Friday, June 29, 2012

Friday Happy Hour (Southern Beer)

If you like to beat the heat by enjoying a cold beverage, Garden and Gun has some Southern summer beer recommendations.

I've never had any of these. If you have, let me know.

Isaiah Crowell Arrested

I'm shocked. Crowell has always been such a model student-athlete. He was probably doing some sort of community service project, reading to blind orphans, or something like that.
Crowell was arrested on charges of carrying a weapon in a school zone, and having an altered ID mark, both felonies. He was also booked on a misdemeanor charge of possessing/carrying a concealed weapon.

Crowell's arrest resulted from a vehicle checkpoint on East Campus Road and Greene Street on the UGA campus, around 2:20 a.m., according to Athens-Clarke County spokesman Hilda Sorrow. Crowell was booked at 3:37 a.m. and remains in Clarke County jail, according to the jail's web site, with bond set at $7,500.
Kids aren't in school during the summer at 2:20AM, so what's the big deal? Bro was just exercising his 2nd Amendment right to go strapped. I hope Coach Richt keeps Crowell on the team. Crowell is such a team leader and a great guy to have in the locker-room...if you get into a gun battle.

maya
Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/06/29/2103737/isaiah-crowell-arrested-on-weapons.html#storylink=cpy

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Summary of Obamacare Opinion

Too busy to read the 193 page opinion? Here's a two sentence sumamry:

The commerce clause doesn't allow Congress to just do whatever the hell wants. However, Congress can tax whatever the hell it wants.

You know, Courts are funny. The lawyers get all worked up about a certain issue and the Court comes out and issues a decision on the basis of what everyone else thought wasn't a great argument. That's happened to me before.


If you don't like people in Congress telling you what to do and taxing you, don't elect those kind of people to Congress. The Court isn't going to save you.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

CNN Troll Can't Handle the Truth

CNN has been going downhill for quite awhile, and at this point, I think they’re just trolling to try and get better ratings. Case in point, the latest op-ed from “CNN Contributor” LZ Granderson in which he provides his valuable insight on the hearings that the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is holding on the DOJ’s Fast and Furious operation and claim of executive privilege that is being asserted by the Federal Executive Branch.

Oh, you haven’t heard of CNN Contributor LZ Granderson? Here’s how CNN describes him:
A senior writer and columnist for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com, Granderson has written several guest columns for CNN.com on topics ranging from Sarah Palin to Charlie Sheen to the younger Barbara Bush’s endorsement of same-sex marriage. His pieces have been among the most widely read and commented on by CNN.com’s users.
Basically, he’s a professional troll.

So, what deep insight does Mr. Troll have for us on the topic of a Congressional oversight committee seeking documents that have been refused under the claim of executive privilege?
I know that's hard to digest in a society where pregnancies and marriages of D-list celebrities make the cover of People magazine, but there comes a point where the public's right to know needs to take a back seat to matters like national security and diplomacy.
Snooki’s pregnancy and the Kardashian divorce aren’t exactly in the same ballpark as a Federal agency being asked questions by a Congressional Oversight Committee. The whole point of an oversight committee is to provide “oversight”. You know, being accountable to the people’s elected representatives? Nevertheless, LZ doesn't need facts! He's ready to start making some serious decisions.

Heads should roll because of the Fast and Furious debacle. We don't need every detail of that operation to be made public in order for that to happen.
Great. Exactly whose head “should roll”? If we don’t need the details of who decided to green-light the operation and/or cover it up, are we just going to start drawing names out of a hat? Some people like to have all the facts before they decide who loses their job and possibly faces criminal charges, but ol’ LZ, he’s ready to start axing people now.
Much in the same way, Project Wide Receiver and Project Road Runner -- the earlier versions of Fast and Furious under President Bush -- were executed with the hope that they will do more good than harm. Hardly anyone in the public knows the finer points of these programs.
Were they legal?
Hell no.
Were they effective?
Who knows?
Were they done as a way to keep America safe?
Yes.
So the Department of Justice is acting illegally, and we don’t know if it the illegal operations are even effective, but since these illegal operations were done with good intentions, so STOP ASKING QUESTIONS! Just roll some heads! Any heads!
LZ brings his tolling to a dramatic conclusion with this:
By allowing guns to infiltrate Mexico's drug cartel, we thought we could trace them up the ladder to the leaders. Take off the head and the body dies. As for the innocent people who lost their lives? Collateral damage. That's the uncomfortable backstory to this scandal. And there are likely other operations like it in our nation's history that we don't even have a clue about.
And maybe it's better for us not to be so nosy, not to know everything because, to paraphrase the famous line from the movie "A Few Good Men," many of us won't be able to handle the truth.
You can’t handle the truth? Dude, have you even seen this movie? Col. Jessup is insulting Lt. Kaffee when he says that.

But if that’s what you want, fine. The adults in the room are going to handle the tough decisions and hear about the bad things that go on in the world. If you don’t want to hear about the bad things, or make tough decisions, you can go play outside with the rest of the children and assume that everyone does everything with the best intentions. Seriously, how childish are you, LZ? Man up.

