Primary day is here, I've cast my ballot, and I'm still undecided.
Every candidate I could have backed in reasonable comfort is out of the race, and I dislike intensely two of the remaining three that are still likely to get the nomination. If Ron Paul wasn't so protectionist, I probably would have voted for him.

I'm beginning to face the fact that I may not have anyone to vote for in November, which has led me to this quandary; If McCain is the nominee, I might have to hold my nose and vote for Shrillary or Barrack Obama so that when all hell breaks loose, we might get eight or twelve more years of Republicans in the White House after the Democrat president gets all of the blame. But the only hope for that is the Republicans getting their collective head out of their ass, and nominating a conservative for once.

We also had a constitutional ammendment on the ballot, purportedly to cut property taxes. It was poorly written, and I don't think it will pass, but I'm always surprised at how easily it is to flat-out lie to people to get them to vote your way. The ammendment would double the homestead exemption to the first $50,000 of your homes value, and in addition, allow for portability of the save our homes tax cap, which limits your tax increase to 3% per year, regardless of your homes value. Gretchen and I might have moved to a better house by now if our tax bill could be kept from quadrupling simply by the act of buying a slightly nicer home.

Instead we've been treated to a barrage of advertising from local and county government, telling folks how this ammendment is going to cut their police and fire protection in half, as well as cut school and garbage collection funding. Meanwhile every government entity in the state of Florida has been running budget surpluses for years by increasing millage rates to among the highest in the country, and soaking tourists (our lifeblood) for as much as they can.

Why is it that government is never asked to do with less? Vive la revolucion!

I don't know if this makes Osama Bin Laden right about us or if it just means we live in an incredible age, but here are some things you can do with an ipod if you have too much free time.

...Number 8 from yesterday sure is a loooong run-on sentence.

I am looking into my crystal ball to see which teams will emerge victorious from this weekend's playoff games, and it all seems so obvious.

In the NFC game it's hard to imagine any scenario in which Eli "I won't play for your team because you suck, and if you draft me, I'll just take my neck and go home to daddy" Manning can overcome the ice pack that is Lambeau Field in January, or his own propensity to put the ball on the ground for no good reason. I don't think he can handle the pressure, and I think Brett Favre wants this title so badly he can taste it.

Now, don't get me wrong, the Giants have truly come together as a team over the last few weeks and are playing as well as they can play right now. I'm not buying all the talk that Manning has all of a sudden matured, and the other players see him as their fearless leader and have complete faith in him now. The Giants are going to have to score to win and if Green Bay gets on him early, Manning may not have the presence to do much of anything good. I mean, this is the NFC Championship Game at Lambeau freaking field, the closest thing the NFL has to a shrine outside of Canton! I don't think Eli is man enough to do it.

I do think the Giants defense is good enough to stop the Packers offense, and if they have any success against the run they could even win. The home field advantage the Packers have earned will be the deciding factor in this game.

Packers 17 Giants 12.

Now, in thinking about the Patriots vs. the Short Circuits, I have to say outside of the quarterback and one wide receiver, I think the Chargers are more athletically talented, the Patriots the better team. Unfortunately for the boys from San Diego those two players will be the difference in this game. The Chargers defense is better than the Patriots, but what they do best, getting pressure up the middle, is something the Patriots are good at stopping.

Bill Belichick versus Norv Turner?! That's a joke right? Belichick can out coach Turner in his sleep with or without video.

Tom Brady is the greatest the game has ever seen, I'm talking Montana, Ol' Horseface (Smellway), you name him. There have been great QB's, but name one who has led three such wildly different rosters to Lombardi Trophies. I might give you Terry Bradshaw, but only because he called his own plays.

Moss is the big play receiver Brady has never had, and he is making the most of it. Moss is still as athletic as ever, and if he's lost a step, he seems a little more clever.

Special teams seems to favor San Diego, but then again how do we really know? It's not like New England ever punts.

I think San Diego's best chance is to run the ball 60-70% of the time, but that only works if Phillip Rivers is able to keep them honest by passing effectively. If he's too injured, and the Pats can sell out against the run as efficiently as they did to Jacksonville, I don't think even L.T. is enough to win. The Chargers will have to gain yardage on the ground to keep New England's offense off the field and eat up the clock, I just don't think they can do it.

New England has bought into the team first mentality so well, they just don't get distracted. They take care of business.


Patriots 24 Chargers14

photo: http://www.chiefswarpath.com/


The top ten reasons I am rooting for the Patriots now:

1. The Chiefs have been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.

2. If the Chiefs can't go to the Superbowl, then the Chargers must not be permitted to.

3. Everybody hates the Patriots, ergo I must like them now.

4. How cool would a Patriots vs. Packers Superbowl be?

5. How can you not like a team with Elvis dressed as a minuteman as their logo?

6. I am from Taxachusetts.

7. I may get to hear John Kerry tell us how big a fan he is and how his favorite Patriot is Junior Bruschi.

8. If the Giants make it opposite the Patriots,I will not have to wrap duct-tape around my head to keep blood from shooting out my eyes everytime a stinking Satan Manning commercial comes on, as the pain will be mitigated by the fact that the Pats are kicking the living snot out of his wittle brudder, (whom, incidentally, I like even less than Peyton).

9. It will piss off everyone from New York.

10. It will shut up, once and for all, those annoying Miami Dolphins fans and ex-players, about the "perfect season".

It's been cold here in Florida the last few days so here is some more Hiromi to warm me up:



If you didn't like that then try Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains:

As January 29th approaches and with it the Florida primary, I was just wondering...

...How, if Hillary Clinton is the "candidate of inevitability" on the Democrat side, she came in third!

...If, as Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton and their ilk suggest, America is such a racist nation, How did B. Obama win in Iowa, a state in which the black population is less than 3%?

...How long before the national media begin to attack Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney for their respective religious beliefs, while completely ignoring the fact that Barrack and Hillary will be holding campaign fundraisers in every church they can find?

...Is Rudy Guliani running for POTUS or President of All Things 9/11?

...I sort of like Fred Thompson, but is he human or one of those animatronic Disney things from that ride? (I think I like the fact that he said it doesn't make a difference to him if he's elected or not, but what a strange thing to say).

...Who the hell am I going to vote for!?! I like Alan Keyes, although he has no hope of winning. I don't really like any of the front-runners, although they each have their plusses. I also like Duncan Hunter, a congressman from California, except he is a Ron Paul/Pat Buchanan protectionist. The other guy I liked a lot was Tom Tancredo, but he's already dropped out!

It really seems as if the Republican party has taken a step backward in the absence of a true conservative leader. George W. Bush, as the de facto leader of his party has not been consistently conservative, and no one has stepped in to take the mantle of leadership. All the front-runners in the presidential race seem to be trying to out-maneuver each other for the honor of "Republican most likely to be confused with Nelson Rockefeller". I was too young to remember, but is it possible this is how we ended up with Jimmy Carter as president in 1976? I hope we don't have to relive those years to get another Reagan! I really don't see anyone on the R side of this campaign who can approach the Great One.

Speaking of bright young conservatives, whatever happened to J.C. Watts, Jr.?

Happy New Year devoted readers! Sorry about the lack of posts, but I'm a lazy bastard.



Thanks to the ipod Tim gave me, I've been listening to much more music of late. Here is a group I really like:



They play jazz, but there is much more going on here. Hiromi Uehara, the pianist and band's leader, is from Japan, but lives here now. This piece is entitled Kung Fu World Champion, and is from her second album, Brain.

Here's another little ditty called Time Out: