Texas Rangers: My Baseball weenie is going crazy!! By The Mental Pugilist

Today is my favorite day of the year. Opening Day!
The Rangers are in first place. Hurrah! The still haven't plaid a game. Darn! My beloved Rangers open the season tonight in Seattle against the mariners. I have been a life long fan ever since I moved to Arlington Texas in 1986. Since then, they have only made the playoffs once. They promptly one one game against the Yankees, thats it!
Still, I can't help rubbing my hands together and wondering what it would be like to see them win the world series! Despite a yearly problem of lack of pitching, Tom Hicks treating the payroll like we where in Milwaukee even though we are in the fifth largest market, and having every pitcher in the MLB who is coming of arm surgery in our rotation, I am still excited! Nolan Ryan has been added to the front office for credibility. We will see how that effects our pitching effort. One prediction for you to book. Don't be surprised if you hear a lot about the surprising Texas Rangers this summer!!
The Mental Pugilist..

Why Hillary has the hispanic vote!! : By The Mental Pugilist

An interesting thing happened to me over the Easter weekend. I was in San Antonio visiting family. We mostly sat around visited with each other and kicked around hot topics of the last couple of weeks. The presidential race between Barack and Hillary was of particular interest.
The talk focused on different aspects of the campaign and the different negative issues that seem to stick to each candidate. Rev. Jeremiah Wright , and the relationship he has with Barack Obama , was on the top of the list. I said "I couldn't believe how racist and anti American the church was and what did that say about Barack. One of my mom's friends brought up a very interesting point on the whole race issue and how it relates to the campaign. I often wondered why Hillary always seemed to get most of the Hispanic votes instead of Barack. Why is that? She has done nothing of particular interest to champion the Hispanic vote. What is it that allowes a sixty year old white women , from and elitist background, to carry so much weight with the Latino? I got my answer. My mom's friend had just returned from a trip to Miami where she was born and raised. She is a forty something Cuban who has lived there all her life. Her parents immigrated from Cuba. Over her trip to Miami, she saw lots of friends and family. The discussed the presidential race. She asked me "why do you think many Hispanics will not vote for Barack, not matter what"? I don't know I replied. She informed me that there is a great proportion of the Hispanic population , that is never talked about, that hate blacks!
Being Hispanic myself, this didn't suprise me. Let me make it clear this is not my view! Growing up , I remember hearing racial slurs from my older Hispanic relatives. I have also herd this in various places as well. I am not sure why this is. Maybe its a culture difference.
Maybe the real race debate shouldn't center around blacks and whites but Hispanics and blacks. Why does the media and various news outlets ignore this. They constantly focus on black and white. Maybe they should focus on brown and black! I know this is one of the reasons, rarely whispered by political pundits , why Hillary carries the brown vote. Look what happened in Texas! Enough said!

WRITEDOWNS, THE NAME GAME THE MEDIA PLAYS. By The Mental Pugilist

Over the past couple of months, many Americans have sat down ,with there families, to watch their favorite nightly news program. The most prominent story reported on is the U.S. financial meltdown ,due to the housing market. Following one of these headlines, there is a story of some big bank or financial institution , having too "WRITEDOWN" billions of dollars worth of bad commercial paper. Why does the media refuse to use the proper accounting term? Instead the use the ambiguous term "WRITEDOWN" ! Is this a clever play on words that the media uses to pull the wool over the eyes of the public?
As an accountant and a auditor at a large CPA firm, I often am amused by the way the media reports on financial matters, especially if the news is bad. With somone with experience in examining financial statements , I will shed some light on the issue. The definition of a writedown is when a company has a asset on its balance sheet and the particular asset looses value . It is written down to the market value. What the media doesn't tell you is how it is reported on the companies Income Statement! What does a writedown mean for the company?
The real term that should be used is it is a LOSSS!!!! When you here Bear Sterns or Citigroup has written down 40 billion dollars, what really is happening is those companies have lost 40 billion dollars!!!!!! You will never here a news anchor utter the words loss with any of these stories!
One has to wonder why? Is it to protect us from the panic it might cause? If for the last 8 months , the nightly news anchors took to the airwaves using the proper term loss, which most Americans would understand a lot better than writedown, how would we react? Who are they protecting from the release of the real meaning of the billions of billions of dollars of LOSSES these companies are sustaining because of risky mortgage backed securities?
I guess its like the U.S. dollar. The media always reports on the FED and interest rate cuts and how the market reacts positively. Or the great news about the stimulus package that will put money in our pockets. Let me let you in on a little secret! Every time the feds unleashes the above, it destroys the value of the U.S. Dollar!!!! The best asset protection plan for any country is a strong monetary policy, the above undermines it.
How come no politician wll ever talk about the U.S. dollar. They only talk of more spending and interest rate cuts. Does this make you feel better? It shouldn't, You destroy the dollar you destroy the middle class. Ever wonder why oil is at such a high price? Don't be fooled by the media's BS on supply shortage or refinery capacity, Its the dollar stupid! 1$=1.56Euro

