- Stay out, Mexicans. And if you don’t get the point, allow us to drive it home with another ginormous section of fence along the border you share with the United States. Construction began Friday to pave the way for a new chunk of fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, stretching from an Oceanside state park in San Diego to a canyon long known as Smuggler’s Gulch. The fence will span more than three miles and will be by far the costliest portion of fence anywhere along the border at more than $16 million per mile. Much of that cost will come from the 1.9 million tons of dirt being hauled in to Smuggler’s Gulch to fill in the canyon and provide a foundation for the new fence. Also adding to the cost will be a massive concrete culvert being installed to catch rain water running downhill from Tijuana on the Mexican side of the border. It’s a project 12 years in the making and yet another sign of the W. administration’s dislike of border crashers, a dislike that has reached unhealthy and vindictive levels of late. Honestly, you’re telling me that you couldn’t find a better way to spend $57 million? Heck, that would finance another half day of your abortion of a war in Iraq, W. Perhaps the legal and environmental issues you faced in trying to make this fence happen over the past eight years should have been an indication that this project is a bad idea. But hey, why suddenly become smart with your spending when you’ve done the exact opposite for the past seven and a half years, eh ass hat? How many more days until inauguration day, when we can finally put the tenure of the worst president in world history behind us?
- A double dip of riot/protest goodness for you today, first in Johannesburg, South Africa and then in Peru. In Johannesburg, a meeting of African leaders for a summit held by the Southern African Development Community spurred hundreds of angry protestors to take it to the streets and speak out against the inclusion of Zimbabwean dictator/oppressor/President Bob Mugabe. The weekend summit is focused on economic and development issues in the involved nations, but for the protestors and at least one invited national leader, the biggest issue is the tyrannical reign of Mugabe. The protestors not only met and demonstrated, they also marched to the summit venue to demand that the leaders not recognize Mugabe. Sharing their views is Botswanan President Ian Khama, who declined to attend because he rightly believes that Mugabe’s presidency is illegitimate, won and kept by cheating, killing, oppression and brute force rather than by the will of his people. That’s one protest I can get behind…..well, to be fair I get behind every protest, but I especially like this one. I also enjoyed the protests in Peru, were thousands of people took to the streets to let their government know that the slow pace of national rebuilding following the 8.0 magnitude earthquake that rocked Peru on August 15, 2007 is not acceptable. The memory of 500 of their fellow Peruvians dying and 40,000 homes being destroyed haven’t faded, mostly because a lot of those homes and destroyed buildings remain in ruins on the country’s southern coast. Many people are still living in tents or makeshift wooden huts, making Friday’s anniversary of the quake a day to rally against the slow, uninspired response of the government to the crisis. Props to South Africans and Peruvians both for great acts of social dissidence and of speaking out against the injustices of those in power…….
- Could it be? The dream of every baseball fan outside the Bronx looks like it will finally come true this season: a Yankee-free postseason. For a team that’s spending in excess of $200 million on players salaries this season, the New York Yankees sure aren't getting their money’s worth. They currently sit at 66-58, third in the American League East behind both Tampa Bay (yes, the Tampa Bay Rays) and the Boston Red Sox. As we ring in this day, the Yankees are 9.5 games behind the first-place Rays and five games behind the wild card-leading Red Sox. Their ace of the future, fireballer Joba Chamberlain, is still out with a shoulder injury that has forced him to miss his last several starts. Outfielder Hideki Matsui and catcher Jorge Posada are out for the season, with outfielder Johnny Damon battling back from an arm injury as well. Under-performing centerfielder Melky Cabrera was optioned to Triple-A last week, another indication that the team is desperate and trying anything to create a spark. Fact is, they are far too banged up and old to make their customary late-season surge to snatch a playoff spot at the end of the year. They are indeed the third best team in their own division, a fate that is very un-Yankee-like, thus making it all the more amusing to a nation of baseball fans who are predominately anti-Yankees. Start making your tee times for the first week of October, Yankee players, you’ll need something to fill the time…..
- It took more than a month, but The Dark Knight has finally been dislodged at the top of the box office earnings race. It hasn’t been dethroned by a better movie, just a newer one, namely the Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder. Thunder brought in a modest $26 million in its opening weekend to take the top spot, beating out Dark Knight at $16.8 million. That total was enough to push the newest Batman epic past the original Star Wars movie and into second place on the all-time earnings list with $471.5 million. Unfortunately, that leaves the film well behind the biggest waste of four hours of cinema, Titanic, which grossed $600 million. Warner Bros., the studio for Dark Knight, expects the film to top out at about $530 million, although it will still trail both Star Wars and Titanic in total number of tickets sold because of inflation. Ironically, the third-place film for the weekend was another Star Wars flick, albeit an animated version. Star Wars: The Clone Wars earned just $15.5 million for its opening weekend, meaning that there may not be as many dorks out there as I thought….or their moms just haven’t given them their allowance yet or wasn’t able to haul them and their friends in her minivan to the theater this weekend. Either way, not a stellar opening weekend for George Lucas’ latest effort…….
- Is there anyone that Rick Rubin isn't going to produce an album for? Next on the list for the most popular producer in music right now is legendary, hirsute rockers ZZ Top. The project hasn’t even formally begun yet and already Rubin has offered up a great idea; having ZZ collaborate with garage rockers and Akron, Ohio natives the Black Keys. The Keys released one of this year’s best albums, Attack & Release, and their gritty, blues-infused rock sound will be a nice addition to this new album in any capacity. “This is a new venture between the two of us,” ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons said of the partnership with Rubin. As for teaming up with the Black Keys, Gibbons sounds excited. “I’m a big fan of those guys…..it makes total sense,” he explained. Gibbons first saw the Keys perform at New York’s Irving Plaza back in 2005, before they became such a recognized fixture on the music scene. According to Gibbons ZZ Top have been waiting 20 years to work with Rubin (which I believe because this guy must have an f’ing line around the block of artists wanting him to produce their album), so it’s a dream come true. Stay tuned for the end result of the partnership, which should be an album released late in 2009……
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