The Ramblings of a Regular Dude

There are no “ifs”, “ands” or “buts” about it. Russia invaded a neighboring state, who is a democratically-elected government. They’re currently occupying it, and even as a cease-fire has been signed, there are conflicting reports of exactly how far the Ruissians have removed themsleves from Georgian territory, and how far they plan to go. From some reports, it appears that they will be staying in Ossetia in similar fashion how the US is staying in Iraq. This is unacceptible.

I am not a fan of the current United States administration, but comparing our invasion of Iraq to Russian’s invasion of Georgia is not an accurate similarity.

So, what is there to do? As Defense Secretary Gates said recently, the United States has worked hard for 45 years is ensure that there is no military confrontation between the United States and Russia [the USSR]. In our best efforts, we should continue to keep this a valid line of reasoning. However, the USSR is no more. Georgia, a former Soviet republic, is now fighting a former republic for independence. The United States promotes democracy, and always steps in when efforts of democracy are being extinguished, so let’s hope the that the US has a better response to Russia than they have had so far.

Militarily speaking, there isn’t much that the US can do without endangering the lives of millions of people and setting the word back to 1984. However, combined with European backing and various NATO alliances, there are several moves that can be made to pressure Russia to remove itself from Georgian territory, which include, but are not limited to:

• suspending NATO military excercises with Russia
• boycott the 2014 Olympic games in Russia
• Dissolve the G-8, and the instantly reform the G-7 without Russia

I read these fine suggestions in an Op-Ed piece from a journalist from the Washington Post, and at the current time, I can’t find the original article.

Something needs to be done. The US was asleep at the wheel watching the Olympics for the first week. We’re now in the third week—let’s all hope this works out. If not, looks like it’s time to break out the Cold War history books.

I meant to post this a while back, when the Democratic race was really getting started. But I had other things on my mind and on my plate. So here it is now. A little late, but still really funny. Some of these faces she makes I really believe are not possible to make during natural human emotion–some, most or all of these are fake. Ah well, she’ll be back in 2012 when we can have some more fun with these.

I was fortunate enough to get tickets for both Billy Joel shows at Shea Stadium, on 7/16 and 7/18. In his entire career and throughout my entire life, I had only seen him once before, in 2006 when he did those 12 shows. I came away extremely impressed after that 2006 show. The last two shows at Shea really made me appreciate what an outstanding musician and performer he really is.

Prior to July 16th, my last visit to Shea stadium was in July of 2000. Merengue night at Shea. Oh, what a lovely evening that was. Terrible parking, and the whole place looked like Tijuana on a Saturday night. As I tried to watch the game that night, a large, portly Spanish guy insisted on banging drums through most of the game. I decided that night that it would be one of my last trips to Shea for a while.

So, I decided to return. This time not for a ball game, but for two Billy Joel sold out shows. I played it a little smarter this time. Patty and I drove to Manhasset where we boarded a LIRR train for the direct trip to Shea.

On Wednesday night, our seats were really, really good. First row in the mezzanene, almost dead center. Joel started around 8:30, playing 2 dozen of his hits until about 11:30. That night, he was accompanied by a few special guests that were a real treat for me. Tony Bennett, John Mayer, Don Henley, and John Mellencamp. Aside from the $8 beers, it was a great concert. He played all of the hits; Angry Young Man, Entertainer, Captain Jack, Scenes, and Piano Man just to name a few.

On Friday night, our seats were still very good. This time, we had field-level boxes on the first base line. Aside from a few young kids (19 or so) that finally were escorted out of the stadium around the 5th song, this night was also really amazing. Tony Bennett came out again for “New York State of Mind”, and then the other guests tonight were as spectacular as Wednesday. Both Steven Tyler and Garth Brooks arrived to sing, and then the special treat at the end…Paul McCartney came on to sing “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Let It Be”. For me, that was probably one of the highlights of my life. To see one of the surviving members of The Beatles come back to the stadium in it’s last year to the place The Beatles played when they got to the United States was truly an amazing sight.

Eh, to top this concert, John, Elvis, and Buddy would have to rise from the dead and sing Yankee Doodle Dandy on my doorstep.

Thanks Billy for a wonderful two days at Shea. You really made 60,000 people happy for 2 nights. And, don’t worry–I won’t take shit from anybody.

The people at JibJab.com are back with a new great parody of this year’s election. If you haven’t seen their work before, check out the video below. Then, go to their website. While this video isn’t their best work, it’s still very funny.

This story prompted Wisconsin to create a law that specifically bans people having sex with dead people.

I find it funny that we need to put a law on the books that explicitly prohibits this. I don’t know, I thought it was implied you don’t dig up a grave and have sex with the contents.

“Armed with shovels, a crowbar and a box of condoms, the men went to a cemetery in Cassville in southwestern Wisconsin in 2006 to remove the body of a 20-year-old woman killed the week before in a motorcycle crash, police said.”

I like how they brought condoms with them. That’s showing that they are at least thinking about their decision to dig up a corpse. Because, you know, when you want to have sex with a dead woman, you want to make sure that you don’t get (or give) anything to her, including a child.

One of them had seen an obituary photo of the pretty nursing assistant and asked the others for help digging up her corpse so he could have sexual intercourse with it, prosecutors said. They used the shovels to reach her grave but were unable to pry the concrete vault open and fled after a car drove into the cemetery.”

Talk about intent! Wow, this kid really planned this!

