Mother To Children: "Keep It Civil, Or ... "

A Tampa, Fla., mother accused of murdering her two teenage children because they were "mouthy" was hospitalized today, delaying her first scheduled court appearance.

Julie Schenecker, 50, a military officer's wife, was arrested Friday when police, responding to call from a concerned relative, found her covered in blood on the back porch of her home.

The woman allegedly confessed to the officers there that she had shot her 13-year-old son and then her 16-year-old daughter because they were "mouthy."

According to police, Schenecker shot her son in the face while they were on the way to soccer practice, then drove to the family home in in a gated country club community in north Tampa, where she shot her daughter in the back of the head while the teen was studying at her computer.

[...]

The motive she allegedly gave, both in the note and in her interviews with police, was the children "talked back and were mouthy," McElroy said.

"During a post-Miranda interview with detectives, the suspect confessed to killing her two children," police said in a statement. "She described the crimes in detail."

According to WFTS-TV, Schenecker's husband, Army Col. Parker Schenecker, is stationed at the headquarters of U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.

CentCom spokesman Lt. Col. Michael Lawhorn told the station that Parker Schenecker, a career Army intelligence officer, had been away for several days. Police said they had contacted the husband in Qatar Friday and told him his children had been killed.

From ABC, whose fucking videos auto-play. Loudly. You've been warned.

Home Boys

Visible missing tooth? ✔
Smokes? ✔
Doesn't drive much? ✔
Stupid haircut, earrings? Uh, nope.

We could still be the same person, +/- the heiress wife.

Fuck Tha' Police & Everybody Like Them

Few things make us happier than telebision images of police forces running for their lives from the righteously aroused mass of the workers.

Also enjoyable watching: Mubarak, hemming & hawwing, claiming to be on the side of the people, but whining about looting & burning, & giving an entirely bogus speech about "job opportunities" & other yada. He bears quite a resemblance to a B-movie vampire, w/ the widow's peak & solid black hair color.

We encourage the brave Egyptian people to string him up like his counterpart across the Mediterranean, Mussolini.

Visual aid.

Facebook Groups We Won't Be Joining

Biggest Asshole In The World Today

On Monday, the Utah State Capitol celebrated Browning Day, honoring John Moses Browning, native son and maker of the nominee for Official State Firearm. There were speeches, a proclamation, a flyover by a National Guard helicopter, and, of course, a rotunda full of guns. “We recognize his efforts to preserve the Constitution,” Gov. Gary Herbert said, in keeping with what appears to be a new Republican regulation requiring all party members to mention the Constitution at least once in every three sentences.

It is generally not a good policy to dwell on the strange behavior of state legislators since it leads to bottomless despair. If I wanted to go down that road, I’d give you Mark Madsen, a Utah state senator who tried to improve upon the Browning Day celebrations by suggesting they be scheduled to coincide with Martin Luther King Day since “both made tremendous contributions to individual freedom and individual liberty.”

[DING! DING! We have a winner! — Ed.]

But it’s a symptom of a new streak of craziness abroad in the land, which has politicians scrambling to prove not just that they are against gun regulation, but also that they are proactively in favor of introducing guns into every conceivable part of American life. National parks. Schools. Bars. Airports.

“There is abundant research suggesting in cities where more people own guns, the crime rate, especially the murder rate, goes down,” Utah’s new United States senator, Mike Lee, told CNN.

Actually, there’s a ton of debate about this, which is hard to resolve given the fact that, as Michael Luo reported in The Times, the N.R.A.’s crack lobbyists have managed to stop almost all federal financing for scientific research on gun-related questions. But Lee has definitely made the list of most creative commentators on these matters, ever since he dismissed calls for a calmer political rhetoric after the Tucson massacre by arguing that “the shooter wins if we, who’ve been elected, change what we do just because of what he did.”

Feel free to say whatever you like about the senator’s thinking. Be frank. Otherwise, the shooter wins.

Good one, Gail Collins.

Leaving One's Mark In The Groves Of Academe

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. (KTLA) -- An arraignment was postponed Thursday for a professor at Cal State Northridge accused of peeing on a colleague's office door.

Tihomir Petrov, 43, a math professor at the school, has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of urinating in a public place.

Investigators say Petrov urinated on the office door of another math professor with whom he was having a dispute.

School officials set up a camera after discovering puddles of what they thought was urine at the professor's door.

