The Creditors Definitely Know Your Phone Number.

P-D:  Jay Nixon to tap Kansan for top Missouri jobs post

Will focus on creating rock crushing and chalk making jobs.

P-D:  Run M.D.: SLU doc raps in support of smoking ban proposal

Couldn’t have American Fork, Utah annexed St. Louis for just that one day?

P-D:  St. Louis police to hunt for drunk drivers tonight

The Missouri Conservation Codes only have a one-night drunk driver hunting season each year.

P-D:  Homeland Security Department Gags Local Law Enforcement to Protect ‘Privacy’ of Illegal Aliens

About the only way you’re gonna get privacy with this Administration is to become either an illegal alien or an AQ terrorist, preferably both.

CNS:  Turn Your Head and Cough

But grab your own balls this time.

NPI:  Gates Foundation Grants Ensure More Population Growth—And Immigration By Donald A. Collins

And more people that will buy Microsoft Windows.

WND:  Planned Parenthood: ‘Expect to have STD’

I would if I fucked everybody in every way possible like PP wants.

WPSD:  Area 911 Center In Debt

Will they start getting phone calls from creditors?

No H1N1 Today. Just Pure Obama.

KSDK:  Fire in natural gas tank at St. Elmo, Illinois plant

What’s why the city council approved the gas tank, because they knew the day would come that it would catch fire and some smart ass blogger would make the obvious pun.

CNS:  Time to Make Troops Decision, McCain Tells Obama

So soon?  We’re only three weeks into Obama’s eight month long decision making process.

P-D:  Obama sees ‘real cost’ of Afghan war

But can’t see ‘real cost’ of ObamaCare.

P-D:  Feds: Great Recession is over, stocks rise

The recession is over, just in time for some elections.  Amazing how that works.

P-D:  [Utah] Teens ‘rap’ order at McDonald’s, then get cited for disorderly conduct

Two things they’ll be too scared to do again:  (1) Rap, and (2) Eat McCrapInASack.  Who knew that a ticket could be so liberating.

CNS:  What Does ‘Hospitalization’ Mean? Under Health Care Bill, Kathleen Sebelius Will Decide

Can’t even decide what sneezing is, but will be trusted to define medical words with six syllables.

CNS:  Chrysler Offers Live TV Service

Drivers need something do to with their eyes while their cell phones occupy their ears and hands.

CNS:  Taxpayers Fund Research on Bugs, College Sex Lives, Facebook, and Rabbit Droppings with Stimulus Bill

Let me save you some money.  Respectively, there is a lot of them, a lot of it, too much on it, and not a problem unless you have a rabbit.

KFVS:  Pujols interview: “I want to be a Cardinal”

Good news, slappy.  You already are, at least until two years from now, when George Steinbrenner waves $40 million a year in your face.

KFVS:  Carbondale police step up efforts to reduce burglaries, vehicle thefts

They haven’t really.  Illinois has strict laws against racial profiling.

WSIL:  Class Act: A Perfect [SAT] Score

Except you haven’t needed to answer every question correctly get a “perfect” SAT score since the spring of 1994.

Paul Thurrott:  Enough, Microsoft. No One Is Endorsing Piracy. Obviously.

Don’t waste your time, I’ll net it out for you:  Paul Thurrott has spent almost the entirety of his adult professional life gushing over everything Microsoft, and they pay him back by accusing him of being a pirate.  You made your bed, Thurrott.  Now sleep in it.

Slashdot: U.S. Should Murtha to India

Ibid.:

“It’s an article of faith: the United States needs more native-born students in science and other technical fields. But a new paper by sociologists at the Urban Institute and Rutgers University contradicts the notion of a shrinking supply of native-born talent in the United States. In fact, the supply has actually remained steady over the past 30 years, the researchers conclude, while the highest-performing students in the pipeline are opting out of science and engineering in greater numbers than in the past, suggesting that the threat to American economic competitiveness comes not from inadequate science training in school and college but from a lack of incentives that would make science and technology careers attractive. Cranking out even more science graduates, according to the researchers, does not give corporations any incentive to boost wages for science/tech jobs, which would be one way to retain the highest-performing students.”

“Lack of incentives that would made science and technology careers attractive.”  What that means is that you go into big time debt and spend all these years getting a good education, but don’t get a job because there’s always cheap H-1B labor that can be bought in from India, and goofball politicians like Gabrielle Giffords who wants to triple the H-1B visa program.

