Frozen Cheese

There are big changes coming in my life as my hypnosis career has taken a giant leap forward for me. I have accepted an offer from a company in Texas to travel around the country to do self-improvement seminars. These will all be done around my show schedule and I couldn't be more excited.
My work life will basically be about helping people overcome bad habits like smoking and overeating and then helping people laugh when I do shows. How can a career get better than that? It is everything that I can ask for in life.

I'll be on the road, perhaps for weeks at a time, at first. I love being on the road. I love the USA and seeing as much of it as possible.

It is not without potential difficulties. I have a very special girl friend whom I will see less and I have a dog which I will miss whenever I am gone.

Fortunately my girl friend is someone who is very supportive, unlike the last one I had, and I can probably bring my dog on the road with me. Obviously, the girl friend can come also, when she can.

So I am on the road right now, currently in Minnesota. I drove out here over the course of two day covering 1241 miles from point to point.

I have never been in Wisconsin or Minnesota, the former through which I had to pass along the way.
Traveling some of these roads, as you probably know, can be very tiresome since there are miles and miles of flatness and currently dead corn fields.

Driving along the Pennsylvania turnpike is fine for a few miles as it passes through a mountain range. Then it levels out again. There are signs for Pittsburgh and some hope that a glimpse of a building can be seen.
After not seeing anything there its in to Ohio and hopes get high that the Cleveland skyline will come into view.

Nothing.

Then more nothing.

Indiana is the next stop as the route traveled was I-80. More dead corn.

Finally, finally, finally, off on the horizon, and about 30 miles away on a clear day, the Chicago skyline starts to appear. I have never been in Chicago either so I woke up from my nap to take in the sights and sit in Sunday afternoon traffic.

Wisconsin, the big cheese state, was the next state and I was sort of dreading seeing cows for 200 miles. But I started seeing billboards advertising all sorts of things in a town called Wisconsin Dells. The town name barely shows up on the atlas which I had with me. But since I was at the end of a day in which I drove over 900 miles I thought I would stop there.

I was pleasantly surprised by what I found there. Although it was basically a ghost town since its a vacation destination, hence the small print on the map, there are all sorts of things to see and do there. Camp sites, waterparks, amusements parks, a zip line, an interactive science center, a paintball arena, laser tag, two theaters with resident magicians, miniature golf, a water skiing show, etc., etc. The main street of the town had just about anything you could imagine also and in case the thought ran through your mind (you dirty boys and girls) signs pointed to about a mile off the main street for a "gentlemen's" club.

While there I went to see one of the magicians/illusionists who had a show that evening. Since this town doesn't really revive each year until May, there weren't a lot of people in attendance, so I was basically in the front row. The guy I saw was Jeremy Allen www.jeremyallensgrandillusions.com  and I had a good time watching him and his hot girls perform for an hour.

The weather report called for cold and snow for Minnesota and as I hit the road from Wisconsin the following morning it indeed was cold and snowy.

Speeds were reduced although it was clear that the drivers from this area are much better at driving in the snow than they are in Delaware which basically has to call out the National Guard as soon as a forecast for snow flurries is made. 

St. Paul and Minneapolis are seen as soon as you cross the border on Routes I-90 and I-94 but I couldn't see much of it since visibility was poor and I had to concentrate on driving.

Once through there it was back to nothingness. The temperature dropped below 20 and the wind picked up in a fierce way. My trip took me off the Interstate, which was closed for about 150 miles west of where I had to get off.
The road that I traveled from the Interstate was a two-way road and for some of it I was driving in white-out conditions.

I have these very stereotypical images in my head of places where I have never been. In my mind when I thought about Minnesota I imagined that it was flat, cold, and full of snow. 




I was right on the money. 





For a couple of days I'll be training for the new opportunity in Willmar, MN. Um...not too much here

There is a lake I can see.

I did find a picture of where I am staying....and I live large when I am on the road!

When my training is complete and the schedule of where I will be is made (usually at least 3-4 weeks in advance) I'll post it along with my show schedule at www.marshalmanlove.com. If I am in your and you would like to come for a session or even take the opportunity to get trained to become a hypnotist, just reach out to me at dehypno@verizon.net

Done

What's That Stench?

There are two things that are bothering me right at the moment so its time to write something here. Ok, well, there are three.

