Last time...........

This is the last time I am going to comment on the whole Favre saga until it is over, but a new story has leaked that makes this even more absurd.

Now the Packers are offering Favre $20 million to stay retired. What? So they would rather spend $20 than either have him compete as a starter or release him and see him as a Viking. This is stupid.

This no longer has anything to do with anything except that Ted Thompson can't admit he has changed his mind and swallow his pride. Yes Favre screwed over the Packers by retiring and un-retiring twice, but when he retired after the season every newspaper gave 4-1 odds that he would come back, so we all knew this was happening. Favre is still saying all he wants to do is play, and the Packers are his first choice but if he has to he will play elsewhere. Any sports team wants to put the best team out there on the field, period. Bring Favre in to compete for the starter role and if Ted Thompson's boy, Aaron Rogers, is that good he will beat out Favre and get the job.

This however has nothing to do with Rogers and Favre. You can't tell me that if Tom Brady left the Patriots and said he wanted to play with the Packers, Ted Thompson would come out and say "No thanks, Aaron Rogers is our guy." Please , we would welcome him in with open arms and no one would care about Rogers. It's the same thing with Favre; if he is better than Rogers, he should play. If he is not then Rogers should play. But this cannot be solved over the phone.

The other argument is that Rogers is the future and he eventually needs to get in there for this team to move on, okay let's look at that. Isn't this exactly what we did with the Brewers this year. Trade away a large part of our future (Matt LaPorta) to put the best team possible on the field this year with Sabathia. It literally is the same thing. If Favre is the best bring him in, the rookie we drafted, Brohm probably has more of a chance of being our QB of the future anyway.

I bet now that Brohm gets more snaps this year that twinkle toes Rogers who has hurt himself in both NFL games he ever played in.

C.R.E.A.M.

For those of you left walking to work or now having to pay for each carry-on piece of luggage, rest easy to know that gasoline companies are still making money hand over fist. Exxon had their largest profit ever last quarter. WTF? We have homeless all over the country and millions living below the poverty line, but this company made $11.68 billion dollars PROFIT in 3 months. That makes me sick. They made a profit of $1,485.55 a second. Come on. I know profit motive is what makes the economy go around, and yes I do love freedom, but is this much profit necessary at the cost of so many.

Here is a clip from a documentary called "The Corporation" that takes a very interesting and negative look at corporations in America.



To lighten the mood here is a clip of Stephen Colbert playing along side Crosby, Stills, and Nash from his show last night.

What's going on?

I'm sitting here trying to watch the Brewers game, and man do they look horrible. And by they I mean their offense. They are 0 for 14 with men in scoring position in this series. If they are even 50% they have won one if not two of these games. In tonights game Manny Parra is the only one doing anything at the plate with a double and a triple, and now he is out of the game. In multiple innings they had a lead off double or triple and yet still they got nothing. They need to right this train quickly to salvage anything. After today's game they might once again be tied with the Cardinals for 2nd place and the Wild Card, and after tomorrow they could be worse than the Cardinals. With the Mets, Phillies, and Marlins all playing well (plus rumors that the Marlins are interested in Manny Ramirez) the Wild Card might not come from the Central anymore like it has been assumed. The Brewers might have to win the division to get into the playoffs because the loser of the Mets, Phillies, and Marlins might get the Wild Card.

Yes I know the Cubs are good, but they are not that good that they should be sticking it to us like this so badly. No excuse.

The next 7 games are going to be clutch for this team.

Bush vs. Batman

Here is an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal that is actually comparing George W. Bush to Batman.

What? I have yet to see Bush propel down a building, use goofy gadgets, or punch out a bad guy. I think this analogy is a bit of a stretch. Bush terrorized the whole world and is responsible for millions of lives, Batman restricted his terror to Gotham.

Managing for Dummies

Why on god's green earth did our loved "manager" leave Suppan in the game after giving up 3 runs, and by the end of the inning he gave up 7 runs? McClung and Villeneuva had not been in a game for over a week and with Sabathia and Sheets pitching the next 2 games, we don't need to rely on the bullpen until Wednesday. This was a game we needed to win, and I put the loss solely on Yost for keeping Suppan in the game. This time even the announcers of the game were questioning a Yost decision. During this melt down the showed Yost in the dug out. And what was he doing? Literally nothing. Just sitting there. Come on, do something. Go talk to your guy, get the bullpen warmed up, punch the wall, something.

Idiot.

Here is an article from the paper about the Brewers relying on home runs to win games. I have been saying all year that this is going to be a problem. It won't last. I can't remember the last team that won the World Series based on home runs. Most teams manufacture runs like Red Sox, Cardinals, and Marlins did the past 4 years. Yost does have a great comment when asked about this:
"Have you ever seen anybody try to turn a pig into a horse?" said Yost. "It is what it is.
What? That makes NO sense. I would love to see Yost raise kids. Little Timmy punched Martha in class today. It is what it is.

