The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Yeah, when Person B tells Person A they don't want to get into an argument about something which Person A brought up, not thinking it was an argument at all, what Person B is really saying is, "I was wrong and don't want to admit it" or "You have a point, but I'm not going to tell you that."

No, this isn't a very wise thing to do in most scenarios. I typically don't express my political opinions at bars (or anywhere outside my writing), but am not shy about fact-checking others' statements and that's what I was busy doing this past Saturday night. A couple people were talking about President Obama's "You-didn't-build-that" comment and I had to butt in and say, "You do realize those words are being taken out of context, right?" and then provided them with evidence to back up that notion by way of fact-checking sites FactCheck.org and Politifact.com. One of the two then said that the quote was shown within the full context and it made the president sound even worse. I asked what source provided this "in-context" quote and he said the Romney team. I had to chuckle at that. I'm sure if the Obama team took a Romney quote out of context and I defended it by saying the Obama team proved they were accurate in their portraya...

I've had a few days to think about the Penn State ruling and I'm still uncertain about what I think. Due to the horrendous things that occurred, the team/coaches have to be punished, right? Yet at the same time, most everyone whom was involved in this scandal are either no longer with the team or dead, so why must the students whom had nothing to do with it be punished as well? Then again, this happens with regard to all penalties/probation. When a scandal brews, the coach gets let go and the incoming coach and players whom had nothing to do with it feel the brunt of the punishment. It's not fair to them, but then what's to be done for the NCAA to set an example by punishing teams/schools for such infractions? In the end, I think I feel bad for the students (and new coaches) there, yet also think it was probably the right thing to do. I don't wish anything negative upon Penn State. I hope that, in the end, the coaches, players, team and university can be strengthene...

I'm curious to see a study regarding what I'm about to share and how accurate it is. It's been difficult for me to date since I moved to Ohio from Nebraska. Upon moving here about 4 years ago, I didn't know anyone. I've been working at home, so it's difficult for me to really meet people out at work. I don't go to church. I haven't been greatly involved in the community. I'll go out on weekends, but it can be difficult going to bars by yourself or with family and meeting a woman. So I resorted to this free online friend-making/dating site to try and meet some people. I've only really been active these past 4.5 months, I'd say. I've made a couple of "okay" friends - meaning we might comment on one another's Facebook pages, but that's about as far as it goes. The longer I stay on that site, the more I'm beginning to realize a few things, such as it seems that most men are on there just for sex and most women are on the...

So, I got into an interesting conversation last night. As usual with this person, I took on the role as the shrink and her as my patient. This individual has even joked before about paying me for providing this very service. When we got to talking about her potential male dating prospects, she became more defensive than I've ever seen a person (well, it's close with one another - but I think even she pulls slightly ahead of him). Earning three degrees in psychology, this conversation both fascinated and frustrated me. While she was pointing out what she determined to be flaws of these two men and reasons why she was hesitant on pursuing anything with either of them, I reiterated her statements and build upon them to make an even stronger case that she should be careful with both, if not just totally dismiss them and look elsewhere. After these statements, she became Ms. Defensive and I found it intriguing at first, but later found it to be rather frustrating and annoying. H...

I've been an Atlanta Braves fan for many years and I have to say - this is one of the strangest seasons I've observed of theirs. I don't think there can be much debating it - the Atlanta Braves are the streakiest team in Major League Baseball. Here's a rundown of their season to this point: The Braves started the year 0-4, losing their first four games, before winning ten of their next eleven to go to 10-5 on the season. In late May, they were losers of eight straight to fall to 26-24 overall, just before winning eight of their next nine to improve to 34-25. Just after that, they lost seven of their next eight to drop to 35-32, before winning three straight (38-32), losing seven of eleven (42-39) and most recently, winning seven consecutive games to bring them to 49-39 on the season to this point. If these aren't the streakiest bunch of SOB's, I don't know who is. So, how will the Braves finish? The heck if I know. They could just as well win their fin...

Since January of 2011, when the Republican Party took over control of the House, they have attempted to repeal what is now known as Obamacare 33 times, which has cost taxpayers an estimated $50 million. I find this almost comical in a way, because one main reason why Republicans claim they want to repeal Obamacare is because it wastes taxpayers' money. So, let me get this straight - it's more beneficial to Americans for the GOP to spend their/our tax dollars attempting to repeal a bill which has absolutely no chance of being fully repealed at this time (more of a symbolic notion) than it is for our tax dollars to be spent to help insure the uninsured and decrease the price of premiums? The Democrats still hold control of the Senate. While Republicans know full well that any effort to repeal Obamacare in the House will pass, it will fail in the Senate. Sure, Republicans can use this as a talking point in the coming elections, saying they've tried to repeal Obamacare, yet d...

