Shio-Bhan! Shio-Bhan!

Sometimes I crack myself up. And sometimes I like to share what gives me the giggles.

Most of my family and friends watch American Idol. I loathe the show. Let's put a bunch of mostly egotistical eccentric "artists" in front of America and have a panel of dawgs and has-been's to critique them. I just don't care. Don't care! However, since my family likes to watch it, I am pretty much forced to watch it, as well.

My friend over at Mort's Musings LOVES American Idol. So much so that his blog is entirely dedicated to American Idol. And to annoy him, I call it American Idle, which I think is more appropriate anyway.

This year, Morty had his heart set on Siobhan Magnus. I don't know why. Well, I do. He likes freaky girls. And this freaky chick fits the freaky bill. And of course he's blinded by this and cannot give an unbiased opinion of her singing inabilities.

So because I like to pick on him (as do many others - and only because we like him!), we have intentionally been butchering her name. Say-oh-ban. Say-oh-bahn. Say-eh-pon. She says it's pronounced "Sha'vahn." Whatever. A "B" makes the Buh sound.

So yesterday she was kicked off of the show because enough Americans finally decided that there wasn't anyone who was worse on the show. And Morty is distraught.

However, to ease his pain I have decided to offer this free idea. Sung to the tune of She Bangs, by Ricky Martin, but made popular by former American Idol contestant Will Hung:

Shio-Bhan! Shio-Bahn!
When she sings, she sings.
Mort goes crazy.
Cause she looks like a freak,
but she shrieks like a train,
In my ears she causes a pain,
She's gone! Shio-bhan!

And I am offering this free to the public. But I will accept donations.

Democrats Endorse the Democrats!!!

I read a lot of blogs and of course the newspapers. Sometimes I wonder if they realize how meaningless some of what they write really is.

Take the blog Maryland Politics Watch. They announced that Governor Martin O'Malley has endorsed the socialist-leaning pro-illegal immigration incumbents in District 18 of Montgomery County, which include State Senator Madaleno, and Delegates Carr, Gutierrez, and Waldstreicher. And O'Malley had to throw in that they are helping Maryland move forward. That's an opinion. And it's meaningless. Forward to what? That bright shiny light?

Then our friends over at Red Maryland announced that they endorse former Governor Bob Ehrlich for Governor.

Really?

How meaningful is it when your cronies endorse you? It would certainly be news if O'Malley endorsed someone other than the members of the Montgomery County District 18 team that is full of liberals. It would be meaningful if he nominated Doug Duncan for something after bullying him out of the Governor's race several years ago. It would be news if he endorsed a Republican. But endorsing your friends is not news.

And I love Red Maryland. They have been pointing out O'Malley's colossal failures for several years and have been a pulpit to promote Ehrlich in his reelection bid. Yesterday they announced that they endorse Ehrlich for Governor. I guess they just needed to be on record endorsing him, but this isn't really news.

So for some more meaningless endorsements, I give you these:

I endorse thin hot blond women in bikinis to hang around me at the beach. (red heads and brunettes will not be turned away)
I endorse thick slices of pepperoni pizza for lunch.
I endorse my girls 5th-7th grade softball team as the most awesomest softball team.
I endorse Qdoba as the best "coming soon" restaurant in Eldersburg.
I endorse Van Halen for the title of the best band of all time.
I endorse Vote No'Malley as the Best Blog of All Time.

Maryland State Senate District 5 - Up For Grabs

Maryland State Senator Larry Haines has announced that he will not seek reelection in November. The 79 year old Republican will retire after spending 20 years on the job, more than enough time for any elected official to be in one office. Why do we do this to ourselves?

Nonetheless, this opens up the possibility for several local politicians to move up from the House into the State Senate or we may possibly see a non-General Assembly elected official jump at the opportunity.

State Senate District 5 encompasses Northeastern Carroll County and Northern Baltimore County. On the House of Delegates side, this includes 5A district members Tanya Thornton Shewell. She replaced Carmen Amedori in 2004 when Governor Ehrlich appointed Amedori to the Parole Commission. Shewell is a fairly quiet district member with nothing that I can find of note about her.

