I did one of these for Metallica recently and I have always thoughts that for the most part Megadeth was a better band so I can’t leave them out.

Killing Is My Business…And Business is Good
Released in June 1985 by Combat Records.
Produced by Dave Mustaine and Karat Faye.
Band lineup:
Dave Mustaine – vocals, guitar; Chris Poland – guitar; David Ellefson – bass, backing vocals; Gar Sameulson – drums.
Tracks: 8
Highlights:
“Killing is My Business and Business is Good”

Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?
Released in November 1986 by Combat / Capitol.
Produced by Dave Mustaine, Randy Burns and Andy Somers.
No lineup changes.
Highlights:
“Wake Up Dead” and “Peace Sells”

So Far So Good…So What!
Released in January 1988 by Combat/Capitol.
Produced by Dave Mustaine and Paul Lani.
Lineup changes:
Chris Poland was replaced by Jeff Young and Gar Sameulson was replaced by Chuck Behler.
Tracks: 8
Highlights:
“In My Darkest Hour”

Rust in Peace
Released in September 1990 by Combat/Capitol.
Produced by Dave Mustaine and Mike Clink.
Lineup changes:
Jeff Young was replaced by Marty Friedman and Chuck Behler was replaced by Nick Menza.
Tracks: 9
Highlights:
“Hangar 18″ “Lucretia” and “Holy Wars”

Countdown to Extinction
Released in July 1992 by Combat/Capitol.
Produced by Max Norman and Dave Mustaine.
No lineup changes.
Tracks: 11
Highlights:
“Symphony of Destruction” “Foreclosure of a Dream” and “Sweating Bullets”

Youthanasia
Released in November 1994 by Capitol.
Produced by Max Norman and Dave Mustaine.
No lineup changes.
Tracks: 12
Highlights:
“A Tout le Monde”

Hidden Treasures
Released in July 1995 by Capitol.
Prduced by Max Norman and Dave Mustaine.
No lineup changes.
Tracks: 8
Highlights:
“No More Mr Nice Guy” “Angry Again” and “99 Ways to Die”

Cryptic Writings
Released in June 1997 by Capitol.
Produced by Dann Huff and Dave Mustaine.
No lineup changes.
Tracks: 12
Highlights:
“Trust”

Risk
Released in August 1999 by Capitol.
Produced by Dann Huff and Dave Mustaine.
Lineup changes:
Nick Menza was replaced by Jimmy DeGrasso.
Tracks: 12
Highlights:
“Breadline”

Capitol Punishment
Greatest hits album released in October 2000 by Capitol.
Various producers.

The World Needs a Hero
Released in May 2001 by Sanctuary Records.
Produced by Bill Kennedy and Dave Mustaine.
Lineup changes:
Marty Friedman was replaced by Al Pitrelli.
Tracks: 12
Highlights:
“Disconnect” and “Return to Hangar”

Rude Awakening
Live album released in March 2002 by Sanctuary.
Produced by Bill Kennedy and Dave Mustaine.
No lineup changes.

Still Alive…and Well?
Compilation album released in September 2002 by Sanctuary.
Produced by Dave Mustaine and Bill Kennedy.

The System Has Failed
Released in September 2004 by Sanctuary.
Produced by Dave Mustaine and Jeff Balding.
Lineup changes:
Marty Friedman and Nick Menza returned on guitar and drums, respectively for this album.
Tracks: 12

Back to the Start
Greatest hits album released in June 2005 by Capitol.
Tracks: 17

Gigantour
Live album released in August 2006 containing songs by Megadeth, Dream Theater, Anthrax, and others.
Band lineup:
Dave Mustaine; Glen Drover – guitar; backing vocals; James MacDonough – bass; Shawn Drover – drums.
Megadeth Tracks: 3
“She-Wolf” “A Tout Le Monde” and “Kick the Chair”

United Abominations
Released in May 2007 by Roadrunner.
Produced by Dave Mustaine, Jeff Balding and Andy Sneap.
Lineup changes:
James MacDonough was replaced by Lames Lomenzo.
Tracks: 11
Highlights:
“Never Walk Alone” “Gears of War” and “A Tout Le Monde”

That One Night
Live album released in March 2007 by Image Entertainment.
Produced by Shalini Waran and Michael Sarina.
Lineup:
This was recorded while James MacDonough was still playing bass for the band.
Tracks: 23 (2 discs) + a 20 track live DVD.

