Month: March 2014

Look at the first 46 names on this list and if you live in that state call them, write them, and let them know how ashamed you are of them. Our veterans deserve better. They risked their lives for us.

If you voted for any of these men and woman I hope you are ashamed.

Senator	Vote
Alexander (R-TN), Nay	Nay
Ayotte (R-NH), Nay	Nay
Barrasso (R-WY), Nay	Nay
Blunt (R-MO), Nay	Nay
Boozman (R-AR), Nay	Nay
Burr (R-NC), Nay	Nay
Chambliss (R-GA), Nay	Nay
Coats (R-IN), Nay	Nay
Coburn (R-OK), Nay	Nay
Cochran (R-MS), Nay	Nay
Collins (R-ME), Nay	Nay
Corker (R-TN), Nay	Nay
Cornyn (R-TX), Nay	Nay
Crapo (R-ID), Nay	Nay
Cruz (R-TX), Nay	Nay
Enzi (R-WY), Nay	Nay
Fischer (R-NE), Nay	Nay
Flake (R-AZ), Nay	Nay
Graham (R-SC), Nay	Nay
Grassley (R-IA), Nay	Nay
Hatch (R-UT), Nay	Nay
Hoeven (R-ND), Nay	Nay
Inhofe (R-OK), Nay	Nay
Isakson (R-GA), Nay	Nay
Johanns (R-NE), Nay	Nay
Johnson (R-WI), Nay	Nay
Kirk (R-IL), Nay	Nay
Lee (R-UT), Nay	Nay
McCain (R-AZ), Nay	Nay
McConnell (R-KY), Nay	Nay
Paul (R-KY), Nay	Nay
Portman (R-OH), Nay	Nay
Risch (R-ID), Nay	Nay
Roberts (R-KS), Nay	Nay
Rubio (R-FL), Nay	Nay
Scott (R-SC), Nay	Nay
Sessions (R-AL), Nay	Nay
Shelby (R-AL), Nay	Nay
Thune (R-SD), Nay	Nay
Toomey (R-PA), Nay	Nay
Vitter (R-LA), Nay	Nay
Murkowski (R-AK), Not Voting	Not Voting
Nelson (D-FL), Not Voting	Not Voting
Wicker (R-MS), Not Voting	Not Voting
Baldwin (D-WI), Yea	Yea
Begich (D-AK), Yea	Yea
Bennet (D-CO), Yea	Yea
Blumenthal (D-CT), Yea	Yea
Booker (D-NJ), Yea	Yea
Boxer (D-CA), Yea	Yea
Brown (D-OH), Yea	Yea
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea	Yea
Cardin (D-MD), Yea	Yea
Carper (D-DE), Yea	Yea
Casey (D-PA), Yea	Yea
Coons (D-DE), Yea	Yea
Donnelly (D-IN), Yea	Yea
Durbin (D-IL), Yea	Yea
Feinstein (D-CA), Yea	Yea
Franken (D-MN), Yea	Yea
Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea	Yea
Hagan (D-NC), Yea	Yea
Harkin (D-IA), Yea	Yea
Heinrich (D-NM), Yea	Yea
Heitkamp (D-ND), Yea	Yea
Heller (R-NV), Yea	Yea
Hirono (D-HI), Yea	Yea
Johnson (D-SD), Yea	Yea
Kaine (D-VA), Yea	Yea
King (I-ME), Yea	Yea
Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea	Yea
Landrieu (D-LA), Yea	Yea
Leahy (D-VT), Yea	Yea
Levin (D-MI), Yea	Yea
Manchin (D-WV), Yea	Yea
Markey (D-MA), Yea	Yea
McCaskill (D-MO), Yea	Yea
Menendez (D-NJ), Yea	Yea
Merkley (D-OR), Yea	Yea
Mikulski (D-MD), Yea	Yea
Moran (R-KS), Yea	Yea
Murphy (D-CT), Yea	Yea
Murray (D-WA), Yea	Yea
Pryor (D-AR), Yea	Yea
Reed (D-RI), Yea	Yea
Reid (D-NV), Yea	Yea
Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea	Yea
Sanders (I-VT), Yea	Yea
Schatz (D-HI), Yea	Yea
Schumer (D-NY), Yea	Yea
Shaheen (D-NH), Yea	Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Yea	Yea
Tester (D-MT), Yea	Yea
Udall (D-CO), Yea	Yea
Udall (D-NM), Yea	Yea
Walsh (D-MT), Yea	Yea
Warner (D-VA), Yea	Yea
Warren (D-MA), Yea	Yea
Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea	Yea
Wyden (D-OR), Yea	Yea