I’ll start with the most important one and that was the Bachelor finale in which my pick didn’t win for the first time in the three years that I have picked winners and final fours.
So my pick, Lindsay Yenter, finished second. But that isn’t really what is bothering me. What bothers me is that the name of the winner was leaked around the time that the show started.
It seems as if there is some dude who has contacts at ABC and while the show was shooting he found out who the bachelor chose to ask to marry him. Then he posted it.

That ruins the whole game! There is a growing community of people who watch this show and make bets about who will make it to the final four, just like in college basketball. And if some dude has the scoop, how can I make any money predicting winners out there?

The one who won, Catherine Giudici, Sean Lowe, and the one who should have won, Lindsey Yenter

The next thing that is bothering me has to do with personal hygiene. I was in the gym the other day and there are signs posted around the gym asking people not to wear too much perfume or cologne.

Huh?

So instead we have to be subjected to nasty arm pit and ass stench all day long? On what planet am I living?

There is this completely bizarre growing movement, I guess by younger people, to go through the day more “natural” like those disgusting French people do. More people are growing fond of natural musky body odors that frankly make me want to puke most of the time.

There is a very good reason why perfume and cologne were invented in the first place – BECAUSE HUMANS STINK WORSE THAN COWS if left in their natural states.

We are now supposed to believe that soaps, deodorants are to be scent free and we shouldn’t use other scent enhancers these days. Otherwise we “smell like grandma and grandpa” or some otherwise insane comparison. 

The next thing that is bothering me is that the Christophobes are out in force this past week as a new pope has been elected.

This country, America, is roughly 85% Christian/Catholic and the Pope is the head of the church. But for some reason these days it is politically correct to bash this religion and its traditions.

I am agnostic, at worst, and don’t belong to any religion. I respect all religions, except one, and their traditions. For the record, I don’t respect Islam because of that little clause that suggests that non believers should be killed. Those who also believe that all Jews should be exterminated pretty much lack any credibility if they are citing any religious belief also.
But God forbid you mention anything like that out loud in this country, in which Islam is such a minority belief. Because if you do you are an Islamophobe, shunned from the mainstream and your clicky social groups, and you have to take the tour of all newspapers, radio and tv stations to repent your transgression.

So why in the world is it some how cool to bash the Catholic Church? I certainly understand that we all have freedom of speech but the church is covered under that same amendment and I never hear the church coming down and forcing people to retract what they have said about them. Muslims? They don’t react the same way. Draw one cartoon picture of their prophet and see what happens. In fact, there is probably a fatwa being drafted against me as you are reading this.

I’ll take the Catholic Church if I had to choose between the two. Besides that is the church that gave us Christmas, and that is the best time of the year for me. So for that reason alone its cool.  

With that said then, shouldn’t we now start to call those who make fun of, or bash, the Catholic Church, Christophobes? I think it’s appropriate. Its about time, in my opinion, that we turn the tables on this sort of stuff.

Pope Francis

For another example, I read the other day about a pickle company that sold real little pickles and called them Dill Midgets.
Somewhere in the last ten years or so the word Midget has become a derogatory name for dwarves, or little people, that is a kin to any other name someone with ill will in their hearts would call someone of another race.
One woman wrote a letter to suggest a different name for their product because she has a child with some sort of illness that makes him small and he will never be of “normal” size. ONE woman wrote the note and the company changed the name of the product.

I don’t get it. But if we are going to continue to be this effed up and sensitive about words then I may as well join the crowd.

I want the all of the following names of products changed…Animal CRACKERS…Graham CRACKERS…Goldfish CRACKERS…Nip Chee Cheddar CRACKERS, etc., etc., etc.

Now since I have done that and I am ONE person there should be immediate change.

Right? Sounds pretty freaking stupid doesn’t it? It’s all stupid. The entire concept of being “politically correct” is asinine. We should all be polite and respectful to all those who deserve it. 99% of the time we should continue to be polite even to those who don’t deserve it. 

This is offensive!

Another thing I can’t figure out is this thing about being allergic to peanuts or nuts in general. Some time in the last ten years or so this seems to have developed out of thin air.
I’m 51 years old and for roughly the first 40 years of my life I never heard of anyone being allergic to, or dying from, peanuts. Because when people my age were kids pretty much everyone ate peanut butter sandwiches. And I never, ever heard of some poor little kid croaking because he ate some Skippy.
Now, I’m not naïve, there are 6 billion people out there so it would stand to reason that its possible, but I have a theory that its psychological more than anything else. As someone who works with people to help them overcome subconscious defects as a hypnotist, I know full well that people can imagine themselves sick. A thought can get planted into someone’s mind that can manifest itself into all sorts of troubles and even physical ones. 

