You know, as critical as I have been of Hillary during this campaign, I do feel that she deserves a salute on her way out. She's been an influential voice and powerfully visible figure for progressive causes for a couple of decades, and her impact on the American political scene cannot be overstated.
As a politician, Hillary Clinton is the perfect example of a Democrat with a Spine; a rare creature indeed. She plays hardball, doesn't pull punches, and is obviously willing to fight to her last dying breath for the causes she believes in. The other cringing, capitulating congress critters who call themselves Democrats (with a few exceptions) can, and should, learn a great deal from her. She gave a speech today (I believe) which C&L reports will be running in full on MSNBC today at 4 o'clock Eastern time, in which she officially backs Obama in his candidacy for the Presidency. It was one of her better pieces of oratory, and hopefully will mend some of the rifts in the Democratic Party (real or media-made) and prime the Party to stomp McBush this November. She referred to an Obama victory as "the path to peace, prosperity and progress" for the country, and I can't think of a better way to put it. It might be shallow and calculating of me, but when I hear that line, I think "campaign slogan," and I like it. It'll sell.
Peace; getting our kids out of that bloodthirsty desert where Bush took the modern conservative movement to die.
Prosperity; a break from the financially suicidal policies of "rob from the poor to feed the rich" which have dominated our economy, dictated to and implemented by Dubya from the boardrooms of Houston, Galveston, and New York.
Progress; providing real care for our veterans, returning sanity to out international policy, ensuring equal rights for all Americans (protecting them from Big Money lobbyists who drown out their voices and from archaic social oppression more at home in Torquemada's Spain than a modernized nation), and hopefully provide adequate health care for our citizenry.
The list obviously can go on and on, listing the multitude of criminally catastrophic fuck-ups perpetrated by the Buch Cartel, but the point is, any Democrat (hell, almost any sentient being) can and will do a better job of piloting this country than George "All Hat, No Cattle" Bush, and John McSame represents nothing more than a third term of Neocon blood lust and bullshit, except this time the military service claimed by the candidate actually occurred.
So, well done Hillary. Way to stop drilling holes in the hull before the boat actually goes down. She sure did make me nervous, waiting until the train of a "sundered party" was damn near on top of us to jump off the tracks, but she did jump. I really can't condone that kind of selfish campaigning, but its over now, the party is in good shape behind a strong nominee, and as they say, no blood, no foul.
EDIT: Yeah yeah, I just noticed the crazy hodge-podge of metaphors in that last paragraph. Whatever, I like em, they'll stay.
My apologies to our Senior Sporting Correspondent, Andrew Hauch. This post should have gone up this past Thursday, June 5th. He had it to me with plenty of time, the fault here lies with the editor. Wont happen again.
By: "Sports Guy" Drewsky
Tonight marks Game 1 of the 2007-2008 NBA Finals featuring the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics!! Review that statement for several seconds and let it sauté in your mind! Yes friends, a match up so immersed in history's record books, it will undoubtedly make for an entertaining final. And why not? Since recent NBA Finals ratings have been deep in the bowels of toilets all across America (thank you San Antonio), this renewed rivalry can be nothing but a ratings grabber/entertaining. Watching Ginobili's incredible honker flutter in the wind followed by the inevitable flop to draw a foul was the most entertaining aspect of recent finals (lol). Sorry for the flat-out digression, however, the thought of the Lakers-Celtics final reminds me of the incredible rivalries of the past…Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, and Wilt Chamberlain's Lakers taking on Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, and Bill Russell's Celtics. Boston had a stranglehold on this era (1957-1969), producing 11 Championships in 13 years (that's what I call a legit dynasty) with Coach Red Auerbach at the helm.
This rivalry would be renewed during the Bird-Magic era. This time however, it would be the Lakers turn to hold the trophy. During the 80's, the Lakers under the tandem of Magic Johnson and all-time scoring leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, would go on to win the coveted title of NBA champs 5 out of 8 years. Two of these titles came against the Boston Hall-of-Fame trifecta of Bird, Robert Parrish, and Kevin McHale.