Speaking of Amedori, she has announced that she will seek the U.S. Senate seat of incumbent Barbara Mikulski. Despite Mikulski's liberal extremist views and her millions of votes against common sense legislation, I think the brain-washed populace will reelect her merely because they remember her name. I think Amedori would be better suited in the State Senate seat.

The other 5A delegate is 75 year old Nancy R. Stocksdale. Though more vocal than Shewell, with all due respect, I think voters may be hesitant to vote for someone who is 75 to fill a newly opened State Senate seat.

In district 5B in Northern Baltimore County, Wade Kach has been wading the House of Delegates for years. He's a former Baltimore County school teacher and must be fairly well liked as he's won by solid margins or unopposed in the last several elections. He's a solid Republican and I think he would be a solid candidate (should Amedori not change her plans and seek the State Senate seat).

There are a couple of wild cards (and depending if they live in the right area - I'm not sure if they do or do not). One would be Dean Minnich, one of the Carroll County Commissioners who I think lives in Westminster. I've met Mr. Minnich and I was not impressed. He seemed to like his job too much and not be too concerned with his constituents.

Another Carroll County Commissioner is Julia Gouge who lives in Hampstead. She's been on the Commission off and on since 1986. I think that's her comfort zone and she has no aspirations to seek higher office. But you never know. However, she's often been accused of being a DINO.

And finally in Baltimore County there's Baltimore County Councilman T. Bryan McIntire in District 3, the lone Republican on Baltimore County Council. Mr. McIntire has been practicing law for 52 years (you'd think after 52 years you wouldn't have to practice any more - you could just do it). I do not suppose he has any interest at this point in his career.

So who do you think would be suited for the job?

Why I Admire Girls Who Admire Sarah Palin

Check out this video of a girl during the question and answer session of a beauty pageant. The question that was asked was something like, "Who do you admire most?"

The last part of her answer is difficult to understand, but it includes, ".....to combat this liberal government."

I hope she won!!!

Fantastic Mr. Fox News

You know the folks at Fox News have a great sense of humor. They have to. They are the only conservative news channel on television.

By now everyone's heard about Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Rothlisberger and his penchant for beating up young women. Seriously - one time: maybe his word against hers if there are no witnesses. Second time - it's a pattern. The guy is an overpaid misogynistic egomaniac with a tendency towards domestic battery against his sexual partners.

Fox News ran a story today about how Mr. Pittsburgh is being suspended for 4-6 games for violating their personal conduct policy.

Here's the funny part.

Click on the link above.

Click on the picture.

Right-click while on the picture.

Select properties.

Read the name of the file. Hysterical!!!

Capitalism: A Lunatic's Story

Now that we are fully in spring I decided that I needed some compost for my garden. I didn't want anything too pure, you know - like range cow manure. I wanted something stinky, fully of crap, but with a little life to it. I got to Home Depot and knew I was in the right part of the store when I found a display of Michael Moore's new movie - Capitalism: A Love Story.

I watch every Michael Moore movie that comes out. I don't buy the movie. I don't pay for it OnDemand. Nor do I fill a slot with it on Netflix. Instead, I get it for free at the library. I figure this way I am using the method that provides the least money to MM and no direct money from me.

As you would suspect, Capitalism: A Love Story is told from the perspective of a raving madman who is angry at the world and wants to turn it upside-down in order to fix it. The movie could easily be a propaganda film for the Democratic Party and their push toward a Socialist government.

Michael Moore takes legitimate economic problems, such as the bank's freeze on credit, and uses anecdotal evidence to come to radical conclusions that all corporations are greedy and Wall Street wants everyone to be poor.

Anyone who's taken an Intro to Economics course knows that a successful government is one were the society is productive and thriving as much as possible. You cannot take more money from the peasants than what the peasants have.

However, one thing was brought to my attention was the continued ethical dilemma, or maybe outright fraudulent behavior, of retiring Senator Christopher Dodd. The Chairman of the Finance Committee is coming off strong against the evil Wall Street and big banks that are hurting the middle class and the working poor. Dodd now wants to come down hard on irresponsible lenders that helped create this economic crisis that we are in.

