The Victorious Opposition

I thought today felt different, here’s why

This man has been kicking people square in the head for 70 years ... to the day.

That’s right, Carlos Ray “Chuck” Norris woke up this morning (actually Chuck Norris doesn’t sleep, he waits) at the ripe old age of three score and 10. And there’s no question that he could still kick your organs inside-out just for breathing the same air as he does.

We should keep in mind that 70 Chuck Norris years is like 27 average human years.

For those not fully versed in the history of the man that counted to infinity, twice, this might help.

More important facts that will cost you your life if ignored.

Chuck Norris does not hunt because the word hunting implies the probability of failure. Chuck Norris goes killing.

When Chuck Norris makes love to a man, it’s not that he is gay, he just ran out of women, and his kids can go to any school He wants.

At age 70, not only could he kick your ass, but he’s probably a lot cooler than you too

No doubt,and to show his magnanimous side, he let a little Chinese guy win this fight, or at least that is what we were told, I know better:

Happy Birthday Chuck, here is to 70 more years of putting the hurt on bad guys.

Report card time, time to grade the president

Now hit submit and check out how he is doing so far…............holy cow!!!

Ya know, I could see a foxnews poll with these kind of results, but CBS? They are right up there with CNN, NBC, and the NY Times as the preeminent water carriers for the Obama Administration, how could this happen?

I gave Obama a passing grade for both Afghanistan and Iraq (not great, but passing) and also for social issues (he is a socialist after all), these issues should be front and center with him. And if enthusiasm was a criterion, I would of passed him on health care as well (since this is all he talks about) but direction matters and the people have finally figured out that when he talks about government run health care, it has nothing to do with health care and everything do to with government power and influence.

No one considers polls like these scientific, or even reflective of voters as a whole, but you have to admit, a MSM poll that drastically tilts this unfavorably could be more revealing than we had imagined, and could go a long way in defining the real push behind reconciliation.

There was a hockey game today.

Disclaimer: Just because I posted a picture of the US team, it should not be inferred that they won. In fact, no claims are being made that they even played today.  For you TIVO people, for all you know, it was the Vatican City against Tonga, so don’t be jumping the gun.

Alright, now that we are square with the legal department, scroll down for the meat and potatoes.

Almost a complete reversal of the last game, with the US getting about a 3 to 1 ratio of shots on goal, and up until the last minute it was a one goal match. Jonas Hiller had a “Miller” like performance, frustrating the American’s through out. But that is not to say that Miller was not his usual stellar self. I see how important these goalie’s are, nothing like soccer, these guys work harder than anyone. Today Zack Parise was “The Man”, putting in both goals.

So now, we got probably the two best teams in the world squaring off next. I will miss most of this game, I am coaching the boy’s high school tennis team this year so I will be at practice (tomorrow is our first actual match). I will be pulling hard for Canada. Post liberally so when I get back I know what happened.

I am turning into a rabid hockey fan (like I don’t have enough irons in the fire already).

A call for help, even if it’s not for you, will now cost 300 bucks, break out the torches and pitchforks.

Yes, it has come to this.

Some of you might ask, “Gees Louise, where are all of my taxes going if not to get a little help in case I have an emergency?”. Property taxes, city taxes, county taxes, business taxes, sales taxes, fees for every conceivable service rendered by my local municipality, is all this going down a rat hole?

How does this sit with you guys? The local councilman is crying me a river over their budget deficit (how much is that fire chief, police chief, or city manager making? just wondering) but is sticking it to people that really need help the best way to approach this?

Tracy is about halfway between where I live and where my elderly mom lives. A few years ago I got her one of those medical alert medallions you wear around your neck in case you need help, you just press the button. Mom is on social security and the only way I could get her to wear it was to assure her that if pressed the ambulance does not respond first (having to pay for that service) but the fire dept. comes first and if you just need help getting up or getting back inside, they will do it for free. So much for that advice.

They talked about the possibility of this new fee being a detriment to the indigent calling for help, I don’t think this can be over blown. 300 bucks is what some people live on each month, the poor will think long and hard about availing themselves of this very basic service, which I believe will cause unnecessary deaths and a boatload of litigation for the city. As a tax payer, I am willing to pay my fair share so that those that are less well off can still get help.

