Fiddlesticks.

Seriously. SERIOUSLY!!!

Carlos Quentin breaks his wrist in a fit of frustration, and everything goes downhill for the White Sox.

I told myself I wasn't going to mention the White Sox --AT ALL-- until they won, but this is maddening.

After the score reached 5 to 2 in favor of the Rays, I switched the game off. I had guests, but they understood.

I live in Cardinal country, but I can't mention the White Sox for fear of being reminded that the Cardinals have 9 more championships.

The White Sox have MASSIVE amounts of power, but with Quentin, we seem to be lost.

Jesus, God, and The Universe, I DO believe in miracles. GO WHITE SOX!!!

Let's All Get Married. It Helps the Economy!!

I'm sure paying that paying our delinquent could help the economy, too. Truthfully, I'm not sure if marriage helps, but I've heard good things.

I am getting married, and this post was created specifically to keep and organize the male aspects of the wedding.

September of 2009 had better watch out, because the Breitbarth's are coming.
The Ring of Choice

My fiance is totally into the planning of the wedding, although the date is a year away. This is me saying my piece, and getting involved.

http://www.justmensrings.com/details.asp?ProductCode=JMRD01

My fiance has always wanted her husband to wear diamonds in his wedding band, and I have always wanted a practical ring. The exploitation of masculine elegance in this stainless steel wedding band is perfect.


The Groom's Financial Responsibilities

http://www.themanregistry.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?AID=19

I'm sure that the financial responsibilities of this wedding will be shared between Kayla and I. However, there are official responsibilities for me, the groom. I can promise you that I never knew I was paying for the corsages.

The Groomsmen Gift

http://www.themanregistry.com/ProductDetails.aspx?PID=631

Who wouldn't like a personalize mug? Seriously? A mug with your name on it!

I can put 3 initials, or up to 10 characters. I think I'm going to go with names, but I have yet to decide if I'm going with first or last names.


Thank god for themanregistry.com. Without it, I would be bored, frustrated, and have no idea what to do.

Just the Facts, Joe. The VP Debate

For those of you that didn't catch the awesomeness of the 2008 Vice Presidential Candidate debate, here are a few of the slurred facts that were checked.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27001026/

TELL THE MAN THAT IS PRONE TO MISUNDERSATND!!

What is happening?

Honestly. I have little knowledge of economics.

I have money in my pockets. I buy food.

I lose my job. I don't pay my bills.

That is what I know. What I know right now is that a lot of people cannot pay their bills. Not just "regular" people, not just "rich" people, not just "poor" people. People are losing things they worked their whole lives for.

When the economy fails, things get mixed up. Wars have saved us in the past. I don't think it's going to work this time.

Truthfully, my tangible connection to the market is unknown to me. I feel like I've helped worsen the situation, due to my lack of financial responsibility. Sadly, I have known a few people that lost their houses.

To be curt, I don't want that to happen anymore. That statement pretty much embodies my knowledge and goals for the economy.

As for the bailout, people ask questions like "shouldn't failure be the price of failure?"

My question is:

Is this bailout going to prevent any sort of redistribution of wealth?


After the Great Depression, prohibition ended and the United States entered World War II and the Middle Class was born. Sadly, we had to suffer through the Great Depression first. If this is a depression (recession), how far along do you thing we are? At least halfway, right?

Just explain to me how these things are supposed to work. I'm about to breakdown and use wikipedia...Which is not a source any man should trust.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I have yet to resort to wikipedia. However, I haven't ventured to the New York Post and Wall Street Journal. I'm stuck on MSNBC. Which, I might add, is riddled with grammatical errors. (The first few article I read were alright, but the last one was informative, but read like a rough draft.)

What I predict is that without these bailouts, the wealth of the world will be redistributed. I'm not talking just America. The world.

If there are first world countries and third world countries, soon we will be talking about second world countries. There will a "middle class" in our new, totally globalized, earth.

This may scare most Americans. We aren't actually on the top of the world anymore, but most people want to believe we should be there and stay there.

This will be a great purging. Think of this as the whole western world's Great Depression.

When it's all over, my only hope is to be living better.

Juneau why they love Sarah Palin in Alaska?

Do you know why they love Sarah Palin in Alaska?

Because it's easy to hide your mistakes in the snow.



Ask Bart Simpson. I bet the spring thaw comes late in Wasilla.


