A Look Ahead.....

Some predictions for Election Day: Obama wins with about 340-350 EV's. He may lose Ohio, but win Arizona. The Dems don't quite get 60 Senate seats. Other predictions, and a timeline for Tuesday night:

6:55PM EDT: Tom Brokaw on MSNBC attempts to make a point about Mary Landrieu in Lafayette Louisiana, and a Lockheed L-1011, but instead becomes so tongue tied that Paramedics are called.

7:12PM EDT: Upstairs at the White House, George Bush sets the TiVo for SportsCenter, and pounds down his sixth Peach Daiquiri since 4 o'clock.

7:30PM EDT: Sarah Palin breaks down in tears when she learns of plans by Todd and Joe The Plumber to move in together and share a double wide in Toledo.

7:43PM EDT: Wolf Blitzer announces on CNN that he really is a "wolf' and grabs Peggy Noonan's left tit. "What do you think about that situation you little tart Huh?." leers the diminutive Blitzer before CNN switches to a test pattern.

8:01PM EDT Pat Buchanan on MSNBC tells Chris Mathews that " John McCain is a 'fucking putz' and ' unfit to carry Richard Nixon's jock strap'.

8:23PM  EDT CBS Calls the race for Obama, meanwhile in dark room somewhere in  Florida, Matt Drudge stares at a loaded 357 Magnum, and ponders "doing the right thing".

8:25PM  EDT John McCain starts trashing his condo with a 2x4. Sees Katie Couric on the TV screen and swings wildly while yelling " Die Die you commie cunt". McCain instead hits wife Cindy causing a 4 inch gash to her forehead. Paramedics are called.

8:47PM EDT Huge crowds surge into Grant Park in Chicago to celebrate Obama victory, Chicago Fire Marshal announces crowd size as " pretty god-dammed big I tell you what". William Ayers not seen.

9:14PM  EDT.  Sean Hannity calls race for McCain. Claims ACORN stole the whole thing, and in fact only Negroes really voted for Obama. Meanwhile at the White House Dick Cheney makes his way past an unconscious George Bush and proceeds to the bunker.

9:33PM EDT Joe Biden has his load on and drunk dials Hillary, tells her: 

" I've always admired your ass...."

10:02PM EDT John McCain calls Obama: " Ah fuck you punk. I concede. Now kiss my ass.." McCain then jams a hundred dollar bill in his nose and snorts $120 worth of Peruvian flake in one line while sticking phone receiver down the front of his pants. Paramedics are called.

10:18PM EDT Mushroom clouds are seen rising over Terhan. 230 feet below the East Wing Dick Cheney smiles.

The Whole Box Of Crazy Flakes

From Huff Po

One of John McCain's advisers recently called his running mate Sarah Palin a "diva" after she went off-script at a rally, and suggested she was looking after her own political future over the current campaign. Now another adviser ups the ante in a conversation with the Politico's Playbook, labeling Palin a "whack job."

Now perhaps this is going a bit too far. Our Sarah a "whack job"? Really? Well she is certainly " whack off" material for the likes of Sean Hannity and other assorted right wing wankers; but is she a mental case? Lets consider the evidence:

1. She has repeatedly introduced john McCain as "The next President of the United States". Clear indication of delusional thinking.

2. Sarah is unsure that humans have caused global warming, and is quite sure that the earth is only 6,000 years old. More delusions or a possible fugue state.

3. Can't think of a single Supreme Court case other than Roe v. Wade. Possible Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

4. Claims she was against 'Bridge To Nowhere' when she was really in favor of it, lied about involvement in 'Troopergate', tries to impersonate a 'maverick'. Borderline Personality Disorder, Sociopathic tendencies.

5. Claims she can "see" Vladimir Putins head over the horizon. Hallucinations.

6. Thinks Obama is a terrorist, a socialist, and is unready to lead. Projection.

7. Hid latest pregnancy. Sounds kind of psycho to me....

8. Names kids after tractors. Weird if not whack-a-loonie.

9. Garbled speech, jumbled syntax. Disoriented.

10. Thinks she is qualified to be Vice President. Truly fucking insane.

...............................................................................................

