'Anonymous' Speaks!

Anonymous said...

History Lesson.
P.E.T. the philosopher who would be Prime Minister. His cronies.
Can you say DEFICIT BUDGETS ala John Turner. Say SUCESSIVE DEFICIT BUDGETS.
Then N.E.P. Can you say ECONOMIC DISASTER.
Then nation wide Wage and Price Controls. Can you say CASTROPHY.
Then 39 cents of every tax dollar sent to Ottawa just to service the national debt from SUCESSIVE DEFICIT BUDGETS.
Ask your older coworkers about having their wages frozen.
Then 18 percent interest rates on mortgages. Can you say I LOST MY HOUSE.
If you are lucky and governments can run "surpluses" and use it to pay down the national debt, instead of lining the pockets of their cronies, then about the time that your grandchildren enter junior high school we might have the federal debt paid down. Then we can use the 37 cents of every tax dollar wasted, to pay for all the glorious social programs that we want..
Thus endeth the lesson.

9:16 AM


Well shut my mouth! I have been served a heaping plate of humble pie by "Anonymous". His clarity of speech and passion of prose have left me questioning everything I hold dear. That "Anonymous" is able to critique everything I believe while apparently writing in some form of verse is astounding. "P.E.T. the philosopher who would be Prime Minister. His cronies." His cronies indeed.

" Can you say DEFICIT BUDGETS ala John Turner. Say SUCESSIVE DEFICIT BUDGETS." Anonymous does not let facts or history get in the way of his argument, a trait I really admire. John Turner was
PM for 79 days. How he was able to run 'SUCESSIVE DEFICIT BUDGETS' is hard to imagine since a budget is only passed once a year. But come on, facts shmacts.

"Anonymous" also rallies against wage and price controls. "Then nation wide Wage and Price Controls. Can you say CASTROPHY." I can say CASTROPHY, although I'm not sure what it means. (This was a failed attempt to combat rampant inflation, it was also used in the US, put into place by Republican Richard Nixon)

"Anonymous" does lose some points for complaining like a little sissy liberal boy. "Then 18 percent interest rates on mortgages. Can you say I LOST MY HOUSE." You lost your house? Boo fucking hoo buddy, pull yourself up by your jack boot straps! Being a rugged individual you shouldn't have to complain about how the market weeds out individuals who are not able to prosper in society. It's all about trickle down buddy! Ever heard of supply side? Don't expect society to bail you out because you bought a house you couldn't afford and the banks came and took it away and now you live in your mom's basement and play Magic all day with the local Junior High kids.

Anyway, thanks for the comments. I know you said you wouldn't be back but I doubt that so feel free to keep blabbering away.

The Prosperity Cheque Poker classic!

Here is what I propose. Me and 5 other people gather at my house. We all take our 400 dollar rebate cheques and sign them. We throw them into the middle of my poker table and we play until someone has all 2400 bucks. Who's in?

Some quick election comments...

Prime Minister Stephen Harper...hmmmmm. I'm still mulling that over. For a self described liberal, this was not what I wanted in an election but as I have pondered what actually happened, perhaps things worked out as they should.

While I think Paul Martin was a decent PM he was tainted by the Sponsorship scandal and he would never be able to live that down. A new leader was neccessary and some distance has to be placed between the sponsorship era Liberals and those who are going to come after. But let's look at what really happened.

The Liberals were forced into an election when the NDP withdrew support on a confidence motion and the government fell. Put simply the Liberals ran a terrible campaign making mistake after mistake. The Tory's were successful at putting forward a policy based campaign that was fairly non-controversial and banal, but more importantly they were able to keep the far right of their party out of the papers. (mostly, somehow this escaped the notice of the MSM, this guy was elected in Ajax-Pickering) So in short, everything that the Liberals could do to fuck this up they did, the Conseratives were error free for the most part.

120 seats? That's it? There was a perfect storm of opportunity for the Conservatives, they did everything they possibly could and that was all they could manage? A revitalized Liberal party lead by a respected and competent leader who is free of the stink of corruption will wipe the floor with Stephen Harper's turtle neck in 2 years time. Stephen Harper's best chance will be to govern from the center and try not to rock the boat, but is that what the Conservative base wants?