Moore points out, however, that Dodd was the recipient of low interest loans totalling in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars from Countrywide Financial, now a subsidiary of the Bank of America - a bank that's not even on Wall Street. (It's on Tryon Street in Charlotte, North Carolina)

And what do you suspect that Mr. Dodd will do once he retires (rather than accept defeat in the next election)? The obvious answer is he will work for one of these large banks - probably Bank of America. He will reap the benefits of his Senatorial seat. He will be paid millions of dollars to be a consultant. He will receive millions of dollars in speaker fees. Senator Dodd will continue to abuse the power that he has (had) and continue to get richer at the expense of Americans.

And for Michael Moore, an apologetic socialist-loving liberal, to criticize Dodd for his actions speaks volumes for how unscrupulous Senator Dodd is. Fortunately, he will be gone this time next year. Unfortunately, I will still need to add to my compost pile, but I know Michael Moore will be there for that.

No One Is Raising Taxes Right Now

A very funny video clip from our friends over at Red Maryland:

No One Is Raising Taxes Right Now.

Funny!

Oklahoma City Bombing - 15 Years Later

It was 15 years ago today that the Alfred Murrah building in Oklahoma City was bombed by Timothy McVeigh in an active of domestic terrorism. And I have a connection, though a small connection, to that day.

Named after a Federal judge the Alfred Murrah building housed offices for the Social Security Administration, ATF, DEA, and recruitment offices for the Army and Marine Corps. What Timothy McVeigh claims to not have known was that the building also housed a daycare center. Of the 168 people killed in the bombing 19 were children.

Timothy McVeigh was executed for his actions and co-conspirator Terry Nichols is serving 161 life sentences for 160 deaths one of which was a fetal death.

I was off of work on the day it happened. I went to visit my grandmother and while we were eating lunch the news broke on television that the building had been bombed. We were glued to the television with horror in our eyes. I needed to do something. I drove to the Red Cross donation center in Fallston, Maryland to donate blood. I was not the only person with that idea and I was there for a long time.

A few days later I was at work working at a call center for a credit card company. I received a call from a audibly upset older man. I asked if I could help him and he said that he needed to cancel his daughter's credit card because she was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing. My heart raced. I got a cold flash through my body. I started shaking. My hands shook that I had difficulty writing down her information. My breathing became shallow and rapid. And I remember choking up and trying to hold back tears.

I could hear the pain in his voice. I wanted to help him. Unfortunately, there was nothing that I could do and I had to transfer the call to the appropriate department. Before transferring the call I gave the other representative the news that this caller's daughter was killed in the bombing in order to prepare him.

I got off of the phone and put my queue on busy for several minutes until I could compose myself. I thought about that family for days. I thought about them while I lay in bed at night. And every time I hear about the Oklahoma City bombing or Timothy McVeigh, I think about them again.

When Timothy McVeigh was executed, I again felt sad. Sad that someone could do this to other people. People who were innocent of any crime. The mothers and fathers and children that were killed. The sons and the daughters. And to remember that I spoke to one of those fathers who lost his daughter that day will forever be in my memory as if it had happened yesterday.

Netflix for Your Wii

If you have Netflix, you already know how great this service is. If you have the one movie at a time plan, you can get up to 8 movies per month for only $8.99 per month. WAY better than Blockbuster or Hollywood Video. Sure, you can get movies from RedBox for only $1 plus 6% tax in Maryland, but you have to choose the movies that are available in the box. Quite a limited selection at that.

Netflix recently released wireless Netflix OnDemand access for the PS3. Now it's time to get it on the Wii.

We got our Wii Netflix disc on Tuesday. I wasn't sure what I needed to do. I read the instructions and it indicated that I could get an Ethernet cable and connect it from the modem to the Wii console and purchase a Wii adapter for $24, or I could get a wireless router and connect via an Ethernet cable to the cable modem for about $50.

I figured with 3 kids I'll eventually need to get some laptop computers, so why not get the wireless router. I purchased one at Best Buy on tax day, and hooked it up on Friday.

