At last - a few wedding pix

At long last, I finally have a few minutes to post a few wedding photos. Can I ever stop serving people? (Above) Hey, I can say I've served in two countries now!

God, I miss the swim-up bar! I could go for a Miami Vice right now - a delish drink made of 1/2 pina colada and half strawberry daiquiri. Yum.

Pre-ceremony, no jitters.

My beautiful bride - the love of my life.

Vandra pre-ceremony

The Palapa at the Sheraton - a picture-postcard perfect day, but a hot one.

The crowd awaits...

Vandra with her parents, Ralph & Kathy, walking her down the aisle.

Vandra arrives at the altar

Wedding pics, part II

Here are some more pictures - I couldn't put them all in one post.

Another view, in sepia tone (I love sepia pictures)

One more view, from the side

Taking our vows

My friend Kiley (left) reads Frost's The Road Not Taken

I love this shot - the blessing of the rings

Husband & Wife!

We had to sign some documents at the top of the steps following the ceremony, including our marriage license. One one document, we had to do our thumb print. After that, some quick signatures, and it was official. Muy bien!

The top of the steps at the Sheraton - this is one of many pictures from here - there's so many to choose from - this is probably not even the best one, but our photographer took about 500 pictures. This is one of the better ones.

Wedding pics, part III

Here's another batch of pix. This is one of my favorites.

There were so many great places to have pictures taken at the Sheraton, but above is one of the better post-wedding snaps.

The rings

Vandra and her mom, Kathy

The wedding party, from left: Corinne, Beth, Jenny (Matron of Honor), Vandra, Me, Chris (Best Man), Todd, Matt & Greg. Vandra with her parents, and now my in-laws

Family members who made it to Cabo to see our wedding. We are thrilled and honored that each and every one came with us.

Vandra with the guys. I love this shot.

Me with the ladies!

Wedding pics, part IV

One last batch, for now. I'm going to upload all of the pictures to the 'Net in a few weeks, and when I do, I'll give links to them here. It's quite time consuming, and with school having just started, and with our east coast post-wedding celebration next weekend, the plate is quite full right now. But, I will get them up soon - promise.

Okay, the picture above - c'mon, you knew I was gonna do it, right? Okay, if you didn't, all the better. I've always wanted to do this, and when I told Vandra I wanted to do it, she thought it was a riot, so the vintage, authentic, 1990 Stanley Cup Finals Mark Messier jersey came with us.
And one more. I love the look on Beth's face (second from left). I don't think it's approval, but at least she's smiling! Just joking - love ya Beth - but I laughed when I first saw this pic and saw the look on her face.

Our first dance, to Dreamgirl, by (who else?!?) The Dave Matthews Band.

Another shot of our first dance - I love the panning by the photographer - it's a neat photo.

Vandra dancing with her father, Ralph.

Me dancing with my mom, who could hardly stop crying for this picture to be taken. Love you, mom!

One wedding pic

We are still waiting for our official wedding pictures, but here's a quick one.

Sorry I've been neglecting the blog, but I've been crazy busy since we returned from our honeymoon. I begin teaching on Tuesday, and I've got tons of things to do to get ready. So, I will share lots of thoughts (and pictures) on here soon, but it'll have to wait for a bit.

Be back soon.

Comin' home tomorrow!

It's been quite a blast! We are still in Cabo, and we will be home tomorrow. Above is one quick snap, yours truly with my mom and brothers. This is the wedding garb we wore to the big day. Yeesh, I can notice a bulge in my midsection - our wedding in Cabo and our honeymoon in Puerta Vallarta have done nothing positive for my waistline, that's for sure!

Anyway, just a quick hello. My wife (wife!!) is upstairs taking a nap, so I'm doing a bit of browsing and clicking for a few minutes, and I wanted to share a quick photo, courtesy of my dad. I will have loads of pictures and stories to share when we get home. If all has gone well, our wedding pictures should be awaiting our arrival back in Philadelphia, and I'll be sharing lots on here.

Adios, and I'll write again soon.