 

Episode  21,  The Fox and the Wolf

Summary:

If you haven’t already watched the first three seasons its time now.  It’s an amazingly well done show. Go watch Season 1, Season 2, and the first half of Season 3. They are well worth seeing.

The episode starts off with the origin story of the demon thingy. During the Japanese internment it rose from the fallen as two soldiers were disposing of bodies.

The very first thing Evil Styles does when he shows up is to go to Kira’s dad, looking for the last of the good demons. When Scott and Kira show up we find out a lot about Kira’s family. Her mom looks awesome for a 900 year old.

The evil demon that has Styles actually came from Kira’s mom!

Kira’s mom was a scavenger in the internment camp as well as being the lover of one of the soldiers. While at the camp some form of flu broke out but the camp doctor was selling the meds on the black market. People in the camp are starting to die and the survivors are getting mad. This leads to a riot, and then a slaughter. Kira’s mother watched the violence and watched as one of her camp mates revealed herself as a werewolf before taking the riot to the next level. Kira’s mom took several bullets in the hale of gunfire, but whatever she was, she was able to heal. Unfortunately her boyfriend was burnt to a crisp, and lived lone enough to suffer because the doctor had also sold all the morphine.

Back at the police station Styles’ dad lets Mr. Argent and Derek go so they can go help find and trap his son. The MRI that showed Styles’s disease was all a trick, it was actually his mothers MRI. The evil demon is trying to get Styles to give up.

Evil Styles appears to be a step ahead of everyone, and then shows up in his room, waving to his dad on the security camera. I have a bad feeling about this.

When Kira woke up she was in the truck with her boyfriends body next to hers, his body wrapped in bandages. And thus we learn where Tooth Monster came from. He was born of love and loss and hate when Kira’s mom gave in to the urge for revenge. She called the demon, but it took her dead boyfriends body, not hers.  The very thing she had called, hoping for revenge for her fallen, took the lives of the remaining survivors of the interment camp. When Kira’s mom makes it back to the camp everyone is dead. She grabs her sword from under her bed (where every girl keeps it) and then uses her blade to stab the demon at the same time the werewolf is attacking it from behind.

The demon goes down, but isn’t fully dead. Just put down for a while, but at the cost of breaking Kira’s mom’s sword. Now Kira needs to use her lightening powers to weld the sword back together so they can use the blade to drive the demon out of Styles.

Back in Styles’ room the team is fighting over what Styles left them. A threat? Or a helpful note from the real Styles?

Kira’s mom’s gives her the blade, telling them that the only way to save Styles is to kill him.

The very last scene sets up next weeks episode. Its all on at Derek’s loft.

Things I loved about this episode…

• The fact that Styles’ dad will do anything to help him. Family comes first.

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• Styles is still the bad guy!

Episode  20,  Echo House

Summary:

If you haven’t already watched the first three seasons its time now.  It’s an amazingly well done show. Go watch Season 1, Season 2, and the first half of Season 3. They are well worth seeing.

Episode 20 starts with the heart breaking departure of Styles as he is admitted into a psychiatric facility. As soon as he is admitted a man jumps from the stairs and hangs himself and when he looks down we see the creepy Styles Teeth Monster.

Back at the house Dr. Deaton is telling everyone that the lichen they injected Styles with won’t cure him, it will only hold off the demon inside him for a little while.

Styles wakes up and isn’t very happy with his decision to lock himself up for everyone elses safety. The nut house is full of creepy people.

