If You Build It vs If You Don’t Build It
This past weekend we saw yet another new stadium proposal for the San Diego Chargers. These things sure do seem to come and go don’t they?
The primary argument behind building a new stadium in San Diego seems to be that “if you don’t build it, that Chargers will leave.” I don’t know about you but I don’t respond well to threats. And now as a newly registered San Diego voter I finally have a say in the matter! Read the rest of this entry »
Not My Beauty Queen
Carrie Prejean here is your 15 minutes. Be careful though, whatever you say can and will be used against you in a court of public opinion. Read the rest of this entry »
Chargers Thread
With the NFL schedule being released yesterday and the Draft coming up in just a a week and a half I thought I might make a place for new comments about the Bolts. Read the rest of this entry »
Playing with fire…
When we left for our trip I left my car at my parents house so my brother could use it. The very next morning he text me to tell me I had received a parking ticket.
eegads!
Come to find out the ticket was given at 3:47 AM for not having a front license plate.
That’s frustrating. Really frustrating.
Since I am not one to stay silent about frustration I made sure to write a letter and include it with my fine.
This post is called playing with fire because I realize the increased possibility of reprisal acts from the city of Poway. Nevertheless I will not allow the tyranny of the overpaid meter maids to silence me!
here is what I wrote… Read the rest of this entry »
Mr Balcombe went to Washington
And had a fabulous experience. Wow what a great trip.
Thank you all so much for your tips but thanks most of all to my beautiful wife, Athena, who planned this best birthday present ever!
Alright readers here is what you have all been waiting for, a vacation recap! Oh joy. Read the rest of this entry »
2009 San Diego Padres: The Prediction of Hope
The San Diego Padres organization has always been adept at marketing their product with catchy phrases. Probably the most memorable of all was the phrase, “Keep the faith”. I think (but I’m not sure) that was the title phrase of the NL pennant winning 1998 team.
Since then there have been slogans like, “experience it” and “play downtown” and “on a mission”. But none of these slogans have resonated the way that “keep the faith” works. Still to this day you occasionally hear the chant making it’s way through the stands.
Keep-The-Faith!
Keep-The-Faith!
Keep-The-Faith!
But sometimes keeping the faith is so unbelievably difficult we can’t rally ourselves around it. Sometimes “Yes we can” is the last thing we believe. Especially when all the experts are telling us “no you can’t”.
It’s times like these, times when faith is wavering, that we need hope.
We’ve gotta hold on to what we got.
It doesn’t make a difference if we make it or not.
We’ve got each other and that’s a lot- for love.
We’ll give it a shot!
That’s hope.
And that is how I write this year’s Padres Prediction Post. Read the rest of this entry »
Mr Balcombe is going to Washington
My beautiful wife has been working furiously behind the scenes to create a wonderful birthday present for me. This time she may have outdone herself. She’s planned a trip for us to Washington DC.
I am so thrilled about this trip that I can little think of anything else.
We’ve already made several different arrangements for tours of certain government buildings as well as acquired tickets for a couple of different sporting events but the final itinerary is far from set.
So I bring it to you, the people, to help us determine how best to spend our days.
For all who have been to DC I ask you to give me a list of the top 10 things we absolutely MUST do. Also if you have any tips or anything like that we would love to hear it.
For those who have never been but have wanted to go I ask that you give me a list of things you think would be most fascinating.
I promise to give a detailed blog report on how the trip went after we get back.
political rant
Why does it bother us when companies spend bailout money?
I was adamantly opposed to the original wall street bailout now known as the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program), which gave away around 800 Billion dollars. I was disgusted by the whole concept. I even went so far as to send out a massive amount of emails begging people to call their representatives and senators. And we were tremendously successful in showing our disgust and distaste. Of course our representatives didn’t listen to us because they knew we wouldn’t follow through with our threats and we promptly re-elected the clowns who shamefully gave away our money.
So now that these banks are given a fresh infusion of capital what do they do with it?
They spend it.
They spend it on corporate jets.
They spend it on corporate jaunts where they arrive on corporate jets.
They spend it on the naming rights of baseball stadiums where they can sit in luxury sky boxes.
They spend it on redecorating their offices.
They spend it on salaries for top executives.
And we have a problem with this because???
Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican in the Senate Banking Committee tells us why we have a problem…
“But where you’ve got federal money involved, taxpayers’ money involved, TARP money involved, and the way they have spent it, with no accountability, is getting close to being criminal.”
And so now Obama and his newly appointed tax cheat, treasury secretary say that we should limit the executive pay of these banks to 500K per year.
Idiots.
I hated the bailout but now that we’ve given away money I say there should be no restrictions on how it is spent.
Why?
Because when it is spent it comes back to me.
When they buy airplanes California makes money.
When they visit San Diego for a week Sand Diego makes money.
When an executive gets paid 10 million dollars he spends millions of dollars. When and executive gets paid 500,000 he can’t spend millions.
Spending money is what gets the economy going.
The idea that the government can limit the pay of the successful is down right horrifying.
What have we become?
“It’s not fair that these guys make so much money!”
Evidently you don’t understand the meaning of the word fair. Would you think it “fair” to have your salary cut by 10%, 50%, 100%, 500%?
“500,000 is more than enough money to be able to live on.”
Granted. I will never in my life earn 500,000 a year (well maybe with inflation going the way it is I might). But think about people accustomed to earning millions per year now earning 500,000. What are they going to do? Make dramatic lifestyle changes. Meaning they will have to cut out of their budgets all kinds of things. You know what the number 1 thing people cut out of their budgets? Charitable contributions.
Remember getting that check from the government last year for 600, or 1,200 dollars? I didn’t ask for that check but they gave it to me. They gave you one too (assuming you’ve paid taxes). What did you do with that check?
I don’t care if you invested it, paid rent with it or put it on the spin of a roulette wheel, what you did with it is your business.
The government shouldn’t have given you it, but once they do they can’t tell you what to do with it.
“He’s gonna spread happiness. He’s gonna spread freedom.”
Freedom? Freedom? Freedom?
In another unrelated quote Obama said yesterday regarding the Senator Daschle debacle…
“We can’t send a message to the American people that we’ve got two sets of rules — one for prominent people and one for ordinary people,”
hmmm if we are all going to be held to the same standards then when are we all going to have our pay determined by the governement?
ANSWER: When the governemnt controls all the jobs.
And the unimaginable is now not so far fetched is it?
He’s gonna spread happiness.
He’s gonna spread freedom.
Obama’s gonna change it.
Obama’s gonna lead us.
He’s gonna change it and rearrange it.
He’s gonna change the world.
My Fav-5 Charger Memories
The Chargers beating the Colts on Saturday was an amazing game. But was it my all time favorite Charger memory? Read the rest of this entry »
NFL Playoff Predictions
It’s the classic situation where you might find yourself saying, “Stranger things have happened.” And yet as I sit here today the fact of the matter is that as far as NFL playoffs are concerned nothing stranger has ever happened.
The Chargers have been everywhere this season; I mean that in terms of both their play and their travel. They have been on a strange path to say the least, becoming just the first team ever to make the playoffs from a 4-8 record. Becoming the first team ever to overcome a 3 game deficit with 3 games to play. Becoming the first team ever to make the playoffs while a team with 3 more wins than they have stays home (hehehe).
And now the pre-season darling to win it all is right there in contention to, well, win it all.
But will they? I know the answer to that question and so much more in my magical look into the future… Read the rest of this entry »
