Janet Jackson: Cincinnati PNC Pavilion (2011)

Source:Philly Bnlou- Janet Jackson: Up Close and Personal.

SourceThe New Democrat

"Janet Jackson

Number 1's Up Close and Personal Tour

8-11-2011

PNC Pavillion, Cincinatti

"IF"" 

From Philly BN Lou

Janet Jackson is simply one of if not the sexiest female performers live and in concert. Because she's a not just a singer, but a performer who is also a great dancer. And then you combine that with her beautiful baby-face appearance and the great body and how well she shows off her body and I don't know of a sexy performer right now. She is so professional and not just great onstage, but the work she does offstage to remain the great performer that she is.

If you have a front row seat to a Janet Jackson concert, that seat should be probably worth somewhere around a million dollars. Even if you are not a fan of her music and I like some her songs,  but not all of them. But whatever she's singing, she always looks great singing and performing because of talents and ability to both move and sing as a performer. And all of the work that she does offstage to stay in the great shape she's always been in. 

Also, no one moves and dances better, perhaps even as well, in skin-tight, denim jeans and boots, than Janet Jackson. And no one looks sexier in that outfit, or perhaps as sexy, then Janet Jackson. I almost feel guilty watching her perform for free.

Enjoy Music: Janet Jackson- If, Scream & Rhythm Nation

Source:The New Democrat

Just to speak very personally and frankly for a minute and then I'll go back to being a distant lier. Ha, ha, but checking out Janet Jackson up close and personal, which was the title of this album, feels like a great Christmas gift. With that voice, that body, her in those tight Levis black denim jeans, the boots, that belt, the tight black t-shirt, makes me want to get down on my knees and thank God I'm a man. Or at the very least get down on my knees and scream, yes!!! At the top of my lungs.

Janet is one of the cutest, sexiest, sweetest, singers and performers you'll ever see and she's still only like forty-eight years old. Obviously not a little girl anymore, just with a face that makes her as cute as a little girl. And then you throw in that she's a hell of a writer and singer who sings about her real life as a person and what is going on in the world around her. As attractive as she is. her professional talents as a dance, singer and writer or just as great.

Janet Jackson is not a one-hit wonder or a bimbo whose famous because of who her father is. And there are plenty of women and men who are and I'm sure you are already aware of this, unless you've grown up in Afghanistan or some place that is completely isolated from the world. There are plenty of people who are famous because of their parents. Janet comes from a great music family, but she's been as successful as she's been unlike some of her siblings because she's a great talented performer.
Enjoy Music: Janet Jackson- If, Scream & Rhythm Nation

Tim Hanlon: MISL 1982- MISL Finals Game 3- New York Arrows @ St. Louis Steamers: Full Game

Source:Tim Hanlon- the St. Louis Steamers and New York Arrows for the 1982 MISL Championship.

"Steve Albert and Nick Zlatar call the action for NY cable network SportsChannel, as the New York Arrows visit the St. Louis Steamers at the "Checkerdome" in Game 3 of the 1981-82 Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) Championship Series, in front of 18,160." 

From Tim Hanlon

What a great time to be a sports fan on Long Island in the early 1980s. The Long Island Islanders (as I call them) won 4 straight Stanley Cups in the NHL. And the New York Arrows won the first 4 MISL Championships from 1979-82. St. Louis has always been one of the best indoor soccer markets in America, with the St. Louis Steamers and later the St. Louis Ambush. So this was an excellent matchup for the MISL Championship.

ESPN Films 30 For 30: Elway To Marino: The Story of the 1983 NFL Draft

Source:The New Democrat

The 1983 NFL Draft is famous for several reasons, but a big one is the fact that it produced three Hall of Fame quarterbacks. The most important position in football, but more than that, it produced two of the top five quarterbacks of all- time in John Elway arguably the best all around quarterback of all-time and Dan Marino the best pure passer of all-time. Then you add Jim Kelly to the draft a quarterback who won four conference championships and played in four Super Bowls and. 

