I'd first like to apologize for the level of political content that I've been throwing out here lately. I actually do try to keep this site entertaining and as non-partisan as possible, however, when you're me very little of what you do is non-partisan.

Having said that...

What's the deal with these right-wingers attacking John McCain? Both the right AND the left would have you believe that McCain is some sort of rabid liberal cleverly posing as a Republican. Folks, that's just not the case.

As a person I really like McCain, but he just doesn't reflect the majority of my beliefs. He'll be running for president in 2008 and I just can't see any realistic scenerio in which I'd vote for him. But, can anyone make a sensible case for why it's up to the liberals in this country to come to the man's defense?

I now present EVERY right wing comment in reference to Senator McCain:

Senator John McCain is an American Hero, we appreciate and hold in the highest regard his service to his country and the Republican Party. We also would like to stress that he's actually a little weenie and a screaming liberal wacko. He hates America, has a bi-racial child out of wedlock and we think that he may be gay. Oh, and he's a true patriot. God Bless America

Anyway, I'll stop jabbering on. Just thought I'd include this article from NEWSMAX about how John McCain is a patriot and a hero... and he's such a wuss that he himself caved to torture so torture must work!

I'd also like to point out that the fact that we are having a national debate on whether or not we want to employ torture tactics overseas is hysterical... but that's for another day.

Zane Lawhorn: Patriot

The winds of change are blowing across the West Virginia hills, and those winds are carrying Zane Lawhorn. West Virginians are long tired of the tyrannical rule of Senator Robert Byrd, a man that's narrow 90% victory in his last Senatoral Election must be challenged by a true hero, a man like Zane Lawhorn.

Not just your average Optometrist, Zane Lawhorn is poised to bodly push West Virginia ahead into the 1930's with his forward thinking, progressive stances on the issues of the day. Just take a look at where Mr... or should I say, "future Senator" Lawhorn stands on today's issues:

Creationism

An education without Creation is denying the existence of God. That is censorship based on someone’s personal beliefs and not facts. An education without Evolution could be considered forcing Religion on our children.

Morality in America

Senator Byrd wrote a book attacking our President. During a time of war this was inappropriate. It sends the wrong message to our troops.

Immigration

Just because you arrive on this shore does not mean you are entitled to the same benefits. My tax dollars have been used for several years to pay for roads, services, etc. Immigrants should be charged a tax/fee upon entering the U.S.

Background checks should be mandatory and extensive. Rights should be limited based on the background check.

Military Draft

I will defend this country as your Senator by imposing the draft if need be. I will pick up arms myself if need be.

Hurricane Katrina

God's wrath on an evil city

Future Senator Lawhorn's stance on Hurricane Katrina is actually long and in no way rambling, to fully feel the power, click here.

So, vote Lawhorn in 2006 and send that pesky Robert Byrd (and his billions in grant money, government buildings/aid and MOUNTAINS of West Virginia friendly pork) back into the holler from where he came!

Pat Morita has been taken from us.

He was 73.

Ohio is falling apart.

First the state's Republican governor's approval ratings drop to somewhere around .001% and now they have elected representatives calling war heroes "coward" on the house floor... classy.

Rep. Jean Schmidt supports the troops, but doubts your commitment to Sparkle Motion.

Really now, is that any way to behave? Dick Cheney's dropping the "F-Bomb" in the senate chamber, this crazy woman is calling people out, I'm expecting to hear that Orrin Hatch was cracking on Joe Biden's mamma at any point. To quote Huey Freeman, "why don't y'all act like ya got some goddamn sense!"

Well, yesterday came and went with a bang. On the positive side, my college basketball picks this year are 3-0, on the negative side, none of the teams that I actually liked were able to pull it off.

First, West Virginia. I've been telling people all year that WVU was the real deal, and they proved it last night. Had the ever-so-useless Pittsnogle been able to hit ONE OF THREE of the free throws he was handed on a silver platter the game could have ended quite differently... unfortunately he was too busy thinking about scoring some crank or beating his wife. However, as predicted WVU did cover the spread, so go me!

