Just wanted to chime in on the recent Rush resignation. First off, Rush is too good for Disney and the fact that he says things that people don-t want to hear, he is a bit to harsh for commercial television in general. All REAL football fans agree with Rush. I tivo-d ESPN Sunday just so I could hear rush argue with the jocks, just like all of us would if we were in there. All 4 weeks were great. Rush was wonderful, every argument was fun, accurate, and scared the piss out of Irvin and Young a few times when they found out how much really knew about football. And when he said the statement below, boomer and jocks agreed Donovan was held to far too high a standard.

Rushes Statement:- I think what we’ve had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn’t deserve. The defense carried this team.”

What everybody heard:-Because he is black, we are trying to hard to like him-

The Truth as I see it: If you take the exact situation and insert a white guy-let say Trent Dilfer or Brad Johnson, both average quarterbacks with great defenses. You would see that the top 5 status the Donavan constantly gets in the media is puzzling. Trent and Brad are not top 5 quarterbacks-yet both have rings. The fact that he is black in a predominantly black market is the reason he garners so much attention. Is he an average (race not withstanding) quarterback in the NFL?-well look at his stats for the past 5 years-.and you will see that he is. The slump in the one thing that made the Eagles great, the Defense, has had a direct connection to Donavan-s poor play as of late. And why is that-. because he is average-he is not a Brett Farve or Steve McNair, that can lead a sub-par team to the promised land. . Rush knows Donovan belongs in the NFL and is a good quarterback, but Donovan has not shown anything in his entire career that warrants this much attention or the media and fans holding him up to a bar he was never at in the first place.

In Closing: Rush needs an environment where everyone knows it is commentary, and Disney is not it.-Best Damn Sports Show- on FOX would fit him better. But alas Rush is far too classy for that show. I guess it is nice to see that ratings don-t mean that much anymore-since he was on-Rush gained that show 12 points. Disney must be becoming a more personal company to allow him to leave-.snicker.

Rams looked unstoppable-albeit it was against the cardinals, but all the cylinders were firing and the luck factor fell our way many times. We punted once, and the weak link was actually Bulger. He had a 272/2 touchdown day. But was a total of 10 feet from a 380/5 touchdown day. The O-line looked-Superbowl- and kept Bulger clean for the entire game. The D was on fire, 70% of the blitzes worked and the Cardnial-Super Rookie- WR was never heard from. Now we have a bye-and return full throttle with return of WR Curtis and FS Sehorn in two weeks.
On a side note : the ass-ripping dismantling of the 49ers by Minnesota was almost as satisfying as Rams Game. The 4th Quarter collapse of the Chargers was the only thing that kept the Haas Tri-Fecta from coming to fruition.

Arnold: Agreed with McClintock on most issues and attacked Davis and Cruz Bustamante for their failed programs and fiscal policies.

Camejo: Attacked Bush-It-s a California campaign!!…idiot. and said corporations get away with too much. Left Davis alone and attacked Arnold and Tom. Came off as a Socialist…good luck with that one.

Huffington: Attacked everyone (Bush Included) except Camejo. And didn-t bring up a single solution except take out corporate loopholes-. Great idea-charge businesses more-Oh that will keep them here. Made personal attacks on Arnold and Cruz….she really is the ultimate Ex-Wife.

McClintock: Has a long line of solutions, but was too much brain and not enough personality, and doesn-t look like he can bend enough to get things passed. And he didnt confront Arnold at all. Tom is a great man in the wrong state.

Cruz Bustamante: Took most of the attacks in stride but in a truly-You don-t understand- condescending way. Only solutions were more spending on colleges and Latinos-huh?

Who am I voting for: Arnold
Why am I voting for him: He is the one that can cater to both sides, but still stop the spending. Fiscal health is his number one priority.

1. Your right…minorities ARE to stupid to vote, thank you 9th court and ACLU for pointing this out.
2. Davis: Illegal immigrants need to learn how to drive…yea in their own county lets drive them there.
3. Busta’mencha’ is fiscally the same and socially worse than Davis…And he is winning the polls…way to go CA.
4. Union Problem Number 1…when the state suffers…they don’t.
5. Union Problem Number 2…70% of Union workers are Raider Fans.
6. As I start to feel sympathy for the Palestinians and Islamics, all I have to do is watch those planes take out 2500 innocents…then I have no support for people of that mentality. Thank God for anniversaries.
7. Ok…just to clear it up…We were attacked…Islamic Terrorists were to blame…We asked all the countries to help us kill all the terrorists…2 countries said ‘Fuck You’… both have new governments now…The next country to hinder us from this plan…will have a new government too.

