Sarah Palin Lacks "Gravitas"? What's With These Deranged Right-Wingers and All of the Their Dong and Genital Blasts?

In the news today is slimeball GOP operative Karl Rove, who's taking shots at Sarah Palin and suggesting that she may lack the "gravitas" to be president and to even mount a presidential candidacy (first link at bottom).

Your first question might be, "what the hell is a gravita?" Well, the pedestrian definition of lacking "gravitas" means lacking in necessary substance or seriousness. But alas, "gravitas" is also slang for "balls," as confirmed by the Urban Dictionary (second link at bottom). In short, Rove's blast today is a very thinly veiled attempt to assert that Palin lacks the balls to be president and to endure a presidential run.

This is only confirmed by another of his quotes in which he questions whether Palin has what it takes to make it through a run for president: "It's going to be blood, it's going to be sweat and tears, and it's going to be hard effort." Translation: Palin doesn't have the balls (errrr, gravitas) to do it.

Of course, you could say that turnabout is fair play for Palin, who in early August dropped her own sack blast on Obama by accusing him of lacking the "cojones" to take on the illegal immigration issue (third link at bottom).

Which brings me back to my original question: What's with these right-wingers and all their teenage-style "you ain't got the junk" blasts? I'm starting to think GOP stands for "GrOw a Pair" rather than "Grand Old Party."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20021010-503544.html
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gravitas
http://independentrage.blogspot.com/2010/08/cojones.html

Slimeball Voter Manipulation, Left-Wing & Right-Wing Extremist Style: Don't Fall For It.

Both parties and both extremes are and will be doing it over the next six days leading up to the November 2 midterm elections. I call it voter manipulation, and don't fall for this crap. The lead article in today's Politico.com (link at bottom) gives one example:

The democrat party nationwide (particularly in the U.S. House races) has embraced a strategy of pouring money into trying to drum up votes for fringe right-wing tea party candidates who (1) are not running as republicans because they lost the party primary and (2) have no chance of winning according to the polls. The purpose here is obvious: Manipulate voters into voting for someone with no shot of winning in order to take votes away from the republican candidate. Slimeball stuff.

And the right-wingers engage in the same sort of crap. One example is conservative demagogue Rush Slimebaugh, who is currently engaging in a little voter manipulation project of his own, which he calls "Operation Reverse Chaos." Slimebaugh is using his radio show (and its huge audience) to encourage democrats not to vote on Tuesday. So why would democrats possibly listen to Slimebaugh? Because Slimebaugh tries to convince them that the bigger the republican win on Tuesday, the better the chances of Hillary Clinton making a democrat party primary run at Obama in 2012. Obviously, Clinton has a ton of supporters out there who would love nothing better than for her to be president instead of Obama.

Here's the difference between Independents like me and the extremists that control the democrat party and republican party: They will actually try to defend all this crap using one of their typical, mindless third-grade-style "yeah but, the other side does it too" arguments: The ol' "two wrongs make a right" foolishness. Contrast that with me: I say bullshit is bullshit, no matter whose slimy ass it's spewing out of. When I get a whiff of it, I condemn it for what it is.

And to circle back to a point raised at the top: Realize this stuff is going on; recognize it for what it truly is; and do not let it impact you. If you're a democrat who actually believes the democrat party has done a good job in DC that last two years, then go vote for the democrat -- even if I do think you're clinically insane. And if you've decided to vote republican, then vote for the republican and don't be influenced by democrat party propaganda encouraging you to vote for some extremist third party "tea party" candidate who has no chance of winning. As always, think for yourselves, and never let the sleazebuckets on the far right and far left, nor either of these two parties, do your thinking for you.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/44231.html

President Nixon Rears His Ugly Head Yet Again: "Obama Calls His Critics 'Enemies' "

That word was used by Obama in an interview taped Friday for a Los Angeles radio show that's popular with California Hispanics and hosted by Eddie "Piolin" Soltero. In the interview, Obama states as follows:

"If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're going to punish our enemies and we’re gonna’ reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,' if they don’t see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it’s going to be harder and that’s why I think it’s so important that people focus on voting on November 2."

From the quote, it's clear both that (1) Obama is encouraging Latinos to consider as "enemies" anyone who disagrees with the Obama Administration on immigration issues or the Arizona law and (2) Obama himself is of the mindset that anyone who disagrees with him is his "enemy."

I don't know how to put it any more plainly: This type of thinking and this type of rhetoric is purely Nixonian, destructive, dangerous, mindless and just plain ugly. It's way beneath a sitting American president, and it reflects as badly upon Obama as any of the many very concerning statements we've heard come out of his mouth over the past 18 months.

Put another way: It's one thing that the guy's a far-leftist, out of touch with the American mainstream. If he truly believes in that ideology, then he was elected president and he can go knock himself out with it while he's in office. But when he and his party start going down the road of calling anyone who disagrees with them an "enemy," a "racist" or some other vile pejorative, then that goes against everything this country stands for, including the principles of freedom of speech, the free open marketplace of ideas, and the freedom to dissent, question and criticize one's government. It can be even more succinctly summed up in one word: Un-American.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/politics/4993-obama-calls-his-critics-qenemiesq

True to Life: I Thought "The Hangover 2" Wasn't Out Until Next Summer, & I Didn't Realize Charlie Sheen Was the Star!?

