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Saturday, July 31, 2010

Written By The People, For The People


Every so often, believe it or not, I run out of things to say and/or talk about.  This is not entirely uncommon, especially given the extent of my abuse of spray paint, WD-40, and other inhalants.

So I employed your help via the social networking juggernaut know as Facebook.  On that note, What ever happened to Myspace?  Is that still a thing?

Regardless, I asked all of you what I should write about, and you provided me with some fantastic ideas ranging from regular, run-of-the-mill ideas to some of the more mundane.  As I sat here wondering whose submission to use as the topic of this very post, I realized, why can't I use all of them?  So here is your blog post, America (or at least the thirteen-or-so of you who responded):

It's been quite the eventful year.  Things started with a bang as the "Who Dat" bandwagon swept across the country, ending up in Miami with the New Orleans Saints' first NFL championship.

There are few moral victories as grand as this one.  This victory was the culmination of years of recovery efforts since Hurricane Katrina obliterated the city.  The Saints were okay the first season after the storm, but they kept getting better and better every year.  As New Orleans was repaired, so, too, was the Saints' roster and record.  It's this Steve Perry-esque inability to stop believin' (Doss) that brought New Orleans a championship and hope for the future.

Ironically, this is usually the time in the MLB season when I, a Cubs fan, do stop believin', and this season is no different (Kate).  What is different this year is the exodus of "Sweet" Lou Piniella (below).


This man turned arguing with umpires into some sort of grandiose display of belly-shoving and spitting while shouting.  He launched bases, kicked dirt, and spat in faces.  He involved almost anything he could in his arguments, be it dirt, baseball caps, or bases.  This propensity for props makes Lou Piniella the veritable Carrot Top of MLB managers.

Ironically, as we discuss this, Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox, who holds the all-time record for career ejections, has also announced that he will retire at season's end.

The two of these men have certainly left their mark on baseball with their Hall of Fame careers.  Hearing Bobby Cox say he won't be a Brave next season is like hearing Hitler say, "Actually, I like Jews now." (Stuart)  As long as I've heard the words "Braves baseball," I've thought of Bobby Cox.

He's as much a part of Atlanta as debauchery in general (Pattillo).  Atlanta is a city that's cost me three cell phones, two hotel room deposits, a wallet and a half (don't ask), a car tire, Kevin Eubanks tickets (Mandel), and a large portion of my sanity.  I wanted to be a doctor before my first trip to Atlanta.  Now look at me.  I'm trying to be the Hunter S. Thompson of dick jokes.

A time that was supposed to be spent preparing myself for medical school, college was instead a video-game filled drunkfest caked in weed resin (Tuna).  But son of a bitch, it was fun.

Let's take a look at me (above).  It's quite easy to list the ways I've gone wrong:

1. Given the number of chins showing, I've obviously had my daily serving of Jamocha Shake (Mandel).

2. Horizontal stripes are not flattering.

3.  White men are not meant to have afros (Drew).  I've had years of extensive research, and not only do chicks not dig it, but you might also have groups of closed-minded southerners chase you with various blunt objects.

4. Walking around with an unlit cigarette is not cool. It doesn't work like actually smoking to be cool.  People can tell when you aren't smoking.  It just makes you look like a precocious cocksucker.

So here I sit, pretentiously agonizing others' faults with words maybe 20 people see on this blog, maybe 21.  But when it comes down to it, I wouldn't be able to lambaste Twilight as a med school student when I'm too busy learning what actually creates human feces (there's a chapter on that, right?).  I get to sit here and buck America's largest trend: choosing between Team Edward and Team Jacob.



May I begin by saying that I'd rather be struck by lightning than see any of the Twilight movies.  Sorry, it's actually a sore spot because a local girl was actually recently struck by lightning and killed, but Ben asked for lightning.  But back to Twilight hating.  I'm sorry how much you love it everybody.  I refuse to like it (Katie).  Those movies are terrible.  How is her decision that difficult?  As the movies have progressed, The vampire (Edward? Jacob? Arsenio?) looks like he's been going in for increasing dosages of chemotherapy.  The werewolf hasn't withered throughout the movies and is surprisingly well-groomed for a werewolf.


In the end, though, it's a question that will never be answered.  It is a rhetorical question with no true answer.  Just like, "Which is better, cake or pie?" (Greg)  What kind of a fucked up question is that?  It's an answer I don't want to know, because it means one of them is inferior to something.  They're both phenomenal!!  (This is where Twilight differs, as both suck equally instead of being equally awesome)


There are so many layers to this cake question.  What kind of cake or pie?  Does a cupcake count?  Doughnut?  Is a cobbler a cake or a pie?  What is a cheesecake?

When it comes down to it, I don't want to choose.  Key Lime pie is my favorite...until I have a really good red velvet cake...until I eat pecan pie...etc.  Choosing between cake and pie is like picking between boxers and briefs.  People may have their preferences, but as long as your nuts don't get caught in your zipper, it's all the same.

(Derek)...that is all.

I do know one decision that is much simpler: to eat meat or go vegetarian (Duff).  It's in our nature to eat meat.  Rich, bloody meat.  Some people feel that's cruel...it's unnecessary.  That's garbage.  You ever eat a porterhouse?  There isn't a damn thing in the world wrong with that.  You don't like killing animals for food?  I didn't see you picketing out in front of The Lion King.  How do you think Simba and the gang get their sustenance?  I can tell you for damn sure it isn't from any tofurkey.

And you think slaughterhouses are so terrible?  Well feast your eyes on this!!!

This is a machine used for manufacturing tofu.  This machine is responsible for making tens of millions of baby soy beans into tens of millions of bastard soy beans every year, because mommy and daddy are in your bean sprout salad.

BTW - Tofu is just plain disgusting.  I'd rather eat staples, toner from a copier, or just about any other office supplies you can find at work (Cathleen).

As for me, I'll gladly eat veal, knowing good and well it is the meat of a baby cow.  I will not, however, eat the meat of a mini-horse (Mandel).  That just doesn't look appetizing.  Those mini horses just always look dirty, no matter how often you bathe them.  They're like the carneys of the Animal Kingdom.

But you know what?  That's the kind of man I am.  I enjoy my steaks still bleeding and my chicken still kickin' (salmonella be damned).  Cake vs. pie?  I'll take both please!!  This is America, after all.  I hate Twilight and am not afraid to shout it at a rabid group of teenage sociopaths.  I'm the kind of guy who looks at his own grandmother sitting down to rest/nap and sees it as a golden opportunity to take a funny picture victimizing the family matriarch (Liz):

 The poor woman was trying to nap.  What a son of a bitch I am.

