We are not as Free as you think

OK so I think I have sat here long enough and listened to the news. Now it is time for me to vent on a couple of things that just annoy the crap out of me.

First lets talk locally. The Michigan politicians have decided to repeal the helmet law. So this means that people who decide to ride motor cycles, at least 21 and have ridden for 2 years, can ride without the helmet. Man I can sleep better now knowing that silly law is no longer on the books. I mean come on why should we tell people who decide to ride on their vehicles, not enclosed in any safety barrier or protective cage, how to ride. I say the government sticks with telling people who want to drive cars that they must still wear their seat belts. I mean how can we be sure that the metal cage they are practically wrapped in will protect them completely. OK so I am being slightly sarcastic. This is just stupid. Personally I don’t care if there is a helmet law or a seat belt law. I am going to wear either one when riding or drving my vehicle. I know the governor is going to veto this bill, but I ask her not to. I say that she add an extra stipulation to the law instead. If you so chose not to wear your seat belt or helmet when riding or driving your motor vehicle you waive all personal rights during an accident. Any injuries that you sustain in such accident in which you were not wearing the safety equipment is not open for lawsuit or compensation. I say even go one further and make them waive their rights to emergency services. You decide to take your life in your hands when you don’t want to protect it, so why should I pay for your stupidity. I way we let the laws of nature take over. Natural Selection.

OK now for the one topic that really bothers me. The ban on Gay marriage. What the hell is wrong with our country? People when did discrimination become a good thing. How can any person of faith or not support this ban. I mean if congress wants to enact this then why not ban Budhist from wedding. I mean they worship or look up to Budha, I am not sure how it works sorry for my ignorance. I say this because the bible, which many people seem to quote a lot on this issue, says that we will not worship false idols. Her is the text from the bible, the false idol, not the gay thing.

Do not have any other gods before Me. Do not represent [such] gods by any carved statue or picture of anything in the heaven above, on the earth below, or in the water below the land. Do not bow down to [such gods] or worship them. I am God your Lord, a God who demands exclusive worship

So in reading that I guess Budhist are out and Muslims for that matter right? See how ridiculious this sounds. Now instead of Muslims or Budhist let us replace them with Gay. So now tell me how that is different and why we must ban gays from marring.

Next lets look at a quote from Bush on marriage and why gay marriage must be banned. You can read the whole speech here. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/02/20040224-2.html

“The union of a man and woman is the most enduring human institution, honoring -- honored and encouraged in all cultures and by every religious faith. Ages of experience have taught humanity that the commitment of a husband and wife to love and to serve one another promotes the welfare of children and the stability of society.”

So according to this Americans honor marriage right? That must be why the divorce rate only hovers in the 40-50% of all marriages. Yep if you let those gay people marry that rate might increase, but then again it could also decrease. Weird how things tend to work both ways.

Also for this protecting the welfare of our children and society. I believe gay people can adapt children too. So what is leaving marriage out of it doing. Oh yeah, preventing a person from being covered by their partners health insurance. Oh and also preventing their right to see their loved one if they are in serious condition in a hospital.

Ok I am going to do one more quote from Bush. I know I don’t like the guy, but the best way to show that someone is wrong is to show them the folly of their words and ways.

“America is a free society, which limits the role of government in the lives of our citizens. This commitment of freedom, however, does not require the redefinition of one of our most basic social institutions. Our government should respect every person, and protect the institution of marriage. There is no contradiction between these responsibilities. We should also conduct this difficult debate in a manner worthy of our country, without bitterness or anger.”

OK so many oxymoron’s in this statement I don’t know where to begin. Free society, but limit marriage to only specific people. Respect everyone, but discriminate against some of them, and redefinition of the most basic social institution.

So let us start with the last statement. Redefinition: When has marriage been defined by our government. Religions might define it, but I don’t believe the government has until recent years. And if I remember what that big piece of paper they want to add an amendment to says Religion and State can’t mix.

