Jerry's Spare Change

Pregnant Women Beware of Utah

2010-02-26T10:29:00.000-08:00

Apparently, to those crazy conservatives in Utah Miscarriage = Criminal Homicide.

“If a woman has a miscarriage but didn't know that she was pregnant, she cannot be charged with criminal homicide. So while this law does not criminalize all miscarriages, anything that could be defined as "knowing" or "reckless" would leave a woman at risk for criminal prosecution.”

Worse still:

“Women in physically abusive relationships could be criminally liable for not leaving their partner, regardless of their ability to do so safely or securely. Women seeking lawful abortion may be guilty of criminal homicide if her physician failed to follow exact procedures set forth in the law.”

And from the ACLU:

“A woman who fails to wear a seatbelt and is in a car accident could be charged with reckless homicide, should she miscarry. Likewise, a woman who has a substance abuse problem is likely to forego necessary prenatal care out of fear that she could be prosecuted for "knowing" or "reckless" homicide by continuing to use illegal substances while pregnant.”

Yay for "Free" Market Monopolization

2010-02-23T11:19:00.000-08:00

Barry C. Lynn and Phillip Longman wrote a great article on Who Broke America’s Jobs Machine? over at Washington Monthly. Their argument is that market monopolization across all sectors (Food, Banking, Retailing, Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, etc.) over the last few decades has been the major factor in destroying job creation. They acknowledge the other traditional explanations that may curtail job creation such as machinization/automation, outsourcing, lack of government R&D, and business taxes and regulation. However, the real issue is monopolization.

I'm glad they pointed out that business taxes and regulation were gutted over the last decade, so perhaps with this umpteenth example, we can finally put and end to the notion that tax cuts solve everything. Obviously, elected Republicans and talking heads will never get this as they tend not to live in the reality-based community.

Corporate consolidation and monopolization is nothing more than schadenfreude.

Such is the case that Andrew Johnson made in his first state of the union address.

“Wherever monopoly attains a foothold, it is sure to be a source of danger, discord, and trouble. We shall but fulfill our duties as legislators by according "equal and exact justice to all men," special privileges to none.”

Denying Liberalism

2009-08-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

I really liked what They gave us a republic... had to say about Dems who don't or won't acknowledge that they are liberals.

“Democrats who support civil and human rights including gay marriage; reproductive freedom; fact- and reality-based education; separation of church and state; a social safety net; good jobs at good pay with good benefits; strong regulations to prevent corporations from stealing from, maiming and killing people; diplomacy and working with allies in foreign affairs; a rational drug policy; a defense budget that supports troops, not private contractors; public investment in public infrastructure, and the Rule of Law are liberals.”

Amen.

Cons love porn more than Liberals

2009-03-02T07:49:00.000-08:00

I just saw the posting Conservatives consume more porn at stelpavlou.com.

Yet, further proof that Conservatives are the biggest hypocrites when it comes to practicing what you preach. Strike another up for their traditional family values and conservative principles. Gay marriage is evil and sinful, yet they have higher divorce rates. Welfare is bad for people down on their luck, yet Conservatives states are welfare queens. And now this, rail against porn for its immorality, yet go buy more and more of it.

Dems Remain Better on the Economy

2009-01-26T13:42:00.000-08:00

John Perr posted Bush Latest GOPer to Show Democrats Better for the Economy at Crooks & Liars and his blog.

As should be self-evident by now, deregulation to the degree that Republicans consistenly promote doesn't actually help the overall economy. It only stuffs the pockets of the top 1%. The 2 major indexes of economic growth (GDP and Employment) do much better on average under Democratic administrations compared to Republican.

It is nice to see how much a failure Bush was overall (to help disprove Conservative economic philosphy, not the fact he harmed the American economy), by starting and ending on a recession and having the worst average drop in the S&P 500 since Hoover.

Its time to wake up and think like Truman.

“If you want to live like a Republican, vote Democratic!”

McSame's Mythical Earmark Estimate

2008-10-15T11:52:00.000-07:00

ginandtacos nails McSame/McBush on his made up earmark estimate by Searching for the Trillion-Dollar Earmark.

The really important point is that the entire earmark amount for FY2008 is less than fighting/occupying Iraq in 2 months.

John McCain: earmarks = $100 billion
Anti-tax hawks Citizens Against Government Waste: FY 2008 earmarks = $17.2 billion
Anti-tax hawks Taxpayers for Common Sense: FY 2008 earmarks = $18.3 billion
Iraq War in FY 2008: $12.9 billion per month

How Federal Dollars are Distributed

2008-05-18T15:59:00.000-07:00

GINANDTACOS.COM has an interesting article up about America’S Welfare Queens showing how some of the poorest and conservative states benefit from the tax policies they say they oppose. For example, Mississippi receives back $2.97 for every $1 it sends to Washington. If these people are so against tax and spend policies, why are they constantly reaping the benefits?

Read the article yourself.

A Look at the Bush Terrorism Timeline

2008-04-23T23:18:00.000-07:00

Over at Firedoglake, emptywheel provides Some Perspective on the Bush Administration Fight Against Terrorism.

December 2000: Richard Clarke develops policy paper entitled, "Strategy for Eliminating the Threat from the Jihadist Networks of al Qida: Status and Prospects." It calls for identifying and destroying known Al Qaeda camps and pressuring Pakistan to cooperate in the fight against Al Qaeda.

January 25, 2001: Clarke sends the "Strategy for Eliminating the Threat" document to Condi Rice, noting that "we urgently need ... a Principals level review" of the threat posed by Al Qaeda.

September 4, 2001: Condi holds first Principals Committee meeting dedicated to Al Qaeda.

February 14, 2003: The Bush Administration unveils the National Strategy for Combating Terrorism, which includes the objective: "Eliminate terrorist sanctuaries and havens."

July 22, 2004: The 9/11 Commission releases its report. The first recommendation is:

“The US government must identify and prioritize actual or potential terrorist sanctuaries. For each, it should have a realistic strategy to keep possible terrorists insecure and on the run, using all elements of national power. We should reach out, listen to, and work with other countries that can help.”
June 23, 2006: The Bush Administration announces the indictment of the Liberty City Seven, an alleged terrorist cell the FBI admits is "more aspirational than operational."

August 3, 2007: The Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act signed into law. It requires:

“(1) REQUIREMENT FOR REPORT ON STRATEGY.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report, in classified form if necessary, that describes the long-term strategy of the United States to engage with the Government of Pakistan to address the issues described in subparagraphs (A) through (F) of subsection (a)(2) and carry out the policies described in subsection (b) in order accomplish the goal of building a moderate, democratic Pakistan.”
December 13, 2007: The first trial of the Liberty City Seven ends in a mistrial, with one defendant, Lyglenson Lemorin, acquitted of all charges.

April 16, 2008: The second trial of the Liberty City Seven ends in a mistrial.

April 17, 2008: 87 months after Richard Clarke first insisted that the Bush Administration develop a strategy to combat Al Qaeda, 62 months after the Bush Administration announced its intention to eliminate terrorist sanctuaries, 45 months after the 9/11 Commission called for the Administration to develop a strategy to eliminate terrorist sanctuaries, 258 days after Congress required the Administration to submit a strategy to combat terrorist safe havens in Pakistan within 90 days, and one day after the Bush Administration insisted it may try a group of aspirational terrorists a third time, GAO releases a report finding:

“The United States Lacks Comprehensive Plan to Destroy the Terrorist Threat and Close the Safe Haven in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas

No comprehensive plan for meeting U.S. national security goals in the FATA has been developed, as stipulated by the National Strategy for Combating Terrorism (2003), called for by an independent commission (2004), and mandated by congressional legislation (2007).”
The report also states:
“al Qaeda is now using the Pakistani safe haven to put the last element necessary to launch another attack against America into place, including the identification, training, and positioning of Western operatives for an attack. It stated that al Qaeda is most likely using the FATA to plot terrorist attacks against political, economic, and infrastructure targets in America "designed to produce mass casualties, visually dramatic destruction, significant economic aftershocks, and/or fear among the population.”

1778

2008-03-13T22:02:00.000-07:00

1,778 is the number of days since Bush declared Misson Accomplished on major combat operations in Iraq. That's approaching 5 years now since this disatrous war was started. For those keeping track that's 3,987 American soldiers killed to occupy a non-aggresive nation and not protect "the Homeland^a".

_a Homeland is quiet an odd term in American English as it was used by the National Socialist German Workers Party (the Nazis) for propangda purposes leading to and during World War II

Bonnaroo 2008 Initial Artists announcement

2008-02-06T13:16:00.000-08:00

Today Bonnaroo made its first Artist announcement. The list looks promising, but Metallica, really?!?! I really don't understand these promoters. Its not like they weren't selling out before changing the lineup to include bands that aren't on the jam band, bluegrass, alt-country or indie circuit.

Hard questions for GOP

2007-10-29T17:58:00.000-07:00

I read these Questions For The Candidates who claim they would be so tough on terror by torturing people and anti-abortion.

Would you have sex with a man to stop a terrorist attack?

If lowering taxes results in increased revenues then would lowering taxes to zero result in infinite revenues?

If you had a time machine, would you travel back in time and abort Bin Laden?

Would you torture and kill Jesus to ensure mankind’s salvation? And how does that work?

If you believe abortion should be illegal, how much jail time should women receiving an illegal abortion receive? Should prosecution be retroactive

Feds flunk audits

2007-09-15T19:52:00.000-07:00

As reported by the AP the other day, Federal agencies flunk their audits. What does that mean for you and me? We have no way of knowing what we are really paying for as taxpayers. Congress passed legislation 11 years ago so that taxpayers could have more accountability and transparency, yet 2 of the largest departments (Defense and Homeland Security) cannot even meet the basic accounting requirements.

Even better, there are no repercussions for continued failure or wasteful spending. If a public company had performed this way, they would no longer be able to continue trading on the market as they would have had their stock delisted.

Congress really needs to step up and make these agencies accountable. Then again, if we had a real leader instead of a do-nothing President, perhaps some of these agencies would have cleaned up their act.

Further proof Justice Dept is broken

2007-09-07T12:32:00.000-07:00

Justice Dept. Opposes Network Neutrality

"Internets" Senator's House Raided

2007-07-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

Cranky, old, Alaska Republican Senator Ted Steven's house was raided today by the FBI. Its about time somebody started to look into this old loon. This is the same guy who thinks the Internets is series of tubes and wanted to build the $315 millon Bridge to Nowhere.

Vegoose 07 Artist Update

2007-07-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

The Vegoose music festival sent out an artist addition e-mail today with some good news enclosed. What good news?

moe. (+ a Vegoose at Night show)
Robert Randolph & the Family Band

Let's hope they keep adding good artists.

I need more love everyday of life

Vegoose 07 Initial Lineup

2007-07-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

The initial lineup for Vegoose 2007 was announced today and I was rather disappointed compared with 05' and 06'.

I took a screenshot from the Vegoose site.

With the exception of Rage, Umphrey's, Queens of the Stone Age and Michael Franti there isn't much of a draw for me. Why in the hell would Daft Punk take second billing? Who cares about Iggy Pop?