The answer is not for fewer (real) Americans to go into science and tech, it’s for Congress to do the opposite of what Miss Giffords wants, and severely restrict the H-1B visa program, only allowing it for those who are (1) identifiably Caucasian, and (2)  Have wage, salary and standard of living expectations, and other non-pecuniary workplace expectations, similar to those of Americans, especially white Americans.

 

Home Depot’s Priorities

Fox News:

Report: Florida Man Says Home Depot Fired Him for Wearing ‘One Nation Under God’ Pin

A Florida man says he was fired from his job at The Home Depot for wearing an American flag pin that said “One nation under God, indivisible.”

Trevor Keezer, 20, said he had worn the button ever since he started working at the home improvement retailer 19 months ago. He said it was his way of supporting U.S. troops, the Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

Keezer, whose brother Army Spc. Steven Keezer Jr. is set to return to Iraq in December, said none of his supervisors had anything negative to say about the pin until last month when he began bringing his bible to work, the paper reported.

Why wouldn’t HD like the Bible?  They have no problem with people shoplifting from their own stores, so it stands to reason that they wouldn’t like a book that contains “Thou shalt not steal.”

Quincy Jones, WTF?

CNS:

‘Melody’ Missing from Music Industry, Quincy Jones Says

(CNSNews.com) – Legendary record producer and songwriter Quincy Jones told CNSNews.com that he would like to see more “melody” in the music industry today.

CNSNews.com asked Jones the following on the red carpet at the Ludacris Foundation gala over the weekend: “Is there anything more you’d like to see in the music industry that you think is lacking?”

“Yeah, I’d like to see more music – just melody. I miss melody,” the Grammy award-winner said before the gala. “Melody is God’s voice, you know? And they’re [musicians today] getting there – they are. They’re all my dogs. I know. We talk.”

Quincy Jones was being honored by rapper Chris “Ludacris” Bridges’ Foundation with the “Chairman’s Award” for his commitment to community service.

Bemoans the lack of melody in today’s music, then hangs out with Ludacris.  Figure that one out.

Elections Next Tuesday

I won’t be formal about it, because there isn’t too much to deal with.

GOV-NJ: I hope Chris Christie does not win.  He beat a conservative in the Republican primaries, and should he win, in a very blue state, then the Stupid Party will start preaching moderation.  Also, he’s for “gun control” (duh, stupid, it’s not population density that make guns behave so badly, it’s racial composition), and he’s got links to the second worst President in American history — he was George W. Bush’s U.S. Attorney for northern NJ.  That’s not a fact lost on the Corzine campaign, as his recent ads has linked Bush and Christie, and then linked Obama (who won NJ by 16 points) and himself, and that’s how Corzine has been able to narrow a big deficit down to a dead heat.

I wouldn’t vote for either Christie, Corzine or Chris Daggett, the environmentalist third party candidate, if I had a vote.

This is the People’s Republic of New Jersey we’re talking about here.  My prediction is Corzine wins a squeaker in spite of himself.

GOV-VA: Bob McDonnell all the way.  I would vote for, and will win big.  His win will prove that VA isn’t turning blue, and is therefore still relatively sane.

NY-23: I would vote for Doug Hoffman.  I have no prediction about how it will turn out, it seems that it could go to either him, the lib woman that the Stupid Party hand-selected to run, or the Democrat.  This is an upstate district that someone I know lives in.  BTW, how ya doin, Kilometers?

If Hoffman wins, or even if the Democrat wins, this will be a big poke into the eye to the Stupid Party.  If this were a Republican primary where people voted, Hoffman would have won the primary easily.  Only the Stupid Party establishment would have been dumb enough to send up the person they did.

Mayors, New York City and Los Angeles: I would vote for Walter Moore if I lived in L.A., nobody in NYC, but I doubt Tuesday will be much of a disappointment for the two incumbents.  Michael Bloomberg’s win will mean that he’ll have a third term thanks to city charter changes he demanded and got a few years ago.

It’s a Gay World After All

KSDK:  Court upholds convictions for quadruple murderer

One court, four murder raps.  You usually don’t get this kind of efficiency out of government.

WBBM-CBS-2 Chicago:  Number Of Women Buying Handguns Increasing

Chicago’s women weren’t born equal, but Sam Colt is about to make them equal.

