Mang Now!

Occupy Wall Street? Try Occupying a Mental Hospital

2011-10-09T20:36:00.000-04:00

A political activist at heart, I suppose I should get a warm fuzzy feeling inside when I see people trying to take part in the democratic process. There is a new movement in America that you might have heard about: “Occupy Wall Street”. At first I thought this was just a fad, a conglomeration of people that would at best be thought of as populists. Populism reigned supreme in 2008 with the election of Barack Obama, so such a movement of “anti-rich, anti-Wall Street” sentiments is entirely possible.

So it made me curious. What exactly are the demands of these people? A quick overview of what these people want is quite startling, not to mention quite costly. The following is a breakdown, and you can be the judge if these people are legitimate or certifiable. Be forewarned, this is the most socialist propaganda I have ever seen come out of these United States. I would go so far as saying this is borderline communist what they are asking.

Demand 1: $20 per hour minimum wage. There is a jobs killer if I ever saw one. That is the fast track to killing small business. I’m not sure whether I should laugh or throw up in my mouth at that one.

Demand 2: Universal single payer healthcare system, banning private insurance carriers. Who is going to pay for that, and do you want the government being the ultimate decider of your healthcare needs? If businesses cut back on employees due to the $20 minimum wage, then no one is going to pay for this anyway because everyone will be out of a job.

Demand 3: Guaranteed living wage regardless of employment. So what you are saying is someone who chooses not to finish high school or college should be guaranteed a living wage in spite of the fact they are lazy. Way to de-incentivize the “if you work hard you will make more” mentality that has been the cornerstone of the capitalist spirit. Everyone will be paid money to survive regardless of how hard you work. We tried this with communism, and it did not work.

Demand 4: Free college education. Yes, more free money. Everything is free! If that is the case, I am in arrears for 5 years of college education and I want reimbursed the full amount I paid. And I am tagging the government for interest because technically I shouldn’t have paid that money in the first place. They owe me. Again, who is paying for all of this free stuff?

Demand 5: Bring the fossil fuel economy to an end and fast track green energy. Find a viable source of energy that is not going to cost the government billions in tax credits and maybe we will have something to talk about. I am all for finding cleaner energy, but it needs to be cost effective.

Demand 6: One trillion dollars in infrastructure improvements. I see we are taking a page out of the FDR playbook with this one. Let’s spend a trillion dollars to put people to work on a very temporary basis. That is a great plan, let’s spend more of the money (that we don’t have I should point out) to create a momentary bubble of employment. When that bubble ends, let’s spend a trillion more!

Demand 7: Decommission all of our nuclear power plants and let’s spend a trillion dollars on forests and wetlands. First, lumber companies reforest. That is a known fact. Second, this creates no jobs whatsoever. And third, are you serious? Decommission the nuclear power plants? Why not invest in some better ways to eliminate the toxic output of these plants. There are plans in the works to help take care of these problems, but they lack the proper funding. Democrats have a burr up their ass about nuclear power, and it is starting to annoy the hell out of me.

Demand 8: Racial and gender equal rights amendment. Not even going into this one. I’m not sure how much more equal we can make things. You be the judge of that.

Demand 9: Open border migration. Great idea, let’s let the drug dealers in, the terrorists in, and why not just annex the entirety of Mexico while we are at it. You can’t account for these people now. How the hell do you plan to account for them with an open migration policy? Are they paying taxes? Will they be covered under this new socialist healthcare system? Do you people know anything?

Demand 10: Bring American elections up to international standards of a paper ballot precinct counted and recounted in front of an independent and party observers system. Our system of elections is fine in America thank you. As an officer of the Board of Elections locally, I am happy to say our system is pretty good.

Demand 11: Debt forgiveness for all! Whoo!!! Free money! I was irresponsible, and now I am getting a bailout! I see personal responsibility has no meaning to these people. The bailout was wrong for the financial companies, and it is wrong here.

Demand 12: Outlaw all credit reporting agencies. Blah blah blah.

Demand 13: Allow all workers to sign a ballot at any time during a union organizing campaign or at any time that represents their yeah or nay to having a union represent them in collective bargaining or to form a union. Oh yes, we can’t forget the unions. No comment.

Judging by this author, these people are certifiable. They want everything under the sun free and they have no concept of money or personal responsibility. They want the great socialist state where the government is the answer to all of their problems. What a sad situation this has become.

Shame on them. If you want to live in a socialist or even a communist country, there are plenty of them out there that are doing pretty terrible that you can go live in. Yes, America is facing hard economic times, but the answer is not to turn this country into a socialist nanny state.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

2011-10-09T20:29:00.001-04:00

CPA Exam Edition

2011-07-11T21:12:00.002-04:00

Today my letter came from the CPA Examination Services confirming I passed the CPA exam. I had been waiting for this letter since getting the unofficial results back in June, but finally three weeks later the Examination Board finalized those results, proving that I have not been dreaming. The mill stone is no longer around my neck, and my head is no longer on the chopping block as fears of losing an entire summer to studying to make the September deadline fade into memory.

Tonight I hung that letter on the wall next to my degrees from Youngstown State and Ohio State (and my really awesome picture of myself and Karl Rove). The Youngstown State degree had not seen the light of day for almost three years, and the Ohio State degree had not been seen since graduation day 2010. I swore never to put them up until I passed, and a few years later, I can actually see what they look like now.

Coming into June, I honestly did not think I would pass this exam. I cannot sit here and tell you truthfully that I planned on breezing through this because I doubted every step of the way.

After coming out of the Financial Accounting part of the exam feeling like I completely blew it (especially since taking two months of studying nights and weekends to get prepared), I was ready to throw in the towel. I had convinced myself in my mind that I failed because never had I prepared for an exam so hard only to leave feeling like a complete failure.

After taking a month off in preparation for the May Primary and to get mentally back on track, somewhere I found some strength to come back to the studying table for Auditing. Like Rocky in Rocky III, I went back to basics after taking a severe ass kicking by a gigantic Clubber Lang sized exam. I remembered studying for accounting at YSU with my friends Hanna, Angela, Anthony, Cecil, and that entire crew and the time we put in on study guides. Study guides never failed me at YSU, and I knew they wouldn’t fail me on the CPA exam if I applied them correctly.

As an aside, I watched a lot of Rocky during May, as well as Star Wars and the Karate Kid—people doing impossible things. A steady diet of that actually can be a healthy thing.

In the end the study guides did work and Auditing turned out to be my best exam of the four. Financial Accounting was truly the shocker—75 right on the nose. As a near 4.0 student, it is the first time I can honestly say I was happy to get a score that low. If I was a bookie, the odds on my passing that exam in my books would have been 99 to 1. Somehow everything came up Mang that day in Columbus.

I do owe a lot of thanks to family and friends who have been supportive over the last two years. You all believed in me even when I did not believe in myself. We finally got there and it means a lot that you stuck by me when things did not always look so optimistic, both in respects to this license as well as things of a more personal nature. I will not forget those people, and for that (as is custom in Italian culture) there will always be that loyalty.

As another aside, there is more than one young professional in the Mahoning County Republican Party and I did it because I think it is important to have a young professional who is not a lawyer. Sorry lawyers, but there are too many of you in Mahoning County. And in that drive to get a non-lawyer young professional into the Mahoning County GOP, I did that one for my own personal satisfaction.

Of course, a great deal of thanks goes to my Lord and Savior. I may not be the best Christian, but I try to see the good in people and treat people with respect (except when I am driving and people need to be told how badly they do so). Church is important, and someday I will get back into the routine, but I have found too often some of the worst offenders of treating people with disrespect and being nasty have come from the people who refuse to miss a weekly Mass under any circumstance. It is part of why I struggle with the faith to this day.

In some strange way I need to thank Congressman Bill Johnson. We have had our differences, and we still do have our differences. But supposing the 2010 Primary went differently, I might be in Washington today without my license and looking at an uncertain redistricting plan. In retrospect and looking down the road, I might go so far to say that losing that Primary (as hard as it was to swallow) might have been the best thing after all.

But I do wish Congressman Johnson and his staff well in this year and in future years. What’s done is done.

Well, that is the CPA Exam Thank-You Edition. I will leave you with this inspiring quote from a movie we all know and love.
“I do have a test today. That wasn't bullshit. It's on European socialism. I mean, really, what's the point? I'm not European. I don't plan on being European. So who gives a crap if they're socialists? They could be fascist anarchists. It still wouldn't change the fact that I don't own a car. Not that I condone fascism, or any ism for that matter. Isms in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon: "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me." Good point there. After all, he was the Walrus. I could be the Walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off of people.”

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

South Park Has it Right

2011-06-14T18:56:00.003-04:00

Perhaps it has been a little while since last writing, but I think this article is long overdue. After watching the mid-season finale of “South Park” last week, I guess Trey Parker and Matt Stone pretty much hit the nail on the head about some things I have believed for some time but really couldn’t express in words: everything is crap. To quote Randy Marsh, “It’s like the same story keeps happening every week, only it keeps getting more ridiculous”. Ignoring the double meaning of this line to the alleged ending of the show, the application of this line to life is remarkably on par to how things continue to progress today.

It amazes me that in 2011 you can learn more from a cartoon than any other program on TV (the news included because regardless of what side of the aisle you are on, it is one opinion and point of view after the other, the actual news end of it be damned). South Park, as crude and outrageous as it can be, is more culturally and politically relevant than anything else you will find on television today, and 90% of the time I usually come away agreeing with the underlying point they are trying to make.

“It’s like the same story keeps happening every week, only it keeps getting more ridiculous”.

Take your pick of topics on this one, but it holds true for everything. Politics—Anthony Weiner? That is both ridiculous and pointless, not to mention just plain sick. And he will not step down despite his sick behavior. Thanks Anthony for setting a new artificial rock bottom, because in politics rock bottom is shattered on an increasingly frequent basis. There’s one more in the book for sexual addiction. A sexually addicted male, yeah, there is a real shocker. Hate to break it to every media figure, political, athletic, or pop cultural, but wanting to have sex is not a medical condition. Rather most guys can control their impulses from doing extremely stupid things. I take that back—many guys can, because there are a lot of guys out there that do extremely stupid things and I am unsure if they are the majority or the minority anymore.

What about sports? What about LeBron James getting his own TV show to determine what HE is going to do picking his new team? You can chalk that up to narcissism and one more self-absorbed, selfish player in sports continuing the trend that we have seen over the last ten years. Plaxico Burress, Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, Terrell Owens, yes, people I think we all aspire to seeing as great role models.

Popular Culture. I’m not even going to talk too much about this, because I think this angers me more than most. I believe it is a major contributing factor to the cultural decay and amoral wasteland of what we see here in 2011. The media since the late 90s has given people the means, abilities, and licenses to be complete assholes. Respect and courtesy is gone. The family structure has been shot to hell. There is moral flexibility in everything, especially in the professions that claim to adhere to a moral code. It is a complete joke. And as far as the quality of the mass media market, if God had any sense of pity he would come and strike us down to prevent us from seeing one more ridiculous, overblown, and low budget reality TV show.

Technology. In a nutshell, this is my feeling about technology. Yeah, it is cool, and yes, I can use it. But is there really any point? I think technology has gone beyond the point of utility and has crossed into the plane of “ridiculous”. I think the obsession with these new technological “toys” is unhealthy. It doesn’t produce anything, it doesn’t create anything, it is just some form of equipment that we stare at for hours on end.

South Park had it right. Each week things get more and more ridiculous. Sure, some of this stuff may look all glamorous and impressive on the surface, but deep down it is what it always has been for the last two decades: crap.

You can call me a cynic or a pessimist, but forgive me if I look around at the world today and am completely unimpressed with where things are heading. We may live in a small corner of the world, walking around completely oblivious to others, what is happening in our towns, and what is happening in the world, but in the rest of the world things are in complete shambles and it is a very dangerous place. And yet no one seems to know or care, and they go back to listening to their iPod.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Why So Serious? A Cynic's Point of View

2011-01-30T09:28:00.003-05:00

People say I am too cynical. That is an interesting observation. Someone famous once said “I’m not cynical, I’ve been in a very bad mood for the last 40 years!” Kidding aside, I do not believe people are naturally cynical. I think all people start out as optimists; just contributing circumstances can at times make people question life.

Half the time I feel like I am diving into the shallow end of the pool, expecting there to be more to people and half expecting them to have some kind of substance behind their lives and attitudes aside from the complete superficial, take-no-prisoners-step-on-anyone-to-the-top ambition, and nasty dispositions. People today are a lot nastier than they used to be in case you haven’t noticed, but I think popular culture has given the impression that it is okay and in fact encouraged to treat people like shit—like this is now the new norm.

And alas, every time I dive into the pool expecting something different, I realize the second that I dive in that I made a mistake as my head slams against the concrete.

Unfortunately, it seems like there is no deep end of the pool, but rather the whole damn pool is shallow. You would think after the first handful of skull fractures that you would realize and accept that life and people are naturally this way: mean spirited and shallow. I am really tired of seeing the inner good in someone just to be completely wrong in the end. Or maybe I am not wrong, just sometimes that good is buried deep within a façade that cannot be broken through.

And yet, some part of me still thinks there is some good out there somewhere, which is why I keep cracking my damn head on reality every time I do something, whatever that may be. There are glimmers of hope, but my overall impression of people generally has hit an all time low.

I am not in a bad mood ladies and gentlemen. I am just unimpressed with where things have headed. I am not perfect—some of you have more than pointed that out, some of you have made a long list of everything that is wrong with me. I am not unaware of those things, I am a bigger critic than all of you combined, do not mistake that either.

I am not cynical. I am just let down. If that makes me a cynic, so be it. Most people will not get this article, but to my friends who do read it, I hope you understand.

Alex

Of New Year's Eve and 2011 Excellence

2011-01-01T13:24:00.004-05:00

After giving it some serious thought, I have decided that when I start working again next week, I am going to dedicate $20 of each paycheck to what I am dubbing “Alex’s New Year’s Fund”. In fact, I plan on opening a new savings account for this designated purpose. So by starting work on January 10th I could plan on having roughly $1,000 at the end of the year, allowing me to fulfill my ultimate goal: get the hell out of Youngstown, OH for New Year’s. With my trusty Priceline account, I am sure I could get a decent room somewhere for a few days and still have enough for food and cover charges into bars that are actually, well, fun and most importantly, not here.

Due to a lack of steady work over the last year, this dream has not been realized, but assuming the stars continue to be aligned correctly, this issue has been resolved. I am looking forward to returning to work.

Let me say that I am not a fan of New Year’s Eve, nor really a fan of New Year’s Day. But putting present circumstances into perspective, it may not be because of the actual day rather than the lack of a good experience here at home. Here in Youngstown, I cannot recall a single outstanding New Year’s Eve where I have thought “You know, this was an awesome time and I can’t wait until next year to do it again”. The whole experience here has been mediocre at best and could explain why I dread the thought of it every year. It almost catches you up in the reality that because the experience sucks you don’t want to go out, but if you stay at home you feel even worse for it. And if you are single, God have mercy on you. Let the day end quick.

New Year’s may be phenomenal someplace else though and that fact has not escaped me, which is why I am putting together this separate savings fund. It may be a rip roaring time somewhere else, and in light of the fact this is probably 100% true, I have no intention of being here next New Year’s Eve, nor any New Year’s Eve subsequent to 2011.

But 2011 is now here, ending a rather unusual but moderately successful 2010. Here’s to better times, a successful, healthy, and fruitful new year, and a big boot to the ass of all that went wrong last year. I know I made several mistakes that I am not going to repeat again, and I hope that whatever mistakes you made you will consider making some adjustments as well. 2010 brought a lot of good, but realistically, it was a giant pain in the ass despite havings its moments.

We are all human, but as always, there is no accounting for taste.

Have a happy and most excellent 2011 everyone!

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

The Dangers of Ignoring Human Nature

2010-12-17T18:42:00.002-05:00

Human nature is an unusual thing, though many times it is predictable. We expect people to behave as we know them to behave. Sometimes when a person is trying to act differently and when we hope the result will be different, contrary to what we hope would happen turns out to be the same predictable behavior, either out of maliciousness or because of weakness—human nature.

There is a familiar allegory out there known simply as “The Scorpion and the Toad”. For those of you unfamiliar with this story, a scorpion is looking to cross the river and comes across a toad. The scorpion calls out to the toad, asking him to take him across the river. The toad replies to the scorpion that he will sting him, and says no. The scorpion, quite persistently pursuing the toad, finally says that if he were to sting the toad, both of them would die.

The toad, a rather intelligent animal, thought about this logic for a few moments and agreed. After all, he had been pursued by the scorpion for a rather lengthy period and the reality that both would die if anything happened fit the logic that it would be okay.

Halfway across the river, the scorpion stings the toad in the back. The toad, rather indignant but powerless now, yelled out to the scorpion “Why did you this? Now we both will die”. The scorpion responded, “It is my nature.”

Regardless of the agreement and the logic the toad used, his ignoring the nature of a scorpion in the end doomed him. Much like this example, human nature is predictable but not always logical. It can follow patterns. Someone whose nature is loyalty will rarely be disloyal. Someone whose nature is dishonesty and self servitude will rarely be honest about his true intentions or have a genuine interest in the success of anyone but himself.

Sometimes it is easy to fall into the trap of ignoring human nature, and it is when we ignore what our instincts are telling us do we truly find ourselves in trouble. It may be convenient to ignore it, or it may be presented in a way where the true nature is hidden behind a veil. It may come disguised as flattery, or it may be disguised by the promise of grandeur.

The point of this is simple: do not ignore the nature of people, whatever that nature is. If your instincts are telling you one thing, chances are your instincts are correct. Do not fall into the same trap the toad did, because what is logical is not always what is predictable.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

The Mang's Christmas Albums: No, We are Not Ridiculing Music Here (Much)

2010-12-14T20:45:00.005-05:00

Normally at this time of year I would criticize the musical choices of our local radio broadcasters (I will not name names Clear Channel, but you know who you are). It would not be unusual for me to take a few shots at such musical abominations such as “Happy Christmas/War is Over” and “Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time”. I might even make the comment that Andy Williams needs to relinquish his monopoly on the Christmas music market and stay in Branson, MO where he belongs.

But alas, I am not going to make those comments (even though I pretty much did in that last paragraph). Instead this year I would like to point out the musical genius of a few Christmas albums that you have some familiarity with and a few you might not, just to show you I am not a heartless bastard who likes to do drive-bys on Christmas music.

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" by the Vince Guaraldi Trio (1965)

Perhaps the quintessential Christmas album. You are probably thinking it is overplayed, but the reality is only two songs on this album receive major airtime, and one is significantly cut. "Linus and Lucy" is the most frequent, and "O Tannenbaum" is the second most frequent, though the song itself has been shortened in length quite harshly.

The rest of the songs on this album are terrific, but they are heard infrequently. It is all the more reason to appreciate it as a masterful Jazz composition as well as a masterful Christmas composition. The Vince Guaraldi Trio was a brilliant group, and without the soundtrack, the show itself would not have been the same.

"A Merry Mancini Christmas" by Henry Mancini and his Orchestra and Chorus (1966)

This is an album very near and dear to my heart, and I'd say it is my second favorite album of all time. Of all of the albums listed on here, it is by far the most retro in sound, and sadly the songs on this album receive zero airtime on the radio.

Most of the songs on here are medleys, which is interesting as you do not get many medleys anymore (when was the last time you heard one on the radio?). But the transitions are flawless and the voices are very smooth. The orchestra is fantastic.

Unfortunately, this kind of album could not be produced today, as by today's standards (however unusual), this might come across as too generic. And for its brilliance, it is very simplistic and easy to listen to.

"Christmas with the Rat Pack"

I try to avoid compilations if I can but this collection of songs by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. is probably as good of a collection as any. While it does not cover the entire Christmas selection, this album covers the highlights (though I strongly recommend you pick up their individual Christmas collections).

You may be thinking that a handful of these songs are overplayed, namely Dean Martin's "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" and "Baby it's Cold Outside". This is true, they are overplayed. However, for being played as often as they are, they are not particularly as annoying as say "Last Christmas" by Wham!

Any way you slice it, the Rat Pack is class defined.

"Dr. Demento Presents the Greatest Christmas Novelty CD of All Time"

You know how I said I try to stay away from compilations? Yeah, I lied. This is a very unusual album, and occasionally these songs will find their way onto the radio. It is by its definition a novelty CD. The songs that most frequently find airtime are "Christmas Don't Be Late" by the Chipmunks and "Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer" by Elmo and Patsy.

In a few rare instances (like today on a station that barely was coming in out of Cleveland) you will come across a song like "Santa Claus and His Old Lady" by Cheech and Chong, which is hilarious, or "The 12 Days of Christmas" by Bob and Doug McKenzie, which is equally hilarious. But outside of that, don't count on hearing any of these gems. This one is definitely worth a listen.

"Twisted Sister Christmas" by Twisted Sister (2006)

The good, bad, and the ugly all wrapped up into one. Believe it or not Twisted Sister does some pretty decent songs on here, and at the same time they have come up with some unusually bad pieces.

This is an album you will probably will never hear on the radio, unless 93.3 or 102.9 do a special classic rock Christmas request.

"Oh Come All Ye Faithful" is hilarious as it reworks "We're Not Gonna Take It", so even though it is a Christmas song, you still come away feeling pissed off at the world.

I hope some of these albums bring happiness and joy to your Christmas season. Some are brilliant masterpieces while others bring Christmas music to the lowest common denominator.

Enjoy!

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Greed and Success: Is Greed Really Good?

2010-12-09T10:34:00.002-05:00

I have taken a little time off from writing due to work constraints: political, accounting, or otherwise. But Mang Now is going to be back with some regularity and hopefully on a weekly basis. As I am currently in the process of applying for different jobs with the State, there comes with it some downtime that lets me do some writing as well as other endeavors like studying for my CPA.

Anyone who knows me well enough will tell you I am not a fan of today. I find today’s world to be highly superficial, materialistic, impersonal, pointless, and for a lack of a better word, unsatisfying.

An evening or two ago I ended up watching Wall Street, the timeless classic that made the motto “greed is good” into a household phrase. There was an exchange in that movie between Bud and his father Carl that I think is often overlooked when considering the scope of the whole movie.

Carl: He's using you, kid. He's got your prick in his back pocket, but you're too blind to see it.

Bud: No. What I see is a jealous old machinist who can't stand the fact that his son has become more successful than he has!

Carl: What you see is a guy who never measured a man's success by the size of his WALLET!

Bud: That's because you never had the guts to go out into the world and stake your own claim!

Carl: Boy, if that's the way you feel, I must have done a really lousy job as a father.

I think that is often something we overlook today. In my opinion, greed IS good. It serves as motivation. It makes us want to do better, to be better in life. But are the words “material gain” and “success” interchangeable? That is an idea I have struggled with on a regular basis, and I think it is something a lot of people today struggle with. What I have concluded is success is all in the eye of the beholder.

To me, success is doing a job I like doing even if it doesn’t translate to making the huge dollars doing something that would make me miserable. It can be living modestly if it is with someone I’d want to spend the rest of my life with. Success to me is being happy.

Unfortunately, the media and society in general promote success in different ways. Making a ton of money is one way. Sleeping with as many people as possible is another. Is this an adequate view of what is success? I do not know. I will not knock anyone’s hustle, but I can point to several examples where people had attained both of those goals but were completely miserable. I have seen firsthand what financial obsession can do to a family as well.

I think what I am trying to get at here is to evaluate what is really important. Greed is good, but don’t let it define who you are as a person.

Alex Mangie
The Mang

College Shakeup: Potential Super-Conferences on the Rise

2010-06-11T08:37:00.004-04:00

It has finally happened. Colorado is officially making the move from the Big 12 to the PAC-10. Nebraska has done everything but officially come out and say they are moving to the Big 10 from the Big 12 (and was actually reported on Y103 this morning that it has actually occurred which is not accurate), with an announcement expected sometime today or early next week.

Is this the end for the Big 12?

There have been reports that if Colorado and Nebraska make the move, then Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State would move to the PAC-10, practically dissolving the Big 12 conference. The remaining schools would be Iowa State, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State, and Baylor. These schools will need to align with a conference somewhere, particularly Kansas.

This would create a super-conference in the PAC-10 comprised of some of the best football programs in the nation. If that happens, I cannot see the Big 10 just settling for a 12 team conference. It almost forces the Big 10 into expanding, and the Big 10 will probably take another look at Missouri down the line if what is expected at the PAC-10 comes to fruition.

Also, it raises a question about the SEC, because the conference has been very quiet in regards to all of this. Geographically, it makes more sense for Texas and Texas A&M to join the SEC. Also, SEC teams typically have bigger TV contracts than the PAC-10 (ESPN reports that the typical contract for an SEC team is $205 million compared to a $58 million contract in the PAC-10). There are already rumblings about Texas A&M considering the SEC as an alternative to the PAC-10, and I would not be surprised if the SEC begins making contact with Texas.

Big 10 options—Remnants of Big 12 and looking at the Big East

If the PAC-10 expands further than Colorado, the Big 10 should (and probably will) expand further than just Nebraska. They have several options to consider, one of which will involve Notre Dame.

The Big 10 can consider forcing the collapse of the Big East by approaching West Virginia, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati, in hopes that it would force Notre Dame into joining the Big 10, bringing the number of Big 10 schools to 16 (supposing Nebraska comes through). It would be risky, because I am not sure if Pittsburgh, WVU, and Cincinnati would be a good fit for the Big 10, though academically they are a good fit. However, you have the chance of picking up the coveted Notre Dame program.

The Big 10 can also choose to look west and pick up Missouri. I think Missouri would be a good fit in the Big 10, both geographically and academically. The Big 10 can also consider bringing Kansas into the fold. It would preserve the rivalries between MU, Nebraska, and Kansas. Additionally, they can still look to pick up a school like West Virginia or Pittsburgh, in hopes Notre Dame would still be in play. If the Big 10 can pick up one Big East school, it might force a collapse of the Big East program notwithstanding, as it is already a weakened conference.

I am in favor of the second alternative, because geographically with 16 teams, you can make two divisions: Big Ten West and Big Ten East. Chances are this would be the last expansion of the Big 10, and if they are sitting on 15 teams, the pressure is going to be on for Notre Dame to join and be number 16. It would be enticing because Kansas, Pittsburgh, and WVU tend to have decent basketball programs, and Notre Dame would benefit in both respects.

The Mang

Arizona Rising--The Front Line for Real Immigration Enforcement

2010-05-23T00:14:00.004-04:00

In effort to reassert the authority of the states, in upholding what is in fact a federal law, Arizona has passed what is broadcasted as a “controversial law” in regards to illegal immigration. It is not entirely dissimilar from the federal law, perhaps less stringent in certain aspects. But nonetheless, Arizona’s answer to a poorly planned federal approach to immigration policy has met widespread criticism from those on the left that are quick to make the issue about race rather than upholding the current laws.

Unfortunately, it is out of necessity this law was created because the Obama Administration has failed to take action in securing the borders. It is one thing Obama has in common with Bush—inability to follow the law on immigration policy and failure to take the necessary steps in securing the borders.

Before going any further, let us address the issue of racial profiling. Mexico is a Latin American country. Hence, illegal aliens are going to be of Latin American descent. So, naturally, if there is going to be an illegal immigrant in Arizona, 99.9% of the time it is going to be someone who is Latin American. That is not making a racist statement. That is the reality of the location and situation. Arizona’s law discourages racial profiling, but if it would please the far left, Arizona should make it mandatory that EVERY person pulled over or questioned for lawful cause must show proof of citizenship.

