Presidential Support

Another rant... this time a political one. My latest problem with politics is two fold. First of which have been the "tea parties" that have been happening over the past few weeks. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with the right to assemble and protest. The problem I really have is how ignorant people can be. Hopefully you are aware of the "tea party" protests that happened a few weeks ago hearkening back to the original tea parties protesting TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION. The new tea parties seemingly were just protesting being taxed and how Barack Obama is raising taxes. People are so dumb though, as they are clueless about what they are protesting. First of all the tea parties are not even the same thing as we have representation in government, we are no longer under King George folks. It's 2009 not 1773. Secondly, I just can't stand our ignorant people are. These people who were out protesting higher taxes are the same people who are actually getting a tax CUT. Probably at least 95% of these people actually are getting a tax cut, yet they are complaining about higher taxes. C'mon people. If you're going to try and re-enact a famous act from our nations history at least do it the right way. Stop trying to spin everything into your favor especially if it's just plain wrong. Open a book or get online to a credible source and actually read something instead of just listening to entertainers like Rush Limbaugh.
Great segue.
The second fold of my two fold problem with politics, especially conservative politics and that is the idea of "I want the President to fail". This ridiculous notion that has been sweeping the nation, or at least the red states, by storm. However, to be frank, this is one of the worst ideas in the history of the world. No matter what your politics this is a ridiculous idea. No one in their right mind should want the United States to fail. There are many reasons for this. The first of which is economic. The United States is one the largest consumer in the world and one of the largest producers as well. The largest producing countries in the world, e.g. Germany and China, depend heavily on the United States' dollars and would never want the United States to fail. The other main reason is militarily. No matter your stance on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, or any other military conflict, the United States' military presence in the world generally helps hold the world together. Throughout history there has always been a super power in the world and right now the United States is taking its turn. If the United States failed and the military failed there would be an extremely large gap that no other country could fill. Their would be some major world chaos.
What people need to realize about radio people such as Limbaugh is that they are entertainers. They get paid millions of dollars to say outlandish things and rile things up. They are not political experts, they are not political science majors for the most part. They are communication people that know how to use rhetoric and other methods to entertain. Nobody should take what these people say as gospel because they don't even do their own research and report. All they do is take stories off the internet or from the assistants and just read the article and then give their spin of it. They have no first hand knowledge of anything they report on and just say things that will sell advertisements and make them extra money. They are not political leaders, they are voices. People need to research things for themselves and make decisions for themselves and not take what these entertainers say as gospel. People need to try and actually dig into a topic and not just copy what the Limbaughs of the world say.
People need to support their President and the party not in power needs to be the LOYAL opposition not just the opposition. We are ALL Americans and all need to pitch in to get the world turned around again. Obama is the President of the United States and not just of the Democrats. He has 4-8 years left so you might as well jump on the bandwagon and lend a hand.

Seattle Sports

Baseball is finally under way and the Mariners are off to a 6 -2 start and are undefeated at home, granted they are 1 - 0 but still a positive as the M's won in stunning fashion in extras tonight. The return of Seattle Icon Ken Griffey Jr was a nice addition to a team that has been struggling these past few years ever since tying the single season record for wins in a season with 116 back in 2001 with a team that included rookie of the year Ichiro Suzuki and Manager Lou Pinella. However, the only player remaining from that historic year, is Ichiro. The one constant in Seattle since that time. Ichiro is set to make his 2009 season debut on another quest for another 200 hit season. With him will be the likes of a lot of veteran players and young players alike. Some say this is a rebuilding year for the M's but I don't think the players themselves want to hear that. If this early season mark is any indication for the rest of the season look out A.L. West.

However the Mariners aren't the only team in Seattle that has gotten off to a hot start. The expansion MLS team the Sounders are new to the league but mean business with the likes of legendary coach Sigi Schmid, Washington legend Kasey Keller in goal and young fresh talent with the likes of goal scorer Fredy Montero. Instead of trying to fit the mold of most expansion teams by not being very good in their first year, the Sounders are off to a 3-1 start with their first loss coming only a few short days ago while shorthanded to Kansas City 1-0 in the 80th minute. So much like the Mariners if early success continues throughout the season lookout MLS.
So as a fellow Washingtonian I say good bye Sonics hello Sounders and the resurgent M's.

