This Will Make Gino Feel Better

Rest up, good sir. More soon!

Gino Report #1

Hello everyone,

I have news on Gino. The surgery was successful but turned out to be a lot longer than initially anticipated – it went for 15 hours and ended around 10:30 PDT last night. Gino is recovering – he’s in the ICU right now, which isn’t surprising after a long surgery. He was intubated for most of the time but they have now removed the tube. It’s not easy to breathe after you’ve been intubated, but that’s typical and the reason why he is in the ICU.

Gino’s wife reports that they got most of the tumor out; there is a little bit left, but they will be able to treat that with radiation. His vocal cords and tongue are a little stressed right now and he may have trouble speaking for a while, but the medical staff is confident that he’ll be fine fairly soon.

The initial thought was that Gino would be in the hospital for 4-5 days; we’re not sure if that timetable still holds, but we’ll keep you posted.

Gino’s wife has promised additional updates as they are available and I expect that Gino will be calling once he gets his voice back.

Stay tuned to this feature for further updates.

Mark

No Word Yet

It's past 11 o'clock here in the Midwest. I still have not heard anything from Gino or his wife. I don't suspect it's anything we need to be concerned about, though. Surgery of this sort is tough on everyone and most likely the family is tired and just hasn't gotten around to making phone calls yet.

I will update everyone as soon as news is available. And it will be good news.

Best regards,
Mark

Welcome to Gino's East

Good evening. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Mark Heuring. I am proprietor of the Mr. Dilettante blog and I will be serving as Gino's guest host while he makes his tour of the Southern California medical establishment.

In one of those odd twists that are part of the blogosphere, I am reporting from the Twin Cities. Gino has developed quite a following in Minnesota, which probably amazes him as much as it amazes us. Some of you may not be familiar with Minnesota. I've always been fond of the description offered by Joel and Ethan Coen, our gift to Hollywood. They refer to Minnesota as "Siberia with family restaurants." By the way, we don't all sound like the characters in the movie Fargo. Some of our accents are far worse.

Minnesota has a history of gift giving to California, particularly to the Los Angeles area. Besides the Coens, we gave you Judy Garland, Diablo Cody and Richard Widmark. We also gave you the Lakers some years ago. If the current scuttlebutt proves out, we may be giving you the Vikings as well. The current ownership wants a new stadium, which probably won't be forthcoming. Once that refusal is final, it's possible that the Vikings will abandon the antiquated Metrodome (completed 1982) to take up residence someplace in Southern California, perhaps at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (completed 1932). Meanwhile, California has given us Gino. I think I speak for everyone in saying it's a fair trade.

I haven't heard from Gino or his wife yet, but as soon as we get word, I'll pass it along. Meanwhile, feel free to drop me a line if you have something you'd like to talk about.

The Time Has Come

Surgery is scheduled for first thing tomorrow morning.
Gotta be there at 6:30. Surgery at 8:15. Nothing to eat or drink after midnight.

A little nervous and apprehensive about it all, I admit fully and freely.
It's time for me to place all my worries aside, and put my trust in the crack staff I'm paying for.
I've got the heads of three departments on my team, at the best teaching hospital in the area.

Most of all, I place confidence in an army of prayer warriors spanning from coast to coast,three nations, two continents, several denominations, and three distinct faiths.
Bases covered? I hope they will be after tonight's Mass.

In my absence, Mr. Dilettante will have the keys to the kingdom. Most of you already know Mark pretty well through his blog, and his comments here. He's a skilled writer and a fine man in his own right who went through a much bigger tumor scare than mine, and not all that long ago.

I will be in touch with Mark, updating him as to my condition. Through him, I will be able to speak to you all as I am able.

(Not so positive if leaving a Cheesehead in charge of Bear Country is a wise thing to do, but I'm sure any damage will be fixable. At least I hope.)

Have fun,Mark. Beer and brats are in the fridge.

The Bradley Effect,Again?