Idiot.

Do yourself a favor...

Do yourself a favor and watch the Season Premiere of Mad Men this evening on AMC. I never watched season 1, but due to a bunch of marathons of season 1 recently, I have seen about half. THe show is really good. It is very similar to Sopranos without the violence and nudity. I know a lot of you are asking why I would watch anything without nudity or violence, but this show is good. It is about a 1960 advertising firm, but much like Sopranos, it is really about all the lives of people that work there. One of them is having an affair with a secretary, one of them has a wife who is having an affair, one of the characters is a 27 year old hot shot who thinks he is the best and the main boss loves knocking him around. Because it is the 1960 there is a lot of condescending to women. All the guy characters make remarks to their female co-workers and tell them to dress differently and what not. It is worth your one hour on Sunday nights.
"I feel like I have lived the last 20 years as if I am on shore-leave."
"Yeah, its called living."



Here is a link to a 12 minute recap of season 1.

Open Your Eyes

I decided to sit outside today and read the paper and catch up on the world. It was so nice outside I decided to read the editorials and the letters sent in by readers in the "You Opinion" section of the paper. Then I can across this editorial by a reader entitled "Most Americans don't have it so bad." (Scroll down to bottom)

This guy must be completed oblivious or 100% nieve. Look around.

• He says he sees all these luxury vehicles on the road. Look at the neighborhood you are in, go into the city and it is a different story. Also, these people didn't just buy these vehicles, they have had them for a while. Once the economy falls apart everyone does go and and sell their cars and buy new, cheaper ones.
• He says "look at all the people who own second or vacation homes?" What? I don't know anyone who owns a second home. Their are millions of people across the country who do not have one home. In many inner-cities 8-10 people live in one home. Just because extremely rich people can still afford 2 homes, does not mean the economy is doing well.
• He says most home still have tvs, i-pods, computers, and luxury items. Again, people bought these before the economy took a dump, not everyone will go out and sell them.
• He says high-end luxury homes and condos are being built. Pick up any newspaper and you will read that no one is buying these, and the housing market is the worst it has been in years. I saw something on TV about some realtors are giving away cars when you buy a house to try and help the housing market.
• He also says that restaurants and grocery stores are still packed. Really? You mean people still need to eat? Wow!

This guy is an idiot. Just because him and all his rich friends out in the suburbs don't face the negatives of the troubled economy, it does not mean that people everywhere are doing fine. Take your head out of your a** and look at the world around you.

I'm guessing this guy thinks George W. Bush was the greatest president ever.

Celebrities speak up

For those of you who missed Wednesday night's Colbert Report (busy crying) there was an interesting piece of the joke of a news network, Fox News.


Fox News Racist? Here's another college of clips:


I am not a fan of Fox News, I may not hate them as much as this guy, but none the less, it is a joke of a network. I agree with what point Nas and Color of Change is trying to do. However, I am not a fan of celebrities that try to extend their reach to social and political issues, especially ones outside their reach. If Nas really wants to fight this battle, he has to watch his every move and understand that everything he does, especially anything that has to do with race, will be under the microscope and open to the public to analyze. So he does need to address his past growing up in Brooklyn and he does need to defend his lyrics. I do understand that his lyrics are just that, lyrics, and not all of his lyrics are vulgar. I also think he is being a hypocrite by saying that Fox News is racist (which they are) and then he goes around and wants to name his new album the N-word . You can't have it both ways if you really want to fight this battle.

Also did they actually think just bringing all these signatures to Fox News would change them. The next day they would just apologize and change everything that they stand for. Come on. Their hatred runs deeper than that.

Nas ended the show with this performance of a new song bashing Fox News. It's lyrics are actually pretty good and make a good point against Fox News.

Update: For some reason Comedy Central took down the Interview with Nas and his performance of the song off. Interesting....
Here is the song on Youtube:


Also, any one interested in supporting Color of Change can buy their t-shirt here.

Great Eye

The Brewers won again last night, but this is not a Brewers victory post again. (They should have been able to score more than 3, I think they left 10+ on base). This is a post about the best player in the league, Albert Pujols. Yes, he was 0-4 last night with a strikeout, but he is the best overall player in the league, this year, I'd argue the best in the past 5 years, with the only one close being A-Rod.