Warchest
Box set released in October 2007 by EMI/Capitol.
Produced by Kevin Flaherty.
Tracks: 5 Discs.
Disc 1 – 17
Disc 2 – 19
Disc 3 – 17
Disc 4 – 15
Disc 5 – live DVD w/10 tracks.

Set the World Afire
Greatest hits album released in September 2008 by Capitol.
Tracks: 35 (2 discs)

Endgame
Scheduled to be released September 2009 by Roadrunner.
Line up changes:
Chris Broderick plays guitar on this album.
Tracks (confirmed): 11

I didn’t realize that Megadeth had so many best of and compilation albums. Talk about milking it!

Videos!

This one is a live video of the song “In My Darkest Hour.” It was recorded in Phoenix, AZ in November 2001.

This one is a video of the song “Hangar 18″ from the album Rust in Peace. This song is probably my all time favorite Megadeth song.

Word around the campfire is that the reason the Democrat’s health care proposal, which includes a government-run public plan option to compete with the private sector, is being held up is because nobody can come up with how to pay for it.

It is plainly obvious to everyone, including Congress and the President, that the only way a proposal of this magnitude can only be paid for by increasing taxes.

Now I have said before that I do not mind having to pay a little bit more in taxes if that money is going toward a good cause. I will admit that health care for those that are currently uninsured is a good cause.

However, I am adamantly opposed to the idea of any of us paying more in taxes to support the Obamaplan that is currently circulating through Congress.

The fact is that a public plan is not needed so our hard earned dollars do not need to be spent to pay for something like this.

First, there already is a public plan. In fact, there are 2. They are called Medicare and Medicaid. It would be a lot less costly and a lot more efficient (well as efficient as the government can be) to just expand on these programs than to create some new big health care monster.

Second, the idea that this public plan “option” will “compete” with the private sector is a complete farce. Anyone with half a brain can plainly see that if there is a government run program instituted that is cheaper than any of the private health care plans, people simply will not care about how bad the quality really will be (and it will be terrible) because people think with their wallets and will essentially jump ship from their current insurance company to join the public plan. The problem with this is that there will no longer be any competition in the health care market. Our health care system will simple be a single payer system. Thousands, if not millions, will end up being out of work (including myself). The economy will greatly suffer. With so many more people out of work, there will be less people paying taxes, thus, less money to go toward paying for this program the government created, thus an even larger deficit than what we already have.

Finally, and I have mentioned this time and time again, this will be a plan that will be owned and operated by the federal government and we all know how well that will end up working. Another new government institution equals more government workers to administer the plan. More government workers equals more bureaucracy in the federal government. More bureaucracy equals less efficiency. More bureaucracy also of course equals more government which nobody in this country really needs.

So, in essence, this health care reform legislation is yet another attempt by the Democratic party to make government bigger and bigger, making the American public more and more dependent on them, giving them more power.

So I don’t know about you but I don’t think the federal government needs any more power than it already has but if this health care reform is signed into law, that is what it will mean in the end.

The only hope we have is for those of us that truly do not support this health care legislation is to constantly write our elected officials to let them know that you do not support this legislation. I myself, have written both of my state’s Senators (Patty Murray & Maria Cantwell-D-WA) and our district’s Congressman (Jay Inslee-D-WA). I let them know that I am extremely opposed to this plan and reminded them who they work for. They do not work for Obama. They do not work for Nancy Pelosi. They do not work for the Democratic Party. They work for the people of the United States of America. I let them know that if this bill is signed into law and they are part of the cause of it, I will not forget it come election time. I will make it my mission in life to make sure none of them are re-elected (to be totally honest, I don’t want any of them to be re-elected anyway but I didn’t tell them that).

Write your elected officials. For my Oklahoma readers, your Senators are Jim Inhofe & Thomas Coburn (both Republicans by the way that if I understand correctly are both opposed to the plan so mostly you can just write them and thank them for their opposition. Personally, it feels really strange to me to be in support of Jim Inhofe.)

On this day in United States history in 1894, Labor Day is made a federal holiday by Congress.

Originally, Labor Day was celebrated on May 4 in memory of the Haymarket Riots but by the time it was made an official holiday it had been celebrated on the first Monday in September.

It was originally created by labor unions to celebrate the social and economic achievements of American workers. It is believed to be first proposed by Peter McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a co founder of the American Federation of Labor.

This holiday is also a state-mandated holiday in all 50 states.

