Who says history doesn't repeat itself?

Whoa! Good stuff!



Reality: OK, I'll admit, I was a big fan of his "Road to.." movies too.

Futbal points to ponder.

My favorite club team is Juventus, who plays in the "Serie A" league in Italy.
I have been following them for my entire life. It has been the home of many lengendary Italian soccer players. Recently, they won their 29th championship. In American terms, this is akin to the Yankee dynasty - only more dominant.
The goalie for Juventus, Gianluigi (Gigi) Buffon, is one of the best in the world and is currently the goalie on the Italian national team at the World Cup.
He's young, loaded, famous (other than the U.S.) and well...

Reality: Truth be told, I'd rather be rich and famous.
Gogo Gigi!

Unabridged.

I think this is what Tom does when he's not procreating by laying his eggs into the ear of a sleeping Katie.

Reality: Whoa. He's waaaay too serious of an actor to ever have something like this happen. What was this guy thinking?

Well-rounded info.

Why do we watch?
Truth be told, I don't even watch soccer until the World Cup.
Is that because I don’t like it?
Absolutely not.
If the Italian “Serie A” were to be televised in this country, I would definitely be watching. The same would be true if the Spanish or German premier leagues were televised. While it’s true that British Premiere League is televised (at a premium on Directv…God bless America…), it’s not readily accessible. Translation: it ain’t free.


This happened in the overtime yesterday of the Argentina vs. Mexico match.
I don’t understand it's the only “video” I could find, but here is the description. Keep in mind, the ball never touched the ground from pass to back of the goal:
“As a deep cross from Juan Pablo Sorin drifted from left to right, Rodriguez waited, caught the ball on his chest and, half-turning inside, sent a glorious left-footed volley away from the diving Oswaldo Sanchez into the far corner to earn a meeting with Germany in the Berlin quarter-final on Friday.”

As far as soccer being a glorified kickball, yeah, it is. I remember doing this all the time. Pfft..
Furthermore, as much as I'm sick of hearing about Brazil and their single-name players like "Ronaldinho", I gotta admit: this guy's very,very good.
How is he different than Jordan? Oh, yeah, he doesn't use his hands.

Don't get me wrong. They have bloopers, too. And...uh...er..."fans"

Reality: Sometimes people just don’t understand/want to understand what they don’t know. True when people meet someone different from themselves. True when people are exposed to different sports. True whenever they are exposed to anything out of their “norm.”

Our Litigious Society, Part Deux.

OK, so I’ve been sitting on this for a couple of days.
First off, I just want to say that I am sorry for the death of this little boy.

The problem I have is with the interview this woman gave. Maybe it’s just me, but I got no sense of loss or grieving from this woman.
She says things like:
“…he was doing great the first couple of times it went around then he panicked and got scared”
And
“…the guy that was handling it, he let him go on his own…”
Now she wants “stricter safety guidelines” or “locks on those doors.”

What.
The.
Hell???!!!?

A lock on the door would have prevented her son from falling 80+ feet?!!?
Lady, how about noticing all this before you let your 6 year old son on a 90-foot Ferris wheel alone???!??

Anyone else wanna bet on the over/under until she files a lawsuit blaming the "carnie" for letting her son go up alone? I say 5 weeks. Tops.

Reality: Some people should not be aloud to breed. Unfortunately, it’s the innocent that pay for their stupidity.

Our Litigious Society.

Whoa. .... Whoa!

Now this is what I call a justifiable lawsuit!

It's the 1st Amendment, dammit!

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably
to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of
grievances."

Believe it or not, this is the fabled “First Amendment of the Constitution.”
Most people wouldn’t know it from their Wal-mart receipt, but, here it is in its full glory.
Look at it.
Marvel.
Amazing that just a few simple sentences/clauses give the citizens of the U.S. the power that they do, eh?
Believe it or not, other nations envy us. For you non-believers, name another country you want to live. Now tell me why you haven’t moved there already, you are certainly free to. Thought so.

Anyway it basically says that “Thou shalt not be exposed to G---“
What the hell? I got censored?! What horseshit! Je---------!!
What?!??
I can swear all I want but I can’t mention G….er….any organized religious being??!? Bull shit!!

Well….can I say “Allah?”
How ‘bout “Yahweh?” “Jehova?”

……Ok, so I can say those names but not J----------?
ARGH!!!

So to be clear, I can’t mention any omnipotent Christian being?
(phew…I snuck “Christian” in)

Wait, let me re-read that stupid first amendment…no law…yadda..yadda…exercise…yadda..yadda…of grievances. Got it.
No, wait. I don’t.
Oh, there it is!
Separation of Christian church and state. How could I have missed that?!?!!?
Man, I really am stupid.

How ‘bout you? Did you see it? Or did you miss it too?

How about fucking A.C.L.U.? Can I say that?
Sucess!
Thank you for giving me the right to tell you to F’off, A.C.L.U.

Reality: In the warped world of the A.C.L.U. only God and Jesus Christ are the real enemy.

God bless America.

I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'....

As most of you know (that even read this blog anymore) I am very pro-American. I am also very proud of my Italian heritage. Therefore I looked to the U.S. vs. Italy soccer match with great interest. The match itself was a tightly fought battle worthy of World Cup competition. It was billed – fairly – as a David (U.S.) versus Goliath (Italy).
The outcome, however, is up for interpretation. The final score was a tie, 1-1.
What was surprising to me was the spin carried out by the American media.

