When Bushed Apologized to Muslims

When Bush Apologized to Muslims...Actually Apologized, used those words..HIMSELF.  Not some tortured bullshit about how "Obama" apologized for "American Values" when a embassy official condemned hate speech (apparently the only American Value that the right-wing actually values, especially when it's aimed toward Muslims, Gay, Unions, women, dark-skinned peoples, etc)

http://www.salon.com/2012/09/13/when_bush_apologized_to_muslims/ 

In 2008, a U.S. sniper shot a Quran in Iraq, causing  an uproar. President Bush expressly apologized. “He apologized for that in the sense that he said that we take it very seriously,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said. “We are concerned about the reaction. We wanted them to know that the president knew that this was wrong.” The sniper was disciplined and the upper echelons of the military put out numerous statements trying to soothe tensions. Nobody accused Bush of “apologizing to al-Qaida.” 

God sends Hurricane to Republican Convention, he must be mad at them.

We all know that God expresses his displeasure with America with Hurricanes.  Therefore it's interesting that during Obama's presidency there haven't been any big hurricanes to hit the US ( I think the one that hit New England/New York last year was the "big one").  What's more interesting that God is sending one directly to the GOP convention.  Their use of God's name while shitting on everything Jesus stood for is probably a big part of it.

Reflections

Yesterday a friend of mine died very unexpectedly and tragically.  Early 40's leaves behind the love of his life and some great kids and countless friends.  As I'm driving around today running some errands his death seems so, I don't know, meaningless.  That's not even the right word.  The thing that gets me is that this is an event that will devastate some people and make others sad, but the world goes on.  The world always goes on.  I feel like the world should change a little even for a moment when someone passes, but it doesn't.  Even though I'm hit pretty hard by this, I still have things I have to do.  I had to go to the store, I had to take my son somewhere.  The world hasn't changed, life is going on.  It makes it seem like life is so small in the grand scheme of things.

But then I get angry reading all of the Facebook posts to his widow.  Nearly every comment is about praying and God granting comfort to her.  Where was God yesterday?  Is this part of "God's plan" to "take" him from the world at this age with so much to live for, to provide for the people who depend on him?  Or was God just looking the other way yesterday and now we expect that God is going to somehow comfort his widow and family NOW?  Why not just let him live?  Why would God step in now?  Maybe those words do give her strength and maybe it will help her get through this, but if God can do that and change her feelings, why not just stop the physical actions and situation that caused his death?

Some more of that new mainstream Republican Party thinking

For a bunch of tough guys, Republicans sure see a lot of scary ghosts around every corner.


http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/23/us/texas-judge-warning/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Remember when Obama was going to take everyone's guns? All he did for guns was enable gun owners to bring loaded weapons into National Parks.


It's this type of paranoid bullshit that leads to militiamen group and terrorism. It sure does drum up support from the fringes though.  The NRA has been scaring you Republicans with this type of bullshit for years and they laugh all the way to the bank. You guys lap this shit up like an Apple Fanboy waiting for the next iPhone.

The Classic "I misspoke" (when I clearly laid out my well thought ideology)

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/20/politics/campaign-wrap/index.html?hpt=hp_t1



I LOVE LOVE LOVE that he now says he "misspoke". Misspoke is when you say of your kid's names instead of the other when asking them to pick up their dirty socks. This was a completely thought out political/medical/religious philosophy, a deeply held belief with no backing in science that he and many of his colleagues in Congress and the Republican party believe. Fortunately, when ridiculous ideas like this see the light of day (outside of press-excluded GOP fundraisers and the backrooms of GOP power) , the are shown for the idiocy and ignorance that pervades this type of God-first thinking, science be damned.

This is today's Republican Party and it's incredibly lame to say he "misspoke". This is mainstream Republican Party Thinking in 2012.

GOP loves the rule of law...when it suits them OR Bobby Jindal tries to make people remember him

I hear it a lot about "it's the law" when Joe Arpaio is rounding up landscapers in Phoenix (even while he's breaking the law himself in other ways like arresting journalists who dare print stories about him and harrassing lawmakers that oppose him, or illegally spending money he doesn't have in his budget, but I digress).


So, Mr Jindal here believes he's above the law?



Jindal going to ignore the law?

Remember when Bobby was the next big thing...right up until his disasterous response to Obama's first State of the Union. Seems so long ago.

When Mitt loved Individual Mandates

A friend said that today's decision will be trouble for Obama in November, but I'm not so sure.

I don't think it's going to be so bad for Obama, heard a recent poll that said after the health care act is thrown out (and everyone expected it to be) 68% of Americans wanted Congress/Government to do something to fix health care.




Insurance doesn't work unless the people who don't use it buy it, that's why Romney implemented the mandate in Massachusetts that was the foundation for Obama's plan. Sick people are going to be treated regardless, Obama's plan makes people responsible for funding that care, those who hate the mandate are ok with taxpayers funding all of that completely. (although they claim it's an affront to "liberty" while supporting indefinite detention of US citizens, strip searches for an overdue library book and warrantless wiretapping)

When Mitt Romney love government health plans

Smashing Pumpkin's "Oceania" first listen review

After the first listen (Thank you Spotify) this is one of my favorite Pumpkins albums since the days of Gish or Siamese Dream as it feels like the Pumpkins of old in lots of places.  The first song sounds like it came from Gish with Jimmy Chamberlin on the kit.  

If you remember my comments about the latest Shins CD you'll know when I fall in love with a band I prefer they keep on that course.  I don't need Black Sabbath doing a "free form Jazz Exploration" and I don't need the Rolling Stones to make a disco album (oh, that did happen), so I do like this "return to form" for Mr. Corgan.