Jim Kelly one of the greatest winning quarterbacks of all-time and then you add Tony Eason who played in Super Bowl 20 with the New England Patriots, we haven’t seen another NFL Draft like that before or since, but a draft that produces not just two of the best quarterbacks of all-time and in Jim Kelly arguably three of the best quarterbacks of all-time but, also in Elway and Marino two of the best players of all-time as well which makes it an incredible draft.

But that’s not the whole story, this draft was also about workers rights. In this case football players do they have the right to decide who they work for and in this case who do they get to play football for and in John Elway’s case a California boy from Los Angeles who played college football at Stanford in the Bay Region, should he be forced to play football on the East Coast in Baltimore, Maryland for the Baltimore Colts. 

The Colts offered him a job, but the question posed by John Elway’s management team was. Can an employer force someone they’ve just offered a job to, to work for them or does the potential employee, in this case a football player have a say in who he works for and in this case play football for. And that’s what the Elway team was going to find out. Where are football players rights to decide where they can play football for. And Elway won in the fact that he wasn’t forced to work for the Colts. 

The whole draft brings up a more important point. What rights do workers including football players and pro sports athletes in general have in determining where they get to work. Because it’s really only pro sports where the franchises or employers basically have all of the power. As far as deciding who works for who and where with the players not having much if any say in deciding where. They work coming out of college.

ESPN Films: The Band That Wouldn't Die- How NFL Football Came Back to Baltimore

Baltimore Colts Marching Band-

If you look back at the Baltimore Colts, their last few seasons, especially in the early 1980s, up until 1984, when they relocated to Indianapolis, it was very dark very gloomy. The team was bad and they weren't drawing, playing in an aging stadium, that was basically designed for baseball, where the Orioles play. Playing in a rough area in North Baltimore. I know, I went to Orioles games there and went to a Stallions game there as well. Like the stadium, as far as watching games there.

But Baltimore Memorial Stadium, it wasn't the right stadium for NFL football, as far as allowing a franchise to be profitable there. By 1984 when the Colts left, there were probably more reasons to not go to a Colts game, then there were reasons to go to a Colts game, to the point, that this is also an interesting story and I won't go very far into it but the Colts actually drafted John Elway in 1983. Elway being the smart guy from Stanford that he is, knew that the Colts by this point were one of the worst franchises in the NFL. Decided that he didn't want to be part of a long-term rebuilding project, especially for a team that might be relocating and told the Colts he wouldn't play for them.

The Colts traded John Elway to the Denver Broncos in 1983. Dan Reeves the Broncos head coach/general manager ends up getting a steal in this trade. The most talented QB in the NFL, on a team that was already a playoff contender, but as it so happens, the Broncos end up playing the Colts at Baltimore Memorial Stadium, week 1 of the 1983 NFL Season. Baseball is still going on at this point, the Orioles are still playing, so the football field, half of it is dirt, for the baseball field. (The other half is dirt for the football field also, ha ha)

Week 1 in Baltimore in September and in Maryland at this point its still summer time, a very hot humid day in Baltimore, temperature in the 90s, plus add on the humidity very common late Maryland summer weather and the Colts take their frustration out on John Elway, beat up the rookie QB, the whole game, pounding him into the hot dirt field the whole game. This one game in 1983 against the Broncos, sums up the state of the Colts at this point. After the Colts leave Baltimore in 1983, Baltimore football fans, had one goal and one mission at this point and only one mission.

Was to land another NFL franchise, to prove to the NFL they can support an NFL franchise, even if that means building a new stadium, which is what you see in the beautiful Ravens Stadium, that opened in 1998. Which is how they got the Baltimore Stars of the United States Football League and won the USFL Championship in 1985. With players like running back Kelvin Bryant who ended up playing for the Washington Redskins, how they were able to get NFL preseason games and draw big crowds for all of those games.

