Halloween may be a little different this year

So what happens when Up With People start getting politically active and then start inter-breeding? We've got an idea and it ain’t pretty. See for yourself over B-Daddy’s place.

We're so unprepared for this

First, the bad news: One of this generation's finest political satirists/humorists has cancer.

Now, the good news: This form has a 95% survival rate… for the victim, that is.

I looked death in the face. All right, I didn't. I glimpsed him in a crowd. I've been diagnosed with cancer, of a very treatable kind. I'm told I have a 95% chance of survival. Come to think of it -- as a drinking, smoking, saturated-fat hound -- my chance of survival has been improved by cancer.
.
.

I have, of all the inglorious things, a malignant hemorrhoid. What color bracelet does one wear for that? And where does one wear it? And what slogan is apropos? Perhaps that slogan can be sewn in needlepoint around the ruffle on a cover for my embarrassing little doughnut buttocks pillow.

Furthermore, I am a logical, sensible, pragmatic Republican, and my diagnosis came just weeks after Teddy Kennedy's. That he should have cancer of the brain, and I should have cancer of the ass ... well, I'll say a rosary for him and hope he has a laugh at me. After all, what would I do, ask God for a more dignified cancer? Pancreatic? Liver? Lung?


More brilliance from our leading literary influence, P.J. O’Rourke, here.

Good luck, P.J.

H/T: Libertarian Republican

Line of the Day

"They sound like pimps complaining about the prevalence of STDs among prostitutes."



- Jonah Goldberg on Congressional leadership that should've been minding the lending and finance stores but weren't. Full article which we may have more on, here.

Bonus line (because we're givers): "When a reporter for Forbes magazine asked a Treasury spokesman last week why Congress had to lay out $700 billion, the answer came back: "It's not based on any particular data point." Rather: "We just wanted to choose a really large number."

Bail (Out!)

OK. Here’s the House tally for the bailout bill: 228 to 205 against.

Dems: 140 to 95 in favor
Repubs: 133 to 65 against

Clearly, the Democrats had enough votes to make what absolutely had to happen happen but when you are dealing with the monumental incompetence that is Nancy Pelosi, nothing is a sure thing. (Run against Congress, Senator McCain, run against Congress)

The Republicans have blamed the partisan nature of Pelosi’s floor speech before the vote, singling-out the “anything goes” policies of the Bush Administration, for the failure of the bill. The Democrats have cried foul saying that you vote for a bill and not for a speech. Fair enough, but perhaps the Republicans remembered some hearings way back in what must seem ancient history now regarding some of the monkey business going down at Freddie and Fannie back on 2004.

Video below of those hearings include Maxine Waters extolling the virtues of 100% (no down) loans, not-so-veiled racist accusations leveled against Fannie’s regulator, a Jamie Gorelick reference (the woman is becoming the Zelig of turn-of-the-century shit-storms… if you see this woman coming towards you, run as fast as you can the other way), Barney Frank, the brothel operator, telling everybody to just move along, there’s nothing to see here, please just move along, a questioning of Franklin Raines' (Fannie's top dog) compensation package and at the very end, Bubba himself, assessing the situation.



Bottom line: ask yourself who are the folks who are the free-wheeling, anything goes, laissez-faire types when it comes to affordable housing, "meeting goals" and keeping the nosy away from the leverage and patronage afforded by those two houses of ill-repute, Fannie and Freddie.

We remember with some degree of clarity, The Economist, commenting back in the ’03-’04 timeframe on how the American economy, post-9-11/post dot.com bubble/post accounting firm scandal, was being propped-up by housing prices…. But for how long? As in, when those housing prices that everyone is using as equity to keep the economy moving flattens or even falls, then what?

H/T: Hot Air

Consider the Source

Forbes.com ranks America’s most stressful cities and finds San Diego No. 6 on the list. As far as we can surmise, the factors they used were unemployment rate, gas prices, population density, air quality, public education quality and ahem, affordable housing.

And...?

We are reminded of the World Trade Organization riots in Seattle some 8 or 9 years ago perpetrated by the planet’s perpetually aggrieved that never took place when the WTO convened a few weeks later down here.

We suppose it can happen but it remains a near physical impossibility to stress to the degree that would put San Diego #6 on the list.

Then again, this is the same publication that ranked Nick Saban, the most powerful coach in all of sports. We just hope the Almighty was out of the office that day.

Checkin' in from DIA

Some random thoughts while waiting for our flight at Denver International in what has to be the longest concourse ("B") in civilization...

- We know its quite popular to bitch about it but count us among those who get truly annoyed by CNN at loud volumes being pumped into the seating section by the gates. Its (nearly) inescapable... we did, however, find a quiet corner out of earshot where we could read the Philadelphia Inquirer and catch up on city politics shenanigans... hey, they're just like us.

- Our heretofore completely useless talent for being able to identify the dailies for about every major American city finally paid off while doing the inflight crossword puzzle. 32 Across: Orlando "Sentinel". We feel so validated. Btw, United x-words much more difficult than United Airways on whom we flew out.

- You know you are having a very good time and are keeping busy with cool activities when you don't have the time (or the overwhelming desire) to blog.

- Tragic news: Over the weekend, we found out one of our buddies from Seminary is gluten-intolerant. That means no grain products which, of course, means no (gulp)... BEER! Because we are the friends we are, we will not rest until we locate beer that is not only gluten-free but actually drinkable which our good friend has yet to find. We'll try to keep everyone posted on our research progress.

- Wil b intrstd 2 no how much frthr txtng has crrpted societys alrdy por riting & vocab sklz thru const. use of same.

- We found out Paul Newman passed away late Saturday night after the game. Shame. Of all the great acting and tireless philanthropic work the man did, he will always be remembered by us for what we have yet to do. We haven't yet followed through for a combination of public safety and recognition (inside joke, us?) reasons. One of these Halloweens, we're going to get decked-out in yellow rain slickers head to toe, boots and heavy-duty goggles while carrying a shot-gun just like the guys in "Hud" that had to shoot all the cattle that were stricken with "hoof'n'mouth" disease. That would be so cool, no? We blame Bill Cosby for that maladjustment though we can't exactly remember why.

- We may try to post later this evening when we get home to San Diego.

Do you know who else hates Sarah Palin?

... God does, that's who.

Palin Derangement Syndrome hits the pages of Salon...

When I got home from church, I drank a bunch of water to metabolize the Dove bar and called my Jesuit friend, who I know hates these people, too. I asked, "Don't you think God finds these smug egomaniacs morally repellent? Recoils from their smugness as from hot flame?"

And he said, "Absolutely. They are everything He or She hates in a Christian."

We know we are supposed to be concerned with this election because it’s “the most important election in our lifetime” or because it will “represent a great leap forward in racial progress” or, blah, blah, blah…. Whatever.

We’re into this election if for no other reason than this. Never seen it. We got close 4 years ago but that was just a bunch of whining, sniveling and (unfortunately) unconsummated plans to move to Canada.