Waiting For The Other Manolo Blahnik To Drop...

CNN) -- Some aides to Sen. John McCain say they weren't happy that running mate Sarah Palin went off script Sunday and turned attention back to the controversy over her wardrobe.

The Alaska governor on Sunday brought up the recent reports regarding the Republican National Committee's $150,000 spending spree on clothing and accessories for the Palin family.

Palin denounced talks of her wardrobe as "ridiculous" and declared emphatically: "Those clothes, they are not my property."

"Just like the lighting and the staging and everything else that the RNC purchased, I'm not taking them with me," she said at a rally in Tampa, Florida.

A senior McCain adviser told CNN that those comments "were not the remarks we sent to her plane." Palin did not discuss the wardrobe story at her rally in Kissimmee, Florida, later in the day.

A Palin aide, however, told CNN that the governor clearly felt like she had to say something to defend herself, because "that's really not who she is."

Over the weekend, sources told CNN that long-brewing tensions between Palin and key aides to McCain were on the rise.

Several McCain advisers suggested that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue."

A Palin associate, however, said the candidate is simply trying to "bust free" of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged roll-out.

McCain sources say Palin has gone off-message several times, and they privately wonder whether the incidents were deliberate. They cited an instance in which she labeled robocalls -- recorded messages often used to attack a candidate's opponent -- "irritating" even as the campaign defended their use. Also, they pointed to her telling reporters she disagreed with the campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan.

A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.

"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," this McCain adviser said. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.

"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom." 

When Do We Get To Stop Calling These Assholes "Christians"?

From The Wires:

Terrorist strikes on four American cities. Russia rolling into Eastern Europe. Israel hit by a nuclear bomb. Gay marriage in every state. The end of the Boy Scouts.

All are plausible scenarios if Democrat Barack Obama is elected president, according to a new addition to the campaign conversation called "Letter from 2012 in Obama's America," produced by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family Action.

The imagined look into the future is part of an escalation in rhetoric from Christian right activists who are trying to paint Obama in the worst possible terms as the campaign heads into the final stretch and polls show the Democrat ahead.

Although hard-edge attacks are common late in campaigns, the tenor of the strikes against Obama illustrate just how worried conservative Christian activists are about what should happen to their causes and influence if Democrats seize control of both Congress and the White House.

WWJTPD ( What Would Joe The Plumber Do)

Word on the interwebs is that "Joe The Plumber" has a lawyer and is shopping a book deal. In the interest of being helpful, and for a small (18%) fee, here are some suggested political tittles:

1. Taking The Plunge: One Mans Descent Into Presidential Politics.

2. Mien Wrench. 

3. Profiles In Drain Clogs.

4. Butt Cracks, Roto Rooters, and The Social Security Mess: A Prescription For Change.

5. The Smell Of Success: How I Made 250K With Just A  Plunger and The American Dream.

6. Plunge It Deep: Hot Sex Tips From Joe The Plumber.

7. Cooking With Joe: 100 Recipes That Won't Result In A Clogged Toilet.

8. Just Tell 'Em To Fuck Off: A Regular Joe's Guide To Dealing With The Press.

9.  The Zen Of Float Valves.

10.  An Illustrated  History Of The Watergate Plumbers. (Forward  By G. Gordon Liddy).

The Gift That Keeps On Giving..... Continued

From HuffPo:

Since her selection as John McCain's running mate, the Republican National Committee spent more than $150,000 on clothing and make-up for Gov. Sarah Palin, her husband, and even her infant son, it was reported on Tuesday evening.

That entertaining scoop -- which came by way of Politico -- sent almost immediate reverberations through the presidential race. A statement from McCain headquarters released hours after the article bemoaned the triviality of the whole affair.

