Thursday, July 16, 2009
They Are Just Not That Into You, Mon Frere...
Once again, the Lakers are under-appreciating Lamar Odom. I don't know what this guy has to do to get respect from TPTB at the Lakers! Here they are, on the verge of sending Lamar and his Reese's Cups packing because they are all brimming with confidence with this new Artest aquistion. An Artest aquistion that reminds me of an episode of some show (The Big Valley?) where some folks had to take a ride in a wagon with bottles of nitroglycerine in the back (Little House on the Prairie?), taking extreme care not to jostle things lest they blow themselves to smithereens.
I don't know how much of this is Lamar stonewalling or the Lakers commiting their latest act of self destruction, but can we please just have Lamar back with the Lakers already? If he leaves, my last little thread of connection to my home team would be Luke Walton (although with Trevor gone, maybe he can see more playing time again). I might just as well start rooting for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
O-K-C!!! WOOT WOOT!!
**Notice how I didn't somehow manage to turn this into a Kobe rant.**
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Hang On To Your Collective Hats...

Obama tries to navigate the unwieldy mess that is healthcare reform around the seemingly unavoidable obstruction that is tax increases...
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
L.A. Daily News Death Watch, Part 2
PLOT IS GONE FROM PORN: Rise of Internet leads to "just a sex scene."
And the article got just as much type as the budget article!
It seems they imported an article by Matt Richtel in from the New York Times. While I thought the article was very interesting, I'm just like, has it come to this, Daily News? An article about the lack of plot in porn flicks in the hard news section? For real real? I could see this being tenuously connected to the business section, which as we know has been downsized to 2 pages at the end of the main section. Porn is big business in L.A. This kind of salacious reader grab, however, is disconcerting. I'm certainly not saying the article itself is salacious (it's not), but the placing seems weird. But I suppose when the chips are down...
In other entirely non-surprising news, L.A. residents are NOT feeling having to pay for the Jackson memorial yesterday.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Well, That's Somewhat Diverting...
While this was mostly yawn inducing, it was just out-of-left-field enough to cause my left eyebrow to raise. Apparently since she wasn't planning on running for reelection, she decided that she didn't want to sit in office as a lame duck governor or something. Her statement:
"Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional Lame Duck status in this particular climate would just be another dose of politics as usual, something I campaigned against and will always oppose. It is my duty to always protect our great state. With that in mind, my family and I determined that it is best to make a difference this summer, and I am willing to change things, so that this administration, with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future, can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success."
I don't know if it's my apathy towards her, or the fact that I've had way too much Pepsi but the utter vagueness of that statement is leaving me in a state of willful confusion, with no desire to figure out what she's talking about.
I'm just going to read the bold and italicized print between the lines and assume that she needs all her free time to prepare for her 2012 presidential run. I mean, learning basics, like having a coherent grasp on the issues and being able to give an interview that isn't sub-high school athlete, takes time.
I think she should reconsider this run. I mean, whoever the other candidates are on the GOP ticket that year, they are going to basically tear her to shreds. She should know from first hand experience that those Republicans are dirty and underhanded. A candidate with a bit more gravitas than her can come out of the primaries unscathed but I'm worried she might be totally unelectable afterwards. I am merely concerned about her political future.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Look, There's Saber Rattling And Then There's Just Plain "You Have Lost Your Damn Mind."
While North Korea definitely presents a huge challenge and, outside of restricting all but essential items from being transported there, what are you really going to do, I have to think somebody in charge is feeding their people some really strong Crazy-Ade. I literally laughed out loud when I read that "let's crush them" quote.
One thing, though, Joe Biden was right on the money with that whole 6 months thing! And that is exactly what's going on here. Crazy Ol' Kim Jong Il and his Napoleon complex flaring up again. The U.S. military may be spread out over half the Middle East, but they have no qualms about targeted bombing, okay? That doesn't take that much man power. And with Kimmie dropping the nuclear talk so casually, you can bet it wouldn't take much to get the American people behind the idea of a few carefully placed bombs if it will keep them from having their news about Jon & Kate interrupted.
Put you little sabers away before you hurt yourselves.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Was ACORN Somehow Involved In This?