In a few weeks, though, we may see the goods. Mind you, the people like the one quoted above lack the brass those Buddhist monks did to do it to themselves. It won’t be self-immolation but rather spontaneous combustion from all that pent-up rage and seething anger.

Don’t get us wrong. We definitely don’t want or wish this to happen to anyone but we figure, at this point, if people haven’t sought treatment for the compounding effects of BDS and PDS, then that’s on them and we’ll just be standing-by with a fire-extinguisher ‘cause Lord knows we don’t want any of that on us.

H/T: Foxfier

Your very much un-anticipated BwD upbraiding

Hey, you…. Yeah, you! It’s a beautiful day outside. Get out there. Go on…. Git!

Kickin' the country-clubbers to the curb... again.

... and we'll keep doing it for as long as we have to.

At the same time, and perhaps with even more consequence, the center of political conservatism was moving ever west. Through such figures as Goldwater and Reagan, the American West was transformed into the vital center of the conservative impulse. Though the primacy of the East Coast conservatives remained, the status quo could not last. As conservatism absorbed heartland influences, it began changing to a more individualistic, more libertarian, more religious, and more American form. Almost unacknowledged, the division between American western conservatism and the European-influenced northeastern variety became deeper and wider with every year.

And at last (as was inevitable) a candidate appeared who embodied that division, a candidate with no connection to coterie conservatism, a candidate wholly of heartland
America, a candidate who was as much a challenge to traditional conservatives as she was to the left.

That’s what they saw when Sarah Palin stepped before the public. Not a superb example of the 21st-century American woman, knowledgeable, capable, and admirable, but a hick with a roughneck husband and a load of kids. Quite the opposite of what the rest of the country saw, and accepted, and will likely send to Washington this November.

Article from American Thinker, here.

We’ll have more on this whole subject when we get back.

... but just this once.

We’ve been instructed to wear white for tonight’s Penn St.-Illinois game as it will be a “White Out” in Beaver Stadium. We remember the White Out showing-up quite nicely in HD under the lights last year, though, Nittany Lion fans will be hoping for a different outcome this evening as Ohio State used the occasion to trounce the home team.

Anyway, these color-related themes have become all the rage. It used to be Notre Dame would break-out their green jersey every 3-4 years for big home games but now these color-related theme (gimmick?) games are occurring with greater frequency. In fact, the PSU-Illinois game will not be the only “color” game this weekend as Georgia is planning a “Black Out” for their big game against ‘Bama today.

We are willing participants this week as it will be a first for us and we, of course, want to be gracious guests but in the future, we see our participation in these “color” games being as enthusiastic as taking part in the “Wave”.

Hey, do you know who would've loved to have sold you a bridge?

Suit and Biden, that's who?

Both Biden and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama voted to kill a Senate amendment that would have diverted federal funding for the bridge to repair a Louisiana span badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina, Senate records show.

And both voted for the final transportation bill that included the $223 million earmark for the Alaska project.

Glad the press stopped sifting through Sarah Palin’s dry-cleaning bills long enough to summon the monumental energy and sacrafice it took to dig this up.

Our Generals almost cost us Iraq?

Dude...

In one respect, the actions taken by military opponents of the surge, e.g. "foot-dragging," "slow-rolling" and selective leaking are, unfortunately, all-too-characteristic of U.S. civil-military relations during the last decade and a half. But the picture Mr. Woodward draws is far more troubling. Even after the policy had been laid down, the bulk of the senior U.S. military leadership -- the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, the rest of the Joint Chiefs, and Gen. Abizaid's successor, Adm. William Fallon, actively worked against the implementation of the president's policy.

If Mr. Woodward's account is true, it means that not since Gen. McClellan attempted to sabotage Lincoln's war policy in 1862 has the leadership of the U.S. military so blatantly attempted to undermine a president in the pursuit of his constitutional authority. It should be obvious that such active opposition to a president's policy poses a threat to the health of the civil-military balance in a republic.


More from M.T. Owens fantastic article on Bob Woodward’s “The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008”, here

Doing Things the Hard Way

B-Daddy here. Despite showing flashes of brilliance, USC repeated their loss at Corvallis of 2006 by giving up a big lead early and then having a come back fall short. These guys are hard to fathom, but give some credit to the Beavers, whose running attack, led by Jacquizz Rodgers, pictured at right, rolled up 178 yards of rushing.

USC, who looked like the unstoppable national champs against Ohio State, got manhandled in the first half by the other OSU. For personal reasons, I watch the line play more closely than the average fan. In the first half, the USC defenders just could not get off the blocks of the Beaver lineman. What looked like bad tackling of the low to the ground rusher, was really due to the fact that USC's defense was never in good position to make a tackle. On offense, USC never got much of a ground attack going, and this really killed them in the first half, with too many three and outs.

USC put up 21 points in the second half, but the last and very impressive one minute drive, was going to be too little if they couldn't get the ensueing onside kick, which they did not. Dean has previously pointed out what great half time adjustments USC usually makes, and tonight was no different. They need to make those adjustments sooner.

I don't think the Trojans are out of contention, but they have again given themselves an uphill battle. And no, I don't think the pollsters were wrong to have them at number one. This is the joy and the agony of college ball, with all of its unpredictability.

Finally, congratulations to Oregon State for playing some great football.

Tragedy in San Diego

Brilliantly sunny mornings in September and American aviation do not have a good relationship with one another.

It will be 30 yrs. ago today, where San Diego was the site of what was then the worst aviation disaster in American history when PSA flight 182 collided mid-air with a tiny Cessna resulting in the loss of all lives (137) aboard both planes.

The 727 plummeted into the community of North Park, just a couple of miles from the Lindbergh Field runway, with its pueblo-style bungalows, palm trees and craftsmans that is at once removed from the popular image of the beach, sand and surf of San Diego, yet like many of its surrounding central city neighborhoods, forms the heart and soul of America’s finest city.

Here’s Ozzie Roberts, who has been writing in San Diego for years, on the 10-year anniversary:

Yayoko Dietz's neighborhood was filled with death one day 10 years ago, and she cannot escape the horror.

The tears flow as she remembers the jetliner tearing through the roof of the house next door as it plunged to the ground outside her home. She remembers the raging fires and billowing smoke. Mostly, however, she remembers the terrifying screams of the dying.

Numbed by the memories, Dietz searches for a way to describe the misery. It was like the day during World War II, said the native of Manchuria, when an American military plane dropped a 500-pound bomb near her Asian home.

The U-T has a good round-up of articles and photos which can be linked to from the lead article. The slide show, including the iconic photo of the descent of the fiery PSA jetliner can be found here.

We have especially taken-in the reader comments to the various attached/linked articles as we were 6th graders living up in Orange County and the commenters have provided a personal “here and now” accounting of that day’s events and those that followed for our adopted hometown… and now our adopted history.

We welcome the comments and recollections of anyone who has stumbled on to our site and was living here in San Diego on that horrible day.

Programming Reminder

We're enroute to Happy Valley, PA via Philly with some college mates for the Penn St. - Illinois game on Saturday night. We may have some contributor help or if the interweb tubes connectivity proves promising in central Pennsylvania we may try to check in.

