Tony Stewart wins again.

Tony Stewart won the Tums Fast Relief 500 today at Martinsville, VA (thanks saucy girl, I love you!) This is Tony's third win in the Chase, yet due to NASCAR's arcane scoring system, he is still 8 points behind Carl Edwards who has yet to win a race during the championship finals.

I am not a fan of short track racing per se, but I have to admit this was quite an entertaining race to watch. And watching Tony fight back three times from over 20 places down was a treat. His brawl with Denny Hamlin to keep from being lapped at one point, was some of the toughest door-to-door racing I've seen in years.

In the post race interviews, Jimmie Johnson, who Stewart passed for the win, tried to take the high road, saying he wasn't going to try and push Tony out of the way or bang and bump for the win. Like he "let" Stewart have the win out of gentlemanly honor or some such.

B.S.! Tony simply out gutted him for the win, daring Johnson to get physical for the win. Jimmie backed down, Tony won. It was a matter of who had the biggest pair, and at that moment, it was Smoke.

Three races left -- Texas, Phoenix, and Homestead, all places Tony runs well at. There's a solid possibility that Tony Stewart could be the first owner/driver to win a Championship in heaven only knows how long. If it has ever happened.

I'll be rooting for him.

---

Other bits of interest to me:

Dale Jr. talking about how if they raced more short tracks, he might get a rep as a "dirty" driver, because he liked the banging and bumping on the track. He also made a late race comment over the team radio about having "no mercy" for whoever was in front of him. Heh

Unmentioned by the announcers specifically, was Brian Vickers coming across the track to wreck Matt Kenseth in retaliation for an earlier bump/wreck in the race.

A pre-race interview with Brad Keselowski, who I've admired since he came into Cup racing, admitting that a lot of drivers, like Tony Stewart (surprisingly), refuse to interact with him in the garage area. Kid's got a chip on his shoulder, but he's winning races and looking a lot more racey than grumpy teammate Kurt Busch.

Animal house?

I don't live in a woodsy area by any means. But for some reason, my house seems to get singled out for the wild animal habitat.

I had squirrels go in through the dryer vent and make a nest in some storage boxes above the floor. Oh, they're so cute right? Yeah. Little buggers then decided to try and dig into my house through the ceiling in the add-on family room/bedroom.

Then it's rabbits. I've got a nice screened in wood deck with a hot tub. And those lovely furry little sweethearts decide, "Oh, look at that nice place to tunnel under." Now the problem with these living Easter ornaments is that they weaken the foundation with their series of tunnels. And something else you never hear people talk about. Rabbits have fleas. And my deck was a flea explosion for several months. Go out the back door, and you are literally covered in fleas up to your knees in seconds.

Now I've got a mouse or perhaps a rat in the garage. Does this ever end? I used my pistolero skills to deal with the squirrels and rabbits, but the mouse is a little too shifty. So I guess it'll be poison or traps or something. sheesh

I'm totally down with nature. I love animals and even tolerate bugs and stuff (except roaches, which should be wiped off the face of the earth immediately) . . . as long as they stay out of my house!

Go live your lives, do your thing outside in the big world. I'll live in my home without all the creepiness and ickiness and not try to kill you. It's a fair contract. But no . . .

*sigh*

So Lindsay's doing Playboy now?

I see Lindsay Lohan has worked out a deal to appear in the January issue of Playboy. They're going to pay her somewhere between $750K (their price) and $1M (Lindsay's price) to appear in a non-nude pictorial.

*groan*

Another non-nude pictorial in Playboy. Did someone there forget what that magazine is all about? And how about the absurdity of paying Lindsay that kind of money for not showing anything when she's already done stuff like this:

And when she isn't showing the goods in a modeling shoot, she's falling out of her clothes in public, where there always just happens to be a photographer handy:

Or she's simply going around town wearing outfits that leave all her stuff hangin' out there for any passerby to check out:

Look, I get that Hugh Hefner's getting a little foggy in his old age, by why pay that kind of money for a chick who's givin' it away for free almost every day?! And do we really need another ridiculously promoted show nothing photoshop extravaganza let down like this again:

Umm . . . no!

Update:
So rumor has it that Linds is actually going full monty in the pictorial. Uh hmm. Color me dubious. We heard the same nonsense from Heidi Montag's shoot and see the above pictures to see how that turned out. I wouldn't put it past either the magazine or Linds (via proxy Dina) to be ginning up publicity for this issue to increase sales. We'll see.