Both Derek and Mr. Argent are in the prison, trying to decide whether Styles can be saved or not and how much of him is actually left.

During group Styles is seeing his crazy toothy friend and the therapist apparently knows what is going on. She gives him meds to keep him awake. The team has until the marks on his body go away to save him, or the therapist is going to put him down. Everyone wants to kill Styles!

As always, the story is going in several directions at once. The team has to rob an armored car to get the evidence the police have that may have a scroll that they need to save Styles.

Styles walks in on the fox girl he helped save. She’s showering in the boy’s room because the men’s room has a hotter shower. She apparently has no nudity taboo because she never wore clothes as a fox. She isn’t so happy that she was turned back into a human, but she’s willing to help Styles because he thinks there might be a path to turn her back. With her help he is able to get into the basement (although why he would want to go there I have no idea) with the help of fox girl.

With the keys he heads downstairs, again I have no idea why. As he’s trying to get to the basement he gets caught, and after he gets put into the quiet room they also dose him with a sedative, putting poor sweet Styles to sleep, and directly into his nightmare. Just when we think he’s about to give in to tooth monster the foxy girl saves him, waking him up, and telling him there is another path into the basement.

When the team tries to kick off their plan to get the scroll from the silver finger they run into a new player, a huge dude who is also a wolf. Big wolf proceeds to kick the snot out of everyone (just like every fight in teen wolf goes for the good guys) right up until the twins show up and come to the rescue.

Styles and the foxy girl make it into the basement, but he’s not sure what to do once he’s there. Unfortunately the marker lines on his back are going away, but at least he got to hold the foxy girls hands. And then Styles gets lucky. Fox girl wants more than a kiss. (What about a condom MTV?)

After the twins kick the crap out of the big wolf Scott spares the new wolf. They are there to save a life, not take one.

Back in the basement foxy girl has a moment of post coitus clarity, and shows Styles that the wall with the number on it is actually a false opening hiding a body. Just when you thought foxy girl and Styles had a path forward the crazy roommate attacks them with a stun gun. Foxy girl gets a dose of sedatives and then the crazy roommate picks up a drill.  Time for some head drilling. Creepy roommate (Oliver) is about to drill into Style’s head but the tooth monster tells Oliver to start with the girl.

Great, no Styles has to choose between Foxy Girl he just got lucky with and letting the demon take him over. What choice did he have.

The end of the episode raps up with two items. The first is that they might be able to expel Styles’ demon by turning him to a wolf, and the other is that Foxy Girl was discharged and is also looking for him.

Things I loved about this episode…

• The psychiatric facility (Echo House) was well done. Way creepy.
• Fox girl’s first kiss.

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• Styles being in so much pain.  I hate seeing him like that.

Episode 12, Still

Summary:

Still, starts off with Beth and Daryl running from a horde. They hide in the trunk of a car as a lightening storm rages and walkers pound on the trunk. Eventually the walkers stop and B&D escape into the daylight. They scavenge some stuff from the car (not sure why yet) and then are on their way.

The two of them apear to be setting up a new camp. Daryl goes hunting and fails to get a squirrel (which costs him a bolt) but does get a rattler with a stick and his knife. Also, as a flashback to the very first camp, they hang some metal bits on ropes to alert them to walkers. While they are eating Beth tells Daryl she wants a drink, a real drink, but Daryl ignores her as he munches down on his snake.  Beth heads off into the woods, and finds herself in the path of several walkers. (Did she really go into the woods with just a knife? It seems like a club would be easy enough to make out in the woods.)

Beth doesn’t want to stay stuck out in the woods, which causes a bit of… munch, gurgle, munch chew, I lost the argument as my youngest at a granola bar in my ear. Daryl apparently gives in because he lets Beth drag his butt to a defunct golf course, because golfers like to booze it up.

Inside the golf course club house Beth and Daryl find some awesome Christmas decorations. There are quite a few walkers hanging from ropes. It looks like a group of survivors were living in the club house and didn’t make it. As Daryl is grabbing some money (I guess old habits die hard) the walkers they’d seen in the distance close in and try to get through the front door, forcing B&D to flee deeper into the clubhouse. While Beth is looking for booze she runs into a well dressed walker and puts it down at the cost of her bottle of wine.

