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The 6 game (longest since April 2002) losing streak has ended.  Although, I fear it is not, if this is the end of the pain for this year, I’d say we got out without suffering too much damage.  How did we do it, you ask?  With the help of three rooks, two making their major league debuts and one becoming the 92^nd player in history to homer in his first major league at bat.  What a day!  Too bad it happened in Detroit!  Now, since the rooks picked up the vets today, maybe some of them will learn how to hit again.

And now, a quick note on Tim Salmon.  Even though he has cooled off a bit, he has shown that he can still hit big boy pitching for power.  We weren’t expecting .300 and that’s fine.  He is still a dangerous hitter, and a huge asset to a team of increasingly young players that need a veteran of Tim’s experience and attitude around for the dog days.

Angels snap longest skid since '02, cool off Tigers

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As if the U.S. didn’t have enough problems, with North Korea and Iran possibly developing nuclear weapons, the ongoing terrorist hailstorm in the Middle East, the future bird flu pandemic, the illegal immigration issues here at home, do we really need to go looking for another bees nest to stir up right now?  Can someone just put a fucking muzzle on our pea brained vice president before he starts another cold war?

Russian Officials Angered Over Vice President Cheney's Remarks

I have no problem acknowledging that Russia has its problems both internally and beyond its borders.  I can also can acknowledge that they too tend to apply pressure to those states that are not playing ball the way they’d like, but for the U.S. to even mention in passing that Russia is somehow overstepping ethical boundaries by using its natural resources to gain advantage or that they are unfairly restricting the rights of its citizens is just plain fucking hypocritical.

It is this holier than thou mentality constantly displayed by our government pinheads that continues to get us in hot water with the rest of the world, and continues to fuel those with less than honorable motives with plenty of material to justify their own self serving agendas.  Russia could absolutely be an exceptional ally of ours if only we would stop insulting them and pissing them off.  We are not the mother, father or big brother of all the world’s nations.  The fact is we need Russia on our side, if we are to check this jihad by the less fortunate, IQ challenged, religious zealots intent on destroying this planet in the name of Allah.

If we want the rest of the world on our side, or the very least stop telling us how to go about our business, we need to keep our noses out of theirs.

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It is also probable that we will spend even more than all of this combined in subsidies to nations where these drugs are coming from, most notably Mexico, Columbia, South Africa, and Afghanistan (yep, we give Afghanistan millions if not billions of dollars to combat the cultivation of opium poppies) and we can only guess where all this money actually goes. Curious the production of opium from Afghanistan has increased nearly ten fold since we ousted the Taliban (who were surprisingly effective at curtailing the opium industry when they were in power.) Perhaps our government will finally realize that the very freedoms we enjoy and fight for are the catalysts that enable the proliferation of drugs through the exercising of those freedoms.

The fact, which is so unbelievably easy to see, is the war on drugs is un-winnable. I would even argue that the more money we throw at this war, the more ineffective we will ultimately be at fighting it. We live in a society of freedom, capitalism and gluttony; three of the worst enemies to good judgment, equity and temperance, yet we as a society continually fool ourselves into thinking that can somehow control the masses by throwing unfathomable amounts of money toward a war we cannot hope to win.

Opponents to true freedom of choice would have you believe that the only outcome would be anarchy, but I would argue that the problems facing our nation stem from the government’s propensity to limit our freedom when they see fit to save us from ourselves. With ultimate freedom comes ultimate accountability and responsibility. Imagine if we spent that $50 billion on education. Effectively producing more intelligent, accountable and productive future members of our society, who, if they chose, would do drugs, or not, but either way would do so responsibly, and without impeding on anyone else’s right to do the same.

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add the war on drugs clock to your web page:

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A Spanish version of the Star Spangled Banner?

Immigrants, who “love” this country sooooo much yet, have no desire to learn the language spoken by the majority of its inhabitants, the language used to form the country through its declaration of independence and constitution and the language in which every single law is written and will ever be written.  They say ignorance of the law is no excuse, but what about no comprenda le lay?  Is that a valid defense?  If this is to be your country, then it is also to be your society, your community, your neighborhood, and if you truly want to be a part of it, the rest of us speak English!

