paragraphs into the story saying he was nominated by "the previous administration."

Stay Hot Ned Yost (Not for children)

Please, if crude language and cursing turn you off, don't read on.

This is a picture of folks sitting next to me at the game tonight, don't scroll past the picture if you don't want to read curse words.



UPDATE: I was unaware Mr. Sykes was kind enough to link to me earlier today until after I posted this. So again, fair warning. This is warning number three. The F-word is used numerous times in the following paragraphs. Sometimes, sheer unadultered anger is the only way to express rage at someone who has dissapointed you and crushed your will. That is how I feel about Ned Yost right now. Again, DO NOT READ ON IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY CURSING.

Oh, and thanks Mr. Sykes.

2-0. Man on third, nobody out. The best all around hitter coming to the plate. The guy has been clutch beyond belief. Easy call, you walk Derek Lee. Ned Yost is a fucking moron who deserves to be fired. I am not easily upset like this, at least not to this level. Yost seems to be a good enough motivator and leader of men that he has ducked my ire til this point.

The man cannot manage during a game. He doesn't know when to sac bunt, when to send Brady Clark (NEVER YOU FREAKING IDIOT!!) and when to plunk a guy (more on that later). I have no idea what happens, but their are situations where either he gets caught up in the game or lost in his own thoughts of 1982 or just spaces. I don'w know, but he checks out.

The best (realistic) case scenario for pitching to D. Lee is he hits a fly ball and drives in the run. In a 2-0 ballgame where the team isn't hitting, WHY THE FUCK PITCH TO HIM???

Smarter, more positive potential outcome move: WALK LEE, PITCH TO BURNITZ. Burnitz has been pretty hot, but you let the third or fourth best hitter on the team beat you, YOU DON'T EVER LET THE BEST HITTER IN ALL OF BASEBALL BEAT YOU!! Walk Lee, pitch to Burnitz. Hopefully he K's (likely) or hits into a double play. Either way, the positive expectations are better. If Burnitz strikes out then you can pitch to ARam and hope he grounds into a double play, ending the inning.

That is the smart move.

I don't know if Yost hasn't been paying attention to MLB stats since he seems to have had his nose buried in AAA Indianapolis or what, but he obviously forgot that Derek Lee is hitting nearly .400. Fucker.

Second, maybe even larger, point. WHY WAS RAMIREZ OR LEE NOT HIT? Not even brushed back. If the pitchers on this team don't have the pride to hit a guy after drilling two game changing home runs in two nights, the manager should order it. If the players on this team don't have enough pride to try and take back Miller Park, Ned Yost should order it. Hit Lee in the back. Hit Ramirez in the hip. Hit fucking Dusty Baker in that god damn toothpick chomping kisser. I don't care how you do it, just show me you have some pride and don't like being shown up in YOUR ballpark.

Mainly this goes out to Ricky Bottalico. Yost may not have the balls to hit a guy, but Ricky has been in the league long enough to know that something has to light a fire under these guys, what better than a bench clearing brawl? I'm not asking for head shots (those should be reserved for Gary "i tanked on purpose cause I hate Milwaukee" Sheffield, another guy who Ned Yost was too big a pussy to have drilled) just let them know you're there.

Tonight was my last straw, I'm throwing at Yost's neck.

Ned Yost needs to be replaced.

Again, apologies for the language.

A Fool and His Money (Let Leftists Pay More aka H.O.T. Tax)

Big fan of this idea. As idiots on the left are banging the drums for Republicans to enlist their children since "the love the war" why not put forth the same philosophy to taxes? Lefties want socialist government, pay more for it.

Just look at the money the government would rake in, hell Ben Affleck practically pledged a million and a half by himself!

“Because of Bush’s tax cuts, I saved a million and a half in taxes last year. Does anyone think that’s fair?” Ben Affleck asked at a July 2004 John Kerry fundraiser.

How it would work:

The H.O.T. Tax would ease these statists’ pain. The IRS simply would add a small box to the 1040 tax form beside these words: “If you believe you should be taxed at a rate above that assigned to your income bracket, please indicate here the higher rate you prefer. Kindly calculate your tax liability, and send it in.”

With that easy step, congressional liberals and residents of Malibu and Martha’s Vineyard no longer would have to keep the tax cuts conservatives keep throwing their way. Instead, they could send 50, 75, or even 99 percent of their incomes to Washington, so the GOP, Congress, and President Bush can spend it even better than they can.

DOWNING STREET MEMO!!!!!

Christopher Hitchens (a man I despise for his role in the disgusting "documentary" about Henry Kissinger) writes an interesting (finally) and intelligent piece about the DOWNING STREET MEMO!!!!!!!! which not only shows (God only knows how) the President is a liar and a murderer, but it will also darn your socks and pick up your dry cleaning. Also, if you give it enough playing time I hear it will also win the triple crown.

But the main Downing Street document does not introduce us to any hidden or arcane or occult knowledge. As Fred Kaplan wrote in Slate last week, it explains no mystery. As protagonist Jim Dixon observes in another context in Lucky Jim, it is remarkable for "its niggling mindlessness, its funereal parade of yawn-enforcing facts, the pseudo-light it threw upon non-problems." On a visit to Washington in the prelude to the Iraq war, some senior British officials formed the strong and correct impression that the Bush administration was bent upon an intervention. Their junior note-taker committed the literary and political solecism of saying that intelligence findings and "facts" were being "fixed" around this policy.

Anyway, it's a good article on this latest leftist MacGuffin.

Who Is Thomas Frederick? (what liberal bias?)

And why the hell does his LTTE get printed in bold on the Urinal's web editorial page?

A war on schools

Several years ago, under the leadership of Gov. Tommy Thompson, the Republican Party declared war on public education in Wisconsin. While millions of dollars in voucher payments are going to unregulated private schools in Milwaukee, the public schools in Milwaukee and around the state are constantly being forced to cut their budgets.

The debate going on now in Madison over education funding should come as no surprise. The Republican budget increases for schools do not come close to matching the costs of running the schools. Instead of working at controlling health care costs - a key reason for many of our budget problems - the Republicans are more worried about closing down a few schools in Milwaukee or seeing class sizes increase or allowing athletic programs or other extracurricular programs be cut.

