The Ugly American
How does one pick their news sources?
I try to read the paper every day…yeah, I only read one…but the crap they put in it is all I can take for one day. I read some web news, like Drudge and Yahoo News. I watch TV…that’s where I get most of my news…TV. I read a few different blogs. But holy mackerel there are some wing nuts out there in cyberspace! How do you pick and choose? How do you know what’s spin and what’s unwashed truth?
The problem as I’m seeing it right now though is where I should get my news. People I regularly converse with tell me all kinds of things about the news. Fox is too conservative…CNN is to liberal…bloggers don’t have a clue…so…where do you go to get just plain news…no spin…no bullshit…just plain news?
I try to watch the Sunday morning news shows on the networks…ABC has “This Week” whose’ host, George Stephanopoulos, is the former press secretary for Clinton...if George can’t spin a story then a story can’t be spun! Think about all the crap he had to spin when he worked in the White House!
NBC has Meet the Press whose host, Tim Russert, has worked for a couple of democrats in the past. Mr. Russert worked as a counselor for Mario Cuomo when he was governor of NY and for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan as Chief of Staff. NBC has another Sunday morning news show…but I have a hard time listening to Chris Matthews….he seems liking he’s yelling at the world most of the time and I live with 3 women…I don’t need anyone else yelling at me! So, no Hardball for me! I think he might have a little bit of a saliva problem too…besides, Matthews worked for Carter…I was in the military when Carter was president…did you know that when Carter was president China called the U.S. a paper tiger? I was in the military back then…I’d rather watch SNL impersonate him anyway…a lot more fun.
CBS’s Face the Nation seems to have a pretty decent guy as host, Bob Schieffer, with no former political affiliation…the only problem is that I think CBS is just a very dishonest news organization. I have a real problem getting that whole…just because the documents are fake doesn’t mean the story is fake bullshit of Dan Rather’ a couple of years ago. I mean, I don’t even turn on 60 Minutes anymore until Andy Rooney comes on because that’s all that’s worth watching! I will say that Schieffer did a fine job hosting the presidential debates I watched a few years back. At least I thought he did…but I’m probably wrong about that too.
The other Sunday morning show that I watch and actually like is Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. You would think, being the son of a prominent CBS news personality that Chris would lean a little more to the left…but it doesn’t seem that way to me. One of the regulars on the Fox Sunday morning show is Brit Hume…the first time I saw this guy on Fox News he was yelling at some politician to answer the damn question! I liked that! I believe it was the first time I had ever heard a talking head tell a politician to do something like that! Those same people that tell me that Fox is too conservative point to the fact that the White House just hired one of their talking heads to be the presidents’ press secretary. I guess it’s ok to go from press secretary to talking head, but not the other way around?
But if I tell people that I enjoy Fox news more than any of the other news programs on the boob tube then I must be some kind of crazy conservative. And then you have the folks that appear to honestly believe that nothing Fox reports can possibly be the truth…they call it Faux News…they’re so fucking clever aren’t they?
Like the little rich kid on CNN is any less partisan in his reporting? Come on now…you know who the little rich kid is don’t you? Gloria Vanderbilt’s baby boy? Railroad money? Don’t you people watch Oprah?!??! I just think that people that come from money have a different perspective on life than those of us that don’t come from money. If you’ve never had to worry about whether or not the government cheese and WIC milk was gonna get to you in time then you have a different perspective on life than I do. And if you didn’t have to do it while on active duty then you still won’t get where I’m coming from! You never had to get underway with a wife and newborn still at home with no money and barely enough to eat…but that’s beside the point.
I used to watch O’Reilly, but he’s become to “holier than thou” for me. There was a time when he seemed to be a pretty decent guy. When I lived in AZ I attended a live taping of his show and got to meet and talk to him before the taping. At the time he had been spewing about an SUV tax. I asked him how big his house was and when he told me I suggested that maybe he should be paying an oversized house tax…he actually bought up our conversation at the end of the show. It told me one thing about the guy, he wasn’t just down there signing autographs…he was actually listening to me. That was pretty cool. I just think that now, he’s believes all the BS that they say about him…
Do I actually have to work to get my news? Figure this shit out for myself? Watch all the news channels and try to figure out which talking head is telling the white lie and which one is telling the whopper? Because I know they’re all lying to me…they must be…they all have different stories!
So tell me…where do I get honest, unbiased, straight up news? Is there such a place? Can I get there from here?
A better idea for a Constitutional amendment.
I was watching the news last night…the Yankee game wasn’t on TV so I had nothing better to do...and I heard that congress is close to a vote on a flag burning amendment to the Constitution.
I think this is a bad idea. Yeah, it’s disrespectful to our fighting men and women…yeah it’s disrespectful to the families of those fallen in war..but, like Ford, I have a better idea.
Instead of an amendment to the Constitution banning flag burning…how about we put an amendment in the Constitution banning prosecution of anyone beating the shit out of someone burning a flag?
You can burn all the American flags you like but you have to suffer the consequences of your actions if that’s what you decide to do. I know, it’s not politically correct or Christian or anything like that, but man, it would be so much fun to get away with beating the crap out of someone that thought it was cool to burn my flag!