Perhaps Anne Kilkenny knows where the skeletons are buried. In a city with a population of less than 6,000, it should be easy to hide the truth, and hard to mess up.

A young cousin of mine is doing his best to convert me to McPalinism. He's sent me every group invite facebook has to offer. That is modern politics. That is the history of politics. That is the future of politics.

Accept me invite. Listen to my parents. They told me who was right.

I am McPalin

Today is Day 2 of Breitbarth Detox. This is important.

Today is the day the NFL kicks off.

Go Broncos!! and good luck to all the rookies.

I leave you with this from an article on http://www.alternet.org/election08.

"Top Ten Most Disturbing Facts and Impressions of Sarah Palin"

"George Lakoff lists some of the issues swirling around Palin:

She is inexperienced, knowing little or nothing about foreign policy or national issues; she is really an anti-feminist, wanting the government to enter women's lives to block abortion, but not wanting the government to guarantee equal pay for equal work, or provide adequate child health coverage, or child care, or early childhood education; she shills for the oil and gas industry on drilling; she denies the scientific truths of global warming and evolution; she misuses her political authority; she opposes sex education and her daughter is pregnant; and, rather than being a maverick, she is on the whole a radical right-wing ideologue."

Here's the link Top Ten Most Disturbing Facts and Impressions of Sarah Palin

The New GOP

The old GOP was dumb and powerful.

The new GOP is invincible.


GOD.

I hate the fact that this blog has centered on politics. I never meant for anything more than a few friends and some indie-music lovers to read this...But now I may be attracting the wrong crowd.


I feel that McCain's running mate makes him invincible. I don't think that she helps woman (at all), but she is a woman. Therefore, she will gather some Clinton voters.

I feel that McCain's running mate makes their would campaign seem tainted. The McCain/Palin ticket is the mirror image of the Obama/Biden ticket. The reasons people vote for the O/B ticket will be the same reasons people vote for the McC/P ticket. However, I think that the Republicans will win. People have forgotten about the Republican controlled Congress and Senate.



When I started this blog I hoped to be blessed by anonymity. However, when I started this blog I hoped to feed a horde of hipsters with new ideas of what music is. Unfortunately, I have been stuck on cynical predictions of what the future election holds.

I don't just want America to be great. I just want America to be great for everyone...And I wish rich people gave a little bit more to the rest of the country. Obviously, if you are rich or you are still rich, America has been good to you.


Progressive income tax? With President Breitbarth, the richest 1% would be paying 41% of our nations taxes instead of 35%.

Show Some Love and Respect

I want to make music like Interpol. I want to make music that makes me fall headfirst, like Minus the Bear. I want the shy, yet, uninhibited passion of Destroyer.

I can write the songs. I can sing the songs. I can't write the music. I can't play the music.

Do you have a dream?

Are you willing to do whatever it takes to make it?

If so, you should join me. I need your help, and you need me.

Your Viceroy

Well, who will serve alongside of John McCain as the Vice President of the United States of America?

Sadly, but consistently, my faith is the American democratic process is dissipating. However, this is not some conspiracy against "the establishment", this is a theory that the American people have helped me formulate. I would prefer that Barack Obama lead our nation, but I just don't know if that is going to happen.

I'm starting to get the feeling that many people felt after the 2004 Election, "This candidate couldn't win." Granted, Obama isn't running against the political wunderkind that is George W. Bush. It's still an uphill battle, and McCain plays dirty.

For much of last night, I thought, "Please. Please let Obama choose a dynamite candidate." I was hoping he'd announce today that his running mate was none other than Al Gore. I knew he wouldn't pick Clinton, there is an air of mental breakdown that surrounds her. Not to mention, her secret hatred for Obama.

The gas stations have been advertising a new flavor, "Election Time Gas". All of the sudden 70 cents disappeared from the price of gas. From what I understand the stock price of crude oil has been fluctuating in favor of consumers for about a month, but I can't believe that the impeding election has nothing to do with it. I remember the 2006 election season. I think that was the last time gas was under $3/gallon, and within two weeks after the election the price was back to normal.

Personally, I love the idea of Sen. Biden. He's got political experience, he's got knowledge of foreign affairs, he has a son that is being deployed to Iraq, he has persevered through devastating personal tragedy, and I hear he commutes to work from Delaware. He wears a Navy Blue Collar. However, I'm sure much of that will disappear now that he's the vice presidential candidate.