And you can look here if you're looking for the actual pics from Playboy.

So pumpkin patches are ruined now too

Every year, you can set your watch by it, as Halloween approaches, we get deluged with "candid" shots of celebs cavorting in local pumpking patches as they shop for their jack-o-lantern material.

And of course, every year, its the same old tired cliched images -- some female celeb holds up two pumpkins in front of her boobs and makes a funny face. And also, there are the usual amusing wardrobe choices for these chicks as they, and some have children with them, make a real production out of this once innocent holiday tradition.

So far this year, we've had Christina Aguilera in a set of leggings stretched to the see-thru max as she bent over to pick out a pumpkin. Shauna Sand, who usually shows up in something made out of a lace doily, actually wore a fairly demure short white dress. And she only did the single pumpkin pose, trend setter that she is. But she also managed to squat down to give the paps a nice upskirt shot.

But the "please make them stop" winner this year was supposedly 16 year old Courtney Stodden and her creepy husband, Doug Hutchinson. Court brought the hooker look dialed up to eleven with this little number:

She then really broke things open by getting so frisky (yeah, I just threw up in my mouth a little there) with her aged husband, that they both got thrown out of the pumpkin patch.

Honestly, can't we have one holiday these celeb chicks don't slut up and ruin? I don't mind the hoochie costumes for the parties. And I always look forward to whatever Heidi Klum puts on, 'cause she goes all out with her bizarre costumes. But come on, man! Who wants to take their little kid out to get a pumpkin and be bombarded by some slutty 16 year old being groped by an old man?

eesh

What does it say . . .

. . . when a someone who has won the Nobel Prize for Peace, Liberty Medal, and Presidential Medal of Freedom refuses to attend your bogus protest movement?

Lech Walesa, former president of Poland, has backtracked on a possible trip to New York to support the whining babies, I mean #OWS, protest there. After getting some information on the groups supporting and funding this so-called grassroots protest -- Code Pink, George Soros, the American Communist orgainization, etc., Walesa quickly realized the protesters were not fighting for actual freedom, but rather a larger, more intrusive and controlling government.

I'm sure after getting idealogical stalwarts like Alec Baldwin, Kanye West, and Russell Brand, the #OWS whimpering parasites won't be missing a lightweight like Walesa, who dragged an entire country out of from the shackles of murdering communists.

You have to wonder at the gross stupidity of the movement and its supporters, both celebrity and political, when you look around the world at socialist governments going broke, one after another, and yet these assclowns want everything in this country to be free and handed out by our government.

Free college education! Free unlimited healthcare! Free housing! And on and on. Where is the money supposed to come from? Suppose they strip all the million and billionaires of the entirity of their wealth, then what? All that cash would not even remove the massive debt saddling this country. So where do these whining babies go next for their bottle? Do they even think about that?

Of course not. They're too busy getting their 60s moment. Getting feted by the President and congressional douchebags like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Btw, why are people surprised about the President's support of this movement? What was his background in Chicago after all? Community organizer! Remember? What does that entail? Organizing protests and shakedowns of local governments and businesses to get free money and handouts for those who refuse to be educated, who refuse to work, and demand everything be given to them for free based on some sort of class/racial guilt trip.

Also btw, it is telling that when Obama went to Poland, Walesa refused to meet with him. Guess the actual, deserving Nobel Prize winner saw something, that the electorate in this country closed their eyes to.

Maybe next election . . .

So Theo's gone

Theo Epstein resigned as GM of the Red Sox to become head of baseball operations for the Cubs yesterday, I think.

It's the end of an era in Boston, one that brought two World Series titles, but has perhaps left a few gaping holes in the organization. Can you become complacent as a sports executive in Boston? It is supposedly one of the toughest placest to work in management because the fans, of all sports there, are so rabid.

Both Epstein and Francona seemed to be operating on auto-pilot this last year. With a dismal winless streak to start the season and then the historic collapse, I'm still perplexed at Tito's epic fail with a team most projected to run away with the Series this year.

