Six Of Nothing, Half Dozen Of A Record

While I'm at the Reds game with the Zandarparents this afternoon watching the Pirates take on the boys, note the Seattle Mariners tied a record last night for most pitchers involved in a combined no-hitter as the M's knocked off the LA Dodgers.

Kevin Millwood held the Dodgers scoreless in six innings before leaving the game with a groin injury. Charlie Furbush, Stephen Pryor, Lucas Leutge, Brandon League and Tom Wilhelmsen combined to throw for three scoreless innings to keep the no-hitter intact.

Third baseman Kyle Seager had a RBI single, scoring Ichiro Suzuki from second base in the Mariners' 1-0 victory.

It is the fourth no-hitter of the baseball season so far, following Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Johan Santana of the New York Mets and Philip Humber of the Chicago White Sox.

How crazy has this season been for Major League Baseball?  Already four no hitters and the first ever for the Mets a few weeks ago.  Your trivia points of the day, Kevin Millwood threw a no-hitter by himself with the Phillies versus the Giants in 2003, and the other six-pack no-hitter was by the Astros versus the Yankees, also in the 2003 season.  They very nearly pitched a no-hitter and lost, allowing six baserunners through walks, errors and a hit batter.  The first and only time anyone pitched a 9-inning no-no and lost happened when Ken Johnson pitched one against a young Pete Rose and the Reds who beat the then Houston Colt 45's in 1964 on double groundout and an error, 1-0.  At least, that's what Wikipedia says, anyhow.

Gotta love baseball.

Gay Librarian Fired For Refusing To Sign Anti-Gay Employment Contract

Despite being a tenured librarian, 50-year old Michael Wilson was fired a few weeks after he refused to sign the Shorter University’s new contract which included a lifestyle statement which required all employees to reject homosexuality.

Rome News-Tribute reports that along with the contract, Wilson submitted a letter in which he said:

“Please find enclosed for your reference a copy of my signed employment contract for the 2012-2013 school year; the original document has been submitted to the Provost’s office. As you can see, I have redacted Clause 10; I believe, for reasons that should be obvious, that the provisions therein constitute a grave violation of the principles of academic freedom and tenure, core values in academe that were formerly embraced by the University’s administration.”

Employers should  not be able to ask their employees to sign a contract rejecting legal choices.  Personal choices that do not affect their work, or their ability to live a legal life outside of the bounds of employment.  I'm just disgusted, and I hope they are ashamed of themselves.

Their motto is "transforming lives through Christ."  I'm not sure what Bible they read, but the Christ I know taught by example, showing compassion and kindness to all, not just the popular folks.  He told us we must not judge others, because we can also be judged and quite harshly, when we lack compassion.

Bitch Slap

I had heard about this but was slow to watch the video (one can only read so many headlines!) but now I realize I was wrong to skip this one.  NPR nails it when they say we teach people better in first grade.  This man goes berserk, throws water on one woman.  What they call a slap is more like an open-handed punch.  He reaches all the way back and slaps the woman so hard I'm surprised she remained standing.

Word of advice, jackass... your name isn't respected.  Next time try the logical approach.

This sounds like something we said in first grade:

"She raised her hand and hit me first and since I respect my honor and my name, I had to defend myself. The police ought to arrest her."

That's the excuse Greek far-right politician Ilias Kasidiaris offered on Star TV for that slapfest we posted about Thursday.

He spoke from an undisclosed location because there's a warrant for his arrest.

Here is the video.  About 75% of the way through, all hell breaks loose.

Three Gazillion Miles On The Odometer

The Car Talk guys, Tom & Ray Magliozzi, are hanging up their mics after 25 years.

On Friday, hosts Tom and Ray Magliozzi, known as "Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers," announced that they would be retiring from the popular NPR program in October.

"We've decided that it's time to stop and smell the cappuccino," Ray wrote on the show's website.

"As of October, we're not going to be recording any more new shows. That's right, we're retiring," Tom added, noting that "Car Talk" is celebrating its 25th anniversary on NPR this year.

However, fans will still be able to enjoy the show after the brothers' retirement. New "Car Talks" will be assembled from archival material, the brothers wrote.

They'll also continue their regular website column.

"Car Talk" debuted in 1977 on Boston radio station WBUR and was picked up by NPR 10 years later. It regularly ranks as one of public radio's most popular shows -- including the most popular weekend program -- with about 4 million listeners.

