March 2016 – Palm Down

There is Crying in Baseball

March 19, 2016

I guess major league baseball players had to do something to enliven the insufferably boring game they play so they’ve decided to create a stir by supporting Adam LaRoche, the puerile, soft-hitting White Sox first baseman who quit on his team four days ago like a pouty brat because he was told by executive vice president Kenny Williams not to bring his 14-year old son Drake to the ballpark EVERY day.

Major league players, who always point to the sanctity of the clubhouse as a place where what goes on there stays there, apparently can disregard that credo when they want to mouth off about their boss who made the grown-up decision that children should not be omnipresent in a workplace environment. White Sox pitcher Chris Sale essentially called Williams a liar while he whined about the LaRoche situation to reporters, apparently distraught that there’s no “safe space” in the White Sox locker room for him and his other pampered and overpaid loser teammates that finished 19 games out of first place last year.

Centerfielder Adam Eaton lamented that, “We lost a leader in Drake,” apparently oblivious to how stupid it sounds that grown men, all multi-millionaires, need to find a beacon of leadership in a 14-year old boy. But leadership is, after all, in short supply in a league where sociopathic behavior like that of David Ortiz pummeling and destroying a dugout phone with his bat is dismissed as simply being competitive, and wife-beaters like Aroldis Chapman get nominal suspensions. But hey, these major league softies aren’t even allowed to run over the catcher or slide anymore.

Dodgers’ pitcher Clayton Kershaw, apparently simpatico with LaRoche, conducted an entire interview today with his 14-month old daughter on his lap. Perhaps this toddler could suit up and take the mound when playoff time rolls around so her old man can be spared the indignity of another one of his post-season collapses.

Former players got in on the act as well. Chipper Jones, that champion of household cohesion, posted on Twitter, “Big ups to my boy for standing up for his beliefs. We play a game. Good for U brother.” Jones, who is on his third wife, this one a former Playboy model who specialized in naked shower scenes, also has an out of wedlock son he sired with a Hooters waitress while cheating on his first wife. But he’s a voice for the major league contingent of the family values crowd.

Sadly, this is the age we live in. Me, me, me. From Twitter accounts to cell phone worship, the millennial generation has an insatiable need to be heard and to put its entire doings online for public consumption. Everyone has to pretend they think it’s cute when Stephen Curry lets his obnoxious daughter hijack an interview after the 2015 NBA conference finals, before he finally releases her from his lap and lets someone who appears to be a team official clean up his mess. This spectacle, unwittingly, bears sad testimony to the way many athletes deal with kids—have them and let someone else take care of them when the hard work starts.

LaRoche’s actions are equally selfish. He wants the kid around 24/7, but there is no way he can monitor his son’s actions every minute, so fellow teammates and coaches are expected to bear the brunt. While most players publicly expressed support for LaRoche, some must certainly be aggravated by the constant intrusion, and they are muted lest they be judged harshly by other teammates or the court of public opinion.

Jones claims that “we play a game,” but when LaRoche cites a piffling request to walk away from $13 million a year to play said game, he only reinforces the notion of the selfish, spoiled athletes who are so insulated they don’t even realize that most adults don’t have the luxury of quitting their jobs or EVER bringing their kids to work. But I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts, that if some other team has use for a sniveling, .207-hitting baby like LaRoche, he’ll tuck his tail quick and come running back despite his “principled” stand.

I’m Yours, But You’re Not Mine–Mraz Sells Out!

January 20, 2012

Add singer/songwriter Jason Mraz to the long list of elite, hypocritical Hollywood douchebags that say one thing but do another. As a starving actor in Los Angeles, I’m a member of Actor’s Access, a website that sends out breakdowns for acting roles in commercials, television, films, and yes, music videos. While perusing the site this morning, I was ASTONISHED (much like Louis’ astonishment over gambling in Casablanca) that Mraz has sent out a breakdown looking for NON-UNION actors to perform in his upcoming video.

