i sing the body electric

- Mitt Romney hides money overseas - because that’s the Rich American Way – and which political party do rich Americans own?  Well, both – but they vote for Republicans! Because pay-to-play is the Republican Way!

- He gave shares of companies which Bain Capital acquired to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which then cashed them out for over $2M, tax free. Don’t the Mormons have enough? After all, they already own a whole state…Theocracy – that’s the Republican Way (even if those Mormons aren’t true WASPS, well, at least they’re conservative and that’s close enough)!

- Romney continues to waffle on when he will release his tax returns (stall much?), which won’t be until he’s secured the nomination (and only then can we find out how he can in no way identify with this country’s majority middle and lower class, you know - that pesky 99%). Hiding facts that show you’re not who you say you are – that’s the Republican Way!

- Romney actually lost to Rick Santorum in Iowa, but is calling it a ‘tie.’ Aren’t Republican interpretations of election results always a bag of laughs (what say you, Mr. Gore?)? I say recount! And watch when suddenly 5,000 previously uncounted votes magically appear for Romney and show he won by a landslide – or at a plurality. Because revisionism is the Republican Way!

- Rush Limbaugh says Newt Gingrich’s request to Wife #2 to have an ‘open marriage’ shows spirit (vs. just going out and cheating on her). There’s some good ol’ down home family values, yes sir, because that’s the James Dobson Republican Way!

- Rick Santorum still hates all things homosexual…Why doesn’t he just come of out of his Liberace-infused closet already? Because denial is also the Republican Way!

- Rick Perry dropped out of the race, whereas he previously thought God would anoint him as the Righteous candidate (apparently sometime after God gave up on Michelle Bachmann). Not that he’s delusional, right? Surely not! He quit, because as Sarah Palin proved – quitting is the Republican Way!

- Ron Paul is still a fringe-lunatic, hiding behind penny ideas masked in Libertarian gibberish. But bullshit sells, and no press coverage is bad coverage – because being bat shit crazy…That’s the REPUBLICAN WAY!

- Be sure to tune in for Republican Debate No. 3,763,286,401.6631 which will air probably right now.

CNN calls Todd Palin’s endorsement of Newt Gingrich BIG. What the fuck is big about it besides Gingrich’s planet-devouring maw? No one gives a peanutty shit about Gingrich or Palin. That’s today’s media  – they’ve spent so much time between Cain, Paul and Romney lately that they figure covering this nonevent means they’re giving equal time to candidates rather than admit they’ve already pitched their tent with Romney. I wonder when they’ll start covering the actual President to this degree, and if they’ll also afford him this same superficial free pass coverage they’ve given to these GOP rah-rah circle jerks.

Why aren’t the mainstream news feeders calling out the GOP candidate bullshit to a greater extent? The Romney at Bain Capital activities are political-powder keg gold. Paul’s long history of on-the-record racism hasn’t even marginalized him. Gingrich’s selling out via NAFTA coupled with his hypocrisy in both lobbying and the Clinton-Lewinski scandal should have sunk him by now. Rick Santorum is as clueless as he is evil, so the fringe loves him. Jon Huntsman is clean cut, vague, boring, and ineffectual on the national stage – he’s a rightwing zombie. While real scrutiny of everyone would be nice, some real focus should be put on the anointed one, Romney. But we know that can’t happen.

The mainstream media continues to desperately typecast Romney as the “obvious” frontrunner since it’s better for ratings to pit one person against Obama rather than report on the GOP field’s weaknesses as indicative of the entire Republican Party. This isn’t a slant or a reach - the GOP is still a playground for idiots. Don’t believe me? Let’s have a spelling bee, or better yet count teeth at rallies for each party. Network producers don’t care about the consequences of propping up (Insert GOP Candidate Here —>) Romney. If they had to, they’d push any breathing Republican as a “contender” while harboring a devil-may-care attitude about the fact that a GOP winner would run our country further into the ground. And why watch election coverage if an Obama win is a no-brainer - which it should be? The truth is the mainstream is ready to Manchurian-up any one of these remaining Republican assholes purely for ratings as needed. As of now and for the foreseeable future, Romney is that Chosen Asshole.

We’ll see if New Hampshire changes anything, but I doubt it. Considering the mainstream blew its load on Romney, the results won’t really matter; the media has a decades-long track record of successfully influencing voters to feed its self-fulfilling prophecies. Romney’s candidacy has been built up to be the most expedient route to higher ratings (ABC, NBC/MSNBC, CBS, FOX, The Washington Post, NY Times, The Denver Post, The Chicago Tribune, the LA Times, the AP, take your pick - “He’s got Buzz! So what if it’s manufactured, by us?” - DON’T LOOK AT THE MACHINE BEHIND THE CURTAIN!). Even if Romney somehow loses in New Hampshire given Huntsman’s sudden rising tide, the spin will make it sound like A) Romney still won, logic be damned or B) New Hampshire suddenly doesn’t matter - it’s not even a real state anymore. So what if the GOP remains in perpetual disarray? Romney must prevail! The mainstream has fronted too much to have it end any other way.

An Army Green Beret weapons engineer, who went to Afghanistan for his 3^rd time last year, was arrested in Texas for trying to board an airplane with explosives. The motives are unclear, but we must ask – did he snap? I doubt this was some lapse of judgment or accident – these were military grade explosives. If he did lose it, why – was he pushed too far? Will his trial get the same coverage as the shoe bomber? How fast will the rightwing media – i.e., FOX, shove this story under the rug with the guise of ‘this stuff doesn’t happen here in our country’ (or, we white people don’t do this – it’s only those Persian types! Timothy McVeigh who?)? I hope I’m wrong, I hope this was some epic blunder on his part, but I’m too cynical. We’re asking too much of our soldiers who are on their 3^rd and 4^th tours, straining them and their families to the brink. Are we breeding homegrown terrorists by pushing highly trained men and women too far in the name of service to their country? Wrecked families, PTSD coupled with anger and frustration in trying to transition back home, few job prospects in a crap so-called recovery – these add up to a recipe for disaster. UPDATE: The soldier said it was an accident, he just forgot to take the C4 out of his bag…Well, this raises a bunch of other concerns when you’re so desensitized as to forget you have unsecured C4 in your bag when getting on a civilian aircraft. Still, while this case warranted an overraction on my part, I nonetheless still believe we’re pushing our soldiers over the brink and increasing the possibility of home grown terror. And no, I don’t watch Homeland, but I hear it’s good.