I knew that the sequel to the 2009 movie blockbuster recently gave Mad Mel Gibson the axe, but I didn't realize that Sheen had been added to the cast as an apparent replacement! Reports from New York say that the sequel actually played out overnight in the Big Apple, where an innocent night on the town took a sharp and embarrassing turn for the worse for the "Two and a Half Men" star.

The New York City CBS affiliate and the New York Post both report today that Sheen (two months out of rehab) engaged in a wildass night of partying in Manhattan, which included -- as a nightcap -- him taking a hooker back to his Plaza Hotel suite on Fifth Avenue. And that's when all hell broke loose! Just call it the badass bender gone very bad:

Inside the hotel suite, it's reported that a "naked and drunk" Sheen had difficulty locating his wallet and cellphone (not uncommon occurrences when you're blitzed out of your mind), which sent him into a rage. The drunk and angered Sheen reportedly locked the naked hooker in a closet (kind of like the baby and the tiger in The Hangover) and then violently trashed the room, tossing about tables and chairs like he was in a hardcore wrestling match and -- just for good measure -- taking his rage out on an innocent chandelier. The price tag on this little rampage? 7000 smackers.

Apparently hearing this noisy ruckus, the naked hooker in the closet reportedly "feared for her life" and called the hotel's front desk from her cell phone and started screaming that her life was in danger. The hotel called the cops, who were welcomed at the suite by a passed out and "incoherent" Sheen who "started screaming slurs at the cops" (no word yet on the nature of the slurs -- I just hope Charlie didn't go Gibson on their ass, because that dude has been basically blackballed from Hollywood for some of his past drunken rants).

The cops reportedly gave Sheen a choice: The hospital or the hoosegow -- take your pick. Sheen wisely chose the former, just like the dude who got his tooth busted out in The Hangover. But here's the kicker: It seems Sheen was taken to the hospital by his ex-wife Denise Richards, who was also staying at the hotel (in a separate room) with Sheen's two daughters! That must have been quite the scene: "You two keep sleeping -- I just have to drive daddy down to the drunk tank -- Be back in a few."

Postscript: No word yet on whether Danny DeVito and Sly Stallone will also be appearing along with Sheen in The Hangover 2, or whether that poor naked hooker ever made it out the closet.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/police_called_to_charlie_sheen_room_zKbwIvShUm8vhbeDUEowRK
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/10/26/sources-sheen-hospitalized-after-trashing-plaza-hotel-room/

No $hit, Sherlock: New Politico.com Poll Reports that Independents Are Ready to Kick Democrat Party to the Curb Next Tuesday.

I've been saying the same thing in this space for many, many months and have also observed many times that the "flight of the Independents" (to use Politico's phrase) from support of democrat party politicians very much began to take place throughout the summer of 2009.

Many of us Independents strongly suspected that democrats would govern way too far to the left if they seized complete control of DC, and indeed that's precisely what's occurred since January 2009. Rampant far left or far right ideological governance doesn't play too well with Independents (the people who control your election outcomes). We're kind of funny like that. And bearing this out are some of the highlights from today's Politico article:

-"Republicans are on the verge of broad wins next week for one big reason: Independent voters are ready to boot [d]emocrats from office."
-"Republicans hold a 14-point edge among [I]ndependents."
-"In last year's Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races, these [Independent] voters registered grave concerns and did it again by breaking for Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass) in his upset victory in January. Instead of heeding the warnings, [d]emocrats proceeded with the $1 trillion health care law and banked on an economic recovery that hasn't come."
-A measly 6% of Independents view the democrat party's health care legislation very favorably (after all, I don't call the day it passed Sunday Bloody Sunday for nothing).
-Obama's approval rating has tanked to 38% among Independents.
-"Only 30% of [I]ndependents think [r]epublicans have offered more specific solutions than [d]emocrats this year."

I throw in that last quote to illustrate another point that I've made over and over in this space. So many of us Independents are not voting for the republicans next Tuesday, but rather are voting against the democrat party (and very much look forward to doing so). We feel we have no choice. We feel it's our obligation. Some measure of power balance must be returned to DC. Gridlock is much better than either of these two extreme-controlled parties ever having unfettered control of DC again.

And if republicans spend the next couple of years doing what we saw during the Bush years, we will not hesitate in kicking their right-wing asses right back to the curb in 2012. It's called Independent Rage, since the days of Independent Indifference are over, although I don't think either party has quite gotten the message yet. But they will, beginning November 2, 2010.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/44092.html

"Take This Endorsement & Shove It!"He Doesn't Want You Here No More!

No, I'm not quoting Johnny Paycheck, but instead Rhode Island democrat and gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio (pictured on the right) and the scathing words that Caprio had for Obama this morning. Caprio's full quote: "He can take his endorsement and really shove it as far as I'm concerned."

The spat between Obama and Caprio appears to be tied to the fact that former republican senator Lincoln Chafee endorsed Obama in 2008. Chafee, you see, is one of Caprio's opponents in the gubernatorial race. So apparently Obama, as a wink to Chafee's past support, has decided not to endorse Caprio, drawing the democrat's ire this morning.

