Eat your heart out Mr. Rall

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The Spiral Architect

There have been several news stories lately that have me thinking about politics. Of course there is the "Stimulus" package (aka Obama paying back his supporters). Then there is the continuous stories of celebrities touting the virtues of limousine liberalism from their ivory towers. It got me thinking:

Watching eyes of celluloid tell you how to live
Metaphoric motor replay give, give, give

Of course the last line in the Black Sabbath classic is for President Obama and his predecessor, the traitor George Bush:

Spiral city architect, I build you pay.

Presidents basically rape their constituents to give money to their political allies and supporters. Bush did it and now Obama is doing it.

Is this change, as Obama promised? Hardly. The only change is that Hollywood and the media love Obama and detest Bush. Quite honestly, in terms of economic policy, I really see little difference between the two men.

The New Boss - Not the Same as the Old Boss

My reader knows that I am a metal fan. That being said, the reader is also aware of my fandom for certain artists of the non metal variety. Probably the most derivative and most prominent in my collection of these is Bruce Springsteen.

Springsteen has always been a left wing nut, and generally I do not like when artists put their politics on display. However, while we all knew his political stance for many years, it was not always so prevalent in his music and in your face at his concerts until this decade. Bruce sung about the struggles of his characters. He may have blamed Reagan for these struggles, but never really came out and said it. Since his 1999 reunion tour, Bruce has released several inferior records, including a new one that came out last week. I will not purchase it, based on the crap from Devils and Dust, The Seger Sessions and Magic. The Rising was barely tolerable in itself.

Anyway, the reason for this post is not to bash the Boss, but to further provide anectodal evidence that I just don't get it. As with Buffett, I refuse to drink the Springsteen Kool-Aid, but I never really did. Even before this recent stint of poor records, I never saw eye to eye with the common Bruce fan. I am in a very small minority who feel that Human Touch and Lucky Town are superior albums to Born in the USA and The River.

I will never forget the 1999 Reunion Tour, for it was a celebration of Bruce the way I liked it. No Glory Days, no Rosilita, no Born in the USA. His show on August 11, 1999 is still one of the best concerts I have ever attended. Look up the set list and you will see why.

I was browsing through a book store recently and came upon a book called the Top 100 Bruce Springsteen songs. I skimmed through the book and not surprisingly, thought this list would be completely dissimilar to mine. Perhaps in a later post, I will provide a reconciliation.

Checking In

Really, checking in with no one, but still....Anyway, saw some clips of the inaguration. Yawn. I really do not understand what President Obama has done in his career that so many people have such high hopes for him. It just does not make any sense.

Enough Sour Grapes - for now

I need to face it, Barack Obama will be our new president come January 20. I intend to support him as much as I can. I will disagree with many of his policies; however, there is no need for sour grapes and anger. He won, the people have spoken. Let's move on.

If he governs as the centrist he claimed to be during the campaign, we could recover. However, this is no time for big tax increases and cuts in defense spending. What we need is better intelligence (that is guaranteed with Bush gone). Really, we need operatives who can speak Arabic and Chinese. Brave people who can infiltrate the ranks of the enemy abroad, and give us solid data on which to act. The intelligence failure leading up to the Iraq war was unforgivable. Heads should have rolled.

Domestically, Mr. Obama says he can balance the budget, prove it. I hope he can. That would be a good step to restoring the value of the dollar. Bush's economic policies were a disaster. Once Sept 11 hit, he needed to change gears. He didn't. He kept tax revenues down, while increasing spending. He has destroyed the political party I once believed in.

Looking forward, I have little hope for recovery under Obama. I think McCain would have made the necessary changes, without being radical. We'll see. I think all children should have health insurance, but once you are an adult, get off your ass and get it yourself. If the President is going to create a welfare state to make "Peggy the Moocher" happy, we are all in trouble.

This is the last political post I plan to have for some time. It is time to move on with my life and interests.

The top 10 Metal albums of 2000 are coming soon. Perhaps it is an appropriate time for this list as we hope for an economic Resurrection as we enter a Brave New World. Let's hope it is not The Dark Ride I fear it will be.

"So this is how liberty dies...with thunderous applause."

The country wants change, and we will get it. Perhaps Bush's legacy will be that he was perceived to be so bad, that we elected the most extreme political candidate in our history. President elect Obama campaigned as a centrist, but his record is clear, he is no centrist. His voting record is extreme left, and despite his promises and pledges, he will move us in that direction.

Last night, he said the rest of the world was watching. They were, and they were pleased. They love him because whatever will make our nation weak will make them strong. They were rejoicing in the caves of Pakistan, in the halls of the Kremlin and in the palace in Venezuela. His party's record on defense and national security is quite clear. The multiple terror attacks during the Clinton administration should be a clear indicator as to how that party deals with our enemies. Perhaps President Bush kept us too safe. We forgot the real threat of Islamofacism is still there. They never give up, and they are still plotting today.

So, what is the summary? That President Obama will be to the left of Bill Clinton? He will release the terrorists in Gitmo? We will have higher taxes, and perhaps another small terrorist attack or two? We can overcome, right? After all, we have a Congress, we have courts, we have term-limits. It will be bad for sure, but it will end eventually, right?

It can be much worse.

In my book, the Presidency is too important a position to elect someone about whom we know so little. All we really know is that he is a charismatic man, who won his presidency on the emotions of a nation who was tired of an administration they have been told was a failure. While the signs of Bush's administration being a bad one are clear (Harriet Mires for the Supreme Court, a poor economy, an illegal war, fractured alliances, etc.) it is not as bad as the media have portrayed it, and certainly no worse than Jimmy Carter's.