Many a Saturday errand trip in the car with dad and my brothers consisted of listening to Car Talk on the way around town, getting everything from mulch to paint to groceries.  Tom and Ray pretty much defined my weekends growing up.  My brother?  Manages an auto parts store now.  I blame these guys.

I'll miss them, that's for sure.  I still turn them on when I'm running errands myself on weekends.

America Hangs Its Head

And our old friend Pastor Terry "Qu'ran Burning For Fun And Profit" Jones has a new hobby this month in response to President Obama's evolution on same-sex marriage and marriage equality:  hanging POTUS in effigy.

The Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., has hanged an effigy of President Barack Obama from a gallows on its front lawn, a move DWOC pastor Terry Jones said was in response to Obama's recent endorsement of same-sex marriage, as well as his stance on abortion and what Jones called his "appeasing of radical Islam."

According to the Broward-Palm Beach New Times, the U.S. Secret Service is currently investigating Jones in response to the display.

"The Secret Service is aware of this incident and will conduct appropriate follow-up," Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary told the paper's "The Pulp" blog.

The effigy is suspended from a makeshift gallows with a noose of yellow rope, has a doll in its right hand and a rainbow-colored gay pride flag in its left.

In a telephone interview with The Huffington Post, Jones said the flag was meant to call attention to Obama's stance on same-sex marriage and that the baby doll is there because the president is "favorable toward abortion."

Jones also said that radical Islam is "the most dangerous threat to life and national security in America."

There is also an Uncle Sam dummy standing at the base of the gallows outside the DWOC. Jones told HuffPost that the Obama effigy had originally been positioned to be hanging Uncle Sam when the display went up two weeks ago, but that the church changed the display on Wednesday.

The words “Obama is Killing America” are printed on a trailer nearby.

Explain to me how race has nothing to do with it and that any Democrat would have been treated the same way.  Please.  I'm listening.  Convince me we're not going the full ni-CLANG by, say, July 4th.

And yes, you will have to click on the damn HuffPo link to see the photo, because screw Terry Jones with a bag full of rabid wolverines stuffed into his urethra, that's why.  I hope the USSS completely ruins Terry Jones's life over this.

Meanwhile, to let you know what kind of state Kentucky here is where I live, the two UK students who hung President Obama in effigy last fall got precisely zero indictments from a grand jury, because there's not a grand jury that can be empaneled in the Commonwealth here that would ever see any reason to charge anyone with hanging a black President in effigy for anything.

The grand jury dismissed charges of second-degree burglary, theft by unlawful taking and disorderly conduct against Hunter Bush, 21, and Joe Fischer, 22, a UK senior, lawyer Fred Peters said Tuesday.

University of Kentucky police found the effigy on the Wednesday before Election Day hanging from a tree on the Lexington, Ky., campus.

UK President Lee Todd immediately called a news conference to denounce the incident, calling the act "deplorable" and "abominal." "We've done many, many things to increase diversity," Todd said. "I know this is not a reflection of this institution."

Bush and Todd were arrested the next day. UK police said the two men told them the act was in response to news reports that an effigy of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin had been hung in California.

Material used to make the effigy, including clothes, was stolen from a fraternity house, leading to the burglary and theft charges. Neither man was a member of the fraternity.

The disorderly conduct charge was for the actual hanging of the effigy. Peters said the charge clearly violated the First Amendment.

So yeah, nothing to see here, no trial necessary, was just a prank, the real racists are the folks trying to criminalize this clearly first amendment "protected vile speech", yadda yadda amen.  Hey, let's have everyone in America do this, then we can all join in the fun of yelling FIRST AMENDMENT, BITCHEZ while we have a good laugh.

Try to burn the American flag or a Bible in this country however, well our conservative friends (and more than a few Democrats) had no problem wanting to criminalize that by changing the Constitution or by law.

Moving on.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/01/27/60852/if-they-had-hung-joe-biden-we.html#storylink=omni_popular#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/01/27/60852/if-they-had-hung-joe-biden-we.html#storylink=omni_popular#storylink=cpy

StupidiNews, Weekend Edition!

• Attorney General Eric Holder has assigned two attorneys to investigate the possible leaks of state secrets involving the US cyberattack on Iran last year.
• House Republicans have passed an anti-abortion rider preventing immigration services from providing abortions, which is meaningless because they do not provide the services now.
• Lawyers for USS Cole bombing suspect Abd al Rahim al Nashiri are asking for his upcoming trial from Gitmo to be broadcast freely and not just on closed-circuit TV.
• This year's charity eBay auction of lunch with billionaire investor Warren Buffet saw the old million dollar plus record eclipsed by a last minute bid worth nearly $3.5 million.
• The next generation of wireless routers won't need routers at all, with direct transfers of high-speed bandwidth on the 60 GHz spectrum to devices.