The real question is who benefits from opposing Arizona’s new legislation? Could it be certain individuals are seeking votes? I believe that to be as true under Bush as it is under Obama. It could be certain groups want open borders. Hate to break it to those groups, but few countries have an open border policy for non-citizens. Sorry to rain on the parade for those people, but that is the law here in the U.S. No open borders.

Why would Arizona pass this law? Kidnappings are the highest in the nation in Phoenix as a result of the illegal immigration situation. Murders are on the rise in the state. There are a fair amount in the prison system that is costing the state money that otherwise would not have to be spent to house these illegals.

Arizona should be applauded for trying to do something, rather that ostracized for political motivations. The same cities like San Francisco that welcome illegal immigrants under the banner of a “sanctuary city” are being let free to run amok of things rather than criticized for their failure to follow federal law.

You want to cut money in the federal budget? Cut off federal funding to cities that openly declare they are sanctuary cities and have legislation supporting that stance. If the federal government can cut funding to states that refused to lower their speed limits, they can cut funding to cities that refuse to enforce the federal law. Those cities would shape up in a hurry, but no one has a cajones to do anything about it.

Grow some backbone for God’s sake and do what is right and lawful rather than pandering to the far left and using race as the be all and end all excuse for doing or not doing something. Race is the excuse for everything anymore, and as an argument it is growing old fast. No, it is already old and cliché and those using race as a criticism for everything people do not agree with need to get a new line.

This is not that difficult folks. Mr. President, do your damn job and enforce the law.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

The Return of Mang Now! Post Election Edition

2010-05-08T00:46:00.003-04:00

It has been a few weeks since writing, but the reality of work has prevented me from doing anything with great certainty outside of the campaign. Even in consideration of losing the 6th Congressional primary by a mere 1,634 votes to a person whose character and morals I continue to question, I believe the experience has been completely worthwhile. I have taken a lot away from this race, and I intend to continue to participate in running races in the future.

To those of you who have noticed that my Allen for Congress magnet continues to remain on my car door, I am aware of that fact. When I am ready, I will take it off.

Interesting races as of May 4th. Carol Rimedio beats Dave Ludt. County Sales Tax Renewal passes huge. Fisher blows out Brunner.

Politics is a funny thing. Once you become involved in the election process, everything else seems to become boring. Accounting, for instance, is not very appealing right now given the excitement and strategic planning of a campaign. There is so much that goes into a race that it can be very consuming and time demanding, and for once I think I have finally found something I enjoy doing for a living that actually has potential to pay off. It also means I now have to muscle through the CPA exam even when my heart is not 100% in it, but I will do my best.

Accountants talk about the busy season—a once a year gig that lasts for three and a half months. Campaign staffers and candidates are quite aware that there are two busy seasons for them. During an election year the entire year itself may be a single busy season. It can result in days that start at 5:30AM and last until 1:00AM the next day. The campaign may require traveling as much as 8 hours on the road in a single day. It may involve fighting with the Secretary of State or the Federal Elections Commission. Very likely, it will result in keeping track of all the finances and paying payroll taxes with all the appropriate agencies. If things are going the wrong way, you may find yourself knocking on the doors of 1,000 people in a single week.

One thing for certain is it is never boring. Crunching numbers or playing the best game in the world? I think I know where my loyalties lie.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Mahoning County Results: Donald Allen: 52% Bill Johnson: 36% 103 precincts won out of 124.

Columbiana County Results: Donald Allen: 43.4% Bill Johnson: 42.8%

Jefferson County Results: Donald Allen: 41% Bill Johnson: 37%

Don't Fear the Healthcare Reaper--The Real Fight Begins Now

2010-03-22T00:58:00.002-04:00

It is always darkest before the dawn. That is what I can say about tonight’s passage of this healthcare takeover initiative. Tonight we witnessed history, certainly without any question. Healthcare reform as defined by the liberal Democrats, and only the liberal Democrats, has passed in the name of what one Congressman referred to as “social justice”. I do not want to get into the details too much in regards to “social justice” theory, but for purposes of this article let me just say it is something I have reservations about.

Healthcare has become the obsession of liberal policy. It has been for years. They went to any and every length to get this piece of legislation passed, in spite of the wishes of the American people. There has been overwhelming opposition to the legislation as it had been drafted. There have been protests nationwide. Phone lines have been jammed to the point of collapse on Capitol Hill. And despite all of this, they passed this legislation. Even with 54% of Americans disapproving and only 36% approving, they passed this legislation. Public opinion be damned.

Will of the people or fulfillment of their own personal crusade? I think we know where the truth lies. You can see it in their eyes. You can hear it in their voice. Pelosi’s face was practically glazed over with giddiness tonight. Congresswoman Slaughter’s attitude and tone of voice clearly indicated a high opinion of her own self-worth and came across very condescending. I know what narcissism looks like because I have lived it in my family, and people like Pelosi and Slaughter are showing the classic symptoms.

In the words of Chris Matthews, I think there were a lot of thrills going up the legs of the Party leadership there tonight.

It is like these people are crazily obsessed, and you could have pointed that out in any one of those liberals in the lineup tonight. They think they know what is best for you, and their body language and tone of voice clearly show that is how they think. And they think they are wonderful for it.

Let us set the record straight. There are going to be a lot of people going on a permanent vacation from D.C. this November, and I look forward to playing an active part locally in that process. When the Supreme Court hears this case (and I say “when” because they will hear this in the near future guaranteed), they will find it unconstitutional, and everyone that voted for this disaster of a bill are going to have nothing to show for it—not even their job.

You cannot in good conscience find this bill as written to be constitutional, and I believe the Supreme Court will do the right thing. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I sure as hell am happy I did not infuriate the Supreme Court on more than one occasion over the last couple of months. Unfortunately for our president, he cannot say the same thing. And no amount of judicial ass kissing is going to save him. Sell crazy somewhere else—we’re all stocked up here.

The Democratic Party and their interest groups have made a career in dragging things through court. Now we will return the favor 20 fold. By the count of Real Clear Politics, it may be 38 fold and growing. How is that for a stimulus package? The Feds are going to have to hire a lot of attorneys to defend this one.

Do not fear the reaper. Republicans will fight tooth and nail, and for every inch. We should not fear the reaper. The liberal Democrats, however, should fear the reaper. Because in their case, the reaper is going to come to them in the form of 9 Justices clothed in black robes.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

We're Not Gonna Take It: Battle Royale in Congress over Healthcare

2010-03-17T21:27:00.003-04:00

It is Battle Royale in Congress, and we're not gonna take it. The healthcare debate is coming quickly down to the wire and every Congressman is now considering his or her own position in the scheme of what will be one of the most controversial votes in history. Shots are being taken at both sides of the aisle. Republicans are stonewalling, having fortified themselves in a seemingly unbreakable, unified stance. Democrats are fighting amongst themselves. Blue dogs are fending for their seats in the upcoming election against anxious and awaiting conservative candidates, but Speaker Pelosi continues to bring down the hammer with her obvious fake smiles and pandering.

President Obama himself came out to Northeast Ohio to pick off a vote from Dennis Kucinich, who politically will be safe in November but no less will likely face stiff opposition regardless of the district’s makeup. Obama even came on to FOX News of all places, the very place he and his administration has criticized up and down since 2008.

My God, the carnage! The humanity! And you thought politics was boring and uninteresting. No, this is a very real thing, and far from boring. The shady deals, arcane proceedings in Congress (i.e. “deem and pass”), the masses rising up in opposition—Yes, THIS is politics today. THIS is the transparent process Pelosi referred to in all of her hypocritical glory.

Welcome to the party. Finally, Obama and Congress have awakened the angry giant that is the American people, and they have flooded the phone lines at the Capitol and have gathered en masse across the country to boldly stand up and declare, in the words of Twisted Sister, “We’re not gonna take it!” There is even Jim Traficant, a politician and convicted felon, coming out and fighting for the voice and will of the American people, however unusual his approach.

At this point, the Democrats do not have the votes. They are shy a handful. There will be no Republican crossovers. The Democrats will need to pass this bill on their own. Madame Speaker, in all of her wisdom and desperation to pass a failing legislative initiative, is invoking the “Slaughter Rule” (so appropriately named after Congresswoman Slaughter), or more commonly known as “deem and pass”. It is a vote on the rules that would in effect deem the legislation passed. No matter how you slice it, it is a vote for or against healthcare takeover, no matter how they try to disguise it.

It is shady and underhanded, and while it is apparent that Republicans have used this approach on different legislation over the years, never has it been done on something so comprehensive and transformative for the worst. It is a sham and insulting to think the Congressional leadership is trying to pull this kind of stunt.

But Obama says the bill will be posted for three days before passage.

Well, unless you are employing a small army of people, the likelihood of getting through a few thousand page bill in a couple of days is not very good. The way you beat transparency is to fill a bill with so much legalese and in a massive number of pages and let the public go through it. It may be available, but it sure as hell cannot be examined properly in a short amount of time.

I do not know if they will pass it. I know the leadership is going to employ every tactic at their disposal to do it, but I am unsure as to how some of the Congressmen will respond. It is my understanding the lawsuits to fight this legislation have already been drafted and are ready to go to court should this bill pass.

My advice: find some time to call and email your Congressmen. Make your voice heard on this one. It is not too late to make a difference.

I leave you with the wise words of Twisted Sister to Madame Pelosi. "Oh you're so condescending, you're goal is never ending, we don't want nothing not a thing from you! We're right, we're free, we'll fight, you'll see"

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Mang Now Endorses Donald Allen for OH-6 Congressional District

2010-03-14T22:01:00.002-04:00

It has been longer than I would have liked since last writing. As it happens, we have been extremely busy with the May 4th Primary Elections coming upon us quickly. In politics, a month and a half is not a lot of time, especially when you have 261 miles to travel (4 hours and 40 minutes total from Canfield, OH to Portsmouth, OH). Dinners, events, town halls, local meetings, parades, and everything in between are involved in these kinds of campaigns, and there is the strategy and fundraising that are conducted amidst all of it. It makes for a lot of late evenings and early mornings.

The 6th District is my home and it has been for the last 24 years. It has always been special to me, even in the state of disrepair many areas are in here. That is why I and others are putting in a great amount of time into this Congressional race, because we all feel the Ohio 6th District deserves better representation than what we are seeing with Congressman Wilson.

Donald Allen is running for Congress in the 6th District in the Republican Primary, and I believe he is the best man for this job. He genuinely believes in working for the people of the district and cares about the problems people are facing here in Ohio during this economy. An independent businessman and local veterinarian, Don Allen truly knows the meaning of hard work and has faced the same realities every other hardworking American has faced—making payroll every pay period, paying taxes, paying insurance benefits for employees, and dealing with the reality of an economic downtown that has hurt everyone except Big Government.

One thing I can say for Don Allen is the man is genuine. I try to work for people of great character and integrity, and everything the man said he would do in the time I have spent working with him has been done, and usually with a smile on his face. He has yet to disappoint in my eyes, and a person who says what they mean and mean what they say is good in my book, and certainly worth a chance in Washington D.C. Additionally, he has a wonderful family (and a lot of cats), and I know someone so devoted to his family and his country (having served in the military for over twenty years) will be a good fit in the Capitol.

The time demands on a Congressional candidate are staggering, and he has made every effort and accommodation to run downhill into this primary. Our task is even more complicated given the difficulty in the geographic logistics of this district—261 miles is a lot of district for anyone. And yet given the balance between work, family, and campaigning, he is still going all out.

Someone who is honest, hardworking, and knowledgeable about the issues is someone we need to have in Washington. I would encourage you to look at where Donald Allen stands on the issues of healthcare, energy policy, foreign policy, and the other different issues we are facing as a nation today. His website is: donallenforcongress.com

Mang Now! officially endorses Dr. Donald K. Allen of Boardman, Ohio.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

On Crime and Local Politics

2010-03-06T10:14:00.006-05:00

I have always been intrigued by organized crime and its connection to politics. It is something I have had exposure to in the media, through word of mouth from people who have heard rumors, and through generally researching over eighty years of articles published by the Youngstown Vindicator on the subject of organized crime and politics. We all know the stories, we all know the players--Bertram de Souza usually gets a dig in at the Mob and politics whenever he gets the opportunity to do so. It is something that we will never truly forget, even if we actively try to.

Even at Ohio State during my Fraud Examination class, Phar-Mor was the the very first thing we covered. Walking into class, late mind you, I heard the words over the speakers "Hi, this is Ron Verb, you are on 570. What do you think about the Monus scandal?", with a big panoramic image of my hometown projected onto a twenty foot screen.

There are only a handful of books out there that exclusively deal with organized crime in the Mahoning Valley, and the two that come to mind immediately are “To Kill the Irishman” which primarily was about Cleveland’s organization but directly tied in the players in Youngstown and “The Merchants of Menace” which I believe is the only historical book that covers the Mafia in Youngstown for the first half of the 20th century. “The Merchants of Menace” is a rare book that is available in the library but cannot be taken out. Any research has to be done in house. It is expensive to purchase a copy of it, as it has been out of print for a long time.

Over the years I have collected different items to include in the research, more historical of course rather than modern (old police reports, old pictures, old magazine articles, mug shots, old fingerprints, etc.). Some of the items date back to the 40s. Some of those items related to events that happened only a block or two away from where my grandfather grew up.

There is a lot of story to tell from the last thirty years alone, and unfortunately I do not believe it will be told in its entirety until twenty or thirty years from now. The reality is it is a story that cannot be told, at least not now. I do not believe enough time has passed to delve into the details well enough and to obtain accurate accounts of the events as they unfolded. While it something I would like to research further, I am still not entirely comfortable asking a lot of questions about what happened twenty years ago. And I doubt many people would be willing to answer many questions about those events. I also suspect people would not be happy with my digging around in that particular past.

It would be a phenomenal story, involving crime, law, party politics, money, and the interactions of two city crime factions vying for control of Youngstown from Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

Maybe when enough time has passed, the story will get told. Unfortunately, given the current makeup of Mahoning County, that time simply is not now.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Comfortably Numb: Technological Enslavement and America's Future

2010-02-23T23:14:00.003-05:00

There was a movie that came out back in 1987. It was called “The Running Man” starring the current governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Interestingly, it took place in the year 2017, not exactly far off from our time. The premise was a game show that criminals would fight for their life through, ultimately with the chance of winning their freedom and a substantial cash award. It was a live show, where the numb and entranced masses cheered for blood, even taking bets on who would get killed first.

I mention this movie because I find it interesting and relative to our time. We have not come quite to that point in entertainment, but we are getting closer. Society in 2017 in the movie basically was reminiscent of a police state, where the government pacified the masses of people with these kinds of shows that were both outrageous and violent. The economy of the world has collapsed and the government is the ultimate authority on cultural activity, and all the while no one seems to care.

My generation and the generations behind me are pacified now. Everyone is worried about getting the newest BlackBerry or iPhone and new “apps” and no one really is paying that much attention to what is going on around them. Life is a party for many of them, and the majority does not have any interest whatsoever in current events. They drink, go to clubs, listen to music, fuss around on their cell phone, play video games, watch TV (not the news though), and they meander around worrying about the most trivial of things. Many of them are plugged into their MP3 players whenever they are going to and coming from classes or work, making any kind of human contact impossible. Human avoidance is one of the symptoms of what has evolved over the past ten years and if you have not noticed this behavior I suggest you take another look around.

Meanwhile, this country’s economy is going to hell. The Chinese hold an exorbitant amount of American debt. Iran is in the process of getting a nuclear weapon. A planned overhaul to the healthcare system for the worst was narrowly dodged but now being brought back to the forefront. Cap and trade is still being talked about. The Federal government is looking to pass another “jobs” bill to compliment the one that busted last year. Unemployment is still in double digits.

And yet, we are concerned about our cell phones, Tiger Woods, Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Jersey Shore, and any other slew of popular culture/technological mind entrancements that has enslaved this country. I am of the firm belief that while technology has its benefits, it will eventually be one of the causes of our downfall.

How many hours do you spend a day in front of a screen? It could be any screen: computer, cell phone, television, PDA, take your pick. One study from Ball State University concluded that on average Americans spend eight hours a day in front of a screen of some kind. Eight hours. That is one third of a day. And this is not considering people under the age of 18 mind you.

Pacification.

We as a country are fascinated with the trivial and are losing sight of the important things. For example, 54% of the eligible voting population voted in 2008. This was a presidential year, and half of America could really give a damn. But I bet they could tell you the latest happenings in popular culture. Do not even get me started on the off-year elections.

While everyone is so preoccupied with their newest and popular gadgets, music, and entertainment (no matter how bad and trashy the entertainment is becoming), things continue to get worse in this country and no one seems to care. They may acknowledge that something is wrong, but you will not see much action from these people. They are too busy to be bothered. And when apathy continues to the rule the day is when the problems become unsolvable.

“The Running Man” shows a population of people so preoccupied with glorified, outrageous entertainment that they cease to care the world they live in has fallen apart. And that is where we may be heading if we are not careful.

2017 may not be so far off after all.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Here's to the Single People: Valentine's Edition

2010-02-14T11:33:00.003-05:00

It is Valentine’s Day again. There is twenty some inches of snow on the ground, it is cold and unbearable outside, but nonetheless, that has not stopped Valentine’s Day from coming back again. A tremendous day for lovers, an awkward day for those who have been going out for a three weeks and are not sure how to celebrate, and a single person’s worst nightmare.

Valentine’s Day is what it is—a day for lovers. At least, that is what the card, flower, candy, and PajamaGram companies work hard to make you believe. After all of the commercials advertising the importance of Valentine’s Day (the flowers, the chocolates, the jewelry, the cards, etc.), it is completely understandable how people can feel extremely depressed on Valentine’s Day.

So in honor of all the single people out there who have to put up with this day (even when they might try to avoid it at all costs), I dedicate the following songs.

Happy Valentines Day,

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Good Music is Timeless. Today's Music and Yesterday's

2010-02-08T20:58:00.003-05:00

Last night The Who performed at the Super Bowl. I was actually pretty ecstatic to see them live, because they typically have forgone doing live shows (barring any kind of future tour they may do if that ever happens). And at the age they are at, and minus Keith Moon and John Entwistle, that is completely understandable. The Who may not be what they used to be, but certainly they still rock hard to songs that are actually enjoyable.

There are of course the critics. They can be broken down into two distinct groups. You have the people that are the original fans who are complaining because the band does not sound as good as it used to and that the lineup has changed. I know a few of these people and they present a legitimate argument. No, the band is not the same, and no they do not sound as good. Fine—with age, that is to be expected. If you can do 1/10th of what any of those guys do with a guitar or a drum at 60+, I would be seriously surprised.

Then you have the younger generation, probably anyone a part of Generation Y and forward. I do not include Generation X because that generation at least knows who these bands are. These people do not care for this kind of music, nor do they really appreciate or know what decent music is because mainstream music producers have loaded the airwaves with crap. They have been trained to listen to this crap. This is the generation that has grown up with rap music, grunge, boy bands, spoiled and overexposed teen queens (Simpson and Spears), and maybe caught the tail end of music from the 80s, if they were lucky enough.

If you have not already noticed the disdain I have for music of the current generation, then please take note of it now. I do not claim it as my own. I was fortunate enough to have been exposed to real music, and breaking out the vinyl is looking better and better as the years go on.

The problem you have is the music of today is not great. Rap music is not great, but rock today leaves a lot to be desired. As a genre, rap is a sorry excuse for music. It is neither timeless (a true sign of good music) or original. I am a fan of G-Funk and Gangster Rap to an extent, but since the mid-90s, rap music has been overrated. When was the last time you popped in a Nelly CD or a Tupac CD? How about Dr. Dre? I bet it has been a long time. For the most part, this music is not timeless.

Rock music today seems to all sound the same. I will tip my hat to the grunge scene, but overall it is a letdown. The genre lacks the major bands and groups. We do not have the John Mellencamps, the Van Halens, or the CCRs today. We have a lot of bands, but most of them are nothing to write home about. The number of rock songs in the top 50 has declined substantially between the 70s and today if that is any indication of things. A few of those top hits recently were covers of versions of songs done years ago. Some of these hits were not even original and likely made the top 50 because they have been done before.

In place of rock, we get a lot of single act pop groups and rap that seem to be glorified by the mainstream for whatever reason that may be. None of the music is timeless. When was the last time you popped in a CD from the early or mid 90s? If you actually have done so, I am willing to bet it was grunge related. I doubt you popped in a CD by Mariah Carey, Seal, Ace of Base, or any other slew of popular music that fell by the wayside and became cliché.

Good music is timeless. That is why Sinatra is still popular. That is why the Beatles are still popular. And yes, that is why The Who is still extremely popular today, even in their old age and less than stellar physical abilities. These kinds of groups had tremendous abilities and musicianship that has long been gone from the modern music of today. The songs these artists composed and performed are extremely memorable and definitely repeatable, and there were volumes upon volumes of good music over the period from 1950 to the early 1990s. There was a sense of originality and uniqueness that you do not find today.

And that is why I would pay decent money to see The Who as compared to a band like Nickelback any day of the week.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

The Obama Posters: Stylistically Communist With Comparisons

2010-02-04T23:49:00.003-05:00

***NOTE***. Before jumping to any conclusions about our thought process here over at Mang Now!, we encourage you to first look at the image comparisons preceding this introduction to better understand our point of view and where we are deriving these opinions to follow. We do not, nor have we ever, believed the Obama Administration is communist, but we find it very intriguing that stylistically these posters are extremely similar.

I realize this article is coming late—almost an entire year late. But having been combing through political articles lately, I again came across this item that I wanted to discuss back in 2008 but have never got around to writing about until now.

The Obama Poster is something that is very familiar. We have seen this poster before at many places. Stores hung them up, restaurants put them in their windows, and people who were generally fans of Obama when he was running for office had them plastered everywhere. It was hard to not see at least one of these posters while walking down the street. At Ohio State, they were everywhere.

It is a peculiar poster and one that interested me greatly: the angle of the face, where the eyes were pointing, the use of the colors, and the overall feel of how it jumped out at me. I never liked this poster, and in fact it creeped me out. But it did intrigue me. I had seen it before, and though I had already determined long ago what the poster was similar too, I am only now writing about this because it popped back into my mind.

The reality is I HAVE seen this poster before, or at least the style. Two individuals in history were notorious for having this style of poster: Che Guevara and Vladimir Lenin. The comparisons of these images are downright creepy, because the similarities are unbelievably close. It was why the Obama poster made a shiver run up my spine, because the Obama Campaign has employed posters that were inherently communist in style.

You might be thinking a poster itself cannot be inherently communist unless it is in fact a communist poster. But if you look at historical political posters in America, you would find very few that are similar in style to the Obama poster. In contrast, if you were to look at posters from Soviet Russia and from communist/socialist states in South America, you would find posters very reminiscent of the style of Obama’s poster.

What does this mean? Well, that is something I will let you judge for yourself. If you look at the colors, the style, where the eyes are pointing, the expression, they all are extremely similar. Granted, not all communist posters are like this and some are completely different, particularly in different countries.

However, it is either coincidence that these posters happen to be alike or someone was doing their homework and came to a determination they wanted to make the posters of this style.

I do not know, but all I can present here is a comparison for you to evaluate.

-
The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Technology and Dating: Better or Worse Off Than We Were?

2010-02-01T19:35:00.004-05:00

It has been a little while since last writing, but it has been a busy few weeks. Actually, it has been a very busy couple of weeks. There is a lot to talk about with the economy and the government, but though these are important issues (and certainly they need monitored closely and I encourage you to do so), I wanted to write about something else tonight.

Things are not simple today. That is not the same as saying things are difficult, because difficult times transcend decades and generations. Things are always difficult. What I am talking about is generally, things are complicated and not simple anymore. Even though we have advanced technologically and are more connected than we ever have been in history, the reality is things are more complicated than ever. Are we better for it? It is hard to say.

People are plugged in constantly. They are either on their computer, their cell phone, their iPod, their Bluetooth, BlackBerry, or any other electronic device constantly. Whilst partaking in such activities, you then have to deal with the barrage of updates for all of these devices that are supposed to “make your experience more enjoyable”, whatever that means.

Socially, there are countless mediums. Email, text messages, Facebook (and other social networking sites), cell phones, video chat (Skype), instant messaging, and so on. The ways to communicate are endless, and bearing that in mind, your ability to keep up with each of these forms of communication is necessary because while some people prefer one way of communication, others will prefer another way. And for there being so many ways to communicate, it has become completely impersonal as time has gone on.

Example? Let us examine the singles scene and dating/going out/hooking up and compare different decades so we can see the effects of communication/technology.

1980s. Your primary means of communication in the 80s was a land line phone. For those of you who already forget what those are, the phones plugged into your wall and did not drop calls. As a result, your only option for communication was by phone and phone alone. If you wanted to ask someone out, you would ask for their phone number. Yes, simple I know. You call the house, they pick up, you go out. Simple. Calls would occur between morning and 11:00PM (unless you didn’t have other people living in the house or you were perfectly fine waking everyone up). You would have to wait to call back the next day. There was great comfort in this, and it actually worked to the advantage of people because it forced them to wait and was not instantaneous. You can learn a lot about someone from their reactions to waiting.

1990s. Advent of the cell phone. Email was catching on, but the phone was the primary means of communication still, and it was not acceptable to ask people out by email or Facebook (which strangely seems to becoming more accepted today, God help all of us). The cell phone probably was the greatest invention for dating and going out, because it really did make communication easier without a.) having to tie up the phone line at the house and b.) having your family probably within earshot of your conversation. But again, this was very simple, because the phone (even in cellular form) was still the primary means of communication in the 90s. It, did however, open the door for instantaneous communication, which continues to pose problems.

2000s. This is where things have become complicated. Email is now officially a norm. Texting has become just as big as talking on the phone. You have vast social networking sites which are cool but at the same time one more communication you need to keep track of. Video chatting is becoming more widespread as computers have improved. You still have your cell phone, but with limitless capabilities. Online dating sites are becoming a regular thing for many people and serve as a primary means of communicating with people to go out with. Of course, this is without so much as knowing how much of that information on that person’s page is true or knowing the character of that person that you could at least get a glimpse at in person.

Amidst all of this in the 2000s, we are dealing with instantaneous communication. I have had some friends freak out when a girl or guy does not return their text message right away. I have also had friends completely give up because the other person did not respond to a phone call, only to find out later that the girl sent a message on Facebook. And then you have these damn games people play with texting. You know what I am talking about too.

And did I mention that unless you are completely disconnected from the world of Facebook (and few this day and age are), the person you are going out with pretty much knows who you talk to on Facebook, what you are doing, when you are on, who your friends are, etc. etc. etc. And that has been a big problem for some people I know, even when there was no basis for getting into a fight.

People also forget that it was only ten years ago when waiting until the next day to hear back was normal.

I put the question to you: Is this better than it used to be? Be honest here. You might legitimately find this to make things 100% easier, but from my own experiences and the experiences of people I know, this seems to be a point of frustration that keeps turning up. For me, it comes down to this: one or two ways of primary communication or twenty? Personally, I know which one is less aggravating. Unfortunately, the “crazy train” that is technology is not making things any simpler.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Pressing the Panic Button: Brown Turns Massachusetts Red, Democrats Scrambling

2010-01-20T22:33:00.002-05:00

My father made the comment that this was perhaps the most important election in recent history—more important than 2008, 2006, or even 2000. January 19th, 2009 will forever be remembered as the day the American people stood up in a singular voice and said NO to extreme liberalism in government. And that stand was made in the heart of liberalism, Massachusetts. For the first time in over 30 years, a Republican in the form of Scott Brown has taken a Senate seat.