Kentucky. WOW. Apparently there weren't many people out on the limb with me on this game. A friend of mine (and a sensible sports gambler) predicted a Kentucky victory by six points, I agreed that it was possible, but held with my pick that Iowa would pull the upset. They did, and to be honest, Tubby's bunch looked like the Powell County Pirates for most of the game.

UConn. Can anyone explain to me why this game went off at four points? This had to be the lock of the year. In fact, I should really just count my win-loss stats at 2-0, this was candy from a baby.

Pete Rose has been screwed.

I'm not even a particularly big Pete Rose/Reds fan, but a screw job is a screw job. Rose's contributions to baseball on the field far outweigh his problems off of the field. Let the man into the hall of fame, period.

Are they going to keep Pete out but let Sammy Sosa in (corked bat)? Will they allow Rafael Palmeiro in to the hall (steroids)? Be realistic here, with the shady condition of baseball these days, betting on a few games, especially betting on your team to WIN is really a misdemeanor.

Tonight. 7 PM. Let the Messin' Begin!

The West Virginia Mountaineers will tip it off against the Texas Longhorns tonight at 7 in the Lone Star State. Prepare yourself for basketball excitement, prepare yourself for a possible upset, prepare yourself for Kevin Pittsnogle's facial hair!


Fun Fact: When he's not busy knocking up Brittney Spears West Virginia's Kevin Pittsnogle can be found at E-Z Stop enjoying a Steak E-Z.

The official line seems to be holding steady at 7.5, call me crazy, but I have to say that WVU has the potential to cover. I won't go as far as to call it a lock, but I will say that betting a few dollars on The Mountaineers might not be as crazy as you think.

Well, the Colts V. Bengals contest has finally come and gone and much to my surprise it turned out to be one of the more exciting games of the year. Although I don't think that the Bengals ever actually lead at any point in the game (correct me if I'm wrong), they still kept it extremely close and nearly ruined my day on several occasions.

As I told Rachel after the game, "I wasn't nearly as concerned about losing fifty bucks on the game as I was concerned that I'd NEVER hear the end of it."

Now, an update on President Bush's Excellent Chinese Adventure.

The president met stiff opposition in the Chinese Press Corps over the weekend, at one point answering only six questions before walking away from the podium in truly dramatic fashion. Of course, when President Bush attempts to do something in a truly dramatic fashion he often ends up looking like this...

That's right folks, the doors were locked.

Click here to see a priceless video of our fearless leader as he attempts to spread freedom and democracy to two rather large doors, only to be met with an insurgency of brass. These doors clearly hate our freedoms and we will not rest until they are brought to justice.

Give the guy a break!

As UK Basketball season begins in the Commonwealth, so begins open season on Tubby Smith. As those of you that know me are aware, I am a huge Tubby fan (even though he did cut line at the Bruce Springsteen show) and will, especially after a few beers, defend his honor to the death. Unfortunately there is a small to large (depending on the season) section of this community that considers the Tubster to be the transition coach from the Godlike Rick Pitino to the nearly Godlike Whomever Comesnext. Of course, that transition has encompassed 8 years, a National Championship and repeated SEC Tournament and regular season victories.

Anyway, I'm not going to get on my soapbox on this one, just wanted to share this article from today's Herald-Leader. Long live Tubby, and someone please forward this to Cody.

Oh, by the way, Louisville sucks, Duke is overrated and the government is lying to you about 9/11... thank you.

I AM A GOD WARRIOR!

Reality TV finally gives us something to really enjoy. If you missed the episode of Trading Spouses (or whatever it's called) featuring the God Warrior woman, enjoy this link. She even has her own YTMND file!

If you haven't seen the Emo Oranges, now's the time.

Without a doubt this is my all time favorite of all of the YTMND submissions and it should be yours as well. On top of that, after checking out the sad citrus, rock this one up, a continuation of the saga of the emo oranges.

Ladies and Gentlemen, David Allan Coe.

There is simply nothing else to say.

