He made it official today. John Edwards dropped out of the race for President of the United States. I'm saddened that it has come down to this. It's unfortunate that more people couldn't hear his message. It was troublesome to watch how the major news outlets treated it as if there were only two candidates running for the Democratic nomination. Edwards got very little screen time and it scares me to think that Obama and Clinton seem to be campaigning to make history rather than make changes. I will support them, but only because I cannot stomach the thought of another Republican in the White House. I swear to God that I'll pick up the family and move to Canada if Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee get elected. Those dudes scare the shit out of me.

Anyway...Even though Edwards is no longer running, his message still holds weight and merit. We must fight to fix the poverty problem in this country. We must fight to save the ever shrinking middle-class. If we can work on those issues there are others that will simply resolve themselves.

I'll get down off my soapbox now...but down be too relieved...I'll be back on it again soon!

- J

1. Toy Scalpers...You know them. They're the ass-monkeys that wait outside Target and Toys'r'us at 3 in the morning, buy 3 Nintendo Wii's for $250 ea and then turn around and put them all up on eBay for $500 ea. Each year its a different toy, but its the same situation....You people are assholes and you just make it harder for parents to get their kids something nice for the holidays. KNOCK IT OFF!

2. People who pay grossly inflated prices for toys from the above mentioned asshole toy scalpers. Not only are you perpetuating the problem and feeding into the machine, you're also a flaming moron. Why in God's name would you pay 200% over the retail price for something when all you have to do is wait a month and just buy it for regular price? Are you really that afraid of your child's reaction to not receiving the toy on Christmas day? Suck it up and face up to the fact that it is insane to do this over a TOY! I wanted to get my daughter a TMX Elmo last year. I looked around to see if I could pick one up, but alas they were sold out wherever we went. I really wasn't interested in getting up at 3 AM to fight the crowd at Toys'r'us to MAYBE get one. I waited until after Christmas and bought one on sale for $30. I'm glad I waited because as much as she liked it at first...she hasn't played with it in a few months.

3. The PC idiots that have taken all the Christmas out of Christmas. Can't wish anyone "Merry Christmas" any more...have to say "Happy Holidays". Can't sing even semi-religious Christmas carols in school recitals anymore...might be offensive. How is beautiful music offensive? Just because someone is singing "Holy Night" doesn't mean they're trying to convert you. We can barely have Santa anymore, though I think that they're working on getting rid of him as well. I ask you this...why can't we appreciate other religions? Why do we all find any religion but our own so offensive? Why do we all feel so threatened that we have to keep everything so white-washed and non-offensive? I swear, people hear the word "religion" and they freak out! Come on! Live a little, people! There's a big world out there and there are a lot of different people in it.

4. The fundamentalist idiots that want to shove Jesus down my throat every year. Do you really believe that Jesus, if he were alive today, would want us celebrating his birth by standing on a street corner yelling at passers by about how great he is? NO!!! He would want you to celebrate him by following his path. Feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, tend to the sick...you know...be a good person and give a little of yourself. Spend time with your family and reflect on the gifts you have been given and how you can share them with the rest of the world. DUH! Oh, and by the way, Christmas and many of it's associated traditions have their roots in pagan rituals. These were adopted by the early church as a way to attract more followers.

5. People that treat retail workers (and us regular people) like shit. There isn't much to say here. It's true that there are people that treat retail workers like shit year round, but during the holidays they really seem to turn it up a notch and then other people get in on it as well. I worked in a grocery store for 10 years. During those 10 years I didn't enjoy any of the holidays...not ONE! I was known as the "Christmas Ogre" and it was a moniker that I truly deserved. All of it because people somehow feel that it's ok to step on the people ringing up their groceries or stocking the shelves with the current toy dujour. Get over yourselves and live in the real world with the rest of us. I swear I'm going to kick the next person who doesn't say "thank you" when Erin (my 8+mos. pregnant wife) holds a door open for them.

I've got a rant brewing from a wedding that I attended (as a guest) this past Friday night.

Here it goes...

It was easy to see who the pros were when we walked into the church. The big white lenses and Quantum battery packs pretty much gave them away. But, after being escorted to our seat I noticed that the guy behind me was sporting a Nikon D70 with a 70-300 el cheapo lens on it and an SB-600 hanging off the hot shoe. Two rows in front of me there was another guy with what turned out to be an old Kodak 14n with what looked like maybe a 17-55 or 24-70 on it with an SB-800 attached.

The wedding starts and within seconds the guy behind me is clicking away. I could hear him behind me grumbling because the shots weren't coming out like he'd wanted. Obviously someone doesn't understand his camera or how to expose for inside a church.

The guy in front of me was leaning into the aisle...standing up...and just generally getting in the way of not only the pros but also the view of the other guests.

I could see that it wasn't taking long for the pros to get annoyed with these two chuckleheads, but they kept their cool and went about their business ignoring them and often times purposefully getting in the way (which I thought was really funny).

The two wannabes were getting visibly huffy because they couldn't shoot.

...and then there were the snapshooters. Everything from little tiny camera phones to big honkers from ten years ago (think old Sony Mavicas with the floppy disk drives built in). They were just snapping away and all I could hear was "breep...bddeep...beepity beep...k-shzk(fake shutter noises)" as they snapped away. The best was the moron that left the "quack" noise in place for his shutter.

I was just amazed at how much this detracted from my enjoyment of watching to dear friends get married. Equally amazing was the sheer rudeness of people leaning in front, reaching over, and standing on things to get what will likely turn out to be nothing more than a poorly lit crappy snapshot.

I don't know if doing weddings semi-professionally has changed my opinion or if I'm more aware of it now, but I was just disgusted.

Here's the thing...if you own professional grade photo equipment (bully for you)...LEAVE IT HOME! There are professionals that are being paid to take photographs...now is not the time to practice...it's time to STAY OUT OF THE WAY and enjoy the wedding to which you are an invited guest.

...and to the snapshooters...if you can't get the picture from where you're sitting put the camera away and stay in your seat. Another thing...most of the digital cameras sold in the past couple of years have the option to turn all the sounds off...DO IT. I'm pretty sure that the bride and groom (and the other guests) would much rather hear each other speak their vows and not have to wade through your camera beeping and quacking (I know I would).

So that's it. Think of me what you will, but I have no doubt that there will be a few of you that will fall on my side of this.

From the AP news wire this morning...

"4Real" is not a name

A young cowboy walks into a saloon. He sees an old cowboy sitting at the bar staring at a big bowl of steaming hot chili. He sits down, orders a drink and after several minutes he notices that the old cowboy hasn't touched his chili.

"Hey, you gonna eat that there chili?" He asks.

"Nope." Replies the old cowboy.

"You mind if I have it?"

The old cowboy glances at the young cowboy out of the corner of his eye, slides the bowl of chili across the bar and says, "Be my guest."

The young cowboy grabs the spoon and hungrily begins to devour the chili. He quickly reaches the bottom of the bowl only to find a dead mouse. He promptly vomits all the chili back into bowl.

The old cowboy glances at him again. "Yep, that's 'bout a far as I got."