So, in addition to his charisma, and emotional support from a weary nation, he has blind support from the media, and we know how important a fair and free press is. The press is currently free (at least until the Fairness Doctrine comes back), but certainly not fair. In addition, he will have a willing and able Congress to implement any policy. Do we really need "The Fairness Doctrine"? No, but it will be step one in stamping out those who oppose his regime.

I just read the other day that he wants to have a citizen army. It kind of reminds me of the brownshirts. If anyone reading this does not know who the brownshirts are - shame on you. Those ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it. There are many other stories and dystopias like this on the Internet, and I am sure many of them are probably exaggerations; these combined with the above factors are too frightening to ignore.

Remember Hitler, Pol Pot and many other despots were socialists and leftists, and not right-wingers like the media and your teachers would have you believe. I recommend that we study their rises to power. I only have a cursory knowledge of these histories, but so far the similarities with Obama's rise to power are interesting. I plan to learn more history, I plan to watch for the signs, and I plan to buy a gun before it becomes illegal.

We made our choice, and it was the wrong one. There were many celebrations that I watched on TV last night. It reminded me of Natalie Portman's great line in one of the Star Wars movies. She said "so this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause."

I have three young children, and I am very sad for them. They may not grow up in the free society I did. I hope I am wrong. I fear I am not.

Question of the Day

OK here it is. Why is a CEO who makes $13,750,000 per year considered greedy, yet a talk show host who makes 20 times ($275,000,000) that is loved and revered?

1999 - Kiss me coldly and drain this life from my lips

I last did my top 10 on February 12, 2008. The baseball card project failed (too much commitment) and writing about real life is depressing (Obama, the economy, etc.) So, this is a great time to do the top 10 metal CDs of 1999.

10. Primal Fear - Jaws of Death

9. Children of Bodom - Hatebreeder

8. Zanister - Symphonica Millennia

7. Into Eternity - Into Eternity

6. Sculptured - Apollo Ends

5. Opeth - Still Life

4. Iron Savior - Unification

3. Gamma Ray - Powerplant

2. Ark - Ark

1. Agalloch - Pale Folklore

Obviously, I did not post comments after each entry. It's funny, I considered 48 albums for this list. That is more than any year previously. So even though I considered 38 others that did not make the list, my top 10 (top 6 really) includes 2 Kai Hansen albums, and Sculptured and Agalloch are basically the same guys.

So, I guess I like what I like and my lists show a lack of diversity. Too f-ing bad. Limbonic Art and Kovenant can go eat poop, I stand by my list.

636

Very neat card.

#638 & 637

More dull cards from the 1971 high series. Boring!

#639

Back to dull again. Boy - there were a lot of dull cards in the 1970's! I like this because it looks like it was shot at Ridell High. I expect to see Travolta prancing around in the background with that guy from Taxi.

#640

July 24, 1976. Mickey Rivers bunted and Randolph scored on the play. This is a shot of that incident. This is my all time favorite Carlton Fisk card (he has been in some good ones). This may be the best card from 1977. The Spencer (648) was good, and there are a few other neat ones, but this is probably the best.

#641

Orioles hat, Tigers uniform. A head. Skip it.

#642

Jose (Coco) Laboy is somewhat of a novelty. Many fans of the late sixties remember him. He was a rookie of the year contender, then he faded away. Kind of like Joe Charboneau. I think he hit the first HR in Expos history on opening day in 1969 against the Mets. Anyway, to me he was one of those players who was already retired when I got into baseball, but I always remember this was one of the many neat cards that my brother had in his collection.

644 & 643

Back to dullsville. This project makes it clear that a neat card back in the day was something special. Now, most of the cards are action shots, but they are cropped so close that you could see the boogers in the player's nose.

Here Bradley's shades are what made me chose 644 (reminiscent of Lowell Palmer). as for 643, Gibson reminds me of someone who could have been Kevin Costner's stand in when he was shooting Bull Durham.

#645

April 15, 1972. That appears to be the date of this shot. Again, another paint over job. I love the ridiculously disproportionately large "C" on Bobby Brooks' shirt in the background. I think the batter here is Cesar Tovar, but I cannot be sure.

#647 & #646

A couple of heads. I hate heads, the only thing worse is a no-hat (see 1975 Bruce Ellingsen). Anyway, these heads win because both of these cards look like guys from the Gramercy Riffs. Especially Floyd.

#648

This is a pretty neat card, and one of the better ones from the 1977 set. The White Sox uniforms of the day were horrible. The picture was take on Sunday, May 30, 1976. How do I know? Well, I know the picture was taken in Oakland on a Sunday, most likely in 1976. Chicago was at Oakland on that day. Also, the box score shows that Bill North ran wild that day. He stole a base and was caught stealing.

Bill North was on the all time "cool" team so having him in the shot is a definite bonus.

#649

I like this shot of Lyle is a Sox uniform. This is about a year before he was traded to the Yankees for Danny Cater. Another reminder of the good old days.

#650

OK - I know this is a controversial pick, because there are a couple of neat 650's, but there is something special about this card. Dick Allen spent little time with the Dodgers, so that in itself is cool. I also like the background of an empty Dodger Stadium. The really cool thing about this card can be found at the bottom left corner. I think that is the photographer's leg! I guess Topps had some real Kwal-i-T photographers in those days. No Felix Unger for sure!