I'm shocked on the news of the death of professional baseball player Ken Caminiti. No...I'm not a basefall fan (I've never been to a baseball game in my life) but I had the opportunity to meet him when I played his body double for a commercial filmed in San Diego (when he was a San Diego Padre) for a Nike Baseball TV commercial. As I recall, Ken Caminiti was definitely not the sharpest crayon in the box on the set of the TV commercial. He definitely was not the sharpest crayon by his use of cocaine and steroids. Although I found him to be mentally dull, apparently he was a good baseball player who garnered the admiration of his loving fans.

According to the Associated Press, "The three-time All-Star third baseman often was in trouble the last few years. His 15-year big league career ended in 2001, five seasons after he led the Padres to a division title and was a unanimous pick for MVP." The dispatch from the AP continues to say that Caminiti hoped to get back into the game, possibly in a position that would allow him to mentor younger players about avoiding the mistakes he made. Caminiti did return to baseball this year, serving as a spring training instructor with San Diego.

So sad...






Posted by Hello

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......since when am I "for sale"??? Nobody said anything to me!
Posted by Hello

Now I've heard everything...

I have little or no respect for those in the education field. They're the ones who have fucked up generations (including myself) with their newfangled theories...to the point that when I wanted to buy 10 fifty-five cent stamps, the cashier at the post office couldn't figure out that the final bill was going to be $5.50.

This is what has me screaming to high heaven and which just proves my points that those who are engaged in teaching teachers have no concept of reality. The Boston Herald reports that teachers should no longer use red pens to mark up students papers and tests. "A mix of red and blue, the color purple embodies red's sense of authority but also blue's association with serenity, making it a less negative and more constructive color for correcting student papers, color psychologists said. Purple calls attention to itself without being too aggressive. And because the color is linked to creativity and royalty, it is also more encouraging to students."

"I do not use red," said Robin Slipakoff, who teaches second and third grades at Mirror Lake Elementary School in Plantation, Fla. "Red has a negative connotation, and we want to promote self-confidence. I like purple. I use purple a lot."

The unfortunate part is that the older generation of teachers who have been in the classroom for 30 years or so are retiring, and still have the ability to think straight. The article says, "

Red has other defenders. California high-school teacher Carol Jago, who has been working with students for more than 30 years, said she has no plans to stop using red. She said her students do not seem psychologically scarred by how she wields her pen. And if her students are mixing up "their," "there," and "they're," she wants to shock them into fixing the mistake. "We need to be honest and forthright with students," Jago said. "Red is honest, direct, and to the point. I'm sending the message, 'I care about you enough to care how you present yourself to the outside world.' "

These so called "educators" are the same people who can't think straight, and are raising generations of future citizens who need everything sugar coated.

Shakespeare said, "Kill the lawyers." I say, "Beat some sense into the namby-pamby limp-wristed educators who cover up their own incompetence by encouraging others to be incompetent."

The thought occurred to me today that right-wing Bible banging conservatives keep going around doin' their "praise the lord" theater thinking that they are going to go to by straightshot to heaven. They say as a part of their mantra that the Bible teaches us not to judge others....but aren't they judging themselves when they go around harrassing those who don't share their views....discriminate against gay people, etc. ??? They say they are convinced that they are going to be in the express lane to heaven. But how do they really know that? It just might be that they might do their dastardly things in this life on earth, but when they go to heaven that they don't find a "lane closed" sign???????

Like millions of Americans I watched the Bush/Kerry "dog and pony show" called a "debate" and I have to agree with most spin doctors that it was a draw between the two. They both spewed a lot of hyperbole and statistics and really said nothing new. Until we fix the electoral process so we can get better candidates, we will be stuck with candidates who are really cut from the same cloth. Their positions really don't differ from one another....it all comes down to personalities.

My support of President Bush continues to be tepid at best.

Tonight I met by coincidence with one of the gentle souls that I have come to know over the past couple of years. He gave me one of these buttons to hang on myself. "We have to do anything to get rid of Bush," he said. "He lied and couldn't wait to start a war." I kept silent and thinking to myself, I DON'T WANT everybody to vote because they are so vulnerable to political diatribe and propaganda. Never mind that the CIA, the British equivalent of the CIA, Russian President Putin, and the sacrosanct head of the Democratic party, Bill Clinton, all advised President Bush about the weapons of mass destruction that Saddam had in his possession at some time. It is so tiresome to me to have to hear this crap. Then we you have Sen. Kerry who has flipflopped on this issue (PROVEN!) on this issue some 15 times. OPEN YOUR MINDS, PEOPLE!
Posted by Hello

A friend of mine reminded me today.........