Last Call

President Obama gave a press conference today on the economy, and while he made his point that House Republicans have done nothing but yell TAX CUTS FOR JOB CREATORS for the last 18 months, the rest of us are busy trying to make ends meet.  No wonder then that the "liberal media" shredded the President's presser.  WaPo's Ed Rogers was particularly insulting:

If you are president of the United States and you don’t have anything to say, don’t have a press conference to say it.  If you’re the president of the United States and by Thursday it’s widely believed you’ve had one of the worst weeks of your presidency, take Friday off, and specifically avoid having a press conference.

Anytime you are president and you’re speaking in public at an ill-timed press conference after a bad week, try to have something to say, and do a good job in saying it.  I watched the whole thing, but it’s not easy to think of one useful thing that he had to say.  And what he said, he said very poorly.  Was it just me, or did the president seem a little dazed and confused?  He should have had a cup of coffee before the press conference.

I'm trying to figure out how last week was "one of the worst weeks of his presidency" as opposed to early 2009, when the economy was puking up 500,000 jobs a month, or November 2010, when the GOP took over the House and assured that they would do nothing to help the economy for the following two years.  Eddie here seems to think that 69,000 jobs and a recall voted down on a sitting GOP Governor means the President should just know his place and keep his gorram mouth shut, I guess.

But that just gets us to Zandar's Law No. 2: behind every African-American POTUS is an obnoxious middle-aged white Villager who can solve any problem imaginable if the leader of the free world would just listen to them, the Smartest Person Alive.

Perhaps the president and others are huddled in an after-action review meeting in the Oval Office right now. It appears no one at The White House wants to give the president bad news or an honest critique of his performance. Somebody should print this post and slide it under the Oval Office door immediately. 

They should use the really soft paper so he can take it to the Oval Office bathroom and wipe his ass with it.

The President later clarified his remarks today, because apparently the Village needs a lesson is basic comprehension.

“The economy needs to be strengthened,” Obama told reporters Friday afternoon. “That is why I had a press conference. I believe there are a lot of Americans who are hurting right now. That is what I have been saying for the last year, two years, three years.”

Dismissing “political games” around the issue, Obama said Americans should instead focus on choosing a candidate who can articulate a clear solution to the problem.

“The key is, for folks, what I am interested in hearing from Romney, is what steps are they willing to take right now that will make an actual difference? And, so far, all we have heard are additional tax cuts to the folks who are doing fine.”

Instead, Obama proposed “taking steps that would help deal with the weakness in the economy,” pointing to his proposed American Jobs Act, which would aid state and local governments facing layoffs and invest in infrastructure projects to employ construction workers.

What the Village should be asking is "Hey Republicans, why are you going on vacation week number nine this year again if you think the economy is such trouble under this President, and do you have anything other than TAX CUTS FOR JOB CREATORS to help the working class?"

That won't happen, of course.  Better to yell at the President for saying "umm."  Meanwhile, Mitt Romney's response is America doesn't need more teachers, cops, or firefighters.

Romney said of Obama, “he wants another stimulus, he wants to hire more government workers. He says we need more fireman, more policeman, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It’s time for us to cut back on government and help the American people.”

Cut back on government by firing people working in it.  That will help the American people, surely. 

Silence: You're Doing It Wrong

As BooMan points out, today is the National Right Wing Nutjob Day Of Butthurt as they go Galt in order to point out the injustice of a liberal activist not having his entrails ripped out on national television, and are collectively pissing themselves and drowning in their fake victimization that they are voiceless and howling that they are being targeted for assassination by Obama's army of Nubian Thug Cyborgs or something.

I haven't seen a collective freakout like this since people started buying duct tape by the crate in 2002. It's hard to think of a worse way to try to protect our First Amendment rights than forming an online lynch mob to smear some random voting rights activist and then coming up with all kinds of conspiracy theories about how you're being persecuted as a result.

They've actually terrified themselves. They're convinced that if they say anything further about this poor activist that a SWAT team will show up at their houses and treat them like an anti-NATO activist.

They are oblivious to the real repression that is going on. Actually, I should correct that. They fully approve of that kind of repression because it isn't aimed at them. 

