The Daily Breakdown - 11.26.08

In what has to be a performance sure to be nominated for Best Ass-Kissing in a supporting role, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) had this to say about the job President-elect Barack Obama has done thus far: "Everything that President-elect Obama has done since election night has been just about perfect, both in terms of a tone and also in terms of the strength of the names that have either been announced or are being discussed to fill his administration."

Wow. For a guy who just a couple months ago was saying we'd all wind up dead, more or less, if we elected Obama, the 180 degree turn couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact Obama helped out when it came time for the Democrats to slap Lieberman's wrist and take away the chairmanship of a b-level subcommittee, could it? I can appreciate the fact Obama is trying to bridge both sides of the aisle, but it would probably be a little less awkward for all parties concerned if Lieberman was slightly less obvious fumbling for our next president's zipper. Connecticut Dems are set to meet December 17 to determine whether or not to censure Lieberman for the bang-up job he did campaigning for the other guy during the nearly two year presidential campaign, although I expect them to simply smack the wrist the Democratic Caucus missed the first time around. If they do, should we brace for Lieberman lobbying the Catholic church to consider President-elect Obama for sainthood? I wouldn't rule it out, as this point...

Meanwhile, some more believable acting was taking place at Osaka University in Japan, as a Wakamaru robot, designed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industry as a domestic robot/companion for the elderly, appeared in Hataraku Watashi (I, Worker for those not fluent in the Japanese), a short play, alongside human actors. This is being called a first in robot-human artistic collaboration. The 3 foot tall, 66 pound robot didn't have any trouble with its lines, so I can clearly see the benefits. I mean, realistically, this is the precursor to Futurama's Calculon, so that in its own is pretty damn cool.

However, at the same time, I can also see trouble on the horizon. Not only do I have the mental image of hi-tech tentacle porn springing up in Japan in the future, just wait until acting robots start expressing a desire to adopt half the children of some third world toilet country, or flashing their mechanical junk climbing out of a car at the MTV Movie Awards. Then again, the damn things would probably think up better names than Bronx Mowgli for their offspring...

To wrap it up today, we also have a nominee for Worst Religious Defense. Felicia Johnson, of Marietta, Georgia, somehow came under the impression that her roommate's belongings were possessed, so she did what any...ahem...rational person would do. She set the shit on fire. Placing the items in two piles, one in the fireplace and the other on the balcony, Johnson then set the matches, or the bic lighter, or the torch she also uses to chase monsters from the kingdom to the stuff, causing minimal damage to the apartment. No word was given as to whether or not the "evil spirits" took the hint and got the fuck out of Dodge. Not surprisingly, Johnson was arrested and charged with first degree arson, and even less surprising, was taken to a local hospital for a mental evaluation. Maybe someone should have told her to just spend a couple of bucks and have an exorcism done instead. Sure, it's a little noisier, but the best part is, it probably will not affect your security deposit. I can see it now...next on PBS, This Old Exorcism, as today, we'll be clearing the devil from a pair of possessed end tables and a bathroom throw rug with some evil intentions.

ppdingles thoughts on Election night 2008.

So the 2008 Presidential Election is over and history has been made as America(honestly for once)has voted in the first African-American President. But it wasn't such a smooth ride the entire night of November 4Th. Here is my take on some of the dumb things you might of missed that night.



The first had to be when Kentucky went red for McCain. You could have a talking turd with a Republican button on and Kentucky will vote for it. Oh wait they did that before...in 2000 and 2004.



Next is when I saw Louisiana go red for McCain. What the Hell? A history lesson for everyone down there. Lets go back to August 2005 and a little storm named Katrina. While all of you were sitting on your roofs waiting for help, President Bush was eating cake and guess who was eating with him?......John McCain! So next time a huge Hurricane comes your way I hope it wipes you all off the fucking map because your obviously to damn stupid for your own good!



Then there was the Gay-Marriage ban that was approved in California. Shame on anyone that voted for that!!!!! Nobody has the right to decide the life of other people. I just hope someday that the Gay community gets to vote on something that will restrict Straight people from doing something in their life. Turnabout is fair play to me.



And finally this happened the day after the election but it still garners attention. This is the Facebook group for supporters of Sarah Palin on Wednesday November 5Th, 2008



A little fuzzy but it says 364 "fewer" members! Already the rats are jumping ship. Her plane hasn't even touched down in Alaska and her "supporters" are already leaving town. No wonder they lost!

I'm ppdingles and I approve this blog posting!

Palin's reflection of herself? Yeah, don't stare too long...

Kathleen Parker wrote in her syndicated column yesterday wondering how the mainstream media can improve their image. Other than actually acting like most journalists used to, I can't think of a more solid, or to the point answer.

