So I wanted my blog to be a blend of "fun" stuff and serious stuff. So far its been way more serious and way less random topics.
I'm looking for ideas.
Bowie already suggested a post about pet peeves and things that annoy me etc. So far all I've come up with is Bowie (but a post of this nature may be coming).
So write in the comments, post on my Facebook wall, email me, let me know what I can blog about and I'll make an effort to think of less serious topics.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Attention: I need to borrow some money
http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/01/22/virginity.value/index.html
I don't really have any insightful comments on this one. I won't pretend to understand the thinking of the man (woman?) who put in the high bid.
I will refrain from making fun of the girl. For that kind of money, if the offer is legit, I can't blame her for taking it.
Just thought you'd want to see the article.
I don't really have any insightful comments on this one. I won't pretend to understand the thinking of the man (woman?) who put in the high bid.
I will refrain from making fun of the girl. For that kind of money, if the offer is legit, I can't blame her for taking it.
Just thought you'd want to see the article.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The Yes We Can high
It'll happen eventually, Obama fever will subside in all of us; but today I'm excited. I'm worried that if Obama delivers anything short of a miracle recovery for the United States, he won't live up to the lofty expectations people have for him. But I wanted to lay out my more realistic goals for the first 4 years of his presidency.
Abortion: Reverse this < http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/18/america/abort.php > and do this: < http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/19/obama.abortion/index.html >
Re-legalize partial birth abortions. This is the most retarded type of abortion to outlaw. No one uses a partial birth abortion as a form of birth control; after 9 months, they've decided to have the child. These are only done when there has been a complication in the birth and the health and life of the mother is in question.
Also related to abortion is that Obama now can appoint judges to the supreme court to protect abortion. So I encourage judges to retire in the next 4-8 years so we can get some young liberals in there.
The Economy:
Job creation is Obama's stated goal which is admirable but, I would really like to see spending reduced to manageable levels by the last 2 years of his presidency. Hopefully the money we've been spending on war can be used on infrastructure improvements in the domestic economy and spending doesn't have to go through the roof.
I'm still undecided about how I feel about the auto bailout. In a vacuum, it makes more economic sense to just write unemployment checks to everyone who would lose their job because it would cost less and other industries could utilize the talents of the workers and engineers. But I understand the pride these people take in working for a living and producing goods. If foreign car companies can stay successful building factories in the US, I have hope that the US companies can too (maybe I'm being to much of a Sap).
Education (/economy) -Because my mom teaches basic skills at a community college, I have a unique prospective on how little trades are funded. Building up the basic math and reading skills of the blue collar workforce is an area that gets overlooked because high school grads are pushed into college when many just don't belong there either because they're not motivated or just don't have the skills necessary to compete. So in addition to making sure k-12 schools are properly funded (but not with bloated budgets), continuing education for people who aren't rocket scientists is important too.
Environment: Identify attainable goals for emissions pollution. Give companies and industries defined targets and reward companies who achieve these goals.
Investment: At this point, the only thing the US sells to other countries are weapons and pharmaceuticals. We need to recapture some of the more cutting edge energy technologies and start exporting. If the US government is going to invest, make sure its in things we can sell to the rest of the world.
Gay Marriage: My feelings on this subject are well documented. Obama said on the campaign trail that he was against gay marriage but I didn't believe him. He knew that if he said he was for gay marriage, the election would have been about gay marriage and he would have lost (but then he asked Rick Warren to read his invocation and made me not so sure again). Anyway, It would be a dream to see him legalize gay marriage but expecting that would be folly. I would love to see at least some measures that make it harder to outlaw gay marriage such as making marriages that take place in a state that allows gay marriage legal in states that don't allow gay marriage and forcing insurance companies and the like to treat the people as officially married.
War: Leaving when we clearly aren't wanted is the best thing that can happen here. We owe the Iraqi people money to rebuild their infrastructure after we bombed the shit out of it but we need to remove our troop ground presence in the next 12 months. In countries where we know there are credible threats to US security, negotiate with the individual countries to allow the US to send in small operative units to disrupt terror operations without a full blown invasion. I believe this is the tactic that needs to continue in Afghanistan. Clearly this won't work in Iran because they hate us. Economic sanctions against countries that sponsor or harbor terrorists (reducing our dependency on foreign oil wouldn't hurt either).
And funding the PB rec centers so they can keep their lights on at night so I can play basketball after work!!
Go Obama!
Addendum: Two more websites to check out.
www.whitehouse.gov
www.whitehouse.org
Abortion: Reverse this < http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/18/america/abort.php > and do this: < http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/19/obama.abortion/index.html >
Re-legalize partial birth abortions. This is the most retarded type of abortion to outlaw. No one uses a partial birth abortion as a form of birth control; after 9 months, they've decided to have the child. These are only done when there has been a complication in the birth and the health and life of the mother is in question.
Also related to abortion is that Obama now can appoint judges to the supreme court to protect abortion. So I encourage judges to retire in the next 4-8 years so we can get some young liberals in there.