You know what, when I sit back and think about all the things that piss me off (Hunter), I come to realize that I'm right there at the top of the list.  I piss me off.   I'm a spray paint-huffing, grandmother patronizing, cake and pie eating fan of the losingest team EVER that gave up the med school dreams after six months...in undergrad.

Thanks for the help guys.  You've led me through this exercise to realize that I'm a real son of a bitch.  It was a simple question: What should I blog about?  It wasn't supposed to be some exercise in hating myself.  Thanks a lot, gang.



Until next time, peace out, bitches.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Four Score And Seven Days Ago...

 
That's right little guy, it's finally over.

In a press release, British Petroleum announced that at 2:25 CDT this afternoon, the Gulf Coast oil spill had been successfully capped following the sealing of the final three valves.  If we believe what these oil tycoons tell us (which they've given us absolutely no reason to do), the relief well is in place, and no oil is leaking into the Gulf of Mexico.

Image Courtesy of NASA


I'm so glad they finally got around to getting this thing fixed.  After all, with 2.5 million of gallons of oil leaking into the Gulf every day, one would figure they would try to get this done as quickly as possible.  Let's do the math: 87 days at 2.5 million gallons per day...so 217.5 MILLION gallons of oil are either floating in the Gulf, resting on the coast, or sitting in a HAZ-MAT bag.

I mean look at the picture above.  Now, note that the white spots are clouds.  But all of that gray is oil. THERE IS OIL EVERYWHERE.  Take a look at exactly how big this spill is here. If the oil spill somehow originated here (Huntsville, AL for you out-of-town readers; and this is hypothetical, so stay with me...) it would currently cover Little Rock, Memphis, and Nashville.  And with the predictions scientists are making in regards to what the Gulf Stream will do to the oil's path, Atlanta, Knoxville, and the entire state of South Carolina are next.

Now many would say "Tim, the leak is finally capped.  Why must you continue to complain?  They even finished a month ahead of schedule!"  Just because this problem is fixed does NOT mean it didn't happen.

The Gulf Coast economy is crippled to the point it may not recover.  Tell the residents of Gulf Shores, AL how much better it is now that the leak is capped.


Jimmy Buffett can't host a free concert every weekend.  That being the case, there is nothing that makes people want to visit the oil-stained beaches of the Gulf Coast.  "Hey kids, you want to go watch baby sea turtles die?"  "Shit no, dad.  That's pretty messed up.  Are you trying to raise serial killers?  I'd rather watch you and mom have sex."

What exactly can people advertise about the Gulf?  "Come to Destin, Florida.  We're not as greasy as that damn Gulf Shores!" or maybe, "Come to Orange Beach!  Our wildlife washes up dead so you don't have to watch them struggle on the shore for breath and life...and lose."

While most of the country views the area as simply a vacation destination, there are thousands of people in the affected region whose very livelihoods are rocked as a result of this spill.  Guess what restaurant owners along the Gulf are doing...crying themselves to sleep because the business they've worked their whole lives to create and maintain has been taken out in one fell swoop by money-pinching Limeys that would rather spend their money on their yacht than the oil spill (I hope you DIE, Tony Hayward (on his yacht below)).


As I've had time to think about the whole situation, I actually remain angry at Tony Hayward for only one thing.  On his yachting trip and turning over of control over the oil spill, Hayward simply said, "I want my life back."  There are jobless Gulf Coast fishermen, restaurant owners, and real estate agents who want their lives back as well.  Except their lives consisted of working and making money, not sailing the open seas in a yacht so insignificant to you that you named it "Bob".  As U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) so very aptly put it, Hayward's actions are "the height of arrogance."

But other than that, thank you for leaving, Tony Hayward.  Seriously, thank you.  You spent almost two months leading all people actually concerned for the Gulf in one huge circle jerk.  You peed in an entire region's mouth and told everyone it was chocolate.  But you step down from your "responsibilities" as the head of clean up efforts.  A little more than a month later, the well is sealed.  An incessantly masturbating baboon would do ten times better than Tony Hayward.

But apparently nobody that's employed by British Petroleum can do anything spill-related without putting their feet in their mouths and the shooting themselves in the foot.  Take British Petroleum rep Randy Prescott, who averted the fears of seafood lovers, saying, "Louisiana isn't the only place that has shrimp."


Well, apparently it's also true that Tony Hayward isn't the only one with elitist bullshit coming out of his mouth.  You forget to realize Louisiana is one of the only places that is hemorrhaging jobs, specifically shrimp fishermen.  You also forget that our current economy isn't what professional economists refer to in the financial as "good" (sorry to get all jargon-y with you).  These people are losing their jobs, and nobody's hiring.  But there is still shrimp.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: at what point does the U.S. Government get to put BP on trial for criminal negligence.  As Hayward sat around with your thumb up your ass watching yachting on Tivo (who the hell watches competitive sailing?), the ecosystem of the Gulf Coast slowly began to wither away.

You are evil, evil men who are concerned only with public image (which is surprising, since you've dragged yours through a pile of shit) and not with actual results.  I hope Hayward's yacht wrecks and kills ten people.  Then he can go to prison and get gang-raped.  I don't know if they get Oz over in Britain, but I wish that treatment on them more than anything in the world.  If there's one thing these men deserve, it's at least ten years of ankle-grabbing.


But I digress, the leak is capped.  No more is entering the Gulf, and we do need to be grateful.  But with all this excitement over the oil spill being capped, keep in mind, it is still in the testing phase.  It's hard to say, because this isn't a Hayward-led effort (in which case they would most certainly be blowing smoke up our asses), but I think they're shooting us straight.

Hopefully it's time to quit worrying about the spill itself and focus our efforts on attempting to rescue coastal ecosystems, no matter how futile our efforts may be.  If you have the opportunity, please do what you can to aid in the Gulf Coast cleanup.

Here are my other BP Oil Spill-related postings:

Not At All A Slick Move...
Apparently BP Doesn't Read My Blog...

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

What I Learned From The 2010 World Cup



As Spain's 1-0 extra time victory over Holland brought the 2010 World Cup to a close, we should take a few moments to look back over the past month to see exactly what the latest installment of the most famous tournament in the world taught us.

GOD IS URUGUAYAN

Uruguay's quarterfinal match with Ghana ended with a little bit of controversy, to say the least.  Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez reached out to make a save on a shot from Ghana's Dominic Adiyah in the closing moments of extra time.


This controversial intentional handball has united all non-Uruguayans in one frame of mind: Screw you Uruguay.  You reached the semifinals because you cheated.

There are always whispers of countries paying off referees in the wake of this tournament because countries can't come to terms with the fact they're not the best in the world.  But there isn't any of that this year.  All we know is Uruguay cheated, and it directly led to their advancing past Ghana in the quarterfinals.  Uruguayan players and coaches are lambasting media outlets worldwide for depicting the team as cheaters.

They want to know what evidence people had to be able to make such egregious claims about the team.  Other than the photo above and the video below (I didn't pick the music):



Other than those two very telling pieces of evidence, what proof does anybody have that this team cheated?

I'll tell you what other proof we have.  Suarez himself is lauding his efforts, saying, "Now I have the Hand of God."  The Hand of God is on Uruguay's team?!?!  It is completely unfair for a team to have a divine entity illegally defending along the goal line.  If you're going up against a team of 11 men and you've got 10 men and the all-creator, you are sure as hell cheating.

VUVUZELAS BLOW.


Who knew these annoying plastic horns even had a name?  But honestly, you've got to give all the worldwide fans that showed up for this tournament with an unflappable will and seemingly endless lung capacity.  Without these fans and their very cheaply-made plastic instruments, how can I tell when the game's on?  That emphatic honk lets you know exactly who on your block is watching soccer.  Not that they're blowing one themselves.  It's just such an overwhelming noise even when the volume's turned all the way down.  And it's spreading to other parts of the world.

**CLICK HERE FOR A VUVUZELA RINGTONE**

The Florida Marlins are attempting to cash in on this annoyingly infectious craze.  They're appealing to the Hispanic population of Miami by incorporating vuvuzelas into their games.  After all, Americans aren't going to care about anything soccer-related until roughly four years from now when they do it all again in Brazil (However, with the World Cup plus shots of Brazilian beaches, it may be the highest-rated anything, ever).

Unfortunately only about 2,000 people go to each Marlins game, so there isn't much noise being made.  But I like their attempt to Americanize the art of cheering through something that was made famous in other countries first.  Let's face it: we're the laziest country in the world.  How do we make the bleacher bums lazier?  Simple.  They don't even have to exercise their minds in thinking of cut-downs or "Yo' mama" jokes to hurl at opposing players.  Just blow into the vuvuzela.  No thought necessary.






IF I FALL TO THE GROUND CLUTCHING SOME PART OF MY LEG, I WILL GET WHAT I WANT.




I guess I'll write something even though this video pretty much proves my point.  One drawback to the nearly wall-to-wall coverage of international soccer is the dramatically increased showing/viewing of dives.  It's completely disenchanting to see someone get close to someone, which apparently causes him to crumble to the ground clutching some combination of his knee/ankle/thigh/face, only to see him get up a minute later with no noticeable limp and chase the referee down the field probably yelling something like:

Hey!!  Didn't you see that?  He totally tried to kick my foot clean off my body.  What do you mean there was no contact?  Did you not see me writhing in pain on the ground for a ridiculously long amount of time?  Well that's because it hurt so much!!  Well, no, I'm fine now.



If I apply this logic to real-life situations, it could be advantageous every now and then.  For instance, if I'm walking down a downtown street in some city and some jerk bows up to me and has roughly a 50-75 pound advantage over me, I fall on the ground and throw my wallet to him in one fluid motion.  Then as I writhe in agony on the ground and he stands above me holding my wallet, the police become interested.  Thus my point is proven: if you try to punk me, you will go to jail for a few years and probably get raped.  On a related note, I don't think it's an effective move in prison.  You're quite vulnerable when dropped to the floor and clutching your ankles.


AN OCTOPUS KNOWS MORE ABOUT SPORTS THAN I DO

In case you haven't heard, Paul the Octopus has become an international sensation over the course of the World Cup tournament.  This psychic cephalopod correctly picked the winner in each of the eight games he predicted.


Beginning with Germany's group play games, Paul correctly predicted the winner of each of Germany's matches, as well as Spain's victory over Holland in the World Cup Final.  Paul proved to be unbiased through it all, correctly picking against his home team in the matches against Serbia and Spain.

Now while he may not be able to speak, Paul's blind selection of which cube from which to grab his food has come to show that he knows exactly what he's doing.  I'm beginning to think we could use this underwater seer to help solve some of our country's greatest problems.

Let's take a look at the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  Set him in a tank where his choices are using the A-WHALE to skim oil from the Gulf now or to "work out the kinks while we get it to maximum operation" and other bureaucratic bullshit.  That way if he picks the latter, we can kill and eat Paul.  Unfortunately, a mixture of BP and our government have chosen the latter, and that leaves us with nobody to kill and eat to take out our frustration.

Honestly, they aren't using the A-WHALE until it's at full capacity.  Which makes complete sense because it's not at all like they can skim the oil at half capacity, figure out what can be improved while it works, and get it to full capacity.  Thus, while the kinks are being worked out, oil is still being skimmed. Not as much as possible, but it's a lot better than doing absolutely nothing.

But this may all be a moot point, seeing as how if Paul the Octopus were born in the wild, the oil spill would likely have killed him by now.



SOCCER IS OLD SCHOOL


Who needs instant replay?


Surely not the British, whose second goal in their round-of-sixteen match (above) was disallowed because the ball didn't cross the goal line.  However, almost every available camera angle clearly shows the ball crossing the goal line and then bouncing back into play.  It wasn't one of those situations where we debate if the ball made it all the way across the line or if it was still touching the goal line.  The ball cleared the line by several inches, but was not considered a goal.

People argue that the goal would have been inconsequential as the final score was 4-1 in favor of ze Germans.  While usually a pretty straightforward and correct point of view, that is not the case here.  If the goal had been allowed, the match would have been tied at two-all.  The two German goals came at the hand of their remarkably strong counter-attack unit.  But keep in mind, if the score's tied at two, England isn't desperately sending eight men into the offensive half, leaving them more susceptible to a counter-attack than Lindsay Lohan in court (Sorry, but despite O.J.'s murder trial, "I'm a famous person" is not an acceptable defense.  Now you're gonna be somebody's bitch.).

But when it comes down to it, Britain's complete lack of interest in our Gulf Coast and what they've done to it makes it so fitting that they were screwed out of the World Cup.

But look at all the offside missed calls.  The U.S. team had two goals disallowed because they had a man in an offside position.  The only problem: no camera angle showed anybody anywhere near being off sides.  It wasn't even close.  Actually, in the match against Slovenia, the referee didn't say what he was calling.  He never said (even after the match) what foul he called on the U.S.  All I know is that a whistle was blown and the referee decided we weren't allowed to score anymore.

Apparently FIFA took note of these instances and told the referees to be a bit more lax about calling offsides.