"It Takes A Village"

Only problem is most villages come with a resident idiot.

While it is no doubt devastating to lose a loved one in war, I'm so sick and tired of hearing how parents of our Iraqi war dead go complaining and make publc spectacles of themselves. Why in the first place did their kids join the military in the first place? War is hell. And as long as human beings engaged in hegemony and war, they will die. It is happening in 2004, it has happened since the beginning of time.

(09-16) 11:09 PDT HAMILTON, N.J. (AP) --

A woman wearing a T-shirt with the words "President Bush You Killed My Son" and a picture of a soldier killed in Iraq was detained Thursday after she interrupted a campaign speech by First lady Laura Bush.

Police escorted Sue Niederer of Hopewell, N.J., from a rally at a firehouse after she demanded to know why her son, Army 1st Lt. Seth Dvorin, 24, was killed in Iraq. Dvorin died in February while trying to disarm a bomb.

My goodness, Al Gore these days looks like a grandmother dressed up in her husband's clothes!

Posted by Hello

Can we say "paranoid"? And it is not because the Dems are all of a sudden interested in preserving the rights of black voters! They have to say "somethng" just to keep getting in the headlines.

WASHINGTON (AP) - John Kerry suggested Saturday night that Republicans may try to keep black voters from casting their ballots to help President Bush win in November. "We are not going to stand by and allow another million African American votes to go uncounted in this election," the Democratic presidential nominee told the Congressional Black Caucus.

"We are not going to stand by and allow acts of voter suppression, and we're hearing those things again in this election."

Can we collectively say "catwoman"? Or "this silver screen is too small for the both of us"?


Bacall hits out at co-star Kidman

(BBC News) "Veteran actress Lauren Bacall has labelled co-star Nicole Kidman a 'beginner' after an ITV journalist described Kidman as a 'legend'. 'She's not a legend. She's a beginner... she can't be a legend at whatever age she is,' Bacall told GMTV.

Kidman, 37, and Bacall, 79, are at the Venice Film Festival to promote their film Birth. Bacall plays Kidman's mum.
Bacall told a recent press conference she and Kidman had a 'fabulous relationship both on screen and off'. 'I love working with a young actress,' said Bacall.

The pair also appeared together in Lars von Trier's Dogville last year. "

Isn't this an oxymoron....Catholicism for Dummies? And yes, it is a real book which I saw tonight at Barnes and Noble. Perhaps there are some good chapters on how to prepare one's child to be molested by a priest. And of course, I'm sure there will be a complete guide to understanding why the Spanish Inquisition was necessary and how the "dark ages" in Europe were the golden years of the Catholic church with all of the torture and murder they perpetrated. Incredible that this book even exists at a time when the world is starting to understand the evils of the Catholic church.
Posted by Hello

I know the elitest progressives will wring their hands and huff and puff....but the following is the pure, unadulterated truth. I welcome a rebuttal....and will publish it on my blog.



Go Ahead................I Dare You!


Enter Mexico illegally.
Never mind immigration quotas, visas,
international law, or any of that nonsense.

Once there, demand that the local government provide
free medical care for you and your entire family.
Demand bilingual nurses and doctors.

Demand free bilingual local government forms, bulletins, etc. Procreate abundantly.
Deflect any
criticism of this allegedly irresponsible reproductive behavior with, "It is a cultural United States thing. You would not understand, pal."

Keep your American identity strong.
Fly Old Glory from your rooftop, or proudly display it in your
front window or on your car bumper.

Speak only English at home, and in public,
and insist that your children do likewise.

Demand classes on American culture in the Mexican school system.

Demand a local Mexican driver license. This will afford other legal rights and will go far to legitimize your unauthorized, illegal,
presence in Mexico.

Insist that local Mexican law enforcement teach English to all its officers.

Good luck! You'll be demanding for the rest of time.

Because it will never happen.

In Mexico or any other country in the world...

Except right here.

Land of the Naive.

God Bless America--She needs it.