What’s equally scary is the continued rising rhetoric between the USA and Iran. Come May, will it be like we never left and traded Iran for Iraq? More tales of Iran’s material support of Iraq’s insurgency attacks on US soldiers keep coming to light, along with today’s news of Iran talking tough in regards to US Navy battle groups in the Gulf. Considering these in light of Israel’s questioning of the US’s level of commitment to Tel Aviv and the Iranians nuclear weapons-grade enrichment rumors, and it’s clear we’re paving the way to our next siege. Can our military sustain another protracted conflict with a country which is supplied by the USSR, er, Russia, and China (and by extension North Korea), neither of whom is politically friendly with us? Can we as a country afford the emotional and economic strain? Think of the history dynamics – a new proxy war involving old Cold War enemies. The wild card is Israel, again, as they’ve acted unilaterally before. But this isn’t the 1970s or 1980s – if Iran has the bomb they may use it given their penchant for the psycho-dramatic. I doubt it would get that far as Israel would preemptively drop a big can of whoop ass.

But how big would that beat down be? Would Israel unleash their nuclear arsenal? And since it’s both morally and politically expedient to support our key ally in the Middle East, we will willingly be dragged into the fray. Even Saudi Arabia is goading us anew in a plain move to settle Sunni-Shiite scores. What will this do to our soldiers? How will this affect our caving relations with the destabilizing nuclear Pakistan and still tenuous Afghanistan, and how could we not look like Crusaders as we did in Iraq (especially considering the internal rioting by pro-democracy Iranians who want to reform from within, a factor that wasn’t in play in Iraq due to Saddam’s iron rule)? Any time you have several opposing nuclear powers involved, including a couple with itchy trigger fingers and axes to grind – Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollah aren’t BFFs right now, you have to wonder what the breaking point is. In the past cooler heads prevailed – but that’s only because the big boys had too much to lose in mutually assured destruction. What does Iran’s leadership have to lose? And what will we lose as a result?

——–

Great bumper sticker logic, for once:

Obama – CAUTION: I break for Republicans.

Will I vote for Obama in 2012? Yes, still holding my nose the whole way. He’s not as Republican as Romney or Gingrich, which is good enough. As Obama has said, don’t let perfect be the enemy of better – except that he’s not better, just more of the same. I piss on how the conservatives unanimously label him as the most liberal of liberals in the history of ever. Do I have buyer’s remorse? Yes. Do I hope for him to have a Balls-Out 2^nd term where he finally mans up and acts like a leader all the time versus the occasional dalliance? Sure I do – whatever, why not. Speaking of balls, in retrospect was Hillary actually the better choice in 2008? She at least has a pair. On the flipped side, the fact that Ron Paul is on a rapid rise again after the latest Gingrich poll stroking petered out shows how out of whack the GOP roller coaster is with reality. And yes, there were a lot of entendres in that last sentence – fap, fap, fap. After all, the GOP is just jerking us off – they’re only in for the Lulz and the whore money from the 1% who just keep laughing all the way to a Wall Street bank. We’re T-minus 10 months until we find out just how gullible the majority is. Prediction – Obama wins with 40% while the GOP splits between Romney and Paul. Democrats lose the Senate by 2 seats and gain in the House but still own the minority. Result –Four more years of gridlocked incompetence with the barbarians scaling the gate.

——–

Did anyone notice that Tebow, the amazing running QB for Jesus, ran for 660 yards and 6 Touchdowns this year? He also had 6 interceptions against 12 touchdowns, which when added equals 18, which when divided by the holy trinity equals 6 which is to say 6 three times. This…Means something. Mostly, it means we’re going to get our ass handed to us by the Steelers in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. We’re 8-8 riding the wave of a 3 game losing streak and fell into the playoffs by the sheer atrociousness of the AFC West. And it also means Bill Maher’s tweet about Satan telling Hitler how the Bills kicked our ass last week is still funny, as Satan will probably push Ben ‘Date Rape’ Roethlisberger to victory while Jesus is busy watching the History Channel’s 2012 Mayan Apocalypse lineup. He finds that shit fascinating.

The other day my wife was in line at Target picking up some odds and ends. She was also wearing a Pearl Jam t-shirt. The clerk at the checkout line asked ‘are they a band?’ My lovely wife didn’t know what to say at first, being that Pearl Jam is pretty well known, right? But then again maybe they’re not anymore, or as much, or at all among the late teen demographic? So she told him yes it’s a band, from the Grunge era of Seattle rock. Saying this aloud somehow just made the old settle further in. I told her not to fret too much, all things pass – the Beatles were considered classic rock when we were wee little kids in the 80s, barely 20 years removed from the British Invasion (and we are now 20 years beyond the release of ‘Ten’). This didn’t really help. She’s not one who is fearful of age, but somehow this struck a chord in her. So the best thing I could come up with was to say she should feel good because this young man was looking attentively at her chest. “Well, there is that,” she said.

I’ve tried to keep up with the OWS news (our ports!), but have to say I think it’s turning into less a movement and more a sit-there occupation. I’m all for the notion of “don’t just do something, sit there” and all but there are so many muddled messages that the whole thing is becoming a caricature of itself. I’ve railed against the peripheral becoming pervasive, i.e., ‘give peace a chance,’ and ‘legalize it, man!’, but now the movement is in danger of also becoming tragically hip. Some people just go to be seen there so that they can say 20 years from now “I was part of something” without contributing anything. Locally, the movement is small and dedicated, even if we don’t see eye-to-eye, but we’re a microcosm. We did a local Occupy the Shops (Shoppes) at Briargate over the Thanksgiving weekend, and I actually enjoyed being yelled at by the upper crust of town – mostly because, just like in the more comfortable progressive areas of Colorado Springs – we ended up getting more support than expected. Sure, there were the standard ‘Get a Job’ yells (on a Saturday) and several one-finger salutes, mostly from angry young white men/NASCAR fans with no teeth, but also many waves and honks and smiles. This was good – I grew up 3 miles from those Shops, in a middle class neighborhood we moved into nearly 27 years ago, when it was arguably even more conservative than now. So seeing people show support in the reddest of red areas in the country (you don’t get much more conservative than 80920) showed me that people still believe in what the OWS movement is about. I just hope it doesn’t become a victim of itself.