In the early 1990s, how they got so close to landing an NFL expansion franchise in 1993, with a plan for a new stadium. How they landed the Baltimore Stallions of the CFL in 1994 and won the Eastern Conference Championship in 1994 and the Grey Cup in 1995. And how they landed the Cleveland Browns in 1995 over to Baltimore for the start of the 1996 season and of course they became the Ravens.


If you want something bad enough, you basically have to do anything (you know thats legal and perhaps within in other limits) to get what you want, to show whoever you have to prove to, that you are not only willing, but able to support whatever transaction you are trying to land. Thats how Baltimore and the State of Maryland felt about pro football, they were pissed off over losing the Colts and decided to use that anger to get the Ravens.

NFL Films: Johnny Unitas- The Master of the Quarterback Position

Source:NFL Films- Johnny Unitas: The Master. 

"Johnny Unitas(Grandpa's Dream #19) from The Drovers Old Time Medicine Show's "Dreamland" album."

Source: NFL Films

When you talk about the greatest quarterbacks of all-time as well as greatest players of all- time who ever played, whether they are still playing, or not you have to talk about John Unitas as well or its a meaningless conversation. Because John Unitas changed the way the game was played and introduced things that were never done before. He called his own plays, was the field Coach, everyone on the Colts teams knew who was their most important player and the one guy they couldn't afford to lose, every team that played the Colts knew who was the one player that they couldn't let beat them.

Without Johnny Unitas, the Colts are a solid team perhaps a winning team but with Unitas the Colts were a championship contender from the mid 1950s until the early 70s, he was their Larry Bird or Earvin Johnson, Jim Brown whoever you want to put on that list. That one guy who was the Colts MVP every year he was there practically and a guy who could've won the NFL MVP almost every year he played, because he was that guy he was that great the difference in the Colts winning the Championship or being a mediocre team.

The only other two guys that I would compare to Unitas after he retired as as far as what they meant to their teams and how great they were would be, Joe Montana and John Elway. You take those two guys away from the San Francisco 49ers and Denver Broncos and you can make a very good case that both franchises are still looking for their first Super Bowl Championship.If you judge players by whether they were great or not and should be in the Hall of Fame or not, I have four standards that players have to pass just to be eligible with me.

Was the player one of the best players at his position during his career?

Was he one of the best players in the league during his career?

Would he be a great player in any era that he played and was he a great player based on the previous standards for a long enough period of time?

Typically great NFL Players play around 10-13 seasons. So for me, most players aren't great as soon as they walk in the league. They need about three seasons to see whether they can be a great player or not, sometimes longer then that. And a lot of great players aren't great towards the end of their career, Jim Brown would be an exception to that. So for me if a player is great 6-8 years lets say, as well as meeting the other standards I just laid out then they are a Hall of Famer as far as I'm concern. But John Unitas had all of that plus so much more. You're not going to find a tougher QB or a better QB in the clutch. Plus the fact that he was the Colts offensive coordinator on the field. He called their plays, he invented the Two Minute Drill and made fourth quarter comebacks popular and exciting.

John Unitas wasn't a QB but a great player who played QB. "What do I have to do to win the game". Thats all he cared about, if you took the lead late in the fourth quarter against the Colts in the fifties and sixties with Unitas, you were probably going to lose. Because now you have to face the master and you have to figure out how to defend one player with eleven and most teams couldn't do that. The New York Giants found that out the hard way in the 1958 NFL Championship. They tried to take away the pass and Unitas calls a trap play up the middle and Alan Ameche runs for 20 plus yards that put the Colts in field goal position. Which would've won the game in overtime. But they had Unitas and were thinking Touchdown and thats why the Colts won the most important game in NFL history. 

You can also see this post at The New Democrat, on WordPress.

