Ultimate!

Heading to Sarasota, FLA, for the UPA National Championships!

Wish us luck!

Live streaming and nightly highlights of much of the event can be found here.

Droopy

After months of negotiations and bluster and harangs and infighting and sanctimony and hypocrisy and all the rest, Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats finally decided it was time to leave the recalcitrant Republicans by the side of the road and pass a damn health care bill. "Make them filibuster," I've been saying, seemingly forever. Then, with the election of Al Franken, the Dems appeared to have reached the prized filibuster-proof 60-vote majority. Any attempt the the GOP to derail health care reform by filibuster could be beaten back with that all-important 60-vote majority.

Health care reform for all!!

Not so fast. It appears that Mr. "With-us-on-everything-but-the-war", Droopy Dog himself, has come out with the Republicans on health care reform. That's right, Joe F-ing Lieberman says he'll vote to filibuster the health care reform bill if it the final version includes a public option.

What part of Democratic Party does that sanctimonious, self-important asshole not understand? It's time to give ol' Joe the boot.

Philly Nation

Just want to welcome all the Yankee haters up on the bandwagon. Seems there are a lot of you out there.

Cover Girl

My friend Andrea Romano gets her pic on the banner for the UPA website.

Racism: It's not Just for Breakfast Anymore

Here's a screen grab of the Republican National Committee's Facebook page...[Raw Story has the story.]

Assault and Flattery

Dude's a Quote Machine

Rep. Alan Grayson runs the risk of using up all his best one-liners in the first :30 seconds of this interview with Chris Matthews.

Used Eraser

Sign on the counter at Phoenix Books, the used book store downtown near my office.

I guess the seller's done making mistakes.

Not from The Onion.

No, this screen grab is not from The Onion, which means the tool who wrote transcribed the story -- who considers himself a very serious journalist, I'm sure -- is but a rube in Faux News' eye.
[h/t Wonkette]

Crazy Fatigue

[click image for larger view]

Wingnut Central

Another in my occaisional trips through the wingnut crazy-land minefield known as the Appraisers Free Forum[registration required]. It bears repeating that these people are my professional counterparts in the real estate appraisal field.

Today's topic: The wingnut suspicion that President Obama is preparing to impose martial law in the United States!

He's more than willing to commit 40,000 troops domestically to enforce his polices here at home, or 400,000 if necessary, the question remains, how many will refuse to obey orders? My guess is if he orders them to cross the Rubicon, the vast majority will refuse and may even swing the guns around 180 degrees. The places to watch are greater Detroit and California. Most big cities are already in a state of semi-martial law anyway. My relatives in Michigan are a little on edge because of the economy (15% + unemployment and the auto industry in the tank). They're of the opinion that if Obama sends in troops under the gusie of some phony emergency and orders them to don blue UN helmets and hassle Americans that the venison belt volunteers will put down any attempt at martial law very, very quickly. Field Marshal Ted Nugent will be at the point I am sure! --Senior Jefe

and:

My prediction is this liberal puke goes down in a ball of flames.

I feel sorry for any law enforcement willing to impose communist law on American citizens...they'll get picked apart. I imagine most law enforcement would refuse to comply.

The military will turn on this sorry ass quicker than piranha's on a Capybara. --Mako

These anonymous whackjobs post this kind of rubbish along day long, every day. How paranoid does one have to be to believe this sort of nonsense? Ask yourself, would you want someone like that appraising your home? What if they saw the prized Obama poster hanging on your wall during their inspection? Paranoid crazies don't forget that sort of thing.

Given the precipitous rise in open racism and irrational vitriol over the past 10 months, one can only conclude that some deranged lunatic somewhere is actively -- right now -- planning to go all Travis Bickle on us.

It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

Blood for Oil

'Member how the Bushies scoffed at us dirty fucking hippies when we alleged that the Iraq war was being fought in part so that we could get our hands on their oil?
Sure you do...

T. Boone Pickens told Congress on Wednesday that U.S. energy companies are “entitled” to some of Iraq’s crude because of the large number of American troops that lost their lives fighting in the country and the U.S. taxpayer money spent in Iraq.

Boone, speaking to the newly formed Congressional Natural Gas Caucus, complained that the Iraqi government has awarded contracts to foreign companies, particularly Chinese firms, to develop Iraq’s vast reserves while American companies have mostly been shut out.

“They’re opening them (oil fields) up to other companies all over the world … We’re entitled to it,” Pickens said of Iraq’s oil. “Heck, we even lost 5,000 of our people, 65,000 injured and a trillion, five hundred billion dollars.”

I wonder how much oil these people are entitled to?

Small Things

In the breakroom in my office they've got a whole host of different artificial sweetners for your coffee enjoyment: Sweet-n-Low, Equal, Trulia, Stevia. Who knew?

Plus, real sugar.

UPDATE: Forgot, there's "Splenda" in there, too!

Powerful Statement from a WWII Vet

Phillies Win NLCS

Please...no car-flipping until after the World Series!

Liberty for All

About the Liberty Bell? Everybody gets it.