Far be it from me to accuse anyone of blatant voter suppression or any underhanded machinations to get the outcome they wanted, but I just think it's a bit odd that a contest can go from hotly-contested to lopsided-win in one day. Nothing shady happening in Iran, no-siree bob...
I've listened to a few things Ahmadinejad has said and watched an interview with him on This Week a few weeks ago and I really don't think this guy gets it. He's not really looking out for the best interests of his country and people with his isolationist and, frankly, delusional views about Iran and its dealings with the rest of the world. There are people chomping at the bit to start bombing sites over there and if the choice is between either Iran getting close to being nuclear capable or bombing the hell out of them regardless of the collateral damage...well, nobody wants to see Iran with that kind of power in the hands of irrational religious extremists.
I can't even fault the Iranians for voting against their best interests because who even knows if this charade represents their real choice or not?
Friday, June 5, 2009
Insanely Irrational And Meaningless Rant...
If it wasn't for my desire to see Lamar Odom and Luke Walton win a ring, I would seriously risk Los Angeles pariahdom and possible stoning by rooting against the Lakers. The thought of Kobe going on a maniacal rampage after an ego-deflating loss is just too delicious.
Who am I kidding, there is no deflating that ego.
Still, you've got to be amazed at his telekinetic-like ability to get that ball in the hoop. **conspiracy theory alert**
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Dick Cheney Throws Ultra Extremist NeoCons A Knuckleball
Everybody better head for the hills because apparently that Invasion of the Body Snatchers stuff is real!
This is truly mind wobbling. Is he off his meds? Is he on meds?
Not surprisingly, I'm pretty sure I heard Elisabeth Hasselbeck voicing this same marriage opinion on The View this morning. Never let it be said that she doesn't stay on top of her talking points. Perhaps now these politicians that are all "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman, but I fully support civil unions" **cough Barack cough** can drop that ridiculous politicking and state their true feeling, which is that they don't give a damn if the gays want to get married or not but their stating that out loud may not fly in Alabama.
As for the 9/11 thing, well, that was kind of common knowledge I suppose, but having him say it out loud really lays down the shut up on the Bill Kristols of the world. (I still love my Billy, though) I'm sure this statement went over real well in the VA hospitals. You know, I'm getting angry sitting here thinking about this now. If either my sister or bro-in-law get sent to Iraq, I'm gonna be mighty damn pissed.
Clip is of Dick Cheney voicing his support/indifference on gay marriage.
Monday, June 1, 2009
You Have Now Entered The Bizarro World...
Rafael Nadal's early elimination from the French Open!! This is the King of Clay, Mr French Open we're talking about here. The final set came down to a tie break, where Robin Soderling won 5 back-to-back points against Rafa before eventually going on to win the match. WHAT?! The announcers were totally in a state of shock. Soderling showed great sportsmanship by leaving the court before Rafa and allowing the crowd to give Rafa a champion's appreciation roar.
In the NBA, Cleveland was eliminated from the playoffs by Orlando, which may have actually caused a ripple in the time-space continuum and sent the whole of humanity hurtling into an alternative reality. This has exposed my Lakers duality, where I'm now upset that Kobe's ego won't get squashed by a marauding LeBron but I'm overjoyed that the Lakers will (presumably) have an easier path to the title.
And not an "upset" but still upsetting, Danica Patrick was being interviewed after her 5th place finish in her IndyRace this weekend and as the they were wrapping it up, the interviewer (who was also a woman) says something like not only is she a great driver, but she bakes too. I thought we had transported back to the 50's. I was insulted for Danica.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Dudes...This Is Not A John Ford Production And You Are Not John Wayne.
Now we have rumblings of ultra conservatives gearing up for a battle over the Supreme Court nominee with the slogan "lock and load!"
Nevermind that the nominee hasn't even been named yet. They are ready for a fight!!