Next let us talk about respect and discrimination. You can not use those two words in the same sentence unless you say they have nothing to do with each other. I believe that discrimination is the largest downfall of this society and by perpetuating it through our constitution we only help the downward spiral.

Finally free society. Well I guess it isn’t that free when we can limit what a person does based on their sexual orientation, race, gender or any other defining characteristic.

I know I am not going to post this on my blog and people will read it and wake up, but I hope that some of you out there who are reading this can understand and realize that this is suppose to be a free country where everyone lives in peace and harmony and nothing that makes us individuals can or should disrupt that. I also urge everyone one to email, write, call or contact all of your representatives (US, State, and Local) and let them know that a ban on gay marriage is a condemnation of the free spirit of this country.

Thanks for reading and hopefully I made a little sense.

Third X's a Charm?

Well I went and saw X3 this weekend. And I have to say that I enjoyed it. I am going to give brief non spoiler review here and further down will be my hidden review. Just highlight the blank spot to read if you want a spoiler.

So I would give X3 a thumbs up. Now it was not as good as the previous two X-films, but it is getting close to their heels. There was a definant lack of character development and plot in this film. I like the idea that they tried to use as a plot, but once in a while it got lost in everything else going on. Also there are some issues with the way that certain characters where shown. So overall I would recomend this film to a friend and tell them to not have high expectations. Also make sure you stay through the credits for a small glimpse of something.

Ok so there is my breif review. Now for a more thourough and indepth review.

X-3 tried a little to hard in my perspective. They tried to go bigger and better than the last films with special effects and lost a little something in the process. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the movie and took it for what it is, an action movie based on a comic book that not many people in the world actually read or understand. So we will start at the begining. The first scene starts us right off in the danger room. That was cool. We got to see some of the new X-men working and using their powers. The thing that I didn't like is that they did many things wrong. One Wolverine was just walking around the room acting all "I don't give a crap" when clearly in any comics I have read he is all business in the danger room. Secondly the fastball special was week. I understand that they tried to stay in the realm of physics and Earth, but this is a comic book movie. Colossuss doesn't need to build up momentum to throw Wolverine. He should have piccked him up and hurled him, not discus thrown him. Finally the sentinal was extrememtly week. All we see are the glowing eyes in the fog and then a giant robot head comes falling down. I wanted more than that.

OK so now that I am done nit picking that I will hit on a couple other things that I disliked. One that I will not get to much into, because I feel I could write a book on it, is the Dark Pheonix Origin. I did not like the movie version. Especially with the setup they had for it at the end of X2. They just didn't do the story any justice. The galactic being, as complicated as it is, is a far better version of the story. I will get into this in a later post, maybe.

I think what I will do is go through each main character and give the positives and negatives of each.

Wolverine - +, What can I say, I love the character and Jackman does a good job. -, I never think they capture his true ferocity in the movies. He seems to be to much of a lover in all these films.

Storm - +, I liked the newer look and outfits,. -, I think Halle helped ruin this movie by demanding more of a presence. She did nothing to help this movie out except to play the whining mutant who can has no outward mutation.

Beast - +, I don't think you could have cast anyone better than Kelsey Grammer for the part. He played it to a Tee. -, I would have liked to see him in more of a scientific role than the govermental postion. We all know he is a big lab rat.

Iceman - +, They finally used his full ice form in the movie. -, They used his full Ice form at the end of the movie. I would have liked to see more of it, not to mention his Ice slides he makes to get around.

Rogue - +, She wants the cure and struggles internally if whe wants to get it. -, not much of the struggle was seen. One scene telling Bobby whe wants the cure, one scene telling Wolverine she wants the cure, one scene with her in line for the cure and the final scene she is cured.

Prof X - +, Patrick Stewart rocks prof X like usual. I think he played jsut the right amount in this movie. -, I didn't like the dark twist that they involved him with. just the wrong time to show that he has used his powers to control people.

Jean Grey - +, Good protrayal of the pheonix, she was very bad ass. -, Bad Origin. Don't like the dark side of Jean instead of the Galactic Entity approach.