Otherwise, if the posts have a stale, dated, past-expiration-date feel to them it's because, well.... they are. Enjoy!

P.S. As we will be out of town, we will not, in all probability, be able to respond to our valued commenters. Please accept our apology in advance. Thanks.

A Bailout? Perhaps. Just not this Bailout.

A few random thoughts on this bailout business

- We continue to have a very hard time putting all that power in the hands of one virtually unaccountable person. Henry Paulson, the Treasury Secretary, may be a very capable man but how is he as the single-point-of-contact for the entire financial sector of this nation’s economy a good thing?

- We were talking with B-Daddy on the phone and were commenting on how the latest polling shows the American public trusting Suit to better handle the economy but also not in favor of government intervention into the free market. We remarked this as being demonstrable of the George Will quote, “Americans talk like Jefferson but govern like…” and before we could get “Hamilton” out of our mouth, B-Daddy yelled, “Mussolini…! I wish ‘we’ governed like ‘Hamilton’”. But I think he got the point.

- And we’re pretty tired of all this talk of “executive compensation” and “punishing the evil-doers in the board room” and blah, blah, blah… Give it a rest. Do we want the responsible parties punished? Yes. But the incessant populist-driven yammering to string up the suits is pretty far down on our list of priorities when it comes to getting this whole mess straightened out. Besides, it just provides cover for those who should’ve been minding the hen house in the first place and who are currently the very same people crafting the legislation that will make everything all nice and pretty again. Foxes!

- “We have to do something”. Do we? Its been nearly a week since this meltdown occurred and Congress has not passed any legislation and there have been no runs on the banks. If we can wait this long to “do something” that must be done “urgently” or “immediately” can we wait a little longer, keeping the wolves at bay, to “do something that makes sense?”

- This is a fantastic opportunity for McCain to drive the final stake between he and President Bush. By rejecting this bailout he distances himself from Bush, he burnishes his Maverick credentials and makes Suit look more and more like the Bush III he really is.

"Reid.... You Miserable Bastard, You!"

Because the man, himself, confessed to the town’s main industry transitioning from mining to prostitution at the time of his birth, we’ve always tried to cut him some slack for his behavior and actions rationalizing it as being reared in less than optimal circumstances.

Well, for the first time in recent memory Harry Reid actually made a modicum of sense or at least, we’re hoping, had his heart in the right place when he asked both candidates to stay away from the Capitol while Congressional leaders are trying to hammer-out this bailout bill. In Reid’s words, having both of them there would “risk injecting presidential politics into this process or distract important talks about the future of our nation’s economy”.

Well… you know, there is something to be said for having both potential leaders of this country there with their sleeves rolled up to try to fix this thing but, yeah… we totally see Harry’s point… putting the good of the nation ahead of partisan politics. Cool.

But then he goes and blows all that short-lived goodwill by injecting politics into this process… Reid, the source says, thinks McCain's maneuver is a gimmick born from bad poll numbers and the fact that "debate prep must not be going very well."

Poor ol' Harry Reid. So close but yet (again) so very far away.

The future's so bright.... shades will be of no help to you.

ESPN Radio has a feature on gamedays called “Tailgate weather report” or something to that effect, designed we’re surmising to give folks in the area the lowdown on, wait for it……… what the weather will be like at the game site.

We took this picture Monday afternoon, prior to the Charger game around 4 P.M. looking northwest from the roof of BwD headquarters towards Qualcom Stadium (about 3-4 miles away as the crow flies) in order to document what “partly cloudy skies” look like as reported by the weather babe at “Tailgate weather report” just a 1/2 hour before.

We didn’t get around to posting this picture until now as we’ve been frantically searching for triple-digit SPF sunscreen in case “Tailgate weather report” predicts any “sunny skies” for our region in the future.

Let's not go uncorking the Champagne just yet...

Democrats to let offshore drilling ban expire

Good news…

(House)Democrats have decided to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week, conceding defeat in a months-long battle with the White House and Republicans set off by $4 a gallon gasoline prices this summer.


Not so good news…

While the ban on energy development will be lifted if the Senate goes along with the House action, it doesn't mean any federal sale of oil and gas leases in the offshore waters - much less actual drilling - would be imminent.

The Interior Department's current five-year leasing plan includes potential leases off the Virginia coast but probably would not be pursued unless the state agrees to energy development. And the state is unlikely to do so without Congress agreeing to share federal royalties with the state. (ed.: Nor would any state for that matter)


Since its now painfully obvious we are not going to farm our way out of this energy crisis, we’ll take solace that things have at least moved off of top-dead-center with respect to doing something concrete in addressing the energy crisis.

Please click on link for more details on the business of making legislation in all its sausage-making glory.

This is what happens when you put Ohio St. on the schedule.

A soft schedule and hard finish for top-ranked USC?

An undefeated, 12-0, USC team shut out of the national championship game? Doubtful but definetely not out of the realm of possibility and just one more reason to love the BCS.

It happened back in '04 when an undefeated Auburn team got left out of the BCS championship game that was played instead by USC and Oklahoma. That is to say, USC played and Oklahoma got lost on their way to the Orange Bowl in a 55-19 drubbing where Osceola CC suited up in the Crimson and Cream.

With the Pac-10 stinking up the joint this year, the Trojans will be rooting for the Buckeyes to run the table in an also-pretty-suspect Big 10 (plus 1). Shouldn't be a problem as USC may need every one of those computer points should teams from both the Big 12 or SEC emerge undefeated.

And because of what we saw last year with LSU and idiot-savant coach, Les Miles, winning the whole shooting match with 2 losses, we would only be mildly shocked if the BCS puzzle palace spit out an 11-1 Missouri vs. an 11-1 Georgia for the championship game with an undefeated USC on the sidelines.

One of those many, many "present" votes would've been quite useful here.

Suit's backpedaling faster than a defensive back on a "go" route over this subject. Gee, wonder why.

Abortion being a "matter of reproductive health" is, we're positive, a highly ironic term for at least one of the vested parties.

B-Daddy has an outstanding post breaking it all down, here.

The water... it's got to be the water.

There’s just no other explanation for it.

Another church here in the San Diego area is being harassed by zoning goons. And for all you out there clamoring for public safety because, you know, the guy in the wheel chair may block the exit in the event of a fire and… blah, blah, blah….

Church member Patricia Mims owns the building which houses the church. The City told Mims she needed to seek an expensive Zoning Code Amendment in order for the church to continue meeting on her property. Mims sought the amendment, but now City planners are recommending denial, in part because the 4-person church doesn't have 18 parking spaces. The City claims all the extra parking might theoretically be needed if the church ever grew to 50 members - an unlikely prospect, since the church rarely promotes itself.

Ms. Mims, here’s our wish for you. We wish for you to sue. We wish for you to sue the living pants off the city of Lemon Grove to the extent that you will own the city of Lemon Grove. And then you and your 3 other parishioners can hold church services right inside city hall where god knows, you will have all the parking in that empty lot you and your never-to-be 50 members will ever need. This is what we wish and this is what we will pray for, Ms. Mims.

Pax,
BwD

Your "Smack me upside the head with a '2x4'" moment of the day

Anti-Iran Rally Turns Into Anti-Obama Rally

Jewish Groups Furious That Protest Against Ahmadinejad Was, At Times, A Pro-Palin, Bash-The-Dems Affair

Nice work, Jewish Community Relations Council. You cave to organizations within your own umbrella organization by disinviting Sarah Palin (under the laughable guise that your tax-exempt status would be threatened) and you wonder why some people might be upset.

A non-political event? What the hell was Anthony Weiner (D-NY) doing there, then?

Story with video here.

A few trillion here, a few trillion there and pretty soon you’re starting to talk about some real money.

U.S. Household debt: $14 trillion
U.S. Financial sector debt: $16 trillion
U.S. non-Financial businesses debt: $11 trillion
Combined Federal, State and local government debt: $8.5 trillion

When we saw those figures above from article in the paper (titled "American's addiction to borrowing led to crisis") over the weekend, we were a little embarrassed about getting so worked-up over the dollar amount of the Federal bailout of the finance sector of the nation’s economy that is being hammered-out on Capitol Hill as we write this and which when all is said and done after everyone up there on the Hill gets their hands on it will probably be on order of $1 trillion.

But will the resultant sausage the D.C. butcher shop is sure to grind-out be the way to do it?

Here is some of the language from the proposed bailout bill that gives the Secretary of the Treasury unprecedented latitude and power:

Necessary Actions.--The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation:

(1) appointing such employees as may be required to carry out the authorities in this Act and defining their duties;

(2) entering into contracts, including contracts for services authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts;

(3) designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Government, and they shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Government as may be required of them;

(Italics ours)

$1 trillion and one dude who other than quarterly report-outs to Congress is completely on his own is not our idea of a well-rationed and deliberative bailout plan.

And its still early but will we see any meaningful reform? “Reform” as in nuking Fannie and Freddie as we know it because as quasi-governmental institutions they were the model of “oversight”. If by “oversight” one means an instrument of patronage and political leverage. Afterall, what would one really expect of such an arrangement other than what happened as those two organizations led the way in bad lending practices?

A toxic mix of crony capitalism, lefty do-goodism and political arm-twisting got us into this mess to begin with and the answer, thus far, is to put one man in charge of all of it?

One could, we suppose, make the argument that such drastic action is required to avoid a run on the banks to avoid a complete Depression era-like meltdown. Perhaps… But we are in no way convinced at this point, that this is the way to go about rescuing and “reforming” this country’s financial sector.

Stay tuned.

Programming Alert

Starting Thursday morning, we will be in the air to Philadelphia to meet up with some mates from Seminary and from there we will be heading out to State College for the Penn St. - Illinois game on Saturday night.

We've never been so we're looking forward to the Beaver Stadium "White Out" that takes place on selected night games there in State College.

As usual, the fort will be held down by a completely haphazard compilation of heat'n'serve scheduled posts and efforts by contributors.

If they have internet out there in central PA ("guns" and "religion" is all from what we've been told) we'll try to check in.

Hope you all enjoyed your summer... school's back in session

Even Barack Obama, who opposed the Iraq troop surge, has finally acknowledged its success. But some of his fellow Democrats in Congress apparently remain unconvinced. Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin teamed up to block a vote on a bipartisan resolution "recognizing the strategic success of the troop surge in Iraq" and thanking our men and women in uniform for their efforts.

Article from WSJ here.

Yep, the Harry and Nancy show is back and with it… more madcap and wacky shenanigans that only they can provide.

Cool thing about these blogs is that you can go back and see what’s been written about these same subjects. Hey, what’s this….

But make no mistake about what they are really thinking. They were betrayed by House Whip, James Clyburn, who in a fit of candor admitted that a successful surge would be “a real problem for us”. One can assume that “us” meant anti-war Democrats, most elected Democrats and certainly Democratic Presidential candidates who are now faced with the reality of finding a new tact in which to criticize the war effort and the Administration’s conduct of the same.

Golly, that'd be us in all our full, proud and profane glory, here.

Just keep this in your back pocket if you're struggling a bit this coming November.

H/T: Weasel Zippers

Not the Vegas we're entirely familiar with...

KT is in Vegas at something called Blogworld Expo 2008 and from the looks of it he is absorbing and processing quite a bit.

Here are some pearls from Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV:

- You need to spend 2-3 hours a day of communicating on blogs and in the comments. Find the blog leaders in your field and participate in their comments. Answer every email and every comment on your blog forever. This community work is huge – build up name recognition by leaving comments everywhere. If you know what you’re talking about, you’ll win. (OK. We’ll add the “contact us” feature)

- Content is king, but marketing is queen and the queen runs the household.

- He spends a lot of time searching for people who say bad things about him and he engages them and converses with them. Don’t waste your time on hating people. Spending any energy at all being angry at other people is a waste of time. Don’t spend your time finding people to be angry with, instead find places to leave comments on your expertise. (Who’d say anything bad about someone who sells wine?)

- Comment on all of the big blogs in your area.

We’re not selling wine…. Were not selling anything (wait, Gary did say we are selling our "brand" so what is our brand? hmmmm....) but there were several great “take-aways” from what Gary was saying. Read KT’s entire post here.

And Richard Jalichandra of Technorati (yeah, he might know something about this blogging business), with some intresting blog stats and trends here.

History Repeating

B-Daddy here. Counting on the man at left to slow down LSU's drive to a BCS bowl berth is apparently an exercise in futility. See Dean's comments from last year. Tonight, there was a certain sense of Déjà Vu all over again. Like last year, Auburn's offense woke up to take the lead late in the fourth quarter only to provide LSU with excellent field position on the ensuing kick off. But I just had the feeling this thing was lost even when Auburn had the lead in the second quarter and was driving. Even though Auburn was marching down the field, it seemed that the LSU line was beating up on the Auburn offense, but not quite getting it done. Eventually, they forced Auburn out of field goal range. The Auburn punter shanked one out of bounds for a net 7 yards. LSU promptly drove down and scored, and I knew in my heart it was all over, even though the scoreboard said Auburn 14, LSU 10. I will say this for Les Miles, he seems to know how to recruit lineman. Piling up the talent on the front lines seems to be paying off for him.

Full disclosure, I have been a USC fan since my youth, so I have come to loathe LSU and root against them almost with the fervor that I root against Notre Dame.

Himself being Himself

However, Clinton, said there could still be "some unforeseen development," perhaps in the debates, he said, that could threaten a Democratic win.

"Barring some unforeseen development like in-- something happens in the debates we don't know about. I-- I-- I-- it may not be apparent in the polls until last week or two of the election.

A harmless enough comment in a vacuum…. However, it is the CEO of Clinton Inc. that is saying it so one never knows.

H/T: Blue Crab Boulevard

$500 Billion... make that $700 Billion and counting...

Well isn’t that just dandy. Stocks are back up, Wall St. traders are all smiles and we can get back to the business of poor business practices because… it apparently just doesn’t matter anymore.