 Another take...Pumpkins Review

Times are a changin

Apparently the GOP is outraged by this, but it wasn’t so long ago that the supposed “pro-family” GOP brought government to a complete standstill while it demanded that that illegal immigrant Elian Gonzalez continue to be separated from his father and remain in the USA. Times have changed.






http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/15/politics/immigration/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Atheists make better people

atheists-more-inclined-help-fellow-man-religious-people-

I think this is true, the atheists I know are generally more compassionate to their fellow human beings and are generally not told who to hate by some book or their religious leaders.  I think they tend to make judgements about people as individuals based on the merits or lack thereof of each person, not of groups based on demographic criteria.  I also think that they are more compassionate because it appeals to their sense of fairness, instead of some "obligation" or fear that they will be punished by some superpowered entity.  (I've said that before here). 

and  I'm not attacking Christians here.  I'm talking about everyone.  I've known Christians who've dedicated their lives to helping others, but I've also known "Christians" who are some of the most hateful people I"ve ever known.  I'm comparing atheists to ALL religions.  You haven't seen atheists engage in a lot of terrorism, wars, purges in an effort to make people NOT believe in their unGod.

Shins New Album "Port of Morrow"

Bands and artists evolve, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. For a guy who pre-ordered the last two Shins albums I think it’s time I accept that James Mercer is not putting out the same music that I love from the Shins first two albums. LOVE THEM, listen to them all the way through probably still once a month. My expectations were so high for “Wincing the night away” I’m not sure they could have met them and they didn’t. I don’t know that I’ve listened to that album more than 4 or 5 times total. Some say that wasn’t a departure, but for me it was. Too much synth and not enough guitars.


I got the new album, “Port of Morrow” yesterday and I’ve listened to it once. It’s clear that the Shins are a different band, or should I say that James Mercer is a different guy than he was on “Chutes” or “Inverted World”. Not bad, necessarily, but not the band I loved. More mellow, less rocking, less guitar-driven.

I'll give it a few more listens.  I like it more than I like "Wincing" already, but now that I love only half of the Shins catalog, it might be time for me to part ways.

A government program that fails half of the time...

Why would Americans want to continually support a government program that fails half of the time?


http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/21/10799069-cdc-only-half-of-first-marriages-last-20-years

That's right it's "sanctity"

Stop saying Limbaugh should be kicked off the air

The man is a vile, hateful, hypocrite, but he has every right to be on the radio.  ((side note: Comparisons to him and Bill Maher are ridiculous;  compare the clout Limbaugh has to that of Maher...it's not even close.  Limbaugh is the ideological leader of the Republican party, Maher is nothing like that.  No other citizen in America has the clout of Limbaugh within their political sphere.  So, those comparisons are dumb (See David Frum's piece).  )

But just because he's influential and the leader of the GOP, he can still say stupid shit.

That all said, this is America and Rush has every right to say stupid shit and have people pull sponsorships and point out he's a vile human being.  But no one should be demanding he be taken off the radio.  If his employers/radio stations feel he's bad for business, he'll lose his job (although I believe he'll also find an outlet for his brand of misogyny and Anything-to-beat-Obama-even-if-it's-bad-for-America rhetoric).  But when liberals whine about how he should be silenced it's just makes liberals look weak.  Argue with Rush on the merits of his stupid comments, don't "demand" he be taken off the air.  That's unAmerican.  And it totally plays into the Right Wings ridiculousness victimization rhetoric that they're so good at.

Hell, people who like Rush are going to like him no matter what, but in reality his recent hateful comments reflect poorly on the Republican Party, so let him keep talking.

Low IQ linked to prejudice...

Book learnin' is bad for business, that's why they're always deriding those "educated elites". Cuz if they get smart they're going to stop hating people that is the basis for so much of their victimization rhetoric. And how all those damn (insert demographic here) are taking away their stuff.



http://news.yahoo.com/low-iq-conservative-beliefs-linked-prejudice-180403506.html

Zany Catholics Part II

The last post came from an email discussion with my "Conservative" email buddy.  He posed the question if I was "disgusted" by other religiious prohibitions like to those of alcohol and eating pork.  It's his way of trying to prove I'm anti-Christian when he knows my feelings on organized religion in general.  I thought my retort was pretty good.

Hey Crazy...no one said "disgusted".  i said "silly".  Why do you get your panties in a twist and make shit up?

But it's funny you bring up food prohibitions because in the same page that supposedly bans boys kissing, the same book bans eating shellfish and wearing Cotton/Wool blends.  Most of man's prohibitions that are supposedly founded on "God's wishes" are equally dumb.  And please don't confuse Morality with words in a book written by a bunch of guys thousands of years ago.  You can have a since of right and wrong without relying on some dusty old book.  Killing other people is bad and not because it's in the Bible.  If you need a book to tell you that killing and stealing are bad, you probably DO need to be going to church or something at LEAST once a week.  

In Fact, I would say that atheists are generally "better" people because they act out of an innate sense of justice, an awareness of what is right and wrong not because they are simply afraid of some punishment by an unseen "God".   (Get in trouble with daddy).  If you act out of fear of punishment you're not really being "good".  You know, the whole "acting the right way when NO ONE is looking".  For people who live in fear of "God", someone is always looking.  God.  

So, 

-Justice and Morality don't come from a book written by guys who claim it's the word of God (especially when what is "moral and right" in those books is ignored most of the time.  Commandments 2,3,4,5 and 10 seem to be pretty much ignored for example)

-Religion and the various rules created by man in religions name don't have much connection to "God"

-Atheists are better people

-Prohibitions against eating pork and drinking alcohol are just as silly as celibacy for clergy

Those Zany Catholics

Now, we all know the priest celibacy thing is not in the Bible and is a relatively recent doctrine imposed by the Church to protect Church property back in the day, but I guess it shows you CAN be good at doing priest/bishop things (assuming these children are his only "Crime") and not be celibate.  Trust me, I'm not saying that he was right...he knew the rules going in and should lose his job, but it points out the silliness of the celibacy doctrine.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45871047/ns/us_news-life/#.TwS5qTWrMww 

Who got hurt by his going forth and multiplying?  He continued to do his job well enough to be a Bishop.  Apparently, celibacy isn't required for the efficent discharge of his duties.  it's clearly not required in Protestant sects, nor in Judiasm, etc.

God Loves Tebow and Bowls are a joke

Look at this line...You can't tell me God doesn't love Tebow. He puts this crap up and still "leads" Denver to the playoffs.