What happened at the clubhouse? Clearly there were survivors there for a while. And someone lined up some of their bodies. Did the last few run for it? Or are they still roaming around the dark club house basement?

As they are exploring the basement they are forced to run from a a horde which leads to an awesome zombie by golf club death. Go Daryl. Beth is excited when they find the bar, even if Daryl is skeptical. Beth finds some peach schnapps but seems very nervous about taking the drink. She breaks down as she is looking at the bottle. Daryl shatters it, not letting her disobey Hershel just yet.

B&D escape back into the woods but Daryl isn’t as talkative as Beth would like. Daryl leads Beth to a moonshiners cabin he found a while ago with Michonne. Apparently Beth isn’t allowed to drink peach schnapps but white lightening is okay. She offers him a drink but he tells her he can’t, he’s on watch.

As Daryl is fortifying the house he opens up just a bit to Beth, and she turns out to be a horrible influence, convincing him to take a drink. You get the sense as Daryl is talking that being back in that moonshiners house is kind of like returning home, and that is sad. The other world, the one with walkers might just be better as far as Daryl is concerned.

For someone who never drank, Beth seems to know a thing or two about drinking games. They talk back and forth, each of them having to drink if the statement was true. Beth insults Daryl a little and he gets up and pees in the living room before going off on a rant about how much Beth had and he didn’t. It is a sad side of Daryl we’ve never seen before. I almost think the directors are trying to make us not love Daryl so much. But it won’t happen. He’s still the best.

Beth and Daryl yell at each other. Daryl is mad that she had such a privileged life, and Beth is mad that Daryl sees her as a “dead girl” – someone who is going to die. Daryl is ranting, he truly believes that everyone is dead, and he blames himself for not seeing what happened at the prison.

As the day grows longer Daryl and Beth are friends again. They open up some more, talking about their pasts and who they were and loved.

And I think we hear something prophetic. Beth tells Daryl he will be the last man standing, and that he will her when she’s gone. She tells him he needs to be who is is, not who he was, and they should burn down the moonshiners shack. Clearly it represents Daryl forgetting his past and moving forward. It was very touching.

Things I loved about this episode…

• The storm trunk scene. Daryl is way to calm, just the guy you want to be locked in a trunk with when walkers are trying to get in.
• Beth making fire with some car parts.

Things that I didn’t like about this episode…

• Beth making fire with some car parts. Come on, that was way to easy.
• Let’s follow some simple rules. Why did B&D separate in the clubhouse. It just doesn’t make sense in that environment.
• Daryl feeling so much pain over the loss of the prison. It wasn’t his fault.
• Did Rick never think about what could happen if the fences at the prison came down? They had the bus and some escape plan, but no real rally point? No where for everyone to run and meet if the shit hit the fan?

Watch Season 1 Instantly:

Watch Season 2 Instantly:

Watch Season 3 Instantly:

Okay, let’s just review some facts.

There is some crazy mongering around out there saying that the new budget is going to “weaken” our position because it cuts too deep. They are saying it “guts” our defense, which is just insane.

Let’s review the facts. Take a look below. What do you notice about the “gutting” budget that was just proposed? It is still 16% higher than the spending in 2011. At some point we can’t spend more than half our dollars on defense.

I’m not saying cut it to nothing, but I believe 40%  isn’t a bad target. How many times do we need to be able to destroy the whole world? Fifteen, twenty times? At what point does it really not matter any more?

And or, let’s look at it a different way. If I have a huge house, my alarm system costs more. And if I have a lot of wealth in that house, I may spend even more for a guard or drive by patrols. Guess what, if you want to keep spending so much on the military, let’s put a 50% tax on every dollar you make over a million.  And, let’s make sure it has some teeth. Anyone caught with offshore accounts gets all their assets seized.

2011 Spending:

Proposed Budget Spending: