Friday and Politics? I Know and I'm Sorry

Friday…sorry I missed last Friday. I am not really sure why I did to be honest. I know I worked last Friday and pretty sure I was online, but I can’t remember why it is that I did not post anything last Friday. My mind never shuts up so I know there was something on it that day; may not have been interesting to anyone anywhere, but there was something on it for certain. I guess I just plain screwed up and forgot to post on a Friday and that is rather pathetic. Well, onto this Friday…

“If they want a woman, I’ll give them a woman.”

Does anyone else think this was the sum total of thought put into McCain’s VP pick? I really think he would have tried for Hillary if he thought there was a chance.

I am viewing this election year so far like a game of the old Mad Magazine Game which was Monopoly, except the objective was to lose everything first. I look at the campaigns and cannot help but wonder if anyone really wants the White House in 2009, or has everyone come to the same conclusion as me that everything Bush as done is going to come home to roost in 2009-20012 and whoever is in the Oval Office will get the blame. Barrack may prove to be the best choice ever, but I really think his main support was due to the overwhelming fact that no one believed he could win. I really think the DNC wanted Hillary just so she could lose already and shut up. McCain is getting his chance before death and that is why he is running and Bush is supporting him as a last “Fuck You” for McCain daring to run against Dubya in 2000.

While not wanting to take a Friday to talk politics, it is what is on my mind today and therefore is what is also on my blog today. The KHWL staff is proud to endorse the Obama/Biden ticket for President of the United States. I feel that, while Obama is weak in key areas, he is smart enough to listen to a person like Biden who is strong in those very same areas. Obama, I believe, will view the VP as a co-president when he knows he doesn’t know enough to move forward. Obama does not strike me as a person who lets pride stand in his way of admitting weakness.

I was holding off on McCain to see who he was going to pick to run with. At McCain’s age, there is a very strong chance that health will claim him before his term is up and the VP becomes a very important person in that case. While Obama picked someone who balances out his weakness, McCain picked someone to patronize the Hillary supporters who have yet to decide where they will land. A one term governor from Alaska with no national presence does not offer any strength to his already weak ticket. The choice became a “no-brainer” as of this morning.

Sorry to do politics on a Friday. I realize it breaks one of the very first rules I put in place when I started here, but it has been a long time without any here and today was kind of major.

Happy weekend.

It's Fey Day

Another storm that almost was in my life’s story and once again, while happy no major hurricane came and destroyed my happy abode, I am saddened by the lack of a good storm. Yes I had the day off work yesterday and yes I did feel the thump-thump-thump of my heart a few times while watching the news and hearing predictions, but the storm-watcher side of me was left in the dark and, sadly, not literally. There was not so much as a single bolt of lightening or even the slightest of rumbles of thunder to entertain me the entire day; and let’s not even discuss the lack of events that was my night. No, we won’t speak of my quiet and uneventful night in my bed after a day spent dreaming of great storms to rock me to sleep. Instead, we will say how happy I am that there is nothing for me to clean up on this day after and how happy I am that my frozen food remained frozen and my windows remained intact. There is always a bright side I suppose.

The Obligatory “It’s Friday” Post

Hello and welcome to the ending of another week and it has been a decent week blog-wise. I updated almost everyday this week (although you did not notice yesterday…for shame) and even had some thoughts I am quite proud to have posted. In fact, the only filler post of the week is today’s post simply because I really do not have all that much to say today and am posting just so I don’t miss another edition of “It’s Friday.”

Oh, I do have one thing on my mind: Red. If you get the chance to see a movie called “Red” starring Brian Cox, see it! It is a very slow building story about an old man who lived a tragic life only to see his last friend, a dog named Red, shot for no reason and his constantly blocked quest for justice that becomes vengeance. The middle is a little bit slow, but the beginning, the ending, and a particularly heart-wrenching monologue by the very underrated actor Brian Cox makes it time very well spent.

Have a great weekend to all and to all a great weekend.

Quick Thoughts

I am entertained by dead people…wait that sounds morbid…even for me.

The people I find entertaining today are mostly dead…again, not sounding right.

