It must be Memorial Day!

Okay, the new column is online... and I actually finished it early, which took me by complete surprise.

Figures... 95% of the time I'm busting my butt to get a new column done before midnight on Sunday, and then suffer from sleep depravation on Monday. But when I have a Monday off because of a national holiday, I'm able to get the column done EARLY.

By the way, I have to give a big congrats to Michael Badnarik for becoming the Libertarian Candidate for President. As I type this, he just won the nomination, beating out two longtime party candidates. I would sincerely hope that he does a much better job than Harry Browne did. But the party has to back him and they have to push to get his voice heard.

Will I vote for him? He'll have a better chance at getting my vote than Bush Junior or Senator Lurch. But that's not set in stone right now. Let's see what Mr. Badnarik supports first.

The Graduation Speech is online

Well folks, most education institutions wouldn't think of putting someone like me in front of their graduating class... Big Bird, yes, but not the Brutal One. So I went ahead and recorded some words of wisdom anyway.

I know I've probably done a better job of it in the past, but I still think this graduation speech wasn't too bad either.

Anyway, listen in and let me know what you think of it! After all, that's what that "comments" link is for. It's for YOU. It certainly isn't for me.

Click THIS! (And I'll show you where to shove that ticket!)

You know I'm getting really SICK AND TIRED of seeing that damned commercial for "Click It Or Ticket". I'm SICK of it! Seriously!

YES, I know that seat belts save lives! I know that first-hand! I've gone to the accidents and I've seen people who have been killed because they didn't have their seat belts on. And I've been in a few accidents myself, and I know that I would have been dead if I didn't have my seatbelt on.

But I'm sick to my stomach at the ads that are coming out to supposedly "warn" people about this new GOVERNMENT push to ticket people for not wearing seat belts.

What's worse is the bold-faced, Grade-A Clinton-quality LIE that they tell in shoving this commercial down our throats!

"Cops write tickets because seatbelts save lives..."

NO! I'm sorry but that is a DAMNDED FILTHY LIE! Whoever in the state came up with that should have their ass kicked twice... once for shoving this commercial down our throats every 10 minutes and the other for spreading this LIE!

Cops DO NOT write tickets out of concern for the safety of other drivers. Cops write tickets because it is the only way they can generate REVENUE! It's all about MONEY for the state and local governments.

Oh sure, you'll hear cops say "I'd rather write a ticket than have to go to an accident." Well OF COURSE you would! It takes far less time to write a ticket than it does to fill out an accident report. Plus most people won't fight a ticket... they'll just pay it and be on their way.

Listen, if you're going to warn people about these seatbelt crackdowns, be honest about it! Tell them you're starving for revenue and that you're just enforcing the Big Babysitter laws that our inept Big Babysitter politicians continually enact.

Oh, and STOP running that damned commercial every 10 minutes! 30 minutes is fine. An hour is even better. But not every 10 minutes!

The new column is online!

Well the new column is up, and the transcript from last week's show has been sent... and I've added the blog address to my signature lines, so hopefully I'll get some more folks checking out my website.

And I'm more or less keeping to my midnight deadline! That's important! Of course replacing the Random Thoughts section with a blog helps tremendously. That's one less document I have to create every week. I can just send stuff out on the fly. Thanks Blogspot!

CBS News: Libertarian Party is a threat to the GOP!

CBS News is reporting on their website that the Libertarian Party is poised to be just as much of a spoiler for the Bush Junior campaign as Ralph Nader is going to be for the Kerry campaign.

I suppose I should be glad that CBS has even BOTHERED to mention the Libertarian Party, although I would dare say that they're doing this only because it makes Bush Junior look bad.

Rememeber, boys and girls, CBS is owned by VIACOM, and as I've pointed out, they have an ongoing pissing contest with the GOP and the Bush Junior White House.

Few things that are, of course, inaccurate about the CBS report.

First: libertarians are NOT "right-leaning". They are not conservative in the same vein as Bucannan or Novak. They are UP-leaning. Up towards freedom. Go check out the folks at the Advocates for Self-Government to see what I mean about that.

Second: Contrary to what Robert Novak says, if Bush Junior happens to lose in November, then the GOP will NOT turn to "the left". They didn't do that when Bush Senior lost in 1992, and they certainly didn't do that when Bob Dole lost in 1996. They will stay conservative to the bitter end because their key supporters are all such and they will NOT give up one iota of stroke in that party, even if it costs them elections.

Third: Also contrary to Mr. Novak, Rudy Gulliani, the patron saint of 9/11, is NOT a left-leaning Republican. He is a political thug, no better than that thug mayor in Chicago was for the Democrats in the 60's. His sins may have been forgiven in the eyes of New Yorkers after 9/11, but not in the eyes of anyone who gives a crap about freedom.