It also doesn't help that Obama actually has the gall to travel to Rhode Island to fundraise today while, at the same time, refusing to endorse his own party's candidate for governor in that state. That slight -- coupled with the fact that Obama ignored Rhode Island during some recent bad flooding there -- has Caprio absolutely fuming today: "We had one of the worst floods in the history of the United States a few months back and President Obama didn't even do a [Bush-style] flyover of Rhode Island . . . He ignored us and now he's coming into Rhode Island and treating us like an ATM machine." Ouch!

And before the democrat party partisans try to spin today's events as just some local political spat, I note that this story is all over the Net today and that it surely can't be good for a member of Obama's own party to basically accuse the democrat President of the United States of being just another typical slimy politician a mere eight days before a critical congressional midterm election. They say that the only bad publicity is no publicity. Well that old cliche doesn't translate so well into the political world.

http://newsblog.projo.com/2010/10/caprio-criticizes-obama-over-n.html
http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/politics/local_politics/ted-nesi-analysis-why-caprio-whacked-obama

Holy Crave Case! White Castle Opens Today in Mid-Missouri to Huge Crowds & An Endless Line of Cars. You Build It, & They WILL Come!

This will surely make them smile from White Castle to the Nile.
TIR correspondent Hot Ass Holly took the first picture above, which shows the lines around the block and way down the road in Columbia, Missouri for today's grand opening of the new White Castle burger joint. And she reports that this was at 3:30 in the afternoon!

Fresh off the University of Missouri's historic Homecoming win over #1 Oklahoma last night in Columbia, methinks they had a lot of hung over partiers heading out of town this afternoon, which no doubt contributed to this wild scene at the new White Castle -- meaning, blocks and blocks away, that they literally had the ladies of the Eighties from there to White Castle! The new joint, BTW, is located just off of two major highways, along Clark Lane at the exit located at the intersection of I-70 and U.S. 63.

Word has it, as well, that a new White Castle is also coming soon to Missouri's capital city of Jefferson City. Before these new White Castles, you could only get your Crave On in Missouri in the St. Louis metropolitan area, as there were no smaller town White Castles in the state and all the White Castles in Kansas City packed up and left town in one fell swoop in the late 1990s.

But now that White Castle is migrating back west, I have high hopes that a return to KC can't be too far off. As always, give me a Crave Case with Cheese, If You Please!

Look at These Fat Slimeball Tubs of Goo, Part of a Telemarketing Scam That's Bilked Millions from the American Elderly.

In a nice piece of six-month-long investigative journalism (link at bottom), ABC News tracked down several of the sleazebuckets involved in the scam -- all wanted in the United States for fraud but being sheltered by Costa Rica.

These slimes have scammed more than $20 million from the American elderly, using a scheme in which they make it appear that they are calling from a local telephone number and then telling the victims that they have sweepstakes winnings coming their way from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Next, these crumwads tell the victims that they need to pay and send "luxury taxes" or "insurance" before their fake "winnings" can be mailed to them.

Two of the jackwagons that ABC News tracked down in Costa Rica are pictured above -- Andreas Leimer (the white fatass in the first picture) and Roberto Fields Curtis (the fat f*** in the second picture). As you can see, these two fat pieces of crap apparently coordinate their wardrobes in addition to their frauds. And check out what happened when ABC reporter Brian Ross (the one in the suit and tie) tracked down Leimer at his sanctuary (errr, home) in the Costa Rican capital city of San Jose:

First, the sloth tried to scurry into his home and hide. Then the creep made a mad dash for his pick-up truck to try to escape that way. But this sleazejob apparently needs some driving lessons, as he quickly bashed his pick-up into a neighbor's Benzo. So then the slimebait slinked his way back into the house and called his "lawyer."

Next the scuzball "lawyer" shows up and starts shouting at Ross -- "Go Home, Gringo!", the skunk yelled. When that didn't work, they called in some local law enforcement slimes, who threatened to arrest Ross for "filming without a permit" until one of the cops realized that no such law exists in Costa Rica (damn pesky technicalities).

The worst part is that apparently nothing can be done about these scuzwads since they're being sheltered by Costa Rica. I remember in the old days, the A-Team used to head to Latin America all the time to kick ass and right wrongs. Where are those guys when we need them?

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/massive-make-phone-scam-stealing-millions-american-elderly/story?id=11942534&page=1

DOWN GOES BOOMER! DOWN GOES BOOMER! Missouri Shocks #1 Oklahoma in Prime Time Saturday Night!

Yeah, I'm a Missouri Alum, and so of course MU's Great Win tonight is going to be featured on my blog. MU whipped "Big Game Bob" Stoops for the first time since Bobby took over the OU program in 1999. But "Big Game Bob" tried to pull out all of his "Big Game Bob" stops, trying to ice the MU kicker before halftime and trotting out the ol' lateral-it-around play on the last play of the game (nevermind that OU was down by 2 scores at that point). Big Game Bob!!! You Lose, We Win -- Why Don't You Go Back to Norman, Big Game Bob, and Trot Out Some More Fake Pinkel Quotes or Something, Since YOU LOSE.

http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/tag/_/name/sooners-tigers-102310

Why Can't We Do This to Our American Politicians? British School Teacher "Banned For Life" For Being "Useless"

He's 46-year-old Nisir Ahmed, and he's the one of three pictured boobs who's on the left. Ahmed was teaching business studies in Great Britain at a school attended by students of age 11 through 18. But no longer, after England's General Teaching Council (a government agency, apparently) recently lowered the boom on Ahmed based upon findings that Ahmed was "useless" and "guilty of serious professional incompetence" that posed a substantial risk of "seriously disadvantaging" his students.