Wow! This is awesome. I filled up my queue with dozens of classic films and children's movies, in addition to documentaries for everyone.

I'm kind of a scatterbug when it comes to watching movies. I never seem to have a block of 2 hours to watch an entire movie. And my kids eject my movies and insert their Scooby Doo's and Barney's, thus leaving me to try and remember the time counter of where I paused the movie. Not anymore! I can have dozens of movies playing at a time on Netflix and all paused at different times. Now I can go back and play these movies whenever I want.

Now there are not many new movies, but that's fine. I love to watch all kinds of movies and there's plenty from which to choose - including T.V. shows. Movies from the library? I don't think I really need those anymore. Welcome to my new fascination.

O'Malley Versus Ehrlich in Montgomery County

If you don't read Maryland Politics Watch, they wrote an excellent article on the lack of leverage the Montgomery County elected officials have on politics in the state of Maryland.

I've often read that the Montgomery County delegation, despite being 100% liberal Democrat, is disorganized, divided, and often plays second-fiddle to the powerful and organized lunatic delegation of Baltimore City.

Can Bob Ehrlich use this to his advantage? Perhaps. It's certainly easy to point out that the politicians that have been elected by Montgomery County voters are getting walked on by the other members of the General Assembly and Governor O'Malley, as MPW has pointed out.

Definitely read their article.

Tax Day!

Today is favorite day of many members of the Congress. It's April 15th. It's the day that the average schlep needs to submit their tax forms. Actually, now that I think about it, perhaps it's not their favorite day. And here's why....

I find it humorous that many of my friends are bragging about how much their tax refunds were. Hello? Are you saying that this is your free windfall of money that the government is going to give to you? Your 1040 indicates that the government wants to give you $4000? Yay!!! Wow!!! That's awesome!!! Not likely.

This is YOUR money. YOU gave the government an interest-free loan of several thousand dollars. Now they are giving YOUR money back to you. It's YOUR money.

I finally met someone who gets it. I asked him if he was getting any back. He said he was getting $78 from the Feds and he owes the state of Maryland about $100. Perfect!

I think the ideal tax return is when you owe the government a little bit of money. Sure - it sucks giving the government money, but think of it this way - you are returning the money that you owe them. They let you hold onto it for a little longer and let you keep the interest that you made on the money.

So don't come telling me you found out you're getting 4-grand in your refund. Because I got that same 4-grand - only spread over 24 paychecks. Now let's figure out how to owe them less money.

So why might it not be the favorite day of our elected officials? Because it's the day that the government has to give back thousands of dollars to millions of tax filers because dumb-dumb didn't take enough exemptions on their W-2's.

What Do We Need In Eldersburg?

I saw a group of a similar name that was created on Facebook yesterday. If you've never been to Eldersburg in Carroll County, it is more or less the cross-roads of Route 26 (Liberty Road) and Route 32. Neighborhoods have sprung up around those roads, but there isn't much to a transportation infrastructure in the town. The commercial district basically runs straight down these 2 roads.

South of Eldersburg is Sykesville, the older little brother of Eldersburg. With it's quaint downtown district, Sykesville lacks the commercial interests of Eldersburg. You can't go grocery shopping in Sykesville.

Eldersburg basically consists of several grocery stores (Martin's, Safeway, Food Lion, and Shopper's Food Warehouse), a few chain restaurants (Chili's, Bob Evans, and the various fast-food chains), and a few stores (Wal-Mart, and some claim K-Mart and Big Lots, but I think those are actually in the Randallstown section of Eldersburg).

"Fans" of this new group threw out suggestions - more restaurants, Costco, Target, Barnes & Noble, Staples, Best Buy, Dick's Sporting Goods, and a movie theater to name a few.

Now, I don't know if you've ever been to places that have these stores. You can look at Columbia, Westminster, Owings Mills, and Bel Air. These ex-burbs are loaded with them. And what to all of those places have in common? HORRIBLE traffic problems. Lack of identity. Transient crime. And lower property values.

