Scotts 2 Cents

February 4, 2010

How Soft Have We Gotten In America

Filed under: Random Stuff — Scott @

HIGH SCHOOL 1959 vs. 2009

Scenario  1:
Joe  goes quail hunting before school and then pulls into the school  parking lot with his shotgun in his truck’s gun rack.
1959  - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Joe’s shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Joe.
2009  - School  goes into lock down, FBI called, Joe hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers..



Scenario  2:
Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.
1959  - Crowd gathers. Mark wins.. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2009  - Police called and SWAT team arrives — they arrest both Johnny and Mark. They are both charged with assault and both expelled even though Johnny started it.



Scenario  3:
Jeffrey will not be still in class, he disrupts other students.
1959  - Jeffrey sent to the Principal’s office and given a good paddling by the  Principal. He then returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again..
2009  - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. He becomes a zombie. He is then tested for ADD. The school gets extra money from the state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario  4:
Billy breaks a window in his neighbor’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1959  - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college and becomes a successful businessman.
2009  - Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse.. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. The state psychologist is told by Billy’s sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison.  Billy’s mom has an affair with the psychologist.



Scenario  5:
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1959 - Mark  shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking  dock.
2009 - The police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is then searched for drugs and weapons..


Scenario  6:
Pedro fails high school English.
1959 - Pedro  goes to summer school, passes English and goes to  college.
2009 - Pedro’s cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against the state school system and Pedro’sEnglish teacher.  English is then banned from  core curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak  English.

Scenario  7:
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the Fourth of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up a red ant bed.
1959  - Ants die.
2009 - ATF, Homeland Security and the FBI are all called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates his parents  – and all siblings are removed from their home and all computers are confiscated. Johnny’s dad is placed on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario  8:
Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort  him.
1959  - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing…
2009  - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison.  Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

July 16, 2009

Schlitterbahn Opens

Filed under: Random Stuff — Tags: — Scott @

We were at Schlitterbahn Kansas on opening day! A quiet opening with not all of the phase I rides open yet but still a fun few hours with an exceptionally small crowd. The potential is absolutely there for a great water park but not just yet….as expected for the first few weeks until the final touches are on the remaining phase I attractions. In a few years it will be amazing once it’s 100% done at full strength. Here’s a video (that we are in if you look closely) from Fox 4 News in KC!

 

June 20, 2009

Stone Canyon Golf Course – Kansas City, MO – Independence, MO

All Spring the Kansas City area was bombarded by commercials on TV, radio and print for Stone Canyon Golf Course in Independence, MO designed by Greg “The Shark” Norman. And all these promotions included promoting a $50 preview rate in 2009 before the club went private in 2010! Well, today (6-20-09) Stone Canyon sent out an e-mail saying that as of July 1st that preview was going away Fri-Sun (when anybody can actually take advantage of it)! Pretty crappy of them. First of all, your in Independence – get over yourself. But even if you’re the greatest golf course ever changing this preview rate you promoted heavily for weeks and weeks before you opened on May 15th is crap. I don’t ever remember hearing this was 6 week preview rate….of course I didn’t hear that – that would be pretty weak. Wait…..that’s exactly what it turned out to be. Not a great first impression by the course, pretty crappy quite frankly.

I speculate that they’ve realized there is NO WAY they’ll have enough interest for the course to actually go private in 2010 so they’ll try to increase revenue now as a public course. The thought of this being a private course was a flawed theory all along. It’s Independence, MO – there isn’t the population base with the income levels to support a private golf club. At least I wouldn’t think so. So I don’t expect the course to actually go private next year. But still, promoting a $50 rate all Spring then taking it away after 6 weeks really sucks and could be an indication that this course has horrible ownership/management so I’d be very wary of joining this private course.

I haven’t played it yet – I had absolutely planned to but I’m not sure I will. If for no other reason on principle.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about both the change in the preview rate and if you’ve played the course what you thought.

April 9, 2009

A talking post?

Filed under: Random Stuff — Scott @

This post is really a test post, I am testing NaturallySpeaking from Dragon Software it is dictation software that may or may not be working. I am watching the words delayed by about anywhere from 1 to 5 seconds as I speak them, but the accuracy seems to be pretty good.
I will talk a little bit about the Royal who won again today to go to 2-1 on the season and it had three excellent, outstanding even, starting pitching performances. Gil Meche on opening day perhaps the best of the three – the one not get the win as Kyle Farnsworth was a disaster and gave up the game-winning home run. Zach Greinke very impressive, got to the bullpen and went with Jose Cruz to Soria and today in the rubber match of the series Kyle Davies picked up right where he left of in the regular season so outstanding pitching winning 2, dropping 1. But they left way too many runners on base and its little scary. Still, 2-1 and coming back for the home opener and maybe Sydney Ponson can prove me wrong and beat the Yankees.
So thank you for letting me do one post here while I talk into my microphone instead of typing.