A full report on the wedding and honeymoon from both Deb and I will be posted soon. Including all the TableCam pics and professional pics too. So keep checking the gallery for updates.

In other news: Rams – Game 1 – Lose
Well the season started poorly for the rams, but I still have a positive outlook on the season. The interior of the O-Line failed and Warner got knocked silly, even getting a concussion in the second. After the headache wore off in the fourth it was too late. The Third wide receiver McDonald fell and ran incorrect routes all night. And Marshall seemed to be able to do nothing with the ball. NY-s Defense was on fire-. but so was ours-. holding their offense to 17 points-and every point was a struggle for them. Warner is out for this weekend against the 49ers. But I have a good vibe that Bulger will tear them up. All the problems are fixable and our 20th schedule should keep us on top till the end. Having Sehorn and Curtis back after the fifth week bye will be like hitting the Nitro button.

Construction for the wedding has had me a bit behind in most other things, but I think we are on track with a little more than a week to go.
Photo: Go – Video: Go – Hall: Go – DJ: Go – Pastor: Go – Honeymoon: Go- Rehearsal Dinner: Go- Stress: Go
All Fees are paid and only the elbow grease is left.
Still to go: Dress Alteration, Rear Screen (sew and paint), Paint Centerpieces, Program Printing, Seating Chart, Gift Box, Two More cuff Links, Organza Cutting

Amidst all of this the Rams played their second preseason game against the Superbowl champs Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This outing was much more solid and even without Marshall, Williams, Sehorn and Pace the team looked ready. Kurt Warner was on his game even though no passes went over 15 years. Each pass was a bullet and hit everyone in stride and on the numbers. The Rams marched all they way down the field on the number one defense without a glitch. The Defense kept all TB-s first string out of the end zone and scored a defensive touchdown to boot. Got the juices flowing and now can-t wait for the season to start.

S.W.A.T. (3.2 of 5)
Always digged they way Mark Shera whipped that repel rope around to the theme music way back before Star Wars made me all glassy eyed for sci-fi. That was one of the many instances of childhood TV that made me like the intros more than the show itself. Maybe I am built to cut trailers and intros more than anything else. Anyways-the 2003 version of S.W.A.T is basically a big budget version of FX’s-The Shield–if you love that show-you will love this movie. But there lies the problem–The Shield- is a TV show- I don-t want a TV show on the big screen. I pay the 8 bucks to take me farther, show me the bullet taking the guy down, show the cussing, and show the explosions. The written story is a good one: Make a misfit S.W.A.T. team, arrest the biggest crime lords son, offer 100 million to anyone who busts him out, drama and explosions galore. But the film is shot a little to episodically and the emotion of the situations is lost. The biggest problem for me was the restraints of the PG-13 rating they were going for. This needed to be gritty and it couldn-t be. The right people were in place: Colin was perfect, Jackson was perfect, Hell, even Josh Charles was perfect. But it all just clicked on a lower level that I wanted it to. But that-s just me-I ALWAYS want True Lies and T2. And a side note, while I understand when a trailer is made it is sometimes early in the editing phase of a film, and a shot or scene in the trailer is omitted from the final cut. This time around there were easily 4 shots and scenes cut from the trailer. When Michelle says-cause it tickles me- in the trailer-it was a deciding factor in me seeing the movie-and after watching the film-It needed it back in!

My Platform:
1. Thumbprint added to all ID services.
2. Government takes over Utilities (Gas Water Electric)
3. Cut all redundant Social Programs (some programs exist on state and county and city levels- Basically cut every job Gumby …created.. in the last 4 years)
4. Allow San Fernando Valley to succeed from LA County…come on they deserve it.
5. Split State in 2 along Kern County. (Win/Win they lose all the immigration problems, we lose all the voting that created them… I don’t want to govern NorCals anyways)
6. School vouchers!!! (see below)
7. Widen the freeways, remove all carpool lanes, make all freeways like the 105 (trains and all)
8. State Run Bullet Train Union Station to Vegas (or legalize gambling take your pick)
9. Legalize and regulate Marijuana
10 Remove all affirmative action, But make state run loans available at 1% over prime to all regardless of location or race.
11 Lower over-tax on tobacco.
12 Flat-Tax income to 1% for California.
13 Sales tax to 5%.
14 Repeal Car Tax
15 Repeal Family Leave Bill
16 Cap Workman’s Comp.
17 Tax free ‘First Year’ for Business over 50 Employees.
18 Chino Prison Expansion
19 Loser pays the bills if State Grand Jury finds lawsuit frivolous.