Worrying about Barack Obama's so-called connection with former 60's radical William Ayers, but nary touching a stone about the governor of Alaska not only addressing the convention of a secessionist group (of which her husband was, and may yet still be a member of) and letting the group know to "keep up the good work" could be a good starting point. That the sitting governor of a state apparently agrees with the stances of a group that wants the very state he or she runs should be more of a focus than that of a charity board, on whom both Democrats and Republicans have served in the past.

Wringing hands over Barack Obama's attendance of a church whose pastor has occasionally made what could be considered inflammatory remarks in the past should pale slightly in comparison with Palin's one-time (or current, I keep losing the scorecard) pastor, who flat honestly believes in witchcraft, or John McCain's past endorsements from some the most half-baked elements of intolerance disguised as representatives of Christianity. If anything, credit could be extended to Palin for somehow making the case that we might be able to accept a Wiccan or Pagan practitioner in the White House. After all, witchcraft is as witchcraft does, I suppose.

The concept that Sarah Palin knows very little about important policy areas such as foreign policy may be brushed off, in comparison with presidents and vice-presidents past, although to the best of my knowledge, none of the previous ever used "well, I have heard of them before" as an answer to questions of capability. I have heard of base jumping, but you'll never get my pale white behind on the ledge of a skyscraper, parachute or otherwise, so I hardly think my mere knowledge qualifies me to run a base jump association. Rather, it is her more-than-apparent flexibility with the nutcases who attend her rallies yelling "kill him!" in reference to one of her opponents. It would be far less disconcerting if Palin were simply just in favor of succession from the nation by Alaska than in trying her level-headed best to get a presidential candidate shot.

It is Parker's opinion that Palin's supporters see themselves in her, and ultimately, how frightening could that wind up being, given the people that Palin herself has been palling around with? Parker asserts that Palin's "lack of polish and knowledge feels like an absence of slickness and glibness" to her supporters.

That's just flat wrong. After eight years of an administration utterly void of slickness, that perpetuation cannot be allowed to continue unchecked. Glibness? That might be great fodder for a cocktail party, but hardly in relation to the White House. Palin's got polish, folks, but let's not kid ourselves here. She's been polished with a dangerously crazy rag, and we are already seeing more than enough evidence of how the fumes have gotten to her.

The boning we're taking pales to the screwing we're in store for

Oh, well, business as usual. This eternal campaign rolls on and on, and the longer it lasts, the more certain I am that at this point it really doesn't matter who wins, this country is SCREWED!

You've got John McCain, who wants to grandstand with our economy to get elected. You've got one Vice-Presidential nominee who is as bad as Dick Cheney, only female. And last but not least you have another running mate who is playing bashful, just like he's not sure this is where he wants to be.

You've got a Congress who can't seem to do anything! Republicans acting like Democrats used to, Democrats doing a good imitation of wimps, and the total sum of all this business as usual - nothing getting done.

WE can't even immigrate to another country, no one wants Americans. And if we tried to do it illegally, you can damn sure bet the bank, we'd be tossed out on our asses!

Guess all we can do is sit back and wait for the chips to fall where they may.

Saturday morning political post

Sometimes, you get the impression Republicans in Alaska are hoping Sarah Palin will get elected Vice-President because they are Republicans, and others, because she will be in D.C. more than Alaska. At least they hope, one way or another, I suppose. The Senate Judiciary Committee in Alaska voted 3-2 to issue 13 subpoenas in their Troopergate investigation, including one to Todd Palin. The Republican-controlled committee had one member jump party line to help the vote pass, and wouldn't you just know it would be Charles Huggins, who represents Wasilla. And this after the President of the State Senate, another Republican, said in no uncertain terms what she thought of Palin's...ahem...qualification to be Vice-President. Although, when you think about it, doesn't this make Huggins a maverick, a maverick's maverick, and someone who is willing to battle his own party in the battle against corruption, therefore, being absolutely qualified for that position as well? Maybe we can get GOP big wig to give him the precursory 15 minute lookover...

...as for John McCain, he seems to be further distancing himself from reality, recently remarking that running mate Sarah Palin "knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America." Holy damn, Senator, are you shitting me? I'm sure your family may enjoy when you gather around the fire of whichever home it is you currently remember owning and spin tall tales, but could somebody squeaky toy you back to the here and now, cause that certainly isn't the dumbest thing you've ever said, but it certainly is the dumbest thing you said this week...

...Amazing how little time to took for Obama to retaliate in the mudslinging. Not that anybody can blame him, but his recent "When you hear John McCain talking about putting 'Country First,' it's fair to ask- which country?," does sound like it could be questioning McCain's patriotism, although it is doubtful that was the context of the remark. After all, it's not like McCain's done a lot to keep jobs from leaving the country left and right...

