"Clearly" Judging Oil

"Clear" Out!
Barry "The Juicer" Bonds recently said "Because of the wear and tear on my body, I don't think that I can catch [my Godfather] Hank Aaron and become the all-time home run hitting leader." BULL! If anyone (other than Mark Furman and KKK member/politician David Duke) has proven themselves to be a racist (not to mention a cheater) it is Barry Bonds! But the "wear and tear" is not so bad that he'll retire now before he beats "the white guy" [Babe Ruth] as he's referred to him. So, who thinks that Barry hits number 715 and retires the next day no matter when during the season it is? Well, I do. Hey Barry, get out of baseball now before you further "cream" the reputation of this sport! Is that "clear?"

Italian Judge Dismisses Jesus Case
This is an update of a post from quite some time ago. Here's the original. Now, the question is: Does the judge admit that Jesus existed by dismissing this case? Is it now the official stance of the Italian government that Jesus truly walked the Earth? Or was dismissing the case the court's way of saying "We will not make a ruling on such an issue of Religion." For those of you who were pulling for the man who brought the suit forward, fear not, he will be appealing to a higher court.

Tax On Oil Companies
Finally, the Federal Government is looking into taking action on the profiteering oil companies. They've proposed a tax on companies who earn too much profit. When the oil companies announced that during the quarters following Katrina, they had a record high profit (Exxon had a $10 billion profit in the 3rd quarter of 2005. That's one quarter profit!) How is it the oil companies can make so much? Here's how: Gas prices are based on speculation! The companies speculate on what oil prices will be and charge according to that. So the gas we are paying for was purchased at a much lower cost than we are being charged for it. When the price of oil never reaches what they expect, they have all of this excess money. It is a flawed system. If you pay $60 per barrel, then charge us like you paid $60 per barrel, not like think you might pay $72 in the future!

And which political party is calling for this tax? It's that "Oil-has-us-in-their-back-pocket" GOP (Giant Oil Producing) party: The Republicans! After you pick yourself up off the floor, think about this. If you pay $2.50 for gas in Massachusetts, $0.399 of that cost is tax. So when you pay $2.50, you are really paying $2.10 for the gas. My car takes about 16 gallons. That's $6.384 I'm paying to the government. Thanks Uncle Sam!

Don't live in MA? Find out what your taxes are here: State Gas Taxes. (The Federal Government makes you pay $0.184 per gallon, don't forget to add that to your state tax!)

Massachusetts claims that it doesn't tax people on "necessities." That would be clothing, non prepared food, etc. Does anyone believe that an intelligent adult can truly make enough to live in MA without a car? I doubt that MA will be lowing it's taxes anytime soon. It's just something to think about.

And that's just my opinion.

The Boston Red $ox, the time of day, and Easter "Bunnies?"

This is a multiple rant post. If you aren't a sports person just skip ahead!

The Boston Red $ox:
But this time, it may not be about money! They are working on a deal with WBOS 92.9 FM to have their games broadcast on the FM dial. They claim that it's for the clearer, more reliable radio. Anyone ever have a problem getting WEEI AM 850 when they are anywhere other than a bomb shelter? Just asking.

How is it not about the money? Well, both stations are offering 14 million dollars ($14,000,000 for those who like to actually see the amount). So what's the difference? WBOS is offering a large stake in the station. What does that mean? The Red Sox would partially own the station broadcasting the games. Just like the Red Sox own the TV Station "broadcasting" the games (I use that term lightly as you must pay to see the games on TV), and they own a stake in the newspaper that is often the most flattering of the team (The Boston Globe). It is about control. And if the Red Sox front office once again proves that absolute power corrupts absolutely, they will have absolutely lost a fan. I will not listen to the Sox on any station other than WEEI (or any other station that is independent from the Red Sox front office)!

But really, the Red $ox need all the money they can get. I don't care what anyone tells you, you can't feed your family on the $671,000,000 that the $ox are worth.

Greetings
Has anyone else noticed that we greet each other simply by informing the other person of the time of day? You pass your coworker in the hall, "Morning." He responds, "Morning." You are holding the door for someone at the restaurant you are leaving, "Evening." They thank you, "Evening." You are strolling down the street with your child and pass a neighbor, "Afternoon." They wave from their yard, "Afternoon!" Apu wants to expand this to include "Dusk, Twilight, and Wicked Dahk." I'm going to start charging for this service.

Easter "Bunnies"
Baylor University is once again in the news. The largest Baptist University in the country sent an email to their students letting them know that any students who posed for Playboy magazine would be disciplined as that was clearly counter to their life and conduct statement. That's not a missprint, and you read it correctly. Playboy went to the college that nearly kicked Starbucks off of it's campus because of a quote on their cups to recruit college co-ed cuties! Let me think, if I'm part of this "gentleman's" magazine (Yeah, right!) and I'm in charge of which colleges to go to for new "talent" I'm gonna pick, Baylor, Oral Roberts, Gordon, and Bob Jones. What were they thinking?! Were they looking for trouble? I hope they found it!