Bad Movies

I realize that pretty much all of my posts are tainted with a bit of cynicism, but this one will be full of it. One thing that I have been noticing over the past few years are movies that just plain suck. Movies that have either ridiculous plots or no plots at all, sequels of movies that either deviate so far from the original that it is ridiculous, poor remakes of movies with just more cgi and less acting, 50 different versions of basically the same movie (always based on a true story), or just too many movies in the same series. Some movies that have recently come out or are about to come out have really caught my eye and are what probably made me write this. The first of which falls under the category of too many movies in the same series. Did you guess it? Yes I am talking about "The Fast and The Furious 4" aka "Fast and Furious". Just by the title alone one can tell that the movie has been stretched so thin. All the producers could think of was to take out the word "the" in the title and make it a new movie. C'mon. That's ridiculous. After a mediocre first movie they decided to make two more with different line-ups and then try and capitalize and make a 4th one with most of the original cast. Sadly enough people were some how enthralled and thought it could be a good movie and made it the number one movie at the box office for a few weeks. C'mon people we can do better. Now there are reports that a fifth one is a making. This is insane. People please stop going to see sub-actors play the same role over and over and steal your money. Let the series die already.
The second movie that I saw that helped push me to write this was the upcoming movie "17 again". . Seriously? "17 again". Not only is the title atrocious but how many of these movies are there going to be made? A person messes up their life and then wishes they could go back and change things. It's insane how these movies keep getting made and some how people go and watch them. I'm sorry to tell people but to the best of my knowledge there is no time travel, you only get one shot. Hoping and wishing that you can redo your life is a ridiculous movie plot but I'm sure the Disney Crowd will be out in full force to see this one.
Another movie that has been out for a little bit but still caught my eye was "The Haunting In Connecticut". Again just an awful title and another movie that has been made a thousand times. The house is haunted, people die, people survive. It's all "based on a true story" which is an easy way to try and establish a little credibility but this is such a joke. Save yourself the 10 bucks and go watch one of the 100 or so "horror" films that are "based on a true story" that have been made in the last 5 years. Wouldn't be surprised if they make a sequel though.
Crank. Another movie that is just insane that gets a sequel. Another Jason Statham film where he is constantly running fighting shooting and getting a hot chick. Again he only has an hour to live so at least you can countdown how long this painful flick will last. Again save yourself and just go watch crank again or one of the dozen or so transporter films that he's made.
The last film that has really bugged me is "Knowing". Another one of Nic Cage's recent amazing oscar nominated films. Wait I must be dreaming. Nic Cage hasn't made a decent movie in forever it seems like. The beef I have with this one is that yet again the world is riddled with disaster and Nic Cage is the only person who holds the knowledge in the world. Why don't we get this guy to work for the Government or be President or something because he seems to know everything that is going on.
My closing argument is to please stop supporting these terrible films. Let them die a painful expensive, but quick death and instead go support an independent film that might actually have a story and some quality acting in it.

http://www.festival-cannes.com/en.html

Basketball Playoffs

I'll admit it, I'm not the biggest basketball fan in the world. I'm not sure if it's the fact that there's no defense, no contact, the ridiculous scores, or something else. I'm not sure. One thing that really bugs me about professional basketball is the playoff system. The one thing in particular about the playoff system is that so many teams make the playoffs most of which don't deserve to get in, at least from the East. The East over the last few years consistently has teams that are under .500 that are making the playoffs.. no team should ever deserve to make the playoffs when you lose more games than you win regardless of sport... that's just ridiculous. This year isn't as bad as previous years but there will still be one team that will make the playoffs with a losing record. It's especially ridiculous when the West consistently has an excess of teams that should make the playoffs. The Suns are the odd man out in the west and instead of getting the playoff spot that the 39-42 Pistons will get, the Suns (45-36) get to sit at home at watch the Pistons play and most likely get dominated by the Cavs. I'm not sure what the NBA could do about this and they most likely won't, but it's just ridiculous and undermines the playoffs being the idea of the best of the best playing each other to determine the World Champion.

Reference: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/standings

The Degradation of the Professional Athlete

I've been a sports fan all my life. I love almost every sport all the way from baseball, to rugby, football, American football, and many others. The athletes were majestic, the home runs, the goals, the tries, the touchdowns. Amazing things that people can do. One thing that has really been bugging me is the fact that so many athletes having been getting more and more lucrative contracts over the years. It's not so much the money because the athletes put fans in the seats and the fans pay the revenues for the teams. However, the problem is the constant complaining and crying over contracts. If a guy signs a deal for let's say 4 years 5 million dollars, and does okay his first year and then explodes his second year and has a career year. What happens next? The guy now wants a next contract because he did so well in one season. He won't play another down, at-bat, quarter, period, whatever until he gets a new contract or he requests a trade and makes a big scene about everything. Personally this is where I think athletes have been degrading as people. They put their pen to paper saying that I will play for your team for 4 years and for 5 million dollars. Just because they do well in one season they expect the teams to completely restructure their team and pay this person all the money in the damn world. Personally I think it is CRAP. Athletes have become the biggest whiners in the world now when it comes to money and their contracts. They expect the huge sums of money for just doing what they already said they would do. You never hear a player telling the team to give him less money when he has an off year or starts tailing of on the last half of his contract. They never say a word even though that happens way more often then career years. Now this is across almost all sports, I don't know about all of the sports overseas but it is probably similar. All I am saying is that these players need to sack up and do what they told the teams they would do. Be a man about your business because so many players of yesteryear are rolling over in their graves during every offseason when the "professionals" think of themselves as gods.






UPDATE... SEE Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson crying about his situation.

Somali Piracy

Hopefully everybody knows and is aware of the piracy that has been occurring extensively over the last few years off the coast of Somalia and near the Gulf of Aden. If not please turn on the t.v. or read a newspaper. One of the most recent attacks was the on the vessel the Maersk Alabama, a ship owned by an American company but as a subsidiary of the Danish Company, Maersk. The vessel was flying an American flag and contained an American crew. Although many ships have been captured and held ransom over the last few years, this was the first that contained an American crew. This is the first time that many Americans were aware of the pirate attacks although they have been ongoing for sometime now.
My main thoughts about this have been the idea of the United States and Barack Obama policing this territory and getting rid of the pirates. One thing that I have to say to this, and many other things regarding the United States as a police force, is that these are international waters. There needs to be a coalition of all the countries that use these waters for shipping. This is the first American ship that has been pirated. One out of dozens that have been pirated. Other countries in the world need to step up to the plate and do their part. Regulate these waters instead of simply allowing their citizens and ships to be put in harms way. These countries need to act and not tell Barack Obama to do everything.