According to some people that have interpreted the Mayan calendar, we have less than a year left on this rock.  2012 marks the last year of one of the most accurate calendars known to man… and it ends on December 21, 2012. Or December 12, 2012 depending on who you talk to.  This is not new to many of us, but there are still a few folks that are not aware of this little tidbit of info. This is important going into the year not because we have around 11 months to live, but because by 2012 we should not have to worry about this type of thinking, but we do. We still have people like Harold Camping;

Nutbag

this handsome young lad of only 90 years of age managed to swindle hundreds of people out of money donated to him because of his doomsday calculations that determined the end of the world was in May of 2011. When that didn’t happen the conservative Christian radio preacher claimed an “oops”  and cited his calculations were off and that the Rapture would instead be taking place in October 2011. It didn’t. Good ole’ Harry finally decided to call it quits at the tender age of 89 (in October of 2011 , of course) and in a private interview finally decided to admit that its impossible to know when the Rapture will occur. You would think that being a God-fearing man, Harold would return the donations he received from the people he suckered into his doomsday scam, but just like the Rapture, that’s not happening either.

So as the year begins,  lets not forget that magical thinking is dangerous and that common sense should not be cast aside even in moments of panic and fear.  The #1 movie at the beginning of 2012, is  The Devil Inside about exorcism. The main draw to this movie is the plausibility of the existence of demons and their possession of people. That’s right, in 2012, people still worry about demonic possessions. As a matter of fact, as late as 2010 the Catholic Church was training people on how to conduct exorcisms in Baltimore.  Do not  worry though, right down the street you too can get trained on how to get rid of the boogeyman in posh Scottsale, Arizona, by our state’s very own televangelist huckster Bob Larson. He can either help you get rid of imaginary monsters or he can teach you how to do it yourself, for a small fee of course. Never mind the fact that most “exorcisms” are the result of mental illness or seizure disorders, that could easily be explained by a competent mental health professional or neurologist. Unfortunately, for most exorcism patients in the past you can’t pray away a seizure and a little olive oil anointed on your forehead won’t get rid of your Schizophrenia.

The danger in this is not when people go and watch movies about demon possession or go and waste their money getting trained on how to use magic to deal with imaginary problems, but when people try to use magic to deal with real problems. At this point in our human existence we should not be relying on such arcane methods to solve our problems. Moreover, our political leaders should not rely on this method to handle government problems.  Just ask Rick Perry how praying our economic problems worked out.  

Our economy still sucks but I guess God probably won’t bother fixing it since this is our last year here anyway.

Arnie Bermudez

“Kindereggs are the best product ever invented. Toys encased in chocolate, even drugs don’t sell that good.”- Me

 I have always been terrible at math. So much so, that my mother made me go to summer school several times to improve on it. We lived in a rough neighborhood in Yuma, Arizona with low income, predominantly Mexican-American families. It was riddled with gangbangers and drugs. It was also filled with hard working, labor centric people usually, farm workers. Needless to say the kids growing up there did not have much of a chance, and very little resources. Back when I was 11 and known as “Arnulfo” (what Arnie is short for), I found myself surrounded by them in my summer school math class with Mr. Baumgardner at C.W. McGraw Elementary School. I hated the class, so I spent most of the time drawing superheroes.  A table away sat a gentle giant of a kid by the name of Efrain and his younger brother whom I didn’t care for too much because he was always mouthing off and acting up. During the course of the summer I befriended Efrain and got to know him. I avoided his brother though, I figured the kid would end up being a cholo or something of a sort.  Eventually, I ended up helping Efrain with his math and much  to my chagrin, his annoying younger brother. His brother was very bad at math, he made me look like Einstein, in fact. Moreover, the kid would not pay attention and seemed more displeased than myself to be there. I learned from talking to Efrain that we would be attending Gila Vista Jr. High School the following year in 7th grade. I learned from his brother that I have no patience for troublemakers.  

The next year I was pleased to see Efrain sitting in my social studies class with Mr. Gribble. I also took up wrestling at a paltry 90 lbs. I ended up being a second stringer and saw Efrain get into it as well. He was a heavy weight and did pretty well. In 8th grade I stopped going because I was working under the table cleaning a barbershop and had to be at work at 4p.m. and my parents believed a good work ethic was more important than being a “luchador.”  