On the other hand, I still hope FOX News will eat itself in some sort of post-apocalyptic, zombie-fueled political cannibalism – Geraldo Rivera can host, before being eaten alive by Ann Coulter (which is probably one of her fetishes, actually – then she would be eaten by the next twit and so forth, ultimately forcing the lone remaining remote camera to pan out and show the entire giant cannibal conservative human centipede as completely eating itself). Who would win, Hannity or O’Reilly? The answer is America.

The Republican-of-the-week (weak?) has re-outlined where he stands in screwing US in America. Newt Gingrich’s economic plan is simple – give the rich tax breaks via a regressive flat tax (coupled with low corporate taxes and no taxes on capital gains - the largest source of income for high earners). He also believes the Federal Reserve should only focus on curbing inflation alone, instead of job creation. He would also try to repeal Dodd-Frank, and Obama’s Health Care overhaul.

This is consistent, good old fashioned backwater GOP gibberish. The rich need more money, per Gingrich. The fact that the top 1% - the wealthiest - controls nearly 50% of our total wealth and would see their taxes go from 35% to 15% doesn’t matter. The fact that we’re already running record deficits, but would cut corporate and high earner taxes and have less revenue for necessary entitlement programs also doesn’t matter. The fact that unemployment is still around 9% while business profits are above pre-recession levels also doesn’t matter. The fact that companies continue to outsource for cheaper labor, something near and dear to Gingrich who led Congress in the passing of NAFTA, also doesn’t matter. The fact that the Fed’s quantitative easing helped slow down (not solve) the Great Recession doesn’t matter, nor does the fact he was against Obama’s recent jobs-infrastructure bill, which the GOP killed. The fact that Wall Street was allowed to bet against itself in inflating mortgage values and then insuring against inevitable defaults and collapsing our economy in the process without regulatory controls? Nope, doesn’t matter.  The fact that kids can get treatment despite having pre-existing conditions doesn’t matter, either – at least to Newt Gingrich. It’s clear that America really doesn’t matter to Newt Gingrich.

What matters to him, and to all Republicans, is keeping the rich happy and the middle class powerless. Gingrich benefitted a plenty as a lobbyist and advisor to Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac to the tune of $1.6M during the bubble times – those same housing programs he now denounces. He also had several marital affairs (and a couple nasty divorces) which doesn’t add up considering his attacks on President Bill Clinton’s private life. He also was under investigation for tax fraud by the house when he resigned from Congress and the Speakership. He also believes the Founding Fathers wanted to put religion deeply into politics. He also on one hand said he doesn’t believe in ‘social engineering’ by the Right Wing in regard to cutting back Medicaid via a voucher system, and then flipped when he was criticized by Fatty Limbaugh. If we used the GOP back-to-the future talking point machine, he’d be called a ‘flip flopper.’

I’ll call him as I see him – Gingrich is dog shit. Romney is dog shit – they all are. They are greedy little pigs with no leadership ability, no vision, no understanding of complex concepts in finance or security, and who each possess the selflessness of an angry two-year-old with the education to match. Their faux debates have only exposed how deeply ignorant they are, and how their plans hold no wisdom. Compared to them, President Obama is not only still the smartest man in the room but also should be a step closer to Sainthood – and this coming from a guy who’s had many an issue with his on again, off again backbone. We’re leaving Iraq, and worried about Iran – and he is handling both situations as an adult should do – in moderation. If the last two elections were actual “electoral referendums,” then the 2012 election is a goddamned reckoning. Don’t let the stupid prevail.

Speaking of stupid, the Broncos continue winning at the last possible minute and have amazingly entered the top spot in the AFC West with 3 weeks to go. Some are saying it’s a miracle, that being 7-1 under the TEBOW is a sign of the divine – that God loves the Broncos more than other teams. Whatever – I don’t care what the reasons are. 8 weeks ago we were wondering what we had to do to secure the #1 pick in next year’s draft. Now we’re talking playoffs – PLAYOFFS!?! – Without batting an eye. In Timmy people trust. Whatever the reason, we’re winning - and it’s been both painful and exciting to watch. Tebow is like magical like a unicorn that poops rainbows. Think about it.

The Rockies are nothing if not predictable in the offseason – dump salaries, and go trade for “potential” as other teams actually spend money on proven talent. Hey, building from within is nice and all and we did shell out cash to Tulo and CarGo last year, but I’m not sure if dumping Jimenez, Iannetta, Street, Wigginton and Stewart for a return of unproven pitchers and a couple minor leaguers is a recipe for long-term success. I like the signing of C Ramon Hernandez – I just don’t like his 36-year-old knees. Tyler Chatwood and Kevin Slowey don’t make me want to buy season tickets. I still like the Jimenez trade itself, but not in conjunction with the rest of these moves which don’t make much sense when looking at the whole of the remaining team. Are we rebuilding yet again? We still don’t know who will play 2B or 3B, although Eric Young Jr. and Jordan Pacheo could step up – and maybe the newly acquired reclamation project that is Tyler Colvin can supplant Seth Smith in RF and give us a right handed bat? But is GM Dan O’Dowd really betting on 37-year-old Rafael Betancourt to be the closer after trading Huston Street, who despite a 3.86 ERA was still 29 or 33 in save opportunities? Street always made things interesting in the 9^th, but for the most part he was effective.

Who knows – maybe Helton’s back will actually hold up and the hodgepodge of young arms – Chacin, Pomeranz, White, Nicasio, Rogers, and Chatwood plus Hammel and Slowey could hang in a weak NL West (weak because I still don’t believe the D’Backs are for real). Did I think we’d go after Prince Fielder, Jose Reyes or Albert Pujols? Never, but maybe going after CJ Wilson would’ve helped considering Jorge De La Rosa will be trying to return from Tommy John surgery. We don’t have one pitcher on the active roster who’s won more than 11 games in a year.