The other fly in the ointment is that many people use 911 for things other then medical emergencies, mostly involving traffic related emergencies, where does this new law fit in?

  Residents will pay $300 for every fire department response to a medical emergency. Non-residents can expect to pay $400. There is no set cost for a fire department visit to a car accident.

  The city is working out an option so that households can pay an annual membership fee of $48, which would cover the cost of any emergency aid given during the course of a year, said David Bramell, who is acting as fire chief while Chief Chris Bosch is on administrative leave.

OK, traffic accidents, no charge, good for them.  But how about some of these:

1) You call 911 to report your neighbors fighting loudly with threats being made (yes the fire dept. has to respond)
2) You call 911 to report some guys fighting in an alley adjacent to the eatery you just left
3)You call 911 to report a car stalled in the #1 lane of the freeway
4)You call 911 to report a vehicle driving by you with a 2 year old infant strapped atop the hood on the luggage rack
5)You call 911 because you smell gas coming from your neighbor’s house
6) You call 911 because you hear someone yelling for help in an adjacent building.

And so on and so on.

All cities will charge residents a fee if they abuse the 911 process, how about Tracy give all residence one free 911 response for medical assistance, then charge there after? That would be better.

I am ornery enough that if I lived in Tracy, I would sign up for the 48 dollar special, then call them once a week for absolutely bullshit reasons like, “Do I cook this meatloaf at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or 400 degrees for 20 minutes?” or ,“OK guys, in case of an earthquake, it is duck and cover,  or cover and duck? I always get them confused”.

Two can play at that game.

I am not much of a hockey fan, who is in California? but yesterday’s preliminary round match up between Canada and the US of A was (aside from “Do you believe in miracles?”) the best hockey match I have ever seen.

I have a terrible, terrible secret: I think I might be a hockey fan. And after tonight’s goosebumps-inducing USA/Canada hockey game, I don’t think I’m alone. In a game marked by a break-neck pace and a final two minutes that was full of “most exciting sports moment of 2010″ candidates, the U.S. hockey team emerged victorious over Canada 5-3.

You can see the actual goals here

Oh, so that’s what MSNBC looks like.

Before I cover the game, kudos to NBC and their stellar Olympic coverage over at nbcolympics, their video section is superb. For those events that I’m not real jazzed about, I can see the highlights here, like the gold medal performance of Evan Lysacek.

While watching the video of the goals, you get a sense of how rabid the Canadians are about hockey. Santino had said in an earlier post that the only competition that really matters in these games is hockey.

Olympic hockey is so different from the NHL, both in grace and motivation. Davis Cup is a good corollary, when you play on a team for your country, patriotic motivations percolate to the top causing extra ordinary effort and achievement.

Check out the last goal scored by Ryan Kessler, that could be the greatest hockey goal of all time.

A few things you don’t get from the video,  the absolute frenetic pace of the action and blistering attacks of the Canadian team to even things up in the last half of the third period. Ryan Miller was a total stud in blocking, deflecting, and smothering almost all attempts made at his goal. It was a shooting gallery and he literally left everything on the ice. During the short interview after the game, he looked like he went 15 rounds with a grizzly bear, sweat pouring off of him, he could barely talk.

Although a clear set back for the Canadians, they can come back, but their road just got harder. If they can get by the Germans tomorrow, they will face the mighty Russians in the quarter finals, which means that one of these two great power houses will be sent home without a medal.

I know they expected greater tonnage in medal counts but anything short of Gold for the hockey team will bring a national depression about the likes nobody has seen before.

We can’t have an Olympic games without some kind of juicy scandal, is this all they got?

The fuddy-duddy suits who run the Vancouver Games got their scapegoat. Scotty Lago was kicked out of the Winter Olympics. Yes, kicked out.

Do not believe the party line served by the United States Ski and Snowboard Association, nor the words of United States Olympic Committee spokesman Patrick Sandusky, who said: “Scotty left on his own accord. He wasn’t forced to leave.” Lago, the bronze medalist in halfpipe, was forced to leave, two sources close to him told Yahoo! Sports, and did so only to prevent an even greater escalation of a situation that already had been blown far out of proportion.

Lago is the smiling 23-year-old in the now-infamous pictures of an Olympic medalist celebrating. The photos are kids’ play, and yet because somebody caught Michael Phelps taking a bong hit, anything – anything – gets the USOC’s tighty-whities in a bunch.