Why do people move to Eldersburg? It's certainly not because of the great selection of stores and restaurants. People move to Eldersburg because of its small-town feel. It's bucolic. We don't need all that other crap. If we need anything that cannot be sold in Eldersburg, we are a quick 20 minute drive to Owings Mills, Westminster, or Columbia\Clarksville to get it.

Do we need to add more to Eldersburg to make it a better place to live? No. On the contrary. It's the best place to live because we don't have everything here. Let's keep it that way.

Because Ben Cardin Thinks He's Smarter Than Adam Smith

You all know who Adam Smith is right? If not, you should. He wrote A Wealth of Nations and it's the Bible of economics. It discusses efficient uses of resources, the relationship between supply and demand on price, among other things. A Wealth of Nations reads like common sense (but not Common Sense by Thomas Paine). Unfortunately, common sense eludes our elected officials.

Today, Maryland liberal extremist Ben Cardin declared that it's ridiculous that airlines are going to charge for carry-on bags. He and Charles Schumer of New York (pronounced shoo-mah), have vowed to introduce legislation outlawing the practice of charging for carry-on luggage.

Let's sit back and examine this for a minute. Why would airlines be adding fees for baggage? Probably because they are not making enough revenue to cover expenses, so instead of raising ticket fees, they add fees that passengers can avoid if they choose. Or - are they just being greedy and want to make more money?

If the airlines are, in fact, being greedy and want to make more money, then what is going to happen? Well, air travel is normally considered a luxury (with exceptions to politicians, salesmen, and limousine liberals), not a necessity. If it costs too much to use their service, people will find alternatives - drive, take a train, take a bus, or not take a trip. The airline industry's supply is challenged by other industries that can provide similar services. If they charge too much, consumers have a choice to use alternate transportation methods or not travel. Thus, if consumer usage of airlines goes down, so does airline revenue. So are the airlines really going to get more money from the consumers?

Let's assume the far left-wing arm of the Senate passes this bill and it eventually becomes law. What happens next? The airline industry is prohibited from increasing bag fees, so in order to increase revenue they'll increase other fees and/or raise ticket prices. Does the consumer really benefit from government interference in pricing models? Is Congress going to come back and tell the airlines how much they can charge for ticket prices? Don't think that idea is that far-fetched.

So, Senators Schumer and Cardin - before you go passing laws forcing more government interference into the economy, think about the consequences of your actions and what it will really accomplish. Remember - your constituents aren't THAT stupid.

Aaron Burr Lover Says What?

I had planned to have lunch the other day with some coworkers from my former department. I think about 7 guys had accepted the lunch appointment. Unfortunately, only 2 others showed up.


One of these fellows was a guy I had never met before. However, he had heard about me and the fact that I'm a political nut (in the nicest sense of the word) and a bit of a history buff.


In our discussion this new guy asks which of the Founding Fathers is my favorite. I love reading about all of them. To me, picking my favorite Founding Father is like picking my favorite bikini model. Seriously - how can you choose????


But I do find Alexander Hamilton the most intriguing. Washington was the quiet leader who got lucky in battle many times, but set the tone for what a President should be. John Adams was the neurotic legislator who threw temper tantrums when he didn't get his way. Thomas Jefferson was the writer of the Declaration of Independence, founder of the University of Virginia, Governor of Virginia, Secretary of State, Vice President, and President, and keeper of a slave concubine - Sally Hemmings. That's quite a resume'! James Madison was the brilliant short nerdy guy in the back of the room who didn't say much, but was a genius with the strokes of his pen.


There are others, but Alexander Hamilton fascinates me because he was the bastard orphan who grew up in St. Croix (not in America!), had nothing, but showed brilliance in running a business, was sent to America by a sponsor, went to what is now Princeton and crossed paths with Aaron Burr many times over his life. He created the Department of the Treasury. He pushed for a strong Federal government, which is basically how the government is now.


What's interesting is that Jefferson is considered the father of the modern Democratic Party, though he is more the founder of classical liberalism, which has been oportunistically bastardized over the years to gain favor with the voters. Jefferson prescribed smaller government and states' rights - did you hear that Jefferson Davis???