Denver C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT NFL RATING

Tebow 6/22 60 2.7 0 1 20.6

Someone at work was lamenting the loss of "College bowl tradition" because games were on Jan. 2 and not the first. I laughed. When the Rose Bowl stopped being Pac10 v Big10 champ every year tradition died. I was watching the "Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl" or something to that effect and they referred to the "tradition" of that game. I literally laughed out loud to myself. Bowl games have become so ridculous like UCLA not being bowl eligible (6-7 record) and appealing to get into a bowl and losing to a team that also just fired their coach. Stupid. But today all is better, with real bowl games that we've heard of before.

Go Ducks

Clearly God Loves Tebow

After the BS of today's game God clearly loves Tebow and/or hates Marion Barber.  There is no way that a guy can continue to put zero points on the board for 50 minutes and continue to win football games without divine intervention.  

Although if I was a Christian I might find it offensive that Tebow is praying to God (full kneel, eyes closed) for a field goal.  If  your relationship with God is so strong you'd think that your God would have better things to do than assure that you win a football game.  A game.  How does that prayer go.

"Dear God, I know you're really busy controlling everything in the universe but could make sure my team wins this game and the other team of guys just like us loses.  Thanks" 

The congressional war on childhood nutrition

Seriously Republicans. How does childhood nutrition turn into a way to make political points? I guess it's a twofer for them. ConAgra gets what it wants and Michelle Obama doesn't.

You really gotta wonder if they care about ANYTHING except getting relected and screwing Obama. Didn't they all say they were going to make America better? Improving nutrition for kids seems pretty basic. But I guess if it's not a fetus, they don't give a shit about it.

The congressional war on childhood nutrition

That GOP hypocrisy that we love so much

it's not about behaving morally, ethically or hell even like a decent human being, it's about imposing your program on others in the name of family while you fail your own.  Like Newt's adultery and failed marriages.  These guys can't meet their own personal obligations or even a basic standard of morality, but they'll sure as hell impose those same standards on you BY LAW.

http://salon.com/a/sUxGbAA

Clearly the product of a racist and left wing media, right?

http://scoop.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/04/8632586-justin-bieber-says-theres-no-truth-to-those-baby-daddy-rumors

Why no outrage over this ?  Why are Rush and Hanitty silent  on this?  After all it's only a racist and left wing media that would cover such allegations.

Why Obama is losing my support

Today Obama's Justice Department announced it was going after California Pot dispensaries, something I'd expect from the Bush administration (the irony of his Justice Dept going after legal activities protected by States laws was one of the most ironic for the States rights/small government GOP, but I digress).  The economy is in the shitter and he's decided he's going to hassle pot smokers.  Un Freakin Belieavable.  This is added to the long list of Bush policies and practices he's continued and even expanded.  Guantanamo is still open, we're still losing troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (when do we "win" in Afghanistan...a question I asked of the Bushies 4 years ago), he's deported MORE people than Bush. So, even while he's acting more like than BUSH than Bush did, he's derided as soft on these issues.  He's supposedly soft on terror, yet he was Pres when bin Laden was killed.  Remember when those Navy Seals killed the pirates a few years ago.  he's been a bad ass, but he'll never get the support of those who want that stuff and call him soft on terror and immigration.  So, he continues to appease the right with half hearted measures to mitigate the damage from his efforts and gets not credit from them, while the center and left sees each appeasement as a betrayal of what we voted for.  Calling him a socialist is laughable, Bush was more about expanding Federal power and influence in our lives (wiretapping , drug bill, TSA anyone).  So, as Obama continues to play to the far right with half measures and justifications, he's pretty close to losing me. 
Hell, I'm not likely to vote for any of the nut jobs running for the GOP nomination, but if a Democrat with some balls were to step up, I might be swinging my support that way. 
Obama hasn't turned out to be the guy I voted for and maybe no one ever is but his reversals and justifications simply are too many to forget at this point. 

"On God's time"?

I'm sorry for their loss, but I just have to comment on this lunacy. So, here's the quote that is ridiculous and the true believers won't see anything wrong with it...

"The heart of the issue would come down to the mix between respecting the parents' rights ... to be in comfort of (their) own home, to die on God's time," said Fedor.

So, this child becomes an "international" story b/c the Canadian doctors wouldn't perform a specific medical intervention, so the parents then get a hospital to do that intervention so the kid can "die on God's time"...say wha?  


If left in "God's hands" this child would have died months ago, MEDICINE kept this child alive beyond what nature or God would have allowed or intended.  If the parents were really concerned with God's time they would have not done the extra interventions that kept him alive a few months longer.  Those extra months were thanks to Modern Science, not God.  


I've got NO problem with the parents seeking alternative medical advice or getting the specific modern scientific medical intervention they felt was necessary, but please don't suggest this death was on God's time.  Science prolonged his life beyond what would have been possible in a place without modern medicine or at a time only decades ago.  

Small Government

I guess it's the Libertarian side of me that must ask again tonight, is there anything more intrusive, onerous, invasive that a government can do than kills its citizens?

Why is it that the people who are supposedly most against government intrusion in our lives completely, 100% support that same government taking our lives?  It doesn't seem to jibe.

Thank you R.E.M.

Warning: Waxing Nostalgic to follow...My best friend Steve from High School and REM are probably most responsible for showing me there was music beyond Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles (and whatever else 95X and 94Rock played) so this news has bummed me out more than I would have expected.  I didn't always like what they were doing ("Shiny Happy People" remains one of the worst songs ever) but I still get excited to hear "Superman" or "Pretty Persuasion" on the (satellite)radio. it's sad to see them go.  Hopefully they don't turn into the Eagles and do a reunion/farewell tour every 18 months.

Pat Robertson: ok with changing the "inviolate" word of God AND the institution of Marriage if it's convenient

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44530424/ns/health-alzheimers_disease/


For a man who has claimed repeatedly to talk directly and receive direction from God, this is a pretty big revision right? Seems like a pretty sizable departure from that "sickness and health" thing. I suppose that sacred bond doesn't apply if your spouse gets too frustrating to deal with, right? What are the other exceptions to this sacred marriage bond?

I've been hearing for the past few years that this concept of lifelong commitment to marriage is unbreakable and unchanging, but does this mean that Pat's OK with changing this supposedly UNCHANGING concept of marriage? Seems to me if you can divorce your spouse if they get inconveniently sick or a burden it would open up other changes to this supposedly unchangeable institution.

