You're Out of Your Tree...

Both Lisa and Ashley had to work today, so I had the house to myself for most of the day. I made a pot of plum oolong tea and read Eragon for a couple of hours. I just started reading it a couple of days ago, but didn't get very far until today. I am only about 120 pages in to it, but here are my impressions so far: the book isn't bad, but it is highly and obviously derivative of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Dragon Rider's of Pern. Still, despite the fact that it highly resembles things I have read (or seen, in the case of Star Wars) many, many times, it is still an entertaining read.

Lisa and I watched the Packers vs. Bears game, which was rather entertaining. If this is Favre's last game, it is certainly a good way to go out.

Now, I am watching Benny & Joon. Personally, I think both Johnny Depp & Mary Stuart Masterson are brilliant in that movie. I am strangely sympathetic to both of their characters. I think it is because they both embody an awkwardness that is inside us all.

This movie also contains one of my favorite lines:

You're out of your tree - Joon
It's not my tree - Sam

For some reason, I find that line strangely appropriate to life in general...

Merry Christmas

I hope you all had a good Christmas. Pictured here is probably my favorite present this year. My parents got this really nice tea set for me. This is really the first nice tea set I have had since I was in probably eighth grade or so, when my dad brought a tea set home for me from Japan. I haven't actually used it yet, but probably will this weekend.

I didn't take a lot of pictures this year. However, I did post most of them to Flikr, mostly taken Christmas Eve at my parent's house, but a couple taken Christmas day at our house which prove that I am not afraid to have my picture taken with bed-head, whereas my teen-aged daughter quite definitely is.

The Impending Death of a Chicken-Shit Despot

Well, it looks like the day is finally here when the world will be rid of one of the most notorious despots we have seen in a long time. At least some of the other despots in the same league have had the common decency to off themselves, thus saving us the pain of having to do it. And yes, I do mean pain. Whilst I find capitol punishment to be just and not at all inconsistent with the Christian ideal of forgiveness, I do still find it painful, even when it is some like Hussein who is receiving justice. It is hard to describe. It is not really that I feel sorry for him. He had more than enough chances to repent and save his own skin. It is more of a pain related to the fact that life is a precious gift from God, and here is a guy who wasted his to the point that he no longer deserves to have it, and the gift must be revoked. Painful, yes, but it must be done in order for justice to truly be served.

Update: As everyone knows, it is finally done.

The Evils of Drinking

Don't let the title fool you. I do enjoy a good beer regularly, and occasionally I do enjoy just a few too many at one time. However, I have never been so low as to sell my daughter's puppy for beer. Interestingly, there was another drinking related story today about a guy who mistook a police checkpoint for a car breakdown, and was arrested when he got out to offer help. Not real bright, but very helpful...

At least the puppy story ended on a happy note, and the girl got her dog back. I can't imagine that she is going to trust her step-dad too much on anything anymore, though. What a jerk! Of course, it also makes you wonder about mom's ability to select appropriate men...

Why Didn't I Think of That?

Some people are really desperate to avoid work, but calling in kidnapped is a new one on me...

They Never Saw a Tax they Didn't Like...

Wisconsin is a tax hell. There are a couple of states that are worse, but only two or three. Now those in power want to raise taxes even more. Of course, they won't call it a tax hike. Rather, they will call it "closing a loophole", since to a politician, if something isn't taxed it is a "loophole".

With local governments pinched for cash and public schools tethered to the
unpopular property tax, some officials are trying to win support for canceling
some of the sales tax exemptions worth at least $3.9 billion a year.

Really, they ought to try laying off large chunks of their over-payed workers, and replace them with workers contracted from the private sector. For example, there is no reason for the government to have a janitorial crew, or grounds keepers. Both of these services can easily be farmed out more cheaply.

Besides their often inflated wages, government workers also enjoy much more extravagant benefits packages than you will ever find in the private sector, including amazing pensions that end up costing tax-payers a ton of money. This is fat that needs to be trimmed. Trimming this fat is the first place that government officials should be looking, using tax increases of any sort as the absolute last resort. Unfortunately, they do it completely the other way around.

Government workers are not the only problem with fat in government, but they are a big chunk. Removing that fat would be a good first step. Reducing other obvious waste would be a good second step.

Back to the tax exemptions. Removing many of the exemptions would have a negative affect on business. We are already very anti-business in this state, and don't need to drive any more business away. Not having a lot high paying jobs due to our tax-hell status will not help things any. We should be doing all we can to get more businesses to base themselves here. Rather, we have idiots who want to do all they can to drive them away.

The largest gains in revenue could be made by removing the exemptions on food and health care. However, Sen. Jon Erpenbach's plan would still keep the exemptions in for food, health care, shelter, etc. That is good, but I question how long those exemptions will stand so long as government keeps going with this mindset that they need to raise revenue rather than cut fat.

Random Brain Things from my Head...

Over the years, I have had several friends who are from countries like Iraq, Pakistan, India, Turkey, Jordan, etc. Most of these friends were Muslim, though a few were not. Obviously, I think their religion is a false religion, and they thing the same of mine. This has led to some interesting and somewhat enlightening conversations at time. However, I am not going to write about that right now.

I take issue with much that has been said from both the left and the right on the topic of Islamic terrorists. Obviously, there is a large Islamo-Fascist problem in the world today, with extremists twisting the religion to justify their own goals. Despite the left's attempts to minimize this fact, it cannot be ignored. The threat exists, it is very real, and it needs to be fought. It is just another evil in this fallen world, and it needs to be dealt with as such, not in the mamby-pamby ways the left wants to address all problems, but head on, the way we are currently attempting to address it.

On the other hand, there are those on the right who would paint all Muslims with too broad of a brush. Given what is at stake, that would be the safer of the two errors. Still, it is an error.

So, what is my point? I am not sure I really have one. As explained in a earlier post, I am quite busy with church, family, and work right now. These were just random brain things that happened in my head (to paraphrase my favorite Madagascar character) after I read this article, which I pretty much agreed with completely, especially the quips about Noam Chomsky, who is nothing more than a pompous idiot...

No Bloggie Bloggie...

I have been a tad busy lately, between work, preparing for Sunday School every week, and family things, so I have not been blogging and I have not been reading any blogs. Hopefully that will end in the middle of December and I can get back to a more sane work schedule.

In the meantime, to get you all caught up, my daughter passed her driver's test, so that is one big hurdle over with. Lisa and I went to the Milwaukee Wave's home opener. It was great fun, but they lost. Since Stacy decided to get season tickets next year for the Colorado Rapids, I was pulling for them to go to the MLS Cup (which you should all watch on Sunday, BTW), but they lost to Houston. Maybe they will do better next year...

So, until I have more time, I leave you with the dancing bear. I have been told we have similar body shapes, though he is much cuter, and is a far better dancer...

Update: If you go here, you can find an English version of the Gummy Bear...

Music Mondays

Well, I have been getting pretty lazy with posting the music lately... I am kinda in the mood for some Korn. "Here to Stay" was just one of those tunes that I had to crank every time I heard it on the radio. The music is perfect, and sadly, I think we all can relate to the lyrics from time to time, some of us more than others. Anyhow, enjoy...

IE7 Finally Catches Up to Firefox

Microsoft finally released IE7. I installed it at work, and so far I am quite impressed. About the only thing I like better about Firefox as opposed to IE7 is the way Firefox handles "search" in a little toolbar at the bottom rather than popping a dialog. Otherwise, IE7 is prettier, seems a tad faster, handles tabs better, and seems to have leap-frogged Firefox a bit.