But equally "useless" and "incompetent," it would seem, is the government Teaching Council itself, which reportedly permitted Ahmed to teach in English schools -- despite believing him to be "useless" -- for thirteen years! If some heads aren't rolling around that joint as well, then they've got some real problems.

So what did Ahmed do that was so bad so as to receive a lifetime ban from teaching in English public schools? Well, the list of offenses found by the Teaching Council sounds strikingly familiar and not much unlike the sort of thing we witness from American politicians in both parties on an almost daily basis:

Poor management, leadership and organizational skills; Failing to finish tasks after undertaking them; Poor ability to establish clear and coherent plans and objectives; Consistently working at a slow and non-challenging pace; Lacking "an appropriate level of insight on [his] shortcomings"; and being "incapable of ever improving his work."

Yep, that pretty much aptly describes probably 90% of elected democrat party and republican politicians, I'd say, including our current and most recent awful presidents. So why in the hell can't we just fire them? Oh wait, that's right, we can. And the assclowns in Congress have 10 days about until we Independents get started on that little project. And we don't plan to pull a Mr. Ahmed, either -- we're going to start the job, and we're damn sure gonna finish it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1322989/The-teacher-banned-life-useless.html

Plenty of Whackjobs & Slimeballs on Both Sides to Go Around: Look at this Republican Goof Saying that Violent Revolution Is an Option "On the Table"

Pictured on the left is deranged right-winger republican congressional candidate Stephen Broden from Texas. He's running in Texas' 30th congressional district (Dallas) against longtime democrat party incumbent Eddie Bernice Johnson ("Bernice," BTW?). During what's being described as a "rambling" TV interview yesterday, Broden suggested that revolution and a violent overthrow of the American government is an option that's "on the table." (Link to full story at bottom).

Yesterday's comments followed previous remarks by Broden in which he conjured up and cited to images of the American Revolutionary War and Britain's tyrannical King George III, spouting: "We have a constitutional remedy. And the Framers say if that don't work, revolution."

Personally, I think the only revolt we need around here is one against the school teachers who taught Broden to butcher the Queen's English like that. If they can fire Juan Williams for no good reason, let's give the ol' heave-ho to some Dallas grammar teachers as well.

But kidding aside, Broden's dangerous comments obviously serve no constructive purpose whatsoever in American political discourse and should be (and are being) roundly condemned. My best suggestion to Broden: Since you seem so enamored with the notion of repeating the Revolutionary War -- How about you pull a George Washington, sail yourself across the Rio Grande into Mexico in the middle of the night, and then stay there. Do us all a favor.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-broden_22tex.ART0.State.Edition1.33278a9.html

Political Potpourri: Film Legend Clint Eastwood Weighs in on Barack Obama, & NPR Gives Liberal Pundit Juan Williams His Walking Papers.

Eastwood's thoughts on Obama come from a new interview with Katie Couric (first link below). Says Clint (my alltime favorite film actor, BTW) on Obama: "Nice fella," but Clint's "not a fan of what he's doing at the moment." Eastwood also reportedly "told Couric that the president is not 'governing' and he's [Obama's] laying out lines in the hopes that people will believe him 'so he can stay in his position'" of power.

I agree with Clint, but it's not like we're going out on any limbs here -- just look at Obama's current approval ratings, which this week have bottomed out at the lowest level of his presidency. Guess the Chamber of Commerce rants (his primary recent message) have failed to resonate with the American public (to say the least).

As for Juan Williams, whom National Public Radio fired today for his comments this week on Fox News admitting that he gets nervous when he's on a flight with a person in Muslim dress (second link at bottom): First, this has become a highly politicized right-left pissing match issue, the like of which I typically avoid like the plague. But since everyone's talking about it today, and since I like Juan, I feel compelled to say something:

I've been an avid viewer of political argument shows for over 20 years. I grew up watching such old-school shows as Crossfire, Capitol Gang and The McLaughlin Group. As such, I've been watching Juan for at least the better part of 20 years. I've always like Juan because, unlike so many on the left (including a number of folks that I've known personally in my own life), he can express his liberal viewpoints and discuss opposing viewpoints without being hateful, mean-spirited, close-minded and obtuse. He's also obviously a nice guy that one would love to know personally in real life.

I can also say that Juan Williams does not have a bigoted bone in his body. What he was expressing was a truthful admission of the same feeling that many Americans have, and I know that Juan would be the first to also admit that being afraid of the presence of an attired Muslim on a plane is completely irrational (if an Islamic extremist terrorist is on a plane, he/she ain't gonna be decked out in the garb, I can tell you that).

That we can freely discuss, in the open marketplace of ideas, the fact that so many us hold these kinds of irrational fears is only a positive. Such free discussion is the only way that these kinds of fears can be fully exposed for their irrationality. In contrast, it serves absolutely no purpose to silence and/or chill speech on this issue. Someone should tell NPR that.