"With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it's remarkable that we're spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses," said spokesperson Tracey Schmitt. "It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign."

But even the most timid of Democrats are unlikely to heed this call for civility. For starters, the story has the potential to dampen enthusiasm among GOP activists and donors at a critical point in the presidential race. It also creates a huge PR headache for the McCain ticket as it seeks to make inroads among voters worried about the current economic crisis.

Mainly, however, Democrats (in this scenario) are not prone to forgiveness. After all, it was during this same campaign cycle that Republicans belittled the $400 haircut that former Sen. John Edwards had paid for with his own campaign money (the funds were later reimbursed). And yet, the comparison to that once-dominant news story is hardly close: if Edwards had gotten one of his legendary haircuts every singe week, it would still take him 7.2 years to spend what Palin has spent. Palin has received the equivalent of $2,500 in clothes per day from places such as Saks Fifth Avenue (where RNC expenditures totaled nearly $50,000) and Neiman Marcus (where the governor had a $75,000 spree).

Robo Calls???

So if you pick up the phone and hear a metallic voice saying something about 

" Danger Danger Will Robinson" it's probably this guy:

On the other hand if the voice says something like: "Danger Danger Will Ayers...." it's this fucking guy here:

Share The Wealth?

So what sort of low down lame ass commie liberal pussy terrorist scumbag anti- American fuckstick would dare propose "sharing the wealth"? It's good to see the JohnBot call out that uppity punk for saying anything so outlandish. 

"Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me."

Top 10 Paths To Mc Victory

As the 'days dwindle down to these precious few' before the big erection, er election; let's consider what McPalin would have to do to win this thing.

1. John buys everyones house at whatever asking price they have in mind.

2. Sarah offers to blow any remaining undecided voters.

3. Osama Bin Hidin'  decides to turn himself in to Bill Kristol live on Fox News.

4. The Obama suddenly starts dressing like Flavor Flav.

5. Joe Biden is arrested for jerking off in his car outside an elementary school.

6. The Obama is run over by an out of control hit and run Zamboni driven by what witnesses describe as " a pit bull with lipstick'.

7. Joe The Plumber invents a pollution free, insanely cheap source of energy that also tastes like chocolate with zero calories, and makes your dick bigger.

8. John shoots Dick Cheney in the face while aiming at wolves from a helicopter.

9. Sarah has a series of 'wardrobe malfunctions' on live Tee Vee.

10 The Obama says: "Fuck this shit. I quit"

All Aboard The Crazy Train

In the EMS biz we run a lot of calls dispatched on the radio as “a non violent M.O.". This stands for a not yet violent mental observation call or in the vernacular a 'whack job' in need of a one way ticket on the disoriented express. Watching John McCain’s expressions, and listening to his disjointed out of sync responses last night, I was tempted to place a call to the Hempstead NY 911 center and report an 'unresponsive elderly male with a decreased level of consciousness".

I think it's fair to say at this point that the McJohnny campaign is on life support, and barring something truly weird (like the Obama being caught sodomizing Gary Coleman while they were both dressed as Girl Scouts) I don't see a path for McGramps to make it to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave without a visitors pass.

That being said; I expect massive attempts at cheating and fraud on the part of the not so happy 'R''s, and I would not fall over in a Blanche Dubois faint if Osama Been Hiding is suddenly "found" running a dirty book store in the Bronx, and is taken into custody by Todd Palin after Sarah beats him into submission with a deluxe battery powered roto rooter 12 inch dildo. All of which of course will be captured on tape by Geraldo with a mini cam hidden in his pants. I don't think even that will win the election for John John, but it sure as shit ought to beat out any thing HBO puts up there for an Emmy next year.

A Nation Turns It's Lonely Eyes To Joe The Plumber

Debate # 3 just ended. 

Quick ReAx:

 If we were drinking every-time this dip shit plumber from Toledo came up we would all be hammered.