The only bad thing about IE7 is that it is a Windows only browser. They gave up on updating their Mac version long ago. Thus, IE7 will only be used at work. At home, I will stick with Firefox and Safari (Firefox is more full featured, Safari is faster and better integrated with MacOS X).

Big Al's Big Gay Animal Show...

The Oslo Natural History Museum have a gay animal exhibit going. Personally, I think it would be interesting to see. Homosexual behavior in the animal kingdom has been documented for quite some time, and it is an interesting topic. However, I find some of the motives of the organizers to just be stupid.

"Homosexuality is a common and widespread phenomenon in the animal world," says an exhibition statement.

So is eating your young and killing offspring fathered by competing males. Whether or not something is a "widespread phenomenon" in the animal world has nothing to do with whether or not something is right or wrong in the human world. The only determining factor of whether something is right or wrong in the human realm is God and His Word.

The museum says one of its aims is to "help to de-mystify homosexuality among people... we hope to reject the all too well known argument that homosexual behaviour is a crime against nature".

And for their next exhibit, they hope to display several packs of dogs, saying "we hope to reject the all to well known argument that licking your own ass and returning to your own vomit is a crime against nature".

Port Washington, WI

Port Washington Marina
Originally uploaded by stuffle.

Lisa and I are spending the weekend in Port Washington, WI. Lisa is a housekeeper for Holiday Inn, and she gets a couple of certificates for free nights each year. For our spring trip, we went to Rhinelander, WI for a small family reunion of sort. For our fall trip, we came here to just have some time to ourselves, see the sights, walk a lot, and just have fun being together.

See you all later, and God bless.

Entitlement Bullcrap

If you are going to have stupid laws that say you are somehow entitled to "state money" (IOW, the taxpayer's money, IOW, money that really belongs to you and me, since we earned it, not the freakin' state) if you are the victim of a kidnapping, then you are going to have idiot lawyers who say that the same should also apply to alien abduction victims. Stupid laws breed stupid lawyers.

Sex Drive

It seems that a study shows that a lot of us think about sex instead of keeping our mind on our driving. Well, duh!! Thanks there Captain Obvious. I don't know about y'all, but I often think about sex when I really ought to be concentrating on other things. I think it is part of being a normal human...

True Forgiveness

The Amish reaction to the school shooting really shouldn't shock anyone. As Christians, this is exactly how we should react to these things. After all, "forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who tresspass against us" is not just some empty prayer. Then there are certain proverbs. I am not sure that my faith is that strong where I could forgive the killer of a friend or relative, whatever the means. I also pray that my faith is never tested like that.

Woz...

Being a chubby, shy computer nerd (actually, I think we established that I am a geek, just not the circus freak kind), I found this story to be an interesting bit of fluff...

Here We Go Again...

About four years ago at our church, there was a pastor that managed to offend about half of the congregation in some manner. I don't know exactly how, since I wasn't in that half, but it was bad enough where he was asked by the congregation to resign his call. He held on for about a year before doing so, and by the time he did finally resign his call, a lot of damage had been done.

The second pastor we had at the time then took over as the sole pastor of the congregation, though she really was not qualified as an "administrative" pastor and was called as a "program" pastor. She also was not qualified to work with such a broken congregation. The congregation has brought on several interim pastors to work with her, but none have stayed long for various reasons (one died of cancer, a couple were short term to begin with, one had some issues with alcohol and no driver's license any more). Thus, problems have been simmering for the last four years.

Finally, we had to take them to the synod office. Last night, we had a meeting with the bishop and the task force he assembled. There are several recommendations that are sort of an all or nothing kind of deal. One of those is that the current pastor resign effective this Sunday. Obviously, this makes me sad as I really like Pastor K. However, I also understand why this has to happen, as she is not the right person to be leading a congregation that is in the current condition that ours is in. I just prey that she actually follows the recommendation. I can say from past experience that if she is stubborn and refuses to resign, it will cause far more pain than good.

OK, thanks for listening to my whining, but I had to get that off my chest.

Falwell Finally Said Something I Can Agree With...

Falwell is pretty much an idiot who says a lot of really, really stupid things, and does almost as much harm to the "Christian" name as does Fred Phelps. However, you have to admit that saying Hillary Clinton would be a worse choice than Satan is pretty funny.

I find it interesting that Democrats can feel free to demonize Republicans in any way they see fit, even going as far as completely destroying the fine careers of people like Karl Rove over what turns out to be absolutely nothing with nary an apology or retraction of any kind. Yet when a conservative makes a joke at a conference, well then "it seems that a new low has been reached in demonizing political opponents" to quote Lucifer's, ah, er, I mean Hillary's, press secretary. On that I call "bullshit". It was a joke. A joke by a fat idiot who constantly says amazing stupid and un-Christ-like things in the name of Christ, but a joke none the less, and a rather humorous one at that.

Static X - Dirthouse (Music Monday)

Wow, last week was busy. No blogging since last weeks "Music Monday" post. I will try to do better this week. So here is a quick recap of last week.

Work was busy and tiring. I am glad last week is over. That's enough about work.

Saturday, Lisa and I went to our last Brewer's game of the year. They won a close and exciting game, which is a great way to end it. Hopefully, they won't fall apart now on this final road trip.

On Sunday, the topic this week for Sunday School was Noah's Ark. There was a new kid in my Sunday School class, and he did a very good job participating with the other kids. I have noticed that sometimes that can be an issue for three year olds, especially boys, but it was not an issue for him.

Sunday was also the first really nice day in quite a while. I worked outside, pulling out some shrubbery that we weren't real fond of and want to replace with something more floral. Then I rested. I really needed the rest, actually.

Well, hopefully more blogging this week then last...

Music Mondays

OK, I am a day late, but YouTube was being a PITA yesterday, so I am doing this manually today...

Today I feature my favorite country singer (and pot head), Willie Nelson. In this case, singing with Bob Dylan, though I think the original was with Merle Haggard.

We (Lisa and I) saw both of these guys a couple of years ago on tour together. Some tour where they played all in minor league ball parks. It was a great show.

While we are on the subject of pot heads, about a month ago I was talking to my mom who was complaining about her memory apparently getting worse. I said I could sympathize, and she says "Yeah, but I'm getting old, your memory is probably just because you used to smoke too much pot." The best part is that my 16 year old daughter, who has my propensity to be a smart ass, was also there. Now, every time I can't come up with a word, or forget where I put my keys, or whatever, she says "see, you shouldn't have smoked all that pot when you were younger." Thanks, mom. It is not like Ashley actually needed any more ammunition...

Update: Then I come here a couple days later, and the failed posts from YouTube finally show up, and now I have the same video four different times... I give up. YouTube posts will be crafted manually from now on...

Visitor This Weekend - Megan

Megan
Originally uploaded by stuffle.

This weekend, we had a visitor. It was our 2-1/2 year old niece, Megan. She stayed with us for the weekend, and is now at her grandparent's house for a few days while her parents are in Washington D.C.

Saturday, we went to the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, WI. She had a great time there. The zoo is just south of Camp Randall Stadium, and when we left, there was quite a bit of Badger traffic because it was about a hour from game time. After we got back home, we played in the local park that the just built in our subdivision. The secret to taking care of other people's kids is to wear them out before bed time...

Sunday we went to church. Funny story there. Our daughter, who has not been to church in about a year decided to come with us. With her showing up after not being seen in a while, holding a two year old, some people asked us if our family had gotten larger and we didn't tell anyone. We assured them that was not the case. While I know it is biologically possible, and while some of Ashley's classmates are in that boat already, she, thankfully, is not.

