Has anyone who said that the new Illinois smoking ban would make them quit actually quit smoking

I'm going with no.

Not one.

Here is what someone has to say about what changes will happen

I have pontificated plenty to my friends who don't care about what I think about the ban and may have actually written about it here but it is 4am as I write this and I ain't going to look.

I hate smoking. With a passion. Hotter than a thousand suns. But I also have a brain. And this brain tells me that letting the government infringe on people's choices, no matter how stupid, is BAD FUCKING NEWS!

Don't give me the it protects bar and restaurant employees. They choose to work in these establishments if they don't like it get a real job.

I like to drink. And I like to drink in bars. Most of which are smoky. If you say out long enough to make it to the four o'clock bars they are real smoky. Price of doing business. I expect to smell like an ashtray the next day. If all goes well I will be pulling on my shirt in some beautifully exotic woman's apartment the next morning thinking "God I smell bad, what a great night"

So tell the government to stay the fuck out of my social life. Next thing you know they will institute a 4 drink maximum at all bars and restaurants. The only thing that will accomplish is getting guys like me to consume a 1/2 bottle plus of SoCo before even leaving the house. That'll produce some fun results believe you me.

First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.

Love vs. Respect

Some times topics just come to you for no reason and no relation to anything going on at the time.

You can respect someone with out loving them and probably vice versa. To illiustrate this point I am going to use the New York Yankees. The Yankees? Where the fuck did you come up with the Yankees it is not even baseball season. I know, and if baseball doesn't come around soon I am probably going to lose my sanity and my ability to resist the homicidal urges that have been surfacing lately.

For those of you who don't love baseball the way I do, I must tell you that everyone hates the Yankees. Everyone. Except Yankee fans. And we won't even talk about them. If there is a group of people more despised than the Yankees it is Yankees fans.

Hate is a strong word so we will say no one likes the Yankees there is a whole lotta residents of New York C that don't even like the Yankees. The problem with this is that the Yankess ARE baseball. You can't get around it. Can't ignore it.

The Yankees are baseball.

The way The Cowboys used to be football.

And the way The Celtics used to be basketball.

And the way Wayne Gretzky used to be hockey.

Ask any guy, even one that has his head so far up his ass that he doesn't like baseball which Major League Team exemplifies baseball. The Yankees. There is no getting around it. They have more World Series Rings than any other team, and you have to respect that. Which is probably one of the reasons we hate them so much.

I had this conversation with someone when the Yankees came to town a few years ago to play our beloved Cubs because she couldn't understand why it was so important to see the Yankees play at Wrigley. The way they hadn't since 1938.

I still haven't made it to Yankee Stadium but it is on the list. The house that Ruth built. It is those of you who don't know that the Yankees are baseball that don't know why I have to, in my lifetime go to Yankee Stadium. But not before I go visit Fenway Park. The Big Green Monster. Baseball. They way it used to be played. No 'roids. No million dollar contracts. No bullshit. Baseball. Guys who would pitch 40-50 games in a season. Guys who would play for the fans. Guys who would play for the love of the game.

Update

Ok, so I was a little pissed off this morning, but there you go. I have looked on MLB.com and googled the play and so far there is no outcry. Which is good. Waiting and seeing.

Good Luck and Good Night.

Be a man

Last night while enjoying a cold beer with a friend in a local drinking establishment I saw something I didn’t quite like on TV. It was a baseball play they showed over and over. I don’t know or care about the names of the teams but a runner was coming into home and the catcher gets into his stance, catches the ball, and turns to block the runner,……….and gets nailed. Big time and he loses the ball. Then, then he lays there like a wounded Dennis Rodman until his team mates show up to help him walk back to the dugout. They showed both sides screaming after that. About what I don’t know because the sound was down. But the pussy catcher and his pussy teammates were probably bitching about how hard he was hit. Fuck that. That’s baseball. They have gone all no-tolerance on batters hit with pitches and now there is going to be a stink about this for sure. Fuck that. Sure he got jacked in the neck and face, but this is professional sports. Professional fucking sports for goodness sake. Get up and shake it off. The only reason he is bitching and claiming to be a wounded pussy is that he dropped the ball. If he would have held on, he would have jumped up and down like the hero he would have been. He could have been missing and arm and his nose and he would have worn it like a badge of honor. Instead he his crying because his opponent did exactly what he was supposed to do. He knocked the ball out of his hands. The catcher plants him self so the base is not even visible the only thing he can do is knock the fuck out of you. Some times you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug. Deal with it.