And what of the immigrants that built this country?  The Irish, Italians, Greeks, Polls, Germans, Slavs et al, have all learned to read, write, speak and yes even sing in English!

Why, for the love of god, must we continue to pander to a faction of immigrants who demand special treatment when every other immigrant before them gladly adapted and integrated themselves into their new beloved country and all without a single nation-wide protest?

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McKinney's gender, race card flop

Sometimes being black or being a woman has nothing to do with someone’s reaction to your arrogant, self entitled actions.  Actually, what playing the race card can do in some instances is prove just how much of a racist the one playing the card is.  Although, in my mind, this case is pretty darn clear, many cases of supposed racial injustice are handled with such kid gloves that no one ever supposes that the one crying foul is really the racist.

Take for example, our very own resident racist; the compulsive, self serving, (exactly what makes him a reverend,) media whore, piece of cow dung, Jesse (please don't point that dogmatic finger at me again) Jackson.  Does no one have the balls to stand up and call him what he is?  Is the fact that he happens to be black and one of the most outspoken abusers of the race card somehow shed all scrutiny by the learned public, our nation’s leaders and judicial system that he is in fact one of the most blatant racists of our time?

I know nothing of Rep. Cynthia McKinney except this.  She needs to apologize to congress, to the Capitol Hill Police officer whom she has tried to try in the media to cover her own lack of good judgment and sense, and just do her job.  You know, the one her constituents elected her to do, and leave the race and gender cards to those who truly play them best.

My apologies to Gloria Allred.  Although you certainly deserve it, being the self appointed champion for all things gender and an even bigger media whore than JJ, I simply had no energy for you today, but I'm sure we can all draw the parallel.

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After a year of thinking I would never see him play again, Tim Salmon had an uncharacteristic spring training.  Tagged with the label “notoriously slow starter” throughout his career, Tim needed a good, but more likely great, showing this year just to make the team.  What Tim did was bat .340 with 4 home runs and 10 RBI with a sizable number of at bats for a veteran, and in doing so, displaced young buck Dallas McPherson for the final roster spot.  Read All About It.  Now it’s up to Tim to stay healthy and produce the way we all know he can.

WAY TO GO TIM!  So glad you decided to finish out your career with the Angels.

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In 2005, the US government paid approximately $352,000,000,000 (that’s $352 billion) in interest on our national debt.  Coincidentally, the yearly budget deficit under Gorge W has been right around 400 billion.  Actually a bit more, but we aren’t into shaving points here for the sake of argument.  Anything over a few hundred million and what does it really matter?  It’s all play money to dem politicians.  But wait, here’s a big news flash for you bickering stuffed shirts.  Actually, it’s OUR money!!!

When one really stops to think just how much $352 billion is, most of us, (including your’s truly) have no way to relate, and really have no way to put that amount of money into perspective.  I mean, I could have ranted today on the actual national debt, but that would have been even more an unfathomable concept at over 8 trillion dollars than the pittance that is only the interest payment.

So, how about we try and put a visual on this massive interest payment (and you thought a few hundred dollars a month on your credit card was a lot…)  At $352 billion, that is about $1 billion a day (again, why quibble over a few million.)  Still, since none of us has actually seen a billion dollars (see MediaWatchBlog,) I’m betting it’s still too large a number for the average citizen (again, myself included.) to comprehend.  So… even though we could further break this down by the hour ($42 million,) the minute ($695 thousand,) or even the second ($11,575) so we get to a figure that looks even remotely like something that might actually reside in our bank accounts, why don’t we just try to visualize what our daily payment of $1 billion is, seeing as our government and those reporting these grotesque numbers to us seem to think we can easily wrap our heads around a number such as a billion.

Let’s take a stack of $1 bills, shall we?  It takes approximately 150 of them to make an inch, and 1800 to make a foot.  So, if we were to stack today’s interest payment in $1 bills, we would have a stack 611,111 feet high.  Hmmmmm.  I still have no idea what that would look like.  611,111 feet is almost 116 miles!  Alright, well, I kinda know what 116 miles looks like; at least I think I do.  It is roughly the distance between the downtowns of San Diego and Los Angeles.  It is, interestingly enough, the minimum orbital distance of the Space Shuttle.  Alright, so after further thought, since I have never seen the space shuttle in flight, I’d say 116 miles of dollar bills is still something I can’t really imagine.

