I wanted to blog last night, but work has wiped me out this week. There’s a big football game in Springfield this weekend. Hopefully I’ll have the energy to blog about it later.
Instead, enjoy some Deltron 3030. I swear Del was used as bump music on The Sports Reporters yesterday, which is one of the strangest things ever. Who would’ve guessed listening to Ned Reynolds and Scott Puryear would’ve sent me on a Deltron kick.
–QCFM
I’m currently having a semantic disagreement with conservative talkers. I say toe-may-toe, they say toe-mah-toe. I say changed plans, they say abandoned.
I’m talking, of course, about the Obama administration’s decision to change directions with its missile defense program in eastern Europe. The new plan will have SM-3 interceptors deployed by 2011, or – as the conservatives say – we’ve abaonded our allies and dealt a stunning blow to those who love freedom and its defense. It was a day, according to Sean Hannity, to be very, very afraid.
And what’s not to fear when you’re conservative and a liberal comes up with a better plan? The Bush plan would’ve put missiles into action by 2017, not 2011. Bush’s plan was behind schedule and over budget and used old technology.
The Obama plan includes missiles that have already had several successful test fires and the airborne, space- and ground-based sensors are more adaptable and will offer much better tracking data than the fixed radar sites originally proposed.
One more minor detail, the new missiles are much more effective against the mind of missiles Iran is capable of launching than the Bush administration’s plan.
And this is called abandoning our allies. Is it any wonder I have a hard time trusting conservative talkers when they talk down a public option for healthcare?
–QCFG
Here’s another person famous for no good reason: South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson, he of the inaccurate “You lie!” shout during President Obama’s adress to a joint session of Congress.
I happened to be watching the speech when it happened and, like a lot of people, thought “What a Turd Ferguson.” The immediate blowback for his remarks was right on, but now…well, now it just seems over the top.
What the Democrats have done is, as Politico’s Andy Barr said, made Wilson a folk hero. He’s very quickly gone from jerk-hole to victim. It reminds me a little bit of what happened with President Clinton and the Lewinsky affair. When that first surfaced a lot of people were upset, myself included. When it came out that he’d lied to us about it, people wanted him punished. Pretty understandable.
But then it went over the top, became a witch hunt and a lot of formerly angry people – myself included – went “Jeez, lay off a little bit. Was it really that bad?”
That, I’m afraid, is what the Democrats in the House are at risk of doing. Let it drop and let him stay the jerk.
So on that note, I leave you with some Lewis Black quotes on the Clinton scandal that I feel are applicable here.
“So the Republicans got out their rifles, got him in their sights, then turned the rifle around and went BAM!”
“If you want to get somebody who’s an —hole, you don’t hire a bigger —hole because then the bigger —hole make the —hole look like it’s just a rectum.”
–QCFM
I was reading over the speech President Obama is going to present to defenseless schoolchildren today when I thought back to one of the most asinine things I heard anyone saying during the fervor over this back-to-school address to our nation’s future: “The president gets to speak to my children and I don’t get a chance to defend myself.”
It would be hilarious were it not for the fact he was dead serious. He had no doubt in his mind the speech was going to be pure, socialist indoctrination and he would have no chance to protect his kids from it. Leave the flawed logic aside (Dude, you’re not under attack and there’s no reason, as a parent, you won’t be able to talk to your kids about what they saw) and let’s look at ultimately what he has to defend himself against:
“Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. …
But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.
Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future. That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America. …
The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.”
Yeah, bro, it’s a shame you won’t be able to defend yourself from these heinous messages President Obama is using to assault your children.
First it was a local elementary pricipal, now it’s the city’s mayor busted for DWI. Maybe it’s something in the water. Seriously. Like maybe Smirnoff. That or the dudes stealing from the city are throwing one hell of a party.
–QCFM
I’m not gonna pull any punches here: 2008, in a lot of ways, sucked. There was an acrimonious presidential campaign, still no end to the war in Iraq in sight, Bin Laden still on the run, economy in the crapper, St. Louis Blues out of the playoffs, Dallas Cowboys flaming out again, the Jonas Brothers.
I was already to tap out a post about how glad I am 2008 is over, but that’s not really me (or at least not who I want to be). I’m not going to waste too much energy dwelling on the bad. Instead I’ve decided to start a series of posts honoring things I really liked about 2008. Starting…..NOW:
1. Barack Obama. I’ve not voted in a lot of presidential election cycles, but this one is by far my favorite outcome. I become interested in Obama a couple of years ago when I read his two books, “Dreams From My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope.” The latter sparked a hope and inspiration in me that politics hadn’t caused in a long time. It was thrilling to cast my vote for him – and not against another candidtate – and I’m optimistic that he’s going to make a great president. Or at least be a lot better than George W. Bush.
2. Running. I started – and completed! – my first 1/2 marathon in 2008. Don’t be confused, I’m not a “real runner” by any stretch of the imagination, but I pushed and challenged my body to a degree most people never do and found a strength in me I wasn’t sure existed. I also was able to raise a lot of money for charity in the process.