A few weeks ago someone left a copy of the Queen song, "Fat Bottom Girls" in my cd player. Ordinarily this wouldn't be that big of a deal, except that I am now completely obsessed with the song. Seriously, have you ever heard more deep, meaningful poetry than:

Hey, I was just a skinny lad
Never knew no good from bad
But I knew life before I left my nursery
Left alone with big fat Fanny
She was such a naughty nanny
Heap big woman, you made a bad boy out of me, Hey hey!

Unfortunately, until I looked those lyrics up I was certain that the line was "left alone with big fat fatty," thus skewing my opinion of the lyrics. I have no intention of using the real words, it will forever be "big fat fatty" in my mind. And may I add, "big fat fatty" is the finest use of the English language that I may have ever seen. Let me repeat that for you...

Big Fat Fatty
Big Fat Fatty
Big Fat Fatty
Big Fat Fatty
Big Fat Fatty
Big Fat Fatty
Big Fat Fatty
Big Fat Fatty
Big Fat Fatty
Big Fat Fatty

Gotta love that smaller conservative government.

I think my favorite line is:

“We’re talking about Big Brother at its most extreme,” says one White House staffer. “We know things about people that their spouses don’t know and, if it becomes politically expedient, we will make sure the rest of the world knows.”

Just in case you missed this story, a church in Los Angeles is now in danger of losing their tax-exempt status for preaching an anti-war sermon. The did not pick political sides, nor did they encourage the church members to back a specific candidate. They simply expressed an opinion that wasn't shared by the powers that be.

In a related note

"For conservative people of faith, voting for principle this year means voting for the re-election of George W. Bush, the alternative, in my mind, is simply unthinkable. To the pro-life, pro-family, pro-traditional marriage, pro-America voters in this nation, we must determine that President Bush is the man with our interests at heart. It is that simple."

- The tax exempt Rev. Jerry Falwell in his newsletter "Falwell Confidential," July 1, 2004

I dunno, why would I suggest that Zach De La Rocha has lost his balls?

"I don't believe it," seethed Ann Coulter.

How 'bout that liberal media.

Of course, if you've ever spent twenty minutes defending a leftist position you've undoubtedly heard the rhetoric. The media is liberally slanted. The New York Times hates America. Hollywood undermines patriotism. You get the point. But let me ask you this, if the media suffers from such rampant liberalism, then how did this story possibly fly under the radar?

I consider myself to be fairly news-savvy. I read four or five different newspapers a day, I keep up with the blogs, I watch CNN, C-Span, and just for laughs I occasionally tune into Fox News. So how is that everyone from Michael Moore to Buzzflash missed this story? Granted, it's only a month or so old, but why did I have to dig through the depths of The Nation's archives to find it?

Apparently Pat Tillman wasn't so much the party line soldier, but a Chomskyite questioning his place in the war.

Like Cindy Sheehan, another Gold Star mother, a far more prominent one, is now asking questions that the Bush Administration would rather leave unanswered.

As Mary Tillman said this past May, "They could have told us up front that they were suspicious that [his death] was a fratricide, but they didn't. They wanted to use him for their purposes.... They needed something that looked good, and it was appalling that they would use him like that."

But even more powerful than that statement is a comment from the same article that quotes Tillman himself as saying, "You know, this war is so f***ing illegal." The Nation reports that Tillman himself had arranged a meeting with legendary leftist Noam Chomsky upon his return to the states, a meeting that never occurred due to his unfortunate death in a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan.

If one story exists to refute the allegations of the "liberal media" it must surely be this one. After all, wouldn't the "liberal media" just adore a story like this?

Oh, and screw Ann Coulter.

"As far as I'm concerned it was a blindside attack," Roberts said. "That's not the way to run the intelligence committee. We really politicized it, and I think that's most unfair."

- Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) regarding the closed session to discuss pre-war Iraqi WMD evidence

"This is an affront to me personally," said Frist, a Tennessee Republican. "This is an affront to our leadership. It is an affront to the United States of America, and it is wrong."

Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) regarding the same session

FACT: Senate Republicans called for closed sessions SIX times during the impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton... who was later acquitted.