What I am really trying to point out here is how huge our national debt really is.  So huge in fact that the average citizen has no concept of how much money we are talking about.  Okay, so, we’re spending 1 billion dollars a day in interest.  Doesn’t sound so bad, I mean, it’s only 1 billion.  Better than 2, right?  Maybe because 1 is a number we can all identify with, the fact that it is only 1 makes it more palatable I guess.  Until you realize that our government spends more on interest on our national debt than nearly every single major line item in the federal budget!  Including: education, law enforcement, environmental protection, medical research, transportation, energy (or better yet, the development of alternative forms?  More on this later, I’m sure,) and homeland security.  In fact, put them all together, and you still don’t have what we pay in interest!

Just imagine if we had an additional $352 billion to budget.

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What is it with our fascination with long prison sentences?  I mean, anything over 60 years is essentially life.   What is up with a 397 ½ year sentence?  Does that mean the guy is even worse than say a guy that gets only 350 years?  Do the families of the multiple victims get to figure which of the nearly 20 score of years is in reparations for their loss?

N.J. Killer Gets 11 Life Sentences

It truly is a waste of so much of our time, dollars, resources and even piece of mind to go through these ridiculous motions of trying a guy for all 22 murders to which he fully admits.  And what of the murders, again to which he has admitted to, in other jurisdictions?  Will the additional 150 year sentence in those states be of such profound consolation to the families of those victims?  How we coddle our grieving citizenry, akin to so much of the new age PC rhetoric, so not to offend.

Let’s spend more money on this piece of shit!

The fact is the additional 330 plus years tacked on to this guy’s term will do nothing to console the families.  It simply makes for a nice headline, and helps to establish just how really really bad this guy is.  Yippee!  “You’ve just been handed the longest sentence in New Jersey state history.  What are you gonna do next?”

I say we sentence the fucker like so:  “You are a very bad man, and have committed the ultimate crime against humanity.  You will not be rehabilitated!  You shall live the rest of your god forsaken life imprisoned by those you have wronged.”  If it were me on the bench, I’d add “…and in your next life may you be endlessly fucked in the ass by a donkey!”

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Give the moral minority, quasi vigilante fanatics more legitimacy by ruling that the federal government has no jurisdiction to protect those exercising their right to choose; a right expressly granted to them by the same.

February 27, 2006 - Supreme Court Decision

On the surface, this may appear as if the government is actually limiting itself, and checking itself as our forefathers envisioned.  Not intruding on the lives of its citizens with overbearing/overprotective statutes intended to control the masses; giving the states more autonomy and responsibility to maintain order and protect the public.

This appears to be a Libertarian’s wet dream!  So, what’s the issue then?  Well, I’m glad you asked.  This is a problem created by the feds!  By ruling in favor of Roe in 1973, the Supreme Court established a reciprocal need to protect those citizens exercising their right to choose and took on the constitutional responsibility to protect those that do.  With today’s decision, the Supreme Court has essentially said, “well, you have that right, but use it at your own risk.”

So what will the states do with this new responsibility?  Well in South Dakota, they may very well outlaw choice altogether, thereby eliminating the responsibility to protect those wishing to, and in fact, making it a crime to do so.  In fact they already have legislation in the works to do just that.  South Dakota Challenges Roe v. Wade

Step Two…

Pass a law that is clearly unconstitutional in an effort to bring it before the Supreme Court once again.  The Supreme Court does not make law, that much is certain, but in this case, all they have to do is wait around for someone who can to make one.  And now, with the balance of power in the Supreme Court clearly on the “conservative” side, is it any stretch to think that Roe v Wade may soon be overturned?

Step Three…

Regulate the production and sale of wire coat hangers!  Hey, maybe Joan Crawford had something there…

I don’t want to imagine what kinds of horrible stories are to come from the repealing of the constitutional right to choose.  If you think the pictures of bloody fetal material with captions stating that “this is a human being” are bad enough, wait till the gruesome picture needs no such caption except to remind us that perhaps one death really IS better than two!

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