Not understanding the hubbub here

So Isaac's a tropical storm, I get that.  And it's on its way into the Gulf, where it might grow into a hurricane. I get that also.  What I don't get is all this OMG hysteria that's going on.

People are freaking out about the convention, they're at Lowe's and Home Depot buying plywood and emergency supplies.  I get being prepared, but honestly, this isn't the first storm we've had here.  Calm the eff down folks.  We're not even sure how much is going to hit here:

Right now the weather folks are assuming a track towards Mississippi and Louisiana.  This thing could bolt towards Texas (you know how these storms love Corpus Christi) or over towards Mexico.  All we need is a little high pressure system from up north and this sucker could go anywhere but here.

It could also come right up Tampa Bay too.  I get that.  And we've been really lucky in that respect for a lot of years.  So I guess people are assuming that it's our turn or something.  Of course, nature doesn't really work like that, but our minds do . . .

I don't know, maybe it's because I've spent my entire life down here dealing with these storms and what they can do and the angst of preparing for the worst and having nothing happen.  My thinking is be prepared, but don't be going crazy until there's a good reason for it.

Stormy weather

So here it comes, tropical storm Isaac.  Doesn't look like much now, but they're assuming once it gets into the warm waters of the Gulf, that it will blossom into a hurricane.  Who knows.  I'm getting a kick out of the lefties hoping it will force Tampa to cancel the Republican convention.

I'll be laughing harder at all those occupy losers that have come into the area hoping to stage some demonstration at the convention.  What a waste of time and effort by those clowns and their enablers in the press and media.  All those front page stories and features in the Tampa Bay Times (formerly St. Pete Times) about where and how to protest will have gone to waste.

Heh

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In sports news, I see the Red Sox are planning on jettisoning two more clubhouse cancers as they are in the process of doing a blockbuster trade with the Dodgers that would include Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Beckett.  

Kind of a pity about A-Gon as he's finally hitting like they had hoped he would when he was picked up from the Padres last year.  And Beckett's an every other year pitcher, so he may suck this year, but he'll probably be Cy Young material next year and the comment trolls that are hating on him now will be bitching about the Sox dumping him next year.

But I had said in an earlier post that this is exactly what I would do if I was the GM of the Sox.  So let's hope this works out in the long run.

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And on a lighter note, it's good to see the Duffster out and about again:

Hilary's totally rocking her adorable post-baby hotness.  Yum

Funny how they recognize propaganda when they see it

Speaking at the International Seminar on Planetary Emergencies, organized by the World Federation of Scientists in Erice, Sicily on 20 August 2012, Czech President Vaclav Klaus pointed out how obvious it is for someone who was forced to digest state run media for decades to recognize the propaganda of global warming fanatics (emphasis mine):

As someone who personally experienced central planning and attempts to organize the whole of society from one place, I feel obliged to warn against the arguments and ambitions of the believers in the global warming doctrine. Their arguments and ambitions are very similar to those we used to live with decades ago under Communism. The arrogance with which the global-warming alarmists and their fellow-travellers in politics and the media present their views is appalling. They want to suppress the market, they want to control the whole of society, they want to dictate prices (directly or indirectly by means of various interventions, including taxes), they want to “use” the market. I agree with Ray Evans that we experience the “Orwellian use of the words ‘market’ and ‘price’ to persuade people to accept a control over their lives”. All the standard economic arguments against such attempts should be repeated. It is our duty to do it.

I'm reminded of when Michael Moore's shlockumentary Farenheit 9/11 was shown overseas in countries that had formerly been under communist rule.  They laughed at the blatant propagandizing of the film, a film that was hailed in this country as being a damning indictment of the Bush administration.  Over there, despite the general narrative of the populace blindly believing everything that came out of the Pravda-like media, the citizens actually recognized what they were reading was an attempt to indoctrinate them to the state's belief system.

Here we have useful idiots like most in the movie and music industry, and pretty much everyone on the left, mindlessly swallowing and repeating every jot and tittle of the Al Gore inspired hoax of man-made global warming.  We grew up in a country where we thought that the media was telling the truth and serving as a counterpart to government, to hold it accountable.  But sadly, even though we now know that newsreaders from Cronkite to Couric have an agenda, and are willing to lie and distort the information they deliver on a daily basis to further that agenda, far too many ordinary citizens believe what they see on television or read in the paper as the unvarnished truth.