It’s just a thought…
I like it here...
We moved back to the Beach a few years ago from the desert and I still like it here. I spent this last Saturday on the beach with my family. The picture you see is a picture of one of my daughters in a bikini...well...that's what she calls it. I call it not enough material.
That's her...in the picture. No, I won't show you a picture of her in that bikini any closer than it is right now. I've tried to keep this sight pretty much PG-13. You know, the occasional swear word and that's about it. Besides!!! That's my daughter there man!
Yeah, you're absolutely right. If it was any other beautiful young lady I wouldn't care. That's not exactly true...if was any other beautiful young lady I'd have my Oakley’s on and I'd be checking her out. But it's not, it's my Cutie Pie and YOU can't check her out!
This all goes back to that first day...the day she was born. I was in there; it was pretty intense and pretty amazing. Afterwards, I was standing at that big window. You know the one...where everyone can see all those new babies.
I guess you could see it on my face and someone asked me..."which one is yours?"
I said, "That little girl right there."
Their response..."you should feel lucky, most of the babies born lately have been boys."
My answer to that..."Well, you better keep all of them away from my little girl!"
That woman that you can barely see in this picture...that's her. That picture represents how close you can get to her if I'm around. Stay away!
Oh yeah, I have another one...daughter that is...and you can't get close to her either!
Had to share this one...
Got this in an e-mail...thought it was just to funny not to share...even though, it was OBVIOUSLY written by a woman!
Never argue with a Woman who can Read!
One morning the husband returns after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap. Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, and reads her book. Along comes a Game Warden in his boat.
He pulls up alongside the woman and says,
"Good morning, Ma'am. What are you doing?"
"Reading a book," she replies, (thinking, "Isn't that obvious?")
"You're in a Restricted Fishing Area," he informs her. "
"I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading."
"Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up."
"If you do that, I'll have to charge you with sexual assault," says the woman.
"But I haven't even touched you," says the game warden.
"That's true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment."
"Have a nice day ma'am," and he left.
MORAL: Never argue with a woman who reads. It's likely she can also think.
Like I said...obviously written by a woman!
I'd sure like to see the sun!!!
I got to the Conch Republic on Saturday...you can see from the picture what the sky looked like when I got here...IT HASN'T CHANGED!!!
It's been dark and gray since I got here...and that sucks. I do have a rant for later, I'm just not in the mood to type it up right now. Did you know that if a Cuban makes it to American soil he or she is GIVEN $10000!!! Can you believe that drap?
You do know where the Conch Republic is...don't you?
Just in case you haven't heard...
The wicked witch is dead! Well, one of them anyway!
It's been all over the news today, but Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of the strongest leaders of the insurgency in Iraq has been killed in a U.S. air raid. It happened yesterday. Him and seven of his boys met the business end of a couple of smart bombs.
See, the world gets better and better every day!
I'd love to be there when he gets to the pearly gates...looking for his 70 virgins...and meets those seventy Virginians instead!
There's a good read on this story at
stop the aclu and another one on
MYWAYNEWS check them out!
A little help for our Mexican friends...
I got this map in an email today. I thought it was worth sharing...
It's for groups of Mexicans that think the southwest still belongs to Mexico.
I may have to alter this picture a little...put those words in spanish so they can understand them better.
This will wear you out!
Get up at 4AM...Why? Because your buddy tells you he's picking you up at 4:30. You call him at 4:35 and hear in his voice that you just woke him up. I just got out of the shower, I'll be there in 15 minutes. Yeah, sure you will.
I should have known better, I've known this buddy of mine for about 15 years now and he's never been on time for anything! He's one of those people that you have lie to to get him somewhere on time. You know the type...You're either one of those types, or your married to one of those types!
It was for the ride to Dover on Sunday morning. Dover is about 3 and a half hours away. The gates opened at something like 8:30 and the plan was to get there early so we could get a good parking spot. You know, easy in and out...maybe get home at a reasonable time...
Instead, we got there an hour and a half AFTER the lots opened...and we parked here!
That little thing in the background? That's the race track. I think I get closer to it when I drive on the Freeway on my way to Jersey!
But the seats were good once we got there!!!
That makes four tracks I've seen a NASCAR race at now. The first was Phoenix and unfortunately, I didn't own a digital back then. I went to Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) three different times. It's not my favorite track. Parking isn't bad and in and out isn't bad...but the racing is kinda boring...PIR is flat, relatively speaking and the cars only race around at about 100 to 115 MPH...and in NASCAR, that's slow. My second track was Richmond, VA. Great race! Night racing is cool. Richmond is a 3/4 mile track and man, the cars fly! The next track I've been to is Charlotte, NC. Charlotte Motor Speedway is one badass track! 200 MPH down the back stretch! Half the race in the daytime, the other half at night! Great parking, great seats...
I'm gonna try to find a video hosting site, then I'm gonna put the starting laps up from Charlotte, Richmond and Dover. 3 short videos, taken with my little Sony Cybershot camera...that way you can see what I see on the first lap every time...you tell me which one is better...