One of Theo's biggest upside as a GM, to me at least, was his promise to improve and rebuild the Sox's farm system. And yet that has fallen into disrepair as well. I haven't seen anyone coming up who has the potential to be game changers when they hit the bigs. Which one can contrast directly with the low budget Rays, who have a wealth of talent maturing in the minors. With all the money in the Sox organization, how did this happen?

Though the Lackey trade seems to be a loser at this point, I'm not ready to hate on Epstein for the last couple of transactions he made. A-Gon was a great pick up, even if he doesn't have Manny's power numbers. He a solid, reliable bat in the line-up. And someone who loves playing in Boston, and is a great presence in the locker room. The Crawford trade may still prove to be a good one. I don't understand Carl's awful year. I'm going to chalk it up to nerves and playing out of Tampa, and hence his comfort zone, for the first time in his career. Down here, he could easily be the best player on a team where nothing was expected. In Boston, he's expected to play like the star they are paying him to be. That's the most pressure he's ever faced. Hopefully, he'll use this last year as a learning one and become the player I think he still is.

I'm uninspired by the promotion of Ben Cherrington to GM for the Sox. He's been banging around the organization for years. If he was so capable, why wasn't he moved up before? I think he was a player personel guy at one point. If he signed off on the Lackey trade, that's a dinger for me right there. This move has the aroma of a team not having any idea who to put in the job, so they put a familiar face there to maintain continuity. I think a shake up would be more in order since even Theo and Tito said the team needed new voices in charge.

The measuring stick for Cherrington will be who he brings in as head coach. If it's some aged re-tread or unknown who has labored in the minors for decades, this team is in big trouble.

The Sox website is touting unbridled hope for next year, saying the talent is there for an immediate bounce back. I'm not optimistic. I think with all the hyper-attentive press in Boston and some gaping holes in the team -- pitching, power hitting -- the potential is there for another third place or worst finish for the Sox in '12.

I hope not, but as a life-long fan, I won't be jumping ship. But it could be some tough sailing next year.

I swear, some days . . .

. . . just doesn't pay to get out of bed, you know?

I get up on time today, get a nice work out in before leaving for work. Not a bad drive. Days lookin' pretty good.

Then right off the bat at work, our interim boss decides to put his stamp on the place by hammering down with a bunch of worthless nit-picky rules he says are needed so we can "get back to basics." Yeah. We've been kicking ass and taking names in the city by being number one in all the productivity catagories for the last two years. But this bozo thinks we need to be whipped into shape.

fabulous

Then, even though we're slammed with mail (yeah, that still happens even with the volume down, funny huh?), I have to put two routes up. No biggie, I do that every day anyway. Oh, but I have to do the collection tour as well.

So that's -- do the work of two employees, plus race around the city emptying blue collection boxes and get back to the office before the truck from the plant gets there. 'Cause god help ya if the boss has to drive the collection mail down to the plant . . .

Then, this gal who's been flirting with me like crazy the last couple of weeks, to the point of giving me the "Hey, we should make plans to get together..." and you know what I mean by "get together" right?
*nudge nudge, wink wink*

Bear in mind here that I haven't had a date this millenium! Look in the dictionary next to the phrase "lonely & desperate" and you'll see my picture.

Well, today she hits me with the bit about how we have to stop all this, and it's all wrong, and yeah she wants it, but we can't . . . yada yada, blah blah blah.
So here's me -- I guess I won't be needing this . . . *rips out heart, throws it on the ground and stomps on it*

So I spend the rest of the day doing my job feeling like I've got a stake rammed through my chest. Have a crappy drive home. And when I get there . . . I've got a letter from the IRS. Guess who made a mistake on their taxes and owes more money?

Yuck! What a day!

---

So here's a pic of Megan Fox v2.0 - Rosie Huntington-Whitely throwing a little nsfw action at ya so if you're one of the three people that read this blog, at least your day won't be a total loss:

So Lindsay's going to jail?

I guess Lindsay Lohan had her probation hearing today. And the judge pulled out the whupping stick and let Linds and her attourney have it. From snarky comments to withering side-eyes, the judge simply wasn't having any of what the troubled actress was selling.

I sort of feel for her attourney. I spent ten years as a union rep in the Post Office. And one of the reasons I couldn't wait to quit that mess was having to sit in a greivance or arbitration hearing and try to defend someone who was so obviously guilty and still seem all righteous and noble about it.

ick

I also got a kick out of how awkward Lindsay looked in handcuffs, when you know she spends plenty of time doing kinky stuff with these rich playboys who pay her to be arm candy at various events.