This was not a victory for Republicans, but a victory for the people of the United States. Yes, a Republican claimed victory to a seat long held by the famous and storied Ted Kennedy, but it was the independents that prevailed this day. Without the independent vote, no Republican would have won in Massachusetts. The fact so many independents and Democrats came out to vote for a Republican against a long standing tradition of Democratic politics speaks volumes for the times we are living in. They may not be thrilled with the Republican Party, but this goes to show you the alternative is not well received or even outright hated.

The people of Massachusetts, like their fellow countrymen in New Jersey and Virginia, have stared into the abyss of liberalism, and decisively decided that now is the time to step back from the edge. This was never about Scott Brown or Martha Coakley, but it was all about the control of the Senate and what a Democratic victory would entail—passage of a healthcare takeover that majority of Americans are staunchly against and passage of Cap and Tax were enough to scare the blue out of (and the red into) Massachusetts.

Pressing the Panic Button

Finger pointing and blame has ensued at the commencement of the Scott Brown era. Obama is blaming Bush, Congress in blaming Coakley, and Coakley is blaming Obama and Congress. No one is claiming on the left that this is a referendum on Democratic policies. No one on the left is willing to admit that maybe the side deals they cut with the unions and other Senators to pass healthcare reform may have driven people back to the right.

The panic button is being pressed, because now the Democratic leadership in Congress has a serious problem. This election, though they will never admit it, has scared a lot of people. A challenge is going to be keeping moderates and blue dogs from backing away from these policies for fear of losing their seats in November.

Another challenge is going to be what to do with the healthcare bill period. Here are some options.

1.) Option one is to drop it entirely, which politically is a bad move, but not the worst move.

2.) Option two is to push this thing through before Brown is seated, which would be political suicide for the Democrats, and is the reason why they will not do it.

3.) Option three is to go back to the drawing board, which would be the best move politically, but they will have to settle for a lot less than what they hoped to achieve. But at least they might keep their jobs.

4.) Option 4 is for the House to try and pass the Senate version of the healthcare bill. While this is possible, it is the opinion of this author that there is too much pride on the side of Pelosi and other notable House Democrats to ever give in, particularly without a public option.

5.) Option 5 is the “nuclear option”. If they have balls enough to try it, so be it, but it would not be a good move politically. They might as well pack up their offices now if they try it.

6.) Option 6 is reconciliation. Reconciliation as a process will cause other problems down the road, maybe not only for healthcare reform, but certainly for other pieces of legislation. This is a possible option they are looking at.

There will be much discussion over the coming days of the ramifications of this election, but no matter how you slice it, this election was a referendum, and undoubtedly is a major turning point that cannot be ignored, no matter how the circumstances are spun by the White House, Congress, or the media.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

For those About the Rock 2010: Time for Political Action, Not Apathy

2010-01-17T20:11:00.006-05:00

It is almost officially one year since Obama took office ladies and gentlemen. I suppose this would be considered a milestone for some people, but overall things have turned out like they were expected to have—one big mess.

You have an energy policy that is threatening to take away jobs in the 6th District where I live. You have a healthcare policy that is beyond comprehension. Congress is making side deals and offering bribes to pass this garbage piece of legislation. Unions are getting a free pass on their health plans are going to be exempt from taxes until 2018 while everyone else pays for them. A number of Obama’s appointments have stepped down in shame, but only because the people called him on his poor choices. The stimulus did not stimulate anything but the anger it caused in people.

My Congressman Charlie Wilson leaves a lot to be desired, and if anything has failed to stand up for his constituents. A so-called blue dog Democrat, he has voted with the Democratic Party 98% of the time. So much for being a blue dog. Do not get me started on Congressmen Tim Ryan and Zach Space. Seriously, do not get me started on these two. Zach Space is going to have a difficult time next election, but unfortunately, we are stuck with Tim Ryan until the districts are redrawn or he moves on to something else. I hoped to God he would have run for Senate, but alas we were not that lucky.

The local politics of Mahoning County are as expected, and it is tolerated for the time being. We can do better, and we will do better. I am counting on a good year this year.

I do not know about you folks, but I have been on a slow burn over the last year. Clearly this country is headed down the wrong path. We needed change in 2008, and in 2010 we need reconsideration. You asked for change, and you got change. Now I ask you to reconsider what you asked for initially. We need change in this country, but we do NOT need this kind of change. We do not need to sacrifice everything we hold dear strictly in the name of progress, and if you are uncomfortable with the government trying so swiftly to take over the health system and radically change our energy policies to the detriment of hardworking Americans, I implore you to speak out.

The time for being silent is over and the time to get involved is NOW. You can support a local PAC, a candidate, a Tea Party, or you can help out your local party. If you want to see Scott Brown win in Massachusetts and become a Senator to stop this madness in Congress, by all means send him a few dollars or go online and sign up to make phone calls for him! We can stem the tide of these ideologues, and I am not afraid to call them that because that is what they are.

Today is the day to take back our country, because tomorrow may be too damn late. If these jokers in Congress are willing to have major votes on holidays and in the dead of the night to avoid having people pay attention to what they are doing, then imagine how much farther they will go to get their way.

I am begging you to do SOMETHING, whatever that would be. You are the engines of democracy, not these people down in D.C. right now. It is time to send them a message that they answer to us, not the other way around.

For those about to rock, we salute you,

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

2010 Elections-- Are the Democrats Done?

2010-01-14T20:05:00.002-05:00

2010 is upon us I suppose, and that means mid-term elections. There has been some speculation as to what is going to happen this coming November, though most tend to agree that there is going to be a substantial shift in the political winds on some level. Whether or not such a shift would be cause for the Republicans to take back the House or even the Senate remains to be in doubt, but the Republicans are expected to pick up a number of seats.

This coming election is not going to be so much an election rather than a referendum on the policies of the current administration and Congress. While it is still early in the political season, there are some interesting indicators that are worth noting here that will illustrate how bleak things are looking for the Democratic Party.

-Barack Obama has crossed below the 50% approval threshold and has been in the upper 40% area since early January. Real Clear Politics has averaged a number of polls (and does so almost daily), and Obama today currently sits at 48% approve, 44% disapprove. It took Bush almost two terms to get where Obama is at now in under a year.

-Similarly, Congress has an approval rating of 26%. Things have not changed much, even with sweeping reform plans for healthcare and energy policy. After being in control for 4 years, clearly they are not perceived as better than their conservative counterparts.

-Scott Brown is neck and neck with Martha Coakley in Massachusetts for a Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy for a number of years. It could be argued Massachusetts in the most liberal state in the country. It is so close that Barack Obama will be making a visit as well as numerous labor organizations that will be dumping money and volunteers to hold onto a seat that has been Democrat for what seems like an eternity. Corruption has been a major problem in this Democratic stronghold, and only adds to the problems Coakley is having in her election bid.

-Senator Harry Reid is polling extremely poorly against the Republican candidate, whomever that would be among the field running against him.

-Polling continues to show opposition to healthcare reform as it is currently structured. Real Clear Politics average of the healthcare polls show 39% favor it and 50% are against it as of today. Of the ten polls averaged, including Gallup, Rasmussen, CNN Opinion Research, and NBC News, only one poll showed more people favoring than opposing. Despite these kinds of numbers, Democrats continue to move forward oblivious to the opinions of regular people.

-The election of Christie in New Jersey and McConnell in Virginia indicate a sway in opinion. This is important because Virginia is a swing state that went for Obama, and New Jersey has always been politically to the left.

-Unemployment is above 10%. That does not bode well for this administration or Congress. Barring some miraculous turnaround, this is not expected to change significantly between now and November. If that is not enough, you cannot get a loan during this economy, so that means fewer jobs yet will be available.

-More polling data indicates that 56% of Americans believe we are on the wrong track. 36% think we are on the right track. If things do not shape up here in the next few months, expect the former to edge up, and expect some big gains for Republicans in 2010.

These indicators are not very encouraging for the Democratic Party. If the trend continues, you likely will see some big gains for Republicans in 2010. Will it be enough to have a takeover like in 1994? While it may not be probable, it certainly is possible. One thing is guaranteed though: Republicans are picking up some major seats in 2010, it is just a matter of how many.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

World Without Alcohol: What Would Fill the Social Void?

2010-01-06T23:30:00.004-05:00

Have you ever wondered what the world would be like without alcohol? Seriously, if there was no alcohol in this world, where would everyone go to be social? It really is an interesting question, especially in a society that has been conditioned to drink and go out socially at bars and clubs. Chances are if you are going out on a date, at some point you will find yourself at a bar. If you wanted to go out and watch a football game with friends, you will likely end up at a bar. Going out somewhere after work to let off some steam and decompress? Likely it will be some kind of bar if you are going out with coworkers. New Year’s, St. Patrick’s Day, or Thanksgiving Eve? You are probably going out to some kind of bar at some point in the evening.

Alcohol seems to be the great social equalizer, a level playing field of sorts. Drinking and being social have been conditioned to go hand in hand. If alcohol was to completely disappear tonight, you would find millions and millions and millions of people worldwide without a clue of what to do to be social in an alcohol-free world. Society has become so conditioned to it that I do believe it would cause serious problems if it suddenly became absent.

There is no real replacement for it if you think about it. What today could take the place of the bar scene? The thing about it is you need to be doing something someplace that could hold anywhere from a regular crowd of people to a place filled to the brim. Pool halls? Coffee shops? Bowling alleys? Juice bars? Arcades? Fight Club? Battle Royale?

I mean, what exactly is the alternative to the bar scene at this point if you want to go to an environment with a lot of people so you can be sociable? Where are you going to put millions of people to be in a social situation? Sporting events do not really count, as they are not the best way to meet people. Movies are too quiet and you cannot really have a conversation there.

If you were to try and pick someone up, the bar scene is the natural choice. You maximize your chances because there are a maximum number of people there, and there is a decent chance others are there for the same reason. Of course, pick-ups at the bar scene are a gamble, but often is a first choice of attempt. There are other issues that go with bar scene pick-ups, but let us just assume that the bar scene is the primary target. No alcohol means no bar. Where does one go if he is she is trying to pick someone up? If you are in school, it is easier. Out of school, where is one to go if there is no bar scene?

Granted, this situation will never happen. But it does go to show you the role alcohol has played in society and continues to play as time goes on. With all of its imperfections, it does serve a kind of purpose. I will say that I have several reservations with alcohol in general and the increasing role it is playing in America’s flirting with alcoholism, but at this point in time, I cannot see any kind of alternative that would even begin to fill the void supposing the popularity of alcohol ever declined or disappeared altogether.
Just something to think about.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Mang's Random Insights Into the Interesting and Mundane

2010-01-05T00:34:00.000-05:00

I am home tonight hanging out because the snow continues to fall here in the Midwest. It has not stopped for days, and it is going to continue until at least next Monday. Welcome to northern country! Given the choice between watching Jersey Shore and making fun of people on that show and writing an article on something interesting yet mundane, I suppose you have guessed what my choice was. Or you haven’t because you in fact are someone from the Jersey Shore that cannot seem to understand words written by someone not written in a brogue or a text message.

Sometimes I wonder why our society promotes such behavior, and then I sit back and realize why everyone acts the way they do. But I digress, I’ll probably have an observation on that fairly soon.

Onto the article.

Quote of Day

From Real World, as I was flicking through the channels. A girl on Real World got a new bedroom, and on the wall was one of her favorite presidents. A Republican no less. Who the president was escapes me, because I did not get to see who it was. Her friend had this to say.

“It bothers me that my roommate does not have a sense of her political philosophy. She does not seem to understand that the more to the left the better. Because to be left is to be right”.

After which she pranced around the room in her short shorts while her guy roommate (who made it known that he was trying to score with this chick and is why he wanted to room with her) took a picture of her chest.

Yeah, I think that about says everything. Barely legal teens given luxurious boarding in Washington D.C. that they aren’t paying for pretty much sums up that mentality. If you asked her what she meant by her quote, I would wager she would have no idea except peace, love, and the rich are evil. Damn neo-hippies.

Political Irony

In an article by the Washington Examiner, there was an interesting observation that is worth noting about how this current Obama presidency is going. “When George W. Bush returned, bloodied and bruised, to his Texas home after eight years in the White House, 43 percent of Americans surveyed by Scott Rasmussen ‘strongly disapproved’ of the job he had done. Today, after less than a year in office, 46 percent express the same intense level of opposition to Obama.”

If you think about that statement, it is very telling of how things have gone over the past year. There will be criticism that the Republicans purposely tried to sabotage things, or even that it was their doing that caused these problems in the first place. The reality, however, is this year was Obama’s to win or lose. When you have the executive and legislative branches in your control, the only one you can blame is yourself if things don’t go according to plan.

Big 10’s Time to Shine—SEC, ACC, and Pac-10 Stumble

The Big 10 rose to the occasion this past week, and as a conference they ought to be commended for pulling some major stops. Ohio State shut down a high powered Oregon team and Pryor lived up to the hype. Penn State edged out LSU in a fantastic game, though there was a questionable call at the end that will be remembered for years to come. Wisconsin beat Miami, which is always something that warms my heart to see a Florida team fall to a Midwestern team.

Michigan State could not seal the deal against their Big 12 opponent Texas Tech (who itself had issues with their recently fired coach), but the reality of that was they had 14 players out of the picture and were having some severe personnel problems. Northwestern tried a fake field goal of all things, and for their boldness I commend them on a hard fought battle.

Are we seeing a Big 10 resurgence? Not so fast my friend! The Big 10 had an excellent bowl series, with Iowa in the wings for a showdown January 5th at the Orange Bowl against another ACC opponent Georgia Tech. But the Big 10 needs to shape up and continue playing at a high level. The Big 10 may have turned a few heads this past week, but overall it is still considered the weaker of the conferences. If the Big 10 can field some contenders the following years, that may change a few opinions.

In the mind of this author, until Ohio State can beat a USC or an LSU or a Florida, this conference will continue to be viewed as the conference with the big guys that cannot run as fast as the other guys. Pryor showed some speed, our running backs looked good, and we need to keep it up.

CPA Examination

Today was the day for the Uniform CPA Examination, section BEC. I have to say even after studying for this thing, it still seems like the odds of passing are (in my mind anyway) 60-40. Granted the first time I took this exam without studying I pulled a 73, so you would think with more studying would put me over, right? Well, unfortunately, instead of feeling like a smashed one out of the park, it feels like a high fly ball that could go foul or fair and I will not know until a month or two down the road.

A friend of mine directed me to a site called Another71.com. It is actually an interesting site about the CPA examination, study materials, advice, and so forth. I spent a little time there checking it out, because the creator of the site took an enormously long amount of time trying to pass this thing. I offer my congratulations to him for sticking with it, because he more than most can probably attest to the fact this exam was made by the devil himself. Check out the site if you can.

Tomorrow or Wednesday I am going to start studying for Regulations. Maybe you have shared in this misery, maybe you haven’t. But rest assured it is the bane of the existence of most people until they can pass this thing.

Those were just a few things on my mind.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Welcome 2010! And Some 2009 Reflections

2010-01-01T14:38:00.000-05:00

First, an appropriate song to celebrate 2010, in honor of times that aren't the best, but certainly with the need for some good:

Happy New Year! 2010 has finally arrived after a much needed transition to a new year from 2009. Whether you went out last night, went to a movie, stayed home and chilled, or were out of town enjoying the revelry at some other location, I think it is safe to say that most people are glad that 2009 is no longer here. I was thrilled to get out and do something last night, because it is always good to try and start the year on a good note. The Mayor’s Ball was fun, downtown Youngstown was actually the cool place to be, and First Night had a good showing.

I often have said 2009 was a bad year, and it certainly had those moments. But looking back upon the entire year, it seemed to be a year of transition. It was a year full of change, uncertainty, fear, and quiet optimism. It was also full of political and social turmoil, and 2010 does not seem to be relieving us of either of those situations anytime soon. Case in point being there are midterm elections coming up, so be ready.

Briefly I am going to cover some of the finer and worse points of my own year, just to put some closure on things. Actually this is an exercise that would benefit a lot of people just to put things in perspective for themselves and their own lives. Part of this is taking a break from studying and waiting for the Rose Bowl, but I promise there will be better commentary on things next week.

2009 Highlights
-Graduated with a Masters from Ohio State, and met a lot of amazing people.
-Bought a duplex in Canfield, of which I am a half owner
-Did accounting work for a franchisee of Taco Bell, and worked in Oklahoma for two weeks
-Ran for political office and lost, but beat an incumbent
-Lived in Columbus for awhile and had a blast, and looking forward to going back eventually
-Work for a Congressional campaign in the 6th District

2009 Write-offs
-Lost a grandmother and two aunts this year.
-My friendship with my uncle of the last 24 years is now over. Only hate remains. Probably the worst part of 2009 for me.
-School is finished, barring an application for a Ph.D. As Lewis Black said at the end of the movie Accepted, “And do me a favor, enjoy your time here. You got four years, these are the best years of your life, and then…you’re ******!”. Maybe truer words have not been spoken.
-Unsteady work means uncertainty, and that means a lot of worrying. 2009 was a year for worrying.

So that is the list of good and bad this year. As with all New Year celebrations, there is the issue of resolutions. As such, I only have two of them:

-Be a happier and confident person
-Pass the CPA Exam

That’s it. Happy New Year everyone and pray for an Ohio State victory today. Go Bucks!

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Capitol Hill Compromises-Also Known As Bribery Everywhere Else

2009-12-27T23:47:00.000-05:00

There are some serious issues happening on Capitol Hill that require being addressed. The acts of this Congress are hypocritical at best, and can be construed to be criminal in a number of different circumstances if they were not happening in the scope of the public office. If that is not enough, we have a president flying off to Hawaii for Christmas at the expense of the American taxpayer while the rest of us get ugotz, which is the Italian slang for nothing.

Bribery, overt and blatant, has occurred in the Senate recently. Senator Ben Nelson, Democratic Senator for Nebraska, was given 100% funding for the Medicaid expansion in his state. The other 49 states are going to have to fit the bill for Nebraska for the “indefinite future”. No other state received such assistance, just Nebraska for a YES vote on the healthcare legislation.

So let us define what a bribe is, for those of you not from Youngstown or those who are just curious on the legal definition.

Bribery: noun. “Something, such as money or a favor, offered or given to a person in a position of trust to influence that person's views or conduct.”

Used in a sentence: “When Senator Harry Reid bribed Senator Ben Nelson with taxpayer dollars to pass healthcare reform in the Senate, he was not found guilty of bribery like everyone else under state and federal statute.”

How this situation is legal and how practically every other situation involving the exchange of money to influence someone else is illegal does not really make a lot of sense. Is this to say it is okay to bribe someone else as long as the money IS NOT YOURS???

According to Harry Reid, “You’ll find a number of states are treated differently than other states,” Reid said after he unveiled the bill. “That’s what legislation is all about. It’s compromise.”

Well Senator Reid, how about we define what a compromise is?

Compromise: noun. “A settlement of differences in which each side makes concessions”.

So, the compromise made in the Senate was to give Senator Ben Nelson a complete exemption from paying costs associated with the implementation of this new healthcare plan in certain aspects in return for his support of the legislation itself. In simpler terms, I will pay you money if you concede your vote.

That seems more in line with the definition of a bribe rather than a compromise. Compromise can occur with the language of the legislation. Such as, “If you will include the language for limiting funds for abortion in the new system, I will support the inclusion of the public option language”. Perhaps very general and broad, but you get the idea. No money or costs are exchanged with a compromise, because compromises are based on concessions, not payouts.

The same thinking can go with Senator Mary Landrieu from Louisiana who sold her support for a $300 million buyout for Medicaid cost reductions. There was no compromise in that situation, just a payoff for support of the legislation.

This kind of behavior is disturbing, and 97 other Senators should be beating the war drum right now. With the exception of the Harry Reid who was integral in making the two bribes happen, and Senators Nelson and Landrieu who received the bribes, everyone else in the Senate got ugotz, just like the American people.

Maybe in the future, people who are on trial can use the behavior in the Senate as precedent that all bribes can now be construed as compromises and hence are perfectly legal.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Goodbye or Good Riddance? 2009 At a Glance

2009-12-27T00:10:00.000-05:00

Another year has come and gone. It is really hard to believe that it is almost 2010. Now that the holiday revelry is over, it is about that time to start the New Year (which means more reveling)! Hopefully it will be better than last year, because last year was a disaster in many respects. In the spirit of the New Year, I would like to take a little time to highlight some of the good, the bad, and the weird that has happened this year.

The Good

It was interesting trying to compile this list, because it was extraordinarily hard finding good things that have happened this year. As a result, this is a very short list.

-The Pittsburgh Steelers won Super Bowl XLIV, Lakers win the NBA Championship.
-U.S. Airways pilots landed a plane miraculously in the Hudson River saving lives.
-President Obama becomes the first African American president of the U.S.
-The Vatican has welcomed Anglicans into the Catholic Church

Yes, that is about the best I could find for good news this year. I went out there and tried to search for good events or milestones, but this was about all I could find. Pathetic, is it not? Shall we move on to the bad?

The Bad

Well, where should we begin?

-H1N1 outbreak
-President Obama’s policies have not lived up to the hype
-Congress—this probably deserves its own article of 2009 mishaps
-Ft. Hood massacre
-Deaths of many political and cultural icons, too numerous to list here.
-Unemployment hovering around 10%
-Any number of hijackings, plane crashes, shootings, and kidnappings that have occurred almost on a monthly basis.
-Indictments on both sides of the political aisle prevalent through the year. Rod Blagojevich most recognized.
-Embarrassing moments of politicians. Mark Sanford of South Carolina most recognized for his extramarital affairs in Argentina.
-Nuclear issues in North Korea and Iran taken to new levels

I am going to stop here, because I could go on for about ten more pages of political upheaval (both domestic and international), pop culture embarrassments, and events that are just plain ridiculous that shows the bad side of human nature. We get it, 2009 sucked as a year.

The Weird

-Barack Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize
-Flying saucer boy turns out to be a fraud
-Tiger Woods commits adultery with over ten women
-Michael Jackson’s death ruled a homicide
-Kanye West—enough said
-Octomom
-David Letterman affair and extortion
-Alex Mangie runs for Canfield Trustee

Mang’s Final Word on 2009: Goodbye or Good Riddance?

2009 sucked—period. It was a terrible year folks. It has been one big letdown politically, culturally, and socially. What else can be said? Good riddance. We can only hope the New Year gets here fast, because I do not think we as a nation can stand any more bad news in the next couple of days.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown ready for a New Year that is Decent

The Many Shoppers of Christmas! Are You One?

2009-12-19T18:01:00.000-05:00

Today was the first significant snow that we’ve had in Northeast Ohio for the season. Today is also the last weekend before Christmas, meaning two things: everyone is out shopping and everyone is driving extremely poorly. It is snowing outside, so naturally everyone now is into the Christmas spirit, and now everyone feels the desire to get out and do stuff.

Given the season, there are a variety of different shoppers out now. Each breed of shopper is unique and can be spotted at your local mall or shopping outlet. Some can be seen at your local state liquor agency as well, but more on that later.

“Holy shit, it is the last weekend before Christmas and I haven’t started shopping” shopper.
“Holy shit, it is December 24th and I haven’t started shopping” shopper.
“I’m at the mall having coffee, but not shopping and proud of it” shopper.
“How does this work and is this a suitable gift in your opinion?” shopper
“Clerk conversationalist” shopper.
“I’m dreaming of a White Russian” shopper.

The “Holy shit, it is the last weekend before Christmas and I haven’t started shopping” shopper. This is the kind of shopper you see out now en masse, because for whatever the reason, they have failed to make any prior effort to get any shopping done until today. Sure, there are plenty of legitimate reasons: work, family affairs, extramarital affairs, and so forth. This is the guy that looks quite nervous looking around at every store window trying to figure out what to get his wife and kids. Not that he is a bad person, but certainly because he has been too busy.

The “Holy shit, it is December 24th and I haven’t started shopping” shopper. You will not see this person until next week, but beware. This is the guy with the road rage that is frantically trying to get to the different stores amidst the backup of traffic. He is also the one that is walking quite briskly (if not at a jog or a run) when in the mall, and is the guy that is constantly looking at his watch and shifting on his feet while standing in line. No one really knows the reason why this person does not shop until December 24th, as these people tend to be repeaters. I have family that qualifies as this kind of shopper, and though they are busy people, they are not so busy that they would have to wait until Christmas Eve. An explanation is still being sought.

The “I’m at the mall having coffee, but not shopping and proud of it” shopper. These are the people that have finished their shopping and are all laughs and smiles at the coffee shop. They were smart enough to get their shopping done early or through an online store weeks in advance. They really have no reason to be at the mall, but often can be seen in groups of other like minded individuals observing the two aforementioned individuals running around aimlessly. While it has been rumored they take pleasure in the misery of those people who have not finished their shopping, no evidence can support that theory.

The “How does this work and is this a suitable gift in your opinion?” shopper. This is the shopper that gets to the top of the line and then proceeds to ask twenty questions about the product being purchased instead of asking someone working the floor. Upon receiving those answers, they then ask the clerk if they believe the gift they are buying is appropriate for whoever is receiving the gift. A good salesman, the answer is usually “yes”, though there are the occasional clerks that do go out of their way to answer that question in depth. By this time, there are twenty people backed up in the line, and upon the departure of this person, it is accompanied by many apologies from the clerk. The usual response is “well, it is the season”.

The “Clerk conversationalist”. This is not to be confused with the “How does this work and is this a suitable gift in your opinion?” shopper though the effects tend to be the same. These are the people that insist on having a conversation with the clerk, completely oblivious to the fact that there are twenty other people waiting in line. It is always nice to speak with the clerks and share a few words. That is not the problem here. Some, however, can go on for five or ten minutes after making their purchase while the rest of the line sits there waiting.

“I’m dreaming of a White Russian”. This is the shopper that has conceded the season and has in turn gone to the bar to forget the madness that is Christmas. You may hear some grumbling about the holiday rush and/or in-laws that are causing problems. On one occasion, there was a Santa Claus who was hanging outside the state liquor agency drinking a bottle of vodka from a brown paper bag a few days before Christmas. I kid you not, this happened when I was about seven years old when we stopped at the liquor store on South Avenue to pick up some wine for a Christmas party. I quickly realized that even Santa Claus needed a break from the holidays, though it often had plagued my mind how he could fly a sleigh and reindeer if he could barely stand up.

These are only a handful of the many varieties of shoppers out there, but these are the most obvious to even the most novice of observers. If you are out and about the next week, observe the people around you. You might spot some of these individuals, or you may be one yourself like I am. I am usually the “Holy shit, it is a week before Christmas and I haven’t started shopping” variety myself, though it has been the occasion where I’d be out on the 24th.

Merry Christmas, but there is more to come,

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown, local Grinch, and pain in the ass shopper.

Big 10 Expansion in the Works and Speculation on Additions

2009-12-17T23:15:00.000-05:00

The inevitable has finally occurred in the NCAA. The Big 10 Conference has announced plans to expand to 12 teams within the next few years. It was bound to happen eventually, but it seems that plans are now underway to seek out another addition to the conference. Undeniably such an expansion will have an impact on the Big 10 as a conference, and certainly the conference that loses a team, supposing that one team is not a non-conference team.

Notre Dame would be the most logical choice of any team out there currently. Unfortunately, what is most logical is not always the most practical. Even though Notre Dame plays a Big 10 schedule for the most part (Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Penn State, and occasionally Ohio State once in a blue moon), a fundamental problem is the contract with NBC. Word has it NBC will not let the Irish out of their contract, though many people believe NBC should jump at this chance now since the Irish have had a number of bad seasons.