UK Daily Mail:  Football swine flu fears as players are told to stop ‘disgusting’ spitting to prevent spread of virus

Except that exposes H1N1 to the open air, which kills it.

UK Telegraph:  Cheryl Cole: Simon Cowell is ‘nasty, rude and annoying’

That’s why Pop Idol isn’t just another talent show.

CNS:  More Immigrants Cite Sexual Orientation for Asylum

It really is becoming a gay world.

CNS:  Health Care Bill Favors Marijuana and Cocaine Smokers Over Tobacco Users

A Democrat bill favors weed and coke over cigarettes?   What else would you expect from a party whose voters consider tobacco the exclusive province of “those dirty rednecks down South in trailer parks?”

CNS:  Snapped Rod Closes Major Bridge, Creating Traffic Nightmare for San Francisco Area

When you live in a metropolitan area surrounded by bays and oceans, a bridge closing is just a little worse than a traffic nightmare.  It means you’re using a vacation day if you live on Oakland and work in San Francisco.

P-D:  Charter boosts download speeds for some customers

All that means is that you’ll run out of your monthly bandwidth allotment even sooner in the month.

KSDK:  Retired Army colonel shares secrets for motivating teens

Unlike the Army, parents don’t have the power to dishonorably discharge their teenagers.

SIL:  Work begins on home for African American Museum

Amazing what people can find the money for in the worst recession since the Great Depression in the most depressed part of the state.

WPSD:  [Paducah] closer to soccer “super complex”

But they’ll have to use recordings of the announcer that yells “GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.”

Customs of the Movie-Renting House

Some of the major studios are considering joining together in a cartel (hello, Sherman Anti-Trust Act), and refusing to release DVD and BR movie releases for a month, in hopes that this delay will prod a few people into buying it instead of renting it.

What it will mean is that just about everyone will wait another month to see these movies.  Let’s do the math:  $20 now to get the movie forever that you’ll only watch once, or get the movie 30 days later as part of your $19 a month Netflix account and watch it once.  The economics of this isn’t hard!

Every Busy Headline Monday Deserves a Slow Tuesday

WSJ:  A Plan for Afghanistan

Not written by Barack Obama, because we’re only one month into his six-month long decision making process.

P-D:  Reward is offered in robbery of St. Louis mail carrier

They should use the money to train and get CCW licenses for letter carriers (assuming said letter carrier can read and  has no felony convictions, which isn’t necessarily the case for all of them.)

CNS:  Patrick Kennedy: Catholic Church Fanning ‘Flames of Dissent and Discord’ by Opposing Health Bill Over Abortion Funding

The third generation of a prominent family of Catholic politicians can’t grasp the Catholic Church’s opposition to aborticide.

CNS:  Florida Democrat Calls Fed Adviser ‘K Street Whore’

Which are much more expensive than J Street whores, or L Street whores.

Crime and Punishment in Seattle

Three members of a “juvie gang” (i.e. black or Hispanic thugs) follow a man home then rob him at gunpoint outside of his home in the Seattle residential neighborhood near the University of Washington.  Only one of them is “admitted” to the county’s juvenile detention facility, the other two were let go.   There’s your problem, Martin Luther King County, Washington:  Your MSM speaks of “being admitted” to jail as one would be “admitted” to the hospital or “admitted” to the state bar, or “admitted” to the University of Washington.  I guess being booked into jail is too bigoted a thing to say.  And why weren’t two of the three booked admitted into the hoosegow at all?

Nevertheless, some students who attend the major university in that neighborhood are taking matters into their own hands.  It’s gotten so bad in terms of crime, or so good in terms of CCW, that the U-Dub student newspaper didn’t even feel a need to stick a recorder in front of the snoot of someone from a gun grabber/Brady group when writing about CCW.

Money Monday Headlines

AFP:  Prince Andrew defends big bonuses

Being born into money and power is the biggest bonus of all.

SEMO:  Baby boom?: Winter ice storm might be causing uptick in births in coming weeks

Don’t look at me!

CNS:  When Asked Where the Constitution Authorizes Congress to Order Americans To Buy Health Insurance, Pelosi Says: ‘Are You Serious?’

Well, Yah.

P-D:  St. Louis nears $10 million in red light camera fines

Yet, they keep saying it’s not about the money…

P-D:  Pseudoephedrine sales plummet in Washington, Mo.

That must mean that Washington’s public health authorities have found a cure for the common cold.

