Last Monday, I received a pre-approved Credit Card offer, 2 offers for magazine subscriptions, a letter from my health insurer, and a ransom letter written in lamb’s blood. But it was a good day because I didn’t get anything from Pottery Barn – the Devil’s home-furnishing store. I’ve never even been to the Pottery Barn! Still, I wasn’t satisfied.
Today, Gratuitous World stops spewing nonsense and stealing your soul for a couple minutes, to give you some helpful advice on how to remove yourself from mailing lists and junk mail.
Here’s some plagarism:
Junk mail destroys 100 million trees a year — the equivalent of deforesting all of Rocky Mountain National Park every four months.
Largely due to deforestation, junk mail manufacturing creates as much greenhouse gas emissions annually as 3.7 million cars.
More than half of unsolicited mail is discarded unread or unopened; the response rate is less than 2%.
Junk mail creates four million tons of unnecessary waste per year.
Calculating the weight of the junk mail trash from EPA data, it works out to 13.4% of 1276 pounds per household; that’s 170 pounds of trash per household per year.
Don’t just think about the waste that junk mail produces; consider the energy required to produce the mail, and the emissions required to transport it to your home. And even if it gets recycled in the end, a great deal of energy is expended in the recycling process.
Credit Card Applications
Getting bent over by the credit card companies isn’t difficult. But that doesn’t mean you have to read their love letters. Name and address are all that are necessary:
Opt-Out Pre-Screen will ensure no pre-approved applications arrive in the mail. The online form is accepted without having to enter your Social Security Number. (Available to US residents only.)
I did the on-line, 5-year opt-out. It took 2 minutes.
Virtually all credit card and insurance companies get your mailing and credit information from one of the three major national credit bureaus, who share their lists between one another. Pursuant to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (1997), consumers can call any one of the credit bureaus, and upon request can have their name removed from all three lists.
Equifax : PO Box 740123, Atlanta, GA 30374-0123 – Phone: (888) 567-8688
TransUnion: 555 West Adams Street, Chicago, IL 60661 – Phone: (800) 680-7293
Direct Marketing Association
The Direct Marketing Association is apparently responsible for 75% of all national mailings that come to your home. By calling or writing them and requesting that you be added to their Do Not Mail List, your name won’t be on the many mail order sales companies that use the D.M.A. to generate mailing lists.
Valpak Coupons
Visit Cox Target Media to remove your name. Unless you really want that $5 off a $100+ oil change.
Catalogs
Catalog Choice will remove you from many (if not most) catalog mailing lists.
1. Tim Tebow: Regardless my feelings about this guy, there’s no doubt he’s one of the most beloved athletes in recent history. Despite my eye-rolling at all the over-the-top attention he receives, he has been a good role model. He circumcises Filipino orphans, talks to prisoners, and pretty much embraces being a role model. His girlfriend has huge cans. But because of his status as a role model, I have to take him to task.
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me...especially motorboating"
The fact that he played against LSU on Oct. 10, 2 weeks after suffering a severe concussion, is incredibly irresponsible. Recent reports have shown the longterm damage concussions cause, and the exponential increase in damage to the brain caused by Second Impact Syndrome:
Second Impact Syndrome (SIS) consists of two events. Typically, it involves an athlete suffering post-concussive symptoms following a head injury.2 If, within several weeks, the athlete returns to play and sustains a second head injury, diffuse cerebral swelling, brain herniation, and death can occur. SIS can occur with any two events involving head trauma.
I’m sure any parent who saw the 60 Minutes report on concussions will have second thoughts about letting their kid participate in youth football. 50+ kids die each year from sports-related head injuries, mostly from football.
The point is: you can’t pick and choose when to be a role model. Tebow is sending the message that it’s ok to put your brain in jeopardy if it’s a really important game. Shame on Tebow. Shame on Tebow’s uber-involved parents. And shame on Coach Urban Meyer and the UF Training Staff.
On another Tebow-related note, I’ve begun to wear “Eye Black” with Bible verses under my eyes. Today’s passage? Leviticus 12:6, or “Levit” “12:6″:
‘When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering.
Now there’s a passage that will spice up the workplace conversation.
2. Yankees v. Phillies? That could be good. I will say that the baseball in the postseason has been pretty bad – particularly the defense and umpiring. But this potential series could be fantastic. Phillies in 6.
3. Cedric Benson: Ced’s great 2009 season hasn’t stopped his pity-party. From today’s Suntimes:
Benson blames the Bears for his time on the sideline…and accuses the organization of blackballing him.
”No doubt,” Benson said. ”I heard all the rumors that were said coming out of Chicago. Even the Bengals told me that they would call and inquire about me and get nothing but negative things.”
Such as?
”That I didn’t work hard, that I was, I guess, a prima donna, just wasn’t focused,” he said. ”Just anything negative that they could say was said. I’m sure that contributed largely to me not getting picked up right away.”
Chicago's fault.
So which part of this is untrue? The Bears gave you every chance to succeed. They got rid of Thomas Jones for you. They dealt with your hold out and apathetic attitude. They dealt with your drinking, pot-smoking and arrests. And you still didn’t produce.
I can’t wait for Lance Briggs to light your ass up on Sunday. You’re still a fucking scrub.
4. ESPN: Bristol, CT must be a boring place. Like clockwork, it seems like every 6 months some ESPN employee gets into a creepy sexual situation.
all kinds of weird.
And not just “being hit on by a drunk, lazy-eyed co-worker.” We’re talking creepy. Steve Phillips – you’re on!
According to the New York Post,Phillips had a brief fling with a fellow ESPN employee named Brooke Hundley this summer. He ended it rather quickly, which did not go over very well. She allegedly began harassing Phillips, his wife and even his teenage son—who she friended on Facebook by pretending to be a classmate, and then grilled him for personal information about the family.
The final straw came when Phillips’ wife arrived at her home to see a strange woman coming down her driveway and getting into a car (which she promptly smashed into a pole while trying to make a quick getaway.) The woman had left a very creepy letter in the front door, addressed to Phillips wife. The full original letter is available on the Post website [PDF], but here are some of the bullet points laid out by Hundley:
• She and Steve first slept together in a St. Louis hotel room, but he assured her that she wouldn’t get pregnant because of his vasectomy.
• How and she Steve love to text back and forth with detailed plans on how they would like to sex each other
• An uncomfortable amount of detail about the activities of her children
• How the Catholic Church will totally understand if the Phillips got a divorce, so that she and Steve can be together
• She’s 22 … but not stupid!
