The Return Of The Wild West?

"Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town"

- Don't Take Your Guns To Town - Johnny Cash

January 1, 2016 will be a day marked in Texas history as it will be the return of open carry for handguns.  Not since the 1800's has the populace legally been allowed to do this.  Texas was a much different place then, filled with outlaws, Comanche, and other assorted ruffians and undesirables.

Texas has always been a state that has been splendidly different from all the others in the Union, especially when it comes to gun laws.  You may remember from watching the national news, if not seeing them up close and personal in Austin or the Metroplex, the Texans campaigning for open carry with long guns(rifles or shotguns) slung on their shoulders.  Some people were made to feel uncomfortable in traffic, restaurants, and the capital building seeing non-badge wearing folks with AR-15s and AK-47s.

Carrying or displaying these long guns openly is totally legal in Texas while it is illegal, at least up until the new year, to do the same with handguns.  Handguns have to be concealed and the owner is required to have a Concealed Carry Permit, which requires a written test, shooting test, and a  background check to get.  Open carry will still require the owner to have a concealed permit.

My concerns about this are twofold: making the firearm non-fan citizenry feel uncomfortable with seeing armed people around them and gun owners becoming targets for criminals.  I remember hearing how much people were put off by the actions of some of the open carry proponents when they took their guns into restaurants and aggressively followed a man who had contrarian opinions to theirs.  I feel that it was a matter of just because you could do something did not mean that you had to.

I feel that people who open carry will be targeted by others.  Open carriers could be attacked by criminals who try to get their firearm(s) either by attacking them or robbing their home.  More likely, however, is that they will be targeted by other people's ridicule.  I feel that it will be an argument they will have to make over and over again.  Texans really do like to speak their minds, after all.

It remains to be seen what good or bad will come from this new law.  There is the potential that this could be a crime deterrent - that this could lead to what the mainstream media refers to as "the one good guy" phenomenon.  On the flip-side, this new law could lead to more gunfights and people being shot because it is harder to determine just who the "good guy" is.

If I Needed Someone

I just recently got out of a multi-year relationship.  The end was sudden, but for people who know me, not really unexpected.  What has been most interesting has been reconnecting with people who I had fallen out of touch with for years.

One of the biggest victims of my relationship was with one of my three best friends.  I have known this person for 15 years and he and I have gone through hell and high water together.  He dislocated his shoulder jumping from my car while it was in motion, I was best man at his wedding, we have laughed and cried together.  We committed numerous crimes and misdemeanors together.  When I was telling him about the demise of my relationship, he went on to tell me about the demise of his marriage.  It had only been three years that they had been married.

These were two people who had been through so much together.  They started dating in college when they met one another in the apartment complex's pool.  There had been dates, fights, the death of a parent, so many numerous beginnings and endings which only seemed to strengthen their relationship.  Now it seems like their epic has come to its conclusion.

Through Facebook I looked through my friends and saw a lady friend from college who I had not spoken with in some years.  Through her I found out that she had a 4 year old son and had been divorced for approximately a year.  She opined that getting married is a huge mistake for anyone and that she would never do it again.  She says that is a condition of any relationship that she enters now.  She will only allow so much of herself to be available to a significant other and keep the rest for herself.  This system has given her her desired amount of freedom and happiness.

When looking at the multitude of people I know who have just gotten out of serious relationships, the most common thing that I'm seeing is people shutting themselves off from dating or any other sort of entanglements.  For many of these individuals, this period of romantic isolation can be measured in many months if not years.  The question I have is, what will be my next move?

Shame!

Today Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America. The world watched and collectively hoped for a new beginning, a return to America's place of being admired the world over. What the country and its people should be ashamed of is how the crowd jeered the outgoing president. How the people could actually sing "Nah nah nah hey hey hey goodbye" as he was leaving was so incredibly disrespectful. Even if you cannot respect the man, you must respect the position of president. How truly disgusting.

A New Election - Same Old Story

Here we are with the latest presidential campaign and as always it is interesting to watch. We have the Republican National Convention winding down with the Democratic one having concluded last week. Despite the fact that we have all new candidates, we have the same twin specters of hypocrisy and idiocy.

Let us take a look at the Democratic party. We are presented with a man with an interesting personal story. A man who is a product of the American dream. A man who rose from humble beginnings to be Ivy League educated, a fine attorney, and then a senator for the state of Illinois. He is not just a gifted orator, but someone who can captivate all those around him and believe in his message of change. He will bring about change as the president. Change!

However, when he announced who is running mate would be, he revealed him to be Joe Biden. Yes, Joe Biden from Delaware who has been a prickly, self-promoting blowhard in government for over 30 years. Joe Biden, a solid member of the establishment that Obama is supposed to change. This makes absolutely no sense as it is a direct contradiction to what he is supposed to stand for as a Washington outsider.

When we look at the Republicans, we look at a candidate who also has an interesting story. He is the son of an admiral, a combat pilot, a prisoner of war, and an experienced politician. He is the opposite of his Democratic adversary in almost every detail and could be considered the epitome of his own party, that of a bunch of old, rich white men.

