Desperate Times: Beyond Usury

Yet another sign that people are getting desperate for cash...

When you have an urgent need for cash, a Pink Slip Loan (also called a car title loan or auto title loan) is the answer. You can borrow $2,525 or more in less than an hour using your car as collateral*. And, you keep driving your car!

If it's not intuitive enough for you, rest assured this is not a smart method of financial planning...

'These are very high-cost loans and we would urge borrowers to be very wary of this,' says Catherine Torazzo, from the Citizens Advice Bureau. 'You can lose your car if you default on a payment, and the lenders have an awful lot of power, while there is very little consumer protection for the borrower.'

If your car is repossessed, it is sold at auction. The lender pockets the sale money, while any shortfall between the sale price and the value of the loan must be paid by the borrower. One company, Loans 4 Logbooks, advertises a typical APR of 321.6 per cent, while Logbook Loans charges 343.4 per cent. A third, Mobile Money, charges 298.8 per cent.

Domestic Terrorism

Given the near certainty that some Christian nutjob is responsible for this crime, I suppose we should ask ourselves: Is this what Jesus would do?

WICHITA - George Tiller, the Wichita doctor who became a national lightning rod in the debate over abortion, was shot to death Sunday morning as he walked into church services.

Tiller was shot just after 10 a.m. at Reformation Lutheran Church at 7601 E. 13th, where he was a member of the congregation. Witnesses and a police source confirmed Tiller was the victim.

The Next Wave

When you hear talked of "Alt-A" mortgage loans, remember those are the so-called "Liar Loans," the ones where the borrower could put down whatever income figure was necessary to secure the financiing needed to purchase the house. And that's you ended up with middle-class mules buying $750,000 homes on $50,000/year incomes. [Hint: They said they made $150,000.] The next wave of foreslosures is coming, and it's that pool of borrowers that will be going under.

One and the Same

Who Do You Watch the Game With?

Off to Drink Liberally

Ah, 'tis a beautiful t'ing, no?

Friday Funnies

Dennis Wolfberg, a 1980s original.

Why Does General Betrayus Hate America?

General David Petraeus gives a blockbuster interview on FOX News in which he repudiates nearly every recent national security talking point put forth by Republican party "leaders" Rush, Dick and Newt...

"What I do support is what has been termed the responsible closure of Gitmo. Gitmo has caused us problems, there's no question about it. I oversee a region in which the existence of Gitmo has been used by the enemy against us. We have not been without missteps or mistakes in our activity since 9/11 and again Gitmo is a lingering reminder for the use of some in that regard.
[...]
"I don't think we should be afraid of our values we're fighting for. What we stand for and so indeed we need to embrace them and we need to ope rationalize them in how we carry out what it is we're doing on the battle field and everywhere else. So one has to have some faith I think in the legal system. One has to have a degree of confidence that individuals that have conducted such extremist activity would indeed be found guilty in our courts of law.
[...]
"...for the vast majority of the cases our experience down range if you will is that the techniques that are in the Army Field Manuel that lays out how we treat detainees, how we interrogate them, those techniques work, that's our experience in this business.
[...]
"When we have taken steps that have violated the Geneva Conventions we rightly have been criticized, so as we move forward I think it's important to again live our values, to live the agreements that we have made in the international justice arena and to practice those."

Well, that's refreshing. Bet the wingnuts weren't ready for that dose of reality.

2nd Amendment & The Right to Bare Arms

The Ultimate Player

The Logo.

[aka, "Mr. Clutch" and "Zeke, from Cabin Creek."]

Multi-tasker

Newt Gingrich opining on the Sotomayor pick on his Twitter feed.[N.B. If you read from the bottom up, as Twitter feeds go, you will note that Newt made his pronouncements about Judge Sotomayor shortly after he toured Auschwitz.]

WTF U SOB?

Maximum Cool

Dude's got game.

They Got Nothin'

The emptiness of Republican politics on full display.

Exhibit A:

Sotomayor also claimed: "For me, a very special part of my being Latina is the mucho platos de arroz, gandoles y pernir -- rice, beans and pork -- that I have eaten at countless family holidays and special events."

This has prompted some Republicans to muse privately about whether Sotomayor is suggesting that distinctive Puerto Rican cuisine such as patitas de cerdo con garbanzo -- pigs' tongue and ears -- would somehow, in some small way influence her verdicts from the bench.

How does one even begin to respond to such a ridiculous assertion?

The Stupid: Sotomayor

Strong contender for the most idiotic blog post of the year...

Deferring to people's own pronunciation of their names should obviously be our first inclination, but there ought to be limits. Putting the emphasis on the final syllable of Sotomayor is unnatural in English....and insisting on an unnatural pronunciation is something we shouldn't be giving in to.

[...]

And should we put Asian surnames first in English just because that's the way they do it in Asia? When speaking of people in Asia, okay, but not people of Asian origin here, where Mao Tse-tung would properly have been changed to Tse-tung Mao....

Yao Ming anyone?

So now the wingnuts are going to oppose a supreme court nominee because they're offended by the way she says her name. This tells us...???...what exactly?