Anyway, considering the wretched condition of the California penal system, I doubt Linds will do any hard time, though technically she could face a year in the slammer.

The sentencing hearing is set for Nov 2 (I think), and I won't be surprised if she's back on the street quickly with her meth teeth, wierd bruises and abrasions, and low end stripper/hooker look:

IndyCar makes my NASCAR point

My post below that chastised NASCAR for potentially putting drivers at risk for ratings is being proved out live at this moment in Las Vegas.

IndyCar is holding its season ending race, where Dario Francitti and Will Power were supposed to slug it out for the championship. Race sponsors put in a $5million winner's pot that the race winner would split with a fan. That incentive burgeoned the field to 34 drivers instead of the usual 20+ the series has had all year. Including a number of first time, inexperienced drivers trying to cash in on the big bonus.

At lap 12, a horrific crash occurred. 15 cars were totalled as Dan Wheldon and others were sent literally flying and bursting into flames. Wheldon was flown by helicopter to the medical center, and at this moment, no word is forthcoming on his condition. But I wonder when they keep showing images of Danica Patrick nearly in tears and others praying, whether his condition is more serious than we could imagine.

Interviews with drivers both in and out of the crash confirmed pretty much what I was warning about with NASCAR's fooling around with the rules -- the cars racing in a tight pack, no one can pull away, and drivers acting foolishly because of incentives put on them by the league and series.

Of the announcers, only Eddie Cheever has shown the courage to point out that the league itself is at fault for putting the drivers in this situation.

Here's hoping Dan is okay and no one else is injured in today's race if they choose to finish it. But I hope the message resonates not only in IndyCar, but with NASCAR as well -- they're putting these driver's lives at risk foolishly.

Update:
Dan Wheldon is dead. They just announced the race has been stopped and the remaining drivers will run a five lap salute to Dan' memory. Fuck.
My condolences to his family.

Rule 5 Sunday -- Jordan Carver

Today's Rule 5 posting is the lovely Jordan Carver. Originally born in Germany, Ms. Carver now lives in California (where else?) and is using her obvious assets to try and make a living as an internet model.

Also appearing in the usual magazines that feature well endowed young ladies, Jordan is taking a rather old-school approach and not going full monty in any of them. It will be interesting to see if, in this age of uncensored internet and cable television, that approach will be viable as a long term business model.

*click on the thumbnails for full-sized images*

Rule 5 Sunday suggested by this.

Hat tips:
Jake Finnegan
The Daley Gator
The Classic Liberal
Say Anything Blog
Proof Positive

Conservative awareness not unlike a glacier

As in incredibly slow moving.

Shortly after the '08 election, Mitt Romney became the annointed front runner in the Republican party. So much so that I thought his name had been legally changed to Republican Frontrunner Mitt Romney. It should have been telling that liberal/democrat pundits were touting Romney as the best candidate to defeat Barack Obama. But the so-called enlightened conservative pundits and bloggers jumped right on the Romney bandwagon, starting every conversation about the election with Mittens.

And once the debate/campaign process began, conservative talkers linked arms with their liberal counterparts and worked diligently to eviscerate any impediment to an eventual Romney nomination as the official Republican challenger.

Bachmann, Perry, Pawlenty, Palin . . . anyone who got a moment's notice as the Flavor of the Month got every blemish and he said/she said story given prominent voice in the media. Now it is Herman Cain's turn. He got a push from a none of the above vibe in a few straw polls and moved up in the rankings. Now he's getting it hard from both liberals and conservatives over his tax plan and obvious lack of experience in politics.

To be fair, Cain's lack of foreign policy knowledge/experience and lack of legislative experience is why I'm convinced he shouldn't be the party's nominee. For both practical reasons and tactical reasons -- the campaign commercials would write themselves with Cain as the nominee. And despite Obama's wretched record in office, a glaring novice as president would turn off independent voters in a heartbeat.

And now with all the warts exposed, Romney's comfortably back in the lead.

And finally, the brains in the conservative blogosphere are noticing -- hey, this guy's a bit of a RINO! And all of the sudden we're seeing posts about how much Mitt was involved in ObamaCare. And reminders of how he's on board with the Global Warming hoax. And even Obama's campaign is launching pre-emptive attack ads focusing on how Mitt's a serial flip-flopper.