Right now, $146.50 + fees just isn't worth it. Hopefully, future annoucements will include bands worth seeing. The 05 festival had such acts as Dave Matthews + Friends, Trey Anastasio, North Miss Allstars, moe., Gov't Mule, Jack Johnson, Phil Lesh + Friends. Even 06 had a kickass lineup (though I missed it) Phil Lesh + Trey Anastasio, Tom Petty, Keller Williams Incident, Black Crowes, The Roots, Damian Marley, G. Love, Yonder Mountain, Guster.

Enemy Friends

2007-07-20T19:46:00.000-07:00

The article Deals in Iraq Make Friends of Enemies in todays Washington Post revists this bone-head approach that was first reported by the New York Times a month ago. The US is informally making friends with our insurgent enemies.We are now arming insurgents.

Jon Stewart of the Daily Show described it beatifully a month ago.

Its a plan so crazy, it might just be...FUCKING crazy. What are you thinking?

He broke down this catastroFUCK of a plan.

For example, Al Qaeda is our enemy.

ENEMIES	FRIENDS

Al Qaeda

Now the Sunni Insurgency is becoming their enemy, so Sunni Insurgency, they're our friends!

ENEMIES	FRIENDS

Al Qaeda	Insurgents

Of course the Sunni Insurgency is most responsible for the IEDs used to attack our troops making them our enemies.

ENEMIES	FRIENDS

Al Qaeda	Insurgents
Insurgents

And the Shii Death Squads who have been targeting Sunnis are thus our friends!

ENEMIES	FRIENDS

Al Qaeda	Insurgents
Insurgents	Death Squads

But they are controlled by Muqtada Al-Sadr and Iran who have sworn to defeat us, making them our enemies.

ENEMIES	FRIENDS

Al Qaeda	Insurgents
Insurgents	Death Squads
Al-Sadr
Iran

Although, Muqtada Al-Sadr, of course targeted by Al Qaeda, thus making them..

ENEMIES	FRIENDS

Al Qaeda	Insurgents
Insurgents	Death Squads
Al-Sadr	Al Qaeda
Iran

Old New Rule

2007-04-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

This New Rule from March 31, 2006 was just as true a year ago, as it is today.

People who run everything can't complain that they're underdogs. To whit, this week, there was a highly-attended conference in Washington called "The War on Christians." Because nothing quite says "I'm oppressed," like the opulent Regency Ballroom of the Omni Shoreham Hotel.

Ah, yes, whatever happened to that plucky little cult, Christianity? Oh, that's right, they're 80% of the American people, and have taken over all three branches of government, country music, public schools, the bestseller list, and until recently, Katie Holmes. You know, Christians, I don't mind that you're part of a dress-up cult that hates sex and worships magic but the paranoia, that does scare me.

Did you know that the Missouri legislature recently felt the need to propose a resolution declaring Christianity Missouri's majority religion. No kidding. Really, you mean people ar

en't saying, "Gosh, I'd like to go to Missouri, but...to Jewish." In Savannah, recently, a children's book about a baby penguin who is raised by two male penguins - ahh! - was removed from the library for its homosexual overtones. Because you know penguins, in those tuxedos, with the dreamy eyes. Huge fags!

The Christian right are now officially the party of paranoia. Secularists are attacking Christmas! Gays are attacking marriage! Liberals are attacking values! White girls are being abducted at an alarming rate! You know, if you're going to be that paranoid all the time, just get high.

And the worst part is, the people bitching loudest about being persecuted for their Christianity aren't Christians at all. They're demagogues and conmen and scolds. And the only thing they worship is power. If you believe Jesus ever had a good word for war or torture or tax cuts for the rich, or raping the earth, or refusing water to dying migrants, then you might as well believe bunnies lay painted eggs.

And Jesus - and Jesus never said a word about gay marriage. He was much too busy hanging out with 12 guys. Now - now I know George Bush says Jesus Christ changed his heart. But believe me, Dick Cheney changed it back. The only thing Bush has in common with Jesus is they both went into their father's business and got crucified for it.

Thomas Jefferson called the type of Christian who trumpets his own belief in the divinity of Jesus rather than the morality of Jesus "pseudo-Christians." And that's who's running our country today. And since they thrive so much on turning water into "whining"—and get off on their endless pretend persecution, this Easter season, let's give them what they want. Let's go to the zoo, get some lions, and feed them Tom DeLay.

All right. That's our show. I want to thank my guests: Seth Green, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, Erica Jong, Robert Wuhl and Jorge Ramos. Thank you very much, folks. We'll see you next week.

New Rule #2

2007-04-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

Another rule from Real Time with Bill Maher that makes me angry. Bill made several great points about what a fuckup the President and his henchmen are in his New Rules segment. The fact that these jackasses have this idiotic mentality and call people who don't agree with them unpatriotic disgusts me. George W. Bush truly is destroying America.

I copied an excert from New Rules March 23, 2007 below:

Traitors don't get to question my patriotism. What could be less patriotic than constantly screwing things up for America? You know, it's literally hard to keep up with the sheer volume of scandals in the Bush Administration. Which is why I like to download the latest scandal right onto my iPod. That way, I can catch up on this week's giant fuck-up on my drive in to work. In fact, Bush has so many scandals, he could open a chain of "Bush Scandal and Fuck-up" theme restaurants. "Ooh, should I get the Harriet Miers meatloaf or the Katrina crab cakes?

You know, not to generalize, but the 29% of people who still support President Bush are the ones who love to pronounce themselves more patriotic than the rest of us. But just saying you're patriotic is like saying you have a big cock. If you have to say it, chances are it's not true.

And, indeed, the party that flatters itself that they protect America better is the party that has exhausted the military, left the ports wide open and purposefully outed a CIA agent, Valerie Plame.

That's not treason anymore? Outing a spy? Did I mention it was one of our spies? And how despicable that Bush's lackeys attempted to diminish this crime by belittling her service, like she was just some chick who hung around the CIA. "An intern, really. Groupie, if you want to be mean about it."

No. Big lie. Valerie Plame was the CIA's operational officer in charge of counter-proliferation. Which means she tracked loose nukes. So, when Bush said, as he once did, that his absolute, number-one priority was preventing terrorists from getting loose nukes, okay, that's what she worked on. That's what she devoted her life to, staying undercover for 20 years, maintaining two identities every goddamn day. This is extraordinary service to your country.

Valerie Plame was the kind of real-life secret agent George Bush dreams of being when he's not too busy pretending to be a cowboy or a fighter pilot.

CIA agents are troops. This was a military assassination of one of our own, done through the press, ordered by Karl Rove. He said, of Valerie Plame, quote, "She's fair game." And then Cheney shot her.

George Bush likes to claim that he doesn't question his critics' patriotism, just their judgment. Well, let me be the first of your critics, Mr. President, to question your judgment and your patriotism. Because, let's not forget why they did it to her. Because Valerie Plame was married to this guy, Joe Wilson, who the Bush people hated because he busted them on one of their bullshit reasons for invading Iraq.

He was sent to the African country of Niger to see if Niger was selling nuclear fuel to Iraq. They weren't. It was bullshit, and he said so. In fact, his report was called, "Niger, Please!"

Valerie Plame's husband told the truth about their lie, so they were willing to jeopardize an entire network of spies to ruin her life. Wow, even the mob doesn't go after your family.

Mark Twain said, "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." And I say Valerie Plame is a patriot because she spent her life serving her country. Scooter Libby is not, because he spent his life serving Dick Cheney.

Valerie Plame kept her secrets. The Bush Administration leaked like the plumbing at Walter Reed.

In the year, 2008, I really think that Hillary Clinton should run for president on a platform of "restoring honor and integrity to the Oval Office."

New Rule #1

2007-04-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

I've been watching alot of Real Time with Bill Maher and like most things political, it makes me angry. The New Rules segment from several weeks ago covered what the majority of Americans don't realize they've sacrificed for the "War on Terror". Sadly, its the one thing I hold most dear than any inalienable rights bestowed upon us by the Constitution. Liberty.

I copied an excert from New Rules March 16, 2007 below:

Liberals must stop saying President Bush hasn't asked Americans to sacrifice for the war on terror. On the contrary, he's asked us to sacrifice something enormous. Our civil rights.

Now, when I heard George Bush was reading my emails, I probably had the same reaction you did: George Bush can read?! Yes, he can. And this administration has read your phone records, credit card statements, mail, Internet logs. I can't tell if they're fighting a war on terror or producing the next season of "Cheaters." I mail myself a copy of the Constitution every morning just on the hope they'll open it and see what it says.

So -so when it comes to sacrifice, don't kid yourself. You have given up a lot. You've given up faith in your government's honesty, the goodwill of people overseas, and six-tenths of the Bill of Rights. Here's what you've sacrificed: search and seizure, warrants, self-incrimination, trial by jury, cruel and unusual punishment. Here's what you have left: hand guns, religion, and they can't make you quarter a British soldier. If Prince Harry invades the Inland Empire, he has to bring a tent.

You know, in previous wars on the home front made a very different kind of sacrifice. During World War II, we endured rationing, paid higher taxes, bought war bonds, and in the interest of national unity, people even pretended Bob Hope was funny. Right, like you laughed at him.

Okay, women, donated their silk undergarments so they could be sewn into parachutes. Can you imagine nowadays a Britney Spears or a Lindsay Lohan going without underwear? Bad example.

But, look, George Bush has never been too bright about understanding "fereigners." But he does know Americans. He asked this generation to sacrifice the things he knew we would not miss: our privacy and our morality. He let us keep the money. But he made a cynical bet that we wouldn't much care if we became a "Big Brother" country that has now tortured a lot of random people.

And yet no one asks the tough questions like, "Is torture necessary?" "Who will watch the watchers?" "And when does Jack Bauer go to the bathroom?" I mean, it's been five years. Is he wearing one of those astronaut diapers?

In conclusion, after 9/11, President Bush told us Osama bin Laden could run but he couldn't hide. But, then he ran and hid. So, Bush went to Plan B: pissing on the Constitution and torturing random people.

Conservatives always say the great thing Reagan did was make us feel good about America again. Well, do you feel good about America now? I'll give you my answer, and to get it out of me, you don't even have to hold my head underwater and have a snarling guard dog rip my nuts off. No, I don't feel very good about that.

They say evil happens when good men do nothing. Well, the Democrats prove it also happens when mediocre people do nothing.

Texas lawmaker wants to buy your baby

2007-03-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

That's right, a Texas state senator has proposed offering women $500 to not abort their pregnancies and give the baby up for adoption. If life is so precious, then why is only worth $500? Right-wing conservatives have really lost it with this one.

Read the article at Yahoo! News.

Gingrich is a Hypocrite

2007-03-09T12:36:00.000-08:00

Newt Gingrich recently admitted to having an affair during Clinton probe. He claims he is not a hypocrite because he isn't the one that lied to a Federal judge. Perhaps that's because he's the one that initiated the whole probe into Clinton's behavior. Perhaps if Gingrich hadn't put President Clinton in such a predicament; he wouldn't have lied in the first place.