Breaking News...

Latinos

I know Judge Sotomayor is Puerto Rican, but if you're from Southern California, this George Lopez bit is some funny shit...

They All Have Kids By Age 18, Don't They

Jumping to conclusions a bit, Politico pegs Judge Sotomayor...

The Politico says that Republicans are in the difficult position of perhaps needing to hold their fire because of the political dangers of attacking a "Latina single mother."

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Wrong.

The Washinton Post reports that Sotomayor has no children.

It's On the Record

Now that Barack Obama has nominated Sonia Sotomayor for the United States Supreme Court, let's see what Republican Senator Kit Bond has to say about his colleagues' potential use of the filibuster to block her confirmation...

What's that? This clip is from 2005? When John Roberts was the nominee? Well, given such a well-reasoned and passionate argument he wouldn't think of "throwing overboard 214 years of Senate courtesy and tradition" by threatening to filibuster President Obamam's nominees.

Would he?!?!

Keep your eye on this one.

Colin Doubles up on Dick and Rush

In the on going dustup between Colin Powell and Dick Cheney, recent public opinion polls show that the American public actually prefers Powell more than Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh combined...

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, released Monday, suggests that 70 percent have a favorable opinion of Powell, who was Secretary of State during President George W. Bush's first term, and who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Persian Gulf War.

Only 30 percent of those polled have a favorable view of Limbaugh, the popular conservative radio talk show host, with 53 percent saying they hold an unfavorable opinion.

In poll numbers released Thursday, 37 percent say they have a favorable opinion of Dick Cheney, with 55 percent indicating they hold an unfavorable view of the former vice president.

Powell: 70% favorable
Cheney: 37% favorable
Rush: 30% favorable.

Keep digging you fools, keep digging.

I Got an Email from The Boss

Dude has my private email address, I guess. Usually Barry doesn't get through my spam filter, but I think he made a good choice in Sonia Sotomayor.

Jim --

I am proud to announce my nominee for the next Justice of the United States Supreme Court: Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

This decision affects us all -- and so it must involve us all. I've recorded a special message to personally introduce Judge Sotomayor and explain why I'm so confident she will make an excellent Justice.

Judge Sotomayor has lived the America Dream. Born and raised in a South Bronx housing project, she distinguished herself in academia and then as a hard-charging New York District Attorney.

Judge Sotomayor has gone on to earn bipartisan acclaim as one of America's finest legal minds. As a Supreme Court Justice, she would bring more federal judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any Justice in 100 years. Judge Sotomayor would show fidelity to our Constitution and draw on a common-sense understanding of how the law affects our day-to-day lives.

A nomination for a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land is one of the most important decisions a President can make. And the discussions that follow will be among the most important we have as a nation. You can begin the conversation today by watching this special message and then passing it on:http://my.barackobama.com/SupremeCourt

Thank you,

Barack

It's worth a look:

Deep Thought

Except in a few very rare instances, winning in sports comes down to having more good players on your team than the opponents have on theirs. It's as simple as that.

Prop. H8 Stands

What the hell is wrong with people?

Dante Jones is a Punk-Ass Beeyotch

It never ends.

Why I bought a condo.

Brother Solomon Burke

Oxymoron Name Dept.

Angel Pagan, outfielder for the New York Mets.

Memorial Day

Spill the Wine

Spot On

Absolutely priceless description of Glenn Beck fans:

People that would, in their personal lives, turn beet red at having so much smoke blown up their ass cheerfully grab both cheeks and hand the man a funnel without blinking an eye.

Serious Question

If waterboarding isn't torture, won't someone do it to Liz Cheney?

Please?

It's Looking Good

Poor Choice of Words Dept.

Race car driver Alex Lloyd will be driving in the Indy 500 tomorrow even though his wife is due to give birth at any time. In fact, she will be there with him trackside. In reporting the story on CNN's Headline News this morning, the clueless newsreader put it this way:

"Lloyd has no plans to abort the race should his wife go into labor."
[emphasis added]

Limited No Government

There's a famous quote of anti-tax zealot Grover Norquist in which he says: "Our goal is to shrink government down to the size where we can drown it in a bathtub."

The dysfunctional state of California is very close to achieving that goal.

Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers scrambled Wednesday to avert a financial meltdown, and public officials across California braced for annihilating cuts on the day after voters trounced their leaders' rescue plan for the state.

Within two hours of returning from Washington, D.C., the governor huddled behind closed doors with Democratic and Republican legislative leaders to grapple with a projected $21.3-billion budget shortfall for the coming fiscal year and stop state government from running out of money by July.
[...]
Schwarzenegger, who alienated himself from fellow Republicans in February by reversing his pledge not to raise taxes, took the results as a mandate for the plan he unveiled last week to slash billions from education, healthcare, law enforcement and social programs, and to borrow $2 billion from local governments.
[...]
There was a sense that the warnings this time, unlike some earlier ones, were real -- that state officials had no options left but to deliver devastating cuts that could force Californians to reconcile the desire for programs they have routinely approved by initiative with an insistence on limiting taxes.