Woo Hoo! Cabo here we come

Well, we are off to Cabo - our wedding awaits, along with a tropical paradise. We're so excited and we've waited so long with so much planning, it's kind of difficult to put it into words, so I'm not going to try.

Obviously, I'll going to be away from the blog for a bit. But, I'll be doing lots of reading and listening to Podcasts on the beach, so I'll be doing lots of writing when we get back. Let the reader beware!

When we return, I promise to share lots of wedding pictures, and I'll also be writing about a great deal that's been on my mind that I haven't had time discuss on here lately, including the Swiftboating of John Murtha, the demise of AOL (Yay! - and I mean that), more lies and bullshit from Rick Santorum, the long-promised movie review of Who Killed the Electric Car, a book review or two, and plenty more.

See you in a few.

Adios!

Next must-see movie - The War Tapes

This one is going to be one helluva ride. The War Tapes is a movie about five soldiers from a New Hampshire National Guard unit - C Company, 3rd of the 172nd Mountain Infantry - who taped their experiences in Iraq. To be up front, it's not a political movie, so far as I can see.

I listened to a Podcast interview the other day with the director of the movie, Deborah Scranton, and she had this to say:

"I wanted to really get to as close to the experience of war as possible; to climb inside and feel it all around," said Scranton. "The comments that we're getting is that the level of authenticity has never before been seen."

Scranton maintains that it's not a political documentary/movie - there are some political beliefs in the film spoken by some of the soldiers, but the movie is not made from the persepective of being pro-war or anti-war. That's Scranton's position, but viewers will have to decide.

However, Staff Sergeant Zack Bazzi, one of the soldiers who shot footage for the documentary, agrees with her on that count, saying, "I think she has succeeded in making a non-political film about the war."

Bazzi had some pretty powerful things to say about the movie and the war in this same Podcast.

"I do believe that Americans should know what war is like," said Bazzi. "I don't care if you are for the war or against the war. The fact is, you can't take a position on something you do not understand. And if that [the footage] happens to be gruesome, tough luck. [The war] is being done in your name as a country. I think it's a moral and political responsibility to [see the effects of war]."

I have no way in knowing, but it's my guess that most Americans have no idea about the cost of this war. Maybe in financial terms, yes (and it's quickly running into the hundreds of billions of dollars). But, in terms of death, mayhem and destruction, both on U.S. soldiers and the citizens of Iraq, no.

Many on the right paint dissenters about the war as unpatriotic, un-American or "sympathisizing with the terrorists." I have nothing but a giant fuck you for people of this ilk, but also something slightly more intelligent to say: You don't understand America.

Wasn't it Thomas Jefferson who said, "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism"?

Often when I criticize Bush, (and that's often) especially in the presence of right-wingers, I get this doozy - "If you don't like America, leave!" So, that's what we've come to? A half-baked witticism (and that's being kind) when you hear a political belief you don't happen to agree with? Now, people should leave the country if they disagree? Puleeze. My own half-baked response to those people? If you love Bush's war so much, what are you still doing here? Shut up and ship out.

Anyway, I think this is an important film, and I'm not alone. Here's a few quotes from the movie's Web site:

"Riveting! Compelling!... Gives a stronger taste of the Iraq war experience than any film I can remember."- Stephen Holden, The New York Times

“The first indispensable Iraq documentary.”- Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

"Remarkable. Very moving. Very real."- Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down

"The single best document (book, film or article) you could see" on the war in Iraq - John Fisher Burns, the New York Times' Baghdad bureau chief and two-time Pulitzer Prize winning foreign correspondent

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Not bad words, coming from the author of Black Hawk Down and the New York Times' Baghdad bureau chief.

This movie is a must see. As usual about movies I write about here, I'll review it when I see it.

The War Tapes opens August 9th.

World Trade Center - are we ready for this movie yet?

I just about had tears in my eyes just watching the trailer.

To me, World Trade Center is a must-see movie, but I just don't know. My question to no one in particular is, "Are we ready?" I suppose we are, but it's going to be an awfully tough and gut wrenching movie to get through.

The cool thing about this movie is a thing I heard from someone the other day. I don't know if it's true, but I heard that the producers went to every 9-11 widow they could find, and right down to the very last one, they all said, "Make the movie." If that's true, all the better.