Oh ya I forgot, move along people nothing to see here, just some "WRITEDOWNS"!!

To Bad Dr. No won't be president!!!!!

CHELSEA, YOUR NOT THAT GOOD LOOKING! BY THE MENTAL PUGILIST

Wow , Unbelievable: these where some of the words that came to my mind when I recently herd of Chelsea Clinton's comments to a Butler University student. She has been on the campaign trail for Senator Clinton. Chelsea has been touring college campuses all around the country in support of the democratic presidential nominee.
Evan Strange, a Butler University student, attended the rally. He had the the audacity to ask her a question about Monica Lewinsky and if had hurt her mother's credibility! The Young Clintonian replied, " wow, I have been to seventy campuses and never been asked that question, and its none of your business".
How arrogant can you be! Here answer stunk of a spoiled little rich kid who has the elitist and self richest attitude of her parents. What an ego on this one! What do you make of this?
She volunteers to go into the public arena and campaign for her mommy. She goes city to city but refuses to do any interviews with reporters , but she lends her voice to the campaign.
She refuses an interview with a fourteen year old reporter , telling her " I don't do interviews with reporters" !
Let me be the first one to say, Chelsea , your not that great! Nether are your parents! The sense of entitlement must reside in the Clinton gene pool. Is She is so out of touch with the real world? She doesn't even know how ridiculous she looks. If she is arrogant enough to come to my city and spew her mom's party views, she should be cocky enough to handle questions that directly address Hillary Clinton's credibility or lack there of!
Evan Strange was in fact a Clinton supporter. I guess it is true , the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. And by the way , Chelsea, your not that good looking.
The Mental Pugilist!!!!!

PINOCCHIO FOR PRESIDENT!!! By The Mental Pugilist

Hey did you here that Pinocchio is in a heated contest for the Democratic nominee for President? No its not Barack Obama its Hillary Clinton. In recent days Bosniagate has been an embarrassing lie in which Hillary claimed to have landed in Bosnia under a hail of bullets with here daughter by her side. When she got of the plane, she was seen running to here car while shooting an M-16 in the air to draw the sniper fire in order for Chelsea to escape safely!! To bad this is not true , but a tall tale showing her own insecurities. We could except that she misspoke , as she claims, but she commented on the same story three times! She only admitted to misspeaking when she was caught in a lie. The lie was exposed by the airing of the video showing a different story. One misstatement I could except , but this is not the first time the first lady has lied. examine the record.

A week after 9/11, she told the morning show Chelsea just missed being in harms way of the twin towers by ducking into a coffee shop while jogging around the WTCs. total lie, Chelsea later told talk magazine she was asleep at a friends apartment. When she got a call to turn on the TV to watch what was unfolding. Then there is the story of her high school soccer team. Hillary was at a forum on race relations when she recounted a story of knowing what discrimination was like. she said a goalie ,from an apposing team, said she hated her. she asked " why , you don't know me". To bad when she attended the school, they did not have a women's soccer team. And finally , my favorite. She explained to reporters that she was named for the famous Sir Edmund Hillary, who climbed Mt. Everest. To bad he didn't do this until two years after she was born. Can you say pattern!

What does this say about her character? Why does she tell so many little white lies? Why is she so insecure? How can anyone trust her? Instead of holding out a bony finger and lying directly two us , she just uses a straight face , and lies. Whats more scarier!