But let's make no mistake here. Juan wasn't fired because of his comments this week on Fox News. He was fired by the far left-leaning NPR because he's a regular contributor to Fox News programming, and his statements this week provided NPR with a WMD-like pretense to give Juan the ol' pink slip. Which makes the firing all the more ugly and completely antithetical to the merits and fundamental significance of free speech principles.

Put more plainly, NPR should be ashamed of itself. Now, Juan will land just fine through his continued presence on Fox News (which just upped his contract today in response to the NPR firing). But what about the next person that NPR cans for not toting the far left progressive party line? Will that individual land so well? Disturbing stuff. But that's pretty much our daily lot in life as Americans anymore, no?

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20020393-503544.html?tag=cbsContent;cbsCarousel
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130712737&ps=cprs

Mama Diva? "Hurricane Sarah" Reportedly "Wreaking Havoc on the Campaign Trail" with Assorted Instances of Celebrity-Style Crass Behavior.

And that's just what republicans are saying! The story, from today's Politico.com (link at bottom), purports to be based on information from "GOP sources," who repeatedly paint a picture of Palin as being diva-like, "high maintenance," "self-centered" and "herky-jerky." Some conservatives have even taken to calling her "Princess Sarah," with one source telling Politico that "her whole world is chaos."

So why is Palin drawing the ire of so many republicans? Well, the bad behavior alleged by the Politico's sources is quite the proverbial laundry list, including: "Snubbing" senior U.S. senators; Not returning GOP candidates' phone calls; Charging elaborate travel expenses; Breaking promises to endorse certain candidates; Being a nightmare to try to schedule; Shirking her responsibility to show up at events at which she had agreed to appear; Constantly "obsessing about press coverage" at the events for which she does bother to show up; and Placing draconian restrictions upon the scope and nature of those events.

Another reported issue has been the difficulty of GOP candidates even being able to reach Palin in the first place and even knowing how to try to reach her. Politico reports that one GOP U.S. senate campaign actually had to resort to trying to reach Palin through her Facebook page. The campaign never got a response and then had to hit up a news reporter for an e-mail address that might reach Palin. The e-mail drew only a "non-committal reply" from Palin.

Probably telling is the fact that Palin's "camp" is reportedly not denying any of this stuff. Instead, they are offering up excuses such as "she's putting her family first" and that she's been "besieged" on all sides with "pleas for help" from numerous candidates.

But what I'm not sure about is why these stories, while entertaining, would come as any real surprise to much of anyone? The Palin of 2010 strikes me as much more of an aristocratic and cartoon-like celebrity "diva" than a serious politician. And these GOP candidates should realize that if you want to run in the celebrity world, then you've got to pay The Princess (errrr, fiddler). Where's the shock?

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43936.html

D'OH!!! They're Saying the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse Is Actually 50-100 Years Away! NOW They Tell Me.

The Net is abuzz today with a new report finding that the Mayan-based End-of-the-World prediction for December 21, 2012 is actually a load of bunk! (And I'm glad they're around to tell us these things -- link to story at bottom).

The new report (which is actually a chapter in a new textbook) says that the 2012 Doomsday prediction was based on a miscalculation and mis-conversion of the Mayan calendar dates to the modern calendar. As a result, none of us has to worry about the world ending for at least another 50 to 100 years. As the linked story aptly puts it: "End of the World Postponed."

But where in the Sam Hill was this new report five years ago when I needed it! What in the hell am I supposed to do with the 100 cases of bottled water that I squirreled away down in my basement? Water the yard with 'em? And what about the 25 crates of Campbell's condensed soup that I have in another corner of said basement? I don't think even the local hobo pantry would want that much crap.

And don't even get me started on that 300-lb. pallet of Ramen Noodles that I hauled into my garage on a Skid Steer last year. And as for that fallout shelter that I installed in my backyard: Can you say m-o-t-h-b-a-l-l-s? Yes, I stand before you today a broken man. Damn pesky Doomsday recalculations.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20101019/sc_livescience/endoftheearthpostponed

Funky Like a Monkey: Chimp Goes Ape, Escapes Owner, and Goes Bananas Today on the Streets of Kansas City! You Can Legally Own Those Things, BTW?

This is no monkey business: As reported in today's Kansas City Star online (link at bottom), a female chimpanzee named Sueko "got loose from her chains" today (the owner keeps it chained up?) and wreaked havoc in and around the 7700 block of Indiana Avenue in KCMO. The beast (apparently having a bit of a criminal streak to her) wandered about the neighborhood trying to break into cars and homes.

Then, when the cops showed up, Sueko must have really gone Bedtime For Bonzo because she bashed in a cop car window with her bare hands (or do chimps technically have paws? Hoofs?). (No word if the cop car belonged to Sheriff Lobo, BTW).

KC cops say they were ready to go Rambo on the monkey's ass if she tried to approach any people, as KC's Finest reportedly brandished AR-15 assault rifles to "put the animal down" if need be. Lucky for Sueko, she didn't approach any people, which gave the dog catcher folks time to arrive and shoot the chimp with a tranquilizer dart.

