Last Call

And Ohio's Gov. Kasich does a complete 180 on federal tornado aid:

Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Monday reconsidered his rejection of federal help in tornado-stricken communities and asked federal inspectors to assess the damage as soon as possible.

A team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency is expected to arrive Tuesday in Clermont County to survey the storm damage and determine whether the region qualifies for financial or logistical assistance.


“Hopefully we can get a quick answer from the federal inspectors on what additional resources might be available to help people begin recovering,” Kasich said.


The decision to invite the inspectors came two days after Kasich said he would not seek immediate federal disaster relief because he was confident Ohio could handle the crisis.


Rob Nichols, a spokesman for the governor, said the decision to invite FEMA was made after Kasich reviewed the findings of state emergency management officials and developed “a firm understanding of the problem.” Nichols said Kasich had never ruled out asking for federal help but wanted to wait until state inspectors had done their own assessment.

I'm sure the public outcry had nothing to do with it, either.   Time to total reversal:  less than 48 hours.  his spokesman went from "We're thrilled we don't need federal help" to "we never ruled it out."  Ohio, Gov. Kasich thinks you're just plain stupid.

It's great that Clermont County is getting help.  It should have never been in doubt.

That's A Mighty Cool Glitch You Have There

Thought it is likely a glitch caused by a flash of lightning, a guy on tour took a really neat picture that shows what looks like a light beam coming from the sky to the top of a Mayan pyramid, or that the pyramid is sending a beam into the sky.

Those who enjoy the Mayan conspiracy will get a kick out of these, otherwise it's just a cool picture that was worth sharing.

Mercy, Merci

A Frenchman is pissed at Google.  And pissed at his flowers.

Oh, that's on his flowers.

The man's name hasn't been released, but he is suing for damages after a human-operated street view car captured him peeing outside.  He has been recognized, and feels he is the laughingstock of his hometown.  He is asking for 10,000 euros (a little over $13,000 in US dollars) for his pain and suffering.

Sorry, pal.  If you pee outside, you give up any expectation of privacy.  Any jogger, driver or passerby could have seen that image, and if he did it in sight of a car that is his problem.  The person and equipment that caught him wasn't aiming for him, he was a background in a nature shot.  It just turned out to be a lot more "natural" than intended.

Better luck, try again next time.

Oops! In New Capsule Form

A CVS pharmacy in New Jersey made a little mistake and sent out a dangerous cancer drug in place of flouride.  They were pretty glib in their response, so much so that I almost wonder if their publicist doesn't work weekends.

The drug's side effects include blood clots and stroke, and the dosage would be devastating to a young child.  The official statement mentions human error and processes,  but doesn't indicate a lot of remorse or mention how many families may have been affected.

What will be interesting to know is how this happened so many times.  There are many safeguards to prevent just this type of mistake, what allowed this to occur over an extended period of time will likely be devastating to one of the largest pharmacy chains in the country.

May I Offer You A Cool, Refreshing Glass Of Get Over Yourself?

A New York woman has filed a lawsuit against her former Roman Catholic college in Boston, claiming administrators didn't do enough to help her when she complained that her roommate was having too much sex in their dorm room.

Lindsay Blankmeyer said in a federal lawsuit that she suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder before she enrolled at Stonehill College, but was driven into a suicidal depression after school officials wouldn't give her reasonable housing alternatives to get her away from her roommate at the school in Easton, Mass.

In the lawsuit, Blankmeyer says the college offered her two options, one was moving to another dorm where she would live in a room that was previously used as a study lounge and was a "small cubicle-like space." The other option was to move to a dorm with a reputation as a "party dorm" to live with a girl Blankmeyer did not know.

In other words, typical college behavior and two options offered to an unhappy roommate. Instead of learning a little flexibility and tolerance, Blankmeyer said she was driven to suicidal depression over her exposure to a young woman's sex life with her boyfriend. Please note, not multiple boyfriends, or girls, or combination. Yeah, that's why you went crazy, sweetheart. It's not you, it's everybody else in the world who needs to adjust.

A party dorm? Heaven forbid! Why couldn't they just change others to conform to what Blankmeyer wanted? Would that be so hard?

America never promised youth a life without discomfort or compromise. It promises liberty and choice. Perhaps someone so uptight that they were driven to suicidal depression over a little sex belongs in a private dwelling. However, I don't believe the school or anyone else is obligated to pay for that.

Pyrrhic Vic--Erm, Defeat

Republicans are fighting the battle for primary votes and losing the general election even as we speak.

As another round of voting takes place this week in the Republican presidential race – with 11 states holding Super Tuesday contests – a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that the combative and heavily scrutinized primary season so far has damaged the party and its candidates.

Four in 10 of all adults say the GOP nominating process has given them a less favorable impression of the Republican Party, versus just slightly more than one in 10 with a more favorable opinion.

Additionally, when asked to describe the GOP nominating battle in a word or phrase, nearly 70 percent of respondents – including six in 10 independents and even more than half of Republicans – answered with a negative comment.

Some examples of these negative comments from Republicans: "Unenthusiastic," "discouraged," "lesser of two evils," "painful," "disappointed," "poor choices," "concerned," "underwhelmed,” “uninspiring” and “depressed.”

And perhaps most significantly, the GOP primary process has taken a toll on the Republican presidential candidates, including front-runner Mitt Romney, who is seen more unfavorably and whose standing with independents remains underwater.

And yes, I'm aware that a complete Romney Super Tuesday victory in Ohio and the other states that forces Santorum and Gingrich out of the race would give him an eternity to polish his turd of an image ahead of November.  Hell, even a brokered convention in August would still leave Romney 90 days or so to go full Sensible Centrist.  He will have to.

But that's also operating in a vacuum and assuming that Team Obama won't do anything with their war chest either.  Mitt Romney has already pulled the pin on several gaffe grenades and you can bet his tone-deaf stupidity will be served up on a daily basis once we get to this fall.

The longer the primary season goes, the deeper the hole Romney will be in (and yes, this means I think he eventually prevails as the nominee for now.)  Let the chaos continue.

The Play's The Thing, And All The World's A-Staged

Via Tbogg, we find that the WORLD-DESTROYING EXCLUSIVE that Andrew Breitbart's Big Whatever site was working on before Breitbart's death last week was...Barack Obama went to a play.

In 1998, a small Chicago theater company staged a play titled The Love Song of Saul Alinsky, dedicated to the life and politics of the radical community organizer whose methods Obama had practiced and taught on Chicago’s South Side.

Obama was not only in the audience, but also took the stage after one performance, participating in a panel discussion that was advertised in the poster for the play.

No really, that's it.   That's the whole bloody thing.  A play about Saul Alinsky some 24 years ago.  This is the way Breitbart's world ends, not with a story, but a clown horn.  Honk honk awooga.

By the way, if you'd like to know more about Saul Alinsky and what he really said, the ABLC crew has been discussing his work on a book chat over the last several weeks, and PDFs of his work are available there.

StupidiNews!

• Syrian rebels are in disarray and retreat after their defeat in Homs as the al-Assad regime's crackdown has turned into a deadly nationwide rout.
• Russia's Vladimir Putin won 64% of the national vote to win re-election as President Sunday, despite calls of widespread voting corruption by rivals.
• Mitt Romney's quest for the White House has cost him and his backers some $200 million over seven years, including nearly $45 million of Romney's own fortune.
• British grocery giant Tesco, the country's largest private employer, says it will create 20,000 new jobs in the UK as it struggles to win back customers.
• PC developer Valve could be working on a game console along with its partners in its Steam game distribution platform.