April 7, 2009

The Kansas City Royals 2009 Outlook

Filed under: Baseball, Sports — Scott @

I keep hearing the Royals as the “sleeper pick” to win the AL Central. I just don’t see it.
I’ve been a Royals fan for my entire life and as a high school student enjoy winning the World Series in ‘85 very much but it’s been a little lean since then. So let me say up front – I really hope I’m wrong.
But….are kidding me?

One of the arguments is that the division is really weak. Since when? Exactly a year ago this time the AL Central was considered the best division in baseball. Now, just a year later it’s winnable by the Royals??? Wow – that’s a stretch.

The one thing I hear that I agree with might be that the offensive is better. Well, that doesn’t take much. Jacobs hadn’t hit over 20 HRs in his career and so last year he hits 32 and is the power savior of this team??? Better than Ross Gload certainly but I don’t expect him to hit 30 HRs and he strikes out WAY too much. Crisp is a nice addition, but does an extra 20 stolen bases really mean 20 more wins in a season…I don’t think so. Teahen was terrible most of the season last year with the bad and 2 of our better hitters in DeJesus and Guillen will (not might, will) miss at least 20 games each with injury. And the other BIG IF that everyone points to is Alex Gordon and Billy Butler blossoming. Same thing we heard last season and it didn’t really happen. Maybe it will this year, finally.
And I didn’t even mention how terrible the defense is in the infield. Teahen at 2nd, Jacobs at 1st and one year ago Aviles wasn’t considered good enough to be a minor league shortstop now he’s the answer for the Royals at short???

But in order to win you need pitching – isn’t that the age old adage…pitching wins. So lets look at the Royals staff on Opening Day in 2009. Even though they struggled at times in spring training I’ll give Meche and Grienke the benefit of the doubt that they’ll be solid and Grienke could be great this year. And although I somewhat cavalierly say they are givens, those are few more decent size “ifs” and I haven’t even gotten to the problems. #3 starter Kyle Davies. He had a good September last season and a good spring this season. And don’t we always hear that we shouldn’t evaluate players in September and March???
And now is when I get really pessimistic. Sidney Ponson and Ramirez as 4th and 5th starters while OVERALL #1 draft pick from a few years ago couldn’t make the majors and one of the Royals top pitchers 2 years ago in Brian Bannister also finds himself in the minors.
Everyone just assumes Soria will be nails again as the closer and perhaps that’s one of the shorter stretches in the scenario that has the Royals not sucking this season but he’s had one good year, one. Not to mention the entire bullpen getting to him is new from the very successful bullpen of ‘08.
And, oh yes – this team has absolutely no depth and a 2nd year manager who still thinks you win games in the AL by stealing bases (which we aren’t very good at) and playing defense (which we got a lot worse at) and still thinks Japanese baseball is the same thing as MLB.
So like I said, I hope I’m very wrong about a lot of things but I just don’t see it with this team.

I predict 74 wins. IF a lot goes well could they go .500, yes – so 81 wins and IF 90 can win the division they’re still 9 games away from getting to that number. Even if you believe 90 games wins the division, there is no way I see the Royals winning 90 games even if A LOT of big if’s go the right way. In the perfect storm, maybe, juts maybe but there is very little to even point to that perfect storm.

April 3, 2009

Firing your Secretary

Filed under: Funny Stuff — Scott @

Another great e-mail that you have to love, even if you see it coming in the end.

Last week was my birthday
and I didn’t feel very well
waking up on that morning.

I went downstairs for breakfast
hoping my wife would be pleasant and say,
“Happy Birthday!”,
and possibly have a small present for me.

As it turned out,
she barely said good morning,
let alone
” Happy Birthday.”

I thought…

Well, that’s marriage for you,
but the kids…
They will remember.

My kids came bounding down stairs to breakfast
and didn’t say a word.
So when I left for the office,
I felt pretty low
and somewhat despondent.

As I walked into my office,
my secretary Jane said,

“Good Morning Boss,
and by the way
Happy Birthday ! ”

It felt a little better
that at least someone had remembered.