What the fuck is wrong with John McCains skin? It seems to move in weird ways not connected to his face. Yuck.

Bob Scheifer is the oldest man in America. Really. You could google it.

John McCain kept interrupting with weird jokes and stuff that made no fucking sense. That ought to help counter the idea that he's old and erratic and a crazy grand pa that should be in a home. Ya think?

Obama was Ali again, left jab, left jab, clench, then wham with the right. 

John McCain is nasty, and makes funny faces. I wouldn't let my kid get on the school bus if he was the driver.

John is done. Fini. Fork in time. As Dandy Don once sang " turn out the lights the party's over".

One last thing. One last time. Fuck you John.

Darkness On The Edge Of Town

Conservatives are all too fond of quoting the late not so great Ronald Regan at the drop of a Sarah Palin hairpin these days; so I thought it might be interesting to contrast the Gipster's shopworn but effective 'City On A Hill" and "Morning in America" meme with McNasty's all fear all the time campaign.

In Ronnies simple view America was that alabaster metropolis calling the great unwashed ( though not Mexican) masses to our cause if not our shores. In John and Sarahs world the city is Chicago, hog butcher to the world of Willaim Ayers and teeming with dark corners, and dark faces scaring the white folk back home in Tulsa.

Sid and Nancy, er I mean Ron and Nancy were all about "just say no" John and his moose pie honey bunch are more about " just say kill him!"

My considered advice to John in tonight's debate is to channel David Byrne. That's right, start with the 'big suit', which will work with Johns limited arm range perfectly. Next answer every question with a Talking Heads quote.
Eg: "Senator McCain can you describe your economic policy?"
McCain: " You may ask yourself, where did I get this beautiful house, and you may ask yourself where did I get this beautiful wife..." Accompany this with the requisite arm waving and gestures, and I guarantee the Obama will be thrown off his game. Crazy? You bet. Pycho even? Well all I can say is: fa fa fa faf,fah fa fafafa fah.....

How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times As These... Continued

From the AP:

An out-of-work money manager in California loses a fortune and wipes out his family in a murder-suicide. A 90-year-old Ohio widow shoots herself in the chest as authorities arrive to evict her from the modest house she called home for 38 years.
In Massachusetts, a housewife who had hidden her family's mounting financial crisis from her husband sends a note to the mortgage company warning: "By the time you foreclose on my house, I'll be dead."
Then Carlene Balderrama shot herself to death, leaving an insurance policy and a suicide note on a table.
Across the country, authorities are becoming concerned that the nation's financial woes could turn increasingly violent, and they are urging people to get help. In some places, mental-health hot lines are jammed, counseling services are in high demand and domestic-violence shelters are full.
"I've had a number of people say that this is the thing most reminiscent of 9/11 that's happened here since then," said the Rev. Canon Ann Malonee, vicar at Trinity Church in the heart of New York's financial district. "It's that sense of having the rug pulled out from under them."
With nowhere else to turn, many people are calling suicide-prevention hot lines. The Samaritans of New York have seen calls rise more than 16 percent in the past year, many of them money-related. The Switchboard of Miami has recorded more than 500 foreclosure-related calls this year.
"A lot of people are telling us they are losing everything. They're losing their homes, they're going into foreclosure, they've lost their jobs," said Virginia Cervasio, executive director of a suicide resource enter in southwest Florida's Lee County.

Driving Toward A Dream

I was driving home Saturday night from a gig at C-SPAN and as I listened to the blues station stuck in traffic on Constitution Avenue, I realized that I was staring across the south lawn at the White House. As I sat there, the thought hit me like a thunderbolt that all our talk can soon become real. Barack Obama may very well be living in that house come January 21 next year.
I thought about how much things have changed in my lifetime. I remember being 7 or 8 years old when a bus with the first black kids coming to my school in Detroit arrived one Autumn morning amid angry shouts from the neighborhood moms of "Go home nigger." All these years later I remember the frightened faces of the black kids on that bus. I remember my dad having vicious arguments with my grandfather over race. Of course my grand pa didn't just hate blacks, he hated everyone pretty much equally. (Old Edward made Archie Bunker look like Desmond TuTu. ) And I thought about my own jumbled attitudes over the years; fears and angry reactions that have not always comported to my better angels.

