Remember, It's Trick OR Treat

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I tell you what, if I had kids and they came home crying about being called fat and getting gypped at this woman's house, I'd be leading the charge for the "trick" side of trick or treat. Eggs, toilet paper, dog doo - the works. If Ms. Goody Two Shoes wants to stand in judgment on children on a childrens' time honored holiday, she should stand ready to deal with the consequences. If she wants to be an abberation on society, then don't be shocked when society takes the appropriate reaction.

Sebelius Owns Up

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Well, not really. It's SNL. Can ya believe it? SNL dissing something the mighty O is responsible for? Oh, wait, it's really the obstructive Republican's fault, or W.'s, or perhaps Bonzo. Not this Administration.

The Horror! The Horror!

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I used to like the horror genre. Owned all the Stephen King books, even.

Not so much anymore, but this "movie" definitely appeals to me. Common sense? Hell yeah.

H/T CDR M at Ace of SpadesHQ

Best

Out of all the cartoons I read today, this one is the best. Alice rarely needs her Fist Of Death much these days.

Goin' To The Dogs

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A US man who wants to be a dog says he spends his days running around on all fours, eating food out of a bowl, and chasing cars.

Gary Matthews, 47, an unemployed IT technician in Pittsburgh, dons a shaggy dog costume each day to become his alter ego, Boomer.

He also sleeps inside a giant kennel which he keeps inside his more traditional human home, reports the Huffington Post.

He wants to live his life as a dog.

I do have an opinion on this subject, as you may well imagine. However, I recognize that some might find what I have to say objectionable. Thusly this opinion will be published under the fold, so if you think you might be offended, I invite you not to read the extended entry.

Been Gettin' Some Doctorin' Done

such a happy face

My new temporary bridge. Y'all may have noticed my toothless smile if you've into me in the past year. I had a crown that would come off, and rather than go to the dentist, I'd just glue it back on with some carefully selected gooey super glue. But, when it would inevitably come loose, it took some of the supporing incisor with it. It also had a post in there, and when it came loose, the whole thing started going downhill. I couldn't get it to hold for more than a few hours, so I saved it all and went on.

Well, then the house burned down, and I never had the money after that. Now I do. My dentist is using an incisor that already had a crown, and the little one next to the mostly absent tooth. The tooth that had just a tiny bit projecting past the gum line was pulled.

So I'm a tad sore right now, but what's been bothering me more is the dying skin tags I had frozen off  Monday the fourteenth. They've been shriveling up into little black mouse turds and every time I move in a t-shirt, they are irritated. I had more than thirty around my neck, several under both arms and in the pits, several at the back of my neck, and even one on my inner thigh. Most have now come loose, but it looks like I've got a ton of wasp stings. Be glad I didn't want to share a visual earlier.

So, in six weeks he'll make a cast for a permanent bridge when the swelling all goes down. In the mean time, I've got to be pretty careful what I bite on. In other words, corn on the cob is right out, and apples will have to be sliced. Probably hamburgers and about everything else, for that matter.

And I gotta say I really like my dentist. He is basically the same age as me - we played sports against each other in high school, and we share a lot of the same friends. He's been my dentist for years, and we have gotten to know each other fairly well. I feel damned comfortable with him rootin' around in my mouth, not only because of what we have in common, but because he's good.

So, I'm finally getting some of these piddly arsed problems solved.

Inspirational

Oh boy - Nobel Prize for Physics here we come! The sky is the limit with Dolly!

Boo Freaking Hoo

I hate entertainment gossip shows. That said, sometimes I've got one on that is scheduled after the last early evening news show and prime time while cooking supper or whatever. So I still learn all about the latest.

Whee.

But today, I got a chuckle.

Oprah and the White House are on the outs. Yep, Oprah feels used. She campaigned big time for Teh Won during the primaries to beat Hillary, and she also spent a lot of time on the road for him during the primary as well. It cost her, too.

More than a year and a half had passed since Oprah announced that she was throwing her support behind Barack Obama in his primary race against Hillary Clinton. The endorsement had represented a calculated risk for the queen of daytime television. It was one thing for her to recommend a book or launch the career of Dr. Phil, but it was quite another for her to back a political candidate

.As it turned out, a sizable chunk of her audience took offense and stopped watching her show. No sooner had Oprah hit the campaign trail, appearing beside Obama at one primary rally after another, than her personal favorability ratings began to slide, falling from 74 to 66 percent. Her unfavorable ratings suffered an even worse fate; they jumped from 17 to 26 percent.