That was also the first full day of Sunday school. I teach the three year olds, so I thought she might like to join in for the day, but she was having none of that. I think she had seen enough with just the service (which she was very good during, I might add), so Lisa, Ashley, and Megan all went home and didn't join in with my class. Oh well...

Anyhow, it was a very nice, but busy weekend.

Ignoring the Actual Problem

I heard about this story on Mark Belling's Friday podcast, and had to go check it out.

The first thing that struck me when Mark was talking about this was that the Milwaukee officials were mad at Sensenbrenner for saying what is true rather than being mad at themselves and their fellow officials for not actually doing anything about it. The second thing that struck me about this story is that city officials are more concerned with how Sensenbrenner's comments will affect industry in the city than they are about actually fixing the problem. If they worried less about Sensenbrenner's comments and more about actually fixing this very real problem, they would make great strides in attracting more tourists and more industry to the city. Instead, they choose to bury their heads in the sand and attack the messenger instead of the problem.

Problem number one is that every time something happens around here, like the sexual assault of an 11 year old girl, by several men, people blame poverty, joblessness, racism, whatever. They blame everything except for the fact that their are truly horrible people in this world who have a complete lack of any morals. As a result, we end up with a judicial system that is extremely soft on people who should have long been out of circulation. For example, many of the rapists who assaulted the 11 year old girl already had substantial criminal records, even at 15 years old.

Another example would be the murder of a young man who was just waiting for a bus. He was killed by a man who just last year shot a different man whilst robbing him, yet he was already back out on the street on probation. Yeah, it is possible that there were issues with the evidence with the last case, but more likely than not, it was simply some stupid technicality that got the guy off. Sadly, this story is not atypical.

People would rather hold pointless vigils then actually do anything useful to fix the problem. After all, to do something to actually fix the problem, we would have to admit that there are truly rotten people who deserve to be put away for a good long time.

More On Athletes Behaving Badly

Or should that be "Moron Athletes, Behaving Badly"?

Either way, a graduate from the Tonya Harding School of Gaining a competitive Advantage by the name of Mitch Cozad has been expelled from the University of Northern Colorado for stabbing his competitor for first-string punter in the leg.

I am willing to bet Mitch Cozad lashed out like this because he felt like he was entitled to that position, and knew of no other way to handle that. I also have a pretty good idea of the type of social attitudes we have prevalent in the world today that breeds this sort of idiot.

He was suspended from the team, evicted from his residence and expelled from school on Tuesday

It is nice to see that the school is not pussy footing around with this turd, and is actually giving him what he deserves. Legally, Cozad is facing second degree assault charges. Let's hope that comes with a fair amount of time behind bars. People like this certainly deserve it.

U2 - Vertigo

Everyone has a favorite band that they could never admit to their friends when they where in high school. For me, that band was U2. This may shock some people, but me and all my friends were metal heads (no, say it isn't so...). Admitting I liked U2 back then would have surely resulted in me getting crap from them for the rest of my high school existence. Now, however, I can safely come out of the closet.

And, yes, I did order the special edition U2 iPod when it was first announced. Yes, I did wait rather impatiently to get it, and yes, I did download "The Complete U2" collection from iTunes as soon as the iPod arrived.

Black Sabbath - Snowblind

Black Sabbath is my all time favorite band. I used to have all of their albums. The problem is, it is all on vinyl. One of these days, I have got to get everything again on CD. Better yet, it would be great if iTunes would release the full collection, kinda like they did for U2.

Rally Day!!

Well, today was rally day, which means that I got to meet some of my new Sunday School students for this year.  I teach the three year olds.  They are really cute, but they are kind of shy the first couple of days.  Today, there were only three of them.  We basically just played with puzzles and toys.  Today was just a fun day.  Next week, we start learn about how God created the world and everything in it.

How Can Some People Live With Themselves?

Look about half way down this news briefs page and you will see a story about a man in a wheelchair who was robbed at knife point. That's pretty low, even for scum-bags...

First off, I can't see how anyone can rob from someone else and actually still want to live with themselves afterwards. I just can't imagine having that little respect for other people and their property. However, to rob a guy who has cerebral palsy is just plain low. This couple should be crippled by guilt, but somehow I doubt they actually are.

Tales of Overpaid Crybabies...

I have heard of U.S. athletes refusing to show up for practice, refusing the play, or even just doing a really half-assed job when they are not happy with their current situation. However, I have never heard of any of them doing something as rediculous as threatening to score an own goal if he isn't traded.

Crikey!!

OK kiddies, this is why it is a bad idea to make a career out of pissing off dangerous creatures...

P.S. - don't ask me what this is doing in the ESPN web site, but they had one of the more complete write-ups on it.

Yer from Rural Wisconsin If...

A little humor for today. One of my cousins (who actually did grow up in rural Wisconsin) sent this to me. I grew up in semi-rural Wisconsin (in a small town just outside Milwaukee), and most of these still applied. I'm sure a lot of these apply in a lot of states, but are still funny.

You grew up in rural Wisconsin if...

You know how to polka , but never tried it sober... sounds about right

You know what knee-high by the Fourth of July means.

You know it is traditional for the bride and groom to go bar hopping between the reception and wedding dance. This also applies immediately before the wedding, but they just do it separately instead of together

You know the difference between "Green" and "Red" farm machinery, and would fight with your friends on the playground over which was better! Due to a former huge local employer, it was mostly orange vs. green farm equipment

You buy Christmas presents at Fleet Farm. OK, that must be a rural thing...

You spent more on beer & liquor than you did on food at your wedding. Well, duh!!

You hear someone use the word "oof-dah" and you don't break into uncontrollable laughter.

You or someone you know was a "Dairy Princess" at the county fair. Actually, I have danced with several "Dairy Princesses" and "Alice in Dairylands" when I did volunteer work at the state fair, and we would have a couple of dances a week with the 4-H kids who were also housed on grounds. However, I have never actually known one.

You know that "combine" is a noun.

You let your older siblings talk you into putting your tongue on a steel post in the middle of winter.

You think Lutheran and Catholic are THE major religions. You mean there are others?

You know that "creek" rhymes with "pick".

Football schedules, hunting season and harvest are all taken into consideration before wedding dates are set.

A Friday night date is getting a six-pack and taking your girlfriend shining for deer. There are two of you, better get at least a twelver.

Saturday you go to your local bowling alley.

There was at least one kid in your class who had to help milk cows in the morning... phew!

You have driven your car on the lake.

You can make sense of "upnort" and "batree".

Every wedding dance you have ever been to has the hokey pokey and the chicken dance. and drunken polkas...

Your definition of a small town is one that only has one bar.

The local gas station sells live bait. and hunting & fishing licenses...

At least twice a year some part of your home doubles as a meat processing plant.

You think that the start of deer season is a national holiday.

Pop is the only name for soda. We always called it "soda", but the rest of the state calls it "pop"

You actually understand these jokes and will forward them to all your Wisconsin friends!

Walls Of Jericho

A little bit ago, Stacy was talking about getting a tattoo. Some commenters talked about how they, for God only know what reason, did not think tattoos were attractive on women, which got me thinking of sexy women who have tattoos. The first woman that pops into my head is Candace Kucsulain from Walls of Jericho. Short red hair, beautiful tattoos, sings for a kick ass metalcore band, what else could a guy possibly hope for?

Damn Leftists...

