Shake Weight for Men

This is ...real? I can see how it might.... But the frantic, two-handed action is.... Just watch, I guess. :-S

Yay More Followers! Say Hello!

I'd like everyone to say hello to BookSteve (BookSteve's Library) and MonogramGirl (A Nantucket State of Mind), two new followers who have joined the ranks of Linktastica! and received a sweet follow-back from me.

The boobs icon is a fake, spammy person and while I do enjoy the female form, will be removing them (if I can?). But that will drop me below 30! Tell your friends to stop by!

A special thanks to all my readers and followers - I've only been doing this this long because of you.

Cheers!

Hate: Now in Green, Always Available in Stupid

Religion, guns, and golf clubs? This showed up on the 18th green at a Boston area country club.


(And somehow the assbags @ Photobucket say THIS image violates their TOS)

Note to vandals: as opposed to devouring the verbal diarrhea of the right wing like so much slop out of a trough, do some studying on your own, learn what Nazism actually was, and for the love of all things holy learn the proper layout of the swastika.

Because today not only is the Secret Service looking for you, but when they find you, the whole world will be able to put a face to "moron."

In Short: Sean, Stop the Religion BS

Sean Hannity: Please stop trying to debate religion. With anyone. You sound like an asshat, quote scripture at a bare random affiliation with something a caller just said and then warp it out of context and then, when someone directly quotes another part of the Bible, word for word without interpretation, you say "I think you're misinterpreting that." But according to you and other Christians, the Word is the Word.

Caller: "Jesus gave his life - "
Sean: "And I appreciate that but..."

What a tool.

Columbus Day

Columbus was not here first. Vikings certainly and arguably the Chinese were here way before. But when he did come, he and his men and other explorers did horrible things to the natives of every place they landed.

I agree - we need an Indigenous Peoples' Day.

Some Days on Facebook...

I read through the posts and the absurd, trite, hollow people that I have somehow decided it was important to friend, and wonder how they live their lives. And it's worse because I regularly think that about strangers, every time I see a nasty, sour face on the street or in a store - a lone wanderer in the UDF completely void of any feeling or zest for life, a man walking his child down the street with a "what the fuck did I do with my life?" blankness on his face, every single person working at or shopping in Walmart. But this is worse. These are people I know. People I at least did know in some capacity at one point in my life. And they're playing Mafia Wars or Farmville and requesting friends pitch in and going shopping or watching sitcoms and the terrifying part is that they are happy doing that.

And it makes me sad because they don't create anything, only consume, and - for fuck's sake! - have no passion for making the world a better place, or at least a different place. They laugh at canned laughter and devour terrible reality television and thrive on it - but only enough to consume more canned laughter and ingest more reality television. And shopping. And stuff. And more stuff.

One thing: if I get to the point of actually laughing at sitcoms and watching reality TV on MTV and finding any joy in shopping in the mall (other than book stores and GameStop), then they have replaced me with someone else. Put a bullet in my head.

I'll be one less ignorant person absorbing media I refuse to think about and voting for what I do not understand.

We've got enough idiocy in America already.

Call Out That Nutbag Bachmann

Call out Michele here.

Woo! We're Gonna Blow Up the Motherfuckin' Moon!

Not really.

NASA is dropping a huge projectile that will impact a crater (I know, sounds redundant), burrow 90 feet into the surface, and throw up a plume of debris 6 miles high. The satellite that dropped the projectile will then shower in its sputum and see if any of it is water. If 1% of it is water we'll have no problem colonizing the moon and mining that water for water and oxygen and hydrogen.

Of course, because it's lunar water, before you know it you've got a bunch of astronaut werewolves running around a moon base. Hold on, I've got to go write a movie script.

You can see live coverage on MSNBC tomorrow morning beginning at 7:30am.

My Little Pony: Apocalypse Ponies

Idiots on the Right and the Chicago Olympics 2016

President Barack Obama went to Copenhagen to pitch Chicago for the 2016 Olympics and the right criticized him for wasting time when more important things were at hand. Fox News highlighted every single local Chicago story that painted the city in a bad light.

Chicago did not get the Olympics.

The right criticized Obama for going to pitch for the Olympics if his administration didn't know whether or not it would be a slam dunk. Glenn Beck this morning compared Obama pitching to the Queen of England pitching. Glenn Beck is apparently ignorant to the fact that the Queen is a relatively impotent figurehead and that Tony Blair - at the time the functional leader of the country - did pitch to win the 2012 bid.

The right, of course, started humming the "If Bush went and failed..." rhetoric. The right is apparently ignorant of the fact that Bush was a failure and embarrassing detriment to any cause, while Obama is viewed as one of the most popular leaders in the world.

Had Obama NOT gone to Copenhagen and Chicago not won the Olympics, the right would have criticized Obama for not doing all he could to guarantee America's success in the eyes of the world. But since he tried and failed, the right is more than happy to roll joyously in the failure feces like a filthy dog or pig, even if it's not the best thing for America. They will then claim that rooting for Obama's failure is rooting for America's success, such as Bill Cunningham did last night, and discount this instance as non-applicable.

