JACK-fm

So lately I've been listening to different JACK-fm format stations out of the Great White North and the really cool thing is the amount of CanCon on these stations. CanCon being Canadian Content. The JACK stations I've been listening to have been out of Vancouver, Smith Falls and lately the Regina station.

If I had to rank them it would go Regina, Vancouver then Smith Falls. Smith Falls loses out because of the schmaltz factor. Too many drippy songs.

I love the JACK format as they go from decade to decade and from genre to genre with a very healthy dose of CanCon and I will espouse at greater length at a later time on my love of CanCon.

So far tonight I heard the following songs after watching SC take care of Clemson. Go Cocks!

...Bitch...Meredith Brooks
...Light My Fire...The Doors...
...Black Velvet...Allanah Myles (CC)...
...You Spin Me Round...Dead or Alive...
...Make Up Your Mind...Theory of a Deadman (CC)...
...Centerfield...John Fogerty...
...Teenland...Northern Pikes (CC)...
...Only The Good Die Young...Billy Joel...
...Don't It Make Ya Feel...Headpins (CC)...
...You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth...Meat Loaf...
...Where The Streets Have No Name...U2...
...Undun...Guess Who (CC)...
...Mr. Jones...Counting Crows...
...We Run...Strange Advance (CC)...
...Sweet Home Alabama...Lynyrd Skynyrd...
...Wild Horses...Gino Vannelli (CC)...
..."Dirty Laundry...Don Henley...

A pretty eclectic bumch of songs but lots of sing-alongs in my world!!!

There She Goes Again...

So the helicopter-riding, wolf-hunting, fence building Mama of all mama grizzlies decided to once again express her "thoughts". LOL. This time it was on another like-minded limited thinking talk show host's program earlier today. It wasn't on Calamity's show this time; it was on Ingranite's show. It seems that Mama of the mama grizzlies has an issue with our 1st lady's ideas on childhood obesity. She thinks that it is wrong that our 1st lady backs programs that are trying to tackle the child obesity problem. You know I'm thinking that this may all be solved if we build 14ft high fences across our southern and northern borders including blocking all radio and tv signals then we can stare at our navels and problem solve with that plumbing guy. You betcha!

Geez Louise Original Thinking Not Required

So the issue troubling the nation at this time per the GOP is the funding of National Public Radio (NPR) and the funding of Planned Parenthood. This seems to be the case for the rising star of the GOP Mike Pence. You would think that having an unemployment rate of 9.9% as of October 2010 in the state of Indiana which he happens to supposedly represent would be a little more important.

According to the Planned Parenthood website this organization has been around more than 90 years and part of their mission is to help inform us about things like "vital reproductive health care, sex education, and information to millions of women, men, and young people worldwide."

So this is money wasted supporting this kind of organization. After all the dreaded abortion word shows up on the Planned Parenthood website. I haven't checked but maybe the dreaded homosexual word shows up there as well. LOL. What a joke!

Does the thinking of a typical GOP member ever evolve or take into account that we are now in the 21st century and that maybe the viewpoint of a 40+ white male hasn't exactly brought us exactly to that ideal place?

I think not! Then again I am one of those dang liberals.

Oh Boy That Was An Adventure

This will be short and sweet. It was quite an adventure driving home tonight along 85 what with the holiday seeming to start plus the misty rain on the roadway. All I kept seeing were blue lights along the way. It'd be nice if people took it a little easy on days or nights like this. What's the rush anyways? Pretty much a 5 dayer here now for most of us. Alas woe is me as I am working the next three days. Well kind of! LOL.

DADT....

I just got home from a pretty poor performance at trivia and decided to get online. I have a tendency to check out 4 websites in no particular order. These being MLB.com, Wikipedia.com, SlamSports.com and HuffingtonPost.com. I usually get quite worked up about an article or two on Huffington Post which typically slants to the left which is primarly where my thinking rests. Anyways time to get back on track. One of their banner articles was about DADT. Don't ask don't tell. Why the eff does this make an effing difference in 2010. Does one's sexual orientation really matter in the forces? Does it matter on the battlefield?

This is my take on it coming from a single parent perspective. I am incredibly proud of what my son has become in his 19+ years on the planet. In the past I have told him especially since moving to the land of the free and the home of the brave that I admire the sacrifice and wherewithal of ALL the young people that enlist in our Forces. I'm glad that he hasn't decided to join the forces because we are involved in some actions that we probably shouldn't be involved in at this time. My opinion only. Regardless of my selfish thought process I am incredible grateful, thankful and proud of those that choose to enlist to promote our ideals. Those being males and females. Whites, blacks or hispanics. Democrats, Republicans or Independents. Catholics, Protestants, Muslims or Atheists. Straights or gays. Does it make a difference. Look at the "labels" I just gave people. Does it matter whether or not you like the opposite sex. No it doesn't. Why should it? Why is this important? Any reason why it is? Convince me otherwise please! I don't think anyone can.