• A graphic description of Steve’s birthmarks (on his crotch and inner thigh), just to know she’s legit.
Somewhere Harold Reynolds is smiling. And possibly masturbating.
I got an NES when I was about 8 years old. It was always my favorite babysitter. With a couple exceptions (Zelda, Mario, Contra, etc…), most of my Nintendo time was spent with Sports-related games – excepting the time spent blowing on the cartiridges and into the machine in order to make it work.
So without further ado, I give you GW’s top-5 NES Sports games.
5. Double Dribble: Even before puberty, I was conditioned to locate the magical spot. You know what I’m talking about. The spot on the floor in DD where your players couldn’t miss. It’s somewhere between the baseline and the wing. That’s what she said. Goal in! Anyway, DD – or Exciting Basket, as it was know in Japan, contains the best of 80s hoops: short shorts; token, full-court pressure; and a requirement that any foul result in the “victim” dribbling with fundamental correctness to the free throw line while everyone else waited patiently. Great game.
Americans! Fights that looked like heavy-petting turned gang-bang. This game was fantastic, particularly in the context of the Cold War. Rumor has it, Kurt Russel, Marcia Gay Harden and Peter Stormare will star in the Hollywood adaptation.
3. R.B.I. Baseball: “Why is Jose Uribe so fat?”
“Because you’re playing R.B.I. Baseball, son. They’re all fat.”
Pre-Steroid Era?
RBI presented users with unique problem-solving challenges. Should I load up with STL’s speed + pitching, or just mash with DET? I am of the opinion that MIN had it all. Fun Fact (via wikipedia): Marc Merica of Cleveland, Ohio currently holds the world record on (later version) RBI Baseball 3 (as certified by Twin Galaxies), with a 45 run win. Congratulations, Marc. And I’m sorry.
2. Tecmo Bowl: One thing I never really understood about many early NES games was the speed of the clock. If you want the game to go fast, just make the quarters shorter. I’m trying to run the 2-minute drill with Dave Krieg! Give me a fucking chance!
This game tended to have fantastic finshes, and 10-yard Fight just couldn’t compete with a roster of real players + random, sometimes androgenous logos.
1. Mike Tyson’s Punch Out: This is a bittersweet selection. I’ve never been as good at anything in my life as I was at Punch Out. The spiral downward has not been easy. However, every 5 years or so, I’ll find an occasion to reunite with my old friends and vaguely offensive stereotypes: The Drunk Russian (Soda Popinski), The French Pussy (Glass Joe), The Mystical Indian (Great Tiger), and of course, The Crazy Black Guy (Tyson). And when we get together, I brush off the rust and kick ass just like I did when I was 10 years old. It’s like riding a bike…but harder. Like riding a bike with only your thumbs. Cheers to you, Mac. Stick and Move!
Sexual libertines, from the Marquis de Sade to radical gay activists, have sought to pervert society by acting out on their own perversions. What motivates them most of all is a pathological hatred of Christianity. They know, deep down, that what they are doing is wrong, and they shudder at the dreaded words, “Thou Shalt Not.” But they continue with their death-style anyway ….
Thou Shalt Not Commit Douchebaggery.
Totally! When I lube up my group sex partners and strap on the ball-gag, the only thing going through my mind is 80-year old Sister Mary (my 3rd grade teacher), and our complicated lust/hate relationship. It’s all about Catholicism! Actually, it’s you Bill. I can’t stop thinking of you. You and St. Fiacre, patron saint of hemorrhoids sufferers (true).
Douchenozzle’s Checklist for American decay: The Sexually Active? Check. Ok, moving on – Hollywood:
There was a time when Hollywood made reverential movies about Christianity. But those days are long gone. Now they just insult. And when someone finally makes a film that makes Christians proud, he is run out of town. Were it not for Mel Gibson, there would have been no “Passion of the Christ.” But for every Harvey Weinstein who likes to bash Catholics, there is always someone else waiting in the wings to do the same ….
I understand Bill’s job is to “spin,” but Jesus Christ (no pun), there’s no way this asshead can honestly believe Mel Gibson was “run out of town” because of The Passion. For God’s sake, people gave him money to do Apocalypto. No mention of the lesser-known, anti-Mayan prejudice of Hollywood Jews.
Gibson tarnished his own reputation by getting trashed and making public his hostile anti-Semitism. But it’s all a symbol of Catholic persecution because Harvey Weinstein produced a movie with an evil priest.
Maybe Donahue is just upset because he went to the “casting couch” with a Hollyowood producer who promised him a role in the next Flomax commercial. Sad.
Okay, moving on to liberals + gays + philanthropists:
Catholics were once the mainstay of the Democratic Party; now the gay activists are in charge. Indeed, practicing Catholics are no longer welcome in leadership roles in the Party: the contempt that pro-life Catholics experience is palpable. The fact that Catholics for Choice, a notoriously anti-Catholic front group funded by the Ford Foundation, has a close relationship with the Democrats says it all ….
Yes, Democrats despise Catholics. You know, arch-enemies like John Kerry, Joe Biden, and Ted Kennedy.
The culture war is up for grabs. The good news is that religious conservatives continue to breed like rabbits, while secular saboteurs have shut down: they’re too busy walking their dogs, going to bathhouses and aborting their kids. Time, it seems, is on the side of the angels.
This guy is so out-of-touch it’s unbelievable. Doesn’t he know we’re all aborting dogs, walking kids, and eschewing baths altogether?
Bill has a classic Perseuction Complex. Look, asshole, this isn’t the 1920s. I will refrain from retelling the history of anti-Catholicism, but let’s make one thing clear: Calling out the Church’s criminal conspiracy to cover-up the pedophilia of their priests does not constitute persecution. It constitutes appropriate indignation at the most despicable behavior attributable to humans. Where’s your moral compass, Dbag?
You can fight your imaginary culture wars all you want. At the end of the day, only a miniscule pack of drones will pick up the pitchforks to follow you. And at the end of the day, you’ll still be a Douchenozzle.
Ludovicus nearly attains a balance of cohesion and chaos. Taking less risks than its predecessor, it still offers the same tattered simplicity and battered delivery that create such warmly imperfect aromas.
While it is clear that, as Ludovicus tames and grooms its unruly aesthetic, it does not attempt to achieve the clarity of, for example, Imogen Heap.
It’s hard not to feel the vineyard’s dry winds of irony in latter tastes of the bottle. While manifesting in linear paths that never venture far from poignance, one can’t help view this bottle as fostering a sense of resignation.
