Bearing Gift, We Traveled So Far

I do not know what came over me but I checked the George Clooney movie, Three Kings, out of the library on Friday. It was a moment of weakness plus there was nothing else that even remotely interested me on the shelves. You know how that is. The best part is that it did not disappoint. It was a major liberal bash of the liberation of the brutal Iraqi regime. I did not expect any accurate telling of the freeing of the Kuwaiti citizens and I was provided with a front seat to how Hollywood distorts any truth they cannot refute.

First, Clooney picks a vehicle where he gets to act like Robin Hood. Since he failed as Batman, he has been looking for a way of being a savior to the pale and downtrodden. It only makes sense that he stars in movies that steal from the rich and give to the poor. Ocean 11, 12, and 13 are all the same theme. Hopefully there will be no sequels to Three Kings. That is the prime liberal mantra. Steal from the haves and semi haves to give to those who are too lazy to work for themselves. Karl Marx would be proud. I am sorely ashamed.

There is a reporter in the movie that is chasing a story. Clooney does not fail to disappoint on the liberal news front. The reporter is looking for the next big story from the 1st Gulf War. She passes the oil wells on fire and say already done it. She passes birds dying in pools of oil and remarks that that story is old news. Reporters are represented as wanting nothing more than making a headline. Somehow that rings true. If you cannot sell the story, what is the point.

Clooney scores a double with this movie. It demonstrates his lack of concern for anyone who has already succeeded and provides a glimpse into the inner working of media. At least liberals have preserved their ideals on film. How else can we review what they are planning to do next. Viva Hollywood.

Icool

Cobb

Chicken Little Replaces Robert Plant As Led Zeppelin Front Man (Bird)

As usual, reporters (I use that word loosely) are creating the news instead of reporting it. The latest and most visible effort by our warriors of worry is that hurricane Dolly will cause the levees in Texas to break causing the level of devastation known as New Orleans. The way the headlines are being written makes it sound like all of Texas will be under water and the entire state will need to be rebuilt. Why can’t we just report that a hurricane is approaching instead of speculating on the level of damage it will cause? Is it too difficult to just provide the facts? Speculation is not news it is fiction. By definition, news is the reporting of recent events. That means history.

Maybe we need to redefine who is writing the news and what is it called depending on whether it is past or future. If it is an event that occurred in the past like an automobile accident last night, it could be a reporter and news. If it is like the levee speculation, it could be short story writer and fiction. If the article references global warming, it could be script writer and potential scene from a science fiction screen play.

All of this talk about levees brings up the Led Zeppelin song, When The Levee Breaks. It is on the symbols album which contains the masterpiece, Stairway To Heaven. The first verse is listed below. Let’s hope that Texans fare better than the residents of New Orleans. Of course, the state of Texas is for the most part above sea level.

If it keeps on raining,
Levee’s going to break
If it keeps on raining,
Levee’s going to break
When the levee breaks,
I’ll have no place to stay

Icool

Cobb

Pointing The Finger

Someone who I greatly admire has been posting what I would consider statements that absolve those who make poor decision of their responsibility. If I do something that later results in my being impositioned (I use the word to cover a whole multitude of sins), it must be someone else who twisted my arm to make that decision. I cannot possibly accept that measure of personal responsibility for signing the papers to chase the dream that I had to have. What ever happened to saving up and buying when we could afford it? Oh yea, it went out when Madison Avenue decided that we should have everything and the hell with the consequences.

There are some people that are victims of circumstances. If you lost your job at the wrong time or suffered from an accident that was not of your making, there should be a safety net for you to fall back on. If you were just greedy and went after the whole nine yards instead of realizing that (as Robert Heinlein says in Stranger In A Strange Land, "Waiting Is..."), you went for the whole enchilada, shame on you. If you want to gamble, go to Vegas. If you want to be safe and secure, manage your passion. Live within your means and save for your dreams.

I am sure that many people are suffering but their poor decision making does not make them victims. It is like any other gambler. If you cannot afford to make the bet, stay away from the tables. Every time you take out a loan or use your credit card, you promise to pay it back. If you do not have the time to spend reading the consequences of your actions, than you get what you get. As Ian Gillian (lead singer for Deep Purple for those who are musically challenged) sings in Nobody's Home from Perfect Strangers ( how appropriate) "Forgive me as I turn away." I do not expect forgiveness, from those who shun responsibility. After all they can always blame someone else.