During the playoff season every year, ESPN shows many of the championship campaigns for each team, and I'll be damned if I didn't skip out on a few classes to watch these rivalries (sorry Dr. Barnes–I've loved all of your classes ). Many of them were fantastic, showing late-game heroics by the likes of Bird and Magic, just to name a few.
One thing is for certain…you could ask a lady in Uzbekistan to say everything she knows about hoops, and she would probably mention that Michael Jordan was an absolute man-child, and the Lakers and Celtics had a huge rivalry.
To put it into perspective, the Lakers and Celtics franchises have combined to triumph in 30 of 61 NBA finals since the NBA-ABA merger. That is absolutely staggering. This year marks the 11th time the teams will do battle for the title (with Boston being victorious 8 of 10 prior).
The paths of tonight's NBA Finals participants have been dramatic. The Celtics came into this season as the worst team in the Eastern Conference. However, GM Danny Ainge, the main architect in this season's historic run, gave up an arm and a leg to acquire Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett during the off season. Heavily criticized at first, this move has paid off in the long run, as the Celtics completed the year possessing a league-leading 66 wins and their first NBA Finals berth since '87. Also, neither of the aforementioned players, in addition to team captain Paul Pierce, have ever been to the Finals. Therefore, expect the primal instinct to come out in these cats. Bravo Danny Ainge!
For the Lakers, it's been a wild ride as well. Almost exactly a year ago, Kobe demanded a trade out of LA. He has been incredibly unhappy in recent years, primarily because his team has either not made it to the playoffs, or got owned in the first round. Of course, he's selfish, but the kid can ball. Although he had scuffles with Andrew Bynum early in the season, the Lakers were winning, silencing Kobe. Shortly afterward, Bynum went down with a season-ending knee injury. Following this setback, the Lakers were destined to be an afterthought in the competitive Western Conference this year (Seeds 1-8 only separated by 7 games) until the landmark trade for Spaniard Pau Gasol. Mind you this trade was an absolute steal. The Lakers obtained Gasol from the Grizzlies for a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, a Pez dispenser, and a 9-iron. And since then, the Lakers have mopped the floor with team after team. Kobe started believing in his young teammates, and became MVP of the league for the first time. The Lakers are looking like a well-oiled machine going into the Finals.
Although Boston has had their fair share of inconsistencies this post season, expect big games from the Big 3. However, I find it hard to count out Kobe (the greatest player and closer in the game since Michael Jordan's retirement–in my own personal opinion). Kobe's playing lights out, Garnett/Gasol/Pierce have played well, and Ray Allen has gotten his confidence and shot back. Watch for Lamar Odom and the bench from LA, as they will be X-factors in the series. Additionally, I believe the inexperience, inconsistency, and lack of killer instinct will be Boston's undoing. They lack a player who is willing to take control in key situations of the game. Paul Pierce resembles the closest thing they have to this, however, he can't hold a candle to Kobe's closing ability.
It will be hard to top the intensity of their past rivalry, but this series has a lot of potential. I hope fans will finally be in for a treat after several years of lackluster finals. This is what dreams are made of!
To generate a little buzz, I'm predicting Lakers in 6.
Today, Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) took an enormous step towards reforming the corrupt, archaic cash-fixation that is D.C. politics. They have made a joint declaration that the Democratic Party, in stark contrast to the McBush campaign, will no longer accept donations from Washington lobbyists or 527's. It is unclear whether this will extend down-ticket, forbidding any Democrat from accepting lobbyist or 527 cheddar, but it does apply to the Obama campaign and to the DNC general election fund. This represents a historic departure from previous campaign cycles, where candidates and parties have traditionally pandered to whichever groups or firms offered the greatest financial boost to their efforts.
This, of course, flies in the face of the message issued by the RightwingNoiseMachine, claiming that Obama is an "empty suit," a man of lofty rhetoric without substance. Revolutionizing the fund raising standards of one of the two major political parties in the country? I think that counts as substance if anything does. This is that Change, with a capital C, that Obama and the Dems have been advancing and the Republicans have been failing to embrace.
