Monday, January 31, 2011

Kill For Peace

"She seemed like a very well-adjusted person. ... She spent years in the military [and] as the wife of a career officer," friend Jan Graham told AOL News.

Schenecker, 50, of suburban Tampa, Fla., was arrested Friday and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her son, Beau, 13, and her daughter, Calyx, 16. Tampa police said she confessed to the killings.
Really? Anyone who commits state-sanctioned murder, or aids & abets therein can be considered "well-adjusted?" Maybe being a killer-for-hire, or enabling such killers, is perfectly respectable now. Might explain a lot about this blood-soaked nation.

Pretty Much* Today's Biggest Biblically-Defined Asshole

We can not fucking wait until do what thou wilt does become the whole of the law. Because there will be bodies. For example,
Franklin has been in the Georgia House of Representatives since 1996, and his Facebook profile describes him as "the most conservative member of the Georgia General Assembly."

"Representative Franklin has been called 'the conscience of the Republican Caucus"' because he believes that civil government should return to its biblically and constitutionally defined role," his House website states.
this guy needs to be run over by an eight-yr. old whose little legs can't quite reach the brake pedal, if only to keep irony on life support.
ATLANTA -- A state lawmaker from Marietta is sponsoring a bill that seeks to do away with Georgia driver's licenses.

State Rep. Bobby Franklin, R-Marietta, has filed House Bill 7, calling it the "Right to Travel Act."

In his bill, Franklin states, "Free people have a common law and constitutional right to travel on the roads and highways that are provided by their government for that purpose. Licensing of drivers cannot be required of free people, because taking on the restrictions of a license requires the surrender of an inalienable right."

Franklin told CBS Atlanta News that driver's licenses are a throw back to oppressive times. “Agents of the state demanding your papers," he said. "We’re getting that way here.”

CBS Atlanta's Rebekka Schramm asked Franklin, “How are we going to keep up with who’s who and who’s on the roads and who’s not supposed to be on the roads?”

“That’s a great question," Franklin said. "And I would have to answer that with a question, ‘Why do you need to know who’s who?’”

“What about 12-14-year-olds who want to drive? What would stop them?" Schramm asked.

“Well, what’s stopping them now anyway?” Franklin answered.
Rep. Bobby, as seen at his site, is a double threat:
A graduate of Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, Representative Franklin earned a degree in both Biblical Studies and Business Administration. Bobby is an active member of the Reformed Presbyterian Church.
*We didn't look so hard.

First Ape In Space

On 31 January 1961, Dittmer dressed Ham in a nappy, [To poop boldly where no chimp has pooped before! — M.B.] waterproof pants and a spacesuit, fitted him with sensors to monitor his heart rate, breathing and body temperature and sealed him into the capsule of the 25-metre-long Mercury-Redstone 2 spacecraft. During Ham's 16-minute ordeal, he experienced some crushing forces on take-off and re-entry and weightlessness for more six minutes. But apart from his evident terror, he seemed otherwise unharmed. He'd beaten Gagarin into space by a clear 10 weeks.
Afterwards, Ham retired to the US National Zoo in Washington DC. There, he enjoyed a celebrity lifestyle, pampered by keepers, receiving mail from adoring fans and answering some of it with his fingerprinted autograph. In 1980 and vastly overweight, Ham moved to North Carolina Zoo, where he died in 1983.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

EXTERIORS

(Version)

Sepia World

It being many paragraphs, w/ words & punctuation too, you needn't read it, but it's an interesting enough (to us, as a California-type) item comparing forgotten Frémont & present-day Palin.

Does Palin-free mo. really start Tues.?

Support The Troops

The Super Bowl is upon us. An inoculation against the forthcoming media circus.
At a certain point, we are -- in part -- defined by this tendency. That America endorses the NFL's pain party starts to say something about the country. Such as: American culture is replete with couch-jockeys who feel more masculine for having watched other people destroy themseves. Or: American culture is fine with perpetuating a system of destruction, so long as a few, mostly poor people are involved. In many ways, our attitudes towards fetishized athletes mirror our attitudes towards those glorious troops whom we only support with platitudes. This is not good.

I've heard the counter arguments. Yes, football players choose their lot. Yes, they have agency. But really, what does it say about us -- that this is the lot we most often choose? Are we a nation so insecure, so stupid, as to wholly embrace a sport of gladitorial violence?

(I can already hear friends, calling me a "pussy" for possibly caring.)
Previously.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

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.