Sitting there on Constitution, looking at the taillights stretching towards Virginia: I was hopeful. I was proud of my country. I was looking forward to January.

True Crime

I originally posted this back in February, but it seems worth a repeat:

THE Iraq war has cost the US 50-60 times more than the Bush administration predicted and was a central cause of the sub-prime banking crisis threatening the world economy, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

The former World Bank vice-president yesterday said the war had, so far, cost the US something like $US3trillion ($3.3 trillion) compared with the $US50-$US60-billion predicted in 2003.

Professor Stiglitz told the Chatham House think tank in London that the Bush White House was currently estimating the cost of the war at about $US500 billion, but that figure massively understated things such as the medical and welfare costs of US military servicemen.

The war was now the second-most expensive in US history after World War II and the second-longest after Vietnam, he said.

The spending on Iraq was a hidden cause of the current credit crunch because the US central bank responded to the massive financial drain of the war by flooding the American economy with cheap credit.

"The regulators were looking the other way and money was being lent to anybody this side of a life-support system," he said.

That led to a housing bubble and a consumption boom, and the fallout was plunging the US economy into recession and saddling the next US president with the biggest budget deficit in history, he said.

Professor Stiglitz, an academic at the Columbia Business School and a former economic adviser to president Bill Clinton, said a further $US500 billion was going to be spent on the fighting in the next two years and that could have been used more effectively to improve the security and quality of life of Americans and the rest of the world.

The money being spent on the war each week would be enough to wipe out illiteracy around the world, he said.

Just a few days' funding would be enough to provide health insurance for US children who were not covered, he said.

This Says It All (Redux)

From AFP:

Gawking tourists and panicky financiers brought a bizarrely carnival-like atmosphere to Wall Street on Friday.

Outside the New York Stock Exchange hundreds of tourists joined police, TV crews, school children, hot dog vendors, and a white-bearded busker playing "Amazing Grace" on the flute.

Swedish visitor Agneta Blomgren, 43, photographed her mother Berit outside the exchange. An electronic board displaying plunging share prices provided the backdrop.

"We wanted to come and see it," Blomgren said. "The Americans aren't world leaders any more. It's time for a shift and this is the symptom of that. Power is shifting away -- perhaps to China."

The Chinese were there too.

Tour guide Ying Wang had added the stock exchange to her 10-strong group's itinerary that included Times Square, the site of the destroyed World Trade Center, and Central Park.

"Everyone wants to see what's going on, what the place really looks like," Wang said, waving a long toy flower to catch the attention of her excited flock, all clutching cameras.

The tourists and school groups come to witness history barely noticed the tense, well-dressed figures flitting through the finance district's dark, narrow streets.

These shock troops of the world's ruined financial capital cut a sad sight.

Down Goes McCain, Down Goes McCain......

Watching that dishonorable hack of a husk of a man John McCain scowl around the stage in Nashville Tuesday night, something kept tugging at the back of my mind. What did this race remind me of? Then it hit me: Obama is Ali, and McCain is Sonny Liston. Now I'm not saying John is taking a dive for the mob to pay off gambling debts (though I would not put it past him), I'm just saying JSM represents the old regime like Liston did; and Obma/Ali is well on his way to whipping Johns ass while looking pretty. I'm hoping Obama taunts him in the final debate with a demand of"What's my name....?"

One other great idea from my pal Mike Halloran: Change your Face-book / My-space middle name to Hussein. I may rename this blog, "Hussein in the City"

That One

Bumper sticker I'm sure we will see in the next 24 hours: "I'm voting for 'that one'.

