Friday, November 21, 2008

Caron is more amazing everytime I vist him

First time I heard Alain Caron was in 1981 or 82.. I had a record, a 33 rpm UZEB album that we nearly wore out back in college...tonite I typed his name into YouTube...(I can't even begin to tell you how much YouTube means to me)


A forward from my Bro-

Obama's Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy

Stunning Break with Last Eight Years
November 20, 2008



In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.

Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's appearance on CBS' "Sixty Minutes" on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.

But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language.

"Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon.  "If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist."

The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate - we get it, stop showing off."

The President-elect's stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

"Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can't really do there, I think needing to do that isn't tapping into what Americans are needing also," she said.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Taylor Mali

I think I may have posted this before...but it is worth posting again...

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Bobby Mintzer tears it up.

I first saw this clip about 25 years ago. In the wee hours of the morning with a smoke filled room full of musicians. It kicks harder now than it did then.


Friday, November 14, 2008

PETA

In case you thought that PETA doesn't SUCK!!!!

fyi- I have a Samoyed, A lizard, two snakes (both named chris), a tarantula, a turtle, a whole mess-o-koi, a 72 bowfront,a 125 planted,a 55 planted, a 29 brood, 6 ten gallon rearing, a brine shrimp set up for the fry,10 breeding pair of Angels,50 rummy nose tetras, assorted glo-lite, cardinal and neon tetras and probably 85 medium sized black veil angel babies. I have 4 bird feeders, three hummingbird feeders (tho we can nary attract the little bastards,squirrel feeders, compost piles, wren houses (10 of them...yeah, that's right 10 wren houses's you got a problem with that?)and I am thinking of getting a tri-colored high end basset hound puppy...I had a couple birds but they make a mess, are loud as hell and taste like chicken.





Sunday, November 9, 2008

CEO's that need a beating


TOP 10 LIST of Financial Jerks that should be in Jail



1 Angelo Mozilo Countrywide
Bank of America looking to buy Countrywide. Questions of how much liability they will aquire.

The CEO of Country wide Angelo Mazillo could have cared less about the problems of the average jo He sees no responsiblity in this. Yet he has a number of homes, millions in retirement packages. A fleet of cars and eats lobster every night. Yet a mother committed suicide in Massachusetts because she had a hard time paying her mortgage. Big business is not concerned about you! remember they need you to make their money! Heads need to roll!

2. Daniel Mudd Fannie Mae Wishes he had not been such a “Legislative Slut”
Mudd was dismissed as CEO of Fannie Mae when Federal Housing Finance Agency stepped in as conservator on September 7, 2008. The government has advised him that his severance package will not be paid. Not to worry, he took care of himself.

3. Richard Syron Freddie Mac
The New York Times reports that Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) CEO Richard Syron ignored warnings four years ago that Freddie was taking on too much risk by underwriting poor quality mortgages and that its capital base was too thin.
Did Syron get paid millions of dollars to take orders from Congress? It's not clear why that should be such a high paying job. Nor is it clear why American taxpayers should pay the price for Syron's inability to manage Freddie. While $38 million -- .0048% of the bailout -- seems like a drop in the bucket compared to the magnitude of the problems, it looks like Syron made the decisions that created the need for the bailout.
4. James Cayne Bear Stearns Dumps 5.6 million shares-his entire stake a day after JPMorgan quintuples it’s bid for the troubled Bear Stearns. Amid rumors questioning Bear Stearns' financial health, Bear Stearns turned to the Fed, which asked JPMorgan to funnel funds to the embattled investment bank that the government would provide. Two days later, with the government fearing that Bear Stearns' unraveling would send widespread panic through the financial markets, JPMorgan agreed to purchase Bear Stearns


5. Richard Fuld Lehman Bros. Check this jerk out on UTube Ran his Company into ground through subrime lending. Lehman shareholders get zip-nada-nothing. He gets 480 million. Before the Senate oversite committee he says” When company did well, my people did well, when company did poorly, my people did poorly” He forgot to mention that when company did poorly, he did rather well. His theory is Privatize the gains and socialize the loses.