Time passed and I ended up in Kofa High School, again, with Efrain. I saw less of him, but found out he joined football and wrestling.  He slimmed down and was wearing a letterman jacket now. He ditched the flannels and Dickies and got himself a pair of Doc Martens and Dockers. I was glad he was on what seemed to be a positive track for his life. My sophomore year, I heard his brother had made it to Kofa High School. I cringed and hoped I wouldn’t have him for any electives. Later on, I heard he also took up wrestling, and was even better than Efrain. I was shocked, seeing as how wrestling took a large amount of discipline and that kid seemed not only to lack it, but to avoid it at all costs. I then attended the Uof A and lost track of Efrain and most of my Yuma friends. I had heard from my good friend, Robert, that Efrain’s brother ended up at ASU on a wrestling scholarship. I was quite pleased, and surprised that he even got to college. But, more so because he could have ended up in the local gang. Then I heard rumblings that he had lost the scholarship due to injury. I figured, oh well, at least he made it out of the bad neighborhood and got an education.  

Fast-forward to today, I haven’t heard from Efrain in over 10 years, but I saw his brother Saturday night. He now has a couple of tattoos, a shaved head, is a whole lot bigger and gets in a lot of fights. What was he doing? Well he was beating the living crap out of this guy:  

Brock Lesnar former UFC Heavy Weight Champ Photo by: Eric Jamison, AP USA Today

Efrain’s little brother is Cain Velasquez the new UFC heavy weight champ.   

Efrain's little brother Cain Velasquez By Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press via AP, USA Today

In what appears to be the most amazing display of mixed martial arts technical skill, the much smaller and lighter Cain demolished the seemingly unstoppable,  hulking behemoth that is Brock Lesnar in the first round. Being at a considerable disadvantage when it came to strength and size, Cain maneuvered and attacked Lesner from every possible angle. Lesner tried to take Velasquez down from the onset of the match, but Cain defended and deflected every attempt. Landing punch after punch and managing to take Lesnar down via a single leg shot. Eventually, the hulking behemoth became the lumbering giant as he wobbled around in the cage and fell on his back and “turtled up.”  Cain was connecting so much that Lesnar turned his back on him right before referee Herb Dean had to step in and stop the fight. The result was a new UFC champion from the state of Arizona. A guy from Yuma that I begrudgingly helped out with his math and went to high school with. The first Mexican-American UFC champ. A poor kid with minimal resources wearing a championship belt from one of the toughest combat sports.  A heavy weight, champion son of a farm working immigrant who came to the U.S. in search of a better life. A guy who did the impossible.  I wish I could have been watching this in Yuma. 

To Cain, thanks for proving me wrong and not becoming a cholo, I doubt the Yuma PD would have the resources to take you on. May you continue to succeed and inspire. 

Arizonans rejoice, something good finally came out of this hostile environment we call a state.

To the people that say immigrants don’t amount to much and don’t contribute, this guy now contributes more to the U.S. economy in income taxes than most of you ever will, you can thank his dad, the immigrant.

Arnie Bermudez  

“The best piece of advice I ever got was to buy a black suit when I became an adult, because I would use it at least once if I ever happened to get married…or die. Either way, it was a good investment.”-Me 

Recently Arizona has been making some pretty bonehead moves when it comes to law-making.  First, was the the ban on gay marriage. Why was it stupid? Well, aside from the fact that it was a total wedge issue, a violation of equal rights and heavily reliant on Judeo-Christian views of marriage; we also lost a lot of revenue and Mexico was smart enough to jump on that. So now, all those gay and lesbian couples from around the U.S. are not travelling here and spending

Just say "no," right?

their money here to get married, but instead they are going to Mexico and spending their money in that country. Awesome move Az. Ignorance has never been a big money maker, but fortunately being 49th in the country in education we don’t really care, in fact “ignorance” is very much our middle name. So making money is not a real concern, as is reflected by our budget.

Next, we allow people to have guns in bars. That’s right, guns in a place where people get intoxicated. What the heck?!?!?! Who thought this was a good idea? I know, I know, the gun toting patrons are allowed to do this so long as they

Yipee kay yay! The next round's on me.

don’t drink. Okay fine, but how many people (aside from myself and the DDs) go to bars and night clubs to not drink? More importantly we already have laws about drinking and driving and we see how many people follow those. If this type of law were effective we would have no DUI’s and no drunk driving deaths. Do we honestly think there will be no shooting under the influence? Remember, 49th in education.