But nothing doin' on that front! Unphased, the monkey shinnied her way up a tree. By that time, her owner had arrived with a giant cage in the back of his truck. The animal finally came down out the tree and scurried into said cage, unharmed. It takes more than one tranquilizer shot to bring down ol' Sueko, the owner crowed. But I wonder: How's Sueko against assault rifles? Idiot.

Which leads me to a question raised at the top. I had thought that it was illegal in this day and age to own any of the "great apes" (chimps, gorillas, orangutans) as pets -- the old TV show B.J. & The Bear (pictured above) notwithstanding? But apparently not, as the Star's story indicates that owning Sueko would have been legal if not for a damn pesky local ordinance that makes it illegal to have "a dangerous animal within city limits." And make no mistake: Chimps -- which are much, much stronger than humans -- can be a very dangerous wild animal.

As a result, Sueko's owner got slapped with a citation (the second time for this owner), and Sueko's for now been transported to an "exotic animal" shelter elsewhere in Jackson County until a "permanent solution" can be determined. Here's hoping that the "solution" ultimately found involves Sueko going to a zoo where she belongs.

One funny part of this story was listening to a local radio station's traffic reporter over the noon hour. It went something like this: "That lane closure on southbound I-35 has you backed up all the way to the Cambridge Circle, and we also have reports of a car fire on northbound I-29 near the airport, which is slowing down traffic. Also reports of a monkey, a primate of some sort, leaping all over parked vehicles on the 7700 block of Indiana in KCMO. You should probably avoid that block until police get things under control..."

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/19/2330884/gorilla-escapes-kc-home-smashes.html

Crunch Time: CHAOS & MADNESS Sweep Through Political Races Across the Country!

This is high entertainment and should only get better in the days to come as we now stand a mere two weeks in advance of the 2010 midterm elections. Just the past few days have seen the following bizarre set of events and quotes from members of both parties (links at bottom):

-Alaska GOP senatorial candidate Joe Miller on Sunday had his bodyguards handcuff a reporter who showed up at a campaign event to try to ask Miller some questions.

-Kentucky republican senatorial candidate Rand Paul (like Miller, a deranged right-winger tea partier) refuses to shake hands with his democrat party opponent, Jack Conway, following a debate Sunday night (for his part, Conway during the debate accused Paul of once tying a woman up and forcing her to "worship a false idol").

-Obama over the weekend likens republicans to the evil Imperial forces from the Star Wars franchise, alleging that "the Empire is striking back."

-Creature of the House Nancy Pelosi gets set today to deliver a new speech in which she is expected to blame nearly every calamity known to man on George W. Bush and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

-The gay boyfriend (not that there's anything wrong with that) of democrat Rep. Barney Frank shows up this weekend and heckles Frank's GOP opponent, Sean Bielat, following a Massachusetts congressional debate.

-Senate majority leader Harry Reid on Sunday takes the insane politicization of the Chilean miners' rescue to a new lows, comparing and likening Obama himself to the miners' heroic story.

-Republicans Sarah Palin and Lindsey Graham, respectively, accuse Obama of lacking the ability to count correctly and of "taking over most of society."

And it's only October 18!!! I think the fun 'n games are just getting started. Hey, I don't call these people deranged right-wingers and loony left-wingers for nothin'!

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43737.html
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43741.html
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/10/17/obama_on_gop_the_empire_is_striking_back.html

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43726.html
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/10/17/barney_franks_boyfriend_heckles_gop_opponent_after_debate.html
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/10/18/harry_reid_obama_like_the_chilean_miners.html

They Have No Shame: American Leftist and Right-Wing Slimeballs Try to Politicize the Chilean Miners Story.

I've heard and seen it all over the place in recent days: Deranged right-wingers such as Rush Slimebaugh trying to credit the good ol' American capitalist system for rescuing the trapped miners, while loony left-wingers such as MSNBC's Chris Matthews dispute that point and claim that if we had a "Tea Party America," the miners would now all be dead (the linked column is one example of some of the back-and-forth).

Enough already! Can there ever be even one natural disaster or tragic (or near-tragic) event domestically or worldwide that the two American political extremes will not try to politicize, take credit for and/or assign blame to the other extreme? It's pure mindlessness. I have little doubt that I could go do a Google search right now and probably find whackjobs trying to blame Bush for the Chiliean miners being trapped or trying credit Bush or some right-wing policy for saving the miners.

And these partisans actually sit around wondering why so much of the electorate (including many Independents) distrusts and is thoroughly fed up with both parties these days and is ready to kick the leftists dems to the curb in a few weeks just two years after kicking a rather pathetic republican party to the same location. They just don't get it. Well, we Independents (the ones who control your election outcomes) are going to be more than happy to keep showing your slimy partisan asses that very same curb, election cycle after election cycle, until you finally stop representing only the minority slivers of the population that constitute your so-called "bases."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-k-black/capitalism-would-have-kil_b_764948.html

Add a New Title To House Creature Nancy Pelosi's Resume: COWARD.

As shown in the linked YouTube video, today Creature Feature indicates that she will not debate her November GOP opponent, John Dennis. The highly pathetic excuse she gives is that her "time is money" and that she needs to spend her time jetsetting around the country helping her fellow democrat party candidates win their races and retain control of the House -- as if any democrat candidate in the country wants Creature Pelosi anywhere near their race! Really though, she's about as popular across the country as room service in a Mississippi $hithouse.

