Monkey's rampage. Baseball superstars take performance enhancing drugs. Haiku for you, and me too. Can we really bail out the auto industry, again? No - no we can not, they too must fail now. What if the stimulus doesn't work? Well, what if? Here's what if. We didn't have it last week and Friday still came. Pelosi didn't put an earmark about mice in there and Reid IS riding a train from Disney Land to Vegas. As far as I'm concerned, increasing ways to get to Las Vegas is always a good thing. Who the hell wants to own a chimp anyways? The NY Post cartoon was way off base, but if you believe for a second that a newspaper such as the post would intentionally degrade the President of the United States, than you are probably wrong...or maybe you're right. Isn't the power of a free press kind of cool? Derek Jeter is cool. Alex Rodriguez is a fool, and there isn't a chance in hell Big Papi is on steroids. Unless, of course, steroids are in corndogs. Why don't steroids exist more in the Northeast? The Carbon footprint of Buffalo Wild Wings (BW3 for those from the old school) is something beyond reproach. It has to be there with the worst coal fired plant in America...who the hell still uses coal? February is the shortest month in days, but I'll be damned if it doesn't feel like the longest month in time. Lost needs to start providing some answers...seriously. The show with the nerds is damn funny, which is ironic for me and my total lack of understanding of math, science or NYC. Bring back Mike Wallace, Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow and get rid of that feel-good crap 60minutes is running...whatever happened to the real reporting? Real news is lost, forever stolen by the world of the blog, providing an avenue for every tool with a keyboard, an Internet connection and a lucid - or not - thought they believe the world wants to read. Wait, I'm guilty.

CV

Hockey Outdoors - But, First...

It's a cold, windy New Year's Day in surprisingly sunny Hartford, Connecticut. With not much to do, me, the laptop, a good book (The Last Campaign: Robert Kennedy and 82 Days that Inspired America) and the 2008 purchase: 42-HDTV are relaxing. I actually had the earplugs in, listening to some Gordon Lightfoot and writing a letter for work when I glanced up and noticed the NHL Winter Classic is on...a couple of notes:

1. Outdoor hockey at Wrigley Field looks pretty cool;
2. I'm not a big fan of NHL Hockey - I think it has a place in American sports, I just think it's marketed poorly and it doesn't focus on it's strengths but tries to be all things to all people
3. My first job out of college was with the Columbus Blue Jackets, a real life NHL team, but even without that, I'm well aware that the Detroit Red Wings vs. the Chicago Blackhawks is a good rivalry and a good game to watch...anyways, more entertaining than Michigan State and Georgia at Bowl Game to be named later.

However, what I saw a minute ago really raised my ire, caused me to take out my ear phones, turn up the television and pay close attention: the singing of the National Anthem and the crowds reaction.

As some gentleman I've never seen before, or heard before, began singing (quite nicely I might add - very operatic) I noticed the crowd was clapping, singing, dancing and cheering the entire time. Waving the flag and generally celebrating the National Anthem --- almost to a Man. It was an absolutely tremendous sight, and then it dawned on me...yes!! Celebrate the National Anthem! Do you think Francis Scott Key was stoic while watching the "bombs...in air"? Hell no, he was happy as shit that his ass wasn't blowing up too - and - you can be damn sure when it was all said and done and he penned the now famous poem, that he was celebrating quite significantly, not being stoic.

It's possible to be reflective and loudly emotional at the same time. I will admit, watching the crowd react that way gave me chills and caused my eyes to well-up. What a tremendous thought -- celebrate with your whole being for the 2 1/2 minutes that song plays out of the pride and tremendous joy of being an American, or being in America, who, in spite of all of her frailty, is still the greatest country on earth.

Happy New Year

Is Dressing Up Jesus Blasphamey?

I guess the title of this blog raises some questions, like, is asking this question blasphemous? But that's not what we are he to delve into, we are here to discuss the cultural and satist world of dressing up Jesus.

If you are so inclined, you to can go to http://www.jesusdressup.com/ and partake in the ever addicting and strangely arousing time passer of literally clicking and dragging clothing onto a crucified Jesus. In fact, just minutes ago I had him dressed up as the Grinch, realzing the irony in that, I changed it to Superman and then hung a nice little sign over his head that read, "Just Hanging Around."

I know what you're thinking...that's disusting, wrong, awful, unbelievable, Jesus would never wear a Grinch costume, Superman is a homo (not that anything is wrong with that), etc. I don't necessarily disagree to be honest. I mean, really, if Jesus Christ is really the Son of God, then dressing him up in funny clothing (don't get me started on the BDSM page) is really a bad idea.

So, the original question: Is Dressing Up Jesus Blaspahmey? Well, yes and no, I mean saying God Damn is blasphamous, or slandering the Good Lord's name, like saying, "JC was a hermaphodite" would be blasphamous, I guess. But, this wonderful little tool of a website doesn't say anything wrong, or even do anything wrong, it just gives you the opportunity to see Jesus in various levels of fashion. I don't think dressing Jesus up as the Easter Bunny is really that bad...I mean, didn't the Easter Bunny find out for everyone that Jesus had creepily snuck out of his tomb? You know, when he was stopping by to drop off his basket of candy and creme/nougat filled chocolate eggs?

Then again, what if it's not blasphamous because the Holy Trinity has one hell of a sense of humor...like quite self-depricating? You know? Think about it, if you could see yourself dressed up like Snow White, wouldn't you laugh? We all know that God has a sense of humor, havent you ever seen the monkey video telling the story about blowing the seal? Or the midget show on TLC? If that isn't proof positive of both the existence of God and sense of humor of God, not sure what is...but...

What if God DOESN'T have a sense of humor, and actually gets really pissed when you dress up his son with a gas mask and nipple clips? Then, upon our demise we are really in for some punishment...I mean, if I was inclined to get pissed at stuff like this, you know people poking fun of my sons fasion, or his untimely death at the hand of a Jew named Pontius, when I met the Son of a Bitch (that is NOT a reference to Jesus) who was poking the fun I would most likely damn them to Hell for all of enternity dressed as a cheap sex doll or Larry King.

My guess is that we haven't accomplished anything in this post and knowing the answer to the question of putting Jesus in the coat from Jesus Christ Superstar and its relationship to blasphamey may go unknown...unless of course, the Big Man wants to send us a sign, like the ability to dress him up like Sarah Palin just so we know.

So, this is how this works...

You know, all it really takes is some pithy comments and the ability to hold your head high while you wear a sweater vest to make it in New England. The irony of all of this is that while we are intentionally outpithying each other, and admiring the latest Louis Vuitton store in the local suburuban mall, we are missing the fact that only we find ourselves pithy and sweater vests actually belong to short golfers and football coaches from the midwest.

More importantly, I urge you to tell me why Louis is pronounced "loo-ie" sometimes and "loo-is" other times? Eh, it doesn't really matter I guess, I'm above all that anyways, I prefer Prada.