tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-343005882024-03-13T10:32:34.737-07:00The Sunshine EmpireProviding political commentary, existential meditation, true musical taste, and a tangy nougat center since 1901.Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.comBlogger485125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-77837251697627340352010-01-22T07:45:00.000-08:002010-01-22T07:46:16.636-08:00Wisdom From Ben"Everywhere I go, DAMN there I am."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">-Ben Folds</span>Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-86884063297610633532009-10-07T06:57:00.000-07:002009-10-07T07:02:40.449-07:00We are not connected with Sunshine Empire of SingaporePlease review the statement on our parent site <a href="http://www.thesunshineempire.com/2009/10/05/on-the-difference-between-sunshine-empire-and-the-sunshine-empire/">thesunshineempire.com</a>, but we will repeat here that this is a blog about politics and has no connection whatsoever with the Singaporean company called Sunshine Empire or any of their officials currently on trial for fraud. These people are crooks preying upon the innocent and will get what they deserve. Any name similarity is purely coincidental. Please also note that we are THE Sunshine Empire, not just Sunshine Empire.Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-11879964051028654672008-04-19T11:48:00.001-07:002008-04-19T11:50:06.998-07:00Top Ten Movie CountdownSome time ago here we did a top ten all time comics list. Now on <a href="http://www.thesunshineempire.com">The Sunshine Empire</a> we are running down the top ten movies of all time. Come on over and <a href="http://www.thesunshineempire.com/category/all-time-top-tens/">check out who made the list</a>.Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-32913331073028839942008-04-11T09:52:00.001-07:002008-04-11T09:53:19.792-07:00Happy New YearWe would like to extend a happy new year to our readers in Thailand. Make sure you douse your favorite relative and clean up that Buddha statue.Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-7938409787030393862008-03-23T17:39:00.000-07:002008-03-23T17:40:18.622-07:00I ain't washing no clothes<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/K8Hn11aPZyM&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/K8Hn11aPZyM&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-10665287868511388142008-03-14T09:59:00.000-07:002008-03-14T10:06:14.580-07:00A long overdue updateThis blog is the prior version of <a href="http://www.thesunshineempire.com">The Sunshine Empire</a>. This blog primarily concerns progressive political commentary, social satire, the occasional rant, and sports commentary. I had intended to write on local Jacksonville and Florida matters on this space, but the national Presidential election had pre-occupied me. <br /><br />Florida though is again in the news due to the fight over the primary re-do. I was watching CNN this morning and Florida Representative Kendrick Meek was arguing that the people of Florida made their voices heard, which is an absurd claim. With nobody campaigning in the state it can hardly be viewed as fair. Locally the city of Jacksonville seems to be falling apart, and we'll see more as Charlie Crist's foolhardy plan to placate South Floridians turns northern Florida into Youngstown Ohio. No taxes will mean less police. Great. <br /><br />The Jaguars however have made the moves they needed to in order to succeed past the second round of the playoffs this coming year. But the Titans improved as well. Maybe we'll see a repeat of the glory days of the late '90's. But this time the Jags better win. <br /><br />For more national political talk please continue to visit our <a href="http://www.thesunshineempire.com">political commentary site The Sunshine Empire</a>.Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-72237832515551988452007-11-16T22:38:00.000-08:002007-11-16T22:43:59.112-08:00On the frigid Florida coastIt is freezing in Florida. We're used to shorts and t-shirts, but it it finally cold. It's weird when you start seeing figures on the news start wearing overcoats, and you have a vague indication that it is getting cold somewhere. Then it finally overtakes you. The foul frigid breath of our Canadian brethren. It's 39 degrees, and I don't care how much snow you walk through that is cold.<br /><br />I'll be heading down to Gainesville to see the University of Florida play Florida Atlantic University. For our Singapore readers that is a gigantic deal in the southern United States. College Football that is, because that game I am attending has little or no meaning. Just one more week until Free Shoes comes to town. I don't care how down Bobby and the boys may be, I want to pound them into the turf.Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-2125820165612734842007-09-19T20:31:00.000-07:002007-09-19T20:32:55.709-07:00Lawton speaks from the grave''There's a feeling loose in the land of utter frustration and anger, stronger than I've ever seen it.''<br /><br />-Lawton Chiles; Former Governor of FloridaSunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-53028051837184690372007-09-19T19:55:00.000-07:002007-09-19T20:15:33.895-07:00On the Jaguars attendence figures and the obligation of our good 'ole boys<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.strictlyfx.com/special_effects/jaguars_player_introductions/player_introductions_12.