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The Donnybrook
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
 
The Heart of Our Deficit and Debt Problems is......Us!
There is no doubt that neither party in Washington is fiscally responsible. But how can they be when their voters aren't either? Republicans who don't vote for every tax cut proposed don't last long. Democrats who don't vote for their constituents priorities don't last long either? Anyone who suggests that we should all pay higher taxes and get less services for them is a goner, too.

Everyone can agree that we need to make cuts. But when you look at the details, and the devil is always in the details, people can't come up with things to cut, and that translates very easily to lawmakers not taking action.

Take cutting funds for K-12 education. A whopping 73 percent were opposed to states cutting money for schools.

How about cuts to money going to police, fire departments or other public safety officials? Nope. Seventy-one percent oppose that.

How about cutting healthcare services? Sorry, 65 percent oppose that.
Everyone seems to think that THEY should not have to sacrifice anything and that someone ELSE should pay more and get less. I don't have any expectations of our debt picture getting any better, regardless of which party wins elections. The problem is not the two parties - it is the voters. US...Melman hits it on the head:
It ain't possible to get fiscally healthy without taking a lot of short and mid-term political and economic pain. Americans are not going to vote for that. We will continue to spend ourselves out of global economic and political relevance. Our system and society don't deal well with hard choices unless they are forced on us by really dire circumstances. They aren't dire enough yet to make us change. And that's is sad.

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Tuesday, June 29, 2010
 
An "Actual" 1999 BP Ad...


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Republicans attack Elana Kagan by shitting on Thurgood Marshall...

That seems like a reasonable line of attack. Justice Marshall isn't a hero to many in this country or anything.

On a side note, isn't it interesting to see a white Republican Senator from Alabama named Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III paint the first African-American Supreme Court Justice as a bad guy?

The GOP really seems to be serious about minority outreach, don't you think?

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Friday, June 25, 2010
 
Various

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I love this song...

Since it wasn't a big hit, I'm curious to see how many of you have heard it.

"Only a Memory" by The Smithereens



Have a great weekend, everybody...

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Thursday, June 24, 2010
 
"...the NFL's record book is nearly worthless right now."

That's the best point made in the linked article about the effect of switching to an 18-game season. I tend to roll my eyes a bit whenever people start blathering on about how this or that NFL players was the "all-time" best. Comparing very different eras invalidates the notion of "best-ever."

And before 1960 there were only 12 games to a season. You simply cannot compare a season record for a player who played 12-14 games to those who played 16 or 18. You can make single-game comparisons more fairly, but even there, the rule changes have had serious effects on how the game is played. The record book is not completely worthless. But it is close. It's fun for fans and commentators to talk about records as though they are some objective measure of an accomplishment, but it is largely a bullshit concept.


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Wednesday, June 23, 2010
 
Quite the Sports Record...

The score is 59 games each and counting. In ONE set. The longest match in tennis history is still going.
Holy fucking shit.

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Wow...That's a pretty great story...

The U.S. soccer team advances to the round of 16 in the World Cup, thanks to a goal in injury time by captain Landon Donovan.

Very cool...

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Is It Hypocrisy or Just Ignorance?

When coaches, GM's and fans of the NFL bitch about players who are "under contract" (!) and hold out for more money? Those "contracts" allow the team to cut a player whenever the team wants to - so where is the outcry about teams violating their end of the contract? There is none. A player holding out is just as legal as a team cutting an expensive veteran who still has a contract. So is it hypocrisy or ignorance? For the coaches and GM it is hypocrisy and a good way to fight the PR battle by whining about a player "under contract"(!) who holds out. For fans it is mostly ignorance. Some fans understand this, but I hear many get indignant when any player holds.

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Tuesday, June 22, 2010
 
He Shall Be Lemon

Lemon sells cartoon balloons in town..

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Sunday, June 20, 2010
 
When You Need To Trade Bad, You End Up Trading Bad
They already have paid him tens of millions this year...who is going to give them more than a 4th or 5th rounder? Some team(s) may want him but will wait until he is released. Dan Snyder, I applaud your decision-making as always and pray that you shall reign over the foreskins of DC as long as you shall live. any may you live more years than al davis, whom you emulate so well so early in your life...

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RIP
In his late years, he

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Friday, June 18, 2010
 
Dan Snyder, the Redskin's owner Dallas fans have learned to love:
If this was baseball and the foreskins were the Yankees, then no big deal...it's just the owners money. but with a real salary cap overpaying hurts the overall team effort.

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Thursday, June 17, 2010
 
The "Abortion" Issue is Fading

Soon there will be only a rare need for an "abortion" doctor. The after-sex pills will continue to get better and be effective longer after sex/conception.

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A lowlife Republican from Texas...

Seriously, who would've thought that such a thing existed???

Rep. Joe Barton is a hayseed shill and he's got Big Oil's johnson so far up his ass, he actually APOLOGIZED TO BP's CEO for having to pony up $20 billion to pay for destroying the Gulf of Mexico...



By the way, he's not the only Republican backing a British company against an American president.

Here
are a few more fine patriots...

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Wednesday, June 16, 2010
 
To be honest...

Nothing is interesting to me right now, so I won't even fake it.

Anyone have something cool to report?

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Monday, June 14, 2010
 
Some pics from a second successful gig with Power Play...