The Bush administration proposed a $700-billion taxpayer-funded plan on Saturday to buy up toxic mortgage-related securities in an urgent effort to calm financial markets and attack the nation's housing crisis.

Under the program, the U.S. Treasury Department would buy, or commit to buy, "mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States," said a copy of the Treasury Department's draft legislation obtained by Reuters.

And oh, by the way. What makes this “intervention” even better is the fact we’re writing one big fat bad check after another that we won’t ever have to worry about. We’ll leave that for our children and grandchildren to sort out when we’re all dead and gone.

For his part, McCain has been critical of these buy-outs saying the Federal Reserve should in the future must stop bailing out failed financial institutions and get back to its “core business of responsibly managing our money supply and inflation.” Fat chance of that ever happening again.

And Suit…? He looks to be assuming the mantle of Bush III quite well, approving of this unprecedented bail-out plan. And while he’s mentioning it, how about another check in the mail from the government to get the economy moving? And of course, as B-Daddy detailed here, how about some more “tough government oversight?”.

What a joke this guy is. He is part of the very socio-political caste of people that raised hell with the mortgage industry for freezing-out minorities back in the good ol’ days of the housing boom and threatened all manner of investigations, legislation, lawsuits and bad publicity.

So lenders responding to the “red-lining” threats threw open the books and with arms and legs flailing and flopping all over the damn place, the orgy was on. Hello, subprime lending practices.

And all this from a guy who has close ties to the leadership of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two of the biggest abusers in this mortgage meltdown.

The “regulation” in a free market is the risk. You make a foolish business decision, you pay. You get into a bad loan, you pay. You play fast and loose with common sense lending practices, you pay. That’s the regulation. That’s what keeps things in line.

Well, now that we don’t have to worry about all that unsavory “risk” stuff anymore, we can hardly wait to see what brilliantly conceived and executed “tough government oversight” will do to spur long-term economic growth and stability.


Articles here, here and here.

Radio KBwD is on the Air (different frequency)

We'e going to try something a little different this week. We've been called in to help out our friend Justin who is currently (not) enjoying his evacucation from south Texas so just spin down the dial to here if you will to enjoy some great music from one of Texas' very own.

WET!

... and she floats, too.

The USNS CARL BRASHEAR was christened and successfully launched yesterday morning at 10:50 AM.

We'll hopefully have more on this later.

(UPDATE #1): Interesting phenomena that may only interest us: Notice how the stern of the vessel has kicked-out to port? That’s not the tugs doing it, that is a natural occurrence owing to launching from Ways 3 at the yard. The sea wall on that Ways extends out about 130 ft. further on the port side of the vessel than the starboard side.

So what is happening is a physical demonstration of Bernoulli’s principle. As the ship is sliding into the water, that water between the hull of the ship and the sea wall is being pressed out at a greater velocity than the water on the starboard side of the ship, where there is no sea wall. Bernoulli’s principle dictates this difference in the velocity of the water creates a corresponding difference in pressure – the water pressure on the port side of the ship will be lower than that on the starboard side so the aft end of the ship, which is the first part of the ship to experience this physical state will be “sucked towards” the sea wall resulting in the the ship rotating in a clockwise direction (bow of ship at 12 o’clock position).

And yes, if the sea wall were longer, there would be a small issue of the port side of the ship slamming into it.

Holy smokes that was evil! We hereby sentence ourselves two Red Hook Long Hammer IPAs and the 2nd half of the Baylor-Uconn game to purge that geek outbreak on a Friday night.

We haven’t forgot about Radio KBwD. Owing to circumstances down in the Gulf, we are doing something a little different. Tune in tomorrow.

Traction

Is McCain missing a tremendous opportunity to distinguish himself from M.T. Suit with regard to our current financial meltdown? B-Daddy has the answer, here.

Because "Gay" means never having to say you're sorry

In a trial that opened this week here in San Diego, four female firefighter are suing the city for damages because they were allegedly sexually harassed by drunken males while participating involuntarily in the Pacific Beach Street Fair parade.

The parade is "a sexually licentious event, where raucous and lewd behavior, conduct and dress is permitted," according to the firefighters' lawsuit.

Over the course of three hours, they heard statements such as, "you can put out my fire," "you're making me hot," "give me mouth-to-mouth," "you look hungry, why don't you have a twinkie (from a man wearing a "Girth and Mirth" t-shirt)," and "blow my hose."

When they refused to respond to the crowd, some in the crowd turned hostile and started shouting, "F--- you firemen" and others began "flipping them off."

City Attorney, Mike Aguirre, in a court brief, suggested that if the firefighters were feeling harassed, it was because of the negative reaction their lawsuit has garnered from the public and colleagues, including allegations the four are "money-grubbers."

Further, in opening statements, “We won't make a claim that they're outright bigots, but we will show they don't agree with the city's anti-discriminatory policy and that they're offended by the (redacted) lifestyle,” Aguirre told the jury.

Is Aguirre serious? My god, we can’t believe he actually said that? Is he essentially blaming these women for the behavior of these drunken savages in PB? Never mind the timing issue… like how is this hostile behavior rationalized when the suit was filed as a result of the alleged harassment, but is he also intimating a smear against these women in that second statement?

Did he really say that?

Well, yes… and… no.

He actually did say all the above but not in the context it was presented.

You see, the firefighters in question weren’t female but rather male and the event they were forced to participate in wasn’t a drunken hetero riot at the beach but rather the annual gay pride parade in Hillcrest.

Feel better, now? Feel like things have normed-out, again? Feel like you can go about your business knowing no one really got harassed and that these city employees have completely over-reacted to a little good-natured, tongue-in-cheek ribbing?

Good. So do we.

Post cobbled together from here, here and way over.......................... here.

Get to Know an American Hero

On Thursday, the USNS CARL BRASHEAR will be christened and launched into the San Diego Harbor, becoming the 7th ship of LEWIS AND CLARK (EXPLORER) or T-AKE Class vessels to be launched. Her mission will be to provide underway replenishment (UNREP) to the Navy fleet in way of ship fuel, jet fuel, repair parts, food, ammo... virtually anything our forces afloat would need to carry out its task.

The vessel’s namesake entered the U.S. Navy in 1948 leaving Kentucky and sharecropping and in 1954 became the first African-American to graduate from the U.S. Navy Diving and Salvage School.

In 1966, during recovery operations to locate and retrieve a lost hydrogen bomb off the coast of Spain, a towing line broke loose, causing a pipe to strike Brashear’s left leg below the knee, nearly shearing it off.

After persistent infections and necrosis, Brashear convinced his doctors to amputate the lower portion of his leg.

After 2 years of vigorous rehab, Brashear became the first amputee to be certified as a Navy diver and in 1970, he became the first African-American U.S. Navy Master Diver. Brashear served 10 more years attaining the rank of Master Chief Boatswain’s Mate in 1971.

Brashear passed in 2006 and his military service documenting his courage and persistence in the face of racism and obvious physical limitations was portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr. in the film, Men of Honor.