Slashdot:  Save the Planet, Eat Your Dog

I’m looking forward to the coming grudge match between enviros and the animal rights crowd.

Slashdot:  Tilera To Release 100-Core Processor

Damn, I just got this quad-core processor, and not only is it already obsolete, it’s ancient history.

Slashdot:  “2012″ a Miscalculation; Actual Calendar Ends 2220

“I went to the Yucatan to see the world end on December 21, 2012 and all I got was this damned T-shirt.”

Tongue Tied:  Ole Miss takes “South” out of fight song

I wish there were a way to take Ole Miss out of the South.

Global Visas:  Mayor Bloomberg says New York needs more immigration and US visa holders

Because when I think of a place with a lack of people, I think about New York City.

KFVS:  Group hunts ghosts in southern Illinois

Now’s the time for ghost hunting groups to get while the gettin’s good, because they’ll be about as busy come November 1 as an accountant is on April 16.

KSDK:  SLPS superintendent sees accreditation on horizon

Whatever “accreditation” is, it must not be worth much if the St. Louis City Public Schools is about to get it.

Memphis Commercial Appeal:  CRIME REPORT: Officer interrupts dollar-store break-in; 2 in custody

They would have had to steal all the merchandise in the store to steal enough to have qualified for a felony charge.

Because There Are Thousands of Illegal Swedes in St. Louis City…

…Mayor Slop praises the changes in 287(g) that will mean that cops can’t use racial profiling when apprehending illegal aliens.

The Mac Has a 9% OS Market Share in America…

…but back out one class at the University of Missouri, and it would have almost nothing.

I think we’re seeing, as Mac fanboys would call it, a Paintshop.  Windows fanboys would call it a Photoshop.

Sunday Wrap-Up (Yes, I’m Back)

Rumors of my death or incarceration are greatly exaggerated.  I just decided to use the occasion of my motherboard going bust and having to order a new barebones kit to take a week’s vacation from blogging.  Next time I take a week off, I’ll go off to find myself.  BTW, don’t buy anything from Tiger Direct or purchase an ASUS motherboard if you want to save your sanity.  When I got it, it was DOA.  (Everything else in the kit worked, though.)  TD’s phone rep said that they wouldn’t ship me a replacement until they received the dead one back, (at least they paid the return shipping).  That’s horseshit.  WTF do they think I’m going to do?  Abscond with a dead m/b?  They should have sent the replacement right away.  It was a blessing in disguise that they didn’t because  I returned the dead ASUS m/b back to TD, and ordered a good ole dependable ECS m/b from New Egg.  Evidently, research done on a neighbor’s computer showed me that ASUS m/bs are often a crapshoot in quality.  Still, the wait was worth it — I’m now in front of quad core sweetness.

(1)  After I voted McCain, I wasn’t able to tell if my testosterone dropped, because I had to drink heavily before having to vote for John Sidney McCain III (puke puke puke), and then drink heavily after voting, in order to cast this vote.  Which makes me wonder — Would the intelligence of Obama voters have dropped if McCain won?  I doubt it, because it’s impossible to lose something you don’t have to begin with.

(2)  Somebody was at least trying to replace the testosterone of McCain voters.

(3)  Two words:  Clueless [censored racial pejorative for Japanese that Americans often used in World War II]

(4)  Joe Lieberman hugged George W. Bush, and Ned Lamont successfully used it to win the primary.  Charlie Crist hugged Barack Obama, and hopefully the same thing will happen for Marco Rubio.

(5)  The Obama Administration just switched to open source software Drupal to manage whitehouse.gov.  A broken clock IS right twice a day.

And some headlines.

P-D:  Judge upholds order freezing assets and accounts of fire district

The only time that firefighters are upset with freezes.

P-D:  Giant crane is leaving St. Louis for Kansas City project

St. Louis is the only city to have a monument dedicated to people who have moved away.  It’s just as well that giant cranes move westward as well.

P-D:  Vision is laid out for Gateway Arch grounds

Except that most visitors won’t see what’s on the ground for that really tall metal thing right in the middle of the park.

P-D:  Police to crack down on drivers on I-70

There are indeed lots of drivers on I-70.

P-D:  Police to conduct sobriety checkpoint tonight

Which means you can drive as drunk as a skunk tomorrow.

P-D:   St. Louis marching band festival includes Bach

People who were at the festival reported that the 324-year old composer didn’t look a day over 200.