And here we have further proof that leftists are simply the most belligerent bunch of classless idiots that this world has ever known....

And the "Mother of the Year" Award Goes to...

Anissa Francis

So, let's review the basic series of events (some of which are detailed in previous articles on JSOnline).

First, this slug of a mother has two children, presumably from different fathers, neither of which is the current boyfriend. So, she has a history of making poor sexual choices in life.

Next, she goes drinking with Craig C. Tolonen and Junior Weiss (her current boyfriend). Weiss and Tolonen each have fairly long criminal records. They also both have older brothers, both of whom are currently in prison for beating a man to death. So, she has a history of hanging out with people who are just turds to begin with.

So, she goes drinking with, and is dating, pretty much the scum of the earth. Scum #1 (Weiss, her boy-friend) is a bit irritable after the first night of drinking, and beats the older child a little, but Francis continues to see him anyhow, and even goes out drinking with him again after the beating of the older child.

The next morning, Francis (the slug of a mother) has to take her boyfriend (Wiess, Scum of the Earth #1) to work. Thus, she leaves the kids with Scum of the Earth #2 (Tolonen), who has a bit of a hangover, can't take a little bit of baby crying, and shakes the younger child to death.

Fast forward a couple of days to the day of the funeral. Most women would be absolutely depressed. Some, like the woman at the well, might even be repentant, and may go looking for help so they can stop making such horrible life decisions. Not Anissa Francis, however. Nope! Instead, she goes out drinking and partying again.

Some people just make me sick...

Bloggers Block!!

There is a comic I can relate to... Actually, I have a few topics queued up, but I need time to work on them. Luckily Labor Day is coming up, and after that, things start to slow down a bit for me.

OK, done whining for now...

Static-X - Push It

Wisconsin Death Trip is a great name for an album!! This is the first Static-X song I had ever heard, and I was immediately hooked.

Bristol!!

Tonight starts NASCAR's big weekend at Bristol with the Craftsman Truck Series race on Speed. Watch it if you get a chance. Bristol is a high banked short track. That means lots of bumpin' and bangin', lots of mixing it up, lots of pressure on the drivers and crews, and (usually) a lot of really pissed off people and one very happy winner when all is said and done. All of this is made better by the fact that these are all night races this weekend. In other words, it is stock car racing the way it out to be.

Rockies 1 - Brewers 4

Lisa and I went to the Brewers game last night. This was the "freebie" game. With our ticket package, you get nine pre-determined games at face value and then a "free" ticket to one of about 20 selected games. Sort of a built-in 10% discount on the whole package.

Capuano started for the Brew-Crew, and had a really good outing until the 4th, when he had a minor, but thankfully temporary, meltdown. This meltdown started (as many do) with an E-6 (error on the shortstop, bad throw to first in this case). This was followed by two base on balls to load 'em up. He was able to work out of it, however, and pitched two more innings after that, leaving the game with a shutout going.

Capellan came on for the 7th and the 8th. Both were 1-2-3 innings, and he struck out five of the six batters.

Turnbow came in for the ninth. Some people stood and cheered. I have no idea why. The guy has totally sucked ass now for a few months, and really ought to be pitching down in Nashville or Huntsville until he can get is stuff back together. It seems like the only fair thing to do for him. As usual (lately), his first act was to give up a home run. He then K'd the next batter, and let the third batter get a hit. Turnbow was done after that.

Finally, Yost brings in Cordero to close it out. After all, it is a save situation now. He gives up a couple of deep ones, but they stay in the park and are both outs.

On the offensive side, there was no real stand out. The boys just did a good job doing what they are supposed to do, which is get 'em on, move 'em over, and score 'em.

Music Mondays - Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth

It is Monday. Time for some more music!! This week, I think a little NIN is in order.

Random Baseball Notes

The Yankees continue to take it to those stinking Red Sox and won again last night. Today they go for the sweep. Let's hope they get it, and let's hope this is just the start of a massive Red Sox meltdown. Actually, it would be nice to keep just a glimmer of hope alive for the Sox fans just to have that hope dashed in late September by the Red Sox losing to the White Sox in the wild card race.

Saturday, our daughter stayed over at her aunt and uncle's house and baby sat her cousins. So Lisa and I decided to go to the ballpark to see the Brewers take on the Astros. I knew it would be busy, so we arrived early. I wanted to get the $5 "Bernie's Terrace" seats (the terrace is the 4th section of seats, nosebleeds, Bernie's Terrace are terrace seats way out in left field by Bernie's dugout and the slide he goes down), since that is about the only section we have not sat in yet. They were sold out. So, we went with some terrace reserve seats. Those were almost sold out too. When we got our tickets, they said "ADA" on them. Sure enough, the only tickets left were in the "disabled" sections. At first I felt guilty, but looking around the terrace sections, I noticed very few disabled people in the disabled sections. I guess when it comes down to just those sections left, they get sold to whoever shows up, disabled or not. BTW - those are great seats. Lot's of extra room, no one packed in next to you, no one directly in front of you.

The game itself was very exciting. Neither team really opened up much of a lead, though the Astros struck first blood. However, once the Astros pitching fell apart, it fell apart hard. The Brewers loaded the bases twice, and the Astros walked in at least two runs. It was not pretty for them. I think the game ended 4-5 with the Astros flying out to center, but I was not keeping score this game, so I cannot say for sure.

Our next game is Tuesday, 08/22. That one is part of our ticket package, so we will be back down in the Loge section (second level of seats), and as usual for our package games, I will be keeping score this time.

Do You Take This Goat...

Girl on the Right has a very funny post involving a man, a goat, and a little hanky panky...

This Week's Moron Reward Go To... John Hogan.

I can easily understand how a person could get into an argument with his wife and get so pissed off that he would want to throw himself off of a fourth story balcony, presumably to his own death just so he would have to hear her yammer on anymore. I can easily sympathize with that. I think any married man can. However, when you grab your kids on the way out, you are just being a total ass!

Personally, I like the hospital director's comments:

Panayotis Spatharakis, director of the Heraklion Hospital, told the Daily Mirror: "We asked him why he did it and he told us he was very drunk and could not exactly remember what happened."

Summing up the bitterness of locals, he told the paper: "I feel that once he recovers and understands what he has done he should commit suicide."

Well said! Let's hope he gets right on that, this time without trying to take anyone with him! OK, not really. This dude obviously needs many prayers and much help. Still, I can't say I necessarily disagree with Mr. Spatharakis' sentiment.

It looks like the locals also had the right idea!

The Daily Mirror reported that Hogan's plight after the plunge brought little sympathy from angry locals who surrounded his stretcher to scream abuse.

Good for them!

Nerd, Geek, Dork...

Now that scientists have the status of Pluto essentially sorted out, it is time to tackle more important issues, like: What, exactly, is the difference between a geek, a nerd, and a dork.

For the record, I am most definitely a geek, but only in the techie sense, not the whole "biting the head off of chickens sense.

Sweet...

When I read this story, I thought of two things:

1. The fat kid in "Willy Wonka"
2. Bob or Doug McKenzie. Whichever one got stuck in a vat of beer in "Strange Brew".

Glad to hear that the dude got out alright, but you have to admit that getting stuck in a vat of chocolate is rather funny...

Who Cares?

Sadly, kids get killed every day in this country (and every other country, for that matter). Some of them even die at the hands of their parents, siblings, or some other relative that should be protecting them, yet none of that really gets more than a mention or two. Yet, if the child is a pretty blonde girl, the whole country becomes obsessed with the story. It is absolutely ridiculous how much print was wasted on JonBenet Ramsey back when she was killed, and it is even more ridiculous how much print is being wasted on this John Mark Karr turd. A person whose confession has serious holes in it.