Very little has been said about Bradley Effect, and what role it may play in this election.
Sparing the details, the Bradley Effect is the difference between what a black man polls on/before election day versus a white opponent, and the actual vote count on election day, named after Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley's run for the governorship of California.
Mayor Bradley, though ahead in the polling throughout the campaign, lost narrowly on election day.

Some observers state that the Bradley Effect is no longer 'in effect'. This has proven to basically be the case. But, what they leave out is that since 1992, there haven't been any racially groundbreaking election contests.

In elections known for a Bradley Effect, there was much,much media swooning over the very real possibility of a truly electable Black candidate breaking a political color barrier.

I remember quite well the hype and infatuation of California's election of 1982, and took part in it. Reporting on nearly ever move and utterance of the Mayor, the media pushed his candidacy like no other before it.
I also remember vivid news stories about Doug Wilder's race in Virginia. (Wilder won, Bradley lost*). Both featured highly capable and proven leaders with appeal that crossed racial lines.


Obama, regardless of what the pundits say, may very well be facing his own Bradley Effect. The media hype is unfathomable. The populace may just be responding to the hype when they tell pollsters what they want to hear.
Obama is the cool thing. Who'd want to be on the outside of it?

The privacy of the voting booth is another matter. It's kind of difficult for me to believe, that after three years of this never ending soon enough campaign, that there is really an 'undecided' segment to be polled.
I'm guessing the 'undecided' count is actually a McCain count that dare not speak it's name in public.

I'm going out on a limb here, but if I'm right, you'll know where you heard it first.

I'm guessing Obama's vote numbers won't equal his polling numbers. I'm gonna give it a 4 point spread. Meaning Obama will actually receive four fewer percentage points of the total vote tally than the final polling suggests. This may not really effect the final electoral math. But then again, you never know.
In some 'too close to call' states, it will matter.

But in a year with so much media hype, and polling hype, if Obama loses a squeaker after already being the all but declared next president, it's gonna be ugly out there.
Best just stay home and watch the riots on television.

And I sincerely hope it does not come to that.


*Bradley returned for a re-match four years later. Once again, the polls showed him leading for months. The media , hyping up the rematch, drooled openly at the possibility for four years previous. By election day it was close. He lost again by a wider margin than the first time.
It was really ridiculous, if you stop to think about it. The then-sitting Governor was not unpopular. There was no logical explanation for the Mayor to be leading in the polls as he did, for as long as he did. And it was the Age of Reagan in Reagan Country. No Democrat of any moderation was going to unseat a GOP incumbant who was not screwing the pooch.

Crickets

Now, you all know that I know that most of my readers will be voting for John McCain.
Surprising, ain't it, that not one of ya came to his defense after the last post?

Support for McCain is obviously not as strong as opposition to Obama.
Looks like the GOP is done for in this go 'round.

That's my take.

Some Guys Have All The Luck

And some are as lucky as it gets.
I'm speaking, of course, of John McCain.
It still appears to be seen if he can pull it off, but for a guy who's political career was left for dead just one year ago, who won his party's nomination on a fluke, and who had no realistic chance of winning this, his last fight, to be this close to pulling it out of his hat, has got to be the greatest political self-resurrection since Nixon.

It can really happen. Obama, showered with never-before-seen quantities of both money and fawning media, is having big issues closing the deal. As the newly ordained patriarch of the new religion, he is still leaving behind way too many in the category of undecided agnostics.
By rights, he should be polling in the 60's by now, not floating around somewhere in the high 40's.

That said, you GOP readers are not going to be happy with a McCain presidency. I'm willing to predict, that should it come to that, you will see an ideological repeat of the 1990's and the Clinton years.

You gotta remember who we are talking about here. John McCain is a politician without an ideological compass. He has no true values. Knows no sacred ground upon which to fight, or fight for.
His one over reaching passion is political expediency. His is the career built upon the bloodied carcasses of GOP bodies thrown under the bus of the so-called Straight Talk Express. This is a man who screws over the members of his own party while living on the other side of the aisle, suckling off the teet of an anti-GOP media establishment.
Be careful what you wish for: A McCain presidency will see more of the same.

