Green Day

I was never a big Green Day fan. I didn't like them when one of my friends in college started spinning Dookie. I started to like their music a little more, but blamed them for the gluttony of awful pop/punk bands to which we've been subjected over the years (Blink 182, Good Charlotte). When American Idiot came out I liked what I heard, and heard I would like even more. I didn't get it until yesterday, two years later. I'm now mad at myself for not getting it earlier. This record is too good. I can't stop listening. Everyone should hear it. Men, women, children, dogs and cats should all hear it.

Week 4 Recap

One game I was looking forward to this past weekend (with the Steelers on a bye) was the Chargers-Ravens game. I certainly wanted San Diego to win, but I was more interested in seeing if these teams are as good as their records. Both were undefeated, but had played only winless teams. Everyone looks great while they're beating up on the Raiders, as both had done. I wanted to see who could come out and establish themselves as a legit contender by beating the other. After how close that game was, I'm still not sure.
The Bengals got their first loss, being demolished by the Patriots, who refuse to lose two in a row. They got dominated for the second week in a row after the Steelers game. New England just didn't cough the ball up five times. Cincy has no idea how to tackle running backs. Willie Parker and Laurence Maroney consistently stiff-armed bigger defenders to the ground.
Carolina Panthers may finally be hitting their stride as they hand the Saints their first loss. I think now is about the time New Orleans comes back to earth. The Colts-Jets game almost had a finish that would have put Stanford-Cal to shame. Anyone noticed the Jets are 2-2? In their two losses they remained pretty close to the Colts and Patriots. They might be decent. Eric Mangini could get Coach of the Year at this rate.
Chicago Bears may have gotten the biggest win in the absolute thrashing they put on Seattle. The defense is obvioulsy good, but the Bears offense is the pleasant surprise. Rex Grossman and Bernard Berrian are playing really well.
The St. Louis Rams may be the worst team with a 3-1 record. Kansas City got their first win by handing the 49ers one their worst losses in franchise history.
Minnesota is not as good as I thought. Miami is not as good as anyone thought. Losing to Houston; Ouch. Albert Haynesworth apparently decided the Titans' play wasn't disgraceful enough, so he went and stomped on Dallas center Andre Gurode's exposed noggin, forcing him to get 30 stitches. Haynesworth will watch the next five games on television.
Cleveland beat Oakland in a game between teams as bad as you would want to see. God, the Raiders are awful.

Wal Mart Sucks Even Harder

I don't shop at Wal Mart. Not ever. Won't step in the door. There's a mountain of reasons. Urban sprawl, destruction of Main Street and political influence are all great reasons. But the clincher is how it treats its workforce; Low pay, crappy hours, no benefits, sexual discrimination, forced overtime off-the-clock, locking them in at night.
Well, it just became an even worse place to work.

Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer, is pushing to create a cheaper, more flexible work force by capping wages, using more part-time workers and scheduling more workers on nights and weekends.

Wal-Mart executives say they have embraced new policies for a large number of their 1.3 million workers to better serve their customers, especially at busy shopping times — and point out that competitors like Sears and Target have made some of these moves, too.

But some Wal-Mart workers say the changes are further reducing their already modest incomes and putting a serious strain on their child-rearing and personal lives. Current and former Wal-Mart workers say some managers have insisted that they make themselves available around the clock, and assert that the company is making changes with an eye to forcing out longtime higher-wage workers to make way for lower-wage part-time employees.

Thank God Wal Mart is finally standing up to all its greedy employees who have taken advantage of the corporation for far too long. What a great day for capitalism.
Sick fucks.

What They're Talking About

If there are any questions regarding the previous YouTube clip, this is what it is in reference to.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 — Law enforcement officials said Sunday that the F.B.I. had begun a preliminary inquiry into whether former Representative Mark Foley broke any federal laws when he reportedly exchanged sexually explicit e-mail messages with under-age Congressional pages as leaders of both parties demanded new inquiries.

But it gets better.

At the same time, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert asked the Justice Department on Sunday not only to investigate Mr. Foley, a Florida Republican who resigned on Friday after ABC News confronted him with the e-mail messages, but also to determine who possessed the messages that have touched off a furor weeks before the November elections.

“Since the communications appear to have existed for three years, there should be an investigation into the extent there are persons who knew or had possession of these messages but did not report them to the appropriate authorities,” the letter from Mr. Hastert to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said.

So Hastert wants to know who had the e-mails, and made them public. Is he trying to punish the whistleblowers? It doesn't matter, since we know he knew all about it for months, yet along with the Republican leadership, covered it up.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 — Top House Republicans knew for months about e-mail traffic between Representative Mark Foley and a former teenage page, but kept the matter secret and allowed Mr. Foley to remain head of a Congressional caucus on children’s issues, Republican lawmakers said Saturday.

-snip-

Among those who became aware earlier this year of the fall 2005 communications between Mr. Foley and the 16-year-old page, who worked for Representative Rodney Alexander, Republican of Louisiana, were Representative John A. Boehner, the majority leader, and Representative Thomas M. Reynolds of New York, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Mr. Reynolds said in a statement Saturday that he had also personally raised the issue with Speaker J. Dennis Hastert.

Sick fucks.

Why Cable News is Aweful

This is all cable news is. Partisans bickering back and forth. Gotta have one of each to look "fair" and/or "balanced," and not in some Faux News ironic kinda way. But ultimately, of course, there ain't shit there that even passes for news, analysis or information. I wish I were as funny as Jon Stewart, cause this deserves some serious comedic skewering.