So if you are someone who can send me some actual proof of this I’d like to see it. I would also like to work with anyone who believes they have an allergy to nuts to try to fix the issue for them. Message me at dehypno@verizon.net.

Finally, for today, there is a pretty good chance that I will be traveling the country doing hypnosis seminars to help people quit smoking and lose weight. This will be for an outfit based out of Texas. I’m heading to Minnesota next week to check it out and if it looks like a good fit I’ll train with them there. This will be in addition to my regular show schedule so it could possibly be a dream situation for me.

This does NOT mean that the Dungeon of Manlove will stop though. You know, our adult-rated podcast which you can access here on this page. There are people on the cast who are going to take over more of the production and I can submit segments and reports from the road and certainly take the microphone when I am back home.

Dungearoke I inside CD case

After all, we have about 6 albums worth of dirty song parodies now with more to come. I have to stick around to help create it and promote it. Our first release is available at amazon.com. Its called Dungearoke I. Dungearoke II and III are at the publisher now and will get released some time soon. Take a listen to some of it if you like a good dirty song and to laugh a little. You can find some of them at www.marshcast.com.

That’s all folks. I’m done.

Got My Mickey On

I am just back from a Disney World vacation and I am re-energized and motivated once again.
Thanks to my awesome girlfriend for making my first vacation in a while possible.

Disney World simultaneously inspires me and depresses me. This was my third trip there; the first two I took during the week prior to Christmas. I have to say that even though its in Florida, it is impossible not to get in the Christmas spirit visiting WDW at that time of the year.

It may be obvious why WDW inspires someone like me who is an entrepreneur at heart and someone who is in the entertainment business as well.
But why would it depress someone like me? Well, for a couple of reason; 1- I always thought that I was a big thinker but when I take a look around that place I come to the conclusion that my dreams weren’t as big as I originally thought; 2- I always had a thing for theme parks since a very early visit to the Bronx Zoo, of all places, and in the back of my mind wanted to create something like that; 3- There is no way that at this point I could generate enough capital to start a huge project like I would want now. At the age of 51 now, I suppose that even if I stumbled across enough millions of dollars to start a new project I probably wouldn’t anyway since that would certainly be enough to retire and do the traveling that I would really want to do.
Sure, the second thought listed does sort of mean that I still dream big in a way, but the third one counteracts that so I may have to, let’s say…think elsewhere…to satisfy myself.

WDW impresses me simply because of the customer service that they offer. It is first rate and first class and no other place can touch it that I have ever visited. The very first place I went to eat after leaving WDW was a place at the Orlando Airport to eat. The people working there were just not WDW class and I was standing there watching them and waiting for them and all I could do was critique them poorly while doing so. 

One of the Walt Disney’s mottos was “If you can dream it, you can make it happen.”
I left WDW ready to restart ideas that have been on the back burner for a variety of bad reasons and even have a couple of new ones to kick off.
Hopefully the reality to which I returned won’t be an obstacle for me. With one of the things I have been trying to do for the last 3 months I am having an issue with a friend of mine who is a web programmer and I can’t get him to do the work that I need to get the website that I need up and running. He can’t “wrap his head” around my idea so he isn’t “so motivated” to do the work even though he’ll get a percentage of the project for doing it. Here is a guy who simply lacks the vision necessary to get him out from the cubicle in which he works and he hates.
He needs a trip to WDW himself.

While in Florida I took the girl to ESPN’s Wide World of Sports to watch the preseason opening game of the Atlanta Braves (who train there) and the Detroit Tigers.
First of all, it was a $100 for the two tickets, which was absurd. But I always thought it would be cool to go to a Spring Training game because these games are always played in smaller parks so all of the seats were good. This was true for this park too, which holds about 10,000 people.
At the game, which the Tigers won 2-1, I was able to get some good pictures of Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, the Upton brothers and a few others as well as Fred McGriff, the Crime Dog, who brought out the lineup card for the Braves.
The Braves held the Tigers without a hit for 7 innings and I started to think there was a chance to witness a little history until they scored 2 runs off some scrub in the top of the eighth to take the lead.
In the bottom of the ninth the Braves broke the combined shutout bid when non-roster invitee Joey Terdoslavich hit the first homerun of the year for either team.

All I could think of was the nicknames and the teasing Joey would have to endure in any of the dugouts in which he will sit during his baseball career. Because there is no way anybody can hold off calling this guy the Big Terd.
I can see the sports headline now…”Braves Cut Terd,” “Terd Flushed to Minors,” “Terd at Third,” etc.

