My Resumé of Hate.

It's time to come clean with you people: I'm a terrible person.  It has been made clear to me that not only am I a racist, but also a sexist.  I never intended to become one, but unfortunately for me I ended up having an opinion.



The racism part is easy to explain: I think Barack Obama is a terrible president.  I just don't think he's done a good job.  He seems more interested in being cool and campaigning than he does in actually leading the country.  In think he's more interested in catering to special interest groups when issues that affect the country as a whole are not being tended to.  I also don't think he has any ideas as to how to truly fix any of these problems as he just wants to keep raising taxes instead to doing some sensible measures.  Obviously, all of this is because he's a black guy.

There's still this weird undertone of "If you don't like Obama then you're a racist" that pops up here and there.  Sure there's some people out there who don't like him simply because he's black, but there's also many of us who don't like him because of his choices and policies.  But we're back to the old fighting like a six year old tactic of lying to change reality, and claiming something is "hate speech" simply because you don't agree with it.

But this is old news.  Let's talk about me being a sexist.  I discovered this because I've been informed that Seth MacFarlane's little song and dance number at the Oscar's is all about hate.



DAMMIT!  I thought I was being all open to diversity because it had a gay men's chorus in it and I'm still trying to make up for hating all them there gays by eating at Chik-Fil-A.  But no, I'm a terrible sexist because I laughed my ass off.  I don't know what's wrong with me in that I lack the empathy to feel bad for these poor women who were sitting there in gowns that cost more than my annual income and were being systematically called out for choosing to get a bit naked in front of the camera.  Maybe if they hadn't made so much money from it I'd be a better person and feel bad.



Now, the person who let me know this is about "hate" is a woman whom I like a lot.  She's a smart, funny filmmaker.  Tons of talent.  We just disagree about this, so I'm not going to throw out a link to her blog because I don't want anyone going over there and leaving snarky comments.  However, she's truly offended by this so what she should do is make video entitled "We Saw Your Junk", make a nice little song and dance number about it, post it up on YouTube and watch the hits come on in.  Living well is the best revenge and making some coin off of a clever retort is nice.

So let's see.  I don't like Obama, so I'm a racist.  I laughed at that Seth MacFarlane bit, so I'm a sexist.  I still eat at Chik-Fil-A, so I'm still hating those gays.  Oh wait, I nearly forgot, those parents who are being pissy with a school for refusing to let their son use the girls bathroom because of a label they slapped on their kid are morons so obviously I must hate transgender people too.

(Sindenote: STOP LABELING KIDS.)



So that's me.  Big ball o' hate.  I wouldn't blame you all for blocking me from whatever social media I may or may not be one and leaving me all alone with my hate.

Or you could understand that having different point of view isn't hate.  Laughing at satire isn't hate.  Eating Chicken sammiches isn't hate.  And finally the diversity that the people who hurl about allegations of "hate speech" and the like are trying so hard to defend needs to still include white, straight guys too.  Otherwise I'm going to have to find some sort of minority status to claim to fit in.  Which likely wouldn't be too difficult as sane people are getting scarce.

Presidential Championship Bout!

Round one on the debates is over and done with and Obama got stomped pretty bad out there.  He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but on that stage.  There was a lot of build up to this debate, and many of his supporters were confident that their image of Obama the amazing orator was going to come out onto that stage and mop the floor with Mitt Romney.  Didn't happen.  Then there was a period of silence as those supports tried to make sense out of what had just happened.  Then the excuses started flying.

It was the altitude of being up in Denver.

He was playing "rope-a-dope".

There was a strange sudden onset of narcolepsy.

Those of you that have followed me for a while know I'm a fight guy.  When you have two guys going after each other in the ring most likely someone is going to get beat.  There's always those post fight interviews with the guy who loses, and often the guy who lost has some sort of excuse.  It really just makes them look like a bitch.  If you get beat, you should just admit it graciously, and go back to the drawing board to try harder.  Political fighting is different from real fighting of course, so if you get beat you'e supposed to make excuses, and try to spin things.

The day after the election Obama goes out and says "That wasn't the real Mitt Romney."

Really?  In that case Bizarro Mitt Romney done kicked your ass.  The thing with this campaign is the Obama camp has been trying very hard to define who Mitt Romney is.  They've painted a picture of an old fuddy-duddy who can't connect with people and only cares about rich folks.  It looks like they've actually bought into that too.  That wasn't smart because if you start having a lot of delusions about who your opponent is and buy into them, you are going to be in for a world of hurt when your real opponent shows up.  Romney came off charming, intelligent and in command.  The guy looked presidential.  Whether you agree with him or not on issues, he was outstanding in that debate.

We have a serious miscalculation by Obama in this round.  But really, there wasn't much hope for him to win an economic debate with Mitt Romney.  Where do we go from here?

Next week is the debate between the Joe Biden and Paul Ryan.  Not a very good follow up if you're camp Obama.  Biden is prone to gaffes and has a history of making comments that don't totally jive with the administration's agenda.  Really, all they can hope for is that Biden doesn't say anything that hurts the campaign.  So, if this week Biden doesn't makes things worse then he's succeeded in his job.

That'll take us to the final two debates between Obama and Romney.  One of those is going to be on foreign policy.  Typically those favor the incumbent, but right now, its really shaky.  If you had asked me last month if Obama had that one in the bag with the bin Laden trump card I'd have had to say "yes".  Doesn't matter that it was the intelligence gathering techniques that Obama himself objected to that led directly to the mission being possible.  The meme of "Obama got Osama" has caught on as if the president himself had pulled the trigger.

But now we've had the terrorist attack which killed our people in our embassy, including our ambassador.  Obama was running around saying it was the result of an anti-Islamic film and it was protest that got out of hand when it was obvious to anyone following the story that it was a terrorist attack.  Protesters don't bring RPGs.  There's records that the ambassador requested more security and it was denied.  The scene as of this writing has not been secured by the FBI, so its possible that sensitive documents that could endanger more people are out in the open.  To make things worse for the President, its out that he doesn't attend many of his security briefings.  Skipping out on meeting with foreign leaders to go on The View doesn't help either.

Its really not looking good for the Obama camp.  There's a ton of openings for Romney to exploit.  Still, in the fight game there's a saying: "You never want to leave it in the hands of the judges."  In politics, its almost always going to be in the hands of the judges, and we hope the judges (being the voters of course) are paying close attention.

Bin Ladin is dead.

Got' em! Its Wednesday, May 4, 2011, there's one less evil bastard in the world, and this is The Side. By now, everyone's probably heard the news: Osama bin Laden is dead. Its not the only news right now, but its the only thing people are talking about, and today, its what I'm talking about.

Here's how it went down. The C.I.A. had gathered intel and gotten a lead. There was a 50 to 80% chance that bin Laden was in a compound in Pakistan. This was presented to the President and he was given three options: wait and see, bomb the place, or send in a team. Fortunately about half the advisers present had their heads screwed on straight and Obama listened to them. The wait and see bit would accomplish nothing, and likely lose a chance at getting him. Bombing the place would have resulted in a lot of casualties and would have left a lot of doubt in everyone's minds. The correct option was clear: send in a team and make sure we get him.

Once this option was chosen, it was out of Obama's hands and into the hands of mission planning. It took about a month to put this together, complete with two rehearsals. This was a joint operation with our locals boys of Team Six going in.

Once Obama got word that the mission was set to go, he cut his golf game short and headed to the Situation Room watch things unfold. (This isn't me joking. He was out playing golf when he got word. There was a message that he was cutting his game short to go to the practice range.) There was a problem with one of the four helicopters going in and it had to be ditched and destroyed. No one was injured. The rest of the mission was carried out. They tried to take bin Laden alive, but that wasn't going to happen so he got shot in the face. None of our troops were killed. The mission was a success.