How to solve the school problem:
Eighth grade mandatory testing for advancement.
9-12 school vouchers cover 50% while-Alumni Fund- covers other 50% of costs.
Result: taxpayers pay for the schools they use.
Alumni fund is a 1% tax of a students income for the first 20 years after graduation.
Result: Turn out better students = schools get more money
Mandatory testing for voucher teachers every 2 years/ 4 years for tenured teachers.
Result: Weed out the bad eggs
Huge startup cost for this system…but will pay back in droves in less than 6 years.

And a message to the feds……………I’m coming baby!!!!

Finding Nemo (4.2 of 5)
Pixar has not failed. Every film they release is an unoriginal story that has been told so many times before. But the highly polished final product is storytelling with a stroke of mastery. Pixar and photo-realism do not mix, and I never want them to mix them. These are cartoons for the new millennia. That being said, Nemo is a little clown fish captured by a diver/dentist while, under the watchful eye of his sole (bad pun, he is a clown fish anyway) neurotic father. The film is the journey the father takes trying to get back his son. A journey that becomes a legend to the underwater community, and it is a big community. While the father, voiced by Albert Brooks keeps the movie together, it-s Ellen DeGeneres-s amazing performance as Dory that steals the show. Always airy and funny, but a touching lost soul too. Every character was fascinating and entertaining, Easily a top ten movie for the year and top 3 of Pixar productions to boot. Deb and I just saw this film last weekend and that-s 10 weeks after it debuted-most films leave the theaters after 6.

SeaBiscuit (4.7 of 5)
About as-near perfect- of all the films this year! History channel with a budget! If you don-t cheer for everyone in this film something is wrong with you! That being said: still only places behind 85-s-Phar Lap- but stays ahead of Casey-s-Shadow- show position as the best horse movie ever. A rich and methodical telling of the West Coast phenom that beat the Triple Crown winning goliath-War Admiral- in a match race during the depression. Where the film really shines is in the relationships that are created along the way. Seabiscuit is the catalyst for a true rag tag group of individuals to be national heroes. The races are well filmed but nothing too new until the final race, which has some truly amazing slow motion shots including the money shot of Seabiscuit-s front hoofs almost hitting you in the face down the home stretch. The real charm to the races for me came with the conversations between Red Pollard and George Wolff during the race. The planning, the plotting, the-have a nice ride- stuff gave me goose bumps and made the races an emotional roller coaster instead of just an tense adrenalin rush. My grandfather raised racehorses and I can remember countless trips to Agua Caliente in the late 70-s to see-Castle Run- and Second Place- dash for the line. And seeing Seabiscuit get his start there and staying in the stables south of the field brought back all the trips, and walks, and brushings from my youth. Bridges had a bit of-Tucker- in the presentation but everyone else brought some truly inspired performances to the table. A Tobey supporting actor nod may come his way. This movie is a keeper and not just because it is a great history lesson but it also to shows how to make a emotionally perfect film with out shoving down your throat. Note to my mom: bring a whole box-.you-ll be crying like clockwork on this one.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider- The Cradle of life. (2.5 of 5)
She-Bond II mixes one of the best cinematographers (but not directors): Jan De Bont, Best Body/Acting ability ratio for brunettes: Angelina Jolie, and the most locales since Cubby still pulled the strings at Pinewood studios. Add them all together and you get a film better than TR1 but worse than just about anything else. With the three Items listed above you should be able to hit this one out of the park. But the polish just wasn-t there. You don-t care about any characters, the special effects where in no way great (done better in most films 10 years ago) and it took almost an hour just to get interesting. All nipples aside, Angelina did great (and her makeup artist was top notch too) but she seemed to be begging to want a better movie. Probably the same exact thing said after Tomb Raider 1 rolled its credits.-Gun Fight in the lab- and-Beasties at the Cradle- were high points but all were item done better in other films. There is potential in the franchise but if you can-t hit the mark with talent like this or by episode 2, you are in for a world of perpetual mediocrity.