Kirkland Signature Amber Ale

A little while ago I impulsively bought for the first-time ever a case of Kirkland Signature beer. Ever since that impulse buy I find myself buying this beer brand rather often. There are four different distinct flavours in the case. There is the German-style lager, the Amber Ale, the Pale Ale and the Hefeweizen. These beers are manufactured in my market by the New York Brewing Co. in Utica, NY. Tonight after picking up the prodigal son after his night class I celebrated Carey Price's latest goaltending gem by having a couple Amber ales. A mighty fine beer from my semi unrefined palate in my humble opinion.

O'Byrne is traded...

Darn it they did it again. Why do my Habs always seem to trade some of these young guys that may become really solid players elsewhere. O'Byrne in his short stay with the Habs never was really given the chance to play his game without the fear of being either in the coach's doghouse or glued to the end of the bench after making a mistake or expanding his game day wardrobe to include lots of new suits to wear in the press box. I kind of liked the fact that this guy was a redwood and not afraid to muck it up at times. Why didn't we give him a decent chance? It seems that we like going after other teams' defencemen and often those that are a bit long in the tooth. Good luck Ryan! We hardly knew ye....

Simpsonville Speed Traps r Us

So I've been living here in Simpsonville for a little over a year now and it seems that not a day goes by that I do not see the Simpsonville PD hiding either on Neely Ferry Rd., or Barker Rd. or West Georgia Rd. trying to catch someone going 10 mph over the speed limit so that they can enrich Simpsonville coffers. I am all for enforcing speed limits however seeing a speed limit of 40 mph on a four lane road that has lots of downhill driving, zero pedestrian traffic and almost no residential housing straddling the roadway looks like a blatant cash grab to me. I don't think doing 50 mph between Neely Ferry Rd. and I385 on West Georgia Rd. is one of the main reasons SC has lousy driving stats.

Perhaps if the PD would take a look at the drivers totally preoccupied with their cellphones (usually texting from what I see) or those not using any turn signals at all or those going through red lights as if they don't exist because they were already halfway through the light being parked there waiting for traffic to pass. You know those with the real right of way! Perhaps then our stats would improve. Perhaps then I would feel safer driving here. Then maybe I would not look at the PD interested in only filling some quota and instead of actually making the roads safer. Does this make any sense?

Being a Democrat in SC

Being a democrat in SC can be likened to fighting for a lost cause or a definition of insanity which states repeating the same behaviour and expecting different results.

The unemployment rate when I moved here in August 1999 was 4.4%. When Jim Hodges the Democratic governor lost the election in November 2002 it stood at 6.2%. Eight years later after the Republican Mark Sanford (well known for hiking trails in the Appalachian foothills of Argentina) left his office in November 2010 the rate stood at 10.8%. Okay he is still in power til January 2011 but what exactly will he do in the next couple of months? Perhaps he will go skiing in those same Appalachian foothills of Argentina.

Hmmm Jim Demint has been the junior senator from SC since 2005. When he showed up for his senate office in January 2005 the unemployment rate stood at 6.5%. Do I detect a pattern here? Nah I must be wrong after all we just voted Demint back in rather easily because after all he does much good for our state. I'm sure he does. Someone who knows all the good that he does for the state will no doubt enlighten me on this fact. I won't hold my breath mind you. I could be waiting for awhile.

Hmmm we voted in Nikki Haley for governor as a Republican. After all she did as well as Sanford and Demint in bringing prosperity to our fair state. She's been sitting in the State house since 2004 as well. Her record stands on its own. LOL.

I think in this state it doesn't make a difference if you don't have a pulse or an original thought; all you need is a capital R after your name and you're in like Flynn.

Kind of sad I think.

It is what it is ...Part II

So when I last left off I was babbling away about Sushi Koji in downtown Greenville. I mentioned that I was going to continue on that blog subject and then as it typically happens I got busy doing things and never got back to finishing that blog. Now here I am a week later and my thought process isn't exactly where it was last week. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Our thinking after all is supposed to evolve. The thing is that the events of last week have made me angry somewhat.

Seeing the country go back to the GOP after only two years of a Democratic majority is tough on my morale. The GOP scare me! Any pretense of this party representing all of the American population quickly disappears when you read a roll call of the people that were elected under their banner. They pretty much only represent the interests of the haves and the haves that want more and more.

I am by no means an expert on the political process here but after watching the Dems basically screw up over the last two years by watering down every single piece of legislation that they tried to pass. They did this by either kowtowing to Republican representatives that had no intention of ever working with the Dems or by attaching idiotic and wasteful earmarks to some of their legislation which guaranteed failure in the midterms.

They had the chance to promote their agenda that would help a majority of the populace but at every turn they did not stick to their guns. They beseeched the opposition. They kowtowed. They bent over backwards. They did not remember the motto which so many people believed in 2008. What became of "yes we can?" I believed those eight letters and what it meant in 2008.

Why and how did the Cantors, Boehners and McConnells of this country manage in two short years to bring us back to the precipice of the same dumbass, lame and pretty much irresponsible governing that got us involved in two wars and the worst economic crisis since the great depression. Yeah let's now provide more vouchers for private schools. Let's keep those tax breaks for the rich. They need it after all. Let's get rid of the inheritance tax. Let's bring the government to a standstill.

Geez depressing.