Nothing entertains me like a dead guy….no that is way wrong. Ah, I’ve got it…

I have noticed a trend lately in the things I find entertaining and that is that most of the people involved are currently very much not alive. It dawned on my last night while watching Hogan’s Heroes and realizing that five of the seven main characters and two of the three supporting characters are dead today. The comedians I love (Mitch Hedberg, George Carlin, Richard Pryor) are all dead. The bands I love (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead) all have at least one dead member and more in some cases (Lynard Skynard). Every night I go to sleep with the radio on and listen to dead people tell me stories through the Classic Radio station on Sirius; people like Jack Benny, Rod Sering, and the entire cast of “Gunsmoke.” Even the authors I read are dead: Hunter Thompson, Oscar Wilde.

Weird, huh? It also severely reduces my chances of seeing any of these people live.

The Return of the Kanrei Rant

Today’s rant is about political correctness and how incorrect many of those people who think they are correct are actually not. The spark for this rant: the fact that people are protesting Tropical Thunder because they use the word “retarded” for a person mentally handicapped. I wonder just when did the definition of “retarded” change.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines “retarded” as:

re•tard
v. re•tard•ed, re•tard•ing, re•tards

v. tr.
To cause to move or proceed slowly; delay or impede.

v. intr.
To be delayed.
n.
1. A slowing down or hindering of progress; a delay.
2. Music A slackening of tempo.

Now then, a person who is mentally handicapped is, by definition, retarded. I am sorry if the word offends some people, but it is the correct term. The people referred to as retarded are usually developmentally behind; they have mentally proceeded slowly compared to others their age; their mental development has been delayed or impeded.

I have recently seen many cases where the word “retarded” has been compared to the word “nigger” and has even been referred to as the “R-word” in an attempt to make it just as bad of a word, but it isn’t. No one was ever lynched simply for being retarded. To me, an offensive “R-word” is republican, but that is for another rant on another day. Today I am attacking the left because it is the left that seems to need to justify itself by defending everyone they feel cannot defend themselves: a sort of bigotry all on its own really.

True story: I used to work at a pizza place in Tampa and one of my co-workers was a black man. This was around the time “African-American” had replaced the term “black” to describe people of color and, being the good Liberal that I was, I referred to him as an “African-American.” This pissed him off as if I had called him that N-word.

“What makes you think I am African? Because I am black? I am Haitian and my parents are Haitian and so were their parents. We have always lived on Haiti. I have no Africa in me and calling me African-American insults my Haitian heritage. Besides, I don’t call you a German-Jewish-Russian-Polish-American, do I? NO, I say you are white and you are American; one has nothing to do with the other.”

The following day I saw a bumper sticker that read “Proud to be an American: If you Hyphen You are NOT!” This suddenly reinforced my previous days conversation and I realized that by calling a person “African-American” I am splitting their loyalties and lessening their place as an American: it was racism hidden in being non-racist.

Look at it this way:
Queer means different than the norm. A homosexual is different from the norm so it is technically “queer” for someone to be gay.

Gay means happy, and doesn’t everyone want to be happy? Being called gay is not a bad thing. The Flinstones have a gay old time, but that does not Barney is fucking Fred.

Retarded mean slower. A person who is mentally handicapped is mentally retarded.


People need to stop trying to find offense where there is none. The world is an offensive enough place on its own without us trying to create new ways to be offended.

This is KHWL and the time is 24 minutes after the hour. The views reflected here do not reflect KHWL, Kanrei's family, friends, or readers.

More Potential Bad Taste

I cannot help it if news sparks some neuron of creativity in my head. I am sorry if that neuron is not very often sensitive to timing and/or feelings and I am also very sorry that said neuron continues to fire the same idea over and over again until I put it somewhere other than my head. Consider this your warning to yet another Kanrei post in potentially bad taste.

I had this idea where Death was planning a big party off in whatever Death reality he exists on. Perhaps he was getting a raise or maybe it would be a retirement party for Bob down in accounting, or possibly Phil over in records, either way, somehow Death is responsible for the entertainment (yes, you can already see where this is going to go and, once again, sorry)so he begins asking all the rock stars and celebrities currently in residence for help at the party, but each and everyone of them, still rather bitter over their encounter with Death, usually at the peaks of their careers, turns him down and, for added spite, laughs at him. This leaves Death with no other option than to come down to Earth and kill a massive amount of celebrities to force them to do the show in exchange for a second chance at life. Oh the hilarity.

Yeah, well it sounded better in my head, but if I delete it I am afraid it will just come home so you are kind of stuck with this as a post.