I was all set to post a defense of Rush Limbaugh’s attempt to purchase the St. Louis Rams. And on that issue alone, I stand by that. After all, this is America. If Rush wants to own a team, it’s his right to put forth an offer or be part of an ownership group. Similarly, Rush has the right to spew from his pulpit as long as there are enough ignorant bigots that want his hate-filled ideology spoon-fed to them.
While ironic, the fact that an unapologetic racist wants to own a team in a sport that’s 70% black fits into Rush’s whole self-loathing pathology. Good for him.
But Jesus Christ, his “woe is me, i’m so oppressed, liberals conspired against me…” sour grapes routine, following being dropped from the ownership group is comically childish.
When he’s not being a culture warrior, Rush extols the virtues of unbridled, free-market capitalism. Of course, he has reaped the benefits of American corporatism and capitalism for years. While despising every fiber of his disgusting being, I don’t begrudge him his success. After all, it’s America…
However, the fact that Dave Checketts dropped Rush from the purchasing group is purely capitalist. Purely American.
A few points first: I don’t think that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Colts owner Jim Irsay needed to go public with their “airing of grievances” regarding the prospects of a Limbaugh ownership group. (Goodell said Limbaugh had made “polarizing” comments and Irsay vowed to vote against him.)
But isn’t this America? If Limbaugh can equate liberals to terrorists and equate the president to Hitler, what’s wrong with these guys (and many players) expressing their reservations about Limbaugh being part of the NFL.
Irsay has a business to protect. If he thinks Rush is bad for the NFL, that means Rush is bad for his team – his business. He should vote against him. And regardless what Rush says, it’s not baseless speculation. If Rush purchased the Bears from the sleep-walking McCaskey family, I would cease to be a Bears fan and subsequently be much less engaged in the NFL. For instance, through Week 5 of the NFL season, I have attended one Bears’ game and watched every minute of the rest on TV. There’s no liberal witch-hunt by the NFL. It’s pure business.
Rush has made millions as a conservative shock-jock. He thrives on
Favre likes you.
polarization. Polarizing forces are not good for the NFL . After all, they already have destructive assholes like Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder. Thus, from a business standpoint, Checketts + co. did the right thing by dropping Limbaugh from their prospective ownership group. As Checketts said:
“It has become clear that his involvement in our group has become a complication and a distraction to our intentions; endangering our bid to keep the team in St. Louis,” Checketts said. “As such, we have decided to move forward without him and hope it will eventually lead us to a successful conclusion.”
Rush’s response:
“This is not about the NFL, it’s not about the St. Louis Rams, it’s not about me,” Limbaugh said. “This is about the ongoing effort by the left in this country, wherever you find them, in the media, the Democrat Party, or wherever, to destroy conservatism, to prevent the mainstreaming of anyone who is prominent as a conservative.
“Therefore, this is about the future of the United States of America and what kind of country we’re going to have.”
What happened to personal responsibility, Rush? Like Falwell and Robertson blaming gays and liberals for 9/11, Limbaugh can’t resist interpreting his rejection as a historic victimization at the hands of evil lefties.
And you really don’t understand why they dropped you?
Major League Baseball hasn’t narrowed the list of the eight bidders seeking to buy the Washington Nationals and some Republicans on Capitol Hill already are hinting at revoking the league’s antitrust exemption if billionaire financier George Soros , an ardent critic of President Bush and supporter of liberal causes, buys the team.
“It’s not necessarily smart business sense to have anybody who is so polarizing in the political world,” Rep. John E. Sweeney (R-N.Y.) said. “That goes for anybody, but especially as it relates to Major League Baseball because it’s one of the few businesses that get incredibly special treatment from Congress and the federal government.”
I can’t beliiiieeeve a government official would try to interfere with this. I mean, in America??
This is not about the NFL. This is not about the Rams. It’s not about liberals. It’s about an occasion on which the free market failed Rush Limbaugh. Instead of living with the consequences of his chosen path, profession, and own words, he wants to blame someone else, and go kicking and screaming all the way home until he pops an Oxy, lights a cigar with a hundo, turns on a gay porn, and falls asleep on a bed of cash.
It’s obvious many pro-lifers don’t really care about children – hence opposition to sex education, family planning funding and subsidized childrens’ health insurance. Though these are methods proven to decrease the number of abortions, they don’t want to hear it. What really drives them is their judgment of sexually active women and a desire to impose their morality. They think the promiscuity of these women should be punished by forcing them to carry babies they don’t want, or can’t care for. Then there’s the Oklahoma state legislature:
A new Oklahoma law requires physicians to disclose detailed information on women’s abortions to the State’s Department Of Health, which will then post the collected data on a public website. The controversial measure comes into effect on November 1 and will cost $281,285 to implement, $256,285 each subsequent year to maintain.
Oklahoma women undergoing abortion procedures will be legally forced to reveal:
1) Date of abortion
2) County in which abortion is performed
3) Age of mother
4) Marital status of mother
5) Race of mother
6) Years of education of mother
7) State or foreign country of residence of mother
8) Total number of previous pregnancies of the mother
Proponents of the legislation claim that women should not be concerned over their privacy since no names or “personal information” will be reported. This defense is questionable. Feminists For Choice argues, “In reviewing the actual text of the law, the first 8 questions that will be asked and reported could easily be used to identify any member of a smaller community.”
Why stop with abortions? I am using this blog post as a call to action. ALL ILLINOIS COLONOSCOPIES NEED TO BE DISCLOSED TO THE ILLINOIS’ DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH IN NARRATIVE FORM. I’ll start:
ATTN: Illinois Dept. of Health
RE: Colonoscopy (October 2, 2009)
It was a dreary October day. I entered my Doctor’s lobby, stomach still rumbling from the prior night’s laxative. A rosy-cheeked nurse sporting a snaggle-tooth called my name. The reverberations echoed in my soul. I was led to a sparse room and asked to disrobe. My skinny frame trembled with dread. I said goodbye to my pale ass, wondering if it would ever be the same, and put on the gown given to me.
I waited. And waited. My psyche turbulent with mental projections of the upcoming procedure.