He's not just offside.  Tevez is damn near standing on the keeper with nobody else within several yards of him.  There is arguably no more definitive a case of offsides than this one.

But FIFA stands by their men.  They don't need the technology that can tell us precisely what happened so they can be sure they're making the right call.  It's coming down to a case of, "He looked offside," or "I didn't see it cross the goal line." 

And another thing: the referees chosen for the World Cup, like the nations, are the best in the world at what they do.  If that's the case then I don't want to see who didn't make it.  Apparently people worldwide train to be referees when being an assistant crack whore doesn't work out (guys can be crack whores too).

At least the guy who officiated the France/Ireland qualifier.


The game-winning goal came from French striker Thierry Henry after he expertly trapped a pass...with his hand.  As you can see, it's not like his hand was down at his side and took a weird bounce and hit it.  The ball was illegally knocked from in front of his body to the ground (unintentional or not doesn't matter).  The resulting goal granted France a spot in the World Cup, where they lost twice and finished last in their group.  It's hard to say anybody can do worse than that, and the Irish (who should have been there instead) are certainly no exception.

The technology is there.  Even though it isn't the case in this country, other countries' economies live and die completely depending on this game.  You have to make sure you get it right when you're on this grand of a stage, and you're getting everything so very wrong.


So that pretty much covers it.  Thank you World Cup for helping me forget that the Gulf Coast is becoming a big ol' pool of oil.  Now America will forget about you until four years from now in Brazil (World Cup plus those Brazilian beach bodies? Yes please).  Just when you come back, please leave those fucking vuvuzelas behind. 

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Hot Dog, That's American!!

This weekend I awoke to something I'm not very familiar with hearing...crowds of cheering people.  This isn't one of those Rodney Dangerfield moments where "I get no respect."  I just don't generally keep a crowd of cheering people in my room.  At least not since that house fire a few years back.  I lost a lot of good men that Presidents' Day.

So the cheering that woke me was obviously not for me.  Instead it was the crowd preparing for the Nathan's Famous Annual Hot Dog Eating Championship in Coney Island, New York. These roaring masses were shouting in preparation for one of the most American pastimes ever created.  It's right up there with apple pie, baseball, and...hey now...

Think about it.  We are easily the fattest country in the world.  What is a bigger celebration of that fact than a stage full of people violently shoving as many hot dogs with buns as possible into their mouths?  After all, we are the country that brought you the Double Down.


However, when it comes down to it, this contest is one of the more disgusting events you'll ever see.  No hot dog bun goes down the hatch without being saturated in some sort of liquid.  I thought it was just water, but an aerial view of the stage gave me a behind-the-scenes look at the variety of beverages provided to the contestants.

Granted, some of the competitors did try to stay healthy by using plain ol' water to lubricate their food enough to be forced down their throat without being chewed.  But apparently some of them bucked that trend and embraced the fact that each of them are cramming at least 20 hot dogs (the weakest of the competitors) down their throats in ten minutes, so why try to be healthy?  Let's soak 'em in soft drinks and Kool-Aid.  The only thing unhealthier than eating that many hot dogs is...well any other competition this "league" hosts.


Take Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas (above) for example.  The 98-pound Virginian has eaten her way out of many a pickle, downing 65 hard-boiled eggs in just under seven minutes, defeating four-time hot dog champ Joey Chestnut in a Krystal "Square-Off" (Thomas put down 57 fresh, hot, small squares), setting a world record by eating nearly eight pounds of turducken, and eating just over one-tenth of her body weight (11 pounds) in cheesecake.

I looked into the competitions and realized that the healthiest thing these competitors eat is oysters (I don't know if oysters are actually healthy or not, but they're at least the closest thing).  There is an asparagus competition...but they deep fry all of it first.  They eat beef brisket by the pound(s), sushi by the hundreds of pieces, pizza by the...well...pizza I guess...just not by the slice.  It's ridiculous.



It's not like this is unhealthy at all.  Just take a look at Eric Booker (above), the world record holder in chocolate candy bars (two pounds in six minutes), burritos (15 in eight minutes), corned beef hash (four pounds in under two minutes), glazed doughnuts (49 in eight minutes), Purim (a Jewish holiday) cookies (50 in  six minutes), matzo balls (21 baseball-sized balls in five-and-a-half minutes), and pumpkin pies (four-and-a-half in 12 minutes).

How the hell do you even practice these things?  I guess he just walks into Krispy Kreme and asks for five dozen and an egg timer.  However, these feats of disgusting are no match for Don Lerman (below), who set a world record by downing a stomach-wrenching 1 3/4 pounds of pure ol' butter in five minutes.


In an unrelated story, I believe he's dead now.

You want to make this competitive eating really enjoyable?  You want some viewers?  Your answer lies in the garden.


That's right, tomatoes.  And don't dice them up, use cherry or Roma tomatoes, or have a tomato sauce competition.  The competitors have to place a whole large tomato in their mouth and bite down.  If competitors take a bite out of the tomato without shoving the whole thing in his or her mouth, he/she is disqualified.  You may ask, "Why try tomatoes Tim?"

First, I'll respond by complimenting you on your alliteration.  Then I'll tell you what to do if you can't get someone else to eat a whole tomato while you watch.

Go stand in front of a mirror.  Place a whole tomato in your mouth.  You watching?  Now bite down.

(Disclaimer: This will cause a mess, and no, I will not clean it up.)

I don't know what it is, but watching someone attempt to eat a whole tomato is amazing.  It's one of the few things I can think of that is kind of gross, but it's just so damn entertaining.  Maybe it's the way no matter what you do, half the tomato will end up hanging out of your mouth.  Maybe it's the red geyser that erupts from your mouth and flows over your chin like when a drunk guy pulls a "Hey guys look at this!!" and tries to pour a whole beer in his mouth.

All I know is the pageantry of such an entertaining phenomenon will be increased when the competitive eaters try to shove the tomatoes in there as quickly as possible, hopefully via punching the fruit further in there.  Just picture it: the tomato gets put in there, and right as the eater is about to close his or her mouth around it, BOOM!!  He or she punches him/herself in the mouth to force it down further, creating a fountain of tomato juice that just goes EVERYWHERE!!!

Screw a ten minute competition.  I'd watch that for hours.  That's how you get people to watch.  You don't try to stir up some sort of a controversy.

In case you didn't hear, the big name in competitive eating, Kobayashi (a name so familiar that this program didn't try to auto-correct it), pulled out of the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Championship yesterday due to contract disagreements with Major League Eating (which, apparently, is real).  Kobayashi wants to compete in events not sanctioned by the league, but according to his contract, he is not allowed to do so.