1. Roger – Dag Nasty (from 1992s Four on the Floor)
2. Stick – All (1993s Breaking Things)
3. Shine on You Crazy Diamond – Pink Floyd (1975s Wish You Were Here)
4. Romantic Junkie – All (1998s Mass Nerder)
5. No Other Me – Weezer (1996s Pinkerton)
6. Love Rescue Me – U2 (1988s Rattle and Hum)
7. Carry the Wounded – Tourniquet (1995s Carry the Wounded)
8. Up Against – Taking Back Sunday (2006s Louder Now)
9. Haunting – Haste the Day (2008s Dreamer)
10. Reclusion – Anberlin (2007s Cities)
11. So Long Self – MercyMe (2006s Coming Up To Breathe)
12. Prison – All (1990s Allroy Saves)

I was talking to a friend about this band’s new album earlier and that prompted me do a DOTM on them.

Metallica was a good band for a while. Their first few albums were pretty good but they hit a point where the music was just kind of, well, lame. In fact, their last few albums have been down right disappointing. And then that whole fight with Napster kind of made me lose respect for them too.

Kill Em All
Released in July 1983 by Megaforce Records.
Produced by Paul Curcio and Johny Zazula.
Band lineup:
James Hetfield – guitar, vocals; Lars Ulrich – drums; Cliff Burton – bass, background vocals; Kirk Hammett – guitar.
Tracks: 10
Highlights:
“Anesthesia Pulling Teeth” and “Am I Evil?”

Ride the Lightning
Released in July 1984 by Megaforce.
Produced by Metallica and Flemming Rasmussen.
No lineup changes.
Tracks: 10
Highlights:
“Ride the Lightning” “For Whom the Bell Tolls” “Fade to Black” and “Creeping Death”

Master of Puppets
Released in March 1986 by Elektra.
Produced by Metallica and Flemming Rasmussen.
No lineup changes.
Tracks: 8
Highlights:
“Battery” “Master of Puppets” “The Thing That Should Not Be” “Welcome Home Sanitarium” “Leper Messiah” and “Orion”

The $5.98 EP Garage Days Re-Revisited
Released in August 1987 by Elektra.
Produced by Metallica.
Lineup changes:
Jason Newsted took over for Cliff Burton on bass.
Tracks: 5
Highlights:
“The Wait”

And Justice For All
Released in August 1988 by Elektra.
Produced by Metallica and Flemming Rasmussen.
No lineup changes.
Tracks: 9
Highlights:
“Blackened” “One” and “The Shortest Straw”

Metallica
Released in August 1991 by Elektra.
Produced by Bob Rock, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich.
No lineup changes.
Tracks: 12
Highlights:
“Enter Sandman” “The Unforgiven” and “Nothing Else Matters”

Load
Released in June 1996 by Elektra.
Produced by Bob Rock, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich.
No lineup changes.
Tracks: 14
No highlights. I was not a big fan of this album.

ReLoad
Released in November 1997 by Elektra.
Produced by Bob Rock, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich.
No lineup changes.
Tracks: 13
Highlights:
“The Unforgiven II”

St Anger
Released in June 2003 by Elektra.
Produced by Bob Rock and Metallia.
Lineup changes:
Jason Newsted left the band and produced Bob Rock played bass in the studio on this album.
Tracks: 11
No highlights. Not a big fan of this album either.

Death Magnetic
Released in September 2008 by Warner Brothers.
Produced by Rick Rubin.
Lineup changes:
After the recording of St Anger the band hired Robert Trujillo to play bass.
Tracks: 10
No highlights at this time. Have not had a chance to actually hear the album yet.

For those of you that don’t actually know this. The President of the United States is not elected by you. When you step into the polling booth, and cast your vote, you are not voting for your choice for President. You are actually voting to elect someone called an elector, who actually does the real voting for the President. This person that you voted for, can vote for any candidate that he or she wants, they do not have to vote for the person whom you THINK you are voting for.

This is known as the Electoral College system.

I think this system of selecting the President needs to be done away with. In my opinion, the office of the President should be decided by a direct popular vote, just like our Senators and Representatives are.

With the current system of voting, a person’s individual vote is irrelevant.

If you are a person, for example, living in Washington state, it does not matter who you are voting for because almost all of the electors in the state are going to vote for the candidate for the Democratic party. All of the votes will go toward that candidate, even if the guy is a complete tool (as in the case of our last Presidential election).

Likewise in the state of Oklahoma, all of the electoral votes are going to go toward the Republican candidate, no matter who YOU choose to support.

This is where we get the idea of red states and blue states. It is a ridiculous tradition and needs to stop.