Good to see our Man Obama follow through on his "people power" talk. I'd love to see Obama call the McCain/K Street campaign on this issue during on of McBush's proposed townhall meetings. Lets see if McCain's "strength" really is getting burned, rhetorically, in a small setting instead of getting burned on the national stage. Either way, this move is a huge victory for the voice of the people and for Democracy in general, and its going to make the whole "Obama is out of touch of the average American" argument seem pretty silly, seeing as Obama will be refusing the pander-cash from the D.C. powerhouses that outspend the People's Voice in Washington while McCain's floundering presidential bid will be lapping it up. He sure is "A Leader We Can Beleive In," if by "we" he means "we the D.C./K Street Elite."
This week Washington played host to the anti-vaccination movement. Everybody was decked out in their "Green our Vaccines" shirts talking about the harm vaccines are doing around the US. I still have yet to find out what the absolute goal of the march was but according to their website the purpose was to:
"Demand Congress take action to Green our Vaccine Supply while reassessing our current vaccine schedule. Ask Congress to reenact legislation that would eliminate mercury and other toxins from our children's vaccines, study the instance of Autism and other neurological disorders in vaccinated versus unvaccinated children, and to extend the state of limitations to allow all children affected by vaccine induced Autism to file in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP)."
First, you demand that Congress take action on vaccine includants and schedules. I'm not entirely sure what Congress has to do with either of these issues as there is a full agency set up to deal with chemical threats (whether in Food or Drugs, aptly named the Food and Drug Administration). They happen to have a whole host of scientists and policy makers that use the science (I know, what an ugly word) to determine the best benefit to society.
Secondly you ask that Congress "reenact legislation that would eliminate mercury and other toxins from our children's vaccines. Now Jenny, I'm trying to give you some leeway on the science aspect of this whole argument since Google University usually puts out some pretty weak scientists, but take a fucking history lesson. In 2003 all mercury and mercury derivatives were removed from vaccines, and yet autism rates continue to climb (its what we in the science community like to call a negative association). Now as for these "toxins" in vaccines, do you mean that list of "chemicals" in some of your literature---since everything is "chemicals", I'm not sure which ones are "greener".
In your push to find harmful substances in vaccines your website lists "anti-freeze", and yet there isn't any in vaccines. Now some do have a compound with a similar name (polyethylene glycol vs. ethylene glycol---that little part "poly" makes a big difference, but its kind of "scienc-y" so I'll leave it out). There is also mention of "formaldehyde", which is used to inactivate the viruses in some vaccines, but its present in such small amounts, that common environmental exposures are much more significant.
My favorite in the list of chemicals if probably "chick embryos". Jenny, I'll share a little secret with ya, that's just a synonym (that means "means the same as") "egg". Eggs (yeah, the kind we eat, totally) are used to make flu vaccines. Maybe we should consider taking them out of supermarkets too if they're so harmful.
The next statement just kills me too. "Study the instance of Autism and other neurological disorders in vaccinated versus unvaccinated children". To complete a study of "vaccinated vs unvaccinated" children is possibly one of the most morally reprehensible studies that could be conducted. Maybe this is a bad analogy but a study like this is equivalent to placing two groups of people in a room. One group surrounded by a cage and the other group not. A lion is then released into the room and you measure how many people hit their head on the bars of the cage, ignoring how many people outside the cage get mauled or eaten. This is a classic example of placing an unethical and unrealistic goalpost on researchers and then claiming failure that the researchers cannot morally institute the experiment. Anyone who would willingly submit a very large group of children to the dangers of being unvaccinated (I truly hope I don't have to enumerate those dangers) should question their integrity. I would be ok with the study if the children could consent with their own volition, but that isn't the case. Does anyone else not see how stupid this goal is?