P-D:   Officially it’s a national emergency

Which means that “it,” whatever “it” is, is not a very big problem.

Chicago AR:  “Diversity” Attorney Tries to Hire Prostitute Secretary

Needed help with his briefs.

CNS:  Kennedy: ‘Whole Family’ Should Be Treated in Child Abuse, Mental Health Cases

Talk about a whole family needed to be treated for something, it’s the Kennedys and alcoholism.

NPI:  Stop blaming racism for the failure of black parents

Racism can’t be blamed for everything.  After all, we need something to pin the failure of the 2009 St. Louis Rams on.

Every Vice-President Has His Day

LoS:  NAACP fears appointment of white mayor

Because white mayors have a horrible track record, compared to all those stellar black mayors.

CNS:  Morgan Freeman on Mississippi: ‘Base Stock of This State is a Mule-Headed Bunch of Farmers’

Who just found out about one extra jackass they could have.

CNS:  Democratic Party in Alabama Named Dead Man to Panel

Hey, Missouri can beat that.

P-D:  Spagnuolo “very, very, very happy” with Rams’ energy

What’s he gonna do when the Rams actually put forth an effort that’s worthy of a win?  Get off like getting off will become a Federal crime the next day?

P-D:  Torry Holt surprised at Rams 0-5 start

Surprised that somebody’s worse than Jacksonville.

C|Net:  Finland makes 1Mb broadband access a legal right
Hidden in the fine print is a 500 KB monthly bandwidth cap..

Breitbart:  Wall Street Journal surpasses USA Today as No. 1

See?  Even people that eat at McDonald’s are that averse to buying dead trees and ink.

The Hill:  [Barney] Frank: Gay rights activists should be more like NRA, AARP

Here’s the mental image:  An old worn out queen with a handgun.  Come to think of it, all you need to do is give Barney Frank a handgun, and there you have it.

UK Telegraph:  Half of students ‘failing to get good GCSEs’

And if you’re so foolish to think that half the students being below average is a problem, than you’ve probably flunked the statistics section of the GCSE.

CNS:  Ill. Voters Get to Decide on Recall of Governors

Yet another thing that Illinois voters will have to contend with on a quadrennial basis.  The BFP should just reserve a cell right now.

P-D:  Biden in Wellston today to talk about stimulus program

He let a $10 bill slip out of hands and it floated away, thereby doubling Wellston’s economy.

P-D:  Crowd, cadets await Biden’s arrival at[St. Louis] county cops training depot

While he’s there, he should extoll the virtues of searching every room in the house when you’re looking for a murder victim.

The Toast Is Burnt

Checketts has dropped Rush from the bidding group.  Officially (and probably in reality) the reason is controversy.  Checketts admitted, which one could imply from him dropping Rush, that Rush was a $80-$100 megabuck player, but would have had no decision-making authority.  That seems to jive with Rush’s statements from several months ago that it was purely an investment on his end.

Later tonight, I’m taking all my Rams periphenelia outside and burning it.  Since Checketts owns the Blues, I’ll be burning my Blues stuff, too.  Now I’ll have to shop for a new NFL and NHL team to cheer for.

All you St. Louisans that just couldn’t stomach the concept, I hope you can stomach it when the moving vans are loading stuff up outside the Edward Jones Dome and taking everything to Vegas, or Salt Lake City, or back to Los Angeles.  That’s what I hope happens, but Stan Kroenke not only owns 40% of the team, (that share is not for sale), but has the right to refuse any offer to buy the other 60%.  I doubt he would countenance any group that wants to move the Rams away; after all, he was part of the effort that bought the Rams here from Anaheim in 1995.

Let Me Make My Headlines Perfectly Clear,

Bloomberg:  Napolitano Says Al-Qaeda-Style Terrorists Are in U.S.

“I should know, I’m the one that let them in.”

CNS:  FCC Commissioner Says Diversity Chief’s Ideas for Regulating Free Speech Are ‘Troubling’

But they’re perfectly consistent with the concept of diversity.  Liberty and equality are diametrically opposing concepts.

KFVS:  Missouri prisoner charged with threatening to kill Obama

To think, he had a parole hearing coming up in 2026.  He can kiss that goodbye.

CNS:  House Bill Would Give 20-Somethings Coverage on Parents’ Health Plan

Giving 26-year olds another option other than S-CHIP.