If it Mr. Karr's confession turns out to be true and actually match up with some evidence, great, we can finally put this crap to bed. If not, then I guess Mr. Karr got what he wanted, which was evidently to have his face in the spotlight for a while. Either way, I predict a glut of stupid, worthless, poorly done, overly emotional, crap movies pertaining to this in about six months.

More Fun With Music

My daughter periodically does these silly music survey things, and they seem fun, so I figured I would try the next one she posted. So, here we go:

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, etc).
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press play.
4. For every question type the song that's playing.
5. When you go to a new question press the next button.
Ready? GO!

Opening Credits:
New Beginnings - Trapt
(um, OK, oddly appropriate...)

Waking Up:
Start a War - Static-X
(hehe, well, I am very much a morning person)

Falling In Love:
Just Out Of Reach - Patsy Cline
(sometimes very true, but luckily I have not had to deal with that for over 20 years...)

Fight Song:
My Evil Twin - They Might Be Giants

Breaking Up:
No Feelings - Sex Pistols
(Yeah, that sounds about right!!)

Making up:
Rejoice - U2

Life's Okay:
Freeways - Bachman-Turner-Overdrive

Mental Breakdown:
Just My Imagination - The Cranberries

Driving:
Whoa is Me - Dredg

Flashbacks:
Pretty in Scarlet - Guano Apes

Happy Dance:
Empty - The Cranberries

Regretting:
One Hit Wonder - Everclear

Final Battle:
Over the Hills and Far Away - Led Zeppelin
(as Zep songs go, "The Battle of Evermore" would have been better, but you get what you get)

Death Scene:
Zombie Eaters - Faith No More
(Oh help me baby zombie Jesus!)

End Titles:
Crazy - Patsy Cline
(Hmmm, that would have been good for the "Mental Breakdown" one...)

Music Video Mondays

Continuing with my latest theme of basically being lazy, I am going to post a video for one of my favorite songs each Monday. Here's the first one. It is a song called "Rabblerouser" from MDFMK. Enjoy!

Internet is for Porn

OK, so I have gotten lazy lately, and just seem to be posting google videos... Anyhow, every Friday, Stacy does a Friday's Freaks post where she re-posts some of the more disgusting searches that have led people to her site. Some of them are really funny. Some of them are just plain wrong. You should go check them out. In the meantime, this video is for Stacy and her Friday's Freaks...

Farting Preacher

OK, so sometimes I like some juvenile fart jokes. What can I say?

Political Correctness, Run Amok

I have a New York Yankee's day calendar on my desk at work. Today (my first day actually back in the office after vacation), I tore off and read the sheets for the days I missed. Here is the fun Yankee fact for August 2nd.

Throughout the 1999 regular season and postseason, the Yankees wore an African-American number 5 on their left sleeve in memory of Yankees great Joe DiMaggio. For the final month of the regular season and throughout the postseason, the also wore a African-American armband in memory of New York's former pitching great "Catfish" Hunter.

This didn't really make any sense to me until I realized that I needed to substitute the word "black" for the words "African-American"....

Vacation Day #4 - Race Day!!

Miller Lite
Originally uploaded by stuffle.

I didn't blog at all yesterday, because it was race day, so this entry is a day late.

Race day basically means waking up at 4:00 am, leaving the hotel at 5:00 am, sitting in the parking lot of the track, quietly talking to other early birds, from 6:00 am until the track opens at 7:00 am. I say "quietly talking" because a fair number of people will show up at midnight and sleep in the beds of their trucks, or on the ground, or in their cars, whatever. No sense waking them.

Gates open at 7:00 am, and we head in to the infield. Our first stop is at the America Supports You booth to buy some dog tags. After that, we walk around the infield, see the sights, etc. At 10:00 am the pre-race concert starts. It is three country bands that I have never heard of, two of which must have songs on country radio, as Lisa knew the songs.

At 1:00 pm, we leave the concert and slowly walk back to where our seats are in turn one. The race starts around 2:45 pm, and after that, time just flies. Before you know it, it is 6:30 pm, and we are back in the parking lot. reading the paper, talking, and laughing at the people who actually think they need to be somewhere. Why people leave an event like that and think that traffic will be anything but total gridlock, I don't know. Y'all ought to just relax, have a drink or two, and read the paper or something and hang out an hour or two before leaving... That's what we do.

Around 9:00 pm, we get back to the hotel for a dip in the pool, and a little relaxation, which is where the pyramid of Miller Lite cans finally comes in to play.

This was our fourth year, and we will certainly have tickets next year for a fifth year.

Vacation Day #3 - Qualifying

Lining Up
Originally uploaded by stuffle.

Today was qualifying day. I am a bit tired, so I will just give a quick run down of our day.

5:00 - wakey wakey!! Eat some breakfast. Pack the cooler with water bottles and ice.
6:00 - Leave hotel, drive to IMS.
7:00 - Track opens. We got half way to the gate and then realized that I left the camera in the car. Lisa watches our stuff while I go back and get it.
7:20(ish) - Enter the track, and find some seats. We are there early enough where there are some prime seats in the section E penthouse section available (this is in turn 1).
10:10 - Qualifying starts.
10:15(ish) - Jeff Burton takes the pole and keeps it.
12:15 - Qualifying completes. Go grab some lunch and a beer.
1:30 - First practice session.
2:15(ish) - Kurt Bush crashes in practice (haha), at which point we decide to leave.
2:20 - Walk around by the souvenir trailers. Lisa gets some Kasey Kahne stuff, and I pick up some generic Brickyard stuff.
3:45 - Get back to the hotel, respond to some e-mail, write this, relax.

Now it is time to go get a light dinner, and maybe play some cards before packing it in for the day. Tomorrow will be a long, but fun day.

Talk to you all tomorrow.

Vacation Day #2, Part Duex - Downtown Indy

Me & Lisa
Originally uploaded by stuffle.

Around 11:30 or so, we left Crawfordsville to go to downtown Indy. After parking downtown, our first stop was to find some place to eat. We found a place called Rock Bottom Brewery. It seemed to have a lot of local flavor (all of the beers had something to do with either racing or local landmarks, etc), and the food was excellent. As it turns out, this is part of a national chain. We'll have to try the one back home in Milwaukee to see if it is as good.

After lunch, we walked around downtown for a while, and then went to the White River Gardens, and hiked around there for a while. After that, it was back to Crawfordsville for a dip in the hotel's pool. The weather today was beautiful. Hopefully it will be like this all weekend.

I have started a flickr photo set where I will put the photos from this trip that I decide to upload.

Time to go to dinner...

Vacation Day #2, Part One - Lew Wallace

Lew Wallace Study
Originally uploaded by stuffle.

We started the day off today by visiting the General Lew Wallace Study Museum. Our daughter always talks about how glad she is that she is now old enough where she does not have to go with us on vacation anymore because we go to too many museums. I just love museums, however. Every town that I have ever lived in, the first thing we usually do is go visit all of the museums and learn as much as we can about the town's history. I just find it fascinating. I think Lisa enjoys this too. Either than, or she just doesn't complain about it... :)

Anyhow, I knew Lew Wallace only as the author of Ben-Hur, but was not aware of his other contributions to society, including his service to the country in two wars, and his service as a U.S. diplomat. If anyone who reads this makes it down to the Crawfordsville area, I suggest this museum as well as the Old Jail Museum which we toured a couple of years ago.

