John McCain, Pobresito

Today, John McCain responded to the statement from Wesley Clark that getting shot down in Vietnam did not qualify him to be President of the United States of America.

I won't even get into the thought that Clark shouldn't throw stones in glass houses. What I will get into is how McCain sounded in response to Clark.

McCain sounded OLD. He sounded WEAK. He sounded UNINSPIRING. He sounded like a poor soul who got mugged by a young whipper-snapper.

He sounded like someone you'd feel sorry for. I'm sure people sympathize with what he's gone through in life.

It's my experience that people don't vote for candidates based on sympathy. I submit Bob Dole as Exhibit A -- fought in WWII, lost the use of one of his arms, had served in the Senate many years and had one last shot at the Presidency ... certainly a sympathetic figure, and well-liked to boot. Well, that sympathy was not enough to get him the votes he needed to win the 1996 Presidential election versus Bill Clinton.

To me, this current election parallels 1996. Obama is an Enneagram-type 7, like Bill Clinton ... and McCain appears WAY past his prime, just like Dole.

If McCain doesn't get a spine soon, he's DONE! Being a sympathetic figure doesn't get you elected.

Was Reagan a sympathetic figure? Heck, no! How about Bush -- does he appear sympathetic? Certainly not!

McCain needs to get tough, fast -- the way he was tough on Romney during the Primaries.

Bikram Yoga is Bull$$$$

So, I heard this report on NPR, about Competitive Yoga vying to become an Olympic sport. As someone who had dabbled with Yoga in the past, I was shocked to hear about this.

Yoga, from my understanding, is about relaxation. It's about flexibility. It's about discipline and control. It's about accepting any person, with any shape, and giving them an opportunity to stretch out and get fit. It's certainly NOT about competitiveness. If anything, I would view Yoga as an ESCAPE from the competitive mindset.

As the report started, a lady who was similarly skeptical came on, and said that after seeing the event her mind was changed. She thought competitive Yoga was beautiful, and that it captured the essence of the activity.

I continued listening, and after a few seconds, the TRUTH was revealed.

Apparently, Competitive Yoga was inspired by Bikram Yoga, which is a FRANCHISE Yoga studio that has people performing poses in 100 degree temperature rooms. What a racket -- turn off the A/C and charge people to sweat and bend quickly.

The narrator explained that the sport of Competitive Yoga was helped by the fact that Bikram has franchises around the country.

So, basically Yoga has been Americanized. It's been three'd. It's gotten the Vince McMahon treatment.

I promptly turned off my car and walked to the mailbox, thankful I wasn't caught up in that bull$$$$.

Gas Price Prediction

Just so you don't think I'm all doom and gloom ... here's a fairly positive prediction: there oil market bubble will burst. Much like the tech and housing bubbles, there will come a time -- like a thief in the night? - where oil, and gas, will drop to reasonable prices.

Like any good prophet (profit?), I can't say when this will happen, or how. Maybe one of the big pension funds will read a negative report on oil and sell! sell! sell! Maybe Oil companies will start drilling off the coast of Florida. Who knows?

Someday the price of gas will drop below $3.00.

Now, excuse me while I return to my life.

Buffet Talking Sense

Buffett, the billionaire investor behind Berkshire Hathaway , fingered "exploding" inflation Wednesday as the biggest risk to the economy. "I think inflation is really picking up," Buffett said on CNBC. "It's huge right now, whether it's steel or oil," he continued. "We see it everywhere."

As I have blogged about in the past, lowering interest rates to 1% a few years ago was a bad idea ... lowering them to 2% recently was a repeat of that mistake.

Instead of having economic turmoil centered around mortgage lenders and overzealous home investors, the lower interest rates has, in effect, spread the contagion to the rest of the economy, via the weak dollar. Higher gas and food prices are the result.

The more the Fed attempts to boost an ailing sector, the more they multiply the negative effects on the whole economy.

And now, I will retreat back into my cave of obscurity, whilst the geniuses continue to ignore my seemingly prophetic words and suggestions.

1984 Comparison: Part II

- The glorious successes of the Ninth Three-Year Plan ... meanwhile, you don't have razor blades to shave with.
-- Emails, newsletters, and memos that proclaim how great things are at [INSERT NAME OF COMPANY] ... meanwhile, you get a .5% raise every year, if you're lucky ... there's no room for advancement, the in-house "Training" isn't accredited (and therefore, meaningless) ... in other words, you don't feel the glorious successes [INSERT NAME OF COMPANY] is proclaiming.
-- Presidential Candidate X saying the economy has never been better ... meanwhile, you can't afford food or gas for your car ... and you're one of the lucky ones to live in America.
-- Any salesperson promising the world and delivering nothing.
-- The old Bait and Switch
-- Caveat Emptor
-- CNBC talking head trying to paint a positive picture during a stock market downturn

- War is Peace
-- Communism is our enemy; therefore, let's move our factories to their territory, so that they may become capitalists via osmosis.

