Photo Of The Day

The above photo was taken Saturday of Marine recruiter booth at a Pasadena, California, Gay Pride event.  Yes, the branch of the armed services that were kicking and screaming throughout the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, are the ones that are showing the most initiative in reaching out to the gay and lesbian community since it's repeal.  

Astonishing.  I never thought I would have seen this.

Herman Cain's Foreign Relations Policy (Video)

Yesterday, the Christian Broadcasting Network interviewed Republican presidential front runner Herman Cain.  He told the network that he's "ready for the gotcha questions".  To prove his point, he elaborated a bit on what the Cain administration foreign policy would be.  God help us all.

He explained that, as president, his top priorities are job creation and national security, not "knowing who is the head of some of these small insignificant states around the world", like "Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan".  Yes.  He actually said that.

The President of Uzbekistan is Islam Karimov, by the way.

He said, "When I get ready to visit that country, I'll know who that is".  In other words, the Google method of leadership.  Take a look.



What I find interesting about his logic is that, with his line of thinking, only the world's superpowers have problems.  What about Kuwait? Yemen?  Chechnya? Serbia?  Bosnia?  These are just a few of the "insignificant" nations that an American President has had to focus his attention on in the last twenty years.  If a candidate is going into office with the attitude of "these nations don't matter" from day one, how is he or she going to handle a crisis situation with said nation when it arises?

It's something to think about.

Sunday Confessional: Fuck It, And Fuck You Walmart

I am in a serious funk.  I don't know how to explain it at the moment.  It's currently an equal mixture of depression and rage.

I'm somewhat at a loss for words.  I don't want to come across as bitter or bitchy, but I really need to vent and just lay everything out on the line.  Oh, and Walmart almost killed my family last week.  I'm not kidding.

As some of you know, my wife recently returned to work for the first time in almost two and a half years.  Her long term disability payments were cancelled in January, because one of her doctors flaked out, and, after six months of constant prodding by the insurance company, neglected to fax any of her medical records in.  All of this was going on behind the scenes.  We knew nothing about it, until we received a letter saying her checks would no longer be coming.

We had the ability to appeal the decision, which we did.  My wife was told that if she returned to work, even during the appeal process, they would determine her able to work again, and automatically deny the appeal.  We waited for almost three months.  She was ultimately denied, because the very same doctor, again, did not send in any documentation as requested.  She basically sent a one paragraph letter saying that she was under the doctor's care for her medical condition and that the doctor felt she was unable to go back to work.  No supporting documentation.  No medical records of the previous 18 months of bi-weekly visits.   Just "Yep, I don't think she should work."

Happy 71st Birthday, John Lennon

Today would have been John Lennon's 71st birthday.

He was highly influential in my life.  That's obvious.  My daughter is his namesake.  We're teaching her about Karma, and about doing her best to make this world a peaceful place to live in.

Below is one of our favorite Lennon songs as a family.  Jessi and I had planned to get married to it, at one point. It originated as a demo recorded in 1979 entitled 'Real Life'.  After six sessions, it became 'Real Love'.  It wasn't released until years after his death, when the documentary 'Imagine:  John Lennon' debuted in theaters.

Here is Regina Spektor's cover of the song, which is simple and beautiful.



In totally unrelated Beatles news, Paul McCartney got married earlier today to New Jersey trucking heiress (I'm not making this up) Nancy Shevell.  They exchanged vows at London's Marlyebone Town Hall, the same location that Paul married his first wife, Linda, in 1969.

Quote Of The Day

"The next step, I am sure, by the way, for the Occupy Wall Street crowd is for Anderson Cooper, Bill Maher, and Jon Stewart, the trifecta of conventional wisdom's failed liberalism, to come down to Wall Street and join the masses in demanding more of our tax money so they can all be supported as novelists and movie directors. 

"You poor kids. You are basically asking to be supported and taken care of by Mommy and Daddy. Wake up, kids. Wall Street is you, with all of your wants and needs and wishes, only they have the balls to go out and work for it. Sometimes they are crooks and sometimes they are fools -- but you know what? So are all of us.

 "Listen to Mr. Cain. Shut up and get to work."

- Asshole, failed actor, and Creationism enthusiast Ben Stein, on the Occupy Wall Street movement. 

Church Sign Of The Day

See above for example.  I think they missed the point.

Well, That Was Short Lived

For those of you that were able to visit 'The Twitch' earlier today, you may have noticed some changes to the site.  Well, it's safe to say that those changes sucked, and it was necessary to immediately return things back to the way they were.

While the new format made things quite attractive, it was a headache.  There was no way to access the blog from a mobile device.  The changes removed all sharing options when it came to individual articles.  There was no way to share a post on Facebook or Google+.  It removed all advertising from my website (which I still haven't figured out how to get back).  It also removed any ability to subscribe to the page's RSS feed.

Those are the problems that I noticed today in a matter of 10 to 15 minutes.  I can't imagine what it looked like on a feed. I don't want to know.

So, I'm going back to what works.  I have made a couple of minor changes in regards to wording on the page.  Other than that, I'm done.  No more tinkering or fiddling around with it.

I promise.

New Website Format

I'm testing out a new website format for 'The Twitch'.  It's customize-able, and leaves it up to you as a reader to decide how you would like to view the site.  Take a quick look at things, and leave me a comment.

