Sunday Funnies

Rafalca Romney Speaks!

10 Things This Week

1.  NASA lands rover on Mars and takes never before seen pictures. A proud day for the National Aeronautic Space Agency.  A proud day indeed!
President Obama assumes total blame for destroying, dismantling, and disbanding NASA in 2009. What a failure, huh???

2. While NASA watches Mars in awe, I, with equal awe, watch Mick Mars in San Antonio. Whatever sick, twisted, demented vision Motley Crue may have had in the past, they're now able to express it through an elaborate stage show that is so dark, it features a black sabbath mass, a walking dead man (Mars), and squirting.(You heard me) I fear I may be scarred for life.

3. The Olympics have entered my brain like an earwig. Chewing and gnawing their way into my central nervous system. Besides the hours of total boredom and dismay, I've actually been encouraged to get out of the house and exercise. Yes exercise. It's better than watching the egregious, "Rhythmic Gymnastics." After all, there's only so much Hula-Hooping one man can take.

 

4. If you love "Rock N Roll," then "KISS" is still the best show ever. Period. Words cannot describe it.

5. Why are we still in Afghanistan? What is the threat, exactly? I think the American people have a right to know.

6. Why is GITMO still open? What is the threat, exactly? I think the American people have a right to know.

7. Obama may not deserve to be reelected. Yeah I said it. At the same time, he damn sure didn't deserve the sad state of affairs the country was in when he took office. What will Obama do for the liberal progressive base? (Nothing) When will he stop playing the middle? (Never)

8. Doctors don't know Shiite about diets, and if they do, they aren't telling us. The latest research is showing that fat from proteins don't cause high cholesterol, sugar does...

9. The San Antonio Riverwalk has lost it's charm and become a corporate conservative, queso, death march. I've had better meals at Taco Bueno (that didn't empty my wallet). San Antonio is an OLD city and is in desperate need of a downtown facelift. Do you think you're in Mexico when you drive thru it? That's because you are.

10. Liberty Pizza in Jarrell, TX is a little slice of freedom.
Check it out next time you're through there.
It's next to the Flying J truck stop off 35. Belissimo! COME AND TAKE IT...or they deliver...

Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance was up early this morning to watch Curiosity stick its landing on Mars, and salutes NASA for its outstanding job as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff rounded up the Republican and Democratic primary runoff results.  

BossKitty at TruthHugger was on a roll this week. Always disgusted at the deliberate distractions from urgent issues by political campaigns, the contempt red-lined in Candidate State of Denial: Why Can't They Buy Rain?, and Bitter Governors Screw 6 Million People out of health insurance. BossKitty also mourns the passing of a past co-worker named Sally Ride.

Local property tax elections are the result of state leaders shirking their duty and passing the buck to local ISD's. WCNews at Eye on Williamson posts that the plan to defund public education continues.

Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart choked again last Tuesday night trying to count election results, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs doesn't believe any excuse the man makes at this point.  

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants everyone to know that Henry Cuellar is a rat.

Over at TexasKaos, lightseeker rags on about Poisonous Hypocrisy and Those Who Practice It. Rick Perry and Reagan and Palin have more in common than people know.

Neil at Texas Liberal posted that the very first historical marker at the San Jacinto Battlefield Park just outside Houston -- where Texas Independence was won -- notes the gift of cannons from the people of Cincinnati. Full self-reliance is a myth... most especially in Texas.

Funnies

David Dewhurst reportedly spent "a little less" than $20 million dollars of his personal wealth on his losing US Senate race.

Runoff And Play Golf

Texas, has a tea party in it! (Lord have mercy on our souls.)

Ted Cruz and several other Texas tea party candidates win in this weeks runoff...

Their message is unreal and full of lies; in fact, the very foundation of their tea party is a lie.
*See Koch brothers*
They're Sarah Palin, wrapped in an American flag, holding a cross, and lambasting the president as a socialist Muslim, gun-toting asses who never learned to spell their words of hate on their poster boards from Wal Mart.
This goofball (Cruz) is whom the super majority of republican voters want as their Texas representation in Washington?
(The voter turnout was atrocious for a state full of whiners against the federal government.)

This is what we've become...

Meanwhile, Texas denies Federal Aid every day for it's 25 million residents (1/4 of them uninsured).

It's enough to make me want to say f*%# it and go play Golf.
So I did...

Stonebridge Ranch in McKinney, TX is so hard even the pros won't play it. If your ball lands in the first cut of rough, it's gone...

My grandfather played the game and watched the pros all his life. When he died, I was given his clubs. They're made of wood. I love to play the game- albeit not as well as I would like- and I love the comradery it brings. I love to be outdoors testing my abilities physically and mentally. Learning to be a gentleman is a wonderful thing. Too bad over a million participants walked away from the game last year.
I wanted to know why, and here's what I found:

Golf’s participation numbers have been in a five-year decline. Just 8.5 percent of the U.S. population plays golf these days, with more players walking away than newcomers embracing the sport.