The Economy:
Job creation is Obama's stated goal which is admirable but, I would really like to see spending reduced to manageable levels by the last 2 years of his presidency. Hopefully the money we've been spending on war can be used on infrastructure improvements in the domestic economy and spending doesn't have to go through the roof.
I'm still undecided about how I feel about the auto bailout. In a vacuum, it makes more economic sense to just write unemployment checks to everyone who would lose their job because it would cost less and other industries could utilize the talents of the workers and engineers. But I understand the pride these people take in working for a living and producing goods. If foreign car companies can stay successful building factories in the US, I have hope that the US companies can too (maybe I'm being to much of a Sap).
Education (/economy) -Because my mom teaches basic skills at a community college, I have a unique prospective on how little trades are funded. Building up the basic math and reading skills of the blue collar workforce is an area that gets overlooked because high school grads are pushed into college when many just don't belong there either because they're not motivated or just don't have the skills necessary to compete. So in addition to making sure k-12 schools are properly funded (but not with bloated budgets), continuing education for people who aren't rocket scientists is important too.
Environment: Identify attainable goals for emissions pollution. Give companies and industries defined targets and reward companies who achieve these goals.
Investment: At this point, the only thing the US sells to other countries are weapons and pharmaceuticals. We need to recapture some of the more cutting edge energy technologies and start exporting. If the US government is going to invest, make sure its in things we can sell to the rest of the world.
Gay Marriage: My feelings on this subject are well documented. Obama said on the campaign trail that he was against gay marriage but I didn't believe him. He knew that if he said he was for gay marriage, the election would have been about gay marriage and he would have lost (but then he asked Rick Warren to read his invocation and made me not so sure again). Anyway, It would be a dream to see him legalize gay marriage but expecting that would be folly. I would love to see at least some measures that make it harder to outlaw gay marriage such as making marriages that take place in a state that allows gay marriage legal in states that don't allow gay marriage and forcing insurance companies and the like to treat the people as officially married.
War: Leaving when we clearly aren't wanted is the best thing that can happen here. We owe the Iraqi people money to rebuild their infrastructure after we bombed the shit out of it but we need to remove our troop ground presence in the next 12 months. In countries where we know there are credible threats to US security, negotiate with the individual countries to allow the US to send in small operative units to disrupt terror operations without a full blown invasion. I believe this is the tactic that needs to continue in Afghanistan. Clearly this won't work in Iran because they hate us. Economic sanctions against countries that sponsor or harbor terrorists (reducing our dependency on foreign oil wouldn't hurt either).
And funding the PB rec centers so they can keep their lights on at night so I can play basketball after work!!
Go Obama!
Addendum: Two more websites to check out.
www.whitehouse.gov
www.whitehouse.org
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Blog origin
I see I have some new followers and wanted to introduce the blog and the name's origin.
For the record, I did not name this blog because I am proud of my last name or the fact that it rhymes with male genitalia.
The blogging idea started because I enjoyed pointing out the stupid things I read and hear only to have them fall on less than interested or extremely high ears. My affinity for baseball and sports blogs is well known by my friends and though it may have begun as an attempt to shut me up, its blossomed into what you read below.
The name was the collective brainchild of my hillaaaaaarrrrious roommates who only agreed to read the blog if I named it "Walczaksballsacks" In hindsight, I can't believe I didn't name it "Walczaksbalczaks." I blew it.
For the record, I did not name this blog because I am proud of my last name or the fact that it rhymes with male genitalia.
The blogging idea started because I enjoyed pointing out the stupid things I read and hear only to have them fall on less than interested or extremely high ears. My affinity for baseball and sports blogs is well known by my friends and though it may have begun as an attempt to shut me up, its blossomed into what you read below.
The name was the collective brainchild of my hillaaaaaarrrrious roommates who only agreed to read the blog if I named it "Walczaksballsacks" In hindsight, I can't believe I didn't name it "Walczaksbalczaks." I blew it.
Just Married
On the way home today I saw a "Just Married" bumper sticker on a new car. It made me wonder how long they're going to leave it on. And which member of the marriage would take it off. At what point are you not "just married?"
I meant to blog about this long ago but take a look at this story (the URL just might give away the direction the story is going).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/3884696/Saudi-court-rejects-plea-to-annul-8-year-old-girls-marriage-to-58-year-old-man.html
Now I and everyone reading this blog was brought up in the era where we are taught throughout school, on TV, and everywhere else to accept all cultures; people are different and if you don't like it, there’s a problem with you, and not a problem with them. I definitely agree with this; I would say I'm on the extreme side of the acceptance spectrum. People should be able to do what they want as long it doesn't interfere with another person's liberty. But there’s only so far I’m willing to accept other peoples’ cultures before I have to put my foot down. There is something fundamentally wrong when young girls are sold into marriages with men old enough to be their father/grandfather is not only practiced by a significant portion of the population (though rarely to such an egregious degree) but actually government sanctioned even when there its an 8 year old. Apparently they aren't going to consummate the marriage until the girl is 18, but I'll believe that when I see it (if I were in fact there to see it. That 58 year old will be getting antsy in a couple years).