Pujols struck out last night, making a grand total of 31 on the year. 31? For an everyday player who doesn't get very many good pitches per at bat to hit. To put that in perspective, Ryan Howard has 133 strikeouts (he had 199 last year), Carlos Delgado has 79,Derrick Lee has 69, Lance Berkman has 65, and even the mighty A-rod has 62. For his career Pujols has a strikeout every 2.5 games, compare that to someone like Geoff Jenkins who averaged 2.5 strikeouts per game. A-rod has struck out once every 1.2 games and Ryan Howard has a strikeout once every .8 games throughout their career.

Watching the game last night you get worried every time that Pujols comes up to bat, it doesn't matter the score or the situation. He can hit a home run at any time, but he doesn't try to hit a home run usually. He kills you by hitting base hits and starting rallies. He should win the NL MVP again this year, he is the only reason the Cardinals are even doing anything. Please if Chase Utley wins the award I will throw up. That guy had 2 great months, but has really come back down to earth, and the Phillies have more good players than the Cards.

He won the MVP once, but I argue he should have won it the year before when he finished 2nd to Barry Bonds. Pujols finished higher than Bonds in every statistic except homeruns, Bonds stats were higher the year before, and Bonds was juiced. The Cardinals also had a better ecord and made the World Series. Pujols should have also won in two years later when he was 2nd to Ryan Howard. Again he finished higher in every category except home runs, and the Cardinals won the World Series.

Also in a day and age when most sports celebrities are a**-holes, Pujols breaks the mold. He donates much time and money to local St. Louis charities, and wants no attention about it. His step-son has downs syndrome and he spends most of the off season raising awareness and money towards this. He also scored a 100% on his citizenship test, so he's no idiot. I think the average American would score about a 55% on this.

Editors side note: I guarantee if Yost had not been ejected he would have had CC throw at Pujols in the 9th inning after Fielder was hit for the second time in the 8th. Thank god he was ejected so he was unable to Yost himself.

End is near

The end of civilized society is coming closer and closer by the day. I have blogged in the past about manners on the phone, and texting. Now there is another reason to inappropriately use your phone and never actually have to talk to anyone. Now I read this little article about a company that allows its users to never talk to anyone. Are you kidding me?

Now we don't even have to talk to anyone every again, we can just exchange a series of voice mail messages. Sad. Why do you even have a cell phone that you pay for, some people pay over $100 to have a phone that they never actually call on? This makes me die a little on the inside. Someday no one will ever call anyone, we'll just send a series of signals to each other while living inside our own individual bubbles, never interacting with anyone else.

I actual have a coward of a friend who when he calls you he never leaves a message. He says that the phone will list him as a missed call, so what's the point of leaving a message? How about to be a man and interact with another human being?


Update: I tried it and the phone rang, so I don't know if it really works, or what happened. Don't really care though either.

One

One is the only number, especially when you are the Cubs and only a week ago you had a six game lead, and now it is down to one game. The Brewers are doing everything they need to do, often relying on a little bit of luck (last night) and the Cubs can't score any runs to save their lives.

Getting the first 2 from the Cardinals is huge, and now we got Sheets and Sabathia pitching, let's take the next 2 and get into first place.

This is the most exciting time it has been to watch the Brewers since 1982, and I was only 2 years old, so the only thing I remember about those games is my dad yelling at the TV.

The Brewers need to keep riding this hot streak and finish strong against the Cubs next week. I'm hoping the return of Soriano doesn't provide a spark for the Cubs.

Editor's note: I find it funny that 2 months ago everyone in this town (especially Sports Writers) were asking to get rid of Hall because Branyan was their new savior. Now Hall has won 2 games in a row for us, and Yost hinted that the platoon at 3rd may be over. I have always been a Hall fan, and I knew the Branyan train would turn back into his old ways of strikeout king.

Indiana Jones and the Locker Bones

There was this quick story today on the local news about an odd discovery made at a local school that is undergoing construction.

"Milwaukee police and investigators with the Milwaukee County medical examiner's office were called to the French Immersion School at 2360 N. 52nd St. in Milwaukee this afternoon after a worker removing asbestos from the building found a box that he thought might contain human remains, said Milwaukee police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz.

An investigator with the medical examiner's office could not immediately determine whether the items inside the box were human remains, animal remains or some other type of object, Schwartz said.

Further tests will be conducted at the medical examiner's office, Schwartz said."

This is a very odd story indeed. That building is quite old, so it must have been put in the wall at some point when the building was being constructed.

Update: It nows seems that the bones are not human:

The Milwaukee County medical examiner's office has determined that the object found at the French Immersion School yesterday is not human remains.

"Do we know what it is? No, we don't. It could be anything. It's just not human," an investigator at the office said this morning.

Why would anyone go through all that trouble to hide bones that are not human? Plus I can think of plenty of better ways to get rid of bones than hiding them in the wall, but due to my pending court case I cannot discuss these.

Cat fight!

