Guard Dog

Just woke up. I tried to make coffee but there is none. I tried to make breakfast but I'm out of everything, almost. I do have plenty of dog food but I'm not that hungry... yet. I do have beer though. Good stuff too, Samuel Adams Summer Ale. I dank one standing in front of the 'fridge. I took two more out to the porch and sat on my rocking chair and drank them while the dogs ran around and did their business. I brought two more to my desk where I now sit. Marlins and Rockies play at 1:30 and I've got a nice buzz going. It's gonna be a great day!

There is no bigger dog lover around here than me and I say let him play. He served his time, he's square with the house again. I dare say he won't do it again. Even in his prime he was not half the QB McNabb is so I doubt #5 is feeling any pressure. And if Vick does something spectacular that leads to a win that will go a long way to muting the controversy. At least among Eagles fans.

The Red Sox collapse has been amazing to watch. Unfortunately Tampa is unable to take advantage because the let the Mariners beat the stew out of them last night. How 'bout them Marlins! Three game sweep of the Phillies, now just two game back! Did you know that since their inaugural season the Fish have won the World Series every seven years. The last time was in 2002!

I'm curious, in everyone opinion what is the best Sci-Fi book (or series) ever?

Monte has already spelled out what I think is the most logical scenario that would have led to an axis victory. I think he misses on two big points. The US would have either remained techically neutral (while covertly supporting Great Britian) or would have entered the war on the allied side eventually if Pearl Harbor had not happened. They would not have aided Germany either secretly or openly. The isolationist and anti-eurpopean sentiment in the US was nowhere near as strong as it was during WWI (if not for the Zimmermen incident the US would not have entered that war at all). Plus in 1906 Germany was just another economic power fighting over colonial trade. Hitler was the embodiment of evil and enough evidence what he was doing to jews, balkans, etc would have gotten out that even the nay sayers would have voted for war. Here is a different way of looking at it. I think Hitlers mistake was not attacking the Russians it was antagonizing the allies and invading France/Holland/Belgium/etc. Had he invaded Russia immediately after Poland without aggression against France, England, or the low countries does anyone thing the allies would have stopped him. As I understand it the only reason for invading the USSR was to gain control of the oil fields around the Black Sea and northern Persia. Had he done that and bided time to consolidate the conquest and rebuild the army Germany would have been able to counter the Aliies biggest advantage, economic superiority. I do think most of you are dead on in the anlysis that the Axis war was a doomed enterprise from the get go because the ultimate goals of Mussolini, Hitler, and Tojo were different and as an alliance the Axis was not capable of acting in any real cooperative fashion. The Allied powers were and did.

Now reading The Pharsalia, a two thousand year old account of the Roman civil war. Actually very poetic considering it's translated from Latin.

I broke one of my toes yesterday (it was the piggy that got gypped on the roast beef). I dropped a godd***ed miserable fu****g 2X6 on it. I think some of you might have heard me cursing when it happened. So that brought all of the household projects to a screeching halt. So today i spent the whole day drinking Sam Adams Summer Ale and watching the directors cut of Fellowship and Two Towers. After eight hours of that I was pretty LOTR'ed out. Now I'm going to microwave some fish sticks, play OOTP Baseball and maybe get some writing done. Maybe. More likely I finish my last two beers, break out the Knob Creek and bring this evening to a short but happy conclusion. One a side note I find it incredible that the dogs never stepped on my feet until now. On another side note this (plus a little veterinary episode last week) has left me with some fascinating observations on Health Care. But I completely agree that this is not the forum for it.

Four buck is pretty good. When I was a kid I only got a quarter!

http://jay-mariotti.fanhouse.com/2009/08/0...ittsburgh-mess/ Great rant on the self destruction going on in Pittsburgh. The Marlins have had three big fire sales over the years, two resulted in the utter dismantling of championship teams. Eight years later they are a much stronger and deeper franchise that plays consistently good baseball has hve for several seasons. Sometimes rebuilding is not a bad thing. It saves money and may produce a winner later on. However, if it is only done to save money with no real eye for the future the result is the Pittsburgh Pirates.

*Guard Dog stands up and applauds!* Very well said! In fact I can think of a few other nations here in the western hemisphere the same could be said about.

So you think such invasive government action is justified? I don't think it will work. SO it's probably a waste of time and money. Seconded. The more cameras you put up, the more difficult they are to monitor. My wife teaches at a school with CCTV up around campus. It's in a rough part of town, they have a lot of gang problems. I consider them a blessing, my wife has been assaulted twice over the last 4 years and had some pretty nasty stuff written about her in graffiti. Thankfully the assaults were only a shove, but having the camera's around give me some comfort that hopefully it will never escalate past that. That reminds me of a joke about teachers deserving combat pay. It's not so funny when you hear about it from somone who has actually experienced it. If I were her I'd keep a can of mace on the key chain, a stun gun in the purse and a Louisville Slugger under the desk. And a .38 in the car.