Mraz is an outspoken Obama supporter and faithful liberal idiot who specializes in feeble posturing like saying he won’t get married until gays have the same rights, etc., all the while conveniently overlooking the fact that the sainted one opposes gay marriage. Now Mraz has turned one of his two faces to making a buck while turning his back on his fellow performers in SAG/AFTRA by saving a few pennies in hiring the cheapest labor he can find. With this snub to union actors, Mraz now joins the ranks of Michael Moore, another “champion of the people” who likes to hire non-union help for his films, and Russell Simmons, who marches with the Occupy Wall Street knuckleheads even as he hawks credit cards with predatory lending rates to the very people he professes he’s looking out for.

“Do as I say, not as I do.” That’s what should be emblazoned across every marquee in Hollywood as the “progressive and enlightened” millionaire singers and actors lecture us about the plight of the common man from their secluded enclaves high in the Hollywood Hills.

Come On Hollywood, Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

April 18, 2011

Well it’s time to put up or shut up all you sanctimonious liberal elites in Hollywood. A perfectly ripe opportunity is developing that will allow you to once again demonstrate how enlightened and sensitive you all are to the plight of the downtrodden. So come on down Susan Sarandon and bring your boy Tim with you. Step right up, Sean Penn, and drag George Clooney along. I know Matt Damon, Tom Hanks, and Janeane Garofalo will be first in line to get the ball rolling. And you all know what you need to do: Boycott the Cannes Film Festival!!

You see France continues to subjugate and discriminate in ways that must surely be offensive to your sensibilities. Why just today those wine-swilling, baguette-munching monsters stopped a trainload of Tunisian refugees at the border and refused them entry because after years of being overrun by Muslims who refuse to assimilate, they have finally figured out that “embracing other cultures” is harmful to the homeland—that their very own history and traditions stand to be subverted by foreigners who look to exploit rather than enculturate.

This outrageous atrocity at the border comes hard on the heels of the French law that forbids the wearing of burqas in public. Surely in the face of all this oppression and hate-mongering in the home of the Fleur de Lis, Johnny Depp will pull up stakes, and the Hollywood limousine liberals will shun the south of France and refuse their Palme d’Or’s. Or not.

I’m sure it’s not that hard to boycott Arizona when it commits crimes against humanity because who wants to hang out with the cactus, overbearing heat, and Mexican drug criminals anyway? But you’ll have to dig a little deeper to forsake the Riviera and its long, bloated list of five-star shops, restaurants, and beaches. You’ll really have to show some intestinal fortitude on this one, but I have faith. After all, far be it from the Hollywood royalty to think of themselves when there are freeloaders waiting at the trough.

It’s hard to feel sorry for the overwhelmed French people as they and the other European Union nations thought it would be warm and fuzzy to have a global community and now are suffering the consequences as they discover that fairy tales are just that. Alas, the stagecoach always turns back into a pumpkin, and now the French have to try and make pie; but at least they’re trying to regain their sovereignty, unlike the ignorant Hollywood types who live in the hills and Malibu while the little people are swarmed.

The Real Truth. If Obama’s Lips are Moving, He’s Lying

April 8, 2011

Well our wonderful prez has outdone himself tonight. He just came on the air and patted himself on the back for Congress kicking the can further down the road in passing a stopgap measure on the budget to keep the government running through the fiscal year. Never mind that the lightweight in chief was conspicuous by his absence throughout the whole process—but what can we expect from a man who has spent his entire political career voting present?

The fallen messiah tried to couch his incompetence and that of the 535 assholes in Congress in a story about schoolchildren who could now visit the nation’s capital and gaze at the Washington Monument because he and his team of white knights had saved the day and prevented a government shutdown. But the best part is when he spoke of the tax cut that he signed into law earlier this year!! Do you mean the tax cut you stuffed in the stimulus bill that was so meager that 95% of Americans polled were unaware of it, Mr. President? Or do you mean, you vile, lying pig, the tax cut you and your administration have fought tooth and nail against for your entire two years in office? The “Bush” tax cut that the Democratic-majority Congress inveighed against and swore would benefit corporations and the rich. Well perhaps you might like to explain just how it is that you can denounce said corporations when you are in bed with all of them.

