I finally found my blog again!

Man how time flew on this one! Now I can get back down to business! On with the sports!

- The NBA Draft held to form last night with the 1st and 2nd picks and I had this feeling like...
"If a tree fell in the forest and no one heard it, did it fall"?
Does anyone really care about the NBA? It should stand for "No Basketball Association". The past NBA Finals was about as boring as it gets. One happy note: As a Pitt fan I was happy to see Aaron Gray get selected by the Bulls, but doubtful he actually can make their roster.

- The Pittsburgh Pirates have maintained their own irrelevance in Major League Baseball despite the gaps in my blog. They are already double digits out of first place and on their way to their 15th losing season in a row. They are absolutely, hands down the worst managed franchise in professional sports. While teams like Florida and Arizona came in and won one or multiple World Series, the Pirates are lucky to be in discussion past April. Now it's coming up to Steeler time and all the Pirates will be is a faded memory.

- And funny thing: If a walkout is staged, and no one is watching, did 10,000 people really leave their seats then?

- Michelle Wie needs some help. Seriously. Can anyone get Dr. Phil on the white courtesy phone? It's been 15 rounds in a row she's been over par. I fell fairly certain I could shoot 1 under par or at the very least even. Maybe the expectations are too great, maybe she's injured but in reality she shouldn't be playing at all because she would have shot over 90 at the Ginn tournament and been barred from all other LPGA events this year. Women's golf has many young stars going for it and if Michelle Wie doesn't get her act together, she'll be as relevant as Happy Gilmore is these days...

- Funniest thing I've heard in the last week: The PGA starting drug testing. Angel Cabrera better get out of the country now. I mean, after all, didn't you see those ripping forearms and biceps? What, that was his gut? My bad...

- Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson get docked 100 points and $100K for failing inspection. YAWN. Now, suspend them for 6 races, and prohibit their team to field a car and you'll be talking about some serious penalities.

In Politics:

- Looks like immigration reform is a long way from becoming reality. Leads me to wonder if anyone wants to decide what the heck they want. Personally I side with Bill O'Reilly's take: simple, to the point, and effective. Why does every bill have to be so complicated?

- Americans give Congress a lower rating then President Bush. Either their's enough anger to go around, or we're finally getting the message that maybe we should be educating ourselves before we vote! :)

- You read it here first: No way Hillary Clinton is the next President of the United States. America is not ready for that step, yet. I believe someday you will see the first woman president and the first african american president (want to make a statement that racism is way in the past? that would probably do it). But I don't think it will be in 2008. If Fred Thompson can seperate himself from the pack (read: Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and George Bush) I think he has an outstanding chance. Otherwise, who knows. Paging Jon Stewart?

Until next time...

Not much tonight...

Whew...tired from the wife tossing and turning last night...not a whole lot going into this entry...LOL

---Yet another reporter for a major newspaper got fired for plagarism. It seems that the media, in its quest to keep viewership/readership afloat, is under enormous pressure to break the big story, or report in a way favorable to their audience, that they will go to extreme moral lowlights to do so. I respect the reporting of the Washington Post...at least most of what I read there is factually backed up. But I bet if the LA and NY times started doing "REAL" background research, they wouldn't have a staff left.

Is it any wonder why their reading audience is starting to plummet?

The only reason they are still breathing is because the major broadcast networks take their talking memos and put them into their newscasts. It would be nice for once to actually see them do some reporting on a major issue of interest.

---I read an amazing article today about a guy getting struck by lightning a second time-19 years apart! Maybe if the Dems get hit by one of those we can actually get our judicial system back on track...:)

---Looks like the Yankee's have hit rock bottom, and it's only May. First series win by the Devil Rays over the Yankees EVER. I think Brian Cashman better start looking for another job....

Well, said it would be short. Be sure to check out Dan Froomkin's columns at www.washingtonpost.com. I have learned a lot about what goes on in the White House from his work. Have a wonderful Cinco de Mayo!