Icool

Cobb

Redrum Again

We won. Yes the red team has won the tournament championship and for the first time since we moved back to Ohio, we are number one. I even have a trophy. Alright, it is just little league and no one is going home with a million dollars but it feels good to finally have my son on a team that went beyond the loss column. I may even gt asked to coach again next year. I never thought I would be excited about that. But enough about being a champion. There are much more serious things to discuss like my latest theory on why the weather changes.

The moon is actually pulling away from the Earth at about 3.74 Cm/year which is 1.74 inches per year. That means in the normal human life span, the moon will be a little more than 10 feet from the Earth. Since no one else has provided a plausible explanation for the quirky weather (when has there not been strange weather) we are having, I am throwing out this totally realistic scenario of lunar disruption. It is much more reasonable than man using too much fossil fuel. Are we too stupid to notice volcanoes.

So, we must first plan a reverse Space 1999. For those of you who have not watched that 1970 SciFi series, the moon is thrown out of orbit by a series of nuclear explosion on the moons surface. We started storing our nuclear waste on the moon and a freak accident caused an explosion that propelled our moon into the outer limits of the galaxy. Plausible, not even. But it was a exciting to see Catherine Schell as Maya on the screen once a week. What a hottie. Back to the absurdity I am tyring to clarify. If, we put jet engines on the dark side of the moon (I will cover this at another time) and fire them off at specific times, we can nullify the effects of the moon pulling away. Maybe if we push it closer, we can actually get back to the Jurassic period. Can anyone say velosaraptor?

Icool

Cobb

Redrum

I have had the opportunity to be assistant coach for my son's little league team and it is one of those memories that I will cherish. The head coach's son is my son's best friend and they spent most of last winter practicing pitching is the coach's basement. Due to the constant practicing, the coach asked if I would be his assistant. After some apprehension (about 10 seconds), I agreed and became the assistant coach for the Red team.

Many of our practices got rained out so we did not get to develop the boys as much as we wanted to. I know next to nothing about coaching to I just followed the coach's instructions. I could tell we had plenty of talent on the team and that it would be a good year but when we started playing, I knew we had something special. We asked the boys what to call the team and one random voice yelled out the redrum. Coach and I tried to down play the name but it became the unofficial call sign for our team. We chose just Red. We started off strong but again mother nature threw in curves and we struggled when we had make up games. Our season ended with Red in 4th place out of 11 teams. Not bad considering we beat the number 2 team twice and the number 1 teams once.

We started tournaments this week and easily won our first game. The young man that came up with redrum was at that game but moved to Texas with his family on Friday of this week. We decided to make the official name Redrum in his honor. Today was our second tournament game and we eeked out a 2-1 victory over the #1 seed team. Monday we play in the finals. Win or lose, the boys will get a trophy and it will make a great ending to a fun season. I do not know what I will do at night once this is done. I am sure my wife will find something. Help!

Icool

Cobb

Have My Eggs Poached For Breakfast, I Guess

I have always enjoyed the music of the drummer (Roger Meadows-Taylor) from the group Queen. His first major contribution was "I'm In Love With My Car" from A Night At the Opera. Before that he wrote Tenement Funster from Sheer Heart Attack, which caught my attention and greatly enhanced the listen ability of the album. I find his greatest contribution (in my opinion) to Queen to be from A Day At the Races; Drowse.

A Day At The Race was the follow up to the phenomenal Night At the Opera album. It provided the gospel laden Someone To Love as the hit but it was less commercial that Opera. Races contained a more playful Queen that was not trying to impress but rather enjoying the success. It still contained the operatic overtones but was less dramatic in it's attempt to showcase the vocals.

Of all the members of Queen, Roger Taylor has emerged at the one who wanted to entertain the fans. Freddie gave us two solo albums but they were Queen light. Roger gave us several albums that demonstrated that drummers are not just the skin pounders. Listen to Racing In The Streets (a Springsteen cover) for the definitive. But Drowse provides the angst that demonstrates the genius of the rhythm section of that English super group. Catch it!