Just watching the trailer gave me some pretty vivid flashbacks from that awful morning - one that I will never forget no matter how long I live and how bad my memory gets. September 11th is my generation's "JFK" - the classic "Where were you" question that my parent's generation could always answer, instantly. We all know where we were, without fail - I was in Reading at Lucent Technologies, watching on TV with the rest of the world.

Anyway, the cast looks pretty decent and the movie has promise. I just hope this one lives up to its promise - we owe the victims at least that much. When I see the movie, I'll share my thoughts.

Bill O'Lielly earns his nickname... for the 1,244,956th time

Aaaah - Bill and Ann. I just can't get enough, I know. They're such idiots, it's just too fun. Hey, I'm not called a political junkie for nothing.

Anyway, this just in - again. Bill O'Reilly is a liar who will say just about anything to his audience, truth be damned. I've come to the obvious conclusion, along with, oh, probably about 100 million other people - that the man HAS to know some of the shit that comes out of his mouth just isn't true.

For example, according to Media Matters, on his August 1 broadcast of The Radio Factor, O'Leilly falsely claimed for at least the third time in recent weeks that The New York Times has "sat ... out editorially" the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

As Media Matters for America notes, O'Leilly claimed on the July 19 edition of his TV show, The O'Leilly Factor, that the Times editorial board was "sitting ... out" the conflict, because in his estimation, "[m]any American Jews are liberal," and "the Times cannot afford to alienate its liberal base." In fact, by then, the Times had published three editorials commenting on the conflict.

On the July 24 Radio Factor, O'Leilly apparently modified his claim, stating that the Times was "basically sitting ... out" [emphasis added] the issue, dismissing the paper's July 18 editorial on the conflict, summarized below, as "just garbage." O'Leilly then reverted to his claim that the Times was "absolutely sitting it out editorially" during that evening's O'Leilly Factor. From the time O'Leilly made the initial claim until the most recent instance on August 1, again, according to Media Matters, the Times published four more editorials on the conflict, bringing the total number to seven.

Well, one thing is clear. If O'Leilly maintains this pace of lying, he will outpace the number of times the Times DOES actually comment on the Mideast crisis, but he still has some catching up to do. Get going, Billie.

A little more Gore, on global warming

Okay, okay, I'll lighten up on An Inconvenient Truth soon, but I dug up a little more Gore on his movie - these two clips are from Keith Olberman's show, and it's a pretty good interview. Part I is above, and Part II is below. I'll let Gore do the talking on these, but it's a very good interview. Enjoy.

Best Buy to customers: Scram!

I'm in Best Buy the other day to return some computer memory, and I had a not-so-pleasant experience. Our desktop computer desperately needed a RAM upgrade, so we bought 2 chips to upgrade us to 1.5 GB of RAM. As it turns out, our desktop can only be upgraded to 1 GB, so I had a chip to return.

Before going to the store, I decided that I could exchange that chip for a little more RAM in our laptop, so I brought it along. I'll try to install just about anything with a desktop computer once, but I have no experience doing anything with or to a laptop other than booting it up and using it. Best to leave that to the experts, I thought.

So, the exchange is done, and I walk around to the other side of the customer service desk to have the self-described "Geek Squad" install the RAM. A couple of minutes, I thought. Putting RAM in the desktop took all of 10 minutes, and that included 5 minutes of blowing the dust off of the motherboard.

Well, I waited 20 minutes, then the 18-year old who's standing there asks me in an accusatory tone, "You bought it here?!?" Showing him my receipt, he starts to enter me into the system. After 10 minutes of this, he says to me, "That will be $40."

"What?!?" I inquire, more than slightly pissed.

"$40," he repeats.

"Forget it, I'll figure it out myself," I bark back, putting the laptop back into my bag.

What kind of shit is that? We spend $89 on 512 MB of RAM, and they want $40 for a 5-minute job. Fuck that. If I wanted to spend $40 more, I would have bought the 1 GB chip and installed it myself. When we get back from Mexico, I'll figure out how to install the RAM, saving us $40.

