McCain says a simple 'no' to raising taxes

Presidential hopeful previously stunned GOP by suggesting the opposite

*CNN Headline

He's a liar.  They all raise taxes.  They have to. 

Who is your favorite game show host of all time?

Bob Barker.  I always loved his skinny mircophone, the giant wheel, plinko, the cheesy games, the retarded-assed trailer park reject contestants, and Barker's bitches beauties.  What a pimp.

So, there was a shooting at a church here in town.  A horrible tragedy in one of the places that people are supposed to be safe.  It seems that violence is more horrific in places of (alleged) safety: schools, college campuses, and churches come to mind.  This one was pretty bad.

The thing is, Jenn was considering taking me to this particular church about a month ago.  We decided on another.  How easily could it be that we could have ended up at that church yesterday?  A simple decision to go somewhere else possibly saved our hides.  Weird.  Is this fate?  Divine intervention? Or something else?

I am not a churchgoer.  I am not even a believer.  But, these Unitarian churches are ok to me.  They welcome everyone: Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Atheist, Agnostic, black, white, straight, and gay.  To me, it's cool to see such a diverse population in an often elitist setting.  These churches don't preach, there is no book to adhere to, there is no doctrine.  There is no guilt involved.  It's like a one hour hippie commune every Sunday.  Pretty neat.  They accept everyone.

Yet, this scumbag that brought an armory to a place of harmony yesterday didn't like it.  Apparently, he was frustrated with all the "liberals" and how they are ruining society and his little world.  He showed them.  What a moron.  I hope his life is better now that he will be sleeping in a cell, hopefully with a rapist-in-waiting. 

I just hate to see shit like this.  This type of intolerance and bigotry and violence is far to prevalent in our society today.  What have we made of ourselves?  This segment of the human race disgusts me...I'm glad that the douchebags of this world are a minority, however.

I don't think I will go back to "church" for a while.

There is a natural disaster headed your way. You get 4 standard sized canvas grocery totes to fill with valuables and provisions to bring with you to a safe place. What would you put into your 4 bags and why?
Submitted by dejablu503.

Bag One: Cat food, dog food, water, a kitten

Bag Two: Cash, my laptop & hard drive, insurance papers, marriage cert., misc. financial papers

Bag Three: Jenn's jewelry, my autographed Gossage, Joe Torre, Tony Gwynn baseballs. A pair of shorts, three tshirts and some underpants

Bag Four: Food

Cell phone, wallet and car keys in pocket.  Guitar on my shoulder, dog on a leash.  We're good to go.

*The "why" part of this question?  It's because they are things I like and need to have around.

So, the sweetie and I went out to catch the opening weekend windfall that was the Batman opening.  I expected a full house and didn't get that.  Which is fine with me.  I did expect a good movie.  I did get that...thankfully.  I didn't expect an oscar-worthy performance from a now-deceased marginal actor.  I, surprisingly, did get that.

The movie was well above average.  Almost great.  Christian Bale did another admiral job in portraying the sometimes confusing Batmang.  I expected the same performace as the last Batman flick and he pretty much held up his end of the bargain.  The two-face character was pretty fun, too.

But, The Joker.  This isn't the Nicholson Joker I watched when I was still in high school.  No, he was way creepier and in no way cartoonish like ol' Jacks version.  I don't normally gush about acting performances.  But...holy fuck I want to.  Ledger was fantastic.  Scary, funny and evil all at the same time.  Kudos to him (RIP). 

Spend the bucks, see it on the big screen.  Don't wait for Netflix or even the cheap ass dollar theater to show it in a month or so.  Go.  Now.  You will not be disappointed.

Growing up, I was never a Tampa Bay Buc fan.  Even though I grew up in the TB area, my allegiances concerning football always kept leaning back toward south Florida.  As a Dolphins fan, I was all about Dan Marino, John Offerdahl, the Marks Brothers, and the plethora of shitty running backs that came and went.  I was, and still am, all about the 'fins. 

For the past ten years I have been questioning the organization.  I could really care less about the wins and losses (I've been a D-Ray fan for long enough that losses don't bother me).  Every team goes through slumps and highs and all that stuff.  Reflecting on the past dozen years of Dolphins off-season and draft related moves, I am beginning to see that maybe being a Buc fan wouldn't be all that bad.  I can count on one hand the quality personnel moves that Miami has made in recent years.  How many flame out, first round O-linemen have we gone through?  How many half-assed, loser running backs have we moved through the backfield?  How many mediocre, or downright shitty, quarterbacks have tried to fill Dan's shoes?  Too many to friggin' count.

Now, Bill Parcells, the "Big Tuna", has moved down to South Beach and is turning the Dolphins into....well, I don't know what.  They are a bad team.  But, Bill wants the team to be full of "his" guys, or "yes" men. 

So, now, Jason Taylor is gone to Redskin-land.  The face of the Dolphins and easily our most talented player, gone for draft picks.  I know it's all business and Taylor wanted to go and didn't like the direction Miami was going in, but none of this had to happen.  It just sucks. 

About seven or eight years ago I had the opportunity to meet Jason Taylor.  In our brief meeting, I found him to be gracious, polite, friendly, funny, and fucking huge.  I mean the guy is a giant.  I instantly liked him.  There seemed not even a faint halo of arrogance surrounding him.  This was a guy to build a franchise around.  The Dolphins did so, until Parcells came to town.  I hope that fucker knows what he's doing.

See ya, Jason.  Dolphin games won't be the same without you.  Well, yes the will.  The 'fins will still suck.

Show us the book you're reading right now.
Submitted by Strive2Be.

It's like crack...for your brain.  He's a great read for when you just want the print equivalent of a Jerry Bruckheimer film.

I decided I needed my lovely locks trimmed up so I look less hobo-ish.  I figure that the less I look like a homeless lumberjack the greater the chance that I get to keep my job.  So, anyway, since I am so snobbish about where I get my hairs cut I head on out to the GreatClips!  Yes, the exclamation point is in the shop's name.  If you want to know what a GreatClips! is, just imagine a dirty, run down, Supercuts....it's just like that, just not as nice.

Of course, I had to wait.  At least I got to read the fascinating article on Jack Johnson in the latest issue of Men's Journal and listen to muzak versions of Neil Diamond's best-of album.  I was very happy when called to the chair.

It figures that I would get the only honest-to-goodness hearing impaired stylist in the entire southeast.  Not that I care but the communication factor between stylist/victim is  absolutely necessary in the economic exchange that was to take place.  Communication in this instance would prove to be a serious hinderance.  Here's how our entire conversation went:

Me: Hi. 

Her:  Haircut?

Me:  Yes.  I'd like a #2 clipper on the back and sides and blend the rest up so it doesn't look retarded.

Her: Just a haircut?

Me:  Ummm...yeah.

Five Minutes Later

Me:  Can you make it a little shorter?

Her: Nodding wordlessly and grinning stupidly and NOT cutting shorter

That's it.  That was our entire exchange.  It was a miserable trip to the salon and now, due to the fact that it looks like I didn't even get a fucking haircut, I'll probably have to go back for ANOTHER haircut.  I know, next time I'll get the haircutter lady who is legally blind or the one that lost most of her fingers in a woodchipper accident. 

(On a sort-of-side note, when I returned home Jenn said that the left side of my hair was shorter than the right.  WTF?)