But they will whine and moan and continue to slash their wrists and swear up and down that liberals are going to murder them any second now, so that they should just start the shooting first you see and it'll be totally justified when they do.  They just need other people to do that whole revolution thing for them because Malkin has a mani/pedi appointment to keep and you know how rescheduling those things are really worse than the London Blitz.

So they mean to flagellate themselves into fomenting a crowd of angry old people to yell at Democrats in town halls I guess.  Progress!  Victory!  Justice!

Another Milepost On The Road To Oblivion

New York congressional GOP candidates Joe Carvin and Jim Russell are running in the primary in NY-17 against Democrat Nita Lowey, and if you're wondering why Lowey really isn't in any danger of losing her job, it's the fact that the GOP hopefuls are a hedge fund tycoon and a "racial separatist".

The Republican primary campaign in New York’s redrawn 17^th Congressional district in Rockland and Westchester Counties is getting ugly — and personal.

Joe Carvin, the Rye Town Supervisor, is resurfacing Russell's writings advocating racial separation. Carvin is married to an African American woman and the couple have two children.

“Effectively, he’s delegitimizing my children,” Carvin told WNYC on Tuesday. “To have him represent the Republican Party for Congress is reprehensible.”

The separatist writings first surfaced during Russell’s last attempt to beat Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey two years ago. The writings include a 2001 article in The Occidential Quarterly, in which Russell denounced “media moguls who deliberately popularize miscegenation in films,”, branding it “sociobiological warfare” against “our youth.”

The article was first reported on by Politico in 2010, and the Republican party subsequently withdrew its support of Russell’s candidacy. Russell called Republicans “hypersensitive” in an interview with the New York Times. But, noting that he wrote the essay ten years ago, he added, “Some of it’s a little bit more strident than I would put it today.”

Carvin, a hedge fund manager, has the endorsement of local Republican party in Westchester and Rockland County. He also has more money on hand than Lowey’s $981,000, thanks to a $1 million dollars he donated to his campaign.

Carvin downplayed his money advantage on Tuesday. “A million dollars is neither here nor there,” he said, particularly in what’s expected to be a low turnout election.

Yeah, gosh, who should you vote for, the guy advocating for the races to be kept apart by law, or the guy who says a million clams is "neither here nor there"?   Why, I think Nita Lowey might win again this fall.

Just saying.

A New Diet Incentive

I don't think I'll be eating out as much as I used to.  Years ago, I got in the habit of reading the newspaper every single day at work.  This included the restaurant reviews.  I learned who was clean and who wasn't keeping the roaches out.  Except that's the weird thing, we rarely had anyone bomb.  After years I got a feel for what was normal, and we rarely varied from the norm.  Until a year or so ago, when restaurants began to complain about their profit margins.

Money's getting tighter, and businesses are cutting corners.  In the last month, the Springfield News-Leader has reported meat kept eleven days past date.  That's a total of eighteen days, because they state clearly that seven days is the limit.  Pests such as gnats or rodents are becoming commonplace.  Several are using weaker cleaning solutions to stretch where they can.  A local chain that is very popular had eight critical violations, the gnarly kind.  In fact, the write-up says the employees will attend a class.

I guess I'm a bit of a worrywart, because I look at food with new eyes.  My husband is currently taking a class on food inspections and health guidelines, and I have learned more than I ever wanted to.  I'd say it was just that it's on my radar, except the headlines agree. From cafes to swanky steakhouses, cutting corners means bad food.  I've had food poisoning once, I'll pass.  We have an epic number of offenders.  I just keep coming back to eighteen days.  Dear GOD.  It's annoying enough to pay prime price for leftovers, but for spoiled death on a bun?  Sheesh.

Illinois Pulls Book Over Same-Sex Parent Reference

An Illinois school district has reportedly banned the otherwise-well-received "The Family Book" because of a reference to same-sex parents.

Think Progress and Joe. My. God. are just two of the media outlets reporting that Todd Parr's children's book has been yanked from a local elementary school's shelves because of a line which notes that "some families have two moms or two dads."

The ignorant hate facts and understanding.  Pretending something doesn't exist does not serve children who most assuredly are growing up surrounded by same-sex couples.  How is it going to help a child who may not know his own sexuality, and now has nothing but rumors and innuendo to rely on?

Is this really where we are?  Really?

I remember seeing my first obviously gay couple when I was pretty young.  I was certainly still in elementary school.  I was curious and asked my mom what I was seeing.  "Sometimes women love women, and men love men," she told me, not making a big deal out of it.  This was long before I understood sexual relations or anything else, they were just a happy couple that was a bit different than everyone around them.