You may or may not have seen this footage of two chicks getting into an argument at the race track.



Women are competing in professional sports nowadays? What next, they're going to get the right to vote? What kind of Bizarro world are we living in. If this was two guys arguing it would have ended with a punch to the face or one of them sleeping with the other guy's wife. Much simpler that way.

P.S. I know some of you will argue that racing is not a sport, it's something people watch while sitting on the porch drinking a tall boy and polishing their shotgun. I know, you're preaching to the choir.

Reason to live

Clicking around on the Internets I ran into this trailer for a movie that is coming out in 2009. It is by the same people who did 300 and is based of a hugly popular graphic novel. I have heard the comic, which became the first graphic novel is amazing and I hope they do with the movie, because this could be swicked.



"The world will look up and shout: "Save us." I'll whisper "No."
This movie gives me reason to live until next March.

Random Rantings

Just some random rantings from an average Sunday:

• Before the Brewers game was on I was flipping through the channels and obviously nothing was on. I stopped at Batman Forever (the Val Kilmer one) for a quick minute since it was the best thing on. My god, is that movie horrible. Horrible villains, usually good actors (Tommy Lee Jones) acting horribly, a stupid Robin character, horrible look action sequences. Horrible. I hope Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale make Batman movies for the next 20 years, otherwise I fear they will once again turn into this crap. It also makes me wonder who will be the new villain in the next movie. Riddler? Penguin? Someone new?
• Manny Parra can really pitch. That curve ball is un-hittable at times. Rookie of the Year?
• The pre- and post-game of the Brewers features Jeff Cirrilo, except that they all call him Rillo. Stop that. That is the worst nickname I have every heard, it sounds forced. He also has a piece that they call Rillo's Rant in which he gives the keys of the game. He's not even angry when he does this, what is the point of ranting if it is not angry?
• Ray Durham is a good trade. I don't know much about the guys they gave up. Hopefully Durham starts at 2nd and Weeks comes off the bench, not vice versa. We still need a relief pitcher. During most games our bats are not preventing us from winning, our relief pitching is. Our starters can't keep going 8 innings.
• The next 2 weeks are incredibly important to the Brewers. 4 games against Cardinals and Cubs. When it is all over Brewers could be anywhere from in 1st place, or as much as 8 games out. Crucial.
  
• Suppan starts on Tuesday, he needs to find himself. If he pitches how he can pitch, we have the best 1-2-3-4 rotation in majors.
  
• Was sitting around reading and listening to Snoop Dogg "Doggystyle" and I think it is the quinessential rap album. Made all this other rap possible. Every song, every lyric is well executed. He raps about bitches ("Any dog that doesn't pee on trees is a bitch" classic), hoes, drugs, guns, money, everything. I think once I form my super group "Dr. Schtickel and the Anti-dentites" our first album is going to be a word for word cover of Doggystyle. It will feature all genres of music; bluegrass, acoustic, punk, ska, 80s dance, everything).
• I am going to bring back the word "Swicked." Snoop drops it a bunch on the album, and it is a great word that needs to be popular again.

Premiere Night (UPDATE)

It's premiere night here at the Chopper household. Myself and a few of my minions are going to see Dark Knight this evening. I am going to bring my laptop along and live blog the movie for all of you in the blog-o-sphere who are unable to go. The movie was not marketed very much so you do not probably know much about it, but it is going to be good.

UPDATE: It turns out that they would not allow me to bring in my laptop to live blog the movie. Even after yelling "Do you know who I am?" multiple times, they still would not allow me in with the laptop. Oh well, I was still able to record the movie from 12 perfectly placed cameras and got the bootleg DVD out on the streets my 11 PM.

Needless to say the movie is awesome, better than Batman Begins. Health Ledger is unbelievable as Joker, and everyone is quite good in their roles. Christian Bale is once a gain great as an internally torn Bruce Wayne, Gary Oldman is a great Commissioner Gordon, and Aaron Eckhart is great as a torn and fearless Harvey Dent. Dent is trying for the same justice Batman is but is not able to hide behind a mask.

No review can do it justice, just go see it you cheap bastard.
Here are two deleted scenes.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

See more Aziz videos at Funny or Die

Edge of your seat ending.

