I don't even want to talk about it.
October 2005 Archives
Heather's a Giants fan, I'm a Redskins fan. Skins vs. the Giants today at 1pm in the Meadowlands.
If the Skins lose, I have to wear a Giants shirt tomorrow when I'm walking the kids around the neighborhood for Halloween, but if the Skins win, Heather has to stand in the front yard and sing "Hail to the Redskins".
Everyone expects that the Redskins are going to lose, though not by much...the spread isn't big. I'm not so sure.
Washington's got the second ranked offense in the NFL right now, but the Giants are only 15th in the NFL right now. The Redskins have the 4th ranked defense in the NFL and the Giants are below 30th. Yes the Giants lead the league in 3rd Down and 4th Down conversion, but again, the Redskin's defense is 4th in the NFL: They only allow an average 17 points per game right now, and the Giants D are giving up 22 per game. The math just seems to add up: the Redskins will win.
Now all I have to do is sit back and hear my wife's painful rendition of a classic:
Think I'm full of shit? Sound off here.
I don't often have nice things to say about Philadelphia, but I have to say that one thing that I really like about it is the music scene...if you look at the musicians that have come out of the immediate area you have to wonder if they put LSD in the water here. (You'd have to be taking something to put up with SEPTA and the insanity at City Hall and the ever present piss smell). But bands like The Bloodhound Gang, The Dead Milkmen, Atom and his Package, all good goofy bands that can't decide if they want to rock or geek out or be stupid funny.
I love that.
In fact, it doesn't seem to end there. People like Bam from Jackass are from this area too. It's like the whole area's populated by half-retarded goofballs...and I mean that in a good way.
Bob Sullivan, an author and journalist who contributes to MSNBC.com amongst others, and is considered an expert on identity theft, recently wrote on his blog about the new bankruptcy laws that took effect.
He highlighted the fact that the victims of Katrina will get an exemption (as I asked in a previous post) but he also highlighted another problem: When you file for bankruptcy now, you are forced to go to "Credit Counseling", at one of a handful of "accredited" counseling firms.
I don't know how familiar you all are with these firms, but as someone that was one in deep debt (post-college) and considered filing for bankruptcy, I investigated those firms, and everyone I ever talked to scoffed at the mention of them. It seems like a good deal, right? You don't file for bankruptcy, you work with your creditors, you get your life back on track, and you did it with honor. Problem is that many of the same credit card companies that pushed for this reform look down on people who use the counseling agencies more than if you just went straight through bankruptcy. A lot of times, a counseling agency can stain your credit record more than the "final solution" of Chapter 7.
Worse yet, many of these agencies are far from reputable and work to deceive the very people they claim to protect and work with. They are generally very shady.
Anyhoo, read the post from Bob Sullivan. I think he raises some good points.
I've watched the first three episodes of 'Colbert Nation', and I say it's a homerun. What a fabulous show. Stephen Colbert is doing a fantastic job.
I think the highlight for me was the first night with the "Gravitas Showdown" (look for the link 'Let the Gravitas Begin') between Stone Phillips and Stephen Colbert, but it's also been quite amusing to see how often the word "balls" gets said on the show.
I know I'm not the only one that feels good about the show. Someone's already started "Colbert Nation".
Now, finally we have a candidate worth watching.
http://www.thepartyparty.com/.
These political remixes are pretty damn good. I recommend "Who's the Nigga?" and "Dick is a Killer".
I saw a piece on CNN this morning about how the new bankruptcy laws are going to take effect soon. I thought they already had, but I guess it's at the end of this month, whatever.
I imagine that in the face of Hurricane Katrina there are a lot of people that are falling behind on their bills and that a fair number of them would have used bankruptcy as a step to get back on their feet once they got their house back in order, got a job again, etc.
But that door's been shut on a lot of people because the new laws greatly restrict who can and cannot file for bankruptcy, plus it makes the steps necessary to file more difficult AND more expensive. Last I heard, it costs between $600 - $1200 to file for bankruptcy which for Joe Average Middle-Class can already be hard to rustle up, even without Katrina wiping people out.
So, is this what everyone in Congress envisioned when they revised the laws? In my head, it was an event precisely like Katrina that made the bankruptcy a neccessity, in addition to all of the other freak occurrences of life.
I think it's a shame. My only hope is that the credit card companies and mortgage companies, the entities that pushed for this reform are going to be magnanimous in the face of disaster and help the people suffering now.
I agree with people that I don't think she's qualified. I'm very perplexed about Bush choosing her. I have one mind that says he picked her so when she doesn't make it through the nominations Bush will be able to play hardball and say "See, I gave you a moderate and you didn't approve her. Now I'm going to pick someone further to the right."
Bush does, however, have a history of cronyism...and I hate using that word because everyone's tossing it around. But someone put up a website recently to "Find The Brownie", or more clearly, point out unqualified political appointees. Placing political appointees have been a sport in Washington, but Bush is a master at it.
One other point, for Latoya: I don't care if 99% of the US population is woman, the candidates to the Supreme Court should still be based on the BEST QAULIFICATIONS, not gender, not race, not even necessarily on whether they can be counted on to be a "swing voter" as so many Democrats and pundits have been bugging for but on whether or not they will allow themselves to interpret matters of Constitutional law and allow themselves to be circumscribed by the boundaries set forth in the Constitution.
Oh, oh...while I'm here, I want to send a big fuck you to Diane Feinstein who thinks it's unfair for the Supreme Court to try and limit her powers through a correct interpretation of the "interstate commerce clause". In case you don't know, the Constitution limits the matters that Congress can create laws on as those that pertain to "Interstate Commerce". The Commerce Clause states that Congress may make laws on: "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes."
Sen. Feinstein somehow understands that to mean that she can make gun control laws, or education bills, or hey, whatever the hell she feels like. SHE CAN'T. And one of the reasons she's so worked up about whom Bush will pick for the Supreme Court is because the Court has become more inclined to strike down unlawful legislation because it does not meet the standard set forth in the Commerce Clause.
So I hope Bush picked someone who is a strict constitutionalist who will continue to chap Feinstein's hide. And if that person's a disabled black lesbian muslim who just had an abortion, I don't really give a damn.
So the President picked his choice for the Supreme Court: Harriet Miers. A bunch of people came out going "Oh that's so fabulous, another woman. We needed another woman on the court. This is fantastic!" I call bullshit (but you probably already knew I would).
Why do we need a quota of seats on the Supreme Court? Can't we just pick from the entire pool of candidates regardless of sex and ethnicity? Perhaps we should have a period of seeking candidates where all people are listed purely on their accomplishments and opinions and we're not allowed to know gender or race and we then pick the top 15 candidates from that pool on qualifications alone. I know we can't do that because we don't want them beholden to the public, but still...it makes me sad.
I went to see the Ravens play today at the M&T Stadium. Someone snagged four seats for one of the luxury boxes at the stadium and we got to sit and watch in style. It was very cool.
The seats were good, the food was good (burgers, pasta salad, Maryland Crab dip, 20 different kinds of cheese, subs, potato skins, beer, etc), there were TVs everywhere so we kept tabs on the Red Sox v. Yankees game and I also got to watch the Redskins pull out an OT victory against the Shehawks.
I'll write up more about the experience tomorrow.
Anyway, bitch about the Redskins more here. And anything else in general here.