Tell us, you filthy, lying whore, why you were the #1 recipient of campaign money from Goldman Sachs during the 2008 presidential campaign. Tell us how GE can make billions of profits and not pay a dime in taxes. Tell us why Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of GE (you know, one of those multi-billion dollar corporations that you’re here to protect us against) was named to your Economic Recovery Board considering the company’s stock has dropped 60% percent since he took over and his company is one of the worst offenders regarding environmental pollution, another issue of such concern to you. It couldn’t be because GE owns NBC News, that pandering, morally debased outfit that helped get you elected, could it?

But claiming credit for a tax cut you opposed is but a piffling prevarication in your long string of deceptions and untruths.

Let me count the ways:

Said you would not run for president until you completed your term in the Senate—LIE!
Said you would take public funding for your campaign until you found out your war chest was three times larger than McCain’s and flip-flopped: LIE!
Said Tony Rezko, William Ayres, and Reverend Wright were just guys from the neighborhood even as you cut seedy real estate deals with Rezko, launched an early campaign from Ayres’ house, and were married by and had your children baptized by Wright: LIES!
Said you would run the most transparent administration in history and then stocked it with lobbyists and tax cheats: LIE!
Said you would have all healthcare talks aired on C-SPAN: LIE!
Said you would put all bills on the White House website for five days for public perusal before signing them: LIE!
Said you would close Guantanamo within a year of taking office: LIE!
Said you would cease all Guantanamo military commissions and try suspected terrorists, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, in civilian courts: LIE!
Said you would stop the practice of rendition: LIE!
Said you would stop drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan but instead have increased them dramatically: LIE!
Said you would pull all troops out of Iraq and stop the war within sixteen months of taking office. You were even rewarded with a Nobel Peace Prize for this bit of pablum, but instead sent 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan and started another war in Libya: LIE!
Said there would be no earmarks in the $787 billion stimulus: HA! HA! LIE!
Said you knew nothing of the voter misconduct by ACORN and had never worked for them even though you were caught on tape talking about your long and proud association with the now-discredited group: LIE!

I could go on and on, but I grow weary—I won’t even get into the several million dollars this charlatan has spent to cover up his past including his birth certificate, his educational transcripts, and his medical records. Do we even know his real name? Is it Obama or Soetero, Barry or Barack, Boss Tweed or just Milquetoast??

This man (and I use the term extremely loosely) cannot open his mouth without a lie coming out—he is the very embodiment of a sleazy politician–yet all his acolytes continue to believe he is actually different, is actually above the dirty dealings and unctuous corruption that now defines Washington. Well these people are flat-out stupid—it can no longer be said in more diplomatic terms. If you believe a word from this gutless, dissembling, makes-Clinton-look-honest manipulator then you are a moron…capital M.

O’Reilly Flip-Flops on Falafel

April 6, 2011

I watched with much bemusement this evening as Bill O’Reilly defended the sleazy and seamy tactics employed by conservative activist James O’Keefe to catch NPR executive Ron Schiller with his pants down during a lunch with men he thought were representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood. O’Keefe had sent two operatives posing as members of the Islamic group to ostensibly discuss a donation to the news organization, but in reality, to ambush Schiller as he branded members of the Tea Party movement as racist, discussed pro-Israeli bias in the media, and opined that NPR would be better off without federal funding. With hidden cameras rolling during this meeting with the mendacious Muslim posers, these statements would cost Schiller and CEO Vivian Schiller (no relation) their jobs.

Now certainly these two hypocritical Schillers had it coming—their elitist and arrogant belief that everyone is beneath their enlightened consciousness and their laughable assertion that NPR doesn’t lean left made them ripe for a comeuppance, but exactly how low are “journalists” allowed to stoop to get a scoop? Should it not be a fundamental tenet of journalism, not to mention common decency, that people identify themselves honestly and not engage in deceptions?