Petrov is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court in San Fernando.

According to websites at CSUN and U.C. Irvine, Petrov specializes in algebraic geometry and and algebraic k-theory.

Photo of the suspect.

Sarah Palin: Mutant?

Couldn't be. Could it? (Our emphasis.)

The former Republican vice-presidential candidate planned to have dinner at the Richland home of her aunt Katie Johnson, a sister of Palin's mother.

Palin's grandparents, Clem and Helen Sheeran, moved to Richland in 1943 so he could work at the Hanford nuclear reservation.

"It's kind of surreal. But it's really good to be back in the Tri-Cities to reconnect with the roots," Palin told reporters after touching down in a private jet. "I like the wonderful chaos of the family (at Thanksgiving.)"

Does Andrew Sullivan know about this?

Sexism & Misogyny Up-Date

Did you know that if you think that Michele Bachmann is ignorant, delusional, & possibly paranoid, you are a misogynist & hater?

Don't try to deny: Rep. Bachmann is not crazy, stupid or deluded. She is merely going about her grasp for power via non-traditional & circuitous routes. Look:

Which is why I admire what Representative Bachmann is doing. Sure, she and I are diametrically opposed on almost every issue. But here’s where we intersect: I know a thing or two about power from my years on Wall Street. It’s all the same. In most cases, for women to get to the top, they need to take a non-traditional, circuitous route. And that is just what Representative Bachmann is doing. To which I say: brava!

We're the first to admit Matthews is a product of the reactionary Catholicism of his time, but typist Amy Siskind, especially if she's so diametrically opposed to Congresswoman Bachmann, might want to pay attention to the content of Bachmann's various jaw-dropping moments before deciding that sexism & misogyny are part of the reaction.

In other words, it would be sexist to allow Bachmann & Siskind to get away w/ the unadulterated crap they issue because they're of the female persuasion.

Stop playing the victim card, ladies, & take responsibility for having revealed your foolish ignorance & delusions.

Our National Discourse Continues

Listen to more of the same.From.

SOTU: WTF? Party Over For Palin

Enjoy Sarah Palin's take on the proverbial Sputnik moment. Beyond all rational belief. Poor woman sounds like a precocious eight-yr. old who doesn't quite get all the words, but can parrot more than enough of them to fill space while the adults whisper to each other how cute she is. More dough-nut shops! Get the economy rolling by eating each others' dough-nuts!

Also, Bristol, America's Best-Known Un-Wed Mother: Good Example!!

VIDEO UPDATE (1214PT):Spudnut facts available here.

Biggest Asshole In The World Today

And the winner is, made man/scam artist Sal "The Goniff" Russo.Jesus, what a fucking carpet-bagger.

Preparation M.B.

2 November 2010

Video via.

Who's On First?

Others have noticed.

Where are this year's Senate nobodies and mainstream-alienating base-rousers?

Cruelly Unusual?

By DENA POTTER, Associated Press – Wed Jan 26, 6:39 am ET

RICHMOND, Va. – A Virginia legislator is proposing castrating sex offenders as an alternative to the increasing costs to detain and treat them after they've served their prison sentences.

Republican Sen. Emmett Hanger's bill would require the state to study the use of physical castration as an alternative to civil commitment for sexually violent predators. A similar proposal was vetoed four years ago.

The civil commitment program's budget grew from $2.7 million in 2004 to $24 million this year. Gov. Bob McDonnell has proposed spending nearly $70 million over the next two years to meet the increasing demands.

Eight other states allow for some form of castration for sex offenders, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Only Louisiana and Texas allow for physical castration.

Say, where's the little "This bill is Constitutional, honest" part that reactionaries want attached to all legislation?

Bachmann-Perot Overdrive

Do they ever get tired of flapping the same tired lies past their gums?

Overnight Egyptian Unrest Update

Found at War in Context.Really raw video.Why not?

Comparison & Contrast

Just Another Blog™: Short, sweet, to the point. We don't waste time explaining what you're about to see & hear.

Scary-anna's PuffHo: Six paragraphs of what you can see & hear w/ a click. And, posted two hrs. after we hit the electrons. We hear she doesn't run the whole thing herself, either, unlike certain entrepreneurial freedom fighters. If she has helpers & we still beat her by two hrs., why the hell is that Greek making money while we can barely keep ourself in bacon?