The Ballad of-Kobe Dick-
Howdy folks, just wanted to chime in on the Kobe situation. Don-t like basketball: Highest crime/player ration in sports, to much trash talking, so just the fact he is in that sport is a strike against him. (Scale tips to accuser) There is also an incident that happened at Houston-s in Manhattan Beach that bothered me: Kobe came in bought food for 8 people, left without paying. The when restaurant confronted Lakers he came back and paid-minus tip. (Scale tips farther toward accuser) Then I saw this: PICTURE
Scale balanced again. Why you asked, It-s a vibe I get, she looks like a little Nicole Brown Simpson to me. In the words of Chris Rock- I don-t support OJ killing her-but I understand- . Nicole’s actions during and after the divorce would frustrate even Jesus Christ. In this girl I see the same ‘popular high school cheerleader’ that found out how hard it was to make it in the real world. She wants the Rodeo Dr lifestyle without working for it. And when the sugar daddy of her life dumped her, she saw it slipping away. Failed relationship, failed career, failed suicide attempt-the girl is a failure. With no skills and no chance of reaching her goal. I knew people like this-.and I see it in her. Not to mention Kobe seems like a smart guy, an Adulterous Moron, but not a guy that would risk a billion dollar career on a white girl, even if it was served up on a platter….snicker.
So in my undeniably bias opinion-It could go either way. But it takes a lot of balls to pursue something like this-and she is genetically lacking. So I think she may drop the charges once the load-o-shit starts hitting her.

38,118 Miles and 26,280 Hours later I am closing the book on the greatest car I have ever owned (leased).-Big Blue- gets put out to stud today, and while it has seen a Rams Superbowl win and return, A terrorist first strike, two retaliation ass whoopings, the birth of American Idol, and the slide of democratic party (they had it coming), 4 Dodger games, 3 Angels games, 6 LA Xtreme games, 2 Rams games, through it all it still remained a zero maintaince vehicle. It never whined, even with the occasional bad detail job and only being garaged 6 of its 1095 days. While finances keep me from getting another like it right now, I know that Daimler /Chrysler moves to the front of the pack of US carmakers. And I will look them up again. Here are some pics of the final day-

And just in case you wanted to know how I am getting around for the next few months…..

1989 Honda PC800 – Pacific Coast. (#3 on my all-time-here-to-there- vehicles)

Full List:
1. 1972-78 GMC Motor home (DeLorean designed…some still at $50,000)
2. General Hummer Hum-Vee (In a word: Unstoppable)
3. Honda PC800 (Adult Scooter)
4. Toyota Previa AWD-SC (Best designed minivan ever)
5. Sea-Doo Explorer Rib Boat (Most useful carefree boat of them all)

One day I will have them all……..

Bruce Almighty (3.8 of 5)
It-s a simple well proven formula: get a nice camera, point it at Carry and start laughing. This one has a little more heart due to the supporting cast. Freeman is wonderful and Aniston hits all of her marks. The Daily Shows- Steve Carell is really delightful and steals a few scenes as the butt of a few jokes. The finger trumpet and-you can-t be an asshole- scenes were priceless. But the non PG-13-Back to you, fuckers!- took the cake. By the end Scoody Doo syndrome sets in and a wonderful happy film for the whole family (except for the asshole and fuckers part) comes out. Lots of laughing, a few well placed-you didn-t see-THE MAJESTIC- so I-m going to make you cry- moments. This is a fun film to watch along the lines of-LIAR LIAR-.

2 Fast 2 Furious (3.2 of 5)
John Singleton gets the helm to the sequel of Rob Cohen-s visually stunning-Fast and the Furious-. I have never figured out John Singleton-s style-or the reason for hype he has received.-Boyz on the Hood- was a great movie under the circumstances and put Cuba Gooding on the map, but his following films left much to be desired. Each film I saw-could have been better:-Poetic Justice- – No acting, depressing and with Tupac on screen-irritating.-Higher Learning– Too preachy and made me dislike black people (was that what they were going for?)-Rosewood– a much better overall effort (I think his best), sure put women in a bad light and kind of left everything unresolved, just one more blacks getting screwed over history lesson.-Shaft- – His biggest budget but none of it seemed to be on the screen, Sam tried to save but he seemed hog-tied in the film. This film needed to be a little more like-Die Hard III- and less like the original movie there were remaking. The first-Shaft- film was more fun and interesting. Baby Boy- Never saw and had no interest in seeing. OK-so-to me a sequel made by a different crew must bring something new to the table, this film brought nothing. A few of the ground breaking camera moves from the first film were recycled but that was about it. In the Theater: No cheering, no laughing-nothing-ohhhhhh! Pretty colors though. And the hot Asian chick on the poster looked about 12 years old in the film and gave me a creepy vibe whenever she talked. Also, not one WRX in the film-what is that all about?