Realistically, the legitimacy that Biden brings to this campaign will be overlooked by any one that isn't already planning to vote for Obama. Senator Joe Biden is the type of candidate my father could vote for...but he won't. He'll be flying a McCain flag. I can feel it. My father is a modern Everyman, and I can see his patterns being followed by most Americans.

All and all, I ask you this question, and you have 6 years to answer it:

Is America lost?

The Music Lovers

I'm sorry. I love music. All music. And I'm trying to listen to all of it.


My love of music began before I can remember. Some of my first memories are Michael Jackson video and dance moves. Not to mention, Madonna's "Like a Prayer". Unfortunately, my addictive love of music was not nourished. I remember have a guitar at 3...and then not being able to listen to anything but Christian music by four. Michael W. Smith is not going to make a child dream to play like Eddie Van Halen.

Sadly, since those malnourished days, I've had a problem. A band becomes my favorite, and then I move on. They never stop being a favorite, but I don't give them the time they deserve. I'm sorry, I don't have an iPod.

This list is as close to chronological as I can get.

My Favorites:

1. Michael Jackson

(The Christian only period begins.)

2. DC Talk

(The Christian period begins to be avoided.)

3. Shaq

(Thus begins the great compromise. My music is censored; my music is censored by the RIAA and my own parents. Thank god for Wal-Mart.)

4. Korn: Edited.

(Heard at the house of friends.)

5. Limp Bizkit: Edited.

6. Godsmack: Edited

(I had to lie to get this album.)

7. Blink-182: Thus begins my true love of punk.

(This was only because I was sexually assaulted. What parent says "no" to a kid that just went through a tent full of kids and a broomstick?)

8. Sublime

9. Eminem

10. Red Hot Chili Peppers

11. Spineshank

(But only if I could play it with the volume turned all the way up.)

12. Bad Religion

13. The Foo Fighters

(Fuck, yeah?)

14. Greenday

(Kerplunk, baby. Kerplunk.)

15. Daft Punk

16. Pennywise

17. Dead Kennedys

18. 98 Mute

19. The Clash

20. Motion City Soundtrack

21. Tool

22. The Beatles

23. The Shout Out Louds

24. Minus the Bear

25. Explosions in the Sky

26. The Samuel Jackson 5

27. Interpol

28. Bloc Party

29. The Fall of Troy

30. David Bowie

31. Destroyer

32. Neutral Milk Society

I've been listening to Bad Religion a lot lately, and there are a lot of bands that still deserve my time (at least their old albums do) did Bowie, The Fall of Troy, Bloc Party, The Samuel Jackson 5, Explosions in the Sky, The Shout Out Louds, Tool, The Beatles, Motion City Soundtrack, 98 Mute, Dead Kennedys, Pennywise, Daft Punk, Bad Religion, Spineshank, RHCP, Eminem, Blink-182, Korn, DC Talk, Michael Jackson.

Against the Will of my Father

I support the United States of America. It's true. However, I have realized that my views of the world and my views on human treatment differ from that of many others.

This post may turn your stomach, or just turn you away. Therefore, I will make it short.

I would like to see more separation of Church and state. I love Christianity, but I hate what it does to people. The modern Republican candidate, in any office, gets the Christian vote. The Evangelical ride the elephant all the way to their respective polling places.

I like immigration. Obviously, the State of Liberty's message has been completely forgotten. But all romantic symbolism aside, I want America to be a safe haven. I don't like the way hatred has been directed toward Chicano people. There has to be a compromise. I, too, hope to give my children a chance at a better future. I, too, just want a better life than the day before. Wherever that may be. Why should I stop someone else?

Nevertheless, the United States will waste it's money and time building a wall that will take ten minutes to get over. We've built wall before and they didn't work. The Berlin wall was much sturdier than the wall we plan to build, and it came down, too.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I think more Christian voter need to think about this...a lot.

Abortion is a sticky situation. Seriously, "do unto others..." I think every embryo deserves a chance to become a fetus, and every fetus deserves a chance to be a baby. Unfortunately, I'm a man. I will never carry a life, but I will have part in creating it.

I'll have you know, I am NOT a one issue voter.

I believe felons should not lose their right to vote.

Perhaps my general view of people is a bit too positive. Although my absolute positivity has wanned, I still believe that a better life leads to better people. I believe more rehabilitation should take place in prison, and less incarceration. Better school would keep more children off the streets. Better schools in prison would give felons something they could strive for when they get out.