That would have been my next guess!

Thats a terrible thing to say but it is on the mind of everyone who is a fan of his work. Meanwhile, Terry Goodkind will live and churn out his unoriginal and painfully bland books forever.

Pirates rookie Andrew McCutchen nailed three homers against the Nats last night. I wonder how much longer until Pittsburg trades him?

Over my dead twitching corpse would that go on here. I can't see any freedom loving Brit allowing this crap to take place but I fear most will think it's someone elses problem so long as it's not happening to them and the rest would demand the cameras be streamed on the web.

This clown is someone's alt. I thought it might be Pop at first but he's not angry enough and not smart enough. He's too smart to be Sand and too motivated to be a few others I could think of. Keep posting flies, everyone on this board has a tell and yours will come out. I'm betting you don't believe a word of your screed, in fact you are probably someone who visits the board occasionally and got drummed out of a few debates with some of the others here. Or as Monte said you are just trying to get a rise out of everyone.

That bull**** again? Don't they know that the Civil War effectively ended the main backing of the "States' Rights" movement? Hardly. Ever heard of the 10th Amendment? Personally I'd rather see the US break up than abandon Federalisim. And I am most certainly not alone. But I'd really rather see the government restrain itself to is Constitutionally defined role and never even have this discussion.

Now reading The Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong. A little slow going because it was translated from Chinese (which makes the prose a little clumsy at times) but the story is great. I highly reccomend this one.

The Rays got all over KC last night. That was nice to watch. Boston made the biggest splash at the trade deadline. Picking up Victor Martinez was huge. Kelverin, are you happy with what the Padres got for Peavy? Seems a little light for a Cy Young quality pitcher to me.

I've been very busy lately. With work, my side business, plus I've been working on writing a book. I started gathering research material when I was laid up earlier this year. Last month I actually started writing. I thought it would ne easy. It is not. Anyway, the book is about Dog Rescue and the people who do it.

I think Pidesco is right on both points. Notice that Obamas popularity has plummeted (very uncommon for a President at only six months) as he has moved to the left. And you guys are right, he is only a leftist in the American political sense. In the scope of world politics he is slightly right of center. I keep pointing out to all or you that the US is a very different thing politically than any other country in the world. We have some very different ideas about what the role of the federal government should be. I don't think you guys get that we are a union of 50 sovereign states. Since taking office Obama has done a lot to centralize power in Washington even to the point of usurping power from the State governors and legislatures. It is not possible to pursue an agenda of "soft socialism" without asserting central government power in ways the US Constitution specifically prohibits. He has and the majority of the voters are growing restless about it. That is why news stories like this have been popping up: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-05-14-secede_N.htm So far Texas, Oklahoma, Alaska, Idaho, North and South Dakota, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Louisiana have all passed resolutions asserting state sovereignty and demanding the federal government restrain its self to the powers granted under the constitution. Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Missouri, Ohio, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and Kentucky have all passed similar resolution out of one of the two state legislatures and it is expected it will pass the other shortly. These resolutions have been ,by and large, very popular with the voters in these states. I only bring this up to point out that we are very different from the rest of the world and I know that seems to frustrate many of you (I could not guess why, no one here in the US gives a damn about whether the government of Australia for example is right or left). Yes Obama is a leftist only in the American sense but it seems he is too left for us. If he is smart (and I believe he is) he will do as Clinton did and move back to the center and stay there. Then he will probably have a successful presidency and probably get a second term. If he does not get the message he will end up like Carter and be sent home in 2012. For the sake of my country I devoutly hope it will be the former.

It figures, Mark Buehrle thows a perfect game, not against the Yankees or Red Sox but against the Rays. I don't know which I hate more, the fact that he did it against my team or the fact that in the 8th I was actually pulling for him to do it.

I tried that (home brewing) a few times. I never could get the carbonation right. It was always either too much (beer flavored soda) or too little (flatter than spit). I just got home from a seminar in Nashville with the FAA. I ran into someone I knew from Cingular who now works for Uncle Sam. We ended up hitting a few strip clubs and were both bleary eyed during the seminar the next day. I the hotel that night left with two fifties in my pocket, the next day I had a handful of singles left.

Now reading The Deerslayer by James Ferimore Cooper. I'm not a big fan of classics per se but I've always wanted to read this one. Also reading Lee by Douglas Southall Freeman, a biography of General Robert E Lee.

I didn't know about that. Thats great news because it would make an interesting movie. Although Brad Pitt as Billy Beane is a stretch.