Friday, January 28, 2011

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

Thursday, January 27, 2011

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.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

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?

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?

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

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.

Monday, January 24, 2011

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.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

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!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Early Returns From New Hampshire

Interesting:

Tea Party Activist Takes Over New Hampshire G.O.P.

Despite the Rs of the "Live Free or Die!" state backing a loon for state chair, former ½-term AK Gov. Palin came in a sad straw poll fourth.
In a presidential straw poll conducted at the meeting, former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts won with 36 percent of the vote, followed by Mr. Paul with 11 percent. Mr. Pawlenty received 8 percent, and Sarah Palin 7 percent. A number of other potential candidates, including Michele Bachman, Jim DeMint, Mr. Huckabee and Mr. Santorum, won smaller percentages.
Mittens, way out in front w/ tea-bagging loons. And less than 13 mos. now 'till the actual primary!

Stupid Delusional Hippie

More bashing.

Nanny State Award For Service
Above & Beyond The Call Of Duty

Laura Hall is the only person to have been given an alcohol asbo. Now it's time to quit, she tells Simon Hattenstone

Laura Hall looks nervously into the tape recorder. "I feel like I'm at the police station," she says. Hall knows a lot about police stations. The 21-year-old is Britain's most notorious drunk – the only person in the country with an order banning her from all pubs, clubs and off-licences. She is the poster girl for Booze Britain. Newspapers have revelled in the stories of her 40-plus arrests, her numerous assaults on police officers, her two prison sentences, the number of pints and vodka shots that will see her through a night out. Last year district judge Bruce Morgan said of her 29 drink-fuelled convictions: "I don't think I have seen a more deplorable record… A female with a record like this – it's absolutely despicable and represents all that is rotten in society nowadays."
Or don't watch at all.

Is The Daily Caller Trying To
Tell Us Something?

Read more.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Obligatory & Standard Item

After long consideration/examination of current events, we just can not possibly give less of a shit about anything that's happened lately or anybody involved in or responsible for anything that's happened lately.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Thumb Along The Blade

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
 NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES/OXNARD CA
 901 PM PST WED JAN 19 2011
 
 ...STRONG SANTA ANA WINDS DEVELOPING TONIGHT AND THURSDAY...
 
 SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING INTO THE GREAT BASIN WILL TIGHTEN
 THE SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENTS ACROSS SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA. THIS
 WILL PRODUCE A STRONG SANTA ANA EVENT FOR MOST OF LOS ANGELES AND
 VENTURA COUNTIES TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON.
There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen.

Red Wind by Raymond Chandler

Stop Me Before I Kill Again

Asking the important questions: It's what TheDC does:
We’ve heard the various voices on the left that have hinted Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and talk radio were possible motivating factors that led Tucson shooting suspect Jared Loughner to go on a rampage earlier this month. And we’ve heard Sarah Palin’s response to her critics, but how does Beck feel about these allegations?

[...]

He was asked by host Don Imus how he felt about being blamed for the shooting.

“But I — I know — and when I read things, Frank Rich or these other people, Sarah Palin is — she’s fine,” Imus said. “But, what they are trying to blame what happened in Tucson on you, or on her or on right-wing radio, or whatever, or turns out now, left-wing radio. My question for you is how do you feel about that?”

According to Beck, he had been put through the ringer [sic] so much that he’s become immune to such attacks and finds solace in his company founded on “values and principles,” in addition to his financial standing.

“No, I have gotten to a place, they’ve said everything they could possibly say about me under the sun for the last two years,” Beck said. “I mean they blame me for everything and called me every name under the sun. You get angry and then you kind of go dead inside for a while and here’s the best thing. This year, I have completed — a company that is completely debt-free. We operate with values and principles that, you know, I think are above board. I can sleep at night. I have my family with me. And I have put into my bank account, I can go to New Zealand and live the rest of my life and pay for my kids’ college education and I don’t give a flying crap. I don’t care.”
We can only wonder if Mr. Flying Crap would have cared if this incident
July 18, 2010—California Highway Patrol officers arrest Byron Williams, 45, after a shootout on I-580 in which more than 60 rounds are fired. Officers had pulled Williams over in his pick-up for speeding and weaving in and out of traffic when he opened fire on them with a handgun and a long gun. Williams, a convicted felon, is shot several times, but survives because he is wearing body armor. Williams, a convicted felon, reveals that he was on his way to San Francisco to "start a revolution" by killing employees of the ACLU and Tides Foundation. Williams' mother says her son was angry at "Left-wing politicians" and upset by "the way Congress was railroading through all these Left-wing agenda items."
(For which we assign all responsibility to Beck, as he [& no others w/ a national megaphone] has constantly attacked the Tides Foundation, & it's doubtful failed bank robber/Beck-listener Williams would have reached these conclusions on his own.) had turned out differently, & Williams had managed to kill him some pinkos? Would Beck even care if CHP officers had been wounded or killed while they were trying to subdue Beck's mad-dog killer?

