X-Tra Rant

#6 in the 9 part series looking at the stats for Indiana’s congressional delegation gives us Mike Pence.  Stats below the fold: (more…)

Two today since I missed last Friday. #5 in the 9 part series looking at the stats for Indiana’s congressional delegation gives us Dan Burton:

Watermelon Dan Burton, who of course got his nickname by inviting reporters to his back yard and shooting a watermelon to prove (how?) that Vince Foster did not commit suicide, a wacko theory he still believes, despite at least four investigative conclusions to the contrary.

Ahhhh Watermelon Dan, his stats are below the fold.

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#4 in the 9 part series looking at the stats for Indiana’s congressional delegation gives us the 4th District’s Steve Buyer. Sorry fo rthe delay on this one, it wa sa busy memorial day weekend. Stats below the fold.

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Wow, quite a weekend. If only I’d had tickets to the race it would have been full up.

Friday was Carb day at the track with people from work as well as CJ and Nate. The Indy Pro Series race, the Freedom 100, was a hell of a race, coming down to the last laps to decide it. It was toasty out and my SPF 50 actually kept me from burning. Huzzah!

Then out for dinner at the ShelBi Street Cafe with a group for a combination birthday celebration for Nate and another person. That place is great! They have rooftop dining on top of the Fountain Square Theatre, which gives a great view of downtown and it was aperfect night out for that. A little pricey, but worth it. I had this amazing seared tuna with thai noodles.

Saturday morning included drinking cheap beer on the roof of CJ’s apartment building and watching teh 500 Festival Parade. There’s no better place to watch the parade than the roof of a building. Avoid the crowds, drink cheap beer, yell down at the parade people, get your picture taken by The Black Widow from her car in the parade. Good times.

Then that night a party at friends of friends. Learned to play cribbage. Burgers the size of my head. The comparison of conversations - one group talking about the best Panera Bread in Westfield/Carmel to go to, the other talking about the Taco Bell to go to downtown without getting robbed.

Sunday was all racing all day. Listened to the 500 on the radio while surfing the Internets and playing hockey on my PS2. What a great race, but I feel so bad for the Andrettis. Seriously, just how bad is their luck? Hey at least they both finished the race. And Marco is going to be a star in the IRL. I’m not upset Hornish won, he’s cool and had had a bunch of bad luck at that track in the past as well.

Also watched the mind bogglingly long 600 mile long NASCAR race that night. Good lord what a long boring race. Give me the NASCAR short tracks any day of the week over that monstrosity. And really…the commentary for NASCAR races on Fox is horrible. But maybe I’m spoiled by the 500’s radio commentary by Mike King.

Monday spent trying to get my AC to work (hooray for 88 degrees INSIDE my apartment) then calling the complex and finding out I’m like, 20th on their list. Didn’t get fixed. Went home to hang with the parents for the afternoon. They can actually get delivery pizza out there now, which just goes against the natural order of the world.

Now today will be getting back to the grind of work and doing alot of web work for a client tonight. I was going to work on it Sunday but with no AC it was too damn hot to concentrate on anything more engaging to the mind than Pong. I’ll try to catch up on the political mayhem this week.

Just a reminder, Drinking Liberally:Indianapolis is tonight at Spencer’s, 7pm. Don’t miss it. And we’re havign a cookout on Saturday June 10th. Leave a comment if you’re interested in coming.

There’s now a Uni Watch blog. I’ve always dug the columns on ESPN Page 2. This is defionitely going in the RSS reader.

Today, two Indiana House members on the House Judiciary Committee had a chance to vote in favor of keeping the internet free from meddling by the big telcos and making sure everyone has the same voice on the internet. The vote in the committee was on the bipartisan Sensenbrenner-Conyers HR5417 to support network neutrality.

Thankfully, it passed the committee 20-13-1 and hopefully that will give it some mo’ into the entire house. Two Indiana Republicans are on the committee - how’d the do for protecting the freedom of the Internet?

• Mike Pence (IN-06 R) is listed as not voting, but he’s in the House today because he voted on a resultuion at 12:30 this afternoon, so why didn’t he vote on this issue? Maybe you should ask him. Or call and ask. 202-225-3021 or 765-640-2919.
• John Hostettler (IN-08 R) voted against the bill. Somehow it doesn’t surprise me that Hostettler would vote for the interests of big business over the interests of internet users and small internet businesses. If you live in the 8th, you should defintiely email him or call him up: 202-225-4636 or 812-232-0523 (Terre Haute, other offices listed here). Ask him why he thinkgs AT&T should have a say about what you can see on the internet and how fast you can see it.

#3 in the 9 part series looking at the stats for Indiana’s congressional delegation gives us the Republican Ft. Wayne and parts northeast. Stats below the fold.

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I’m going to try to put any of my blathering about the Colts into diaries over at Stampede Blue. Like this one about a good profile Len Pasquarelli did on new Colts RB Joseph Addai.

Colts fans - visit Stampede Blue. It’d be good to have a nice central blog for Colts fans, and it’s part of SB Nation.

So who’s going to start a Pacers site for SBN?

Because I’m busy, lazy and about ready to throw my computer out a window (if only the windows in the office building opened….) i’m going to do another link roundup instead of anything in depth. Huzzah for simplicity.

These are all political today. Enjoy.

• Nancy Pelosi (D-Shooting Dems In The Foot), you are an idiot. There is no excuse not to take William Jefferson (D-MoneyFreezer) out to the woodshed instead of trying to cover up for him by complaining about the FBI raid on his office. Members of COngress are not above the law. beyond that, now all of the Democrats’ anti-corruption charges are going to look like hypnocritical partisanship.  We could have showed the American people we (the Democrats) are serious abotu stamping out corruption, but not now. Thanks alot.
• There’s a new Network Neutrality action alert. Contact the Democratic members of the Hosue Judiciary Committee, because they will be markign up a bipartisan bill to save Network Neutrality. Unfortuantely, the Communications Workers union is taking the wrong side on this one and trying to get them to vote it down.
• This is just CREEPY. AMERICAblog links to a CNN video story about one of those “cure the gays” programs. “One way to cure yourself is to take a tennis racket and beat the crap out of a pillow while screaming your mother’s name” WAHHHH? And people wonder why I have reservations about organized religion.
• This is just rich. Tom DeLay’s “help me help me I might have to go to jail for being a corrupt stain on our democracy” fund is actually using, get this, comments by Stephen Colbert to support him. Satire is truly dead.
• Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) is the man. THIS is what a Democrat with backbone looks like. We need more like that. (warning, YouTube video so watch your speaker volume if you’re at work)
• A way to stop the warrantless spying on Americans by strangling the money for it? Specter and Feinstein have a bi-partisan bill to do just that. Oh yeah, and Senator Feinstein, why in the hell did you vote to confirm Hayden if you’re worried about warrantless spying on your fellow citizens? HUH?
• And for just a little fun TDW wonders … Lt. Governor Skillman…distracted by shiny objects?