Was this email really necessary? While we would hope that it wasn't, one source reported that "several students still showed up to meet photographers." They failed to mention that they were all male looking for how to 'break into the business.' The email only mentioned posing.

Don't lie to me

It's Easter time. Time for trees to bud, the rain to begin, and little children to be used to make a very political "non-political" statement.

At the Annual White House Easter Egg Roll there was a concerted effort to populate the event with the children of homosexual couples this year. Several "advocacy groups" encouraged gay couples to make sure they got tickets to this event. Why? Clearly it was to ensure that their children were able to enjoy this wonderful American tradition. In fact, all of the groups and couples that were interviewed said that they weren't trying to make a political statement.

But we all know that's not what happened, don't we. I'm sure the children enjoyed themselves. And I'm hopeful that they didn't know that they were being used as pawns in a massive political demonstration. You see, all of the homosexual couples that attended this event wore big brightly colored leis to announce to everybody that they were gay.

Hmm... "We're not here to make a political statement" yet they want everyone to know that they're "gay, and here to stay!" Some of the comments I heard were "We just want people to know that gay couples with children are just like every other family," "We're not pushing any agenda," and "We're just here for the kids." Well, was "every other family" wearing these leis? If you are saying that homosexual parents should not stick out in our culture, why, then, did you make every effort to ensure exactly that which you do not want?

Look, I have no problem with you going to such family oriented events. Your children shouldn't be punished for your choices. And I expect you to make some sort of political statement because there are many laws and policies that are in limbo that you have strong opinions about. However: Don't lie to us! Don't call us stupid by claiming that you aren't making a political statement and then obviously do so! Just how dumb do you think we are?

Next time you want to say something, just say it! Don't act like you are just trying to "fit in" in your "Hey-look-at-me!" costume. I don't like being lied to.

I'm sure, if you look hard enough, somewhere in this post you'll find something that's just my opinion.

A Milestone

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the 100th post on my blog! When a milestone like this is reached, it's time for a look back at some of the best "Just my opinion" moments. So, like a self inflated sitcom, here are some of our most memorable moments:

The First Episode
There's nothing like the pilot! Here's a taste of that first post:

"I desire to spur people to action or anger. I intend for this blog to be a place for me to vent my political rantings, movie reviews, theological viewpoints, and general ramblings and epiphanies about life. Yes, I'll stumble into the "today I went to the zoo..." habit. Hopefully those will be recorded due to their instigation of some phenomenal personal enlightenment.

Today, I started a blog."

"Today I..."
Twice thus far I've found myself chronicling my daily happenings. I think, they were quite memorable:

The Wiffleball Incident

"this is no regular whiffle ball with the four slots on one side made of somewhat soft plastic. No no. This is someone's cruel idea of a whiffle ball. This is made of industrial plastic. There are not slots and there is no give to this ball. It is solid!

Then [the Queen of Hearts] throws me a perfect pitch. Right across the numbers-right across the plate! I crack that pitch on a frozen rope right up the middle. You guessed it:

Think "Matt Clement."

I nailed the Queen of Hearts right on the forehead! After taking a knee, shook it off. She got up and said, "I know you didn't mean it. This kinda thing happens. Can you imagine what Matt Clement experienced?" I asked if she'd be afraid to play again. "No." was her simple answer!

What a woman! What a wife!"

You've really got to read the other in its entirety to fully understand it. I simply can't excerpt this one: It Ain't My Fault!

Recurring Characters
These topics have appeared so often that it would have been difficult to link them all, but here are some of the rants that appear most often on "Just My Opinion:"

Cindy Sheehan
The MLB MVP
Racism
Officiating
Movie Reviews
The "Liberal" Media
Hurricane Katrina
Um... Sports!

Memorable Moments
And now, a few paragraphs from my favorite posts:

The Gaza Giveaway

"The Israelis have nearly completed the evacuation of the Gaza strip that they have held for over 38 years. It was very touching that the Palestinian leadership sent a nice thank you note with some flowers. They even went so far as to send a box of matzah to the Israeli Prime minister. Many Palestinians have offered to have the former Gaza residents over for dinner anytime they want to visit their old stomping grounds.

Oh, wait. No. No, I'm wrong, they didn't.

They are also upset that, while the Israelis destroyed all of the houses that they willingly fled from, they left the synagogues standing. They're upset about this? Isn't this like leaving a three year old in a room filled with houses of cards? Imagine his glee as he knocks over one after another. Stomping on one like Godzilla, and sneezing another over like Superman!"

The Right to Mooch Off of my Fellow Citizen

"Here is my belief: The great depression. More specifically: The New Deal. The New Deal softly guided us into a place where we were reliant on the federal government. I won't go so far as to say that the federal government caused the depression, but
their solution of how to get the nation out of it caused people to expect certain things from that ruling body.

This, of course, was brilliant. I'm sure we've heard that the end goal of those in power is to stay in power (Caesar Augustus and George Washington being the only two people that I can think of who don't fit that mold). So here was an opportunity for
the government to create a mindset of need, of perceived indispensability of the federal government: We can't live without it!"