If this story absolutely make you want to hurl and question whether or not these 3 kids are even human, I think we’re all in a lot worse shape than we think. If Wisconsin needs a law to say you can’t have sex with a dead body, fine. May be I’m different, but I realize that it’s not only illegal, but inhuman to do that, which sort of trumps any law we could put on our local code of accepted social guidelines.

The issue here is these 3 kids really need to be taken off the street before they kill someone in a few years.

Ok, first things first. Sexual Exploitation of a minor is a terrible, terrible crime. It’s my opinion that the ramifications for this offense are severe. In my opinion, your second conviction for a sexual crime against a minor warrants life in prison.

All of a sudden this case from the AP comes to light. This guy sexually assaulted 3 girls over 2 years. Horrible? Yes. Four thousand and sixty years in prison is what the judge and jury decided.

Call me crazy, but that’s a bit excessive. A life sentence is a life sentence. Whether it’s 60 years or 100 years, a person even of 20 years of age with a 60 year sentence may very well die in prison. Depending on the crime, that’s fine with me.

But this 4,060 year thing bothers me. He was actually sentenced to that time frame. What if, just what if, something happened in the next 40 years that granted immortality to some people. It costs $19,000 per year to house an inmate in a US prison. Say, just say, he gets some potion in that grants him immortality. Multiply $19,000 x 4,000 years and you’re getting a figure approaching $100,000,000 - at the current value - to keep this inmate alive and well for his stay.

Why not save the money and just execute these people? That’s a definite, legal argument. In my eyes, why not just sentence them to 100 years in prison, and call it a day. That way they’re either too old to live or too old to move, and surely too old to fuck, so all is ok.

On my recent trip to Pennsylvania, I noticed billboard after billboard as I left (and returned) New York that listed the penalties for bringing fireworks into NY from legal purchase in Pennsylvania. The signs went on to describe how it’s a “big deal”, and will result in fine, imprisonment, or suspension of your license as well as loss of your vehicle.

This New York Times article explains the process; people from NJ and NY drive to PA to buy legal fireworks because they are not PA residents. Yes, that is correct - if you are a resident of PA, you can not buy fireworks legally in PA. But if you are from out-of-state, then you’re able to buy whatever you want—but it is illegal to transport those fireworks back across state lines to NY or NJ. Allegedly, NJ and NY State Police are watching and waiting.

When is enough, enough? In the United States, the majority of states allow the sale and use of fireworks, as you can see by this PDF graphic. Mainly, the Northeast remains steadfast—the majority of northeastern states prohibiting all fireworks to those without a commercial permit.

Ultimately, what is the point of that? I can walk into Wallmart and in a few hours, get a shotgun. Yet, I can’t buy fireworks in this state. I have to go to PA, and then be subject to arrest when bringing the fireworks back here to NY.

Hey, here’s an idea!! In New York, make the sale of fireworks legal from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and have these fireworks subject to the local sales tax rate. State gets much needed tax money, people get their fireworks to celebrate July 4th in style without having to drive 100 miles to PA. Everyone wins.

It’s no secret that I love beer. In fact, aside from water, it’s my favorite beverage. In college sure, we used to drink shit beer to get wrecked. Those days are long over. Err, well I mean I no longer drink shit beer to get wrecked. I drink good beer, get a healthy buzz, and call it a night.

On my recent trip to Hershey PA, Patty and I decided to make our way down to my old stomping ground, the University of Delaware. There, plenty of nice restaurants and bars, but one in particular always makes me smile. The Iron Hill Brewery in Newark is one of the finest restaurants from a food standpoint. In addition, all of their beer - brewed on the premises - is fantastic. I drank a few while I was there, and took three 64oz jugs to go, one of which - the Vienna Red Lager - I am currently consuming.

Iron Hill Brewery has 7 locations around Delaware and SE Pennsylvania, including the Newark, Delaware location. I highly recommend a visit to any of them.

Parents!! If you’re son or daughter goes to the U of Delaware, or they are thinking of going there, I highly recommend stopping in the Iron Hill Brewery for a meal and/or a beer. It’s well worth the trip.

Cheers.

You can visit the Iron Hill Brewery online at their webpage by clicking here: Iron Hill Brewery.

So, me and the girlfriend got tickets to see the Dave Matthews Band in Hershey Park, Pennsylvania. We went there in 2005 and loved it, so when we heard he was coming back there, we decided to get tickets. So, off we went–route 78 West to Harrisburg, and then after checking into the Marriott, off to Hershey Park Stadium for the concert.

This concert was fantastic. It was like 3 acts in one. Why, you ask? Well for one, we were lucky enough to have The Black Crowes open up for Dave Matthews. We love them, so having them open on the same ticket was like a bonus. The Black Crowes played from about 7:05 until 8, and then Dave and company came on around 8:30 and played until nearly 11:45pm.

In addition, Time Reynolds played the entire show with the band, and for me, that’s a huge treat and something I hadn’t experienced before. The “Dave and Tim” shows are some of the best accoustic rock/folk around.

All in all, it was one of the better shows we have seen. We’re not die-hards….we have jobs and responsibilities and funds that are not unlimited, so we’re lucky if we can see two to three shows a year, much less two to three shows per week like some people. This being said, aside from thinking my car was stolen since we couldn’t find it after the show - and neither of us had a drop of alcohol mind you - and taking over an hour to get out of the parking lot, the show was fantastic.

And to boot, www.dreamingtree.org lets you download the show from the people that recorded it, as DMB is one of the bands that encourage the recording of their live shows.