OBAMA, THE INTELLECTUAL JESSE JACKSON STARTER KIT!! By The Mental Pugilist

I will not waste your time going into dissecting Barack's speech on race or his relationship with his charming pastor. There are analysis of this all over the net these days. This weekend , I had time to ingest the issue and all the talking heads that have chimed in on it. What struck me was how much he reminded me of Jesse Jackson with a masters degree. His speech was brilliant and really seamed to cater to the intellectual elite and not the common man. He points out the complexity of the race issue in America and how it relates to his own unique upbringing. Barack really has defined his candidacy as a new politician who is true uniter. His background (white mom, black dad) is the backdrop that is used to highlight his ability to bring all Americans together for the common good of The United States. But, I think the common man out there still has a problem digesting what is up with him. On one hand he gives great speeches about being a new kind of politician but, at the same time, he attends a church the seems to be sending disturbing messages to there congregation. If you ever wondered why so many young black Americans are so angry at "whitey" look no further than the church.
One has two wonder what type of influence it has on you sitting through twenty years of sermons that are so Anti -American and has a you against us mentality. Or what type of judgment does Barack have for never leaving the church. Before you dismiss me as a typical white blogger who "doesn't understand" , I am not white. I am a proud son of an immigrant mom and a white dad.
I couldn't shake the feeling how much Obama reminded me of a Intellectual Jesse Jackson starter kit! He obviously used the church in the south side of Chicago to reaffirm his blackness and I am sure it helped him win his Illinois senate seat. It feels like in the media he is distancing himself from Rev. Wright to ,appease the white vote, while sitting in church , winking at his pastor and congregates, holding up his right hand saying "right on Brother"! Just like Jesse has exploited the race card for his own personal gain. The difference is Jesse uses street tactics and Barack uses liberal white guilt and the wink wink of an eye to the south side of Chicago.

Did Rev. Jeremiah Wright Sink The U.S.S. Obama?

By now everyone has seen or heard of the crazy sermons from the crazy Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The more important question to ponder is has this man doomed this nations first black presidential candidate 's chances? I have pondered this question over the weekend and it is interesting how Barack and the media have handled it. The story was broke on Bill O'rielly 's show, with more to come from ABC's Bryan Ross , On the fallowing evening news cast. I watched the videos and was sad to see a man of the cloth having so much hatred toward America. Rev. Jeremiah Wright has been Obama's pastor for more than twenty years and credits his book title to one of his speeches. Barack quickly condemned his remarks and said they where not his beliefs. Fair enough, I give him the benefit of the doubt, until you examine how this effects his belief system and his political aspirations. His campaign message has been one of unity and the coming together of every American from all walks of life. There in lies the problem. The sermons show how bad of an American hater Rev. Jeremiah Wright really is. The reverends comments are fine by me. The are the business of the Rev and his flock, but one of his flock is Barack! I use to think Barack was really a unit er and a different politician. One who I saw as representing a changing of the guard from theses boomer idiots, who smoked to much weed in the sixties, to one of my generation who is sick and tired of left and right labels and the people who make money off of it (books , talkradio) throwing bombs at each other! Its hard to believe Obama never new how Rev. Jeremiah Wright felt about America. He brought him to Christ, married him and Michelle, and baptised there kids. If I had herd those sermons in church, I would have had a hard time sitting in the pews or being a member. Maybe he didn't know or he has never herd these sermons. You will have to be the judge on how that weights on his presidential credentials. I think asking these questions about his relationship with his pastor are legitimate ones to ask.
Its really funny to watch , over the weekend , how every Democratic operative on every media outlet spun this one!! People don't be fooled. I heard all of them reference pastor Hage and John Mcain's relationshp, or George Bush making a speech at a college who once excluded black people. This method is called a redirect. It attempts to take focus of the issue and direct it onto someone else. It Makes these pinheads look like complete idiots.
What should Barack do? So far he has handled it correctly but is it enough? He should have really gotten ahead of this at the beginning of his campaign before it snowballed!

I really makes me wonder how he really feels. Is he a typical politician spinning to cover his tracks or did he trully not know ? Are these sermons abberations that he never herd? You will have to judge. But, It makes my wonder because what his wife has said that she was only recently proud of America! On the other and it makes me think he has never herd these remarks because surly the people in his campaign would not have let Rev. Jeremiah Wright be part of the campaign!
Barack Obama could easily end this controversy by doing one thing. He should appear on Fox's Bill Oreilly's show. This would provide two things. one , it would show the middle and right voters that these beliefs truly are not his, because his comments on loony left media outlets like MSNBC ABC, or CNN are just not believable. They have obvious biases and is just not enough for typical Americans to belief from the likes of Oberman and Anderson cooper. Two, It would make it impossible for Hilary to capitalize on it because she would have to come on "The No Spin Zone" and answer here own questions on here refusal to release taxes and her sealed record as first lady that she sow heavily relies on for her stupid unbelievable claim of 35 years of experience!!!!!!!!