Clinton lied about a blow-job from a woman who wasn't his wife. How does that affect his job as a world leader? It's not like he lied about the justifications to take America into an unwinable, endless war.

Read the article where Newt claims he is not a Hypocrite.

Americans Falling Behind

2007-03-08T11:37:00.000-08:00

I've been reading The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas Friedman and makes me extremely nervous for the future our nation. Not only are developing nations like India, China, and Russia increasing their education systems, America's education system is severely falling behind. Our children's curriculum is less stringent and less focused on subjects like math and science, that have been driving our nation's innovation for the last 50 years.

As the world gets flatter, more and more white collar jobs will shift overseas due the amount of knowledge that these other countries will now possess and their ability to do it for less. If our knowledge base continues to decrease, as is the current trend, our standard of living will be affected as well. Corporations don't care where their workforces come from and if Americans don't wake up, we will only have ourselves to blame.

Further driving home this point is Bill Gates, who was testifying in Congress asking to remove limits on H1-B visas. These visas are designed for professional workers like engineers, computer programmers, scientists, and other individuals in the technology and related fields.

Despite America being a leader in rollout of high-speed internet connections several years ago, we have actually fallen behind and France has almost caught up to us. When President Bush took office in 2001, we were 3^rd in the world in total high speed connections, now we are 13^th. Why? Because tax cuts for the wealthy were more important than allocating more funds for education of America's children or training programs for people who have lost jobs to automation or even more training for our educators.

2008 Federal Budget to further ruin US

2007-02-21T15:33:00.000-08:00

President Bush's 2008 proposed budget will further ruin America worse than a Britney Spears head shaving. Sadly, the American people are more preoccupied with a dumb bimbo who shaves her head then with the proposed tax cuts for the super-rich and the budget cuts for programs that actually help people the poor.

For further proof that our President is destroying America, read this article from Rolling Stone's The Low Post, Medicare vs. Britney.

EMI to remove DRM?

2007-02-09T14:34:00.000-08:00

Well, it looks like one of the four major players in the music industry took notice to Steve Jobs posting earlier this week [see article] on the future of downloadable music. Read EMI in talks to sell unprotected MP3s.

Another reason to remove DRM

2007-02-06T16:24:00.000-08:00

Finally, someone with real clout is calling for the declining music industry to abolish DRM (Digital Rights Management). Steve Jobs, the Apple, Inc. CEO, published some of his thoughts on the DRM debate today.

He brings up a great point that the Big 4 in the music industry are selling 90% of their music DRM free via CDs. Yet, they make the biggest stink over the bottom 10%. Instead of wasting the millions of dollars in protecting DRM, companies like Apple or Microsoft and the music industry could be innovating new devices and applications that aren't dependent upon such wasteful requirements and profits would surely rise.

Read his Thoughts on Music.

What's a Trillion dollars?

2007-01-31T16:20:00.000-08:00

More incompentence from our President and his ability to not deal in facts. Read this article that appeared in the NY Times.

What $1.2 Trillion Can Buy
January 17, 2007
NY TIMES - Economix
By DAVID LEONHARDT
NY Times Source

The human mind isn’t very well equipped to make sense of a figure like $1.2 trillion. We don’t deal with a trillion of anything in our daily lives, and so when we come across such a big number, it is hard to distinguish it from any other big number. Millions, billions, a trillion — they all start to sound the same.

The way to come to grips with $1.2 trillion is to forget about the number itself and think instead about what you could buy with the money. When you do that, a trillion stops sounding anything like millions or billions.

For starters, $1.2 trillion would pay for an unprecedented public health campaign — a doubling of cancer research funding, treatment for every American whose diabetes or heart disease is now going unmanaged and a global immunization campaign to save millions of children’s lives.

Combined, the cost of running those programs for a decade wouldn’t use up even half our money pot. So we could then turn to poverty and education, starting with universal preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old child across the country. The city of New Orleans could also receive a huge increase in reconstruction funds.

The final big chunk of the money could go to national security. The recommendations of the 9/11 Commission that have not been put in place — better baggage and cargo screening, stronger measures against nuclear proliferation — could be enacted. Financing for the war in Afghanistan could be increased to beat back the Taliban’s recent gains, and a peacekeeping force could put a stop to the genocide in Darfur.

All that would be one way to spend $1.2 trillion. Here would be another:

The war in Iraq.

In the days before the war almost five years ago, the Pentagon estimated that it would cost about $50 billion. Democratic staff members in Congress largely agreed. Lawrence Lindsey, a White House economic adviser, was a bit more realistic, predicting that the cost could go as high as $200 billion, but President Bush fired him in part for saying so.

These estimates probably would have turned out to be too optimistic even if the war had gone well. Throughout history, people have typically underestimated the cost of war, as William Nordhaus, a Yale economist, has pointed out.

But the deteriorating situation in Iraq has caused the initial predictions to be off the mark by a scale that is difficult to fathom. The operation itself — the helicopters, the tanks, the fuel needed to run them, the combat pay for enlisted troops, the salaries of reservists and contractors, the rebuilding of Iraq — is costing more than $300 million a day, estimates Scott Wallsten, an economist in Washington.

That translates into a couple of billion dollars a week and, over the full course of the war, an eventual total of $700 billion in direct spending.

The two best-known analyses of the war’s costs agree on this figure, but they diverge from there. Linda Bilmes, at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate and former Clinton administration adviser, put a total price tag of more than $2 trillion on the war. They include a number of indirect costs, like the economic stimulus that the war funds would have provided if they had been spent in this country.

Mr. Wallsten, who worked with Katrina Kosec, another economist, argues for a figure closer to $1 trillion in today’s dollars. My own estimate falls on the conservative side, largely because it focuses on the actual money that Americans would have been able to spend in the absence of a war. I didn’t even attempt to put a monetary value on the more than 3,000 American deaths in the war.

Besides the direct military spending, I’m including the gas tax that the war has effectively imposed on American families (to the benefit of oil-producing countries like Iran, Russia and Saudi Arabia). At the start of 2003, a barrel of oil was selling for $30. Since then, the average price has been about $50. Attributing even $5 of this difference to the conflict adds another $150 billion to the war’s price tag, Ms. Bilmes and Mr. Stiglitz say.

The war has also guaranteed some big future expenses. Replacing the hardware used in Iraq and otherwise getting the United States military back into its prewar fighting shape could cost $100 billion. And if this war’s veterans receive disability payments and medical care at the same rate as veterans of the first gulf war, their health costs will add up to $250 billion. If the disability rate matches Vietnam’s, the number climbs higher. Either way, Ms. Bilmes says, “It’s like a miniature Medicare.”

In economic terms, you can think of these medical costs as the difference between how productive the soldiers would have been as, say, computer programmers or firefighters and how productive they will be as wounded veterans. In human terms, you can think of soldiers like Jason Poole, a young corporal profiled in The New York Times last year. Before the war, he had planned to be a teacher. After being hit by a roadside bomb in 2004, he spent hundreds of hours learning to walk and talk again, and he now splits his time between a community college and a hospital in Northern California.

Whatever number you use for the war’s total cost, it will tower over costs that normally seem prohibitive. Right now, including everything, the war is costing about $200 billion a year.

Treating heart disease and diabetes, by contrast, would probably cost about $50 billion a year. The remaining 9/11 Commission recommendations — held up in Congress partly because of their cost — might cost somewhat less. Universal preschool would be $35 billion. In Afghanistan, $10 billion could make a real difference. At the National Cancer Institute, annual budget is about $6 billion.

“This war has skewed our thinking about resources,” said Mr. Wallsten, a senior fellow at the Progress and Freedom Foundation, a conservative-leaning research group. “In the context of the war, $20 billion is nothing.”

As it happens, $20 billion is not a bad ballpark estimate for the added cost of Mr. Bush’s planned surge in troops. By itself, of course, that price tag doesn’t mean the surge is a bad idea. If it offers the best chance to stabilize Iraq, then it may well be the right option.

But the standard shouldn’t simply be whether a surge is better than the most popular alternative — a far-less-expensive political strategy that includes getting tough with the Iraqi government. The standard should be whether the surge would be better than the political strategy plus whatever else might be accomplished with the $20 billion.

This time, it would be nice to have that discussion before the troops reach Iraq.

Glad I'm not on the Watch List

2007-01-26T19:15:00.000-08:00

Be glad you are not on the US no-fly or terrorist watch list. A Syrian-born Canandian man was deported to Syria and tortured for nearly a year before being released. Once the President and his henchmen couldn't get what they wanted out of him they put him on a plane to Syria to be tortured. They didn't deport him to Canada, where he is a citizen, they sent him to a state-sponsored terrorist state according to Washington.

Once released, he fought to clear his name and did just that (in Canada). He was even rewarded compensation for the whole ordeal. Wow, a country admitting it was wrong and actually rectifying it. What an odd concept?

The US refuses to remove him from the lists due to national security reasons. They are probably related to the WMDs that Saddam supposedly had.

So the US will work with Syria to torture people, but not on securing Iraq???

Read Canada apologizes to deportation victim on Yahoo! News.

Bush's new tax break

2007-01-25T13:54:00.000-08:00

Our great President has proposed yet another tax break. This time it has the facade of actually helping people who are in dire need of healthcare. The US currently has millions without coverage and the President is doing something about it. Or so it appears.

The tax break would be for people who struggle to get healthcare. This tax break would help these individuals purchase the health care that they currently can't afford. The only problem is the income level of these poor individuals is so low that they don't even pay taxes. How can you offer a tax break to people on taxes they don't pay? Much less, how can they buy health insurance with money they won't be receiving.

Yet again, more of the President's stupid logic.

Or better yet, the way Stephen said it on the The Colbert Report last night.

It's simple. Most people, who can't afford health insurance, also are too poor to pay taxes. BUT if you give them a deduction, from the taxes they don't owe, they can use the money they're not getting back, from what they haven't given, to buy the health care they can't afford.

da Bears

2007-01-24T15:49:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went to Chicago for the hell of it. Back in the Fall JetBlue ran a special on flights for $39.99/each way. I figured what the hell and went.

On top of such an awesome flight price, the Bears were in the NFC Championship game. The town was packed and geared for a Bears win. And did they deliver with a pounding of the Saints. The Monsters of the Midway are heading to the Super Bowl! Finally, I will get to see my team play in the big game after watching year after year with little to hope for. It was pretty cool to be in Chi-town last weekend for such a huge win.

Lookout of for the Super Bowl Shuffle. Dikta is God!

Increasing troop levels don't work

2007-01-12T13:03:00.000-08:00

Read the article,THE LOW POST: Waiter, There's a Surge in My Soup at Rolling Stone.

'Hood' party

2006-10-31T10:32:00.000-08:00

A Frat was suspended over 'Hood' party at John Hopkins recently because it was creating racial tensions between the community and the university. The party invitation encouraged students to wear bling bling ice ice, grills.

Now maybe I'm just dumb and white, but the majority of popular rap music today encourages all of these things. So its racist for students to mock the way the hip hop culture glorifies ghetto life? I think its a load of crap. The kids just wanted to have a theme party and get wasted. Hell, even in the Halloween stores promote this; they sell rapper/ghetto costumes, hippie costumes, indian costumes, etc. So are the Halloween stores racists as well?