New Brutally Honest Special is online

Well the new rant is online. Feel free to listen in and give me your feedback on it.

This rant is on "The Institution"... and if you've been keeping up with currente vents (and specifically my earlier blog rant) then you'll know which "insitution" I'm talking about here.

Anyway, tune in, listen up, and then sound off. I know I got some good feedback with some previous rants, but I think I may piss a few people off with this one. Or at least I hope so! If you think I'm wrong, then let me know in the guestbook. I've given you folks the power to vent... use it!

Radical idea? Or one whose time has come?

You know given the attitude of many Catholic leaders in regards to sticking their pompous noses back into politics, I have a rather creative idea...

In the words of George Carlin: Let them pay their f###in admission price like the rest of us!

That's right, get rid of their tax-exempt status!

The Catholic Church alone could balance the federal budget just on the estate taxes! And the various state and local governments would profit heavily from the property taxes.

Plus it would serve as a wake-up call for the rest of the religious faiths. You want to stick your snooty noses in governemnt? You think that church and state are inseperable? Well the free ride is over, reverend! You pay your way like the rest of us!

It's high time we end this tax-exempt form of religious welfare!

quick plug...

Okay, so as I understand it... if your blog mentions the REASON website, they'll notice it in their hit-and-run blog?

Okay...

Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason, Reason....

hehehe...

(Can you tell I'm a little anxious for some feedback?)

Are we gas sadists or what?

Okay, so let's see if I got this straight...

1. Gas prices are expected to break the $2/gallon average over the summer. Some places may even go to $3/gallon.

2. People are saying that we're getting fleeced at the pump. They're upset at paying higher and higher gas prices, and those added costs are now starting to affect our recovering economy.

YET...

3. People refuse to stop driving, and are planning on driving more this summer than in years gone by.

AND...

4. Air travel could reach pre-9/11 levels this summer, putting an even greater strain on our petrol resources.

What the hell is wrong with this picture???

Come on people! If you think that you're getting fleeced at the pumps, then not changing your plans will only show that you're not really upset, and that gas prices are not high enough. You should be upset! You should be fuming! And if you think that you're paying too much now, what's going to happen when the prices keep on going up between now and Labor Day?

And what makes people think that tapping into the Strategic Oil Reserve would fix things now? The problem right now is the lack of refineries, not the lack of oil. And most of the oil that would be coming here to keep the prices low is going to China. There's your demand.

Oh, and no, a single-day gas protest would do NOTHING to properly show your anger. Go to Scopes.com and check out the truth to that little cruel joke.

You want to know what will REALLY hurt the oil companies? Cancel your vacation plans. Don't fly. Trade in your gas-chugger for a hybrid vehicle. THAT will hurt Big Oil far more than anything people expect Congress to do right now.

Good night Felix

Tony Randall died the other day, much to my shock.

Randall was best known as Felix Unger, the hypersensitive clean freak and best friend to slob Oscar Madison in Neil Simon's classic play "The Odd Couple". Randall along with co-star Jack Kluggman took the Broadway hit to a successful TV series in the early 1970's.

I was shocked to hear the news of his passing because one of my best acting roles was Oscar, in a scene from that play done in high school. The person playing Felix was my best friend, and you could say it was the ideal casting because the two of us really resembled our characters. He really was the neat-freak, and I was somewhat the slob.

So rest well in the great beyond Felix. You know Oscar will be a little late, as usual.

So Massachusetts did it...

I'm actually surprised by the fact that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts now conducts and legally recognizes same-sex marriages. Not that it would happen, of course, because I've said that it was inevitable. But rather that it took effect as of midnight last night and the federal and state courts let it happen.

And has the world stopped revolving? Have the basic laws of the universe stopped working? Has there been one marriage that has instantly been dissolved because of the news that same-sex couples can get legally married in Massachusetts? No, no, and no on all counts.

Moralists, get thee to a proctologist. You've got a broomstick to remove!

By the way, for all of you bitching and crying about "activist judges", here's a little blast from the past from Doonesbury. I don't plug ultraliberal Garry Trudeau or his left-leaning plots, but on this rare occasion he actually got it right.

And remember, folks, Bush Junior can bitch and cry all he wants to about "activist judges", but he wouldn't have a JOB without a few of those "activists". He'd be sitting in the Bush compound complaining about how we're getting screwed over by the British Empire. And since the only thing that saved his own hide in 2000 were a bunch of judges, he really shouldn't be too critical about the judicial system and how it works.

"Brown" anniversary... what the hell is this all about?

Okay, big Supreme Court decision 50 years ago today. Brown vs. Board of Education. Supreme Court ruled that "separate but equal" was still wrong and unconstiutional. I understand that.