Joan Walsh, verbose as well, but she was there.

CNN piles on.

Gun Worship Update

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — State lawmakers are debating whether to designate a semiautomatic pistol as the official gun of Utah, despite protests from people who believe it’s inappropriate because of recent mass shootings.

The bill to make the Browning M1911 the official gun breezed through a committee hearing this week and is scheduled to be debated by the full House as early as Wednesday.

Republican Rep. Carl Wimmer said the state should have the gun as one of its state symbols to honor John Browning, a Utah native who invented it in 1911.

“He invented a firearm that has defended American values and the traditions of this country for 100 years,” Wimmer told the House Political Subdivisions Committee.

Utah has 24 state symbols recognizing the history, geography and culture of the state. They include a state cooking pot, a state tree, a state hymn and a state folk dance.

The committee approved the bill to add a state gun on a 9-2 vote.

Wimmer said the Browning M1911 is widely used by the military, police officers and private citizens, which is why he chose the pistol instead of another Browning gun.

Gun Violence Prevention Center board member Steve Gunn told The Associated Press honoring the M1911 is wrong because the people who opened fire in most recent U.S. mass shootings used semiautomatic pistols. That includes the Jan. 8 Arizona shooting in which six people were killed and 13 — including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords — were wounded with a Glock pistol.

“It’s an embarrassment to the state to have as a symbol that was used only a few weeks ago to kill innocent people,” Gunn said.

Wimmer told the AP he had been planning the bill for about a year and the Arizona shooting did not change his mind.

“There is nothing about the actions of a madman to change the fact that firearms have been used throughout our history to defend American values and traditions,” Wimmer said.

House Minority Leader David Litvak said while he opposes designating a state gun, the Arizona shooting did not give the debate any urgency.

“We need to be careful about using that tragedy to push a political position,” the Democrat said.

He suggested the state honor Browning in a different way that focused on his many inventions, not just one of his guns.

Jennifer Seelig, who voted against the measure said she did not see the debate as pro- or anti-gun. Instead, it is about the message sent by the state having such a polarizing symbol, she said.

“It has a lot of deep-rooted, complex and complicated meanings on a wide spectrum, from defending life to taking it,” said Seelig, also a Democrat.

Seelig said she supports gun rights and has a permit to carry a concealed weapon. But like Litvack, she would prefer to honor Browning in a different way.

Republican Rep. Stephen Sandstrom told the committee that recognizing the M1911 is an appropriate honor for Browning. Instead of the gun being blamed for killing people, it should be credited for saving lives on the battlefield, Sandstrom said.

“Tragic events happen because of bad people in this world. But handguns, and firearms in general, do not kill people,” Sandstrom said. “We need to stop demonizing firearms.”
___
The bill to designate a state firearm is H.B. 219.

A preferable Browning, if you must make one your state gun:

You can really defend yourself w/ one of these.

Son Of A Bitch!

1900+ & he's still on. And on.

UPDATE (1913): He's done; now the interminable blather. Will this be out of everyone's systems by sometime tomorrow, or will it require something else happening to get beyond the endless augury?

Nostalgia Corner

This shot, from PuffHo's ground-breaking Flight Attendant Uniforms Through History slideshow,

reminded us that our very own maternal grandmother owned at least one taxidermed fox pelt, paws, tail, creepy solid black "eyes," & all. Real-appearing peepers would've been too creepy, we guess, even for the sort of person who would drape a carcass around her neck in order to be well dressed.

Really, as little as 50 yrs. ago, Americans roamed free w/ dead animals draped over them, Flintstones-style. This may explain why so many of them are still dragging their knuckles.

Riots Goin' On

Been so busy avoiding SOTU speculation that we entirely missed this. As if American news organizations would especially bother to cover it.

"We have never seen anything like this before – it is the first day of the Egyptian revolution," said Karim Rizk, one of those who joined multiple rallies in the capital. Apparently taken by surprise at the size of protests, police initially stood back and allowed demonstrators to occupy public squares and march through the streets, an unprecedented move in a country where political gatherings are strictly outlawed and demonstrations are normally quickly shut down by security forces. "We have taken back our streets today from the regime and they won't recover from the blow," claimed Rizk.