PS I thought this picture was kind of strange, what father shakes their kids hands? Try a hug buddy!
PPS. Spell check isn't working on blogger, my apologies if there are an seplling errors.

Wanted: Vegas Friendly Couple

Married twenty-something couple looking for other couple to go to Vegas with sometime in the next 2 months. Must enjoy poker and shopping (the former more than the latter) as well as beer drinking and buffet eating. Please apply by leaving comment on this post. Duke Mcgoo is not welcome to apply, I'm sure he's forbidden from air travel due to medication.

Chuck Norris heard what you were saying about him....

Fortunately for you, Chuck Norris does not disapprove.

Why We Fight

Becau$e.

That Burger King guy is mack'n it!

No more night shift!

Free at last! I have joined the world of the living and am now working 6-2. The level of blogging might decrease as I am about 1000% busier in my new position, but it is well worth it. I will try to update regularly and let everyone know what the hell is going on.


On a side note some of you may have noticed the comments are getting a little reactionary. I visited a site recently and left a comment on what I thought was a very disturbing article written about Africa. This fellow's enlightened views on poverty and its root causes can be deduced by reading the rest of his site (if you can stomach it) but it is all rather predictable. He has written some rather long comments that do not appear to coincide with the post but I think he just feels he has to share his knowledge with those who are younger than him (I think he thinks I'm 15 years old or something) I have not taken the time to adequately respond and now that I am no longer on night shift I don't think I will have the time too. I do however know a certain someone who as a rapiers wit and a loaded Street Sweeper who happens to have some time on his hands. As our Rally Team is not yet up and running I think he can manage to adequately pen our shared thoughts on politics and life on this fragile planet. Nice knowing ya Duke.

Online Poker is so rigged!

This guy has an awesome post! He finally cracked the global conspiracy!

Rick Mercer to the rescue!

Perhaps Rick should have helped P.Martin last night during the debate. Here's a great post about the wonderfully diverse candidates that the Conservative Party is fielding.

Paris and Nickie

Click on picture to enlarge. (a pair of queens is called the Hilton sisters, after Paris Hilton and her sister Nickie, I'm getting alot of hits from people googling Paris Hilton Naked but hey, hits are hits!)
(I'm obviously RedMileKid)


Here's a breakdown of this hand, this might get a little technical but I think it will help illustrate that poker is much more than catching good cards and watching for facial ticks (hard to do when playing online!). The first thing that should be noticed is the position that I am in, in the small blind next to the button. Position is very important in No Limit Hold'em, being in the small blind is generally a bad position. For each subsequent round of betting I will be the first to act which is never a good thing. I will have no idea as to the strength of my opponents hands and they will be able to react to my bet in a way that protects their holdings. If I recall correctly (this hand was played 2 days ago) the big blind was called by 2 of the players and raised by HandLikeFoot. I believe he raised about 1.75, a little over 3 times the big blind. This resulted in the rest of the field folding to me, I called the bet and the players after me folded. This was a good result as it narrowed the field to 2 players and a pair of queens is an excellent hand heads up. Another play would have been to re-raise here, something I definitely considered. With a hand like 10-10 or even 9-9 I might have re-raised hoping to take down the pot right there, however given that I was the short stack at the table and was feeling rather jumpy I decided to slow-play the queens in an attempt to win more money.

The flop of Js-Ah-7h was not a very good flop for me. With a high pocket pair, the last card you want to see on the flop is an ace, especially online. Players are much looser online and HandlikeFoot could have easily made a raise of 3x BB with a hand like A-5 suited or A-10o, if he had a hand like A-J, or A-K I think he would have bet more. If the player is a little looser he could have raised with J-K or Q-K in this case he is drawing to the nut straight., regardless my pocket ladies are looking a lot less appealing. I decide to check at this point. Checking allows me to see what HandlikeFoot will do, if he bets big I'm going to have to lay down this hand. I can call a smallish bet but I will be doing so in hopes of another queen or a heart falling on the turn. By checking however I am giving him the opportunity to see another card for free which can be very dangerous. Handlikefoot checks back at me.