Now the president of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP is looking to see if there any legal means to get at the fraternity and the university. What is there to sue about, kids wanting to have a theme party? Furthermore, what good would come of these lawsuits? Dozens of individuals would be deemed racists and bigots over a stupid party.

Give me a fucking break.

Internet Gambling Ban

2006-10-17T12:45:00.000-07:00

Read George F. Will article, Prohibition II: Good Grief, from Newsweek on MSNBC.com about internet gambling. He makes great points about the hypocrisy of this law. While our government is protecting "the people", it allows the states to do whatever they want [all 48 of them that have some form of legalized gambling]. So playing Blackjack online for money is illegal, but buying a blackjack lottery ticket is legal??? What's the difference? You are spending your money on a game of chance.

Its just another attempt by the social conservatives to dictate what Americans should and shouldn't do. I have a feeling this will become one of America's next futile wars, soon to be deemed The War on Online Gambling. Yet, another "war" that can never be won, ala, the War on Drugs. The goverment will waste billons of tax payer dollars to prosecute companies and people who will operate overseas instead of legalizing it, regulating it and taxing it like any other business.

Broken bones, fuzzy memory

2006-09-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

So like any normal weekend down here at the beach, I'm out drinking with Jewbacca and Mark when total chaos is unleashed by the big dumb animal Joe. After leaving the pub early (around 11) completely wasted Joe starts checking Mark and myself into parked cars.

Well, after a few bruised ribs, Joe appears to calm down when he grabs a traffic cone and starts waving it around like a madman. Mark and I decide to take off. So here we are, 2 drunken assholes running down Hermosa Ave. being chased by a large drunken buffoon. Well, Mark tries to outsmart this gorilla by knocking over a trash can. Meanwhile, I've turned back to look at Joe and the next thing I know I'm flying through the air. Yes, I ran smack into the trash can and came crashing to sidewalk.

I'm laughing at first until a huge amount of pain starts rushing to my arm as I'm lying on the sidewalk. It feels like something is broke but since I'm drunk it isnt too bad. After a few moments I get up and we continue walking back to Steff's house while I'm trying to inspect the damage that has just occurred.

We get no more than 50 yards before Joe decides to give Mark the ole ball tap. mark drops like rock in pain. I'm standing there laughing uncontrollably when Joe proceeds to ball tap my injured ass. I hit the ground again for the second time in the last 5 minutes.

Mark and I finally recover and make it to Steff's where I'm ready to crash because walking home doesn't appear to be the best idea considering the circumstances.

So I crash and I wake up at 5 AM in pain, a lot of pain. I wake up Steff and ask her to take me to the ER. We end up ging around 6:30 and end up waiting in the ER for over an hour. The doc examines me and sends me to x-ray. My left elbow is in excruciating pain by this time (I hadn't taken anything). After about 25 minutes of getting x-rayed all to hell, I'm back in my room. The doc comes in and says you've fractured you left elbow and chipped a bone in your right wrist. So in essence, I've got 2 broken arms. The end result is below:

Sidebar: This post took entirely too long to type due to only having one hand working at this time.

UPDATE 9/8/06: You can now read Mark's more dramactic version of the story as well.

Leave my hotel porn alone!

2006-08-22T11:37:00.000-07:00

Ultra-Conservatives are trying to curtail hotel porn by pressuring the Justice Department to crack down on the hotel industry. Yet again, its the same group of wack-jobs that want to tell you what you should and shouldn't watch/listen to, be that it radio, television, or print. Groups like the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family and Concerned Women for America want to impose what their morality on the entire country instead of having the freedom of choice. They spew out progranda as

Adult hardcore pornography can tragically lead to sex crimes against women and children. link

and

As more and more of these (hardcore) titles become available, we're going to have sexual abuse cases coming out of the hotels...Hotels are just as dangerous as environments around strip joints and porn stores.

There have no facts or statistics to back up such allegations, just their moral agenda. For god's sake, leave my hotel porn alone!

Half of U.S. wrong as usual

2006-08-07T07:38:00.000-07:00

Apparently, half of U.S. still believes Iraq had WMD. This half also must believe in other mythological creatures such as the tooth fairy, the boogey man, unicorns and Santa Claus.

These people are just searching for anything to justify the War in Iraq and just ignore reality. Perhaps, its like Stephen Colbert said about the President at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner,

The greatest thing about this man is he's steady. You know where he stands. He believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday -- no matter what happened Tuesday.

It looks like America is right there with him.

Drinking is Good for You

2006-07-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

For those of you out there that don't drink or don't drink enough; yet another study to validate drinking, Light Drinking Cuts Risk for Death, Heart Attack.

Pics of the new Pad

2006-07-28T14:56:00.000-07:00

I took some pics of the new pad in Cali.

Enjoy the photos.

Greetings from SoCal

2006-07-10T15:01:00.000-07:00

Arrived here this morning around 9:30am Pacific time. I started working basically as soon as I walked in the door. I have to do some scouting around later today to check out the town and get some gear.

Ann Coulter Review

2006-07-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

Here's an honest review by a lefty, of nutjob Ann Coulter's latest book at CampusProgress.org. Read God Help Me and you can see for yourself that the woman is batshit crazy.

More Reasons to vote out your Congressmen

2006-06-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

This is what Congress is working on this week:

Flag burning amendment [defeated]
Congressional pay increase yet no increase for minimum wage workers

FON

2006-06-26T09:31:00.000-07:00

I just found out about FON while reading an article on YAHOO! News (see article). FON is a global community of people who share their WiFi, all free of charge.

All you do is sign up, install some firmware to your home router and you are able to connect to any FON WiFi hotspot around the country for free. I think this is a great idea. If this catches on, people could go anywhere and connect and not have to worry about paying for connections over and over again if they aren't at home or in the office.

On top of that, the FON community is selling Linksys wireless routers for $5!!! All you have to do is sign up and keep your router connected to your ISP. It's that simple.

The only downfall I see to this is if you get bandwidth hogs attached to your network or some jackass hacker that tries to gain access to your network PCs.

With that said, I think the concept is great and I hope it becomes widespread.

People in Congress are a bunch of Assholes

2006-06-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

For the following reasons (as of the last few weeks):

Video Game ratings hearings

Non-binding bills about the troops in Iraq (Dems for withdrawl and Reps for victory)

Proposing a Gay Marriage ban

Allowing DHS to cut New York City's anti-terror budget because its not as likely of a target anymore

Why don't they focus on slightly more important issues such campaign finanace reform, better energy policy, social security, balancing the budget, the government splaying on millions of Americans, or universal health care??? Because these jackasses are trying to get re-elected this fall. Did you know they have a encumbancy rate of 98%!

Lost Contacts

2006-06-23T09:07:00.001-07:00

Yesterday while checking my e-mail at Hotmail, my contacts were erased. So for the better part of yesterday and last night, I went through hundreds of e-mails, other address books, and various online directories trying to piece together a new address book. So send me your info (phone # and e-mail address) by using the Contact Me link on the left.

From now on I'm going to use multiple accounts to store my contacts and not get screwed by MickeySoft.

Viva Losing Timmy

2006-05-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

Well I'm off to Vegas for Timmy's bachelor party, his one last big hurrah if you will, for the weekend. Let's hope I don't come back broke, too hungover, and/or married to a stripper!

Viva Las Vegas

Roo schedule screws me

2006-05-23T14:42:00.000-07:00

The Bonnaroo 06 schedule was just announced today and they are completely fucking me. How might you ask with so many artists and bands in one festival; that is spread over 4 days?

Quiet simply, they stacked a major group of artists I wanted to see all in one fucking day. Just take a look at the Bonnaroo 06 schedule.

More importantly, look at Friday's list of shows. All in one day, they put Mike Gordon & Ramble Dove on at 3:15PM and start G. Love & Special Sauce at 3:30PM. On top of that, Ricky Skaggs' set starts at 5:30PM, both Robert Randolph & the Family Band's set and Oysterhead's set start at 5:30PM. And to drive a nail deeper into my heart, they have Nickel Creek starting at 6PM. So that's 6 of the 11 main acts that I planned to see (see post) and they all crammed into a 3 hour window. So I will only be able to see 2 full sets. Luckily, Robert Randolph is playing a mini set on the Sonic Stage at 2:30PM, so I'll get to see him perform some tunes.

To make matters worse, a blantant disrespect is being shown to Mr. Robert Randolph. Outside of Warren Haynes, he has been the hardest working man at Bonnaroo the last few years and is playing in The Other Tent instead of the Which Stage (btw Death Cab for Cutie is playing). Give me a fucking break. What moron made that decision? Something else worth noting is the fact that Nickel Creek and G. Love both played on the Which Stage at Bonnaroo 03, now both are tents this go round.

Now I know, artists' schedules have a lot to do with what days they are playing but this is only the BIGGEST festival of the summer in the US. And overall the rest of the weekend is planned out OK. But com'n Bonnaroo, spread the love out over the weekend. Don't cram everybody I love into one day.

and if you thought i could be replaced
i wouldn't just stop with an ear
i would cut off my whole fucking face
just to make my point clear

Groovin' to Iron & Wine

2006-05-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

My iRiver has completely screwed me on playing time so I've had to result to the MP3s I have on my work computer the last few weeks and surprisingly I'm not too let down. For one I bought Iron & Wine's Passing Afternoon and received Glen Phillips' latest Mr. Lemons in the mail. New tunes are always good.

If you haven't gotten into Iron & Wine, you really should. Anyways....

Finally!!!! I will get to see the above mentioned Mr. Phillips this Thursday at the Birchmere. Its been a long time coming but I finally scored tickets and I will enjoy a show by one of my favorite singer/songwriters of the the last few years.

On another note, my birthday and Bonnaroo starts in a month. God I love Live Music and being drunk and blogging.

Mary, carry your babe
bound up tight like lips around a whimper
your fingers over my face
blind eyed Sampson driven to the temple
and night birds digging until dawn
freedom hangs like Heaven over everyone

100 Days

2006-04-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

That's right, only 100 more days until the OBB4. It seems like it was only yesterday that the greatest party of the summer took place. Mark your calendars and tell all your friends to mark theirs. The Owens Brothers have prepared a few surprises for this year's set and the kegs of beer will be flowing like cheap wine.

Sleep all day, out all night
I know where you're goin'

Cali Photos

2006-04-17T20:31:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to taking the photos off my camera and uploaded them to Yahoo! Photos. Most are from San Francisco from the hotel I stayed at. The Bay Bridge and Ferry Building look pretty cool at night. I didn't take too many in LA probably due to all the boozing we did. But the Southern California sunset overlooking the Pacific is breathtaking. Damn I gotta move out there.

You can view all of my lovely photos.

like a summer rose, i'm a victim of the fall
but am soon returning
your love's the warmest place the sun ever shines
my morning yearning

SoCal

2006-04-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

So I've been out in California the last 2 weeks and I have enjoyed it alot. I spent the majority of my time in San Francisco where it has rained almost everyday which blows. I spent last weekend in LA area and I'm back again this weekend. I think I could definitely live the SoCal lifestyle; warm weather, chill people, the beach. I almost 25 and I need to figure out what I want to do in life.