Looking to the Big East, you have potential candidates in Pittsburgh, Rutgers, and Cincinnati. Pittsburgh would be the natural choice, though commentators are saying Rutgers would open up the eastern media market. Geographically it does not make a whole lot of sense for Rutgers to join, though I personally do not have a problem with their program. Pittsburgh would be a good addition and geographically makes sense. Also it provides a great rivalry with Penn State, and academically Pittsburgh fits well with the Big 10. Cincinnati I am not thrilled about as a pick, but there has been talk about them joining. West Virginia also would be an interesting pick.

Big 12 conference brings the rumors of Missouri, Iowa State, Nebraska, and a very long shot University of Texas. Texas would be a hell of an addition for a number of different reasons, though I do not foresee such a transition. Iowa State would certainly be a good choice, and Missouri brings a lot to the table as well. While I think Nebraska is not a bad choice, I question how realistic that move would be.

I cannot see Texas anywhere but the Big 12, and the same with Nebraska. The Pac-10 has been eyeing Texas for awhile, but they stand about as much of a chance as the Big 10 has. Geographically, it makes as much sense for the Big 10 as it does for the Pac 10: no sense at all. Academically it is very attractive, as well as athletically, but in either the case of Nebraska or Texas, I just cannot see a situation where they would leave the Big 12 conference.

Ideally, if the decision were up to me, these would be my top choices. Granted, the more realistic choices are in the second tier and below, but there is always an outside chance of getting ND or Texas.

1st Tier Choice: Notre Dame or Texas
2nd Tier Choice: Pittsburgh, Iowa State, or Missouri
3rd Tier Choice: Rutgers or West Virginia
4th Tier Choice: Nebraska or Cincinnati

While all of this is merely speculation, we will know eventually who the lucky team will be to join the ranks of the Big 10. I am very excited to see the Big 10 openly talking about an expansion and it gives us a lot to look forward to in the next year.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown, local Grinch, and Football Enthusiast.

Traficant Press Conference Evaluated

2009-12-17T10:36:00.000-05:00

Jim Traficant recently had his press conference at the Hampton Inn this morning. While there was no announcement of a Congressional run, it is apparent that something is going to happen on that front sometime in the near future. The former Congressman made the announcement that he was looking to run in one of three districts, which likely will be either the 17th, the 6th, or the 16th. There was indication that a former staffer, Linda Kovachik, would be in charge of taking out and circulating the petitions, though it was not announced which party he would run for or if he would remain an independent.

The primary reason for the conference was the announcement that Traficant would be supporting the creation of an Indian casino in the Mahoning Valley, via the Etanna Tribe which is in the process of officially becoming a recognized tribe (*I believe that is the correct spelling).

This is not an entirely bad move, particularly in light of the fact that the State of Ohio screwed the Mahoning Valley with the passing of this recent casino amendment. Jim Traficant has always been an advocate (however outspoken) for the people of the Mahoning Valley, and this fits in line quite well with his persona. Traficant claims he has been in talks with who he identifies as “equity bankers” and other influential investors in the area, and he is involved in leading the charge to ensure that a casino is built “somewhere” in the Mahoning Valley.

Where it is built may be entirely political, if the project does in fact go off. I would be willing to bet that wherever the casino is located will determine which Congressional district Traficant will decide to run in. That is just one person’s opinion, but I think it may very well reflect the reality of what Traficant is trying to accomplish.

The issue is whether or not Traficant has the clout to pull off something as big as this. At the end of the day, Jim Traficant is a former Congressman and a convicted felon. This is not to discount the good he has done for the area over the years, but will anyone play ball with him knowing his past? Does he have enough clout and influence to make a legitimate run at this project, no less a run at Congress?

The other question is does Jim Traficant need to succeed here? Would merely sparking interest and trying to lead the charge against what will be tremendous opposition and stonewalling be enough? Maybe Traficant knows this is not going to happen well in advance, and he is counting on failing at this so he can make his case when he decides to run. It would be the classic scenario: Traficant tried to do good only to be stopped by the man, and only because such a project was being proposed by a location in Northeast Ohio. It would strictly be an “us versus them” situation, and it could be something Traficant knows he can capitalize on.

Bottom line with this is Jim Traficant wins if he succeeds or if he fails, so this move to push for an Indian casino in the Mahoning Valley is actually a smart one.

It will be an interesting political season. Traficant running in either the 6th or the 17th bodes well for Republican candidates for a number of different reasons, and 2010 shall be an exciting year in the Mahoning Valley when you throw that wild card into the deck.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Local Grinch

And Racketeer of the Year Goes to..... Al Gore

2009-12-09T09:45:00.001-05:00

Today I am going to give praise to someone I never thought I would. This individual has pulled off a remarkable feat that would be improbable for one man to pull off on his own. I truly am impressed at what this individual has accomplished, because it was ingenious.

Al Gore has successfully created the world’s largest environmental racket and has become extremely rich because of it, all with a smile on his face. He is the biggest racketeer I can think of in known history, and I have to give the man kudos for duping an entire planet, as few others in history have accomplished this task. Bravo. But please, let me tell you why this man is a racketeer for the sake of argument.

A “racket” is defined as a business that is making money by selling a solution to a problem that the business itself created or manufactured, specifically so that the purchase of the solution is always needed. Hence the illegality of rackets in the legal sense.

What is Al Gore selling? The theory that global warming is caused by the action of man. This is a theory that has been under scrutiny long before Gore took up the torch, but has seen much more scrutiny since Gore has been publicizing and pushing the theory worldwide. What is the solution Al Gore is selling? The pushing for a reduction in carbon emissions, supporting the passage of legislation like cap and trade, and calling for the transition to “clean energy” sources and infrastructure.

Al Gore has made an obscene amount of money from movies on climate change, books on climate change, and speaking engagements that take in over $100,000 per engagement in many cases. But the holdings of Al Gore is where the real money is at, as Gore has a vested interest in seeing the theory of global warming flourish within his own company Generation Investment Management. Here is their investment philosophy:

“When we founded Generation in 2004, our intention was to show how integrating sustainability research into a long term investment strategy could strengthen fundamental investment analysis. Since then, our conviction on the importance of sustainability in delivering long term performance has only increased.”
—Al Gore and David Blood

HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If global warming was not real, I am willing to bet it would have an extremely adverse impact on this organization financially.

Al Gore has a financial stake in global warming, and that is the reality. At the end of the day, Al Gore is a capitalist. Is he really that far to the left with the environmental crowd, or is he pulling one of the biggest scams this world has ever seen? I have always been taught to never knock another man’s hustle, and this hustle has made an unbelievable financial impact on one person who has been selling a bill of goods to the world. The theory is highly controversial and unproven, and yet people keep throwing money at it, and inadvertently to the former vice president.

Al Gore is getting rich of a theory he himself has promoted without 1.) a scientific community consensus and 2.) proving beyond any kind of doubt that there is clear and convincing evidence that this theory is true. The rest of us are left holding the bag.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

The Thanksgiving Edition

2009-11-26T21:19:00.000-05:00

Today is Thanksgiving. It is a little hard to believe it has already come and that tomorrow officially kicks off the holiday extravaganza—yes, I know tomorrow is Black Friday. My cousin at dinner informed me of her intent to go out at three in the morning to buy herself a 42 inch LCD television, and nothing says holidays like standing outside in the freezing cold waiting to rush the doors and buy a massive television.

I will be braving the stores a little later on as J.C. Penny’s has some pretty good deals. Can you say 70% off pants and dress shirts? I seriously need the pants and the shirts, otherwise I would be staying in bed.

This has been kind of a bittersweet Thanksgiving, as most of the family on my father’s side has passed away over the last two years. It is sad my grandparents and aunts and uncles are no longer with us, but it is kind of a relief to actually have a holiday meal without having to go home feeling angry or depressed. I will admit this was a very unusual thing this year, as there was no fighting, no arguing on the telephone, no snide remarks about the food, and no airing of the grievances like is typical of the Seinfeld holiday “Festivus”. It was just a “normal” holiday without all of the drama, and it is definitely something I can get used to.

We actually spent Thanksgiving with my mom’s side of the family this year. It was good seeing my other cousins for a change, and my aunts and uncles and grandmother who have been quite supportive over the last few years. It is really a shame I was unable to hang out more with my cousins from down in Mansfield over the years, it seems like they would have been a lot of fun to be around. I really need to make it a point to get down there more often, as the reality is they are really all the family I have left. My cousin is turning 21 fairly soon, and she would be a blast to hang out with more often.

There is a lot to be thankful for this year. Family, friends, a good education, health, and work of some kind are just a few. Work is not perfect, but at least it is something.

I am hoping this year is going to be a better year. It is a year of transition, and certainly an end of an era in many respects. As to that remark, I can only say sometimes we need to let go of certain things and move on. It is both a happy and a sad thing, and I guess this is typical of most changes.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and have a very enjoyable holiday weekend!

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

In Support of the YSU Fee, but with Limitations

2009-11-21T01:29:00.000-05:00

Youngstown State is a particularly unique school when it comes to the topic of student activities. By and large, majority of the students on the campus of YSU are not involved in extra-curricular programs and student groups because they are either commuters or simply do not care about joining a student organization. At the same time, you have a small amount of students that really do want to make YSU a better place by providing the funds necessary to create an atmosphere conducive to both learning and socializing apart from daily class work. So, what do you do with this situation? Do you levy this fee for the betterment of a small interest in spite of the majority of people that do not use it? Or do you do this because this is something that will encourage people to join student groups because there is money now available? As I said, the situation is unique.

There is a severe lack of money for student groups. I know this because I used to be the president of the College Republicans at YSU. I can attest to the lack of money available, and I know other heads of student organizations that will say the same thing.

YSU student groups are disadvantaged particularly because there is not a whole lot of money in Mahoning and Trumbull Counties to find outside of SGA. Sure, people will give money to the University, but you would be hard pressed to find anyone that is going to give any kind of significant money to a student group. If you couple that with the fact that there is a lack of students on campus after class making it hard for things like recruitment, holding meetings, and holding events that are both social and academic in nature, then we find ourselves in the situation like we are in at YSU currently.

If this was a normal situation, I would be against this additional fee. Anytime I hear a fee or a tax would be going towards subsidizing a small minority of people in spite of the fact the vast majority of people would not be benefiting, I am always wary.

However, this situation is not normal. With few exceptions, trying to run a successful student group at YSU with a lack of funding is near impossible. I wish that was not the case, but it is the truth. Organizations at universities in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Akron, Cincinnati, Athens, Kent, and Steubenville all are successful because they readily have some kind of access to funds of some kind, be it from within the university or from the surrounding cities and suburbs. YSU does not have that luxury, and our groups do suffer for it.

The question though that needs to be asked is, if this fee does come to fruition, would this additional money going to student groups further student involvement on campus? To be completely honest, I cannot say with certainty it would given the situation at YSU currently. I would like to think so, but part of me believes this extra money would not make a difference.

That aside, I believe this additional money would provide a means that would encourage more involvement simply because the access to the money is available for students that want to participate in academic related activities or to do events that are academic in nature.

I would like to make sure though that this kind of fee does not go out of control, and that is something I hope SGA would ensure. The only danger with this is future levying of fees on students, and that can be a slippery slope to more fees. Having said that, I would like to see a limitation on levying future fees to a certain dollar amount every so many years. That or subject any subsequent increase in student fees by the SGA to a vote by the student body.

As typical of most government bodies, the more money that is available, the more money that is spent, so naturally I would hope there would be some kind of restriction on any future fees. I think the additional fee will be helpful, but I certainly believe it needs to be restricted in the future.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Christmas Rock: Steamroller and TSO. Is One Truly Better?

2009-11-17T23:09:00.000-05:00

Youngstown seems to have been rocked with the season, as we have had two outstanding groups come here to perform. Trans-Siberian Orchestra came to town a couple of weeks ago, gracing the Covelli Centre in all of their excellence. Tonight, Mannheim Steamroller performed to a near sellout crowd at the DeYor Center and rocked hard.

Over the last few years, TSO has gained an international fame, and as time has gone on, has gradually taken the lead over the original “Christmas rock” group Mannheim Steamroller. Granted Chip Davis and Steamroller have other works aside from their Christmas music, but predominantly they are known for the Christmas fare.

The question has been raised about which group is better, and of course every person is going to have their opinion on this. A lot of people are not going to know who either group is, simply because they might not be into Christmas music. A lot of the older generation (talking thirties +) are going to have a preference towards Mannheim Steamroller, as that was the group they grew up with and know. For the under 30 crowd, you will see a preference towards TSO for the same reasons. TSO rocks a lot harder than Steamroller, and anything less than TSO is going to be considered too soft.

The Mang’s perspective: these two groups simply cannot be compared, and I will tell you why. The kind of shows they put on are significantly different, and the kind of music they play is also different. Both rock very hard (and I say that having seen what they are capable of live), but it simply is not the same playing field.

Granted, I will highlight the strengths of each group at the end of this.

The shows are completely different. TSO has a hell of a light show to accompany what is best considered an “arena rock” performance. I have never seen anything quite like it, and it was a memorable performance when I saw them when they first came to Youngstown a few years ago. It was Christmas metal at its finest.

Mannheim Steamroller basically goes on stage and rocks out. There are no pyrotechnics, the light show is not nearly as involved as what TSO presents, and there is not really a story that ties the entire show together. They just have a number of talented musicians that really enjoy playing, and do a phenomenal job doing so.

Musically, Mannheim Steamroller is not of the same genre as TSO. Yes, there is some crossover and similarities, but some of the songs are very different. For instance, Mannheim Steamroller’s second half of the show emphasized Renaissance rooted Christmas music. It was awesome. Was it as hard rocking as TSO? No, but that does not mean it was worse or better. It just means it was different.

I am not sure how you can compare a song like “Still, Still, Still” by Mannheim Steamroller to any song by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It is a beautiful arrangement but it is not hard rocking. Better, or different? Same thing goes for “Veni Veni” by Steamroller. These songs are not specifically arena rock or metal.

Where are the similarities? You can compare songs to see which group rocks harder. “Carol of the Bells” by Steamroller to “Christmas in Sarajevo” by TSO. Both are outstanding arrangements, and I am even hesitant to pick which one is better. Again, this is really a matter of personal taste, because even these two arrangements I would not consider to be of the same genre.

Some songs cannot be compared, because there are some songs one group has done that the other has not. I would love to see a Trans-Siberian Orchestra version of “Los Peces en el Rio”. The Mannheim Steamroller version is awesome, but TSO could have an awesome metal spin on this if they get around to it.

Strengths of TSO: phenomenal show, unique metal arrangements for Christmas songs, and very hard rocking. If you had to choose the show to see if both were performing on the same night, it would have to be TSO hands down. They have outstanding musical talent and a great show to accompany it.

Strengths of Mannheim Steamroller: outstanding musical arrangements that cover a wide variety of musical genres and eras, and the musicians are versatile and can play a number of different instruments extremely well. They can rock hard if they want to, and their drummer, Tom Sharpe, is unbelievable in his talent. They can also take it down and play beautiful compositions, as arranged by Chip Davis.

Both are outstanding, but this writer is not going to make a choice on which is better. Both are equally talented in their abilities.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Best in the NFL? The Case for the AFC North

2009-11-10T18:32:00.000-05:00

It has now come to that point in the season where people start making declarations of which team is the best in the NFL. Some are already picking Super Bowl matchups. Steelers-Vikings, Bengals-Saints, New England-Dallas, take your pick, these are all possible matchups. But it begs the question, which team currently is the best in the NFL?

The Saints and Colts are running hot right now and either team could make a good case. Patriots are always a tough team to beat, and though they have had some issues, they are still worthy opponents. The Broncos had the number one defense until recently, but they lost two straight to AFC North teams. The Vikings are highly touted as a favorite for the Super Bowl, but they themselves are subject to question because with the exception of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens, the Vikings have not come across anyone with a winning record. They narrowly beat the Ravens, and they lost to the Steelers. Are they truly Super Bowl material? What about the dark horses out there lying in wait for the playoffs?

I want to make the case for the AFC North though, not particularly because I have a bias towards the Steelers but certainly because of the level of playing three out of the four teams are playing at. AFC North represents smash mouth football—period. You would be hard pressed to find another division that plays as brutal as these teams do. The Steelers and Ravens have been known for this style of playing, and last year more than proved how brutal a game can get when these two teams meet. Personally, I have not seen a series of games as hard hitting as I have seen when the Steelers and Ravens matched up those three times last year.

What about the Bengals? I am impressed with the Bengals, truly I am. They are definite contenders this year, and they proved that when they swept the Ravens and beat the Steelers. I have no doubt in my mind that if the Bengals keep playing at this high level of roughness that is so customary in this division, they will go far in the playoffs or get to the Super Bowl. They have a decent running game, a good passing game, and defensively have really stepped up their game. They have a lot of weapons to work with and they will be a tough team to beat both in and outside of the AFC North division.

Also, it should be mentioned that if the Steelers lose to the Bengals, I believe the Bengals will win the AFC North. If the Steelers win, it will make things here on out very interesting.

What about the Steelers? There is a lot to talk about with the Steelers. They have turned their style of defense into both an art and a science, and though they have taken some hits with some key injuries like Aaron Smith and Lawrence Timmons, the return of Troy Polamalu and the adjustments made to the defensive line have made this defense as strong as it has ever been. Offensively, they look like a very balanced team. The combination of running backs in Mendenhall, Moore, and Parker (currently injured) make this team dangerous. They tore up the number one defense on the ground last night in Denver if that is any indication. The receivers are very high quality, and Roethlisberger has not only individuals like Ward, Holmes, and Wallace to throw to, but also has Heath Miller at tight end, who is money in the bank.

I am not sure how you beat the Steelers at this point, but if there is anyone out there who can do it, it has to be the Cincinnati Bengals or the Baltimore Ravens.

What about the Ravens? I still believe the Ravens have a good team. Granted they have had a rough year so far, but fundamentally I believe they are still a tough team to beat. The Steelers are going to have their hands full, and Cincinnati’s efforts were no walk in the park either. Playoff potential for the Ravens? They can still make it supposing the Steelers and Bengals take some key losses over the remainder of the season, and if the Ravens significantly step up their playing and work on fixing some of their defensive problems. While this is not the Ravens of the 2008 season, they still are no slouch on the field.

What about the Browns? To put it as short as I can, there is always next season. That does not mean the Browns fan should not be completely outraged, because they should be. They got a bad deal this year in Mangini, and though I have tried to play up Mangini as best I could, I simply cannot justify this poor season. The management is terrible, the team does not have a goal or identity, and frankly it is time to start over. It is not entirely the players fault, as most of this is a management problem. I want to see a strong Browns team, because it makes the division that much stronger. But I do believe Cleveland is being cheated big time.

Regardless, the AFC North is going to have some kind of representation in the playoffs this year from one or more of these teams, and they will make a devastating impact on whomever they end up facing off against.

My prediction: Someone from the AFC North is making the Super Bowl this year. In the meantime, enjoy the picture of this Bengals cheerleader. If the Bengals play as perfect as she looks, they go to the Super Bowl.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

A Congress Full of Sonny Corleone's: Let's Not Forget Who the True Boss Is

2009-11-08T01:24:00.000-05:00

I suppose you are a true politico if you spend your Saturday evening watching the healthcare debate on C-SPAN. In many circles, this is the ultimate is lameness. There is no alcohol, no glamorous women, no evening scene, but a whole lot of coffee and cigarettes. There is a degree of making observations, complaining about the opposition, and planning on what the next step will be in the process, but it is far from anything anyone in my age category would consider “a good time”. I wish I had more friends that had an interest in politics and such (and I certainly wish I had more lady friends that had an interest), but I guess we have to run in our own circles sometimes, even if means sacrificing certain social aspects in the interest of being unique and having a hobby.

The House of Representatives passed their version of the healthcare bill 220-215. While I am certain these people are completely insane and have a political death wish, we saw history in the making tonight. Watching Speaker Pelosi waltz up to the podium to announce the final results was enough to make anyone rethink eating (as the mere sound of her voice causes the stirring of the stomach deep from within). Listening to her speak about how since one Republican voted for the bill makes it a “bi-partisan” bill makes me quite unhappy, because in some way she probably does believe that in her warped mind, or she is putting on a pretty good act. Anymore, it is hard to tell with these people.

We ended up flicking back and forth between the debate and The Godfather Saga tonight. A friend of mine actually got a brand new flat screen TV, a Visio, and Al Pacino and Marlon Brando looked better than ever. I began to watch and then thought about the characters themselves.

If you think about it, we have a ton of Santino Corleone’s in Congress today. When I say that, I mean we have a lot of people acting purely on emotion, sometimes getting good results, but oftentimes getting a bad result. Healthcare is emotionally a supercharged issue, and we have a Congress that charged into this thing headfirst without really considering the repercussions, much like Sonny would do in The Godfather. They may be completely well intentioned, but they totally disregard the future results of the decision they are acting on today.

I do not need to tell you what happened to Santino, and if Congress is not careful in their approach to things, they will be heading down the same path. Of course, rather than getting pumped full of bullets at a toll booth, they will be getting the boot from D.C.

Congressmen should not be like Santino Corleone. Congress should be like Tom Hagen, a consigliere. Consigliere’s provide counsel, look into things, give recommendations, and advise. However, the boss does not have to agree with the consigliere. Furthermore, if the boss is not satisfied with the consigliere, a replacement can be brought in at the word of the boss.

The American people are like Don Corleone, the boss. The people decide who is going to represent them in Congress and allows them to make their own recommendations on bills. The only difference is we actually give them the power to make the bill decisions. However, the American people still reserve the right to keep or dismiss Congress, just as Michael Corleone had the right to keep or dismiss Tom Hagen from his duties.

Unfortunately today, the boss and the consigliere are having a disagreement. Congress wants to pass healthcare reform, but the American people are not enthusiastic. Some polls have Americans equally favoring and disfavoring the new healthcare legislation, and some polls like Rasmussen have more people opposing than supporting healthcare reform.

The don is left with a choice. Keep the consigliere or dismiss him? If Congress tries to pass this 2,000 page monstrosity against the wishes of the American people (let’s be honest, 220-215 is hardly a mandate folks), will America give Congress the boot in 2010? Congress is not the boss, although it is trying to be given how it has approached different pieces of legislation over 2009.

I said earlier Congress is full of Santino Corleone’s. As Vito Corleone said, “Santino made a terrible don”. He did not think rationally all the time and was ruled by his emotions, and that has become evident with the current Congress we have. There is a very good reason these people are not the boss, and a very good reason why the American people ARE the boss.

Congress should not forget who they work for, or they will be replaced by the true boss: the American people.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Small Cracks in a Windshield: Democratic Power is Slipping in Mahoning County

2009-11-05T08:14:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking about the last few days today trying to figure out what happened election day and what it means. A friend of mine basically said these kinds of things happen for a reason, and I have received a number of phone calls giving encouragement. I am grateful for good friends and family. But I do not want to talk about the recent election results, but I rather want to talk about the future of the Mahoning Valley.

This election proves a relative unknown can stand up to the entrenched “old guard” of the area and have a decent showing. On November 3rd, you saw an unknown candidate come into a race of entrenched politicians and beat the incumbent and pull within 310 votes of the challenger who had 23 years of political experience. That is a damn good accomplishment for anyone in Mahoning County, especially for a Republican. Yes, Zarlenga won, but it was an embarrassing showing for someone who should have swept house. We lost by 13%, and given the precinct breakdowns (loss by 28 in one, loss by 40 in another, won by 37 in my own, and so forth), we have a much better idea how to approach things next time.

Dick McCarthy got the ball rolling though when he ran against Ron Gerberry, because Dick was a relative unknown in the 59th House District. The results were Gerberry 60% McCarthy 40%. In Mahoning County, that is good for any Republican. If McCarthy comes back to run, you will see that margin slip further in his favor.

The reality is the Democratic hold in this county is cracking. It is slow mind you, but it is cracking. There are subtle indicators and whispers of it (and it will never be conceded by anyone in the Democratic power structure), but I know it and I think they know it. Do you think it was a coincidence that my opponent who has been out of politics for six years suddenly had the urge to jump back in at her age?

A 24 year old Republican running in Mahoning County that has a strong education and who has been active in politics for almost six years locally? That is a terrifying notion to an older Democratic Party that is trying to hold on, and I have no doubt in my mind this probably played some kind of role in why we had three people in this race instead of two. And you can bet they are terrified of young and teenage Republicans too. They will never admit to it, but I know what they see, and they see a potential threat in the making if any younger Republicans step up.

For Republicans to make breakthroughs in Mahoning County, we need to start at the township, council, and school board levels. Period. We can put up county candidates and state representative candidates now until hell freezes over, but it is not going to make one damn difference if our people are not at the lower rungs of the political spectrum.

We need young people who are not entrenched in local politics. That is why I am absolutely thrilled there are Teenage Republicans and College Republicans. Even at those young ages, these people do know the score and have some good ideas. They are bright, energetic, and are not tainted like every other current officeholder who has been in power recently or from the past. To the old guard, that is another terrifying notion.

I am treating the Democratic power hold as a windshield. One small crack is all it will take to threaten the integrity of the windshield, and one or two bumps in the road can cause massive fractures and a complete shatter. A close Republican loss can give hope, and one or two Republican wins can fracture the Democratic machine beyond repair. It may take awhile to get there, but it is a lot closer than what you might think.

All we need is a little momentum, and you will see it soon.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Future Canfield Trustee Candidate in 2011

Election Day Recap: We Lost, But We Scared the Hell Out of Them

2009-11-04T00:48:00.000-05:00

Before dwelling on the events that transpired election day, I do want to first thank enormously the team I worked with on this campaign—Donovan O’Neil, Ryan and Evan Beil, Amber and Josh Ivack, John Blue, Jim Shaw, Claudia Kovach, Michelle Jones, and Mara Frisco. I am extremely proud of all of these individuals because they put a ton of time in on this campaign and put in numerous hours when they didn’t have to.

Accomplishments: knocked 1,250 doors (most of which on the weekends), passed out literature at football games every home game, and put in a full day on election day. Congratulations guys, we are the only campaign in our race that did any of those things, because our opposition ran on an entrenched name and had someone else run her campaign for her. We ran this campaign on the up and up, and it was clean. We did not shamelessly attach ourselves to someone else in another race, and we actually put the man hours in on this unlike my opponent. Congratulations guys for doing this the right way. We also won 1/8 precincts, so it was not a clean sweep. 5/8 of those precinct losses were marginal, within 20 votes.

If you want to see the Republican resurgence in Mahoning County, look no further than these people. Most of them are either in high school or college, and we literally scared the hell out of the opposition in this race. We beat the pants off the incumbent and nearly knocked off one of the entrenched “old guard” challengers who really ran on her name than putting forth any meaningful time. How do I know this? Well, when you talk to over 1,000 people and they say you are the first one who came knocking on the door, you find out who is campaigning and who is running on a name pretty quickly.

As far as my opponent, I will not say much. Typically, the best person does not win elections, but the best campaigner. This time, neither the best person nor the best campaigner won. I believe in all of my heart we ran the best campaign, but because an entrenched politician suddenly showed an interest in running for office after lying dormant for a number of years and used her name recognition to campaign, we are now stuck with the same old politics we have seen in Mahoning County for the last thirty years. She did not deserve to win, and I am not sorry for saying it. I have been told there is a lot more to this story than what meets the eye, but I will wait to see what transpires in January before making any kind of judgment.