"People are going to have to figure out: Do they want schools, do they want roads, do they want public safety, do they want to take care of the less fortunate?" said John Burton, a former state Senate leader who is now chairman of the California Democratic Party. "At some point, that's going to happen."

And this in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly two-to-one. Thanks to a voter-approved consitutional requirement that any tax increases require a two-thirds majority vote in the legislature, combined with the California Republican Party's zero-tolerance policy on taxes increases, you need a better than two-to-one advantage to get anything done around here.

Beat Box

This clip kinda freaks me out...

Scholastic Prudery

I believe the chairman of the Cuesta College Performing Arts Department is a bit of a prude...

The problems between valle and the district began in 2004 with a series of seemingly minor conflicts between valle and Stone. Despite being the department chair, under Cuesta’s hierarchy, Stone possessed no authority over valle or the drama department. Nonetheless, multiple attempts to exercise control over, and even punish valle, between the years of 2004 and 2007 are detailed in the arbitration report.

Some of the attempts at control seem to stem from outright prudery. In 2005, for example, he encouraged valle to eliminate the word “vagina” from a promotional poster for her production of The Vagina Monologues, a fundraiser for the women’s shelter in San Luis Obispo.

WTF?

Surfer's Paradise

Rincon Pt. Break near Ventura, CA

Q: What do KISS, Witchee-poo and Paul Lynde have in common?

A: They are all in this video...

Cheney the Clown

Josh Marshall explains why it's problematic that DICK Cheney is getting all this media attention these days, although he also rightly notes that nearly everyone thinks the man is a complete and utter ridiculous douchebag....

This is someone who not only organized and seemingly directed a policy of state-sponsored torture. He did it in large part to get people to admit to crankish conspiracy theories he got taken in by by a crew of think-tank jockeys in DC whose theories most even half way sensible people treated as punch lines of jokes. So it's Torquemada or 1984 but only after getting rescripted by Mel Brooks.

This is an extremely gullible man who has just come off being the driving ideological force in an administration that most people can already see produced more fiascos and titanic, self-inflicted goofs than possibly any in our entire history. By any standard the guy is a monumental failure -- and not one whose mistakes stem in some Lyndon Johnson fashion from tragic overreach, but just a fool who damaged his country through his own gullibility, paranoia and bad judgment. Whatever else you can say about the Cheney story it ain't Shakespearean.

So as we see the big reporters trying to put him on some sort of equal footing with President Obama today, let's remember that the great majority of Americans see Dick Cheney, accurately, as a clown. And mockery isn't just the most effective but also the most morally apt response to the man.

Obama's National Security Speech in 4 Minutes

Dude, Where's My Bomb?

This must be what they mean by a homegrown terror cell...

The ringleader of the four-man homegrown terror cell accused of a plotting to blow up synagogues in the Bronx and military planes in Newburgh admitted to a judge today that he had smoked pot before his bust last night.

When U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa M. Smith asked James Cromatie (sic) if his judgment was impaired during his appearance in federal court in White Plains, the 55-year-old confessed: "No. I smoke it regularly...I understand everything you are saying."

So It Goes

Thank god we won that war over there a while back... What's that? Oh. Never mind.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A parked car rigged with explosives blew up outside a Baghdad restaurant Wednesday evening, an Iraqi government official said, killing at least 37 people and wounding 74 in the worst attack in nearly a month.

The blast took place about 7:30 p.m. in Shula, a blue-collar, predominantly Shiite Muslim neighborhood, an Interior Ministry official told CNN. At least two other shops were damaged in the neighborhood, where streets typically are crowded in the early evening.

Women and children were among the dead and wounded, the official said. Iraqi police were checking the area for any other bombs late Wednesday.

California's Nightmare

The hard decisions should never have been left in the hands of the voters in the first place, but now that California's whacked out "budget-by-ballot-initiative" plan failed, the folks in Sacramento are planning to turn the state into a house of pain...

The day after voters overwhelmingly rejected a plank of ballot measures intended to ease the state's financial woes, lawmakers awoke to a harsh reality: a projected $21.3-billion deficit and the prospect of another round of bitter negotiations among Democrats, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and conservatives across the legislative aisle.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, Schwarzenegger said the message from voters, unpalatable as he found it, was clear.

"There's a certain point where you feel that it will be devastating to some people and so we tried not to make those cuts," said the governor, who last week outlined grim plans to cope with the deficit. "But now we have to, we have no other choice."

California Proposition Ballot, May 19

Calitics is my go-to blog on California political matters and, as I had expected, Calitics is advising "No" votes straight down the ballot in tomorrow's special election:

During the budget week from hell, we mildly cheered on the progress of the budget process. We were concerned about the short-term budget issues, but were also dismayed by the rapid rightward shift of the negotiations. Unfortunately, as an Editorial Board we simply cannot support the measures as they have been brought to the May 19 Special Elections Ballot. We share the concerns of the League of Women Voters that this package was poorly designed and poorly executed, resulting in a plan that will ultimately create more harm than good. And since none of these measures address the structural revenue gap, adding another layer to an already suffocating fiscal straightjacket makes no sense whatsoever.