Was the sacrifice worth it? As an entertainer and businesswoman, Oprah had suffered a setback. But she felt proud that she had been instrumental in electing the first black president of the United States, and she believed that she had earned a place in the president-elect’s brain trust. Two economists at the University of Maryland, College Park, estimated that Oprah’s endorsement netted Obama 1,015,559 votes and decided the primary election.

During the early weeks of the presidential transition, as Obama stitched together his new White House team, he appeared to embrace Oprah as one of his trusted advisers. When she phoned, he dropped everything and took her call. They huddled over strategy. Of all of Obama’s unofficial White House advisers, Oprah had unparalleled access, input, influence, and power.

However, by the time Oprah and Gayle landed in Washington a month after the election, Oprah’s relationship with the Obamas had come unglued.

OPRAH had tried to ignore the ominous change in tone coming from the Obama transition team. As Barack Obama’s inauguration drew near, Oprah’s calls to Michelle went unreturned

.Instead, Oprah heard from Max Doebler, the newly appointed White House ceremonies coordinator, who told Oprah that she needed to talk to him first about the interview. What’s more, Doebler said, Oprah had to run her interview questions past Jeff Stephens, a deputy speech writer, for prior approval.

“It was a pain as far as Oprah was concerned,” said a high-ranking executive of Harpo Studios, Oprah’s production company. “Oprah isn’t a snob, but she doesn’t like having to put up with mid-level clerks. These guys were $75,000-a-year men. Oprah was like, ‘Hello, what is this s–t!’

“But she did it; she went to Washington with Gayle and met with both Doebler and Stephens to hash out the details. I was surprised that she went there, hat in hand.

”It soon became apparent that something had gone wrong between Oprah and the new administration — or, more precisely, between Oprah and Michelle Obama.

The problem seemed to originate from two of Michelle’s advisers, Valerie Jarrett and Desirée Rogers, the new White House social secretary. They resented Oprah’s meddling in their bailiwick. Among other things, Oprah had a plan to redecorate the Lincoln bedroom. She also had ideas about how Michelle could put more zing into White House social events.

So, there has been a bit of a rift, but Dear Leader came calling when HE needed something:

Reports have surfaced that things aren’t well between the Obamas and Oprah Winfrey. So much so that when the White House reached out to Oprah for help in marketing Obamacare, she flat out refused and snubbed them by sending a low-level rep.

Apparently, Oprah is reeling from the realization that the Obamas were not interested in what they could do together but only what she could do for them. And that was throwing her name, star power, reputation and media machine behind the 2008 campaign to get elected. But since then, Oprah has gotten little from their quid pro quo deal.

Live and learn, I guess.

As the White House was gearing up to sell ObamaCare to the American people last summer, Valerie Jarrett, the president’s pointwoman on a host of issues, phoned Oprah Winfrey.

She invited the Queen of All Media to join celebrities, including Amy Poehler, Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys, to meet with President Obama and discuss how they could generate publicity for his health-care law. 

Oprah refused 

“All of Oprah’s top people thought she would go, because when the president invites you to the White House, most people automatically say yes,” said one of Oprah’s closest advisers. “But Oprah said she didn’t have the time or inclination to go. It wasn’t like she had to think it over. It was an immediate, flat-out, unequivocal no.”

Instead, Oprah sent a low-level rep from one of her talent agencies, which was regarded as a insult. Obama had been counting on Oprah’s immense persuasive powers to help enroll millions in ObamaCare. But as the rollout turned into a disaster, Oprah didn’t lift a finger to help. 

The story of why Oprah has changed her tune and gone AWOL on ObamaCare goes well beyond mere gossip. It speaks volumes about the convergence of celebrity and politics under Obama and about a president who thinks nothing of using and then discarding his most loyal supporters. 

Everyone remembers that Oprah went all out for Obama during the 2008 presidential election. What was not reported was that, in return, Oprah was promised unique access to the White House if Obama won. She’d get regular briefings on initiatives and a heads-up on programs to give her material for her fledgling cable network, OWN.

“Oprah intended to make her unique White House access a part of her new network,” a source close to Oprah told me. “There were big plans, and a team was put together to come up with proposals that would have been mutually beneficial.