The Big Terd

If I haven’t already done so I would recommend ABC’s “The Neighbors” for some comic relief. The “Neighbors” are aliens who live in a development into which an Earthling family moves.
All of the aliens have taken on Earthly names and all of them are names of famous athletes.
The leader of the aliens, Larry Bird, is played by Simon Templeton. His wife, Jackie Joyner-Kersey, is played by Olatokunbo Susan Olasobunmi Abeke Olagundoye (Toks for short) which ironically enough sounds alien itself. Olagundoye is pretty hysterical and I have seen her do a whole bunch of impressions that are outstanding. Her full name is actually and I kid you not.
Dick Butkus and Reggie Jackson are their two children’s names. Jamie Gertz plays the Earthling wife and may be the only name of which you may be aware on the show.

Larry Bird, Jackie Joyner-Kersey, Dick Butkus, Reggie Jackson
"The Neighbors"

I am a bit behind on the Bachelor, but I do know that I correctly chose 2 of the four women to make the final four on the show. This prediction was made on day one of the show, of course, and without the inside information from ABC employees. This isn’t as good as I have done in the past, but considering the fact that 26 women started the show, still isn’t too bad.

Well its off to prepare for a podcast taping tonight with my refreshed attitude and motivation. More new Dungearoke songs to record also.

Peace out.

Done

Red Hot?

It’s time to take a look at the keyword searches that have brought people from around the world to my tiny little blog originating from Newark, DE, USA.

maria molina measurements

erica campbell

deep roy

soccer gay

andrea tantaros

deep roy eastbound and down

demi lovato background give your heart a break

eliza dushku hot

erica campbell hot 2008

hayden panettiere hockey

As usual, its mostly dudes searching for hot girls. How Deep Roy got in the middle of that, I have no idea though.
I also can’t figure out what hockey and hayden panettiere have to do with other and then further can’t figure out why that search would land me here.

Gay Soccer continues to be a popular search worldwide and when some people do get here I get a nasty note now and then, which just makes me laugh.

I should mention that now that I have mentioned these search terms again that there will be more traffic on top of it.

What I would like to do now, though, is get back on track a little and add some new hot women to the blog. This way when horny dudes from around the world search for them they will land here and then hopefully click on ads that will send money to me.

Somehow Katy Perry has landed in the top 4 of Maxim’s Top 100 Hottest Women list for the past three years. She isn’t even close on my list but I figure since she is popular I will put her here. She is dumb as a stump though so even if she paid me to get busy with her, I just wouldn’t do it. After all, whoever would marry than tard Russell Brand and then wear outfits with our dictator and our ass clown VP’s names on it is qualified for short bus transportation.

Katy Perry

I should add that Maxim has lost all credibility when it comes to listing hot women. Not only is Katy Perry not worthy of the top spot, as she has won before, but this year they put Lois Griffin (from The Family Guy) at #85 and Stephen Colbert at #69 (ahead of Sophia Vergara I might add) and Natalie Portman didn’t even make the top 100.

So soon there will be a Dungeon of Manlove Hot 100 and it will be official.

The first red head to make it here is Christina Hendricks from Mad Men fame. But there really isn’t anything about her red hair that might potentially place her on our Dungeon Hot 100 list, if it comes to fruition. Nope…I think it just might be something else...or some things.

Christina Hendricks

Next is Arriany Celeste. She is really only known for being a ring girl at UFC. But who cares, right? While she has dabbled in film and music, I think its just a matter of time before her hotness just lands her a regular gig doing something more substantial. But then again, the UFC has money so I’m thinking it might be hard for her to leave that day job.

Arriany Celeste

So that’s about it. Thought I would make a contribution here before two weeks flow by again.

Oh yeah…the Super Bowl is coming up soon. Hey, will I get sued for saying Super Bowl? Will NFL lawyers tell me to cease and desist? Ah… let them come, I can use the publicity. I like the Ravens over the 49ers in this game. But I more interested in my block pool at my gym where I could possibly win a years worth of membership fees. Go Flacco!

Done

More Degrees of Bacon

Politics later, dumb stuff first.