And there is the problem with the GOP, highlighted by those two events. It seems their current strategy is not to do what's best for their constituents by working to get their ideals and whatever on the table, they just want to be obstructionists. This falls right in line with their apparent party belief that even if it means the country must fail, they want revenge for suddenly having their huevos snatched off.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Vigilante Anti-Hero/Attempted Murderer-Of-The-Week
As with most jumpers, he didn't really have the courage of his conviction. The police had the area cordoned off for five hours, of course causing major traffic drama. Having had enough of this nonsense, 66-year-old Lai Jiansheng decided to take matters into his own hands. Somehow he broke through the cordoned off area and made his way to the ledge where Chen was sitting.
Lai greets Chen with a handshake and then pushes him over the bridge!!! !!!!!!
Luckily for Chen, the police had one of those inflatable pads set up.
A couple of interesting tidbits: "Photos in the Beijing Morning Post showed Lai, shoeless and in a T-shirt, saluting after Chen fell." Saluting? Why saluting? Bon voyage, bitch! Secondly, it seems our dear Lai has been on medication for an undiclosed "mental illness" for some time, and was on his way to the hospital to get more pills.
He was like, "You want to see crazy? I got yo crazy!"
New Catchphrase To Beat To Death...
Once again, fear mongering is being used as a political tool. And it wouldn't necessarily bother me so much if the people doing the fear mongering were as genuinely concerned as they would have us believe. No, it's blatant political posturing and transparently mercenary power grabbing. I suppose that sentence was overwrought enough.
I haven't really come down with an opinion on the issue of transferring detainees/POWs to U.S. prisons, but it seems to me that it's kind of like buying a great ring at the pawn shop and putting it in a Tiffany's box. It seems like you've made a great effort, so you get a lot of praise, when actually, you haven't really done that much. They're still in prison. Probably where the majority of them belong.
On the plus side, this gives the military personnel, who have had the hugely thankless job of watching these nutcases, the chance to go on to less soul-sapping assignments.
Monday, May 18, 2009
What A Diva!: Cleats Edition
Defensive linebacker James Harrison has decided that he will not be attending because he feels the Steelers are so special that it's a slap in the face to have them there just because they won the Super Bowl. Here's his quote:
"This is how I feel -- if you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don't win the Super Bowl. As far as I'm concerned, he would've invited Arizona if they had won."
Oh, I cracked UP!! I haven't seen such a flagrant display of diva-tude in some time. Of course he would've invited Arizona if they had won, that's the tradition, right? But moreover, that is an oddly hostile statement that makes me think our Defensive Player of the Year might be taking his title a little too seriously *snerk*. I watched THE CLIP to see if maybe I was missing some inflection that couldn't be picked up from just reading the quote, but nay...there was not.
This has got to be my favorite story of the day. Totally gave me the chuckles.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
**Stares Ahead Blankly In Disbelief**
I'll put aside for now my dislike of awkward, unnecessary photo ops. Also what has to be a security breach of some kind with the Prez and Vice Prez sitting around in what, even at best, would be dodgily secured perimeters. There is a bigger story here. The story being called attention to by America's Own Paragon of Masculinity, Sean Hannity. The President...ordered...dijon mustard on his burger!!!! ***GASP!!!***
So, I haven't quite decided if Sean was trying to say it was unmanly or un-American to eat spicy mustard. Certainly, it can't be un-American, as spicy mustard is very popular in the states. So it must be the unmanly thing. Are straight guys restricted to only using certain kinds of condiments now? And please, PLEASE tell me Sean didn't mockingly tell Barack to enjoy his fancy burger. Fancy? I will go out on a limb here and "accuse" Sean Hannity of having spicy mustard in his fridge. Let's hope he recognizes his foolishness every time he uses it.
I don't know, I think I'm sensing a bit of quiet weeping underneath his mocking persona. Like the class clown trying desperately to regain the momentarily distracted class' attention by resorting to progressively pathetic stunts until he, himself, becomes the object of ridicule. Give it time, Sean!! We all know the Democratic Party is just as loopy and self destructive as the Republican Party.
Monday, May 4, 2009
L.A. Daily News Death Watch...
The L.A. Daily News continues it's efforts to lose enough weight to be booked for a Milan runway show.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Disbelief Coupled With Exasperation Mixed With Indifference...