I warned about the circular firing squad nature of conservative thinking earlier this year. I've pointed to the risible notion of vetting our candidates, when in actuality, they've been destroying the field to leave the worst possible candidate standing -- Mitt Romney.

And now that that has come to pass, these same pundits and know-nothings are being hit with buyer's remorse. They, the conservative intelligensia, have put someone at the head of the party that does not believe in hardly anything they have used to bludeon other prospective candidates out of the race with.

I guess better late than never, but nice going a**holes! Way to screw up a gimme election!

Late night hotness . . .

I had them lengthened, now they go all the way up.

Tuesday night wtf-ness

RINO-tastic
From one moderate democrat with an "R" after his name to another -- Chris Christie announces his support for Mitt Romney today.
Gee, didn't see that coming (/sarc)

Steak-umms
Mischa Barton appears in a photo shoot for Tyler Shields -- the Dollar General version of avant garde photography -- hanging on the end of a raw steak by her teeth like a dog. Geez Mischa, I think I can come up with something a little more edgy that might actually have some meaning to it. Give me a call

We don't need no steenkin' fact checks
The St. Pete Times published an editorial about Congress and jobs that was so loaded with outright lies and inaccuracies that I wondered if it was the result of that 100 monkeys working at 100 typewriters thing we used to talk about in school

Trailer porn
The Avengers trailer is finally out . . . so, Loki is the villian?! I'm a bit underwhelmed, but I guess that explains the end of the Thor movie. Except what was the thingy in the suitcase? And can someone get Samuel L. Jackson an expresso, 'cause he's way too subdued in the trailer.

#Occupymyneighborhood
Notice how these pantiwaist protesters aren't talking about marching to some millionaire's house where they still have 2nd Amendment rights and no retreat laws in place. Cowards

Christina Aguilera depresses me

Christina Aguilera was in Germany recently as part of a musical tribute to Michael Jackson. Now setting aside the fact that I cannot understand why anyone would participate in a tribute to a child molester, a bunch of pics surfaced of her during her performance:

Now I know it isn't fair to focus on someone whilst belting out a song, 'cause lots of singers make funny faces when they sing, but jeepers . . . does she look like crap. I guess I have to give her props for pouring herself into an outfit that is so clearly unflattering. But what happened to my girl?!

One of my earliest blog postings when I was at Blogstream was about how the troubled girls - Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, and Britney Spears, were suffering from a lack of parental guidance and a weak home life. I contrasted them to Christina who was, at the time, soaring at the top of her game. She looked great, was putting out great music, and I attributed her success to the values and moral guidance given to her by her mother, who had raised Christina by herself.

I still believe what I wrote back then, but I am flummoxed by how far and hard she has fallen in recent years. Her substantial weight gain, botched live performances, failed marriage, and public drunkeness seems to have no obvious triggering mechanism.

It is a shame, because even with all her troubles, she still has the best pipes in the business. And I'm sure there is still another great cd out there waiting to be made. Plus she has a child to raise, so Christina needs to get her sh*t together for a lot of reasons. Here's hoping she does. She may never look like this again:

But I'd feel better if she was happy and healthy and in control of her life once more.

Angelina Jolie impresses me

With all these celebs jumping on the #OccupyWallStreet bandwagon, despite not understanding what these assclowns are protesting for, it is nice to see a celeb actually doing some good in the world.

Angelina Jolie and her husband Brad Pitt recently donated $340,000 to the Humanitarian Initiative Just Relief Aid organization. The org is set up to help with the horrors of what has been going on in Somali for years now.

Angie has been a goodwill ambassador to the United Nations High Commission of Refugees for over 10 years now. And is slated to become the UN's Special Representative to the Afghan Refugee crisis.

She and Brad have operated a relief agency, dumping money and support to Brad's hometown of New Orleans ever since the Katrina disaster. And unlike useful idiots like Sean Penn, they don't do the work for a photo op. In fact, unlike nearly all their celeb counterparts, Angie and Brad's philanthropy flies mostly under the radar, only coming to light because celeb bloggers relentlessly pursue them and their doings.