McCain is Through X: MSNBC's Hardball With Chris Matthews- Bill Maher on Sarah Palin & Michele Bachmann: The Dumbing Down of American Politics

Source: McCain Through X- Chris Matthews & Bill Maher-

Source: McCain is Through X: Hardball With Chris Matthews- Bill Maher on Sarah Palin, Morons, & Michelle Bachmann

I don’t want to sound like a preacher because I’m completely unqualified to be one, which doesn’t stop many other people from preaching by the way. But it stops me from doing it, so one up for me but having said that I do like offering my views on everyday life. And when I see hypocrisy I like to jump on it, like an obese person at a free all you can eat buffet.

But Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann represent what happens when we as people put style over substance and give people attention, responsibility and allow them to run for public office because we like them, we think they are cool, (oh I’m sorry awesome) or they have a great sense of humor deliver a lot of great humor intentionally and unintentionally and I can give you a long list of people in both parties. So long that we would have to tear down almost every tree in the country, or at least in the Northwest to have enough paper to finish this list. But since this is about Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann I’ll start there and if I need more paper, I’ll chop down a tree or save myself some time and buy some paper.

Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachamnn aren’t political stars because of their great depth and intelligence on anything. Because they don’t have any great depth or intelligence about anything. Sarah Palin didn’t even know the role and responsibilities of the office she was running for back in 2008 when John McCain nominated here for Vice President. (Hint, hint pretty big clue there) Kinda like when you have a hot stove and instead of putting your hand on the hot stove to decide if its hot or not, you already know that its hot because you feel the hot air from it.

Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann are popular at least among the Far-Right in the Republican Party and outside of the party (at least among the Far-Right that doesn’t see women as property), because they’re likable, funny, attractive. And yes to use a word I try not to overuse, except when I’m impersonating valley people, awesome or at least considered awesome. Sarah Palin is famous because John McCain was scared to death about losing the presidential election in 2008.

Because Senator McCain was the Republican Leader replacing George W. Bush and had to have a running mate that the Republican Party would love and could appeal to the Far-Right and they either knew about Sarah Palin going in about how unqualified she was for any high Federal office. And figured they would try to teach her in the McCain Administration or perhaps nominate someone else for Vice President in 2012. Sorta how George H.W. Bush felt about then Senator Dan Quale in 1988. Or didn’t do their homework about Palin at all and believed she was worth the risk. It was the ultimate riverboat gamble that blew up in their face, but they were probably going to lose anyway. Thats why Sarah Palin is famous in America and makes for great TV because she is very entertaining and attractive. Just not cut out for public office.

Michelle Bachman is famous because she’s the first mental patient to ever get elected to Congress, House or Senate and is very provocative, funny (sometimes intentional a lot of times not) and very attractive so she shows up well on TV and in public. But knows very little to anything about anything she’s talking about and has a habit of attacking people based on quotes that were given to her. But then when’s she’s asked about where she got her info, she doesn’t know because she didn’t actually the read the info herself. Which is what happened when she got on Rick Perry about health care back in a Republican debate in September when GOV. Perry was the frontrunner.

Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann aren’t famous and popular with their bases because of their intellect or depth on any on the important issues that we face as a country, but because they both make for great “reality TV” and both represent the dumbing down of American politics.

George Carlin: On Politicians

Source:HBO- The great political satirist George Carlin, on politicians in 1996.

"I do not own this video. this is my tribute and way of promoting George Carlin's work. But I'm sure they will still remove this. Anyway enjoy it while it's here."

From HBO

America has Freedom of Speech and I love that, as long as we don’t threaten, libel, harass people or yell fire in a movie theater. Perhaps you can yell fire at a ballpark or outside or even in your house though, but I wouldn’t try that unless its the real thing, otherwise you might be asked the question: “What are you in for?” By a guy or girl named Bubba with hairy armpits and hasn’t showered since they were a kid. And you may say: “Uh, I yelled fire in a crowded place and they might say I’m in for murdering a grandmother. So I can steal her food stamps.” how small would you feel then?