We do not appreciate the fearmongering message from supporters of the initiatives, who obviously can't find anything to recommend in these solutions and thusly must warn of impending doom in order to get them passed. We remind voters the words of Bill Clinton: "If one candidate's trying to scare you, and the other one's trying to get you to think... if one candidate's appealing to your fears, and the other one's appealing to your hopes, you'd better vote for the one who wants you to think and hope."

The issues presented in Propositions 1A through 1F mark the culmination of the legislature's dereliction of duty and the ultimate expression of California's farcical "initiative process." Each of these measures is of serious bugetary importance as the state tries to dig its way out of a massive deficit, but each of these measures is clearly beyond the scope of relevance and import to the average California voter.

Put simply, there are reasons we have a representative democracy, and one of them is to deal with the minutiae of financing the government. So the best way to handle this travesty is to send the whole kit and kaboodle back to Sacramento. Earn your pay you stonewalling, politically trepidacious legislators, because we're voting "No" all the way down the line.

Obama Commencement Address at Notre Dame

Barack Obama rises above the political fray to deliver a great speech at Notre Dame University's commencement ceremony.

Tortured Logic

It didn't really matter whether the Republicans in Congress knew we were torturing people, because they didn't think it was wrong...and so it's okay.

But Nancy Pelosi, who presumably would have thought torturing people was wrong, should resign immediately...becasue she may have known we were doing it.

Guilty Pleasure

The two greatest tiny little licks in rock guitar history come at 1:40 and 1:57 of this song. Subtlety is soul of wit. All hail the 12-string guitar.

Tanking It

I get the feeling the Republicans are sandbagging it.

Not sure why exactly, they just are.

Casting Aspersions

And people were pissed because Wanda Sykes wished kidney failure on this boob?

Limbaugh: Obama "knows he's being followed around by a bunch of sycophants who are going to die of anal poisoning"

Fakers.

I'm pretty sure that no Michael Jordan-led team ever fell behind 17-1 to start a game. Nor Magic Johnson, Dr. J or even LeBron James for that matter. 17-to-fucking-1.

After saying all the right things leading up to Game 6, the Lakers reverted back to an uninspired, we-can-beat-anybody attitude that became apparent only a few minutes into the game as the Rockets took a 17-1 lead.

Really hard to root for a team that's so gutless and disinterested. If he were dead, Magic Johnson would be spinning in his grave. As it is, I'm sure he's spinning nonetheless.

Keep Your Eye on the Ball

Just So We Remember
Cheney and the gang tortured the shit out of people to get false information for an excuse to invade a country in a war which has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people including over 4000 US troops.

--Atrios

Friday Music

Jimmy Smith, "Root Down and Get It"

What's in Your Wallet?

Besides a hole, that is. Don't be fooled, ladies and gentlemen...the Democrats don't give a crap about you either. Both of my senators voted in favor of this fairly reasonable bill to cap credit card interest rates at 15%(!), but the measure still went down hard 33-60. How did yours do?

Heads Up, Pachyderms

We're not laughing with you...you weren't supposed to get those jokes.

Ho-hum

Another crappy day in paradise. That's fucking lazy blogging right there.

Guess Who Came to the Dinner?

In case you missed it, Wanda Sykes wasn't the only one who killed it at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Here's President Obama bringing the funny...

Shakespearean Downfall?

Dick Cheney would do well to read up on the phrase "hoist on his own petard."

Just Pathetic

Where once the Republicans seemed like dangerous, sociopathic lunatics, now they are simply pathetic, desperate lamebrains.

The Torture Hearing in 100 Seconds

Huckleberry Graham (justifying torture): "...they saw the law as a nicety we couldn't afford..."

More Graham: "...one of the reasons these techniques have survived for 500 years is apparently they work..."

Everything Must Go!

Gimme Danger

I realize the Neil Young clip from last night may have given the wrong impression about...well, everything. Let's have Iggy set things right...

Jesusita the Last

A picture of startling beauty and shocking horror...

Second Amendment Corner

Sheriff’s investigators on Monday displayed some of the weapons seized last week at a house near Arroyo Grande during an investigation into an organized weapons-dealing operation.

One of the weapons pictured is an operable 20 mm cannon used for firing at aircraft.

As usual the real fun is in the comments section...

--But how many of the guns were actually illegal or modified. Wow a 20mm canon! That will sure take care of that pesky gopher in the yard.
--The M-60 Machine Gun on the floor is a belt fed, gas operated, fully automatic machine gun. It fires 7.62 or .308 rounds at about 700 a minute plus or minus. The 20 mm cannon was used for anti aircraft during WWII and was mounted on ships and in aircraft. There is no telling how many of the rifles on the table have been converted from semi to full auto.
--If we (USA) are ever attacked how convenient is going to be for the enemy to get hold of the national gun registry database? This guy at ### some street, some town, USA has a few guns... boom! And this guy... boom! And this guy... boom! Like ducks in a bucket...
--No problem here.