I've had generally good experiences with Best Buy, so they aren't making the boycott list, but a few more of those interactions and they will be.

I'm sick to death of companies, once you purchase something, telling you in so many words to go away. Companies the world over spend billions every year on advertisements, logos and branding concepts and strategies trying to build up customer loyalty, but then at the customer service end, you get treated like you're some sort of bother.

Reminds me of the cliche - it takes years to get a customer, and seconds to lose one.

If I just dropped close to a c-note, put the goddamned memory in my computer. Free? That's unrealistic, but how 'bout $10, or $20 at most?

In case you're wondering, my boycott list is as follows:

Circuit City
AOL (more on its joyful demise in a minute)
Tom Cruise
An ice cream shop on Fairmount St. near us
Wachovia Bank (happened under the First Union Banner)
Ed Devlin - a contractor in the Philadelphia area who turned out to be a major skunk - do NOT use him!

Not that the list matters to anyone, but if you want to know why any of these have made the list, leave a comment with your e-mail address and I'll get back to you and tell you why.

More Olberman, at his best

Okay, so while I'm on the subject of Olberman, here's a few more good clips. He totally bitch slaps Coulter here, and then takes aim at her apologists. I really can't add anything more poignant to the clips. Just watch them and enjoy.

Rick Santorum, distort? Noo! Really?

I found this on one of my new favorite Web sites the other day, YouTube. It's Keith Olberman (one of my new TV favorites), uncovering a Rick Santorum lie. I really loved Olberman when he used to team with Dan Patrick for "The Big Show," the 11 p.m. SportsCenter. But I love him more now. His show is quickly reaching "can't miss" status on my TiVo, right along with The Daily Show.

Olberman is unapologetic, dogged, honest and real. And he doesn't have on softball guests to ask dickhead questions. No host of any show is totally without an agenda or bias, but Olberman just seems interested in exposing hypocrisy, most notably that of Bill O'Lielly. And what could be better than that?

It's pretty entertaining to watch an increasingly desperate Santorum resort to lies and innuendo to try to get reelected. He's sided with Bush well over 90% of the time on just about every issue. He thorough embarrassed himself during the Terry Schiavo fiasco. He was on Hannity & Pussy a few weeks ago, insisting that WMDs have been found in Iraq.
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So, it's obvious Santorum will do or say just about anything - moves right out of Karl Rove's playbook. As I've said, it's entertaining, but a bit frightening, too, because some people will actually believe his bullshit, and Santorum's got a pretty big war chest.

Go Casey, and thanks, Keith O., for all that you report on. Keep up the good work, and if you haven't checked out his show, do it - he's on MSNBC weeknights at 8. Oh, and check out Tucker, too, a conservative I can actually listen to.

Funny, but fact or fiction?

I received this in an e-mail forward the other day, and I just about fell off of my chair laughing, so I thought I'd pass it along. It sounds like the work of a creative writer (What is EAP, anyway? Not a wire service I've ever heard of, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist), but with some religious nuts, you could see it happening. The story's funny, but not too unrealistic.

Anyway, read and enjoy. If it is the work of a creative writer, well done - I always appreciate a good joke. Yes, a woman was killed, and that's not funny, but man, what a way to go, or should I say, what a reason to go, and I'm not referring to Jesus here. Read on...

Arkansas Woman Killed in Mistaken Rapture

ARKANSAS CITY (EAP) -- A Little Rock woman was killed yesterday after leaping through her moving car's sunroof during an incident best described as a "mistaken rapture" by dozens of eyewitnesses.

Thirteen other people were injured after a twenty-car pile-up resulted from people trying to avoid hitting the woman, who was apparently convinced the rapture was occurring when she saw twelve people floating up into the air, and then passed a man on the side of the road who she believed was Jesus.

"She started screaming 'He's back! He's back!' and climbed out through the sunroof and jumped off the roof of the car," said Everet Williams, husband of 28-year-old Georgann Williams, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

"I was slowing down but she wouldn't wait 'til I stopped," Williams said. She thought the rapture was happening and was convinced that Jesus was gonna lift her up into the sky," he went on to say.