For the doubters: this is real. There were photos taken, and DNA evidence gathered. They got him. 100% certainty. According to Muslim tradition the body needed to be buried within 24 hours. No country wanted the body buried in their country so they did a burial at sea. I understand why no country wanted bin Laden's body buried there as the burial site could have turned into a place of interest for future terrorists.

There are doubters who think this might be part of an elaborate hoax. Obama has begun his re-election campaign and needs something to stand on. Frankly, there's some things you just can't fake. For this to be a hoax everyone involved from the president to the Team Six members to bin Laden himself would have to be in on it. I understand why people doubt this since the administration has lied repeatedly about things, and I've been one of their many detractors. This time though, they did it right.

Will there be repercussions for Al Queda? Probably. The threat isn't over, but message is clear. We don't let this stuff go. If you attack this country we're not going to let you get away with it. It may take a while, but you will answer for it. Bin Laden has been a threat to this country for a long time. Bill Clinton didn't do anything about him, even though he had an opportunity. Because of this it fell to George W. Bush to set policy that would take on bin Laden and his ilk. Obama reaped the fruits of this policy, and fortunately he had a bigger set of stones than Clinton. There's a new head of Al Queda now, and if he's smart he'll bail on that gig and go do something else with his life. This is a long game we're involved in. Whenever you take on bad religion like this, it takes a lot of time defeat it. We had a big step in that direction this week.

So kudos to the Intelligence Agents particularly the C.I.A. for finding the bastard. Big kudos to our local boys in Team Six for going in and getting him. Bin Laden was behind the attack on the U.S.S. Cole, and I do remember that day as the Cole was based here. It does feel like the Hampton Roads area has delivered the receipt for that attack. But this isn't a Hampton Roads victory. Its not even an Obama victory. Its an American victory.



Yes I did have a break from my typical format today, but I felt it was called for. Before I bail for today I'd like to wish The Missus a happy birthday. She turned 29 again. Love ya, baby! Back to business on Friday with some comic reviews. See y'all then.

Headbasher's Ball

Gadzooks! Its Wednesday, April 6, 2011, cable sucks, and this is The Side. Clicked on the TV is the house i was working in yesterday to check the weather report and MTV was on. What the hell happened there? I know they don't show music videos or even care about music anymore, but cripes! Its like Wild Kingdom. Jersey Shore is bad enough. That damn show is like visiting the monkey cage with a slightly less chance of getting poo flung at you.

The ad for The Real World looked horrendous. Some drunken idiot nearly punching some girl right in the face. Is that what its become? Will that moron get tossed out? They put up with a lot less back when I actually cared about the show.

And what was actually on MTV at the time? A reality TV show about kids at a Fat Camp showing that being overweight can't stop you from being asshat teenager.

Geebus. What happened to Liquid Television? Remote Control? Idiot Savant? I mean, if they aren't going to show music videos, would it kill them to actually put entertaining stuff on there like they used to? Beavis and Butthead have more intellectual candlepower than the crap on there now.

POP POLITICS!!!

The big "news this week is Barack Obama has announced his re-election campaign. This is news? It would be news if he announced he was not going to run for re-election as he's done enough to screw things up. Ah well, if the spirit of fairness, here's his video.



OK, that was about as objective as a Michael Moore "documentary", but there's some points in there that really do need to be out there. That's the great thing about America: When you get a bad President, you can vote him out in four years.

BEATIN'S!!!

One of my students said it was like a field trip. His knuckle was swollen about four times its normal size when he said that with a smile on his face. My right hand is swollen a bit as well, and I've got a nasty bruise on my left elbow. It was a good class.

Right now, I'm just under 190 pounds. I thought my high school reunion was this year, but the people organizing it decided to have it next year instead. My goal was to be back at full steam fighting shape by then. Gives me more time, so no excuses. Last time i saw those folks I was looking pretty good. I was hitting the gym regularly. I was working hard. I was about 175 then, and it was pretty lean. Now, I'm not going to hit that weight again, and really the number isn't that important. Me at a good fight weight is between 180 and 185. Not much to lose on paper, but just cutting weight isn't the goal. The goal is to get to a good, fit weight.