Nurse Snaggle reentered and hooked me to an IV. She placated me with some assurances intimating that the procedure wouldn’t hurt. It was nice. She took me to the procedure room, where I met Dr. Jellyfinger. Someone put a contraption on my finger and an oxygen mask was strapped to my faced. My mind spun. I thought about that time when I was child and I was running with my dog Lady, a stunning German Shepherd. I stopped at Springdale Park to take a sip of water from the drinking fountain. It was refreshing. I took Lady over to the park bench for a brief rest. As I collapsed on the bench, I sat directly on a pine cone. Something happened to me that day…
I ventured back to reality, but noticed myself getting sleepy. Dr. J asked me to turn over on my side. I thought I saw Lou Diamond Phillips. But it was just a poster…of Lou Diamond Phillips trying to raise awareness of colon-health. I saw the Doctor take the scope – longer than anything I could imagine. In my haze, I was convinced it would be possible to see the scope from space – like the Great Wall.
Then it all went black. I don’t envy the doctor. Not at all.
I woke up to Nurse Snaggle gently shaking my shoulder. She was smiling, snaggle fully exposed. But I hate to criticize – she was a nice lady. She told me I had done well. I smiled weakly. Then I rolled over on my side and let out a seismic fart. That felt good.
I left and went home. My butt had changed, but my life was still the same. Or was it…
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: Fucking Cat People.
MONTGOMERY — A Montgomery man is alleged to have shot and killed a resident’s dog after mistaking it for coyotes running after his cats, Montgomery police said.
Police have charged Russell Kreeger, 43, of the 1300 block of Crown Drive, with criminal damage to property and discharging a firearm.
At about 12:29 a.m. Sunday, police were dispatched to the area of Crown Drive and Dawn Avenue near Phillips Park for a report of shots fired.
After conducting an investigation, police allege that Kreeger shot his 9mm handgun twice at what he thought were two coyotes that were going after his cats in his yard. Police say Kreeger instead shot and killed a husky belonging to another resident.
Kreeger is set to appear in Aurora branch court on Nov. 19.
In order to divert attention from the actual facts of the case, Perry responded yesterday. According to the Tribune:
Gov. Rick Perry, seeking to defuse an election-season controversy over the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, described Willingham on Wednesday as a “monster” and “bad man” whose conviction in the deaths of his three daughters was sustained “every step of the way” by the courts.
Perry lectured reporters for being preoccupied with “all these sideshows” instead of looking at the facts that led to Willingham’s conviction. He challenged journalists to “go back and look at the record here because this is a bad man.”
Perry described Willingham as “a guy who murdered his three children, who tried to beat his wife into an abortion so that she wouldn’t have those kids.”
He also suggested the media have paid too much attention to Beyler’s report, which he said is being used as “propaganda” by opponents of the death penalty.
Perry is essentially saying…”please look at the facts of the case – just not the exculpatory facts.”
I often criticize the Chicago Tribune (particularly its Editorial Page), but want to give it its due. In an era where investigative journalism has all but disappeared, the Tribune has been on point with this story.
It’s pretty clear Perry is attempting to cover up the execution of an innocent man. Perry is soulless. He offers no proof of Willingham’s guilt, just that he was a “bad guy.” (note: in extensive interviews with his Widow, she does say Willingham beat her (she beat him as well) but I’ve read no mention of the “abortion” pretext Perry so shamelessly trots out in order to pander to that segment of his constituents). Regardless, this has nothing to do with the crime for which he was executed and his Widow has said over-and-over that Willingham never laid a hand on his kids.
I wonder if Rick Perry thinks Rick Perry should be executed because Rick Perry is obviously a despicable, “bad man.”
The State of Texas executed an innocent man and Perry doesn’t give a shit. To sign a Petition demanding Perry acknowledge Willingham’s innocence, please click here.
BECK: When they’re done with Fox, and you decide to speak out on something. The old, “first they came for the Jews, and I wasn’t Jewish.” When you have a question, and you believe that something should be asked, they’re a — totally fine with you right now; they have no problem with you.
When they’re done with Fox and talk radio, do you really think they’re going to leave you alone if you want to ask a tough question? Do you really think that a man who has never had to stand against tough questions and has as much power as he does — do you really believe after he takes out the number one news network, do you really think that this man is then not going to turn on you? That you and your little organization is going to cause him any hesitation at all not to take you out?
If you believe that, you should open up a history book, because you’ve missed the point of many brutal dictators. You missed the point on how they always start.
I love the strawman argument. Who the fuck are “they,” and what questions are they preventing you from asking?
I’ll open up some history for you: First they came for the guy spewing nonsense out of his ass, and they gave him a syndicated radio show.
Then they came for the nutjob ratcheting up his hate-filled rhetoric, and they gave him his own tv show.
And then they came for the douchebag who was spreading more hate and nonsensical conspiracy theories, and they gave him a fucking book deal which allowed the poor, oppressed victim to pull in $20 Million last year.
It’s possible this is pretty insulting to some in the Jewish community, particularly on the back of Beck’s attempt to politicize Yom Kippur. But I’m sure they they can speak for themselves.
“First they came …” is a popular poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group. Although the precise origin of the poem is not known, Niemoller stated he prefers the version as:
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Just another night on the road with the craziest band in America: Hanson.
A House of Blues security guard was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of battery after he allegedly struck a woman in the face during a scuffle caught on video outside the downtown music club Monday night, officials said.
Darrell Gibson II, 31, of Sauk Village, was involved in an altercation with a woman resulting in minor injuries to her, said Roderick Drew, spokesman for the Chicago Police Department…
A video posted on YouTube on Tuesday showed a woman getting knocked down by a security guard after a shouting match. The woman was angry because her camera was confiscated. At one point, the guard is heard saying “back the — up off me” and the woman later says “call 911, seriously!”
Seriously. Do not get between a Hanson fan and her fucking camera. She totally needs to update her status with that Marquee photo, like, yesterday.
GW hates the H.O.B. but doesn’t want to judge. If you want to go to an over-priced and likely over-sold show, run by delusional over-important asshats, then pay $8 for a lukewarm can of Bud Light – it’s the place for you.
But a couple things.
Hanson’s still together? Good for them. Some of their longtime fans must have kids who are really into Hanson.
Darrell Gibson? I don’t know if you’ll be spending any time in the clink. But in the prison hierarchy, I’m pretty sure battery of a Hanson fan rates somewhere below serial bike theft and somewhere above sex with farm animals. Good luck.
Long story, short: Mr. Willingham was sentenced to death for the arson-murder of his 3 young children in 1991. The forensic and eyewitness evidence was shoddy at best. Despite exculpatory evidence produced by independent fire experts shortly before his 2004 execution date, Perry signed off on Willingham’s execution.