Living in Northern VA for almost 3 years has been a blast, but it might be time for a change of scenery. Hell, I could probably convince my work to let me move out here. Moving across country would be crucial and I'd miss my family and friends, but I think it would be a great learning experience.

I'm just throwing this out there. Should I move out to Cali? Let me know what you think.

but my savior is not Christ the Lord
but one named Virginia whom I live my life for

Bound to Ramble

2006-03-31T08:01:00.000-08:00

I'm off to Cali for 2 weeks for work and fun. I'll be in San Francisco April 3-7 and 9-13 with a stop in LA in between. Unfortunately, I'll be missing John Butler Trio again. Hopefully, I'll get sent back to San Fran the last week of April where he is doing a 2 night stand at the Fillmore.

Once I get back from the west coast, I'm heading to the good ole BC for Easter. I'm in dire need of some good home cooking. I'll be in town for 2 days then its off to Orlando for my company's user's conference for our clients.

The summer concert season is upon us and I just bought my ticket to Bonnaroo. Yesterday, tickets went on presale for Ben Harper at Merriweather Post Pavillion and I scooped up a few. If anyone needs lawn tickets I have 2 extra.

DMB tickets go on sale next weekend for the summer tour. Nissan lucked out and got a Saturday show. The band is doing a few two night stands that are well worth mentioning; they are at Fenway Park in Boston July 7, 8 and at Randall's Island in NY August 5, 6. I'm definitely going to try to get tickets for the Fenway shows but the Randall's Isle shows fall on the weekend of the OBB, so that one is out.

Anyways, here's to the summer concert season and all the greatness it brings.

I'm Bound to Ramble
All my days with another…

Wine Glasses

2006-03-30T10:11:00.000-08:00

The Gizmodo gadgets weblog posted about a set of interesting wine glasses. They are made of blown glass but shaped to look like solo cups on a stem. They scream let's forget class and sophistication and shout let's just booze it up. Perhaps if these had come out while I was in college, I would be more into wine. They are a bit expensive at $43 a pop, so let's hope Solo comes out with a plastic knockoff.

See their article on the Sommelier Wine Glasses or purchase them at Thorsten Van Elten.

Mardy Bum

2006-03-27T13:04:00.000-08:00

Tonight, I'm going to see the Arctic Monkeys at 9:30 Club with Britto, Owens, Matt, Zoe, and Angela.

Britto first introduced me to them a month or so back. He informed me that they had the fastest selling single in UK history. I went to their site and some fan sites and started listening to them.

They have a good Brit Rock sound that reminds me at times of the Beatles, the Stones and Oasis with bits of Sublime intermixed. The 4 piece band plays quite well together despite playing together for such a short time. Hell they aren't even 21 yet.

Stop making the eyes at me, I'll stop making the eyes at you
And what it is that surprises me, is that I don't really want you to

SanFran

2006-03-16T13:19:00.000-08:00

So I've been out in San Francisco all week for work. Unfortunately, I've done nothing but work and eat at nice restaurants. I got put up in a pretty nice hotel in Union Square which is cool but I haven't had any time to check out the rest of the city. I'd really like to check out some shows at the Fillmore or a chill little bar.

I took a few pictures from my camera phone from the hotel that came out pretty decent. I took more with my regular camera and will post them later.

You can see the bay in the background of the first two.

As luck would have it, Guster is playing the 26th at the Fillmore. I'll be back in town for that week of work so I'll have to hit that up.

I took some pictures of city hall and uploaded them to Yahoo! Photos. Check out my San Fran photos.

2,083

2006-02-28T08:23:00.000-08:00

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart brought up a few great points the other night.

2,083. That's the dollar cost per taxpayer for the Iraq War so far. Now I know what you are thinking 2,083 dollars, that could have allowed me to adopt several underpriveledged children in third world countries or buy an eight ball and have a night with a fancy hooker.

For those of you paying attention that's 250 Billion dollars the Iraq War is costing tax payers. Its slightly higher than the initial $1.7 Billion the Bush administration had said the war would cost. There is a an upside to this though. We are deficit spending!

It's deficit money...they're taking out loans from other countries to cover this. So don't think of that money as $2,000 you don't have. Think of it as $200,000 your grandchildren won't have. And seriously, Fuck Them. They think you smell like ass.

You can view the video clip of Your Tax Dollar$ At War.

OBB IV date change

2006-02-09T11:46:00.000-08:00

The OBB IV date has been changed to August 5^th, 2006. It is now a week earlier than previously stated and the earliest date in its short history. The date had to be changed because my friend Tim decided to get married on the date of the OBB causing a big conflict for me. Wedding or OBB? Wedding or OBB? Now I can do both!

The countdown to the left has been updated to reflect the change of date.

I hate awards shows

2006-02-09T08:44:00.000-08:00

The Grammys were on last night and as with all awards shows, I didn't watch them. I watched Lost instead. I didn't watch primarily due to the fact that they honor record company giants with blown up/manufactured artists not truly worthy of such acclaim. Another award show that honors music pushed by gigantic music companies that pay radio stations to play their artists' music.

Just take a look at the Grammy Awards Nominee List and winners. Pathetic. First off their categories are retarded. Record of the Year is not the same as Album of the Year. And Record of the Year really is Song of the Year. But Song of they Year is really Songwriter of the Year. I'll give it you in logical operators. Check this out.

Album == Album
Record != Album, Record == Song
Song != Song, Song == Songwriter

Why not just call it what is it. If you go out to a music shop and tell the clerk that you want to purchase Joe Nobody's latest record, they won't give you a single or one track recording. They will give you the full length album or record.

And there's the fact that U2 won 5 awards. Those lame jerkoffs won Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, Best Rock Album, and producer. I can see why the won the first one because nobody worthy was nominated. Hell, who wouldn't win against Mariah Carey, Gwen Stefani, Kanye West or Paul McCartney. If those were my only options, I just would have cancelled the award altogether.

For Song of Year, again no competition, songs from Mariah Carey, Rascal Flatts, John Legend and Bruce Springsteen were nominated. Green Day wins for Record of the Year but their song isn't nominated for Songwriting. A song can be the best song (record) of the year but not good enough for songwriting.

As far as Best Rock Album, it won over Coldplay, the Stones, Foo Fighters and Neil Young. Even though every member of the Stones might die at any given moment, I still think they probably had a better album that U2. Oddly enough, a band like the White Stripes was nominated for Best Alternative Album and won, and they are more rock than Coldplay. The White Stripes were also nominated for Best Pop Performance. What are they Pop or Alternative? Neither, they are ROCK.

For Best Rock Performance they beat out Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Franz Ferndinand, and The Killers. Yet again, all these bands should have beat out U2. Hell, the Killers were nominated for the Best Pop Perfromance like the White Stripes. I doubt anyone would agree that they are pop.

Probably, the only bright side of this shitshow was the fact that Alison Krauss + Union Station won every category for country, even though the album was release in late 2004. They truly are amazing unlike U2. Also, it was nice to see the sorry excuse for music, Gretchen Wilson or those sorry bastards Big and Rich not win anything. These overhyped "country" stars should be drug out in the street and shot. Nothing they play is country, its country pop bullshit.

God I hate awards shows.

New Feature

2006-02-08T16:57:00.000-08:00

I was kinda bored so I added a random quote generator to the below the OBB countdown. It randomly picks quotes about politics, drinking, humor, and religion from the likes of Ben Franklin and Thomas Paine to Tucker Max and Homer Simpson.

Enjoy.

Bonnaroo 2006 + other music goodness

2006-02-03T13:58:00.000-08:00

The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival for 2006 has been announced for June 16^th-18^th and the initial artist announcement has been made. Artists from all genres of music will be jamming out. Here's a shortlist of the artists/bands performing with my highlights below.

Radiohead
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Phil Lesh & Friends
Beck
Elvis Costello & the Imposters
moe.
The Neville Brothers
Bela Fleck & the Flecktones
Ben Folds
Robert Randolph & the Family Band
Dr. John
Matisyahu
G. Love & Special Sauce
My Morning Jacket
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
Mike Gordon and Ramble Dove
Medeski Martin & Wood
Nickel Creek
Steve Earle
Blues Traveler
Jerry Douglas
Soulive
Rusted Root
Donavon Frankenreiter
It appears tickets are bit more expensive this year with tickets starting at $169.50 which is up a bit from last year, but still not bad for all that music. Obviously, there will be a lot more artists/bands added so it looks to be another great Roo. Visit the Bonnaroo site for more information.

In other music news, The John Butler Trio is coming back to the US to do a short tour. They are making a stop at the 9:30 Club in April which should be a good.

Glen Phillips is scheduled to play the Birchmere in Alexandria in May. Hopefully, I'll actually try to make this show. He has probably played 6+ times in the DC area over the last 3-4 years and I have somehow missed him every time.

Last night I scooped up the latest EP by Iron and Wine with Calexico entitled In the Reins. It has to be one of the most chill recordings I've ever heard. Samuel Beam's (of Iron and Wine which oddly is just him) delivery is calming and the pedal steel fills adds a very soothing effect. I'm definitely digging He Lays in the Reins and History of Lovers. I decided to download Iron and Wine's set from last year's Bonnaroo because I was so impressed with In the Reins. Listen to the entire EP via the Iron and Wine player or download the Bonnaroo show.

one more drink tonight as your gray stallion rests
where he lays in the reins
for all of the speed and the strength he gave

More new music in 06

2006-01-31T13:50:00.000-08:00

Not only is Ben Harper putting out a new record this winter/spring (see my post) , but so are Robert Randolph and the Family Band and Will Hoge.

RRFB's album isn't due out until May and includes guests like Eric Clapton and Dave Matthews. For more info see the this article.

Will Hoge's latest will be released Feb 7^th in Philadelphia. You can pre-order the new cd starting today from the Will Hoge Store. He rolls into the 9:30 Club March 4^th.

Beer Goggles Exist!

2006-01-25T07:47:00.000-08:00

According to a study done at the University of Glasgow, beer googles exist. Now we all know, the next time your buddy is hitting on an unattractive girl at the pub, its not his fault.

Read the article, Do "beer goggles" really exist?.

License Plates

2006-01-24T15:55:00.000-08:00

I was looking at pictures from college today and couldn't help but laugh at Mike's old license plate. Now this isn't the funniest one he has had since I've known him, but it made me want to post.

His worst one and the one that he caught so much shit for (even to this day) was JMUMOM2. Granted when he changed cars from the mighty big blue Blazer to JMUMOM2 Lebaron he didn't get the plate changed for almost a year. This lead to endless ridicule by every single one of our friends including myself. I guess to college kids this is the funniest thing in the world. Seeing your buddy driving around campus and getting called out as JMUMOM2.

J-45

2006-01-23T13:41:00.000-08:00

So the other day I was browsing Ebay, looking at vintage Gibsons and decided to search for J-45s. I was primarily interested in the 70's models because they are square-shouldered as opposed to the sloped/rounded-shouldered models from all other periods. My uncle happens to own an 72 and I have become quite the fan of this instrument, so I began to casually look for one from this era.