That ignorance can and will have catastrophic consequences.

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And because we haven't seen much of her Aussie hotness in the last few years, here's the tall, lithe Nicole Kidman getting her saucy on in a recent issue of V Magazine:

If I was head of the RNC, part 2

I'd send a group of fairly large, imposing gentlemen in suits and dark glasses to visit this dumbass Todd Akin  and ask him politely but forcefully to step out of the Missouri congressional race.

This knucklehead is going to cost the GOP quite possibly that Senate seat and could impact the Romney/Ryan ticket as well.  It's bad enough that the guy had a brain fart, but he's doubling down on it and talking about standing on principle, yadda yadda.

Dude is giving Republicans and conservatives a bad name, as well as talking absolute nonsense about women's reproductive systems and allowing liberals to get back to this nonsensical war on women meme they've been pushing for a year.

It's important to note that this guy doesn't have some sort of mandate here.  He won a plurality in the Republican primary, 36% to two other candidates tied at 30%, and that was only after the Democrats dumped millions of dollars into the campaign to insure that Akin won.  That should tell you something right there about the guy.  Clearly the Dems knew they had a disaster waiting to happen in Akin, and they were absolutely right.

Sarah Palin was on Greta tonight and she had some great comments about the Akin mess, saying that speaking from experience, the guy ought to not be inviting himself somewhere he isn't wanted.  She also spoke about taking one for the team, by backing off his hopes for a Senate seat to serve the greater good of the Republican party and the country itself.

Sarah also suggested that if Akin won't get out, then a third party run by her candidate of choice, Sarah Steelman, was an option worth looking into.  I agree.  And I also wonder when the party and the influence folks within the party are going to start paying a little more attention to Sarah's suggestions, since her success record of supporting candidates is somewhere in the 70+% range.

Update:
I should point out here that Sarah Palin repeatedly said someone like Steelman should run as a third party.  There's apparently some sort of sore loser law in Missouri that prevents primary losers from running as third party candidates.  Kind of impressed that Palin knew that already and even said in the interview that she would go ahead and coin Steelman's motto about no more status quo for whoever ran.

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And in other news, not only can Michelle Rodriguez probably kick the average guys' ass, she'll look pretty hot doing so:

If I was running the RNC . . .

Republicans, conservative pundits, and the candidates themselves keep saying they welcome a debate on the economy, Medicare and the like.  I agree.  This is a conversation we should be having.  If I was running this election campaign, I'd be buying a half hour air time on a major network every week from now until the election.  I'd have Paul Ryan on there with whiteboards and slides and whatever else he needed to pound home the danger this country is in.

I'd be daring anyone --  pundit, candidate, or sitting Congressman to come on and debate him on the facts of  where this economy is heading.  Ryan could, and would, eat pretty much anyone's lunch on this topic and the voters of this country would be well served at the same time.

Some years back, Ross Perot did almost this exact thing, using his own money to buy airtime and show the economic danger the country faced.  It was a brilliant, though I think unappreciated, move on his part.  He garnered enough votes in the election to cost Bush Sr. the White House.  If this current election is as close as some think, those swing votes could put Romney/Ryan over the top.

Of course, the blatantly liberal leaning networks might fight him on this, so I suppose there are always online alternatives.  But this is still something they should be doing.  The facts are on conservative's side on these issues.  This seems like a good way to get them out there.  And they should get going on it.  Like now.

Red Sox season pretty much over

Years ago, I used to run a small men's softball league -- about 8 teams.  Ran for a couple of years then the usual attrition of players and teams began to shrink us down.  We were down to 4 teams when most of the guys on the team I played (but did not coach) on left.  Rather than leave us with an unbalanced number of teams, we/I decided to go outside the rules and get whoever I could to fill out my roster.  One of my players brought in his son and several of his son's other teenaged friends.

Fielding a team half comprised of teens in a men's league, well it was ugly.  We lost every game that season and lost them badly.  The 10-run rule every game.  And yet those kids played hard every inning of every game, knowing we didn't stand a snowball's chance of winning.

After one game, standing around having a beer with some of the other guys, one guy was trying to console me in his own ass-holish, arrogant way by talking about how scrappy and such my team was.  I lost it momentarily, tired of the condescention from these guys and told him and anyone within earshot that I'd rather lose every game with the kids on my team now rather than play with the arrogant prima donnas that had been on my team before.