She has kept mostly out of politics, making a few decidedly outside the mainstream criticisms of President Obama, which moves her up a few notches in my book anyway. But I like the fact that she and Brad simply do the work to help out without browbeating everyone else who doesn't have their financial wherewithall to "make a sacrifice" unlike the majority of the hypocritical celebs in Hollywood.

nice

NASCAR is stupid

First off, congrats to Jimmie Johnson for winning the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas yesterday. Somehow his crew chief extraordinaire Chad Knaus managed to find a way to make Johnson's car faster on four old tires than everyone else's was on new tires.

One of the announcers mentioned that either the guys had been holding back or Knaus has found something late in the season, because Johnson's been a stud the last couple of races. Within striking distance of first place in the Chase, it doesn't seem quite as far fetched now to think of a six consecutive title for the Hendrick juggernaut.

Anyway, the point of this post is more about NASCAR fooling around with the rules again.

When NASCAR went to the safer car design, one thing they implimented was a new front splitter/raised rear spoiler combo as is used in the Truck Series. One of the reasons was to increase the pack racing that is so common in that series by mimicing the aero performance of the vehicles.

After a bunch of horrific crashes where it was found that the raised rear spoiler acted as a wing to lift spinning cars off the track, NASCAR went back to a traditional rear spoiler and front air damn configuration.

With the other aero effects on the new cars, what was wrought was a phenomenom never seen in the sport before. At superspeedway tracks like Talladega and Daytona, something the announcers joyfully dubbed the "two car tango" was created -- two cars running bumper-to-bumper were sometimes as much as 10 mph faster than single cars or the multi-car freight trains of years past.

This led to a fan friendly situation where two guys could hook up almost a lap down and run down the leaders. Teams added inter car communications so drivers could make deals with one another during the race. Allegiances were made and broken during a race. You couldn't count anyone out of the race because with the right pusher -- and some guys worked better as pushers than leaders -- anyone could get up front. The only draw back was that the rear car might overheat from the lack of airflow, so a graceful method of swapping positions was born as well.

It was great television.

And of course, NASCAR hated it.

Because there wasn't enough wrecks. Because NASCAR likes wrecks because they make good visual bites for advertising.

So . . .

For Talladega, NASCAR has mandated some rule changes -- they've increased the sizes of the holes in the restrictor plates and changed the pressure value on the radiator pop-offs. Their stated purpose for these changes is to eliminate the two-car effect by increasing horsepower and limiting the time the vehicles can ride behind another without overheating. In essence, they want a return of the large pack racing of the past -- where as many as twenty cars are tightly packed, unable to break away from one another just zooming around the track as an accident waiting to happen.

Add to this Talladega's recent announcement -- they are offering $100k to the driver who takes the lead most often if the total lead changes is over 100. The record is in the eighties and was set by the . . . two-car tango effect so reviled by NASCAR officials.

So putting this all together -- we have NASCAR forcing the cars back into a dangerously tight pack of vehicles travelling at over 200 mph, and we have the track officials hoping to force risk taking and, in their own words, entertaining and exciting driving by throwing what amounts to a couple of sets of tires at the drivers.

It's a recipe for disaster and I hope no one is seriously injured because of this stupidity.

Rule 5 Sunday -- 'cause I'm feeling old

Today's Rule 5 posting is a selection of black & white images that are a bit retro. It's been a long crappy week, and I'm feeling my age more than other days. Plus I'm always loving me some retro/oldies goodness, So . . .

Some of these may not qualify technically as oldies depending on how old you are, but they are at least 20 years old.

*click on the thumbnails for full-sized images*

Rule 5 Sunday suggested by this.

Hat tips:
Jake Finnegan
The Daley Gator
The Classic Liberal
Say Anything Blog
Proof Positive

A bit early, isn't it?

So I'm delivering mail on my route yesterday. And as I pass one of my customer's houses, I notice her car in the driveway. On the bumper, placed perfectly in the middle, is an Obama 2012 bumper sticker.

Already?

I mean, we haven't even started the campaign, officially, yet. We don't even know who the Republicans are going to run against the President yet. The left wing's preferred candidate, Mitt Romney, is still the front runner. With the other entrants still moving up and down according to polls and media attacks on them.

So my customer is obviously going on ideology or pure party allegiance. At least that's what I'm assuming. Because what exactly would she be so contented with from the current administration? Double dip recession? Underemployment near 16%? Poverty level the highest its been in years? Our decreased standing as a global power?