I worked until one o’clock ,
when Jane knocked on my door
and said,

“You know,
It’s such a beautiful day outside,
and it is your Birthday,
what do you say we go out to lunch,
just you and me.”

I said, “Thanks, Jane,
that’s the greatest thing
I’ve heard all day.
Let’s go !”

We went to lunch.
But we didn’t go
where we normally would go.
She chose instead at a quiet bistro
with a private table.
We had two martinis each
and I enjoyed the meal tremendously.

On the way back to the office,
Jane said,

“You know,
It’s such a beautiful day…
We don’t need to go straight back to the office,
Do We ?”

I responded,

“I guess not.
What do you have in mind ?”

She said,
“Let’s drop by my apartment,
it’s just around the corner.”

After arriving at her apartment,
Jane turned to me and said,

” Boss, if you don’t mind,
I’m going to step into the bedroom
for just a moment.
I’ll be right back.”

“Ok.” I nervously replied.

She went into the bedroom and,
after a couple of minutes,
she came out
carrying a huge birthday cake …
Followed
by my wife,
my kids,
and dozens of my friends
and co-workers,
all singing

“Happy Birthday”!

And I just sat there…

On the couch…

Naked

February 3, 2009

They’ll never learn!

Filed under: Politics — Tags: , — Scott @

I’m getting so tired of hearing about stuff like this.  This is exactly why these companies should have been allowed to fold and go bankrupt.  Then maybe somebody would learn something.  Instead, we bail them out.  And when I say we I mean that almost literally – it’s government money and government money comes from taxpayers.  Except of course for those who don’t work and don’t pay taxes but get millions in handouts from Obama and the liberals so perhaps I don’t mean we.  Anyway… if there are no consequences for unbelievable behavior like this why will it ever change.  It should be demanded that Wells Fargo IMMEDIATELY pay back every cent of the bailout money they accepted.  If they can’t, shut them down, sell them off and get our money back.  

This is absolutely unbelievable… 
Bailed-out Wells Fargo plans Las Vegas junket
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28999671/

January 28, 2009

It’s really getting annoying!

Filed under: Politics — Scott @

It’s still January….this one doesn’t surprise me, we knew this coming.

Basically, if you can’t pay your bills because you got into a house over your head irresponsbily the government is now going to bail you out.  Are you kidding me?

LONG story short my parent’s lost the house they built from the ground up and that my sister and I grew up in because they ran into financial trouble because of inflation and a real estate market that all but literally died in the 80s.  Nobody bailed them out – their were consequences for irresponsbile actions.  This is absolute crap.

Welcome to Socialism!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28891956/

So I should stop paying my mortgage for a few months I can get bailed out!

January 26, 2009

It’s going to be a long 8 years….

Filed under: Politics — Scott @

I don’t even know what to say.  I’m already exhausted by it all – I don’t have the energy to go on and on editorially anymore – and it’s only the end of January.

How is this not racist?
Robert Reich Excludes White Male Construction Workers from Obama Stimulus Plan

ALSO….

Nothing like fair & unbiased coverage of the news:

Headlines On This Date 4 Years Ago:
“Republicans spending $42 million on inauguration while troops die in unarmored Humvees”
“Bush extravagance exceeds any reason during tough economic times”
“Fat cats get their $42 million inauguration party, Ordinary Americans get the shaft”

Headlines Today:
“Historic Obama Inauguration will cost only $120 million

“Obama Spends $120 million on inauguration; America Needs A Big Party”
“Everyman Obama shows America how to celebrate”
“Citibank executives contribute $8 million to Obama Inauguration”

January 22, 2009

Liberal Crap

Filed under: Politics — Scott @

It’s only been 2 days…..this stuff is more important than your TV and it WILL lead to a major terrorist attack on US soil in the next 4 years.  Unless they wait for us idiots to again elect a left wing radical in 2012 and then start attacking since they’ve been allowed to build strength and plan significant attacks.  

I’m not going to go on and on about this, it makes me too angry and upsets me too much.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/22/guantanamo.order/index.html

But these are just examples of the candy-ass crap we can expect from our liberal President.  Attention all terrorist – go nuts – you will suffer no significant consequences for your actions.  You’ll be treated better in US prisons at US taxpayers expense than you have it in your own country.  Despite the fact that have killed thousands of American citizens you will have your handheld and be treated with kid gloves.

To quote Colonel Jessup
“I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. ”
Those should have been Bush’s parting words! 

God help us all for the next 8 years.  Yes, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that 95% of African Americans voting for Obama for one single reason will be too much for the Republicans to overcome in 2012.

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