...Finally, since it's hard enough for Libertarians to get any coverage, Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr recently scored with a shot across Sarah Palin's bow during the 15th Annual Funniest Celebrity in Washington Contest Wednesday night at the DC Improv club. Barr's line? "Does anybody know what the difference between a bulldog and a hockey mom is?""The bulldog gets vetted!" Damn shame he isn't going to win, although I do like the fact he's polling high in several states thus far in the campaign. The fundraiser also featured former presidential candidate (although eventual contest winner) Mike Huckabee.

There's something in the air...(sniff)...oh, never mind, it's just the usual arrogance

An amazing irony- at the same time the GOP is planning, more or less, their love-in at the Xcel Energy Center in Minneapolis, Senate Republicans are monkey-wrenching renewal of key tax credits for investment in and production of alternative energy sources. At the same time, however, conservative Democrats in the House are in the midst of petulant hissy-fitting, vowing to block any extension that adds to the deficit.

Are you fucking kidding me? I haven't heard much in the way of protest over the tax credits being shoveled from the back of Capitol Hill's truck onto the lawns of the oil companies, nor have I heard much in the way of argument over House Democrats throwing the checkbook and a pen to President Bush every time the phrase "Iraq," or "terrorism" pops up, so the stance on the alternative energy tax credits smacks of the usual half-cocked arrogance we have come to expect from so-called politicians like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who thinks nothing of investing in alternative energy plans, like those proposed by T. Boone Pickens, while not even understanding basic principles, such as natural gas being a fossil fuel (on Meet the Press last week, Pelosi referred to natural gas as an alternative to fossil fuel)

This arrogance is ill-afforded, with not only loss of jobs and commerce hanging in the balance, but definable, if not clear-cut solutions to our nation's dependence on over-priced oil.

Get over it...

I know Hilary Clinton's followers would have loved to see her get the Democratic presidential nomination, but hey folks, it just wasn't to be. You should be proud that she made it as far as she did, further than any other woman has. Look at the 1984 Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Geraldine Ferraro, was was turned to mince meat on the campaign trail.

Apparently, to be considered for the highest two elected offices in the land anymore, you have to be squeaky clean from birth. Hate to tell you all this, but any kind of clean is in short supply once most people get elected and gain any sort of power.

As for their claims of a "dream ticket" of Barack Obama-Hilary Clinton, that is just it- a dream. Most people are having a hard enough time considering Obama for the presidency. Put a woman into the mix as his running mate and I believe that is simply just too much change for many at one time.

So let's just get this election over with and deal with the fall out later...

Cause I'm Mom, Damnit! #5

I will just never understand people- some of the very same people who have complained long and loud about the Bush administration say they will vote for John McCain rather than Barack Obama! If they do this, they might as well have kept quiet the last eight years.

In case someone has forgotten to tell them, there is an alternative, vote for Bob Barr, Libertarian Party candidate for President!

I think it is pretty obvious that if John McCain is elected president, he will find a way to restore the draft. Can this country never learn from its mistakes? You would think that Vietnam and now the current quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan would have brought this point home once and for all!

I think all Americans know, even those who don't wish to admit it, that the Bush administration has thoroughly trashed America's image on the world stage.

Now we have the ongoing hoopla of a presidential campaign that has gone on seven steps past forever! I have heard the media make less ballyhoo over Oscar nominees than has been reported on the identity of the potential Democratic vice-presidential pick for Obama. Instead of covering the issues that really matter to the majority of Americans, they let one candidate slide on pretty well everything.

John McCain apparently believes that having been a prisoner of war for 5 1/2 years, 35 to 40 years ago, makes him the only one qualified to be President! I, although never a POW, served 6 years in the United States Army, 35 to 40 years ago, so am I equally qualified to be President?

It just gets more and more ludicrous day by day that a man whose yearly budget for his servants is more than most 20 Americans combined even make in a year, and this is a guy who isn't even sure of how many houses he has, doesn't know what kind of car he drives, and he is supposed to be able to lead this country out of quagmires both military and financial? I think not!

Keister/Mays '08 #1: Finally, the Dark Horse is out of the gate...

Wow...what can I say? Things are going better than I would have expected thus far, having just declared my virtual campaign for the Presidency on St. Patrick's Day.

In a mere nine days, I have risen to #35 in the Top 100 Independent candidates, #83 in the Top 100 overall candidates, with a score of 6.5836 (of 10). We've picked up a few supporters here and there, and I feel that so far, I have advanced a strong and viable platform in comparison to or against the stances of my opponents, Independent, Democratic, or Republican.

In the upcoming weeks, I will be adding more to my platform, addressing issues such as reducing the national debt, education, foreign affairs, our military, and leveling the playing field in the electoral process.

In the mean time, I thank you for your support, and I encourage you, if you haven't, to check out u4Prez.com

And until next time, remember...unless you get involved in the process, you have no right to bitch about the process.