Sam Bassett, the former chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, has now told the Houston Chronicle that lawyers for Perry told him the case was inappropriate, and that the hiring of a nationally known fire expert was a “waste of state money…”
Last month, Perry, a Republican, had declined to re-appoint Bassett, as well as several other commissioners whose terms had expired. Bassett has since suggested that the decision was part of an effort to stymie the Willingham inquiry.
Bassett’s replacement as chair, John Bradley, immediately canceled a hearing at which the nationally known arson expert, Craig Beyler, was scheduled to testify, and has not said whether it will be rescheduled.
Bassett told the Chronicle he had been summoned to a meeting earlier this year with Perry’s then-General Counsel David Cabrales and Deputy General Counsel Mary Anne Wiley. He described it as “progressively confrontational.”
Reports the paper:
At one point, the lawyers asked Bassett how the panel chose Beyler to review the Willingham case. Bassett said he explained state regulations, requiring the soliciting of bids, were followed. When Wiley asked how much Beyler had been paid, Bassett said he responded, “$30,000, maybe a little more.”
Wiley then remarked, “That sounds like a waste of state money,” according to Bassett.
Of course, it costs about $2 million to convict, imprison and execute a Texan, but I digress.
This looks like the cover-up of a sad, sad story. Perry is fighting for re-election and wishes not to be bothered by his criminal negligence, and overt disregard for the truth and the life of a Texas citizen. Willingham’s widow would not even let him be buried next his daughters because authorities had convinced her he was a murderer.
Indeed, Rick Perry’s actions would probably make Blago blush. But there is no joke to be made here. He’s a despicable human being who hopefully will someday reap what he sows.
I don’t have very strong feelings when it comes to hate crimes statutes. However, in the context of current legislation, if there is going to be a hate crime law, it should protect all targeted groups.
Enter the House Minority Leader:
Last week, House Republican Leader John Boehner objected to House passage of a bill that would expand hate crime laws and make it a federal crime to assault people on the basis of their sexual orientation.
“All violent crimes should be prosecuted vigorously, no matter what the circumstance,” he said. “The Democrats’ ‘thought crimes’ legislation, however, places a higher value on some lives than others. Republicans believe that all lives are created equal, and should be defended with equal vigilance.”
Based on that statement, CBSNews.com contacted Boehner’s office to find out if the minority leader opposes all hate crimes legislation. The law as it now stands offers protections based on race, color, religion and national origin.
In an email, Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said Boehner “supports existing federal protections (based on race, religion, gender, etc) based on immutable characteristics.”
It should be noted that the current law does not include gender, though the expanded legislation would cover gender as well as sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.
“He does not support adding sexual orientation to the list of protected classes,” Smith continued.
Boehner’s position, then, appears to be grounded in the notion that immutable characteristics should be protected under hate crimes laws. And while religion is an immutable characteristic, his office suggests, sexual orientation is not.
So being gay is a choice, but being Catholic is immutable? That’s disheartening. I thought I had broken free from the shackles of the religious upbringing repeatedly thrust upon me as a delicate, innocent child.
I did choose to use that erotic imagery.
How about having a fierce Man Tan? Nature or Nurture? Choice or
Frazzle.
Immutable? It’s Adam + Eve, not Frazzle and Steve!
It’s that time of year again. Flu-hysteria time. GET THIS SHOT OR YOU ARE GOING TO DIE RIGHT FUCKING NOW!
Anyway, I would like to take the time to reflect on some of the diseases many Americans choose not to worry about thanks to brilliant scientists.
5.Bubonic Plague! Like an iphone, you better get this vaccine. Via the CDC:
Plague is a natural infection of rodents and their ectoparasites and occurs in many parts of the world, including the western United States. In this country, a few human cases develop each year following exposure to infected wild rodents or their fleas and, less commonly, to other infected wild animals (bobcats, coyotes, rabbits) and domestic animals (cats, dogs). Epidemic plague may result when domestic rat populations and their fleas become infected. Recently, the areas of the most intensive epidemic and epizootic infection have been some countries in Africa, Asia, and South America.
Keep that shit out West with their plateaus and long hair. Damn bubonic hippies.
4. Yellow Fever! It’s pretty clear I have baseless mistrust of anything sounding vaguely Asian (even if it’s not). No exception here.
Ahhh. So that's why they call it that.
Illness ranges in severity from a self-limited febrile illness to severe hepatitis and hemorrhagic fever.
Hemorrhagic Fever? Good lord. Go to the doctor. Get the goddamn vaccine and a lollipop on your way out.
3. Diptheria! Learn about it chumps:
Diphtheria causes the progressive deterioration of myelin sheaths in the central and peripheral nervous system leading to degenerating motor control and loss of sensation. Diphtheria is a contagious disease spread by direct physical contact or breathing the aerosolized secretions of infected individuals. Historically quite common, diphtheria has largely been eradicated in industrialized nations through widespread vaccination. In the United States for example, there were 52 reported cases of diphtheria between 1980 and 2000; between 2000 and 2007 there were only three cases[3] as the DPT(Diphtheria–Pertussis–Tetanus) vaccine is recommended for all school aged children. Boosters of the vaccine are recommended for adults since the benefits of the vaccine decrease with age without constant re-exposure; they are particularly recommended for those traveling to areas where the disease has not been eradicated.
Wow. Even the incest-riddled genes of royalty aren’t immune. Better get that booster. I’m looking in your general direction, King Syed Sirajuddin of Malaysia.
2. Human Papillomavirus (HPV)!I’m down with anything that protects the vagina and bothers Texan conservatives. 2-Fer!
Ideally females should get the vaccine before they become sexually active, when they may be exposed to HPV. Females who are sexually active may also benefit from the vaccine, but they may get less benefit from it. This is because they may have already gotten an HPV type targeted by the vaccine. Few sexually active young women are infected with all HPV types covered by the vaccine so they would still get protection from those types they have not yet gotten. Currently, there is no test available to tell if a girl/woman has had HPV in the past, or which types.
Hot.
1. Polio!!! The Babe Ruth of vaccines. No one wants to be that guy with one under-developed leg. It makes bowling real difficult.
mmmm. tastes good.
A 1916 polio epidemic in the United States killed
6,000 people and paralyzed 27,000 more. In the early
1950’s there were more than 20,000 cases of polio each
year. Polio vaccination was begun in 1955. By 1960
the number of cases had dropped to about 3,000, and by
1979 there were only about 10. The success of polio
vaccination in the U.S. and other countries sparked a
1) He’s a member of an endangered species – a Senate Democrat with an actual spine and moral compass.