The Republican Party war against our public schools wages on.

Tom Frederick
Chippewa Falls

Funny, I don't see any letters about what a great education voucher kids are getting displayed in bold on the Urinal's web page?

UPDATE: Tom Frederick is, in fact, the head of the Social(ist) Studies Department at Chippewa High School. Seems the Urinal is printing the entire offensive from WEAC. Check out more at Badger Blogger. Seems he is also involved in athletics.

McCain: You other 86 may as well go home

I watched John McCain (D-AZ) on Meet the Press this Sunday. The show is on early and I had a big Saturday, so I thought I was a little hazy and misheard some things. I reread the transcript and was shocked to find out that McCain (D-AZ) really did say this in regards to a Supreme Court nominee:

But, in all due respect, it's not up to 45 Democrats or 55 Republicans. It's up to the 14 that made this agreement.

So basically, those of us who thought we had terrible representation from Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, we in fact have no representation. Basically, we have just been relegated to zero say in who will be sitting on the Supreme Court. John McCain (D-AZ) has taken that into his own hands as the leader of the Gang of 14.

He does salvage this incredibly arrogant statement later on by agreeing that the "Gang" would indeed confirm (can you believe that, now instead of the senate confirming nominees, we have the John McCain (D-AZ) gang...what a crock) Justice Scalia, or a likeminded individual. I can only guess that in their underhanded negotiations they discussed the current justice and possible nominees to the SCOTUS, and that McCain (D-AZ) knows his gang has his back.

As a side note, when he made the "it's not up to them" comment I thought "wow, you are a condescending asshole." I spoke with thirteen of my friends and we concluded John McCain (D-AZ) is in fact a condescending asshole, therefore he IS, period. If you like him I am sorry, that is no longer an option. Honestly, liking McCain (D-AZ) is an extremist position and therefore, I will not allow you to have it.

Tom Cruise Goes Nuts!!!!

Actually, I think the video shows a very calm and collected reaction to getting squirted in the face. He doesn't really show any anger and just sort of shames the prankster. Imagine if it were Russell Crowe or Al Franken, there would have been a fistfight.

As much as I just want this nut to go away, I do have a newfound respect for the way he handled this situation. He didn't big time the guy and say "do you know who I am, I could have you sacrificed to the Scientology Gods with no repercussions!" He just told him it was a dick move and didn;t even give the guy good fodder for his prank TV show.

Personally, I blame Ashton Kucher, he should be tarred and feathered, and as his flesh is slowly melting from the boiling tar, every rational human being should be able to slap him and the face and shout "You got T&F'ed!!"

N-Bomb Nader

You can dance to it, they'll say it to each other, but if a white guy uses it, duck.

Speaking Wednesday night at a Washington fund-raiser to retire the debt from his 2004 presidential campaign, Nader complained that Democratic Party powerbrokers had kept him off the ballot in such Southern states as Georgia and Virginia - which reminded him of the oppressive Jim Crow laws that denied African-Americans equal rights.

"I felt like a [n-word]," remarked the 70-year-old white multimillionaire graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School.

I'm shocked, shocked and outraged! Ralph Nader is a filthy racist!

Oh wait, I guess not.

"Nader is not a racist by any stretch of the imagination," Sharpton told me yesterday. "He has a good track record. But he ought to be sensitive that he does not sanitize that word."

Sanitize the word?? Perhaps black people using the word in every sentence are sanitizing the word? Perhaps every song on MTV and top hits radio that shouts the word fifty times a minute is sanitizing the word.

I swear, I listened to a black comic (Ronnie Jordan) on Puff Daddy's new comedy show, it was absurd. Every word. This is verbatim: "Niggas be mean, niggas." So he was using it to describe black people, AND to address the audience! It was crazy-talk! Literally, every joke opened that way. "Niggas be lazy, niggas" "Nigagas be broke, niggas" "nigga, you ever try to get a ride from a nigga, niggas?" I am dead serious, I recorded some of it because it was so insane. Talk about sanitizing the word!

It's nice to see Al Sharpton sticking up for Ralph Nader's comment. Think he does the same for a GOPer? I'm sure he would. Remember when he stuck up for Rush Limbaugh when Rush said the media treats McNabb better because he is black? No? Me neither.

Talk about a weird juxtaposition

Right now, simultaneously, if you have HBO, you can see Arnold as the Terminator (Terminator 3) and as the Governator, on FOXNews.

What an odd time we are living in...

At least the Brewers don't play Everquest (Curt Schiiling is a ubergeek!)

Curt - My most memorable EQ and EQ2 moments usually center around laughter. So many late night sessions, things that made me bust out laughing out loud at 3am are things I remember. Drow's original Gunny, one night he was foraging, talking trash on guildies and in chat and splat, falls off a cliff and dies, laughed for 30 minutes at that one. Another one was when one of our original Coercers, Obms, was killed to the point of nakedness during an early Maidens Gulch Raid. It was like 2am, we just wipe for the 6-7th time, I turn around and there's a naked ratonga, emoting left and right about covering himself and yelling in ooc not to look. Spur of the moment stuff like that I remember. I also remember Amaryllia and Locke basically table dancing in front of a DROW recruit in EFP, then I get a tell from that person with something like "Dude where can I sign up and does that come with membership"?

anyone know what the hell he is talking about?

C-SPAN 3 IMPEACHMENT!!

Well, here we go. Charlie Rangel is basically talking around the fact that he thinks President Bush should be impeached, and that an inquiry should be started into the impeachment proceedings.

Fan, meet feces (perhaps).

Here is the DU thread about the hearings, pretty informative (sift through the nuttiness).


UPDATE: Tammy Baldwin (as John Kerry would say) the umm, cough, er...lesbian Congresswoman from Wisconsin, is also at the hearing, I am hoping she opens her mouth and say something as stupid as the rest of these chuckleheads, as I assume I am one of only five people in all of WI watching C-SPAN 3.

Nadler just talked impeachment.