Well, I found a couple of them, decided to bid and was quite surprised when I actually won. I had just won a 1970 Gibson J-45 Deluxe. The guitar arrived on Friday and it has been quite the treat. It was in great shape for a guitar built over 35 years prior and it sounded as amazing as my uncle's 72. It puts out this great bassey, bluesy, mellow tone.

I've been playing it pretty solidly the last few days and Mike was complaining about me not writing about it, so I decided to post and add some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

The front view.

The back view.

The top side.

The bottom side.

The back of the headstock.

Walking by the river's edge
Reach my hands to cup the sky
Run down my arms a bitter blue
Turn to red and the gashes grew

World Series of Beer Pong

2006-01-18T12:39:00.000-08:00

Its true! Two guys from Michigan won the Beer Pong Championship in the World Series of Beer Pong. These guys scored a cool $10 thousand. Who says drinking doesn't pay?

For more information about this great sport, check out the Beer Pong home.

Holes in my head,
Holes in my shoes,
At least there's a hole in my head to fill me with booze.

New Ben Harper Album

2006-01-13T15:42:00.000-08:00

It appears Ben Harper will be releasing a double album March 16^th titled Both Sides of the Gun. Swer.net has the track listing and a link to the Rolling Stone article discussing it.

I have no doubt this album will be the shit. I heard Black Rain from an internet leak, along with Gather Round The Stone and Get It Like You Like It from this past summer's club tour.

You don't fight for us but expect us to die for you
You have no sympathy for us but still I cry for you
Now you may kill the revolutionary
But the revolution you can never bury
And it won't be long 'til the people (fill) the streets
We come for you
One and all

Buy me something!

2006-01-13T11:41:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had the urge to buy me something but never had any idea of what to get. Well, luckily Amazon has saved you some time and work. I have created a Wish List that you can access to find that perfect gift. My Wish List includes a variety of things, for example: CDs, DVDs, and Books. I'll keep it updated with items I buy myself, but don't fear, there will always be something else that I want.

In other news, Bonnaroo 2006 has been announced for June 16-18. The organizers have even decided to reduce the total number of attendants by 10,000 this year so hopefully it won't be as crowded.

By the way, Baby O has started blogging about this, that and the other. Check him out, geoffrioinns.

Sometimes we might fall
Stand up taller
Someday we may graduate into a perfect state of mine

The OBB IV

2005-11-18T07:10:00.000-08:00

Kids the date has been set for the OBB IV for August 12^th, 2006. So mark you calendars and get ready for yet another crazy day of boozing. In case you were wondering how many days were left until this glorious day, check the countdown to your left.

Farmer Jack, where were you when I was 16,
Farmer Jack, life was dull 'til you came on the scene.

Viva La Vegoose

2005-11-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

Well I just got back from Vegas for the first and hopefully annual Vegoose Music Festival. It was quite unbelievable. Lots of good tunes to groove to, lots of alcohol to booze to, lots of blackjack to lose to, and plenty of strippers to...well you know.

We headed out Thursday night from Dulles and by the time we hit the Vegas strip the drinks from the flight had kicked in quite nicely. We made it to the Riveria where we were staying and headed for the tables. The Riveria is one of the last old breed casinos in Las Vegas but at least our room was nice and clean. Neither the craps table or the blackjack table was doing us any good so we did what any single 20 something males would do in the city of Sin. STRIP CLUB. We grabbed a cab and told the cabbie to take us to the finest establishment the town had to offer. His suggestion, the Spearmint Rhino.

Upon paying the cover charge and looking out across the widely open club, I could see why this was the premier "Gentleman's Club". I swear I have never seen so many hot woman in one place in my life (and topless at that). They were from all over the damn place. I guess there is some truth in strippers working to pay for school. If you are ever in Vegas, I recommend you stop by.

On Friday, we did the touristy thing. We walked down the strip and checked out all the things that were going on in them. The mall in Caesar's was nuts. In one part of the ceiling is all cloud covered at night with the moon out. It was real trippy.

We eventually got tired and like true alcoholics that we are, we settled down at a good outside bar to relax. Not that really matters. You can drink wherever you want on the strip. It really is like Cousin Eddie from Vegas Vacation walking around with 24oz cans of Budweiser.

After doing that for a while, we decided to check out the Hard Rock. It was definitely one of the coolest places of the whole trip. They had good tunes playing and a really chill atmosphere. We had some drinks and played some blackjack and craps in hopes that our luck would turn. It eventually did and we all walked out of the Hard Rock in much better moods than we we had at our own casino the night before.

By the time we had finished up at the Hard Rock it was time for the first of many concerts we would see that weekend. We headed to the Alladin to see of my favorites, Dave Matthews + Tim Reynolds. They played a pretty decent set overall. You could tell they were a bit rusty, having not played together for quite some time. Highlights for me were Typical, Stay Or Leave, Warehouse, Billies, and Save Me. Unfortunately, Dave decided to play some of the songs off Stand Up, DMB's latest shit album. Had it not been for those 3 wasted songs, the setlist could have been much better. Hopefully, they will make up for it by having a spring Dave + Tim tour.

More to come later...

Come as melody
Come as energy
Come as memories
Come at all...

Presidential Prayer

2005-08-17T13:58:00.000-07:00

My sister sent me a link to the Presidential Prayer Kids site. This site is hilarious. Yet another a site for religious nutjobs and their brainwashed kids.

Look at some of the shit they want kids to pray for:

So it is the perfect time to pray that President and Mrs. Bush will have a terrific time at their ranch ... and ask God to help them have fun!

or this:

Pray for America's new Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton. Ambassador Bolton started his job this week after a rough time with Senate confirmation hearings. President Bush appointed him while Congress was in recess this week -that's a way of bypassing the final approval from the Senate. The President said that Mr. Bolton had the approval of a majority of senators, so he felt it was good to allow him to get to work!

That last line about the President having the approval of a majority of the senators is the best. If that were the case, then why didn't that jackass Bolton get confirmed?

Shouldn't kids be praying that the President come clean with America about the War in Iraq or for the President to keep his promise to fire anyone who leaked a CIA operative's name to the press? Perhaps they should pray for the President to stop making such an ass of out of himself everytime he speaks.

These people need to stop drinking the Kool-Aid.

Vegoose...

2005-08-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

Well it looks like I'm heading to Vegas for a long weekend of festivities in October. That's right, my buddies Mike, Nick and myself will be heading to Vegoose. For those of you that are out of the loop, Vegoose is a Bonnaroo event. It is all going down Halloween weekend October 28-31.

Las Vegas, now that's one hell of a venue for a festival: Drinking, Gambling, Strippers, & Rock 'N' Roll. That's one mighty fine cocktail.

The lineup for this festival is looking pretty solid as well. The short list includes the following:

Dave Matthews + Friends

Panic

Jack Johnson

Trey Anastasio

Phil Lesh + Friends

String Cheese

Govt Mule

North Mississippi Allstars

moe.

They are even planning late night shows throughtout the weekend, so who knows how many other bad ass shows will be going on.

I just scooped up Nickel Creek's latest cd Why Should the Fire Die?. I highly recommend it. They never cease to amaze me. Go out and get it!

I ordered tickets to see John Butler Trio when they play at 9:30 Club September 29^th. This dude rips up a 12 string and gives new life to the instrument. Get tickets while you can.

Well maybe I'm crazy
But laughing out loud will make it all it all alright
But maybe we're all a little crazy
And laughing out loud will make the pain pass by

Ben Harper 07/25/2005

2005-07-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

Monday night I had the pleasure of seeing Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals for the 3^rd time. It was the first time he has played in the DC area in 2 years (last time at Bull Run Park in June 2003).

This show was one for the record books. Ben played for over 3 hours with 31 songs. It was definitely cool to see some of the new songs from There Will Be A Light (minus the Blind Boys) mixed in with some of my favorite older tunes. The band even threw in some new tunes that they have been playing for a few months now.

My favorites of the night were Ground on Down, Temporary Remedy, Where Could I Go, Roses From My Friends, and a new arrangement of Steal My Kisses that went into Toots' Pressure Drop.

For those that missed the show, it was a good one. Just look at the setlist.

• God Fearing Man
• Ground On Down
• Jah Work
• Brown Eyed Blues
• Wicked Man
• Everything
• Burn One Down
• She's Only Happy In The Sun
• Breakin' Down
• Temporary Remedy
• Please Bleed
• Amen Omen
• Where Could I Go
• How Many Miles Must We March?

encore 1 (solo)
• Another Lonely Day
• Widow Of A Living Man
• Number Three
• Roses From My Friends
• I Shall Not Walk Alone
• Walk Away
• There Will Be A Light
• When It's Good
• Pleasure And Pain %

encore 2
• Steal My Kisses -> Pressure Drop
• Get It Like You Like It
• Homeless Child *
• Dressed In Black *
• Gather Round The Stone *
• The Woman In You
• Ain't Too Proud To Beg
• With My Own Two Hands -> War

* w/ Charlie Musselwhite on harmonica
% w/ Tom Freund on guitar

Cause a pressure drop,
oh pressure Oh yeah pressure drop a drop on you
I say a pressure drop, oh pressure
Oh yeah pressure drop a drop on you

The OBB III (awww yeah)

2005-07-26T07:07:00.000-07:00

That's right, the OBB 3 is around 3 weeks away. This year's event should be even better than the previous two. An extra keg has been added this year so this should lead to even more girls making out.

Lots of keg beer, flip cup and live music should keep this one entertaining. If you have never been before, I highly recommend attending this one. This says it all:

You gotta treat yo momma with respect

Sharing in the Roo

2005-07-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

I've been back from Bonnaroo III for almost a month now and feel like its time to reflect on such a great experience.

One band and one pedal-steel player highlighted my Bonnaroo 2005 experience. The John Butler Trio and Robert Randolph.

JBT, Australia's own roots rock band, reminds me a lot of Ben Harper. Apparently, he is half Aussie and half American. I finally picked up his CD last weekend and it is badass. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys good music.

Then there's Mr. Randloph, who played with almost every act (with the exception of Warren Haynes who actually did play with everyone). The man can seriously get down on any song. He rocked out with his side project The Word. He highlighted DMB's Lousiana Bayou and Watchtower performances. He even took the stage with Widespread Panic to close Sunday's action.

Actually, I really enjoyed a third band that weekend. It was Saturday afternoon and we were just walking around when I saw Karl Denson's Tiny Universe on this small stage. They completely jammed out. I need to scoop up some of their CDs. They have a great jazz groove feel to them.

The weather was actually pretty accommadating as well. It was really hot Thursday morning when we pulled up to the campground. Its hard to beat the Summer Tennessee heat. Friday ended up being partly cloudy, which by all means suited me just fine. I'm not a big fan of sweating balls all day long. Saturday was overcast before it turned to rain and basically it just drizzled all day. This of course means one thing, lots of dirty wet hippies and mud. And we all know how much hippies love mud. However, a bit of rain didn't stop the grooves, so I rocked the poncho and continued the jamming.