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://www.strictlyfx.com/special_effects/jaguars_player_introductions/player_introductions_12.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Many national and local sports writers have been lamenting the Jacksonville Jaguars attendance figures this year. The team covers up large amounts of what is one of the largest stadiums in the National Football League in for all intents and purposes is the smallest market in the league. But there is a feeling that somehow the amount of people that are at the average Jaguar game is comparable to any other NFL market. Truth be told they should have to put up the temporary Florida-Georgia game extra seating for every one of the Jacksonville Jaguars home games in this supposedly football mad region of the sunshine state, but the whole story is never told by the liberal sports media in this town and outside it. After week two Jacksonville is drawing more warm bodies (especially in Duval in late summer, which lasts until December) than the Super Bowl Champions. Six other NFL football teams that have played a home game are averaging less than the Jacksonville Jaguars. Including Jesus' favorite football team the Dallas Cowboys. If Michael Vick was not killing dogs the Jags are probably in the middle of the pack in terms of attendance, even with consistent college football National Champions surrounding them. <br /> That being said I think it is embarrassing what has happened in terms of attendance in that stadium. I for one will be in that stadium for the next game. In the old days of Jacksonville politics, great men like Jake Godbold would ensure that public evens like those where attended come hell or high water. When Jacksonville hosted the Olympic gymnastics trial in 1980 Godbold called in his contributors and good ole boys network and gave them the marching orders that those tickets would be sold. John Peyton is a part of one of the most powerful families in Northeast Florida. He should be calling the same people that he gives contracts to to buy those tickets whether it is a game with the Indianapolis Colts or the Bucs of 1976. Trust me, that team needs to make money but whether you like football or not the city has a vested interest in that team succeeding, and you know you love football. What the hell else are going to be doing on Sunday?Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-31930205929598430592007-09-19T19:48:00.001-07:002007-09-19T19:51:24.893-07:00Let us alone will you<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/dutch007/RvHfKk242TI/AAAAAAAABKY/AOrV5BxWXdo/State_1845%20sml.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/dutch007/RvHfKk242TI/AAAAAAAABKY/AOrV5BxWXdo/State_1845%20sml.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />This was the first flag of the State of Florida. It sums up my feelings completely when it comes to new growth in this state. If you would like to come and visit we will give you the best time. We will treat you like family. Just don't stay here.Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-80092591249426401062007-09-17T21:52:00.000-07:002007-09-17T22:05:19.727-07:00On the state of DuvalI may start writing back here again on some different subjects. I think if I have some local points about the City of Jacksonville and the First Coast I may just make them here. Please keep going to <a href="http://www.thesunshineempire.com">www.thesunshineempire.com</a> for nation political news and humor. Not to mention the kind of music you know you like. Everyone is represented. But if I have a note to make, like the problems with raw attendance that people have begun to say nationally about the lack of interest in the Jaguars, I will make it here. Think of this as The Sunshine Empire Local Duval edition. By the way, the Jaguars had one of the largest stadiums in the league before they put the tarps on. Just as many people show up for the games as do any other city. So just shut the fuck up. <br /><br />I think it is also embarrassing that the Duval County Democratic party could not find some reasonable candidate that could have stood against John Peyton. I think he has done an average job in extraordinary circumstances, but he was eminently beatable in his last election and got token opposition. My God rest the soul of Jackie Brown, but there needed to be someone with a little more weight as a candidate running against him. Harry Shorestien stands as the only county-wide elected Democrat and he is leaving soon. <br /><br />These are just a few of the things that we will be discussing on this space, from time to time. Check us here at <a href="http://sunshineempire.blogspot.com">http://sunshineempire.blogspot.com</a> for local and <a href="http://www.thesunshineempire.com">http://www.thesunshineempire.com</a>.Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-89590906775249364322007-08-10T23:12:00.001-07:002007-09-17T21:50:08.439-07:00Rock the shantytownLive from Shantytown in Springfield on West 6th street. One of my favorite places. One of the five best places to have a beer in Jacksonville. <br /><p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfVjI4iZUH2urPhI7V6cxV1pJrEIOXRRDrrM0h_TFeZYdW92QDl2a5wIaaGTpOvzuJVnn0H0HrsIw6PqfIVxIlMJ19FfCb426nJDIjbD2EtV9OcEdhJB57fregBhgSRWafUZIt/s1600-h/bm-image-728050.jpe"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfVjI4iZUH2urPhI7V6cxV1pJrEIOXRRDrrM0h_TFeZYdW92QDl2a5wIaaGTpOvzuJVnn0H0HrsIw6PqfIVxIlMJ19FfCb426nJDIjbD2EtV9OcEdhJB57fregBhgSRWafUZIt/s320/bm-image-728050.jpe" width="320"/></a></p>Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-83604788878318533362007-08-03T20:44:00.001-07:002007-09-17T21:51:46.396-07:00The Rick takes aim at The StarliteHe was also taking aim at his playing partner, the young lady pool player. <br /><p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjITMJsl2p5T52VIyDglGtCGrvppYbevA9Qzs7z0y-FcMyVP7_D49gp-B_99wdsmkADCyaCfUY0wnr2P4KowU3Wqyovd1uDcI4fFI0huWKyh8vndcT4Nvkn_yQUbLcTV9iDBI1R/s1600-h/bm-image-793195.jpe"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjITMJsl2p5T52VIyDglGtCGrvppYbevA9Qzs7z0y-FcMyVP7_D49gp-B_99wdsmkADCyaCfUY0wnr2P4KowU3Wqyovd1uDcI4fFI0huWKyh8vndcT4Nvkn_yQUbLcTV9iDBI1R/s320/bm-image-793195.jpe" width="320"/></a></p>Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-49649890646672229322007-08-02T15:01:00.000-07:002007-08-02T15:31:02.580-07:00For those still checking the blogspotFor those of you fine souls who still find this page, please visit the new and inproved <a href="http://www.thesunshineempire.com">The Sunshine Empire</a>. We have all the great politics, music, sports, random rants, and cussing you want. What more do you want? What more, do you NEED? So check out <a href="http://www.thesunshineempire.com">The Sunshine Empire</a> free standing blog for all of your asistimtary needs.Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-65734251957787998982007-07-05T22:21:00.001-07:002008-01-12T16:24:20.954-08:00Behind the bar at Starlite<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/684/4187/1600/z/566894/bm-image-771325.jpg"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/684/4187/320/z/681339/bm-image-771325.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-56736500560283351612007-07-05T21:41:00.001-07:002007-07-05T21:41:12.655-07:00Multimedia message<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/684/4187/1600/z/617222/bm-image-772657.jpg"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/684/4187/320/z/690488/bm-image-772657.jpg" width="320"/></a></p>Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-45607978347409926122007-07-01T19:29:00.000-07:002007-08-02T15:33:12.494-07:00Thesunshineempire.comStarting today <a href="http://www.thesunshineempire.com">www.thesunshineempire.com</a> is up and running. We'll be posting some material from this blog and some new material in the next few days. We'll be getting many things that you are used to in this space going on the mothership. Thank you and remember, the future is tomorrow.Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-41428741993865855532007-06-30T17:14:00.000-07:002007-08-02T15:32:24.138-07:00www.thesunshineempire.comWe are pleased to announce that we are moving on up. Today the URL <a href="http://www.thesunshineempire.com">www.thesunshineempire.com</a> has been registered and hosting has been set up to move our blog to it's own freestanding site. We'll continue to provide political commentary, humor and music for those who have an open, and disturbed mind. We'll be updating you on when to make the switch and we hope you will follow us there. We also would like to thank the good people at Google and Blogger for our time here. We will continue to write here, and will move all of our content to the new site. Thank you and we look forward to the dawn of a new age for <a href="http://www.thesunshineempire.com">The Sunshine Empire</a>.Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-70911327288350345392007-06-30T01:13:00.001-07:002007-06-30T01:13:54.626-07:00Kim Jong Il and the Oninon News Network<embed src="http://www.theonion.com/content/themes/common/assets/videoplayer/flvplayer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="always" wmode="transparent" width="400" height="355" flashvars="file=http://www.theonion.com/content/xml/63055/video&autostart=false&image=http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/KIM_JONG_0.jpg&bufferlength=3&embedded=true&title=In%20The%20Know%3A%20Kim%20Jong-Il%27s%20Approval%20Rating%20Plummets%20to%20120%25"></embed><br/><a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/video/in_the_know_kim_jong_ils_approval?utm_source=embedded_video">In The Know: Kim Jong-Il's Approval Rating Plummets to 120%</a>Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-67785892242410656682007-06-30T01:03:00.000-07:002007-06-30T01:04:59.515-07:00God Bless America"America... just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">-Hunter S. Thompson</span>Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-86455347847780663822007-06-30T00:19:00.000-07:002007-06-30T01:05:42.865-07:00The still unanswered question of the WMDI was scanning The Huffington Post and I noticed a very small headline that caught my eye. "Four years later, the search for WMD ends." But is it the rantings of an insane liberal to ask the question, why did they get off on this one. This may be the central reason that we are all barreling headlong into irrelevancy as a republic. The government