The Worst Call Ever?

We all know it's been a tough post-season in baseball for the umpires, but what in the hell happened in the 5th inning of Yankee-Angel game last night?

To recap: With one out in the top of the fifth inning, New York's Nick Swisher hit a ground ball back to Darren Oliver. The Angels pitcher immediately threw home and Jorge Posada was caught in a rundown as he tried to score from third.

As catcher Mike Napoli chased Posada, Robinson Cano did the right thing and moved from second to third on the play. But when Napoli finally neared Posada at third, he noticed that Cano was — for some unknown reason — standing flatfooted a few feet off the base. Napoli alertly tagged Cano and then turned back to tag out Posada, who was experiencing a similar lapse of judgment on the other side of the bag and foul line.

In a few dumbfounding seconds, it looked like Cano and Posada had joined Dale Berra and Bobby Meacham on the short and embarrassing list of duos to be tagged out by the same defender. But McClelland, despite standing just a few feet away and having the entire debacle right in front of him, only ruled Posada was out. Cano was welcome to third.

The Problem with Airport Security

Traveling by air reminds one about the absurdities encountered in "airport security." I took my Ma to the airport when she was leaving for Philadelphia. She's got an artificial hip, and so carries with her an ID card that's supposed to let the TSA people know before she goes through the machine that it's there. What the card really is, however, is a one-way ticket to the secondary pat down. After they put her through the ringer, I asked her, "Do they do that every time?" "Every time," she replied.

My flight was later that day, also out of tiny little San Luis Obispo airport. I noticed there was an older fella going through secondary. Sure enough, the wand was beeping every time it passed over his hip replacement. Later, in the Philly airport on the way home, Ma got sent over to secondary again, where she had to wait until they finished patting down and wanding an older guy who had, you guessed it...a hip replacement. "Every time." This process is, I presume, supposed to help prevent terrorism.

Politics Follows Me, Wherever I Go

So there we were strolling around on Independence Mall yesterday, when I heard a familiar voice coming over a PA. I recognized the campaign posters as those of Joe Sestak, the liberal Democrat former Navy admiral who is running in the Democratic primary against sitting "Democratic [allegedly] Senator Arlen Specter. I was with me Ma and me sis at the time, but I convinced them to stop and take a listen.

Well, the familiar voice we heard was none other than Ned Lamont, the Connecticut communist [allegedly] who beat Droopy Dog Joe Lieberman in the 2006 Senate primary up there in the Nutmeg State. We all know what happened next, Droopy ran as an "Independent" [allegedly], every Republican in the state voted for him, Lamont lost, and Lieberman was returned to Washington, where he's conducting hearings investigating whether President Obama has too many "czars" in his administration.

Anyway, Sestak's a good man, a liberal Democrat, a military man who opposed the Iraq War from the start. He's a long shot, but so was Lamont. While the stump speeches were pretty routine, it's always fun to witness good political theater, so I snapped a couple of pics from behind the stage:

When I got home today I found this Youtube of the endorsement rally and, you guessed it, if you look closely at the left hand side of the vid, in the grassy background, you'll see Mama Hornet and Sister Hornet walk behind the stage at about minute 7:01, followed by The Hornet at about 7:12. You'll note we each had the class not to wave at the camera while talking on our cell phones like a bunch of lunatics.

For good measure, and some perspective, here's a pic of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall...

Scheming Terrorists?

Here's a picture of some unattended baggage I spotted at the Philadelphia airport yesterday.Dora the Explorer and "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast! Are you freaking kidding me?!? Those damn scheming terrorists get more devious every day.

Travel Week

Sports fans: Traveling in Philly and NYC this week so I'll have limited posting.

Go Phillies!!!

Better Than Bush? Obama's a Shoo-in!

US State Department reacts to Obama's Nobel Peace Prize:

A spokesman for the State Department had this take on President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize, reports CNN:

"Certainly from our standpoint, this gives us a sense of momentum -- when the United States has accolades tossed its way, rather than shoes."

The comment was made by Assistant Secretary PJ Crowley, a spokesman for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Heh...clearly a reference to this classic moment, which pretty much sums up the Bush years and -- now that I think about it -- also explains a lot about why the committee came out of the blue and gave Obama the NPP. This is what the world has thought of us for the past eight years:

Nobel Prize

Hey kids! Here's a fun fact about the Nobel Peace Prize: It's their award and they can give it to whomever they damn well please.

Bringing the Dawn After 8 Years of Darkness

Talking Points Memo on the Obama Nobel:

This is an odd award. You'd expect it to come later in Obama's presidency and tied to some particular event or accomplishment. But the unmistakable message of the award is one of the consequences of a period in which the most powerful country in the world, the 'hyper-power' as the French have it, became the focus of destabilization and in real if limited ways lawlessness. A harsh judgment, yes. But a dark period. And Obama has begun, if fitfully and very imperfectly to many of his supporters, to steer the ship of state in a different direction. If that seems like a meager accomplishment to many of the usual Washington types it's a profound reflection of their own enablement of the Bush era and how compromised they are by it, how much they perpetuated the belief that it was 'normal history' rather than dark aberration.

