This is quite possibly the worst idea I've ever heard. I drive about 100 miles a day or so, and I would still only save around 50 bucks. That's assuming that the tax holiday doesn't otherwise drive the price up as suggested in the article. And it would cost the government billions of dollars. Like we're not going to have to pay for that later? Stupid.
Pastor Roger Byrd said that he just wanted to get people thinking. So last Thursday, he put a new message on the sign at the Jonesville Church of God.
It reads: "Obama, Osama, hmm, are they brothers?"
Byrd said that the message wasn't meant to be racial or political.
"It's simply to cause people to realize and to see what possibly could happen if we were to get someone in there that does not believe in Jesus Christ," he said.
When asked if he believes that Barack Obama is Muslim, Byrd said, "I don't know. See it asks a question: Are they brothers? In other words, is he Muslim ? I don't know. He says he's not. I hope he's not. But I don't know.
Despite some criticism, Byrd says that the message will stay on the sign. He took the issue before his congregation Sunday night, and they decided unanimously to keep it.
I don't give a fuck how old Miguel Tejada is. I'm not sure why anyone else would either, outside of the Astros' front office. They have a legitimate reason to be concerned about it, since they're paying him a contract that seems to be based in part of a misrepresentation. Beyond that, I don't think this is a big deal at all. And while I certainly think it's a story that should be reported, it seems to me it's worth maybe a mention and a comment from him or his agent, and the team and that's about it. It's not like the guy is Danny Almonte trying to play in the Little League World Series or something. The way ESPN ambushed this guy, and acted like they had just caught him lying about scamming old people out of their social security checks or something. But from the way the interviewer seemed so pleased with himself, you would think that was exactly what he uncovered.
People love to make fun of politicians. They lie all the time, they never give straight answers, they use silly hand gestures, they care more about marketing themselves than anything of real substance. Well, the older I get, and the more political campaigns I follow, the more I realize that they don't have any choice, that's the only way to get elected to anything anymore. Of course, that's not news to anyone, but it just really struck me with this debate how much crap we're wrapped up in that no one should give a shit about.
I didn't watch the debate, but I did follow along in a couple different places on the internets*, and it was ridiculous. How are we ever supposed to fix any of the problems in this country when no one will let anyone focus on the problems because they're too busy talking about elitism and flag lapel pins? Honestly, if you care at all about whether a candidate wears a flag lapel pin, then there is something wrong with you. I mean like seriously wrong. Do you wear a flag lapel pin all the time? Somehow I doubt it. I certainly don't, and I don't know anyone who does. Yet people waste time caring about whether Obama does. If the Muslims ever do plant a secret agent into our society to someday run for President, as some people seem to be worried about, I can pretty much guarantee you that he will be wearing a flag lapel pin. That was a question from a regular person, you would think that the actual "journalists" would ask more important questions. But apparently they didn't.
About the only good thing I can say about this debate is that people actually seem to be upset about the bullshit questions that ABC decided to waste everyone's time on. Everyone at ABC News should be ashamed of themselves. And let's not forget the other debates which I don't think were all that much better. Tim Russert was especially bad.
And of course, it's easy to blame the media, but I've heard way more people in real life talking about the bullshit going on in this campaign than about any important things. The only way we'll get better out of our media and our candidates is to demand better. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening any time soon.
UPDATE: I was reading about the debate over at The Carpetbagger Report and I saw this:
At one point, Stephanopoulos asked Obama, “[D]o you think Reverend Wright loves America as much as you do?” In fact, Stephanopoulos asked it twice.
The NFL season can never get here fast enough, so it's always nice to have some off season activity. Today the schedule came out. It looks like the Cowboys are on national TV six times. Of course, I wish it were 16, of course, but I think six is pretty good. Also, none of their games will be called by Bryant Gumbel this season, so that's great.
And the draft is coming up soon as well.
I'm not sure why this took longer than the first half of the first game that Gumbel did to get rid of him, but it's good news anyway. This guy was probably the worst play by play guy I've ever heard. I can't think of a worse one off the top of my head, anyway. Seriously, they could have fired him at halftime of the first game he did, went out in the hallway and grabbed the first guy to walk by, and chances are he would have been better than Gumbel. His brother Greg is awful, but he looks like Howard Cosell when compared to Bryant. And Bryant makes Cris Collinsworth look like a genius by comparison. It really doesn't matter who they get to replace him, it will be a upgrade.
I've never been much of a fan of the superhero Ironman at all, but this movie looks really good.