With this system in place, the two party system will continue to thrive and there is no chance for 3rd party candidates.

The system just needs to go away. Our electoral system should be based on the idea of one man one vote.

I just finished reading another great article by Mr Keith Giles over at his website and wanted to share it with you.

It is titled Are We Really Practicing Christianity.

Really interesting article that talks about some of the difference between the Church today and the way Christianity was practiced in the New Testament.

It is interesting how the first Christians were these low-life, uneducated fishermen and how well they spread the message of Christ and how today you basically have to have 3 degrees in order to get a job preaching the gospel.

Anyway, give it a read. It is a great article.

“Health care reform is important, but it is not worth bankrupting the country over. If this process goes as it has been going….then we will be gar better off killing this effort and starting over in a few years.”

– David Brooks, columnist for the New York Times

zTruth recently posted the article President Obama suggested stop medical treatment to terminally ill. I read it and could not believe what I was reading.

Seriously? Did our President actually suggest this? That can’t be. I know the guy is an ultra-liberal moron but he would not go this far, would he?

So I went over to the LA Times article that she cited and read that too.

I am amazed that the President of the free world (well, it is still free for now anyway) would actually propose this.

In the post, zTruth asks the question ‘What will happen if the government is the one who makes those kinds of decisions for you or your family?’

Like she said in her post, this idea is the beginning of rationed health care.

This is exactly the reason that the government needs to stay out of health care altogether.

This is exactly the reason that the proposal for a public health plan option needs to be thrown in the congressional garbage can.

The government is in charge of our money. What has that resulted in? The economy of the country is in the toilet and we have a federal deficit that we may never recover from.

I could name several things that government has taken over and crapped up.

Do we really want the government involved in our health care? The health care of our families? Do we really want the government telling us when it is time to let our loved ones go?

I told everyone months and month ago, long before the loser was elected, that there was something about him I didn’t trust. I lost my mind for a second and even supported him for a very short time but I got my head screwed on correctly again and remembered that I did not trust him.

Now you all know why I don’t trust him. I will not trust him with my money. I will not trust him with our armed services. I will not trust him with foreign relations. I will not trust him with fixing the economy. I will not trust him with our health care system. I will not trust him sam I am (lol!)

The guy is just flat out non-presidential material. The guy never should have gotten as far as he did in politics. The sad thing is, from what I have been reading, he has quite a bit of support with the American people. I guess that just means that the reason our country is going to hell in a hand basket is because the people in this country are absolutely duped.

They were duped to think he was going to change things in this country. Oh wait, no, they weren’t duped. He is going to change things in this country. For the worse.

Oh please God, let 2010 get here quickly before he causes any real damage and please allow the people in this country grow a brain and elect some people that will stand up to him and his agenda and keep it from happening.

Amen.

Haven’t done one of these in a while.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

East
Boston
NY Yankees
Toronto
Tampa Bay
Baltimore

Central
Detroit
Minnesota
Chicago White Sox
Kansas City
Cleveland

West
Texas
Los Angeles Angels
Seattle 2 games out of 1st
Oakland

NATIONAL LEAGUE

East
Philadelphia
NY Mets
Florida
Atlanta
Washington

Central
St Louis
Milwaukee
Cincinnati
Chicago Cubs
Houston
Pittsburgh

West
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Francisco
Colorado
San Diego
Arizona

LEAGUE LEADERS

Batting Avg
Ichiro Suzuki (Seattle) – .369
D. Wright (Mets) – .356
B. Hawpe (Colorado) – .338

Home Runs
Albert Pujols (St Louis ) – 26
A. Gonzalez (San Diego) – 24
R. Ibanez (Philadelphia) – 22

RBIs
Albert Pujols (St Louis) – 70
J. Bay (Red Sox) – 69
P. Fielder (Milwaukee) – 68

Wins
Roy Halladay (Blue Jays) – 10
K. Slowey (Twins) – 10
T. Wakefield (Boston) – 9

ERA
Zack Greinke (Royals) – 1.90
D. Haren (Arizona) – 2.25
M. Cain (San Francisco) – 2.28

Strikeouts
Tim Lincecum (Giants) – 124
J. Verlander (Tigers) – 118
J. Vazquez (Atlanta) – 117

ESPN Power Rankings (1st 10)
Dodgers
Red Sox
Cardinals
Yankees
Tigers
Rangers
Angels
Rays
Phillies
Brewers

The Mariners are still in the 19th position in the ESPN Power Rankings.