When he chose his running mate, the nation was quite surprised - he selected a woman. Not just any woman, but a woman who has been a mayor, governor of Alaska, mother of five, an athlete, and even a runner-up in the Miss Alaska competition. She is the most popular governor in the country and was successful in fighting and eliminating corruption in her state. She is the face of the future of the Republican party and she seems like a character that is too good to be true.

The Republicans were quite happy with McCain's decision but the Democrats apparently were not. The party that is supposed to embrace minorities(women, gays, immigrants, people of color, etc.) decided to attack her as being inexperienced, foolish for not being home raising her 4 month old child(that was quite possibly not even hers, no less!), and just a pretty face.

Despite the fact that she was a mayor of a town and then governor for the past two years, that means nothing. Nope, that useful experience she has of leading people and managing fiscal budgets certainly would not prepare her for the vice presidential position as back-up to the president, for attending all those important state funerals, and making the tie-breaking vote in the Senate. It is funny how someone could have vastly less experience as a senator, run for president, and that would be considered okay. Obama has spent the entirety of his career as a senator campaigning for the presidency. The hypocrisy is sickening.

It will be interesting to see how this develops. Presidential elections seem to bring out the worst in people and watching the talking heads on television is quite entertaining. Whoever wins will lead the country for at least 4 years and provide fodder for all the cartoonists and comedians. Let us hope that it does not devolve into hanging chads and accusations of a stolen election.

Apple Craps On Early Adopters Once More

Yesterday was the much anticipated release of the new iPhone 3G, the latest incarnation of Apple's uberphone. Last year's release was spectacular as people wanted to be the first on their block to have this revolutionary pocket computer. This year has proven no different.

About a month or so after its release, Apple dropped the prices on the iPhone citing that is the norm in the tech world. Despite this being true, the nerd rage of the masses - who camped out for not mere hours but days - reached the ears of Steve Jobs. He announced that all of these early adopters would be credited the drop in price. The people who waited a month or so still laughed at them.

Here we are a little more than a year later and the new iPhone has created a very strong buzz. It looks virtually identical to the ver.1 but now has an additional color if you decide to get the 16GB version - white. The big selling features for ver. 2 of the iPhone are 3G speeds which are on average 2.8 times faster than the first version's EDGE technology and the inclusion of GPS. Apple has also released an update to the iPhones software naming it 2.0 and this has enabled users to install software applications which are available from the iTunes store.

Unlike the first version of the iPhone, activation is now required in-store. This is where Apple's most devoted fans have run into a problem - their servers are not working. That's right folks, the early adopters are shelling out the cash for this "must have" phone and the servers won't allow the phones to sync, thus rendering it useless. There were widespread occurrences of stores not even being able to ring customers up. People who had spent so much time in line were leaving after deciding to come back when everything worked. The brave souls who toughed it out and tried to activate could only stare at their expensvie, fruit emblazoned brick. The nerd rage was overwhelming.

People who spent all of that time in line to have bragging rights about owning the new phone can only make emergency calls with them. This is a rare customer relations nightmare for both Apple and AT&T(the iPhone's sole American distributor) who each tout the reliability of their products. This would be a great time for a rival company to make a "mac vs. pc" styled commercial for their cellular service.

The iPhone is a wonderful device. The world knows this and it was released today in 22 countries. Technical snafus do happen, but this is really embarrassing for Apple, especially with all of the advertising and expectations. Yet, once again, it only goes to show that being an early adopter of the iPhone really isn't worth it.

Heath Ledger Dead at 28, Nerds Frantic Over Status of New Batman Film

It was with a great sense of shock that I read that Heath Ledger had died. I had just sat down at the computer after coming home from work and that was the headline that greeted me on the CNN website. How could this possibly be?

Heath was not one of my favorite actors, although he had made quite a few good films in his brief career. I was curious to see what his version of one of my favorite villains would be like in the new Batman movie. He never really seemed to be tabloid fodder aside from one posting by Perez Hilton, where Perez wondered why Heath was no longer sexy.

In this day of celebrities caught in self destruct mode(Brittany, Lindsay, Amy, etc.), I was amazed that this rather quiet celebrity was outlived by these people. His autopsy today was inconclusive, but there were sleeping pills and supposedly other drugs found at the scene. There are rumors of drug abuse in his past, but they are still putting together his recent past together.

What was almost as shocking were the anguished cries of movie nerds. Not that this talented person had died and left behind a 2 year old daughter, but would their precious Batman be released without any problems. Imagine how awful it would be if they had to to do reshoots and the star is too dead to help them. Oh, the inconvenience!

Well, these folks can rest easy as the film is actually in post production. It remains to be seen if this will be the performance of a lifetime. I certainly hope that it is.

He Did It Again

Floyd Mayweather knocked the undefeated Ricky Hatton out in the 10th round. Can anyone shut this man up?

Papa Got A Brand New Box

It has finally happened...



12-25-2006
R.I.P.

The Perils of Your Clothing At Work

Anyone's job is chock full of excitement. There are your deadlines, clients and customers demanding attention, bosses and managers with their own requests. But it's your clothes and what happens to them that can actually ruin your day.

I remember my very first day on the sales floor. There was electricity in the air as I was ready to sell my first car. I had a client that was looking for an SUV, so I showed him what we had and went on a test drive. As I climbed into the vehicle, I felt something rip. I could feel a draft. Oh no!