I am not afraid to run again, and you can bet I will be back making waves not only in 2011 but as soon as January arrives. The politics of this town is dirty, rough and tumble, and in your face, and damn it I am not afraid of these people anymore. I may have difficulty speaking at times, and I may not have a loud voice or an overtly talkative nature, but I am a good listener, and I do not owe any favors to anyone. And there is not one politician in this town currently who can say that. I lack the bravado and ego of these people, and I smell BS from ten miles away. Most of the politics in this town is bravado by the way.

And that, my friends, is why these people are so afraid. And that is why you all need to run, particularly those in college and high school currently. You do not owe any allegiance to anyone and you do not owe any favors. Mahoning County needs fresh faces that are not entrenched

We did a good thing here today everyone, and though I am a little angry about how things turned out, I am extremely proud we ran a clean campaign and to have worked with all of you these last few weeks. We came farther than many expected us to, and we managed to catch a lot of people off guard. I look forward to working with you again soon, be it on my own campaign or your own campaigns in the future.

Alex Mangie
The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Future Trustee Candidate for Canfield 2011

Awesome Horror Theme Songs--For Your Enjoyment

2009-10-27T21:30:00.000-04:00

Today is going to be a day for Halloween related theme music. There are truly some creepy themes from some of the horror movies over the last forty years, and in the interest of keeping with the spirit of the Halloween season, I would like to include some of them for your listening pleasure. I am hesitant to place a ranking to any of these themes, because each is unique in their own special way. In my opinion, the creepiest theme song I have heard from any of the horror movies would have to be “Ave Satani” from The Omen, but that is just one man’s opinion. I will let you be the judge this time.

The Omen

This is an interesting theme. In fact, it is entirely in Latin (and actually covered by Gregorian), and I will include the translation of the lyrics. Musically it is a masterpiece, though certainly a disturbing one.

Sanguis Bibimus ("We drink the blood.")
Corpus Edimus ("We eat the body.")
Tolle Corpus Satani! ("Elevate the body of Satan!")
Ave! ("Hail!"),
Ave! Versus Christus! ("Hail, Hail Anti-Christ!")
Ave Satani! ("Hail Satan!")

Nightmare on Elm Street

This is still one the great horror theme songs of all time. Regardless of how you may feel about the franchise, it must be admitted that Wes Craven had good taste when he brought in Charles Bernstein to do the musical score for this film.

Halloween

John Carpenter at his finest. It is interesting to note that Carpenter both directed this film and came up with the musical score, so the man does have many talents. We all know the theme, so no further elaboration is needed.

Psycho

We are reaching back to 1960 here, but this theme is still a timeless masterpiece from Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann.

Friday the 13th

Not the most memorable, but certainly we all know the “Ki ki ki” “ma ma ma” that is in every movie of the franchise, and it deserves to at least be on the list because of that.

Phantasm

Often overlooked, I must concede. In fact, if I had not gone out there searching for themes beyond the typical, I might have missed this one.

Rosemary’s Baby

Yeah, this is a creeper. I have not seen Rosemary’s Baby in a long time

The Exorcist

This is known as "Tubular Bells", but still a worthy inclusion.

IT

Yeah, if you are not creeped out by this theme, then you probably have not had the pleasure of watching IT by Stephen King. I’m actually too scared to pick up the book, because I have heard it is far more traumatizing than anything in the movie.

Children of the Corn

OUTLANDER! To be completely honest, I only sat down and watched this movie in its entirety a few weeks ago, even though it came out years ago. I'm not really sure why I never got around to seeing this, outside of a few parts here and there on TV. I think this is a decent theme.

Now, I know I did not get to every horror theme song. Yes, I know I missed Jaws, The Shining, Poltergeist, Amityville Horror, and countless others. But I had to make a judgment on some of the better ones and I believe this is a decent collection.

Enjoy!

Alex Mangie

The Mang

Candidate for Canfield Township Trustee and Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Most Underrated Horror Flick: Halloween 3-Season of the Witch

2009-10-26T23:52:00.000-04:00

I am writing this while watching the movie Halloween, arguably the best Halloween related film of all time. Unfortunately, we will not know for sure which movie is the best horror film until later this week, but I did want to take a little time now to cover what in my opinion is the most severely underrated horror film that came out of the 80s—Halloween 3: Season of the Witch.

Believe it or not, this is probably my second favorite movie in the Halloween series. The original Halloween is definitely my favorite of the bunch for obvious reasons, but Season of the Witch received such a bad rap from fans because of the lack of Michael Myers that it was doomed to ever be shown on TV with the rare, exceptional appearance. Similarly as has been with previous Halloween’s, it is not going to be on TV this year either.

Musically, Season of the Witch is as good (if not slightly better) than the original score for Halloween. In fact, I would say it is quite exceptional for a horror film, as typically horror films are not known for musical scores. Do not get me wrong, the right use of music and sound can make or break any horror film, but as with the theme for Halloween, tracks like “Chariots of Pumpkins” from Season of the Witch are also quite memorable. I will include a link so you can hear it if you haven’t already. John Carpenter was responsible for the musical score of this film, though he was not the director for this installment.

Regarding the plot—some critics have argued that the film was based on a flimsy plot. To an extent, they are right. However, let’s be honest for a minute: every sequel subsequent to Halloween was itself flimsy. You have a killer who has been stabbed with a knife, poked in the face with the rough edge of a clothes hanger, and shot with a gun out of the second floor of a house. He then conveniently gets up and walks away, only to be in the middle of an explosion at the end of the sequel, and then proceeds to do ten more sequels suffering other damage that would be fatal to everyone else but him. Furthermore, he goes on to do two more remakes.

Do you still want to talk about flimsy?

As you might have guessed, this third installment does not have Michael Myers. The plot of this installment involves a man by the name of Conal Cochran, who has a plan to kill children through the use of three Halloween masks made by his company Silver Shamrock. The masks are created by a fairly large piece of Stonehenge (enter the flimsy plotline). The protagonist is Dr. Dan Challis, and he is involved in trying to figure out what is happening in the town as well as later attempting to stop Cochran from following through on his plan. I do not want to give away any more of the details in case you have not yet seen it, because the story is interesting and has quite the unique ending.

Is the plot farfetched? Absolutely. It would be a tremendous feat to move a Stonehenge stone across the Atlantic and across the country. A tourist attraction, you would think at some point someone would have noticed the stone was missing, or at least saw someone trying to move it. It was also mentioned there was a problem with the ending, at least in terms of how practical or realistic it would be by today’s standards. However, there are a ton of far-fetched movies out there that are praised even though there is absolutely no chance of them being realistic. It could be that this was just a good movie and did not need to be 100% realistic.

The Halloween series, according to John Carpenter, was intended to be an anthology of stories related to the season of Halloween rather than a marathon of sequels involving a crazed (but methodical) killer who simply would not die. Carpenter took the job with Season of the Witch under the condition that it would not involve Michael Myers, and that promise was kept.

Looking back on the series as a whole, it turned out to be quite the horror franchise. However, it does leave the mind to wonder as to what other stories Carpenter might have concocted as they related to the Halloween season. Season of the Witch is certainly different from the two preceding films, but I think that is precisely what Carpenter intended to happen. Sure, it does not continue the first two plots, but the film was still very enjoyable and watchable. Granted some of the effects and props are a little cheesy (it was the 80s after all), but I still enjoy this film immensely.

If you get the chance, try and check it out.

As for the next article, I am looking to do something Halloween related before getting to some of the best horror films of all time. Keeping in the spirit of the season, we move forward with this theme for at least one more week.

Enjoy a Halloween 3 trailer and "Chariots of Pumpkins".

Alex Mangie
The Mang
Candidate for Canfield Trustee and Conservative Capo of Mahoning County

Origins of the Jack O'Lantern, an Old Irish Fable

2009-10-16T23:57:00.000-04:00

Welcome back everyone. Briefly I want to just say that I have been unable to update the site mainly because of the focus on the campaign. Tonight, I actually have a little time to do some writing, as the rest of my time has been spent working, campaigning, working, paying taxes, and more campaigning the last few weeks. The good news is the Mangie Team has been doing a hell of a job getting our message and name out there, and we are hearing a lot of good things. The bad news of course is I have been unable to write as much. Such is political work I guess.

I can’t believe it is already mid-October, and as it happens Halloween is around the corner. Where the time has gone, I have no idea, but I am really excited for the Halloween season. Every year at Halloween the Mang prides himself on carving pumpkins. I used to do a couple, but last year it turned into three, and this year I am looking to do five or six carved pumpkins as well as decorating the front porch. I’ll probably end up doing a couple of patterns because some of the patterns out there are intricate and look outstanding. But for the others I will most likely create my own designs because, well, that is how I roll.

It is quite interesting the story behind carved pumpkins. Commonly these are referred to as Jack O’Lanterns. There is a folktale that goes with the origination of the Jack O’Lanterns as we know them today, and the story comes out of Ireland. There are different variations to this story, and this is only one of them.

As the tale went, there was a drunk who went by the name Stingy Jack who lived in an Irish village. Jack had a reputation around Ireland for being a prankster of sorts, causing problems for the decent villagers by tricking them, deceiving them, and generally being a public nuisance. There was not a person he did not attempt to trick, and he even played the Devil for a fool. Jack managed to trick the Devil into climbing an apple tree, and upon reaching the top, Jack placed crucifixes all around the tree to prevent the Devil from climbing down. The Devil bargained with Jack, and in exchange for the removal of the crosses, the Devil promised to not take his soul when Jack died.

Eventually Jack did die. Upon reaching St. Peter at the pearly gates, it was determined that Jack led a lousy life and caused problems for everyone he came in contact with. As a result, Jack was banished from heaven. Jack went to Hell and was greeted by the Devil at the gates. The Devil, who was somewhat bitter with Jack, decided he would uphold his promise not to take Jack either, leaving Jack to wander in darkness for eternity.

The Devil granted Jack a favor to find his way through the darkness between Heaven and Hell. He provided an ember to light the way, which Jack kept in a carved out turnip. For the rest of eternity, Jack would be doomed to walk in the darkness only to be guided by the light of his Jack O’Lantern.

It is interesting to note that the Jack O’Lantern was not a pumpkin originally, but rather a turnip. In Ireland, turnips, potatoes, and gourds would be carved out every year around October 31st to ward of Stingy Jack. As it happens, this day was an old Celtic holiday known as Samhain. This day typically would be to honor the deceased, and was considered to be the time when the veil between the world of the living and the dead was the thinnest. This is quite similar to the modern day Halloween we have come to know and love. Eventually when the Irish immigrants came to America, they discovered that pumpkins were significantly easier to carve than a turnip. Hence now we have pumpkin carving.

So that is the story of Jack O’Lantern and carved pumpkins.

As I mentioned before, Halloween is one of my favorite times of year, so in the coming few weeks I’ll probably do some more interesting writing on the subject. You can look forward to Mang’s Top 10 Halloween Movie List, as well as some more different articles on other aspects of Halloween. Maybe we’ll do something on witches, there is a lot of interesting history on the matter. Dracula also has a storied history so I might cover him in the interest of keeping the Halloween spirit.

Now, I could go on and on about political stuff, but I think for purposes of this month, we are going to do some fun stuff. I’ll keep giving some updates on my campaign, but mostly I want to try and keep the spirit of the season active on this site until November, which of course means it is already the Christmas season according to every major retailer out there. Now THAT is something to be scared about.

Enjoy the following video!

Your friend, political candidate, conservative capo, and spookster,

The Mang

And the Award Goes To.......Barack Obama! On the Nobel Prize Debate

2009-10-09T22:09:00.000-04:00

To my readership, I must apologize for the lack of entries as of recent, as I have been trying to conduct a campaign while going to work. It is either I will write crap when I sit down to write late in the evening, or I will write less, but decent stuff. I am opting for the latter temporarily. In the meantime, onto today’s topic.

Recently President Obama was awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, along with a whopping $1.4 million. In fact, he was bestowed the honor just today, and it was the first thing I saw on the news. I thought to myself, “Hmm, that is very interesting”. Today on my lunch break I perused around the Internet trying to learn more about this award and trying to get my mind around how on earth Barack Obama could possibly be awarded this honor after such a short duration. Before you leave and say I am just being a jerk for saying these things on this man’s day of honor, let us try and objectively look at what is happening here.

The Nobel Peace Prize is based upon the work of an individual for the years PRECEDING the date of nomination, which happened to be early last February 2009. While there has been some room for movement on this, by and large this is usually the case with the prizes.

The problem is Barack Obama was barely president for two weeks when the nomination process closed for the Peace Prize. Prior to becoming president for two weeks, Obama was a half term Senator from Illinois with a background in state government which has very little to do with what Alfred Nobel claimed this peace prize was for: “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

Let’s talk about this statement briefly. President Obama, being so early in his presidency, has done neither the most or the best work for fraternity between nations. If an example could be provided where in the last 8 ½ months either of these items have been fulfilled, I would gladly like to hear anyone out.

Let’s talk about the abolition or reduction of standing armies. This is very interesting to me, because Obama has done neither. A standing army is defined as “a permanent army maintained in time of peace and war”. Currently, this is not going to change. The U.S. government is not going to downsize its military anytime soon, no less abolish it. Democrat or Republican, that is not going to happen.

As far as holding and promoting peace congresses, this is just too early to tell. Folks, President Obama has been in office for 8 and ½ months. That is not a whole lot of time we are dealing with, and even if he has begun trying to talk with different nations, the reality is we are in the very beginnings of such processes. Is it possible Obama may do something great in the future? Sure, I do not doubt that. However, is he worthy of this award based on the last few months? Not a chance in hell.

Logically by Alfred Nobel’s own words, this just does not seem to fit the description of what Obama has done.

Taking this in a different direction, is Obama truly worthy of this award compared to others? I have a question for the Nobel Prize Committee. How can you justify awarding Obama with this honor after a few months while failing to award John Paul II for his tireless work and efforts for peace in the world over a number of years? How can you justify not awarding this honor to Ghandi? These are two individuals of tremendous stature and respect and honor that have been overlooked by this committee in favor of a president who has served for not even a year based on “the hope” as they claimed.

Republican or Democrat, you cannot honestly believe Barack Obama deserves this award. Yes, he may do tremendous things in the future, but the reality is this was just too early.

This is no disrespect to President Obama, but you know what, there are a host of people who have fought for peace who have put their lives on the line trying to achieve it. Some have even taken a bullet and forgave their assassin after the fact. I just think this was very bad timing on the part of the Nobel Committee, and it comes off more political than anything else.

Alex Mangie
The Mang
Candidate for Canfield Trustee and Conservative Capo of the Mahoning Valley

Anyone Else Know How Libertarian Rush (band) Is?

2009-10-01T23:58:00.000-04:00

Has anyone ever truly listened to the words in the song “Tom Sawyer” by Rush? It is an interesting piece both lyrically and musically, and I happened across this song on Y103 earlier today at work. Sure, I have heard it before plenty of times, and even have seen Chester Cheeto get high to this song on Family Guy (see the clip towards the bottom because it is just one of those things worth seeing over again). I am not exactly sure Neil Peart is the best drummer ever by the way, but the lyrics to the song just seem interesting to me.

I did not realize how libertarian Rush was until I actually sat down and looked at some of their lyrics. The statements being made in songs like “Tom Sawyer” are very powerful stances.
“Tom Sawyer” is about a very independent person, defined as the “modern day warrior”. Lyrics like “His mind is not for rent, to any god or government, always hopeful yet discontent, he knows changes aren’t permanent, but change is” are very interesting to me, because these kinds of stances are not something typical in the music scene.

A lot of rock bands are anti-establishment, and a lot of the music scene in the 60s was from a very liberal perspective, but Rush falls into a unique category. Rush is not necessarily what you would call anti-establishment, but certainly it is playing up to a libertarian philosophy. “Tom Sawyer”, “Freewill”, “The Trees”, and so forth are only a few examples that illustrate this.

Some will say Green Day, Blink-182, and Metallica to an extent are close to libertarian in their lyrics, and to a certain extent they are. Just some of these bands walk a fine line between being simply anti-establishment for the hell of being anti-establishment and libertarian, and a lot of these anti-establishment bands are from the punk rock genre. Rush is not punk rock by any stretch, and though lyrically their music deals with interesting themes and ideas, it is not something that is as in your face as some of the earlier mentioned bands.

I will say Rush is an acquired taste, and this kind of statement is not uncommon. Rush even has said they are either loved or hated depending on who you ask. I just find some of their music quite fascinating, which of course is why I took a little time to discuss them here tonight.

Of course for the Family Guy fans, enjoy Chester Cheeto and Rush.

Alex Mangie
The Mang
Candidate for Canfield Trustee and Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Illegals and Health Insurance: How Does This Make Sense Again?

2009-09-29T22:43:00.001-04:00

Today I am going to deviate from some of the more fun issues to something a little more political in the interest of keeping things somewhat fresh around here. While I could go on and on about pastas and sauces, there are other interesting things going on in the world.

Today’s issue is illegal immigrants being afforded healthcare coverage if they want to opt in to the government plan. Apparently, there has been a pushback from a small group of House Democrats (not all, just about 20) to include a provision to cover illegal immigrants if they would like to get coverage.

Let me break this down as simple as I can and maybe if someone in D.C. is reading this it will get through their skulls. I will start off with the first fundamental issue here. Illegal immigrants are not American citizens—period.

What does that mean?

If you are here illegally, that means (try and follow me here Congress) you are breaking the law. While I know that does not mean a whole lot to some in the Republican Party and some in the Democratic Party, it means a lot to the legal citizens of the United States.

Some in this small entourage of Democrats who are pushing to include illegal aliens in the healthcare plan argue that it will keep them out of the emergency rooms, hence bringing down costs.

Well ladies and gentlemen, here is a thought. They really should not be here in the first place, should they? So in theory, it would be illegal to be here and a violation of the law of the United States, but regardless of the fact you are here illegally, we still want to allow you to acquire health insurance through the Federal plan.

How on earth does that possibly make any sense? How is that rational thinking?

Here is an idea. Instead of letting illegal aliens buy insurance, why not simply treat them in the emergency room, and then notify the authorities to deport them? Furthermore, if you knowingly treat someone who is here illegally and do not report them, it should be a 5th degree felony as incentive to do the right thing as an American citizen by getting people to follow the law.

By allowing illegal immigrants to buy into American insurance, we as a country are basically saying even though you are breaking the law, we still want you to have insurance. We will not make an effort to deport you for breaking the law, but we are willing to give you health insurance.

Make no mistake: if you are a legal citizen and you break the law, you are going to jail. If you are here illegally, that does not seem to be the case anymore. You are rewarded if anything. Some will say we do not have the manpower to deal with the problem, and to that I say that is complete and total garbage. If we really wanted to get serious about this problem, we could, but we don’t. When was the last time you heard anything about illegal immigration outside the context of the healthcare debate? It has been awhile, and I try to follow the news daily.

Am I the only one seeing a problem with this?

It is as simple as this: if you are a citizen of the U.S., you should be entitled to the privileges of being a citizen. If you are not a citizen of the U.S., you are a criminal and should not be entitled to the same privileges and benefits as those of the legal American citizen. Good or bad for the economy aside, these people are breaking the law, and somewhere along the line some people forgot that.

Alex Mangie

The Mang

Candidate for Canfield Township Trustee and Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Youngstown’s Best Spaghetti Sauce: If You Want Controversy, You Found It-Part 2

2009-09-27T21:32:00.000-04:00

So this is the moment of truth. I have received a lot of comments and messages about this, so I hope this final list is adequate. We do have some honorable mentions at the bottom to look at as well, and they are pretty good.

Onto the list:

5.) Sunrise Inn: The pizza here is outstanding, and the sauce is just as good. I only discovered this place back in July up in Warren, but it has been here for ages. Good portion size, adequate amount of sauce, all very enjoyable.

4.) Caffe Capri: More of an upscale independent restaurant, it was not always this way. This place has an interesting history, because the family that owns the Capri has been in the restaurant business since 1939. Formerly known as the Isle of Capri in Struthers, the restaurant reopened in Boardman, and then moved again to its present location in Boardman. The sauce and portions are fantastic, but you also get to see some of Youngstown’s “finest”. During my trips there, I have seen convicted felons in both business and politics as well as mobsters. I do not think this is reflective of the clientele of this place, but it is just that even criminals know where to get good food. Good food, awesome bar (very retro looking), Youngstown royalty, Youngstown’s “finest”, and good looking hostesses/waitresses. Yeah, it makes for a good evening.

3.) Scarsella’s: Phenomenal place to get spaghetti. I usually will get the chicken parmesan and the sea shells when I go here, because it is a favorite and is what my grandparents and I both used to get when we went there years ago. Good portions, lots of sauce, but for some reason salads are ala carte. I cannot remember the last time I went there for dinner (except when I get takeout there), but it really one of the best in Mahoning County. Lots of memories at that place.

2.) The Wave: This place is not even in Ohio, but a short drive over to Sharon, PA. I am including this place because it is close in proximity to both Youngstown and Warren regionally. The sauce here is amazing, and the restaurant has been at its current location for a long time. It is an old time place. Kitchen is in the basement, they use a dumb waiter to bring the food upstairs, and it is relatively small and family oriented. The sauce is tossed here. IT IS TOSSED! It is hard to find a restaurant that tosses the sauce in the spaghetti, even in this town. The churches and the ITAM’s in town do that, but I believe the Wave is the only restaurant that does it.

By the way, that is the correct way to make your spaghetti for anyone who is curious. You toss the sauce in the pasta before serving, rather than throwing the white pasta on the plate and putting some sauce on there. Only problem with The Wave is they skimp on the sauce big time, and you have to ask like ten times to get extra sauce here. Sometimes they are good about it, and sometimes they aren’t. Just how it goes though.

And for the best…

1.) The Elmton: It is the small Struthers bar and restaurant that everyone in town knows about. Ironically, it is also the very first place I went after I was born. I came home from the hospital, and we went to the Elmton for pizza. Of all the places you take a newborn, it is a bar in the city of Struthers. No wonder I turned out the way I did. I think I even had a birthday party or two down there now that I am looking back on this, which is really unusual because kids that age typically do not want to have their parties at, well, a smoky bar. One time I think I downed an entire cup of those hot pepper seeds when I was there at one of those parties…

I love the Elmton, and in fact I was there tonight for chicken parmesan. They have the classic red sauce which is the right consistency and they give very generous amounts of it with dinner. Is the sauce tossed? No, but it is not a hassle, because frankly there is so much of it I can easily mix it myself without getting a hodgepodge of dry noodles. It is perhaps a nuisance, but one that is easily fixed.

We are dealing with a sweeter sauce here, which is something I am fine with. Other places have a spicier sauce, but here we have a sweeter variety. Some people are not big fans of a sweet sauce, but I happen to enjoy it. Now, I doubt this sauce is made in house like everything else, but really I do not care so much about that as long as their supplier gets the sauce right. The texture and consistency and thickness of the sauce is typical of what you would find at most restaurants in the Mahoning Valley, with a unique taste. So the fact the sauce is not made in house is fine by me at this point.

Portion sizes are huge, especially for the money. $8 for a huge plate of chicken parmesan and spaghetti is a pretty good deal, since most places you’ll be paying $11-15. Granted this is a small town bar and restaurant, but damn, the food is fantastic.

Honorable mentions: Belleria Pizza, Café 422, Dona Vito's, and Alberini’s. Each of these places has good food and sauce, and like some of you that have commented about doing this as well, I have used Belleria Pizza sauce in my own cooking at home when I want to make a quick pasta meal. I believe it is good, but I cannot say it makes the top 10.

Many of these were tossups and can be interchangeable, but it was hard to drill down a definitive list without stepping on a few toes.

One of these days I will get around to pizza, but it is going to more reminiscent of a March Madness Bracket than a top 10 list, because there are too many independent pizza shops in this town.

Salute,

Alex Mangie
The Mang
Candidate for Canfield Township Trustee and Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Youngstown’s Best Spaghetti Sauce: If You Want Controversy, You Found It-Part 1

2009-09-26T23:58:00.000-04:00

As far as I’m concerned, this article is more controversial than anything I have ever written. Sports and politics are a mere nuisance compared to this subject: who has the best spaghetti sauce in Youngstown, OH (and the surrounding areas)? In fact, the only thing perhaps more controversial than this is who has the best pizza, and frankly I am not sure I can stand up to the criticism on that topic. One thing is for certain here: we have more Italian restaurants per capita than any place in the U.S., and I would be willing to bet any money on that right now.

When it comes to sauce, I am a connoisseur of sorts. Most of you know me to be very particular about Italian food and often it is a source for some of my rants and complaints on a regular basis. The only problem with that is everyone else considers themselves to be an expert, and hence I will probably write this and find myself in some sort of fist fight because someone else thinks they know better. Crazier things have happened I suppose.

Part 1: 12-6. I will post the top 5 tomorrow.

Let me start off with the ones that are definitely not going to make the list. Olive Garden automatically is off because frankly, their sauce is lousy. The fact they have thirty different varieties about sums up why—just because there is more choice does not mean it is better. How on earth that restaurant possibly is packed consistently is truly an anomaly, and this writer is often baffled by that.

Carrabba’s is off the list. Now, the sauce here is not nearly as bad as Olive Garden. I have noticed they skimp on the sauce, but actually I have had plenty worse sauces than this. It is passable and I would have no problem going here. Is it even in the top 10? I think not.

Now for the best—and the criticism I am sure. Looking at these places, these are harder to rank than I originally thought.

12.) Blue Wolf: I have frequented the Blue Wolf a number of times in the past, and it is one of my favorite places to go. The sauce here is interesting though. When I get the chicken parmesan, it comes with a side of spaghetti. On the chicken, the sauce is outstanding. On the pasta, the sauce is not that good. It is the damndest thing I have ever seen and this has to be the only place this has happened to me.

11.) MVR: You are probably thinking to yourself, “Damn, is he serious?” Well, I love the MVR. I think it is an awesome place and they have some good food. It has a great environment (except for that one room that is newer with those big tables), bocce, and a cool bar. But in terms of the sauce? Believe it or not, the sauce there is hit or miss. Sometimes it is great, and sometimes it is pretty bad. It tends to be a little thick, and when they are having a bad night, it is usually pretty noticeable.

10.) Angenetta’s: I have not been to Angenetta’s in almost a year, but that is probably because I have been in Columbus. This is one of Canfield’s better restaurants and it is by the high school. The problem is while the sauce is very good, the ambiance is not that good, and it sometimes detracts from the meal itself. This is an unusual statement, because it should be about the sauce. But while it is good, I believe if the setup of the restaurant was better, I’d probably enjoy it a lot more.

10.) Pascarella’s: This is the Poland equivalent of Angenetta’s, except the atmosphere of the place compliments the sauce instead of taking away from it. They tend to skimp a little on the sauce, however, which is a problem. I will rank Pascarella’s and Angenetta’s equally, though I have to give slight favor to Pascarella’s.

8.) The Fireplace: This is a place that has known two locations during its existence—one on the South Side and one at 5 Points. I have gone to the Fireplace a lot over the years except for recently. I have been in the mood for their sauce and I hope to get back over there soon. What can I say? It is a good sauce. When I go here I get the ravioli or the cavatelli usually, because they give a pretty decent amount and the sauce works well. This is not so much the case with the spaghetti in my honest opinion, but maybe I am just mincing things here. Overall it is very good.

7.) Antones: I am sure everyone who lives in Mahoning/Trumbull/Columbiana counties have eaten here at least one time at some point. In fact, it is kind of hard to avoid since there are so many these days (both under the Antone’s name and under other names like Jeremiah Bullfrog’s/ Oscar’s). Consistently the sauce is good here, and actually it is good for carryout if you are on your lunch break and want something decent to eat in a hurry. Hat’s off to Ross and Chad Scianna.