I support freedom of speech as a Liberal of course even freedom of hate speech, expression like for pornography and other adult activities. But two groups of people to me at least who don’t get the right to complain, are people who didn’t bother to vote. I mean if you don’t do your part to make the system better, what the hell right do you have to complain about people who screwed up the system. The other people who I believe have no right to complain are people who spend too much money and then are disappointed about what they got for their money.

We get what we paid for. If you’re cheap, chances are you’re not going to get much in return. If you’re too generous chances are you are not going to get enough back in what you invested. You have to know what you’re paying or voting for and then spend and vote for what’s worth it to get what you want. I’ll give you a few of examples and I apologize they are sports related, but I’ll give you another example as well that’s not:

It’s like a general manager who spends 20M$ on a career backup quarterback to be his starter because that QB had one good season filling in for the starting QB, but then once they get to their new team they have a lousy season and the GM is thinking: “What 20M$ on a guy who completes 50% of his passes and throws more INT’s than TD’s and doesn’t even finish the season because the backup QB is better. I could’ve paid the schmuck who played QB for me last year that money and gotten a better deal”.

Because you’re paying for failure when you overpay and well my answer would be why the hell did you spend 20M$ on a guy who was a backup QB for 6-7 years. He was a backup that long because he wasn’t good enough to start for the most part and got his one break and took advantage of it and took that to the bank, but then came back to reality.

Think of a millionaire who has a horses face and then meets a hot woman who just wants him for his money. And then leaves him once she has it or a big part of it.

Another group of people who don’t have a right to complain are sports fans that go and watch all of their teams games. Take Washington Redskins fans who have led the NFL in attendance the last ten years at least, but then these people have the guts to complain about how bad their team is. If you don’t like them, stop giving them your money. Find something else to do with your time.

Another group of people that don’t have a right to complain are voters who complain about the same politicians, but then keep sending them back to office, by doing that you’re just encouraging more bad behavior. You’re telling them: “They must like the job I’m doing because they keep sending me back to office”.

As comedian George Carlin says, politicians come from the same places that we do. Have similar parents, families, schools, churches, etc. If you don’t like them, find someone who you like that will do a good job.

Make sure you do a good job researching that candidate, which will make you an educator voter. Which will make you a powerful voter, someone who won’t put up with the same garbage as uneducated voters. Or run for office yourself. But don’t complain, you only get what you voted and paid for. 

You can also see this post at The New Democrat, on WordPress.

HBO: Real Time With Bill Maher- New Rule: Stupid People

Source: CNN- Comedian Bill Maher, on The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer- 

Source: HBO: Real Time With Bill Maher- Americans Are Stupid

Bill Maher loves to make fun of the Christian-Right, or does a damn good job of impersonating someone who loves to make fun of the Christian-Right, so good he should win an Oscar. Why not, they are big easy target, kinda like aiming at an ocean from a beach. So why not shoot, instead of comedians and bloggers actually sitting down and putting their hand to their chin and going "hum what should I write about now". How about just listen to ignorant people talk and make fun of them instead. That's what I always say anyway, or just said it actually thats the first time I just said that, but who's counting, well I guess I just did.

I mean, think about who is easier to make fun of than ignorant people, especially when they're in charge like I don't know in the White House, or Congress.

Examples of doing dumb things-

Sending the country to war based on false intelligence to use as an example. Trying to link Iraq with Al-Quada, which is like trying to link a prostitute with the Southern Baptist Convention. They don't go together. Sure, there are Southern Baptists that like Prostitutes, but they generally don't go together. Or trying to link homosexuality with the 9/11 Attacks. If these people weren't so stupid, I might be mad at them just because of their hate. But since they are so stupid, it's hard for me not to feel anything, but sorry for them. They are victims of our public education system and not being raised right.