Yesterday on Sports Center there daily online question was whether the All Star was an Instant Classic or Boring, and showing that the rules should be changed. Now since I have nothing else to do this summer I actually watched the whole thing, even after 1 am. My personal opinion is that after the 11th something should have been changed about the outcome, it became embarrassing. Both managers had a pitcher that they were not supposed to use but eventually had to, and the reserve players (the all star "scrubs") played 9 or 10 innings (twice as long as the real all stars). After 15 innings and a couple closers pitching 3 innings, home field advantage in the World Series was given to the AL. I hope that comes to be important come October so smug Bud Selig realizes how stupid this is. Home field to determine the champion of the sport should not be determined in the 15th inning of a 5 hour game in which closers and players from teams that suck (Rockies, Padres, Orioles, Royals to name a few) are the ones affecting the outcome. When players from the teams who will be playing in October (Red Sox, Brewers, Cubs, Phillies, Angels) are all on the bench. I mean Sheets, Zambrano, and Cliff Lee were pitching their best stuff but were only allowed to pitch 2 innings so all the scrubs could get a chance. If the outcome really mattered Sheets and Lee would have pitched into the 7th or 8th.

Here are my proposals:

• Home field is determined by overall inter-league record, that way every team and every player is affecting who gets home field.
  
• In the All Star game, if it goes into the 9th inning, players can come back into the game once every player has played at least an inning.
• For pitchers 4 starters and 3 closers are chosen as active players for the game (that way they don't have 12 pitchers to try to get into the game) and one extra starter and closer are chosen that will only pitch if it goes to extra innings.
• After the 12th inning, it goes into something different, like a home run derby or a three-legged race. The game is for the fans, and I bet very few were watching after the 11th. The last 2 1/2 hours were pretty boring. There was one inning in which Cook pitched out of a bases loaded 0 outs jam and Martin had a couple great plays at home plate, but that was it. If the outcome doesn't matter (like it shouldn't) lets just entertain the fans at that point.
  

As a side note shame on Yankees fans for harassing Pappelbon's wife because he was misquoted in the paper. We get it you hate the Red Sox. Sports rivalries are fun to a point, then they are mean. I thought it was funny when you cheered when Manny Ramirez struck out, even though he was on your team. But harassing an innocent lady, that's low.

Lame Duck

"President" Bush has officially given up what people think about what he says. At last week's G-8 Summit in Japan about the state of the environment, Bush made fun of the fact that America is horrible to the environment. The sad thing is that we are the world's worst polluters. Here is Stephen Colbert doing a humorous take on the how Bush will approach his last 180 days in office.

Open your eyes people!

How many times do I have to warn the general public of bears? I have warned you all now once, twice, and three times. Yet still these god-less killing machines wander the streets getting closer to taking over day by day. Now this, footage of a bear breaking into a Circuit City, my guess to get electronic equipment for some kind of weapon.

In summary:

• Bears have starting coming more and more into the city, stealing food and items from people's garages.
• A famous bear from movies has killed.
• Now a bear has broken into a circuit city.

If you need more proof, you're an idiot. I'm am currently doing some research and my thesis is that bears, and the bear lobbyists in DC, were the ones behind the funding of the Planet of the Apes movies. Their goal is to get people more focused on apes taking over the Earth, when really bears are the real danger.

Prove me wrong.

Bluff calling 101

Now we have this article that Favre is just going to show up to minicamp and call the Packers' "bluff." We'll see if this strategy works, it seems oddly familiar to the strategy taken by George Costanza on Seinfeld when he quits his job and then regrets it and decides to just show up for work on Monday.



At this point I am wondering if the Packers are the real bad guy. Favre just wants to play football (his first choice would be the Packers he has said), and the Packers have said they are not interested, but won't let him play for someone else. It's like you quit your job, then want to come back, but they also won't let you go work anywhere else either. I was always taught you can't have your cake and eat it too.

Crossed the line

By now you may have heard about that little New Yorker cover that has Obama and many of his supporters up in arms. If you have not seen it, click here. I have never read the New Yorker since I am not a socialite. However, I think no matter who you are this cover is quite offensive. If I were Obama I would be quite upset too. It depicts me and my wife as Muslims, murders, and flag-burning America-haters. Come on, this is a bit far. The New Yorker claims it "is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create." Whatever that means. I think it has gone way too far, can't wait to see what the rest of election season brings since it is only July.

Hey ma, look at me

After going to the baseball game yesterday and watching it today on the television set, I know how stupid people will act to get their face on tv for like 2 seconds. Yesterday at the game they were talking to some women as the fan of the game and had her on the scoreboard then this dude was jumping in front of her so he could get on the scoreboard too for 2 seconds. In between every inning they scan the crowd showing idiots just acting nuts and doing whatever they can to get shown on camera for 2 seconds. Then today during the game they continually scanned the crowd with more people acting stupid and holding up signs begging to be put on camera. Throughout the game a family directly behind home plate were constantly on the cell phones and waving. "Hey aunt Cheryl, look we on tv, that's me waving my hand and not paying attention the game."

I suggest if you want to be on tv, do it the old fashion way..... through some kind of hostage situation or crime spree.

The morning after....