 Those numbers were reinforced by a series of focus groups administered by Boston Consulting Group, which reinforced many of golf’s positive qualities but added that consumers often felt like outsiders and the sport needs to be more consumer friendly.In recent years, golf’s leaders have seemingly flooded the market with various “grow the game” initiatives – Play Golf America, Get Golf Ready, Free Lesson Month, Tee It Forward. You may or may not be aware that May is Welcome to Golf Month. But for all the initiatives, the game is still losing participation.

 It can be no shock to see that participation in golf is dipping at the same time that our economy has suffered through historic drops. But can the blame extend beyond the economy, and does golf possess a future that could make it go the way of horse racing? I never thought it would happen. But now I think it could be. Society wants entertainment that’s easy on the brain and body; it has to be WalMart-easy on the pocketbook; and it must be something that, if it’s not quick to finish, it’s at least something that can be put down and resumed almost with the touch of a button.

Horse racing doesn’t measure up. And neither does golf.

 And now I’m reading the Golf 2.0 initiative being pushed most heartily by the PGA of America. I applaud them for taking a hard look at the sobering statistics that have been out there now for the past decade and finally realizing that it’s not just the economy that’s pulling down golf participation. Probably what has awakened them is that despite all the technology that’s pushed by golf equipment companies that supposedly make the game easier, the lack of substance of those claims has caught up. The nature of golf, the truth that golf is a difficult game, is a big reason people are giving up on it in my view.

We know the statistics: The story I’ve read in the January 27, 2012 issue of Golfweek cites a decrease of annual rounds played to 475 million from 518 million in the past decade (8 percent). Last year was the fifth consecutive year of declines. There has been a 13-percent decrease in the amount of people who play golf over the five-year period that ended in 2010. Throw in the first 11 months of 2011, the National Golf Foundation claims, and that period shows a 3.5-percent drop from the same months of 2010.

As an interesting aside, the FBI during this same 11-month period reported a record number of background checks that gun buyers must submit, which indicates guns sales increased 70 percent over the previous record from eight years earlier.

It has to be easy on the pocketbook. The people who make golf equipment that is tagged “game improvement” charge $400 for a driver. That is crazy, to me at least (there are enough people out there who are willing to pay, I know, or else the companies wouldn’t charge that in the first place). It‘s a horrid mindset. Think about it: It’s one of 14 clubs we can carry. I’ve not thrown in a bag, shoes, what else? Oh, paying a fee to get on the course when I’m ready. I used to badger horse tracks that charged to park, made you fork it over for a program of some sort, wanted you to pay for admission -- and then asked you to give it up for an “upgraded” seat -- and then expected you to pull out the wallet again and go make a bet. This is an area where the golf lords, the PGA of America and USGA since they appear to be interested, can steer the fiefdom in the right direction. Any effort to generate interest in golf should include a “how-to” on acquiring equipment cheaply. I know how to do it. I call it “Golf Like You’re Poor.”

If you think that first suggestion about video golf is whimsical, remember the data showing gun sales may be increasing. There could be loads of reasons for that, if the sales figures touted by the guns lobby are accurate. But think about one possible reason for increased gun sales: when you go to a video-game establishment, or the bank of video games at the mall or wherever, what are most of those games based upon? Guns.

How far does golf need to, want to, go? I’m not clanging away at the death bell, but I’m telling you I’ve seen this before. Golf has been great, right at the top of the list for many, many people looking for something to do. But horse racing once could say the same thing.

And, by the way, we haven’t even mentioned the 800-pound gorilla in the room. Water, or lack of it. Horse racing never had that problem.

I like to think the reason people are moving away from the game is because the "Old Cronies" are unwelcoming to newcomers, but the fact of the matter is more likely to point to time, difficulty and money.
Golf is at least a 4 hour sport. In today's world that's quite a commitment.
If you're not seeing an improvement in your swing, then why bother? To play well, one must practice often.
Golf equipment is too expensive. It doesn't have to be if you know how to shop.
What do I love most about Golf?
I play the game better at 41 than I did at 18. That's why I love it!

-Thank you Tim Price at Secret In The Dirt.

The Weekly pre-Election Day Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance is overloading on the Olympics as it brings you this week's roundup.  The TPA also reminds you to cast your ballot at your precinct poll tomorrow in the runoff elections happening throughout the state.

Off the Kuff notes that for a guy who claims to hate the federal government, Rick Perry sure gives them a lot of opportunities to get involved in Texas' business.  

BossKitty at TruthHugger was on a roll this week. In America and Collateral Damage and Double Jeopardy, the NCAA went overboard when they punished past, present and future Penn State students. Too many Americans have been tricked into believing that the government can no longer help them and their families. Until enough people realize that as a lie, take back the government, and use it to bring economic equality back we will continue in this depression.  

WCNews at Eye on Williamson says it's It's the inequality stupid.

As long as Mitt Romney didn't bring bacon-wrapped shrimp to the Knesset after leaving London, then last Thursday was the worst day of his European vacation, writes PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.  

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants you to know that Republicans at Texas A&M are thrilled to give our money to North Carolina while screwing Texas workers.

Neil at Texas Liberal wrote about an interesting and expansive definition of life that he read about in New Scientist magazine.