I watched the pilot for The Following on Fox with Kevin Bacon last night with my girl friend. (Yes, that’s right ladies, I’m off the market, sorry.) This one looks like a winner. It is about a convicted serial killer who escapes from prison to finish off someone he nearly killed before he was caught. Bacon plays the retired FBI agent who the killer stabbed in the heart as he was trying to save the girl the killer didn’t kill originally. Bacon gets called back in as a consultant who knew the killer the best and re-captures him, as the killer wanted from the beginning. The killer has a cult following on the outside who he directs and Bacon will get re-involved with new murder investigations throughout the course of the series.
This one looks to be a winner and finally a great replacement for 24, which has now been off for a few years.

Kevin Bacon

Fans of the game “6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon” are going to get a whole new set of names to use to win their game now. With credited extras and cameos there could be a hundred more by the time the series ends. If you don’t know what that game is, go here… http://www.sixdegrees.org/kevinbacongameforgood for a brief example of the game and to check out his cause.

Since I tape my podcast on Monday nights I have to wait to watch The Bachelor on a replay On Demand. So I have just seen the first two episodes even though three have aired. The second round of KO’s provided no shockers and there was one girl who quit. So I am still in the game with my predictions.

I have watched the first couple of American Idol shows basically because nothing else I wanted to watch was available. I really can’t stand the dynamic, fake or otherwise, between the two new female judges, Mariah Carey and Nikki Manaj. What I really can’t stand is how the latter just needs to have all of the attention. This season will be more about the judges than the singers and it will continue to slide down in the ratings. The first two shows did not win their time slots for one of the very few rare times in the show’s history.

I have been captivated by the show The Amish Mafia on Discovery. Living near Lancaster, PA and heading their often (just did a show there a few nights ago) made my attention turn this way.
This show’s first season only had 6 episodes but it was riveting as could be for me. I have seen and heard enough about the Amish culture to be rather shocked at some of the things that I saw on this show.
There have been plenty of skeptics of the show who believe that the show is faked in all sorts of ways. If you have happened to watch it the one issue that I have is that there are some actual crimes being aired on the show and that sort of makes me wonder if it has been real at all. I also thought that perhaps some sort of deal was struck along the way somehow so that if an incident of, lets say, felony vandalism was being captured that it was taken care of financially instead of through a court system.

John, Alvin, Lebanon Levi, and Jolin from the Amish Mafia

Now that I think more about the overall show though I guess what happens doesn’t really surprise me. People are simply imperfect. Even the most devoutly religious people, as the Amish are, are still human and subject to succumbing to temptations.

Speaking of shows that are off, Fringe aired its series finale this past week. I thought it was good but lacked action I think necessary for a “war” that was being waged. But all told the show was great and I’ll miss it just as I thought it was running at its peak.

If you’re up for watching some porn just go to the SYFY cable network and watch something called “Lost Girls.” I think that is the name of it. I had the channel on when I turned on the TV the other night and there were two girls going at it…and you know what I mean by “going at it”… for about 5 minutes or so before the show started getting into other things. I seriously thought that a strap-on was going to come into play at any moment. 

Cable Porn

Alas, it didn’t.

Naturally I watched the rest of the show.

----------------------------------------  

Now it’s time for politics so you can tune out now, if you want. Keep in mind that I am officially a registered Republican but consider myself a Libertarian. You have been warned.

Professional golfer Phil Mickelson has made the news of late. It seems as though the new tax increases in California are just a bit over the top for him and that he wants to “make some changes.”

Voters in California passed an increase for those earning over $250,000 a year, you know, all of those who Obama says aren’t “paying their fair share.”

With these increases added to the rest of Phil’s tax burdens he will have to pay 63-64% of his income in taxes.

Last year, Mickelson made about 62 million dollars, according to CNBC, and his California state tax bill alone was set to be about 6.5 million dollars. The tax increase jacked that up another 1.8 million because they made retroactive to January 2012. So the voters of California literally have voted to steal money from people who believed that their rate was one thing but now told, “no, sorry we are taking more.”

Well, here is what those greedy bastards have done. Phil is now contemplating “changes” in his life and that could very well mean moving from California. If he moves, and I think if he moves before a certain date, California will not get that extra 1.8 million. I saw on CNBC that they wouldn’t get the other 6.5 million either, but that doesn’t seem to make sense to me so lets just say that California is out 1.8 they thought they had and budgeted to spend somehow.

TEXAS HERE I COME

Also, Phil was part of an ownership group preparing to buy the San Diego Padres and now he is probably pulling out of that deal also.

So this is what potentially happens, and has happened in states like Maryland, where “millionaire taxes” are enacted. People move, change their habits, and find other ways to save their money.