So here's the deal.  If you sign a contract to join a certain league, you can't participate in events for other leagues.  You don't hear Derek Jeter saying, "Sorry Skipper.  I know this is a big week of practice, but there's a softball beer league championship...so I'm gonna go."

It's called a contract.  You can't just get out of it.  You're basically owned.  It's how the business world works.  Even the big-time stars have to honor it.  You think Stephen Strasburg wants to pitch for the Nationals?  No.  But he is contractually obligated to do so.

And what's worse, you're acting like you're one of the biggest stars in the world.  If I saw you on the street, I wouldn't know it's you.  You called yourself one of the most dominant athletes ever.

YOU ARE NOT AN ATHLETE.  COMPETITIVE EATING IS NOT A SPORT.  ASK THIS KID:


Can anybody say "BOOM-bah-bah-BOOM-bah-bah-BOOM?"

That's right, if you're an athlete, then so is Lard-Ass from Stand By Me (arguably the greatest scene ever).  And you're calling yourself Kobi now.  Granted, it's with an "i" instead of an "e," but you are completely ripping off the brand name he's built for years.  There is only one Kobe or Kobi or whatever, and you, sir, are not it.  You calling yourself a professional athlete is like Kristen Stewart calling herself a good actress.

CAN ANYBODY SAY SEGUE?  It's "seg-way" in case you haven't ever had to spell it.

That's right, another event that took place over the holiday weekend is the premiere of Eclipse, the third installment in the Twilight series.  Honestly, I have no problem with the movies.  They aren't necessarily my cup of tea, but hey, I don't even like tea.  I don't have a problem with Robert Pattinson or Taylor Lautner.  They embrace the Twilight craze and their part in all of it.  They're along for the ride.



But not Kristen Stewart (above).  Apparently somebody somewhere told her that she is God's gift to the filmmaking industry.  And she acts the part too.  If you look up the word "pretentious" in the dictionary, you'll find a picture of Kristen Stewart wiping her ass (I don't entirely know what that means, but it sounds right).

Let me be unendingly clear with you, Miss Stewart (because I'm sure you're reading this...):  You're awful.  You are almost the worst actress ever (you can thank Anna Nicole for the "almost").  You play every single role with the same discontented look on your not-that-great face.  The only way you'd ever be able to successfully pull off a role is if you're playing someone who always wishes she was somewhere else...BECAUSE YOU ALWAYS LOOK LIKE THAT. 

I took the time to see Adventureland.  If I had the chance to go back in time, I'd go skip that pile of shit and get those 90 minutes of my life back.  But somehow I'd fuck time travel up and end up in the middle of watching the damn movie.

In which case I'd kill myself.

But I recently realized that this awful, awful woman is not the most pretentious person in the world.  She probably is the worst person in this fine nation of ours, but the most pretentious person in the world is Uruguay's Luis Suarez (below)


Suarez made the news for his game-saving save in the final seconds of the World Cup quarterfinal match between Uruguay and Ghana.  There's only one problem...he's not a keeper.  Ghana's shot had Suarez's keeper beat and should have locked up the match for the local favorite, until this pompous striker just reached on up and knocked the ball away.  He was ejected, leaving his team with the disadvantage of playing the rest of the match with only ten men.  The problem with that...the match was over...or at least the part where being a man down would be disadvantageous.

And the rest was history.  Ghana missed the penalty shot, and then they lost the shootout to Uruguay.  There's no questioning that Suarez's move was a cheap shot at the very least.  It's almost as dirty a move as kicking a man square in the balls.  But that's not the worst part.


Suarez was carried off the field following the match and treated like a hero.  In an interview, he described himself as "the hand of God."  The thought of that is more ridiculous than watching two porcupines have sex (think about it).  And the Uruguayan team is bashing media outlets around the world for calling them cheaters. That's like the Jersey Shore crew getting pissed off over being called guidos.

I one of the few that believes the goal still should have been awarded to Ghana.  Think about a similar scenario in baseball: It's a tie game in the bottom of the ninth.  There's a man on third with one out.  There's a deep fly ball.  The runner tags and heads for the plate.  The pitcher tackles the runner.

That's the same level of offense incurred by Suarez.  Guess what...they award the runner the base, which would be home, and thus a run.  They don't have a re-do and send the runner back to third to run it again.

Oh well, if you've kept up with my blog, you know how much poetic justice I find in England's exit from the World Cup, as it somehow turns out they didn't tie the match in their round-of-sixteen game against Germany.  Take that, Tony Heyward and the rest of your oil-soaked yachting croonies.  I know how much more this sport truly means to every one of you, and while a couple of calls screwed us in the first three games, you truly got screwed out of the tournament, AND YOU DESERVED IT!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Apparently BP Doesn't Read My Blog...

For those of you who didn't get a chance to read it, I published a blog posting a little over a week ago in which I asked the higher-ups at British Petroleum, "Just exactly what the F are you doing?!?!" (If you haven't already, please read Not At All A Slick Move...)


Believe it or not, since my last posting British Petroleum has continued its "Stop yelling at us.  You're being mean." campaign.  They continue to apologize and...well...that's actually all they're doing.  Apparently someone told these limeys that apologizing rids the world of its problems.  Just apologize and AIDS goes away.

The one thing they've pledged to do (which President Obama is also making them do...) is pay out all the claims filed by the millions of people who will be affected by this spill if they haven't been already.  They've even set aside $20 billion for this fund.

However, somehow this money isn't getting paid.  Only 12% of of the claims have been honored.  Honestly, paying claims is the only thing they're doing.  They aren't fixing anything else.  They are doing one thing, and one thing only.  And they're doing a piss-poor job of it at that.  Think of a pitcher in baseball.  His job is to get people out.  It's the one thing he's supposed to do.  If he only gets 12% of the people he faces out, he wouldn't even be sent down to the minors.  He'd be stripped nude, pelted with four-seam fastballs, and made a mockery of in the local town square.


How do these people still get away with all of this?  British Petroleum continues to make a mockery of this clean-up effort.  So the U.S. Congress decided to step in.  All of the higher-ups at British Petroleum were called before a Congressional hearing, with the show being headlined by none other British Petroleum's resident Satanist, Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward (above)(don't know that he is a practicing Satanist, but there is definitely something very Satan-ish about him, and there's only one letter separating Satanish and Satanist).

The session kicked off with some of the lesser important British Petroleum suits coming forward to state exactly what we figured: They have no idea what's going on.  However, they did manage to drop one "highlight" during the proceedings.  In a press conference following the hearing, British Petroleum Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg gave a half-assed apology, saying he felt sorry for us, "the small people."  It reminds me of an apology I've seen somewhere before...