UPA All-Region Awards

The Ultimate Players Association handed out its individual awards today, and my alma mater UCSB and my adopted home Cal Poly were both well represented. So congratulations to the following players for a job well done this year:

Men:
Paul Van Bloemen Waanders, CalPoly, 1st team All-Region
Jeff Silverman, UCSB, 1st team All-Region
Tyler Bacon, CalPoly, 2nd team All-Region

Women:
Carolyn Finney, UCSB, 1st team All-Region
Kaela Jorgenson, UCSB, 1st team All-Region
Andrea Romano, UCSB, 1st team All-Region

And best of luck to the Black Tide and Burning Skirts as they head off to Columbus for the National Championships on Memorial Day weekend.

More Wanda

Apparently Wanda Sykes was asked to keep her routine clean...

"What do they think? I'm some ignorant a**? Like I'm going to go in there, 'What's up n*****? Like what the f*** they think I'm going to do?"

DICK Cheney

I get the feeling DICK Cheney is just daring somebody in a position of power to call him to account for the Bush administration's war crimes.

The Bush/Cheney admin spent eight years making damn sure that no administration figure of any consequence was going to testify to congress about anything. There is no way in hell, out of hell, below hell, beside hell, or just on the outskirts of hell at that little diner he likes so much that Dick Cheney himself would pop on over Congress to testify about whether or not he authorized a war crime. Not gonna happen. On the list of things that will never, ever happen, it ranks somewhere between baseball officially renaming itself "'Roidball" and pigs-who-are-not-Muppets launching their own space program.

Cheney hints he'd like to testify, but his subpena should come with a codicil that reads: "Go fuck yourself."

"We are not Guantanamo"

Another prime example of how the Bush administration's war policies diminished America's reputation abroad and enabled truly despicable governments to use our actions for their own propaganda purposes...

I'm sure everyone has heard of the two American journalists who were arrested and have been held by the North Koreans the last couple of months. They are going to be put on trial for "hostile acts" which have been unspecified. Most experts believe they will be traded for something of value eventually.

"The rumor was that they are being housed at one of the guest villas," said Han S. Park, a University of Georgia expert who was visiting North Korea as part of a private U.S. delegation after the women were captured. Park told CNN International that the North Koreans scoffed at any suggestion that the Americans were receiving harsh treatment.

"They laughed. 'We are not Guantanamo.' That's what they said," Park said.

The Devil Made Her Do It

The Carrie Prejean story just gets weirder by the minute...

Three weeks after becoming a hero to conservative Christians with her answer to a gay marriage question at the Miss USA pageant, Carrie Prejean hits the big kahuna of Christian radio this week, appearing today and tomorrow on James Dobson's daily Focus on the Family program.
[...]
Dobson: Why did you give the answer you did with regard to the affirmation of marriage?

Prejean: . . . I felt as though Satan was trying to tempt me in asking me this question. And then God was in my head and in my heart saying, "Do not compromise this. You need to stand up for me and you need to share with all these people . . . you need to witness to them and you need to show that you're not willing to compromise that for this title of Miss USA."

So it turns out Perez Hilton was right.

Sky High Airlines

Not the sort of departure one would hope for...

A large metal baggage container was sucked into the engine of a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 on Monday as the giant jetliner prepared to depart with 245 passengers from Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said.

Whoops.

The Full Wanda

Funny how some journalists are tut-tutting Wanda Sykes' performance at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Aren't they the same people who got a good chuckle out of Dubya's "them WMD's gotta be around here somewhere" comedy routine?



All I can says is, Wanda Sykes is one funny woman.

To BillO, or not to BillO?

The local rag recently canceled Bill O'Reilly's column. The conservatives went nutso, of course, so now the Trib is asking readers to weigh in on whether to resume BillO's weekly screed. Here's my take...

I am writing to register my stern and hearty opposition to the resumption of the Bill O'Reilly column. There is often much debate in your paper and elsewhere about free speech, the First Amendment and one's right to express one's views freely and openly, and certainly even Bill O'Reilly has the right to his own opinion. The problem with O'Reilly is that he is a dishonest polemicist and a dangerous provocateur, whose followers are notoriously ill-informed and unable to differentiate his demagoguery from the objective truth on far too many important issues.

While O'Reilly's column usually shows up on the "Opinion" side of the Op-Ed pages, his words carry unsettling power with a large swath of marginally informed individuals. These people are unable to distinguish O'Reilly's angry and mendacious rhetoric from reasonable political differences. Ergo, O'Reilly can make patently absurd claims such as that Barack Obama is a "Socialist" or that Obama plans to do away with the Second Amendment or that "we found WMDs in Iraq" and his easily swayed readers begin to believe these are matters of certainty. Your job as a newspaper is to help tamp down such falsehoods, not to propagate them.

By fomenting the bubbling anger of fringe elements on the conservative right, O'Reilly is helping to lead America down a dangerous road from which one day there may be no return. There are already crackpots who have taken up arms and killed police officers, so-called "liberals" and Democratic politicians at various places around the country. I believe it is media such as that practiced by O'Reilly that help push these unstable individuals over the edge. What O'Reilly contributes to the discourse is not journalism or "opinion," it is dangerous propaganda of the most egregious kind.