The same thing is happening in France right now since the new Socialist President of France jacked up rates to 75%. One famous actor, Gerard Depardieu, moved out and now even the former President Sarkozy is moving to London to avoid paying that Communist rate.

There are growing numbers of people in this country, as evidenced by the re-election of our own Socialist President, that somehow have been brainwashed into believing that the government should be the center of our lives. Further, they believe that the government is entitled to just simply tax us as much as they want as spend our money the way that they want and that somehow paying these confiscatory rates is somehow akin to patriotism.

We need to reeducate these sheep in our country who believe that and make sure that they realize their money is THEIR money, not the governments. We need to make sure that these sheep understand that FREEDOM means that people like Mickelson can move wherever they wish in this country to any place which best befits him and his family. Mickelson should be able to do so without being called a traitor for trying to KEEP HIS OWN MONEY THAT HE EARNED. And let’s never forget that the money we make is OURS, it is not the governments. The government is not entitled to our money. We do not work for the government; the government works for us and they are supposed to continue to create and maintain environments so that we, the people, can pursue life liberty and happiness, not create obstacles to any of the above.

These sheep need to learn some basic math. That Phil Mickelson, if he pays 60% of the 62 million dollars he made is going to pay over 36 million dollars in taxes. I think that is WELL BEYOND his fair share already yet we are told that he still needs to pay more.

The same people who beg for Obama to take this money are paying rates of a total of 25% with everything included. So these sheep also need to learn that it is THEY who are not paying their fair share. Because if its ok to tax Mickelson 63%, then that means it ok to tax everyone else at that same rate.

We play a game on my podcast called “Be Careful What You Wish For.” If you sheep don’t think its possible that our mighty leader and his minions think that they need to get more money from you too, you are sorely mistaken. Let’s face it; everyone DID just get a tax increase this past January 1^st. Sure, it was something that been cut a couple of years ago (the SSI rate which never should have been cut to begin with) but its still a tax increase. How do you think you get set up for increases? Just like that…a return to “old rates” that you were comfortable with before. This helps make you comfortable with “small” increases.

More are coming and they have to with the new health care laws. Oh yeah, you are already paying more for health insurance than you were before. That’s not a “tax increase” though for the sheep in their minds. It’s the evil insurance companies.

So we need to re-educate our sheep to make sure they know that the reason the insurance companies had to raise rates was because of their mighty leader, the one who would take us to France tax rates if he could. But he knows that such a jump would wake up the sleeping giants who are already starting to stir and who usually have guns.

Ah…but just keep those sleeping giants from having guns and it makes passing all of that other evil Socialist crap much easier now, doesn’t it?

Done

And the Winner is....

Well it took the MLB Hall of Fame balloting and the season opener of The Bachelor to get me motivated to write my first blog entry of 2013 and not necessarily in that order.

But we’ll take baseball first here. For the first time since 1996 no one was elected to the Hall of Fame. This year’s ballot included two particular players who would normally have been a lock for this honor – Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

Of course both of them, and a few others on the current ballot, have been accused of using steroids in their careers. Bonds, the all-time home run leader with 762 and Clemens who won a record 7 Cy Young awards in his career both spent time in court fighting off allegations against them. It seems as if they simply didn’t convince enough members of the HoF voting jury that they weren’t guilty.

Here is the final vote count remembering that it takes a mention on 75% of the sportswriters ballots to earn an entry into the HoF.

The 2013 ballot featured 37 candidates, with 13 returnees and 24 newcomers.
Players remain on the ballot for 15 years as long as they receive at least 5 percent of the vote.
Listed are the players' names, number of votes, vote percentage and years on the ballot.
Craig Biggio    388  (68.2%) 1
Jack Morris    385  (67.7%) 14
Jeff Bagwell    339  (59.6%) 3
Mike Piazza    329  (57.8%) 1
Tim Raines    297  (52.2%) 6
Lee Smith    272  (47.8%) 11
Curt Schilling    221  (38.8%) 1
Roger Clemens    214  (37.6%) 1
Barry Bonds    206  (36.2%) 1
Edgar Martinez    204  (35.9%) 4
Alan Trammell    191  (33.6%) 12
Larry Walker    123  (21.6%) 3
Fred McGriff    118  (20.7%) 4
Dale Murphy    106  (18.6%) 15
Mark McGwire    96  (16.9%) 7
Don Mattingly    75  (13.2%) 13
Sammy Sosa    71  (12.5%) 1
Rafael Palmeiro    50  (8.8%) 3