And now let me share this little snippet (h/t to RW) of the real John McCain:Link

For those of you who didn't click the link, that was John McCain doing what John McCain does: disrespecting his own.
You'd think a man who built his career as a POW, five years in the Hanoi Hilton, who can't stop waving the flag and 'fighting for veterans' and all that, has done everything he can to stonewall any investigations into his fellow POWs who remain unaccounted for.
The one man in the Senate who should have the moral authority to call for as full an accounting as possible has done the opposite.Where I come from, we call that a Buddy Fucker.

Here. Don't believe me? Catch a load of this testimony form the folks who know better.


He's hiding something. What is it? Why would he do this?


To my conservative readership: John McCain is not your friend. And you don't want him for one. You see, we already have plenty of evidence as to how McCain treats his friends and his band of brothers.
You will be next.
Count on it.

Product Endorsment For The Good Of All

I've been doin' this huntin/tree climbin thing for about 15 yrs, now.
From the beginning, I was cautioned by others to wear a safety strap, just in case I fell out of a tree.
It's a real threat.
No matter how careful you may think you are, 'shit happens', as the saying goes. Many a hunter, myself included, has experienced the quiet bliss of sitting motionless for hours, huddled up and shivering from the cold and wind, rifle cradled gently in his arms... and dozing off.
It happens.
(And it's the sign of good time. Don't question it.)

I'd always worn a simple strap buckled around my waist, attached to a short leader,and itself attached to another strap firmly fastened around the tree itself. It was simple, and most of the hunters I knew were using the same type of safety mechanism.

Last year, seeing the need for something a bit more substantial, I purchased a torso harness that was basically a tangle of nylon straps designed to wrap around the waist,shoulders, chest and hips, offering support at all points should I find myself up a tree without a platform.

It took several minutes, and a third or fourth hand, to put the damn thing on. That is, if you got it right the first time. Usually, you didn't. It was a tangled mess of a system.
I'm sure I can say that I wasn't the only hunter who only wore it once, before throwing that piece of shit against the wall in disgust and opting to do without.

This year, I discovered the aptly named Hunter Safety System. Check it out.

Worn like a vest, it's lightweight, and comfortable enough to wear all day. It takes about five seconds to put the thing on, even in the dark, and doesn't entangle the wearer in a tomb of nylon straps. It's fully adjustable,and super easy to use.
Truly state of the art, this will set the standard for the next 75yrs.





Huntin season is here, and I'm hoping many hunters who are online looking things up will search their way to this post.
This is important.

If you searched your way here, I'm talkin to you,Bubba.
So,listen up.
Even if you are still using the simple single waist-strap tackle, and are stupidly satisfied with it, you need to get your brain outta your ass.
This thing doesn't cost that much. About $75. You can order it online direct, or through ebay, Bass-Pro,Cabela's et al. I got mine at Wal*Mart. And I know you know about Wal*Mart.

I also know that you've known somebody, or of somebody, who got seriously fucked up, paralyzed, or dead falling out of a tree.

It can happen to you.
Hardware fails.
Tree Stands 'let go'.
Hunters over reach for the shot.
Or, you yourself, have dazed/dozed off.

Don't let your next trip to the woods be your last.
Get this system.
It's only $75. Small price to pay for what it can do for you.
I love it, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

All You People Are Fucking Nuts

I don't get all this violence going on regarding the election.
I'm reading about folks getting beat up for having the wrong bumper sticker, homes fired on for having a sign in front, all the hate from the comics and celebs, the hateful emails...

Folks need to just get a grip.
This election will not change the course of history.
The blue-collar dudes will still be blue-collar.
The wealthy will still be wealthy.
And the Wall Street cronies of both political parties will still be living lives very different from the rest of nation.
Too many are taking this way too personally.

Everybody, and that means you,too.Just relax.
See a movie.
Call your Mom.
Play with your kids.
Go fishing.
Make love to your wife.
A million other things could be done that are a lot more important to your life than joining one of the two sides who will be angry, and may be rioting, on November 5th.

On another note:
I just love the weather in Dixie this time of year. Right now, there ain't no place else I'd rather be.