#1, Bitchezz!! Suck. On. That.

This may explain something:
Other loser cities. You half-assed punks get off our continent! Now!

You Really Shouldn't Go Home Again

Laughing pretty hard at Baby Doc Duvalier getting hauled before a judge & told not to leave town.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Science Takes A Nap

Spent much of the afternoon determining the feasibility of a human being (more or less; us, to be specific) sleeping sitting up in the bathtub while the shower was running. Good news: It can be done!!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Radio W/ Pictures

A load on about Star Dreck (at least he didn't wax rhapsodic about The Twilight Zone, also available in the same package) managed to ignore what will doubtless be the best part, Irwin Allen, schlockmeister supreme.* What better medium for Mr. Allen's oeuvre than tee vee itself? We can't imagine the printed word doing him justice.

We're not trying to fool anyone, it will doubtless suck, probably two amusing anecdotes from Bill Mumy & a bunch of stills, judging from the implication of oral history we get here.
The PBS series Pioneers of Television interviewed dozens of actors, writers and producers from the early days of TV.
Confirmation.
Now, obviously, we can’t get into great detail in a one-hour show that’s got to cover several different people, but we at least give people a sense of who Gene Roddenberry and Rod Serling and Irwin Allen were and how they all fit into the picture.
Why we bothered to finish this (We were about a paragraph in before shrugging our way out of the first shot at itattempt.): Went to the very bottom of the interviews looking for Irwin Allen-related talking heads, found nothing, but did find this quickie on the Dragnet Style.Ha ha, very funny. (We were hoping ol' Jack was going to hit the guy w/ the paper if he started acting.)

*Curse you, Stan Lee!

Historical Anniversary

Patrice Lumumba, the first legally elected prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was assassinated 50 years ago today, on 17 January, 1961. This heinous crime was a culmination of two inter-related assassination plots by American and Belgian governments, which used Congolese accomplices and a Belgian execution squad to carry out the deed.
From the Guardian.

Holiday

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Morning, Noonan, Night

Never up for the original airing of Meet the Press, & seldom hear the official network newscasts, but the vagaries of tee vee scheduling (football & ice skating) led us to note Ms. Noonan's larger-than-life image gracing our screen twice in one day; we felt it only right to share the entire expereience w/ any random drifter who passes by. (Nor could we resist the obvious title.)We haven't caught (& may never catch) the above (Also: David "Bobo" Brooks, Al Sharpton, & a Shriver! Shit. They close w/ four & a half mins. on Martin Luther King Junior's legacy. Fucking shit.) but this is not so painful (i.e., brief) & Ms. Noonan's part is short & silly.Please, leftist monopoly media, give us a break from Peggy & her commie ideas.

"It's Terrible, But What Can You Do?"

The streets, sheep. Riot therein. You going to let Tunisians show you up?

"I'm Sorry You've Got A Head
Like A Potato, I Really Am"

Debate rages on over the zombi-fied corpse
Another great photo!
of Big Band Music in the electrons of The Guardian.

Best from a quick scan:
Sonic Youth gig? Lots of middle-aged men in hoodies with faces like baked potatoes. Half Man Half Biscuit gig? Lots of middle-aged men in hoodies with faces like baked potatoes. Mogwai gig? Lots of middle-aged men in hoodies with faces like baked potatoes. There are differences. At the HMHB gig they'll be pogoing; at the Mogwai gig they'll be sort of nodding their heads with their eyes closed; and at the Sonic Youth gig they'll have their fingers in their ears. But these are my people.
Also good: Calling Neil Young a "whiny-voiced old coot." More whining:

Superstorm

Mostly because (for reasons of our own) this photo amuses us.
And disaster porn.
In the event of such an event CA could sustain four to five times as much economic damage as a large earthquake, up to $300 billion in damage, with as many as 1/4 of all homes damaged by flooding. But flooding isn't new news. Vast floods have long been documented via tree-ring data and historical records.
Longer version: The city slickers & dudes at The NYT again expose their fear of God's Wrath, as dealt in God's Country.