Everyone below is off future ballots
Bernie Williams    19  (3.3%) 2
Kenny Lofton    18  (3.2%) 1
Sandy Alomar Jr.    16  (2.8%) 1
Julio Franco    6  (1.1%) 1
David Wells    5  (0.9%) 1
Steve Finley    4  (0.7%) 1
Shawn Green    2  (0.4%) 1
Aaron Sele    1  (0.2%) 1
Jeff Cirillo    0  (0%) 1
Royce Clayton    0  (0%) 1
Jeff Conine    0  (0%) 1
Roberto Hernandez    0 (0%) 1
Ryan Klesko    0  (0%) 1
Jose Mesa    0  (0%) 1
Reggie Sanders    0 (0%) 1
Mike Stanton    0  (0%) 1
Todd Walker    0  (0%) 1
Rondell White    0  (0%) 1
Woody Williams    0  (0%) 1

It is a joke that Jack Morris is up that high but because of the depth of the field and the lack of enthusiasm for voting for those who writers believe cheated the game, he is there and still has one more year.

It is a little shocking to me, as a result, that Biggio, Schilling, Raines and Trammell didn’t get more votes. Sosa barely registered and how the hell is Don Mattingly still that low?

It will get interesting next year as Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas become eligible. People are throwing Mike Mussina’s name into that group but I don’t think he is a Hall of Famer.

The following year brings in Randy Johnson, who should be a unanimous winner (as Maddux should be next year.)

I would love to find out who the one sportswriter was who actually put Aaron Sele on his HoF ballot.

Time will tell how long some of these players are punished. This was a huge statement by the sports writing community though and, as far as I am concerned, is a shame. The whole steroid era is a disgrace and it’s horrible because there were some real exciting years and players. Now we are forced to look back and know that most of it was just a scam.

That goes for that fraud Lance Armstrong too, who is apparently mulling over a confession. 

 More importantly, The Bachelor started this past Monday. As some of my friends know, I have correctly chosen the winner of the past two seasons from the first show of the year.
This year’s choice is not as clear as the past two were but I have chosen Lindsay Yenter, the girl who wore a wedding dress to the first show. My other picks for the final four are Selma Alameri, Tierra LiCausi, and Daniella McBride. My two wild cards are Lesley Murphy and Ashlee Frazier
There is a rumor out there, however, that the winner is Catherine Giudici.

Ashlee Frazier

Daniella McBride

Lesley Murphy

Catherine Giudici

Selma Alameri

Tierra LiCausi

Lindsay Yenter

I love this show because it’s the best comedy show out there. Think about it; 26 desperate “women” go on a national TV show to find “love.” The whole premise is such a joke which makes it, ironically, interesting for me to watch despite the reason ABC and the producers of the show want us to watch it (although they truly don’t care why we watch it.)

I find it hysterical that women who might otherwise seem half-way normal and attractive would go through this humiliating exercise in rejection like this. I get it that people want to get noticed and perhaps some could parlay an appearance into something else, but if they were at least be honest about it and say that is why they are there I would have more respect for them.
No, instead, I get to laugh every week as someone else does the crying ride home in the limo to the airport as they know that their wonderful vacation in California is done. That is really why these chicks cry…because they get to go to some wonderful places and do some pretty cool things. Most of them couldn’t really care much about the dude, although I sure can’t say it for all of them. It’s just more about the fun that they have. A possible appearance on Bachelor Pad is a plus too. Besides they all get to hang out as ex-cast members with all of the old cast members from seasons past. So while some may find a date, it seems to mostly end up being with others from other seasons.
Watch it just to watch these girls cry. It truly is hysterical.
The reason that I pick winners is because women who watch this show don’t have a clue about men’s taste in women. They mostly seem to choose some “down-to-Earth” homely girl as their favorite. You know, the one that is “there for the right reasons.” It’s just funny to know right away that most of the time the guy is going to pick the hottest one there. It was exactly how it laid out the last two years. This year, however, there is not a clear stand out so it’s a bit tougher.

That’s it. I’m done.

From My Cold Dead Fingers

With about ten days to go before the end of the Mayan calendar I began doing a countdown to the end of the world.

Naturally it was all in jest as I certainly don’t believe that 12-21-12 will be the date when the Earth blows up or anything remotely similar.
But for some people it will be the end of existence for them since people naturally, and even un-naturally, die every day.
With about 8 days left in the countdown the mass murder of 26 innocent people took place in a little town in CT, 20 of whom were children mostly 5 or 6 years of age.
A countdown even in jest seemed inappropriate for a few days and I’ve just sort of stopped it even after a few more passed.
Some people are really freaked out about this and some places have taken measures to make sure that floods of people don’t make their way into these places space to do bizarre end-of-the-world things.