Lago must not of read the fine print, that obscure code section that says ,“All athletes will turn off their libido one day prior to the opening ceremonies, up until one day after the closing”.

OK, now the offending photos:

Yep, that’s it, no bending over a local Canadian in front of CNN, and nothing that would require a post coital smoke (hopefully, they took care of business later in the evening).

Whether Lago broke any formal code of conduct is unclear. Rule 4 of the USSA’s code says: “USSA members shall maintain high standards of moral and ethical conduct, which includes self-control and responsible behavior, consideration for the physical and emotional well-being of others, and courtesy and good manners.”

Scratch your butt, pick your nose in public, out you go.

I find it difficult to equate Phelps’ bong embrace with some post celebratory good natured fun, like what is exhibited here. Lago is a 22 year old male athlete who just won an Olympic medal, if that feat can not be parlayed into some serious (and memorable) shagging, what’s the point of all that training?

I am finding this all much ado about nothing and I can just see the Europeans laughing at the USSA and their prudish expectations. The Euro’s use a different standard, anything not involving the local police SWAT team is hunky dory , and even then, as long as barn yard animals are not involved, “C’est la vie”.

A choice dust up ensued the other day at the CPAC convention:

Nice, “The lesbians at Smith College protest better than you do”, well, that’s because they are bigger and scarier looking.

This bozo’s squawking has to do with CPAC inviting GOProud to the event, to participate, and Ryan Sorba did not like that.  If you are asking who the hell is this nimrod Ryan Sorba?  I guess he is a loud mouth blogger who thinks that civil rights should not be afforded to gays because they somehow violate the laws of natural rights, go figure. I checked some of his blogs, like Young Conservative Of California, last entry Sept. 3, 2009? are you kidding me? That’s quite a dynamic website he is running there.

I normally leave all the gay rights stuff to dwex, that is his bailiwick, but my go to conservative on anything gay related is Tammy Bruce, here is her take on this. Tammy is a regular on foxnews and has her own radio show. I can’t think of any position that she holds that I am in opposition of, and yes, she is a lesbian (damn, I guess I got no chance with her)

Sorba also runs a blog called “The Reagan Generation”, and I can’t think of a worst contrast to the big tent concept of Reagan’s vision of conservatism then Sorba’s exclusion and hatred of gay people. The good news is that he got no traction with the crowd, the bad news is that people like this are not vetted a head of time. With the dissatisfaction of Obama and the Democrat Congress growing everyday with the American people, a smart battle plan could really bare significant fruit in the next election, Eating our own should not be part of that battle plan.

Stripper, prevaricator, and all round POS Crystal Mangum still can’t seem to get a break. Having her Duke lacrosse rape claim pot of gold dry up, she now is in trouble for not obeying that classic parental warning, do not play with matches.

Durham police arrested Duke lacrosse accuser Crystal Gale Mangum, 33, late Wednesday after she allegedly assaulted her boyfriend, set his clothes on fire in a bathtub and threatened to stab him.

Her bond was set at $1 million. Mangum has been appointed a public defender and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 22.

Police charged her with attempted first-degree murder, five counts of arson, assault and battery, communicating threats, three counts of misdemeanor child abuse, injury to personal property, identity theft and resisting a public officer.

Class act, I must say. While it is no surprise that Crystal and bad luck are joined at the hip, this whole episode is yet another reminder that we still have no laws in place that prohibit human excrement from breeding and raising children. This women sowed 3 kids, innocents who had no say in who their mother would be yet will be forever handicapped by the process. Talk about starting life with two strikes against you.

We are also reminded of that whole sordid mess at Durham, thoroughly chronicled in this book that I read a few years ago.

Not only do we witness the ugly side of diversity, the liberal politically correct mentality of most humanities studies in our universities, but the mob mentality in action and how a rush to judgment is so easy in an environment that fosters victimhood and reparation. We see an out of control district attorney and police department, who had made up their mind due to what was politically expedient to their careers and went out of their way, even breaking the law, in fulfillment of their own agenda. We see media whores like that pig Wendy Murphy, a self proclaimed champion for victim’s rights (who had no sympathy for the real victims here) going on Foxnews, CNN, and MSNBC extolling the guilt of these rich kid frat boys, even backing Niphong when it as clear he was breaking the law.