C-SPAN Question

Do they have call screeners on Washington Journal. This was the call just now to a Tim Curran, editor of Roll Call:

(woman from Arkansas): You need to find out who put a tap on my phone, because whoever did is a murderer and a traitor.

What?????

I'm home from work because of a funeral in a few hours, and I decided to watch C-SPAN because the lefties claim it is the best source of news. This is what I get? A nutter from Arkansas telling the editor of Congresses' paper that her phone was tapped? This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever spent any time on. Honestly, no wonder DUer's are so unstable.

Gitmo Rant

I may be pointing out the elephant in the room here, but I think there are more practical reasons for "torture" than garnering information.

There is a reason I won't ride the Marakesh Express, I don't want to wind up in a Turkish prison. If playing Christina Aguilera music and parading women around naked while depriving men of sleep (when did Gitmo turn into a weekend in Vegas?) makes a few murderes stop and ponder their fates if they are caught, all the better.

It's the old head-on-a-pike theory, the deterrence of perceived violence. I see nothing wrong with letting the world know that if we catch a terrorist, they aren't going to get a stay in Club Med, they are going to be punished and grilled for information.

If anyone really believes that the treatment we give these bastard makes on iota of difference to how our soldiers are treated, they need to wake up, turn off NPR, and take a peek into the real world now and then. These are evil people trying to do evil things to literally kill you and I.

We are at war, you namby pamby pinko pacifists, and war is unpleasant. Go hug a tree or save a whale and leave the real world problems to people with a backbone.

crossposted at BBA.


UPDATE: A slogan for those namby pamby pinko pacifists over at Right Wing News

Another Geek Post (The Gamers Manifesto)

This is great. The ten things video gamers want from "the industry" now that the seventh generation of video game consoles is about to be unleashed. Sprinkled with harsh humor and intelligent arguments, this is a great read for video gamers (yeah, even those of us who only play EA sports games).

I understand that John Madden was raised by wild boars...and that he learned his few English phrases phoenetically from watching reruns of Wild World of Sports. But EA, if you want to get me revved up about Madden 2006 on the XBox 360..promise me that you won't play the same Madden commentary sound files on every fifth play. "Whoa, he looked like he was hit by a truck! A five-ton truck hauling a trailer!" Yes, you'll hear that one six motherslapping times in one game of Madden '05. YOU HAVE A HARD DRIVE NOW, taking data from a 9 GB DVD. You have NO excuse to keep recycling the same mindless observations over and over and over again until we're pointing at our television with a shaking finger and screaming "EAT ME, JOHN! JUST EAT MEEEEEEE!" as most of us do now

That's gold Jerry, gold!

So Much for Transperancy in Government! (Hillary shuts out media)

A major appearance by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in Buffalo was suddenly closed to the media Monday, a week after the senator lambasted reporters for lacking enough "spine" to stand up to the Bush administration.

After a day of conflicting statements, there was no clear answer to the question of who closed the Erie County Democratic Committee's fund-raising event in the Buffalo Convention Center to reporters and photographers.

Senior county Democratic officials told The Buffalo News early in the day that Clinton aides had told County Democratic Chairman Leonard R. Lenihan that the senator's people wanted the event closed to the media.

So, does the media lack the spine to face the Bush administration or does Hil lack the spine to face the American public with her leftist rhetoric?

L.A. Marquardt: Today's LTTE Idiot

The Urinal chose today to publish a letter to the editor so shockingly stupid that I can barely form the words to explain it.

President Bush says Amnesty International's charges are absurd. Or was it the word "gulag" that was absurd?

The questions we citizens should ask ourselves are: Are we treating the detainees as we would want our soldiers to be treated? Are we forgetting that the detainees are only accused? Are we teaching the principles of freedom and democracy by the way we have treated the detainees?

Given the charges about how we treat detainees, why are there no serious and open investigations by our government? Finally, why do we appear not to care about the answers to these questions?

It is silly to wave our flag or the Bible if we do not support the values for which they stand.

L.A. Marquardt
Stevens Point

Yes, sir/mam, the word "gulag" was absurd, and Amnesty International admitted it was over the top hyperbole and that no one was bring starved or forced to work. In fact, these enemies of America have it better than they have probably ever had it in their lives. They have shelter, regular meals (better than I normally eat), and they even get their own shiny new Koran. (Check out Lee P. Butler's great editorial; The Disneyland of Gulags).

Secondly, are we treating detainees as we would want our soldiers treated? Let's look back on the past few years of captured Americans. If supposedly urinating on the Bible or blarinf Afghan's equivalent of Christina Aguilera was the worst Americans were getting, then this may be a valid point. However, I seem to reall a BEHEADING or two (or has it been dozens?) and some contractors burned and their bodies desecrated. Yeah, L.A., not their bibles, but their actual bodies. Which is worse?

Personally sir/mam, I think it is silly to waive your quaint idealistic leftist comapssionate world view at the terrorists we have detained while you fail to do the same for the American's who are protecting you life.

Fascinating Discussion on the Origins of the Laffer Curve

I got a link to this through Townhall.com's email updates. This is a darn interesting clarification on how the Laffer Curve came to be a staple of the 1980's economic policies.

in the afternoon Rumsfeld's secretary advised me that he had to cancel because the President wanted him at that hour, but that I should meet with his deputy, Dick Cheney.

I'd also known Cheney from his OEO days with Rumsfeld, and when I got him on the phone I suggested we meet at the Two Continents cocktail lounge in the Hotel Washington, just a block from the White House.

When we met there in a booth at 4 p.m., the only other person to join us was Grace-Marie Arnett, who had been press secretary to Sen. Pete Domenici and who Cheney later hired as deputy press secretary in Ford's 1976 presidential campaign. Oddly, both she and Cheney recall Laffer drawing the Curve, but he insists he has no recollection of having done so. It no doubt was routine to him, but not to the rest of us.

Really all I remember taking place was his drawing the Curve. This occurred with Laffer unable to get Cheney to see how two tax rates would produce the same revenue, one at a higher lever of production than the other. The paper-napkin sketch obviously impressed him because he called me a few weeks later at the Journal to tell me Rumsfeld had asked Treasury Secretary Simon to prepare a tax-cut proposal for presentation in January with the budget and the President's economic message.