- He who controls the present controls the past.
-- History is written by the winners.
-- Does anyone remember history anymore, besides historians and history buffs?
-- RetCons are commonplace in comic books and real life.
-- A politician could be caught on tape saying on thing, and will still deny it and get votes.

Part I: A Man in America compares his modern life to the fictionalized Man in Europe

I've decided to draw some analogies between 1984 the novel and my personal experiences. Read it and weep:

- George Winston sitting in the cafeteria, feeling like he's the only one who sees the truth and not some idiot quacking away the Party line reminds me of:
-- Blogs with a partisan, political bent. Yeah, explain to me how you're pro-abortion and anti-death penalty. I want to bask in the Skew'ed logic. Or how you liked Saddam in power but want Tibet freed by any means necessary -- tell me more about how Buddhists deserve freedom but not Iraqis.
-- News media, explaining something I've known about for years to its audience of idiots in child-like terms.
-- Executives who refuse to apply common sense to corporate strategy for fear that shareholders will riot
-- Politicians afraid to do what the public wants because of a lobbyist or small
special interest group that provides funding to their campaigns

- George Winston not having a true friend
-- Welcome to South Florida. No wonder the 9/11 terrorists took up residence there.

- Newspeak
-- Text-messaging lingo

The Skew reviews the Savage Manifesto

First, here are some highlights of the Savage Manifesto:

Domestic

D. Immediately impose tariffs on cars and trucks
owned by foreign entities, even if they’re manufactured in America.
F.
Increase pay for active duty combat troops by 10 percent. Number Two. Fire any
unmarried military person becoming pregnant while on active duty.”

G.
Make abortions illegal, except when the physical survival of the mother is
threatened, to be determined by three medical doctors. Require Norplant for all
women on welfare of childbearing age.

H. Close all houses of sex and
massage.

I. Expand the DEA, while decriminalizing most drugs.

J.
Regarding the media; one, eliminate all foreign ownership of any American media
entity. Two, break up overly large conglomerates, like News Corporation.

K. Encourage child bearing among tax paying citizens. Create a marriage
incentive, through lower taxes for married heterosexual couples. And a
government subsidy for each child conceived and carried to birth. Increase the
subsidies for each year the couple remains married.

L. Repatriate all
illegal immigrants now incarcerated. Encourage all other illegals to
self-repatriate through double taxation on wages and fines on employers.”


International

A. Iraq. Send in Iraqi troops to mop up pockets
of resistance. Make Iraq pay with their oil for the cost of the war. Cordon off
Sadr City, force all residents to leave, then go in and mop up all resistance
fighters. Divide Iraq into three to four sectors; Sunni, Shiite, Kurd, and
International. Next, remove all U.S. troops after above achieved.

B.
Iran. One, sanctions embargoes and mine their harbors. Nothing goes in, nothing
comes out.

C. North Korea. Destroy their launching platforms, impose a
Naval blockade on all goods coming in or out, except food.

E. China. 20
percent tariffs on all China made goods immediately; rising by 5 percent each
year for each year China refuses to revalue their currency.

G. Mexico.
Force Mexico to pay one barrel of oil for every illegal alien in the United
States of America per month.

Comments by Tony:

Personally, I support Michael Savage's message. I won't give the usual
caveats about how this will never happen ... that's obvious, with McCain and
Obama. I just know that if a legit candidate came out with this plan, I
would support them.

Comments by Damian:

Deep 4's like Savage have true insights into the state of affairs. I like
his manifesto because it crosses party lines and breaks liberal/conservative
labels. It's different. U.S. has been using the same old storylines for decades
now, just with different cast members. I want to see something innovative and
strong for once (GW Bush acting like The Authority with poor follow through
didn't pan out.)

M. Night Shyamalan: Not a Review

And now, an article from guest Blogger and Dream Seeker character The Apologist:

Shyamalan movies demand that you surrender to his way of telling stories.
If you're up for that, you should go.

-- Chris Hewitt, St. Paul Pioneer Press

Here we go again.

In my opinion, people who have not enjoyed Unbreakable, The Village, or Lady in the Water should not bother reviewing any of his future movies. He could do a Harry Potter movie or another hot franchise and it wouldn't matter -- these CRITICS don't like his style.