Jenny, a bit of advice, you are probably a good mom, a mediocre actress, and a damn good naked blonde bimbo with fake tits, but what you aren't is a science person. Your degree from Google University doesn't mean you're good at understanding any of what science has to offer. If anything you are giving hope to a bunch of people in a false location, they don't deserve that. Hopefully I can stop writing about why one of my Playboy Playmate fantasies keeps popping up in the news spouting stupid opinions about stuff she doesn't understand, but I sincerely doubt Jenny has any intention of doing so.
Via Mother Jones Blog, Jonathon Stein says the Clinton campaign will hold an event in Washington DC to thank her supporters and throw some support Obama's way.
Finally an end to this madness, it is about time! Now let's get the general election excitement started! 5 months of exciting stuff to come.
I'm sure the Republicans will play up the Obama-Islam/Crazy Liberal/inexperienced/Hussein vein, as Barack himself has acknowledged, but I think they'll keep it rather tame otherwise.
But that doesn't mean this race will be friendly by any means. The 527's are going to turn this election into a culture war. The groups may mask the true message behind the curtain of the madrasa, Rev. Wright, quotes concerning islam, and quotes his wife has made; but the message will be clear, Barack Obama isn't white.
My only hope is that it isn't affective. I feel like it shouldn't matter, I know I'm going to support him no matter what his color. There have been appointees (which granted is a wholly different mechanism with lower standard of replacement) from different countries who serve this country to their best (I'm looking at you California), and there will be plenty more as the cultural makeup of the country shifts (I know, didn't all you conservatives just squirm a little). I hope the population will be able to see past the racial tensions and cultural divides the ads will try to conjure up (on both sides of the fence) and focus on today. Are you better today than eight years ago? Realize that one candidate offers connections to the same think tank and political stronghold that has brought us to the present, while the other offers a new perspective. Its your job to truly look into the facts and find out whether that alternative perspective offers better than the future our current policies hold. Maybe I'm just infected with the liberal spew but I'm pretty sure I don't want anymore of what the Republicans are selling.
Tomorrow Jenny McCarthy is going to be throwing an antivaccination-fest on Capitol hill. The medical community roused itself just long enough to write an open letter to Congress about immunizations. It's not much, but at least it's something. I hope all the signatories are ready for a P.R. blitz to counter Jenny McCarthy (how fucking ridiculous does that sound?)
I was glad to see the Texas Public Health Association was a signator.
Almost every person I've spoken to who lives with bipolar gives the same account. Bipolar disorder, they say, is not all black and white. It' full of gray. At times, it's full of vibrant hues, all the colors of the rainbow. It can even be full of energy and laughter and excitement. Sure, there's depression. Bipolar depression is neither fun, nor vibrant, nor energetic. It's dangerous--lethal. So lethal that if you're bipolar, you're 10 to 20 time more likely to commit suicide than someone suffering from monopolar depression. But mania, the other side of the bipolar coin, has an undeniable upside. Even better is hypomania, which has all the fun of mania without its most serious consequences.
"Mania is fun," my father once confided to me. "Being manic is fun. It may not be fun for the people who are watching, but it's fun for the person who's manic." And therein lies the paradox of bipolar disorder. Creativity, determination to succeed, the drive to love and live fully; some people insist these aspects of their life are driven by mania. And that's oftentimes true--to some extent. It's also true that mania, left unchecked, can lead to delusions, substance abuse, and impulsive, destructive choices that crush creativity, obliterate careers, and ruin relationships.
Part of accepting bipolar disorder is accepting the fact that the negatives of the disease coexist with the positives. Pretending the positives don't exist won't help. The top reason people with bipolar disorder give when they stop taking their medication--and each year almost one out of every two people with bipolar will do so--is that they feel the mood stabilization means deadening of thought, creativity, feeling and energy.
You're excited. You're interested in everything around you. Your mind is sharp as a tack. If there's a problem, you can solve it. You feel like you could squeeze beauty out of a stone. Mania. What's not to like?--aside from the irritabillity that starts to creep in and the voices you start hearing after your second week of no sleep, that is.