The Dangers of Racing in Wisconsin

My home state of Wisconsin is home to a couple of historic race tracks. One is the Milwaukee Mile, another is Road America. Wisconsin is also home to a lot of really large vermin commonly referred to as White-tailed Deer. As far too many Wisconsin drivers can tell you, these vermin have a nasty habit of jumping in front of cars.

These nasty creatures cause enough damage on our highways. However, that evidently is not enough for them, and now the stupid creatures are also wreaking havoc on our race tracks. I pray that Cristiano da Matta is alright. Hitting one of those stupid things in your family sedan can be downright deadly. Hitting one in a open wheeled race car must really be nasty...

Update: According to this report, da Matta was surgically treated for a subdural hematoma and is currently in intensive care.

Annual Indy Vacation - Day 1

Lisa and I are on our annual vacation to Indianapolis for the Brickyard 400. As usual, we are staying in Crawfordsville, IN, which is a nice small town about 45 miles west of Indianapolis. Notable sights to see in Crawfordsville include a museum for the only operable rotating jail remaining in the US, and the General Lew Wallace Study and Museum.

Today was a travel day, so other than driving, checking in to the hotel, and going out for dinner, we haven't really done much. We'll post more later. Until then, here is a video I took last year. This is the start of the big race from our seats in turn one. Nothing can really match the excitement of 43 cars loudly screaming past you at close to 200 MPH...

Tour de Farce

I don't really have anything to say about this, since I truly believe that International Cycling is probably the single dirtiest sport next to track and field when it comes to doping, so I am not really all that surprised. However, I did find the headline of this article to be rather funny...

Huffing Mothballs?

OK, I've heard of huffing paint, glue, gasoline, and a few other things, but this is the first that I have heard of huffing mothballs. One of the girls in the article was even chewing on the stupid things. That is just gross...

Listen kiddies, drugs are bad, m'kay? However, huffing is really bad for you. If you are going to try drugs, go score some plain old weed or something, but don't stick your head in a bag of mothballs, and for God's sake don't chew on the damn things...

Peace is the End, not the Means

It is not often that an editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle actually makes sense, but this one is pretty good. The points that Ms. Saunders brings up should be obvious to everyone. However, as the "give peace a chance" crowd illustrates so nicely, there are large numbers of idiots who are just too stupid to realize that lasting peace is never achieved through negotiated settlements and capitulation. Just ask Nevill Chamberlain. In the end, the only way to achieve lasting peace is to totally defeat the evil party in the conflict.

In the Israeli case, capitulation has only led to the Palestinians electing a radical terrorist party for leaders. There are a couple of reasons that God told the Israelites in the Old Testament to completely destroy their enemies when taking their land. First and foremost, the people from whom the land was being taken were practicing evil, false, and detestable religions, and God did not want His people influenced by that. Second, however, is that doing so is simply a wise military move, as the total defeat of the enemy is the only way to secure lasting peace. What was true then is still true today, and Israel is absolutely doing the correct thing in going after these scumbags with as much force as they can with an eye towards defeating them. There is no reason for them to make the same mistake with Hezbollah that they have been making with the Palestinians all these years.

What Happens in Hungary Stays in Hungary...

The Hungarian tourism authority are attempting to attract young people to their beach resorts with a cartoon short that uses cheap, adulterous sex as a selling point (NOTE: video does not work in Safari, but does work in Firefox).

Alert to wives everywhere, if your husbands are suddenly taking a lot of "business trips" to Hungary, it is likely he is actually looking for a little action with the blonde with the new improved pulsating boobies...

As advertising campaigns go, I think this one just hit a new low.

Ozzfest

Ozzfest was yesterday, and it was a total blast. It is now the next morning, and I am working on about 2.5 hours of sleep. Hopefully I can stay awake through church service this morning.

I went with my daughter and a bunch of her friends. The tickets were a gift to her for her birthday. I have a few observations on metal shows.

• Guttural Screaming - It seems that with a few exceptions, "singing" in modern metal bands have devolved into a bunch of guttural screaming and growling, resulting in a bunch of bands whose singers a.) can't convey any emotion other than anger and b.) all sound the same. Not very original. The bands on the second stage were almost all "screamers and growlers". About the only stand-outs were Ozzy, Black Label Society, and Bad Acid Trip. The main stage was much, much better.


• Drunken Idiots - When I was a kid, I found drunken idiots to be amusing. Then there was a long stretch of time when I was a drunken idiot. Now, I just find them to be annoying. For the main stage show, we were mostly surrounded by pretty cool people, but there were a few... The second stage crowd was more interested in moshing than drinking, so there wasn't really a problem there.


• Hills - Alpine Valley is one big hill, and standing on a step include for 6 hours hurts these old feet and legs


• Ozzy - Man, Ozzy is really getting old. I already new that, but seeing him on the intimate venue that was the second stage, especially right after all of the young, energetic bands, you can really tell just how old he is getting.

Well, that just sounded like a bunch of complaining, but really, it was a great time. We saw a lot of cool bands (I just wish they were a little more original on to vocals), and now I am just going to go to church, mow the lawn, and relax.

Lisa Tattoo

Lisa Tattoo
Originally uploaded by stuffle.

This is a tattoo with my wife's name on it that I first got 18 years ago. It get pretty faded over the years. I just had it re-worked at the local tattoo studio. The original was so faded, that after the artist did the outline, it almost looked as if it was a fresh tattoo without any color yet. This was basically a total rework, and took just over two hours to complete.

Me and Lexi
Originally uploaded by stuffle.

This picture from a couple of years ago of me holding my niece shows how faded the tattoo had actually become. It looks much better now than before. Actually, with the colors and highlights that Aaron used, it looks even better than the original did when it was new (which I don't have a picture of).

Inequality Concerns Run Amuck

It seems that smoking accounts for a good chunk of the life expectancy differences between men that are in lower social classes and men in higher social classes. So what?

"Encouraging people to quit is the number one public health intervention that will help to deal with health inequalities. That is why comprehensive smoke-free legislation is needed."

All I can say is "huh"? I am all for less people smoking, but what is the obsession with supposed "inequalities"? This is exactly 180 degrees opposite of the way "equality" should be measured. That is, these people are just looking at the end results of actions, and not at equality in opportunity. People of lower social classes have all the same opportunities to not smoke as people in higher social classes. Further, they have just as much opportunity to quit and, thanks to over-taxation, a lot more reason to quit.

Everything is equal on the important end of things. If one group of people choose to use those equal opportunities to their own detriment, so be it.

Not a Good Day to be a Closer

Yesterday was the first day in about 28 years that there was a full slate of baseball played, and not one save was recorded. There were six blown saves, and nine blow-outs. I follow two teams, the Yankees and the Brewers. The Yankees blew out the White Sox, 3 - 14, and the Brewers got blown out by the Diamond Backs, 1 - 8.

Hot Summer Days

Sunsetter
Originally uploaded by stuffle.

Today was hot, at least for Wisconsin. I was drenched just after mowing the lawn, so I spent most of the day inside being lazy. OK, I wasn't being completely lazy. I did dial in to work and get some extra tasks done, but I did stay out of the heat.

As the sun got low in the west, a nice breeze developed, so we decided to cook out and eat on the back patio. Luckily, we have our new Sunsetter installed. My mom and dad like to give one large combined gift covering my birthday, my wife's birthday, and our anniversary all in one shot. This year, it was this Sunsetter. On days like today, it is nice to sit out in the shade and eat dinner. We love it. Thanks, Mom and Dad!!