If Quakes Weren’t Enough,
Enter the ‘Superstorm’

Urban wusses, every last one.

Sunday Drive In The
American Zone Of Occupation

M1A1 in Frankfurt. U.S. Army photo.
Context: Drawdown 2015.

EXTERIOR: Night

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Desert Vistas

We give this 110% for concept (minus a few for lack of originality) & around 92.5% for execution, for a average of ... what, 96.3%?

Oh, Stop. Please. Oh, Please. Stop.

International Politics and Zombies

In the mail: Theories of International Politics and Zombies by Daniel W. Drezner.

"Daniel Drezner's groundbreaking book answers the question that other international relations scholars have been too scared to ask. Addressing timely issues with analytical bite, Drezner looks at how well-known theories from international relations might be applied to a war with zombies. Exploring the plots of popular zombie films, songs, and books, Theories of International Relations and Zombies predicts realistic scenarios for the political stage in the face of a zombie threat and considers how valid -- or how rotten--such scenarios might be."
"Rotten." See? Now they're just taunting decent air-breathing Americans!

"Someday Boooooom":
Another Republican Paranoid

Piling on w/ evidence: Not a random lunatic, a Grand Old Paranoid (admittedly, primary-only) candidate.
A former U.S. Congressional candidate charged with posting death threats against 4 county judges told a judge Friday that she's innocent and needs to be let out of jail so she can go to school.

A magistrate judge held Cheryl Allen's initial hearing at the Morgan County Courthouse Friday. Allen is facing eight felony intimidation charges for alleged threats against county judges and officials.

People who know her said they are scared of her. Many of the threatened people said she is mentally ill and needs medical help.

The Facebook threats targeted four Morgan County judges: Judge Jane Spencer Craney, Judge Tom Gray, Judge Chris Burnham and Judge Matt Hanson.

Police said she also named other public officials by their first names referencing Morgan County Prosecutor Steve Sonnega and Morgan County Councilwoman Vickie Kivett. The threats may be from anger Allen had over a recent discrimination case she filed. The case was dismissed by a judge.

"One day I will have my revenge on your seeking so much revenge on me. Jane, Tom, Matt, Chris, Steve, Monte, Eric, Vickie, Carol, Larry, Debbie, William(Bill), Mike, Penny, etc," a 4:46 p.m. post on Monday said.

"Someday Boooooom while your setting in your offices," a 4:47 p.m. post said.

"And you know I won't even be the one pulling the trigger. Someday this world will wake up and take those courts back for the victims whose lives you have destroyed to sit on your dead lazy asses and do nothing," a 4:51 p.m. post said.

"I'm not familiar with anything on Facebook but I know past history she has shared the same thoughts in emails to other people in our community," Councilwoman Vickie Kivett said.

"Well, my connection goes back to the time when I was county clerk I had problems with her," Kivett said.

Allen's posts prompted the felony charges.

Allen lists on her Facebook page that she is a 1977 Martinsville graduate and a Republican.

She ran as a Republican candidate for Steve Buyer's vacated 4th District Congressional seat last year. She ran in the primary as the only female candidate but lost.

Allen is being held on a no bond order until she is advised of a no contact order for all four of the judges.
Damn, the sheer banality of her revenge fantasies demonstrates the paucity of the Paranoid Party's imagination, even when delusional. And lack of self-control. Couldn't even keep herself from posting something that juvenile on her Facebook page. Note also she had filed a "discrimination" case. So maybe she's a liberal, unless she's a hypocrite. No special laws or rights for you, woman!

Reminder (to self & other Internet threateners/inciters/angry loudmouths):
In the release, Durnil said there was enough probable cause from the postings on the social-media site to issue an arrest warrant for Allen.

Morgan County Prosecutor Steve Sonnega, one of the officials reportedly targeted by first name in the postings, handed the investigation over to Barry Brown, a Monroe County attorney serving as a special prosecutor in the case.

Sonnega said Friday that he decided to err on the side of safety following a shooting that wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others at the Democratic congresswoman's event Jan. 8 in Tucson, Ariz.

Brown, who could not be reached for comment Friday, filed the charges against Allen, and officers arrested her Thursday at her home, Durnil said.

The charges carry a possible sentence of 4 to 24 years in prison and up to $80,000 in fines Allen is convicted.

Allen was still being held late Friday afternoon in the Morgan County Jail, with bond set at $100,000.