I had managed to tear the area of my pants kind of between my crotch and my butt. Through the cunning use of angles, I was able to hide my assets from the customer and everyone else. I managed to find my sales manager, explained my predicament, and promptly left the dealership to aquire a new pair of pants. No, I did not sell that customer a car.

Lunch time is also a dangerous thing. Even careful eaters like myself can tempt the Fates. They enjoy manipulating gravity so you end up wearing your lunch as opposed to just eating it.

I went to the refrigerator in the breakroom to retrieve my lunch. In order to eat healthier and save some money, I make my lunch every single day. Usually, my lunch consists of two sandwiches, a delicious Coca Cola, and a granola bar. As I opened the fridge door, I noticed that there was a bottle of mayonnaise.

Now eating healthy, I do not actually own any mayonnaise. Why not treat myself with some free, delicious mayo on my turkey sandwiches? So I grabbed the bottle and shook it up. I was about to squirt it onto my sandwiches when a thought struck me. This wasn't my mayonnaise - was it actually still good? I decided to give it a sniff. The Fates decided that this was the perfect time to test me.

The bottle of mayonnaise, Hellman's to be precise, exploded in my face. There was mayo on my glasses. There was mayo in my nose. There was mayo on the crotch of my khaki pants. Some even managed to find its way onto my sandwiches.

After scooping mayo out of my nose, off of my glasses, face, and clothes, I finshed my lunch. I looked down to my crotch and realized that I was in serious trouble. Mayonnaise has oil in it - you cannot wipe it off. Mayonnaise on khaki cotton, especially on your crotch, looks like fresh urine. I looked like I had an accident in the bathroom.

Once again, through the careful use of angles and the careful positioning of my lunch bag, I was able to make good my escape to my car. No one noticed the conspicuous spots on my pants or had to contemplate whether I had problems with incontinence or being housebroken.

Thankfully, with the nearby toll roads and the blessing of Our Lady of Fast Acceleration, I was able to make it home in time to change and make it back without being late. Let's hear it for one hour lunch breaks.

That's not the only lunch disaster I've had. I had to return to my old stomping ground of Orlando for some training. I was happy to see that there was a Chipotle in the immediate vicinity. For it was there that I would be enjoying a delicious lunch of a tasty burrito.

My shirt was a gleaming white. I admired it in the noon day sun - doing laundry is something that I am really good at and actually enjoy. I waited in line thinking of what deliciousness I would take part in that day. I got my burrito and as I sat in my seat, I noticed a rather attractive lady who worked for the same company. "Why, hello," I thought to myself. The burrito looked so tasty. Then it happened.

With the very first bite, a tasty combination of black beans and perfectly seasoned steak managed to both fall on my formerly gleaming white shirt and once again, on my crotch! I am apparently big in the lap.

I decided to act like nothing happened and finished my lunch. The cutie had her back to me, so no one but me knew what had just transpired. Rubbing the stain on my crotch seemed like a really bad idea in such a public place.

I looked out the door and saw that there was a Walgreen's right in the parking lot. Fortune had smiled upon me. For one of the greatest inventions ever made laid in wait inside - The Tide To Go stain stick. I bought one and in the privacy of my own car with darkly, tinted windows, dabbed the miracle stain remover on my shirt and crotch. With the combination of the greenhouse effect and direct sunlight, the wet spots dried and I was safe. The accident never happened.

So, as you can see, your clothing can make you or break you at work. With the advent of the Tide To Go pen and stain fighter clothing, the workplace is just a little safer. Too bad there isn't a Chipotle by where I work now.

Thank Goodness For the Return of Football Season

While there are many sports that I enjoy watching, I particularly enjoy football season. There is something special about powerful, angry men trying to cripple one another on every play. My team, the Oakland Raiders, are considered to be the most vicious of the bunch.

They are simply the most penalized team every season. In their heyday in the 70s, they were the team that all the others dreaded playing because win or lose, there was a heavy physical price to pay. The Raiders were the best team in the league, despite being chock full of outcasts, rebels, miscreants, and players considered past their prime. Their maverick leader was and still remains the notorious Al Davis.

With their winning seasons behind them, Al Davis had enough and rehired Raider great Art Shell as the team's coach. Shell, a Hall of Fame offensive lineman and eternal badass, will show the Raiders of the current generation what "Commitment to Excellence" truly means.

Al Davis put it succinctly, "We will come back. I say to the Raider players, to the Raider fans, to the Raider ex-players and even to the press, we’ll get that back. It may take us a short while but we’ll get that nastiness of the Raiders back."

God help you other 31 teams.

The Summer of '96

It was ten years ago that TWA flight 800 crashed off the coast of Long Island. At the time, I was studying in Italy and my summer there was coming to an end. I, along with the rest of the students, were to be leaving in a few weeks and the announcement that an American plane crashing, possibly due to terrorism, was quite disheartening.

Very little information was available to us. The American newspaper we could get our hands on were old issues of USA Today. There were reports that it was a bomb or a missile. Whatever it was, it wasn't something that you wanted to think about as you had to head across an ocean. I had images of hijackers and explosions.