So we will see how it pans out. But if they try and call unnecessary roughness or some shit every time this happens I will be one pissed off Mother Fucker. I can tell you that.

Deep Throat

I realize I am posting this a few days late and it is almost in the we don't care about that anymore department. The question is did it ever make it in to the we care dept. I was born during the Nixon administration, and although I grew up hearing about Watergate and Deep Throat, I have neither read nor seen All the President's Men. I own a book Abuse of Power that is a transcription of the Nixon tapes, but it lies mostly unread. Mainly because 90% of it is boring as hell.

There are a few issues here. Nixon broke the law, lied about breaking the law, and tried to cover up that he broke the law, and he got nailed for it. As did many that worked for him. Mark Felt was the Assistant Director of the FBI. Of the FBI. I had to repeat that in case someone didn't notice. We could argue for hours whether or not a major law enforcement official should ever leak information to the press. Instead we will talk about this particular incident. Motivation is what I am interested in. Did Mark Felt leak this information to Woodward and Bernstein (W&B) because he was aware of serious crimes and was being allowed to prosecute the offenders? Did Mark Felt inform W&B of these crimes because Nixon was at odds with the FBI and trying to limit his independence? Or did Mark Felt turn his back on the Office of the President of the United States because he was passed up for the job of Director of the FBI? Does it make a difference? Absolutely.

Did W&B keep Deep Throat's identity secret because they thought it would make their story more interesting and their book more exciting? Or did they keep his identity secret because they made a promise and wanted to keep their journalistic integrity? Does it make a difference? Oh, yeah! I believe it was the later, because I believe that they are true journalists and not hollywood wannabes. I believe they were out to persue the truth and make this information available to the American public.

Speaking of motivation and integrity, what the fuck is up with Felt's family? Mark Felt is 91 years old and in questionable health. Would it have killed them to wait a couple of years to spit this out. It has been kept secret for over 30 years, you couldn't keep your yap shut for just a couple more. And what the fuck was Mark Felt thinking. He lied to the press, the government, and the American public and then he blurts it out to his fucking family? Only those close to you can betray you. It is the nature of betrayal. If you are going to keep a secret, keep a secret dammit. Back to motivation. A member of his family is quoted in Vanity Fair as saying they do hope the revelation will "make at least enough money to pay some bills". Fuck me people. I hope someone is paying attention, especially someone from the Felt family. If they would have let him die then let W&B break the story, everybody and their grandmother would be trying to get them on TV to talk about his secrets and involvement in the scandal. As is, I hope no one asks them a fucking thing. Not once, not ever. And I certainly hope no one pays them to do it. And Vanity Fair. Vanity Fair. Now there's a bastion of journalism for you. At least Mark Felt had the sense and class to go with a newspaper that actually prints News. Now I may buy a W&B book on the subject, but I hope not to ever line the pockets of the Felt family.

I am not againt being opportunistic. I personally hope to make millions off this ratty ass blog, but I don't plan on pimping out anyone but my self. And maybe this guy.


Good Night and Good Luck.

Rules To Live By.........Or Not

Never argue with a man with a gun

Never tell a cop he can’t do something

Never volunteer

Never ask a question you don’t want to know the answer to

Never ask a question you don’t want to have to answer yourself

Survival is learning from your mistakes

Success is learning from the mistakes of others

It is better to be a responsible child than to be a responsible adult

There is no spoon

Cheese

You can never have too many pairs of socks or underwear

Fear nothing

Remember everthing

Think before you speak or act

Wear sunscreen




P.S.- I may have stolen that last one.

A shot of commonsense

I am not talking about the proverbial shot of commonsense. I am talking about a literal shot of commonsense. My life dream is to gather the best biochemists and geneticists of the world and lock them in a room until they can isolate the commonsense gene. (We all know it’s out there) Replicate it, formulate an injectable form and mass produce it. Distribution is another story. Chances are governments of the world will pay me not to distribute it. Who wants voters with commonsense, right? Either way I will be rich. Rich enough to buy my own island, then populate it with my friends, servants, some thirty odd beautiful women, all injected with commonsense. Every last one of them.

Anyway, enough of that pipe dream, until I can bring that dream to fruition I am going to provide you with a figurative shot of commonsense. Providing you with my version of that elusive get you through the day, keep you out of trouble, get things done, stop pissing people off substance known as commonsense. Pointing out flagrant stupidity where ever it shall rear its ugly head. This is by far not a complete manifesto, it may and probably will expand and narrow it’s focus on a semi-regular basis. As is necessary to stay one step of mentally challenged and the purveyors of manure it all its forms.

May the commonsense be with you.