Patrick Ruffini Nails Gitmo

This is some of the best analysis of the current lefty furor over Guantanamo Bay and Camp X-Ray. Basically, WE ARE AT WAR! These people are/were trying to kill us and possibly know of others who are trying to kill us. When, in the history of the world, has throwing people who are at war with your country into hock been frowned upon? It is a ludicrous argument that we on the right should be happy to fight.

I'm surprised that some on the right haven't been quite this forward about making the argument. When it comes to national security, as evidenced by last November's election, unalloyed strength is almost always the best position, regardless of the specifics. And yet, when it comes to making the argument for strength, conservatives have been flummoxed. But there's a cure for all that ails us.

National security populism.

We shouldn't be afraid of making the argument, even when it sounds rough, even when it sounds impolitic, in ways that connect directly to the security of you and your family. That's how you approach debates like Guantanamo and Bolton. The moment you get bogged down in arcane procedural minutae (Is it or is it not a filibuster?) you make it something less than what it is: a referendum on strength or weakness in the war on terror.

With rare exception, Democrats have taken the position of weakness. Oh sure, they can call it what they want: conciliation, negotiation, nuance, understanding, but their basic position is something the public pretty plainly understands and clearly rejected in the elections of 2002 and 2004. As such, we don't need to win the argument all over again when trying to mobilize people over al Qaeda detainees and Bolton: just connect these issues to the narrative of strength and weakness people already feel in their gut.

FSU QB: "I AM GOD!"

Chris Rix is a teetotaler, (note the brushed out booze glass in Michael Bolton's hand). Rix and fellow QB (for a brief stint) Adrian MacPhersons had legal trouble to varying degrees. Now, incoming incumbent QB Wyatt Sexton has been escorted to the hospital by police after a Dave Matthews concert (see also, acid/mushroom induced hysteria) for causing a ruckus in the middle ofthe street.

Witnesses told police that Sexton had been making strange gestures, and at one point jumped onto a car. When asked to identify himself, Sexton "yelled that he was 'God,' " the report said, and acted in a manner irrational enough that the officer pepper-sprayed him.

Only when police put him in a patrol vehicle did Sexton identify himself by name. As police transported him to the hospital, and upon arrival, he reverted to identifying himself as "God" or the "son of God."

Bobby Bowden, the notoriously soft head football coach at FSU and friend to Burt Reynolds has suspended Wyatt, at least until he decides upon one part of the Holy Trinity with which he identifies.

Feingold Solidifying His Radical Stance

Today Sen. Feingold made it a point to be a radical by voting (with 23 other dems) against confirmation of a moderate judge nominated by President Buch. Not even the nuts at DU could get themselves worked up over this one, yet Feingold voted against confirmation, throwing his name in with other ultralibs like Hillary Clinton, Barbara Boxer, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry.

Maverick my ass! Even fellow leftists like Chuck Schumer and Barak Obama voted to confirm.

Exposing Barak Obama - Leftist

WILLisms has a fantastic dissection of Barak Obama, exposing the media darling and so called moderate for the leftist he really is. It is quite in depth, as are most of WILLisms posts (remember the Babe Theory!)

But Obama is not moderate. He wasn't a moderate before his 2004 election, nor has he become moderate since joining the Senate.

Indeed, Obama recently went out of his way to compare President Bush's vision for an Ownership Society to "Social Darwinism-- every man or woman for him or herself," in a commencement address at Knox College:

It’s a tempting idea, because it doesn’t require much thought or ingenuity. It allows us to say that those whose health care or tuition may rise faster than they can afford—tough luck. It allows us to say to the Maytag workers who have lost their job—life isn’t fair. It let’s us say to the child who was born into poverty—pull yourself up by your bootstraps. And it is especially tempting because each of us believes we will always be the winner in life’s lottery, that we’re the one who will be the next Donald Trump, or at least we won’t be the chump who Donald Trump says: “You’re fired!”

Requisite Video Game Tournament Advice

via FARK

There are few pieces of advice one can give to a friend when they embark on a video game tournament. Top on the list has to be "get a life" but a close second comes from Gary, an Anglican pastor and avid Halo 2 gamer.

"Look out for the guys with no tans," Gary says. "They're the dangerous ones."

The rest of the article is a pretty funny play-by-play of the decimation faced by novice gamers when they venture into the no holds barred world of competitive video gaming.

The next game is a blur on failure. I can't count the number of times someone snuck up behind me and "assassinated" me. I'm tempted to change my game name from The Parcel to Target Dummy.

Suddenly the Master Chief enters, clad in his magnificent green armour. Fans flock around to have their photo taken with him. It's like Pamela Anderson has entered the room. Interestingly, he doesn't have his trademark battle rifle - it's illegal to brandish even a replica gun in public in NSW.

It is on game six that I cross battle rifles with Grim Wally. The object of the game is to hold a ball for five minutes, but after Wally kills me a few times, all I can think about is revenge. Once I get him in my sights, I lose it.

"Die, Grim Wally, die!" I scream. After a burst of gunfire, his figure crumples to the ground, arms twitching. I'm not the only one screaming in the room. By this time, people have fuelled up on Red Bull and are getting jumpy.

Caffeinated teammates are exchanging high fives and yelling, "Double kill! Double kill!"

Our losing streak continues until lunch. We resolve as a team to win at least one game. Gary and I discuss the possibilities of Halo 2 as a church event, but Gary is unsure about the idea of his flock "shooting" the pastor.

Sorry but this whole article inspired a lot of searching for a documentary called Gamers and hillarity ensued. Eventually, I found the Gamers website but not before stunbling upon a video that has made me laugh for hours on end when the work trickles to a drizzle. The classic LARPer "lightining bolt" video. In addition, I ran into this film, an entire documentary about the crazy LARPer's (live action role playing). Nutty stuff. Make sure to check out the trailer! There is also a TV spot worth viewing.

The Situation with Tucker Carlson

Tucker Carlson Starts Anew With MSNBC Show - Yahoo! News

Tucker Carlson's new show starts on Monday on MSNBC at 8 O'Clock. The Yahoo! story says it will be like a PTI for politics, which actually sounds promising. Also, if Olbermann's show is any indication facts, news and ratings won't affect the shows tenure.