And apparently they've been comparing her to Sarah Palin. Well, if you mean an aggressively simplistic beauty pageant blank slate that they can mold into whatever they want, then yes, I suppose she is like Sarah Palin.
Is anybody but the media even talking about this lady? I had to Google "Miss California" just to find out what her name was.
This is another case where well intentioned people jumped the gun demanding an apology. Her statement wasn't particularly egregious. Now it seems, much like Palin, she's playing into the hands of starkly extremist individuals who are exploiting her blind opportunism to push their own agendas.
I seriously doubt this lady is anti-gay, but by allowing herself to become the spokesperson for the virulently anti-gay crowd, she's revealing herself to be anti-common sense.
Okay, back to ignoring this until 2012 when she and Palin are running mates for the newly formed Ameri-Jesus party.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
One Step Closer To Pure Insanity...
**SIGH**
How do you even comment on something like that?
First, some people have so perverted the phrase "Support the Troops" that I can not stand when people use the term troops any longer.
Second, Hannity, a person who will never have to worry about being tortured, is willing to show his support for the torture that our military men and women could realistically be faced with by making a show of undergoing a sanitized and strictly monitored version of this torture, thereby proving that it's no big deal. And to add additional sting to the slap in the face, he'll crow that he's doing it for "the troops!" by collecting money for this farce and giving it to military families.
At this point, is it still even necessary to point out that some people have lost their damn minds?
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
How Free Association Thinking Gets You From Ron Paul To Hitler...
I have actually begun to enjoy Thomas and his doomsday, what-if scenarios. Today's column featured Thomas complaining about this murky Vigilant Eagle program that the Dept. of Homeland Security was toying with. This program was initially started under the Bush Administration in order to keep an eye on disgruntled supporters of ex-Republican/newly Libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul who were supposedly vulnerable to recruitment by violent militia groups that would use any tactics to enforce state's sovereignty. Ron Paul had a lot of veterans as his supporters, so the thinking was that the militias would especially like to get their hands on these guys due to their weapons and combat training.
This program gained new life when people in the FBI and DOD became concerned about right-wing extremists groups trying to recruit veterans for membership in hate groups due to Obama's election after noticing an increase in threatening communications and weapons procurement among those groups.
With the whole of the conservative establishment trying to portray Obama as an enemy of the military, it's not surprising these groups might have an attentive ear, but I have a greater respect for military folks and refuse to believe they are that naive.
So our dear Thomas hitches this Vigilant Eagle program to the Obama Adminstration and then as he is want to do, goes off on a seemingly unrelated track and brings up some vague comment Obama made during the campaign about establishing a federal police force. I listened several times to the context of the speech where he mentions a "civilian national security force" (@ apx 16:45), and to me it seems he's talking about civilians serving in the Peace Corps and Americorps and the like and saying that those programs are just as important to national security (in a different way of course) and need to be expanded and funded as well.
Of course if you want that to be sinister, a word which Thomas used twice in his column, I'm sure you can read that into it also.
Thomas then goes on to posit that such a police force would be used as Obama's personal STORMTROOPERS to go on witchhunts after those who disagree with Obama because what other reason is there for such a force to exist? It's always about the Obama=Nazi thing with Thomas.
Which leads us back to his around-the-way point, that veterans and any person leaning to the right should be worried about being investigated and demonized by the sinister Obama Adminstration. Desperate paranoia/fear mongering is not a cute look but, much like Crocs, it is inexplicably in fashion.
Sometimes I just imagine Thomas sitting at his computer, munching on some 'shrooms and just seeing where his magic carpet ride will take him.
Oh, crap, right-wingers!!! It's TOO LATE!!!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Ughhh, Give Me A Friggin' Break.
Um, where were they during the previous few years of out of control spending? A period in which they weren't receiving any tax relief, so even more of their tax dollars were going to this out of control spending?
At first I thought that these tea parties were a great way for people to get out and protest and express their concern until it turned into another opportunity for the suddenly less empowered ultraconservatives to make a power grab. The waaay over the top icing on the cake came at the Texas rally where the audience started chanting for Texas to secede. Their governor, Rick Perry, when asked about it did not rule that out as an option!!!