In the interest of your paper's good name and journalistic reputation, in the quest to ensure that your readers are kept well-informed with dependable information, you should most certainly do away with the O'Reilly column. There are surely conservative writers you can find who are committed to making arguments in favor of their policy beliefs (and against those of the other side) without resorting to the sort of dishonest fear- and anger-mongering we see with O'Reilly.

Thanks for your consideration,

The Hornet

Happy Mother's Day, Mom(s)

Brothers.

SETHZILLA!

Yes I know the dude who belongs to this truck:

As a matter of fact, here he comes now:

A Little Good News from Down South

Santa Barbara -- Thousands of Santa Barbara residents are being allowed back into their homes this morning as drizzle and calm breezes move into the area, handing firefighters a much-needed reprieve in their five-day assault against the Jesusita fire.

Overheard at McCarthy's Bar...

Barfly 1 to Barfly 2: "Are you coming in tomorrow?"

Barfly 2 to Barfly 1: "Unless I die."

Lovely Day

Biggest Monitors the Jesusita Fire

Rare video of Edison emergency supervisor Biggest Yim as he receives updates on the Jesusita Fire.

"They Shoot Those Guys First"

Just had a couple of beers down at McCarthy's with an ex-Marine vet of the Iraq war. Lots to share about that talk when I have more time to write, but how about this for a teaser?:

ME: So you were over in Iraq?"
HIM: "Yep."
ME: Asked a bunch of questions, including "So do you speak Arabic?"
HIM: "I initally enrolled in language school down at the base in Miramar [San Diego area], but I quit that right quick."
ME: "Why?"
HIM: "Because I found out they always shoot the translators first."

Jesusita Roman Candles

Back during the 1994 Painted Cave Fire, a bunch of us had ridden our bikes into SB from Goleta during the day and got stuck down there when the blaze split the communities in two.

At one point Baughb and I decided to take a shot at getting home by riding down Modoc Road toward Hollister Ave., but the smoke was so thick you could barely see and both sides of the street were lined with giant palm trees that were going up like huge roman candles, much like those you see here.

We thought better of it and turned back but, unknown to us, our friend John Keough charged on down the same road, passing through that gauntlet of fire and ultimately getting home to Ellwood Shores two days before any of the rest of us.

Fires like this will make people do some insane things.

Since when....

...did "empathy" become a bad thing? Since the word passed Barack Obama's lips, that's when.

The Global Village

Interesting blog traffic report...must've got a link overseas somehow:

Jesusita Inferno

Another pic just in. This doesn't look good at all.

Holy Shit.

Another pic from the Jesusita Fire. Smoke, ash and catastrophe loom over the Queen of the Missions.[click photo for larger image]

Fire Prevention 101

Airborne-high-impact-flame-retardant-delivery-system...Who knew?
[h/t Biggest]

UPDATE: The story behind the photo and an on-the-scene update on the Jesusita Fire from the Big Man:

It's a trip. Snapped that just as the bomber was diving over the ridgeline. This fire has blown up tonight. The fire is at San Marcos Pass (it's gonna jump it) and burning south towards Cathedral Oaks/Foothill. The wind is nuts, totally erratic. I'm getting updates from the field every 1/2 hr right now because I'm Edison's emergency supervisor for the week. We're starting to suffer some pretty serious damage tonight, which means I'll be heading up to SB tonight.

Point A to Point B

The crisis on Wall Street was created by unregulated capitalism.

Jesusita Fire

I'm thinking you just don't want to be anywhere near there...
This afternoon outside Jay and Angela Higgins' house.
Please everyone, be smart and be safe.

Mustard-gate

Because they don't have anything else to complain about. [Bear in mind, the blogger stirring up this tempest in a teapot is more than a wingnut, he's also an associate clinical professor of law at Cornell University. And he's worried about elitist mustard.]

High-larious Comedy

About Sums It Up

The Rude Pundit on The Death of the Republican Party:

"Seriously, at this point, listening to Republicans talk about policy is about the same as listening to a particularly articulate toddler explain why he refuses to shit in a toilet."

There's more here.

Manny Being Manny

Sorry Doyer fans. As a member of the Phillie Faithful, all I can say about this revolting development is bwaahahahahahaha!!!! [Although I was looking forward to seeing Cole Hammels strike Manny out three or four times when we go to the game June 6. ]

El Hornito es....

....mas fino.

Jesusita Fire

A few random photos of the Jesusita Fire taken by friends living down in SB.....

Who's In Charge Over There?

Just Askin'

What do you global warming deniers have to say for yourselves now, huh?

Hills Are Filled with Fire (Again)

I just cannot believe my friends in Santa Barbara are going through this again. It's mind boggling; the evacuation boundaries run right through the heart of downtown. WTF? Hoping all will be safe, be well and find friends for comfort and protection.


View Jesusita Fire - Santa Barbara in a larger map

Wingnut Comedy Gold

Who sez nobody makes any jokes about Barack Obama?