It must be great to support a BCS friendly, nationally adored football program. As I look at the top 25 college football rankings, I'm left to question exactly what the hell is going on? Now, this is of course nothing new, but that doesn't mean that it's justified. This year, like every year, perennial favorites and big-time jersey/sweatshirt/cap sellers make up the top 25 while schools without billion dollar booster clubs languish in obscurity, or in the case of my beloved Mountaineers, get half of the respect that they deserve.

And now, for my 1-2-3 punch of complaints.

Miami Hurricanes. It's no secret that I can't stand the Canes, but even looking at it from an impartial perspective, their number five ranking seems positively absurd. Miami was beaten by the best team they faced this year (the now #14 Seminoles) and barely squeaked out a victory over #20 Clemson. Other than that, let's look at the powerhouse squads they've faced: South Florida, Duke, North Carolina, TEMPLE! Luckilly, they'll be exposed for the frauds that they are on Saturday when they're gutted and hung up to dry by Virginia Tech.

Texas Tech. Ok, I realize that they're not really the perennial favorites that I'd mentioned before, but I'm still pissed. Why? Well, sports writers love it when the Big 12 is a powerhouse. Since it's a complete embarrassment this year they've been forced to come up with SOMEONE to feign interest in other than Texas. The traditional Nebraska, Oklahoma, OK State and A&M squads are simply laughable, so let's all kneel down in front of the Red Raiders... after all, they did beat the likes of Sam Houston and Indiana State.

Michigan. What does a team have to do to drop out of the top 25? The loss to Notre Dame is one thing, but following it up with dual 23-20 games against Wisconsin and Minnesota? Just more Big Ten pandering folks, and besides, if they're unranked what will Chad do with all of that Wolverine apparel?

So that's my daily ranting and raving, and let me beat you to the punch on what would be obvious comments.

Cory, West Virginia has only beaten one ranked team and they're on the top 25 bubble every week!

Well, at the time they weren't. Besides, when you're West Virginia nearly every road game is a war. Just look at any copy of EA Sports College Football 2005, damn near every game is a "Rivalry Game." On top of that, the same can be said for Miami.

Cory, the Big East is weak this year, couldn't that account for some of their success?

Sure, there's logic there. But those teams are getting better every day. In the coming seasons I'll be proven right.

Cory, how will you feel when Pitt comes to Morgantown and beats up on the Mountaineers?

I'll personally kick myself in the crotch if that happens.

Greetings from the happiest place on Earth, Tijuana!

Last night I finally got to enjoy my very first Mex-perience, and boy was it something else. Unless you've actually been to Tijuana it's quite difficult to really put into words the madness of the city. After about five minutes it becomes apparent that every single resident of the town is a cab driver/drug dealer/pimp. How do you know? Well, your conversations typically go like this:

Amigo: Cab, sir, need cab? We take you anywhere in city for five dollars!
Gringo: No thanks, we're walking, we don't need one.
Amigo: Come on sir, we take you right to downtown, five dollars.
Gringo: Nope, sorry (continue walking)
Amigo: (Now in hot pursuit) Blow? Need blow?
Gringo: What!?
Amigo: I got coke, blow, what you need? Good price!
Gringo: No thanks man, I don't need any of that either.
Amigo: Girls? We got NICE girls, they give you what you want, twenty-five dollar!

At this point in the conversation I would typically find myself laughing hysterically while Ryan is shouting "NO" repeatedly back to the defeated cabbie. Unfortunately, the victories are short lived being that on the next street corner you will undoubtedly prepare yourself for another round.

Even the out of towners are in on the act. We encountered a Canadian man on a bike that went out of his way to slow roll by us and say, "Hey guys, need any Oxycontin?" As we turned him away I realized that I've now traveled thousands of miles into another country only to have a white guy try to sell me some OC's... small world, eh?

I'd have to say that the most amusing part of the night was when one of the Amigos shouted to me from down the street. Being a complete retard I decided to inquire as to what he needed. He began to speak to me in Spanish, I began to explain that I didn't speak Spanish. After an extended bi-lingual battle with this gentleman I finally found myself shouting, "I DON'T SPEAK SPANISH," as he blathered on and kept pointing to his mother. She's best described as the stereotypical Mexican old lady. Probably in her late 70's this kindly looking old lady was slouched over a walker and had the whole "refugee" look going.