Colossuss - +, Like the CGI -, I didn't get to see enough of him. You see him in a couple fights, but nothign major. There should have been a show down between Colossuss and Juggernaut. The movie was primed for it and it never happened.

Kitty Pryde - +, Very good job with Phasing powers and her attitude. Ellen Page was wonderful. -, I wouldn't say that there was anything bad about Kitty in this movie

Magneto - +, Ian McKellen, Need I say More?

Mystique - +, I enjoyed here beating the guards up and showing them, never underestimate a woman or a mutant. -, Again far to little of here for me in this movie (yes guys make you jokes now)

Pyro - Not really sure what to say about this character good or bad.

Juggernaut -+, Right Personality and cool Powers. -, Juggernaut is not a mutant. Let me kow if you need further explanation, plus no colossuss fight as stated earlier.

Leech - +, Good use of the character. -, Powers and look not like I wanted to see from this chracter. I wanted more of the morlock child that no one wanted.

Callisto - I can't really remember what her real powers are, but in this movie whe is too young to be the leader of the morlocks like she should be.

Well that is what I have to say. I might post more later if I feel it necessary

Up Up and Away

Actually it is more like falling down. Anyway here are my pictures from jump. Most are blurry, but what can you expect when you are falling to earth from 13,000 feet up. So hopefully you enjoy these.

Ok so here I am getting ready to jump in my outfit with my tandem jumper Travis

And here we go out of the plane

and to just prove that I was actually up there, Pulling our chute

And Finally the good old cheeks flapping in the wind.

So let me say again if you are ever contemplating jumping out of a plane, I say do it. It was such a rush and the money went to a good cause. By the way here are the stats for Operation Freefall
270 jumpers across the nation
Over $182,000 raised

Way to go everyone.

Also I am going to try and post part of the video if not all of it when I get it ripped from my dvd.

Back on the ground

Well I did it. I jumped out of a plane and survived. Well duh, otherwise I wouldn't be making this update. OK so here are the details I tandem jumped from 13000 feet up in the air. Now I was thinking that I was going to be scared or nervous about jumping, but I wasn't. I was amazxingly calm, even laughing and joking with my tandem instructer on the way up. So here is the only freaky part. Before you jump you go to the edge of the door on your knees. So I am there on the edge of the door looking down at the world. And then out you go. You would expect to have you stomach in your throat, much like a roller coaster, but it wasn't. So then we fell for about 40-50 seconds and then they pull the cord. It was just an easy glide down after that. And if you are wondering I will be doing this again. I am not sure when, but it will happen. And I will be positng the pictures and some of the video if possible, so stay tuned.

OK so I am just lazy

Yes I am still around and some people want to here from me so I am going to make a short post. Today is my freefall day. Yes I am jumping out of an airplane today. So everyone wish me luck and I will post once I return from the sky.

And if you want to know what has been taking my time up check out this site and try it out. It is free so have fun

www.battleon.com

THE END HAS COME, well sort

OK it is not really the end of anything major, just the end of Season 5 of The Shield. Will it be back for another season? Well I certainly hope so. For everyone reading this I am going to say some things that are spoilers for the season, so stop reading because I am not taking the time to hide the test ( I just feel lazy this time)