Getting the #3 most wanted terrorist and Dale E. Jr redux

Well, what a great day! Looks like we took a key member of UBL's posse out. This can only mean good things for the safety of American's and President Bush (but don't tell the LA or NY times that...they'll find a way to spin it that Pakistan actually captured him, even though our intelligence team in that country led them to him). Hopefully we can get some key info to bring down UBL and get him in a cold, dark, dank jail cell.

As for Dale Earnhardt Jr. calling Jimmie Johnson an "idiot", he should be focusing his attention more on why he's almost 300 points behind him and not what happened. It's RACING. I'm sure if a wreck happened that allowed him to WIN, you wouldn't hear anything of the sort come out of his pie-hole. This just goes to show you-no matter how mainstream NASCAR says it's getting, it's still just a sport for rednecks and beer bellies, and is wasting gas that could be better used to fill our economy. It's amazing that gas could end up at $5 dollars a gallon, and you'll still have 43 NASCAR teams running each Sunday. Go figure.:)

Well, short one today-my in-laws are here. Going to be a great 2 weeks! See you next time!

JC

Weekend update and some random sports ponderings...

Well, it was a great weekend! I have had a heart condition that afflicted me for over 5 years, and I found out last Friday that it has been healed! All I know is God is good and it was in His time that I would be healed. Now, to cover some things that have taken place since my last blog entry:

---What was that Georgia girl thinking? I mean, I've heard of wedding day jitters, but to start a statewide manhunt?LOL I found it humorous that Alberqurque found her "amusing". Is that what we call breaking the law these days?? Best case scenerio: Make her pay for all the law enforcement that got duped, and toss her in the slammer for a couple months. That ought to make her think twice about ditching her wedding day.:)

---Laura Bush was on FIRE. If Tony Danza can get a show, why can't she? Her jokes were hilarious. You could say she's rising and her hubby's not.

---Does any normal American understand the whole ethics deal, fillibusters and all?? I must have skipped that course in high school.*G* Sounds to me like the Republicans want to take the "check" out of checks and balances. They didn't have a problem preventing 10 Clinton judicial nominees from even having a VOTE.

Ok, enough politics: ONTO THE SPORTS!!!

---Boy did the Reds gak on themselves tonight. Takes a special bullpen to blow a 9-3 lead going into the 9th inning. The 3,000 (or so) fans remaining probably wished they were driving home instead.

---Another MLB player gets busted. YAWN. Bud Selig wants to tighten the penalties. Um, didn't see him complaining when MLB was getting rich off of McGuire/Sosa/Bonds (read: hypocrite). Forget 50 games-you use it, you're banned. Period. This makes the whole fiasco over Pete Rose look like nothing.

---Quite a wreck in that Neckar race on Sunday. Yeah, those restrictor plates REALLY make things safer. It's a miracle no one else has been killed by one of those wrecks. I'm glad I watched Fox and didn't shell out the $300 bucks to watch 25 cars get piled up and cause a 45 minute delay. (Wasn't NASCAR supposed to rival the NFL soon in ratings??)

---T.O. wants a new contract. Randy Moss is happy in L.A. Did I miss some lunar eclipse?? Philly got what they paid for---a egocentric millionaire who shuns his teammates but damn if he doesn't make enough plays to put them where they are (in a related story, Freddie Mitchell can pick up the white courtesy phone and pack his bags).

---And, sadly, the Pirates 3 game winning streak has now turned into a 4 game tailspin. I knew it was too good to be true.LOL

Well, that's all for tonight. May all your cards be live and your pots monsters!

SPECIAL EDITION: BUSH PRESS CONFERENCE REACTION

I did watch the majority of Bush's conference...must say, quite the timing he has.

