See it Go

Yes, I am, in fact, still alive. Anyways, today 7-11 announced it was no longer using Citgo gasoline

Convenience store operator 7-Eleven Inc. is dropping Venezuela-backed Citgo as its gasoline supplier at more than 2,100 locations and switching to its own brand of fuel.

The retailer said Wednesday it will purchase fuel from several distributors, including Tower Energy Group of Torrance, Calif., Sinclair Oil of Salt Lake City, and Houston-based Frontier Oil Corp.

This is why I love the free market. First Hugo Chavez comes over here to trash Bush and generally make a fool out of himself. Now, without any government intervention whatsoever, companies are punishing him by no longer buying oil from Citgo, a Venezuelan company. This is a prime example of how the free market can operate when left to its own devices. People are happy, businesses are happy, and Chavez is still a fool.

The Pope v Muslims

I am sure most of you have heard the Pope's recent comments on muslims. Of course his comments weren't even his own, but a quote from a 14th century emperor. The quote he used was:

Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.

Now, normally I have absolutely no use whatsoever for the Pope. However, in this instance, his point was essentially correct. Muhammad spread Islam with the sword personally and encourage others to do. There's really no getting around it. The truly hilarious thing is all of this is the reaction of Muslims worldwide. Many have responded by firebombing churches, burning the Pope in effigie, and showing up at rallies calling for the Pope's head and protesting, among other things, freedom. It is almost as if they are TRYING to prove the Pope correct. Basically they've responded to the accusation that they are violent with a "take that back or I'll kill you," apparently missing the irony of the whole situation. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, although I don't think there's much of a chance that the Pope will stick by his guns for very long. Hopefully one day they'll be someone who will pick up the gauntlet from the Pope and Danish Cartoon publishers and actually stand up for their freedom to criticize Islam no matter how violent the muslims get.

Local MMA Documentary

Here's a short documentary about local MMA fighter Mike Varner. I train at the same gym as him and this gives some insight as to what life is like at the Boneyard.

Crikey

I know it will sadden you all to learn that Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, has died

Steve Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality and conservationist known as the “Crocodile Hunter,” was killed Monday by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44.
[...]
“He came on top of the stingray and the stingray’s barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart,” said Stainton, who was on board Irwin’s boat at the time.

Here we have further proof of the danger of doing collosally stupid jobs. I guess he should have just stuck to crocodiles.