Hence the field trip. We all went out back behind the church, hung a heavy bag out of a three, and then took turns doing one minute rounds. Round one was freestyle against the bag. The bag had a "strong arm" attached to it, and when that thing whacks you, you know it. Round two consisted of five seconds one the bag freestyle, switch to kicking target pads for five seconds, then one to punching the focus mits of five seconds. Rotate through three times. Round three is "dirty boxing" the heavybag for five seconds, knee strikes to kicking shields for five, and finally elbows to the focus mits. Three times though. And yes, I did indeed do it too.

So I'm sore. But its a good sore, an honest one. And one I'll be getting used to. No prisoners. No mercy.

MUSIC!!!

I've bought this album three times. Not only good enough to buy, but good enough to replace twice.



All right, that's the round up for today. See y'all Friday. Behave yourselves.

The internet has gone mad!!!

Good morning class, it is Wednesday, June 30, 2010 and in the S M T W T F S daily abbreviations you will notice that we are entering yet again the WTF portion of the week.

BATTLEGROUND: SCANS DAILY

BIRDS OF PREY #2 came out a little while back and I didn't pick it up. The shop was out so i didn't see it and I'm a little on the fence about the book. I love Gail Simone's writing. I absolutely adore it. However, I really don't like Ed Benes artwork. However, Linda tipped me off as to the big controversy around the issue. Two of the supporting cast died. Well, there's a big problem here, because one of them was gay and in grief for the murder of the man he loved and swore to protect, took his own life. This sparked much outrage on one site especially since the issue came out in the middle of Gay Pride Month.

Wait, it gets better.

Madam Simone was a member of that site. Note my use of the word 'was'. So when people started getting pissed off, she responded saying how she understood that people were upset at the deaths of two liked characters. However, she didn't like people trying to pin her with the reputation of killing off gay characters. Now, many people on there continued to be very civil to her. They didn't like what happened to the characters, but bad things happen to characters. Being gay or any other type of minority in comic book does not automatically give that character a magically fabulous force field that prevent bad stuff from happening to them. But of course some people on the site were claiming that the deaths played into a bunch of different tropes. 'Tropes' is a word that people use to make themselves seem smarter than they actually are. Most of them don't know what it really means, so I want you all to know it means 'ferret'.

The kicker is that Simone got a warning from the site administrators about the content and her discussing it. And she left the site. I don't blame her. This is flat out stupid. I have the book. I've read it. That part of the story was not about hating gay people. I've seen Gail Simone's twitter. She seems to really like gays. Especially gay men. In pirate costumes. Kissing. So, the site administrators with the righteous indignation spurred by social justice gave her an official warning, thus proving that they suck, because we can't have Gail Simone killing off gay characters in the middle of Gay Pride Month even though she created those characters to begin with. She obviously created them years and years ago in an insidious plot to make people like them and once liked, she would wait until Gay Pride Month to kill them horribly and really stick it to those pesky gays.

Yeah. Scans Daily. You fail. You had one of the best writers in comics on your boards chatting with your members, and she left because of your moderators. Ponder that for a while.

YOU CAN'T HIDE IN THE INTERNET

The Saga of Manny Fresh continued over the weekend as yet another Twitter account joined the e-battle royal. "Manny sucks sucks" was pretty much the anti-anti-Manny. We all wondered where the insanity would end, but end it did because Manny Fresh's detractor made some mistakes. The first of which was a text message that appeared on Manny's personal phone.

It was on like a Filipino Donkey Kong.