I’d pay attention to the Nuggets, but how? Half of our team is playing in other countries and Nene may soon sign elsewhere. George Karl will have his hands full of empty– I hope Ty Lawson and the aged Andre Miller can also learn to play forward. At least we still have the Bird Man, Chris Mr. Andersen. His hair + beard + tattoos are legendary. Timofey Mozgov and Kosta Koufos are both very tall and I think that helps. Otherwise, they’ve been as active in free agency as the Rockies. Lastly, the Avalanche are in last place 30 games into the season, which makes sense. Oh how I miss Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, and Patrick Roy.

I needed me some music this morning. At the office, I often don’t play music – or only listen to just a couple tracks. I can’t listen to music as just background noise – I need to listen and not be interrupted, which is tough to do. Still, I gave it a go today. Here’s what my iPod kicked out this morning on random – how’s this for an eclectic mix (or, would this be the work of the worst DJ ever)?

-          Rotten Apple, Alice in Chains

-          Shock & Terror, CKY

-          Holiday in Cambodia, Dead Kennedys

-          Head On, Jesus & Mary Chain

-          Eye in the Sky, The Alan Parsons Project

-          Sympathy for the Devil, The Rolling Stones

-          Carry On, Crosby Stills & Nash

-          Fast Car, Tracy Chapman

-          Don’t Stand So Close to Me, The Police

-          In Your Eyes, Peter Gabriel

-          Prison Sex, Tool

-          Little Light of Love, RXRA (Fifth Element Soundtrack)

-          Beds are Burning, Midnight Oil

-          Why Go, Pearl Jam

-          Crazy, Seal

-          Takin’ a Ride, Don Felder (Heavy Metal orig. Soundtrack)

-          Low (feat. T-Pain), Flo Rida’

-          My Friends, Red Hot Chili Peppers

-          Keep a Lid on Things, Crash Test Dummies

-          Suck, Pigface

-          Rain When I Die, Alice in Chains

-          Born Slippy, Underworld

-          Pogo the Clown, Dog Fashion Disco

-          Light (Cellulite Radio Dub), KMFDM

-          Mountain Song, Jane’s Addiction

I haven’t kept up with politics on my own lately. I’ve been lazily relying on our friend at Under the Mountain Bunker and catching the occasional AP feed. I’m trying to catch-up on my backlog of TIME Magazines and funny Tumblr posts. The GOP field is still dumb, and the OWS movement is still both inspiring and confusing all at once, and cats continue their internet dominance. All of my efforts to stay informed are failing due to one thing over the last few weeks - Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. I allowed myself to get sucked in and boy is this game addictive. Yes, I played Oblivion nearly 3 complete times, but at least I could turn it off and get back into the warm sun every now and then. Sometimes out of glitch frustration, sometimes because I could no longer go without showering for fear of perma-stench setting in. Still, when you master a game as I did with Oblivion, I could set the PS3 controller down and pick it back up a week later and still not miss a beat. After the first exploratory trial and error-prone time through Oblivion, guidebook and all, due to my competitive nature I had to go through again and see if I could do things better and more efficiently. And I did – and it took 324 hours, 22 more than the 1^st time through. With Skyrim, I have worries about the level of dedication I will submit to.

Other sandbox titles, while fun, didn’t seem to quite draw me so completely in as the two Elder Scrolls games have. I enjoyed GTA-Vice City, which was a nice little violence-fest with a great soundtrack. The Rock Star Developers do good stuff – I played the living hell out of GTA-San Andreas. I think that’s the best GTA game to date – it provided the requisite ultra-violence with another amazing soundtrack, a great storyline, and expanded the sandbox 10-fold over anything I’d previously played. Most importantly, it drove me to keep playing to see what else could happen. On the other hand I had to push myself through GTA-Liberty City. The storyline was ok, the graphics amazing, but the setting was just too glum while the soundtrack (other than Iggy Pop’s radio station) was, well, meh. Compared to the openness of San Andreas, the game felt trapped – which was part of fitting the Big City theme and feel, I guess. While I was initially enthralled by Red Dead Redemption (mostly due to my personal association between it and my fetish for HBO’s ‘Deadwood’ series – I like the dirty Old West), it ran out of steam. Outstanding storyline, bad ending, but about halfway through the tasks felt massively repetitive. Nonetheless, the unbelievable scenery and soundtrack kept my interest long enough to wrap it up.

Skyrim is a wholly different animal. I thought Red Dead Redemption was the peak of eye candy for scenery – right up until I got an hour or so into Skyrim. The clouds, the water, the rocks, the snow, the trees, the weathered boards, everything – it’s almost difficult to move as you want to look around to see how the light and shadows change with every footstep. It reminds me of those many trips I’ve taken to places like Steamboat Springs, and Crested Butte, Rocky Mountain National Park - all those many drives carving through the mountain highways and back roads of the Colorado Rockies. It’s remarkable to digest, and the storyline far eclipses Oblivion already (and I’m only 27 hours in). Yes, the sandbox aspects have to be carefully watched so as not to lose track of the multitude of activities – so far as my OCD allows. I try to divvy up by tasks by city and town before moving too far on – and unlike Oblivion, Skyrim’s map actually shows the areas you’ve cleared. This isn’t a game so much as an experience, which is scary given the fact Bethesda Games already created such a deep mythos around the Elder Scrolls history (cultures, eras, traditions) even prior to this game. The soundtrack is better than Oblivion, a sublime mix of calm and chaotic to match the tundra and the activity accordingly. So far, the glitch clipping and freezing – which were so frustrating, if only sporadic, as to blemish what was close to a masterpiece in Oblivion – have so far been pleasantly absent. There have been a few timing issues, and one freeze, but no loading problems so far. Given the magnitude of the multiple elements at play here, I can’t complain about what was a Herculean effort by the game’s developers. I just hope that I don’t get to the point where my wife, who also loves the game (and relies heavily on her Kindle as her boredom backup), doesn’t need to push an ultimatum that either I shower or the couch gets burned in an exorcism.