A story broke yesterday, that in light of the recent Washington Post  Poll, a tie in the 2012 Presidential Election is very possible. The poll showed the two candidates - Barack Obama and Mitt Romney - tied at 47% a piece and if Romney won all the states John McCain did in the 2008 election, plus a few (while Obama nabbed the Omaha electorate in Nebraska), the two would tie 269-269. What day is this? ::checks calendar::. Ah, that's right - it's July 12th. When's the election again? Oh, in November... I see... So, it's about 4 months from now? Lovely... In my opinion, as I've stated before, polls are next to meaningless right now. The only significance they have is to illustrate how much ground one candidate or the other has to make up in 4 months and so long as the difference isn't too great, this can be done - through ads, debates, campaigning, etc. Also, while some, myself included, may not agree with the Electoral College system and would rather the elect...

I love dogs. I've owned 3 in my 31 years and all have made for great pets. I had a cockapoo for 17 years (Rocky) and two huskies. One (Tasha) had to be put down last November, unfortunately and the other - Tara - is 11, but still acts like a puppy. Keeping that in mind, I really wish my neighbors (generalizing here) would keep a closer eye on their dogs. Now, Tara is as friendly as a dog can get. She's never snapped at anyone or anything before and I honestly can't see her every doing that. She's nothing but love (and weirdness). When someone does something to her she doesn't care for (like brush her, wash her, etc.), she licks them, as if to say, "Please stop. Please..." A year or two ago, as I was walking both she and Tasha around the neighborhood, a dog from two houses down came charging at her. Tasha was the bigger of the two - kind of the mommy figure - and stepped right in front of Tara and barked. The dog backed off a little bit. Tara, meanwhile, ...

Yeah, that's right. I love what the pastor said when approached about this. Reverend William Collier said that he wasn't a racist, but that "the white race is God's chosen people." The founder of the church, Mel Lewis, complained that the uproars this year shows a disrespect for religious liberty. ...and yes, the KKK will be attending this year... Yeah, Jesus was Jewish. If there were a chosen people, wouldn't it be Jews? If we don't want to look at it that way, wouldn't everyone be God's "chosen people"? People amaze me with such idiotic comments and then they hide behind their distorted version of their religion to say they're not a racist and then attempt to turn the tables and say it's the people calling them out that are against free speech/religion/diversity. According to Collier and the like, the hymn goes something like this: "Jesus loves the little children, All the children of the world, White and white, w...

It makes me laugh when people refer to President Obama as the "celebrity" president. Really? What's the definition of celebrity? "A well-known or famous person". So, what is being said is that Obama is the well-known, famous president? What president wasn't well-known or famous? It'd be like me calling a millionaire "the rich millionaire". He/She is a millionaire. I think it can be assumed that they're rich.  I'm just waiting for the day that 50% of the country to not know who the president is and we can then say he/she isn't a "celebrity" president. 

A long-time friend of mine will be hosting a political talk radio show before too long, which I will be doing work for. It's been interesting to observe. His Facebook posts have been attempting to offend, prompt comments and generate attention/traffic. Unfortunately, things have gotten pretty heated at times between he and other commentators. In his mind, he's just trying to be a radio-show personality, get under people's skin, get them talking and hope that word of mouth helps with ratings. As he told me, "It's all a game." To him, he wants people to hate him. He wants to be like that car accident, where people are saddened/angered by what happened, yet can't look away. Unfortunately, it's difficult for many who know this guy to separate the on-air from off-air personalities and when the on-air personality sends a perhaps rather insulting comment in response to one of theirs, they take it personally - like they would from the off-air personality, a ...

I just saw the new film "Ted" last Sunday and while I found the movie to be utterly hilarious and wouldn't mind seeing it again sometime, I found it to be interesting on a personal level, for as I soon came to discover, I am like someone's "Ted". She and I have been friends for 10 or so years now and while we've gone through some rocky times and have had some rather large gaps between communications, we've found a way to pick up right where we left off whenever we do communicate and maintain a decent friendship. The problem for us has always been that she's always wanted something more than the friendship and it's never happened. Either I was involved in a relationship at the outset (with my girlfriend of 2 years) or she was married (for a few years) or engaged (for a year or two) or I moved a ways away, which would complicate matters quite a bit, especially with her having a kid. So things just have never developed into anything greater ...

That was quite a storm we had in Central Ohio over the weekend. There's a good reason I haven't blogged since then - the power and with it, internet access, has been out until just a day or two ago. There was a downpouring rain, many lightning strikes, hail which lasted between 5 and 10 minutes in duration and winds which exceeded 60 mph and in some cases 80 mph. Some roads were blocked off in the following days. Just about everywhere I go, I see branches or trees on the side of the road. It's been somewhat reminiscent of the storm which hit us after Hurricane Ike a few years ago. I read that a million people in the state were without power at some point and not everyone of them/us has power yet. Some may be without it until this coming weekend. Unfortunately, this coincided with record-breaking temperatures in what was a scorching end to June and now start to July. My thoughts go out to all those effected by this storm. Hopefully we don't see another one like it for th...