A Car, A Washer/Dryer, and Air Conditioning

No, this isn’t a Johnny Carson Carnac skit.  And yes, I’m old enough to remember Carnac, even though I didn’t get it.

These are the first three items that are considered to be necessities by Pew Research Center.

You know what that means–it’s just a matter of time before everyone has a “right” to these things.

And once something is a right, of course, we can get it from the gov’ment.

For “free”.

HT Reason Hit & Run

Menstrual Cup? Wow.

I was watching the Sundance Channel a little earlier and there was a show on about Green living. One of the women on the show was at a Tupperware type party and the women were all buying menstural cups.

I had no idea such a thing existed. As a man, it’s not really my business to know, but I had no idea. I’d think a woman would have to be pretty convinced that it’s her fault the earth is in shambles to go this route in the name of saving the world. Wouldn’t this increase the chance of infections and just, I don’t know, overall feeling of not being happy once a month?

Luckily I found ABC Family soon after this show went off. I’m watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang right now, and The Sound of Music is coming on later. I’m much more comfortable with these programs.

Best Part of the Olympics So Far…

Bela Karolyi

This guy is fired up and candid. I love watching Bob Costas throw out a chum of a question and seeing Bela Karolyi attack. I heard today that there are rumors he has been banned from the gymnastics arena in Beijing. I’m not sure if that’s true–it may be that he’s happy sit in the studio with Costas sipping lemonade and cashing fat checks–but if it is true, the viewing public is the real winner.

Outspoken guys with accents and bad tempers always make for great TV.

And who cares how old a competitor is? If the goal is to find out who is best, age shouldn’t matter.

BaDoop BaDooping The Olympics

“Badoop Badoop it!”

That’s heard commonly at our house if the television is on. It’s code for using the fast forward feature on the DVR. Ours doesn’t make that sound, but the TiVo does, and it’s more fun to say than “fast forward”.

I can’t wait to badoob badoop the Olympics. Why? Because if I badoop badoop everything but the actual sports, it will only take me 15-20 minutes a day to see everything. That’s because coverage of the Olympics isn’t very sports centric lately. Now it’s all about human interest–13 minute profiles of athletes that highlight the sacrifices they’ve made and the obstacles they’ve overcome.

Note to NBC–Every Olympic athlete has sacrificed and overcome obstacles to get there. That’s one of the things that separates them from the people who are almost Olympic athletes.

The reason we watch sporting events is for their inherent drama. These events have a way of creating drama all on their own. When Jim Nance tries to force it down my throat that this is a dramatic event because someone didn’t skip swim practice on the day their dog was being neutered or overcame their fear of crowds to run the 100m in a large stadium, it just waters it all down.

If you want to do some human profile type stuff during these Olympics, how about doing a story on someone being oppressed and abused by the Chinese government?

But then I guess those stories are a dime a dozen too.

Sheeeeeeeee-it

Just when you thought we were stuck without any real choices this election year, I’ve come up with an option. I’m beginning a grass roots effort to convince Maryland State Senator Clay Davis to throw his hat into the ring. It will take a lot of convincing and imagination to make this dream a reality, but if we all band together by purchasing a bumper sticker we have a shot at getting Mr. Clay elected.

Hey, at least we know what we’ll get from him.

Back When There Was Some Good Music

I’m away (far away) and had to set this post to publish ahead of time.

Badass, huh?  Do you remember seeing this video and thinking how cool U2 was?  I was watching a special on VH1 Classic about classic albums and they covered The Joshua Tree.  It was a pretty cool show because they intereviewed the engineers and producers, not just the band, and showed how they built the sound for the album.  Remember albums?

Check it out and Tivo if you catch it.

Wu Tang Financial

A lot of people are worried about these unstable financial times. A few years ago Dave Chappelle tried to help America, but I’m not sure how many people listened. I don’t think you have to be down with the Wu to understand how funny this is, but references to the Ol’ Dirty Bastard help if you know a little something about him (or Dirt McGirt). We can only speculate as to why he wasn’t able to be at the conference.

Green. Get the money. Dollar dollar bill ya’ll.

Is There Any Choice Other Than The Free Market?

I’ll take any motherfucker’s money if they’re giving it away.”
–Clay Davis

One of the biggest arguments I read against allowing the market to solve problems like health care and fuel costs is that the market simply can’t do it. Why not?

The argument goes that these businesses, along with the pharmaceutical companies, are basically government supported monopolies. They’ve been allowed to run roughshod over the consumer, charging outrageous prices and raking in cash left and right while the average person suffers from their oppression. How did this happen?

Reelect Clay DavisThe argument goes that politicians are bought and paid for by these companies. They have highly paid lobbyists who influence legislation that allows their industries to thrive, and they have friends in high places that are former board members and/or holders of large portions of their stocks.

According to the argument, the government, politicians, regulatory commissions, and entire bureaucracies are basically extensions of these powerful corporations and are nothing more than puppets held by Wall Street strings. It’s actually a pretty convincing argument, and from what I’ve seen recently seems pretty reasonable.

Now let me get this straight–the solutions to these problems lie in government? According to the argument, isn’t that the cause of the problem to begin with?