Big thumbs up to you my friend, and may you continue to kick ass through out your life...even if it only ends up being virtually.

Hey, nobody's perfect.

But while you're here, might as well leave a comment, especially if you're the first! Then get back to blowing shit up...or stealthing shit up.

Finally, justice is served. I think it was obvious to most people through out the course of this case that Casey was innocent. She was a good mother who got caught up in a bad situation, and her obviously dysfunctional family was never much of a help.

While her behavior might not have been exemplary in the weeks after Casey went missing, you don't really know how you're going to react to tragedy until you're in it. Everyone reacts and copes differently, and her choice for coping was to drown her sorrows.

All of that is moot now, because the jury made their decision. Luckily they were an understanding bunch who could see through the holes in the prosecution's circumstantial case.

God bless you Casey, I hope you can transition back into your normal life easily. Given what she's been through, it should be simple for her to get a book deal of some kind. With that it should be much easier for her to get back on her feet and hopefully make dealing with the ignorant masses, who will likely give her a hard time, easier.

- Andrew Carnegie

These two entities – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – are not facing any kind of financial crisis. The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.

Even if Fannie and Freddie were to fail, the government doesn't bail them out.

Then in October of that same year he stated he worried the Treasury Department "would sacrifice activities that are good for consumers in the name of lowering the companies’ market risks."

Now in 2010, after it has become completely obvious that those he opposed seven years ago were completely right, he says this:

"Going forward it is clear we have to abolish this notion that there is a private shareholder corporation that also has a public mission, that’s clearly a mistake. The one thing I am sure of is that the kind of hybrid of a private shareholder company with a public mission doesn’t work and we have to separate the various functions.

And also this:

"Not everybody can or should be a homeowner. I think we should particularly stop this assumption that you put everybody into home ownership ... we have public policy [that] has been too much to try and push people into home ownership."

This last quote in particular, for anyone who's been paying attention the past ten years, is particularly contemptuous. The man who played a huge role in creating the assumption that everybody could, and should, be homeowners is now saying we should dispel it? And trying to take credit as if it was his idea all along??? My head is about to explode on this one.

If you put together a room of ten people that could be blamed for what happened to our housing market, he's in that room. And here he is, trying to take hold of the reigns again, leading the charge on something he obviously does not understand.

Barney: Get the hell out of the way bud. You drove the country into a ditch, you should be ashamed of yourself. Now let those who could see it coming, the people you mocked for their insight, let them take control so the good folks of this country can get back to work.

Oh, and bite me.

I get that movie makers really want folks to head out and pay those extra bucks to see it in a theater, but will that many people really stop going out to see movies? It seems to me, and maybe I'm completely wrong here, that most people go out to see movies in a theater for the experience itself. It's a social thing, a date thing, or just a quality of experience thing. I doubt allowing movies to just be watched at home the moment they're released in theater's would hurt that much, and call me crazy but I really believe a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't have will pay to see the movie at home.

I know for me, I have zero issue paying for a movie. It's the right thing to do. Folks put in a lot of time, effort, and money to make the movie happen, you should give a little back for the experience. However having to wait for DVD releases, or "On Demand", is just plain annoying.

I don't like movie theaters. They seem to be filled with a copious amount of jerks now a days. Whether it's someone bringing their toddler (or younger) to a 10PM showing of a very adult movie, someone talking throughout the whole movie, someone taking phone calls, or someone constantly bumping your seat, the whole experience generally sucks.

Case and point, once at a movie with my girlfriend my seat began to be kicked from behind. I let it go until about the third kick, then turned around to see what was going on. This person, for whatever reason, was changing their shoes. This is not made up. I just looked at him with a bewildered expression, he apologized, and we moved on. Still, it's things like that that make the whole experience just a flat negative.

Please movie industry, I want to give you my money. Stop making it so damn hard on me to do so!

End of discussion.

-------------UPDATE 7/3/2010-----------------
Well, this officially blows. The Eagles have released an official statement regarding Vick. Long story short: they're keeping him barring any news of his involvement in the shooting incident.

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed, hoping the police turn up some evidence that puts him around at the time of the shooting. At this point I'm not confident that will happen. Even if he were around, it's likely any one else who was would cover for him at this point, other than the victim.

It's not carved in stone yet, but things are just looking worse and worse for the quarterback formerly known as Ron Mexico.

NBC Sports reports this morning that the police are taking a closer look at Vick and his potential involvement. Let's just quickly go over some of the information that has been coming out:

1) Vick and Quanis Phillips (guy who got shot) had issues with each other from the dog fighting days.

2) Quanis is on tape slapping Vick's girlfriends hand while trying to eat her cake (lol).

3) After that happens, Vick and Quanis have some words.

4) Vick leaves the club, three minutes later Quanis is shot in the direction Vick was heading leaving the club.

If this were a Law and Order episode, there would be some crazy twist and Vick would end up the victim of terrible circumstance. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and at the end he would be vindicated and we'd all have a feel good moment.

Unfortunately for Vick this is real life, where 99.99% of the time, a spade is a spade. IMHO, this spells the end of his career. As an Eagles fan, I'm planning a celebratory party as soon as it's made official that he's done.

The Eagles club has enough issues with their reputation, this trash has further tainted it for long enough.

It's obvious this "chasing money" plan for getting money from cigarette taxes will not work. As taxes increase, less people smoke, and as less people smoke, they are forced to further increase taxes. Believe it or not, eventually there really won't be enough people smoking to generate the funds our greedy government desires.

So here's the really important question that no one seems to be asking yet:

What comes next? NY state will obviously not do the intelligent thing, which would be balancing the budget without these revenues included. So how will they fill the gap moving forward?

The idea of a "sugar" tax has been floated, on things such as soda and candy bars. But honestly, people will just stop using them too.

The reason is less financial then it is societal. You see, to justify these taxes government needs to vilify the products being taxed. They need to convince people that they are bad parents if they allow their children to consume them. They need to put forth the idea that somehow you are less appealing or healthy as an individual if you consume them. Over time these silly notions have an effect, and eventually the societal pressures of your peers who have already conformed become so overbearing, or just plain annoying, that it becomes simpler for us to just find an alternative.

So even if sugar is the next target in the name of the public good, eventually a new target will need to be found. So let's think deeper here. What comes after that? It's important to consider all of this, because one thing I know for certain is that it won't end with either cigarettes or sugar.

Do you have a little guilty pleasure you enjoy, something that might be judged unhealthy or potentially damaging to the environment? You might want to start doing a personal audit of the things you enjoy in your life, and then start paying attention to politics, because you just might be the next one to sacrifice for the good of the whole.