The following are some shots of the CARL BRASHEAR on the day before her launch. (As always, click to enlarge).


Nice look at the bow section of the ship. The yard here in San Diego is the last yard in the States to do end launches of its new-build vessels (meaning the ship is built on the dry ground of building ways and made waterborne by sliding down the inclined ways into the water, stern end first.).






That’s Lauren Brashear in the gold hat, granddaughter of Carl, taking some practice swings with a dummy champagne bottle on the christening stand at the bow of the ship. Tomorrow is Loren’s big day so you don’t want to take any chances.








A look at the aft poppets that support the weight of the ship back aft on the sliding ways. During the week of the launch, the weight of the ship is slowly transferred from the stationary blocking and stanchions to the sliding ways. Those cables, or tricing lines you see, keep the sliding ways secured to the ship. During the launch evolution, the sliding ways will slide over the stationary ground ways aided by animal lard to reduce friction.



Workers pose for a shot back aft by the propeller and rudder. A lot of hard work and back-breaking labor goes into these launch evolutions and everybody gets into the spirit of the occasion by memorializing this unique event. You get a look at the port and starboard side sliding ways. And note the “lock” at the top, aft end of the rudder that secures it to the rudder horn. This prevents the rudder from moving and thus prevents the ship from swerving to port or starboard once she hits the water.


A look at the gate or “caisson”. There are two valves in the caisson, itself, that are opened several hours before the launch that allow the bay water to flow into the launch ways area. Once the water is equalized on both sides of the gate, the caisson is removed and set to the side. There are two “plug” pieces that can be seen in the middle of the picture. These pieces are set in where the caisson was to provide continuity to the ways that continue on for another 100 ft. beyond the caisson and into the bay.


The gentleman in the blue hat and aqua shirt is Robert DeNiro, who played Leslie William “Billy” Sunday, a fellow diver and a source of inspiration for Brashear. We stumbled onto DeNiro’s tour group quite by accident as we were trekking around the ways one last time before heading home. We were too embarrassed to take DeNiro’s picture so we had the Yard's official photographer, “Kenny” take it for us.

This has all been a lot of hard work but rewarding also, so we'll keep our fingers crossed and hope everything goes smoothly tomorrow.

Out.

Peddling: It's for the Children

Joan Borucki, the director of the California State Lottery was on Hedgecock’s show the other day talking about… the state lottery.

We came in half-way through the interview so the remainder of this post cannot be held to actual veracity as performing due-diligence to document the same would’ve required note-taking at 60+ on the 94 and, hey… we’re all about safety so just cut us some slack and give us the benefit of the doubt.

As far as we could tell, the purpose for Ms. Borucki’s visit was part of a charm offensive to get the state lottery charter amended to reduce the amount of the Lottery’s revenue that goes to public education from 34% to 28%. Whaaaaa….?

(inhale) Given California’s (slight pause, then deep, harrumphing exhale) criminally under-funded education budget, how is this person, Joan, not burned at the stake for supporting such blasphemy?

Well, as she explained, she has gone around the country studying the more successful state lotteries and came to the conclusion that she could increase participation and thus revenue if she increased the odds of winning…. a little less quantity in the individual payout but more frequent payouts.

She proposes to increase the amount of revenue that goes to Lottery winner payout from 50% to 60% and cut into other areas as detailed above to cover this increased payout. She believes this increased payout will double the Lottery contribution to the education rolls from $1.1 bil to 2.2 bil, annually.

To paraphrase: “If I can increase the perception of a better chance at winning and actually deliver on it, I will be able to draw more people in and/or get these same people to spend more money on the Lottery, thus generating more overall revenue.”

Please substitute “getting high” for “a better chance at winning” and “my product” for “the Lottery” and it won’t take a rocket scientist to determine we have two closely-linked psycho-social phenomena at work here.

But you knew that already. That’s why you read this blog.

And allow us for a moment to get off our high horse as we have been consistent critics of the Lottery that preys on the economic lower classes. Since these same economic lower classes don’t pay that much, relatively speaking, tax-wise, perhaps this is the proper mechanism to get them to pony-up their share for public services.

Afterall, it’s about fairness and social justice, is it not?

Bash us if you will but remember, in doing so you advocate depriving a child an education. For shame….

Today Is Constitution Day

B-Daddy here.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Pretty inspiring stuff. The document at right has stood the test of time for over 200 years. It is the oldest national constitution in force today. It embodies the principle that government derives it's powers from the consent of the governed. It embodies the principle that no single person or group can really be trusted, so it sets up three branches to keep an eye on each other. It embodies the principle that the people have rights which may not be infringed, even if unpopular. It embodies the principle that all men are created equal in the eyes of the law and of God.

On July 6, 1976, I swore a sacred oath, not to a man, not to a party, not to a religion, and not even to the nation itself. I swore an oath to the Constitution of the United States, because loyalty to its tenets are what binds our nation together. Our nation lacks the long history, ethnic homogeneity or small size that might serve to bring us unity. It is the principles of the Constitution that do so, we trivialize them at our peril.

Ya know who thought the referees did a heckuva job in Denver…?

…Mike Shanahan, that’s who?

"This was the best crew that we have had in the last 20 crews I have graded," Shanahan said. "They did a heck of a job. Every game that you see that is within a point or a field goal over the last couple years, it may be a call or a non-call that wasn't right, but that is the nature of this game. You have to find a way to win.

"We still had the ball at third-and-10 and had to get it into the end zone. Third-and-10 and then fourth-and-4. We still had to make a 2-point conversion," Shanahan said. "It wasn't like somebody gave us the touchdown. You have to go out there and still get it done."

Actually, Shanahan, you little chop-block teaching, rat-faced punk, they did give you a touchdown (and a turnover on a non-fumble in the 1st quarter, which in reality, overshadows the blown fumble call in terms of egregiounsness). When you get an extra opportunity against that sieve known as the Charger D on Sunday, you were technically “given” that score.

And speaking of sieves, with everybody tripping all over themselves to congratulate rat-boy for going for 2 points at the end of the game (again, like they weren’t going to score?) and all the hoopla surrounding the biggest refereeing botch-job in memory, our man Ted Cottrell, the defensive coordinator is, for the most part, getting off the hook.

The apologists at the San Diego U-T, finally acknowledge that perhaps Cottrell might want to inspire his unit to perform a tad better. Here’s Nick Canepa today:

“Now Norv Turner can get back to coaching an mending. So can defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell, who has to find a way to stop somebody when the game’s on the line. Its called finishing, and bad calls or not, the Chargers allowed Carolina and Denver to drive and score at the end to beat them.”

Whoa, Nick! Don’t strain yourself, there. And “Mending…?” How about “Resigning?”

But, wait. It gets better. A Defense that could be coined Los Matadoros for their 4th quarter performances will face Captain Comeback, himself, Brett Favre and the New York Jets next Monday night. Wonderful. Can’t wait.

The Economy is in such bad shape, some candidate are resorting to begging.

With a ship launch fast approaching, we are resorting to Theocracy drive-bys, particularly for the latest in this Wall Street meltdown which KT has been all over here, here and here.