The cutting edge of mania is that no matter how bad it can get, it still hold that shining promise of a near-perfect you in a near-perfect world. The energy feeding into you opens your mind just a little wider and gets you moving just a little faster. It lets you reach a little farther for what was previously just beyond your grasp. The downsides are there, and if you've been there before, you know what they are. But that doesn't deny the beauty of the moment, the power that mania can hold over you.
Overconfidence
The creative impulses and relentless drive and energy of mania can serve, at least for a while, as a type of release. Those same impulses--plus the natural grandiosity that can be part of being bipolar--can turn a shy, retiring type with a few interesting ideas into a true leader. These are the sort of people--men, at least in the earlier part of history--who seemed to possess a sort of cult of personality. People were drawn into their sphere and seemed to be led effortlessly. Some of the most prominent leaders in history had (or at least were suspected to have) bipolar disorder and reads like a Who's Who of military and political history. Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Winston Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt, Oliver Cromwell, all dealt with bipolar disorder. In more recent years these dynamic types have been driven to the boardroom. Take Ted Turner, the founder of Turner Broadcasting, has openly talked about his diagnosis with bipolar disorder. He reportedly once quipped, "If I only had a little humility, I'd be perfect." Never before has there been such a concise, if unintentional, definition of manic grandiosity.
Impaired Insight, a Predicament
Denial is wanting not to hear what you're hearing; it's refusing to see what you're clearly seeing. Denial requires you to actively work against what you know to be true--to deny it access to your life or your plans or your consideration. In bipolar disorder, denial is the tip of a largely dangerous iceberg. One of mania's most insidious side effects is called impaired insight. Impaired insight goes way beyond your desire not to see what's happening or being unable to recognize that mania is bad or destructive; it's not being capable of seeing it. It is, says Nassir Ghaemi, M.D., director of the Bipolar Disorder Research Program at Cambridge Health Alliance, an actual, biological phenomenon. In about half of all case of mania, you literally can be physically incapable of knowing if and when you're manic. In fact, there's even a name for it: anosognosia.
The brain's frontal lobe is the culprit in the impaired insight mechanism. The physical link between stroke, Alzheimer's disease, and bipolar disorder lies in this area, the seat of both thinking and emotions. Certain changes to that area of the brain might make it impossible for you to logically asses what's going on around you, yet you need just that sort of process when you're becoming manic so you might have a chance to pick up on the mania before it gets out of control. Instead what you get is severely impaired insight--so impaired that when someone suggests to you that your behavior has turned somewhat manic, you begin to rant and rave, convinced that your friends are turning against you. You won't even consider the possibility that your friend might be right, that you might be becoming a bit manic, because you actually are unable to see what the friend is talking about, unable to recognize that anything is wrong or off.
When the mania disappears, however, so does your insight impairment. After the fact, you'll usually be able to recall most of what went on while you were manic. You'll be able to gain some insight into your disorder.
By then, however, it might be too late. It's these excesses that make bipolar disorder so very fascinating to so very many people. Face it: depression is not fun to watch. But mania...mania can be titillating. Mania can be exciting. Mania can be fun. And that's just from the outside. From the inside, it's equally exciting--at least while it's happening. But when the ride is over and the music stops, you're the one left holding the bag. You're the one who has to put the pieces back together, to try to make your life whole again. And you have to do it despite not always being quite sure what really happened in the first place.
I know its nothing official, but damn, its nice to see someone in the mainstream media admit what the folks in Left Blogistan have been saying for months.
Obama will be the Democratic Nominee.
Man, that felt good to say. Now if only Clinton would get the message. I do understand her campaign's rhetoric though, they are trying to pump up their voters. The coach of a lagging underdog team doesn't come out before a game and declare his intentions to get his ass handed to him, he says that they're in it to win it, and that the scoreboard will decide the game. Clinton is doing the same thing. She is a relatively intelligent, self-aware homo sapien, so she must know she will not win, but she has to give her "Inches" speeches before the game.
Man, I love that speech. Crappy movie, but awesome scene.