The bigger issue is how we as only slightly motivated Americans prevent things like this from happening. Is it even something that we can do anything about besides criticize from 12,000 miles away. I don’t know if there is anything else to do. I know I'm hardly taking a controversial opinion by being against arranged marriages, I thought you guys would like to see this story.
I meant to blog about this long ago but take a look at this story (the URL just might give away the direction the story is going).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/3884696/Saudi-court-rejects-plea-to-annul-8-year-old-girls-marriage-to-58-year-old-man.html
Now I and everyone reading this blog was brought up in the era where we are taught throughout school, on TV, and everywhere else to accept all cultures; people are different and if you don't like it, there’s a problem with you, and not a problem with them. I definitely agree with this; I would say I'm on the extreme side of the acceptance spectrum. People should be able to do what they want as long it doesn't interfere with another person's liberty. But there’s only so far I’m willing to accept other peoples’ cultures before I have to put my foot down. There is something fundamentally wrong when young girls are sold into marriages with men old enough to be their father/grandfather is not only practiced by a significant portion of the population (though rarely to such an egregious degree) but actually government sanctioned even when there its an 8 year old. Apparently they aren't going to consummate the marriage until the girl is 18, but I'll believe that when I see it (if I were in fact there to see it. That 58 year old will be getting antsy in a couple years).
The bigger issue is how we as only slightly motivated Americans prevent things like this from happening. Is it even something that we can do anything about besides criticize from 12,000 miles away. I don’t know if there is anything else to do. I know I'm hardly taking a controversial opinion by being against arranged marriages, I thought you guys would like to see this story.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Time to get back on the blogging horse/old ideas
Unfortunately I haven't had much to talk about recently and although there are plenty of "serious" topics to discuss, I want to avoid the blog be more about random stuff and less about my views on serious stuff. So I'm still keeping my eye out for casual topics. I wanted to refresh the blog with a couple of paragraphs about things I meant to blog about earlier but never got around to it.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Wack ass Rappers
Thanks for being patient. Blogging isn't as easy as it looks (and it looks ridiculously easy).
So as most of you know, I listen to rap music almost exclusively and while I hate it when people are snobs because they know about this one Indie band that they think is awesome but is probably really crappy, I like to think I know what good rap is versus The Ying Yang Twins' "Wait til you see my dick" kind of rap.
And while some club hip-hop music can be well done, its not my style anyway.
Give me good lyrics and a smooth rhythm and I'm willing to sacrifice beats.
So my biggest biggest biggest pet peeve in rap songs is when the rapper rhymes
a word with itself. I'll provide an example (from Sister Monie who is a guest on
the Jungle Brothers' "Doing our own Dang (thing)"
"Sister Monie, the only one here who missed a plane back to London
Residing with my brothers and I learned a lot from them
About the group, how to be smooth and play funky
And sometimes rated it's kind of funky.
Ok. This is retarded. If you cant think of a word to funky, you don't
deserve to be a rapper. Any word that ends in y would work in this
situation. Pick anything, it doesn't even have to rhyme. As you can
see from the first 2 lines of her rap, she tried to rhyme "Londen" and
"them." But she slurs a bit and makes it sound alright in the song.
I haven't heard any other of Sister Monie's attempts at "rapping," but I have yet to hear a female rapper who doesn't make me want to tear my eyebrow hairs out by hand and the fact that she had to mess up one of my favorite rap group's song.
I didn't mean to make this whole post about exposing one bad rapper
because she is hardly the only one who rhymes words with the same
word in songs. Its an epidemic that needs to end. I have already called
up Snoop and told him to pass along the message.
So as most of you know, I listen to rap music almost exclusively and while I hate it when people are snobs because they know about this one Indie band that they think is awesome but is probably really crappy, I like to think I know what good rap is versus The Ying Yang Twins' "Wait til you see my dick" kind of rap.
And while some club hip-hop music can be well done, its not my style anyway.
Give me good lyrics and a smooth rhythm and I'm willing to sacrifice beats.
So my biggest biggest biggest pet peeve in rap songs is when the rapper rhymes
a word with itself. I'll provide an example (from Sister Monie who is a guest on
the Jungle Brothers' "Doing our own Dang (thing)"
"Sister Monie, the only one here who missed a plane back to London
Residing with my brothers and I learned a lot from them
About the group, how to be smooth and play funky
And sometimes rated it's kind of funky.
Ok. This is retarded. If you cant think of a word to funky, you don't
deserve to be a rapper. Any word that ends in y would work in this
situation. Pick anything, it doesn't even have to rhyme. As you can
see from the first 2 lines of her rap, she tried to rhyme "Londen" and
"them." But she slurs a bit and makes it sound alright in the song.
I haven't heard any other of Sister Monie's attempts at "rapping," but I have yet to hear a female rapper who doesn't make me want to tear my eyebrow hairs out by hand and the fact that she had to mess up one of my favorite rap group's song.
I didn't mean to make this whole post about exposing one bad rapper
because she is hardly the only one who rhymes words with the same
word in songs. Its an epidemic that needs to end. I have already called
up Snoop and told him to pass along the message.
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