Fortunately for me, by sheer coincidence, my flight back was with two guys I had met in Italy whose fraternity I joined when I got back to America. We laughed and joked the whole way back. TWA flight 800 and all those people that died became just a memory.

The Rumors of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

I have been working ever so dilligently ay my job and have been unable to post for some time. Many things have happened since my last post. I was in NYC and had quite a few adventures. I got to assemble all of my best friends there.

Also, in my absence, a number of people have contacted me trying to either purchase this blogger address or have me give it to them. Sorry, but no. There can be only one.

Funny Girl - The Face of Stupidity

Babs
Hack intellectual, Barbara Streisand, has apparently struck again. Since she has a new album coming out, she had to get her name out there by appearing on television in an interview with Diane Sawyer. When most celebrities open their mouths, either lunacy or stupidity vomits forth. Streisand shared her feelings on global warming and how that is what is the direct cause of these powerful hurricanes.

"We are in a global warming emergency state, and these storms are going to become more frequent, more intense," Streisand urgently declares.

But Sawyer did not remind Streisand that a Category 5 hurricane struck the Bahamas with 160 mph winds -- when the singer was five years old, in 1947!

And when Streisand was 8 years old, a Cat 5 hurricane -- named "Dog" -- packing 185 mph churned-away in the Atlantic.

When she was 9, a Cat 5 storm named "Easy" ripped the seas with 160 mph sustained winds.

Streisand was 13 years old when "Janet" hit Mexico with 150 mph winds.

Streisand was celebrating her sweet sixteen as "Cleo" formed with 140 mph.

At 18, Streisand read news about "Donna" AND "Ethel" -- both storms carried 140 mph winds and formed 9 days apart in 1960!

One year later, when Streisand was 19, it happened again: Two Category 5 storms scared the world: "Carla" and "Hattie!"

"Carla" maxed out at 175 mph winds the year Streisand made her television debut on "The Jack Paar Show."

And who could forget Hurricane "Camille" -- which smashed into the United States with 190 mph, just as "Funny Girl" garners eight Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture and one for Barbra as Best Actress.

Up next on the weather warning watch, Streisand says to ABC: "There could be more droughts, dust bowls. You know, it's amazing to hear these facts."

Streisand has her own blog, replete with numerous spelling errors, to share her feelings on other matters close to her heart, politics. As if she didn't sound mental when she shared those ideas, she now graces the world with more misinformed crap. I loved when John McCain appeared on SNL and sang Streisand tunes in a truly awful way. "Horrible isn't it?" he said, "Kind of like when celebrities tell me how to do my job." Please Babs, just sing your songs and shut up.

Tom Cruise Has Officially Lost It

Once upon a time, there was an actor named Tom Cruise. Despite being marginally talented, untraditionally handsome, allegedly straight, and a midget, he went on to become the undisputed king of the box office. He started off in mediocre films like The Outsiders and Taps and then went on to capture glory in such films as Risky Business and Rain Man.

Tommy
His success continued into the 90s. Everything he touched turned to cinematic gold. Cruise could play the full range of comedy roles, to drama, to action hero, such as his action franchise Mission Impossible. The film Jerry Maguire captured Tom Cruise at his pinnacle. He took a rather unlikable, slimy sports agent and made everyone love him. Tom Cruise grinned his way through yet another movie.

The new millennium has not been so kind to Tommy, as Rosie O'Donnell would lovingly refer to him. His marriage to Nicole Kidman had crumbled and his next ladylove, Penelope Cruz, left him after four years. He made several movies that just didn't have the impact of his previous works: Eyes Wide Shut, Magnolia("Respect the cock!"), Vanilla Sky, Minority Report, and Collateral(he played an assassin of all things) as examples.

He made a film called The Last Samurai and it was critically acclaimed. He played a disenchanted Civil War veteran who traveled to Japan to train the emperor's troops to protect the emperor from his former bodyguards, the samurais. Tom Cruise goes from being a Westerner to a samurai. This was a bit much for many observers. All in all a good film, yet it still did not have that Tom Cruise magic.

Tom's latest movie, War Of The Worlds, is upon us. Coincidentally, his whirlwind romance with Katie Holmes has reached a fever pitch and they have announced their engagement. Tom's declaration of his love for this woman has absolutely destroyed his image with him acting nothing short of a Rain Man on Oprah. The man was jumping all over Oprah's couch and pounding his fist on the floor. It gave everyone in the world pause, Tommy had lost his mind.

Oh, Tom
Many critics feel that this relationship was a publicity stunt to draw attention to each of their films. Holmes is starring in the latest Batman film, Batman Begins. A sequel to the great movie has been announced and all of the actors with the exception of Holmes were invited back to reprise their roles. The producers stated that they wanted to go with a stronger actress.

The story of Tommy's descent into madness goes farther. He either cannot or will not refuse to give interviews. He insulted Brooke Shields' belief in psychiatry and prescription drug use for her post partum depression. He was the victim of a prank at the London premier of War Of The Worlds where the pranksters squirted him in the face with a joke microphone. Then he further humiliated himself on NBC's Today Show.

Cruise actually got into an argument with host Matt Lauer on the "pseudoscience" of psychiatry. The topic of Brooke Shields was brought up and Cruise repeated his feelings of her situation. He felt that there was no such thing as chemical imbalance and that mental health can be maintained through various things like exercise and vitamins.