6.) Avalon Gardens: A North Side Italian stronghold. Neighborhood is not the best, but it is worth the trip. Usually known for its Brier Hill pizza, it also has very good pasta (and smelts which are hard to come by on demand these days, but I digress). Have to give them credit, they usually do not skimp on the sauce (that is a major thing with me if you have not realized that yet) and the sauce itself is good on all of the dishes that have sauce on them.

That was the 6-12. I will not reveal the top 5 until tomorrow, but I can give you some hints to where they are at. Boardman, Struthers, Warren, Sharon, and Youngstown.

In the meantime, I will look forward to immense criticism on these picks.

Alex Mangie

The Mang

Candidate for Canfield Township Trustee and Conservative Capo of the Mahoning Valley

The Point When Slasher Sequels Had to Stop

2009-09-19T00:07:00.000-04:00

Today on my break at work I was going through a few random things online because I was trying to find a good movie to watch for later. Fact is I am not going out tonight because I am tired as hell, and after having sat through dinner with an aunt of mine the last hour and a half, I am now pretty sure that my ass is not leaving the house tonight. It is just how it is, but I’ll probably go out tomorrow. In the meantime, I am going to chill with a movie.

While I was looking I came across an interesting one: Hellraiser. Now, I realize it is almost Halloween and I will probably do a top 10 list of these movies in October, but it got me thinking about home many damn sequels have come out. There were eight Hellraiser movies. Halloween? Eleven. Nightmare on Elm Street? Eight, but there will be nine when the remake comes out. Friday the 13th? Twelve. What the hell?

Since these franchises are all major offenders of having too many sequels, I will try and determine the point these franchises should have stopped, because I am the Mang and I can do that here. Sorry, had to invoke my sense of self importance, but this is semi-important.

Halloween—Franchise should have ended at Halloween 3 unless different plotlines aside from Michael Myers could be explored. The first and second movies are essentially the same movie split into two different movies, and both are outstanding. The Michael Myers plot could have ended without a problem at the end of movie two. The sequels all are tied into the same basic premise and are not crucial to the success of the originals. Halloween 3 is severely underrated, and is actually a favorite of mine. It was never intended to be about Michael Myers, and because of that was not received well by fans of the original. I thought it was good though.

Friday the 13th—Franchise could have ended at Friday the 14th Part IV. You all know the story, most of you grew up in the 80s. The first involved the mother and the next three movies involved a revenge-filled Jason, with each subsequent movie picking up right from where the last left off. The rest, with the exception of Freddy v. Jason, I could do without. I do want to give some credit for Jason Goes to Hell, because after being taken down by the Feds, he was taken to a morgue in YOUNGSTOWN, OH. That’s right, we get all the murderers here, even the ones that cannot be killed after ten sequels.

Nightmare on Elm Street—This one is interesting because it could go two ways. Nightmare could have stood on its own without all the sequels. I thought the ending was very fitting. However, since Freddy is a villain of the dream world and cannot be killed technically, then every one of these sequels might have been justified, no matter how cheesy. It is a tough call.

Hellraiser—I was never a big fan of the Hellraiser series, although I enjoyed the first one. Honestly, the nature of the Cenobites and Pinhead invite a sequel because the puzzle box and Hell never went away. I would say this franchise could have ended on a decent note in its fourth installment Hellraiser: Bloodline, though I would have been happy to see it end at Hellraiser II.

Children of the Corn—I actually chose this movie to watch tonight because I have not seen it for ages. The original is either loved or hated. Frankly, it has become a cult favorite and is legendary in many respects, no matter how distasteful it may be. The sequels were just kind of silly, and quite honestly the premise behind this movie is a little silly too. This had six sequels, but I have to say they probably should have stopped at the original. Isaac and Malachai were decent antagonists, though they were as annoying as they were funny.

Saw—This franchise should not have even had an original, but that is just my opinion. Personally, I would have stopped this franchise at Saw II, but for some reason huge amounts of gore seems to sell, which is why I guess the following sequels were moderately successful. I was never into the Saw series, though a lot of my friends seem to be into it. I understand the psychological aspects that make up the plot line, but damn.

I realize there are other franchises out there to discuss, but these are some of the major ones I wanted to get to tonight.

When October comes around (and it is not too far off surprisingly), I will try and put together a decent list of Halloween movies. Most likely it will be Mang’s Top 10 because I like to think I have some influence over both the important and mundane. As you can probably already tell, I am a big fan of Halloween generally, so it should make for some interesting reading during October.

For now, enjoy your evening,

Alex Mangie
The Mang
Candidate for Canfield Township Trustee and Conservative Capo of Youngstown

The Mang on the Random

2009-09-17T22:57:00.000-04:00

It is kind of a stupid week, which is why I have not really written too much the last few days. Mostly I have been working, getting up early, and getting to bed late. Not really exciting, is it? But it is almost the weekend, which probably is going to entail watching the Steelers and the Buckeyes and hopefully doing something else, like my own campaign.

Things are actually going pretty good with it. The literature is getting printed up and the shirts are coming in soon. I plan on hitting the Canfield-Struthers game this coming Friday (which also happens to be homecoming), and I will send out an email/message to anyone who is interested in helping me out with that. Probably do some door to door that weekend too, and our mailings are going to be starting fairly soon. So next week we will be starting into campaign mode. I guess it is that time of year again.

I’ll send out some more information Monday or Tuesday about what is going on that weekend, and of course there will be food and other beverages for those willing to give a hand. Most likely we’ll go out somewhere, which is fine because it would be Friday!

Now, something interesting about the Mang. Seriously, I am struggling for a topic here because this week has been kind of lousy. I could banter on about politics, but I think since it is Thursday, I want to try and keep this light tonight. Okay, I have one.

Every once in awhile I get this thing called sleep paralysis. No, it is not contagious, and no, it is not a routine thing. Actually it happens to everyone at some point, and when it does happen (again, this is pretty infrequent), it usually happens when I am dosing on the couch. You might know what I am talking about.

It is the weirdest feeling in the world, because you are conscious, but you are completely unable to move your body. You are asleep, but you are completely aware of that fact. Usually you might find that when you try to speak, you can’t, and when you try to move, you are unable to. You try to open your eyes, but they will not open. Hence why it is called sleep paralysis. It is a weird ass feeling, and certainly one that can be scary the first time it happens.

Basically this is when your brain wakes up from REM sleep, but the body has not caught up. It is pretty harmless from everything I have read, just it is not really pleasant. I mention this because it happened this afternoon briefly for a few seconds. I think I was dreaming about some kind of dog when it happened now that I think about it. Weird.

Usually this is onset by irregular sleeping patterns or stress, which I guess has been the case for a little while now. I have not been sleeping enough lately, and I am a little stressed right now.

Haha, sorry guys, this is the best I could come up with tonight. I’ll have more interesting stuff in the next few days because I know they are going to beat the hell out of the last boring week.

Alex Mangie
The Mang
Candidate for Canfield Trustee and Conservative Capo of the Mahoning Valley

Different Year, Same Old Ohio State—and What I Want to See in the Big 10 This Coming Year.

2009-09-13T15:26:00.000-04:00

Words cannot describe how angry I am today. Seriously, I am pretty fed up with how things went in Columbus last night. I am sick of the Pac-10, the SEC, and the Big 12. Schools like USC have the best teams money can buy, and that probably is not far from the truth.

You did not see a championship team playing on that field last night. Matt Barkley, who is the USC quarterback currently, did not do jack shit against Ohio State last night. Sorry folks, he had a terrible game, and the fact he may have led one single decent drive in the entire 60 minutes of regulation does little to instill confidence that this is a great player.

And yet the TV commentators are putting this kid up for sainthood. Excuse me while I adjust my eye sight, because they played a terrible game from where I was sitting in the stands.

If you can barely beat a Big 10 team in the current state that it is in, then you will not beat an SEC team, because Florida likely will be going again to the BCS Championship this year. And despite whatever grudges I have against Florida, there is nothing more that I would like to see than USC be humiliated in a championship game. Plain and simple, I want them to be embarrassed and humiliated and sent back to Los Angeles where they can stay and rot for all I care. I hope to God they get to the BCS title so they can be knocked on their asses.

Now, a couple things I would like to see in the Big 10 this year. Some are realistic, some are only remotely possible:

A strong, fast, and competitive Michigan team needs to arrive. Rich Rodriguez is bringing his game from West Virginia where they had a very fast and very strong playing style. Regardless of my own personal feelings toward Rodriguez, I know he is a good coach. When he gets his own people onto that team (and we are starting to see that), I hope to see a much more competitive Michigan team, that in turn will make Ohio State and the rest of the Big 10 more competitive.

Penn State needs to move up in the rankings and stay in contention for the national title, even if it means Ohio State having to lose to them in Happy Valley. I love Ohio State with a passion, but I also realize Ohio State is no longer in contention (barring some miracle). The Big 10 needs a national title, and if means OSU has to lose to Penn State so the Big 10 has a shot, then I am okay with that.

Love them or hate them, I want Notre Dame in the Big 10 conference. Notre Dame is a good fit for the conference, and in time I believe they will become national contenders again. Additionally, with 12 teams in the Big 10, you have the possibility for an additional championship game, which means our champion is not going to be cold an extra week like we are now going into a bowl game. Several different proposals are out there on how it can be done, but frankly it would make the Big 10 Conference more competitive in the long run.

Eventually, I think it is going to happen, but it is just a matter of when. Until then, I will keep looking forward to Notre Dame’s decision to join.

Bowl games. It goes without saying we need to win bowl games, and to continue losing these bowl games makes the Big 10 less legitimate. I know it may be hard to do when there are draft prospects on the rosters, but our teams have to give 110% to beat the hell out of those other teams that are down South and out West.

Smashmouth football. We are supposed to be the physical conference, so we need to play hard and hit harder. Take a lesson from Pittsburgh or Baltimore—that is how you knock people around. This is not the pro’s, but it wouldn’t hurt to follow those examples of how we need to hit. Wisconsin has some pretty big guys, as does everyone else in the Big 10, and we are capable at playing at this level. If you are going to tackle someone, you have to make them feel it, and that is what we need to do. Show some dominance for a change.

Finally, if you are at the 40 yard line and have a shot at making a field goal to put you beyond a 7 point margin, you take the field goal, you DO NOT PUNT! Let me repeat myself here, because that is very important. When the game is on the line and you need to get beyond 7 points because you are currently ahead by 5 points, you DO NOT PUNT! TAKE THE FIELD GOAL! Sorry Coach Tressel, but that was far too conservative a move. I respect you a lot and think you are a great coach, but you did not do the greatest job coaching last night.

That is all for now. Please give some feedback if you feel the need.

Alex Mangie
The Mang
Candidate for Canfield Trustee and Conservative Capo of Youngstown

On Healthcare: For My Trust, I Will Need Specifics Written into the Bill

2009-09-10T19:21:00.000-04:00

Last night I ended up watching President Obama’s speech, probably out of genuine interest in what he had to say. Believe it or not, I think it was an outstanding speech. I caution you, I did not say it was outstanding content, because it really was nothing new. When I say outstanding, I mean outstanding in delivery.

Now, Obama said a lot of good things that are very pleasing to the ear. Many beautiful words were spoken promising a smorgasbord of wonderful things that will come out of this healthcare plan.

I do not believe him.

If President Obama wants me to trust him, here is what he can do. Go back to the drawing board, have Congress write up a new bill that everyone can understand, and make it more specific without leaving things to be open ended for interpretation.

If illegal aliens are not going to be covered, I want the language to read “this healthcare bill will not cover individuals who have been determined to be in this country illegally”. It is that simple folks, because under the current HR 3200 bill, it leaves that little piece of information pretty wide open for the interpretation of those reading it.

Unfortunately, you will not see that kind of language in this bill. Why not? Well, you can ask the Congressmen who are putting it together. For many of them, doing so is not politically expedient. I am not entirely sure why, seeing as how the rules seem pretty easy to understand. This is the United States. If you are here illegally in the United States, and are not a citizen or have a proper visa, you shall not be entitled to the benefits of being a citizen. We will treat you in the hospital for an emergency, but the next place you will be going is your home country when you are deported. This should not be entirely hard to understand or comprehend folks. I do not see the big deal in putting this specific piece of language in the bill.

If this bill is not going add one dime to the deficit, I want a bona fide guarantee of that assertion. Just the same, I would like a guarantee that the costs are not going to double every few years like they did for the Medicare program. Oh yes, that is a fact many seem to neglect, because the costs of Medicare have doubled every four years since 1966 and is the reason why Medicare is in bad shape these days.

The costs for this plan are going to be enormous, so should we be expecting a doubling of these enormous costs every few years as well? If you say no Mr. President, I want a guarantee and an escape clause for dissolution of such a healthcare system as soon as we have to start subsidizing it. If you say this healthcare system is going to be self-sufficient, you should have no problem putting that clause in there.

“If at any time in the future this healthcare plan ceases to be self-sufficient and results in having to subsidize this system for its survival, this plan shall be dissolved”.

To be entirely honest, I am not even sure how to write in language speaking to preventing the government health insurance plan from being anti-competitive. There is nothing to stop the government from offering deeply discounted insurance rates and taking a loss to get people into its plan. If I think of a way how to word some language to prevent this, I will let you know.

Simple guarantees are all I am asking to see. You want my trust President Obama? Talk with your friends in Congress and have them rewrite a new version of the bill. Make it so some of these promises you have made are airtight and are not subject to interpretation. And make it so the average American can understand it. No more ambiguous language.

Until I see some bona fide guarantees and some language that is specific to some of these issues, I will continue to be suspicious of the bills coming out of Congress.

Quite simply, if you are going to make these promises, why don’t you put them in writing. If you are not hiding anything, then put some specificity to the claims you are making. Then maybe I will consider the truth in what you say.

Alex Mangie

The Mang

Candidate for Canfield Township Trustee and Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Random Points for a Random Day

2009-09-10T00:12:00.000-04:00

I just have a few points of randomness tonight. Some are serious and some are not so serious. On a brief campaign note, we will be actively campaigning starting next weekend when it is a little closer to the prime campaign season. I’ll let you know what is going on next week as far as that is concerned.

Something has been weighing on my mind a little bit since the end of school, so I want to discuss it here. There was a young lady who I went to school with this past year at OSU who I was good friends with. She was actually one of the more brilliant minds in my class now that I think about it, but somewhere along the way I may have led her on unintentionally. Not that she wasn’t pretty, but knowing the circumstances I knew it could not work out and I chose not to pursue it. And I stick by that decision here. I probably will not see her again, but if she is reading this (and she might be), I do want to apologize if I led you on. If you want to discuss this further, shoot me a text.

Now, on a semi-related issue, my next random point involves Ohio State generally. OSU is facing USC this weekend at home, and I am looking forward to making the trip down with my friend Gary. Gary and I were down at OSU a couple of years ago for the OSU-Michigan game when it was #1 versus #2, and we had a blast. So even though it looks like it is going to be a rough game based on OSU’s poor performance playing Navy, it will still be a good time. I am not sure who is still in town, but I know some Youngstown people are making the trip down and there should still be a few classmates who are still in town from OSU. Anyway, I’m not sure who all is there, but if you want to get together before or after the game, give me a call or text me or any other numerous ways to contact me. The Mang is not that hard to reach, and yes, I know I am speaking in the 3rd person here.

Going in a different direction, Congressman Jim Traficant is going to be speaking at the T.E.A. Party in Columbiana County at Firestone Park 9/12/09 at 2:30, and is the keynote speaker of the event. For those of you unfamiliar with Jim Traficant, I refer you to my earlier article. He will also be on Greta Van Sustren on FOX News tomorrow night at 10:00ET, and undoubtedly it is going to be a hell of an interview. If you have never seen the Congressman in action, I encourage you to watch to see for yourself.

Steelers are going to be playing the Titans tomorrow night, and I am excited to see how they will do given this is the first official game of the regular season for the Pittsburgh Champions. A friend of mine, Megan, told me the Steelers are on the “Stairway to Seven”, which is an awesome way of putting another season, the great dismay of Browns and Bengals fans. It will be a tough year though. There is a lot of competition out there. Eagles are going to be interesting due to Vick, the Bears have been called to go the Super Bowl from the article in Sports Illustrated, the Cardinals may be contenders again, and of course the Ravens and the Patriots are there too. And last and certainly least in this writer’s opinion is Minnesota and Brett Favre.

There are the random points for the evening. Now, it is time for me to get some sleep because I have work tomorrow. Damn it feels good to be a contributing member of society again!

Salute,

Alex Mangie
The Mang
Candidate for Canfield Township Trustee
Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Political Thinking

The Mang on the Trustee Race, with Many Grateful Thanks

2009-09-08T23:25:00.000-04:00

First of all, I want to thank all of you for offering the encouragement and assistance to my campaign for trustee. Yesterday afternoon I started the “Mangie for Canfield Trustee” group and had a few people join. Tonight I see over 100 people have joined, so I appreciate you all taking an interest. If I had 5 people join I would have been thrilled, trust me. It really does mean a lot to see the support here, even if we do not always see eye to eye on certain things.

This was actually an unusual move on my part to go into a campaign like this. I have often sworn in the past (and some of you can probably attest to this) that I would never under any circumstance run for political office. Well, the way I saw it, there would be no better time than now to jump into this thing. I really believe there is an opportunity to turn this community around, and unfortunately it would be very hard to take an active role in that from the sidelines. The Mahoning Valley can use some fresh blood in the political arena, and if anyone else out there feels the same way, I encourage you to take a hard look at some of the races in your own part of town. This county can definitely use you, whether you are a Democrat or a Republican. We need younger thinkers here, all ideology aside.

This is not a partisan race, and nor should it be. This is more about improving and sustaining a township rather than party politics, though inevitably someone will try and bring up my involvement with the Republican Party somewhere down the line. I expect it. However, that should not be an issue for this kind of a race. This is about the people, not the Parties. Fortunately for me I have a decent relationship with some of the Democratic politicians in this town, and hopefully I can use that kind of political capital to help accomplish things if I get elected.

Anyway, this is going to be a good race. I ordered the t-shirts tonight, the literature pieces are almost done and ready to go to press, we have yard signs coming in, and we have put together a strategy of sorts to win this. I will have more information on that as we get closer to kicking this campaign off officially, but I’ll send out a message about that in the next week for anyone interested in helping out.

It goes without saying I will take care of any volunteers that want to help out, because you are my friends of course and without your help I would not stand a chance at this.

Thanks again everyone!

Alex Mangie
The Mang
Candidate for Canfield Trustee, and your Conservative Capo of political viewpoints.

Casino: Gambling In Ohio, With an Awesome Video of Pesci

2009-09-04T22:59:00.000-04:00

There was an article on casino gambling in Ohio that appeared in the Business Journal. When I see these things, I usually start to laugh, but at the same time get unusually perturbed. Apparently, a group out there known as the Ohio Roundtable has brought suit against Governor Ted Strickland in regards to his plan to put slot machines in racetracks around Ohio. The Ohio Roundtable is a conservative group that has opposed casino gambling in Ohio since 1990. They also oppose the plan to put casinos in Ohio when it goes to ballot this November.

I see things like this, and all I want to ask these people is, ARE YOU SERIOUS? I usually do not go after conservative groups like this, but today I am taking a major shot at them. On the right, we have groups like these that oppose gambling on moral grounds. On the left, we have groups that oppose gambling on social grounds. That was evident today at the Canfield Fair, because apparently both the Democrats and Republicans had anti-gambling literature.

There is a hodgepodge of conservative and liberal activists out there using faulty logic and coming to the same wrong conclusions, and I am sick and tired of these people running the show.

Well, gambling is morally wrong they say. Yes, based on your own beliefs and opinions my ultra-right wing friends. Here is a reality check: we thought drinking was morally wrong too, and guess what happened to Prohibition. Well, gambling is socially harmful. It is called free choice, and no one has to gamble if they do not want to my far left liberal friends. Spare me your tired and contrived arguments for my own sanity.

Somehow, the facts escape these people that every state around Ohio is making money off the State of Ohio, except the State of Ohio itself. I seriously want to shake these people when I hear them talk about this issue. As this state is going down the toilet (rather, we were already flushed and in the pipes to the sewer by this point now that it has gotten so bad here), these people are still out there beating the morality and social drums.

News flash folks: YOU ARE NOT MICHAEL JACKSON! STOP BEATING IT ALREADY! A friend had to tell his nephew I am not Richard Dreyfus, and I had to tell him that I am not an alarm clock to wake up at 5:00AM. If I can deal with those crazy realities, then surely these people can stop beating their damn drums about morality.

A true conservative would advocate free individual choice. If you want to play $10,000 on a hand of blackjack, you should have every right to do it. Just don't come crying to me when you lose.

The reality is gambling will keep Ohio dollars in Ohio if it does nothing else. It will create jobs for the construction of these locations, it will provide jobs to staff these locations, and if we do a halfway decent job at promoting these locations and making them nice, maybe we will get some out of state business. Who would have thought it possible that we Ohioans can drum up money from outside the state for a change? Imagine in the possibilities.

I happen to agree with Strickland on the idea of gambling, even though it took a terrible Ohio economy and a few years to make him come around. Better late than never I guess. I would still advocate for a Youngstown casino, because I think we are getting screwed on the particular issue. But I am all for Ohio gambling.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Dazed and Confused: Awesome Movie, Just Have to Say...

2009-09-04T00:17:00.000-04:00

A couple things before going into tonight’s article.

I am looking forward to going to the Traficant Party at Mr. Anthony’s on Sunday, so if anyone is going, let me know.

Second of all, if anyone is going out to the Canfield Fair, stop in at the Republican booth and see me. I will be there after 6:00 most days, except for Sunday if anyone wants to stop in and hang out for a little bit. It is past the Grandstands and it is kind of hard to miss.

As for tonight’s article, I am going to deviate from the political issues temporarily because I think we can all use a break. Not that there are not important things going on, just it is almost the weekend and, well, everyone is working for the weekend and I wanted to keep things light tonight.

I started back at work a couple of days ago but didn’t have to go in until late. So I hung out at home in the morning and came across the movie “Dazed and Confused” on HBO. For whatever the reason, this is a movie I have only seen bits and pieces of over the years. I never had the opportunity to sit and watch it all the way through, and luckily this time I was able to. It was pretty ironic I came across this movie when I did, because I think my friend Abbie and I were talking about this like a week ago.

As most of America knows, this movie was hilarious, and surprisingly accurate for the times from people I have talked to who went to high school back in the 70s. Friends who went to Girard, Austintown, Boardman, and Struthers who were around during those times had stories similar to the events of this movie, which makes it all the more interesting.

Honestly, I am not sure if there is a movie out there that better embodies the phrase “sex, drugs, and rock and roll”. The 70s were a time where kids could actually be kids, the music was awesome (more on that in a little bit), the clothes were interesting, and it was okay to have fun without having to worry about some of the crazy stuff we see today. Were bad decisions made? Sure, but a ton of bad decisions are made today too. Really it depends on the context, and frankly, I think I would prefer some of the problems in the 70s to the problems we are having now. Not that the 70s did not have its downsides, of course.

My days in Canfield High were tame and boring compared to those days. I mean, I was not the most popular person out there, but we did not really have anything like this that was so apparent. Maybe someone can correct me on this, and I could be completely wrong in my thinking.

No senior kill days, that is for sure. If you throw a pencil in class, you are on your way to suspension and expulsion in some places. Punishments are way too excessive these days, and schools are filled with overreaction and overkill on the smallest things. Some things need to be punished, but damn. But enough about that.

The music in “Dazed and Confused” is by far one of the better collections of 70s hits I’ve seen. In fact, after watching, I seriously went and bought the two CDs that make up the soundtrack for a grand total of $8.95. We are talking Steve Miller Band, Peter Frampton, Rick Derringer, Alice Cooper, KISS, ZZ Top, Deep Purple, Ted Nugent, and a host of others. If you want a good fix of classic rock, I would encourage picking up these CDs. You’d be doing yourself a disservice if you do not pick them up.

A lot of good lines in this movie too, but I will leave you with one of the best:

“That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age.”

With those creepy but hilarious words, have a great night. Enjoy the Youtube video below. And get those damn CDs, trust me on this.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Traficant Conservatism--Welcome Home Jim

2009-09-02T22:11:00.000-04:00

Today, a great man is coming home. Most of you know him as Congressman Jim Traficant, but to many he is known simply as a good friend. He is not a Republican, and I highly doubt he is a Democrat anymore. He is an illustrious independent, a variety of politician that has been missing from Washington D.C. since 2001.

I am a Republican, and some of you have contacted me asking why I am such a fan of this man. Some say he is an enemy of Republicans and should be avoided. Others call him a criminal who abused his power. In both cases, I disagree, and I will give you my reasons. Before doing so, I encourage you to watch the two minute video you will find below, in Traficant’s last days on Capitol Hill.

You know why I love Traficant? Because he was right. Folks, Traficant knew in his heart that the government was overextending itself and was gaining significant power over the lives of its citizens. He was against an extremely powerful Federal government, and his victory against the Internal Revenue Service is a testament to the hard work he put in. We saw that when he took on the Attorney General Janet Reno, an appointment made by the President Clinton who was in his own Party. He worked with Republicans and crossed party lines to get things done, and he did not care who he pissed off in the process so long as his constituents benefited.

Where are we today? The government has controlling interests in banks. The government has controlling interests in the auto industry. The government has appointed over 40 czars that are not answerable to anyone but the President himself. The government is trying to impose regulations that will be harmful to everyone with the cap and trade bill. And the government is trying to impose its will by gaining a controlling interest in the healthcare industry.

And no one in this county, be it the 17th or the 6th District, is stepping up in Congress to say enough is enough. That is why I dislike Tim Ryan and Charlie Wilson, because they are going along with a policy that Traficant worked so hard to prevent.

Jim Traficant would never have stood for this, and he would have called the Democratic Party out on the crap it is trying to pull in Washington. My dad thinks that if Traficant had been in Congress the last eight years, we would never have come to this point. I think he is right.

At this point, I want to invoke a political philosophy I have coined, “Traficant Conservatism”. The premise is to be against big and intrusive government, be for local unions, be for tax cuts for the American people, against illegal immigration, stronger border control and increased patrols, pro-life, pro-gun, tough on crime, pro-drilling in ANWR and elsewhere for oil, against Kyoto Protocols, for English as being the official language of the United States, and for tax cuts on capital gains and the elimination of the marriage penalty and death tax.

He also made no bones about his issues with the Chinese and the trade policies harming American business.

Does this sound like conservatism to you, folks? Well, it is. The current representative voted with the liberal Democrats the vast majority amount of the time. Traficant was far from that. Do not let the issues of unions scare you, because believe it or not, I support local unions. I am not a fan of the internationals, but local unions do serve a purpose and people ought to have the right to form them by choice, but not under the proposed card check plan.

Did Traficant have his shortcomings? Yes, but I question how much of that was really because of his personal character rather than being a product of a corrupt Youngstown political system. I have done a lot of research into this, and to make the choice to run during the 80s for office given who was around town would have required balls the size of basketballs and made out of steel. Paul Gains found out the hard way when he rocked the boat, and that was in the mid-90s. The 80s were significantly worse.

I do not condone what Traficant did, because he probably was guilty. He was wrong to do what he did.

However, his convictions and his attitudes and his positions are far more in line with my own thinking politically than anything Congressman Ryan or Wilson have done since 2002. Traficant did things his way and on his own terms, be damned the political powers of his own Party.

I give credit where credit is due, and Traficant did more for the area of Youngstown than anyone in the last 50 years. And he did it while standing up for conservative ideas and at great opposition locally, statewide, and Federally.

