Disgusted With The Polictical Party's and Process

For the last 24 years I have been registered to vote, I have been a registered republican. Although I have never voted the straight party line, I have on many occasion's cross multiple party lines and voted for other candidates. My personal beliefs and ideals used to be more in line with the Republican party, mostly the Reagan era party, not the party as it is currently constructed

I have gotten to a point in my life where I am so disgusted with both major party's and the lack of carrying for the constituents and how they pander more to the lobbyist and special interest groups.

I am almost to the point of switching my party affiliation to independent so I can't identify with either party, but by doing that, I eliminate my opportunity to vote in the primary election, because in Pennsylvania they have closed primaries where you can only vote for candidates for the party in which you are registered.

What this country really needs is a good, strong third or even fourth party, that actually cares about the people who elect them to office, and don't get in bed with the special interest groups and lobbyist. Why is that a party like has not made enough headway in this country to come to fruition. I would join it in a minute.

As the congress is laid out now, the republicans and democrats just bicker back and forth and nothing really gets done. Mostly everything is done along party lines, and no real work gets done. A third party with a strong block of members would force compromise and probably get some real things accomplished.

And while we are on the subject, term limits for our congress members would be a welcome change. I know it would require a constitutional amendment. I would love to see a member of congress with some real guts come forward and propose such an amendment. I would even be happy if it was effective with the newly elected and those currently in office, can ride out their terms until they retire or hopefully replaced.

President Obama has promised change, he has yet to deliver, maybe a member of congress can come forward and propose a change to the constitution.

If not one of them has the guts, it's time for we the people to elect representatives to our government, to put free thinking, open minded and most off all honest politicians, who are accountable to the people for whom they work for and were elected by.

That is the change this country needs.

--gfo

MLB GameTracker - CBSSports.com

First time in Phillies history. What a game, what a pitcher

MLB GameTracker - CBSSports.com

--gfo

On Driving

With all this talk about people talking/texting while driving, its gotten me thinking about some other distractions that occur while people are driving. Most of these distraction are worst than talking on the phone while driving. I don't think it's the actual act of talking, but dialing and texting while driving that is the real issue. So let's take a look:

• Eating while driving
• Changing the radio station, CD player, iPod
• Messing with the GPS
• Smoking/lighting your cigarette
• Disciplining your children

While we're at it, why don't we ban talking while driving, in fact let's take it to the next level, let's just ban passengers altogether. I know that sounds ridiculous but isn't talking to someone in the car the same as talking to someone on the phone, in fact a person next to you can be even more of a distraction.

Before they start legislating what people are doing while they are driving let's take a look at the big picture, and look at everything that people are doing while driving. As technology evolves more distractions are evolving as well.

Personal responsibility can't be legislated, unfortunately but it all comes down to common sense.

--gfo

The Pacific

Well after 8 episodes of The Pacific I must say that I am very disappointed, and to this point, a true disservice is being done to the Marines and Sailors who fought in the Pacific.

I eagerly awaited this mini-series, and expected it to mimic the epic Band of Brothers mini-series. Boy was surprised.

Like I posted in my earlier blog post, this series shows little fighting by the Marines, no character development and most importantly focuses more on the love lives of Marines than it does the actual war.

With Band of Brothers you felt as if you were part of the unit, following through jump school, the D-Day and Market-Garden jumps, the heroic stand at Bastogne, and the final push through Germany. You got to know the characters, and as the title suggests, saw Easy Company bond as one.

The Pacific jumps all over the place and for those who lack any real knowledge of the battles that occurred in the pacific theatre, the series is almost impossible to follow.

There are two episodes left, I sure hope they have more action and less Lifetime than the previous episodes

Call me a purist but I expected more from Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.

--gfo

The Pacific

Well so far the HBO miniseries The Pacific has been a real disappointment to me. In comparison to the epic Band of Brothers, this series has yet to really draw me in, and feel a part of the men who fought in the pacific theater.

My first and biggest complaint, is that unlike the Band of Brothers, we didn't get to see any character development or even training. I am having a lot of trouble figuring out who the characters are. The only character I know for sure, is Chesty Puller, and the only reason I know him is because I have seen him in other movies.

Episode 3 was a joke to me. There was absolutely no fighting, and to me, it was much like watching a soap opera. I don't understand the point of this episode save for the fact that it shows how the Marines were during down time. Perhaps the most poignant scene was when Staff Sergeant Basilone was awarded the Medal of Honor.

I know this series is based on a couple of books, as was the Band of Brothers. Full disclosure, I have not read either of the books (With The Old Breed by Eugene Sledge and Helmet For My Pillow by Robert Leckie) so I'm not sure how they are written ergo I don't have any way to compare the books to movie. I did however read Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose (who was an Executive Producer of the mini-series) and the Band of Brothers mini-series pretty much followed the outline of the book.

I hope the series get's better, because for this WWII buff, all of the hype of the program has been a bust to me. The previews for next week look better. I want to see some combat and how it really was for the Marines, soldiers and sailors in the pacific theater. The fighting was brutal and up close. It shouldn't be dumbed down for political correctness sake. The story needs to be told how it was, lest we forget why we fought.

--gfo

2009 Philly Sports Year In Review

Well another disappointing year here in Philly in the sports world. The Phillies, gave it a good run, but slumped at a bad time, and were overwhelmed by the venerable New York Yankees.

The Eagles, well it's the same old story every year. They have ebbs and flows, beat teams they shouldn't, lose to teams they should she beat, but most of all, they do what they have done almost every year under the Andy Reid regime, choke in the big game.

The Phillies had an exciting season, despite sub-par performances from their 2008 ace Cole Hamels. They boosted their staff mid season with the acquisition of Cliff Lee who had a phenomenal remainder of the season, and an outstanding post season. Of course the post season acquisition of Roy Halladay meant that Cliff Lee was the odd man out. The Phillies will continue to be contenders for years to come since most of their players are still young, and under contract. My only wish is that the Phillies kept Lee, since he was under contract for another year. I am sure, the organization had the funds available to pay both Lee and Halladay. I could only imagine how good the pitching staff would have been with both of those guys on staff.

My other hope for the Phillies is that both Brad Lidge and Cole Hamels, got their heads together, and have seasons like they did in 2008. Both of these guys are integral parts of the Phillies staff and need to be more consistent in 2010.

Now on to the Eagles.

Being a life long Eagles, I am used to the consistent disappointments that this organization brings us fans every year, and every year we get the same rhetoric from the coach and owner. Bottom line, is that McNabb needs to go. This team is being built on youth, and those young guys have shown us a lot this year. McNabb has proved again that he is a sub-par quarterback, either over throwing, under throwing or just flat out making bone head decisions.

As for decision making, Coach Reid needs to take a long look in the mirror and truly evaluate his play calling and personnel decisions this off season. The defense which used to be formidable, looked awful this year. I believe Sean McDermott did a stand up job in place of long time coordinator Jim Johnson. I found the defense play weak, especially in the areas of tackling, and bone head penalties.

The Phillies start spring training in about a month, so there is a good month off for me with Philadelphia sports, I could care less about the Sixers and Flyers. I actually need the break. By the time spring training starts, I will be ready to get my daily fill of sports

--gfo