“But none of that ever happened. Oprah sent notes and a rep to talk to Valerie Jarrett, but nothing came of it. It slowly dawned on Oprah that the Obamas had absolutely no intention of keeping their word and bringing her into their confidence.” 

Oprah did not campaign for Obama in the 2012 race, and she has been absent from his battles on gun control, immigration reform and the environment. She claims she is too busy to get involved in politics, even though she hosted a fund-raiser for Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who won a US Senate seat last week.

Oprah’s friends publicly dismiss the idea that she had a falling out with Obama. They note that she phoned Michelle Obama right after the 2012 election to congratulate her. They say Michelle invited her to have dinner with the first family. But the dinner never took place, and Oprah continues to be frozen out. 

“Oprah was hoping there would be a genuine change in the atmospherics,” one of her friends told me. “But there hasn’t been. Clearly, she is being rebuffed at the level of Michelle and Valerie. And, just as obviously, President Obama hasn’t interfered on Oprah’s behalf. 

During Obama’s first term, I argued in my book “The Amateur” that Michelle was jealous of Oprah, furious that he was seeking her advice.
“For her part, Oprah doesn’t like being with Michelle, because the first lady is constantly one-upping the president and anybody else around her,” said an Oprah adviser.

“Oprah has struck back by banning the Obamas from her O, The Oprah Magazine . . . It probably hurts Oprah more than Obama, who, if he had his head screwed on straight, would have flown to California and begged Oprah to help him save ObamaCare.

“But Obama hasn’t budged, and neither has Oprah. She’s hurt and angry, and I seriously doubt that Oprah will ever make up with the Obamas. She knows how to hold a grudge.”

link to whole story

I've been less than impressed with Oprah ever since she and her show sensationalized the mad cow scare back in the nineties, and some Amarillo cattlemen sued her and eventually lost. Didn't matter - she only presented one side and it was definitely a scare mongering show shooting for high ratings. Truth? Did not matter.

Now perhaps she's learned a lesson. Still a liberal useful idiot. Still jump right into the middle of politics, where as an entertainer, she does not belong (she apparently hasn't learned that particular lesson, even after tanking in the ratings).

But maybe she'll judge character a little more carefully, and just because a high ranking or possibly a high ranking politician is a brother won't be enough.

Or not. She can go ahead and get burned again, for all I really care.

Just For You, Tatyana!

Yep, I do know about truncating posts.

Never Give Up! Never Surrender!*

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The fullest expression of a bulldog's tenacity and commitment? Or just another pain in the a$$???

I'm for thinking when the white lion cub finally loses patience, our doughty little warrior is gonna have his feelings hurt......

*bonus points for the source of the quote in the title

H/T CDR M at Ace of Spades HQ 

Hate To Hear About This

Miss Jean Louise - Mr. Arthur Radley. I believe he already knows you.

To Kill A Mockingbird is one of the best American novels ever written, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and it was made into one of the best movies ever. End of story.

The story, written by Harper Lee, is widely regarded as semi-autobiographical - her father defended two black men accused of murder. After they were convicted, hanged and mutilated he never tried another criminal case. The character Dill was based upon Lee's childhood friend Truman Capote. There were other parallels as well.

Lee never wrote another novel again. Ms. Lee valued her privacy, and it has been rare for her name to surface in the news.

(CNN) -- Author Harper Lee has not published a novel in more than a half-century, but her words in federal court seek to protect the 87-year-old's best-known intellectual property, "To Kill a Mockingbird."

The Alabama writer has sued her hometown Monroe County Heritage Museum for trademark infringement, saying it is illegally using her fame for its own gain. 

"The museum seeks to profit from the unauthorized use of the protected names and trademarks of 'Harper Lee' and 'To Kill a Mockingbird.' It is a substantial business that generated over $500,000 in revenue for 2011, the last year for which figures are available," said the lawsuit filed last week. "But its actual work does not touch upon history. Rather, its primary mission is to trade upon the fictional story, settings and characters that Harper Lee created."

snip

The museum fully acknowledges its most famous resident. Its website is www.tokillamockingbird.com and says it "maintains and operates six historic sites in Monroe County, Ala., that collectively interpret the area's rich history," including "the literary legacy of (fellow author) Truman Capote and Harper Lee," who were childhood friends.