Some good did come out of this, a jailed, disbarred and disgraced D.A., a Durham Police Department being federally investigated and placed on a 10 year supervisory probation, and the 3 victims being financially remunerated through a civil suit against the university and their cowardly president. But no jail time for Crystal, no apology for making the whole thing up and ruining the lives of three kids, and no contrition.

Justice may be slow and plodding, but hopefully it will be equitable, and deal with Crystal now, as she needs the attention.

Things are heating up in Vancouver. Team USA has decided to kick it in gear.

If Canada wants to “Own the Podium,” it might need to buy it from the United States.

Americans dominated from the mountains to the city Wednesday, winning six medals, including golds in women’s downhill, men’s 1,000-meter speedskating and men’s snowboard halfpipe. That set a U.S. record for a single day of the Winter Olympics (five medals, including three golds, at Salt Lake City in 2002).

Some very nice video coverage can be found here.

I think we see a nice contrast between Olympians and other athletes, the discipline and commitment involved for an event that comes but once every four years, and the euphoria of the big pay off in the end.

The down hill was made even more amazing, not only for the icy conditions and the terrible spills by other skiers, but Lyndsey’s race was not perfect.

Forget the sore shin, Vonn said she had so much adrenaline she couldn’t feel a thing. “It helped not to think about the pain,” she said.

And yet, we could plainly see her favoring that shin (finishing the last 100 meters on one ski) but her lines were so clean through out, bettering her team mate Julia Mancuso by half a second.

Kudos to both Shanie Davis and Shawn White, doubling up on the golds they won at Turin, very nice.

There is still a lot of Olympics to go. Canada can easily redeem themselves with some nice hockey wins. The Canadian women made quite a statement the other night. The men will have a tougher road, with some very good teams (Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic, USA, and Finland) standing in their way. Although a USA/Canada final would be great, I’m thinking we will get another Crosby/Ovechkin rematch (where have we seen that before?).

This is why they do it:

A decal on the helmet of America’s hockey goalie has caused the latest fracas with the Olympic fashion police.

Trouble is brewing over United States ice hockey goalie Jonathan Quick and the “Support Our Troops” slogan on his helmet. Slogans of this sort are banned under Olympic rules and Quick will be told to remove it, the International Ice Hockey Federation has told Reuters.

First off, that is a really cool decal, I want one.

As the resident totalitarian here (or at least that is the accusation) I gotta say that the rules apply to everyone, so as outrages go, this is not blowing up my skirt. Most rules and laws are formulated because people can not be left to their own devices to do the right thing, so the Olympic rules ban all political propaganda and advertising from apparel worn by athletes, and I have to agree with this. Just as I don’t want to see, “Massengill, for that -not so fresh- moment”, or ,“I just saw Lindsey Vonn on the medal podium and my Cialis kicked in”, political statements like ,“Free KSM”, “Israel out of The West Bank”, or , “Adopt Sharia Law” do not belong at the games,and without rules targeting the displays, you can count of someone trying to lobby a particular cause. So no black glove salutes, and no “support the troops” decal.

Some would say that this phrase instills no hegemony since “troops” is generic, and active blatant patriotism is practiced after every event, both in the form of flag waiving and national anthem playing, I concede both these points, but since a line in the sand has to be drawn somewhere, I appreciate it’s existence even if I don’t agree with it’s placement.

I wonder, where was the fashion police when these guys walked in:

Talk about needing a good ass whooping.

Bringing home America’s first gold medal, Hannah Kearney, the little spark plug from Vermont, brought the crowd to it’s feet.

Proclaiming through out the world that you are the best on the planet, that has got to be the biggest rush of all time. Congrats to Shannon Bahrke as well for the bronze medal.

For those not familiar with Vancouver and British Columbia, it is more majestic and scenic than words can describe. Enjoy a little taste of the scenery:

Hey, who put that girl in there?

As faux pas go, this is way more amusing than damaging, but as for him being a slow learner, you make the call.

Nicely done, Mr. Mayor.

It always amuses me when I hear certain politicians talk about belt tightening, I guess lavish amounts of glue was applied to all the seats in the audience to prevent mass people falling out of their chairs convulsing with laughter.