Honestly, are you apologizing for having more money than most of us?  "I'm sorry you all don't have butlers that handle things like this for you."  It's not like only poor people are affected by this.  Anybody involved in any way with the Gulf Coast is severely screwed, from the "small people" to the morbidly obese.


You want to issue apologies like this?  Here's one for you, Svanberg(above)...I'm sorry no woman could ever love you because you look like the bad guy from every bad action movie ever.  I fully expect you to be holding a cat and within arm's reach of a monocle at all times.  I'm sorry your wife divorced your soulless ass last fall (somebody did a little homework!!).  Too mean?  Nah, ruining an entire coastline then calling the inhabitants of the area insignificant is mean.  Why don't you shoot their dog while you're at it, you asshole.

Honestly, after you made the statement, reporters asked you to elaborate an what exactly you were saying, yet you refused.  You weren't there to answer any questions.  You were just there to read some prearranged, yet poorly-written statement doctored to be some sort of joke to you.

If this is how this stuff's gonna fly, surely CEO Tony Hayward will show up with some fireworks.  He got up in front of that committee and was rightfully grilled and berated.  I've never been more proud to be an American than when I watched you get your ass handed to you by our "big people."  Granted, I doubt you feel the sting of any of these harsh comments through that thick devil skin of yours.

Actually it is hard to tell whether or not these claims, allegations, and insults affected you or not, because "no comment" doesn't tell us anything.  You went before Congress and didn't answer a damn thing.


Seeing as how your only answer to any question relating to the spill in the Gulf Coast that YOU caused is some variation of "no comment," I'm going to conduct my very own interview with British Petroleum CEO Tony Hayward right here and now.

*Disclaimer (if anyone actually reads this blog) - The following interview is NOT with actual British Petroleum CEO Tony Hayward, only an imaginary entity which I base solely and completely on Hayward.*

Me: Thank you for taking time out of your busy day filled with appointments set for clubbing baby seals.  I know that can be exhausting.
Hayward: You have no idea.
Me: You recently came under fire before Congress.
Hayward: Ah yes.  A bunch of crotchety old farts if you ask me.
Me: I did not ask.  You came under fire because of the lack of response shown by British Petroleum in the wake of an underwater explosion caused by the company.
Hayward: I'm not entirely sure what you're speaking of.
Me:  I'm referring to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig that exploded off the coast of Louisiana, which is here in the United States, due to the fact you overlooked a blowout preventer that needed repair.
Hayward: I believe you're making this up.
Me: This explosion has caused over one million gallons of crude oil to spill into the Gulf Coast every day for nearly two months.
Hayward: That sounds like a lot.  Let me check with my people.
Me: Through your complete lack of concern over this situation and the fact that you are f-ing ALWAYS smirking, I'm led to believe that you are in some part, if not fully the devil.
Hayward: I plead the fifth.


The thing is, in all of that "fake" interview, I only wrote one untruthful thing...there are two million gallons of crude leaking into the Gulf every day, not one million.  And note my choice wording there.  It's not, "There are now two million..."

That's because ever since day one, two million gallons of crude oil have been leaking into the Gulf.  And according to published insider reports from British Petroleum, they've known that from the very beginning, particularly back in April, when they told us that their early numbers (which, as I just said, showed that two million gallons a day are leaking) said that roughly 200,000 gallons a day were leaking.

When do we get to hold them responsible in court for being criminally negligent?  Seriously.

And then British Petroleum executives decided to release a statement criticizing American journalists of "unfair criticism" between the Gulf Coast disaster and the Exxon-Valdez oil spill.  For the first (and probably last) time ever, I completely and wholeheartedly agree with British Petroleum.  It is completely unfair to compare the two events.

The Exxon-Valdez spill pales in comparison to the atrocity taking place right now.  11 million gallons of oil made its way into the Alaskan Gulf as a result of the Exxon-Valdez disaster.  It took British Petroleum less than a week to pass that.  Over 100 million gallons of crude oil have spilled to date, and the spill is expected to continue for another month and a half at the very least.

So you are right.  It's a completely unfair comparison, and Exxon does not deserve that kind of disrespect.


But back to Hayward.  I work at a news station, and when I heard that our top story one recent afternoon was a shake-up at the top of British Petroleum, I was ecstatic.  Finally, something will get done.  This company realized how terrible a job this buffoon was doing and got rid of him.  Well done.  I'll even call you BP now that your moves are becoming slightly convenient.

Unfortunately that couldn't be further from the truth.  Hayward apparently went through his Congressional hearing and realized, "Hmmm...getting yelled at for everything I've done wrong is really hard.  I don't want to do this anymore."  So he stepped down as Director of Disaster Relief and had someone else come in and start taking the blame for what Hayward's been doing (seen below).


You know what?  Fine.  Get Hayward as far as possible from this whole situation.  He obviously has no idea what to do with this whole spill situation.  So send him on back to Britain to look over flow charts or business models, or whatever it is that got you where you are.

But that's what would make sense, so naturally Hayward gets as far away from that as possible.  He hurried home to see how his beloved Bob is doing.  However, Bob is not Tony Hayward's son.  Nor is it his nephew, grandson, other relative, or pet.


Bob is Tony Hayward's yacht.  Hayward left his post as British Petroleum's coordinator of relief efforts so he could get home to watch his beloved yacht in a race.

Again I ask, when do we get to hold them responsible for being criminally negligent?

Seriously, Hayward, what the hell is going through that awkwardly small head of yours?  This is the biggest middle finger you could have ever thrown our way.  You leave behind the largest environmental disaster in our country's history, WHICH YOU CAUSED, to go home and see a yacht race in a circle around the Isle of Wight.

Let's list the many reasons this is so terribly f-ed up.  First off, there is no more elitist activity than yachting...well okay, maybe hunting people for game is.  But other than that, there is no event where you will see more noses in the air.  The so-called "little people," as your evil Chairman so eloquently put it, are struggling to put their lives back together.  But you've got to get to a yachting race.  "I can't be bothered by these poor people.  I want to watch my multi-million piece of fiberglass race in a circle."

Which brings me to my second point: why a sailing race?  Were the tickets sold out for the paint-drying competition?  The particular race Hayward returned to the motherland to watch is one in which the yachts have to circumnavigate the roughly 57 miles of shoreline of the Isle of Wight.  Let's compare this to the American equivalent of racing, NASCAR.  This yacht race is almost exactly like NASCAR...a handful of left turns, and viola!!  A champion is crowned.  So I guess yachting is exactly like NASCAR...except nobody crashes, and the yachts are moving about 160 mph slower.  I'm pretty sure those are the biggest selling points of NASCAR.  I don't know.  I try not to ask myself obvious things.