The turn is the 10 of spades. This is also not a great card for me as it might have filled out his straight. I could check again but I decide to make a probe bet, a small bet (usually less than half the pot) to see where I stand. Probe bets are meant to extract information from a player, that information can be manipulated but it is still information. If Handlikefoot throws in a big raise I will have to fold. It is also possible that I will win the pot right here with this probe bet although that is rather unlikely. Handlikefoot calls my bet.

The river is a 3 of diamonds. This is a good card for me because it is highly unlikely to help my opponent. There is no possibility for a flush and it seems unlikely that he is holding King-Queen and has a straight as he would probably have reraised. At this point I actually make a pretty big mistake. I check. Checking here is the wrong move because besides the initial raise made pre-flop my opponent has shown no sign of aggression and will probably check back at me. I should have made what is known as a value bet, a bet that will be just small enough so that he will call, if the bet is too big and he folds you lost an opportunity to extract more money.
I get very lucky when Handlikefoot makes a small bet, about a dollar. My checking is seen as a sign of weakness and he hopes to take the pot down.
His bet is much too small to be anything but a steal attempt so I man up and push all in, which is a raise of about 5 dollars. This is where Handlikefoot should have folded. A check raise bluff is highly unlikely in this situation and with the board the way it was there are so many hands that beat him that calling a 5 dollar raise (10x the BB) is a huge mistake. He must have seen my all-in move as a steal attempt or perhaps he simply made the rookie mistake of giving a pocket pair a much higher rating than it warranted.
I take down the pot and the next hand is dealt.


Ed. Note. Big ups to Dan Harrington and Harrington on Hold'em Vol. I

Thanks for the memories...

Thanks Guys...

New Years Party

I've been told that I went to a New Years party, as I have no recollection of that evening I will take everyone's word for it.

My Political 2 cents

For someone who does not wish Stephen Harper to be our next Prime Minister, the latest poll numbers are not encouraging. Some polls released last night have the Conservatives ahead by as much as 6 points. Not good. I've written earlier about my dislike of the Liberals but it is still surpassed by my dislike of the Conservatives. For like minded people, I believe there is light at the end of the tunnel. If anyone remembers the last election where Stephen Harper was predicting a majority government only to have things fall apart just days before the election, we just need one of the back bench neanderthal to express some highly offensive or downright scary viewpoint and all of Ontario will run back into the arms of the devil they know. I don't think that will happen this time.

My prediction for election night will be as follows; The Conservatives will eke out a small minority government with the Liberals close behind and the NDP holding onto their seat total. The Bloc will gain seats at the expense of the Liberals and the Greens will be shut out once again.

This scenario will play out as follows; Any bill or budget that passes will have to be run through either the NDP or the Bloc (depending on seat totals and the nature of the bill, any bill that gives provinces more power will be backed by the Bloc and federalist slanted bills will be run through the NDP) the goal of the Conservatives will be to cast the Liberals as some kind of old throwback party while the Conservatives will project youth and vitality. While this is happening there will be a leadership convention in the Liberal Party which will probably be the political event of the year. Brain Tobin, Michael Ignatief, John Manley, Sheilla Cops (maybe) and Denis Coudear are all names that have been mentioned, I would prefer John Manley.

The light at the end of the tunnel that I spoke about earlier will be when the Conservatives start getting cocky and some of their 'hidden agenda' starts coming out. Capital gains tax cuts, corporate tax cuts, 'health care initiatives', and an increasing role in American foreign policy just to name a few. A strong Liberal leader who is untainted by the corruption scandals should be able to win a solid majority by mid 2007. The rise of the Conservatives is based more on disgust with the Liberals than any positive feelings towards Conservative policy. "He who rides the tiger of popular discontent can never get off" or so the saying goes. Once Ontario voters believe they have purged the Liberal party of both Chretien and Martin cronies then they will elect another Liberal government. Voting Conservative in Ontario is a protest vote, not a policy vote. (Ask Mike Harris)

The only way the Conservatives will ever win a majority will be if they moderate their platform substantially and elect a new leader from eastern Canada. Hmmm a more moderate party with a leader from eastern Canada I think there was a party like that once, Oh yeah the Progressive Conservatives. This moderation won't take place because the party's western base won't allow it, the tight rope that has to be walked by Harper et al. is very thin and is over a pool filled with sharks, with freakin' lasers attached to their heads.