Somehow I managed to also catch some football this last holiday weekend. As you’ve surmised, my eyes need a rest. I watched as Timmy THE Tebow led the Broncos to yet another improbable victory on the road against the Chargers, who’ve used us as a whipping post for the last 5 years. Sure, Timmy ran a lot (the most times of any QB since 1950), but he also looked better again as a passer and would’ve finished stronger than 9 of 18 had 3 passes not been dropped. But more than anything it’s our defense which has carried the Donkeys to 5 wins in their last 6 games. Elvis Dumervil has all of his 5.5 sacks this season in the last 4 games, and other than against the Chargers, the run D has turned stout. They held Philip Rivers to 188 yards passing on 19/36 attempts-completions. Not too shabby. People are actually talking playoffs and mean it. Seriously. I thought we’d max at 6 wins, not be 6-5 with 5 games to go in an anemic AFC West. It’s funny how the Chargers have finally been exposed as fakes after years of pretending. With KC’s collapse – how safe is Todd Haley as coach? The NFL axe is already falling with Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville getting dropped today. Will the Ex-Patriots KC brain trust hire Josh McDaniels away from St. Louis and hand him the reigns, if those reigns are tightened more than they were in Denver? Meanwhile in Denver, there’s talk that if the Broncos continue their option-run success that John Fox will be in serious contention for NFL Coach of the Year. What a difference a few weeks makes.

Things to contemplate – at what point in my iPod play list above did I start laughing? Will the Donkeys make a run at the Wild Card, or at the Raiders for the AFC West title itself? Will the Rockies do something worthwhile in free agency this offseason? Will I be able to limit my Skyrim hours as I get further into it without succumbing to full-fledged D&D nerd-dom?

-          Here’s a shocker – the biggest US companies continue to sit on nearly $3T. The reason is no longer due to ‘market uncertainty,’ or the Greece-turned-Italian Euro (Spain, Portugal, anyone?) debt crisis. Now it’s because while companies have been stockpiling cash, they’ve also been borrowing at record amounts which has led to record debts. In political terms, that means deficits. In all this stupid talk about the federal debt, often led by business leaders with a Tea Party front, doesn’t anyone find it ironic that businesses can’t keep their own balance sheets in order?

-          Wages remain flat, and a big contributor is the lack of company-covered skills training. We now have a massive skills gap resulting in employers not finding qualified candidates despite a re-emergence (albeit small) of new jobs. The reasons why are many – one, a failing education system which ties teacher’s hands as they face a generation of parents who are more interested in keeping their kids happy than challenging them. Yes, math and science are hard. Try to get a degree in Computer Information Systems, Finance, or Engineering without them. Those degrees are worth their weight in gold in a digital/commodity-driven economy. Two, companies don’t like to pay for training because it costs money, and often use the logic that they can find someone more qualified who already is pre-trained from outside rather than promote from within…Until they can’t find that outside help. Three, companies are laying off their most senior staff not always due to performance, but due to a) healthcare contribution-overhead costs, and b) higher salaries. Without these folks around to train the next generation, we widen the skills gap. Four, people are overworked as is, and it’s a helluva thing to be able to not only afford training on your own, but to also find time for it when you have a family and already work 50-60 hours a week – or can’t afford training because you already don’t have a job. Five – many employers cannot afford a bench, and even if they can, it goes towards product R&D labs, not training. And six, many companies are embracing the buyer’s market as employers, and have become massively unrealistic in expectations – they want the 115% skills match/personality fit at 85 cents on the dollar. For the most competitive skills sets, especially in technology where people aren’t lacking opportunities, this only makes things worse.

-          Violence seems to be on the rise at nationwide OWS rallies. I cannot stress enough how much this undermines the movement and plays right into the hands of the Fox News-Rush Limbaugh crowd. Sure, many Police are overreacting, and overreaching, but not all of them. Responding in kind is simply a case of two wrongs not making a right. Take the path of nonviolence – you really want to dig at ‘the man?’ Learn to turn the other cheek – and let them continue to have their adult temper tantrums. The adults will win out – but only if you act like adults.

-          Newt Gingrich has taken the lead from Herman Cain, who took it from Romney, who struggled with Perry, who beat out Bachmann, who rose up over Ron Paul. This isn’t a campaign – it’s a charade. And they say the OWS crew lacks leadership?

-          Wrapping up Oblivion, finally, this weekend. Not 100% this time around, but like I’ve said before, somewhere around 80% completion rate is good enough the 3^rd time through. I can’t wait to get started on Skyrim during a nice long Thanksgiving weekend.

-          Speaking of Skyrim, a baby born on 11-11-11 was named ‘Dragonborn/Dovahkiin (in the classic Nord language).’ Really?

-          Speaking of completion rate, Timmy THE TEBOW somehow managed to pull out a win again despite going 9/20 for only 104 yards passing and looking lost during an unbearable stretch of 3-and-outs in the Broncos win versus the mighty Jets last night. He’s 4-1, sure, or more accurately, our defense is 4-1 since he became the starter as they keep us in games. Von Miller is a beast – and Elvis Dumervil is picking it up. It’s scary. Give credit where it’s due – beating KC in KC last weekend, and then the Jets? I never saw that coming, and somehow Timmy is making it work running a 1930s-style offense which seems to go into overdrive in the last 5 minutes. As of now, it’s officially sink or swim time with him, as we could be looking at 7-9 and a mid-1^st round pick vs. a top 5 pick; this means no Andrew Luck, no Matt Barkley, no Landry Jones. 8-8 could win the AFC West, but I don’t see us beating Buffalo, San Diego, Chicago, or New England. Then again, after the Detroit debacle, I also thought we’d be 5-11 at best. Playoffs!? Who knows – run, Timmy, run!

-           Compiling my Gonzo notes from last weekend’s jaunt to New Orleans. Hope to write those soon – then again, I tried to do this last year on my West Coast-Pacific Coast Highway drive – so I’ll have to do versus do not this time around.

·         Just read an article about how multiple US Economics Professors would fail the GOP 2012 Presidential Nomination field. Bachmann will not get gas down to $2 a gallon. Fail – if anything, we’d probably see $5 soon enough no matter what and that’d likely jump to $6 if a GOP profiteer was in office. Rick Perry cannot balance the budget with less tax revenue. It doesn’t work – see, W. Bush tax cuts and how a surplus turns into record deficits. The Gold standard coming back? Nope – the dollar would fluctuate based on a commodity. Sorry Ron Paul – fail. How about a trade war China as perpetuated by raiser tariffs, per Mitt Romney? Fail – China would call the bluff through our purchased bond debt – we also tried this to stem off the Great Depression in the early 1930s and it backfired. How about a flat tax. Fail – too regressive and wouldn’t help the deficit as tax revenues could have a massive shortfall. Bottom line? The GOP talking points, if made into law, would make us hit rock bottom and start digging. They are recklessly stupid.