If this country can forgive Ted Kennedy for his shortcomings, then certainly we can do the same for this man.

Here's to Congressman Traficant, a man who told it like it was and did it his way. If he chooses not to run in the 17th in 2010, then may he have a happy life. If he does run, I will support him any way I can. Salute.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Falling Back Into Jazz

2009-08-29T21:51:00.000-04:00

I have been trying to listen to more jazz these days, as well as bossa nova. I usually do this every time it gets to be Fall, because something feels right about it. Mind you, I am not an expert on jazz by any stretch. I cannot really tell the artists apart like I can with different guitar styles from the classic rock genre, but jazz on the whole is something I have been trying to appreciate more. Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Vince Guaraldi, Stan Getz, and Charlie Byrd are a handful of artists I’ve picked up to name a few.

I have always been more laid back, which is why I prefer a jazz club or lounge to a place that has extremely loud music. Typically, those places are crowded to the max for one, and secondly you cannot hear shit and have to yell at the top of your lungs to be heard by anyone. It is not that those places are not fun to go to from time to time, but I am really more into chilling than being in one of those kinds of environments.

Smoky bars, lounges, and pool halls are really more of the environments I enjoy. They are all places you can just chill and relax. They had a lot of those in Sinatra’s time. Lounges were fairly abundant, and going out to jazz clubs was commonplace on the weekends. There was a certain class about those places that simply does not exist today. It is really a shame too.

It is fairly hard to find a decent jazz club or lounge these days. Those kinds of places can only be found in the metropolitan areas, and unfortunately here in Youngstown, we are limited to mostly the unsatisfying clubs that play rap constantly. As a side note, I do not know how rap as a genre has remained around for as long as it has, but when it dies, I will be there.

I can appreciate almost every genre of music out there, but rap still remains a mystery on my list. Not to be a traitor to my generation, but, in short, it sucks worse than my friend Jim Shaw.

Jazz as a style is very interesting, and it has evolved over the years. There are so many different variations that have developed that it is hard to keep track of all of them. As mentioned above, I am a fan of bossa nova as well as other styles like cool jazz and jazz fusion. But there are so many other different variations, it would take a significant amount of time to get through and appreciate the other styles.

I have included a few songs for you to enjoy. The first is by Miles Davis, the second is by Stan Getz, and the third is by Herbie Hancock.

Enjoy!

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Enjoyer of Jazz

Get Ready for the Buckeyes 2009! Oh, and Did I Mention the Big 10 is a Weak Conference?

2009-08-28T18:56:00.001-04:00

It is that time of year again! We are sitting only a week out from the opening game at THE Ohio State University and it is going to shape up to be an interesting year. There should be some interesting matchups this season, with not only the usual Big 10 suspects, but a visitor from all the way out in Los Angeles. Our PAC-10 rivals, the USC Trojans, will be making their first visit to the Horseshoe in 19 years.

The last time they were here, Cooper elected to call the game (and the ensuing defeat to USC) when a thunderstorm overtook Columbus when there was about 2:36 left on the clock with the score at 35-26.

Understandably, the fans were outraged that Cooper elected to make this call. Of course, for Buckeye fans generally, if there was a tsunami with a tidal wave a mile high heading towards the stadium, they probably would choose to keep playing so long as the wave would not arrive until the game ended. When it comes to PAC-10 rivals, you keep playing regardless of how dangerous it is outside. We want to beat the hell out them, safety be damned.

Today I want to talk about the Big 10 generally, because the current makeup is the conference is troubling to me. To put it as plainly as I can, no Big 10 team will ever beat a Big 12 or an SEC team in a bowl game given a couple of different factors. The Big 10 has a much better shot with the PAC-10, but I still would have to give the edge to the PAC-10.

Our conference stinks folks. As a whole, the Big 10 is one of the weaker conferences in the league. We are not as bad as the Big East or the ACC (though the ACC tends to be run hot and cold depending on the year), but certainly we fail to match up against the bigger powers in the NCAA. Let me show you what I am talking about.

The following is a listing of the teams in major conferences.

Big 10 members: Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Purdue, and Northwestern.

Big 12 members: Texas, Iowa State, Kansas, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Baylor, Kansas State.

SEC members: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt.

PAC 10 members: Arizona, Arizona State, California (Cal), Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, and Washington State.

And of course… Notre Dame, no conference. They really ought to join the Big 10, however much I hate them as a team. ND is just one of those teams to have to love to hate I guess.

Clearly, the Big 10 has some weaker teams. It is not that these teams are bad, because they do go to the bowl games and even win sometimes. It just when comparing them to the rest of the NCAA, they just do not seem to be major contenders. The PAC-10 is more manageable for our purposes of playing them, but if you look at the SEC or the Big 12, there is no comparison.

In short, of the above conferences, which would you really prefer to play in given the teams?

The reality is that the Big 12 teams and SEC teams play in very difficult conferences, and the number of powerhouses a team like Texas or LSU plays in a season far exceeds the difficulty and caliber of team someone like Ohio State or Penn State would play in the regular season. Big 12 and SEC teams play at that high level constantly, whereas Ohio State has a hard time beating a school like Minnesota some years.

The playing styles differ significantly as well, and the kind of football a Big 10 team is used to playing is very different from that the SEC plays. The fact is Big 10 football cannot beat SEC football, unless they find some serious speed and play some very in-your-face smashmouth football.

I am hoping for a great Buckeye season this year, in light of the fact we have a lot to work on. I have been hearing good things about Pryor and the defensive line, though it is also my understanding that there are still some unknowns concerning the offensive line. We will see what happens.

I was fortunate enough to get two USC tickets this year (out of sheer luck mind you), so I am looking forward to going back to Columbus to watch the Buckeyes stomp all over the asses of the Trojans. And we need to trounce our west coast foes, because after last year, the Buckeyes ought to be pissed as hell.

And this time, I do not want to hear any talk about calling a game because of weather. If there is a tornado in the middle of the Horseshoe, Tressel better have his men play around it. We’ll just try and hold onto the seats.

Go BUCKS! Below you will find a classic from the McCoys.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Proud Buckeye Fan and Alumnus

Youngstown Deserves a Legitimate Town Hall

2009-08-26T23:51:00.000-04:00

I believe the 6th and 17th Districts in Ohio deserve a legitimate debate on healthcare. When I say that, I mean a legitimate environment where people can gather in a town hall setting and hash out the issues. I do not mean a teleconference where Congressmen can decide who asks what questions in a highly controlled environment. I do not mean a teleconference that lasts for a little over an hour where maybe eight questions can be fully addressed amidst a few thousand callers that most certainly will not have their questions answered. When you have the latter two situations, you are basically solidifying your position by setting up an environment that is conducive to your position while marginalizing the opposition.

There was a healthcare panel at Youngstown State tonight, though it was largely ignored by the local media. I know this because I helped put it together. It is not like we did not send out numerous press releases ahead of time. It is not like we did not inform the television and radio networks that we planned to have something. For whatever the reason, the local media on the whole decided not to do us any favors such as merely announcing a town hall was happening in the city of Youngstown. God forbid, ten seconds may be too much to bear for a story that is decent that is not about someone getting killed in Mahoning County (which tends to be very repetitive after awhile).

A town hall meeting in Youngstown is happening while both Congressmen refuse to address their constituents. One would think this would be big news, especially for this town. Apparently I was sorely mistaken in my judgment, as was the rest of the Allen for Congress campaign. Certain individuals have opined on why this has happened, and after having listened to them I think now I can understand why. Regardless, a mere ten second announcement would have sufficed. I am not asking for a four minute spot here.

We invited the Congressmen to come and present their side of the healthcare issue in an effort to have a fair and balanced debate. This was not meant to be an ambush, I can assure you. The Congressmen were both invited to bring themselves and whomever else they wanted, including their own experts. If you do not believe that the Congressmen were invited, we have the certified letter return receipts to back up that they did in fact receive our invitations.

Here is my gripe.

The incumbents will do what they have to do. The media will do what it has to do. And we will do what we have to do. That is granted.

However, when the representatives from a district are practically inaccessible, especially when it comes to opposition, it would be reasonable to do something for people looking for an outlet to express themselves. The only way to do that is by holding our own events, and asking the media to simply inform the people we are doing them.

Unfortunately, when the media refuses to cover a story as big as a healthcare town hall during a time when the issue of healthcare is all the rage (both literally and figuratively), and this same event is sponsored in light of the fact our current representation refuses to address the issue publicly, everyone loses. I can personally guarantee that if the media did its job by announcing we were having this event like they so willingly did for Congressmen Ryan and Wilson, we would have had a packed house. And that is something I’d bet my savings on, because I know how angry people are right now.

As it stands, 70% of the hall was filled up, and we actually had a decent discussion on the topic of healthcare. Thank goodness for Dan Rivers promoting our event, because God knows no one else did, no matter how many times we asked. Even after 24 years of living here, this town still amazes me.

Thanks to WFMJ for making the trip out to get some footage, as well as Dan Rivers of 570. Also thanks to the Jambar for coming out. I believe there were other print outlets here tonight, so I will reserve my thanks until I can ascertain who was here.

Of course, thanks to the panel of Dr. Donald Allen, Dr. Chuck McGowan, David Hahn, and Bill Johnson. And thanks to the YSU College Republicans for hosting this event and all of their volunteers.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Pursuer of a Real Healthcare Debate

Songs for Back to School

2009-08-22T02:21:00.000-04:00

I am leaving Oklahoma City in a few hours, and in the meantime I have been trying to put together an MP3 playlist together for the flight home. I am thinking one of those Fall or back to class type themes. I posted a few songs on Facebook, but I want to expand on the list here in this special edition of Mang Now.

I am not going back to school this Fall, and it is the first time in my life when this has happened. It feels extremely weird and unusual, and believe it or not I actually will miss those days more than I can describe in words here—seriously. Truth be told, I doubt that feeling will ever leave me and it probably will be something I carry the rest of my life.

Nonetheless, I still love the feeling of going back to school in the fall, and hence why I am making this playlist of familiar favorites. I was never a fan of going back to school until my days in college. It was a time to see old friends again and to meet new ones, and my junior and senior years at YSU were the best years of my life so far. As a result, the following music puts me in a good mood, and that is something I usually need from time to time.

A lot of these songs come from movies associated with going back to school. I am going to try to avoid using songs we actually did listen to as kids for a lot of different reasons, most notably that they usually make me sick to my stomach to hear them. For example, “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer would not be a song I will include on this list, because even though it is a decent song, it makes me really depressed. “I Don’t Want to Wait” (from Dawson’s Creek) is another one which is a cool song, just it is attached to a part of life I do not really want to go back to for different reasons.

In short, anything post high school is fine, and anything that was before my time is cool.

A Sampling of The Mang’s Recommendations:

Grease—Frankie Valli

Hot for Teacher—Van Halen

American Girl—Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (from Fast Times at Ridgemont High)

The Stroke—Billy Squier (from Billy Madison)

Tenderness—General Public (from both Weird Science and Clueless)

Another Brick in the Wall—Pink Floyd

No More Mr. Nice Guy—Alice Cooper (NOTE: Not including “School’s Out for Summer”)

Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo—Rick Derringer (from Dazed and Confused)

If You Were Here—Thompson Twins (from Sixteen Candles)

Hot Blooded—Foreigner (Fall of 1978)

Burning Down the House—Talking Heads (From Revenge of the Nerds and also from Mike Rantilla’s MP3 player for our first Federal Tax exam when he was trying to get himself pumped up)

Are You Ready?—Ya Ya (Also from Revenge of the Nerds)

It’s the End of the World As We Know It—R.E.M. (I think we have all felt this at times)

Let it Rock—Bon Jovi (reminds me of senior year at YSU, as well as anything from Bon Jovi. I think I got big into Bon Jovi’s music that summer before)

Nothin’ But a Good Time—Poison

Turn Up the Radio—Autograph

Don’t Fear the Reaper—Blue Oyster Cult

Even Flow—Pearl Jam

Holiday—Green Day

There is a bunch of other stuff, but I am sure you get the basic idea.

That is all for now from The Mang. Hopefully I will see you all soon when I get back to Youngstown.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Visiting Emperor of Badasses of Oklahoma City

Cimarron's Steak House and Slick Willie's Family Pool Hall in OKC!

2009-08-19T01:35:00.000-04:00

Today I began to realize that traveling alone can be a lonely thing. Personally, I hate eating alone. I mean, I absolutely HATE it. It is not even so much an issue of the company rather than looking like a complete lame ass sitting at a booth or table by myself. I mean, there is a legitimate reason why that may be: I’m here on business and there is no one to go out with. If there is a bar, I will usually go there and eat because it does not look nearly as awkward. The waitress probably is thinking, “Shit, I have to wait on this one guy and my tip is going to be shit”. It is what it is.

In light of that, today was actually a pretty good day. Work went smoothly (thank God), and the people I worked with were very nice and personable. This has not always been the case, and I have found it is usually the workers at the stores outside the cities that are nicer and easier to work with. There are the exceptions of course, but largely this holds true.

I had an awesome steak tonight, regardless of the fact I was once again eating alone. It was at this cool place known as Cimarron Steak House. The inside was really interesting to look at: there were wagons hung from the ceiling and about forty or so saddles. There was also a ton of pictures, as well as deer heads and such. And the steak was very, very good. A guy can get spoiled here off the steak in Oklahoma: done perfectly, seasoned correctly, and juicy. Back home it is hit or miss unfortunately, so I will enjoy the steak I am not paying for while I can.

Tonight I decided to try my hand at some pool. There is a massive pool hall known as “Slick Willie’s Family Pool Hall”, though I am more than certain the world family was an error on the part of the owner.

First of all, I love pool halls. I have a certain affinity for them and if I could I would hang out in one routinely, if not on a daily basis. There is just something about them that I love, and they are almost nostalgic in a way since they are not nearly as common place as they once used to be. I always think of James Dean, Frank Sinatra, and Marilyn Monroe when I think of pool halls, which may be why I am so attracted to them. Mind you, I am not the best pool player, but damn it, I don’t care. Anyone who has seen me play pool knows I cannot break worth a damn, but the rest of my game is passable. Not great, but I can put up a decent fight.

Now, this pool hall is AWESOME. AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME. I mean it in every sense of the word. First, you have a ton of pool tables, so it is not a problem getting a table. Second, you have these hot girls that work the place. They are wearing these sleeveless tuxedo like outfits (maybe you would equate them with the female version of a Chippendale), and they basically set you up with your drinks and your table, and come around every five minutes to check on you. I love that, seriously. Thirdly, you have the jukebox, which is fantastic. I am also a sucker for jukeboxes. And lastly, it is 18 and older, so no kids can come in. That guarantees everyone there is legal, and it eliminates the vast majority of the high school crowd.

The problem is they get you on the alcohol. I ended up paying $17 for two hours of pool and a couple of Bud-Lites. When I go back (probably every day until I leave for at least an hour), I will not drink anything. Rather I will simply play pool, or at least have one drink so those girls keep coming around.

One thing I doubt I will be trying is the strip club next door. I am curious though, because the place is crammed with people from the looks of the parking lot. Back in Youngstown, where I have heard the quality is not very good, those places are not very busy. Here though, the quality must be spectacular, since there is really nowhere to park. On my salary I cannot afford it, so I probably will not make a stop. If I was comp’ed for it, I would, but try turning THAT in on the expense report.

It turns out Oklahoma State if a few hours to the north, so I doubt I will be making a trip up there to that campus. I am looking for some other things to do before I leave Saturday, so hopefully I will have more to write about tomorrow.

My best,

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Oklahoma City

Mang in Dallas!

2009-08-17T23:56:00.000-04:00

The storms are rolling into Oklahoma City tonight and I have an awesome view from my hotel room. It really is quite a sight to see, now that I finally got used to the idea of being able to see storms without any kind of obstruction like back in Ohio. It was like this a week ago tonight when the violent storms came in. This time at least I am aware of how they will be like and can actually enjoy watching them. It is so flat out here that you can see miles around in any direction, and hence you will see, well, everything. It is really a beautiful sight, and probably the only thing I can compare it to would be seeing a storm come in off the ocean. It is a hell of a light show, just I’d prefer to not be driving in it.

So I went down to Dallas yesterday and had a pretty awesome time. I shot a lot of footage, but work ran late today and I did not have the opportunity to make Mang’s Monday version from Dallas. But rest assured, I will have the video footage up next week, along with the pictures. Actually, the pictures should be up soon.

Texas is quite the place. It was the first time I had ever been there, and hopefully it will not be the last. While a single day in Texas hardly can do the place a justice, I was happy I was able to see some of the major attractions in Dallas, however brief my time.

I first stopped at the Dallas World Aquarium, which came highly recommended from a number of sources. It was definitely worth the price of admission. There was a pretty cool penguin exhibit, along with a ton of other things: sharks, alligators, monkeys, a huge ass sloth (which ironically is not nearly as lazy as some people I know), and so forth. And by the way, the toucan is officially my favorite bird now. I mean, how is a toucan not awesome? The ones I saw seemed to have a lot of personality too. I took some footage of some of the toucans and hopefully it will fit in with the video.

I next made a stop at the 6th Floor Museum, which is the museum dedicated to the memory of John F. Kennedy. It was a great experience. The museum is on the 6th and 7th floor of the book depository from which Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK in Dealey Plaza. You could actually see where Oswald took his shots as well as the actual vantage point. The museum was interesting, and though I was not allowed to take pictures of anything, I did get some good shots of the building, the plaza, and the underpass. Lots of history of how the assassination occurred and its aftermath. I would recommend checking it out for anyone in the area.

I stopped at Reunion Tower, which is the major observation tower in Dallas. I wanted to go to the observation deck, but discovered that even after the building itself reopened the observation deck was still closed. I got some decent pictures of it, but am a little disappointed I couldn’t go to the top.

I also ended up at this BBQ place known as Sonny Bryan’s. I heard it was supposed to be pretty good, and it lived up to the hype. Got some pretty good pulled pork and beef brisket, though the portions were admittedly on the smaller side. I was actually surprised by the portions given everything in Texas is supposed to be bigger. Oh well, it still tasted great.

That was pretty much the day, since I only had about 5 hours to spend there. I spent five hours driving to and from Dallas-Fort Worth, which ate up a lot of the time that day. But it was cool, got to see the downtown area and a lot of the stuff within it. Hopefully someday I will go back.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Oklahoma City (and Dallas for a day)

Mang in OK! University of Oklahoma and OKC Memorial

2009-08-16T10:02:00.000-04:00

I have seen a lot the last couple of days, and have roasted while doing it. You probably could cook an egg on a sidewalk down here it is so hot. It is good every place has the A/C cranked up to the max, makes things more bearable.

I am probably the only person here who drives with the windows down, as it is a rare occurrence you will find someone do that. And speaking of drivers, I think tailing people is customary in this part of the country. Anymore it doesn’t bother me because it happens every single time I get on the road here, but for that one rare occasion where the person is an inch off my bumper, I will swing around and then tail them laying on my horn for ten minutes, being the biggest JO that I possibly can be.

I made a few stops around town the last few days. I ended up at the Oklahoma City Memorial on Friday night because it was the time everyone said to go. The memorial itself is lit up in the evening, and there is a nice reflecting pool and these massive stone-lit gates on either end. There is also 168 chairs made of stone and glass that light up as well. Part of the original wall from the Murrah Building also makes up the perimeter. I have pictures on Facebook if you would like to see those.

On Saturday I made the trip down to Norman to see the home of our Big 12 foes, the Oklahoma Sooners. The campus was very impressive and it seems that there was a great deal of planning and coordination as these buildings were constructed. They have a beautiful law school there and the other colleges are also nicely designed. It is always amazing to see places like this, because in retrospect it might have been a great place to apply had I given any of the Big 12 schools some thought. That is not to say I am not 100% satisfied with my experiences with YSU and OSU, but it might have been really cool to go here.

Again, there are pictures on my Facebook page if you are curious to see what the campus is like.

I think I am going to spend the day in Dallas. One day can hardly do that city a justice, but I would like to try and spend a little time there since I am only a couple of hours away. I am not really sure where to go yet, though I have a few ideas.

The Mang

Oklahoma City: Myriad Botanical Gardens and Other Stuff

2009-08-13T20:28:00.001-04:00

It is only day four in OKC and I have had a pretty interesting experience so far. There are toll roads out here that you do not know are toll roads until you take the exit. These tolls are unmanned and they go off the merit system. Unfortunately, they only take exact change (and no greenbacks), so I was perplexed as to what to do, particularly since I could not turn around. I expect I will be getting a ticket soon.

No matter where you are, someone is always tailing you. You could turn onto a road and see no one coming, and then all of a sudden there is some guy that came out of nowhere riding two feet off your bumper. Where he came from, I do not know, but when you have an Impala with the economy engine you cannot pick up enough speed to lose him. Traffic is actually heavy out here, much to my surprise, and I have seen traffic in this city worse than Columbus at times.

Enough about the driving though, where the hell did you go today Mang?

After work I ended up downtown today to check out this massive conservatory that is known as the “Myriad Botanical Gardens”. It is actually quite an amazing place, and I cannot remember the last time I had been inside of a conservatory. You can see a few pictures above, but there are also about 80 pictures on my Facebook page from my trip over there.

The building itself is like a huge, horizontal cylinder. There are fountains and gardens outside which are very nice, and it was a great day to walk around to see what the place had to offer. The skyline is right behind the conservatory, so it really makes for a great view.

Inside there are plants from six of the seven continents, with waterfalls and streams and a number of these gold and black butterflies which are pretty cool: they have great taste in colors after all. There are also a few salamanders that jump from plant to plant that were interesting.

The entire structure is filled to the brim with plants, flowers, and trees that stretch to the ceiling, and there are about three levels you can go through that have different plants from the different continents. The pictures speak for themselves.

Overall it was a really good experience to see this. It is not often you find a city with a conservatory of this size right downtown.

Tomorrow is Friday and I am undecided on what to do after work. I drove through Bricktown on my way downtown and it looked like a fun place to go. I will probably make a trip to the Oklahoma City memorial on Sunday and try to get to Dallas on Saturday sometime.

That is all for now.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City! More from The Mang

2009-08-13T01:19:00.001-04:00

Oklahoma is an interesting place. The more I go out looking around at stuff, the more I enjoy it. There really is a lot to do out here, contrary to what I thought originally. I am planning on going to the major universities soon, check out the botanical gardens downtown, head over to the memorial for the Oklahoma City bombing that happened a few years back, and check out this cowboy museum that seems to be world renowned from what I hear around here. There is supposed to be a huge statue of Reagan out there as well which I am interested in going to see. Hopefully I will get down to Dallas this weekend as well.

There are massive cornfields out here too. I was driving back from my last store today and saw this vast cornfield that seemed to go on forever. It seemed to go for a few miles and had to be a few miles deep. Whatever the size, it was nothing like I have seen in Ohio.

The route the GPS took me on was off of the major highway system, and for miles around there was nothing but plains, plains, and more plains. There literally is nothing out here in some areas, which is actually pretty awesome (and scary as hell if you are low on gas). It is easy to rock out to Steppenwolf as you are driving around out here, even without the motorcycle. And speaking of Easy Rider, I kind of want to try and find the Historic Route 66, and though it technically does not exist anymore, it lives on renamed Oklahoma Route 66. I might try and drive some of it Sunday and see some of the sites that are on it. While I am pretty sure the route those guys took in Easy Rider was not through the Oklahoma part of Route 66, it would still be cool to actually drive part of it.

Switching gears, I have received a few questions about the steak out here. I will tell you the steak is very good. Though I wanted to try and stop at the Stockyards and go to Cattleman’s, which is well known for its steaks in Oklahoma City, I decided against it when I saw the line of 20 people standing outside trying to get in. Apparently it is always this way, and it happened to be a Monday night. I ended up at Santa Fe Cattle Company, which is a small chain that operates primarily in Oklahoma and Alabama, and has a handful of stores scattered throughout the South. I had a great steak there that had no excess fat and was cooked perfectly.

I decided to try this Italian chain tonight, simply out of curiosity to see what Oklahoma has to offer in the way of Italian food. The worst of my fears were realized, and it is a shame. The place I went to is called Primo’s, and the restaurant itself has a great atmosphere. In fact, the atmosphere and design of the bar is something I wish we had more of back home. Quieter, darker, you know, reminiscent of a bar you might see in one of the older mob movies. Good atmosphere, good music, bad food. Being Italian myself, I am highly critical of the quality of Italian food more so than the quality of a steak. The sauce was heavy on the basil, far too chunky for a parmesan, and the sauce was not tossed. I wanted to offer my expertise in the area, but the bartender wanted to talk about the Sooners, which is cool, because it is a nice change to hear about the Big 12 from the perspective from someone other than a Big 10 fan.

Believe it or not, he said he thinks Ohio State will beat USC. I think he is the first person I have heard say this so far this year.

I also walked around downtown tonight, since I could not make it out there during the day today. The downtown is great and it seems like there is a lot of stuff to do nearby. I hear Bricktown is a cool place and would be worth checking out. I understand there is some decent night life there.

Oh, and to Mr. Ramon Ramos, there IS a Garth Brooks Boulevard in case you were wondering. I know you have this love for country music, as you informed me prior to my leaving on this trip. I am still waiting for my damn mix tape of your finest country music. I wanted to hear some Charlie Daniels, but he was conspicuously absent because someone forgot to make me a CD. I hope you are happy with yourself.

I’ll have more tomorrow.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown and now of Oklahoma City

Mang Now from Oklahoma City!

2009-08-12T01:06:00.000-04:00

The Mang is now in Oklahoma City for a full two weeks on business! Sorry about the disruption in the articles and the videos, I have been traveling and am trying to get situated in the awesome hotel I am getting comp'ed for! Enjoy Monday's Mang on this Wednesday morning. You will see why we had to delay the video Monday.

The Mang

Dream About Pennywise the Clown? What the Hell?

2009-08-08T12:07:00.000-04:00

Last night I had this crazy dream about Pennywise the Clown from Stephen King’s It. For those of you who have seen this movie, it is creepy as hell. Hilarious at times, but certainly not something you want to be dreaming about. Evil clowns and all do not make for good nights. I presume I dreamed about this because I saw the world’s strongest clown down at the Columbiana County Fair yesterday, and it manifested itself in my dream as one of the creepiest clowns imaginable.

He did all sorts of crazy things in my dream. He hung a couple of people and laughed maniacally, taunted me (very much how he taunted people in the actual movie), and killed some more. What was interesting about this dream, aside from the fact there was a scary ass clown in it, was towards the end I had enough of his shit and magically pulled out a shotgun (it was a sawed off shotgun too, which made it pretty cool), stuck it to his head, and blew him away. Seriously, I am not embellishing when I say this, it absolutely happened that way.

This is comparable to the dream I had with Freddy Krueger in it a few weeks ago. Again, very similar to the dreams in the actual movie Nightmare on Elm Street: eerie, some weird guy running around with that damn hat on with a claw, etc. He didn’t kill anyone in that dream, or if going by how the story went, he didn’t kill me, the person having the dream. I just saw him ducking in and out of the shadows a lot and saying weird things.

Yes, I have weird dreams. Usually I dream when something weird is going on in my life. I dreamed a lot before going to Ohio State, before graduating at YSU, usually every August before going back to school, etc. Dreams go on from one to two weeks with me, and then I do not dream for a long time until the next round. I have no idea why I would dream about Pennywise the Clown of all things except having seen a clown at the fair the same day, but damn, it was creepy.