MSNBC: “Bloodied, short-handed U.S. ties Italy”
CNNSI: “Point taken -
United States draws with Italy in ejection-filled match”
ESPN 1: “Bloodied McBride is our hero: Keller”
ESPN 2: “Refs favor football superpowers, complains Arena”
While across the pond, you get this:
"Italiani, non perdete fiducia in Azzurri" – that from the Italian coach, “Italians, don’t lose faith in the Azzurri (weird, but the “blue” is what Italians call their nationals…I think it has to do with the “blue angels” or “angeli azzurri”)

While watching the game I heard the commentators talk about the “valiant effort” of the US squad being “dominant” to keep the Italians “on the run.”

Reality: 98% of the first half was played with the US having an 11 to 10 advantage and still the only goal they managed to score…wait, they didn’t. It was scored by the Italians, in their own goal. In the 2nd half, there were certainly some loose red card action, but “dominant?”

I guess we’ll see in the next round.

Unreal.

The system that complains that we don’t have money for schools (RUSD et. al.) first inundates the Racine voters with apparently limitless – and costless? – mailings asking for a “yes” vote on yet another referendum for more money now brings us basically a waste of paper, ink and resources for the city to pass – what is it, again? A resolution? WTF... – to “bring the troops home”, starting with the National Guard.
Grunts and Jarheads be damned – they can wait.
Who gets to decide that, again?

I have long said, to plenty of head-shaking, that we can solve just about any problem we have if we just set some type of priorities – even if just for a limited time.

Examples:
- Could breast cancer research use an extra $200,000?
Well, sure, but we need another couple episodes of “The Amazing Race.”
-Could MS research use an extra million in research funds?
Of course, but how will we live without seeing yet another “Star Trek” spin-off?
- Could the fight against world hunger use the extra $20 Million?
You betcha! But then we couldn’t pay Cameron Diaz – who insists she isn’t “greedy” – her appearance fee? A movie just isn’t a movie without Ms. Diaz, right?

I hope this is making my point.
We, as Americans, live in a fantastic society where we will donate to worthy causes, sometimes at the expense of our own advancement.
We also seem throw money away on pastimes and moronic endeavors (Police Academy 4..?!!?) rather than putting it to good use.

What were to happen if Hollywood donated these funds for HIV research and providing financial help to those that needed the current meds? They talk a big game, but, have you watched any of the Oscars? Sure, they claim that its all done for free and any proceeds go to charity. Really? What about the “gift bags” worth upwards of 5K that the nominees receive? (to my knowledge, George Clooney was the only one who donated his last year. I’m sure there were more, but how many homeless need a crystal vase?).

Reality: We all talk a big game. The solutions to our problems are usually in front of us, we just make choices without regard to real priorities.

Question:

Reality: Everybody talks about it, but, in reality, no one can really do anything about it.

OUR YOUTH?

Disclaimer #1: I have no children of my own, but I am the very proud uncle of 3 wonderful nephews and one beautiful little niece. With that said, this is what I encountered on the way home from my doctor:
Disclaimer #2: As a driver, I tend to have a strong personality. Yes, I am a tad bit embarrassed about it. I certainly don’t want that to be the example to my nephews.

When I turned on the road leading to my apartment, I noticed gaggles of children leaving the local school. This mass exodus thinned as I approached my home, except for 2 children riding their bikes. As an avid cyclist, I tend to be a bit more flexible on what I will allow as far as “road manners” in respect to the motorized vehicle folk. However, in this particular instance I felt it was a bit much.

As I approached the children, I noticed both of them were on the wrong side of the road, my left. One of the children was staying close to the curb while the other swerving and swaying past the median into my lane. The closer I got, it became apparent to me that the child that was swerving all over the road had no intention of taking notice of anyone that may have been coming down the street behind him – like me, for instance.

Once I got to within 20 feet of the child, I noticed that I could sneak by him without harm – even though he was on my side of the road. I was getting irritated that he still had not looked back to see if anyone was approaching. When I drove by, I honked my horn.
The boy proceeded to yell something vile at me. I slowed the car to a near stop and rolled down my window. This was the exchange that ensued:

Me: What did you say?
Him: Why are you honking at me?
Me: Why are you riding in the middle of the road and not noticing anyone approaching?
Him: I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Me: You wanna tell that story to your parents??

The boy that was riding near the curb looked Hispanic, the one that I almost hit and having my exchange with, was black.
I had, at this point, come to a complete stop in front of an very elderly African-American lady who was tending to her lawn. She stopped tending and was watching/listening to the exchange between myself and this boy. Also at this time, a small crowd of children had started to gather, also listening in on our exchange. To continue:

Him: I don’t live near here.
Me: No problem! I have time, let’s go.
Him: Man, why you gotta get all racist on me!?

…

I can’t begin to tell you how mad I got. I cannot. I looked at the elderly lady, looked back at him and, I admit, I lost it.

Me: What the f… did you say??!?!! What the f… did you say??!?!!
Him: *silence*
Me: (voice noticeably louder, head now practically out of the car) That’s the best you got??! That’s the best you got??!
(I pointed to one of the blonde kids that had gathered) You think I would have cared if it was him riding in the middle of the street? What you did was stupid. I don’t care if you’re black, white or green. Stupid doesn’t have color. Actually, you’re lucky I’m not a racist. A racist would have hit you!

At this point he got an apologetic, foolish look on his face. And the elderly lady chimed in:
“I see this all the time. These kids ride around here all the time like that. Its about time someone said something to them.” I don’t want to say that I felt vindicated, but it sure felt nice.
The boy became more contrite, approached my car and was as apologetic as he was going to be without losing face in front of his friends. The lady smiled at me and as I told her “thanks” and “have a nice day, ma’am.”

Is it me?
His default setting is "you're a racist?"
ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!?!?

Reality: If we continue to teach our children this default setting, we will never, ever come together as one society.