"This is the strangest thing I've seen since I've been on the force," said Paul Madison, first officer on the scene.

Madison questioned the man who looked like Jesus and discovered that he was on his way to a toga costume party, when the tarp covering the bed of his pickup truck came loose and released twelve blow-up sex dolls filled with helium, which then floated up into the sky.

Ernie Jenkins, 32, of Fort Smith, who's been told by several of his friends that he looks like Jesus, pulled over and lifted his arms into the air in frustration and said "Come back," just as the Williams' car passed him, and Mrs. Williams was sure that it was Jesus lifting people up into heaven as they drove by him.

"I think my wife loved Jesus more than she loved me," the widower said when asked why his wife would do such a thing.

When asked for comments about the twelve sex dolls, Jenkins replied, "This is all just too weird for me. I never expected anything like this to happen."

Stress & excitement building

Ahhh, seven days to go! The stress is beginning to build, because we have soo much to get done before we go, but the excitement is starting to build, too. I'm taking a few hours this morning to write before Vandra wakes (always an excursion unto itself - she never wants to!), so I have a great deal to post on here. We've already decided that we want to totally relax and rest tomorrow - we are just packing and that's it. So, I'll probably write a little more tomorrow.

Anyway, here goes...

Important! More on Net Neutrality

Alaska Senator Ted Stevens is at it again. For those of you who don't know who he is (and I didn't until Net Neutrality and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge became issues), he's the ultra-powerful chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee — which is in charge of the bills that, among other things, control the Internet. The problem is, he doesn't have the least bit of knowledge of how the damn thing works, if you take him at face value on this speech about the Internet, skewered on The Daily Show (above).

Anyway, here's some important info. that I just got from a site I check out once in a while, FireDogLake, about what Stevens is trying to do regarding Net Neutrality:

Sen. Ted Stevens is trying to pull a fast one, and get a cloture vote on Net Neutrality before Congress is scheduled to recess this week. He’s been buttonholing three Senators in particular to gain their cloture vote:

– Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas
– Ben Nelson of Nebraska
– Joe Lieberman of Connecticut

Please call and/or fax these Senators and let them know how important it is that they vote against cloture — because voting with Stevens means voting with the corporate shills who want to charge you extra to exercise your right to free speech on the Internet. You can call toll free through the Capitol switchboard at 888-355-3588. (You can also find contact information for offices here.)

Stevens is shooting for a cloture vote on Thursday and has plans to keep everyone in a lame duck session to force a vote on Net Neutrality after Congress is supposed to be in recess. If you can’t win fair and square, you try the smarmy tactics…please hit the phones.

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Couldn't have said it better myself. Please take a second to give these Senators a call on your lunch or whenever you have time. Yes, it is that important!

Had to finish with a laugh

Lots of angry political stuff tonight, I know, with more to come, but I had to finish the night off with a good laugh. This clip appeared on Letterman not long ago, and when I saw it on YouTube, I cracked up. Enjoy!

More Coulter: I just had to

Boy, someone shut up in a hurry? Where did Ann Coulter go? Unfortuately, not to hell, yet. But, her cake hole has been notably silent since her book was exposed as a plagiarized steaming turd. I love how Hannity and Coulter trip over each other trying to attack the Democratic strategist. I gotta give credit here to a man who deserves so little - Alan Colmes. He actually takes Ann to task here on some stuff, and notice how she doesn't answer his question about her comment on John Murtha?

For those of you who don't know, Ann said that Murtha is "The reason soldiers invented fragging."

A bit on Murtha, courtesy Wikipedia:

In 1959, Murtha, then a captain, took command of the 34th Special Infantry Company, Marine Corps Reserves, in Johnstown. He remained in the Reserves after his discharge from active duty until he volunteered for service in the Vietnam War, serving from 1966 to 1967, serving as a battalion staff officer (S-2 Intelligence Section), receiving the Bronze Star with Valor device, two Purple Hearts and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. He retired from the Reserves as a colonel in 1990, receiving the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.

What's the message here? If you are a war hero, don't run for public office. Just like Max Cleland and John Kerry before him, Murtha is latest victim in the long line of Swiftboat Attacks.

