Ted Stevens Goes Down the Tubes

Senator Ted Stevens (R - Alaska) was indicted this week on seven felony counts.  He received more than a quarter of a million dollars in house renovations and gifts from an oil contractor that lobbied him for government aid.  He’s also accused of lying on his Senate financial disclosure reports. 

Stevens is also known for his support of the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere”, which has become the poster-child for unnecessary and irresponsible government spending.  Stevens threatened to quit Congress if the funds were diverted from the bridge construction to relief for Hurricane Katrina.

Nowdays, a Senator being indicted for corruption doesn’t really catch my attention, but Ted Stevens has made a name for himself

Fox News Will Tell You What’s Acceptable

I know that you can’t expect any sort of legitimate news coverage from Fox News.  Nor can you expect them to report on something without adding a little opinion at the end of a story.  This type of “reporting” and it’s bias goes unnoticed because cable news has become so opinion-oriented thanks to the talking head shows that litter the networks.

I flipped on Fox News, only because it is channel 39 and the Cubs were on channel  40.  They were doing this story about a guy from Orlando, Florida who is selling his body for a tattoo on Ebay to any corporation willing to buy his ad-space.  He seemed like a decent enough guy.  He recently got laid off and is married with 2 kids and another on the way.  He talked about how he has turned in his resume to 30 employers and has not gotten a call-back. 

So, at the end of the story, they go back to the “newscasters”.  This is how they end the story:

Woman: “I wouldn’t buy his body.”

Man :  “I don’t know about all that.”

Woman:  “Yeah, I mean, get a second job”.

Man:  “Yeah, I hear McDonald’s is hiring”.

So first, let’s explore the fact that apparently the woman did not even pay attention to the story.  He lost his job, that’s why he’s trying to make ends meet by allowing some corporation to tattoo their logo on his body.  This was not some dude looking for publicity.  In fact, he tried to keep it a secret and somehow it got to the media.  But yeah…common sense tells you that you can’t get a second job until you have a first.  Plus, she was obviously commenting

Chicago Cubs Blog

There has been a ton of traffic to this blog recently apparently searching “Cubs”.

So this might be a good time post the link to the Cubs blog that I write for again.

www.ivyenvy.wordpress.com

Humor and Politics

Let me be honest, Mr. McCain.  You’re not funny.  Don’t try to be funny.  Don’t go on SNL anymore.  Nobody really finds formulated self deprecating humor from politicians to be funny.  Hillary Clinton has used all the self deprecating humor up for the 2008 election.  You telling awful jokes  

Bill O’Reilly Loses his Cool on Camera

If you haven’t seen this yet, it is probably one of the funniest clips from television I have ever seen.  It’s from when he was on Inside Edition.  You know, the hard news journalist that he is.  We all knew he sexually harasses co-workers, but he really must be awful to work with and for.  Oh, the patience of this man.  What a “pinhead”.

Enjoy!  

Arrested Development, The Movie

I can’t believe I just heard about this. By a fluke (conversation about our soon-to-be-born daughter’s name) I looked up Jason Bateman on IMDB and found this:  

The Ground is a Shaking

I figured I had left the seismic activity behind when we left California.  This morning, Tawny woke me up saying “We are having an earthquake”.  I told her the noise our house was making was just rain in the gutters and Wrigley was shaking the bed because he was scratching himself.  Then I realized that it wasn’t raining that hard and our gutters had never made that sound before.  And Wrigley was at my feet, not moving a bit.  Why should I doubt a native Californian.  She knows what an earthquake feels like.

Music I’d like to share - Cool Your Jets

Now that I am playing more shows, I’m encountering bands that are new and unknown outside of their area.  I plan to share bands with you when I encounter them. 

In the last year, I have played two shows with Cool Your Jets from Greenville, Illinois. 

New Cubs Related Blog

I have started a Cubs blog called Ivy Envy.  There are going to be six life-long Cubs fans writing for the blog.  It’s started, but is nowhere near finished.  Check it out and if you know anyone that might enjoy it, spread the word. 

IVY ENVY

All Time Favorite Records, Part I

My old band Campion, played a show in Evansville, Indiana in 1999 or 2000, somewhere in there.  The guy that set the show up came up to me as we got out of our van and said that it looked like there would be a good turnout and he was really excited that the guys from Mock Orange were there to see the show.  I had never heard of them, but he seemed really excited they were there, so I figured I should see what they were all about.

I ordered Nines and Sixes (Lobster Records) from Al at Co-op Records in Rock Island.  You know, back in the day when you went to record stores to special order your stuff that was too unknown for them to carry.