2) He bothers Republicans.
The issue here involves the gang-rape of Jamie Leigh Jones, a KBR employee allegedly raped by co-workers in Baghdad. Ms. Jones tried for years to get her day in court. KBR/Halliburton fought this, saying her employment contract dictated any dispute be resolved via private arbitration proceedings.
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) proposed an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that would withhold defense contracts from companies like KBR “if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court.” Speaking on the Senate floor yesterday, Franken said:
The constitution gives everybody the right to due process of law … And today, defense contractors are using fine print in their contracts do deny women like Jamie Leigh Jones their day in court. … The victims of rape and discrimination deserve their day in court [and] Congress plainly has the constitutional power to make that happen.
The Amendment passed 68-30. However, some were not happy.
On the Senate floor, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., called it “a political attack directed at Halliburton.”
Franken rebutted, “This amendment does not single out a single contractor. This amendment would defund any contractor that refuses to give a victim of rape their day in court.”
Speaking of sex crimes, no word yet on whether an amendment will be drafted related to Sessions’ whoring on behalf of one of the Republican party’s biggest corporate contributors. Sleep tight, Jefferson Beauregard.
True to his word during the campaign, it looks like President Obama will get the Guantanamo Bay prison facility closed by some time early next year. That’s good. However, despite this appropriate course of action, this move seems mostly symbolic. The President refuses to discontinue the incredibly un-American Bush policy of “preventative detention.”
The Obama administration has decided not to seek legislation to establish a new system of preventive detention to hold terrorism suspects and will instead rely on a 2001 congressional resolution authorizing military force against al-Qaeda and the Taliban to continue to detain people indefinitely and without charge, according to administration officials.
In case you forgot, the 6th Amendment reads:
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district where in the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
I have discussed preventative detention policies at length, so I will not rehash the particulars of Guantanamo – the many prisoners rounded up not on the battlefields, but because they are political opponents of our “allies.” The fact that the longest amount of time someone can be held without charges in any other western democracy is 28 days (U.K.). The fact that these prisoners are not afforded access to lawyers, or contact with family members.
Remember the (appropriate, yet hypocritical) indignation in this country when the Iranian-American journalist was held in Iran for 3 months? Maybe this high-powered judgment should be turned inward. I saw Madeleine Albright speak last night at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Addressing the topic of torture and related constitutional issues, she said, “America is an exceptional country. It’s doesn’t mean we should make exceptions.”
I don’t dismiss the lingering effect of 9/11. Our leaders need to do everything in their power to prevent future attacks. However, Americans should respect the refractive nature of policies such as rendition, torture, and preventative detention. There is not a finite amount of terrorists in the world. As long you give them reason to feel oppressed and hated, the crazy, manipulative, End-of-Days Muslim extremists will be able to find unemployed, alienated youth to carry out murder on their behalf. Selling out constitutional principles is not only un-American – it’s unsafe.
Congratulations, Chicago. You won in spite of yourself. And it only cost $100 million for the losing Olympic bid. Bless you. But can we stop the ridiculous storyline that Oprah, Obama, or Ronnie Woo-Woo had anything to do with it? The fact is, the bid was bad. The fact is that the IOC has long been in a financial power struggle with the USOC. And the fact is the IOC goes where they can make the most coin.
Nothing Wrong With This.
Above all, however, is the fact that the city just wasn’t into it. While conservative media derided Chicago as this bastion of sin and corruption, other Americans wanted the Olympics to come to Chicago (84%) way more than Chicagoans themselves. Recent WGN/Chicago Tribune polls put local support for the Olympics bid at around 50%. The 3 other potential host cities had public support in the 70%-80% range. The politicians and business elite did not represent the will of the people. What a surprise.
The reveling of conservative media in Chicago’s defeat was far from surprising. Not long ago, Glenn Beck was extolling the success of Salt Lake City’s Winter Games as evidence of Mitt Romney’s presidential qualifications. Now? The gate-keepers of patriotism have decided the failure of the IOC to award Chicago the Olympics is evidence of Obama’s failed foreign policy. Would it be wrong to characterize this elation as “Anti-American?” Maybe. It’s at least a Silver Medal in the sport of Logical Gymnastics.
But alas, there will be no Michael Phelps finger-banging some DePaul student of the Le Passage dance floor. No Canadian softball player enjoying an Al’s Beef. No 12-year old Chinese gymnasts being ogled by weird middle-age men from Rockford. We could’ve had it all! Not a working contract for the CPD. Not smaller class sizes and better paid teachers for the CPS. Not a 21st Century CTA. But a 2-week athletic event-money pit we could’ve been paying off for the next 30 years. Ah, what a shame.
The Senate Finance Committee can’t even endorse a modest public option like Chuck Schumer’s. Citing his belief that a public option can’t pass on the Senate floor “at this time,” Finance chairman Max Baucus joined two Democrats and all Republicans in voting down the amendment, which failed 10 to 13.
Joining Baucus on the Democrats’ side of the dais were Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) and, by proxy, Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) who wasn’t present for the vote.
There will be no public option in the Finance Committee’s health care bill.
So when Conrad and Baucus talk about not having enough votes for the public option, they’re really just projecting. Cowardly, yet not surprising. Senators like Baucus and Harry Reid are not “leaders” of anything. Douchebags? yes. Leaders? Not in any sense of the term.
Imagine the outrage and indignation this story would cause:
At least 128 people were killed when Iranian troops opened fire on opposition protesters on Monday, rights groups and opposition figures claim.
Earlier police said 87 people had died, but local activists say hospital sources confirmed a much higher toll.
Human rights groups say they have had reports of soldiers bayoneting people and women being stripped and raped in the streets during the protest.
Iranian Revolutionary Guard head Yahya Rahim Safavi denied knowledge of sexual assaults.
But he admitted that some of his security forces had lost control.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said France was suspending economic ties with Iran after the “savage and bloody” crackdown on opposition protesters, the French news agency AFP reported.
About 50,000 people were protesting over the results of Iran’s 2009 presidential election.
But soldiers moved in to quell the rally using tear gas and baton charges and firing live ammunition into the crowds.
The Iranian Organisation for Defence of Human Rights put the toll at 157 people killed and more than 1,200 wounded, although this has not been corroborated.
Human rights groups said there were widespread reports of rape.