·         Democrats won 5 of 6 contested state seats in Kentucky, and retained the Democratic Governor. And I thought the south was devolving again! Also, Mississippi voted down the ‘personhood’ abortion-restriction amendment – something Colorado conservatives twice tried to pass and also failed. In Virginia, the GOP fell short of taking the majority in the State Senate, but still has the Governor and House.

·         In Ohio, the right to bargain collectively as unions won big time against the GOP Governor, who said he needs to ‘reflect on this.’ Better idea – step down, and let the real adults get back to work at leading this country. It won by37 points – suck it, GOP. In Maine, same-day voter registration was allowed, which the GOP hates as they try to keep people away from polls.

·         Obama is opening up more areas for oil drilling in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico via acting through the Department of Interior, which is headed by Colorado’s own Ken Salazar. It’s a limited spread, and predictably, the GOP is saying the 15 lease sales are not big enough or in the right areas. Figures. Huh – maybe the BP oil spill wasn’t big enough either.  Obama is also cutting down on federal employee spending on cell phones, cups-pens-shirts-swag, travel, the vehicle fleet, and PR material. Take that, Tea Baggers!

·         In Bill Clinton’s new best-seller, he advocates taxing the rich and letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire in 2013. He, being one of the 1%, said he can afford to pay more and that being asked to do so isn’t class warfare as the top 1% are the only people who’ve seen their income go up in the last 30+ years. Per Clinton, people aren’t mad or jealous of success – they’re angry at being taken advantage of and being ripped off. The middle class keeps getting fewer bangs for the buck in political influence, in affording groceries, in healthcare. Clinton said all the gains are going to the very top, and that’s not sustainable. He’s also thrilled with the OWS Movement and believes it’s getting beyond the assembly phase into the action phase. I’m not sure on that one yet, but nice to hear he supports it. I still say that if he could run again, he’d win in a landslide.

·         Speaking of OWS, a few of us in Colorado Springs will be on the north end of town the Saturday after Thanksgiving outside the Shoppes at Briargate, which is a Mecca (just kidding, they wouldn’t allow Mecca’s that close to Focus on the Family’s HQ) of yuppie extravagance. So far, the OWS folks have stuck to downtown, which is a comparatively friendly and progressive area. From 10a-2p, we’ll be in front of people who may not like us from the north end of town where the new money lives. I should know – I grew up in Briargate and District 20. Downtown, the ratio of being called ‘fags’ or being told to ‘get a job’ (got one, and statistically speaking, I’m in the top 14%) to those honking or cheering in support is about 1-10. Up north, where people think minorities are a threat by their very existence, I expect that to be 2-1. I can take it – the truth is on my side. We’re not there to start shit, but to just show the northies that they’re part of this too.   

·         Last night I actually watched the World Series of Poker final table main event, at least until I fell asleep. A 22-year old student from Germany beat a 35-year old pro chess player from the Czech Republic to win an $8.7M pot. It went back and forth for nearly 5 hours. I still say poker isn’t a sport – but that was some game and a fitting battle for an event which started with 6800 people and a $10k buy-in back in July. Plus, it was at the RIO, which I think is one of the most fun places in Vegas.  

·         JoePA’s days in Happy Valley are numbered. They were numbered anyway – after 46 years of leading Penn State football – Linebacker U – the 84-year-old was in the last year of his contract regardless. But to have it end like this – because he apparently knew about an ex-coach sexually assaulting young boys, IN THE LOCKER ROOM, and looked the other way? Time to go, pal. He’s retiring at season’s end, but I think given the circumstances he should’ve been walked today – education at Penn State is the institution, not him, not for this.

·          The Colorado Avalanche dropped to 7-7-1 after a hot start. Let’s hope they can turn it around with one of the NHL’s youngest rosters. They are fun to watch.

·         Which is also more fun than watching the NBA lockout – seriously, can’t they just play ‘let’s make a deal!’ and get it done? As each day passes, I’m reminded more of how much I loathe David Stern and his Napoleon complex. He’s just so tiny.

·         Just a few days until Elder Scrolls-Skyrim; that gives me a couple more days to wrap-up Elder Scrolls-Oblivion, for the third time. Sandwiched between wrapping one and starting the next, I’ll be making a quick 3-day weekend jaunt to New Orleans. My first time in the Big Easy.

·         I need to catch up on this week’s ‘Walking Dead,’ and also watch the new ‘Drinking Made Easy.’ I wonder how those two shows would mash together? I think Steve McKenna would be a legendary drunk zombie. It’s the beard.

·         The NBA lockout continues as there is dissention in the ranks; some players want a deal, any deal, while some want to break up the Union and take their chances in court. Either way, every day NBA games aren’t played is a day I don’t have to worry about a) how much I hate LeBron, and b) how bad the Nuggets would have been this year.

·         Despite a hot start on the road, the Colorado Avalanche have been bad so far at home; They’re 7-6-1 and only 1-5 at home early on. Matt ‘Action Jackson’ Duchene looks solid so far, but Varmalov, our young goalie, has been very up and down.

·         The Broncos beat the Raiders, in Oakland, after their bye. I didn’t see that coming, as our run D was mighty. Of course the Raiders didn’t have Darren McFadden at RB, and Carson Palmer is still shaking off the cobwebs, but a win is a win. The Donkeys are 3-5, which is surprising as after last week’s debacle against the Lions, I figured maybe a 5-11 record at best. KC looks beatable, but after they lost in embarrassing fashion to the previously 0-6 and horrific Dolphins, I doubt they’ll cough one up at Arrowhead.

·         A 4^th woman has joined the sexual harassment fray against Herman Cain. This would be funny if it weren’t so sick.

·         And yet people are writing that Obama is finished in 2012. Somehow I don’t think so – as much as his pandering to a nonexistent middle angers me at times, his pragmatic approach still beats the hell out of the alternative.

·         Is Penn State the Catholic Church of colleges? Seriously – what part of “sexual contact with an 11-year-old boy” was confusing or vague? This Sandusky guy needs to go to prison, and quickly - and the brass at Penn State knew it and sat on it.