What has this president done that would make someone just blindly support four more years of his administration? The left's talking heads, useful idiots, and water carriers like to snark that conservatives are stupid and allow themselves to be told whom to vote for.

But who really has the blinders on? Who is truly living in a state of denial here? In fact, if you talk to a democrat/liberal about the upcoming vote, they all begin to roll out the usual ad hominem attacks, outright lies and deceptions about conservatives in general that the media has been spreading for the last eight years. Those who vote democrat aren't actually looking at the issues and the world and what's happening in our own country and making an informed decision. They're simply voting as they are told to vote. By the media and other propaganda-meisters.

This is one election where it would make me more comfortable to see yard signs and bumper stickers only popping up at the late stages of the campaign. Blind partisanship coupled with uninformed decisionmaking and knee-jerk issue reactionisms could have disastrous consequences in 2012.

Use your freekin' heads! Don't get all your news or info from one source! Know who's behind the various media outlets you are trusting! Take advantage of the incredible amounts of information literally at your fingertips via the internet, but remember -- search engines have agendas too!

Don't f*ck it up this time, folks! There's too much at stake in this election to be voting on guilt or to be trendy.

Late night hotness . . .

A penny for your thoughts . . .

And the Rays are gone

Today's 4-3 loss to the Rangers knocks the Rays out of the post season.

After starting out with a surprising 9-0 win behind call-up phenom Matt Moore, Tampa Bay got the broomage from the Rangers. Sadly, I sort of predicted this way back in the beginning of the season, when I pointed out that the team wasn't going to get through the playoffs relying solely on shut-out pitching performances.

Staff stars James Shields and David Price both melted down when the team needed them after pitching their asses off all season. Price, who is oh for September/October had a Beckett-like fail last night as he had 5 scoreless innings before the wheels came off. Ditto for Shields the night before.

Today it was Hellickson who gave up two solo shots to Adrian Beltre before leaving the game. Desperate for anything, Maddon went to Moore hoping for more magic like the first game. But Moore gave up a homer to Beltre as well, and that was pretty much the game.

With the Rays anemic bats, it is beyond unfair to put such a burden on the pitchers. Imagine what a team like the Yankees or Red Sox could do with a rotation like the Rays have? They'd be destroying the league and setting records for wins and runs that would have everyone going around with their mouths hanging open.

Alas, with the miniscule payroll here, the Rays are built only to make the wild card game each season. Especially with talk of expanding the playoffs next year.

Hoping to get your foot in the door then have a magical run every year is no way to run a team. And it isn't fair to the fans or the players who will spend their careers here watching other teams win it all. But unless there's a large influx of cash for this team, I think that is all we're destined for.

Nice try guys.

This just in . . .

Kate Beckinsale throws on some sloppy jeans and a t-shirt to go shopping and ends up looking hotter than 99% of the women in Hollywood or on fashion runways:

Music review -- Chickenfoot III

I should mention first off that I really really wanted to really really like this cd. I came across the first Chickenfoot cd by accident and thought, "Oh this looks interesting" and was totally blown away by it. I turned a bunch of my friends on to it, who loved it as well. So I had this cd on pre-order with Amazon as soon as it became available.

And it arrived via a courier service. So first off -- hey Amazon, wtf?! My PO is good enough to deliver your stinkin' Harry Potter books, but not my Chickenfoot CD? What's up with that?!

Anyway . . .

I do love this cd, but it is different from their debut cd. My impression of the first release for these guys was that Satriani was playing guitar like a guy who had been released from prison and handed a guitar. He put something different on every track, trying all sorts of different sonic flourishes he'd been dying to try for years.

While not a mellow cd at all, it has a "quieter" feel to it. And though I'm not one to try and read a lot into song lyrics, there does seem to be an underlying theme to this cd. Now, Sammy Hagar is a great rock vocalist, but as a lyricist? Well, if you're looking for thought provoking, deep imagery, you might want to pull out some old vinyl from the Moody Blues or Yes, you know?

That said, the first track Last Temptation is a solid rocker about a reformed hellraiser who enters a bar or strip club and finds himself getting those old feelings again. Our guy wrestles with himself, feeling like he's in the Garden of Eden facing the serpent and apple and doesn't want to go there. Again.