The award is a message from the rest of the world to us. It says, "We're willing to forgive you for the last eight years. It says we're willing to give you a second chance. Lead on."

The One

Remember this ad from the campaign?
McCain knew what was up.

Obamania!!

Do you think Obama had bigger game in his sights when he went on that lobbying mission to Scandanavia last week?

Reporting from Washington — President Obama, who has pledged to place diplomacy ahead of confrontation and reached out to a skeptical world with offers of mutual understanding, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today for what the committee called "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,"

Obama is only the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize -- President Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906, President Woodrow Wilson in 1919.

I'll admit this seems a bit of a premature beatification, but given the glee with which the right wingers greeted the International Olympic Committee's rejection last week of Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Games, I can only imagine the righteous indignation coursing through the halls of FOX News this morning. "In awarding the prize today, the Nobel committee hailed the president's creation of 'a new climate in international politics.'" What a total smackdown of the Dick Cheney George W. Bush presidency.

UPDATE: On cue: Conservatives Blast Obama's Nobel Peace Prize.

Mmmwahahahahahahaha!!!!

Tough Duty

Harry Connick Jr. handles a difficult situation Down Under with class, sincerity and style...Even The Gong Show was never like this...

What Does ACORN Do?

I see the racist a-holes over at the Appraisers' Forum are back at it. Just checked in there for a minute at lunch and found this brilliant answer to the question: "What does ACORN do?"

"Dey hep the po and downtwodden hos, pimps, and miscweants, regardless of wace, cweed, or powitical affiwiation get gobermint money."

Haha! Racist much?

Non-Sequitor Hit Job of the Day

Sweet Jeezuz our media is stupid. What's the real point of a story like this except to try to chip away and damage the president? [And note the SCREAMING heaadline.]

Rockin' a Triple Entendre!

"Skootchline Blunt."
[h/t baughb]

FIRED!

The dude who made my sandwich at lunch today called me "my man" at least four times in five minutes. "What can I getcha, my man?" "You want chips, my man?" "Drink, my man?" "That'll be $7.75, my man."

Jesus, my man, what a douchebag.

If I owned that place [Jersey Mike's on Grand Ave. in Arroyo Grande], you'd be fired by now my man.

Charter News Acquires Telescope

Exposed

No need to watch this one all the way through, but if you ever harbored any doubts that Glenn Beck is a charlatan of the old school, PT Barnum, snake oil variety, this video will put those to rest right quick. You see, the man swabs Vick's Vapor-rub under his eyes to get the waterworks flowing before he soaks the rubes.

Beyondors 2009 / Ultimate

Champions of the Southwestern Region, 6-0 on the weekend and bound for the National Championships in Sarasota Oct 28-31...[left to right, front row: Greg Husak, Jeff Landesman, Austin Glimee, Adam Glimee, Jim Regetz, Jason Haas, Steve Dugan.
back row: Corey Sanford, JD Lobue JR, Jim Mallon, Buzz Ellsworth, Jim "Boots" Middlebrook, John Shelton, Blake Garnand, Chris Gavigan, Charlie Morrison, Crawford Shipey, Garrett Headley, Harrison "Pads" Heyl, Ryan Yarborough, James Studarus.]

Old-fashioned Weaponry

On the flight home from Scottsdale last night there was a woman whose husband got stopped at security because he was trying to carry on a slingshot. A slingshot! She said it wasn’t so much the weapon itself but that he also had the ammo necessary to use it. The ammo! So they stopped a 70-year-old man with a slingshot and held up the plane while he went back and stowed it in his checked baggage. I guess we should just be thankful the thing didn't blow up in the cargo hold.

Nice job TSA.

Perspective on the Senate Power-Brokers

It occurs to me that the five Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee who shot down the so-called “public option” amendments in the health care reform bill hail from North Dakota, Arkansas, Delaware, Montana and Florida. Leaving aside Florida (pop. 18,300,000), the entire combined population of the states represented by these self-important power brokers is just 5,337,500.

By way of comparison, the population of the city of New York is 8,364,000 (and there are 19,750,000 in metropolitan New York). Metropolitan Los Angeles is home to 15,250,000 people. There are close to 37 million people living in the state of California, and 6.6 million of them are uninsured; that’s more than the entire combined populations of the states represented by 4 of the 5 red-necked Democrat assholes who actively blocked reform.

This is Exhibit A as to what’s wrong with the antiquated power-structure in the United States Senate. Kent Conrad, the thick-headed boob who fails to understand even the most rudimentary aspects of the health care reform issue, represents 641,481 people in North Dakotucky. My congresswoman, Lois Capps, represents about 700,000. Barbara Boxer, senator from California, represents 36,700,000. Thirty-six million seven hundred thousand vs. six hundred forty one thousand. Boxer’s constituency is 57 times larger than Conrad’s. Think about that for a minute.

Something ain’t right in this here representative democracy.