Jefferson and Hamilton butted heads (as did Jefferson and Adams, and Hamilton and Adams). Are you seeing a pattern here?


Anyway, as I mentioned, Burr's and Hamilton's paths in life crossed many times until that fateful date on the cliffs of New Jersey where Burr and Hamilton met for a duel, resulting in the Vice President of the United States shooting and killing the former Secretary of the Treasury. Burr was disgraced, and wasn't elected to serve as Vice President again under Jefferson (this honor went to Madison). He then lost his bid for the Governor of New York. Burr then went south and played politics with General Wilkinson (General of Army of New Orleans and later Governor of Louisiana Territory) with hopes of striking it rich by bilking the government in land-grabs.


Burr tried to conspire with Wilkinson to grab land from Texas, take over the Louisiana Territory, and possibly invade Mexico and declare himself king. Can you image if Joe Biden did something like that today? If you think those fake hair plugs and dentures are funny, this would have been political fodder for the Daily Show for years to come.


Nonetheless, Burr was arrested for being a traitor several times, but was eventually acquitted (by Supreme Court Justice John Marshall) and released. Burr subsequently fled to England to restart his schemes, but eventually died much to everyone's delight.


Now I give you all of this background for the simple comment said to me by this new guy at lunch. The conversation basically went like this:


Who was your favorite Founding Father?
Probably Alexander Hamilton.
Ah. Shot and killed by Aaron Burr, and deservedly so.

WHAT?????!!!!!! Is this guy nuts? It's funny how 2 people who share similar historical knowledge and political views can have vastly different opinions on the same matter.


God save the King!

New List of Most and Least Effective Legislators in Maryland

The Gazette released its list of the 10 Most and Least Effective State Senators and 20 Most and Least Effective State Delegates. And here is my analysis.

You would expect that the list would be overwhelmingly in favor of Democrats being the most effective since they occupy an overwhelming majority of the seats in the legislature. And you would be right. When you have the most votes you get your way more often than not.

You would expect that the list would be overwhelmingly against Republicans since they are in the minority by an overwhelming disparity in the General Assembly. And you would be right. If you can't get the Democrats to agree to common sense legislation, then you'll never get anything passed and thus not be effective.

Kumar Barve proved that people with alcohol problems can still be considered influential leaders. He was selected as the 5th most influential delegate in spite of using his influence to get out of a DWI charge. Or maybe because of his influence.

Saqib Ali has a lot of friends. And a lot of haters. Not only did he make the list as the 17th most effective delegates, he is also the 3rd least influential delegate. Perhaps if he added some more pundits and political observers as friends on Facebook he would get a better ranking next year. Seriously - the guy is pretty darn funny. Don't always agree with him (he has a man-crush on Harry Reid), but he IS funny.

Curt Anderson went around and took pictures of everyone in the General Assembly and added their image to Wikipedia. He did this for both Democrats and Republicans - an admirable motion. And for this he was rewarded as the 12th most effective delegate. Is this one of those false positive correlations?

Mike Busch and Mike Miller were awarded for bullying everyone in the General Assembly and received number 1 slots on both lists of Most Influentials. I suspect Miller is influential by telling everyone that he'll retire if they pass such-and-such bill, only to recant later.

Despite Ulysses Currie's brushes with the law, marijuana, and raids of his home by the FBI, he was selected as the 4th most influential state senator. It pays to be a corrupt pot smoker!

Some Democrats, despite having the special wand to do practically anything they want, were selected as un-influential. You must really suck as a Democrat if you fall into this list in Maryland. The list includes James Brochin of Towson (has made this list before), Nathaniel Exum of PG County, Michael Lenett of Montgomery County, Frank Conaway, Jr. of Baltimore, Ana Sol Gutierrez (again, and who wants in-state tuition for illegal immigrants), Emmett "Illegal Campaign Contributions" Burns, Jr. of Baltimore County (again), Jill Carter of Baltimore, Charles Barkley (not that basketball player) of Montgomery County, Herman Taylor, Jr. of Washington County (who also wants in-state tuition for illegal immigrants), and finally Barbara Robinson of Baltimore.