“The military is going into districts, looting goods and raping women,” the head of the Iranian branch of the Encounter for the Defence of Human Rights (EDDHO), told AFP.
An eyewitness told Human Rights Watch: “I saw several women stripped and then put inside the military trucks and taken away. I don’t know what happened to them.”
“They were raping women publicly,” an opposition activist said in an interview with French radio station RFI, adding that he had witnessed soldiers raping women with rifle butts during Monday’s protests.
Iranian human rights activists told Reuters news agency that people trying to escape from the shooting were “caught and finished off with bayonets”.
A doctor at a government hospital in Tehran said his wards looked like “a butchery”.
American pundits and politicians would be outraged. Calls for military involvement to protect the democratic process would surely be forthcoming.
Unfortunately, this story is not fiction. It’s just not taking place in Iran, North Korea, or any of the number places deemed “of concern” to American interests. It is happening in Guinea, and apparently CNN doesn’t think anyone gives a shit (and they may be right).
On cnn.com, there is no article (even in the hard to find “Africa” section) and only a small video clip. I’m not sure if the network covered it, but if they did I’m sure it’s sandwiched between a Polanski story and some bullshit about some fat lady who lost a lot of weight on an “all green onion” diet .
If anyone is watching CNN (or MSNBC/Fox), and thinks the media is treating this story with the appropriate coverage, please let me know. My guess is it’s filed in the voluminous “African Indifference” archive.
FAYETTEVILLE, AR - Larry Hannigan’s mundane life took an unexpected turn on Monday, when he discovered his 10-month old child, Henry, had developed a Truck Nuts allergy.
Following a recent family trip to Ozark National Forest in the family’s Truck Nuts-adorned Ford F-150 pickup truck, Hannigan noticed a rash consuming much of Henry’s body.
“At first, I thought it might’ve been some poison oak from the camping we were doing,” Hannigan said. “But then I took little Hank in the Ford over to Home Depot the other day, and the same thing happened.”
After some tests, it was determined Henry has an allergy to Truck Nuts, the plastic truck accessory resembling human testicles inside a scrotum. Truck Nuts first appeared in the United States in 1998 and first sold on the internet in 1999.
Hannigan’s wife Betsy expressed alarm at the diagnosis. “Never in a million years did I even think a child could even have an allergic reaction to something like that. We’re definitely going to have to be more careful.”
Asked whether her child’s allergy meant the family would remove the accessory in question, Ms. Hannigan wasn’t as definitive. “I don’t know,” pondered Betsy. “Larry sure loves those Nuts. He used to spend hours tinkering with that truck. Now, everytime I look out in the driveway he’s rubbing Armor-All on those things.”
Occurences of Truck Nuts allergies have become increasingly common in certain regions of the United States, particularly south of the Mason-Dixon line.
Henry receives traditional treatment for allergic reaction to "Truck Nuts."
Management of Truck Nuts allergies depends on strict avoidance of Truck Nuts. For young children, this usually depends on the of care of interested adults. There are some places, however, where it may be especially difficult to avoid Truck Nuts. These include NASCAR races, Shoney’s restaurants, and Wal-Mart parking lots.
Hannigan indicated he has no plans to get rid of the truck or the Truck Nuts.
“Look, the most important thing to me is Hank’s health,” Hannigan told reporters. “But I’ll be damned if I’m going to castrate my pride and joy just because the little guy is getting itchy. I mean, all my friends co-workwers have seen the Nuts. What kind of man would I be to let some uppity doctor tell me what to do with my Ford? I bought the damn thing.”
Hannigan concluded, ”I’d still rather have a kid with a Nuts allergy than drive a Chevy.”
Earlier this week, I wrote about how the Fox-News/Glenn-Beck/Rush-Limbaugh leadership trains its protesting followers to focus the vast bulk of their resentment and anxieties on largely powerless and downtrodden factions, while ignoring, and even revering, the outright pillaging by virtually omnipotent corporate interests that own and control their Government (and, not coincidentally, Fox News). It’s hard to imagine a more perfectly illustrative example of all of that than the hysterical furor over ACORN.
ACORN has received a grand total of $53 million in federal funds over the last 15 years — an average of $3.5 million per year. Meanwhile, not millions, not billions, but trillions of dollars of public funds have been, in the last year alone, transferred to or otherwise used for the benefit of Wall Street. Billions of dollars in American taxpayer money vanished into thin air, eaten by private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, led by Halliburton subsidiary KBR. All of those corporate interests employ armies of lobbyists and bottomless donor activities that ensure they dominate our legislative and regulatory processes, and to be extra certain, the revolving door between industry and government is more prolific than ever, with key corporate officials constantly ending up occupying the government positions with the most influence over those industries…
So with this massive pillaging of America’s economic security and its control of American government by its richest and most powerful factions growing by the day, to whom is America’s intense economic anxiety being directed? To a non-profit group that devotes itself to providing minute benefits to people who live under America’s poverty line, and which is so powerless in Washington that virtually the entire U.S. Senate just voted to cut off its funding at the first sign of real controversy — could anyone imagine that happening to a key player in the banking or defense industry?
Apparently, the problem for middle-class and lower-middle-class Americans is not that their taxpayer dollars are going to prop up billionaires, oligarchs and their corrupt industries. It’s that America’s impoverished — a group that is growing rapidly — is getting too much, has too much power and too little accountability. Anonymous Liberal has a superb post on the manipulative inanity of the Fox-generated ACORN ”scandal” (h/t D-day):
Let’s take a step back and consider just what ACORN is. It is a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower and improve the lives of poor people. As with many other organizations, ACORN has a number of legally distinct parts, each of which has different sources of funding and engages in different kinds of activities (ACORN’s conservative enemies routinely conflate these various parts to imply that ACORN is using federal money for improper political purposes). Since its founding the 70s, ACORN and its employees and volunteers have fought successfully to, among other things, increase minimum wages across the country, increase the quality of public education in poor areas, and protect people from predatory lending practices. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, ACORN helped rebuild thousands of homes and assisted victims in relocating and finding housing outside of New Orleans. The ACORN activity that has drawn the most conservative ire is its voter registration efforts which, consistent with ACORN’s mission, are primarily aimed at low-income voters (who tend to vote Democratic). . . .
But even if you take these film-makers at face value and assume the worst, the reality is that ACORN has thousands of employees and the vast majority of them spend their days trying to help poor people through perfectly legal means (and receive very little compensation for doing so). Even before yesterday’s Senate vote, the amount of federal money that went to ACORN was very small. This is a relatively insignificant organization in the grand scheme of things, but it’s an organization that has unquestionably fought over the years to improve the lives of the less fortunate in this country.