Reflections on an unchanged America

10 years ago today we heard, and we continue to hear, how "America changed forever".  The spirit of cooperation and unity as Americans that we all felt on that day lasted about 3 months.  We are country divided more than I can ever remember in my lifetime.  Large and vocal segments of this country drive the debate in the country, not about policy but about whether the President is American enough to even be here.  With accusations of him being Muslim (which after 9/11 has been code for, at worst "terrorist" and at best "Un-american".  There is no "one America" today.  Nothing has changed.  Sure you take your shoes off at the airport, but day to day the vast majority of Americans lives have not changed. Unless you know someone who died on 9/11 or your a soldier, or soldiers family you're life is pretty much the same as it was on Sept 10th 2001.  The lessons of that day are lost, the unity and One America are long gone.  The GOPs front runner is a guy who a year or so ago claimed that he didn't like America enough that he entertained the idea of taking his state and leaving the country.  A road we've been down before.  Can you imagine a governor saying that 10 years ago?

America's politics is broken, a state of paralysis exists in Washington and in my state Capitals.  I think we all felt a new hope for America after 9/11.  A time that America would change for the better, where being American would take precedence over petty political bullshit.  Look at Washington today, is that what you see?  Politicians don't care about America, they care about being re-elected (at worst they care about getting that "Muslim/socialist/fascist/communist/Nazi/black guy" out of office.  Scoring politic points is WAY more important than making this country better.

So, 10 years after 9/11 I'm doubly sad.  For the lives lost and changed 10 years ago today and for the opportunity squandered by the political and business leaders and opportunists of this country.

More on Gov Perry's hypocrisy

Perry is completely against Government imposing health care on citizens, except when he's for it.


http://www.slate.com/id/2303363/

Gov Perry who hates America so much he thinks his state should leave the UNION and hates government handouts...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44441386/ns/weather/


Did you see Mr. Tea Party begging the Feds for money to help fight fires in his state? I guess his small government principles (and of course his burning desire to secede from the Union) only apply when politically expedient.

Funny how things hit you

It's been a year and a half since a friend of mine committed suicide.  And tonight while I was folding clothes, of all things, I got mad at him for doing it.  Of course, at the time there was the "I can't believe he'd do it" and "I had no idea he was in trouble".  I didn't.  We hadn't talked in a few months, but I still considered him a mentor, one of the funniest people I knew and mostly a friend. He was one of the first people who ever said to me that he saw potential in me, he always would joke that someday he'd be working for me.  I always brushed that aside as so much bullshiting around, but inside I think I believed that he believed it. Although, I'd never admit that to myself (until just now).  Anyway, I've had a pretty good year and I've had some successes in my professional career and damn it I want him to say "see, I told you".  I want him to be proud of me.  I want him to say it in his way, because he was such a big part of my starting down this path.  But Goddammit he's not here to say anything.
I wish I'd known, I wish someone knew.  I wish he could have reached out to someone, he had people that loved him dearly and would have done anything for him if we knew he was in trouble.  I would have.
I'm mad at him, but I miss him more.

"Best healthcare in the world" or maybe Waffle Houses aren't the best place for birthin'

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/31/u-s-ranks-low-for-newborn-survival/?hpt=hp_t2

In a 20 year analysis of newborn death rates around the world, the study published in PLoS Medicine revealed the number of infants who die  before they are 4 weeks old account for 41% of child deaths worldwide.  Newborn deaths in the United States ranked 41 out of 45 among industrialized countries, on par with Qatar and Croatia.

I know, Facts are unpatriotic and hate America, but nonetheless. 

And another headline from Today, maybe if we did our birthin near medical facilities?

http://www.wave3.com/story/15371718/woman-gives-birth-outside-waffle-house

but apparently this is pretty standard in the south...here's another WaffleHouse baby from 2009

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/20016659/detail.html

The classic NON apology apology

"SOME" people find offensive...really?  This is the classic non-apology.  As in... "I"m sorry for YOU being upset by the terrible things I said or did.  I'm not sorry for my actions, but that it bothered you, because what I did or said, is still ok in my mind, I'm just apologizing that YOU got upset.  Really, this is your problem, not mine.  In fact, I'm sorry you're a whiney baby"

Washington (CNN) - A member of Congress has apologized after saying that being associated with President Barack Obama would be similar to touching a "tar baby."




Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado, sent a letter to Obama "apologizing for using a term some find insensitive," he said in a statement Monday

No jokes today about the absurdity of global warming today Fox "news"???

One of my favorite childish asinine things all the Fox people do, including those supposedly editorial neutral "news" people on in the morning is mock the notion of global warming every time it snows or it gets below freezing.  You've seen it, with their childish smirks "so much for global warming...ha ha ha".

Why no snarky comments this summer, with the record heat...and this.  Sean?

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/01/us.record.drought/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1

Why no Jokes Now Sean Hannity?

Why no joking this week about how ridiculous Global Warming is this week?  They do it every time it snows as if that's proof that there is no warming, I guess this week reaches that same level of proof.  Except for most people aren't idiots and know that a snow storm or a hot weather event aren't proof of anything.  No doubt the Fox audience doesn't know the difference, but it's been repeatedly proven that Fox viewers are the most poorly informed.  That would be funny, except for you get the impression that the Hannity's and Beck's of Fox know their audience is that gullible and use it to their own personal financial advantage.

Netflix price increases...It's still a great deal

I think we've all gotten a little spoiled. Remember when DRIVING to Blockbuster to rent from their lame inventory to spend $3/movie for 3 days, or 1 day for a new release? Netflix has nearly every movie ever made on DVD, the streaming catalog is good, but it has huge gaps and with the studios playing hardball there will be fewer titles OR it's going to get more expensive (remember people Netflix is paying the studios and companies like SONY are looking at 10x price increases to Netflix...who do you think is going to pay for that?).




Redbox is cute, but again now I'm picking up and dropping off movies. With a two DVD plan and Streaming I can watch a couple of dozen movies a month. Well under a dollar a piece and I'm not driving to Walmart or the 7-11 to chose from the few dozen movies that are in a Redbox. Based on selection, convenience and price Netflix is still a steal if your a movie fan who is interested in movies beyond the latest blockbuster. It's funny that people are expecting prices to stay the same AND get a wider selection of streaming titles. Look at the enviornment Netflix operates in, they aren't raising prices to increase revenue (solely), the cost of doing business is going up thanks to the studios. I guess you cancel your account in disgust, and go see your movies at the theater. What's that run you about 3-4 months of netflix after the increase? Even at $16/month you can watch a LOT of movie for the price of 5 gallons of gas or 4 Lattes from Starbucks. Everyone hates price increases, but come on people think.

Clown - Brewer's office knew, but she didn't?

I so won't miss this clown's behavior or most of the politicians in this backwards state.  She tries to make Napolitano look bad only to make herself look like an idiot.  Even if she wasn't informed, she's the one who has apparently surrounded herself with incompetent oafs who don't think they need to tell the Governor things.  


Instead of trying to make political hay out of this, she should be asking why her deputies don't inform her of things like this, which should be there main job.  

God's Plan?

Josh Hamilton says God has a plan.  Does that mean he is God's vessel by throwing that ball when he did and where he did in accordance with God's desire to take a father from his son while that son watches?  

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/07/08/josh-hamilton-talks-about-thursdays-accident/related/

Absolutely. I haven’t yet. I’m going to give this situation time to, you hate to think sink in, but I can’t imagine what they’re going through right now. I can’t imagine. All I can think about is praying for them and knowing that God has a plan. You don’t always know what that plan is when those things happen, but you will.

Pryor quits...Can Oregon have that Rose Bowl Trophy?

Pryor quits…




http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/06/07/terrelle-pryors-career-at-ohio-state-over/related



I think that Rose Bowl trophy will look good in the Caz center. Pryor/Tressel/etc’s crimes should call into question most of their wins over the past few years. So, if USC is losing titles, why not Ohio St?



Not even talking about that joke of a punishment that let Pryor and his buddies play in the Sugar Bowl last season on the PROMISE that they’d serve suspensions this year. Seems to me that they need to give the Sugar Bowl trophy back too.



In case you forgot

http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/tag/_/name/2011-sugar-bowl-coverage

Really? Are you so fired up about this? Should you be?

Well put by Steve Rushin

This about how I feel. So what? Does this surprise anyone? This is happening everywhere. Stupid rules (NCAA football has cornered market on stupid rules and hypocrisy) will be broken (again and again...be carefu... the school you love is probably doing it too). And no I don't care if Lance Armstrong took PEDs, you ever pedal through the Allps for a couple hundred miles? Red Bull ain't gonna cut it. Everyone needs to save their selective indignation for something that matters. 

This week in Republicans

This guy is pretty awesome.

Minister to state legislature: Obama's no Christian!

Love the family values that the Right's once hero, Schwarzenegger, exhibited over the past few years (you LOVED it when he was running, he was going to fix California...how'd that turn out?  Any different than the course it was on when they recalled Davis?).  Nice work.  Republican family values apparently include creating extra families without your wife.  Sweet

Speaking of adulterers, I can't believe how quickly your people spit out Newt Gingrich.  I heard two Republicans today claim that his candidacy is over already.  WOW.  All he did was point out the truth about Ryan's version of social engineering of health care.  

Disappointed in NPR's actions

NPR's behavior of getting rid of their executives today for expressing carefully edited and manipulated opinions shows a cowardice that gives it's opponents exactly the leverage it wants to further attack it.  Saying that tea partiers are racist and crazy is not radical idea, a lot of people think it.  By giving into this manipulation is concedes that they did something wrong.  NPR should have stood up and fought it or probably more effectively they could have ignored it.  Adulterers and criminals can attack NPR with some sort of moral superiority they believe in and their minions believe in, but NPR cowers and caves within hours.

I don't even remotely buy that NPR is biased.  The ALWAYS have opposing viewpoints...ALWAYS.  they try so hard to be fair that they end up putting more conservatives on the air.  I heard a bit this morning where some guy was defending Peter King's Islam hearings, there was no other person there, pointing out that for years King support terrorism in Ireland or that by continuing to kick Muslims that you further radicalize them, King plays into the hand of the radicals by treating Muslims as second class citizens, but NPR didn't present that truth...ONLY the King view.  Bias my ass.

Man up NPR and instead of conceding with all the bravery of a mouse, defend yourself.  Show the truth, show your neutrality, use data (it will be lost on the people who hate you b/c facts never get in the way of a firmly held Fox-given belief).  Stand up, it's the one thing that middle America understands.  Newt Gingrich can blame his infidelities on his patriotism and people will eat it up, surely NPR can stand up for truth.

Why is MSM talking in whispers about this story?

Why the mainstream media near silence on this? It's buried on all the news sites, you can be damn sure if it was someone who wasn't a in his demographic, it would be everywhere. Is it because it's a neo-nazi, hit a little too close to home for the tea party? I went to Fox News, who has a big thing for terrorism but their HUGE headline is about NPR.


So, much for a liberal bias in the media.

This is real terrorism, perpatrated by groups who are dangerous.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/us/10bomb.html

We distort, You blindly accept

There is a WHOLE real world going on outside the made up world created by the Republicans and Fox "news", considering their viewers will never know about the truth of what's going on in the world is my duty as an American to shed light where there is only darkness...you're welcome:

As Media Matters noted, on March 3, 2011, Fox News used footage shot by a local Wisconsin photographer to falsely label Wisconsin union protesters as "violent." The video showed protesters confronting Republican State Senator Glenn Grothman as he attempted to enter the Wisconsin capitol building. Although the video clearly showed no violence being committed, and in fact, the protesters breaking into chants of "peace" and "peaceful," Fox falsely depicted the crowd as "violent protesters," and an "angry union mob," who "ambush[ed]" Grothman.

In a statement to Media Matters, Phil Ejercito, the photographer who shot the video, responded, slamming Fox News' distortion of his material:

...