In only his 4th prime-time address, he set out to solidify and identify his positions on Social Security, the budget and energy needs, among other things. Here are some interesting things I took away from it:

On Social Security: So hard to tell what's true and what's not, especially from the "doom and gloom" year . It won't be "bankrupt", but will actually pay out 72% of what it currently does. (see my first blog post for my short version stance on S.S.) Private funds aren't the answer...I sure wouldn't want my retirement relying on the stock market, or letting anyone in Washington decide where my investment would go. Yes, there is a problem. I have a solution that might ruffle a few feathers:

RAISE THE AMOUNT PEOPLE ARE GIVING TO IT!!!

Much like everyone is so shocked that the country is trillions in debt (and can't figure out that the extra 1-2K in their tax returns weren't a gift) because the primary funding for our government (taxes) were cut, there's been no mention of raising what people put into it (read: political suicide). I'd be perfectly willing to give an additional 40 dollars a month if it guaranteed I would be getting 100% of my Social Security benefit.

In any case, tonight didn't help his cause, and both sides are afraid of making a blunder of an issue that would cause their respective party to go into a 20 year tailspin at the polls.

Now, onto the foreshadowed budget.

Look, it's simple math really...

Cutting taxes+less revenue+higher expenditures=deficit

What, like the new nickel and gold coin are going to pay for Iraq and Afghanistan?LOL Bush gained in the short term (as did our pocketbooks) with the tax changes, but our children will bear the brunt of higher taxes and deficits down the road.

Until the War on Terror stops (if it ever will), our budget will be in the red, no doubt.

Finally, and the part I found the most hilarious:

Bush talking about an Energy bill is about as funny as saying Michael Jackson is a fit father. HILARIOUS! Republicans and Democrats have Big Oil in their back pocket, and it'll be a cold day you-kn0w-where before anything major happens on this front.

200 years from now, we better have a real Starship Enterprise, or it'll be Schwinn bikes all around and wars fought with sticks and stones...LOL

Well, gotta go watch Stephanie bite the dust on Survivor:Palau. Thank you Mr. President for ending your speech so I can watch!ROFL

Good night now!

Delay and Snow in Colorado!

Ok...this blogger is going to ratchet down a bit after his long-winded initial post. As one comment put it: "Don't blow your load". Amen!

What is with our parties these days? After all, they are almost mirror images of each other (except the Democrats are less patient....they want their changes NOW...LOL). We'll never see an independant president because we have been lead to believe those are "wasted votes". A nice, clever wand the Republicans and Democrats weave in order to keep their power, money and status intact. That brings me to Tom Delay.

Seems to me taking a trip on a lobbyist's dime is like sucking up to your significant other when you want something and offering a ton in return (for example, as a husband, you want to go on your golfing outing. So you bring roses home and hope it sways the court of wifey's opinion.LOL)

When are these guys going to learn you cannot take advantage of the public's trust? Only when we, as voters, EDUCATE ourselves on who we are voting for. I bet you ask 10 people to name their states' governor and they couldn't tell you (let alone their LOCAL representatives in their states Senate/House).

Until We The People learn from our sorry ways, we have no room to whine about how our politicians run the country.

Now...onto the sports portion of this blog..:)

Snow in Colorado. Fine in December...not so good for baseball. At least that gives the pitching staff a rest from watching their deliveries end up in the stands faster than Michael Jackson's legal bills piling up.*G*

The Pirates *GASP!* have won two out of three games 2-0. AMAZING! It helped their cause that Houston had a rough series prior...but the Bucs needed a break. I guess my prediction that they wouldn't we 3 games in a row all season is all shot now.

And now my Heisman Trophy rant: This award is about as meaningful as the "best sound effect in a non-200 millon dollar motion picture award". How does someone almost win 2 and not even get drafted? (in a related story, 2 QB's with criminal pasts did, the 3rd string at USC who threw a TOTAL of 30 collegate passes did, and Maurice "liar liar pants on fire" Clarett did in the THIRD round.