Also, B-Daddy would be glad to explain who’s been hitting the bottle pretty hard over this whole mess and alludes to the “sunshine on his face” factor for the candidate who holds the upper hand.

Headline of the Day

Eating Veggies Shrinks the Brain

"Vegans and vegetarians are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anaemia and inflammation of the nervous system."

Article here.

We had an intuitive sense without any hard data to know this to be true. And recent anecdotal evidence from people (formerly) near and dear to us that fit the above description deepened our suspicions.

Digging into that ribeye now, however, is backed by the heft of Oxford University scientists. Woo-hoo!

Reckoning

B-Daddy faces up to the reality and challenge of devoting an entire web site to M.T. Suit. Is he down for the struggle? We believe he is. Check out how he’s coping with fashioning something out of “nothing”, here.

Question of the Day

How much do you think the house on the left is devalued from its asking price when the broken-down, oil leaking, derelict vessels owned by the crack heads living in the house on the right have them moored out in front as pictured?

(We're glad you asked. Why, yes, there is indeed, some sort of force field out in front of Casa de Craque that keeps them from parking their cars in front of their own property)

The obligatory L.A. Times “my father is hard working, family oriented and… illegal” story post

I'm glad that my father entered this country illegally. If he had come "the right way," our family's success would've been chalked up as just another example of immigrant can-do. But as an illegal, his accomplishments (as well as mine and my siblings') contradict the conventional wisdom regarding undocumented Mexicans that's been prevalent for this decade. My father's repeated breaking of immigration law is further proof that this country can and does rehabilitate all of her huddled masses, whether legal or not.

You can read this tripe in full, here, if you must.

God forbid anyone holds up your family as an example of “immigrant can-do” because there’s nothing like being pimped-out by “the man” as an example of successful American mainstreaming, now is there? There is obviously too much pride at stake to sell-out like that.

About this “rehabilitation” bit…. This contention is, of course, ridiculous and patently false. This country most certainly does not rehabilitate all her huddled masses. That’s a grand, sweeping and ultimately, a throw-away statement even the most ardent supporter of American exceptionalism couldn’t swallow. In fact, a trip to the county jail might straighten-out this notion.

And the blanket statement lumping together both legal and illegal immigrants is an affront to those people who did, indeed, do it the “right way” if for no other reason than intuition would inform one that those who came here legally would be far more apt to be “rehabilitated” or whatever other term one chooses to signify assimilation than one who is is doing it the “wrong way”.

Pathetic article. I think we’re smelling Duranty, here.

Robbery in the Rockies

Ted Cottrell is second only behind the man pictured at left on the list of people who should be run out of town on a rail as the Chargers dropped another heartbreaker today losing to the Broncos 39-38 in Denver.

In the 1st quarter and deep in Charger territory, Charger receiver Chris Chambers catches a slant and is brought down by defender Champ Bailey. After Chambers is clearly down, Bailey strips the ball from Chamber’s grasp, gets up and runs into the endzone. The play on the field is ruled by the blind men in striped uniforms a fumble with Bailey being downed by contact. The Chargers, of course, challenge the play as Chambers was clearly down and the play over. Conveniently, though, the replay equipment was not working so the play on the field stood as called. Denver ball. They go in for the score a few plays later.

For the life of us, we cannot ever remember replay equipment not working. And why is there not some sort of contingency plan to handle such a rare occurrence as we were watching the CBS-provided replays on the telly while Ed Hochuli, the head umpire, was watching a blank screen in the replay booth.

Now, in-between that incident early in the game and the one at the end of the game, Jay Cutler the Denver QB went nuts on the Charger secondary passing for 350 yards on the day. Commentators Dick Enberg and Randy Cross were noting what a horrible day cornerback, Antonio Cromartie, was having. We don’t care if you’re name is Dick “Night Train” Lane, you’d have a crappy day also if there was nothing even remotely resembling a pass rush to prevent Cutler from reading a book and doing his taxes before deciding who to throw it to.

And this isn’t a Shawne Merriman, or lack thereof, thing. The Charger defensive front seven doesn’t begin and end with Merriman. There are plenty of other fine players on that defensive unit for which Cottrell can utilize to generate a pass rush. To say, though, that Cottrell wants for imagination and creativity or that he couldn’t mix things up a bit if you gave him a blender or that he, perhaps, lacks some fundamental coaching skills and instincts to be a credible defensive coordinator in this league, would make us guilty of criminal understatement. Let’s just be nice then and call Cottrell the anti-Dick LeBeau

Fast forward to the end of the game with under a minute left… Broncos driving (what else?) and needing a touchdown as they were down 38-31. Ball on the 4 and Cutler rolls out to his right. As he brings the ball up and cocks it to throw, clearly before his arm started moving forward, he lost control of the ball, fumbling the ball backward to where it was picked up by a Charger linebacker (Tim Dobbins?) who fell out of bounds with it. Ed Hochuli, however, blew the play dead as, inexplicably, he believed Cutler’s arm to be moving forward…. an incomplete pass. With the ball winding-up behind Cutler, there is no reasonable explanation for making this call other than high incompetence.

Since it was under 2 minutes in the half, the play was reviewed by the suits up in the press box who ruled the play a fumble but since the play was whistled dead they spotted the ball where it landed (the 10) and allowed Denver to maintain possession where they went in for the score and converted the 2-point conversion for the win. 39-38. Game. Over. Nice work, fellas.

Rooting interests aside, it was a shame that such an incredibly entertaining game was decided in the manner it was.

Another year older this weekend, a kick-in-the-gut, fate-sealing moment on the personal side and then this to wrap-up things.

Good night and good luck.

The obligatory SNL - Sarah Palin sketch post

...with Hillary too. Pretty funny.



H/T: Mongo

Yes, but would we be infringing upon bin Laden's privacy?

Article here talks about new Predator imaging technology that allows the good guys (that’d be “us”) to be able to see inside buildings to track down, ID and kill the bad guys (that’d be “them”). Author opines that this new technology combined with an alleged secret order signed by President Bush to allow Afghan-based U.S. Specil Op forces to cross into Pakistan without Islamabad’s permission increases the odds of an “October surprise”.

And this…

Moreover, as Woodward writes, the president frequently relishes the death of individual extremists and insurgents in a way that even our professional soldiers find striking. Then-American commander in Iraq Gen. George W. Casey Jr. "told a colleague in private that he had the impression that Bush reflected the 'radical wing of the Republican Party that kept saying, "Kill the bastards! Kill the bastards! And you'll succeed."

Hate to be so reactionary but after watching the History Channel's "102 Minutes that changed America", count us among those who don’t mind a little blood-lust in the heart of our CinC when it comes to these “folks”.

Radio KBwD is on the Air

Just consider this a warm-up for our trip up to L.A. at the beginning of October to see The Gourds (the best band you’ve never heard of). These guys, in fact, opened up for the Gourds at the Casbah here in San Diego some 3-4 years ago and that is how we found out about them, though unfortunately it is rumored they are no longer together. No matter. Although, its not the selection we were looking for, we think you’ll enjoy this Friday evening end-of-the-work-week jaunt just the same.