My post debate analysis:

Obama: Cool. JFK. Presidential. Smart.

McCain: Old. Angry. Nasty. Fucked.

Pool Coverage

October 7, 2008

A Bunker Somewhere in Sedona AZ


Your pool reporter with verbatim notes from an early morning presser at McCain HQ:

Republican presidential candidate Senator John S. McCain announced today that he is making the following "adjustments" to his campaign in advance of tonight's debate in Nashville.

1. The Senator has issued orders to his guards to 'shoot on sight' any reporter or voter who asks what the middle initial "S" stands for, and/or refers to to the name Sydney as "kind of faggy".

2. Senator McCain has placed an order for 60,000 white bedsheets to be distributed at Sarah Palin rallies. "Think of it as a sort of chachki for the pointy hat crowd " said McCain communication director and Grand Dragon David Duke. "people like to come home from a rally with something tangible and cutting the eye slits can prove to be a fun family project."

3. The candidate will appear tonight in black face in a effort to "level the playing field" .

4. The McCain campaign will drop the 'Country First' slogan and replace it starting tonight with a phrase that more neatly sums up the Senators world view. The new slogan reads: "I deserve to be president. Now Fuck Off."

5. Lastly, following tonight's debate, Senator McCain will once again suspend his campaign, and this time retreat to a suite at the Beverly Marmount to spend the next 28 days on a "booze, blow, and pussy" bender "worthy of John Belushi". "If the American people want to vote for that upstart uppity negro instead of whats her name and me, well then fuck 'em. They're all a bunch of useless cunts anyway." The Senator then appeared to suffer a seizure of some sort, and the press conference ended abrubtly.

Fin de siècle

These past few weeks I have been very much aware of the quality of the autumn light as it plays out these last days of summer weather. As I watch the news I keep hearing an echo of a century ago, when Sir Edward Grey famously observed that " the lights are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime". I think that we really have no idea how badly we are screwed, or how profoundly our world is changing. I hate to predict this but I think I'm right in saying that a year from now none of us will be the same, none of us will escape unmarked. George Bush will be regarded by history as a calamity greater than the black death when his impact is honestly measured. The ideology of the people behind Bush, and the pop culture induced coma of the American people have done what no outside power was able to imagine for two centuries. They have begun the destruction of America. This is so much more serious than we think folks, and I tremble for my country as I contemplate the future. If there were any honor left in Washington, pistols would be left in desks, and honorable men would do the right thing. I don't think we'll see that result, but I sadly predict that within the year the people in their righteous and inchoate anger will demand someone swing for the sins of these robber barons who will have left us destitute and naked before our enemies.

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so.

From The Department of You Can't Make This Shit Up:

This story on the wires today:


Sen. John McCain's senior foreign policy adviser cites a steamy romance 50 years ago with a Brazilian babe among the things that illustrate McCain's decades-long interest in Latin America.
Speaking at an Americas Conference panel discussion Friday on the next U.S. president's Latin American policy, McCain adviser Richard Fontaine started out by mentioning an old Brazilian flame of McCain's, who recently emerged in the press.
''Talking a little about his personal experience, he was famously born in Panama and has traveled all over the hemisphere for many years.'' Fontaine said. "In fact, I saw, I guess it was last week, that his old girlfriend in Brazil has been found from his early days when he was in the Navy and was interviewed. She's a somewhat older woman now than she was then, but it sorta speaks to the long experience he has had in the region -- in the most positive terms.''
Fontaine was referring to former model Maria Gracinda Teixeira de Jesus, who recently gave an interview to O Globo saying the former sailor was quite the kisser. According to McCain's memoirs, "Faith of My Fathers," they met in 1957, when his ship, the USS Hunt, docked in Brazil.
''I called him John but also my darling and my sweet coconut,'' she said. "He was a great kisser. I liked it so much that I bought a book to learn how to kiss myself.''