Since the weather was so moderate, I actually got to do some pretty decent drinking, either sitting at camp throwing down the frostys or at the shows/beer tents. It was a lot different from the Roo in '03, where it was so ungodly hot every day. That year, you could drink like 3-5 beers and start to feel good but then you would so damn hot you had to suck down like 3 bottles of water to kept from dehydrating.

The only debacle of the weekend was my excursion to Walmart to get a contact case on Friday morning. I apparently forgot mine and decided to walk to Walmart rather than have my eyes burn for the next few days. The walk should have been OK because it was around a mile away and basically the other side of the campground. I thought, no big deal right. Wrong. I decided to take the long way around. I walked 4 miles before a sheriff pulled over and gave me a lift. I have never been so happy to see a police officer in my life. That morning totally sucked ass.

For Posterity's sake, here's the breakdown of what acts I saw at Bonnaroo 2005:

Friday

Alison Krauss & Union Station

Allman Bros

Saturday

Parts of Gov't Mule/Yonder Mountain String Band

Karl Denson's Tiny Universe

Parts of the Black Crowes/Jack Johnson

Parts of Keller Williams/O.A.R.

Will Hoge

Sunday

Toots & the Maytals

Part of Citizen Cope

Bob Weir and Ratdog

John Butler Trio

The Word

Will Hoge

So that was my Bonnaroo experience. Lots of relaxing, eating carnie food and listening to great tunes.

On a side note, my friend Jill sent me this link and I think its great that a Thank You has finally been said to all the Happy Hour Heroes.

I can be loud man, I can be silent
I could be young or I could be old.
I can be a gentleman, I can be violent.
I could turn hot or I can be cold.
I could be just like the calm before the storm
Waiting for all hell yeah to break loose.
I could be innocent or I could be guilty
Doesn't mean that I man believe in no noose

The Roo

2005-06-07T14:32:00.000-07:00

The 2005 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival is a mere few days away and its going to be one hell of a time. It will be nice to get away for a few days and do nothing but relax and jam for 4 straight days.

I'm thinkin about checking out the following shows for the weekend:

Friday

The Gourds

Alison Krauss & Union Station

Drive By Truckers -> Jurassic 5

Allman Brothers

Beveneto/Russo Duo feat. Mike Gordon

Saturday

Kings of Leon

Gov't Mule

Yonder Mountain -> Particle

Jack Johnson -> Keller Williams

Will Hoge -> Panic

Trey [late night]

De La Soul [late night]

Sunday

Toots & the Maytals

Citizen Cope

O.A.R. -> My Morning Jacket

The Word

Superjam

Panic

Old Dominon Beer Fest

2005-06-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

Well the Old Dominion Beer Festival is fast approaching. Hopefully this year will be as wild and crazy as last year's. I just can't say no to $2 beers all day long and the drunken servers who usually let you drink for free after they get sloppy drunk.

Mark your calendars kids, June 24-26 is fast approaching.

Talking Jesus Dolls <- this is great

2005-04-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

Hey kids! Come get your Talking Jesus, Mary and Moses Dolls...

I wonder which marketing genius came up with this lame "toy". It won't be long before all kinds of religious nut jobs will buy tons of them.

Marcus discusses boozing

2005-03-28T13:22:00.000-08:00

My buddy Mark decided to start a Blog since he is so busy at work. You can check it out at Belligerent-Z. You will be able to find out what it's like to be a drunk in the metropolis of Manassas.

drinking convention 2005

2005-03-15T13:25:00.000-08:00

This is the kind of convention I need to be heading to. It's called the Modern Drunkard Convention and it is in Denver of all places. A weekend of heavy drinking at high altitude make for one hell of a train wreck. The booze fest is sponsored by Modern Drunkard Magazine.

Holes in my shoes
At least there's a hole in my head to fill me with booze

Congress kills free speech

2005-03-09T07:48:00.000-08:00

What I hate more than anything is censorship. This is a great article that talks about how we are loosing our freedom and I couldn't agree more with the author. You can find it here: http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2003/

We are "promoting freedom" all around the world and while taking it away in our own country at the same time. When will our government regulate something that matters?

He who dares not offend cannot be honest.
- Thomas Paine

In the cool shade of the banana tree

2005-03-06T13:02:00.000-08:00

It's been a few weeks since the last update so I'll fill you in on what's been happening: Owens moves out of his parent's house and my first trip to Atlantic City.

Owens' new house
After a long stint at his parent's house, Owens decided to move out and into this old house in Manassas. It seemed simple enough but nothing he does is simple. First off, the house was in terrible condition. The whole house was filthy, smelly, and probably hadn't been painted in over 20 years.

He takes it upon himself to clean the place up. Mike spends the first two weeks of February cleaning and painting. Luckily, his family and friends chipped and he was able to move in. [I spent a lovely Saturday night painting the trim in the living room, damn I'm a good friend.] Otherwise, I think he would still be hard at it. I'll get some pictures of the before and after just to show how bad the place looked.

Well, we get him moved in and of course what else do you do when you move in. What else do you do but throw a party? We snagged a keg after driving to every grocery store in the Hole. [Note: If you didn't know, Manassas isn't a party town.] The usual characters show up for the party: Joe the Jew, Zazz, Marcus, KT, Traci, Jill, Paradise, Emmy, the Brothers Owens (Tom and Jeff) and a few others.

Granted this wasn't a big party but a keg more than makes up for it. Sadly, we didn't finish the keg off, but that doesn't mean we didn't try. I woke up the next morning feeling like I got hit by a bus. The beer was flowing like water and apparently I thought I was stranded in the Sahara in dire thirst.

The Atlantic City trip
So last Saturday, Tim, Casey, and 7 other guys went to AC. We wanted to send our buddy Mike off on a high note before he left for the army. What better way than gambling in a casino and watching women dance naked for dollar bills.

The evening starts on a high note, Tim and I went to the Wild Wild West casino and got in on a hot craps table. [Which is a lot for me since I'm not much of a gambler.] A guy to our right was placing all kinds of bets: hard 6s, 8s, the Horn, 6, 8, 9 , 10. The guy was making a killing. Tim and I saw him pocket like $1500 and then just made other bets with his profits. Talk about a hot hand in a dice game. Well we had to meet the other guys so we cashed out. I ended up $60 and I think Tim was about even.

We head back to the Sands to meet the rest of the group and head to the strip club. Talk about a sketchy place. Its one of those BYOB joints that has a bar strategically located right beside it. [I'd imagine the owners of each establishment are pretty good buddies.] Anyways, we wait in line for about 20 minutes and finally head in.

It has all the characteristics of your typical strip joint: dim lighting, half naked women, and shitloads of drunken guys flinging dollar bills. At first, it doesn't seem to be that great of place, the girl dancing wasn't too attractive and probably wasn't in the best of shape, but what do you expect when you are in dirty ass Jersey.

Oh, Fee, you're trying to live a life
That's completely free.
You're racing with the wind
You're flirting with death
So have a cup of coffee
And catch your breath

BTW - for those that didn't notice, the countdown to the OBB3 is now located under the About Me section.

he's not on time, he's always on time

2005-02-11T15:40:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I updated but I doubt anyone is reading it anyways. So here's what I've been up to lately...

I have stumbled upon one of the funniest websites/blogs in a long time. If you get the chance check it out, Tucker Max. The guy has the craziest stories about partying, boozing, hooking up with hot chicks, and all sorts of mayhem. [Note: If you are the type of person that gets offended at all, I'd advise against visiting the site.]

Last weekend, we boozed it up at McFadden's for Doug and Al's birthdays. It was one of those $20 all you can drink 8-11 things. What does that mean? I got hammered. Starting the night off with a large Beam and Coke, I realized I had to switch to beer. Needless to say this just lead to shots and car bombs. Around 1 (I think?), I had to leave the bar early because I didn't think I could stand up any longer.

The weekend before we went to the Warner Theatre downtown to a comedy show. The opening guy Stephen Lynch was awesome. Instead of just plain stand up, he sings funny/dirty songs while playing the acoustic guitar. He was definitely the highlight of the evening. One of the highlights was a song called She's Gottta Smile, where he talks about going out to the bar and checking out a hot chick and her fat friend gets in the way. If you get a chance, check him out. The main act of the evening was Mitch Hedberg, who is a very funny comedian that spits out a bunch of one liners. Unfortunately, Mitch was shitfaced when he took the stage and his act ended up being shitty. At one point he was lying on the stage just muttering into the microphone. His performance killed the crowd and eventually our night.

Last weekend tickets for the 4th Bonnaroo went on sale and I scooped one up. It looks to be a hell of a lineup this year as compared to last year's. Acts include Dave Matthews Band, Widespread Panic, Alison Krauss, The Allman Brothers, Jack Johnson and a list too long for me to list here. Go to the Bonnaroo site if you are interested. It should be a good time this year much like when I went to the second one.

like rain on the windshield
I'm moving through the night
roaming the time zones
filmed in black and white
you're here in my headphones
each and every mile
falling asleep with the lights on all night

Crowing

2005-01-11T14:29:00.000-08:00

I know it has been a while since my last post. So I'll recap Christmas, New Years, and the past week in as few sentences as possible. Here goes.

Went back to BC for Christmas and we opened gifts at midnight Christmas morning. I got an iRiver, two poker chip sets, gift cards, and Jon Stewart's America (The Book) - the book is hilarious, everyone should read it. I spent most of the day with the family which was nice since I hadn't seen most of them in a while. Then again, I think there is a reason I don't see some of them but every so often.

Well, moving on to New Years, I went to McFadden's in DC for the night. It was a good party, good music, good food, and most importantly lots of booze for a price. Did you really expect all that free? It was a pretty exhausting 3 day weekend of boozing. Going back to work that week wasn't the most exciting thing. Moving on to this past weekend...

This past weekend I had the luxury off moving into my new place. My lease isn't up yet (the 19th) but this was the only time I could move (on a weekend that is). Note to self, the night before moving, don't stay out all night and get trashed then get no sleep. That's right, I was hungover and tired all day which was lovely. With help from Tim and my sis, I was able to get most of the crap into my new room at Tim and Casey's house. And what better way to top a move day like a late night drinking. Yep, you guessed it, we went out for our buddy Jon's farewell. He wants to be a Navy Seal or something. So we all went to McFadden's and boozed it up. Nothing like a good drinking to take away my tiredness.

Well its the start of another week and I'm worn out from the past two weekends. I hope to get some sleep this coming weekend since I'll be going home to see the parents. The fam is going to see Alison Krauss + Union Station in Roanoke. It should be a good show.

Staring at a cold little hand
Reading fault lines
Of a shell of a man
You were waiting for a word from above
Wouldn't you know it
No answer ever did come

...in a minute I’ll be free

2004-12-20T22:25:00.000-08:00

JMU won the Division I-AA National Championship this past Friday night. It was the first championship for JMU in football and hopefully this will be a stepping stone for us to jump to Div I-A. The JMU alumni packed the house at Bailey's to watch our Dukes crush Montana. The first half we started a bit slow and everyone was really nervous. However, by the second half JMU turned it on to put the Grizzlies down for good.