Ladies and Gentleman… from Austin, Texas it’s Weary Boys performing “Can’t Keep Me Down”

Hurricane "Ike" Relief Effort

The Theocracy’s Official Artist, Justin is currently trying to stay a step ahead of Hurricane “Ike” and asked us to mind his store at Justin’s Random Thoughts while he was on the road north to higher, dryer ground on I-45. Who were we to say “no” to a blog-buddy (and isn’t there some sort of karmic penalty for refusing a favor request in the Theocracy?)?

Anyway, stop on by when you have a chance to do your part for this particular hurricane relief effort.

P.S. B-Daddy gives it a rest. It felt good, didn’t it? Damn right, it did.

Criminal Negligence comes in many forms

How it is we blew-off the Interior Department’s booth at the Job Fair a few years back will never be fully explained.

WASHINGTON – Government officials in charge of collecting billions of dollars' worth of royalties from oil and gas companies accepted gifts, steered contracts to favored clients, and engaged in drug use and illicit sex with employees of the energy firms, federal investigators reported yesterday.

Investigators from the inspector general's office of the Interior Department said more than a dozen current and former employees, including the former director of the oil royalty program, took meals, ski trips, sports tickets and golf outings from industry representatives.

Story here.

9-11

This date will always be remembered for this...





However, every date on our calendar should remind us of this...

No Generation Gap here (Fixed)

A group of English kids who were, no doubt, big fans of The Who while growing up have put together a little something that we feel is about a 9.2 on the "Awesome Scale." Foxfier has more here.

Fixed: Sorry about the link screw-up. Thanks for the heads-up, B-Daddy.

The New Dodgers

B-Daddy here. Congratulations the man at left, whose team clinched the AL West division championship today. I grew up rooting for the Dodgers and almost every year I knew that they would be competitive for some post-season action. Mike Scioscia was a member of that World Series winning organization, and a big contributor, both behind the plate and at bat.

Today, the Angels play like the Dodgers of old. They aren't near the top of the league in any hitting category, not runs, RBIs, nor team batting (.265). Their pitching is better, with a league 3rd best ERA of 3.91. They just always play good fundamental baseball, good defense and keep the game close and win. Today they have the best record in baseball. It was especially sweet that they clinched against the Yankees. I look forward to success in the post-season, but it will be tough. The Tampa Bay Rays looked impressive tonight in outlasting the BoSox in 14 innings. Try as I might, even though it would have helped the Angels, I couldn't get myself to root for the BoSox.

Wobble, Wobble, Wobble....

Here’s the video with the remark everyone is talking about. You know, the “Lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig” comment.



Did Suit say that as an intentional insult toward Sarah Palin or was he just going off-script with a well-worn homespun saying (note the rolled-up sleeves – always a good leading indicator for impending folksy homilies and “my Grandmother always taught me..” moments)?

Giving Suit the benefit of the doubt, for a moment, check out the reaction from the crowd. They would appear to be in on the joke whether Suit knew he was serving one up or not. Also, knowing full well what a hit the soccer mom/pitbull/lipstick line was for Palin, Suit would have to be among a distinguished handful of dumbest politicians alive to make that remark purposefully intended as a swipe at Palin. And, obviously, we know that’s not the case.

We’ll even defend Suit, as best we can, regarding his “My Muslim faith” comment. In the context of responding to his detractors what we believe he meant to say was “My alleged Muslim faith”.

But good lord… this is now the 3rd time thus far this week (including his incoherent advocacy of the Fannie and Freddie bailout) where he has been separated from his teleprompter and where people are left scratching their head and saying “What was this guy thinking?”

Its been a bad week for the Democrats dating back to Palin’s acceptance speech and though we don’t want to say the wheels are coming off its readily apparent that the Democrats have been stricken with possibly a terminal case of Palin Derangement Syndrome.

Check out Steve Cohen (D-TN) going green.



Fertilizing the floor of that whore house also known as the House of Representatives with repeated Kos comments is indeed our idea of “recycling”.

We’re one day shy of 8 weeks left in this election cycle and to say they’re handling the Sarah Palin Experience poorly would be a gross understatement. Unless they suddenly embrace a little of The One’s “new politics”, the outlook does not appear too rosy, right now.

Doing the Jobs (young) Americans Can't

"The complaint filed by the Iowa attorney general's office says the violations involved 32 illegal-immigrant children under age 18, including seven who were younger than 16. Aside from handling dangerous equipment, the complaint also says children were exposed to dangerous chemicals such as chlorine solutions and dry ice."

Headline of attached article never to see the light of day: INS Raid Rescues Minors from Unsafe and Dangerous Working Conditions

David Patterson breaks down the verbal minefield of politics

At a breakfast forum in New York on Tuesday morning, New York Governor, David Patterson opined that “there are overtones of potential racial coding in the campaign.”

“I think the Republican Party is too smart to call Barack Obama black in a sense that would be a negative,” Mr. Paterson said. “But you can take something about his life, which I noticed they did it in the Republican convention, a community organizer. They kept saying it, they kept laughing, like, what does this mean?”
Article here.

Patterson, when asked what other words might be “code”, continued on:

“Well, ‘athlete’ and ‘articulate’, ‘jumps high’, ‘poor outside shooter’, ‘Chocolate Thunder’ and of course, ‘In Your Face Disgrace’, ‘Dunk You Very Much’, ‘Turbo Sexophonic Delight’ and (deep breath) ‘Spine Chiller Supreme’… ‘Black Jesus’, ‘Robert Downey Jr.’ but not necessarily ‘Morton Downey Jr.’, ‘A hunka burnin’ chocolate love’, ‘cat’, ‘dog’, ‘hamster’, ‘sand’, ‘sky’, ‘Crab Nebula’, ‘Mayor of Detroit’ (ed. note: oops, scratch that), ‘Starting QB of the Jacksonville Jaguars’, ‘the anti-Michael J. Fox' (ed. note: now, that’s just not right), ‘two-deep zone’, ‘Pontiac’, ‘alternator’, ‘push-button’, ‘BBQ sauce’,….

...(reporter on restroom break)

….’two month layaway’, ‘telephone’, ‘digital technology’, ‘accountant’, ‘rock climber’ and of course, ‘rock thrower’, ‘florist’, ‘street sweeper’, ‘welding rod’, ‘Jupiter’, half of whatever Rush Limbaugh says, ‘dribble drive’, ‘the mustard fell off the hot dog’, ‘poor foul shooter’, ‘runs fast’, ‘couldn’t throw a pea in the Pacific’, ‘full layout with a twist’, ‘plays hoops’, ‘4x100m men’s relay’ but not ‘4x400m men’s relay’ though the ‘4x100m men’s freestyle relay’ is questionable, ‘good friends with Spike Lee’, ‘watches a lot of the WB’, ‘not fond of Bill Cosby or Ward Connerly’, ‘anthill’, ‘Benny Hill’, ‘Benny Goodman’, ‘John Goodman’….."

...(reporters begin to file-out)