A transcript of the interview is as follows:

LAUER: TOM CRUISE CREATED A FIRESTORM WHEN HE CRITICIZED BROOKE SHIELDS FOR REVEALING THAT SHE WENT INTO THERAPY AND TOOK ANTIDEPRESSANTS TO DEAL WITH HER POST PARTUM DEPRESSION. AS A SCIENTOLGIST, HE DOESN'T BELIEVE IN PSYCHIATRIC MEDICINE. I ASKED HIM ABOUT HIS COMMENTS.

CRUISE: I've never agreed with psychiatry, ever. Before I was a Scientologist I never agreed with psychiatry. And when i started studying the history of psychiatry, I understood more and more why i didn't believe in psychology.

And as far as the Brooke Shields thing is, look. You gotta understand, I really care about Brooke Shields. I-- I think here's a-- a-- a wonderful and talented woman. And-- I wanna see her do well. And I know that-- psychiatry is-- is a pseudo science.

MATT LAUER: But-- but Tom, if she said that this particular thing helped her feel better, whether it was the antidepressant or going to a counselor or psychiatrist, isn't that enough?

TOM CRUISE: Matt, you have to understand this. Here we are today where I talk out against drugs and psychiatric abuses of electric shocking people (PH), okay, against their will, of drugging children with them not knowing the effects of these drugs. Do you know what Aderol (PH) is? Do you know Ritalin? Do you know now that Ritalin is a street drug? Do you understand that?

MATT LAUER: The difference is--

(OVERTALK)

TOM CRUISE: No, no, Matt.

MATT LAUER: This wasn't against her will, though.

TOM CRUISE: Matt-- Matt, Matt, Matt--

MATT LAUER: But this wasn't against her will.

TOM CRUISE: Matt, I'm-- Matt, I'm asking you a question.

MATT LAUER: I understand there's abuse of all of these things.

TOM CRUISE: No, you see. Here's the problem. You don't know the history of psychiatry. I do.

MATT LAUER: Aren't there examples, and might not Brooke Shields be an example, of someone who benefited from one of those drugs?

TOM CRUISE: All it does is mask the problem, Matt. And if you understand the history of it, it masks the problem. That's what it does. That's all it does. You're not getting to the reason why. There is no such thing as a chemical imbalance.

(OVERTALK)

MATT LAUER: So, postpartum depression to you is--

TOM CRUISE: Matt--

MATT LAUER: --kind of a--

TOM CRUISE: --don't--

MATT LAUER: --little psychological gook--

TOM CRUISE: That--

MATT LAUER: --googley-gook?

TOM CRUISE: --no. No. I did not say that.

MATT LAUER: I'm just asking what you-- what would you call it?

TOM CRUISE: No. No. Abs-- Matt, that is-- the-- post-- now-- now, you're talking about two different things.

MATT LAUER: But that's what she went on the--

TOM CRUISE: No.

MATT LAUER: --antidepressant for.

TOM CRUISE: But what happens, the antidepressant, all it does is mask the problem. There's ways of vitamins and through exercise and various things. I'm not saying that that isn't real. That's not what I'm saying. That's an alteration of what-- what I'm saying. I'm saying that drugs aren't the answer, these drugs are very dangerous. They're mind-altering, anti-psychotic drugs. And there are ways of doing it without that so that we don't end up in a brave new world. The thing that I'm saying about Brooke is that there's misinformation, okay. And she doesn't understand the history of psychiatry. She-- she doesn't understand in the same way that you don't understand it, Matt.

MATT LAUER: But a little bit what you're saying Tom is, you say you want people to do well. But you want them do to well by taking the road that you approve of, as opposed to a road that may work for them.

TOM CRUISE: No, no, I'm not.

MATT LAUER: Well, if antidepressants work for Brooke Shields, why isn't that okay?

TOM CRUISE: I-- I disagree with it. And I think that there's a higher and better quality of life. And I think that promoting for me personally, see, you're saying what, I can't discuss what I wanna discuss?

MATT LAUER: No. You absolutely can.

TOM CRUISE: I know. But-- but Matt, you're going in and saying that-- that I can't discuss this.

MATT LAUER: I'm only asking, isn't there a possibility that-- do-- do you examine the possibility that these things do work for some people? That yes, there are abuses. And yes, maybe they've gone too far in certain areas. Maybe there are too many kids on Ritalin. Maybe electric shock--

TOM CRUISE: Too many kids on Ritalin? Matt.

MATT LAUER: I'm just saying. But-- but aren't there--

TOM CRUISE: Matt.

MATT LAUER: --examples where it works?

TOM CRUISE: Matt. Matt, Matt, you don't even-- you're glib. You don't even know what Ritalin is. If you start talking about chemical imbalance, you have to evaluate and read the research papers on how they came up with these theories, Matt, okay. That's what I've done. Then you go and you say where's-- where's the medical test? Where's the blood test that says how much Ritalin you're supposed to get?

MATT LAUER: You're-- you're-- it's very impressive to listen to you. Because clearly, you've done the homework. And-- and you know the subject.

TOM CRUISE: And you should.

MATT LAUER: And-- and--

TOM CRUISE: And you should do that also.