O’Reilly doesn’t seem to think so. He blustered and pontificated that the ends justify the means and that the truth was paramount, and so lauded O’Keefe and his tactics. But it was only six years ago that O’Reilly himself was stung by a secret recording of a phone sex exchange he had with Fox News producer Andrea Mackris, who accused him of sexual harassment. The Fox News bloviator (to speak in his language), the married father of two children, who uses his bully pulpit to promote morality and Christian values, was caught on tape discussing crude sexual acts with Mackris, and in a classic malapropism from the Harvard grad (who never lets you forget it) discussed having Mackris rub his body with “that falafel thing.”

Apparently O’Reilly wasn’t so keen on clandestine recordings then as he went to great expense to smear Mackris and sue her for extortion. “This matter has caused enormous pain, but I had to protect my family, and I did,” O’Reilly explained after finally settling out of court by paying Mackris a sum reported in the millions. In O’Reilly’s world, true justice is conferred on those with the biggest checkbook.

Fab Five Fairly Fizzles

March 23, 2011

It was rather refreshing to see Grant Hill slap down Jalen Rose in response to Rose’s ridiculous pronouncement that Hill was an “Uncle Tom” for essentially valuing education and actually knowing both his parents. Hill wrote a well thought out piece for the New York Times in which he declared pride in his parents and gratitude for his Duke education. This rebuttal resulted from the firestorm that was created by Rose’s smack talk in the Fab Five documentary recently aired on ESPN.

I’m going to engage in some revisionist history here, because as a Michigan graduate I was a fan of the five young ballers who went to the NCAA basketball title game as freshmen, and then repeated the feat the following year as sophomores, although they lost both contests. The group was brash and energetic, and I witnessed a good number of their games either on TV or live in Crisler Arena.

But the passage of time has lent a different perspective than the one I held all those years ago, and I now have to consider the real legacy of the Fab Five. Perhaps after all the smoke has cleared, the only thing these Wolverine hoopsters really did was help usher in the era in which we’re now mired, an era where mediocrity is not just rewarded, but exalted. An era in which, not unlike the Fab Five themselves, people become famous not for their accomplishments, but for simply being famous. An era that has spawned the Kardashians and the Hiltons and Kate Gosselin and other non-talents who will do anything to get their faces on the idiot box. An era of lowered standards and in-your-face sportsmanship.

Because if you take the time to look at the ledger, the Fab Five really didn’t accomplish much. Consider this: I, me, yours truly has won as many Big Ten Championships, won as many NCAA championships, and won as many NBA title rings as every member of the Fab Five combined. That’s right…not one single member of that vaunted ball team won a single championship of any kind beyond high school. In fact, their only real claim to fame is having lost two consecutive NCAA championship games and contributing to the me-first mentality that now pervades a sports world where it is more important to make it on Sports Center than it is to win games. But even any evidence of that ersatz achievement has been eviscerated as the team’s Final Four banners were removed from the Crisler rafters in the wake of Chris Webber’s conviction for lying to a grand jury about accepting illegal funds from a Michigan booster while Webber was in school.

Incidentally, Uncle Tom Grant Hill won two NCAA Championships at Duke, was voted NBA Rookie of the Year in 1995, and won a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics. Some Fab Five.

Election Day Provides Forum for Americans to Display Their Stupidity…Again!

November 3, 2010

I should have known better. I really should have known better. I went to the polls yesterday buoyed by the thought that this might really be the day. Fed up with the entire political process, I had not voted in 26 years, my own form of protest to a rigged game orchestrated by a handful of insiders. But this election, I was convinced, would be different. Inspired by the Tea Party movement, the rallies in Washington, and widespread anger at town hall meetings across the country, I registered to vote and actually believed that this election would be the turning point. I thought this would be the moment where the American people would finally have the balls to pull a third-party lever and sweep out the entrenched life-long politicians who have run this county into the ground.