This brings me to my next point...you wanted to get back for this race, because you wanted to see how Bob performs on the open seas against other rich-as-hell people's boats.  What exactly do you take away from a yachting race by seeing it in person?  You could have probably gotten it on TV wherever you were staying.  You're the CEO of British Petroleum.  You make bank.  I'm willing to bet that you could afford to have the Isle of Wight moved to the Gulf Coast so you could watch the race here...if you could ever actually accomplish anything you set out to do.

What is there to gain from seeing this race in person?  You want to see how she moves on the open water?  You literally have an entire crew working on the boat throughout the race.  Ask one of them.  If they keep losing to the same yacht, buy out the crew from that yacht.  It's that simple.  It's not like horse racing where you need to see the horse to see if the horse's pedigree has related to dominance on the track.

You all have an absolute TON of money and want to buy the fastest (most expensive) yacht available.  I'm willing to bet that it's the same yacht that each one of you are using.  If you keep losing, fire your crew.  It's called managing a situation.  Unfortunately for you, Wikipedia doesn't define what that means, so it'll never get through that stubborn tiny head of yours.

Naturally, everybody became upset at Hayward over his decision to walk away from one of the worst environmental disasters ever.  Honestly, he was there to do the job and just walked away to ride around in a yacht.  It makes Bush's handling of Katrina seem like forgetting to pay a parking ticket.  After listening to criticism, Hayward made a statement where he claimed, "I want my life back."

Really?

REALLY?!?!?

REALLY?!?!?!?!

Guess what, you pompous douchebag: I can think of 16,000 jobless Gulf Coast residents who would like their lives back too.  I can think of thousands of businesses that will lose a combined $1.15 billion (best-case scenario; according to thehill.com) as a direct result of your oil spill that would like their lives back.  The previous figure of 16,000 jobless Gulf residents can't even take into account just yet how many thousand people that will lose jobs because of restaurants and stores going out of business.  This the kind of event that can cripple entire cities financially, and you want your life back?


HONESTLY, WHEN DO WE GET TO HOLD THEM LEGALLY LIABLE FOR CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE?!?!?!?!

Do they actually have to shoot a fisherman with a harpoon gun to be brought up on charges?  If so, I can doctor up a crime scene.  I've seen my fair share of CSI: episodes, even a harpoon gun one.  Let's get these heartless bastards rightfully brought up on the charges of blatant and outright criminal negligence.

There's one way to try to hit these scrotums where it hurts them the most...the World Cup pitch.  However, it's not up to us, like it was in my last posting.  That is, unless you know a Slovenian.  In which case, embrace him or her.  Tell them how much this game means to you.


Now I do very much want the U.S.A. to advance with a win over Algeria tomorrow.  But it's gotten to the point where I want Wayne Rooney (above...and on top) and England to fail more, because this is EVERYTHING to them.  Honestly, please pray to whatever entity you hold dearest to you, be it God, Mohammed, alcohol, or Jeebus, that Slovenia defeats England tomorrow, because that officially knocks them from the World Cup, which would be catastrophic for them...

Sort of like how an oil spill is catastrophic to our Gulf Coast.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Not At All A Slick Move...


Unless you've been living in a cave for the past 50-plus days, then you've heard of the huge British Petroleum (known commonly as BP, but abbreviations are are reserved for the convenient, and British Petroleum is anything but) oil spill that is slowly obliterating the Gulf Coast.  Actually, you've probably realized it even if you are living in a cave, because so much oil is leaking that it's probably seeping into caves all over the world.  Honestly, the situation is so bad and so poorly handled that you'd think it's being run by a dyslexic two-year-old with no eyeballs.
 



Let's go back to that fateful explosion (above) 52 days ago, April 20th (that's right, this gusher is about a week shy of two months of oil-spewing).  A British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded off the coast of Louisiana, costing 11 workers their lives.  The first several days after the explosion were mostly spent worrying about possible survivors of the explosion still out at sea.  Once we realized the number of fatalities and accounted for all the missing workers attributed to the explosion, it became time to address the oil leak.

People began to worry, "How much is leaking into the Gulf?"   British Petroleum wasted no time in stepping up and admitting that 5,000 barrels of oil (roughly 210,000 gallons) per day were leaking into the Gulf of Mexico.  It's a number that shocked most of the county as, let's be honest, 210,000 is a large number, and it's a number that's leaking every day.  But British Petroleum reminded us Yanks that as compared to the entire Gulf of Mexico, 210,000 gallons isn't a whole lot.  If they get this thing plugged as they vow to do, then this won't really be a problem.



So British Petroleum got to work on the problem.  First they initiated lowering a Lower Marine Riser Package, or LMRP Cap (above) over the gushing valve.  What they tell us this device will to is seal off the busted pipe in a chamber and siphon the leaking oil through another pipe attached to the top of the chamber to an oil tanker resting at the surface of the Gulf.

This sounds like a fantastic idea.  Just nip this in the bud, and let's move on.

Now in order to more successfully be able to view this operation, British Petroleum set up a camera on the ocean floor to be able to see what exactly they're doing down there.  However, once they got this live camera set up down at the busted valve, U.S. Congress wanted to take a look as well, demanding access to footage of this oil leak.

So British Petroleum took a peek at the footage and then handed it over to us Yanks.  However, as British Petroleum handed over the footage, they also mentioned in passing, "Oh yeah...so it turns out that there's actually 100,000 barrels of oil leaking every day instead of 5,000...so...have fun with that."



Dick Move Number One.

Really?!?!?!?  You told us that 5,000 barrels a day were leaking into the Gulf.  Now that you're handing over footage of the leak, you conveniently drop in that piece of information right as we were about to see it for ourselves.

That's like getting hot and heavy with a gorgeous woman, and right before you get intimate, she tells you she has a penis.  You're about to find out for yourself, but he/she feels that hearing the news from it would somehow ease the pain.  So when it comes down to it, British Petroleum is a she-male that's gushing almost 1.4 MILLION gallons of oil into the Gulf EVERY DAY, which means it surpassed the Exxon-Valdez, widely considered the worst spill in U.S. history, in a matter of days.

So we're onto you now.  Apparently you aren't shooting us entirely straight.  But at least we've got this cap coming.

But of course it didn't work.  British Petroleum gave us a detailed explanation of how this cap would work, but when people asked what went wrong, they simply responded, "Well, we've never done anything like this before."

Dick Move Number Two.

Maybe you should let us know before this fails completely that this is a dry run.  That's like a surgeon telling you "I'm actually an insurance salesman.  I'm just helping out a friend who wanted to go out of town," right before he puts you under.