We kicked ass and rocked the suburbs to pieces.

Big thanks to my wife, Kerrianne, for putting everything together, to G for flying down from Mass. to hold down the bottom end, and to everyone in the band for making it a great second gig!!! Now, to the pics...

It has been brought to my attention that I hammed it up regularly throughout our 2-hour performance. This is a charge I cannot possibly refute...



I include this shot only because I love the way my guitar looks in it...



As close to a group shot as was possible during the performance...



See my previous comment about hamming it up...



Drumsalad banging the skins and shattering ear drums...



G feeling the groove and shaking the bowels...



The whole group, complete with some of the most vicious sweat stains I've ever seen!!!


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Sunday, June 13, 2010
 
That Voice


I miss the songbird more every year.

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Saturday, June 12, 2010
 
If Karzai is this Pessimistic, Why are We Doubling Down in Afghanistan?

What reason is there to believe that Karzai will really fight the Taliban? Mr. President, please reconsider the US support for this hopeless cause. Afghanistan does not want nor is it able to be a democracy and corruption is too ingrained in the culture. No Afghan leader will further our interests once we are gone, yet we now have around 100,000 troops there. Why?

For those Americans who support the war but also worry about government spending, do you have any idea how much this war costs and how much more troops deployed adds to that cost?

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Friday, June 11, 2010
 
Just Slink Away in Shame...


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Thursday, June 10, 2010
 
Two years ago, I would've been devastated...

Before the Phillies won the World Series in 2008, the prospect of the Flyers losing their shot at the Stanley Cup on a cheesy goal in OT of an exciting Game 6 probably would've caused me to skip work today in a fit of utter depression.

Instead, I'm realizing that Bill Simmons' 12th "Rule for being a true fan" needs to be amended to include all teams in your home city:

After your team wins a championship, they immediately get a five-year grace period: You can't complain about anything that happens with your team (trades, draft picks, salary-cap cuts, coaching moves) for five years. There are no exceptions.
The better team skated away with the Cup last night. It's a tough pill to swallow, but I'm too proud of this Flyers team to hang my head this morning...

P.S. To his credit, the talented Rob Ullman called this series from the start and even came up with a brilliant illustration for the occasion...


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Wednesday, June 9, 2010
 
Various Sports Stuff...


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Tuesday, June 8, 2010
 
This constitutes "front page news" on ESPN.com???

A kid grabs his old man's beer and takes a pull off it at a Phillies game, and the story makes it to the front page of ESPN.com while the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals are ongoing?

Somehow, I doubt this would be considered even remotely newsworthy if it happened in St. Louis, Kansas City or some other town in flyover country...

P.S. Jamz, before you pull out your "typical Philly fan" schtick, go ahead and fuck yourself instead...

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Monday, June 7, 2010
 
A very odd tune that I find extremely catchy...

Seriously, what could rock more than a tune featuring Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking???


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Oh, she'll be a U.S. Senator really soon...

Linda McMahon, wife of the WWE's Vince McMahon and the Republican nominee for Senate in Connecticut, had this to say about steroids...

"So I still don't think we know the long-term effects of steroids. They are continuing to study it more and more, but I don't believe there are a lot of studies out there today that are conclusive."
Chris Benoit...Brian Pillman...Eddie Guerrero...Bam Bam Bigelow...Big Boss Man...Test...Curt Hennig...

The list goes on...

A woman who's family business has this much blood on its hands really shouldn't be downplaying the negative effects of steroids, should she?

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Friday, June 4, 2010
 
"Batting 9th and pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies..."


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South Carolina: Getting crazier by the day...

I know that's saying a lot when it comes to the only state to ever start a war against the other states, but their political climate is getting downright creepy...

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GOP candidate for Senate busted for embellishing his military record...

...strangely, Jamz hasn't brought this to my attention.

Get a load of Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL)'s positively Bushian explanation for multiple misstatements he's made about his military record:

"I simply misremembered it wrong."
I just got douche chills...

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Thursday, June 3, 2010
 
Do the right thing, Selig...

This kid got fucked out of a perfect game last night, and you have the power to fix it. I don't care if you're afraid of "setting a precedent". You weren't worried about that when you let the All-Star game end in a tie a few years ago.

Do the right thing for once in your life, you douche...

UPDATE: Selig isn't reversing the call. At some point, I'd love to see him clutch his chest and fall face-first into a urinal. That would be a fitting end for this moron...

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Tuesday, June 1, 2010
 
The weekend in sports...

Let me preface this story by saying that I'm not making this up. After Roy Halladay got shelled last week by the Red Sox, I knew he would do something special to make up for it.

I thought he'd come out and throw a no-hitter. No bullshit.

That being said, I had NO IDEA he'd throw the 20th perfect game in major league history against a tough Florida Marlins club.

I learned of the perfect game on my new iPod (thanks again, Kerri!) during the intermission of The Color Purple at DPAC and literally felt a jolt of electricity run through my body. How can someone get so excited about a game they didn't even see!

Amazing achievement, Doc.

On the hockey front, the Flyers are down 2-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals and I'm not even close to hitting the panic button. They are tough as friggin' nails and the next 2 games are in Philly.

I still like their chances...

UPDATE: Check out the story of a Phillies fan who was in the stadium for Halladay's perfect game on his birthday...

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