I like Carlson's show on PBS, I can't for the life of me recall what its called right now, and I hope it will be a blend of that and Crossfire, in that it will feature political substance with some debate, instead of the story du jour used to incite arguments.

"What we have on the air is not a right-wing program or a left-wing program or even a middle-of-the-road program," said Kaplan, a longtime producer at CBS and ABC News before moving up the executive ranks. "We think that we have a program that's full of opinion and full of biases on all sides. I think that's really the key. You want to leave it with the viewers to make their own determinations."

Sounds like it is worth a shot on nights when the Crew isn't playing. It can't be worse that Countdown or Coast to Coast.

The Situation homepage over at MSNBC.com has a preview of the show, seems like it could work. Also, in what seems to be a prerequisite over at MSNBC these days, Tucker will have a blog hosted by MSNBC.com.

Radio Bleg

A buddy of mine was just on 620 telling Stuart Scott to "take a hike." I was watching the Cubs-Sox game so I didn't hear it. I despise Stuart Scott and was hoping one of you had recorded the show. I really want to hear this segment but have no idea how, unless someone by chance recorded it.

Any help is much appreciated!

South Park Conservatives

I finally got around to listening to the gop.com podcast with the author of South Park Conservatives, Brian Anderson. I am particularly interested in this book because I have an inkling that my political views are closer to the so-called "south park conservatives" than they are with traditional conservatives. By this I mean on social issues I tend to lean somwhat more libertarian than I do on economic issues, where I am a hard core free market Randian.

Anyway, to the point. I listened to the podcast and was quite surprised. It is well done, insightful, and entertaining. I think it is about ten or fifteen minutes and well worth the listen.

In short, I will be picking up South Park Conservatives tomorrow, and will drop a review when I get a chance.

To keep the reading kick going (and to make it look like I do more than surf the internet) I am currently reading Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity. It's actually a well-written, light read that has some helpful techniques about how to get your work done without the hassle of all-out mental effort, thus really freeing up your free time. I recommend it to anyone with a job that also wants to have a life. The fact that it was helpful to me, a 23 year old without any real responsibility, I imagine it would be incredibly helpful to those who have to share their time with family.

Why They're Losing

Honestly, hysterics will never win "the people" over. Recent talk from the Nader fringe about impeachment and from the Dean nuts about white Christians (does he know the GOP chair is Jewish?) can have nothing but a negative effect for the party of leftists. The only way they have won in the past is by masking their radicalism. Think Clinton and Gore. Clinton really is a more moderate lefty, but we are seeing the real Gore now. The screaming frothing bearded nutball leftist is the real Al Gore. He had to hide that to be a somewhat effective candidate, but now he has unmasked himself in the past few years.

The best part of this is that the core left doesn't seem to understand that. Perusing DU today I came across some pretty funny, end-of-the-world, conspiracy theory hysterical rantings. (I guess our fringe has the Rapture, their fringe has Orwell's 1982).

Here is a nice little sampling of my morning:

-The BFEE (Bush Family Evil Empire) has performed "one of the grand coup d'etats of all time"

- Republican Party is really the Klan Party in hiding!

- You Are Not Safe Bush is a terrorist, trying to bring America to its knees, and will "stop at nothing to attack this country." Poster implies Bush is planning another (yeah, he was behind 9/11) terroirist attack to bring up approval ratings.

- Why we are f'ed in Iraq (from the "partner" of a Gulf War vet)

- The always fun 9/11 conspiracy board (yes, updated every minute basically)

I'll keep this updated throughout the day, just so everyone can get a feel of the true leftist nature.

Brewers Draft: Morning Update

Come on folks, don't get down. We still took 2 of three for the Yankees.

Round 43 - #1281 Kyle Eveland 2B 5'10'' 175 Palmdale HS 4/11/1987

Round 44 - #1310 George Washinton RF 6'2'' 175 Demopolis HS 7/8/1987

Round 45 - #1339 Ulrich Snijders CATCHER 6'1'' 210 St. Petersburg JC 7/8/1986

Round 46 - #1368 Alexander Lowrey LF 6'1'' 205 Mosignor Edward Place HS 2/11/1987

Round 47 - #1397 Matthew Broughton RHP 6'1'' 185 Triton Central HS 11/10/1986

Round 48 - #1425 Frederick Lewis LHP 6'2'' 190 Bucholz HS 12/16/1986

Round 49 - #1452 Cory Large LHP 6'3'' 175 Ld Bell HS 10/12/1986

Round 50 - #1479 Garret Regan RF 6'4'' 200 Sir Winston Churchill HS 2/7/1988

Brewers Draft: Here We Go, Rounds 19-50

Round 19 - #565 Patrick Ryan RHP Embree Riddle University, Daytona Florida 6'0'' 200lbs 5/13/1983. FB tops outs at 88-90, with a sometime nasty curve. "competitor"


Round 20 - #595 David Welch Texarcana Community College LHP 6'4'' 200lbs 6/02/1984

Draft Fun Fact: Bozo the Clown's grandson got drafted in the second round yesterday!
Trevor Bell, who went 37th overall to the Angels, is Bozo’s grandson. Bell’s father Craig is the son of Bob Bell, a Chicago legend who spent 24 years on morning and afternoon television as Bozo the Clown. The family now lives in Shadow Hills, Calif. "I never really realized the effect my grandpa had on kids in Chicago until I started doing reports on him for school and learned that there would be a six-year wait for tickets to the show," Trevor told the Chicago Tribune. "He was just my grandpa, but he was also Bozo, and we don't ever forget that. We can sit around the house for hours telling stories about him."

It seems that one of the top high school catchers is still on the board. Brent Milleville is still available, but he has commited to Stanford. I am not sure if he has made it known to not draft him or if he has a Boras-like agent or what, but he is someone I would like to see the Crew take a flier on.

Round 21 - Justin Stiers RHP Saddleback Commuinty College 6'2'' 195

FYI Nick Punto (current Twins middle infielder/utility player) is a product of Saddleback CC, and Justin is not mentioned in any news releases, begging the question...