(Author unknown)
2004

To be submitted to local newspapers' Letter to the Editor sections:

Sorrowful reports in the world press depict the tears and wails of mourning echoing through the streets of Beslan, Russia in the wake of the school hostage-taking that left more than 350 people dead — nearly half of them children. Russian President Vladimir Putin defiantly says on his country’s television sets, "what happened was a terrorist act that was inhuman and unprecedented in its cruelty.” As sad as this all may be, seemingly so conveniently forgotten to the world is the unprecedented terrorism, inhumanity and cruelty inflicted by Russia (in those days called “Soviet Russia”) on Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania for over half-a-century.

Forgotten is the time when the Russians grabbed tens of thousands of Balts – including women and children – and senselessly deported them to Siberian gulags and death camps. Forgotten and now silent are the Russian trucks which busily snatched and dragged men, women, and children off the street of the Baltic capitols, kicking, crying to certain torture and death.

Forgotten are the thousands and thousands of Balts who had to flee for their lives away from their homelands to avoid the systematic, brutal, oppressive Soviet occupation which lasted for 56 years. Forgotten are the arrests and executions of innocent citizens, massive deportations to Siberia, and a systematic effort to make the Latvians, Estonians, and Lithuanians a minority in their own country by flooding it with Russian speaking immigrants from Soviet controlled republics.

So as you try to make sense of what has happened on your tear-stained cheeks of your face, Beslan, please, please, don’t cry for me.


Ivars Bezdechi
San Diego, CA

President Bush might not be the brightest bulb in the four-pack, but I still support his re-election.
Posted by Hello

"Beat Me Daddy Eight To The Bar

(written by Don Raye, Hughie Prince and Eleanore Sheehy,
as recorded by The Andrews Sisters with Vic Schoen
& His Orchestra, August 28, 1940)

In a little honky-tonky village in Texas
There's a guy who plays the best piano by far
He can play piano any way that you like it
But the way he likes to play is eight to the bar
When he plays, it's a ball
He's the daddy of them all

The people gather around when he gets on the stand
Then when he plays, he gets a hand
The rhythm he beats puts the cats in a trance
Nobody there bothers to dance
But when he plays with the bass and guitar
They holler out, 'Beat me Daddy, eight to the bar'

A-plink, a-plank, a-plink plank, plink plank
A-plunkin' on the keys
A-riff, a-raff, a-riff raff, riff raff
A-riffin' out with ease
And when he plays with the bass and guitar
They holler out, 'Beat me Daddy, eight to the bar'

He plays a boogie, he plays eight to the bar
A boogie-woogie, that is the way he likes to play on his piano
And we all know
That when he plays he puts them all in a trance
The cats all holler 'Hooray'
You'll hear them say, 'Beat me Daddy, eight to the bar'"

Apparently humorist (in his opinion) Al Franken shouted down a conservative talk radio producer at the GOP Convention.

Another asswipe.

Asswipe.

"Alan Keyes, the Republican candidate for a vacant U.S. Senate seat in Illinois, said Tuesday that Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter Mary is a 'selfish hedonist' because she is a lesbian.

His comments came during an interview with SIRIUS satellite radio.

Keyes said: 'The essence of ... family life remains procreation. If we embrace homosexuality as a proper basis for marriage, we are saying that it's possible to have a marriage state that in principal excludes procreation and is based simply on the premise of selfish hedonism.'

Asked whether that meant Mary Cheney 'is a selfish hedonist,' Keyes said: 'That goes by definition. Of course she is.'"

I'm coming to the conclusion that so called "progressives" or "liberals" need to go on a diet which includes the tranquilizer Xanax. Sheesh...hearing them huff and puff about this and that...how evil GW is, etc....how the world is going to pot....you would think that they are almost ready for cardiac intensive care how they get themselves into a tizzy.

The best thing is that when they can't think of anything else to counter with (intelligent discourse), they all automatically go into saying how everything is one conspiracy after another or some other simplistic diatribe. Then when you mention a fact of matter (i.e. Bill Clinton DID lie about his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky), then they somehow justify it...."Well, Ivars, everyone lies about something at sometime." I do not necessarily support Pres. Bush....but I don't see what the real difference is going to be when we replace one schmuck with another schmuck. At least with Pres. Bush we know that he is one pickle short of a picnic, the one 60 watt bulb mispacked in a Target 4-pack of 100 watt bulb. Despite having an evil vice-president in Dick Cheney, in my opinion, he hasn't done to bad under the circumstances. All Sen. Kerry can seemingly do is fib and flip flop whenever he is under pressure. (Maybe "this" is the injury he sustained in Viet Nam!)