So why the hell are the liberals making a big flaming, heaping STINK about this being 50 years later?

Look, race relations take time. Hatred is learned. Bigotry is learned. Discrimination is learned. These things cannot be resolved overnight, and you're not going to get 100% approval no matter what you do. Deal with it.

The Brown decision didn't magically change the world. It made a statement and set legal precident. That's all that it did. What we do with that decision from that point on is up to us.

New Brutally Honest column online!

Well this week's column is up over at the website. Click here to see it. Then come back here and tell me what you think about it!

By the way, I've also gotten some good feedback from both the new blog page and the last two weeks of audio rants I've been doing. Thanks guys! I really appreciate the feedback!

New Brutally Honest rant uploaded

The new Brutally Honest rant has been uploaded. For those of you with AOL or RealPlayer, you can hear the rant by clicking on this link.

This week's rant wasn't really about the death of Nick Berg as it was a commentary about the subbreed of scum that killed him.

Your comments, as always, are appreciated. After all, that's why I set this blog up.

Berg's murder a hoax? HUH?

Got an e-mail from one of my friends asking for my thoughts on a really weird idea that seems to be making its way around the digital realm...

What if Nick Berg's death was faked?

The e-mail had a couple of links that I didn't bother to visit, partly because I just found the idea too preposterous to consider.

Nicholas Berg's body is being buried as I type this. I wouldn't even want to consider the idea that this was staged.

The Internet is full of conspiracy theories. Some of them are true, some are pure speculation (see my column on "Bush Vs. Viacom"), and others are just rumors given a life all their own.

Remember the destruction of TWA flight 800 over the Atlantic? The Internet fueled the rumors that it was shot down by US forces, and it sounded so credible that even Pierre Salinger, the former press secretary to JFK, thought it was real.

Or the rumors that Princess Diana was really assassinated instead of simply being the victim of a drunk driver running away from the rabid papparazi. Given the fact that the media was following Di all the way to her violent death, I seriously doubt that rumor.

Or more recently, the rumors of Senator John Kerry's "intern problem". Turned out it was just a wild rumor.

Look, I can probably go on and on about conspiracy theories... and I even cranked out a few of my own, so I'm just as guilty as the next guy in lending some weight to them, but there are some things that are just too d@mned sick and disturbing to believe it is anything less than the real deal. This, unfortunately, is one of them.

The only way this rumor could be true is if someone produces the late Mr. Berg live and on TV... with his head and body still attached.

Survivor's other big winner

Ok, Brutally Honest fans know I'm a fan of Survivor. A good friend of mine was asked to be in one of them but had to turn it down because of a prior commitment. This same friend was the one that got me hooked on the show.

So last night, CBS finally wrapped up their All-Star Survivor challenge by having a second live reunion show. Amber Brkich ended up winning the $1mil challenge, and getting a nice engagement ring from 2nd place Boston Rob. Ok ladies, get mushy... Ok, enough! I didn't want either of them in the final 2, and the other players should have figured out they never would have had a chance as long as the two of them were in the running. But they blew it, and because Rob pissed off too many people, Amber won.

Well CBS decided to throw in an extra $1mil to the All-Star contestant that viewers wanted. Yes, it was "Survivor Idol". 38 million people voted either through text messages or online, and they picked the guy I was pulling for all along... Rupert!

Why Rupert? He's a likable character! Yes, he's devious at time, but he also played the game honestly. He really represented the underdog.

So congrats Rupert! You may have lost twice in Pearl Islands, but at least you have the victory that matters.

The terrorists say WHAT?

As some of my ATL brethren would say, "Ain't that a kick in the teeth?"

According to the latest news report, the terrorist groups Hezbolah and Hamas have jointly condemned the brutal murder of Nick Berg as saying it was in violation of the tenents of Islam.

And the condemnations continue to come in from the Arab world!

Wow! Did someone put the fear of Allah in their heads or what?

It's quite hypocritical, though, of Hamas and Hezbolah to condemn the brutal murder of one American while at the same time orchestrating and encouraging terrorist attacks in Israel that kill dozens of innocent civilians. One death or twelve, it's still wrong.

ITYS: Wholesale prices climbing

File this under ITYS (or I Told You So!):

The big news today is that wholesale prices are rising and retail sales are dropping. The reason given? The rising price of gasoline, of course!

Shocked? Why? Guess who has been warning you that this was coming? I was! I kept on saying that Bush Junior needed to do what he could to address this issue if he wanted to keep the recovery going. (Then again, I was also the only one warning people of the recession as far back as 1998 and nobody listened to me until after it was well underway in 2001. Such is the curse of being right.)