I wonder if the president thinks that any vacation, anywhere, is a frivolous luxury deserving of derision for it’s execessiveness . Since almost all parents are trying to save for their kid’s college, all leisure activity should be considered wasteful and selfish, OK.

Seriously, should the president get pilloried for this comment? small potatoes, I think, since we all get the sentiment involved.

Discovering that people actually do listen to what he says, some smoothing over was in order.

Perception and reputation are sensitive issues for Sin City as it struggles to find footing amid a two-year meltdown of foreclosures, bankruptcies and unemployment. Tourism is the Silver State’s backbone, and several lawmakers said they were shocked that Obama singled out Las Vegas again after commenting last February that bailed-out banks shouldn’t go to Las Vegas using taxpayer money.

The mayor did give the president a way out, TDS…......Teleprompter Dependency Syndrome:

“He has to step up right away and say, you know, he wasn’t thinking,” Goodman said. “Sometimes when he’s not using his monitors and reading what he says, he doesn’t think. And this is one of those times he didn’t think, and he should straighten out the record because he’s been here, he knows Las Vegas is a great place.”

He shoots, he scores.

I’m not going to shed many tears for Vegas, Sin City has always provided remedies for misery. A lap dance with Bambi or raking in the chips yelling ,“Winner, winner, chicken dinner” can make that pink slip just a passing memory.

One thing liberals do, either as a defense mechanism or as a pre conditioned reaction method, is to counter from a position of weakness with baseless pejoratives. The old (and often time tested) definition of a racist was someone who was bettering a liberal in an argument. Ditto with an accusation of being a homophobe. Branding an opponent with a defective mindset provides cover for a certain certitude,even when that certitude is tenuous at best. Another leftest leaning shortcoming that always irritated me was their lack of skin depth and how every little verbal slight was a capital offense, and thus worthy of instant termination.

I hate it when their side does it, and it is equally lame when we do it.

Obama staffer Rahm Emanuel’s penchant for profanity has drawn the ire of Sarah Palin.

The former Alaska governor is demanding that the President fire his White House chief of Staff for remarks she says were disparaging of the disabled.

In a strategy session between White House aides and progressive groups, Emanuel called a plan to air attack ads against fellow Democrats opposed to health-care legislation ‘f——ing retarded.’  The remarks were reported in the Wall Street Journal.

First off, lets remember who’s ears this comment was meant for. This is like a coach reading his players the riot act in the locker room during halftime. This is like Pelosi trying to get all her people on the same page for an important vote in some back room. No press is allowed and no public record is being made, it is a comment made in a room full of adults with the soul purpose to motivate. There is a big difference between public speech and private communications.

“Just as we’d be appalled if any public figure of Rahm’s stature ever used the “N-word” or other such inappropriate language, Rahm’s slur on all God’s children with cognitive and developmental disabilities – and the people who love them – is unacceptable, and it’s heartbreaking.”

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the “N-word” is not quite on par, having more history behind it, I understand the sentiment and how Rahm’s words could be hurtful. But I do not understand the over reaction by calling for the poor guy’s resignation.

Will he get fired for this? of course not, nor should he,  Palin was correct in calling attention to it (since it was made public, not by her) and had the moral high road is using this to educate and enlighten, but then she loses her moral superiority by calling for a punishment that does not fit the crime.

We have seen this play out so many times in the past, some leftist group like Media Matters gets a hard on for something someone said (free speech, pshaw, where do you think we live?) and demands summary termination. I say give it a rest, on both sides. Palin looks petty and uncompromising, hardly traits for compassionate conservatives.

Allow Emmanuel to eat some humble pie, make the required mea culpas, then let’s leave it alone. Bigger fish to fry and all that.

Comedy gold from Britain’s Charlie Brooker, who encapsulates the dreary style of modern news:

I think part of why TV news is on the decline is simply due to changes in expectations regarding the speed of information.  Information technology theory gives us new ways of thinking about this subject that help clarify the issue and let us arrive at a deeper understanding.  With the internet, and the on-demand video, audio and text-based content that’s available, one can consume information at a higher rate relative to the slow, passive pace of television.  With these options widely available, expectations of information bandwidth tend to grow.

It’s like how most of us would feel if we had no other internet option than dial-up.  Our expectations are bigger than the measly 56.6kbps we’re stuck with.