Let there be no ambiguity: I condemn the use of my work to distort the truth about the spirited but non-violent protests here in Madison. I believe that this is a genuinely dangerous narrative that Fox News is helping to create. Prior to Gov. Walker's Feb. 11 unveiling of his budget repair bill, the last time a Wisconsin governor invoked the National Guard in response to labor, seven demonstrators were shot dead in front of the Bay View Rolling Mill. I am deeply disturbed to consider that my work is being misused to establish a fictional narrative of violence by the working families of Wisconsin, and I encourage people to watch the entire clip on YouTube for themselves to understand the full context and decide for themselves what truthfully took place.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201103040013

Because the media never follows up on the truth after the lies make a media splash

So, I figured I'd help educate rather than have anyone continue to spout data that has been proven to be wrong:

 

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/03/phoenix_police_finally_admits.php

 

And one of the stories that led to the admission:

 

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/02/new_times_review_of_phoenix_ki.php

 

Phoenix police reported that there were 358 kidnapping calls in their community during 2008, and that a majority of them were linked to drug and human smuggling across the Arizona-Mexico border.

In recent months, Phoenix police union leaders have raised questions about the veracity of those statistics. And while they promulgate doubt, City Manager David Cavazos, Police Chief Jack Harris and Mayor Phil Gordon continue to dismiss concerns that kidnapping statistics are inaccurate or intentionally inflated. 

A New Times analysis of 264 of the 358 reported kidnappings shows that only about one out of every four incidents labeled as kidnappings in 2008 appeared connected to border-related crimes.

Chief Harris had agreed to discuss the kidnapping statistics with New Times, but a few days later, a police spokesman said that Harris was going to pass on the interview. 

Police officials say they aren't commenting because of an ongoing audit of those statistics by the Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General.

New Times reviewed 264 police reports on a list of 2008 kidnappings -- a list generated and released by the Phoenix Police Department. While all 358 reports on that list are titled "Kidnapping," at least 53 of the actual police reports do not have the same title.

For instance, 24 of the police reports were titled armed robberies or extortions, 7 were listed as aggravated assaults and 8 were classified as possible violations of federal immigration laws. The labels on 14 other reports included a suspicious person, non-aggravated assault and robbery without a weapon.

...

But, of the 264 available police reports reviewed by New Times, only 64 incidents had discernible ties to human smuggling and kidnapping. That means thatPhoenix was dealing with Mexican-style kidnap-for-ransom cases an average of once a week, not daily. 

...

On May 13, 2008, a 20-year-old man attacked his ex-girlfriend after she drove to his apartment complex to pick up money that he owed her. When she arrived, he got into her truck and they spoke for a few minutes. 

He asked her for a kiss, and she said no. Her refusal angered him, and he grabbed a fistful of her hair, and then her throat when she started screaming. She tried to get herself and her child out of the car, but he got a hold of her shirt, ripped it along with the purse she was holding. He forced her to stay inside the car for more than half an hour before she eventually escaped.

She reported the crime to police the following day. Cops drove to his apartment, he admitted the attack on his ex and was arrested. 

The single-day investigation did not require intensive resources and the nonstop involvement of 60 specially-trained police officers and detectives, but it is among those 358 kidnapping cases purportedly assigned to specially-trained police squads. 

Another report, this one dated March 21, 2008, notes an early morning call from the Blessed Sacrament Church to Phoenix police. A priest told police he received an e-mail from someone threatening to kill him if he didn't pay $15,000. He said he had no idea who sent it. 

Cops went to the church, picked up the e-mail and logged the incident as DR 2008-80486550, a five-sentence departmental report labeled, "Extortion."

The single-page report from 2008 makes no mention of any harm coming to the priest, or of anyone being kidnapped. Nevertheless, it ended up on the list of kidnappings in that year

No doubt the right wing still thinks this is a "tough stance" on illegals

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110302/ts_yblog_thelookout/proposed-texas-immigration-law-contains-convenient-loophole-for-the-help

George Will disappoints with a ridiculous critique of "progressives"

Will: 

'Forever seeking Archimedean levers for prying the world in directions they prefer, progressives say they embrace high-speed rail for many reasons—to improve the climate, increase competitiveness, enhance national security, reduce congestion, and rationalize land use. The length of the list of reasons, and the flimsiness of each, points to this conclusion: the real reason for progressives’ passion for trains is their goal of diminishing Americans’ individualism in order to make them more amenable to collectivism.


To progressives, the best thing about railroads is that people riding them are not in automobiles, which are subversive of the deference on which progressivism depends. Automobiles go hither and yon, wherever and whenever the driver desires, without timetables. Automobiles encourage people to think they—unsupervised, untutored, and unscripted—are masters of their fates. The automobile encourages people in delusions of adequacy, which make them resistant to government by experts who know what choices people should make.'

The right seem to be talking out of both sides of your arse (again). So “progressives” who are all about shattering the status quo and improving the station of everyone, hate cars because they allow people to shatter the status quo and empower people to be mobile? If two people get together on the lawn of the Wisconsin State House they’re animals and rioters, as they fight for their rights that the Koch Brothers and the puppet governor try to strip their rights (protestors who work to be the “masters of their fates”, demand that they be seen as “adequate” , for their voices to be heard while the billionaires who stand to gain and the politicians who do their bidding ignore that adequacy and ability to shape their own fates, nay belittle the very act of demanding they be seen as adequate”)


Progressives who believe completely in the power of PEOPLE to change the world, hate that people are empowered?

While, Conservatives who hate change anything, keep the little people in their place so that the powerful can maintain their wealth and power are now the supporter of change and the little guy. They throw rhetorical tidbits to the ignorant to make them believe they’re on the side, just long enough to get elected and then they raise taxes for 98% of us and give the SuperRich more of the goodies. It’s really sad how gullible most “Republicans” are to this.

You can make the case that rail is a huge waste of money, but Mr. Will is overreaching and fails miserably to make some anti-progressive point here. Laughably fails. I expect a lot better from Will. 

Democracy comes from within

Years ago, I told my Bushie friends that you can't impose democracy on another nation at the end of a gun, it has to come from within.  But, Bush went ahead and tried to impose something like democracy on Iraq with pretty mixed results.  One despot was removed, but with tens of thousands dead and in it's wake a nearly failed state, with constant terrorism and foreign nations still with troops on the ground to maintain this imposed "democracy".