·         Justin Bieber is potentially a baby daddy? Um, ok. I thought he was gay. And a woman. Either way this all happened when he was a minor, which just adds another level of creepiness to this whole thing.

·         A pastor in Tennessee advocates extreme corporal punishment – like slapping six-month olds, and using flexible plumbing tubing on those older children – to keep kids in line. Problem is several of his flock killed their kids in keeping with his message. I have to ask myself – how would Jesus starve/beat/imprison children?

·         Now that the Greek debt crisis is starting to wind down, we’ll now focus on Italy! Funny – anyone else think this is some manufactured excuse to keep ‘uncertainty’ in the forefront of bullshit reasons for companies not to hire?

·        Bank of America has settled a class-action lawsuit for charging bogus overdraft fees. The settlement of $410M was laughed off by shareholders and board members, who then proceeded to take turns diving into the company’s many private Olympic size swimming pools filled with gold bullion.

·         The average American over 65 has, get this, 47 times the net worth of someone under the age of 35. That’s one helluva wealth gap, as new college grads are saddled with debt and young professionals have less and less job prospects and chances for income growth.  That’s more than doubled since 2005.

·         2005 YU55, the 1,300 ft. wide asteroid which is about 750,000 miles away, will do its latest flyby tomorrow at a distance of 200,000 miles and can be seen by the naked eye if you’re in the right hemisphere.

·         What’s wrong with this headline: ‘Parents warned about used mail order chickenpox lollipops.’

·         Mississippi is going to vote on if a fertilized egg is a person; if yes, birth control pills will be illegal. Unbelievable the ways people try to bullshit their way around Roe v. Wade. Between this, the Tennessee pastor, and Texas in general (sorry Austin), can the south please secede and become the third world theocracy it’s dying to be? I hate the Christian shame culture that can’t keep its nosy, perverted business out of our bedrooms through politics. Guess what? People are still having sex – you southern conservatives should try it, but with humans, not farm animals. Maybe if you could get laid you wouldn’t hate it so much.

·         It makes me think, what would Tim Tebow do? And then I think the dude needs to get laid, too. Maybe that way he could learn to hit a moving target.

A heckler in Massachusetts called Elizabeth Warren a ‘socialist whore,’ because she went on record about being an ideologist of the OWS Movement. He identified himself as a Tea Party member – no shit? Couldn’t have figured that one out, thanks buddy! – who’s been out of work for 2 years. Does he know the woman he’s attacking is one of the greatest consumer-worker advocates we’ve had in the last two decades? Let’s see, he attacks someone who’s fighting for him and thinks the OWS movement is equal to socialism. That makes him 0/2 in my book. Here’s one for him that all of those who’ve been at OWS rallies have heard from Tea Baggers – GET A JOB, FUCKHEAD! Hell, I’d be nice if dipshits like him could even get a clue.

A Daily Caller article says the latest South Park Episode mocks the OWS Movement. I didn’t think that was totally the case – the kids were pissed that they all had to suffer more gym time because of the 1%, namely Cartman’s fat lazy ass. I thought it was funny how Parker & Stone mocked the media’s missing the point on the coverage (it’s Occupy Red Robin!) and the cops’ overreaction (we have a Bon Jovi concert, can’t have this many cops bored!). I also thought it was funny how they portrayed the 5^th Graders as the violent splinter fringe of the movement. When they had a hippie drummer and a dude dancing in a Guy Fawkes mask, well, yeah, I’ve criticized those same people myself. I even liked how they made fun of Michael Moore screaming at Butters and Jimmy in support, who each looked at him with expressions of confused fear. I like Michael Moore, but I can see how they look at him as an opportunist blowhard. He was in Denver yesterday and showed up to a) rally the OWS crew, but b) ask for them to buy his book. Capitalism!

Michelle Bachmann is grasping at straw polls again. She says those pesky OWS people need to stop blaming capitalism and start blaming politicians. Funny – here’s the thing; we don’t blame capitalism, we blame crony capitalism which is perpetuated by bought politicians, like you, Ms. Bachmann. And so yes, we also blame politicians who put donors – i.e., big business – before the vast super massive majority of the rest of us. Also, she advocates a tax hike on the poor! Wait – a GOP Tea Bagger calling for tax hikes! What would Grover Norquist say? Hey, I’m all for people paying their fair share. But I think the top 1% can afford a chunk of that burden a bit better than the bottom 1% can. Hey – kids who don’t work don’t pay taxes - stupid child labor and minimum wage laws. Damnit, Bachmann, we need to bring us back some Chimney Sweeps!

And along those lines – the latest Census data shows that 1 in 15 Americans is poor. That’s the highest percentage ever. It’s affected every imaginable demographic. There are cities with poverty rates of over 40% and surrounding suburbs are now becoming impoverished twice the speed that cities are. Crime rates are going up in places where less tax revenue means less service. People are not getting desperate – they are desperate. If you include the people who don’t have easy access to food and medical care, that ratio rises to 1 in 6.7 below the poverty line, or 46.2 million Americans. 40 states saw increases of people in poverty, as did DC – the other 10 states didn’t get worse, but stayed the same. The Rust Belt, the Sun Belt, the Bible Belt, take your pick. Gas prices, utilities, food, and child care are all on the rise as wages stay flat and jobs are still anemic. Consumer spending is up from the middle and top classes, and other key indicators for a recovery are up – but not enough yet, and not enough to help people at the bottom who don’t give two shits about the stock market.

The GOP blames the poor in casting them as leeches, and is asking them to pay more taxes so that the rich can pay less and ‘create jobs.’ These are people who can’t even afford to eat – which must be their fault, right righties? Go fuck yourselves - how’s that for a solution.

The latest in views you can use…

Greece isn’t putting the Euro bailout deal to a popular vote. If it did, the bailout wouldn’t be accepted as its conditions require some pretty big cutbacks in public sector and services that the people of Greece don’t want to lose. The Greek Debt issue – more than Spain, more than Ireland’s housing, etc. – has been wreaking havoc daily on international markets for months. Austerity stinks, but to collapse a continents’ shared currency would be worse. Sorry Greece.