This was a step too far, and the quarry had grossly underestimated Manny Fresh. The internet may provide people with some anonymity, but that can't stop Manny Fresh. The noose was tightening and Manny had a lead on his e-nemesis when Manny Fresh Sucks made a tragic mistake on twitter by posting this:

KELLYS ON KEMPSVILLE HAS NO AC. ITS HOTTER THAN @VAMANNYFRESH 's BUKKAKE SCENE IN HIS PORNO DEBUT. 9:45 PM Jun 27th via Twitter for iPhone

Whoops. Not too long after, Manny had a tweet of his own confirming that the AC was indeed broken. Yeah, bad move letting the internet know where you are and good old Twitter let Manny know that his target had an iPhone. So, when Manny spotted a guy with an iPhone looking around the bar rather frantically he had his prey. Of course the guy said he was just kidding with all his trash talk, and the tone of his Twitter account has changed quite a bit.

Two lessons to learn: talking trash online isn't worth squat, and the internet cannot protect you from Manny Fresh.

So that's the end of that drama but there could be more in store as Optimous Prime is being held hostage next to some ammunition and a stripper's used panties. There's to be a clandestine exchange for a particular Peter Criss mask atop the Dominion Towers parking garage.

I smell... double cross.

POP POLITICS

President Obama has a lot on his plate. He's got to deal with people at war with the country, the economy is in pretty rough shape, that oil is still leaking, and Lady Gaga might get a million followers on twitter before him. And now there's folks who would like him to get his twitter on.

Look, anyone who thinks the President is actually personally providing any content to that Facebook page is fooling themselves. And frankly, with all the security problems Facebook has I'm amazed he has any presence there at all. I know social media was a big factor in him getting to the White House, but now he's got an actual job to do, and he spends too much time whoring out to the media anyhow.

Although if Lady Gaga beats Obama in this she's going on my dead pool list. No way will Obama let there be a bigger pop star than him. Remember what happened to the King of Pop? Just sayin'.

THE JERK IN THE MIRROR

And speaking of Michael Jackson, I wonder if Chris Brown's crying fit on stage during the Michael Jackson tribute was due to the wave of irony crashing down upon him that he was singing in tribute to a man who grew up in an abusive household. Actually it was a very fitting tribute in that after his death everybody seems to have forgotten that Michael Jackson, while a great artist, was a creepy bastard who quite likely enjoyed the company of children in ways no one should, and after the tribute and crying fit everyone seems to have forgotten that Brown beat the hell out of his girlfriend. Seems he's popular again.

Folks seem to be suffering from memory loss.

MUSIC!!

And speaking of dirtbags:


When this video came out the kids were like "OH MY GOD!! Those people from AMERICAN PIE are in a video!!". We now say the same words, but for an entirely different reason.

POP QUIZ!!

1: Do you read Gail Simone's comics, and if so, what are you reading?

2: Is there anyone on the internet that you ever hunted down and confronted? If not, who would you want to?

3: Who is your favorite teenage dirtbag?

Alright troops, that is it until Friday. Leave comments, discuss, make fun, etc. Big thanks to Linda for turning me onto the Gail Simone story, and big thanks to the Mike and Bob Show for putting some links up to the blog. See you Friday.

Is Obama a super villain?

See, I warned you people. Everyone thought I was nuts, but sure enough I was right. Everyone poo pooed my nay saying of Obama being put into all those comics. Well, everyone except Richard and Chris, however everyone thought it was such a nifty idea. Sure it gave the company a sales boost. Yeah, Joey got on the news for giving away 1000 of the Obama Spider-man comic. And of course we might not have comics like BARACK THE BARBARIAN if not for our Pop-Star-in-Chief.

But you have to wonder....

Would Spidey have given Obama that fist bump if he knew that he'd appoint Norman Osborne to be in charge S.H.I.E.L.D.'s replacement?

Since Obama has vowed to meet with any world leader without preconditions, he'll be having a sit down with Doctor Doom?

In the comments over in the blog post I linked to, our good buddy over at Teatime Brutality made the very astute comment that our comics are acting more like news and our news is acting more like comics. It just keeps going too. We have Nancy Pelosi, fresh off her Hollywood big break as being a stand in for Heath Ledger in THE DARK KNIGHT, making statements like, "We won't know what's in the bill until we pass it." It's called 'reading', you twit.