Turn to 2011 and people rising up in Tunisia and  Egypt and now Bahrain and Libya and protests in other places as well.  Why are we seeing this now instead of immediately after the fall of Saddam?  Because you can't impose democracy on other nations, and when it comes from within like all successful democracy movements others under the thumb of despots are emboldened to change their situations as well.  So, they take to the streets when they see the power of people in neighboring nations, NOT when they see the power of the United States military.  They know that democracy isn't granted by the weapons of Western nations, they know it comes from themselves.  It is only THE PEOPLE who can change their own government.  They learned from the US Revolution, the French revolution, from Gandhi who demanded change for themselves and made it happen.

I hope that the spirit of democracy continues through the world and extends to other places.  I hope that the military leadership supports that spirit, but I'm not confident that we'll see exact repeats of how the Egyptian military responded and we're already seeing  a different response in Libya and Bahrain.  I hope the Egyptian military supports more democracy and we can't get pissed off if democracy leads to Islamic leadership (they're Muslims after all who else would they elect???), but military leadership of countries doesn't have the best track record for non-oppression.  Hopefully the Egyptian military returns power to civilians and that government is interested in serving the best interests of the people and not simply enriching themselves.

Best of Luck to everyone fighting for democracy around the world

Some more truth about the Reagan Mythology

Now that the Right has conceded that Reagan had nothing to do with the fall of USSR and that it was the Soviet Space program that was responsible while Reagan was still a B-movie actor, SAG president and host of a TV show, here some forgotten reality about his "small government, fiscal responsibility" silliness.

http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2011/02/04/david_stockman_and_ronald_reagan/index.html

From David Stockman- Reagan's 1st Budget Director:

The Reagan Revolution was a Lincoln Day Dinner speech. It never happened in the real world of fiscal policy. During the 1980's, Big Government got bigger and the Federal tax burden was just shuffled, not reduced. The main fiscal legacy of the Reagan era is that the Federal debt was raised from $1 trillion to $3 trillion. Unfortunately, when the economy rebounded after Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker's conquest of runaway inflation, Republicans embraced the dangerous shibboleth that deficit-financed tax cuts are good for growth.

The reason spending went up is that there was no reform of the big entitlements like Social Security and Medicare and not a single department or function of government was eliminated.... Further, many of the initial cuts in discretionary programs were restored over the years, and the cost of interest on the ballooning Federal debt rose significantly.

The tax burden rose during the Reagan era as well. Specifically, when Reagan left office Federal taxes accounted for 18.4 percent of GDP -- a figure slightly higher than the 1960-80 average of 18.0 percent. More importantly, nearly half of the massive 1981 tax reduction -- festooned as it was with every manner of special interest tax breaks that K-Street lobbyists could conjure -- was recouped during the next four years in a series of annual deficit reduction bills that a bi-partisan majority was able to persuade the President to sign.

At the end of the day, during the 1980s income tax rates were lowered, the tax base was broadened through loop-hole closing and the 1986 tax reform act and the payroll tax was raised by a full percentage point of GDP as part of the 1982 Social Security rescue plan. On net, however, there was no reduction in the total Federal tax burden during the Reagan era. What survived was an anti-tax religious catechism which has left the country with two free lunch parties and no prospect of responsible fiscal governance.

Another married straight parent in Florida kills her kids

We always hear that gays can't marry because of the harm it will do to children (although marriage and adoption/child rearing are different things conflated by the homophobe crowd), but it's seems that it's always straight people that are torturing and murdering their kids.

Conservative says Tea Partyers are "irrational" and "ignorant"

http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2011/01/05/bruce_bartlett_on_tea_party_monumental_insanity/index.html

Bruce Bartlett is a historian whose résumé includes stints as a domestic policy advisor during the Reagan administration and a Treasury official under George H.W. Bush. 

Money Quote: The problem is that the Tea Partyers are nuts. That is my point. They are irrational, they are ignorant, they don't know anything about financial markets and they think that they are standing up for God and the balanced budget.

OK, I'll stop

(hey, you see George Will said Sarah Palin is unelectable?)

ok, stopping for real.  

How you like Scott Brown now, right wingers?

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/us_senate/index.html?story=/news/feature/2010/12/18/dont_ask_dont_tell_repealed

I remember hearing his election was a watershed moment for turning back progress (or progressives as you call them) but it looks like America will join the rest of our allies in letting gays serve openly in the military instead of in secret. 

Rollins has problems with Palin too...boy they're coming out of the woodwork now

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/12/01/rollins.palin/index.html?hpt=T2

 Ed Rollins, .... He was White House political director for President Ronald Reagan and chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Taking our ball and going home or We really aren't serious about all the deficit reduction talk that got us elected

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101201/ap_on_go_co/us_democrats_lame_duck_politics




So, these tax cuts that have been in place for years didn't stop 10% unemployment and the worst recession since the 1930s, what proof is there that extending them won't prolong a shitty economy, it didn't prevent one.

A middle finger from Jesus

It's clear that Palin can't even teach the slightest amount of decorum to her own children (oh yeah, and stop them from getting pregnant when they're 16 and living under her roof) but she's going to tell America how to live (Why is the right so ok with a Palin being an unwed teenage mother, they hate that stuff when it's poor people or minorites). See the other daughter's anti-gay rants on Facebook from last week. Clearly they stay on message when there are handlers around for People Magazine interviews, but off the cuff the reality comes out.


CLASSY

Just like Jesus said:

Palin, 20, the daughter of conservative politician Sarah Palin who reached the finals despite get low judges' scores for six weeks, said on Wednesday that prayer had got her through the controversy, which included an anthrax scare on the set.

"It is faith that got me through this and just praying all the time and just relying on God and knowing that He is on our side and we'll get through this," Palin told People magazine.

But in a comment on Tuesday's broadcast, Palin said winning the contest and the glitzy mirrorball trophy "would be a great middle finger to all the people who hate my mom and me."

The Queen of the Tea Party holds court on our North Korean "allies"

This woman wants to be President, (even though she's afraid of Katie Curic...imagine how scared she'd be of someone like Putin)


These words are sheer genius...thanks for the insight (even if she can't form a complete sentence)...I guess this is all Bush's fault...he had 8 years and did NOTHING about N Korea, right?