Once you see Suzuki sponsoring something like that, it should tell you something.:)

Well, that's today's rant. Finally....

I wish to bring you to a website which I enjoy daily, and provides me with a good working knowledge for my blog. His name is Howard Kurtz at www.washingtonpost.com. It's called "Media Notes", and he's a great insperation to me as I am learning to be a blogger. His column comes highly recommended.

Take care and have a great Thursday!

My first blog entry!

For those of you visting my blog for the first time, thank you! I hope this will be a good experience for you and you may even learn something too...:)

As background, I am in the US military, but the views here are strictly my own, and in no way reflect the opinions of the branch of the armed forces I am in (this is commonly known as the "disclaimer" statement..:)

I've served for almost 10 years now, and of course, I am committed to my commander and chief, and his direction (or his subordinates) for the military. However, I do want to dispel one myth right now: We are NOT rich!LOL For those who think our health care is one of a kind, I've got news: DoD is looking to eliminate base hospitals (ref: Current News Early Bird Article, week of 25-29 April 2005). This would not only cause a huge inconvenience to military families, but also the booming number of military retirees, all fighting for the same service. It is amazing how hard it is to get a routine appointment, let alone to see a specialist.

I will admit, however, I do have a uncommon heart condition for someone my age (I'm 28), and the military has provided all my care and medicine for free. If I was in a poor income category, with the Medicaid program in most states being cut or eliminated all together, I would be in serious trouble. I'm not shocked at all by politicians who ignore a problem until it becomes totally beneficial for them and/or their party to step in and do something to garner them votes/money. What ever happened to the days of Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson, when it was about the country?

I'll sum up my Social Security take in one sentence:

If you are relying on that for your retirement, you are a fool and need to start saving NOW.

More politics tomorrow, now on to my random sports rumblings...

The Top Story: Isn't Baseball commish Bud Selig sipping on too much of the Kool Aid? He comes out to say that MLB's steriod policy "is a success in only the first few months of the baseball season.

His catches? A major leaguer with the 3rd worst all-time HR/AB ratio (you expect pitchers of course, but an outfielder??), and 2 minor leaguers who had no chance to make the majors anyway.

Bring me Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, or another big name player, and then start talking about your program being a success. I didn't hear him saying anything during the 1998-99 season when McGuire and Sosa hit over 130 home runs between them and raised baseball from the dead. Or when Barry Bonds hit 73 and then said that the "clear" stuff he put on his arms was "flaxseed oil".

That's like saying that you drank beer when you had a bottle of Jack Daniels.

And since this is my first blog, I should state I am a huge Pittsburgh sports fans (Pirates, Steelers and that other team...did they play hockey or something?)

Needless to say, if the Pirates were all I had, I would have been in the AF mental health ward.LOL I swear, if not for the Atlanta Hawks and Arizona Cardinals, the Pirates would be the worst run professional franchise PERIOD. This is a franchise that tried to keep their fans from bringing bottled water AFTER they lost 100 games in the first year of PNC Park. And for you non-Pirate (or baseball fans) here are some other noteable items the Pirates are known for:

1. Randall Simon and "sausagegate"...since he couldn't hit a curve ball he hit something that you would grill up at a barbecue. Needless to say, that was the end of his brief stint with the Pirates (never mind he was overweight and couldn't play the position...

2. Barry Bonds (PRE-steroids) unable to throw out the slowest man in the Major Leagues, Sid Bream, to prevent the Braves from advancing to the World Series. (for those who defend Bonds, hold up a pic of him in 1992 and 2003 and you tell me...

3. Signing Raul Mondesi, who then proceeded to "quit" and take the 1M the Pirates gave him along too.

4. "Operation Shutdown" Derek Bell, Pat Meares and giving Jason Kendall over 50 Mil. No, the Pirates don't have a farm system, if you were wondering.

Well, that's it for today's blog. More sports and politics tomorrow!

J.C.300