I decided to have an updated posting on the whole Favre situation after I had a little time to reflect on the postings from avid readers Snow.man (wow, that guy needs his own blog) and edgrimley.

• It is sad that we are talking football in the middle of a baseball season.
• It turns out this whole thing is my wife's fault, and I "talked" to her last night about it.
• Again I repeat that Rogers is not the answer, but neither is Favre.
• I am NOT "siding" against Favre. My solution is to keep Favre but start him as the backup.
  
• The Packers do not need that distraction, we have to move on at some point, why not now.
• This whole situation is Ted Thompson's fault, and he is still "On Notice."
• If the Packers do have to release Favre, that does free up a lot of money and next year they can make a run at an elite QB. You would think any QB would kill at the chance to be the next QB of the Packers after Favre.
• Jordan did tarnish his legacy when he came back with the Wizards. That team was god-awful. His career scoring average went down, his career shooting percentage went down, and his career win percentage went down.
• Look at Reggie White when he came back with the Panthers, ruined his legacy.
• I would welcom Favre back in a second, but this is a messy divorce. It would be like watching your wife sleep with your pool boy and your gardener and have your take all your money, and then let her back into her life. Oh wait.....

Mommy, where's daddy?

It looks the greatest divorce in Wisconsin history is going to take place shortly. Brett Favre has reportedly asked the Packers to release him so he can play again next year on some team because the Packers are showing no interest in his services.



I think Favre is about 6 years past his prime, and his success last year was a fluke. The Packers are probably better without him, not that Rogers is the answer. They are better with a quarterback who will allow them to run more and throw short passes, and not interceptions. I know he is already on a team, but the Packers need someone like David Garrard. He doesn't wow you but he is efficient and doesn't throw picks.

I however do think that both parties will regret this divorce. It is a public relations nightmare for the Packers. Favre's image will be forever tarnished in the history books. He can't go to any indoor team because he sucks on turf. He will probably end up playing for a bad team because all the good teams already have a QB. He will not win many games, will have a lot of interceptions and will probably get hurt.

What I think he should do if he really misses the game is come back as a backup for the Packers and a consultant. He can help Rogers and their rookie QB, and then come in if they all suck or a miracle comeback is needed in a game.

Mic check 1,2, 1,2 hit it.....

So by now I am sure all you regulars of the blog-o-sphere have seen this video of Jesse Jackson commenting on Barack Obama.


What I find sad is Jesse Jackson's response to it and his attempt at excusing his words. In that second half of that video Jesse Jackson makes no logical sense at all. He is one of the many national figures who are professionals at talking a lot and saying nothing. He then goes on to say that he did not know that the mic was on when he said that. So that makes it okay to say whatever you want about someone, as long as the microphone is not on? I don't think he ever officially apoligizes, just says that is was a "private conversation" that was picked up by the mic.

Here's our fearless leader making the same mistake of not knowing that his mic was on.


A local council member is new to this whole microphone technology thing:


Safe to assume this guy is looking for a new job:


CNN needs a new sound guy, they don't realize that some reporter's mic is on for 90 seconds while they are airing a live speech from our fearless leader.


Another nice young lady currently looking for a new job:


Here's papa bear trying to use the old turn off the mic trick in his favor while he loses his cool:


To stay safe I assume my microphone is always on and watch what I say always. Here's a little story from Fox News that I think is a bit of a stretch but......

Pricing 101

How is this legal?


Is it legal for those gas stations to have a higher price without advertising that price? I thought it was 100% illegal for any company to advertise one price and then charge another price, for whatever reason. If they displayed both prices, I know it is legal to charge differently for using a credit card, but this video looks as if there is no displayed price difference, how then is this legal.

Too bad I don't know any competent lawyers.

Days off

With my day off today I decided to go see the movie Hancock. All the reviews said it was not that great. They said it was darker than they expected and the story began to unravel half way through and didn't make sense. After seeing it I can say smart people get it.

The whole movie is not about Will Smith's superhero character sobering up and becoming a better hero, that is only a small portion of it.

The first 30 minutes are of Hancock (Will Smith) an out-of-control drunk trying to do good. In one scene he tries to save a car from being hit by a train and causes a lot of damage,even though he does save the car. The witnesses are listing everything he did wrong and how he could have done them better, then the best line of the movie comes out:

Old lady: "And he smells like alcohol."
Hancock: "That's because I've been drinking, bitch."

Then the next 30 minutes are of him working with Jason Bateman and becoming sober and a better hero. The last 40 minutes are when I think the critics got lost (smart people still get it). After being loved by all Hancock wonders why he is doomed to be alone and wonders if being a mortal would be better, he also wonders about his origins since he cannot remember them. It all culminates with one last twist and has a decent ending.