Let me know if you prefer the new format, or the traditional 'Twitch'.  You'll quickly notice a lot of things missing from the old site.  It may take a while to get used to.

Please leave me a message.  Thanks.

Jon Stewart Asks 'Why Aren't Occupy Wall Street Protesters Getting Tea Party Respect?' (Video)

On last night's 'Daily Show', Jon Stewart pointed out that many of the protesters in Liberty Park are saying things that are very similar to what Tea Party supporters were saying themselves.....back in 2009.  But, if you ask a Tea Partier today what their opinion is of the masses gathered, demonstrating against corporate greed in New York City, they make it sound like it's a bunch of uneducated Nazi zombies.

"They probably don't even masturbate to the Constitution."

Watch Barack Obama's Vs. Herman Cain's Reaction To The Occupy Wall Street Movement

If my recollection is correct, today is the 16th or 17th day of Occupy Wall Street.  I tend to lose track of time.

Today, President Obama held a press conference to discuss the jobs bill that he is trying to get through Congress.  Eric Cantor has recently bragged that the bill will never be introduced on the House floor.  Essentially, today Obama told House Republicans to either come up with something better, or shut the hell up and pass the damn bill.  After making his statement, he took a number of questions from reporters.

A reporter asked the question, "Are you following the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, and how will you respond?".  This was his response:



In essence, he has seen reports of the protests on television, and people have a right to be upset.  People may disagree with me, but that's fair.  He's not exactly advocating for the dismantlement of the Federal Reserve, but he did sign into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, which promises sweeping changes to be implemented in corporate America.  Due to stalling and roadblocks from the Republican side of the aisle, only 38 of the nearly 400 reforms have been implemented since the bill was signed last July.  All current Republican presidential candidates have publicly said that, if elected, they would repeal Dodd-Frank.

Yesterday, Herman Cain was asked by the Wall Street Journal about the movement.  First, he said that he believes that, while he can't prove it at this time, the Occupy Wall Street protests are secretly being orchestrated to divert attention from President Obama's failed economic policies?  He also said, and I'm quoting here:

"Don't blame the big banks.  Don't blame Wall Street.  If you don't have a job, and if you're not rich, blame yourself.  (Snip)  When I was growing up, I was blessed to have parents, that didn't teach me to be jealous of anybody, and didn't teach me to be envious of somebody.  It is not a person's fault if they succeeded.  It is a person's fault if they fail."

He does admit that the banks were responsible for the "economic crisis" that we went into in 2008.  But, according to Cain, "we're not in 2008, we're in 2011".  Obviously, he doesn't have the basic conceptual understanding of economics.  Just take a look at the clip.  The level of ignorance and apathy in the room can be cut with a knife.



So, in Herman Cain's mind, unemployment equates failure.  The millions of people that have been laid off since 2008 were failures in their life.  In September, the Department of Labor determined the unemployment rate at 9.1% nationally, meaning 14 million people in this country were without work.  Those are the people that are receiving unemployment benefits or are reporting to the government that they are still trying to find work.  They have been unemployed for less than 99 weeks.  Analysts believe that the real unemployment rate is along the lines of 18.09% in July of this year.  That's more than 28 million losers, according to Herman Cain.

This is why someone with no political experience has no business being in the White House.  Go back to making pizzas.

Today In "Seriously!?" News

Jesus Ween?  Does this mean Christ is going to show peen on Halloween? 

Sorry for rhyming so much.  It was unavoidable.

Tweet Of The Day II

Margie Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church has received a lot of publicity in the last 24 hours.  She posted a tweet from her iPhone yesterday, announcing that the church would be picketing the funeral of Steve Jobs, because he "taught sin".

She sent a follow up tweet to explain herself this morning.

According to Phelps, god created the iPhone, ergo, Steve Jobs is god.  Nerds have been preaching this for the better part of 30 years.

My Little Civil Rights Activist

The three of us were running errands this morning, and pulled into a parking lot next to a flat bed tow truck.  The truck was in the final moments of picking up a car, and was about to pull out.

Lennon asked us what kind of truck that was in the parking lot.  We explained that it was called a tow truck.  I told her that it picks up cars, and takes them to the mechanic if they need to be fixed.  Then, I said that sometimes the tow truck picks up cars and takes them to the police station.

Instantly, she had a concerned look on her face.  She said, "They can't take those cars to the police station, Daddy.  People need those cars to go to work."

I looked at her with a smile on my face.  "That's right, honey.  They sure do.  Give me a high five."

She makes daddy so proud.

Allowable Marriage: According To The Bible (Chart)

Many people today believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible.  They believe that it is actually the word of god.  Since the book of Leviticus says that men lying together "are an abomination", then, in their minds, 6000 years later, obviously god doesn't want people to be having gay sex.  That being said, I thought I would share the other types of marriages that are permissible, according to the Bible.  Pay attention.

Now, the whole rapist/victim match up...that is an abomination.  However, I think the brother-in-law thing still takes place in West Virginia. (shudders)

Tweet Of The Day

Margie Phelps of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church, sent the following tweet after the announcement of the passing of Steve Jobs, yesterday:

Notice anything strange about the tweet?  Perhaps where it was sent from?  Her fucking iPhone!?!?

Are you kidding me!?!  Steve Jobs "taught sin", and it looks like the Phelps family were quick learners.  Hypocrites.