Well first of all honey, if coconuts gets his greasy little fingers near the nuke button, you better hope that book has a chapter on how to kiss your sweet ass goodbye. And secondly, the fact that John Boi had some Latin tail back in the day no more makes him an expert on policy in South America than does the fact that I used to bang my girlfriend in the backseat of a Chevy make me ready to run General Motors.

I Found This On The InterWebs

Sarah Meets Seka

Right Wing Nut Bag Rich Lowry writing today:

"A very wise TV executive once told me that the key to TV is projecting through the screen. It's one of the keys to the success of, say, a Bill O'Reilly, who comes through the screen and grabs you by the throat. Palin too projects through the screen like crazy. I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, she's got it."

Hey Rich, was your wife pissed off when she walked into the living room and found you with your pants down and your 'right wing tool' in your hand?? Jeeez-us these are some sick fucks......

Ellie May at The White House

Well that Sarah, oh boy eh. She sure did show 'dem media types up don't ya think. You betcha! She was spunky, and smiley and called the big tooth guy Joe. Ahh that was bonus don't ya know. And no mater what the in-tee-lect-u-all crowd says, our Sarah showed 'em that she could get through 90 minutes without having some sort of seizure or involuntary bowel movement, so I think we can all agree that counts as a win and she is ready to be El Presidente. Did ya hear how she said 'Gotcha"? That's the type of perky spunky perkiness that can fix the economy eh? Get more regular folks back to work making hockey sticks, and flipping moose burgers down at the Dairy Tastee Freeze Queen Diner Wall Mart Truck Stop Hockey Barn. That Joe fella was all fact this and figure that, and fancy college talk about foreigners that smell funny and don't speak regular English, but jabber away in  garlic smelling foreign talk like Frenchy, or Mexican, or Ruskie. Well I don't much cotton to all that book learned crap-o-la, I just like straight talk about huntin and fishin and the good old U S of A. It's about time we had a somebody in warsh-ing-ton dee cee who isn't all wrapped up in "qualifications" and "knowledge" and all that stuff those media elite types use to try and trick us. Sarah's my girl you betcha. Do ya think she'll wear a toque at the Egg- Nog- Reation? Maybe she'll ride down Pennsylvania Avenue on a Moose eh? That would be Bonus!

Drinking Game For Palin / Biden Debate

Ok, pour yourself some shots of Limoncello, and get ready cowgirls:

A snort every time you hear Joe say:

Literally

Champ

My Mom

Look Folks

And a tip o' the dram every time Nan Nookie says:

Ya know

The American people

Im ready

and a double shot for the phrase:

Media filter.

We should all be completely fucking Dipso'ed 12 minutes in.

The Twisted Sister Of Rome

Last week in Rome, we stopped into Santa Maria Maggiore. I just expected to see another sort of dusty collection of once glorious art, a museum rather than a living space; which more or less was my take on St. Peters. And yet, something extraordinary happened. While I suppose many pilgrims travel to Rome to get closer to God, that was not the purpose of my trip; which makes the following all the more surprising to me.

As we entered I saw an older woman on the steps  just inside the shade line. She wore a nuns head dress, though I am not sure what order she belonged to or even if she was really a nun at all. The woman had a badly twisted leg, and held an outstretched palm to beg with a look of pain and resignation on her face. I don't think anyone else in my party even noticed her. They all hurried inside out of the Roman sun to marvel at gold and tile from long long ago. But I stood with this woman for just a moment as I fumbled for a coin.  Then I saw something in her face. Something that has left me not quite the same as before. I can't say what, I can not say who, but I saw something there. Pilgrims go to the eternal city to seek the Lord, or a cure, or wisdom. I sought none of these, nor have I received them. But I did see a vision for the smallest instant on the steps of that house of Mary.

What does it mean? I don't know. But if I had to answer I might guess I was reminded that the face of the Lord is more often seen in tears than in gold. And that is a reminder worth a pilgrimage.