6. Martin Sullivan AIG AIG received 85 billion bailout from the taxpayers to rescue the insurance giant. Sullivan, a week later held weeklong boardmeeting at exclusive California resort and spent $440,000.00 of their gov’t windfall. The course of action that week was to figure their compensation package. He personally got 5 million bonus.
Sullivan took over as CEO of AIG in 2005 Under his watchful eye, the company never showed gain. The 4th quarter of 2007 AIG lost 85 billion

7. Stan O’neal Merril Lynch
To recap, O'Neal went full throttle into the subprime mortgage market at the height of the real estate market. He failed to consult the board on a major acquisition and has shafted the company's shareholders and will be richer beyond most people's wildest dream because of it. His Golden Parachute is worth 250 million

8. Kerry Killinger WaMu Killinger, who was stripped of his chairman title in June, became CEO of the Seattle-based thrift in 1990 and built WaMu into one of the country's largest banks. But with a heavy focus on subprime and option adjustable-rate mortgages -- the types of mortgages at the heart of the housing bust -- WaMu's losses began to mount and its shares plummeted, sparking an outcry from shareholders. His compensation in 2007 was 14.7 million. Should we Jail him or the Board of Directors?

9. Kennedy Thompson Wachovia
Thompson will step down after 32 years of service after having made a series of untimely - and ultimately disastrous - decisions that have cost the company nearly half its market value over the past year.
Shareholders began clamoring for Thompson’s removal in April after the company announced its first quarterly loss in seven years and cut its dividend by 41%. Issues were compounded on May 6, when Wachovia announced a first-quarter loss of $708 million, 80% more than the bank had previously reported.
The company has marked down $5 billion in mortgage and other debt-related assets, and recently announced it would cut up to 500 jobs. Wachovia stock has plummeted about 40% year-to-date. His compensation was a mere 16.5 million

10. Charles Prince Citigroup
Charles "Chuck" Prince, the deposed head of Citigroup, is in line to walk away from the Wall Street giant with a total pay, perks and shares payout worth just under $100 million, it has emerged.
The payout for Mr Prince, who stays on as a consultant until the end of the year, include a pro-rata cash "incentive award" currently estimated to be worth $12 million.
It also includes $10,716,469 in restricted share awards and $16,046,703 in stock options that will automatically vest at his departure.
Mr Prince, whose exit was sealed late last week, already owns 1.61 million shares in Citi, currently worth about $53 million.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

You need to watch this entire clip, seriously.

Ok, so I am not a huge fan of "The Young Turks", but they are the ones that uploaded this Fox News Clip onto Youtube. Uyger is a bit of a jerk at the start of his commentary but then really nails it. Watch and enjoy....or rather watch and say "oh, my God did the country dodge a bullet".


Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Great idea

I frequent a few "nut bag" right wing blogs. Already this morning they are talking about "positioning Palin" to run for President in 2012.

I completely agree with this position. It is a brilliant idea. She is exactly who they should run.










Is it true that if you just keep on stuffing your head up your butt you will eventually come out on the other side? or do you just turn inside out?

Sunday, November 2, 2008

What If we are racist and don't even know it?

~ What if?

What if things were switched around? Think about it.


Would the country's collective point of view be different?


Could racism be the culprit????


[this most certainly must be a rhetorical question!]

What if the Obama's had paraded five children across the stage, following the debate, including a three month-old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?

What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his college graduating class?

What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?

What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?

What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain killers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?

What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)

What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?

What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?

What if Obama was the one who was known to publicly display a serious anger management problem?

What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?

You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected a reality, if the tables were turned, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are? This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative characteristics in another when there is a color difference.

And, think of this - the candidates' educational backgrounds:

Barack Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude.

Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899.

Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester;
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study;
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism.

Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the world. You make the call.

[AND WHICHEVER YOUR POLITICAL LEANING ... EXERCISE YOUR FREEDOM TO VOTE!!]