Know Your Rock History Please

Happened to catch about 10 minutes of American Idol last night -- don't ask (it was halftime of the basketball game, okay?, and I was channel surfing, now leave me alone) -- and the dude was singing Dream On by Aerosmith. The one chick sitting there between The Dog and Paula Abdul (and no, that's not the same person) criticized the song choice and told the guy, "You should have chosen something from early Aerosmith." Helloooo....?

Dream On is the second single off Aerosmith's first album. It came out in 1973. Shouldn't the people judging the show know a little bit about the music?

SCotUS

For all the talk about who Barack Obama will choose to replace David Souter, if you hear a conservative complain that white male candidates are unfairly being excluded, consider this:

The United States Supreme Court is 88 percent male and 77 percent white male. And this is actually a fairly diverse moment in the Court's history. As Adam Serwer pointed out, "There have been 110 Justices on the Supreme Court. Of those, two have been women, and two have been black. The other 106 have been white men. That means that around 96 percent of Supreme Court Justices have been white men."

Man's Best Friend

Here's a heroic tail tale that's soon to be a major motion picture....

A dog that a Wildomar man once saved from being put to sleep threw himself between his master and a marauding mountain lion at Lake Elsinore on Tuesday.

The dog -- a mixed breed named Hoagie -- and the mountain lion fought a ferocious battle at one of the lake's campgrounds that saved the man's life and nearly killed the dog, who was rushed into four hours of surgery, according to authorities.

"There's no question the dog saved his life," said Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.

Hah! The Ghost makes a funny (via email):

"I guess that's what you get when you name dog after a sandwich."

RIP Dom Deluise

What do Jerry Garcia, Dom Deluise and El Hornito have in common?

They were each born on August 1.

El Hornito

I always thought the Hornet logo on the "About Me" link looked more like one of those dastardly green flies that bite the shite out of you downa shore in South Jersey, so I'm switching to this more menacing one:

Hypocrisy is not for the Faint of Heart

Turns out Carrie Prejean, Miss Holier-Than-Thou California, posed for some nekkid pitchers at some point prior to her headline stealing go-round in the Miss USA pageant as the nation's hottest same-sex marriage scold. Perhaps she was only doing her part to draw gay men back into the hetero fold, but little girls have been persecuted prosecuted for less in Pennsylvania.

Wonder how the bible-thumpers will take the news that their new "opposite marriage" spokesmodel is nothing but a shameless hussy...

DEAR SIR, ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?

Somebody in "Switerland" wants desperately to help pay for my "kiddney" operation...

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND AGENCY
INVESTIGATION OPERATION DEPARTMENT
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
TEL:+234-805-653-7315
EMAIL ADDRESS : infobox1@post.ro

ATTENTION!!!

DEAR SIR,

RE: AUTHORIZATION FOR PAYMENT,

BE INFORMED THAT OUR TODAY INVESTIGATION ON YOUR PAYMENT FILE AS DIRECTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND AGENCY AND REASON FOR DELAYING YOUR PAYMENT, AFTER IT WAS APPROVED, PLEASE CONFIRM BACK, ARE YOU STILL ALIVE? DID YOU SIGN ANY DEED OF AGREEMENT IN FAVOR OF ONE (MR.JOHN F.WHEELER OF SWITERLAND) TO RECIEVE YOUR FUNDS ON YOUR BEHALF?

MR.JOHN F.WHEELER CLAIMED THAT YOUR ARE CRITICALLY SICK,HOSPITALISED AND YOU NEEDED THIS FUND FOR AN URGENT KIDDNEY OPERATION,PLEASE DO REPLY IMMEDIATELY FOR CONFIRMATION TO ENABLE US ACT AS INSTRUCTED ON THE APPROVED FUND,BECAUSE WE CAN NOT RELEASE THE SAID CLAIM WITHOUT HEARING FROM YOU OR ANY OF YOUR CLOSED RELATIVE.

PLEASE YOU ARE TO REACH BACK TO US IMMEDIATELY VIA THIS EMAIL ADDRESS: (infobox1@post.ro) OR CALL FOR FURTHER CLARIFICATIONS. CALL IMMEDIATELY YOU ARE IN RECEIPT OF THIS EMAIL LETTER FOR CONFIRMATION TO ENABLE US PROCEED AS INSTRUCTED BECAUSE MOST OF THE PAPER WORKS AND FEES HAS BEEN PARTIALLY CONCLUDED,WE ONLY NEED A FINAL CONFIRMATION SINCE THIS IS A HUGE AMOUNT ON MONEY FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.

WE ARE SORRY FOR THE INCOVINIENCIES, WE WISH YOU SPEEDY RECOVERY.

BEST REGARDS.

MR. GEORGE W. COLLINS
Director, (INVESTIGATION BUREAU)
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND AGENCY
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
[emphasis added]

Socialism is for Pinko Frenchy Bastards

Lookit France all feedin' kids good food and stuff...