A gift shop -- called the Bird's Nest -- sells memorabilia, T-shirts, even cookware about the book, and the museum stages a "To Kill a Mockingbird" play each spring. 

An attorney for the facility strongly denied Lee's allegations.
"Every single statement in the lawsuit is either false, meritless, or both," said Matthew Goforth, a Birmingham-based attorney hired for the museum. "It is sad that Harper Lee's greedy handlers have seen fit to attack the non-profit museum in her hometown that has been honoring her legacy and the town's rich history associated with that legacy for over 20 years. Unfortunately for Harper Lee, those handlers are doing nothing but squandering her money with this lawsuit. The museum is squarely within its rights to carry out its mission as it always has." 

Lee in her lawsuit acknowledged the novel's impact in her community. "The town's desire to capitalize upon the fame of 'To Kill a Mockingbird ' is unmistakable: Monroeville's town logo features an image of a mockingbird and the cupola of the Old County Courthouse, which was the setting for the dramatic trial in 'To Kill a Mockingbird.'"

Her lawyers said they had earlier attempted to stop the museum from any unauthorized commercial use of the novel, and claimed it tried to block her federal registration of the "To Kill a Mockingbird" trademark.
"Historical facts belong to the world, but fiction and trademarks are protected by law," the lawsuit says. 

Nelle Harper Lee -- her full name -- separately settled a lawsuit last month in which she claimed she was "duped" into signing over the copyright to her book six years ago. Her current lawsuit says the novel still sells about a million copies a year.

Well, clearly I'm not a lawyer. But (always the "but"), the museum's url, exhibits and activities all center around Harper Lee's works. Did they even ask her for permission or include her in their decisions about using her work? My money is on "no."

But, there are lawyers involved, so no telling. I just really hate to hear about this.

Just A Little Info

As most of you regular readers know, I purchased a new Ford F-150 several months ago - three according to the service email I got from Rusty Eck Ford. I had to go to Wichita for an appointment with my endocrinologist and decided to get the thing serviced. Of course the seat had been moved when I got back in, which is to be expected since most people don't have their seats moved clear to the rear of the seat tracks. What I didn't know was that for some reason they had shut my headlights completely off from the "when it gets dark they turn on" setting.

So fast forward to that evening and I'm coming back home from Garden City, where I had to pick up some drugs (prescription, ya putzs) from Wally World. I had run out and needed 'em tout suite. And it's slightly after sunset and getting dark. And the new vehicles have dash lights that are on 24/7, so I thought I had my headlights on. I drove by a Highway Patrol car on the other side with a customer, and as I went by, I saw him pull out with his lights flashing.

Must have been someone towards Garden that was gonna get it.

Well, not so much. I drove a couple more miles before the white Charger appeared in my mirror (ease off the cruise set at 71 in a 65......), but it was too late. On came the disco lights.

He came to my window and informed me that he had come after me because my headlights weren't on and it was well after a half hour after sunset. Which shocked the crap outta me - of course when I saw the setting on my headlight switch had been changed, I changed it and told him what had apparently happened. He said he wasn't going to give me a ticket, but he still needed to see my license, registration, and proof of insurance.

Which are in my center console with the Glock 22 I carry in there, plus there was a Ruger Vacquero on the floorboards in it's factory case. After what I'd read in all the various gun boards and forums about being in this situation, I figured it would be a damn great idea for me to tell him about my weapons.

He was mostly concerned with the Glock - was it loaded? It has a loaded magazine but not one in the chamber. Well, I should go ahead and get it out and look for my paperwork. I pulled it out and set it on my console and finally found my other paperwork. He asked if I had CCW. I do not. He told me that I should consider getting one if I want to continue carrying the Glock in the console, because it was concealed when I did that and open carry laws didn't cover that. I told him I didn't want to argue the point, but my sheriff had told me it was ok. Which really only means he won't arrest me for carrying there, when you get right down to it.

Firearms may be openly carried in cars without any license except where localities have made open carry illegal; however, concealed handgun permits accepted by KS make the holder exempt from all local open carry bans.

According to the Highway Patrol and thus the State of Kansas, since I had it concealed in the console, it was not being openly carried.

He asked to take my gun with him. "For my safety" he said, and he wasn't speaking of me. Which I understood - should further investigation root out something pretty bad about me, when he came back I'd suspect he knew about whatever crime I was wanted for or whatever, and I'd ventilate him. Of course I'm clean as a whistle, but he honestly didn't know that. He sure figured as much, but he wasn't taking chances.