Today's protests were called by a coalition of online activists, who had declared 25 January a "day of revolt" against the ruling elite and encouraged Egyptians to follow in the footsteps of Tunisia, where mass demonstrations forced President Ben Ali to flee earlier this month. As evening fell thousands of protesters from separate demonstrations converged on Tahrir Square, Cairo's central plaza, and begun an occupation that continued into the night. Demonstrators waved Egyptian and Tunisian flags, hauled down a billboard for the ruling NDP party and chanted "depart Mubarak" at the 82-year-old leader, who will face presidential elections later this year.

And of course:

• US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said Mubarak's government is stable despite the demonstrations. Mubarak is an important US partner in the Middle East.

Getting The Snoot

Were we a sensitive conservative flower, paranoid & a-wallow in our feelings, we might think this had been directed directly at us:

I never feel more married to my wife than when we enter another couple's house for the first time and, on seeing that the television is a bit too large, or too prominently placed in the front room, look at one another and—well, I was going to say "arch our eyebrows," but of course we do not even need to do that. The mere look, the meeting of the eyes, does it all.

No really, come over any time. We're dying to know what you think of telebision size & placement chez Bouffant.

Thought it funny as well, & earlier.

Chris Matthews Vs. Partisan Hack

Ol' Tweety is getting tired of the Tea Partiers & their bullshit: "Do you want me to play it again?"And what in hell is wrong w/ Michelle Bachmann, the balloon-head?

Star Shite, Star Bright

Editorial Note: Maybe it's because we're older & possibly a bit wiser, but we're damn sure we could pass the remainder of our being, in cyber- & meat-space, & in whichever circle of hell to which we're consigned, w/o once mentioning Star Trek, Star Wars, or any iteration of Battle Star Galactica. Period. Let alone mention any of the above as any sort of political guide/example/lesson or anything else.

So what's the fucking deal w/ our esteemed national columnists (also Jonah Goldberg) & the constant refraining of these insipid Hollywood cash machines?

The Outrage: Where Is It?

Also: This is news?

At least seven Cabinet secretaries to President George W. Bush took politically motivated trips at taxpayer expense while aides falsely claimed they were traveling on official business, the independent Office of Special Counsel said Monday night in concluding a three-year probe.

Angry Bear!

Rudely jack-hammmered into what passes for consciousness several hrs. earlier than desired by some motherfucker jack-hammering. This may not end well. We have rights too, you know.

Just Say No

To the SOTU & all anticipation/discussion thereof, already.

Plan: Sack out now, miss eight to ten hrs. of televised/radioed foaming. Damn Internet is always there, if we are lucky enough to miss anything.

Bite Your Tongue

And while we're on the subject of why not a single Republican has announced a presidential candidacy yet — yep, that's the subject — isn't the answer obvious? It's because they all know Barack Obama is as good as a shoo-in in 2012. Unless something cataclysmic happens, the only reason for any Republican to run is either as a vanity candidate or to get practice for 2016.

Kevin Drum, in passing.

This inspired us to revisit something typed, oh, yesterday or something.

Another reason to get that Mitt money down now: Once the tea-bagging loons of the 112th Congress have done we can't imagine what, up to gov't. shutdowns & fucking w/ our Social Security, & have made idjits of themselves each & every time they foamed at their mouths, a candidate like Romney, who can afford handlers to keep the foaming internalized & maintain his perfect coiffure will be looking real good.

We could correlate from our previous punditry that the silly to stark-raving-mad behavior this new Congress may display might result in a dire shortage of candidates willing to have their asses handed to them by the anti-colonialist Kenyan Musselman. As soon as the republic collapsed under the weight of socialist debt/free GM cars for everyone, all blame would be laid right at the loser's feet.

Hell, just imagine all the spin that'd be required just to explain away a second loss to The Usurper, end of liberty & freedom or not.

Still Shrill (& Liberal)

NFL Nostalgia Econ 101

Slightly deep item on the No Fun League, w/ local perspective.

We Can Flog That Corpse Too*

Romney Celebrates Reagan Legacy

Mitt Romney takes to USA Today to pay tribute to Ronald Reagan, noting his "legacy is very much alive. Only amiable dunces cannot see that."

*So damn lazy we stole the title from the comments,

once it occurred to us we could throw the video in, & that doing so would be flaying the skin off the demented old bastard as well.

Mitt-Mentum 2012!

Getting the feeling this time around that Mittens' Mormonism may not be the impediment it probably was last time around.