Actual government-sponsored school lunch menu:
Cucumbers with garlic and fine herbs
Basque chicken thigh with herbs
Red and green bell peppers and olive oil
Couscous
Organic yogurt
Apple

What, no chips and soda pop? Personally (and those who know me will vouch for this), I wouldn't eat any of that crap.

Baller

Shane Battier is a man.

JtP Explains It All

Christianity Today has a scintillating interview with [Not] Joe the [Not a] Plumber. Here he holds forth on gay marriage and the "queer" lifestyle:

I personally still think it's wrong. People don't understand the dictionary—it's called queer. Queer means strange and unusual. It's not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that. You know, God is pretty explicit in what we're supposed to do—what man and woman are for. Now, at the same time, we're supposed to love everybody and accept people, and preach against the sins. I've had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn't have them anywhere near my children. But at the same time, they're people, and they're going to do their thing. [emphasis added.]

So much fail for one man.

The New Republican Party

Elections Have Consequences

A common sense, novel idea from a Democratic president..."business," naturally, is not happy.

Washington -- President Obama's plan to crack down on what he called abuse of overseas tax loopholes was met Monday with quick and unusually sharp opposition from big business, threatening to produce the administration's first major confrontation with a broad segment of corporate America.
[...]
The proposed crackdown consists of two main proposals. The first targets wealthy people who use foreign tax havens such as the Cayman Islands to hide resources from the Internal Revenue Service.

The second proposal would change the way multinational corporations are able to deduct expenses incurred in foreign countries to reduce or avoid U.S. taxes -- a practice Obama said encourages the shifting of jobs overseas.

The president described the issue as one of simple fairness.

The goal, he said, is to end a "tax scam" by shutting down overseas tax havens that let U.S. multinational corporations and some individual taxpayers avoid paying U.S. taxes while ordinary Americans take up the slack.

"Nobody likes paying taxes, particularly in times of economic stress," Obama said. "And yet, even as most American citizens and businesses meet these responsibilities, there are others who are shirking theirs."

Short Skirt, Long Jacket

From the comments:

"Any song with a vibraslap is sure to do well. "

Kent State, Ohio

Today is the 39th anniversay of the Kent State shootings. I was seven years old at the time, but my pal across the street, Mickey Long, was 18 or so, and he and his older brother Hoppy were sweating the draft. I can still remember May 4, 1970 and the shock, anger and frustration this event provoked in the people being sent off to war. You can learn more here.

Drip. Drip, Drip

We're inching ever closer to holding the miserable, chicken-hearted sons-of-bitches responsible.

One Word Movie Review

Wolverine = stooooooopid.

Bears Repeating

Miss California was not ridiculed last week because she opposes same-sex marriage. She was ridiculed because she clearly had no understanding of the current state of the issue. Put simply, same-sex couples in California do not have the option of getting married. Her answer was dumb because she was wrong.

"Opposite marriage???" Come on, WTF?!?

Some Days

I wish I lived in a pro sports town.

Brian McG at the Phillies' game in Phila:














Clifford H. at the Nuggets playoff game in DNV:

The Next Wave of the Disaster

According to this graph, the next wave of the foreclosure tsunami will be cream colored....

Nobody Walks Anymore

Once again, I clock in at 92 out of 100 on the Walkability scale. Personally, I don't know what I could do to get my Walk-Score any higher but to live in my office, upstairs from the grocery store, downstairs from the movie theater, sandwiched between the post office and a church.

I'm 2-3 blocks from pretty much everything, fergawdsakes.

Arlen Specter is Kind of a Weasel...

...but he's our weasel now!

The Oracle has Spoken

Stick a fork in 'em, they're done. Warren Buffett -- the Nebraksa-based billionaire business guru -- wouldn't buy a newspaper "at any price."

This guy walks into McCarthy's bar....

...and announces:

"Well, the good news is, I can't destroy my credibility."

We look over and see it's Walter. Heads nod knowingly all around.

Overcoat Rock

"I'm not expecting to grow flowers in the desert..."

Perspective

Lyndie England went to jail for putting a dog leash on a prisoner's neck. What about the people who did this?

Friday!

Article 17, Geneva Conventions

Article 17
No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind.

What part of "NO" don't you understand?

WWJD?

Wouldn't this be similar to having the NFL pay for your steroids right before the Super Bowl?

[Miss California] Carrie Prejean, whose comments opposing same-sex marriage during last month's Miss USA pageant still have tongues wagging, had breast augmentation surgery just weeks before that competition, Miss California Pageant Co-Director Keith Lewis confirmed on The Early Show Friday. He also said reports that the Miss California pageant helped foot the bill for the operation were true.

Mission [Un]accomplished.

Thank god we won that war (we started) six years ago today.

Whoops.

An Apt Metaphor

The Republican party is in a shambles....

When Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switched to the Democratic Party this week, the response from Republican leaders was unequivocal: Don't let the door hit you on your way out.

Of course, they said that while standing, metaphorically speaking, in a building with no roof, broken windows, and collapsing walls.

Celebrate May Day

Hug a worker.

Yet Another Big Decision

Only 100 days in and President Obama's gonna get his first crack at the Supreme Court. Who are the top contendahs?