His style is not "twist endings," as USA Today labeled him with this week. His style, in M. Night's own words, is to take the first act of a story and expand it to three parts. He slows a story down and focuses in on details. It reminds me of Alan Moore's Watchman, where every panel has meaning both obvious and hidden.

I love it. He's a director that respects an audience looking to think and soak in the details. He's, dare I say it, different.

I love this guy's movies. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that The Happening makes money, but going up against the new Hulk movie (which appeals to fans of the TV show, as well as the comic and cartoons, better than the previous movie) is pretty much a box office death wish. You have to wonder if the distributor, Fox, is part of a conspiracy against M. Night.

Of course, there's no such thing as conspiracies, right? I'm sure LME or Tashman-style politics don't enter into the decision-making on when a movie is released. I'm sure the stuff you see on Entourage, like Vince getting booted off the Aquaman sequel because he wanted to do a Columbian drug lord movie, doesn't happen in real life. I'm sure personal feelings don't color financial decisions.

Eat the sarcasm and weep.

At any rate, I'm saddened that this may be his last movie with a decent budget that he wrote and directed. I think it's a shame that the public can't get into his style.

As for M. Night himself -- I have no idea if he is a healthy individual or not. For all I know, he's an unhealthy idealist unwilling to compromise for the sake of getting key points across to the audience. He may be unwilling to sacrifice his control for the sake of surviving in the industry, or pleasing his Sixth Sense audience.

I'll leave the personality type diagnosis to Dr. Hoffman. Personally, I have to somewhat echo Amarillo da Vaca's take on things and say that I care about his work -- the movies he produces -- and can ignore the person, if necessary. I'm a fan of his work -- I don't know him, and I'm not sure I want to know him. I just hope he is successful with The Happening, and is able to continue producing original, thought-provoking movies.

I wish him well, and I hope he is a healthy individual. I hope he's not Sinestro, if you catch my drift.

I wish I never knew about Terry Bollea

The following was submitted by Amarillo da Vaca, the noted suicidal romantic escape artist:

I wish I never knew the name Terry Bollea.

I wish Hulk Hogan had remained the way I remembered him as a child, wearing yellow spandex undies, boots, and a bandana with red lettering. I wish he had remained an advocate for Hulkamaniacs the world over, encouraging us to eat healthy, exercise, and take our vitamins.

Instead, I'm faced with the reality that Terry Bollea is a money-grubbing media whore with zero self respect (is less than zero possible on that chart? Negative infinity?). I have to wake up to the realization that Terry Bollea pimps out his "Wife" and kids to the public.

Terry Bollea is a jerk. Any man who says a car accident victim "Had it coming" when he was SITTING IN THE PASSENGER SEAT is a Megajerk.

All those years, as a child, buying into those 22-inch pythons, bought with steroids ... all those years, believing he was a patriot and a good guy ... I guess I should've realized what he was when he became Hollywood Hogan, but I was older then. I thought it was just part of the wrestling game.

Now, in his old age, instead of becoming a Mr. Rogers-type father figure, he chose to become a prostitute. And his son, Nick (I wish I never knew him, either), gladly pulls on the garters as well.

Terry and Nick have no shame. They don't know the meaning of the word shame. They are MEDIA SLUTS.

I am disillusioned and disgusted. I transliterate to free my soul of this burden.

DMX Visits Six-Mile Cypress WalMart

The following quotes were heard by Tony Vahl while he stood in line at Wal-Mart in Fort Myers, Florida. A nice couple dressed in church clothes stood behind him, when they noticed a commotion at the entrance to the store:





Lady: "Is that DMX?"





Gentleman: "Nah. That ain't DMX."





Lady: "That's DMX! Look at him. Do you know who DMX is?"





Gentleman: "I know who DMX is! That ain't no DMX. DMX don't have no scar under his eye."





Moments later, women approached DMX with their cellphone cameras out, taking pictures and crying hysterically.





Lady: "Look at them, acting the fool ... I don't care if Bush was in the store, I ain't going to act a fool."





Gentleman: "Look at 'em, on their cell phones. 'It's DMX! It's DMX!' They callin' they family. They callin' they friends. 'It's DMX!'"



***

Vahl reaction: "I was laughing at the dialogue behind me. Very funny couple.

"Now, as far as DMX goes, his Wiki page indicates he was found guilty for cruelty to pit bulls, and is associated with another incident where pit bulls were mistreated. As far as I'm concerned, he can burn in hell with Michael Vick."