Honestly, I had NO problem with that. I couldn't and wouldn't do their jobs, just because there are people out there that will start shooting when they approach their stopped vehicle.

Also, when I got it back, he told me he'd put it under the seat. That is where he keeps his car gun, and it technically is out in the open, not under a sealed lid. Which is where it resides at this very moment.

And after all that, I told him that I'd driven many a mile over the country and dealt with many differents states' enforcement officers over the years, and it was my opinion that the best of all of them is the Kansas Highway Patrol. I wasn't blowing smoke - I do think that. I've run into quite a variety of personalities and some of them weren't cooperative or pleasant at all, but overall most of them are far superior. Most of my encounters with the others have generally been less than pleasant, and a lot of that had to do with their "bedside manner" and professionalism, which I found lacking in many. So, after all these years, I tend to say what is on my mind to these guys. If they were a pleasure to deal with, I'm all for giving them the props they are due.

Overall, I always say that dealing with various LEOs is like petting rattlers - sooner or later you're gonna get bit. So don't put yourself in the position to have to deal with 'em. But frankly, this time (and there have been plenty of other similarly positive encounters over the years) it was a reasonably productive and enjoyable encounter with a professional.

Seems Logical

Your results:
You are Spock

Spock

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82%



Jean-Luc Picard

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80%



Geordi LaForge

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80%



An Expendable Character (Redshirt)

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75%



Data

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66%



Chekov

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60%



Worf

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55%



Mr. Scott

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50%



Leonard McCoy (Bones)

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50%



Will Riker

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50%



James T. Kirk (Captain)

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45%



Beverly Crusher

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35%



Uhura

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30%



Deanna Troi

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25%



Mr. Sulu

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20%



You are skilled in knowledge and logic.
You believe that the needs of the many
 outweigh the needs of the few.




Click here to take the "Which Star Trek character are you?" quiz...


H/T Cybrludite

The End Times Are Nigh

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First off - this is from MSNBC of all places - and it happened there????

And I keep telling liberals who try to pigeonhole my politics to just the Republican Party, or call me a Tea Bagger or whatever that Both Parties Are To Blame, Dammit.

We didn't get here in this mess overnight, and it was not just one side of the aisle or the other, or the party of the President at the time, or any one individual.

I like what this guy had to say, and more importantly how he said it. Great rant.

But if he thinks our Child of Chicago Politics In Charge is gonna Do The Right Thing by exposing the corruption that put all of Congress in power and keeps them there is going to happen, he's got another thinking coming. Because, the same types have put our Affirmative Action President in place, and they've been getting a pretty good return on their investment, plus he's gonna continue to deliver. He's not about to grow a set and discover morality if it means screwing over the people holding the reins. End of story, sorry Fellow Americans (not really), but That Is The Way of Things.

H/T Scott

Jeebus

Ow - my eyes! Make it stop! Disgusting!

This crap is what passes for cute in this strip.

Don't Bother

Billy has already tried this crap of saying he's sick to skip school to sit at home and watch tv all day, and Mommy didn't fall for it.

No, really! That is all this strip is about! Ha ha!

Comfort

For her and me. She really never stays very long, but she does like to drop in and say hello fairly often.

A Dawg's Lament

Dawg isn't happy about being "fixed" and feels a kinship with a lost nut ball. Can ya blame him?

And now for something a leeeeetle bit different:


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Odd. I don't remember seeing this on Sesame Street!?!?

And a golden oldie parody of a childhood toy (Slinky) - but I gotta warn you it is totally not safe for work!

The Infinite Monkey Theorem

The Infinite Monkey Theorem is the idea that sooner or later, a bunch of monkeys pounding on typewriters will luck into copying a complete book or play or whatever - say Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm for thinking I could spot the Keane dunderheads two for one with monkeys, and the monkeys would be far more likely to have any sort of literary output than they could manage on their own.

She Welcomes Our New Leafy Overlords

Dolly welcomes the idea that even the leaves are spies. Clearly she approves of the NSA spying on citizens as well. Now she's trying to indoctrinate Jeffy, the ultimate in useful idiots.

Au Revoir, Ol' Buddy

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These were the Doobie Brother's songs chosen for my buddy's funeral.

The church was packed.

My pal cast a wide net in his life, and it showed today.