North East West South - N.E.W.S.

Steve wrote a post today about his aversion to media and news in general. While I am a news junkie I can sympathize, as my main man said "All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume." However I feel it is my duty as a citizen and a political operative to be as informed as possible about the events that take place in the world and in my own country. While the news is undoubtedly filtered and distorted through the lens of commerce a discerning viewer can pick 'the gnat shit from the pepper' to use a rather strange expression I heard somewhere.

Most News is total bullshit, it consists of celebrity gossip, sports clips, the latest political spin and the tragedy de jour. Much of what is shown on TV screens every night is ugly, it is violent and it is sad. Well guess what? This world is filled with ugliness, violence and sadness beyond reckoning, ignoring it doesn't make it any better. I guess the question is, how does my knowing about the state of the world make it any better?

This is a more difficult question. Steve stated that there are things on TV that he doesn't want his kids to see, I agree. Nothing is accomplished by burdening children with the weight of the world's problems, nothing except crushing their innocence and planting the seeds of apathy. The horror of the world's tragedies does not have to be the topic for every conversation around the dinner table, but a basic awareness of world events and their context in history is crucial if we are to avoid mistakes of the past.

Back in the saddle...

Started playing online again at PokerStars, still keeping it small though .25-.50 NL Hold'em. Did very well yesterday doubling up my buy-in and knocking the living shit out of a guy in a headsup match. I downloaded a screen shot program so if any memorable hands occur I'll show you guys how it's done.

On another note, kind of, DavePop will be arriving at Calgary International Aeropeurto on saturday in search of gainful employment. I have promised to show him the sites and be his personal tour guide for the duration of his stay. I thought we could get a poker game going since Dave has tremendous talents and is eager to win some dolla dolla bills yo! (we'll see!) Anyway have fun at work while I sleep (I think next week is my last week of night shift- good fucking riddance.)

Warning Pictures of Gross Animal Post-Surgery Scabs

Guys with German last names Rally Team!

New adventures in the new year! The long anticipated "Guys with German last names who drive Japanese Cars Rally Team" (GGJCDT) is up and running. For more updates be sure to check here often. (hint hint Dwight, post more often!)

PS I think Dwight is involved in some kind of dinner theatre production, possibly something by Gilbert and Sullivan.

Don't buy the new Coldplay CD

...found this here.
Why do Record companies keep punishing the people who are actually buying cd's? It's the same shit at the movie theatre, having to watch ads about how stuntmen wo't be able to feed their children if you download a movie on LimeWire, perhaps a valid point, but I just paid 13 fucking dollars so stop preaching to the choir you jackasses!

ps I'm crabby because it's Jan 3 and I'm still hungover.

"Coldplay's new CD has rules: No MP3s, no DVD players, no car stereos

Coldplay's new CD comes with an insert that discloses all the rules enforced by the DRM they included on the disc. Of course, these rules are only visible after you've paid for the CD and brought it home, and as the disc's rules say, "Except for manufacturing problems, we do not accept product exchange, return or refund," so if you don't like the rules, that's tough.
What are the other rules? Here are some gems: "This CD can't be burnt onto a CD or hard disc, nor can it be converted to an MP3" and "This CD may not play in DVD players, car stereos, portable players, game players, all PCs and Macintosh PCs." Best of all, the insert explains that this is all "in order for you to enjoy a high quality music experience." Now, that's quality.


I wonder how Coldplay feels about their fans getting all these rules set down for them by the music label? I wonder if most fans who read these rules will be wise enough to blame corporate, or whether they'll just decide to dig up a band whose label treats them like customers, not crooks? It's amazing how the labels always seem to come up with new ways of screwing artists: if they're not cheating them out of royalties, they're systematically alienating their fan-base."