Cliffs Riffs - Stuph n Nonsense

For an excellent time line on the Wall Street mess, I suggest this in depth coverage by Matt Taibbi in the current Rolling Stone. He uses the F bomb a lot, but IMHO his explanation of how things progressed is impressive. WARNING: Could offend donkeys and elephants. The crap started under Clinton, was nurtured and flourished under Bush and he makes it clear that our current Treasury Secretary is cut out of the same cloth as the boys who engineered this train wreck. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover Anybody who holds on to the hope/opinion/dream that one political party is somehow better than the other might as well drink the real Kool Aid. The powers that be are all from the same bolt of cloth - no matter if they put Democrat or Republican on their lapel. The longer we keep clinging to the smokescreen that the Two Party System produces anything but an assembly line of power mongers who love to cram money and power into their own pockets at the expense ...

I can remember when I was a wee tyke in junior high that Jim Morrison of The Doors was busted (more than once IIRC) when he masturbated in public. It was against the law. Still is to the best of my knowledge and rightly so - who wants to watch that? Why then didn't anyone arrest all, or most, of the members of our House of Representatives for masturbating in public today? The Democrats cooked up the nifty idea to tax the excutives of AIG 90% on the bonus money they were paid out of the Federal Bail Out dollars. Many Republicans, who feared pissing off their voters back home, cast their ballot in favor of this waste of time Bill. It passed 328-93 - so I guess only 328 out of a possible 421 Representatives masturbated in public today. Great - money is being flushed down the toilet and our elected officials spend an entire day (and probably will spend another one or two) passing a Bill that would not hold up for 10 seconds in any court in the country. The Constitution fobids passing l...

Spring Lake senior Zac Matteson recently broke a 29 year old record in what his father, Chris, aptly described as “a classic sports moment”. Zac broke the diving record score for the Lakers on his last dive at the conference meet. He was running the numbers through his head and knew that he would have to nail the dive, a two and half flip, in order to beat the 11 dive score of 432.3 that was set in 1980. As he hit the water, Zac felt good about his effort. When he could hear the cheers of the crowd while he was still underwater, Matteson knew he met his goal and the scoreboard showed his total points at 433. For Laker diving coach Tom Knight watching Zac set the record by less than one point was bittersweet. Sweet because he had been coaching Matteson for four years, but his mixed emotions came from the fact that he had been the record holder. When we spoke with Knight, he was very proud of Zac and the marked improvements in his diving over his high school career. But he was also impre...

One of the prime motivators for this column is the opportunity to celebrate the best of the human spirit, especially as demonstrated by student athletes. 2005 Grandville graduate Casey Schneider is an excellent example of someone who exhibits many of the characteristics which most deserve our admiration: determination, the willingness to overcome adversity, and unflagging enthusiasm in the pursuit of his goals. Schneider has recently been honored for his efforts in the swimming pool. He attends the Rochester Institute of Technology and RIT is one of nine member colleges in the Empire Eight conference. Casey had been picked as the Swimmer of the Week earlier in the year before earning the Sportsman of the Year title given out by the Empire Eight. Casey is the middle son of Larry and Jill Schneider. He was born deaf and his early years were marked with frustration as he sought to communicate and to learn in school. Before having a cochlear implant at the age of nine certain educators to...

Just found Breaking and Entering on HBO on demand. What a great movie. Jude Law, Juliette Binoche and Robin Wright Penn (or is it Penn Wright)? About some Bosnian/Serb immigrants to England and how their lives intersect with a wealthy architect (Law) and his family/business. Lots of plots and sub-plots to follow in the movie. Well written. Well written. Well written. Well acted. See it if you get a chance.

There I was surfing the music offerings my cable service offers On Demand and what should I discover but U2 in concert from the tour a couple years ago in Chicago. Cool. I turned it off after 4 songs even though it was great music. Who ever edited it decided that to focus on any one of the four musicians, or to focus on anything at all - the crowd, great lighting, etc. etc - for more than 1.75 seconds at a time might leave us bored or something. WTF? I would like to watch The Edge get what he gets out of his guitar for more than 3 bars. These hyper-speed edits suck major wind. I realize the camera is not going to look where I would look, but it is tiring to have the subject change every 1-5 seconds. That is why I shut it off. Made me tired. How about a concert video that spends a little time on each subject or on the band as a whole? Please?

I have been a part of several motorcycle forums and followed many discussions on the subject of motor oil - usually centered around "Which oil is the best?".When it comes to motor oil, with all due respect - everyone on those forums is fulla crap. I have been running my bikes DRY for the last 3 years with excellent results. No oil. No oil changes. No filter. No filter changes. I have been hesitant to bring it up because every time I do, people make fun of me. Laff all you want - I have not spent dime one on oil in 3 years with NO ILL EFFECTS. You have seen pictures of my bikes on this blog - they get daily use in all kinds of temperatures and weather conditions. Motor oil is a myth - started and sponsored by BIG OIL (duh!). You can keep on supporting the man or join me by going OIL FREE. Dare to be different - Just say NO to oil.

The temptation to refer to East Grand Rapids senior J. Ludlow as a centered young man is just too strong to resist. He plays the center position for the Pioneer hockey team, he is the middle child of John and Barbara Ludlow, and a conversation with him indicates someone with a well balanced approach to life. Hockey coach Joe Day is a fan of Ludlow for all the right reasons. Talk with his coach about him and you will hear descriptive terms like “great hockey IQ”, “a natural”, “strong skater”, “excellent all rounder”, and “relentless”. Day considers him a quiet leader on the team, he related that Ludlow tends to lead by example but can be assertive and vocal when he needs to be. Day and Ludlow are in agreement that his strong suit on the ice is defense. Day mentioned that his determination on the ice has allowed J. to score in some situations where others might have given up. Ludlow will stay with the puck and keep battling when others might not. “He shoots when he should shoot and pass...

There we were hard at work this morning and in walks a salesman. No problem, this is a guy I have been wanting to meet - our Strellman's rep. His name is Jim Fox and he lives in Ohio. So we talk about the developments of Strellman's and some of the new things they are doing - like making everything in the line available in Argentium silver. Then he shows us some other lines he handles and at the very end of our time, when we are sharing our histories, he mentions being a musician. I ask further - a drummer with a rock band. I press further - HA - he is the very Jimmy Fox who started the James Gang back when we were all a little younger. He is the James for which the James Gang is named. He started the band in '66 - this was before Joe Walsh got involved. What a hoot - man, I have Funk 49 on my MP3 player. It was the first song I ever heard on a really kick ass stereo system. Marti Griffith's dad had McIntosh equipment - this was in '72 or '73 and she invited 3-4...