The most recent offense, though, was Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 on immigration reform. Why is it a bone head move? Because it’s flipping racist. Seriously, how many Canadians do you think are going to get deported over this? Nothing against the polite Canucks, but they are the ones coming down in droves in the winter and taking not only the good jobs, but the good land. God knows Arizonans can’t afford to buy real estate in our own state, so, Canadians are.  However, police officers will be asking Hispanics, Asians, African Americans and yes, Middle Eastern folk. You know

She's definitely an "illegal". Get the Minute Men!

why? Because they all have one thing in common: They are not White. This law isn’t meant to protect Americans from foreigners it’s made to protect White people from non-Whites.  Now, this may sound paranoid and conspiratorial and I’m fine with that, but if you really want to test yourself and this law and claim its not racist do the following exercise: Close your eyes and picture an “illegal immigrant”.  Did you see a blonde haired and blue -eyed, polite Canadian? Exactly.  Also, we need illegal immigrants, yes, need. “Hogwash” you say? Okay then, you pick our lettuce and clean your house for substandard wages and no benefits. You can’t even get teenagers to do those jobs. Like it or not, illegal immigrants contribute to our way of life.

Can’t wait for the next round of bills. Yay.

On a positive note Kick Ass was an awesome film go see it if you haven’t and if you have, see it again. Furthermore, go buy the comic its just as great as the movie.

Arnie Bermudez

“I like you for who you are and if I don’t like you its probably for the same reason.” – me

I found the following story while trolling through CNN. Apparently, $250 million dollars is being used to fund abstinence programs in school… that are not evidence based.  A resounding WTF comes to mind. We are funding programs in school that are not based on any factual or even circumstancial evidence? $250 million to tell hormone driven teens NOT to have sex? Ridiculous. That’s like telling a hungry person not to eat. I can’t believe my taxes are paying for this hogwash. No sex before marriage?!!! How about no marriage before sex? The result would be a much happier life and if the person chooses to get married a much happier marriage. 

Here’s an idea, how about we teach kids how human biology works and the risks that come with having sex, as well as, how to protect themselves and their partners from them while using the appropriate measures. Then again, this would require evidence, facts and common sense and that would probably confuse kids. Lets not fight ignorance with knowledge and education, we may actually teach our youth something. I shouldn’t be suprised though, since some states already teach another evidence lacking program called Intelligent Design.

Arnie Bermudez

“I found something on my face today… a whole lot of handsomeness!!!”- Me

Well it’s good to be back, albeit bittersweet but I missed the intellectual stimulation, and frankly, I missed Mark Evans too.  For some reason he thought it was a good idea to have me do a blog on here and since I don’t have better judgment I obliged. I also felt this week to be an epic one to return to the interwebs.  To begin with on Sunday 3/21/10

The Amazing Randi himself

one of my heroes, magician,skeptic and paranormal investigator James Randi, announced that he was gay. This is important to me for many reasons, the man has always been a source of inspiration to me and somewhat of a teacher, although only through books and videos, I have never had the fortune of meeting him. Also, he has been a staunch believer in standing up for the truth and what is right. He has always advocated honesty and rational thinking.  This led me to discuss it with my friends, to my realization most of them didn’t know about the Amazing Randi.  This led me to put up a post on my social networking sites in an effort to educate people a bit. Then I remembered Mark Evans and his invitation to blog. I figured this would be a better place for that sort of thing. Check out this video  James Randi exposes Uri Geller to see this guy doing what he does best .

Then on Wednesday Mark Millar’s Nemesis comic was released and I felt like blogging about it. The damned thing was so hyped and advertised I just had to go see it in print and on the shelf. Sure enough, it did not disappoint. Some how everything Millar does turns to gold and although this is just another typical gratuitously violent Millar book, it still has a good story. I can’t explain it Mark Millar should have become a cliche in the comic book industry by now but the guy is good. I have yet to read something of his I don’t enjoy. Nemesis, basically, takes the Batman mythos and turns it inside out.   Instead of having a deeply disturbed guy with lots of resources helping the world, you have a deeply disturbed guy creating havoc and chaos in the world. The first issue is action packed and features a scene with a guy being run over by a train, that alone should make you want to read this book.

Well that’s it for now enjoy the first post and have a great day.

Arnie Bermudez

“I’m addicted to oxygen, I snort it in my sleep and drink it in my water. I might have a problem.”