Then came the "top-kill" procedure.  This is where British Petroleum (as described by their website) takes "heavy mud" (didn't know there were multiple kinds) and forces it into the gushing pipe through a machine-driven hose.  Once the mud has stopped the flow of the oil, the hose that forced the mud into the pipe would then force cement into the pipe, effectively sealing it.

After the cap failed, Americans weren't too sure about this top-kill procedure, but then again, what choice did we have?  Ya gotta believe...or we're going to lose our coastline.

So the process begins.  We take a peek at the live underwater camera and notice, "Nothing looks any different from before.  Oil is still gushing out of that pipe."

But those damn Brits step in again: "No, that's just the mud that isn't getting into the pipe.  The top-kill is actually working very well.  Now, we won't officially know for a couple of days, but the process is doing exactly what it's supposed to."  Well good.  It's about time you limeys get something right.  A couple of days passed, and we eagerly awaited the good news...

"Well, it turns out that was oil still coming out during the procedure.  The top-kill was a complete failure."

Dick Move Number Three.

Are you kidding me?!?!?!?!?  We saw it still leaking during this procedure meant to stop the leak, but you convinced us the pipe wasn't leaking and the top-kill was working because it was what we wanted to hear.  We had pictures in front of us of this not working, but there you sat, telling us how our eyes were deceiving us.  So they pretty much pissed all over us and told us we're on fire.

Well where do we go from here?  We need to get some money sent in for the coastal efforts, because this thing's been leaking so long that it's starting to wash ashore.  Why don't you send in some money to help clean up this mess you made, British Petroleum?


They're more than happy to spend the money.  Let's clean up this mess, right?



That's exactly what they set out to do.  British Petroleum wants badly to clean up this mess...of public relations.  Instead of getting in there and getting his hands dirty helping fund the clean-up or maybe even cleaning up some of it himself, British Petroleum CEO Tony Hayward (above) launched a $50 million ad campaign to get the word out to the American public: "My bad."

Dick Move Number Four.

Guess what $50 million buys for the oil spill relief.  I don't know the materials exactly, but I am 100% sure it gets you roughly $50 million (depending on taxes) more worth of equipment than if you spend it on yourself.  Instead of sending money to the relief efforts, you're looking out for yourselves.  Forget the thousands of fishermen who will be left with no jobs when this is all over.  Forget the rapidly deteriorating ecosystem along the Louisiana coastline.  People are mad at British Petroleum, so let's say something nice to the outraged masses.  Honestly, it's like spending the rent money on crack.

Fuck You BP, you she/he crack-whore.

You stick out your chests because you're employing these fishermen and boaters who lost their businesses, but it's because you're PAYING THEM TO CLEAN UP YOUR MESS, WHICH COST THEM THEIR BUSINESSES.  What happens when there's nothing left for them to do for you?  Whatever they used to fish for is probably dead now, so what will they do?  Just because your beaches and shorelines suck something awful doesn't mean you have to ruin ours.

STOP TELLING US HOW GREAT OF A JOB YOU'RE DOING AND JUST DO SOMETHING!!!

But back to the leak.  This thing's gotta get stopped.  So British Petroleum actually goes back to the cap to give it another shot.  But they decide that in order for the cap to fit more securely onto the leaking pipe (which wasn't at all the problem in the first place), they needed to cut part of the pipe off.  This, of course, caused much more oil to leak into the Gulf.

Dick Move Number Five.

Nothing fixed...even more oil leaking.  You cannot do anything right, British Petroleum.  You're not running this relief effort this worth a damn at all.  I do a better job of getting women, and I still use "Are you from Memphis?  'Cause you're the only ten-I-see."

But wouldn't you know it...they got the cap in place.  Alright, let's siphon all this oil up to the tankers and start focusing our full efforts on the clean-up.  Just gonna take a peek at this leak cam and check...wait a minute...there's still a whole lot of oil leaking.  I see that this cap's on there now, but there's still a bunch of oil leaking out the side of it.

Well it turns out that this cap only catches some of the oil...actually it catches very little of it.  Once the cap was in place, it was only siphoning the additional amount that began to leak following the pipe being sheared down so the cap would be a better fit.  SO, the cutting of the pipe to allow the cap to fit caused so much more oil to leak, that once the cap was in place, the original amount of oil was still leaking into the Gulf.

Dick Move Number Six.

Have they fucked up enough to make this a Three Stooges episode yet?

Through this apparent false hope, we as an American public have just somehow shot ourselves in the foot, walked in a circle, then shot ourselves in the other foot.


Fortunately, they've seemingly shot us straight.  British Petroleum came out and said they are working on a relief well, but it won't be ready until late August.  Fine.  That's all we get, but we'll take it.  We are reduced to just being grateful this leak will last into August, knowing that we know we won't have to hear any more of their bullshit until the end of the summer, when they will likely tell us that whatever they're doing to fix the situation isn't working..

Why are you doing this to us?!?!?  It's getting exhausting, all this hoping for something and never, ever getting it.  I'm a Cubs fan, and I feel I've dealt with it fairly well thus far, but this is too much.  I'm just tired from all of this.  You've worn me down, British Petroleum.  And for what?

The 2010 World Cup, that's what.  They're trying to exhaust our hopes and efforts in the recovery while they feed us lies about how soon this will all be fixed.  All the while, they're having a pint and watching some futbol.  We have three starting U.S. team members who are from coastal states either already affected by the spill (Altidore - FL), or those that expect to be directly affected in the future (Onyewu - MD, Howard - NJ; that's right, so much oil is spilling that a Gulf current is expected to force the oil to strike land along the Atlantic Coast).


That's right.  Those limey fuckers are so diabolical that they're willing to go this far for a World Cup win over a team who, let's be honest, they're favored to beat.  The French actually seem like nice, smoke-free people compared to this scum, who provided our beaches with this...


Sorry to be a buzz-kill, but that little guy probably didn't make it.

This might seem like a bit much to all of you, but why else would British Petroleum just jerk around everybody remotely involved in this spill?  They clearly proved to me that they wouldn't bat an eye about the spill if nobody knew about the situation.  They're not fighting to keep the Gulf of Mexico clean...they're fighting to keep you coming to their gas stations.  Whenever you fuel up at a BP, remember, they did this and don't care.  They aren't upset this spill is ruining the Gulf Coast ecosystem.  They're upset that it's caused them to take a hit in the public relations department.


So please, tune in to the match this Saturday and cheer with all your might, hoping that transvestite of a conglomerate doesn't pull off another dick move and win again.