Bon Appetit

No Title

Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac have passed away this weekend, both way too young. Hayes was 65 and Bernie was only a mere 50. Hayes died from a so far unknown cause, but sources say he fell from his treadmill which leads me to think heart attack and Bernie died of complications from Pneumonia. While not a huge fan of either man, I do realize the cultural impact both men have had over their careers and that the loss of these men will be felt for a very long time; who doesn’t love “The Theme from Shaft” after all or the chef from South Park and we all know Bernie from the Ocean’s Eleven movies and my personal favorite role of his: the security guard in Bad Santa.

RIP to you both.

An Angry Friday

My G-d, another Friday; what a week. I should be happy that my Fridays have returned to normal, but considering that my Fridays are normally Hell, a return to a normal Friday has been rather painful to be frank. This has been the week of people testing us. You see, when people think you are weak, they tend to see how far they can push you and this week has been a lesson for those people that I have already been pushed as far as I can go and only have the option left of pushing back. Oh, and I push hard.

DO NOT THINK YOU HAVE ME IN A CORNER AND THEREFORE WILL CAVE INTO YOUR DEMANDS! DO NOT THINK FOR EVEN A SINGLE SECOND THAT I NEED YOU MORE THAN YOU NEED ME AND THEREFORE I WILL CAVE INTO YOUR DEMANDS! I HAVE SURVIVED WITHOUT YOU IN THE PAST AND HAVE NO DOUBTS THAT I WILL SURVIVE AND GROW WITHOUT YOU IN MY FUTURE! WEAKNESS DOES MAKE MOST PEOPLE WEAK, BUT THERE ARE THOSE LIKE ME THAT SEE WEAKNESS AS MERELY AN INCONVIENCE TO BE OVERCOME. DON’T MESS WITH THE BULL OR YOU WILL GET THE HORNS!

Just a note to any person involved in my last week who may or may not happen to land here. We are in a period of re-growth and we are not as strong as we once were, but we are not so weak as to need to cave in to every pointless demand of those who think they have something over on us.

Happy weekend.

A Friday at Last!

This could count as last week’s It’s Friday, or it could be this week’s; I am not sure considering I still owe one from last week. Perhaps I should instead summarize my life since that missed “It’s Friday” instead and allow you a glimpse into the reasons said post never happened.

THURSDAY, July 24th: The steering in my car sounds funny. Every time I turn my wheel I can hear grinding. I really don’t think this is a good sound. Perhaps I should take my car in on Saturday for a check up.

FRIDAY, July 25th: My car won’t turn left or right this morning. I am trying to get to work, but my car only wants to go straight. I don’t think I am making it into work today. My insurance offers free towing, so at least there is that.

SATURDAY, July 26th: After spending all day yesterday at the car repair place, I feel happy to have my car back. They had a hard time fixing it, but it is fixed and I can now drive off to my brother’s baby shower.

SUNDAY, July 27th: My steering stopped working yesterday while I was driving back from my brother’s baby shower. I was traveling about 70 on the 826 when it suddenly decided to no longer turn left or right. Thank G-d for that little bit of upper arm strength I have. I was able to, with hazards flashing, get into the right lane and make it home. So that is the difference power steering fluid makes.

MONDAY, July 28th: My car was towed again to the place where I wasted my Friday. They are so sorry that it happened and they are checking into what went wrong. I think I am missing work again today.

TUESDAY, July 29th: I got my car back last night about 5:30. They told me that the clamp they used was bad and they had to order a new one. I drove to work without any issues, but on the drive home the grinding returned. I did not waste any time and drove from my office back to the car repair place, now slightly annoyed. They said they need to keep it over night.

WEDNESDAY, July 30th: Missed work again today. Sounds like fun I know, but being stuck at home with no food and no car really sucks. My boss is slightly unthrilled at my missing so much work at such an important time in the company’s history.

THURSDAY, July 31st: Got my car back last night about 6. They blamed the entire problem on Jeep and Jeep’s changing of pumps without telling anyone. It is possible that Jeep just decided to deal with this on a case by case basis instead of issuing a full recall. Either way, I drove to work again today, for the second time this week; only my car did not like starting this morning. By lunchtime, my car was dead at my office’s parking lot; the battery was dead. They left it running every day they had my car. Towed once again back to the same place, on their dollar this time, for a new battery. I am now pissed.

FRIDAY, August 1st: I am sitting at my desk right now, lunch 30 minutes away, and I am terrified of what is going to go wrong with my car today. I have errands to run for work and a date with my parents for dinner tonight. Please let my car finally be fixed.

Happy weekend.