Alas, as is so often the case, I came away disappointed. Nothing has changed; the American people are as stupid as ever. We are, after all, talking about a country that made Friends and Cheers the most watched television shows for years on end, a country that actually pays money to go see Justin Bieber, a country that worships rapists like Kobe Bryant, and wife-beaters like Charlie Sheen and O.J., a country that goes along when “well-meaning” politicians ban cigarettes and trans fats.

Knowing all that, I suppose I should have suppressed my pie-in-the-sky dreams, and sat this one out as well, because in the end, my vote didn’t matter. I refused to tally a vote for a single Democrat or Republican, instead confining my research to, and voting for, the best candidate among the Independents, Libertarians, and other various contenders.

But I was a cry in the wilderness. In my state of California, with two races too close to call, EVERY SINGLE incumbent in the House was re-elected. 49-0…simply staggering. This tally includes Maxine Waters, a life-long leech of the system who is now under investigation for ethics violations; Nancy Pelosi…enough said; Barbara Boxer, a career politician who has been at the helm for much of the state’s slide into bankruptcy. But it gets better…the tree-huggers of this wonderful state also put Jerry Brown back into the governor’s mansion…the same Jerry Brown who started draining state coffers as governor years ago by doling out untenable pensions to anyone who could fog a mirror. His track record of abysmal failure is astonishing, but he’s good enough for California. So much for the peasant uprising.

It was this way all across the country. In New York, of the 27 House races decided, 23 were won by incumbents. Charles Rangel, perhaps the most corrupt man in Congress, won with 80% of the vote. Both the state’s incumbent Senators won handily.

Other luminaries being sent back for more pork are the illustrious Harry Reid, the vile John McCain, and our favorite–the bloated, lisping pig from Massachusetts by the name of Barney Frank, who has run male prostitute rings out of his home, but who, more importantly, almost single-handedly caused the housing crash with his nefarious machinations at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Two years ago, a fed-up American populace gave Republicans the heave-ho, but somehow they’ve become the saviors again, and in two more years, the cycle will repeat itself when the people realize the Republicans are still…well, Republicans. Nice work, America, now move along, Jersey Shore is about to come on.

Destroyed From Within

August 14, 2010

Ahh, the hypocrisy of the left knows no bounds. The culturally aware and broad-minded among us are beside themselves now that our Muslim president has weighed in on the New York City “community center” issue and given the project his endorsement. This is a victory for religious freedom and tolerance they cry, tickled pink that followers of the most peaceful religion on earth can now spit in the eye of the thousands of Americans who lost their lives on 9/11. The people supporting the mosque and religious freedom are the same people that foam at the mouth at the thought of allowing the phrase “under God” to be used during the pledge of allegiance, but I digress.

Just to be clear, I do believe Muslims have the right to build the edifice because unlike the dissemblers supporting the mosque in the name of the 1^st amendment—you know, the very same people who would have us do away with the 2^nd amendment yesterday—I do believe in the letter of the law. But it’s hard to reconcile the decision to build with the notion that Muslims are simply trying to foster unity and understanding among all religions.

Muslims are notorious for their intolerance of others:

“When you meet the unbelievers, strike off their heads; then when you have made wide slaughter among them, carefully tie up the remaining captives,” (Surah XLVII.4) it says in the Koran.

Indeed, in Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Christians are not allowed to openly practice their faith and are not allowed to even enter the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The penalty for Muslims that convert to other religions is death. Toss in the virulent hatred Muslims have for women and gays, and the rosy picture is complete.

Certainly in the United States we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard in allowing opposing viewpoints, however distasteful they may be, but it’s curious that the people who decry intolerance are forever supporting the avatars of intolerance, and in our efforts to appease all, we are letting our own standards erode and slip away. The biggest floods begin with a trickle, and at what point do we stop allowing other countries’ cultures, ideas, and religions to overwhelm and supplant our own? A judge in New Jersey recently ruled that a Muslim man accused of repeatedly raping his wife was committing no crime because under the Shariah law of Islam, this behavior was permitted. The ruling was later overturned, but the thought that an American judge could make such a ruling in the first place is shocking.