P-D:  Obama’s favorite words are clear

President Obama spends so much time being clear that he doesn’t have the time actually to be clear.

KDKA-CBS-2 Pittsburgh:  Ohio Boy Tackled By Deer While Playing Football

The deer did what the St. Louis Rams can’t seem to do very much so far this season, and that is tackle a football player.  Maybe Rush and Checketts should give the deer a contract.

CNS:  Senate Finance Committee Claims It Posted ‘Full Text’ of Health Care Bill Online

I heard about an order for a server with a hundred 4 TB hard drives configured in RAID.  Now I know who placed the order.

“A Little More Tough on the Race Front”

Rush Limbaugh:

PMSNBC Hosts Come Unhinged

(snip)

MATTHEWS:  It’s interesting, because the one thing about this city, spending all these years in Washington, which can be a — a — a tough city because you have wealthy people moved here for national reasons, local African-American community which is not wealthy. It is, you know, it’s middle class in most cases these days, but it’s tough. And there’s a lot of natural rivalries going on here. But he comes into a sports team like St. Louis which can be more, you know, a little more tough on the race front there down there, I’ll bet.

You’re right, Chris.  St. Louis seems to have a disproportionate share of white people who don’t get tingley feelings going up their legs when thinking about one Barack H. Obama II.

BTW, how can you tell when an MSNBC host “comes” unhinged?  It’s like that great philosopher Morrisette once said, an old man turns 98…

Redress of Grievances

WHDH-NBC-7 Boston:

Symbol carved into green at Lakeville golf course

LAKEVILLE, Mass — Police along with the Secret Service are investigating after a local country club discovered a symbol that represents eastern religious beliefs carved into the green.

Lakeville Country Club workers discovered the vandalism early Monday morning.

Police believe the vandals meant to carve a swastika next to President Barack Obama’s name on the 18th hole; however, the symbol was backwards and means hope and peace in some Eastern countries.

The vandals snuck in at night to carve their message, according to the owner of the country club.

You know Obama’s in trouble when he gets a field symbol carving protest in MASSACHUSETTS, quite possibly the bluest state in the union.

Fancy a backwards swastika being a symbol of “hope,” but not “change.”

Another version of this story had the Secret Service involved in the investigation.  I fail to see how the matter of what is at worst misdemeanor vandalism that doesn’t involve physical threats against the President should interest the SS.

Obama’s Chicago

The basic CTA fare is going up to three clams, while service is being up in places up to 18%.

Speaking of public transit, KC is floating a regional heavy rail commuter system.  It is said that it would cost $1.03 billion in total, and its cars could go up to 70 miles an hour.  If St. Louis’s Metro Link (light rail) is any indication, it’ll cost $5 billion and run an average of 20 miles an hour.

As the Toast Burns

Re Rush and our male sheep.

Slop shows his hand:

New Owners?

It is not up to me to decide who is in an ownership group to buy the St. Louis Rams. If it were, I would choose someone who wanted to keep the team in St. Louis without demanding a new, publicly funded football stadium.

Of the known bids, only one involves a front man who already owns a St. Louis team, and therefore, per NFL rules, must keep the Rams in St. Louis, and a native eastern Missourian plays an important role in that bid, a person whose conservative ideology would mean they wouldn’t hit a government up for a new stadium.  I wonder which bid that could be.

If I’m reading this right, then Slay has come out for the Checketts/Rush bid.  A broken clock IS right twice a day.

Headline Tuesday, After Meatless Monday

KWMU:  MLK bridge closed for two weeks

Retooling for a name change, I hope.

CNS:  Baltimore Schools Embrace Anti-Meat Movement with ‘Meatless Mondays’

No meat one day a week.  Sounds like me, but for reasons other than food.

KSDK:  Yadier Molina sued over appearances, autographs

I’d like to meet the idiot who thought that Yadier Molina’s autograph was worth $90,000.

KSDK:  Obama: Afghanistan decision in ‘coming weeks’

Obama only has like 170 weeks left to decide.

KSDK:  Parents, district try to combat violence at University City High School

Mysteriously absent from the list of those who will try to combat violence at U. City High are students.

Breitbart:  Chris Matthews Fantasizes About Someone Shooting Limbaugh in the Head

“I’ve lost that tingling feeling, whoa that tingling feeling…”

NYDN:  Quinnipiac University to David Letterman: Keep away from our interns!