Republicans on the Most Influential side of the list are Tony O'Donnell of Baltimore County and Christopher Shank of Washington County. I was a bit surprised not to see Allan Kittleman on the list, but then again he's the leader of the Republican Party in the State Senate, so naturally no one is going to like him.

So that's my take. Let me know what you think of this list.

A Blast With the Blast

I'm catching up on some blogging here. Stupid work. Stupid baseball and softball practice. Stupid sleep requirements. All of these are preventing me from blogging.

Two weeks ago I won 2 tickets to see the Baltimore Blast play in game 2 of the MISL semi-finals. I told my kids that I had an extra ticket and they had to figure out who would get to go with me. I was hoping to watch them in a cage match, but my daughter piped in and said that she's already been to a Blast game, so she would let her brother go.

My son and I left after work and headed downtown. Unfortunately we hit stupid traffic on the stupid I-70 (not route 70). Then there was some more stupid traffic on the stupid beltway. Once we got on I-395 and headed into the city the stupid traffic got better.

We parked down under and came out looking for a place to eat dinner. My son suggested 7-11, but I nixed that idea. We decided on Salsaritas (read: I decided on Salsaritas), which you can read about from this shiny blue link.


We found our seats back near the back wall. I shouldn't complain. They were free. While we were sitting there passing the time (which included checking out the cheerleaders), I see 2 coworkers headed up to our section. I guess I wasn't the only person that won tickets. Now I know what it's like to feel like a cheap street walker. I wonder if this is how John Edwards' mistress felt when he started hitting on her while his wife was dying of cancer. But I digress.

The game finally started and the lower section started filling up - somewhat. These Blast games aren't like the games I remembered it as a kid back in the early 1980's. I clearly remember 85,000 people rocking the stands at the Baltimore Civic Center screaming and cheering for Stan Stomekovich, Richard Chinapoo, and Scott Manning. Now it was a house slightly leaning from one side to another.


As I looked carefully, I realized that most of the fans were on day-passes from local mental institutes or former cast members from Slap Shot. I swear I was the only person there that didn't put my pants on backwards this morning.

And then there was the game. Did you know that they play music even during the game? I actually didn't mind it. The Blast were playing La Raza de Monterrey, a team from Mexico. Fortunately, they weren't all killed in the drug wars going on in Mexico.

The Blast were down 10-6 with about 4 minutes to go (each goal is worth like 1.35 points). The Blast pulled the goalie, then quickly scored, bringing them within 2 points, or 1.75 goals (or something like that). Then with about 20 seconds to go the Blast scored again to tie the game. They had to win. It was game 2 of a 3 game series and the Raza already won game 1. For those of you that attended Baltimore City Public Schools, this means that if they lost this game, then they were eliminated from the playoffs.

The game then went into sudden-death overtime. Unlike the sudden-death that was going on in the ghettos surrounding the downtown part of Baltimore City, this sudden-death would be decided by who scores first. Billie Nelson, who went to my high school, played hard, but it was the Raza that scored first and sent the Blast home early to their part-time off-season jobs.

Overall, we had a good time. In addition to watching a good game, my son also got a Blast pennant and a long-sleeve Blast t-shirt. And most importantly, we got in and out of Baltimore City without being shot or thrown into the Harbor.

Lisa Gladden Loves Criminals

I'm not sure if she prefers criminals in a romantic way, but she's certainly looking out for the criminals when it comes to mandatory sentencing. But what we do know is that Lisa Gladden is an idiot. Her voting record exposes a serious character flaw.

All the thugs in Jessup gave a big shout-out to Lisa Gladden today when she voted against Nancy Jacob's Senate Bill 622: Crimes - Sexual Offenses Against Children - Penalties. Not only did she vote against it, but she was the only state senator to vote against the bill which would increase the mandatory penalty for raping a child from 5 years to 20 years.

To all of the children out there in society - Lisa Gladden is your enemy. She hates you. To all of the parents out there who have children - Lisa Gladden is your enemy. She hates your children.

There is no other excuse for her voting against this bill. This vote is exactly why Lisa Gladden needs to be voted out of office.