And the part in the beginning of the above video about liberals apologizing about WMDs is a riot.

Wake me in November

I know, I know, I've been video crazy on here lately, but the weather on Planet Frist has alternated from outright stupidity to hilarity. Take a look at these three videos when you are having a bad day and need a good laugh - it's about 10-12 minutes of pure joy and entertainment. The one above is a recent clip from CNN where Frist basically blames the network for the GOP's low ratings. Where do I start with that one? Hey Bill, not every cable news outlet is going to be state-run TV like Fox News.



His recent screw ups have been classic, from his Terri Schiavo fiasco (above) to his laughable idea of sending every voter $100 to ease their burden on rising gas prices. That's not even three tanks, Bill.

I've got a better idea, you moron - how about raising MPG standards, which have languished for 20 years, or moving us away from our dependence on foreign oil? With his two disasterous mis-steps, I have a better chance at being president than Frist does, and that's a good thing - I want him to be the Republican leader in the Senate for many years to come, because he's such a screw up, it's nothing but good news for the opposition. By the way, more on the oil debate in a post by the end of the week (hopefully!).



This one's a bit older, but it could be my favorite. The GOP's horrible phrase du jour is Cut and Run. This one goes into the GOP Hall of Lame, along with Shock and Awe, Wanted Dead or Alive, and Axis of Evil. It's gaining no traction, and the American people are beginning to realize the costly and needless suffering that this war is bringing not only to the American people, but to everyone in the Middle East.

The best part about Frist's and the GOP's use of Cut and Run is this - it's Vietnam all over again, but in reverse. In the 1960s, Kennedy (to a small degree), LBJ and later Richard Nixon didn't want to Cut and Run; that is, to be the first president to go in history to lose a war. Well, we did lose, because stupid theories that never materialized told politicians we should remain and not abandon South Vietnam (an "ally" with a phoney regime whose people only wanted us there because they didn't want to fight, and they wanted our money. Sound familiar?) When some Congressional leaders proposed that we pull out of the country, they were portrayed as pussies, wimps, unpatriotic Americans who didn't want to fight, regardless of the waste and drain on America both in money and blood.

Now, you tell me - am I writing about Iraq or Vietnam? I don't like to overuse Vietnam as a metaphor, but there are a lot of similarities, and thankfully, the number of American lives lost isn't one of them, so far. Anyway, unlike Vietnam, this is largely a Republican war, not a Democratic one, so we'll see in November just how angry the electorate is. I hope it's half as pissed as I am.

Wake up, America, and go to sleep, Senator Frist. Wait, you've already been asleep for a while. Time for the Democrats to take over, and they'd better not screw it up, because they truly are our last hope, because Ralph Nader is a political has-been and Ross Perot is a never was.

Despicable American bloodlust

WARNING: This video is graphic - not meant for kids or viewing in the workplace. Watch the above video first (or as much of it as you can stomach to watch), then read my comments below.

Pretty sick 'n sad, isn't it? I've received this video in e-mail forwards from at least 3-4 people, some saying it is "awesome." No, it's pretty sad that any American thinks a killing video is something cool. What's next, death matches at the Los Angeles Coliseum? (Pun intended)

The video above is from Afghanistan (and I think brief clips from Iraq), and it shows American soldiers killing terrorists.

I'll save the Iraq war for another post, but readers of this blog know how immoral and unjust I think the war is, and that's not likely to ever change.

However, in Afghanistan, I began that war on the president's side. We had been attacked, and I supported Bush's decision to go into Afghanistan to get the people who did this to us. But that was almost five fucking years ago. What have we really accomplished there? Kerry said it best in the '04 campaign - Osama bin Forgotten.

The fact that this video could be passed around in forwards by conservative, morally bankrupt people who disguise themselves as religious and pious is as laughable as it is sick.

Like all recent conflicts, the Pentagon and this administration are thoroughly sanitizing news footage of this war. We don't hear much about Americans being killed, and we damn sure don't ever see coffins or the maimed young men who come back to America from Iraq, and for what?

But, damn straight, somehow video of terrorists getting greased on the sides of hills can find its way into our inboxes though, right?