The fact is that they get wrapped up into PROMISES that the opposition candidates are going to be any difference. Some of these whackos you would think would not have a problem with the Mr. Haney from the classic TV show "Green Acres" becoming Commander In Chief.

In between their palpitations they talk about how civil liberties have been abridged in the past four years.... HELLO...WE ARE AT WAR...WE WERE ATTACKED AND THREE THOUSAND PEOPLE WERE MURDERED BY WHACKED OUT EXTREMISTS...

Some of my favorite pejoratives that I hear spouted out....

"We've become the bully of the world."
They totally discount that we were bullied. The Arab Muslim world said "Check," we responded "Checkmate."

"The world hates us now."
Does America need to have an inferiority complex? What the hell do we need to care what the world thinks? Again, the only way the war on global terrorism can be CONTROLLED (never stopped) is when the snake is butchered and cut up in several pieces.

"Look at all the unemployment now after 8 years under Clinton"
The economy is cyclical. What goes up must come down, must go up, and vice versa. The global/US economy has taken a large hit since 9/11, and the ripple effects of that is still being felt."

"The deficit has gone sky high."
Freedom costs....who and how are all of the increased costs. to protect the US going to be absorbed?

"We had no right to go to Iraq"
All of the UN sanctions didn't work to topple this tyrant named Saddam. I guess we had no right to attack Japan after they attacked the U.S. in World War II....and I guess we should have not liberated 6 million Jews being tortured and murdered by Hitler. Hitler was such a humanitarian.
Saddam never gassed 100,000 kurds. And of course we all know how effective the UN has been in handling the crisis in Darfur, Ethiopia, currently the world’s most serious humanitarian disaster where thousands of displaced people have been killed and continue to die at the hands of Arab Muslim attackers. Those who have fled violent attacks — primarily women and young children — are dying from starvation and disease.

I'm happy to see the demonstrations going on in NYC and the civil disobedience. They are really going to change the minds of Middle America.

  NEW YORK, Aug. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The following are remarks by Ron Silver

as prepared for delivery at the 2004 Republican National Convention:



   I want to thank the President and the Republican Party for holding this

event in my hometown, my father's hometown, my grandfather's and great

grandfather's birthplace.

   Just over 1,000 days ago, 2,605 of my neighbors were murdered at the World

Trade Center -- men, women and children -- as they began their day on a

brilliantly clear New York autumn morning, less than four miles from where I

am now standing.

   We will never forgive.  Never forget.  Never excuse!

   At the end of World War II, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied

Commander of the South Pacific, said:

"It is my earnest hope - indeed the hope of all mankind - that from this

solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of

the past, a world found upon faith and understanding, a world dedicated to the

dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom,

tolerance and justice."

   The hope he expressed then remains relevant today.

   We are again engaged in a war that will define the future of humankind.

Responding to attacks on our soil, America has led a coalition of countries

against extremists who want to destroy our way of life and our values.

   This is a war we did not seek.

   This is a war waged against us.

   This is a war to which we had to respond.

   History shows that we are not imperialists . . .

but we are fighters for freedom and democracy.

   Even though I am a well-recognized liberal on many issues confronting our

society today, I find it ironic that many human rights advocates and outspoken

members of my own entertainment community are often on the front lines to

protest repression, for which I applaud them but they are usually the first

ones to oppose any use of force to take care of these horrors that they

catalogue repeatedly.

   Under the unwavering leadership of President Bush, the cause of freedom

and democracy is being advanced by the courageous men and women serving in our

Armed Services.

   The President is doing exactly the right thing.

   That is why we need this President at this time!

   I am grateful for the chance to speak tonight to express my support for

our Commander-in-Chief, for our brave troops, and for the vital cause which

they have undertaken.

   General Dwight Eisenhower's statement of 60 years ago is true today . . .

   "United in this determination and with unshakable faith in the cause for

which we fight, we will, with God's help, go forward to our greatest victory."

Thank you.