After a few more minutes of this pointless and unintelligible battle, Ryan finally decodes some of the Spanish and pulls me away. We walk down the street, duck into the next shop and he explains, "Dude, that guy was trying to sell you a night with his mother."

Needless to say, I went back, pulled out the wallet and gave the ol' gal a night to remember.

(I started to end the post there for comedic effect, however, my fears that someone may actually take that seriously (especially after the "Larry is dead" fiasco) caused me to come back and include this disclaimer... I did not sleep with the old Mexican lady. As Foghorn Leghorn would say, "Them's jokes son.")

I have had all that I can stand of the Conservatives in this country.

The conservatives are already harping for an "up or down vote" for potential Justice Alito, although they refused to allow such a vote for Justice Meirs. For God's sake, does they hypocracy ever end!? How is it possible that the left that allowed Robers and was going to sit by and allow Meirs is somehow the obstacle in the confirmation of a true-blue patriot like Alito!?

Have we reached such a point that the people of America will just fall in line?

I don't address this post to liberals, you're already here/there. I address this to conservatives. Your party attacked Harriet Miers. They drove her from Washington... did she get a "fair, up and down vote?" When the true crooks in Washington (Tom DeLay, Dennsi Hastert, etc..) refuse to give said vote, demanding one immediately upon the suggestion of an conservative, is it really fair?

I say let's ask all Conservatives one quesion, "Where would you have voted on Harried Miers?" There are two answers:

1. I vote for her. Goeroge Bush knows best and if he chose her then he MUST know what he's talking about.

2. I vote against her. George Bush made a terrible call, he's appealing to the dirty liberals.

At the end of the day you lose.

Welcome to the end of the world.

Sorry folks, but it really did take L.A. to make me realize what I've taken for granted. For example, I don't have pictures of my grandfathers in the mines. Luckilly I've found these photos from that era to explain the situation.


Despite what some people would tell you, the term "redneck" does come from the moment when the men from the Paint Creek/Cabin Creek Revolution fought back. Those brave men marched from West Virginia to Washington D.C. with red handkerchiefs tied on their necks in protest of unfair labor structures.

They returned home to fight the United States Army Reserve and Pinkerton Guards equiped with rifles and chained Grizzly Bears. After shedding blood and fighting what the sitting president called the "second civil war" the miners won their rights!


Mother Jones herself set foot in Cabin Creek, refusing to move. Regular workers became soldiers, my grandparents found themselves fighting a two-front war... the Nazis and the Pinkertonss.

My Grandfathers refused to pee in a coffee can. They refused to die in a mine shaft. They saw blood for these requests, but in the end the won!

Cabin Creek, Paint Creek, and the rest of the WORLD found worker's benefits through the efforts of these men.


The picture above is that of Arnold Miller in front of the coal storage silos at the Bethlehem lines preparation plant at Kayford.

My Uncle worked for Bethlehem, he attends the Kayfork reunion each year... my family recalls Kayford, it meant something to my Grandmother Delphia Spencer, but I just don't know those people.

The most important thing that we have is each other.

Reunite when you can, they're trying to kill this part of American History.

Let me close with a few words from Steve Earle:

I was born on this mountain a long time ago
Before they knocked down the timber and strip-mined the coal
When you rose in the mornin' before it was light
To go down in that dark hole and come back up at night

I was born on this mountain, this mountain's my home
She holds me and keeps me from worry and woe
Well, they took everything that she gave, now they're gone
But I'll die on this mountain, this mountain's my home

I was young on this mountain but now I am old
And I knew every holler, every cool swimmin' hole
‘Til one night I lay down and woke up to find
That my childhood was over and I went down in the mine

There's a hole in this mountain and it's dark and it's deep
And God only knows all the secrets it keeps
There's a chill in the air only miners can feel
There're ghosts in the tunnels that the company sealed