And because of this, the rest of society gets to laugh at them and put up with them. Here's another one, Catholics can't go to heaven because they aren't Baptist. Isn't Heaven meant for good people. When we don't raise our kids right, or make sure they get a good education, they suffer the consequences of that of course. And a lot of them end up in our criminal justice system generally as guests. But the rest of society, sure gets some new easy big targets to shoot at, like a blimp over a stadium. (In other words Rush Limbaugh) But we have to deal with their stupidity, their lack of intelligence. Like what we had on Iraq before we went to war. Especially when they are pressured to run for high office to help their party. Because of their name recognition and who their father is and they end up having to make decisions.

The presidency isn't  for ignorant politicians, or it sure as hell shouldn't be.  Can you imagine what it must of been like for Condolezza Rice to explain intelligence reports to George W. Bush. She must of had to use drawings or try to compare military combat with football games or something. This whole idea, or attacking another country because they may attack you in the future. First of all our national defense is so strong that would never happen. Because any foreign fighter plane or planes or warships that attempted to invade the United States because of our radar system would first be warned before they got close or could launch an attack. And then we could blow them away as well. The rest of the world knows this, which is why we haven't been attacked by a foreign military inside America since 1941.

Ignorant people on the Far-Right and Far-Left are fun to make fun of, let's just admit that. We can't or shouldn't be nice to everyone. For every Saint that we have, we need a few (pardon the term) assholes to keep it real. So most of the country can stay within striking distance of reality. (When they aren't high) But we need to remember that we pay a price for ignorance as a country, especially when it reaches high office. Because we as a country or state lets say, have together paid a price for their stupid decisions. So lets do our part to prevent as many future ignorant people in the future as we can.

HBO: George Carlin- Stupid Bullshit: Imagine a World Without Stupid People

Source: HBO-

Source: This piece was originally posted at FRS FreeStates Plus

Imagine a world without stupidity, hey that’s the title of this piece, well sort of, sometimes it helps to pay attention to what you are writing, but sometimes it can also cost you. Because you might think th

at, “damn I’m a bad writer!” And if you are wondering about the language? Well the title of this piece should’ve been a very big clue. Like the size of a dinosaur actually and if that’s still not big enough for you, then you are part of the stupid bullshit problem in America that’s holding us down.

But seriously, imagine a world without stupid bullshit and as you are imagining that, imagine a world without Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, Michael Moore, Melissa Harris-Perry, to name some examples. You think a world without stupid people, well that could be big problem. Because who would we have to make fun of anymore. I thought of that and decided its a chance worth risking because of all the stupidity that would be moved to Siberia or some place in hell like that. As the smart people are now in charge.

Imagine a world where we had politicians and other public officials who actually knew what the hell they were doing. We wouldn’t go to war over bogus evidence because we would have a President and a National Security Council who actually knew how to read intelligence reports. We wouldn’t have a fiscal cliff because we would have a President and a Congress who would be smart enough not to put the country through that. We wouldn’t have a sequester because we wouldn’t have a President and a Congress who were smart enough not to cut things across the board. Meaning cutting parts of government that we need as much as waste in government.

You might think a world without stupid people would be a problem. Because we would have a Congress that actually knew what the hell they were doing and start being very productive as passing a lot of legislation. And as a Liberal I generally believe more laws that are passed, the less freedom that we would have. But think about it this way, no more stupid people in Congress, House or Senate. And replaced by people who actually know how to write good legislation.

A world without stupid people would be a world with a no stupid zone. ( To sort of borrow Bill O’Reilly’s no spin zone ) and Billy wouldn’t be allowed in the no stupid zone because it would be a world without stupidity and things like intolerance, racism, homophobia and other types of bigotry would be eliminated. Because all the stupid people would be rounded up because they wouldn’t have the same constitutional rights as smart people. And the stupid people would be sent to Siberia or some place and the smart people would rule the world.
HBO: George Carlin- Stupid Bullshit