I meant it then, and I've repeated that philosophy on this blog and in my life since.  Either play like you mean it or go home.

With that in mind, let me speak about the Red Sox:

Frankly, I wasn't expecting much this season anyway, so I'm not as bummed about the record as many fans. I am upset with the attitude surrounding the team though.  I point my finger first at the Boston sports media that has run with every unnammed source and grassy knoll crackpot theory about this team since last season's epic collapse.  These guys need a full cup of STFU!  Oh hey, just happen to have one here:

Next the owners and GM.  Not sure about Lucchino, and Cherri hasn't made a trade yet that I think was worthwhile so the jury's out on him.  Youk had to be traded, he was clubhouse cancer, but to a team that the Sox were going to play only a couple of weeks later?  Pretty dumb.

As far as the players go, they get the lion's share of the blame.  For all the hate heaped on Bobby Valentine by comment trolls, he isn't on the field striking out, booting grounders, or walking in winning runs.  He's done as well as he can with the players handed to him.  And the team has been decimated with injuries.  But . . .

If I was running the show?  I'd call a team meeting and have a stack of signed, pre-notorized (yeah I know it's illegal, don't bother telling me) releases and I'd hand them out to every player who didn't come up through the Sox farm system with a couple of exceptions -- Doubront, Morales, Aceves, and a few others.

Then I'd tell these guys that if they want to go, there's the door, gtfo!  I'd pay the balance of their salaries and  throw them off the property.  Only guys that want to play in Boston could stay.  No more whining or bitching or tweeting your petty bs!  You're either 100% on board or you're out the effin' door!  And that goes for anyone I caught leaking stories to the press that were detrimental to team morale as well.  I'd let this team sit in the cellar like they did in the 80s for however many seasons it took to scrub the stink from these overpaid prima donnas off that team, then start over.

Just a thought

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And 'cause it's my birthday and I'm officially an old man now . . .

Don't know much about this Rita Rusic chick except that she's 50ish, must be independently wealthy since she never seems to work, has a crazy bangin' body, a penchant for tiny bikinis, and a bit of a hoochie streak in her.

Not seein' a downside here folks:

Al Gore = still pathetic

Desperate to not go down in American history as the guy who lost the biggest gimme election of all time, Al Gore is still bleating about the candidates not addressing climate change in their speeches or platforms.

Sadly, one of my knocks on Mittens is how he's pandered to the faux science numerous times in the past.  Fortunately, his running mate Paul Ryan has openly expressed the logical concerns of most people about the shoddy science and fear mongering of climate hysterics like the Goreacle.

I've always searched for just the right way to describe the foolishness of climate hysteria, and I found it in an interview in the Pittsburgh Tribune the other day.

The article written by Eric Heyl is his interview with the guy who runs Climatedepot.com, Marc Morano.  In the interview, besides pointing out how claims of "record heat" are actually temperatures that are only hundreths of a degree higher than normal and how hysterics try to extrapolate a temp rise over only 2 percent of the planet's surface (and ignore the cooling going on in the other 98 percent) into proof of global warming, Morano gave the perfect description of climate hysteria:

Q: What did you think of Hansen’s [James Hansen director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies] latest study being rebuked by (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researcher) Martin Hoerling? He reiterated his long-standing contention that Hansen is exaggerating the connection between global warming and various weather extremes.

A: Yes, Hoerling said (Hansen’s findings) were perception, not science. Another scientist, Roger Pielke Jr., has said (such perceptions) are akin to the predictions of Nostradamus and the Mayan calendar, where they are trying to attribute every single event to global warming. It’s unscientific. It’s what I like to call climate astrology — it’s like a horoscope. No matter what happens, it fits the narrative. They are advancing an agenda and creating a grand narrative of man-made global warming and they are trying to sell it. So now beyond just hot temperatures, they are trying to say that every time there’s a flood or hurricane, a drought, a tornado, you name it, that it’s proof of the theory.

Exactly!

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And to paraphrase the old Rocky & Bullwinkle show, here's some news you can really use! 

Yep, Katy Perry went to a water park in San Diego the other day and her swim suit fell off.  Now don't ask why she kept climbing up that ladder with her entire ass hanging out like that.  I mean she had to know what was going on there.