I guess I will leave with a quote from a movie: “And down here, YOU FLOAT TOO”. If some clown talked to me in a sewer drain, I’d probably run. Stupid kid.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown

The Sleeping Giant Stirs: Obama's Great Miscalculation

2009-08-07T22:28:00.000-04:00

The silent majority has awoken from its deep sleep. Today, we are seeing people from all walks of life and political affiliations stepping up to the plate to stand up and fight for what they believe in. As a result of this stir, you are seeing more and more town hall meetings erupt like what you see above in this video.

Barack Obama did not plan on putting this American unrest into the equation for his grandiose plans. He had counted on a United States that blindly supported his candidacy back in 2008, and with this blind support his believed he could sign legislation into law, however bad and ridiculous it might be, without getting a fight from the people who demanded change from the Republicans.

Allegations have been made that groups like ACORN and the SEIU are busing in people at the request of a higher authority. I cannot make the claim Barack Obama has instructed these organizations to use their muscle to intimidate people, but what is certain is these groups are showing up in large numbers at the instruction of SOMEONE. It could be the Congressmen that are afraid of being confronted about their lackluster policies, it could be someone in the local unions, but whatever the situation may be, these groups are organized for a purpose.

And that is what Astroturf REALLY is, Nancy.

If you push the American public, they are going to push back harder than anything a union or a community organizing group can throw at them, including bringing in the biggest guys they can find to hold off dissenters. Liberal Democrats in Congress are finding this out the hard way, and Blue Dog Democrats like Charlie Wilson are in hiding because they KNOW their constituents will not stand for this treatment.

The resolve and resiliency of the American people is unbelievable when they are insulted and taken for granted. Obama is finding this out.

If you do happen to go to a town hall meeting, I encourage you first to use your head and be aware of your surroundings. Don’t go in there looking for a fight, because chances are if you look hard enough you will find one. It is okay to be passionate, just don’t go crazy. Give the other side their chance to be heard! You will get your turn! If they DO try and shout you down, insist on being heard! It is your right after all. Bring a camera and tape what is going on, in the event something does happen or a group of people like the SEIU try and muscle people into silence. Our politicians need to be held accountable, as do these organized groups of people that are brought in to make a presence known.

Lastly, use common sense folks. If it looks like a fight is going to break out, avoid it if you can. This is supposed to be a civilized debate, not a street fight. When you pack a ton of people into an enclosed space and each of these people are operating at a highly emotional level, you can never rule out the possibility of a fight breaking out. Best advice, DO NOT GET IN THE MIDDLE.

Safety comes first with these things. That is all from the Mang on this issue tonight.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Full Moons and Crazy Behavior: Hype, or for Real?

2009-08-07T00:42:00.000-04:00

It must be the full moon that explains a lot of the crazy things that have been happening lately. Typically when this happens, you will see that a lot of things that are a minor annoyance become extremely irritating. Also, you will see a lot of people acting particularly unusual and even crazy on some levels.

Lately, Glenn Beck has been acting a little crazy. I like Beck, because even though how he frames things is hilarious while at the same time deeply disturbing, what he says is not very far from the truth. I have been thinking lately that Beck is going to crack soon. Today, with the full moon, he just might have.

Glenn Beck having a conversation with Nancy Pelosi’s cardboard cutout head worn by some girl on his show while having wine as the lights are dimmed with 50s style lounge music playing in the background was more than I could bear to watch. He carried on the conversation and did all of the antics we know and love with the faces and impersonations. I mean, it was hilarious, but completely over the top.

As I was telling a friend of mine, this is like my old political science teacher I had at YSU. Maybe this is why I enjoy watching Glenn Beck, because the mannerisms, the impersonations, and the approach to talking about some of these subjects are so similar to this professor’s style. For those of you who went to YSU for political science, or for those of you that made a phone call from the Royal Oaks to get me out of going to class on my behalf, you probably know who I am talking about. Definitely one of my favorite professors though.

But the real question is what the hell does the full moon do to people? Maybe I am completely off base here, but it seems that whenever it comes out every person on the road seems to be driving extraordinarily bad. Either they are driving below the speed limit, choosing to not use turn signals, coming to a complete stop at their turn and THEN turning on their turn signals, or driving in the left lane without passing, all in succession. It is not uncommon to come across a few of these things, but on full moon days, they all seem to happen one after the other, especially when you need to get somewhere.

Maybe it is just a manifestation, but how does that explain Glenn Beck? Or Barbara Boxer who said these protestors dress well? Would Barbara Boxer on any normal day say this kind of thing? Knowing her, she actually might have. Would Nancy Pelosi be so bold as to say the right wing is incapable of creating a legitimate grass roots movement if this was not full moon time?

Well, the answer is yes, these people likely would have done these things regardless of a full moon. They’ve been doing this stuff for seven months now. Perhaps this all is a figment of my imagination.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Freedom of Speech, So Long as You Agree With Me: The New DNC

2009-08-05T20:29:00.000-04:00

This video is appalling. This video is absolutely appalling. I wanted you to watch this to see what the Democratic Party is putting out in regards to people who oppose this healthcare plan.

This is not to say all Democrats believe this, but certainly the Democratic National Committee has wasted no time going after freedom of expression. I know many Democrats are unhappy with this plan, as are many Republicans and independents. It is a shame the national party is making this an issue of whether you are with us or against us. Instead of having a free debate, they are shouting down people with differing opinions.

If you want to talk about demonization and ostracizing people for the opinions they are entitled to about this healthcare policy that Congress is playing so fast and loose with, look no further than what the propaganda machine has spit out now.

If you oppose this healthcare plan, the Democratic National Committee and the White House are labeling you as part of an angry mob. Certainly, this is what the video shows. If you are against this healthcare plan, you are labeled a right wing extremist. I know of many Democrats that are leery of this healthcare plan, and none of them I would consider to be right wing extremists.
The untruths are staggering.

If you want to talk about an angry mob, let’s talk about the SEIU and the Teamsters that are told to pack these halls to give the appearance that all people support this plan. Oh yes, I have seen this before. I do not know where these people come from, but when they are called upon, they show up in a mass group wearing their union t-shirts. Maybe you have seen this before too. Seems a little more like intimidation to me than a free and open debate in my opinion.

And they call US the Mob. Sorry folks, we do not engage in intimidating tactics. We just want to be heard. It is because of the tactics being employed by the Democratic National Committee, Congress, and this President that we have to feel like the enemy every time we open our mouths.

And it is time for the President to wise up and take responsibility. The healthcare plan was his baby, the cap and trade plan was his baby, and this stimulus plan was his baby. I’ll be damned if the President keeps shoving off blame to the Republicans, because this new mess belongs to him. We don’t control Capitol Hill, YOU DO.

And if the American people are pissed, it is because you made them that way, not because they were paid by the vast rightwing conspiracy.

By the way, to the DNC, you had 8 years to complain over Bush, and you did frequently. The free advice is, if you can’t take it, don’t dish it.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown

New "Elm Street" in 2010: Monday's Mang Postponed a Week

2009-08-02T23:40:00.000-04:00

First of all, Monday’s Mang is on a temporary hiatus this week. I am traveling and do not have the equipment I need to make the video. I have the video capabilities, but I need the audio equipment because the microphone on my computer sucks. Unfortunately, it is at home. However, we will be in Oklahoma next week and we will have a show from out there. Now, onto today’s topic.

I came across something quite intriguing today. It is something I have mixed feelings on and cannot say I am entirely thrilled about. What I am talking about is the 2010 remake of the Wes Craven classic “A Nightmare on Elm Street”.

I am a “Nightmare” fan and have always have been. One of the most well known horror flicks of the 80s, the movie was legendary and almost iconic at the time for young and impressionable minds like mine and others. In school, it was all people could talk about around Halloween: Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and of course, Freddy Krueger, the unholy trio of silver screen killers. We have seen the remakes of Halloween and Friday the 13th, and now we will see a remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street.

The Nightmare franchise has had its ups and downs over the years. Certainly the movie series has become cheesier over time and the acting has gone downhill. Some fans hate every sequel past the original because of this. However, I believe the original movie (and the second chapter, Freddy’s Revenge) were worthy as legitimate horror flicks. Anything past the second chapter I treat in a separate category: hilariously bad. I love the sequels, because Freddy was hilarious and mildly disturbing—not scary however. I think in one of the sequels Freddy popped his head through the door and yelled “Where’s the bourbon!?”, as he was dressed in a tux or something crazy like that. It was just funny as hell.

I found “A New Nightmare” to be disturbing and very well done, which is a sequel of sorts. This is another movie I treat separately from the original and the other sequels.

I enjoyed “Freddy vs. Jason” immensely. The movie definitely had its moments and at times was pretty funny. Definitely the movie was for the fans, and it had been talked about years and years before it came out. I remember being at the swimming pool when I was younger with a few friends talking about how cool it would be to see this movie made. I was not disappointed.

The problem is the remake of the original movie. As with all remakes, they never quite live up to the hype. I do not doubt that the movie is going to be interesting and I intend to go see it. However, I remain skeptical when these things come out. I maintain the old adage that if it is not broke, don’t fix it!

To be perfectly honest, I think I would be happier with a sequel that is extremely well done than a re-creation of the original. An extension of a series is something very different than trying to recreate an original. You risk ruining a good thing if the film is done badly.

We can always hope that the remake is done well, however, and I truly hope the producers do this movie the justice it deserves. It has potential to be an MANGTASTIC movie, but it also has the potential to be a huge flop. Unfortunately, we will not know until the day it comes out. But in the meantime, I look forward to an interesting movie, however bad or good it might be.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Columbus This Time Last Year: Lookback

2009-08-02T16:03:00.000-04:00

I can’t believe it has already been a year since I moved down to Columbus. This time last year, I was looking at apartment buildings, getting ready to start at Ohio State, wrapping up my old job with my uncle, and having anxiety attacks daily because this was all very new to me and I was not sure how to handle it. Looking back, it probably was not as big of a deal as I made it out to be, though I can also understand why I felt the way I did.

The music that definitely sticks out in my mind from that time was the collection of 60s music I burned. There was 10 CDs, so they got a lot of playing time I as drove back and forth from home to do the apartment searching. Every time I hear Tommy James and the Shondells, Jefferson Airplane, or Sonny and Cher I think about when I first got down here.

It was a pretty exciting and scary experience at the same time being on my own the first time. The first week down here, it was hot as hell. And I mean it was beastly hot. As it happened, there was also that huge windstorm that blew out the power for three days. My roommate and I decided to walk down the UDF to get ice to protect the $200 in groceries we bought the day before, as the wind kept blowing and trees were falling down around us. That is not a joke either. UDF was all the way down on High Street, and you could actually hear the trees cracking at the base under the pressure of the wind on Starr Avenue. Trees were down in the middle of the road, and even after walking through all of that, we got back with a couple bags of half melted ice. I think we ended up listening to the Steelers on the radio that night with our neighbor Dave while eating chips and salsa and playing Apples to Apples. We also had a shit load of candles on the porch and we just hung around outside. Looking back, that was a pretty fun time.

I was fortunate to have a good roommate too. We go back a few years to undergrad back at Youngstown State so we both kind of knew what to expect. There were no major surprises, and I think we may have fought over something one time in the entire year we’ve been here. I cannot say that for other people I know, so I think we both lucked out. It only sucks because we are both fairly indecisive people, and making a decision on anything from food to other stuff can sometimes be a pain in the ass. It is fun though, we always bust on each other about something.

School of course was interesting. I do have a few regrets about my initial approach to it. Not so much about the program itself, but my overall attitude. I have my own theories on what happened, but I need to work on a few things for future reference. I did make some awesome friends down here though, and even though I may have slacked on the school work to do more things socially and unrelated to school work, I can’t say I would have changed anything in regards to my work load. Also, Ohio State football rocks, even though we are probably going to get our asses kicked against USC this year like we did about this time last year.

Though a lot of bad things happened in my family last year, my time in Columbus was awesome, and I expect another awesome year this year, whether I am in Columbus, Youngstown, Pittsburgh, or anywhere else.

Truly Yours,

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Friend

The Mangtastic Realization

2009-08-02T00:59:00.000-04:00

A good friend and I went out tonight and hung out in the Short North in Columbus for awhile. It is August 1st, and every first Saturday of the month is what they call “The Gallery Hop”. It is a pretty cool. All of the stores are open late and you have a variety of entertainers on the sidewalks as well as businesses selling their stuff. The restaurants are packed and the bars are slammed with people. Tonight we were lucky to have good weather. Saw break dancers, singers, bands, and a host of other things.

Also, this is the night all of the beautiful people come out. I am not exactly where they all come from, but on these kinds of evenings thousands of ho-bags come out. You know, the ones that are of supreme hot quality wearing almost nothing except you will never, ever have a chance with. Now, whether or not you would even want to is another issue that I will get to in a minute. But they are accompanied by some hapless young individual, perhaps of the guido persuasion, the prep frat boy persuasion, the angst filled artist persuasion, or some combination of the above. Other times they are in groups of five to ten. If you have ever gone out, you probably have some idea of what I am talking about.

For a while, I have often asked myself, what do these particular guys have that I lack? And this has been a question I have wrestled with for the longest time. Until tonight.

It suddenly dawned on me: I don’t give a shit. I simply do not give a shit. I can never be those guys, and certainly those guys could NEVER measure up to me. The Mang is a multifaceted being and he operates on a number of different levels. And while I find it hilarious that three different people tonight came up to me and said they were looking for “some bitches” (since they were too damn drunk to figure out Sugar was half a block away on the left), I know I can never actually go down to that kind of level. Chances are those guys will get damn lucky, and I wish them the best.

What I look for in a girl is not what I saw tonight, and though with all of the short skirts, the long hair, and the stilettos, I know deep down I’d be after only one thing, because nothing else is there. And given the kinds of attitudes that come with these particular kinds of women, I’m not sure I could actually tolerate their mouths to actually spend a single evening. Well, check that, maybe I could. The Mang, while multifaceted, is also human. Certainly, being the eligible bachelor that he is (who also speaks in the third person), who is he to turn down a good time if a good time is to be had?

I guess the question that needs to be asked is: would you want to trade places with any of these people? A tough question, it does need to be asked. But my answer would have to be no. As with a lot of things, the idea of it is probably a lot better than the reality of it. While the lifestyle seems attractive, there are a lot of problems that come with it. If anything, I’d prefer profiting off the nightlife scene than living it every single weekend like a lot of these people do.

This is also known as “the grass always seems greener on the other side”. This article is not to knock the weekend scene, because I do enjoy going out. And who am I to knock the hustle of someone else? Merely, this is just a declaration that the Mang is unique and cannot be measured against others. That is a reality I can live with.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Cars.gov: And You Thought Government Wiretaps Were Out of Line!

2009-07-31T23:08:00.000-04:00

I missed the news earlier today, and I had to find out from my dad about this one. He told me at dinner that if you wanted to go to Cars.gov to get the $4,500 for your car, you would have to sign this privacy policy that states that if you log in, your system is considered a federal system and is subject to monitoring, audits, and investigation.

I questioned this, so I had to go look it up for myself. Glenn Beck brought this to life, and regardless of your own personal opinions about Glenn Beck, it is pretty hard to discount what he showed on the video today. Sure enough, after doing my own investigating, I found this to be basically true.

The text of the privacy statement is this: "This application provides access to the DoT CARS system. When logged on to the CARS system, your computer is considered a Federal computer system and is the property of the U.S. Government. Any or all uses of this system and all files on this system may be intercepted, monitored, recorded, copied, audited, inspected, and disclosed to authorized CARS, DoT, and law enforcement personnel, as well as authorized officials of other agencies, both domestic and foreign".

WOW. What a mouthful that is. Rockwell may have been right: "Always seems like somebody's watching me!" And the Democrats bitched and complained about wiretaps! What about THIS? All using the excuse of protecting you, the consumer and taxpayer, from fraud.

If you ask me, it all sounds very hipocritical, not to mention dangerous as hell. If you want to talk about the slippery slope to lost freedom, you may want to take a good and hard look at this. Government telling you that if you access the site your personal property now belongs to them is a very dangerous thing. This time they can access everything, not just a simple phone conversation you have.

Hmm, I hear crickets. Any comments or thoughts on this are welcome, and if you think I am wrong by all means let me know about it.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Healthmare on Elm Street: Numbers and Alternatives

2009-07-30T15:49:00.000-04:00

On my lunch break today, I was reading an interesting article in the Morning Journal which had an article by Dick Morris in it. While he said a lot of things, Morris basically compared the Obama Administration’s attempt to take over healthcare as Orwellian in nature and very reminiscent of the book 1984. Is he terribly off base with that statement? Perhaps not. But I want to get away from this and talk about raw numbers when it comes to health coverage for a moment.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 45.7 million people in America (not Americans, people in America) without health insurance as of their latest survey in 2008. Illegal immigrants account for 15% of that number (6.85 million people), so if you do not include those who should not be getting healthcare benefits anyway, then that brings the number down to 38.8 million Americans uninsured.

How many of those people are between the age of 18 and 23? Generally, for people of that age group, there is not necessarily a need for health insurance. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), in 2006 there was about 1.7 million college aged students without insurance. It has been three years, so I am going to add about 10% onto that number, so make it 1.87 million college aged students without health insurance. You can say that they may be “unable” to get health insurance, but can you honestly look at me and tell me that health coverage was one of your top five concerns back when you were 19 or 20? If you still say yes, then either you are a unique person or you are bullshitting me. If you can afford a $100 a month bill for your cell phone and buy cell phones frequently, then you can afford to get a basic healthcare plan at that age.

I believe that brings us down to 36.9 million people, roughly 12% of the population. We could go into the statistics of how many of these people are temporarily uninsured due to the result of job transitions, probably reducing this number even further, but I think you get my point.

So, about 88% either have a private plan via the employers/personal plans or choose not to be insured for their own reasons (i.e. college students). Is it any wonder people are pissed off about this public health plan?

Obama wants to dismantle a system that 88% of the population is currently apart of in favor of insuring 12% of the population. Why? Nothing says dictatorship of the minority more than this statement.

The Feds can do a lot without having to exercise full dominion over healthcare. If they want to go into a catastrophic coverage program for people in the United States, fine. But to create a bureaucracy of healthcare and mandating every employer pick up coverage they may not have been able to afford or pay an 8% tax on payroll? That is wrong, foolish, and asking for a world of trouble we have never seen before in the U.S.

If government wants to make it so insurance companies have to accept people with non-terminal preconditions, fine. If government has a catastrophic plan, terminally ill people can get insurance through the Feds. Anything non-terminal however would have to be accepted.

If government wants to make it so a person cannot legally have a drivers license without health coverage, FINE. You legally cannot drive a car without auto insurance after all, and people have gone to jail over it in the past.

The pool of people can be expanded without having to have a massive government intervention. The Senate, just recently, proposed a plan that would require health insurance for anyone who drives. The plan is expected to be cheaper than this behemoth of a bureaucracy being proposed by Congressional Democrats.

Pelosi, in contrast, will not settle for anything less than complete and total control with a public option. Some believe control is what is at the heart of this. There may be an element of truth in that, but personally I believe she is fuori di testa, or in other words, out of her damn mind.

I am hoping that cooler heads will prevail to not pass this nightmare of a health system. But hoping is not enough, and again, if you are angry, let your elected officials know! They are coming home soon, and you can bet your ass I will try to reach them when they do.

The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Where have All the Obama Stickers Gone?

2009-07-29T00:15:00.000-04:00

It is a curious sight driving around these days. Two months ago, the streets were laden with Obama paraphernalia stuck on bumpers, car windows, and windshields. I remember going to the grocery store in the Short North back in April and practically every other car had some kind of representation that the driver voted for the current President. At the time, it must have been a popular thing to do.

Today, this is not so much the case. In fact, I am hard pressed to find a handful of these stickers on cars anymore. Maybe you will see an abundance of them in liberal parts of the country, but even in Columbus and the Short North where it tends to be liberal, these stickers have disappeared in big numbers. I know in Youngstown, where majority of the people are Democrats (or so they think wrongly), it is unusually hard to find Obama stickers here anymore.

Some may argue that the political season is over and people are removing these items, but I find it a little hard to believe everyone at one time, en masse, decided to remove their stickers without having a reason.

The typical day of an American involves a number of tasks, including work, running errands, figuring out what to do for dinner, looking after the kids and bringing the kids wherever they need to go, paying bills, paying taxes, and trying to fit some social time in there so they do not go completely crazy.

Removing a political sticker of a person you support does not make that list. However, if you find yourself at odds with the person you once supported, then a person will in fact find the time to remove the item as to dissociate themselves from that person quickly.

The mass disappearance of these stickers lends more to the latter theory of people having problems with the current administration rather than the former theory that huge numbers of people in the U.S. suddenly found the spare time to remove the tedious sticker that is always difficult to remove. If you ever removed a bumper sticker, you know they are hard to get off.

Could it be that more people are frustrated with Obama and are, dare I say, embarrassed to have supported him now they see what he has been doing? It could very well be. It is quite curious indeed. Whilst this is just an opinion, I leave you to make your own judgments about this.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Moving in Stereo: Fast Times at Ridgemont High!

2009-07-27T22:31:00.000-04:00

Today I am going to deviate from politics to cover the lighter side of things.

A few days ago I was watching television and came across one of my favorite movies, “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”, a classic starring Sean Penn, Robert Romanus, and of course Linda Barrett who played Phoebe Cates, who is most memorable from the pool scene. If you have seen this movie, you know what I am talking about. If you have not seen this movie, it is worth watching.

I love this movie, particularly because it is something I can relate to from my days in high school. In fact, if there was a character from this movie that I was closest to, it would have to be Mark Ratner. I was a quieter kid and was, well, a lot like Mark Ratner. But I knew my fair share of Mike Damone’s and Jeff Spicoli’s, and of course there were the teachers I had that were like Mr. Hand and Mr. Vargas. We definitely had our Phoebe Cates’ and Stacey Hamilton’s as well.

A few of us even pulled a Jeff Spicoli a few times back in high school and had pizza delivered to the school. One time, it was delivered to class similar to how it happened in the movie. Granted, it was towards the end of senior year, but we still did it. We also did other stupid shit too, a lot of which I am not going to mention here, but trust me, it was decent.

The beauty of films like this (as well as any other John Hughes film) is the realism that came with these movies. Everyone can relate to the characters in these movies on some level, which makes them all the more memorable.

I must say the music is fantastic, and I encourage you to get the soundtrack if you can. Some of the music is so-so, but there are some major songs on there are SEVERELY underrated and underplayed. The following is a list of some of the songs from the movie, and each of them are solid tracks. Ones with asterisks are missing from the official soundtrack, so if you burn the CD instead of buying it, you can add them. This is 80s at its finest. For a full track list, check it out at Amazon.com.

“Raised on the Radio”-Ravyns
“Somebody’s Baby”- Jackson Browne
“Love Rules”-Don Henley
“Waffle Stomp”- Joe Walsh
“Fast Times (The Best Years of Our Lives)”- Billy Squier
“I Don’t Know (Spicoli’s Theme)”- Jimmy Buffett
“Fast Times at Ridgemont High”- Sammy Hagar
“Moving in Stereo”- The Cars***
“We Got the Beat”- The Go-Go’s***
“American Girl” – Tom Petty***
“Life in the Fast Lane”- Joe Walsh***
“Kashmir”- Led Zeppelin***

Definitely check out this movie if you haven’t yet, and GET THE MUSIC. I promise you will enjoy it. Most of you were born in the 80s anyway, so this should be of your era anyway!

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Monday's Mang New and Improved

2009-07-26T14:21:00.001-04:00

Here is the second official Monday's Mang, much better than the original pilot. Motown with The Matrix and Obama skit.

I know it is a day early, but I am not going to have the time to post it tomorrow until late.

The Mang

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and Youngstown Observations

2009-07-25T10:17:00.000-04:00

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Youngstown is having its Italian Festival this weekend. Though I was tired from work this week, I decided to go with my parents like we have been doing the last few years. It happened to be packed this year with tons of Italians from around the Youngstown area. As I usually do every year, I gorged myself on cavatelli, smelts, and cannoli and listened to Italian music and watched all of the hot Italian girls walking around. Of course, on that subject, there was a line from the Godfather that put it best about Italian girls: “In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns”. The same holds true for this area, and when it comes to a lot of the girls around here, you need to be careful who you hook up with. The last thing I need right now is a mini-Jersey Housewife to put up with, and we have plenty of those types around here.

It is quite a contrast being back here from Columbus. After spending a year in Buckeye Land and seeing how other people live, I can honestly say I have realized a lot about what I hate about the Youngstown area and a lot that I love about it. The things that I used to think were mildly bad seem to be magnified a whole lot more, and the same can be said for the good things that I just thought were okay. Might as well start with the bad.

Youngstown is an interesting place to say the least, and it took a year away from home to realize how flawed it can be relative to other cities. It is very ethnic, very clicky, and very in your face. If you an outsider looking in from a place like Columbus or Cincinnati, then I can see how this region can be a big turn off if you are not used to this environment. I can compare this to the culture shock I had when I moved to Columbus, because the people are not nearly as tough and very white bread. VERY white bread. This politics in this town is noticeably different from politics in most places, and though it may not be as dirty as it was, it still gives off that kind of vibe. The job market is worth shit here unless you are in business for yourself. And overall, you need to be a hardass, because people are pretty intense around here. Also, the nightspots by and large are strictly from hunger compared to the bigger cities.

For all the bad, there is a lot of good. Small business flourishes around here, and with it great ingenuity. We have a couple major employers of people, but most of this city is small business reliant. Youngstown was named one of the top ten places to start a business. How it can be we made this list and also made the list for one of the most economically depressed regions in the entire U.S. I do not know (as well as one of the most dangerous places to live), but by and large people work for themselves here. And overall, people can be successful here.

Of course we have Youngstown State, an improving business district downtown, decent hospitals, and a massive metro-park. Convocation Center is doing halfway decent, and usually it is not hard to find some kind of entertainment on the weekend. Also near Pittsburgh. Downside is we are near Cleveland too. Sorry Browns fans.

It is also a city environment without all the traffic. I will not miss driving on I-71 because it was a big pain in the ass. People are all over creation and after awhile driving in that mass traffic can turn you into an angry drive, or like me, an angrier driver. When I think about my driving, I think about Groundhog’s Day with Bill Murray when he was telling the groundhog “Don’t drive angry, don’t drive angry!” That was an awesome movie by the way.

We have more Italian festivals in the Youngstown-Warren area than most places in the United States, and in that regard NYC and New Jersey have nothing on us. The entire summer is filled with them, and I doubt anywhere else in the United States can claim that kind of fame. Also, I picked up a “Welcome Home Jimbo” t-shirt at the festival last night, and I doubt you can find any place else in the U.S. that would glorify a convict by slapping his face on a t-shirt.

The food is outstanding here, and I missed it GREATLY when I was in Columbus. I never had such a hard time finding a decent plate of spaghetti or a real pizza. There were no hot peppers in Columbus the way you find them here. If I wanted good Italian food, I made it myself. Since I was pressed for time, I couldn’t make my own sauce, but I imported sauce for a quick fix. When you live to eat like me, the food issue is very important.

So overall, Youngstown is a mixed bag. It has a special place in my heart. While I have no intention of staying here forever (I really want to go to Pittsburgh to live to be completely honest), it is a decent place to live in the meantime.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown

Brand New Intro for Monday's Mang Video

2009-07-23T20:58:00.001-04:00

This is the new intro I plan to use for the weekly Monday's Mang. It is a lot better than the pilot version of the intro and looking for some feedback on it. This time the show will be decent because I intend to be not tired as hell when I put it together. Let me know what you think of the intro.

The Mang