And in this corner, weighing in at a verbose 175 lbs, hailing from League City, TX, StifledMind's Senior Sporting Correspondent, Andrew "Armbar" Hauch!
Saturday, May 31st, 2008...
A day in which the uber-fast rising sport known as mixed martial arts officially declared the sweet science of boxing dead. The CBS network slotted the 2-hour EliteXC MMA event during primetime instead of sleazy reruns of "How I Met Your Mother". Being a huge MMA fan for quite some time, I cannot express how much the sport has changed. I started watching the UFC back around '97 by going to Blockbuster and renting all of the early pay-per-view events. As a strapping young 8th grader armed with a pizza face, acne, and a subtle awkwardness toward the opposite sex, it is needless to say I was an angsty lad. What better way to fulfill that testosterone-driven need for competition and arse beating than to watch a sport in which practically anything goes and blood splattering was a normal occurrence? Back in those days, the UFC was a fledgling fighting federation with minimal rules (no eye gouges, fish hooks, or manland hits allowed) and not much direction. Additionally, bouts were bare-knuckle and one could punt the face of an opponent on all fours. Also, no weight classes were imposed which was unfair as all get out, yet hilarious to watch. I'll never forget UFC 8: "David Vs Goliath" in which immediately after the bell rang, a little tiny toon fighter superman punched and flat out KO'd a guy outweighing him by many buffet dinners (like 200 lbs). Talk about awesome! The trifecta of Royce Gracie, Dan "The Beast" Severn and Ken Shamrock (THE pioneers of the sport whom allowed the UFC to hang around--this before of course the latter two killed street cred by delving into laughable WWF careers) would impose their will on helpless legions of slapdick opponents in small arenas with 1,500 onlookers. Fortunately for spectators, several things were changed after the Shamrock Vs. Gracie bout at UFC 5 in which Sham was in Gracie's guard for most of the 36 minute fight (yeah lame). At this point, if fighters were not attempting to advance their position, the fighters would be stood up again, a decision utilized heavily to this day. Also, soon afterwards electrifying fighters such as two of my all-time, Vitor Belfort and Chuck Liddell, entered the fray and added the "wow" factor to the sport. Belfort's victory over Wanderlei Silva at UFC: Ultimate Brazil was pure art how he could throw 30 punches in 5 seconds. lol The UFC's popularity was growing but had not yet hit the mainstream.
Fast forward to 2004, and we witness UFC head hanchos Dana White and the Fertitta brothers releasing a reality show entitled "The Ultimate FIghter" which singlehandedly brought MMA to the masses. This show consisted of 16 up-and-coming MMA fighters in a mansion all vying for a $100,000 UFC contract and instant credibility. It seemed like I couldn't go anywhere without eavesdropping on garden-variety troglodytes discussing Team Liddell's Victory over Team Couture on Thursday night. I personally loved that show and it was always fun to keep tabs on the antics of Chris Leben, Josh Koschek, and Forest Griffin. They are now running the 7th season of the hit show and each of them have been fun to watch. The vision of the aforementioned UFC entrepreneurs to release this show was without a doubt the greatest thing that happened to MMA.
Last night only solidified the notion that MMA is here for the long haul. Overall it was a great night for MMA since it lacked neverending, lametown fights. Nearly all of them ended with a KO or TKO due to strikes. I'm sure that's exactly how the promoters wanted it. It even showed Gladiator "Crush" wailing on another girl so hard her eye nearly swelled shut. Not going to lie, that fight was downright arousing! What really sucked about last night was the Middleweight title bout. In the 3rd round, champion Robbie Lawler dug his fingers into challenger Scott Smith's right eye, then proceeded to do his taxes and bake cookies before removing them (Ok so that was a monstrous hyperbole, but you catch my drift). The house Doctor dubbed Smith incapable of fighting and his possible championship-winning campaign was shattered. This angered me since this entertaining bout gone wrong seemed like a total set back for the event.
And now for the main event of the evening (drumroll please)........ Kimbo Slice vs. James Thompson.