I'm gone for lunch, I will resume at 1:30 or so. Round 22 has yet to start.

Round 22 - Kenneth Holmberg 2B 5'9'' 175 2/21/1983

Round 23 - Brendan Katin OF 6'1'' 235 1/28/1983 University of Miami Big time power, good athlete for size (muscular strong build)

And the "first-team-to-select-a-guy-already-picked" sweepstakes winner goes to those Idiots, the Boston Red Sox.

Round 24 - Michael Ramlow LHP 6'5'' (!?!) 165 LBS 3/2/1986 Owens Community College

Round 25 - Taylor Green 5'11'' 2B 11/02/1986 Cypres College

Round 26 - Jacob J Arrietta 6'3'' 210lb 3/6/1986 RHP Weatherford College (TX)

Another Whitewater player taken, Kevin Tomasiewicz (born a year and a day after me)LHP, by the New York Mets.

Round 27 - Bradley Wilcutt 6'1'' 220 CATCHER Southern Miss 2/18/1982 I will defeinitely look into this pick. A college catcher with any sort of talent should be with the club freaking tomorrow!

Southern Miss senior catcher Brad Willcutt was named Third-Team Louisville Slugger TPX All-American sponsored by Collegiate Baseball today...The Columbus, Miss., native led Southern Miss with 16 home runs, 21 doubles, 82 RBI and 149 total bases this season, helping Southern Miss to a 41-19 season, for the school’s third consecutive 40-win season, a school record.

Very interesting. WIlcutt went 4-5 and was MVP of the Coca Cola Classic Baseball Championship.

Round 28 - #835 Scott McKnight SS Saddleback CC 12/22/1984 6'1'' 155

Round 29 - #865 Dane Renkert 6'1'' 210 RHP Washington State University 10/17/1981


He was named first team All-Pacific League.

Round 30 - Omar Aguilar RHP 6'0'' 220 lb 3/31/1985 Merced College



On my boy Milleville, I heard he is a strong commit, and since he is a high school catcher, not many team are willing to take a flier yet on him. I still like his potential, and now there is a record of my desire for the Brewers to pick him. If he pans out, I can point to this. If he doesn't, no one will remember I wrote this. Win win in my book.

Round 31 - #925 Patrick Murray 6'2'' 230lb Marina HS (CA) 12/24/1986

Round 32 - #955 William Pennington 6'4'' 225 U Alabama Tuscaloosa 4/11/1983

Round 33 - # 985 Jorge Core 6'2'' Puerto Rico Academy high School 2/17/1988
"Large excellent toned pitchers frame, good extension FB runs away from RH, low 3/4 slider"

In his scouting video, he looks about twelve years old.

Round 34 - Riley Kjelgaard RHP 6'5'' 215 Indian Hills CC 1/22/1986

Round 35 - Sebastien Vendette RHP 6'0'' 165 Northeast Oklahoma A&M 4/4/1986


He was picked last year by the Marlins in round 36, big step up!

Round 36 - #1075 Stephen Barnes RHP Lake City CC 6'3'' 215 11/15/1985



He is a draft and follow guy (from brewerfan.net)

Barnes is a good sized righty (6'3", 215) that has shown a powerful arm, but has struggled to consistently pitch in the 90s. His curveball also flashes plus potential, but he needs to tighten his mechanics to become a more consistent pitcher. From his Head Coach at Lake City CC, Tom Clark: "Barnes was shut down for most of the fall with some tenderness in his forearm, so we decided to not take any chances with him. He should be fine for the spring though and hopefully will grab one of our starting rotation spots. When I saw him in the spring he was 89-91 with a curve, slider and a change up. Had excellent control. If he is healthy he should play a large role on our team." Like Johnson, Barnes needs to show consistency, and if he does while staying healthy, there's a good chance he'll be added to the farm system by June.

Round 37 - #1105 Christopher Hopkins CF 5'1'' 170 Sierra JC 9/10/1987



Round 38 - #1135 Christopher Jean 6'4'' 175 RHP Texas State University 10/31/1982



Round 39 - #1165 Bradley Miller SS 6'0'' 185 Cowley County CC 12/11/1985



Draft Fun Fact - Junior Spivey is a Cowley County CC alum.

Round 40 - #1194 - Ryan Crew SS Texas - San Antonio 6'0'' 175 8/31/1983

Cool PDF Flier they made up for him.



FIRST TEAM TO BAIL - Oakland Athletics!! Adios losers.

Damn, the Angels picked up my boy Milleville in the 39th round. This guy will be a top cathcer. Offensive pop and fantastic defense, should be a fun guy to watch.


Round 41 - #1223 Jordan Lennerton 1B 6'2'' 215 El Paso CC 2/16/1986


"Pure left hitter with power to both fields. Works counts, appreciates balls and strikes."

Round 42 -#1252 Chris Copot CATCHER 6'2'' 175lb Lethbridge CC 12/13/1986

from Brewerfan.net

Copot, like Patterson, plays for the Prairie Baseball Academy in Lethbridge, Alberta. The first of two draft and follow catching candidates, Copot is a similar prospect to Clay Blevins, a draft and follow candidate from a year ago, in that he bats left-handed and is more refined at the plate offensively than he is behind it defensively. He has good size and athleticism at 6'3", 185, and starred in hockey as a hard-hitting defenseman as a Calgary prepster. Copot has the perfect no-nonsense demeanor to don the tools of ignorance.

Another draft and follow guy.

That'll do it for now, I'll recap the rest of the pics later on, but I am outta here for now.

New Hillary Book Implies Lesbianism?

I found this on Patrick Ruffini's 2008 Presidential Wire. This book could be crippling to Hillary Clinton's polotical career if it is written with even half an ounce of crediblilty. If it is like the Bush Dynasty book that came out last year written by the tabloid chick with no credibity and sources claiming she made everything up then, no, this will be worthless. However, it was written by a former New York Times writer, so it immediatley has a bit more credibility.

Hillary Clinton is facing astonishing allegations that she ‘embraced’ revolutionary lesbianism when she was young and tolerated her husband’s philandering because their marriage was a largely sexless political convenience.

