Say it ain't so! The last time the Angels won back to back games and a series was over a month ago; April 22nd and 23rd at Oakland.  I don't want to give up on this season, seeing as, with this loss, the division leading Texas Rangers are now at .500, but the Angels have got to start winning some series to get back in this race.  Way to go Kendry Morales!  The Angels are 2-0 since he was brought up.  Let's keep it going boys!

oh, i ganja!

Give it to me straight Doc, I can take it!  In yet another case of killing the patient with the treatment, or in this case the message, we can only imagine that a more appropriate message might have been delivered had he just stayed home.

Seems to me that a video conference by the “Inventor of the Internet” could have maimed two political birds with one stone here… Instead, Al Gore takes to the air.  Guess he doesn’t trust his inventions that much.

oh, i ganja

I know it's still May but June's STFU goes to none other than Boston Red Sox (well kinda, he has only pitched one game this year, and is currently on the DL) pitcher, David Wells.  All I have to say is, look at your stats this year, you big hunk of tub-o-lard!  While casting disparities at others based on their changing numbers, you might want to discuss your 15.75 ERA, 2.75 WHIP and oh, btw, one single strike out?  Hmmm, based on your career stats, that looks a just a little fishy to me.  Maybe it is YOU and your pumpkin sized dome who should be answering questions as to why you suck now that the steroid policy is in full effect?  Wells gets holier than just about everyone Although, I really am more apt to believe it's just because you are simply washed up.

oh, I ganja

At least the greatest I’ve ever seen…

Even though it happened in Kansas City, and I only got to see it on TV and then about a million times on replay, the catch Jim Edmonds made over the tip of his cap in straight away center field is easily the greatest baseball catch of all time.  Keep in mind; this shot was taken from the camera-well, even with third base.  Viewed from home plate, all you see is Jim's cleats and backside.  I've been searching for the video of this, butt to no avail.  If anyone ever finds it, please pass it along.

Baseball Weekly rates it as the 3rd most amazing play of all-time!

I just needed something to reminisce about after last nite’s horrible display by my Angels.

oh, I ganja

I have often wondered how we ever got to this whole idea of sending along (aka forwarding) things that humor us, or enlightened us, or scare us, on to our friends and families simply because we receive them as emails from one of our other friends or family members.  Is it a way of keeping in contact with the ones we love?  Is it simply that there is a forward button on our email program, or are we so afraid that our own words aren’t as good as the ramblings of someone else?  And why don’t we do this with other things in our lives?  When you think about it, when was the last time you “forwarded” a Christmas card, or a hand written letter from someone, or a parking ticket, or your paycheck?  Well, if you’re like me, never.  All of these things have your name on them and are yours for the keeping, and personalized just for you, and that is the key.

Here is my challenge for all of you.  And I will admit, this isn’t my idea, it is only my idea to pass the challenge on to you.

Richard Carlson: author of “Don’t Sweat the Small stuff, and it’s All Small Stuff” writes in one of his chapters that each week you should write a “heartfelt letter” to someone you know.  Imagine, instead of a New Year’s resolution to lose weight or some other self serving endeavor, you resolve to do something for someone else.  Something simple, something from the heart, something that takes more thought than to simply add their name to the long list of names you are about to forward that silly chain email to.

I’ll admit, I’m not perfect, and I don’t write my letter every week.  But I do try.  The best part: when I get a personalized, heartfelt letter in return. I guarantee I never forward it.

If you feel like sending this on, be my guest, nothing bad will happen if you don’t.  If it gets more people writing letters, then it was worth it. Remember, no matter how bad you write, your words mean a lot more to the person you are sending them to than the words of someone else.

david

It is a phenomenon no doubt.  Seemingly ordinary, mild mannered, well adjusted people, women, children, grandparents, all hiding behind the anonymity of their internet connections, ranting, raging, cursing, berating, insulting, bashing, criticizing and just plain being rude to the rest of the on-line community, who are all doing the exact same thing in return.  What the hell is this world coming to?

Before the internet and email and chat rooms and myspace and online dating, we got our news from the newspaper and the TV, we got our mail from the mail box, we chatted on the telephone or in person, there was no world-wide narcissist network and we met our future lovers and spouses through mutual friends, at school, at church, in public!  In short, we interacted with each other in more personal, face to face ways.  We were a society, I would argue, of much more polite and socially mindful people, with a real understanding of cause and effect with regard to our words and deeds.

If a man made an inappropriate suggestion to a female at a bar, he got slapped, or a drink poured on him, and rightfully so.  “Please” and “Thank You” were common phrases.  If there was a difference of opinion, the way it was voiced was tempered by the possible response one would receive.  Letters to the editor were signed (if you wanted any chance of getting them printed.)  We took responsibility for our words.  We had to.  The person we were directing them at was standing right in front of us, or at the very least, knew from whom or where the words came.

Enter the Internet; the ultimate creator of cowards, or at least the enabler of them.

Now - with no possibility of repercussion - inappropriate, rude, and even downright belligerent comments are made online every second of every day.  A whole generation of people living by the credo “The pen is mightier than the sword!” and right or wrong, they are getting away with it, because no matter how mighty, the sword needs a physical target.