The price of gasoline cuts into the overhead of all businesses that have to transport anything by vehicle. Truck, train, boat, plane... it doesn't matter. The more they have to pay for gas, the more they have to charge customers to make up the difference. the higher the wholesale prices go, the less money people have to spend on things. Bye-bye recovery.

Right now I don't know if anything can be done to salvage this either, especially in time for the November elections. Remember, gas prices can rise on a dime. King Faoud over in Saudi Arabia can sneeze and two seconds later pump prices go up a penny per gallon. But it supposedly takes six weeks to six months for those same prices to fall.

An extreme solution? Fire the EPA and suspend the chaotic rules for gas production. Come up with one concrete refinery process for all 50 states - the Periodic Table and the chemical composure of smog do not change per state. Gas blends shouldn't either.

Also, suspend the federal gas tax for six months or until the national average gas price remains below $1.50 per gallon, whichever comes later.

Extreme, but it should help.

Also extremely unlikely anyone with some DC stroke will try it. The White House doesn't want to deal with this issue, and it probably will kick them in the posterior come November.

Brace yourselves, folks... this is still just the tip of the iceberg.

MS to block adware/spyware - about time!

Came across this report from Wired News. It appears that Microsoft will be adding in some safeguards in the XP Service Pack 2, scheduled to be released this summer.

Well I for one am glad to hear that! It's bad enough that people have to pay through the nose for regular anti-virus programs and get firewalls put up in their computers as well as their networks. Now they have to worry about stupid adware and spyware programs being installed and destroying their computers. And yes, I've SEEN how this stuff really messes up people's computers. These aren't "enhancers", they're destroyers!

And what bugs me is that this stuff is showing up on some mainstream websites! I get annoyed at having to constantly add sites to my restricted security list just because one of their advertisers decide to shove some spyware crap on people.

Oh, and the other thing that MS is thinking about adding? A pop-up blocker. But don't worry, if you don't trust MS Bill, you can always get your own free blocker at Google or Yahoo or just about every service provider you can find. Still, mighty nice of Billy-boy to finally join the party.

Boortz going overboard?

Been a longtime listener of Neal Boortz, and while I don't always agree with what he says, I've found his perspectives to be somewhat refreshing. In many ways, he served as the inspiration for some of my own online rants.

But then there are those times when he really goes overboard, and I know from experience that it's really very easy for that to happen. You get caught up in a rant and you just go into automatic. Believe me, I've been there. The only difference is I don't have people working for me to tap on the window and remind me that I'm going off the deep end.

I think this morning's show sort of demonstrated what I mean about him going overboard. Boortz really went into overkill about "culture" and how the "Judeo-Christian" culture (whatever that is) is far superior than the "Islamic" culture.

Sorry Neal, but the so-called "Judeo-Christian culture" that you are trumpeting is far from superior. They too have their extremists. The only difference is that they have a government that is willing to placate to their demands. In fact, those same cultural "champions" are the ones pushing for more censorship from the FCC. (You know, the Federal Censorship Commission, although I call them the Federalist Christian Censors.) These people are just as wrong and just as evil as their Islamic counterparts, only they haven't resorted to brutality and violence yet. Operative word being "yet". But if you don't believe me, I can bring up a few names to remind you.

Word of advice from the Brutal One to a brutal one: stick with the extremist angle. That puts things in a better perspective.

Geting started - and a quickie thought already

Hey folks! Just kicked off a new service with Blogger. Hopefully this will generate some more feedback for the Brutally Honest website.

For those of you who are new, visit the Brutally Honest website at this address:

http://davidm2.home.mindspring.com


Don't worry, I'm just getting warmed up here!
--
Let's start off with a few quick thoughts...

The brutal and cold-blooded murder of Nick Berg by terrorists really put a hold to the stuff I was going to work on for tonight's pre-recorded broadcast. I had initially started work on a real "winner" of a politician who decdied to show his true colors in a voicemail (and I even had the audio message). Then that was put aside so I could talk about the investigations on the Iraqi prison abuses. And now even that was pushed aside.

I want you to think about this name: Leon Klingoffer. Who was he? He was the Nick Berg of 20 years ago. More on that in my show.

--

Price of gas is still going up. Now some group is claiming that the reason behind it has to do with the lack of competition. Well at least that beats the usual pop theory (Iraq war).

That's one OF the reasons, folks, but not THE reason. Gas-chugging trucks and SUV's are part of that reason. So are the lack of refineries. So are the myriad of gas "blends" that have to be made for various states thanks to the EPA. So are the state and local governments tapping into the pump prices for extra tax income.

You want to show that you're sick of these prices? It's really very simple. Stop Driving! That'll send a pretty loud message.