As someone who has to deal with his own super powers on a daily basis I enjoyed it. As someone who enjoys watch a drunk stumble around swearing at children, I also enjoyed it. And Will Smith is once again a good actor in a movie he is in.

This is not a sports story.

Now here is a sports story. I am a little skeptical of the trade, everyone I have heard from says LaPorta is our best minor leaguer and was either going to be Fielder's replacement or left field once Hart moves to center next year. I am not a fan of trading for someone who will get 12 starts the rest of the season and then walk away and be signed by the Yankees or Mets. But after watching various sports debate shows I am a little more of a fan of it all.

The positives: its managements way of saying to the players and the fans that they want to win and are willing to spend money to win. Now there is more pressure on management to sign the likes of Hardy, Hart, and Fielder this off season because there is less talent in the minors. The Brewers will get 2 picks at the end of the 1st round when Sabathia walks (and 2 for Sheets). I guess Sabathia is a powerful dug house guy and can be a positive influence on the young pitchers. Sabathia can challenge Fielder in an eating contest. And finally, the Brewers do have a shot at this; they are tied for the Wild Card and 3 1/2 back from the division.

Now here is NOT a sports story. Who cares about A-rod divorcing his wife. All over the Internets are stories of A-rod going with Madonna and his wife going with Lenny Kravitz. Then reports of them getting divorced, and now reports of Madonna getting a divorce, then she isn't, then she is. Who cares. In now way is this a sports story and should not be on ESPN.

This story is also NOT a sports story. Any one who watched Sports Center on Sunday saw them replaying over and over again about the Bradley student who was killed when a fireworks prank went bad and how they rallied and won some soccer games in honor of him. How is this a sports story? Its a tragic story of real life consequences of some students acting stupid. Its just as tragic if the kid was not on the soccer team or if they hadn't won a bunch of games in honor of him. Why is it that sports center is making the world care about such a story because it does involve sports, shouldn't we care about stories like this even if he hadn't played sports? Maybe we should get homeless people to start playing sports then people will start caring about the homeless and unemployment rate in this country.

Forgetting our differences

Every so often rivals come together for the greater good. Last night rival bloggers chopper and edgrimley came together and forgot their differences to enjoy the sweat, methodical sounds of 311. The concert was good; they played the songs you wanted to hear, really only playing 2 of the "new" songs.

Heres one of the best songs they did play:


And here is one of the best songs they did not play:


In the crazy, chaotic, negative, and often f**ked-up world we live in, it is nice to know that there are still bands out there staying positive and spreading positive flows. The name of their tour is "Stay Positive and Love Your Life Tour." I think that is pretty cool, and all their lyrics are positive and showing you that all we need is a positive outlook in life, and anything is possible.

Some perspective

Finally a professional athlete with some perspective:

Gilbert Arenas signed a new contract in the NBA to stay with the same team, and he actually signed for less than they even offered him.

"'What can I do for my family with $127 million that I can’t

do with $111 million?' he told The Washington Post."

Don't get me wrong, the NBA is still dead to me and $111 million is still an obscene amount of money to pay any athlete, but it is interesting to see someone on the receiving end of all that money know how obscene that amount of money is. I don't think this will start a trend, but it would be nice if it did.

Sad moments in human history......

Somebody has been reading too many books and thought they had a good idea....

A local-Milwaukee idiot thought he had a great idea, fake like you are having a heart attack every time you have to pay a bill. So he faked a heart attack to not pay the cab driver, then faked a heart attack to get out of a bill at a restaurant. Didn't this guy realize that someone might call 911 if a customer is having a heart attack. Did he actually think they would be like "oh, you're having a heart attack, don't worry about the bill..... have a great night."

Two sad parts of the story are

1. He has done this in the past and has a restraining order from Famous Dave's and George Webb. (Even I don't have a restraining order from a restaurant.)
   
2. They found $350 at his house, but he told police he didn't bring it along because he "didn't plan on needing it." I'm not a lawyer, but they sounds like a premeditated crime. Sad.
   

This whole thing is very similar to a book (soon to be movie) called Choke by Chuck Palahniuk. It is probably his best book after Fight Club. Its about a guy who is bored with his life so he goes to restaurants and fakes that he is choking until another customer comes over and helps him. He then through reverse psychology convinces these same "heroes" to send him money at a later time.

The real irony will be when the man does actually die of a heart attack.

Happy 4th

Have a Happy 4th Ladies in the Blog-o-sphere. Be sure to enjoy a cocktail or 12 and light some illegal fireworks.






I have no idea what that 'when in rome' comment even means.

Update: Here's how you DO NOT want to celebrate the 4th. It even made national news. Celbrate freedom by sitting outside barbecuing and having a few cold ones, and then light some fireworks, don't start to fire into a crowd at a house party.