Like those who feel a car (or better yet, the largest SUV on the block,) is well suited as an instrument of persuasion, so are those who hide behind the safety of their computer screens, mocking, ridiculing, insulting, berating, all without a single thought or worry of the consequences.  If only the person they were directing their hate laden words toward were standing within arms reach, would they be so bold?

oh, I no ganja

The 6 game (longest since April 2002) losing streak has ended.  Although, I fear it is not, if this is the end of the pain for this year, I’d say we got out without suffering too much damage.  How did we do it, you ask?  With the help of three rooks, two making their major league debuts and one becoming the 92^nd player in history to homer in his first major league at bat.  What a day!  Too bad it happened in Detroit!  Now, since the rooks picked up the vets today, maybe some of them will learn how to hit again.

And now, a quick note on Tim Salmon.  Even though he has cooled off a bit, he has shown that he can still hit big boy pitching for power.  We weren’t expecting .300 and that’s fine.  He is still a dangerous hitter, and a huge asset to a team of increasingly young players that need a veteran of Tim’s experience and attitude around for the dog days.

Angels snap longest skid since '02, cool off Tigers

oh, I ganja!

As if the U.S. didn’t have enough problems, with North Korea and Iran possibly developing nuclear weapons, the ongoing terrorist hailstorm in the Middle East, the future bird flu pandemic, the illegal immigration issues here at home, do we really need to go looking for another bees nest to stir up right now?  Can someone just put a fucking muzzle on our pea brained vice president before he starts another cold war?

Russian Officials Angered Over Vice President Cheney's Remarks

I have no problem acknowledging that Russia has its problems both internally and beyond its borders.  I can also can acknowledge that they too tend to apply pressure to those states that are not playing ball the way they’d like, but for the U.S. to even mention in passing that Russia is somehow overstepping ethical boundaries by using its natural resources to gain advantage or that they are unfairly restricting the rights of its citizens is just plain fucking hypocritical.

It is this holier than thou mentality constantly displayed by our government pinheads that continues to get us in hot water with the rest of the world, and continues to fuel those with less than honorable motives with plenty of material to justify their own self serving agendas.  Russia could absolutely be an exceptional ally of ours if only we would stop insulting them and pissing them off.  We are not the mother, father or big brother of all the world’s nations.  The fact is we need Russia on our side, if we are to check this jihad by the less fortunate, IQ challenged, religious zealots intent on destroying this planet in the name of Allah.

If we want the rest of the world on our side, or the very least stop telling us how to go about our business, we need to keep our noses out of theirs.

oh, i ganja

It is also probable that we will spend even more than all of this combined in subsidies to nations where these drugs are coming from, most notably Mexico, Columbia, South Africa, and Afghanistan (yep, we give Afghanistan millions if not billions of dollars to combat the cultivation of opium poppies) and we can only guess where all this money actually goes. Curious the production of opium from Afghanistan has increased nearly ten fold since we ousted the Taliban (who were surprisingly effective at curtailing the opium industry when they were in power.) Perhaps our government will finally realize that the very freedoms we enjoy and fight for are the catalysts that enable the proliferation of drugs through the exercising of those freedoms.

The fact, which is so unbelievably easy to see, is the war on drugs is un-winnable. I would even argue that the more money we throw at this war, the more ineffective we will ultimately be at fighting it. We live in a society of freedom, capitalism and gluttony; three of the worst enemies to good judgment, equity and temperance, yet we as a society continually fool ourselves into thinking that can somehow control the masses by throwing unfathomable amounts of money toward a war we cannot hope to win.

Opponents to true freedom of choice would have you believe that the only outcome would be anarchy, but I would argue that the problems facing our nation stem from the government’s propensity to limit our freedom when they see fit to save us from ourselves. With ultimate freedom comes ultimate accountability and responsibility. Imagine if we spent that $50 billion on education. Effectively producing more intelligent, accountable and productive future members of our society, who, if they chose, would do drugs, or not, but either way would do so responsibly, and without impeding on anyone else’s right to do the same.

oh, I ganja

add the war on drugs clock to your web page:

<SCRIPT src="http://www.iganja.com/content/binary/clock.js"></SCRIPT>

A Spanish version of the Star Spangled Banner? 

Immigrants, who “love” this country sooooo much yet, have no desire to learn the language spoken by the majority of its inhabitants, the language used to form the country through its declaration of independence and constitution and the language in which every single law is written and will ever be written.  They say ignorance of the law is no excuse, but what about no comprenda le lay?  Is that a valid defense?  If this is to be your country, then it is also to be your society, your community, your neighborhood, and if you truly want to be a part of it, the rest of us speak English!

And what of the immigrants that built this country?  The Irish, Italians, Greeks, Polls, Germans, Slavs et al, have all learned to read, write, speak and yes even sing in English!

Why, for the love of god, must we continue to pander to a faction of immigrants who demand special treatment when every other immigrant before them gladly adapted and integrated themselves into their new beloved country and all without a single nation-wide protest?

oh, i ganja!