I wouldn't want my enemies to fight either of these big dumb animals. The first thing noticeable when the fighters made their appearances was the hematoma in Thompson's left ear that was the size of the tri-state area! My friends and I instantly thought "I can't wait until Kimbo explodes his ear!" lol It seriously did look like a Chicken Pot Pie was lodged in his ear! As commentator Spanky Rodriguez so eloquently dubbed it, "the alien life form that is Thompson's ear". This of course after he made a comparison of Kimbo Slice to Tiger Woods (who hired this guy?). Sorry, I digress, we all know Kimbo's story; a backyard brawler from youtube who DERAILED all but one of his thug opponents. The guy is a total freak of nature and new MMA posterboy. He has brought much attention to himself and the sport. Trained by world renowned pancrase legend Bas Rutten, Slice can learn a vast array of knowledge and possibly become a phenomenal all-around fighter. Last night's fight with Thompson had Kimbo pushed to the limit. His cardio was lacking and he nearly lost the fight at the end of the second round (if Thompson had good cardio himself, he probably could have ended the fight here instead of throwing dainty elbows and rabbit punches). This fight showed Thompson being the victor of the first two rounds due to take-downs and ground and pound, however it came at a cost. Thompson got wailed on several times per round in which any normal fighter not cracked out would have gone down. Thompson had an iron chin and brass scones. However, the third round was all Kimbo. He bounced back well from being nearly motionless at the end of the 2nd. Much to our viewing pleasure, Kimbo landed a vicious combination that exploded Thompson's ear and left him seeing stars for the victory. This marked the first time in which Kimbo had to use all facets of his MMA game. He fared decently in the first round with the ground game, but he looked horrible in the second. He is very vulnerable on the ground when his cardio is lacking. All-in-all, he looked fairly impressive with the exception of the cardio and ground game. But now that he has experienced that and been pushed to the limit, I expect him to hone this facet of his game and possibly become a dominant MMA fighter.
Chalk it up for MMA!
In closing, many things have changed in this crazy world. I don't have a pizza face or braces anymore, and even some girls find me cute and pleasant fortunately. But what certainly hasn't changed is my love for mixed martial arts.
Blogger has served us well but due to some technical issues and a time crunch I'm moving all of the content over to http://stifledmind.wordpress.com . It will probably take a few days to get everything set up over there but as for now the last day for content on this page will be Thursday, June 5th.
So bookmark the new site and look forward to the same type of content from Dean and I, along with our other contributors.
June 2, 2008 and the craziness begins. As my time to blog decreases and I focus on more in depth articles, I'll try to get out a link collection a few times a week. Today everything from climate change, fake photography, and paper use make the list, as well as some weird freakin animals; enjoy!
The evidence that the GOP realizes it's true position in this election is becoming more evident everyday. I've been trying to exercise my due diligence and look at this from multiple angles and paradigms. The right seems to continually focus on the issues that are menial. They have taken the art of the suppositions on small amounts of menutia and transposing them as life philosophies to a whole new level.
I believe that instead of addressing the truly valuable issues, they are resigned to making flag pins, and google art their battles of choice. We are constantly bombarded about how the right is looking out for the welfare of the military members and their families. How the GOP is concerned about attaining a "victory" in Iraq (from who???, you do not win occupations). They proudly expound that the military is doing the American people proud. What we are doing to the military is not making me proud. I would love to discuss with GOP senators why its necessary to "cut" 40,000 1st & 2nd lieutenants, just so we can get another 150 million dollar F-22. The GOP and the pentagon have done wrong to those who dreamed and dedicated their lives to becoming officers in the military. Lets deal with the issue of some kind of exit strategy or "victory" strategy. The longer we stay, the more people we continually subject to more violence and death. The republicans need to stop railing about Obama's flag pin and start focusing on ways to stop the back door draft continually affecting our hero's and their families. When the serious topics the GOP insists they champion, become afterthoughts, the outlook isn't good.
As always any questions or comments are welcome even stupid ones.....
). Many of them were fantastic, showing late-game heroics by the likes of Bird and Magic, just to name a few.
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