Saturday was the Kolar Christmas Party and from I can remember it was good times. Tons of food, kegs of beer, and bottles of Beam were all in abundance. It is definitely a good time when you wake up on a couch and not knowing how you got there but definitely glad you made it to the couch instead of the floor.

I spent the majority of Sunday feeling like I got hit by a truck. I napped, watched football, napped some more and then watched more football. It is quite possibly the best cure for a hangover. In fantasy news, the Donkey Punchers knocked out the Shockers to move on to the Super Bowl in the Dunny league. At least now I'm guaranteed of winning my entrance fee plus a few extra bucks.

The weather went from Fall to deep Winter overnight it seems. It was like 60 degrees two weeks ago and now its like 20 with a windchill close to 0. We even had a little bit of snow last night which could be the culprit for the stupid cable going out (on certain channels). I didn't quite understand how the cable could go out on a few select channels and not all at once. Of course it had to go when I was actually in the middle of watching a movie. Go figure.

I'm floating in the blimp a lot
I feel the feeling I forgot
of swimming weightless in the womb
or bouncing gently 'round the room
In a minute I’ll be free
and you’ll be splashing in the sea

BTW - Preet, you are welcome for posting this for you to read at work.

Give it just a little more time...

2004-12-15T20:59:00.000-08:00

Its official JMU has made the I-AA Championship Game this Friday in Chattanooga, TN versus Montana. We will be boozing it up again at Bailey's again like last week. It was a packed house last week for the semis. We got there late but still managed to get smashed. I suppose we should have ate our dinner instead of drinking it.

After Friday's boozefest, the JMU spirit will continue on at the Kolar Christmas Party. This is a party my friend Tara has been having for the past eight years (though this will only be my second I think). Last year was pretty good I would have to say. Drunken Gerald made an appearence and more than likely will show up again.

Speaking of Christmas, I'm about through with my shopping. I knocked out the parents quite easily by getting them a new PC, which was long overdue. And no, this won't spoil it for them since I had the computer shipped to their house and it has already arrived. It is really hard to believe the big day is less than 10 days away. Christmas is hard for me to get into anymore. I guess that's what happens to you if you ever worked retail during the holidays. That was a chaotic 6 years of Christmas at the Locker

Fantasy Football playoffs start this weekend and my Donkey Punchers take on Owens' shit squad the Shockers. The lucky fuck has our head to head edge over the season but I did end the season in 2nd place. So as long as I get past his scrub team, I'm guaranteed a hundred bucks.

Let's Go Dukes!

Some times it comes without warning,
Like the moon in the morning,
It's just one of those things.

Nothing But A Shadow

2004-12-09T22:28:00.000-08:00

Finally, I got the new strings on the guitar and its definitely sounding much better. Previously, I had the Tak tuned down to C so I could play some Ben Harper tunes like Ground on Down and Whipping Boy. Granted its not a slide guitar but playing the slide tuned down is definitely an interesting sound.

My favorite new riff to play is from the song Twist by Phish. It goes something along the lines of:

e----------------------------
B---3----3----3----5----7----
G---4----3----3----5----7----
D---5----3----3----5----7----
A---5----1----5--\7----9-----
E---3------------------------

I really think this is pretty cool to play.

Besides that, I think I might be heading down to OZ in Feb. with Britto and Owens. That will be one hell of a riot.

So unless you have been living in a cave or just don't care about Div IAA football, you would know that JMU is in the Semifinals this weekend. The big game is Friday night at 7PM on ESPN2. Timmy, Owens, and myself will be boozing it up for the game tomorrow(tonight) in Arlington. Also, if you had not heard the Dukes have won the CapitolOneBowl online challenge without playing all of the games. We have 8 wins and the second closest competitor has 4 with 3 games to play.

I find it hard to explain how I got here
I think I can I think I can
Then again I will falter
Dream little darling dream

New Strings

2004-12-07T22:14:00.000-08:00

Another weekend over and its time to look back upon on what went down. Highlights include new guitar strings, seeing the National Christmas Tree, and of course a drunken Saturday night.

After work on Friday, I headed to Guitar Center to grab some new strings for the Tak. As always, I went into the expensive guitar section and played some guitars I dream of someday owning. Once I got that out of my system I headed to the counter to pick up my strings and head home. Upon arriving home, I realize I grabbed the wrong set of strings. I was a bit disappointed because I wanted to put the new strings on, but it would have to wait for another day. Later on, I meet my buddy Tim, his girlfriend Caroline, and our friend Molly out at Coastal Flatts. We have some beers and then go back to his house to hang out for a bit. I played his new guitar, which by the way sounds really sweet and mellow, then head home

Saturday starts off with a 10 am wakeup call from my friend Dave. I wasn't too happy about getting woken up on a day where I can sleep in, especially when I couldn't fall back to sleep. I get up and out of the house to exchange the strings I bought the previous night. I meet him and his wife at the metro and we head into the city to walk around. We stop by Union Station and then head over to the White House to check out the tree. We check out the tree, the buring Yule logs, and all the other garb that is on the south lawn. It was the first time that I'd seen the tree in person and I wasn't as impressed with this tree compared to the one in Rockefeller Center. It started to get dark so we decided to call it a day.

I get home and find out that JMU won its playoff game against Furman and that Tech beat Miami to win the ACC (those lucky bastards). This weekend we meet W&M again and hopefully we won't loose as time expires in this one. If we win, we will advance for the National Championship (of Div I-AA that is).

Well its about boozing time, so I head over to Tim's house with a handle of Beam. We have a few drinks then head to McFaddens to get the night under way. We slam beers, shots and get pretty loaded before heading to this party. A trip to the Ice Luge and a few beers and the details of the remainder of the night get pretty fuzzy after that. I think I spent the majority of the night joking and laughing with these dudes while we all spoke in Scottish/Irish accents. Who knows why?? I was smashed and it seemed like a good idea at the time. We cabbed back to Caroline's (but I don't recall the ride) to crash.

Sunday arrives and the only thing on the brain is, well the only two things on the brain are: football and recover from hangover. I spend the majority of the day transplanted on the couch and keeping track of the fantasy team. The football day ends and my Bears win, along with my fantasy team. Not only that, I knocked Zazzaro's Blazers out of the playoffs and I secured my place in them. I can feel the super bowl prize ready to be claimed by the Donkey Punchers. A bit of good news for Skins fans, they actually won and put up more than 18 points. Who would have thought?

Every moral has a story
every story has an end
every battle has its glory
and its consequence

Thanksgiving in the Noke

2004-11-30T20:44:00.000-08:00

I went home to good ole Roanoke this weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was a good to catch up with the fam and eat good food for once. Unfortunately, the sorry ass Cowboys beat my pathetic Bears. What better way to drown your sorrows and full stomach by boozing it up with old buddies. We started off at Joe the jew's house then proceeded downtown to hit up the bars. I get hammered and we go for some late night Texas Tavern. If you are ever in Noke you have to try it. I highly recommend a cheesey and a bowl. Though you may regret it the next day, as most do.

The rest of the weekend was rather boring with going out downtown both nights followed up with more TT late night Saturday. A weekend of sleeping on couches, floors, and my old bed make me feel glad to be back home.

Saldy my beloved Wahoos lost to the Chokies in Blacksburg based upon some bad officiating and big plays by Tech. On a high note, JMU won in its opening round playoff game against Lehigh. The Dukes play Furman this weekend and hopefully our team will take the next step towards a national championship.

You tricked me like the others
And now I don't belong
The simple smiles and good times seem all wrong

9:30 Love

2004-11-23T15:30:00.000-08:00

So I just saw G. Love & Special Sauce in a 2 night stand at the 9:30 Club downtown. Tristan Prettyman and Slightly Stoopid opened with acoustic sets. Tristan was solid and looking hot as usual. I talked to her and told her how awesome her music is. Her performance with G both nights were a nice touch. Slightly Stoopid's performance was pretty cool both nights with their mixing of reggae, ska, and acoustic rock blues tunes.

Night one was a very upbeat show and had a lot of crowd favorites along with tunes from the new album. It was rather unfortunate the crowd wasn't as attentive and quite talkative during the slower blues jams. I did enjoy some I-76 and the Rock & Roll (Shout Outs Back to the Rappers) as a tribute to the ODB.

The 2nd night would have to be my favorite though because he kicked it back to older jams along with throwing in some new tunes. The crowd was great and smaller, thus making the performance a lot more intimate. My favorite tunes of the evening were the Fishing Song, Shooting Hoops, and Parasite. I was a bit disappointed with the Pussy Song not getting played, but overall I have to say this was one of the best 2 night runs I've been to at the club.

On another music note the Nirvana Box Set came out today which I'm stoked about picking up.

Turkey day is right around the corner and I'm heading down to good ole BC for some good homecooking that I have been longing for many months. It's going to be great being able to eat all the turkey, mashed potatos, homemade rolls, green beans, mac & cheese throughout the day. I will definitely be taking the traditional nap while watching football.

On another note, I'm glad to see that somebody is reading this and Jill was kind enough to post a comment, though she did have to create a Blog herself. Apparently, I had the comments part only available for people who are registered bloggers. I changed the setting, so feel free to comment the shit out of it.

Love myself better than you,
Knowing it's wrong but what should I do

What a weekend...

2004-11-17T18:04:00.000-08:00

So the weekend boozefest started off at Sweet Water. After 3 pale ales, I moved on to Manassas to meet Marcus. We make it back to his house somehow (I don't really recall how). I raid his fridge and drunk dial a few of his friends (for reasons unknown).

I wake up on the couch and feel like I got hit by a bus. I stumble into Damon's to meet Owens and Stephen for lunch. Needless to say I looked rough. I ordered a tall glass of water and suck it down like cheap tequila in a dirty bar in Tijuana. I drive home, plant myself on the couch where I reside the rest of the day.

Owens and Stephen show up with some beers later that evening. We have drink a few then Owens bails because he has to work the next day. We head to this party and upon arrival they are out of beer. We bail and head to Ned's and proceed to booze the night away. We check out the band thats playing downstairs, they are horrible to say the least. They play bad covers of Phish, G. Love, and their original tunes.

Sunday arrives and I head out to go to the Skins game with my friend Sarah and her roommate Jess. Jess drives and just as we are about 3 miles from the exit, the car starts acting up. Luckily we make it to the parking lot. Jess turns the car off and it never regains life. We are stranded at FedEx field. At least we can look forward to the game and drinking some beers. We get in and the game starts in typical skins fashion; one debacle right after another on offense. What better time to make a beer run. Skins loose (what's new) and we decide to metro back to Arlington since the car is no use. I finally make it back home and I'm exhausted.

Monday morning arrives way too soon (as always) and its back to work. Unfortunately, I get to start the week sick (sore throat) and tired from lack of real sleep. All and all, not a bad weekend.

With this resigned,
The letter I sign

Might as well...

2004-11-10T10:09:00.000-08:00

Since everyone else on the planet appears to be doing it, I might as well follow. More to come later.

Bound to be some change in my pocket,
Bound to be some change in my soul,
Bound to be some good things coming to me,
This time around