“A candidate for president of the United States should be capable of becoming president, and then competent to be the president,” DeMoss wrote in a five-page missive sent to about 200 top pastors, donors, intellectuals and leaders on the Christian right.

DeMoss, a public relations executive who also backed Romney in 2008, offered an impassioned case for the former Massachusetts governor but also took some barely-veiled swipes at Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin.

“Those who would suggest I am placing values on the back burner will be misreading me and wrong,” he wrote. “I am only saying that a candidate’s values alone are not enough to get my vote. For example, my pastor shares my values, but I don’t want him to be my president. (By the way, ‘energizing a crowd’ is also not enough; Justin Bieber can do that—but I don’t want him to be president either.)”

We also figure that as long as Romney mouths the politically proper boilerplate for the next yr. & change, nothing he did or professed prior to 2008 (Well, nothing beyond the usual crap about what a successful takeover artist he was.) will even be part of the primary equation, the Republican primary voter being what s/he is.

In broader terms (since the fugging election is 22 mos. away & to steal a bit more from POLITICO stealing from this DeMoss dude) how many low-info voters are interested in winning/governing? Sure, they're interested in campaigning, pissing off the liberals & all that, but will Romney's alleged competence & electability be seen as intolerable compromise by the bitter clinger?

DeMoss, who represents such leading evangelists as Franklin Graham, argued that most all of the likely Republican presidential candidates meet a values test so Christian conservatives should ask three other questions:

1. Who is most capable of winning the Republican nomination?

2. Who is most capable of mounting the kind of campaign (raising money, recruiting staff and volunteers, presenting a clear message) necessary to upset a sitting president?

3. Who is most capable of actually being the president of the United States—governing and serving as the CEO of the largest enterprises on the planet?

Romney, argued DeMoss, was well-positioned financially and in the polls to meet the electability standard and, because of his background in business, is up for the job.

So DeMoss urged the recipients of his documents to rally behind the former Massachusetts governor so as to create a sense of inevitability and increase his prospects against the well-funded President Obama.

“Realizing most of the people being mentioned as possible presidential candidates have little chance of winning a nomination given the compressed primary calendar and the high cost of competing, we can begin to mobilize support for one who can,” DeMoss wrote of Romney, who has yet to even announce his candidacy. “Realizing that fewer still have a realistic shot at defeating President Obama, we can give someone who does a quicker path to the nomination so he has more time to mobilize a general election campaign operation with a chance of winning.”

He continued: “This is essentially what happened for George W. Bush prior to the 2000 election cycle. He had so much early support and so many endorsements he was virtually unstoppable in his quest for the nomination—momentum which then carried him to victory over Al Gore.”

Yes, that & Supreme Court-mentum.

Another reason to get that Mitt money down now: Once the tea-bagging loons of the 112th Congress have done we can't imagine what, up to gov't. shutdowns & fucking w/ our Social Security, & have made idjits of themselves each & every time they foamed at their mouths, a candidate like Romney, who can afford handlers to keep the foaming internalized & maintain his perfect coiffure will be looking real good.

Results Of Sunday Afternoon's Big Games

DETROIT (AP) — A gunman opened fire inside a Detroit police precinct on Sunday, wounding four officers including a commander before he was shot and killed by police, authorities said.

The gunman walked in through the precinct's revolving door around 4:20 p.m. with a pistol grip shotgun and opened fire, Sgt. Todd Eby, who was sitting at his desk in the precinct at the time of the shooting, told the Detroit Free Press. He said officers shot back at the gunman, killing him.

"Utter chaos and pandemonium took place," Police Chief Ralph Godbee said at a news conference. "We have a number of officers who are shaken up."

In the early game:

PORT ORCHARD, Wash. (AP) — Sheriff’s officers say a shootout Sunday afternoon at a Walmart in Washington state left two people dead and two sheriff’s deputies wounded.

Kitsap County sheriff’s spokesman Scott Wilson says a man was shot to death by deputies outside the store in Port Orchard Sunday afternoon, while a young woman died after being taken to a Tacoma hospital.

Wilson says officers received a call about a suspicious person at the store. He says deputies tried to talk to the man, who then ran and began shooting. Three deputes, including the two wounded, returned fire.

Wilson says he doesn’t know whether the two people who were killed knew each other.

Note To These United Snakes

Your national anthem sucks, bloody-minded American lunatics!