Even better is Michael Moore, who took time off from eating something, saying that he wants Rahm Emanual's job. I would like to say on behalf of everyone would has ever had a conservative thought in their life: Please do this. Pretty please with sugar on top. Let the entire world see what a farce this all is and let us get back to the business of being a great country again. At the very least you'll give Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly something to make fun of for years to come.

It's really all one big laughable farce. But we're under three years until Obama hits the bricks and hopefully we get someone in the White House who wants to serve the will of the people and not inflict his will upon the people. Still I don't wish ill upon the man and I'm sure he'll enjoy his next job which he seems to already be practicing for as a professional tennis watcher.

Originally I planned on watching an Obama speech and counting all of his 'uh's, 'um's and stutters, because really the man is not a good public speaker at all. He has an excellent speaking voice and that covers it up. I was also going to count how many times he looks from one teleprompter to the other and at five minutes in I was at fifty and just gave up. I couldn't keep up with it. Don't even get me started on his pauses.

Maybe he could be a super villain if PBS's WORDGIRL branches out and needs a villain that corrupts the ability to speak.

Separation of Comics and State.

It's no secret that I'm not an Obama fan. To me he's just another politician and as likely to screw people over as any other politician. Unfortunately, my not being a fan is turning into an absolute loathing be cause the guy is everywhere, and since it came out he's a comic fan, he's been the focus of a few comics. There's the now famous SPIDER-MAN comic. He was put into a SAVAGE DRAGON comic as well. He's been on the cover of WIZARD magazine repeatedly. And the people are lining up for it.

My annoyance aside: here's why it's a bad idea.

The guy is the number one pop star on the planet so it's a good sales boost as long as his approval rating is good. If he does something stupid well that could be a nasty sales hit. It's always a risk including real world people into comic continuity. Historical figures are one thing, but using current political figures is a polarizing thing. People feel strongly enough about movie stars and musicians, but using them is much more forgivable.

Let's say it comes out in an issue that Batman is a huge fan of the Spice Girls, and this comes out as he's trying to save them from the Joker, and in a sub-plot he's secretly hoping that Catwoman is going to tell him what she wants, what she really really wants. You can expect an outcry of Batfans who hate the Spice Girls. Sure, you'll probably also get a few out there who like both Batman and the Spice Girls who thinks it's great and hopes Bats forgets Selina and runs off with Geri. Most readers, I would hope, would just shrug and enjoy Batman saving the day. But still you've ticked off Batman fans who hate the Spice Girls.

OK, now apply the same logic to using a politician. The SPIDER-MAN and SAVAGE DRAGON appearances were pretty much endorsements of Obama. Whether it was done merely to cash in on Obama-mania or if the company/creators really endorse him is irrelavent. So where does this leave a person who really likes Spider-Man, but really does not like Obama? Do they buy the issue anyways? Do they just skip that issue and buy the next one hoping Obama isn't there? Do they go extreme and drop the book? I don't read either books anyways, so it's a non-issue for me as to my course of action.

There's nothing wrong with using the President as a factor a story. Captain America saves the day and the President thanks him. Neat. However, using the president as more than a story prop runs the risk of ticking off people who take their politics more seriously. DC got smart, they have a fictitious President. For a while the President of the United States in the DCU was Lex Luthor. This wasn't a quick little Superman story either, Luthor was elected and that affected the entire DCU. This was a brilliant move. It did not matter what your thoughts and feelings were about politics, what mattered was what you thought about that character.

Comics are an escape for many people. It is true that often the world we live in has an effect on comics, but still it's an escape. I don't want to see the stuff I see on my nightly news in the comics I read so that I have something else to do besides watch the nightly news. Same with the leader on the free world/the number one pop star on the planet Barack Obama. He's made his appearances. He's sold some issues. Now let's move on before it gets sticky.