I live with a ex-convict. Sometimes, when life gets hard, he wishes he were back in prison. Anyone in that state of mind is a danger to themselves. I've thought of a solution. Maybe less of a solution, and maybe it's just a helpful idea. Ideas cost money, but what is the cost of a human life? or a human psyche?

The prison system has to be reformed from the bottom up. A convict starts as a criminal, and a criminal starts has a human. Obviously, more funding needs to be used in America's schools. More certifications and more job skills need to be offered in high school; and these oppurtunities need to be offered to underclassmen.

Midwestern "Sex Ed" needs to be a thing of the past. In California, as a teen and preteen, I was taught about safe sex. Here in the Midwest, the only thing I was really taught about was diseases. Too many of the kids I talk to believe that they will get an STD every time they have sex. This may seem like a cure-all, but it's not. Eventually, these kids go on to test these ideas. Sex happens. Teen pregnancy puts many people in tough situations. People in tough situations do not always persevere.

Sex, and sexuality needs to be taught to children as soon as it becomes relevant. At one point in time, this was the parent's job, but obviously many parent's are withholding too much information. I would rather a kid start having sex at 12, with the aide of condoms and birth control, rather than an uniformed 17-year-old having an early outburst the first time he slides into a lady.

As for prison itself, there should be more prisoner movement. And I'm not talking about recreational activity. I would love for prisoners to be shipped across the state and across the country after some duration of time. Fewer connections can be made and sustained that way. Fewer jefes.

Charges for drug offenders need to be altered. I am totally against the "War on Drugs". We live in a prescribe as you go society. Trouble breathing? Have some steroids. Problems at school? Ritalin. Bad grades? Adderol. Self questioning? Paxil. Overactive sex drive? More paxil. Drugs are rampant. Drugs users are everywhere. Therefore, everyone is going to prison.



I digress, but that is what blogs are for. Blogs are a segment of writing where rants and tangents are acceptable and welcome.

In my alternative dimension, marijuana is both recreational and medicinal. Prisons offer degrees and more, sentencing is rehashed, and every member is disperse every 16-weeks. Last but not least, Mexico is part of America, and it becomes three states, and the America economy is saved by it's mass exporting of Red, White and Blue Agave Tequilla.

I had a definite idea for this post, but I hope the reader is the one formulating ideas.

A Sports Fan

From the desk of ________________ July 31, 2008

I'm a sports fan. I am a sports fan. I'm a sports fan.

However, that doesn't mean I root for the home team. I never have. Never will.

I was born in Texas, moved all over, and ended up in California. As far as California baseball goes, take your pick. The A's, the Angels, and the Dodgers. The Giants and the Padres, too. From 1993 to 1998, I was a Rockies fan. My fleeting faith laid comfortably in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

My love of baseball grew quickly and ended swiftly. Really, I didn't care who won or lost. After baseball's own players killed baseball's greatest season, baseball hit the backburner. The year 1994 will forever hold the tortured soul of the most exciting baseball ever played. I was eight and I was pumped, then I was forgotten. Baseball betrayed me, and I lost my love of the game.

In 1998, the Diamondbacks were born, and Bank One Ballpark housed my baseball-enjoyin' soul. I didn't choose them because they were an expansion team. They did have the 3rd baseman that should have broken Roger Maris's homerun record on the line-up card. In truth, I chose them because diamondback rattlesnakes are awesome.

However, I was not a true baseball fan again until 2004. And even then, it wasn't until the playoffs. Despite the play of my favorite 3rd baseman, Vinny Castilla, I still could give a rat's ass about baseball... But I love competition, and I love underdogs.

The 2004 League Championships Series will hold some of my favorite baseball, ever. Both the AL and the NL showcased a 1 seed versus a 4 seed. And both League Championship Series went to seven games. Any time a series goes the distance, it's exciting. Any time a wildcard is the cause of "The Distance" I am happy. The 2004 playoff series had two sweeps and it had three separate series go to the last game allowed. Ultimately, the Red Sox, the AL's Wild Card, won the World Series.

The 2004 season was the year I finally made an allegiance. This was the first year I ever visited Chicago, and it was three years before I would actually live there. However, I was directly influenced by every Cubs fan I met, and I was even more influenced by the amount of Cubs memorabilia that adorned EVERY window. The Cubs finished 16 games out of first place, the White Sox finished 9 games out of first place...and still no one cared.