Sarah Palin is asked by Glenn Beck on his radio show what we should do about the current North Korea crisis:

“Well, North Korea, this is stemming from I think, a greater problem when we’re all, you know, sittin’ around askin’, ‘Oh, no, what are we gonna do,’ and we’re not having a lotta faith that the White House is gonna come out with a strong enough policy to sanction what it is North Korea is gonna do, so this speaks to a bigger picture that certainly scares me in terms of our national security policy, but obviously some stand with our North Korean allies we’re bound to by freedom; we’re also bound by prudence to stand with our South Korean allies. And to my North Korea, well, we’re not gonna reward bad behavior and we’re not gonna walk away and we do need to press China to do more to improve pressure on North Korea.”

As the Tea Party begins it's journey toward continued irrelevance

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/11/17/how-gm-ipo-proves-the-tea-party-wrong.html





http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/11/17/5483303-ap-calls-it-for-murkowski

Rubio just another GOPer

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/11/14/20101114rubio1114.html

 

The other day, when I pointed out the utter failure of most big name Tea Partiers on election day, my old Bushie buddy, who now fancies himself a tea partier, he claimed Rubio was a signature win.  This article makes the point I attempted to make, but much better. 

Juan William doesn't know what "censorship" is?

Juan (who's had the quickest most lucrative firing in the history of broadcasting) claims that his firing by NPR was censorship.  Shouldn't a journalist know what censorship is?  Saying things that piss of your employer causing them to fire you is THE FREE MARKET, it's not censorship.  His words weren't censored by a government he was fired for saying something stupid "I think all Muslims are terrorists".  That's dumb and probably not something a person should say if they want to keep their journalism job.

But the Fox Right Wing Nuts are having a field day, but I wonder why when they were screaming for Helen Thomas to be fired for commenting on the foreign policy of a country (remember she never said "Jews scare me", she spoke about Israel's foreign policy) they didn't care about free speech then?  Why silent when Rick Sanchez was fired?  When  Peter Arnett was fired for speaking out against the Iraq war...they didn't care then.

It seems to me that the Fox/Right Wing/GOP stance is Free Speech only applies to saying shitty things about Muslims.  But you damn well not say anything bad about Israel or a Republican politician.

Freakin hypocrites.

The best the GOP has to offer?

This is the best the GOP has to offer? You'd think the Republican nominee for Senate would be at least casually familiar with the 1st Amendment, especially when she's always wrapping herself up in the document.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miwSljJAzqg&feature=player_embedded

Seriously, what is it with the "tea party" candidates. Paladino in NY. You've got the fake Doctor in Rand Paul, The Thug up in Alaska using the military to detain American Journalists on American Soil at public events, California's tough on immigration candidate who employs illegal immigrants, crazy lady in Nevada and the most sad of all, O'Donnell in DE.

Seriously is the the best the GOP has to offer? This group of clowns will be the further undoing of the GOP. At least Rove had the balls to say that about O'Donnell. No Republican can think this is good for the Party.

My (humble) review of "Let the Great World Spin" Colum McCann

I'll start by saying I don't feel qualified to "review" a book like this, don't have the training, the education or well-read enough. I don't even read a lot of Modern fiction, but I've read everything McCann has published, except "Zoli". So, I'm very much a fan of his writing.


Also, I think many of us like to believe we have a book or two in us, especially when you see what passes for writing these days and even more so when you know who gets book deals. I know I've thought, "Maybe I could do this", but then you read a book like "Let the Great World Spin" and realize "I could never do THIS". It's just so well done that it makes you not want to attempt it because you know you could never achieve something like this even if I had the discipline to start and finish the effort.

This book is extremely well-written as are McCann's other books. I've always loved his descriptions of everyday things and scenes, he does in a way that make images so vivid and real but without cliche and in such a manner that you've heard before.

What captured me most about this book was the creative and inventive story-telling. Sometimes the genius of the story-telling made me pause and I had to leave the narrative to contemplete the brilliance of the ideas within the story. To sit up and say "jesus, that's brilliant". I loved the characters, even when I didn't "like" the characters.

It is one of those books where you wish there was more because you enjoyed the journey so much you don't want it to end.

Why I'm still not buying a Kindle

Recently read an article complaining about prices for new eBooks and how publishers had become greedy and were running the risk of putting off adoption. This is a great example.

An electronically delivered eBook costs next to NOTHING to produce, no printing costs, no transportation, virtually zero storage costs (probably less than a penny for server storage space maybe???), yet this book is only 80 cents less than the hardcover book. A book I could later sell and even if I only got a $1 for it I come out ahead.

I don’t buy the idea that I’m going to pay for the privilege of carrying around a Kindle instead of a real book, even if I can carry 25 books on it (how many books do people read at a time anyway?).

Until publishers get less greedy, out of principle I could very well put off my purchase of a Kindle

Cover Songs

I think I rant about this from time to time, but it's apparently important to me.  COVER SONGS.  I love a great cover song and I've been putting together some rules about music in general (10 year statute of limitations for ALL bands for example) for the folks at work, but the Cover song rule is easy. 

MAKE YOUR VERSION OF THE SONG YOUR OWN.

This was brought home most recently in the course of a day in listening to Sirius in the truck.  Exhibit A- Devo's version of "Satisfaction".  Not my favorite cover song, but I"m not a big Devo Devotee (ha) but that song is their own.  it is the epitome of a great cover song.  They made a Stones Classic into their own.  It's recognizable which is part of it, but making it their own ...damn it it sounds like a Devo song.  You know it's Devo, not jsut from the voice, but the whole sound.

Exhibit B- 10,000 Maniacs Doing "Because the night" a near note for note cover indistinguishable from the Patti Smith version.  WHY FREAKING BOTHER?  Is it to prove you can read music and simulate the exact notes and sounds of another artist...NO ONE CARES.  In fact, this version of the song has made hate 10kM since the time I first heard it.  You wanna hear exact copies go listen to Mini Kiss. 

Other great covers that come to mind, that fit my rule above.  Anthrax doing "London" (The Smiths),  "Sweet Dreams by Marilyn Manson (Eurythmics), Johnny Cash doing "Hurt" , and pretty much any cover song that Dwight Yoakam ever did. And "All along the Watchtower" by Jimi goes without saying (yet, there I said it).

So damn it "artists" don't show us how you can copy another's song exactly, do something with it.  Hell if I was a record company executive I'd never let some of that crap get released...too lazy and a waste of vinyl.