MATT LAUER: And--

TOM CRUISE: Because just knowing people who are on Ritalin isn't enough. You should be a little bit more responsible in knowing really--

MATT LAUER: I'm not prescribing Ritalin, Tom. And I'm not asking--

TOM CRUISE: Well--

MATT LAUER: --anyone else to do it. I'm simply saying--

(OVERTALK)

TOM CRUISE: Well, you are. You're saying--

MATT LAUER: I know some people who seem to have been helped by it.

TOM CRUISE: I-- but you're saying-- but you-- like-- this is a very important issue.

MATT LAUER: I couldn't agree more.

TOM CRUISE: It's very-- and you know what? You're here on the Today Show.

MATT LAUER: Right.

TOM CRUISE: And to talk about it in a way of saying, "Well, isn't it okay," and being reasonable about it when you don't know and I do, I think that you should be a little bit more responsible in knowing what it is.

MATT LAUER: But--

TOM CRUISE: Because you-- you communicate to people.

MATT LAUER: But you're now telling me that your experiences with the people I know, which are zero, are more important than my experiences.

TOM CRUISE: What do you mean by that?

MATT LAUER: You're telling me what's worked for people I know or hasn't worked for people I know. I'm telling you I've lived with these people and they're better.

TOM CRUISE: So, you're-- you're advocating it.

MATT LAUER: I am not. I'm telling you in their case-- (LAUGHTER)

(OVERTALK)

MATT LAUER: In their individual case, it worked. I am not gonna go out and say--

TOM CRUISE: Matt--

MATT LAUER: --"Get your kids on Ritalin. It's the cure-all--

TOM CRUISE: Matt, Matt.

MATT LAUER: --and the end-all."

TOM CRUISE: Matt, but here's the point. what is the ideal scene for life

TOM CRUISE: Okay. Ideal scene is someone not having to take anti-psychotic drugs.

MATT LAUER: I would agree.

TOM CRUISE: Okay. So, now you look at-- and you go okay. A-- a departure from that ideal scene is someone taking drugs, okay. And then you go, okay. What is the theory and the science behind that, that justifies that?

MATT LAUER: Let me take this more general, 'cause I think you and I can go around in circles on this for awhile. And i respect your opinion ...

MATT LAUER: Do you want more people to understand Scientology? Is that-- would that be a goal of yours?

TOM CRUISE: You know what? I-- absolutely. Of course, you know. And people--

MATT LAUER: How do you go about that?

TOM CRUISE: You just communicate about it. And the important thing is, like you and I talk about it, whether it's-- okay, if I wanna know something, I go and find out. Because I don't talk about things that I don't understand. I'll say, you know what? I'm not so sure about that. I'll go find more information about it so I can-- I can come to an opinion based on-- on the information that I have.

MATT LAUER: You-- you're so passionate about it. And I'm--

TOM CRUISE: I'm passionate about learning. I'm passionate about life, Matt.

END OF INTERVIEW

There's no telling how successful this War Of The Worlds film will be. The one guarantee is that the star that is Cruise's career, much like his reputation, will never burn as bright. The sad thing is, Cruise doesn't realize the more he talks, the more damage he does to himself. Maybe the universal rule of movie theatres is something that Cruise should observe rather than the scriptures of his Scientology - Silence Is Golden.

Sorry About Your Home But We Need To Build a Stripmall

Unfortunately for the American people, the US Supreme Court got it wrong today. Deciding 5-4, people's private homes and businesses, even against their will, may be seized for private economic development. The justices stated that local officials best know how to help cities.

The 5-4 ruling represented a defeat for some Connecticut residents whose homes are slated for destruction to make room for an office complex. They argued that cities have no right to take their land except for projects with a clear public use, such as roads or schools, or to revitalize blighted areas.

As a result, cities have wide power to bulldoze residences for projects such as shopping malls and hotel complexes to generate tax revenue.

At issue was the scope of the Fifth Amendment, which allows governments to take private property through eminent domain if the land is for "public use."

Susette Kelo and several other homeowners in a working-class neighborhood in New London, Connecticut, filed suit after city officials announced plans to raze their homes for a riverfront hotel, health club and offices.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was the voice of reason in this case. She argued that cities should not have unlimited authority to uproot families, even if they are provided compensation, simply to accommodate wealthy developers. Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Rehnquist were in agreement.

Star Wars III: Return Of the Wow

I had the pleasure of seeing the new Star Wars movie this afternoon. While quite enjoyable, this movie had to tie up a lot of loose ends and it managed to successfully do so. However, there were some problems that Lucas could not overcome.

Firstly, Hayden Christensen still cannot act. While his performance was an improvement over the previous one, he still delivers his lines like a third stand-in performer in a high school play. He is actually better in films without the Star Wars moniker. His "Nooooo" scene at the end of the film,complete with exaggerated hand gestures, is just awful. The scene would have been better with him asking about Padme, learning of her demise, and then coldly asking what his master's bidding was. This unintentionally painful scene leads me to my next point.

George Lucas writes horrible dialog. People do not actually speak to one another like they do in a Star Wars film. Natalie Portman, a talented actress, sounded like an absolute moron in Star Wars II. The lines between the two fateful lovers are painful to listen to. I don't remember the original films, IV, V, and VI having such bad dialog. Then again, as a whole, those films had much better actors.