The 2016 Olympics did not go to Chicago for 3 reasons:

Visa

It takes people about 3 months to get a visa into the USA. D'oh!


Chicago?

I just spent the weekend in Chicago. I had a fantastic time with friends and family and my brief glimpse was one that was so amazing you feel briefly down from coming back. But it is a big, American city. It is ass getting into the city just about 24 hours a day and traffic is crazy and erratic inside the city at all hours. You really need to know where you are and where you are going, especially at night. Cramming thousands and thousands more people into that wonderful city, already bursting at the seams? Probably not a good idea. Chicago is truly awesome, but I think cramming the Olympics into it would not be good for the Olympics or Chicago.


America The Popular

Some goons on the liberal end were claiming racism had something to do with it. Bullshit. Some claimed Dubya ruined the image of America, which he did; but Obama picked that back up some. From what I could see of the presentations, it appeared that the bid for Chicago was shitty because it didn't focus on what Chicago could offer and how they could make it work, but "Hey, look at all these popular people like Chicago so you totally have to pick it!"

And that's not a Republican thing or Democratic thing but an America thing. We're crackheads for celebrity. Period. And that's how we run things. Unfortunately, while much of the world is also crack-nuts for American celebrity, the IOC is looking for something a little more substantial.


But whatever the right says about what is happening, I have yet to see Obama clearing brush while Americans he sent to Iraq in an illegal war die every day.


And that's my take on the situation. Yours?

In Short: Beck and Obamacare

I heard Glenn Beck today have a sanctimonious come-to-jesus moment about the video of a gang killing in Chicago and how our culture and politics and morals and society is corrupt and then crossed it with the "indoctrination" video and tossed in that Democrats and Republicans are good, but astray, just before launching into a tirade comparing killing a kid with a railroad tie and national corruption to all the ills of Obama like the olympics and health care - and indoctrination.

That man needs help. And a minute of research to know that a railroad tie is over 8 feet long, and 7 by 9 inches. It's a heavy fucking piece of wood and one person would have a hard time picking it up, let alone swinging it over and over again. If it was successfully swung at one person, they would be dead immediately. That's why they use railroad ties for what they do: to ANCHOR or TIE steel rails - they're f'ing heavy! If they weren't, trains would be crashing all over the world.

Not so coincidentally, Glenn Beck is a goddamned train wreck.


...oh, and about Obamacare. While the word itself is being used to connote negativity, I think that the majority of people who voted for Obama were voting for him to take care of things. Therefore, the term "Obamacare" works as sort of a warm blanket of contentment. Now let's get him to bring down a fucking hammer on this insurance-hawt bill-writing in the Senate and call it a day.

I want my fucking blanket.

Why Republican "Solution" to Health Care is Bullshit

If you listen to as much right-wing nuttery as I do, you cannot have missed the argument that emerged a couple weeks ago. The Republican party has no interest in health care reform because while the insurance companies violate us by not covering us or dropping us in the name of the Holy Dollar, it's Republicans (and some Democrats) who are getting the reach-around to chubby up their wallet. But in the light of Democratic pressure to do something to reform the system and include a public option, saying NO just seems heartless and uncaring. So in order to appear as though they give a shit, here is the new conservative offering: Drop all state border restrictions and allow insurance companies to compete in a nationwide free market! Yay!

This is an explanation of why that suggestion is bullshit.

How It Works Now

When a doctor wants to negotiate with an insurance provider, it goes something like this:

Doc: I'm going to charge $200 for an office visit.
Ins: Woah, there. When the patient insured by us comes through your doors, we'll gladly pay you $30
Doc: Hells no! How about $50?
Ins: We can work with that.

Every doctor has to do that with every insurance company they work with every year for every service they offer. That's why you see a small practice with 2 docs and 2 nurses and 3-5 office people: insurance companies are a pain in the ass to work with.


Let's Say It Happens

For the sake of argument, let's say we travel to an alternate future where everyone lauded the Republican non-solution and it miraculously passed into law. What would change? Not a damn thing.

But now insurance companies who have set up shop in one or more states can technically insure anyone in America. Companies can compete on the national stage. Yay capitalism!

And businesses can shop all over the nation for their pick and doctors can decide who they want to do business with.

Yes? Not so fast.


The Players

The system solidly in place right now is a state border one. And removing those borders isn't going to let loose a rampant sprawl.

The Insurance Companies

Insurance companies might be willing to spread out a little, but in order to do that, I'm guessing there would be some sort of fee or tax for each state in which they operate. Then they have to actively sell themselves to businesses, individuals, and doctors. All over the country. That sounds like a lack of direction and a whole lot of money. And we know how much insurance companies love their money.

The Doctors

Doctors already have enough overhead from the insurance companies they do deal with. What would drive doctors to increase that overhead and haggle with even more companies? Especially when there would be little guarantee that they would end up finding patients who carry that insurance and, again, waste money?

