I keep seeing this new Dominos commercial. They have a new feature with pizza orders where you can track the stages of the order online.
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Category: Rant
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Ridiculous new Dominos commercial
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The new Phi Delta Theta slogan: a criticism
I am a proud Brother, proud alumnus, and proud Chapter Advisory Board Chairman for Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.
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Obama commits major military gaffe
President Obama committed a major gaffe yesterday while speaking to members of the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York.
Here is the quote:
“First time I saw the 10th Mountain Division, you guys were in southern Iraq, when I went back to visit Afghanistan, you guys were the first ones there.
I had the great honor of seeing some of you because a comrade of yours, Jared Monti, was the first person who I was able to award the Medal of Honor to who actually came back and wasn’t receiving it posthumously.”
There is a problem, however.
Obama didn’t present the Medal of Honor to Monti. Monti died in 2006. Obama posthumously presented the award to Monti’s family in September of 2009.
It was actually the first time he had presented the medal, which is the highest military honor our nation bestows.
The difference between giving it to the person to whom it is being awarded versus giving it to a mourning family is significant.
Obama is the Commander and Chief of our military. I’m not saying he needs to remember every intimate detail of everyone he’s ever met associated with the armed forces, but the Medal of Honor is a big deal. And I feels this shows a general disinterest in our military, because it doesn’t seem like it was an experience that had much of an impact on the president.
I am also amazed by the lack of media attention this story is receiving. If Bush had ever made this mistake, he would have been rightly vilified. People would have said that he was out of touch.
The fact that the PRESIDENT of the United States awards the highest honor which this nation can bestow on our service members and forgets that it was given to this man’s family and not to the man himself is not excusable. Obama dropped the ball. Plain and simple.
He may have confused details with Salvatore Giunta, who was awarded the Medal of Honor last year. Giunta was the first living recipient of the award since Vietnam.
Some people may and try to excuse Obama’s error by citing how busy the president is. I feel that doing this devalues the significance of the award.
jrb
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Review: the Hangover 2
With the immense popularity of the Hangover, its sequel which hit the screens this week could not have been anything other than a box office smash hit. Many wondered if it could possibly live up to the original, and while I knew that this was not going to occur, I at least expected there to be a few scenes in the Hangover 2 that had the audience rolling. Unfortunately, the humor was not even in the same realm as the original Hangover.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sequel that had the same plot as its original. I have also never walked out on a movie, I didn’t with this one either, but two thirds of the way into the movie, when it was obvious how it was going to end, and as I came to the stark realization of, ”This movie is not funny, and that is something that is not suddenly going to change,” I strongly considered leaving.
I really wanted to like this movie, it simply had no redeeming qualities. It was much darker than the original. In the original Hangover, part of the charm was the weirdness of Alan’s character, played by Zach Galifianakis. For the first half of the Hangover 2, I felt that they were trying to have bizarre comments and actions of Galifianakis comedically carry the movie. Even as much as I like Galifianakis, I don’t feel that can work for a major comedy. It certainly did not work for this one.
Some people will disagree with me, and I have even heard people say it was almost as good as the original.
Could they be right? No.
This movie had so much hype and people were so excited to see the sequel to the beloved Hangover, that for many, the opinions of this movie are skewed. It’s also important to consider the context in which people watched this movie. Across the country, moviegoers packed theatres, and eagerly watched this movie, ready to laugh. In that type of festive atmosphere, and in a crowd, it is much, MUCH easier to find something funny than it would if a person were to rent a movie and watch a DVD alone.
To that end, people who have seen this may recall laughing and having a good experience, but I firmly believe that is much more a product of the festive theatre environment than it is of this movie actually being funny.
I think the reasons people are saying this movie was good are from a subconscious desire to be seen as normal instead of out of an objectively favorable view of the movie. Plain and simple, the Hangover 2 was horrible. I don’t know how much more clearly I can express that opinion. It is not worth seeing. And in the coming weeks when the initially large theatre crowds wane, it will become abundantly more clear over time just how unfunny this movie was.
As I have already said, the sequel has the same plot as the original. The only real difference is that the original was funny.
jrb
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Rant – the NCAA, Cam Newton, and favoritism
As a fan of sports, I am absolutely appalled by the NCAA announcement this afternoon as it relates to Auburn quarterback Cam Newton. For the last several weeks, Cam Newton has been maligned in a scandal alleging that while he was being recruited, his father was seeking substantial sums of money from the programs which Cam Newton was considering.
I believe that the NCAA has made a snap judgement because they prefer Auburn playing in the national championship game next month over Texas Christian. Why? Auburn will draw better ratings and an Auburn – Oregon national championship game will make more money for the NCAA than a TCU title game.
If information comes to light at a later point that Newton did actively break the rules, the NCAA would then have to punish someone whom they had already declared is eligible. This is troublesome because they claim to have already investigated the matter. Especially curious is this considering that the NCAA ruled Newton ineligible two days ago, revisited the issue yesterday and today says “Actually…he’s eligible.”
How the NCAA, which is notorious for working at a snail’s pace investigated and ruled an ineligible player eligible in the course of a day is pretty amazing. I don’t understand how one day, they have sufficient evidence to declare an athlete ineligible, and then the next day, somehow the thing which rendered him ineligible doesn’t matter.
Did the NCAA re-investiage and say “Oh. Wait a minute. The thing that we said was against the rules…actually that’s allowed, so he’s eligible?”
This thinking is completely devoid of integrity. Is Newton innocent? No. Because his father is guilty of violating the rules and that makes Cam guilty too. That is the way it has always been. That’s the way it has to be. If family could accept money as long as the student athlete is unaware of it occurring, if that were actually allowed by the NCAA, it would open the flood gates to relatives and other close associates taking money.
The SEC bylaws section 14.01.3.2 states:
“If at any time before or after matriculation in a member institution a student-athlete or any member of his/her family receives or agrees to receive, directly or indirectly, any aid or assistance beyond or in addition to that permitted by the Bylaws of this Conference (except such aid or assistance as such student-athlete may receive from those persons on whom the student is naturally or legally dependent for support), such student- athlete shall be ineligible for competition in any intercollegiate sport within the Conference for the remainder of his/her college career.”
The NCAA does acknowledge that his father did in fact try to solicit money in order for Cam to sign with Mississippi State. So even though it’s a rule that family can’t take money, and even though it says the athlete will be ineligible, and even though the NCAA acknowledges that the older Newton solicited money, they rule Cam eligible. How in the world does that make any sense?
If you are honestly looking at this, how can you look to the NCAA with any credibility any time they sanction a program for rules violations? I feel like the NCAA is basically giving Newton a pass because he’s the star quarterback for the number one team in the country because they feel like the immediate product is better with him.
It’s shameful.
If the Tide could have just hung on to their lead on Friday, none of this would matter.
jrb