Drowse

It's the sad-eyed, goodbye, yesterday moments I remember
It's the bleak street, weak-kneed partings I recall
It's the mistier mist The hazier days
The brighter sun And the easier lays
There's all the more reason for laughing and crying
When you're younger and life isn't too hard at all

It's the fantastic drowse of the afternoon Sundays
That bored you to rages of tears
The unending pleadings, to waste all your good times
In thoughts of your middle aged years
It's a vertical hold, all the things that you're told
For the everyday hero it all turns to zero
And there's all the more reason for living or dying
When you're young and your troubles are all very small

Out here on the street we'd gather and meet
And scuff up the sidewalk with endlessly restless feet
Half of the time We'd broaden our minds
More in the poolhall than we did in the schoolhalll
With the downtown chewing-gum bums
Watching the nightlife, the lights and the fun

Never wanted to be the boy next door
Always thought I'd be something more
But it ain't easy for a downtown boy
It ain't easy at all
Thinkin' it right, doin' it wrong
It's easier from an armchair
Waves of alternatives wash at my sleepiness
Have my eggs poached for breakfast I guess
Think I'll have my eggs poached for breakfast
I'd like to be Clint Eastwood
Jimi Hendrix, he was great
let's try William The Conqueror
Now who else do I like?

Icool

Cobb

When September Ends

Someone please wake me up. I have been having this unending nightmare that we have to choose between Barack Obama and John McCain to be the leader of the free world. I know that the voting public would not stick the American populace with two phenomenally pathetic choices. The primaries are still going? This has to be a dream. Please wake me up when the options change. No. Well can you put a pillow over my face? No. Can I borrow some sleeping pills? No. What a tough audience. Reality sure bites.

I saw a commercial paid for by T. Boone Pickens today where he promised to outline an energy policy for America. It sounded very Presidential. There may yet be hope. T. Boone Pickens at least had some leadership potential in that he led a major oil company, Mesa Petroleum, and has a serious understanding of Wall Street because he has tried a hostile takeover of another company. That takes serious intestinal fortitude. We need someone with an ounce of leadership potential who does not talk about change at every opportunity without fleshing out exactly what the change will be. The weather changes every day. That is not the kind of change I am after.

The national conventions are going to begin shortly and we will be forced into the reality that we are stuck with the two party equivalent of wasted time. Neither candidate appeals to anyone who understands self reliance and accepting responsibility for one's actions. Our southern border will be like Niagara Falls, our military will be humiliated by an abrupt withdrawal from terrorist suppression, and get ready to pay for every one's health care. Don't get sick though. You are not eligible. That's right you work.

So the elections are in November but September is right around the corner. As Green Day reminds us, "Wake, me up when September ends. At least we can look forward to October Fest. Those Germans can sure brew great beer.

Icool

Cobb

Vision For The Future

Conservatives often speak in terms of what our founding fathers meant when they declared our nation free and established the back drop of how our nation was to be governed. As always, there were splits on how things should be worded and the ever present compromises between the parties. One of the big decisions was whether the federal government or the states should have the most of the power. The 10th amendment to the Constitution states, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." This simple line says that the authority of Congress is limited to that given in Article 1 of the United States Constitution. It provides a list of what the founding fathers thought should be the limits of Congressional authority. Unfortunately, that genie has long since left the bottle.

Through the efforts of the Supreme Court, this amendment has been relegated to the recycle bin and diluted to nothing more than the words on the page. Whether you realize it or not, Congress has reached into your life and changed the way you live. This means that your freedom, that power reserved for you by the Constitution when it says, "or to the people." is being systematically stripped away. We are so oblivious to the reduction of our freedoms that we just blindly accept them for our own good. Creeping incrementalism.

We no longer have the freedom to drive without seat belts. Is that for our safety? It is a great way to introduce a restriction but now they are levying fines for not wearing them. Not only has our freedom of choice been stripped away but we are paying tribute to Caesar for the loss of freedom. By the way, I wear my seat belt and have not been issued a ticket so this is not a rant because I have been busted. We do not have the option of receiving our full paycheck (before taxes are removed) because the government does not want us to see how much we are giving back. Our wise elected officials think it is easier if we think of our take home pay as after taxes. How many people would be really angry if they had to hand their hard earned money back after it had been in their hands? Would they be so ready to hand over their paychecks if they held the money in their hands? You would see pitchforks and torches or the modern equivalent if we were allowed manage that part of our lives.

No sense crying over what is. It is up to us to elect the government we want or as the Declaration of Independence says, "... That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." Oh well, we can pine for the good old days when everyone wore powdered wigs and horses were a luxury. Or we can use the powers reserved by our founding fathers and reverse the loss of freedom. As Roger Taylor (the drummer for Queen on A Day At the Races) in his song Drowse says, "Have my eggs poached for breakfast, I guess."

Happy Birthday America

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Cobb