So My only big regret for this show is that the seasons seem to get shorter and shorter. Only 11 episodes this year. Down from the 13 last year and 15 from the year before that. So why so short? I don’t really know. Cost, people involved with other productions? Who knows? Anyway I would give this season two thumbs up. I would say that it was edgier than the previous seasons. OK more vulgar to some of you, but that sets it apart from those “safe” kiddy shows the FCC and religious organizations want us watching (another topic to be dealt with at a later time). So for those of you who watched the show you may be crying in your beer right now and wondering why they had to kill off Lem. Well I liked the guy, but I felt like he was holding the strike force back from really getting down and dirty. He was the voice of reason and compassion. Now I know Vic showed compassion too, but that was only when it suited his needs. Lem on the other hand was always good. He wanted to help the needy and wanted to think twice about ripping off the drug dealers. I would also have to say that if they didn’t kill Lem off that would be the end of the show. Basically there were only two ways out of the season. The way that they did, which kept the only possible leak about the strike force quite, allows them continue. If they had allowed Lem to live he would have eventually turned himself in and by one way or another brought the whole strike force down with him. One other thing I liked was what happened to Dutch boy in this season. We see him becoming more enveloped with the criminal mind. And I am not saying understanding it, but becoming interested in it and starting to move to the dark side. Who knows maybe he will become the fourth member of the strike force for the next season. I mean his former partner is now the chief and he hates his current partner. I can see Claudette giving Dutch boy the option of either sticking with Billings or moving to the strike force. What I think would be an even more interesting twist on this would be dutch boy taking the place of Vic as being the most corrupt cop. Well enough of me suggesting plots.

So where else do they go from here? Well I can see Kavanaugh becoming a man who looses his job because he is obsessed with getting the strike force, and more focused on Vic than any thing else in his life. I don’t think we see him in a predominant role in the next season, but I do see his face popping up once and a while. I can see the season finale coming down to Vic or Kavanaugh actually kill the other. Other than that who knows where they go with this.

Well that is all for me. Oh and I will be starting a comic review every couple of weeks leading up to the Comic con in Chicago. Might as well try something new and exciting right.

C-ya

OK so I finally posted again

OK so I am finally going to post again. Everyone has been waiting to hear the word from da man, that’s me. OK so first off got give a shout out to my man the Patch, Paul. He has stepped up to the plate and is taking a crack at the whole marriage thing. Well I gotta say congrats to him and his future wife Thea. I am enjoying my marriage more and more every day and only hope that theirs will be as much fun.

Secondly gotta give the fat man some props also He got us some tickets to the TNA house show last week, as you may know from reading my last post. Anyway, the show was great. I enjoyed everything, well almost everything. To take a word from the great Double J, Jeff Jarrett to all you wrestling illiterate, I could have done without those ICP slapnuts. I know that there label is producing or sponsoring or whatever TNA, but I just don’t really like them. Never really jumped on their music career and their wrestling careers have been lack luster as well. I will say that I did enjoy the time that Shaggy got dropped off the top of a bus while in the WCW. That was enjoyable. Anyway the rest of the show was great and I really enjoyed being a part of history.

Now you may be asking what part of history was I part of. Well this was the first house show for TNA. Again for the wrestling illiterate a house show is a wrestling event that is not broadcast on TV. It is simply meant to draw fans in from different parts of the nation to enjoy the wrestling. I enjoyed the show and the wrestlers really had a good time also. Hopefully TNA continues to grow and make the WWE pick up their game a little. I am just tired of all the lame stories, but you already know this so there is no need to go into it.

Until next time folk.

Ready for some wrestling

So not much really happening with me right now. We are visiting some relatives that went through surgery this weekend. They are both doing fine. Other than that my life is staying on track. Next weekend I am heading to a wrestling event with the guys. Going to watch some TNA. Yeah I know it is not the WWE, but then again the WWE isn’t that hot right now either. I mean what happened to the good old days when wrestlers hated each other just to hate each other. I just loved the day when the story was simply I don’t like you so I am going to kick you butt. Now they need to have an in depth plot and people (wrestlers) need to have monologues that last for 15 minutes. I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing, but the stories and the ideas they come up with are usually horrible. I know they are trying to play to the young teenage crowd boys and to single men who have no lives. But come the womens wrestling has turned from being something fun and actually worth watching to crap. They are just turning it into p softcore pornography. I can rent videos specifically made for that. I want to watch womans wrestling where they actually grapple or do wrestling moves. I also want to complain, while I am on a roll, about the gimmick matches. Now some of them are great and I wouldn’t change a thing, but bra and panty matches, pillow fights. Those just detract from the art of wrestling. Well I think I have said enough for today. C-YA