The claims are made in The Truth About Hillary, a book by ex- New York Times journalist Edward Klein.
‘She was a mother, but she wasn’t maternal,’ says Klein, reporting that rumours were rife that she was a lesbian after she became First Lady in 1992. ‘She was a wife, but she had no wifely instincts. ‘She said she was passionately in love with her husband, but many of her closest friends and aides were lesbians. Everything was ambiguous.’ Political analysts say the book could be a devastating blow if, as expected, she runs for the White House in 2008. Klein claims ‘the culture of lesbianism has influenced Hillary’s political goals and personal life since she was a student at Wellesley, an elite college near Boston, from 1965 to 1969.
‘There was a long tradition of lesbianism at Wellesley,’ he writes.
‘At least two women who were close to Hillary would become out- of-the-closet lesbians.’ The book charges that the Clintons’ marriage in 1975 was a sham, designed to further their liberal ideological aspirations. There is also the explosive claim that Chelsea Clinton was conceived as a ploy to cover up Hillary’s sexuality.

Very very interesting...

Brewers Draft FYI

Just a heads up for those who still care. I will be semi-live blogging round 19-50ish (the draft goes til teams decide they don't want to take anyone else, in other words until everyone related to anyone even remotely involved in MLB is drafted) starting at 11 o'clock today. I probably won't catch every Wisconsin native since they have zero space between picks today, but I will try and get every Brewer pick, and hopefully a little background or pertinent info on most. I will be paying special attention to any catcher selected. (If the guy they took yesterday doesn't sign with UCLA, he could be special.)

Also, if you haven't made it to a game this week, consider it your duty as a Wisconsonite to make it tonight. I went Monday and Tuesday and can't tonight because the bowling league started, so I need someone to pick me up. (BBA, I"m looking at you).

Anyway, from 11-5:30, I'll be firing away to keep up with the draft, so check in periodically with notes of encouragement.

Also, a Ryan Braun note. Miami will play Florida this weekend in the Coral Gables Super Regional for a right to go to the College World Series in Omaha. Their first game is this Saturday at 11 am and I think it will be on ESPN or ESPN2, so we get a chance to watch the guy in action. Rumors have it that he may be a fast-tracker, on the Crew in 2007.

If you read anything today, read this (World Trade Memorial Cultural Complex)

Vodkapundit - Pardon the Language

Steve Green hits the "World Trade Memorial Cultural Complex" out of the park.

Debasing freedom on the site where freedom was attacked, is more akin to giving equal time to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion at the National Holocaust Museum. Why doesn't the IFC just go on and include a multimedia exhibit of the West's crimes against Islam?...the IFC exhibit is treason to the memory of the nearly 3,000 people who were murdered for the crime of going to work on 9/11/2001...We don't memorialize our war dead by including pictures of them picking their noses. We shouldn't remember our losses by blaming its victims - or even their great-great-grandfathers. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier isn't inscribed with, "What a Fuck-Up, Huh?"

This is the worst idea I have heard. I am sure it is going to explode in the right side of the blogosphere, as it should. I sincerely hope that, once again, the larger bloggers are able to make a difference here.

Brewers Draft: I Just Can't Stop

The Brewers have already signed one pick, Steve Garrison, who will be assigned to rookie ball in AZ.

From baseballamerica.com:

Just a few days after a workout at Miller Park, New Jersey high school lefthander Steve Garrison (The Hun School of Princeton) was taken in the 10th round, pick 295, by the Milwaukee Brewers. He had committed to play baseball at North Carolina, but sent signals before the draft to the teams who were interested in him that he would consider signing if he was taken during rounds five through 10. Garrison’s father, Gary, said that his son had already agreed to a contract with the Brewers, and will be assigned to the Rookie-level Arizona League.

Brewers Draft: Ryan Babineau

I am going to do a quick look into the first (and thusfar only) catcher the Brewers have taken. There acctually seems to be a nice load of info on him.

He is the 28th ranked player in California, according to CAbaseballzone.

Seems he signed a LOI to UCLA. I am not sure if he was a previous pick by the Brewers or what, but here he is in a Brewers uni.



He seems to be a bit of a big deal in CA baseball, which is both nice and crappy. A guy like this, it is unlikely he will sign with the Crew, which is probably why he fell so far. He looks destined to be a Bruin. If anyone else has anythng else I would love to hear it.


UPDATE: According to Steve Trombly of tromblybaseball.com, which seems to be a CA baseball specialist, Ryan is wearing a Brewer jersey during something called the Area Code Games.

Brewers Draft: Quick Update

Here is who they have taken so far, since I left work in the 12th Round.

13th Round - Ryan Babineau C Etiwanda HS (CA) 6'2'' 190 12/13/1986
14th Round- Mark James RHP Sinclair Secondary School 6'1'' 185 07/24/1987

15th Round- Michael Bell 2B Grayson County College 6'0'' 3/30/1985
16th Round-Andrew Bailey RHP Wagner College 6'3'' 220lbs 5'31'1985
17th Round-Timothy Smith RF Midland College 6'2'' 200 lbs 6/14/1986
18th Round- William Braddock LHP Gloucester Catholic HS 6'3'' 220lbs 8/23/1987

I will look up info on some of them, at this point I don't really think many of them are worth much, at least not to take up my evening. Hopefully we found some gems, and I will definitely look into Ryan Babineau but since he is a high schooler I doubt there will be much on him.

Come On Sheets!!

Brewers Draft: Rounds 6-whenever

I'll just keep the rest in this thread and update it as they draft. These rounds fly by, and God knows how long this will go on, so I will try and consolidate.

Round Six:

UPDATE: Steven J Hammond (6-2 205) LHP Long Beach State (two long beach pitchers go in a row...odd).

Gregory Reinhard from UW-Whitewater got picked by Tampa Bay.