The Hill
Originally uploaded by stuffle.

This next picture is the view from our patio. When we first moved into our house, none of those houses were down there. Our house was part of the phase one development, the houses in this picture were in phase two. There are a lot of houses behind them from even later phases.

What I was trying to get with this picture is the hill behind the houses. This will be built up in some later phase of development. I will be interesting to compare this picture to the view we have in five years or so (assuming we are still in this house at that time).

Free Gas!!

What kind of moron does this? I would never wait several hours in some stupid line just to get about $30-$35 worth of gas. Get a freakin' job, people!! Simple math dictates that even at minimum wage, you could have made more money actually working than you saved sitting on your fat, lazy ass in some 200 car line waiting for 10 free gallons of gas...

Some people have no freakin' lives...

Zidane - French Soccer Terrorist...

Fifa will be investigating Zidane's little temper tantrum that resulting in his red card ejection head butting Materazzi. The BBC has had a couple of different "experts" analyze the tape, and have determined that Materazzi said one of two things to Zidane before the head butt:

• "You are the son of a terrorist whore"
  
• --OR-- "I wish and ugly death for you and your family, and go fuck yourself"

OK, so the "experts" don't exactly agree on their lip reading.

Materazzi's response to all this is just stupid. He says "I am ignorant, I don't even know what an Islamic terrorist is". Ya, right. The whole world has known what Islamic terrorists are since at least 1979, with many other parts of the world (like Israel) having first hand experience well before that, so don't give me that crap that you don't know what one is.

Reading the BBC article, though, you get the distinct impression that some people are more upset about what Materazzi may have said than they are about what Zidane actually did. What if Materazzi did call him a "son of a terrorist whore"? So what? Should he be disciplined? Perhaps. But only if his punishment does not exceed Zidane's. After all, Zidane's actions were far, far worse than any mere words that Materazzi may have used.

Will Danica Switch to NASCAR?

According to this story, Danica may try to get a ride in America's premiere series, NASCAR's Nextel Cup. The reasons she would want to do this are obvious. NASCAR is the biggest series in the US. Thus it is where the money and fame are. Thus, it attracts all the best drivers.

Danica is a pretty face and a big name. In a sport that is so dependent on sponsorship, this is really important. On the other hand, she has not really proven herself in IRL yet. Also, with the notable exception of Tony Stewart, open wheel drivers don't exactly have a good track record of being successful in NASCAR.

The article makes it sound as if she is looking to go directly to Nextel Cup. Personally, I don't see this as realistic or wise. Nextel Cup has a much tougher schedule than the IRL and the races are longer. She should try a season or two in Busch first.

Happy Birthday, Ashley!!

Ashley Playing Quads (Close-up)
Originally uploaded by stuffle.

Today is my daughter's 16th birthday.

Yesterday, she marched in the parade. Ashley's grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and a couple of my cousins (Tim and his wife Dori, and Mike and his wife Amy) all came out to watch. This picture shows her as she passed her goofy family, and I think I caught her trying not to laugh.

After the parade, we had a party at our house for her. It was mostly all family, but some of Ashley's friends eventually showed up. It was a really nice 4th of July...

Cars

Lisa and I went to see the movie "Cars" last night. It really was not a bad movie, but it was not the best that I have seen come out of Pixar. Here are a few things that really caught my eye:

• Larry the Cable Guy as "Tow Mater" was easily the best character in the movie.
• John Ratzenberger has a great voice for a hauler.
• Casting Click and Clack as the "Rust-eze" sponsor reps was perfect. Very funny!!

It was a fun movie.

Who Thinks That's Attractive?

Seriously, this is not normal, and is not attractive. Why would anyone want to look like a cancer patient? And if you did look like this, why would you want to wear something that skimpy?

Walk the Line

So, I finally rented "Walk the Line" the other night and watched it. Very good movie! My favorite line is when he is in the records exec's office trying to convince them to record him live at Folsom Prison. Paraphrasing:

Record Exec: Your listeners are Christians. They don't want to hear you cheering up a bunch of rapists and murderers.

Johnny Cash: Well, they aren't really Christians, then.

The thing about Johnny Cash and his music that I think is most appealing is that it is something we can all relate to. His whole life truly illustrates what it means to be imperfect, and to be redeemed by Christ, and that is reflected in his music.

I chose to link the "Hurt" video for several reasons:

• It is one of my favorite country artists covering one of my favorite rock artists.
• The video and song are both well done.
• It is (I think) the last video with June in it, or at least close to the last.
• The song itself is, I think, something we can all relate to. After all, we are all imperfect, and have all done things in our lives that I am sure we regret.

Anyhow, if you want to see a well done movie that reminds you that no matter how bad things get, you can be redeemed through Christ and can get your ship turned around, then I certainly recommend "Walk the Line."

I am soooo wasted, dude....

My daughter thought my South Park dude looked stoned. Actually, he is supposed to look cynical. Here is what he looks like when stoned:

Just Wasting Time...

Little Miss Chatterbox had a link to this site on her blog where you can create your own South Park character. Of course, I just had to waste about 30 minutes or so creating one for myself. So, without further ado, here is South Park Stuffle...

Soccer is the Metric System of Sports...

Every once in a while, a caller on one of my favorite radio shows will call in with something good. The latest was during a discussion on soccer in which a caller called in and said "Soccer is the metric system of sports." Besides being funny, it is absolutely true. Both have been crammed down our throats forever, both with the ridiculously stupid argument of "the rest of the world is doing it", and in both cases, most Americans are not on the bandwagon.

The thing that amazes me is that this seems to bother a lot of soccer fans (for that matter, the fact that we don't use the metric system seems to annoy a lot of the loon-jobs who push that, too). I have never understood why. OK, I am only a casual soccer fan. I don't really have the time to follow all sports that I like, and baseball and auto-racing have to take precedence. Still, I do catch some MLS games, and some of the European leagues' games when I can, and I have been watching quite a few of the World Cup games. Still, I am not going to get all bent out of shape because I am the only one of my friends and coworkers who actually gives a shit.

Are the rabid US soccer fans that shallow that they actually care that 95-99% of the other US sports fans don't really care about their sport? If so, why?

Ukraine vs. Switzerland

Let me start by saying, I really don't care who wins this game.

I am watching the first OT period, and so far the only thing that stands out about this game is that the yellow card pendulum has swung to the opposite extreme with this ref. It is nice to see a ref that will just let them play the game, but this is getting a bit ridiculous with some of the non-calls...

Hopefully this will go to penalty kicks. That would be an exciting end to an otherwise lackluster game.

Update: Ukraine wins on what would have been an exciting round of penalty kicks if the Swiss were capable of scoring even one penalty kick...

Major League Meltdown

I saw this video on ESPN's sports center this morning. It has really been a long time since I have seen a manager have such a temper tantrum. He was acting like a two year old cry-baby who didn't get the toy he wanted at WalMart... Very funny!!

Viva Italia!

I am not at work today because I am ill. I evidently ate something that did not at all agree with me. The down side is that I split 70% of my time between sleeping and being in the bathroom. The upside is that I get to watch more World Cup!

Today's first match was between Italy and Australia. At one point, it looked like there was going to be yet another case of a referee inserting himself too much into the game, with an unwarranted red card going against Italy. That seemed to be the only real error made by the ref.

So, thanks to a bad call, Italy had to play most of the second half a man down. They held off Australia, however, and at the last moment in stoppage time, they earned a penalty kick, which resulted in Italy winning the game at the last second. Very exciting!! At least in the end a single poor refereeing decision did not effect the ultimate outcome of the game (this time).