They need to have enough to satisfy Bill Clinton.

Perhaps We Know Why People Are Afraid to Come Out of Their Homes

WLFD-Fox-32 Chicongograd:

People Afraid To Come Out Of Their Homes

(snip)

Ray hears from residents who are afraid to travel the Forest Park area’s streets at night. “It’s definitely increased,” he said of the recent rash of violence. “These kids (who are shooting guns) do not understand the ramifications if they hit somebody.”

(snip)

Ray said the gang situation isn’t the same as it was in the 1980s when he worked at a local radio station and broadcast a gang summit live from the city’s East Side. Back then, the gangs were organized and local officials could reason with gang leaders, he said.

“What you see now is young kids trying to be tough. There’s no organization. I call it cliques rather than a gang.”Ray said the gang situation isn’t the same as it was in the 1980s when he worked at a local radio station and broadcast a gang summit live from the city’s East Side. Back then, the gangs were organized and local officials could reason with gang leaders, he said.

There you go, Sherlock.  You’re trying to reason with gangbangers instead of arresting them.  No wonder there’s so much crime.

Don’t Like American Flags? Don’t Come to America.

KATU-ABC-2 Portland, Ore.:

Apartment residents told to take down U.S. flags

Because?

White said management told her that “someone might get offended.”

And why’s that?

Resident we talked to who had been approached to take down their flags all told us the same thing: that management told them the flags could be offensive because they live in a diverse community.

If they’re so offended by American flags, then why did they come to the country that uses said flag?  If those who might be offended were born here, why don’t they just leave?

Come On, Come Through, New York

Diane Meyer:

USS New York

Forged out of 8 tons of steel from the destroyed World Trade Center Towers, the USS New York amphibious transport dock ship will make its maiden voyage today, traveling from where it was constructed in Louisiana to New York City.

(snip)

The ship’s motto is “Never Forget”

The very human being who could command the USS New York at will and whim has already said that he’s uncomfortable with the concept of victory in the war on whatever enemy we’re allowed to have, because it conjures up mental images of battleships sailing to Japan and the humiliated Emperor signing the terms of murtha on board the ship.  (What’s so wrong with that?)

So we have a middle ground.  Instead of a battleship, send the USS New York, with its WTC steel, over to wherever, and let AQ/OBL/Taliban hop on board and murtha.

Roiding Room

Yahoo Sports:  Bonds honored with SF hospital playroom dedication

It’ll be one place to play where you won’t need to shoot steroids up your ass.

Diane Meyer:  SNL begins 35th year

And it’s 30th non-funny year.

P-D:  Columbine killer’s mom: ’No inkling’ son suicidal

Tridecuple murder is the new suicide.

Jihad Watch:  Al-Qaeda jihadists plot attack against 2010 World Cup

They’re threating to wreak havoc and violence at a soccer game.

LAT:  Chicago Cubs file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

For assets, they have all their World Series trophies in the last 100 years, and a goat.

UK Telegraph:  Police officers ‘racially abused’ Arab teenagers

What that means is that white cop sees Arab teen violating the law, and then has the audacity to arrest him in earnest.  Bigotry on parade.

CNS:  Homosexual Activists Say They ‘Won’t Back Down’

But will back up.

AP:  Cap-and-Trade Climate Plan Causing Unease in America’s Rust Belt

It threatens those states’ manufacturing base.

P-D:  Schools revisit Christopher Columbus

How’s ole Chris doing?  Last I heard, he was pretty depressed about being bashed and trashed so much.

P-D:  3 killed in 4 shootings across St. Louis

Maintaining St. Louis’s long standing average of 0.75 homicides per shooting.

KSDK:  UMSL named to ‘Best Neighbor’ colleges, universities list

Ironically, UMSL isn’t in the best neighborhood.

Red Herring:  Allegis’ Ackerman: U.S. Innovation ‘Stalling’

“Innovation Stalling” sounds a lot like “Losing Our Competitive Advantage,” so I’m betting that you’ll find words like visa, immigration and H-1B in the article.

WSIL:  Many Businesses Cited For Selling to Minors

There are lots of incidents when stores will sell lots of goods and services to minors.

As the Toast Burns

Re Rush and our Male Sheep.

(1)  Al Sharpton is against, and wants a meeting with Goodell.  If I were Goodell, my response letter would only be two words long:  “Tawana Brawley.”  That’s a hell of a lot more succinct and clean than other things I think he could write.