I went to college with a lot of Southsiders. There hearts were in the right place, but when the World Series came around, they rooted for the Cardinals. It was a sad and desperate cheer, but the Southsiders rooted for the Midwest before they rooted for their own league. Granted, my college was 25 minutes outside of downtown St. Louis.

2005 rolled around and I started to notice baseball. The St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago White Sox were neck and neck for the best record in the league. The Cardinals won by one game. But that is all they won.

The White Sox had no fan support, but they had a playoff birth and an X-factor in 2nd-year Manager Ozzie Guillén. To say the least, Guillén had winning experience, but he had won a World Series in 2004 as a Third Base Coach for the Florida Marlins. Guillen had knowledge and vigor, but most of all he had balls. Manager Ozzie Guillén had what it takes to get the fans behind a team, and he had what it takes to get a team behind an idea.

In a city where no one cared who was in the Southside's starting lineup, Guillén brought something Chicago it hadn't had in almost a century... Real baseball. Not to mention, a World Championship. In 2005, the White Sox won the World Series.

The year 2005 was exciting for me because I was privileged enough to see a shift in power. Something I love more than anything else. No one at my school, even the Southsiders, admitted their true allegiance. "Go Cardinals." When the playoffs started, students from coast to coast raped their way onto the Cardinals bandwagon.

I will always turn heads with my diehard appreciation for the "Away Team", but the 2005 season was the best.

I was not specifically rallying behind the White Sox, but I was definitely rooting against the Cardinals. I spent many nights in a Gonzo-like state of awareness during the 2005 MLB playoffs. I spent many nights during the whole lost year of 2005 in a Gonzo-like state of awareness. However, in those days vodka was involved. I remember threatening to chug a water bottle containing vodka when the Astros won. Slowly but surely, the fans took their sides, and I ran out of vodka.

I could recount every baseball season of my adult life. That would be torturous. Instead, I will skip ahead to now.

The 2008 baseball season has been awesome. Things in the world have changed, and I am a full-fledged White Sox fan.

Most of all, I am an Ozzie Guillén fan. He's everything I want to see in baseball. Conceit, but not arrogance. Hits, not stolen bases. Passions and perseverance. Sometimes, I want to yell at the umpires and Steve Mariotti... But Ozzie Guillén gets paid to do it for me. And who else is going to keep Kenny Williams on his toes?

Please, don't tell me what you think of Ozzie, tell him. Then it will end up on Sports Center, get blown out of proportion... and pump the White Sox and the White Sox fans into a frenzy.

I can smell an Ozzie tirade coming on now. The White Sox are in first place in the AL Central and the Twins are only a half game back, and the Sox just traded for the greatest player of our generation, Ken Griffey, Jr. (I'll give A-Rod to the next generation). Shit is going to go down.

It's time the world started to give a damn about the South Side.

I am a sports fan. I'm a sports fan. I am a sports fan.

Present day America. August 7, 2008

The Twins gain first place. Ozzie takes action. The White Sox are back in first place.

The World is a Slow-Changing Screensaver

Things in America have just gotten creepy. Perhaps they should change our country's name. America just doesn't have the same pep. It doesn't evoke the same emotions.

I hate the fact that we are at war. Personally, I am not a big fan of our hands-on global policy. However, I don't see America as a country that would just walk out. We've invested so many millions of dollars here. We fought for a point that we can't prove. America fought to prove it can save everybody, and it failed.

There was a time when we fought evil, once.

My view of America, and America's interaction with its people has changed. I see America as I saw my parents in the twilight of my childhood. Until my late teens, my parents could do no wrong, and they never had in the past. As I grew into a young man, I learned that idea was wrong; but worst of all, my parents wouldn't own-up to the idea that they had made mistakes. America will never see this situation as it is, a mistake.

I understand there is always a threat of war. I understand that there will someday be a World War III. I also understand the necessity of a militarized stronghold in the Middle East.

Since World War II we have made mistake after mistake in the Middle East. We have allow to many children to grow up war-torn. War-torn children grow up to be strong warriors. And now, we're all around fucked.

I no nothing of the battles that take place in Iraq. I don't even know if there are anything more than ambushes. However, I do know that it is costing a lot of money. Money that could be spent elsewhere.

Essentially, the way America spends and earns money needs to drastically change... But it won't.


John McCain will be president. Or Obama will mutate into McCain.