Way to go Portugal!!

When the Portugal vs. Netherlands game started, I was kind of pulling for the Netherlands. However, after seeing some almost classless play from the Dutch and some good hard nosed playing from the Portuguese players, my sympathies started to turn towards Portugal.

From a "human drama" perspective, this was certainly one of the more exciting matches I have seen, but I would really like to see less yellow cards. In a physical game like today's, you will get some, but they seem to come out for every little thing, and in today's match the referee seemed to be rather inconsistent. That has to be frustrating for the players...

Stupid Weather People!!

So I am attempting to watch Korea vs. France, and the stupid TV station switches from high def to regular, and then puts up some stupid tornado warning sidebar thing. Yes, I know, there is a tornado. I heard the damn sirens, now get back to the high def broadcast!!!

Stupid TV stations...

Update: Well, now the useless talking heads have decided that these tornados are "news". I really hate these stupid, self important dumbasses. Just put the weather news on a crawl, so the two people who actually give a crap can just read it off of there...

Stupid, stupid, STUPID TV people...

Damn Child predators

There were a pair of related articles on the BBC today. The first deals with the fact that the British are looking to copy "Megan's Law". Personally, while I do believe "Megan's Law" is a very good law, it really ought not be necessary in the first place. The fact of the matter is sexual predation of a child, besides being extremely disgusting, is also a crime with a very high rate of recidivism, and the people who perpetrate it should be put away forever to begin with, amen, and end of story.

The second article today was about a woman in England who has reasonable opinion on this subject. Specifically: "He should have had life and life should mean life". Amen to that. See, in her case, her three year old daughter was kidnapped and sexually assaulted by some scumbag who, if this was a sane world, would still be in prison from the time he assaulted a six year old. A crime for which he only got three years, though he actually served even less.

Adding insult, is the amazingly lenient sentence he is getting for his second offense:

Craig Sweeney, 24, who took the three-year-old from her home in Cardiff was last week sentenced to life but can seek parole after five years.

Life is a great start, I have no argument with that. However, the ability to seek parole after any amount of time, let alone a measly five years is just pathetic. I think the mother of the child says it best:

The mother of the victim, who cannot be named, said Sweeney's sentence, passed at Cardiff Crown Court, was a "pathetic insult" to her child and called for the law to be changed immediately.

She said: "Regardless of whether its a minor assault, or a major assault, there should be a minimum of 15 years."

Absolutely, and I would add that this sort of thing should be a life sentence without parole starting with the very first offense.

Go Korea!!

Alright, Korea, let's kick some pacifist French ass! All you have to do is show a little fortitude and backbone, and they will likely surrender... :)

Finally, a useful Firefox Extension

While perusing the Monkey Bites blog, I found this post about the Joga.com Companion. Now I can get all my World Cup scores and news in a handy little side bar in my browser. That is really nice for me, since I am at work when most of the games are played. I mean, let's face it, this is soccer. Periodically checking the scores in a browser isn't really that much different than actually watching the game... :)

Anyhow, I have finally found a firefox extension that is actually useful. So if you are one of the three or so soccer fans in the US, and you use Firefox, I would suggest checking it out.

(OK, OK, the Google Toolbar is indispensable, so I guess I should say that I have found a second extension that is actually useful. Most, though, just get in the way.)

We Finally Scored a Goal!!

The US finally scored a goal in World Cup! Well, not really. The US finally has a goal, but Italy had to score it for us. But we did actually manage to luck into a tie and score a point.

Oh, and while we are on the subject, I would like to thank Mexico and Portugal for both kicking Iran's asses!! If anyone needs to be sent home with no points, it is them...

OK, I know. I am one of only about way less than 1% of the American population who actually gives a shit about Soccer, so I will shut up now...

Update: The New York Times has a nice recap of the game.

Tyler Groth, Worlds Biggest Dumbass...

When I first saw the pictures of the punks who trashed Holy Hill, I thought the older one looked like one of those overly pampered turds that you just automatically want to beat some sense into. You know the ones. They are the ones who have grown up with their no one wanting to hurt their "self-esteem", resulting in monsters who can't handle rejection, think the whole world exists just to amuse them, and have no sense of the value of other people, their lives, or their property. Basically a "Columbine" sort of syndrome. Turns out this first impression of mine was right on.

The investigators then asked Groth, according to Washington County Sheriff Brian Rahn, "Do you feel sorry for what you did?"

"No," the sheriff quoted Groth as saying. "It was just something I did. I just wanted to have some fun."

Pretty typical of these kids who have grown up in a culture where they don't have to work to achieve praise, where there are no "losers", and where their self-esteem is coddled to the extreme.

But what is even worse then these turds and what they did, is the attitude of the judge in the case.

He [Judge Patrick Faragher] said the vandalism is a "very terrible thing" but comparable to "tagging" or graffiti, and "not an assault on the Catholic Church."

Bullcrap! What would they have to do for it to be an assault Catholic Church? Bomb the church? Shoot the pope?

The fact of the matter is that thousands of people use these grottoes for prayer and reflection, and these acts are extremely hostile towards them. If this type of thing was done to a Muslim or Jewish temple, you can almost bet that this would be considered a "hate crime". This should be no different. These guys are completely unrepentant, and are actually proud of what they have done. They don't need slaps on the wrist. They need several years in prison. Maybe someone in there can teach these two a bit about "respect".

Eddie Cheever is an Idiot...

Or at least, that seems to be the common consensus between Danica Patric and Marco Andretti...

ABC didn't have any good coverage of the Patrick vs. Cheever incident, but the Andretti vs. Cheever incident seemed to be a pretty clear cut case of stupidity...

On a related note, I am glad to see that the media has stopped fixating on Danica. Last year she got a lot more attention than she deserves, especially for someone who has never won a race. She is a pretty good driver, but there are others who certainly have done more to deserve the attention.

Now the medis seems to be fixating a bit on Marco. OTOH, that may be justified. He actually shows a lot of potential for true greatness. Only time will tell.

European Football Fans Still Living in the '50s...

I have never understood why certain people seem to be so in love with European countries. They seem to think we should emulate their crappy health care systems, and many of their other economically crippling socialist policies. I could go on and on about how many of the European countries have used illogical (and stupid) policies to attempt to solve very real problems. However, this post isn't about that. It appears that when it comes to racial issues, European countries may talk a good game, but in reality, they are basically still living in the 1950's.

Players and antiracism experts said they expected offensive behavior during the tournament, including monkey-like chanting; derisive singing; the hanging of banners that reflect neofascist and racist beliefs; and perhaps the tossing of bananas or banana peels, all familiar occurrences during matches in Spain, Italy, eastern Germany and eastern Europe.

I, thankfully, cannot remember racism like that in any American sports during my lifetime. Hank Aaron had to endure some stupid crap when he was chasing Babe Ruth's record, but that is really the last time I recall any real racism in sports here. Maybe if some black NASCAR driver was threatening to take the cup, we would see bullshit like this, but even that is a big maybe. Even the NASCAR fan base has changed a lot over the last 20 years or so.

While we are on the subject, I would like to call "bullshit" on Bono. Yeah, U2 is one of my all time favorite bands, and Soccer is my third favorite sport (right behind baseball and auto racing), but I am really getting sick of hearing the World Cup commercials with Bono talking about how a little ball can stop wars, bring people together, and otherwise solve all of the world's problems. Evidently, he never read this article...