Random Rantings.........

Having the day off today I ran into a few things that got various levels of anger flowing in me....

• It must be a slow news day because I just saw a preview for the 10 o'clock news and there is going to be a story on Oprah's niece. The tagline is "Wonder what it would be like to have Oprah as your aunt, watch our exclusive interview on a local woman who knows what its like." Who gives a s**t. Shouldn't the news educate the ignorant out there about the upcoming election, the economy being in a recession, or our pending war in Iran. Something important, not about some fluffy piece for all the soccer moms out there. I can see why this interview is "exclusive," no one else would want to report on this subject. Next week they talk to Ellen's dog-walker.
• How the f**k did the Brewers lose that game. I was watching every pitch and I still don't believe the Diamondbacks got 6 runs in the 9 with 0 outs. The only reason they are in 1st is that they are in a terrible division and because of their pitching. Their batting average on the team are terrible, actually worse than the Brewers. There 6,7, and 7 hitters in the lineup today had a batting average below .200. Inexcusable. Since the Cubs are playing bad, the Brewers actually have a chance to take the division, but they must win these types of games. After todays loss, it proves that they are still posers in the race for the postseason. Something has to change. (hmmmmm maybe the manager?)
• I for one don't care about all this new Favre talk. The Packers will not finish 13-3 again this year no matter who is QB, Favre is well past his prime, their offense is better when they run and do short passes, and the NFC is winnable but they need as few distractions (and interceptions) as possible. I am and always will be a Favre fan, and he is probably the greatest ever, but it is time to stay away. I do not think Rogers is the long-term answer however, but you'll never know if you don't try.
• I just saw a preview for what NBC is going to be playing tomorrow on TV....... Olympic swimming time trials. WTF? That's the best you got? Nothing says freedom like some people swimming against their own best times (not even against competition). They have nothing better to show. Show some old dude on his porch shining his gun talking about the 'good old days' for 8 hours, that would be more American at least.

Thats it......for now.

Shame on you humans....

I was flipping through the channels tonight trying to find something on (guess what, there was nothing on) and saw a preview for ABC's night time news show called "The Outsiders." There are going to have a story on people/ psychopaths that adopt monkeys instead of having children of their own. (Be sure to watch the video) Guess what? Things don't turn out very well for everyone involved.

Here is a 3 minute clip from the episode in which a couple has a monkey and I think they have become detached from normal society.

They should have had an interview with the monkey who tells the story of how he was horrifically taken from his mother at a young age from some Americans who were in the forest hunting. How he spent the first 2 years of his live in a small cage in the dark basement of a boat. How he has spent the last 16 years with a psychopathic couple who are living out their failed dreams of starting a family by treating him like a baby for 16 years straight. How he has been carving a shank to kill his owners.

Despite my late night "hobbies" stories like this really make me feel normal.

Let's get some manners people

Yes I know I have one and use it regularly but if given the choice I would rid the world of all cell phones in a snap of the finger. Most people overuse them and have no social etiquette about how to use them (hint: don't use them in public). Also, most people, especially kids, don't remember the day when we didn't have cell phones and people had to make calls at home. (This was less than 12 years ago.)

Tonight I ran out to Target to get out of the house and was thinking about getting a movie to watch tonight. While there I saw a mom pushing her daughter (probably 3 or 4 years old) in a cart and the girl was pretending to be on the cell phone and having a conversation with someone. How low has it got that kids are now playing make believe on a cell phone. Are their imaginations that bad?

Then when I got to the movie aisle some girl (maybe 26ish) was talking on her phone about some guy drama. She was talking quite loud and was not even pretending to be shopping, why not take that conversation outside or to your home. She was talking about some guy who they all used to know that came back in town for summer and the first night back he met some girl and has been only hanging out with this new girl and none of his old friends. WHO CARES? Why are you having this conversation in a public place in a volume in which everyone can hear you. Then when I walked closer because I was actually trying to shop. she looked at me and then walked two steps away and kept doign this as various people walked closer to her. So sorry lady to actually come to a store for the reason that it is there, to shop. Sorry to invade in on your personal phone booth.

Wake me when it's here....

Very rarely does a young angry and emotionally repressed young man such as myself become excited but the movie Batman Dark Knight is causing such emotions in me. There are a gazillion trailers online about it and I think if you piece it together correctly you can actually watch the entire movie within all the trailers.



I hope this movie lives up to all the hype surrounding it. From what I have heard is that it is unbelievable and although Jack Nicklaus was a great Joker, Heath Ledger in unbelievable and may even get an Oscar nod. I also think the debate is over and Christian Bale is the best Batman yet. (sorry George Clooney)