***eyes roll right out head and into corner***
Whenever I hear people complaining that they don't want their tax dollars paying for such and such, I'm always wondering if they have any clue what they are currently and have previously gone to pay for? And do they think the USA gets its revenue from the tooth fairy? **shooing away vision of China in a tu-tu**
I feel for the people who may think that they are justified in this display, even though by now they should be receiving more in their paychecks due to the recent tax cut. They are being emotionally manipulated by people who don't have their best interests at heart and just want to regain influence by any means necessary, even if that means Tree Of Knowledge-level conniving.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Since I Haven't Been Worked Up About Anything Lately...
It's been reported that authorities in Turkey arrested a man who claimed to be plotting to kill Barack Obama during his visit there. Turkish police took the man into custody two days before Obama arrived so he was never in any immediate danger.
So I can only wonder if Rush Limbaugh has any comments from the peanut eating gallery? Disappointed, is he?
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Prop 8 Confusion
I'm having trouble wrapping my head around this. If the existing marriages are seen as valid and legal, how can you then tell another couple that they can't have that exact same valid and legal marriage? I seriously can't process this as it is so illogical that it exceeds human brain limitations.
And is this a kind of dubious victory for both sides?
People who voted for the ban did not succeed in keeping marriage between a man and a woman because there are valid same-sex marriages, but they did succeed in pushing their religion into our state constitution. Can they really claim a victory?
People who voted against the ban did not succeed in maintaining equal rights for all citizens, but with the current same-sex marriages being recognized, how can any future voters say that gay marriage will ruin the institution of marriage when inevitably marriage doesn't instantly become obsolete? Or whatever they think will happen to marriage, I never fully understood that.
On a side note, once again I heard these two arguments against overturning Prop 8: The will of the voters should be upheld and that two men or two women can't procreate with each other and marriage is supposed to be for procreation. Well, if the "will of the people" had anything to do with it, schools would still be segregated, water fountains separate, and that nice interracial couple down the block would be thrown in jail. As to the procreation thing, now barren women can't get married? Or guys who have had a vasectomy? Get real.
Just say it's against your religion and get it over with.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Blatant Hypocrisy On My Part, But What The Hay...
Previously on The View, Sherri Shepherd, well known for her biting and insightful commentary, mentioned that she saw The Obama Effect during the Oscars this year because of, among other things, the fact that 2 black actresses were nominated. So these ladies' performances weren't worthy of being nominated on their own merits, but in the spirit of Obama they were thrown a bone? Dang, Sherri.
I don't know which is more insulting!
Now, this post flies right in the face of my last post mentioning the new faces of color representing the GOP, but the Republican party is a whole different entity and is just calculating enough to try to score votes that way. Not taking anything away from Steele and Jindal who I'm sure are very capable and 10 times more intelligent than me. So long as Jindal stays away from those incompentent handlers. "More folksy! Put a hay straw in his mouth!"
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Is Bobby Jindal An Android?
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Perhaps An Underreaction On My Part?
First out of the box is, of course, Al Sharpton. Shockingly, he thinks it's racist. This is actually the prevailing view from what I've been reading. The implication being that the monkey represents Barack Obama, who is the face of the stimulus bill. And of course with the whole history of blacks being compared to monkeys, one can imagine why this did not go down well...
I didn't see it as racist. My first thought was that he was mocking what he sees as an inept bill. "Jeez, was this written by a bunch of monkeys or what?" I can understand why people see it as racist, but seriously I don't think that's the crime this cartoon commits.
The real crime here is that IT IS NOT FUNNY!!! The image is so violent that it borders on offending your sensiblities. I suppose it could be appreciated in an ultra-absurdist kind of way, but even then it's making light of the poor woman that was attacked by this monkey and also (cue my bleeding heart) the fact that this monkey had to be put down in such a horrible way.
So if you take out the racial element and the brutal slaying of this poor creature, it might be a little chuckle-worthy.
I get the sense that maybe people feel like they're supposed to be offended by this when in actuality, they should be upset that this is being passed off as humour.
Monday, February 16, 2009
How About Mandatory Tattoos Next Time?