There was a recent episode in Dearborn, Michigan—where a huge concentration of Muslims reside—in which four Christians were arrested for distributing Christian literature outside a Muslim festival. The men arrested were on public property at the time, but they were trucked off to jail anyway. Such is the way of the insidious and slippery slope, but in the name of political correctness, we continue to back down. Ask Europe how backing down to the Muslims is working out for them…ask Salman Rushdie if he thinks Muslims are tolerant—or for that matter, ask a Danish cartoonist.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, the American public’s detestation of George Bush gave a free pass to Obama, who has moved in the shadows his whole life, consorting with the “Hate America” crowd and refusing to disclose college transcripts, medical records, and birth certificates. It’s a popular notion that America will be destroyed from within…it’s happening as we speak…and our president is the most glaring manifestation.

A Black Eye for the Dems

August 8, 2010

Will wonders never cease? It appears Democrats have found a moral compass at long last, making a statement condemning Senate nominee Alvin Greene, the surprise winner of the South Carolina Democratic primary, who was indicted Friday on obscenity charges. The state’s Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler issued a statement urging Greene to reconsider his candidacy.

“In June, I asked Mr. Greene to withdraw his candidacy because of the charges against him. Following today’s indictments, I repeat that request,” Fowler said.

“It will be impossible for Mr. Greene to address his legal issues and run a statewide campaign. The indictment renews concerns that Mr. Greene cannot represent the values of the Democratic Party or South Carolina voters.”

It’s a real shame that the Democrats can’t find the same antipathy toward career criminals Charles Rangel and Maxine Waters who are allowed to continue in Congress despite the gaggle of legal issues mounting against them. “Innocent until proven guilty” and “Let the system work” are the mantras. Apparently the standards are different if you’re a barely literate life-long failure, but more importantly, one with little chance to win in November.

I, frankly, can’t see what the problem is. I seem to recall a politician who faced similar allegations some years ago, and not only did the Democratic party stand by him, but he was, and still is, the face of the party and a hero to the left. His name was Bill Clinton. God, I hope Greene wins!!

Voters!! We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Voters!!

August 7, 2010

It’s rather alarming how the will of the American people is continually being subverted by arrogant judges and bloated politicians who think their conscience (or rather the interests of those who have bought them) should trump the democratic process. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled this week that Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage, is unconstitutional, and so same-sex marriages should be allowed. This is all fine and dandy—I don’t care who marries whom—but there’s one burr under the saddle in this whole drama…the people of California VOTED IN FAVOR of the proposition.

Now you can point out the hypocrisy of the “enlightened” and “tolerant” California voter who decides that he’s liberal until there’s something he doesn’t want to tolerate, but at the end of the day, shouldn’t the peoples’ vote count for something? There’s a very troubling mentality in this country that extends from local government all the way to the White House…that voters simply don’t matter and that a core of pompous elites should decide what’s right for the rest of us. Note the terrifying rationale of California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger when remarking on Judge Walker’s ruling: “The Administration believes the public interest is best served by permitting the Court’s judgment to go into effect, thereby restoring the right of same-sex couples to marry in California.” In other words, the public interest is best served by ignoring the public interest—their votes.

Jerry Brown, former governor, and current Democratic nominee in the 2010 governor’s race had this to say, “As this Court has concluded that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional, the public interest weighs against its continued enforcement.” Again with the public interest. George Orwell must feel as if his tomb is a swing head centrifuge.

Where is this all going to end? Well certainly not at the federal level with the chosen one running roughshod over the voters’ wishes. Over two-thirds of Americans didn’t want Obama’s health care plan to pass, so the leader of the most transparent administration in history cut a bunch of backroom deals to ensure its passage. Voters in Arizona, who are being overrun by illegal infestation, decided to take matters in their own hands and approved SB 1070, and now they have to endure a costly lawsuit filed by Barack and his henchmen who somehow feel it’s proper to sue to overturn a legal vote, but can’t seem to find the time to prosecute thugs with billy clubs who intimidated voters during the presidential election.

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Indeed. Rest well, George.