of this nation told us that we needed to invade a sovereign nation because they had mountains, "tons and tons" of chemical and biological weapons that they were going to send halfway around the world in attack aircraft no more complicated than Cessnas to rain death and hellfire on us. We as a nation, with the exception of the Sunshine Empire editorial board, willingly trusted our leaders and committed ourselves to this endeavor, and lo and behold there were no weapons. <br /><br />It was not so much that this happened, it was that our questions where met with, "fuck, our bad, but whatever WE WON!" Our reaction as a nation was to pay more attention to the winner of American Idol than we did why we caused such a fucking cluster fuck in the most dangerous part of the world. But most who blindly protect the President in this regard most often say that the whole world thought that he had weapons, and that is a bald faced lie. The Germans gave every bit of information stating that they really did not want to give any validity to what they had found. Their double agent, "curveball" has since said everything he told interrogators was a lie. Good that we committed the full force of the United States Armed forces on the word of a high strung ex patriot Arab. If William Jefferson Clinton had lead us into a war promising to find something and it never appeared he would be in a bunker fearing for his life right now. Yet nary a peep out of those same people. They are just being held down by the big bad liberal media. Liberal media just means anything that is not currently or will not probably be owned by Rupert Murdoch. <br /><br />Many conservatives also state that the WMD where never the main reason for the invasion. The HELL they were not. Why would Condi Rice be talking about a mushroom cloud as proof? The media has basically said, "that's old news," and the Administration has said, "just move on." But why is it so out of line to still ask, did George W. Bush lie to the American public? And if lying to a grand jury about a blow job is impeachable, they why is lying about a war not? And if lying to a grand jury about a blow job was worth millions and a year and a half of investigation, then why is lying about a war not?Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-30781580699620057232007-06-28T21:36:00.000-07:002007-06-28T21:37:24.650-07:00Late in the day<img src="http://a787.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/107/l_198752ab859594912a96cf8eb721583a.jpg">Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-85730602334392781892007-06-28T21:17:00.000-07:002007-06-28T21:19:09.790-07:00How times change"I myself feel that our country, for whose Constitution I fought in a just war, might as well have been invaded by Martians and body snatchers. Sometimes I wish it had been. What has happened, though, is that it has been taken over by means of the sleaziest, low-comedy, Keystone Cops-style coup d’etat imaginable. And those now in charge of the federal government are upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography, plus not-so-closeted white supremacists, aka 'Christians,' and plus, most frighteningly, psychopathic personalities, or 'PPs.'" <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">-Kurt Vonnegut</span>Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-40963416397599063582007-06-28T21:09:00.000-07:002007-06-28T21:19:47.827-07:00Lewis Black talks of bias in the media<embed FlashVars='config=http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/xml/data_synd.jhtml?vid=89307%26myspace=false' src='http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/syndicated_player/index.jhtml' quality='high' bgcolor='#006699' width='340' height='325' name='comedy_player' align='middle' allowScriptAccess='always' allownetworking='external' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' pluginspage='http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer'></embed>Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34300588.post-73582674429182737032007-06-28T20:49:00.001-07:002007-06-28T20:58:31.321-07:00Another debate, again, for the first time, for the last timeI watched the Democratic Candidates forum on PBS this evening and I have to say some things became clear. Bill Richardson's campaign staff must be a bunch of Republicans trying to screw him, because the man has good positions and a resume that puts them all to shame. Yet in these debates, and especially tonight, he looked lost and confused. Christopher Dodd continues to be brilliant at saying nothing at all. I've read this week that John Edwards is taking a turn that will take on right wing sources with direct attacks. This is unheard of in a party that is just discovering it has balls. The right wing media is aghast at this, because they grew up during the age of Bush. Dennis turned a question about education into an anti-Iraq speech, and Mike Gravel is still crazy. I will say Gravel does do this valuable thing, he constantly reminds the candidates and the crowd that they are not all blameless for all the insanity of the last six years. These things are really going to drive people to gouge their eyes out by November. The sad thing is I'll be watching.Sunshine Empirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13665120069108414778noreply@blogger.com0