(2)  Players’ Union President D’Maurice Smith:  Rush is a Nazi slaveowner.  There are principles in this world.  You (i.e. black NFL players) have a right to speak up.

Of course, those rights don’t seem to apply to Rush Limbaugh.

Let’s see if Smith is really interested in principles or if he’s just popping off.  He should call all the black players on the roster of the San Diego Chargers and ask them to quit.  After all, if Rush Limbaugh is a Nazi slaveowner, then Limbaughite and Limbaugh friend Alex Spanos, owner of the Chargers, also has to be a Nazi slaveowner.

(3)  Wouldn’t you know it.  One of St. Louis’s many cracker jack box theology degree black preachers, one B.T. Rice, is also against.  The unfortunate part of that is that I can’t remember any of the stupid things Rice has done in the past, so I’m left here butt naked without a snarky punchline.

I do know that another black named Rice, that being former SofS Condoleezza Rice, is thought of as a future Commissioner.

Letting the Stab Out of the Bag

CNS:

Stabenow: Middle Class Won’t Be Hit By Health Bill’s Cut in Tax Deduction for Medical Expenses Because They Don’t Itemize Deductions

(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D.-Mich.), who serves on the Senate Finance Committee, says that a provision in the committee’s health care reform bill that increases the medical expenses a person must incur before they can write them off of their federal income taxes is not a tax increase on the middle-class–and thus a violation of President Obama’s promise not to raise taxes on people making under $250,000 per year– because middle class people generally don’t itemize their deductions and thus aren’t able to claim the deduction.

I think she’s wrong.  But if she’s right, then she just pulled the rug out from under people like Al Gore and other Democrats, who mouth off about “targeted tax cuts only for the middle class,” when it’s election time and they want to triangulate between wanting tax cuts and hatin’ on the rich.  What they mean by “targeted tax cuts” are deductions that Stabenow says that middle class individuals don’t take anyway.  Ergo, no tax cut, and none intended.

BSA’s BS

Slashdot:

BSA Says 41% Software On Personal Computers Is Pirated

“Individuals are turning to P2P networks and auction sites in staggering numbers to acquire or transfer illegal software and in doing so are harming the economy whilst exposing themselves to malware, identity theft and criminal prosecution, according to a report from the Business Software Alliance. Beyond P2P and auction site piracy, the report also draws correlations between Internet piracy and the spread of malware such as viruses, trojans and spyware, which often exploit vulnerabilities in illegal software that does not benefit from security updates provided by manufacturers. Although the correlation is not universal, geographies with high instances of software piracy suffer from high instances of malware.”

I don’t buy the 41% notion.  The BSA’s raison d’etre is the “problem” of software piracy, so of course it’s going to find a lot of it.  You think Morris Dees will wake up one day and say there’s no more “right-wing hatemongering?”

I think they’re looking at this the wrong way.  I don’t think that places that suffer from a lot of malware suffer it because the operating system and software they downloaded are pirated.  It’s because the OSes and applications they pirate are susceptible to malware.  What that means is that they’re pirating Microsoft Windows.

The BSA is mostly a lobbying/propaganda arm of Microsoft and Adobe.  Both had admitted that they benefit because piracy establishes their software as the must-have standards, the “network effect,” and shuts out open source competition.

They Keep Telling Us That Lou Barletta Is Crazy

Though I have never thought that.

Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice:

Shots fired, stabbing reported outside Hazleton bar

Hazleton police responded to reports of multiple gunshots in the vicinity of La Cantina, North Wyoming Street, early Saturday morning.

Police also said a physical altercation occurred in front of the bar at about 2:30 a.m., during which individuals struck each other with handguns. One person was stabbed while another was struck by a car fleeing the scene, according to police.

Although one illegal immigrant – a felon previously deported for dealing crack cocaine in the city – was taken into custody, the investigation is continuing and police are seeking more information.

(snip)

One of the men involved in the physical altercation, Bernardo Campusano-Abreau, no address given, had been deported to the Dominican Republic after being arrested by city police in June 2006 on a felony charge of possession of crack cocaine with intent to deliver. He was charged with false identification to law enforcement officials and was lodged in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility.

Remember, there are supposed to be no illegal aliens in Hazleton, such that anti-invasion ordinances should be passed, and Lou Barletta can catapult them to higher office.