The People

About 60% of all Americans - insured or not - get insurance through an employer. So they are at the mercy of whatever plan their employer has on tap. And why would individuals or businesses that, say, live or operate in Ohio go fishing for a cheaper company in some other state with no guarantee they could find any local practitioner who might accept that insurance?


Location, Location, Money

It's a localized system for a reason: you need a person or business to purchase insurance coverage from a company that will be accepted by a doctor. A borderless system will basically remain unchanged.

If it were so easy for doctors to deal with insurance companies, wouldn't you think they'd do that now, within one state, in order to draw as many patients as possible? If it were so easy, then every doctor could accept every insurance and every Ohioan could go to any doctor or hospital in the state.

But that ain't so, now is it? And multiplying that potentiality by 50 isn't going to be more efficient or cost-effective, just more confusing.


The Real Problem

The real problem is the insurance companies. They keep hiking up rates by leaps and bounds and blow out mad profits in a recession. They blame their rate hikes on those evil lawyers and frivolous lawsuits and absurd awards to the point where they've got doctors blaming the lawyers and joining the lobby for tort reform. But the truth is that there has been no explosion of frivolous lawsuits or huge court awards. The insurance companies just want more money so they charge more; they push for tort reform because capping everything - even obvious wrongful death - would raise their profits.

The people of this country are being lied to over and over and over and until health insurance is instituted in a not-for-profit manner, we the people will suffer because of greed and shady politics.

And while the Republicans have found their health care "we care" rally cry, it's really just a facade, just some wisps of smoke with the lingering odor of bullshit.

Glenn Beck Can Get You Hanged

Just reported: Census worker hanged with "fed" scrawled on his chest.

I don't have the time or heart to talk about this now, except to say that I live 10 minutes from the KY border and both my wife and I were going to do work for the census and the ONLY person I've heard screaming out that the Constitution-based program is a shill for Obama Control and a homeland terror on our freedoms was Glenn Beck.

At what point do we say the damage is enough? At what point does someone who claims such nobility see this happen and say "sorry; I fucked up by pushing idiots and this is what we get?"

Bad Religion - Superman

Despite what the label says, the song's called Superman. And years later, still my favorite BR tune.

Van Mural Wednesday on Wednesday? You Don't Say!?

This is gonna trip you out...



And I could easily sit and poach for the next 3-4 months, but I'm going to give credit where credit is due and tell you to visit the Psychedelic Blog where someone has brilliantly compiled almost 50 such painted wonders. This was simply my favorite. The singing mushrooms (on the other site) would scare me if I saw that van for real.

Cheers!

Hello There! More to Love!

I recently noticed we've got some new hangers-on and Cause For Concern is up to a delicious 27 followers. Yay! (Sorry to anyone who thought this was a post about chubby chasers.)

Say hello to Brian Sarrasin, (parenthetical)(who was already on my roll), Hill's Country, ALPHAVILLE, Calvin's Nuggits of Wisdom (not to be confused with Calvin's Canadian Cave of Coolness), and Life With Dogs.

I think that's everyone, and all have been added to the Linktastica! on the right. If I missed you, please deliver proper spanking.

Will Ferrell, Others, Stand Up for Insurance Companies

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

In Short: Why No Jury Duty for Me?

I've been a registered voter for 14 years. Yet while my sister-in-law has been picked for jury duty 5 times in that time, I have yet to get one call or mail notice. Mrs. Shambles received one a few years ago that turned into "You don't need to show up tomorrow."

So how do we get to serve our civic duty?

I Bring You Pain

From Irish Dancer to you. Enjoy the awful suck that is Asher Roth.

(might take a couple seconds to load. wait for it.)


Seriously, sometimes it's important to experience the suckiest things you can just for the fact of experiencing them. To say you've been there. And yes, it does suck.

One More Not-Gout Update

After I blasted out that last post, I got a lot of advice, but no real answers as to what the hell might be wrong with my foot.

For those of you just joining us: Labs and longevity (as of today 4 1/2 weeks) says "not gout," x-ray guy says "not broken."

At this point, I still limp some because my left big toe still hurts, but only when I flex it or bump it, and it's more uncomfortable than seriously painful at this point. Wednesday I was able to deal with regular shoes, but driving with a clutch still aches.

No answers yet? As the pain at the top and side of the joint is subsiding, I'm discovering a new pain in the ball of the foot. Again, we're not talking the stabbing 9/10 pain I was originally experiencing - we're down to 0.5 - 1.0 - but a distinctive ache under the joint.

So, for the record, I'll go an suggest Sesamoiditis (goodness does the Wikipedia entry suck ass on the human version - I'm really not a horse).

And that's where it lies. Or lays. Or lied. I'm a huge grammar guy but that whole track never layed right with me.

So I have fading pain, and that's great. I've implemented some changes in my life that will be wonderful for my body and health - tomorrow on the bike perhaps?

But I'm still left with the mystery of why this happened in the first place. And why did it manifest the way it did?

Thank you for listening to the ramble of real life.

Oh, and I've got an infected eyelash duct! Boo!