One thing that I could not understand was how Padme died. They explained that it was of a broken heart. You mean to tell me that in this futuristic time, despite all sorts of medical advances(robotic prosthetics, the Force, etc.) that a perfectly healthy person, in a hospital surrounded by medical droids, can just up and die? It's 2005 and they could keep Terri Schiavo alive seemingly forever.

I thought this was a wonderful movie. It has already set box office records for opening day and I can imagine will be the highest grossing movie of all time. It's sad that there are to be no more movies in a galaxy, far, far away. Lucas has scrapped the plans of making episodes VII, VIII, and IX. Tragic, as there would be so much Boba Fett.

The Election Is Over But the Badmouthing & Bitching Continue

It has been a week since George W. Bush won the presidency over John Kerry. I stayed up late watching the results but my prediction of Bush running away with the election was announced many, many months ago. John Kerry, in my opinion, is just not capable of inspiring people to do anything. I thought Edwards was very affable, but Kerry managed to put me to sleep whenever he opened his mouth.

Four years ago, Bush just barely won the presidency. Gore, a competitor with Kerry for most boring human alive or dead, won the popular vote but not the necessary electoral college votes. The debacle of hanging chads and seemingly moronic Floridians cast doubt on the results and there were numerous lawsuits.

There was a pall over Bush's first four years with people like jackass, propagandist filmmaker Michael Moore and Barbara Streisand claiming that W. stole the election in 2000. Well, in 2004 the people spoke very clearly and Bush beat Kerry by 3.6 million popular and 20 something electoral college votes. The people spoke very clearly and selected a man who despite making mistakes, actually has beliefs and stands up for them. Kerry doesn't actually stand for anything that doesn't have an opinion poll attached to it. The people saw this and voted accordingly. Democrats lost important positions all over this country. Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader in congress lost his seat.

So, to all of the bitter people who refuse to concede that their candidate was beaten fair and square; admit that their party has greater problems with being out of touch with the rest of the country; and that people like Michael Moore, Barbara Streisand, and Leonardo di Caprio should just shut the hell up and stay out of politics; I say:

Jon Stewart Brings Down The House

America is quite different from many other countries when it comes to the media. For many decades, the news people used to only present the news and allowed the viewer to decide for himself how he felt about it. In most other countries, that objective system remains in place and allows people to be better informed. This system has been replaced in America by media sensationalism and Jon Stewart has had enough.

With the presidential election being only a couple of weeks away, naturally the media talks about the candidates incessantly. Politics is the word of the day. Each candidate speaking to groups of people of what they will do to improve America's future and fix the problems that currently affect the people. CNN, a cable news channel that broadcasts 24 hours a day, doesn't just broadcast news.

One of its most popular shows is a debate program called Crossfire. On this program, the right and left "debate" back and forth the issues in politics. They analyze and spin whatever gaffes their respective candidates and parties make. The right is represented by Bob Novak and Tucker Carlson while the left is represented by Paul Begala and James Carville. They have a variety of guests on where they can "debate" with them.

I watch this program almost every single day because it's a political version of Jerry Springer. Nothing is ever debated on this show. The hosts argue and yell at one another, talk over their guests, bushwhack their guests, talk about the least important issues possible, make outrageous claims, and most importantly, they never resolved anything on their show.

Jon Stewart, the anchor of the Comedy Central broadcast news spoof the Daily Show, appeared on the program this past Friday. Jon Stewart and his program are quite successful having just won an Emmy and currently have the #1 selling book on the New York Times Best Seller List. He has been a critic of CNN and Crossfire in the past but no one could have expected what would happen on the program.

Stewart was introduced as being either the funniest smart man or the smartest funny man on television. They thought he would come out, plug his book, crack a few jokes, and be the funny man. Instead, they found someone who used the opportunity to be honest about the sad state the media was in. As the 14 minute segment dragged on, it only got worse. It was both beautiful and painful to watch.

A picture of when things were still civil
Stewart started off by asking if they could all just get along. He pointed out that the people of CNN could do so much for the people of this country by calling politicians on their bullshit and really informing the people. Instead, what they actually provide is political theatre. Stewart felt that the media was in fact "hurting America."

The hosts wouldn't actually answer any of Stewart's questions or respond to his challenges. They accused him of being soft on his political guests(Kerry actually appeared on The Daily Show) and that there wasn't a difference between the two programs. Stewart pointed out that his program is in fact on Comedy Central and the program that leads into his is puppets making crank phone calls.

Most of the dialog was between Carslon and Stewart. Carlson was practically pleading with Stewart to be funny. Stewart responded with, "I'm not your monkey." Then Carslon put up a graphic of the questions that Stewart asked Kerry on his show. Why did Carlson have a graphic of this? Was he going to in fact bushwhack Stewart on Crossfire even if things had gone according to plan?

A glimpse of when things turned ugly
Things got so heated that at one point Stewart actually called Carlson a dick. The hosts of Crossfire were totally out of their element with this wise guest. When they tried to counter his questions and statements with their own, Carlson asked about the dildo incident involving Bill O'Reilly. Stewart looked really sad when they did this because they were only proving his point about the sad state of the media in this country.