Which leads me to only one conclusion: She's an arrogant (we knew that), out-of-touch (knew that too), egomaniacal (old news) political coward (not a term I've used previously to describe her). And this far leftist creature -- afraid to engage in the even the most rudimentary activity of a political race (i.e. a debate) -- is actually second in the line of succession to the presidency! Truly frightening, as I've stated before. Hell, even slimeball Senate majority leader Harry Reid debated his opponent this week (albeit giving the sort of listless, rotten performance that must have Lincoln and Douglas rolling over in their graves).

[Postscript: We'll see how a few days of publicity on this story change or don't change the Creature's tune on the debate issue. For now, she says she has better things to do with her time. I doubt that will change, but these slimeball politicians (in both parties) constantly change their tune at the drop of a hat in the face of bad pub -- although that only rarely occurs when it comes to the upper echelon of the politically powerful, such as the Creature of the House.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC4xMOwldSk

WTF? And the Concerning Part Is That You Know Plenty of People Are Going to Watch This!

The first picture above is a scene from Sarah Palin's new TLC reality show ("Sarah Palin's Alaska"), which is set to debut on November 14. A new trailer from the show purports to give a flavor for what the show's all about. That basically comes down to two things, as best as I can tell: (1) Sarah hanging around outdoors; and (2) Sarah hanging around indoors. Exciting stuff, no?

According to the trailer and linked article, if you've ever wondered what it would be like to see Sarah Palin boating, hiking and riding on a dog sled, then this show's for you. And if you are in need some motherly wisdom and advice to pass along to your own kids, then Sarah offers little gems like this: "No boys upstairs," she tells the youngest daughter.

Palin sums up the show by crowing, "This is flippin' fun!" And I do suppose that's one way of putting it, much in the same way that activities like sleeping and yawning can be described as "fun" if you happen to be tired.

But alas, I have no doubt that plenty of fools across the country will watch this silliness (including plenty of hateful liberals looking for new Palin material). As a result, it's definitely a candidate to become the next reality series that I cover/recap on this blog. After recently enduring nine long episodes of The Real Housewives of DC, I guess you might say that I'm just a glutton for punishment.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/15/shots-of-palin-reality-show-revealed/#more-128867

That Son of a Gun: After 5 Years, You’d Think Darth Vader Could Offer Up So Much as a Lousy Apology for Shooting & Seriously Injuring a Fellow Hunter.

A story in today’s Washington Post is shedding new light on the February 2006 incident in which then-vice president Dick Cheney shot another hunter on a South Texas ranch. The Post reports that Cheney has never bothered to apologize to the shooting victim, 82-year-old Harry Whittington (pictured immediately above), which sounds like an emotional issue for Whittington. Indeed, new facts disclosed in the Post’s story make it clear that a simple apology is the least that Cheney could do.

First, the Post debunks the prior claims of Cheney and his defenders that Whittington was an “old friend” and “hunting buddy” of Cheney’s. Whittington tells the post that in reality, the two “barely knew each other and had met briefly just three times since the mid-1970s.”

Next, the Post reports that Whittington’s injuries were “more dire than previously disclosed” by Cheney and the Bush administration. As a result of the shooting, Whittington reportedly still has approximately 30 pieces of birdshot inside his body. It’s also reported that some of that birdshot is near his heart, which caused him to suffer a mild heart attack (sending him to the local intensive care unit) in the days that followed the shooting.

The Post also reports that Whittington suffered a collapsed lung and had to have invasive exploratory surgery “to check his vital organs for damage.” Moreover, says the Post, the shooting was very nearly fatal, as “the load from Cheney’s gun came close to, but didn’t damage, the carotid artery in [Whittington’s] neck.”

As the media has reported previously, Cheney did his best Ted Kennedy Chappaquiddick impersonation following the shooting. As the linked story details, Cheney didn’t speak to police investigators until the morning following the shooting, and he didn’t inform the media about the shooting until a local Texas newspaper reported it. Just for good measure, Cheney refused to speak to the media about the shooting for days. The only thing missing from that equation was Mary Jo Kopechne and a dead body.

And apparently all of that delay with the police and the media was so that Cheney could get his story straight and, possibly, so that he could fully sober up. In short, the Post’s story raises new questions about Cheney’s conduct on the day of the shooting. The Post questions “whether the circumstances of the accident ‘may have pushed the limits of safety,’ because the group was hunting at dusk and visibility may have been poor; Cheney may not have had a clear line of fire before shooting, and there may have been alcohol involved.”

Of course! We can’t have a Chappaquiddick without some boozin’, now can we? And Cheney’s never denied that he drank that day, instead giving the classic drunk driver response in the days that followed the shooting and claiming that he only “had one beer at lunch” that day. That from a deranged Neo-con whose administration had no trouble deceiving us about the pretext (WMDs) for entering a costly and bloody war in Iraq.

So are you really going to believe the ol’ “I just had one beer, officer” routine? I sure as hell don’t. That story’s about as probable as the chances of Cheney acting like a man one of these days and apologizing to an individual whom Cheney seriously injured and almost killed.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/10/texas-man-shot-by-vice-president-cheney-in-2006-still-waiting-for-apology.html

Before She Was Weird, Famous & Filthy Rich, She Had a Future as a Potential Gumar & Gun Moll to the Sopranos and Crazy Willie Beano (Rhymes w/ Dino)!