So many others are far more articulate than I when debates begin about things like gun control and mental illness so it rarely makes sense to get in the middle of them when the debate gets heated. Even after when I read things that make sense that I could pass on to others it doesn’t make much sense because these things have made their way around the social media networks and I’m just parroting at that point. 

There are a couple of things that I read or noticed that I thought were interesting to note though and I will parrot them accordingly:
- Doctors accidentally kill more people in the US than guns purposely do. Yes, doctors save lives too, but so do guns when criminals know that potential victims have them.
- The flu killed 5 times as many people in the US as guns did in 2010 (50000 to 11000 - source CDC) Let's not get into heart disease and cancer stats.
- Alcohol induced deaths in 2010 were just over 25,000. We know what happened when alcohol was banned in this country.
- President Obama wants to tighten gun control but just sold 20 F-16 fighter jets to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. You know, that group that basically wants to kill as many non-believers as possible.

- Heroin, Cocaine, Meth and all sorts of drugs are banned and illegal in our country yet there continues to be a growing problem with them in our country.
- 446 school-aged children have been shot in Chicago this year, which supposedly has the toughest gun laws in the country. On the day of the Newtown massacre, 10 teens were shot in Chicago, 4 of who were killed. Just another day; no headline news of note to read there.

- Since Australia’s gun ban, armed robberies are up 69%, assaults with guns up 28%, gun murder up 19%, and home invasions up 21%. That, my friends, is called evidence that gun bans are not working.

- In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
- In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
- Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
- China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
- Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. (Seems that the end-of-the-world date was a little off for them.)
- Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
- Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million educated people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

There is this other argument about assault rifles and semi and automatic weapons. My understanding of the whole debate about guns when the US Constitution was created is that the 2^nd amendment was written so that citizens could defend themselves against a government out of control. At that time the government didn’t have tanks and bazookas and grenades and chemical weapons and F-16 fighter jets. They had single-shot rifles. Citizens had the chance to fight on an even playing field.
It would be a bit extreme to suggest that citizens should be able to go out and buy tanks to defend themselves but its patently obvious that even with the ability to buy an automatic weapon that we are way overmatched if a battle ever came down to the citizenry and the US Government forces.

Here is the 2^nd Amendment to the US Constitution, for those who haven’t actually read it in a while, or ever.

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

I have heard some people read that sentence and state, emphatically, that to own a gun you have to be part of a militia.
I read it clearly as two different things – a militia and the people.
I am placing an “and” in there where the comma is but to me the comma is the “and.”

But let’s take the first part which says “militia.” What does that word conger up in your mind these days? Terrorist group, perhaps? That is what gets sold to us these days by the leftist media. American militia groups are on watch lists in this country but it seems to me that if they are well regulated they should be just fine. How do we end up categorizing a militia as a terrorist group today?

I have a deep concern about giving any government too much power. Just look at some of the above examples I posted about what has happened in countries where governments took away guns from people.
I feel the same way about taxation in this country. I consider money to be powerful. Take a dollar and consider that one unit of power. The more dollars that the government takes from us through taxation the more units of power that they have. When a government devalues that dollar by printing more of them, they are taking power from us. This is something to fear, in my opinion. I don’t care who is in office, Democrat or Republican, they do not get the power. Our Constitution was written to guard against that. Yet I still hear people talking about how it is out of date or is a “living and breathing” document that can be changed because society changes. (There is an amendment procedure to deal with that so in that sense it is living and breathing.) But who are the ones who always seem to want those changes? The ones who want us to pay more taxes and remove guns from our homes thus taking power out of our hands. Does that make sense at all? DOES THAT SINK INTO HEADS AT ALL?!?!?!?!

The end of the world isn’t coming Friday for most of us. I’m not worried about that. I am, however, certainly more worried about many other things that are related to what is written above here.

Please trust that I have only thought about this an hour or so today and only today. I have otherwise kept my vow of focusing on the positive during this Holiday season, which has been fantastic for me thus far. I am fully confident that Christmas will come and it, too, will be awesome. I wish all of my friends a healthy and happy holiday season and a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (just in case I don’t write again…and it won’t mean because my world has ended, it will only mean that I am busy having fun and enjoying myself.)

Done