Track two Alright Alright is a foot stomper that was initially, and still is, my favorite track on the cd. Chad Smith pounds the sh*t out of a driving beat and Satriani noodles in some great stuff as well as some of his trademark riffs.

Different Devil revists the theme again as we have a guy whose wife might be looking for some "strange" as he puts it. The song is basically a "better the devil you know" story, hence the title I suppose. It sounds like something John Mellencamp would have put out in the eighties, except with infinitely better guitar work (obviously). But the song grows on you and is another of my favorites on the disc.

Up Next is Sammy saying that when his time on this earth is done and he's standing before St. Peter, he's gonna proudly stand with the deeds and foibles of his life, be respectful but unbowed. It's got a defiant chorus and hard driving guitar line.

The next track Lighten Up starts out with a fuzzy keyboard riff then gets its rock on big time. Still noodling around the same theme, this song seems to be about a guy telling his girl to "lighten up" a bit. He notes that she always gets what she wants anyway, and he's under a lot of pressure in his job, so you know . . .

Come closer is a ballad that focuses more on Sammy's vocals. And that isn't a bad thing, he's got the right voice for this kind of song style. It's actually a very beautiful song with Satriani weaving a delicate guitar balance between strums and lead solos. It's a love song, basically, as Sammy tells his girl she's the kind of woman he's always needed.

I'm not quite sure what to make of the next track. Three and a Half Letters gets it's name from three short letters Sammy reads during the song. I don't know the background here -- does Sammy have a charitable organization he runs or do people simply send him and the band letters begging for help? The missives point out that homelessness and joblessness are crossing all demographics and people are reaching out for help. The song consists of Sammy reading each letter then a following thumping chorus where he screams about "needing a job." I guess it's his attempt at being topical. I'm not sure of the guy' politics, but maybe he should have addressed the song to the current administration. I don't know.

Big Foot is a straight up rocker that is basically a "I'm comin' to get ya babe" kind of song. He gives a nice shout out to Zep with a Houses of the Holy reference. That always gets points in my book.

Dubai Blues along with the last song on the disc, might be the most perfectly constructed songs on the cd. A lament from an obscenely rich guy who's got everything . . . but he hasn't got the girl. And he can't buy the girl. It's a great song that makes you want to sing along with it.

Track ten, Something going wrong opens like a country tune with strummy guitars, Sammy singing with a twang and a little bit of banjo. Maybe it's the southern boy in me, but a little jangly banjo always gives me goose bumps. Satriani does some great solo work on this song that does rock, but not in such a way that I couldn't imagine this song playing on a country music station. There's a smokiness to his guitar work here, I don't know how else to describe it. It makes me hark back to my college days and Robin Trower and lost weekends. I love it.

There is an unlisted eleveth track, but to be honest, I have no idea what it's about. Sammy's yelling about "them" lying about everyone from Jesus to bin Laden. Who's lying? Why? Truthfully, I cut the cd off before this track gets going because it just doesn't do anything for me. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't think so.

Like I said at the beginning, this cd is different from the guy's first release, but it is still a great cd. I do love it, perhaps more so because they simply didn't carbon copy the first one. There's some growth and reach with the songs and their sounds.

Also, I know this is their second release, and I called it "III" in the title because . . . well, everyone is calling it that. I'm assuming it is because of the 3D effects in the disc packaging. Maybe? Personally, I think the guys are just goofing with us. Their first cd package had that temperature sensitive action, where I had to tuck the damn thing under my shirt in winter to read the liner info. This one has lots of 3D images and a little silliness on the disc itself and the package comes with a set of 3D glasses. I just think these guys are having fun with this stuff and it shows in the music. In a good way.

Everyone is still at the top of their games here. Sammy's vocals are solid, and even though he tends to borrow flourishes from earlier in his career, he might be one of the best rock vocalists out there. Michael Anthony may be a solid bass player, but his strength is as a harmonizer. His voice takes the songs beyond simple rock song vocals and turns them into something that has a depth and texture you don't hear with most screamers in the biz.

I enjoy listening to Chad Smith on the drums. I have to wonder how much he enjoys playing with a band that doesn't include wierdos like Anthony Kiedis and Flea leaping around like spazzes all the time. He's got great chops back there and it's nice to be able to finally hear them.

And Joe Satriani . . . 'nuff said.

My recommendation -- buy this freekin' cd!