Who'da thunk? I never before realized that Lady Gaga once appeared on The Sopranos, and apparently no one else did either, as the YouTube video of her appearance has only gone viral on the Net over the past few days (the first link below connects to the video). Gaga, then age 15, appeared in the 2001 episode entitled, "The Telltale Moozadell," from Season 3 (as pictured immediately above). ("Moozadell," BTW, is Italian slang for mozzarella cheese).

In the episode, Gaga had very limited dialogue but took part in a scene (which I can actually vaguely recall) in which A.J. Soprano and his friends (Gaga among them) participate in trashing the school pool by tossing various forms of debris therein. Someone's gonna have to pull out his old VHS tapes tonight! (since I'd want to see the entire episode in context and also see how she's named in the closing credits)

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/video/teen-gaga-sopranos-11852564

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2010/10/11/2010-10-11_lady_gaga_sopranos_appearance_at_age_15_in_2001_shows_singer_as_one_of_ajs_class.html?r=entertainment

"The Next Sarah Palin"? Before We Go THAT Far, Can We See Her in a Tight T-Shirt, Please?

She's republican Kristi Noem and she's running for Congress in South Dakota as she looks to unseat incumbent democrat Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin. And some of the similarities to Palin are rather striking: Attractive, late 30's; mother of three; rancher; "avid hunter known to hunt elk with a bow and arrow"; highly successful fundraiser; and staunchly conservative (what else?).

But Noem reportedly "wants no part" of being compared to Palin and has "balked" at the idea of Palin campaigning for her in South Dakota. (As a result, I wonder if Todd Palin will be firing off some nasty e-mails at Noem referring to Sarah's "ass" like he was doing last week to Joe Miller?)

And while this may be the thinly populated and fairly conservative state of South Dakota, it's additionally striking how much Noem's congressional race looks like most of the other ones nationwide. For example, incumbent opponent Herseth-Sandlin is out there (like so many dems right now) disingenuously trying to hide from voters what she really is through claims of being "independent" and boasts of voting against her own party and with the republicans (while Noem claims that Herseth-Sandlin actually voted with Nancy Pelosi 90% of the time).

Another similarity is the democrat party's 2010 tactic of focusing almost exclusively upon any bit of dirt that can be dredged from the candidate's past so that there need not be word one spoken as to the democrat party's awful and destructive policies and legislative agenda of the past two years. Herseth-Sandlin seems to be taking this tactic to the extreme, running ads that attempt to take Noem to task for past speeding tickets, of all things! Hell, I think all the tickets are cool. Gal likes her speed! Lady likes it fast!

Maybe next, the democrat party can expend resources trying to uncover whether Noem has ever let her dog run around in public without any tags? And I bet there are some long, lost parking tickets in this woman's closet! And I imagine that someone's surely heard her use curse words a time or two as well!

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/elections-2010-south-dakota-sarah-palin/story?id=11860378

They Get My Vote For Slimeballs of the Year: Michigan Couple Taunts Dying Little Girl Next Door with Grim Reapers, Crossbones & Coffins.

What a couple of sick scumwads. The linked story reports on the heartbreaking story of 7-year-old Kathleen Edward (pictured on the left) of Trenton, Michigan. She's in the final stages of what's described as Huntington's Disease, a degenerative brain disorder. The same condition killed Kathleen's mother, Laura, when she was 24 years old.

How can things get any more tragic than that for one family? Well, one way is when you have a couple of sleazebucket neighbors named Jennifer and Scott Petkov. It's reported that the Petkovs have been peeved at Kathleen's family ever since a birthday party at Kathleen's house two years ago. It seems that Jennifer Petkov's kids were not invited, but (after the party had started) she texted Kathleen's family and asked if the Petkov kids could come on over. As one of the linked stories reports, "a response to the text did not come quickly enough and it angered Jennifer." Kathleen's family says that Jennifer Petkov has "been harassing them ever since" (with husband Scott also getting in on the act).

"Harassment" is putting it mildly. As Kathleen's terminal condition worsened, the Petkovs saw fit to start taunting the dying little girl: The Petkovs "have . . . admitted to posting grim depictions of Laura and Kathleen on Facebook. One photo depicts Laura in the arms of the grim reaper, while the other features Kathleen's face above a set of crossbones." When Jennifer Petkov was asked why she and her husband posted the vile photos on Facebook, Jennifer said it was for her own "personal satisfaction" and because she knew it would upset the family. Nice lady.

And just for good measure, it's reported that the Petkovs also built and hitched up a coffin to their pick-up truck in their front yard. But apparently even that wasn't enough for these two bullying slimes. They then took to driving the coffin past Kathleen's house and honking the horn so that Kathleen would be sure to see the morbid sight.

All this over sour grapes because little sonny and sweet baby jane didn't get invited over to Kathleen's for the birthday party! I just hope there's a special Coffin Corner section of Hell for the Petkovs and people like them. They deserve their own "Special Section," as they say.

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/the_edge/dying-girl-taunted-by-neighbors-in-trenton

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/terminally-ill-year-olds-family-bullied-neighbors/story?id=11851233