Recently, there were three presidential debates and a single vice presidential debate. All of them were mindnumbingly boring because all of the candidates with the exception of John Edwards have the charisma of a rotting corpse. Kerry is funny looking, stuffy, longwinded, and just sucks the energy out of a room. Bush is incapable of speaking publicly without giving the impression that he has had some sort of head injury.

In the most recent debate, the candidates pretty much answered the same questions with the same answers. Nothing new happened until the moderator asked this one question: "Do you think that homosexuality is a choice?"

Bush answered by saying that he just didn't know. However, he felt that people shouldn't be discriminated against. Kerry responded by saying that Dick Cheney's daughter is a lesbian and that she would not say it was a choice. All three people grading the debate for CNN, Novak, Begala, and comedienne Jessi Klein from Comedy Central felt that Kerry shouldn't have done that. They each commented on their blogs right as this happened. Kerry's comment is what the media decided to focus on.

In the days after the debate, the Cheneys expressed their outrage that their daughter was singled out by Kerry. Their offense was challenged to be shame by John Edwards' wife. The media couldn't stop talking about it. It was on Crossfire, Hardball, Scarborough, and all the other shows.

This unnecessary but ultimately insignificant comment was taking precedence on the news stations over more pressing issues such as: the war, the economy, the rising costs of healthcare, the deficit, etc.

This is exactly what Jon Stewart was talking about. Rather than talk about the news, the media in the U.S. focuses on something insignificant and sensationalizes it. Mary Cheney's sexual preference is important to no one. The fact that the presidential election is about two weeks from now and the media chose to focus on this is rather disheartening. Stewart chose their forum to bring about change and we can only hope that it comes soon enough. Stewart 2008 does have a nice ring to it.

Britney's Mom Is As Insane As Her Daughter

I was reading the Drudge Report when I saw this article about Britney Spears' mother not being happy with the media's image of her daughter as being trashy. A mother's love for her child is known to be unconditional. However, her comments revealed that this stage mom is quite delusional.

Lynne mentions on Britney's website that she has come across numerous photos of her daughter portraying her as trashy. She says that Britney is not going to give into pressures of dressing in more favorable ways to please the paparazzi. Could the reason that the media as well as the world thinks of the fashionably challenged Britney as being trashy is because she is?

The delicate butterfly that is Britney Spears
Britney has seemingly jumped on the same controversy bandwagon that Madonna as well as other celebrities have been riding for decades. Andrew Loog Oldham, the manager of the Rolling Stones on their ascent to stardom, once said that there is no such thing as bad publicity. However, none of the Rolling Stones ever mock masturbated while sitting in a large champagne glass for a mostly teen aged audience.

Britney has seemingly gone out of her way to show that she is no longer a girl, but a seriously confused woman. Her record sales, while still successful, are nowhere near what they were just a few years ago. Her onstage tongue kissing with Madonna at the MTV Video Music Awards caused controversy but didn't really boost record sales or sell out venues on her tour.

Britney made headlines by marrying her childhood sweetheart for a whopping 55 hours before having the marriage annulled. Months later she was engaged to one of her backup dancers and they announced their wedding plans as his ex-wife was about to deliver their second child. Definitely a classy catch for Miss Spears.

Britney's mother being mad at the media for them portraying her daughter as trashy is quite laughable. After all, Britney has done all of the work for them. One can only wonder what will happen next.

Hurricane Fever

Florida has taken a real battering over the past few weeks. No, it had nothing to do with the upcoming election or the infamous one of hanging chads or stolen elections, but with Mother Nature's tropical fury - hurricanes. The latest, Hurricane Ivan, is apparently going to travel up the western coast of the state.

The reign of terror began about 3 weeks ago with Hurricane Charley. It was expected to travel up the western coast of the Sunshine State and level Tampa. What Charley did was smash up much of the southwestern portion of the state, in locales like Port Charlotte and Fort Myers, then avoided Tampa altogether and attempted to level Orlando. There were many people in Orlando who had fled Tampa only to watch it uproot trees and taunt them from their hotel windows. These people included the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Many people were without power for over a week.

Soon after, Florida was rocked by Hurricane Frances. This demure sounding hurricane was to rock the Miami-Dade Broward area but hit farther north in Martin County. Charley weakened in Florida and traveled up to the coast and caused severe flooding in the Carolinas. People who were riding the tempest out in their storm shuttered homes started to go stir crazy after waiting for what could have been their pending doom. They couldn't even take their shutters down as yet another powerful hurricane was waiting in the tropics, Ivan.

Ivan has so far destroyed 90% of the homes in Grenada and is on record as the sixth most powerful hurricane of all time. It is currently over Cuba and is expected to hit the west coast of Florida and travel into the Gulf of Mexico. The people are tired of having to deal with gas stations out of fuel and super markets that are out of things like water, batteries, and other groceries.

Florida is said to have been fortunate for a few decades with weather patterns that would ultimately blow most hurricanes away from the state. Scientists have said that changing weather patterns and currents have now made the "Sunshine State" a hurricane magnet. With these high powered winds and the destruction that they and their tornadoes cause, one can only wonder if this is soon to be paradise lost.