3. Celebrity gossip blogs. Yes, I should hate these. I know that. But they’re a nice 5-minute break from reality every once in a while.
4. Cuonzo Martin – The Missouri State Bears’ new basketball coach is just that…a coach. The JQH-opening win over Arkansas will go done as one of my favorite Bears games of all time and it was just mind-blowing to see a Bears coach use a time-out to set up a play that resulted in a basket. I don’t know how many times in the Barry Hinson Era I turned to my viewing companion and said “They called a timeout for that?”
5. JQH Arena. It’s goreous. Imperfect, maybe, but a glorious place to watch a basketball game.
6. Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool. Lupe is one of my favorite MCs and his debut “Food and Liquor” was an instant classic in my book. His sophomore effort is just as well-loved by me. He shows off not only his lyricism and word play, but also his storytelling ability on “Hip Hop Just Saved My Life.” “Go Go Gadget Flow” was always on my iPod running playlist and “Go Baby” will always make me think of my girls. It was nominated for four Grammys – twice for “Superstar,” once for “Paris/Tokyo” and rap album of the year – and it is on my yet-unwritten favorite albums of 2008 list. Enjoy “Hip Hop Saved My Life.”
–QCFM
So I got a little sidetracked by work projects and family business and blah blah blah. I’m going to try to be a better blogger starting………..now.
Last year I made a mix CD of Christmas music so I could avoid the local Christmas music station, which plays hideous things like “Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time” and “Jingle Bell Rock” with too much frequency. Here’s one of the songs on that mix.
Enjoy it. Regular posts resume tomorrow.
I turned on the radio this morning to see how the Queen City’s conservative callers were taking Tuesday night’s election results. The reactions were typical, and that’s probably pretty sad. Among my favorites:
“Remember what happens when the blacks took over the governments in Africa? They ran off all the white farmers and killed them!”
“We need to fight back against this evil that has taken over our country.”
Last, but certainly not least:
“I’m just glad my father didn’t live to see this day.”
Wow. I thought once the election was over I’d be able to turn talk radio back on again. I think I’m going to need about a one-week moratorium on the conservative talkers.
Just heard a dear, sweet, former classmate of mine that there’s a Faux-bama hanging in Cedar County. I’m sure Michelle Malkin can hear the cries of “RAAAAAAACISM” wherever she is.
Just a few days ago, some fork-and-spoon-raspberry in California decided it would be a real hoot to hang an effigy of Sarah Palin from his house and have a John McCain mannequin appear to be on fire in his chimney. 
You know, “in the spirit of Halloween.”
“It should be seen as art, and as within the month of October. It’s Halloween, it’s time to be scary, it’s time to be spooky,” homeowner and jerkstore Chad Michael Morisette told a local news station.
No, Chad, it’s not art and it’s not in the spirit of Halloween. It is wrong and offensive at any time of year. I think we can all agree on that, right?
But for some on the far right, it’s not enough. People like Michelle Malkin never miss a chance to cry “reverse racism!!!!!!”
If somebody had strung up an Obama, “It would be another sign of ‘insane rage’ and ‘violent escalation of rhetoric,’” she hyperventilates on her blog. “And: RAAAAAAACISM.”
The post on Malkin’s blog is titled “Can you imagine if an Obama effigy were hung from a noose?”
Uh, yeah Michelle, I can…because I don’t know if you’ve watched the news much lately, but IT’S HAPPENED AT LEAST THREE TIMES.
The first time was in late September at a small Christian college in Oregon. That particular effigy had a sign on it reading “Act Six reject.” “Act Six” is a scholarship program that aims to increase the number of minority and low-income students at several Christian colleges, mostly in the Northwest.
George Fox University, where the incident happened, has 17 students in the program, which is named after the New Testament book of Acts. All but one of the students, who are selected on the basis of leadership potential and receive full scholarships, are minority.
The second and third happened earlier this week, just a few days after Malkin’s post. One was in Redondo Beach, where a nice young lady hung a blood-splattered Obama on her balcony with a butcher knife through it’s neck and a sign reading “Nobama.”
The other was found – and you’d better be sitting down before you read this shocking bit of information – in Kentucky of all places. (Yeah, I was stunned, too.) Just two days ago the effigy was found in a tree on the campus of the University of Kentucky.
There are also reports of faux-Obamas hanging outside homes in Ohio and Indiana.
And where are the cries of “insane rage” or “violent escalation of rhetoric” or “RAAAAAAACISM”? I haven’t heard them. In fact, the responses have been more stunned than anything else. Katlyn Search, a 21-year old student who works part time as a janitor to pay for college, was part of the crew that discovered the effigy at Fox.
“I was offended for the Act Six students and for ourselves,” she said.
She may have just been referring to the students at Fox when she said “ourselves,” but she might as well be speaking for all of us as citizens. These incidents should give us all pause and force us to take a step back, especially as the rhetoric is heated up to boiling in the final days of the campaign.