Personally, if I was going to go with a Nicholson line from A Few Good Men on this topic, I would have gone with the best line from the whole movie:


Maybe AG Holder just wants the Committee to ask him nicely.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Tommy Rees Practicing With the First Team

The last time we saw young Tommy Rees, he was showing off his UFC fighting skills against local law enforcement in an attempt to distract everyone from the fact that he's a poor decision maker with weak arm and bad downfield vision.

So, to all the Notre Dame fans who are looking to get rid of the troubled quarterback who can't seem to stop throwing the ball to the other team: Your coach has decided to give him another chance, and Reese is practicing with the team.

Get used to this image, Notre Dame fans

Welcome to #TeamGarcia, Notre Dame fans. Only this version of #TeamGarcia doesn't have naked girls in hotel rooms, keg parties in the front lawn, and he's going to get you a loss against Michigan State.

Oreos Are Gay?

Has anyone else seen this?
 

Apparently, it's caused quite a commotion in the cookie world. In any event, congratulations to the LGBT community are in order! Your demographic can now be successfully marketed/pandered to just like anyone else. That's some serious equality.

No NASCAR for Democrats


You know the DNC Convention in Charlotte? Apparently, some genius at the DNC had originally decided to have a big opening event at Charlotte Motor Speedway. They even had planned for a DNC stock car to be there. So, how's that going?
Just last month, the local host committee unveiled an official stock car for the Democratic National Convention – and said it could have taken a spin around the speedway at the Labor Day event. The event was touted by organizers as being family-friendly and something that would engage “more Americans in the convention than ever before, and celebrate Labor Day, our democracy, the Carolinas, Virginia and the South.” But the Speedway festival had attracted little interest among correspondents planning to cover the DNC.
I'm shocked that a bunch of Democrats don't want to go to a NASCAR track for their little party. Maybe they should have planned to have it at a light-rail station, instead.

McDonalds in Prague

It looks like it was outfitted by Ikea.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Supreme Court to Decide ACA Fate on Thursday

Per SCOTUSBlog, the Supreme Court will be issuing it's decision on Obamacare on Thursday at 10:00AM. Should be an interesting week. My official prediction is a 5-4 decision (Roberts writing for the Court) striking down just the individual mandate.

I'm reminded of the old Chinese curse along the lines of "May you live in interesting times". The big spin will be how the decision (whatever it is) impacts the Presidential race. Just a wild guess here, but look for both sides to declare the outcome to be beneficial to them.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

New York City Before Air Conditioning

Before air-conditioning, in the South, buildings were designed to circulate air and maximize cooling effects. I don't think this took place to the same degree in the North, but Arthur Miller has a great article about life in NYC before air-conditioning.

People on West 110th Street, where I lived, were a little too bourgeois to sit out on their fire escapes, but around the corner on 111th and farther uptown mattresses were put out as night fell, and whole families lay on those iron balconies in their underwear.
Read the whole thing.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Woman Sues Little League Player

Maybe you should watch the game, lady.

Saturday in Daytona Beach


I didn't say it was this Saturday.

South Carolina in the College World Series

I've been trying to think up a good way to explain how hard it is to defeat the South Carolina Gamecocks in the College World Series. Every time you think you've punched them right in the mouth, they hit you back twice as hard. Every time you knock them down, they're right back up. Every time you think you've killed them, they come back.

They never get tired, they never give up. They keep playing hard every pitch until you get tired and make a mistake. BAM! Then they strike.

They have the uncanny ability to turn the double play when they need it, get a strikeout when they need it, or get a hit at the right time. They're confident, loose, easy with a laugh, and calmly zen-like in their focus on the field. They're dangerous in the post-season. Dangerous, deadly, dream killers, these boys. How dangerous are they?

[Click for photo representation of the Gamecocks in the College World Series]

Friday, June 22, 2012

The Most Arrogant Man in the World

Haha.


Stay thirsty, my friends.

Pimento Cheese of the Month Club

Sign me up!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Clemson Tigers Spotted in Omaha!

I was reading the newspaper in Omaha the morning after the Gamecocks beat the Gators in the 2012 College World Series, and I saw that the Clemson Tigers had made it to Omaha also. Congratulations, Clemson!

George Washington's Personal Copy of the Constitution

If you're a history dork (like me) and have a couple of million dollars that you don't know what to do with (not like me) you might be interested in bidding on President George Washington's personal copy of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and other Acts from the First Congress.

I'm sure Ezra Klein isn't interested in some old confusing document, though, so at least you know he won't be bidding against you.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

New Scoreboard at Williams Brice Looking Good

This new board is going to be awesome!

Via SEC Sean.

The Shop Tart Reviews Cola's

As always the Shop Tart has a great review of the new and exciting things here in Columbia. If you're one of the "beautiful people", her blog is a must. In any event, her glowing review of Cola's is a good indication that this place is going to be great.