Intolerance of the Tolerant

"Think about this: If these people were truly tolerant, they would not know what they were being tolerant of! Why? Because they wouldn't even notice it! Is anyone "tolerant" of women in the workplace? NO! Why not? Because there is no need to be "tolerant:" There is nothing wrong with it! The mere fact that people claim to be tolerant shows that they inherently know there is something wrong with what they are tolerating! But someone mentioning God... they won't tolerate that!"

Two of Three Random Rants

"I wanna know what the ACLU will do when someone finally discovers that the word "Holiday" is a compound word consisting of "Holy" and "Day"? Happy Seculaday.

AOL: Amish Online. A 75 year old Amish widower was bilked out of over $65,000 because a he was afraid that his church community would discover that he'd gone to a prostitute. The prostitute said that if he didn't pay her money that pictures of
their "interaction" would appear on the internet. The internet? Alright, so this Amish man not only thought that people from his parish would not only be on the internet, but he also thought they'd locate the pornographic photographs he was featured in!

Anybody else see something wrong there?

But wait, it gets better. The prostitute was caught when the Amish man's deacon came up with a scheme. The next time she demanded money, the deacon went with our widower and they got her to admit what the money was for: Blackmail. Here's the kicker: The deacon was wearing a small digital camera with a wireless transmitter! When did the Amish find technology?! Something just ain't right there!"

Here's one that I couldn't excerpt: Bears or People

And my personal favorite:

The ACLfUture

"The ACLU jumps in when people are "offended" (or when it's against the church. Ie: the teacher in the private Catholic school who got pregnant and then got fired for violating the statement of conduct that she signed. They jumped all over that one
(although, they are secretly ill over the fact that this unmarried woman is actually keeping the baby!))

Well let's see what people are offended by: The British-Americans are offended by our calling potato chips "chips." European-Americans are offended by our calling American Football "Football." Chinese-Americans are offended by what we call "Chinese food." So what does our future look like?

"Oh my! I was on my cooshy long chair (People named Sophia are offended at the name Sofa) watching 11 grown men in close fitting uniforms throw each other on the ground ("Football" is no longer a legal name). In fact it was the Washington Aboriginal Americans (Can't say Redskins) vs the Oakland Counter Cultural Seafaring Alternative Money Getters (Raiders is certainly out!). I was eating some thinly sliced deep fried potato slices (can't use "chips") when I started to asphyxiate! (New York Yankees fans have patented the term "Choke") I called the emergency number (Families of the victims of 9/11 sued) and some EMTs (for some reason, no one is upset about that one) from the hospital that is named after the person affiliated with the church (The names of saints are no longer allowed to be spoken) came to help. They administered the Heim maneuver (Heimlich was too German offending WWII veterans and survivors of the holocaust) and I could breath again! Afterwards, they commented on my holiday decorations, my inflatable snowpeople (no more "snowmen") and my lifesized Big Red Suited Gift Giver (Santa Claus was originally St. Nick... The church is a no-no!)""

Closing Amazing Moment
They always close the "flashback" shows with that one amazing moment. Like the "Magic Loogi" from Seinfeld, or the "Jazz Lipsinc" from the Cosby show. Well, here's that moment from "Just My Opinion:"

Posted October 11th, before the teams who would play in the World Series had even been determined:

"Well, MLB saw to it that they wouldn't do it again [that certain teams would win the series]. If my theory is true. Neither series ends before game 6. The World Series is White Sox vs Astros and the White Sox win in 7."

Well, one series went 7 the other 5 and it was the White Sox over the Astros in 5. That's quite a prediction!

Thanks for joining us on this stroll down memory lane. I hope you'll join us for the next 100 posts on "Just My Opinion".

"Iran", twice.

So, Iran has basically announced to the world that should they become a nuclear (or Nucular, depending on your party *smirk*) country, they intend to wipe Israel off the map.

While I agree with most of the people in the world, that we should not be moving towards a military solution at this point, let us hypothesize that the diplomacy breaks down and Iran becomes nuclear and is clearly moving to destroy Israel. Here is my question:

What should America's response be if there is an immanent attack on Israel? Further things to consider: If you feel that we should defend our ally, do we do it before or after the first tactical Nuke is launched from Iran?

I do not yet have any opinion on this (does this, then, not fall under "just my opinion?") but I would truly like to hear what all of you think regarding this (especially those who feel we should not have gone into Iraq in the first place. I can't explain how I feel that they are connected, but somehow I see them as similar.)

Please comment with a response!

Secondarily: While, "I ran" from the Red Sox merchandise this year, I did see a very intelligent Red Sox fan the other day. This woman was wearing a Red Sox jersey and I was interested to see which player it was. As she passed I saw that the back of her jersey was conspicuously blank! Then I realized: This makes perfect sense! The team will probably be entirely different within the next 2 years anyway, so save money and leave the name and number off the jersey! While I don't agree with supporting the team in this way, at least this fan had her finger on the pulse of the front office and spent her money wisely!

At least this part is just my opinion.