Here at home the 30-year mortgage rate is hovering around 4%, which is pretty close to the historic low of 3.94% set last month. This might actually mean something to homeowners refinancing and buyers if they could qualify to buy a home since credit is still frozen, as evidenced by the lack of occupied homes bought in September. I always laugh when I see news on mortgage interests rates – for the last couple of years, they’ve mattered less than in all practicality, say, the temperature on Mars. Here’s what matters – my house is valued at 16% less than what I bought it for over 6 years ago according to Zillow (which has its flaws, sure, but is the first place people look when buying or selling to get a ballpark). Only in this last year have my property taxes fallen, and not nearly enough to line up to the lesser valuation. I re-financed in Sept. 2009 when, per the bank, my house was magically worth 2.8% more than what I bought it for. I’m not underwater on my loan and happy to still make a good living, which means I don’t qualify for a bailout. What a joke.

The Supply Management Index in October was over 50% again, as it was in September, although again not by much so growth is there but slow. Considering this index accounts for retail spending (which itself was way up in October) and jobs in non-manufacturing/service sector, hotel and financial realms, this is mostly good – except that new product orders are slowing into Q4. To me, that’s not as concerning as Q4 typically slows down anyhow, except in retail – but those gains are in storefronts versus new inventory. In Q3, the GDP rose 2.5%, and the jobs report is likely to show more gains in October. On the manufacturing front, factory orders are also up for the 3^rd straight month and the largest one-month gain since March. This is definitely good as, other than housing which is still iffy at best, most signs are pointing up consistently.

Unemployment is also down this week, but just slightly; new unemployment applications went down below 400,000. This is only the 3^rd week since April that this has happened. That’s good, but not enough as measured unemployment is still over 9% (reality, still 14% all factors considered). The amount of total applications has dropped 5 of the last 6 weeks. If we see that number drop to 360,000 or so, we’ll know we’re actually making a dent.

On the flip side, productivity is up yet again – the most in 18 months! This means labor costs are down, so profits are good, but also means wages remain flat as does our consumer spending power. A lot of this is due to the fact that 1 person is doing the job of 1.75-2 people, and salaries remain stagnant as less firms are hiring OT-eligible hourly workers. Why pay hourly, when you can pay salary and not pay overtime, and work someone 50-70 hours per week! So – to recap – consumers are spending and could be spending more, but companies aren’t hiring, and wages are flat. How close are we to a wage-earning-spending breaking point that could sputter this weak recovery? This will be tough to gauge as we head into the holidays when retail spending will increase as overhead labor costs spike anew (as compared to the end of Q1 when many firms max out employee fed tax/payroll matches) as things slow down in business and companies pay for vacations and holidays. Of course, many firms have dwindled employee vacation and sick time by requiring mandatory PTO or are requiring mandatory shutdowns for people to either a) burn up the rest of their vacation, or b) go unpaid. Happy Holidays!

Corporate earnings and relative profits are up. And yet a new report by the Citizens for Tax Justice just found that 280 top US public firms only paid 18.5% in taxes on profits from 2008-2010. 70 of those firms paid 10%. 30 paid nothing – for 3 years. This is a far cry from tax laws which state the corporate profit tax is 35%. This news comes out as big business lobbyists in DC are pushing for more corporate welfare, er, tax breaks to stop them from their fetish of sending more jobs overseas.  Is anyone still wondering why people are Occupying Wall Street?

Is anyone surprised that GOP frontrunner Herman Cain doesn’t know the difference between facts and allegations? Fact – he settled a sexual harassment claim in 1990 while heading the National Restaurant Association. Fact – 3 women have now come forward regarding claims of sexual misconduct. Allegation by Cain – that this story is getting any play is the direct result of racism by the, wait for it, liberal media. Sorry Mr. Cain – an allegation is not fact. Even Dr. Condoleeza Rice called you out on the race card trumping, dude. And where does anyone in the GOP get off crying about race when they so closely align themselves with a Tea Party movement that questions President Obama’s nationality because he’s half-black? Also – fact, China has had nuclear weapons since the 1960s. When asked on Fox why he thought China is a threat, Cain talked about them developing nuclear weapons as if they hadn’t done that, you know, over 40 years ago.  This isn’t a little known fact. I knew this in 5^th grade.

Cain alleges the sexual harassment dirt is being dug up by GOP cronies for Romney and Perry. Hmmm – well, not like it was hard to find, because IT HAPPENED. What did you expect? You would be the lone Presidential candidate in the last 50 years to be able to hide your skeletons in the closet? As for racism and the GOP, Mr. Cain, try this one on. In the 2000 campaign cycle, W Bush’s people sent word out in South Carolina that John McCain fathered a bastard child with a black woman in order to scare off voters…The same conservative, back-water voters who believe in racial purity. And there is your GOP base, Mr. Cain – good luck!

Those same Republicans also continue to want to repeal Obama-care, like Jon Huntsman and Rick Perry Yet they seem to be reaping the rewards. Jon Huntsman’s family business has raked in over $1M in benefits while the state of Texas has had a nice chunk go to early retirees’ benefits to the tune of $100M. When you factor in private sector companies in Texas which have gained in retirement coverage, you can add on another $326M. How about them apples? The GOP is nothing but obstructionists. But don’t take it from a lefty - take it from a righty who works for a lefty (like Huntsman did). Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a GOP Congressman from Illinois who was part of the GOP House Caucus from 1994-2009, just said the GOP is more concerned with stopping Obama than helping America. Even though, time and time again, Obama’s plans in my view would, gee, help America.

 The Daily Caller cites an interview LaHood did with the Daily Beast where he called the Republicans the ‘Do Nothing’ Party. Good to hear one of the old guard insiders, even if he does work for the President, call out the GOP for what they are.

In other news – 8 days until Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim! I admit I’m still hooked on Elder Scrolls Oblivion – trying to wrap up my 3^rd time through, at a minimum of 85% completion. I am a nerd for long play, open sandbox games with hundreds of hours of fun. And along those lines – Rockstar just formerly launched the GTA-V trailer with an estimated release for the game sometime next year, and they’re going back to Los Santos! Nice – I can’t wait. Well, not true – Skyrim will take a while. There go my weekends – like those exist anyway.

That’s all from the land where Timmy Touchdown Jesus Tebow (of the Total QBR of 3.4 out of 100, worst in the NFL last week) is still the starter for the Donkeys, for at least another week.