While the adults are trying to pin religious and sexual overtones to everything homosexual, to kids they are just people, and we are obligated to answer their questions when they arise.

Chart Of The Day

Your chart of the day comes from K-Drum:



As you can see here, the percentage of high school graduates not in college from before 2008 found that about a third were unemployed on average.  In the last three years, it's 53%.  The big change is the difference in full time:  employment there has dropped dramatically as the economy wound down, and the difference in unemployment as a result is staggering.  36% of high school graduates found a solid full time job before the crisis.  Now that number is less than half that.

So yes, working class voters are pretty pissed off, and they are going to take it out on the guy in charge.

Abcess Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

Turns out that more than three years after leaving a bag full of flaming financial crisis on America's doorstep, hitting the doorbell, and flying away by helicopter, the country hasn't quite forgiven George W. Bush yet.

According to the poll, released Thursday morning, 43% of people questioned had a favorable opinion of Bush, with 54% saying they had an unfavorable view of the former president. Bush's 43% favorable rating is the same as it was in 2010 in CNN polling, but is up from his mid-30's favorable rating during 2009, his first year out of the White House.

"Don't be surprised if the Obama campaign mentions the name of George W. Bush at every opportunity, and don't be surprised if that strategy works," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "And the mention of Bush's name appears to prompt at least a few people to take a more positive view of their current financial situation."

Bush remains the only living ex-President under water on favorability ratings.  More people like Jimmy Carter (54%), Poppy Bush (59%) and Bill Clinton (66%) these days, and with good reason:  Carter's at least doing productive things in his spare time, Bill is doing the rock star thing, and Poppy Bush is smart enough to keep his mouth shut.

I'd almost feel sorry for the little dipstick, but then I recall every awful year of his Presidency and remember that he really did screw the country royally.

StupidiNews!

• University of Washington researchers have mapped the genetic code of fetuses by using the mother's blood, unlocking the possibility of pre-natal testing for thousands of genetic diseases.
• Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon has added a measure to the Senate's 2012 farm bill that would legalize industrial production of hemp.
• Syrian rebels now claim control of several towns in the northern part of the country from the Lebanese border to the central regions.
• Japanese conservative Toru Hashimoto wants to leverage being mayor of Osaka into a new political party in Japan to challenge the status quo, saying the country once again needs a dictator.
• The Large Hadron Collider is so sensitive, the position of the moon can greatly affect entire experiments along with other terrestrial sources.

Last Call

Super Mario Draghi, head of the European Central bank, is storming Europe this summer and apparently he's gone all Wario on us.  Ezra Klein doesn't pull his punches:

Do people understand that the European economy is being held hostage?

Mario Draghi is the president of the European Central Bank. He can print money. He can lower interest rates. He can fund banks. He can comfort investors. He is perhaps the only person on the planet who, with a few words, could mostly end the euro zone's crisis. But he refuses to say those words. And that's because he doesn't want to end the crisis. He wants to keep it going.

That's a hell of a charge to lay at Draghi's feet, but Ezra makes it for the following reason:

To be fair to Draghi, he's not just a sadist. His view is that if the ECB steps in to save the day, the euro zone won't make the structural reforms necessary for its future. Pain and terror are leverage to force member countries to make tough decisions, like handing more authority over their budgets to Brussels, or forming a banking union. Which is why, despite the fact that Europe is in vastly worse shape than the United States and facing a looming recession, Draghi refused to cut interest rates below one percent yesterday. He wants to keep the pressure on. 

In other words, Europe has to BURN TO THE GROUND before it can be repaved and rebuilt.  If the ECB actually fixes the problem, Europe won't learn nothin'.  Of course, millions of lives will be disrupted and billions lost in euros, but I guess some eggs have to be put into a railgun and fired into to sun in order to make some omelette du fromage.

Mario here could end this crisis at any time by cutting interest rates.  He won't.

Oh, here's the best part in relation to our own little economic quiche here:

There are some in our central bank who agree with this vision. Richard Fischer, the president of the Dallas Federal Reserve, argues that the Federal Reserve shouldn't be stimulating the economy and keeping interest rates so low because that takes pressure off of Congress to cut the deficit. If the Fed let interest rates rise, Fisher says, then Congress would better see the cost of its borrowing and choose to fix it.

Sure they will.  Of course, the deficit will immediately fail to matter should Romney take office.  You'll see a stimulus program in the trillions before next Easter.