Round Seven:

UPDATE: Michael C Brantley (6'2'' 180 5/15/1987) CF Fort Pierce HS (Son of Blue Jays hitting coach, Mickey Brantley)

Round Eight:

I can't help but notice the Brewers have yet to pick up a Catcher. I'm not sure of what type of catchers are available but how do they expect to get any catching depth if we sign no catchers. I am thinking I should hit an open tryout. I'm still only 23 with a live arm. I'm playing with my pop in an alumni game this weekend so we'll see what I have left.

Brewers 8th round pick: Jemile M Weeks (Rickie Weeks younger brother) HS shortstop 5'9'' 160lbs. Lake Brantley Florida

There is actually a lot of info on weeks.

he Weeks' siblings are also making this draft a family affair. Rickie Weeks, who is currently starring for Nashville of the Pacific Coast League, is a former first-round pick of Milwaukee. Jemile Weeks is a senior at Lake Brantley High in Florida and has drawn comparisons to his older brother.

The switch-hitting Weeks has a quick bat and has good power to the alleys and at least one National League scout says he is impressed with the way Weeks handles himself on the bases. He's committed to the University of Miami but whether he ever plays there remains to be seen.

Check here, here, and here. Older brother Rickie also gives little bro "props."

Also in Round Eight, Roger Clemens' son, Koby, was drafted by the Astros.

Round Nine:

UPDATE: Pick #265 - Carlos E Hereaud (yet another) Third Baseman 6'0'' 195lbs 2/20/1986 from Lawrence E Elkins HS. Seems he is a commit to University of Houston.

Round Ten:

UPDATE: Pick #295 - Stevenson Garrison LHP The Hun School (NJ) 6'1'' 185 09/12/1986



Talk about young looking!!

Round Eleven:

UPDATE: Supposedly now is the time most teams start to look at positional needs, so I expect the Brewers to take two or three catchers in the coming rounds. Signability is no longer an issue as teams look to take a flier on someone who they hope they can sign, it seems there are a few good HS catchers (i.e 7 years away) still available.

Pick #325 - Brent W Allar RHP Weatherford College Texas 6'2'' 210 3/1/1985



Well, it seems XM has cut off Draft Coverage but I am going home soon anyway, so here is where the live coverage ends. I will go through it later tonight or first thing tomorrow morning and update everything else. I hope this was informative.

UPDATE: I switched over to listening at mlb.com, and will be here til about 5:30. After that I'm seriously out of here.

Round Twelve:

UPDATE: Pick # 355 - John L Alonso First Baseman Polk Community College Winterhaven Florida 6'0'' 220 2/19/1986

Sorry, that's all I have time for, I'll probably update more during the game tonight if I don't end up going. I also still have to post about last night's fantastic game.

Brewers Draft: Finally something on Gamel

From the Baseball America Draft Day Blog

While putting together our draft preview issue, we checked in with Jeff Johnson, the head coach at Chipola (Fla.) Junior College to get the vitals on speedy outfielder Darren Ford, who signed a couple of weeks ago with the Brewers. During the same call, all Johnson wanted to tell us about was Matt Gamel, his third baseman, who as the 115th pick, will join Ford in the Brewers system. Gamel went .433-14-63 this year, and Johnson called him the second or third best hitter in the state.

Brewers Draft: Fourth Pick: #145 Kevin W Roberts RHP - Univeristy of Houston

Reputation as a reliever, Houston has a good history of relievers.

Versatile athlete who played at every position except catcher, first base and center field... Led the Cougars with a .374 batting average and tied for third with six home runs.... Finished third with 31 RBIs and led all players with a .439 on-base percentage... Was equally effective on the mound for the Cougars.... Was projected as the team's closer but moved into the starting rotation when injuries hurt those plans... Finished second on the team with 67 strikeouts and third with 57.0 innings pitched.... Ranked second among Cougar hurlers with five wins... Finished second with nine multi-RBI games... Struck out four batters in three innings of relief against Texas Tech at the Minute Maid Park College Classic... Threw three shutout innings of relief against nationally-ranked Long Beach State in that series finale...

Brewers Draft: An Op-Ed on Inman

I am intrigued by this pick, mostly because he seems to be revered in Virginia, and untalked about elsewhere. Barnie Day, from something called www.baconsrebellion.com seems to love the kid.

Will Inman. You'll see him on the cover of Sports Illustrated one day. But you read about this Danville pitching prodigy in this column first...Remember his name. You don’t know it now, but you’re going to. You’re going to see it lots of times. And you’re going to see him. On magazine covers. And doing commercials. And God knows where else before this is all over.



And if you follow baseball, you can write this down: you’re going to see him start, and win, in the World Series.



I don’t know anything about baseball, but I’ll take bets on this one. And, no, I won’t be writing the letter. Nobody’s going to require one. It would be as presumptuous as recommending Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods. Besides, coaches have been tailing him for years. Representatives from Duke and Virginia Tech were watching Tuesday.



The only thing that will keep this kid out of a major college career will be how high he goes in the baseball draft next year. That’s right. Next year.



Will Inman is a junior in high school. Nobody — coaches, scouts, nobody — can talk to him yet, not even so much as to say “hello.”



This kid faced 21 batters Tuesday afternoon here in Stuart — and struck out 18 of them, most on three pitches, 90 mile-an-hour-plus fast balls, and curve balls that are scary, that defy the laws of physics.



In three games this year he has 47 strike-outs. He broke Tunstall’s all-time career strike-out record as a sophomore, the same year he was district and regional Player of the Year, and was named First Team, All State in Virginia.



And he hit two home runs here Tuesday — one a grand-slammer — straight shots that went out at the 340 ft. marker in center field.

I am unimpressed, the guy as much admitted he knows nothing about baseball, but it's interesting nonetheless.

Brewers Draft: Will Inman

Looks like he is commited to Auburn. He only threw in the mid 80's last summer, but brought that up senior year.

The Brewers and Braves were among the few teams that didn't shy away from Tunstall High righthander Will Inman after he sat in the mid-80s at Virginia's Commonwealth Games last summer. But the state's career strikeouts leader bumped his velocity up to the low-90s as a senior and Milwaukee nabbed him in the third round. He'll now have to decide between pro ball and a college commitment to Auburn.

Brewers Draft: Matthew Gamel

Third Baseman from Chipola Junior College. I'll look for more.