As if these colleges already weren't making enough money off the backs of their athletes, they now want to turn them into walking billboards! While it's crazy to think that corporations have no investment in these amateur teams, I would think a little tact would be in order. It's seems a little unfair that you have somebody like Reggie Bush, to name one, being raked over the coals for accepting gifts while in college when the college itself is pulling in huge amounts of money from his efforts. I would hope that at the very least the universities give every one of their athletes full scholarships.
Back to the jerseys, they were freakin' orange and hideous looking, so at least the players were saved that embarrassment. Brings to mind the Lakers and their throwback shorts incident...
Friday, February 6, 2009
Two Entirely Meaningless Rantings...
Does religion have to permeate everything with these nunchucks? For some reason that statement just caused the eye roll and made me want to call him an idiot. Which birth announcement is he going by anyway? Was it an archive from Ye Ol' Bethlehem Times?
In other news, I can't believe I'm even mentioning this as I think it is probably the saddest case of "Media Inspired Frenzy" ever, but the whole Nadya Suleman octuplets thing...I think it is absolutely disingenuous for the media to be up in arms about this lady trying to get paid for her story when her story would not have been worth anything had it not been for the media making it into an event. I mean really, camping out in front of her house, an interview with some persona wrapped in a blanket to hide their identity, digging all into her past and breathlessly reporting every detail?
Something about this whole thing just makes me sick, almost like some kind of Salem witch hunt thing with the public forming opinions based on rank speculation...
Friday, January 23, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
The Sensible Way To Go...
This will, however, force the people who claim that marriage will be forever destroyed if two queens tie the knot and call it "marriage" as opposed to "civil union" to find some other way to impose their religion on everybody.
You don't usually expect this kind of level headed thinking from 2 college students (I shouldn't generalize) and I should mention that they are also straight, which while I know there's a lot of support from the straight corner, it's still made me smile to see that.
Here's the reason why it will still face a battle. The people against gay marriage aren't really concerned about defending marriage. They are just anti-gay and are hiding behind "defending marriage" as a feel good phrase for the non-thinkers. Anyway, why "defending?" Nobody's "attacking!" Must everything be so strident?
Kudos to Kaelan and Ali!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Non-Committal Comment

Having recently been taken to task for my absolute refusal to budge from neutrality on the Israel/Gaza situation and being dismissively told to enjoy my "intellectual hibernation," I decided to weigh in on the subject by going for the easy target. My favorite, The Uninformed American.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
AAARGH!!! Queue Up "Nearer My God To Thee"
The Giants lost to The Eagles today, 23 to 11, setting up The Avian Bowl *snerk* next week between The Eagles and The Cardinals. The Cardinals!!!
Here's the really distressing part. It's not just that my team got run over by one of these surging underdogs. It's that they went out playing way under their talent level. I suppose I won't mention that Lakers Game 6 that I serves as my disappointment yardstick. And a fumble to pound the final nail in the coffin. How lovely.
Oh, Karma, you are a real bitch! As I sat back smugly laughing at Terrell Owens as The Cowboys got their asses handed to them a while back, I never thought I'd be sitting here watching as yet another pass sailed beyond a receiver's outstretched hands, TWO field goal attempts missed, and efforts to convert on 4th and inches got stuffed.
When do the "NFC Championship game is For The Birds" jokes start? Too hacky?
Friday, January 9, 2009
Hold Up...Is This A Report From The Onion?
First of all this is a slap in the face to any serious journalist reporting from the area. Second, how insulting is it to the people in that area that some wacked out web entertainment company would send this shameless media whore with no journalistic background to cover a situation with such deadly consequences? And if I'm understanding this properly, he's supposed to be the straight talker to let people know the truth when the media and politicians may be doing the two-step with the facts. HA!! Joe is hardly the posterchild for unwavering honesty.
If Pajamas TV wants to have people look at their credibility askance, fine. Send him to cover the inauguration. Any flames of hate he fans there at least won't lead to folks dying. I am sure this man knows nothing about diplomatic relations and cultural sensitivities in the area to not go stomping around doing more harm than good.
Enjoy your free publicity, Pajamas TV! I hope it was worth it!!
My God, my head is exploding...