That the GOP and its conservative supporters would single out this particular organization for such intense demonization is telling. In September of last year, the entire world came perilously close to complete financial catastrophe. We’re still not out of the woods and we’re deep within one of the worst recessions in U.S. history. This situation was brought about by the recklessness and greed of our banks and financial institutions, most of which had to be bailed out at enormous cost to the American taxpayer (exponentially more than all of the tax dollars given to ACORN over the years). The people who brought about this near catastrophe, for the most, profited immensely from it. These very same institutions, propped up by the American taxpayer, are once again raking in large profits.
But rather than focus their anger on these folks, conservatives choose to go after an organization composed almost entirely of low-paid community organizers, an organization that could never hope to have even a small fraction of the clout or the ability to affect the overall direction of the country that Wall Street bankers have. ACORN’s relative lack of political influence was on full display yesterday, when the U.S. Senate (in which Democrats have a supermajority) not only entertained a vote to defund ACORN, but approved it by a huge margin (with only seven Democrats opposing).
If one were to watch Fox News or listen to Rush Limbaugh — as millions do — one would believe that the burden of the ordinary American taxpayer, and the unfair plight of America’s rich, is that their money is being stolen by the poorest and most powerless sectors of the society. An organization whose constituencies are often-unregistered inner-city minorities, the homeless and the dispossesed is depicted as though it’s Goldman Sachs, Blackwater, Halliburton and combined, as though Washington officials are in thrall to those living in poverty rather than those who fund their campaigns. It’s not the nice men in the suits doing the stealing but the very people, often minorities or illegal immigrants, with no political or financial power who nonetheless somehow dominate the government and get everything for themselves. The poorer and weaker one is, the more one is demonized in right-wing mythology as all-powerful recipients of ill-gotten gains; conversely, the stronger and more powerful one is, the more one is depicted as an oppressed and put-upon victim (that same dynamic applies to foreign affairs as well).
It’s such an obvious falsehood — so counter-intuitive and irrational — yet it resonates due to powerful cultural manipulations. Most of all, what’s so pernicious about all of this is that the same interests who are stealing, pillaging and wallowing in corruption are scapegoating the poorest and most vulnerable in order to ensure that the victims of their behavior are furious with everyone except for them.
I don’t care if ACORN gets a dime of federal money. Some other non-profit will likely take the reins, the money, and perform similar services. So why the big obsession? I don’t understand the conservative outrage over a decentralized organization that operates on a shoestring budget and has absolutely NO power(as can be seen by Congress’ vote).
And when the Federal government builds inadequate levies, destroys the wetlands naturally protecting the area, and then sits on its hands while an American city is destroyed by a storm, it’s groups like ACORN that help the displaced and marginalized pick up the pieces while the government turns its head and the rest of us sit on our asses watching reality TV and eating KFC gravy bowls. So why the outrage? Why, my friends, why? Is it a case of “providing assistance while colored?” Who knows? Only the indignant. Crazy times.
Maybe I’m biased because I live in the public transportation shithole that is Chicago, but D.C.’s Metro always seems well-planned, clean and efficient. Essentially, everything you want for a subway. But apparently, you can’t please everyone. According to the Wall Street Journal,
Protesters who attended Saturday’s Tea Party rally in Washington found a new reason to be upset: Apparently they are unhappy with the level of service provided by the subway system.
Rep. Kevin Brady asked for an explanation of why the government-run subway system didn’t, in his view, adequately prepare for this past weekend’s rally to protest government spending and government services…
The Texas Republican on Wednesday released a letter he sent to Washington’s Metro system complaining that the taxpayer-funded subway system was unable to properly transport protesters to the rally to protest government spending and expansion.
“These individuals came all the way from Southeast Texas to protest the excessive spending and growing government intrusion by the 111th Congress and the new Obama administration,” Brady wrote. “These participants, whose tax dollars were used to create and maintain this public transit system, were frustrated and disappointed that our nation’s capital did not make a great effort to simply provide a basic level of transit for them.”
A spokesman for Brady says that “there weren’t enough cars and there weren’t enough trains.” Brady tweeted as much from the Saturday march. “METRO did not prepare for Tea Party March! More stories. People couldn’t get on, missed start of march. I will demand answers from Metro,” he wrote on Twitter.
Brady says in his letter to Metro that overcrowding forced an 80-year-old woman and elderly veterans in wheelchairs to pay for cabs. He concludes that it “appears that Metro added no additional capacity to its regular weekend schedule.”
Next Stop - Irony.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to infer that Rep. Brady didn’t ride the train that day, nor is a frequent rider. Mr. Brady’s constituents, while bitching about how the Metro doesn’t ride nearly as smooth as a John Deere LX176 Riding Mower, also maintain there were too many “coloreds” and “ethnics” on the train.
Teabaggers in the Big City. There you go, TNN. I just gave you sitcom-gold. Brady is also likely to complain about the publicly-funded police and paramedics that kept order during their protest, as well as the publicly-maintained roads on which they marched.
Some Evangelicals believe Mohammed is the Antichrist. Lutherans believe the Pope is the Antichrist. Fat people believe broccoli is the Antichrist. What about people from Jersey?
Public Policy Polling’s habit of asking revealing, bizarre questions continues with a survey of New Jersey voters that finds—as President Obama’s approval rating dips slightly—only 79 percent of voters ready to rule out the possibility that their president is the Anti-Christ. Eight percent say he is, while 13 percent are not sure.
Further breakdowns on that question:
- Twelve percent of McCain voters think Obama is the Anti-Christ. Twenty-one percent are not sure.
- Fourteen percent of Republicans think Obama is the Anti-Christ. Fifteen percent are not sure.
- Eighteen percent of “conservative” voters think Obama is the Anti-Christ. Seventeen percent are not sure.
The big surprise here–the group of voters most likely to think Obama is the Anti-Christ are … Hispanics, who solidly backed Obama in 2008. Only 58 percent of them say, for sure, that their president is not Satan come to wreak havoc here on earth.
In a related poll, 42% of antichrists surveyed said they would only set foot in New Jersey for a lay-over, and 82% of antichrists believe the Antichrist is really some Jersey “Housewife.” Good stuff.
out on something. The old, “first they came for the Jews, and I wasn’t Jewish.”
The Avett Brothers – I And Love And You