It's All Over Now

Colin Powell has endorsed Obama.

On My Way

Gonna make this quick.
Had the final of my final pre-op visits today. Dr. SpecialistExtreme went over the nuts and bolts of the procedure in fairly good detail. It appears there isn't much in the way of access that won't leave a nice nifty, and long, scar.

("Grampa,where did you get that scar on your face?")

He said that basically he will have to open about a quarter of my face, slice through the jaw, lift up, blah,blah,blah.
The process is expected to take anywhere from 4-12 hours, depending on what they find when they get in there.
I'll be asleep,anyway.

There are risks. Most notably, blood clots that may form and lead to a stroke, or *worse*. I let you fill in that blank as I don't want to think about it. Can't afford to.
But he did say that it was imperative that I quite smoking NOW prior to surgery. Something about clogged lungs,etc... that would complicate surgery. No smokes for two weeks prior. Need time for the lungs to clear.
OK. So I'm about two days behind on that. But the last butt was snuffed an hour ago, and I have no more.
I was expecting the week long hospital stay to be the start of my cold turkey attempt. So much for that plan,huh?

Something about signing that last consent form today made the whole thing really sink in psychologically. Before then, it was all just a swollen jaw (that I was only aware when I looked in the mirror), a series of pictures and scans, and some groovy fun time away from the mill drinking all the beer I wanted.

Now, it's real.

I've never had surgery before, and somehow I think this would be easier if I had a few training surgeries. You know, some easy every day stuff: tonsils, appendix, vasectomy, torn ligament, or something else less threatening.

Not this doozy type of thing that nobody has ever seen before in a place that they really would rather not go. (yeah, I finally got the truth. They've never seen this before. I'm gonna be a research/study case for future generations).
Hell, I'll volunteer for a castration if they will take it in trade.

Oh, well.
Life goes on.

Enough of that....

Catching a flight in a few hours to the great state of Georgia for some deer huntin and Dad time. He needs to see me, and I need to get away for a bit to forget about all of the above, and hopefully kill something big.

Don't mean to sound all Freddie Krugerish, but something about disemboweling a fresh carcass awakens the senses. I know I'm on top when somebody else's blood is on my hands.
I like the scent of fresh meat in my nostrils.
The understanding of where it came from, and realizing that it could be, and someday will be, me laying there,instead.
Someday it will be, because we all take our turn, in one way or the other, at the bottom of the food chain, where we no longer decide where or how we lay.

"From Ashes to ashes..." as they say, but some of us will provide a great pot roast, some burgers, steaks and sausages along the way.

Internet time will be sparse for the next week, but I'll be around sporadically.

Joe

He's the latest talk,now.

Some uppity commoner has the nerve to approach The Anointed One and question his policies.

Now, Joe the Plumber is being slimed: Did you know he's not licensed? Therefore, he's not really a plumber? And his name is really 'Sam'? He's a fake. A hypocrite. A moron. He's unsophisticated.
(And we'll soon know if he's ever had a DUI or bounced a check,as well)

How dare that blue-collar, unwashed piece of common American shit even deign to discuss policy matters with the The One. To dare approach Him. To even (gasp) look Him in the eye.

Doesn't he know The One is better than he? His role out there on that street among his fellow unwashed masses was to pay homage to The One. To beg salvation and deliverance from capitalistic greed. Beg for a handout. Kiss his ring.
Not challenge Him.

I call bullshit.

It's surreal and hypocritical, if you ask me, to talk about the common man, champion the blue collar dude, expect his vote, walk the streets among the public because it looks cool for the cameras...

And then, when one of them becomes inconvenient, write him off as a bozo, a redneck, a moron,etc.
And then send your monkeys out there to dig through his personal business to impugn his credibility, all because you opened yourself up to a challenge, and the blue collar dude made you look like the two-bit, socialistic, grievance monger you really are.
You argued with the 'retard', and the retard won.

From my chair, the sweaty guy in the t-shirt and jeans casts a bigger shadow than the coiffed asshole in the pressed shirt and tie.

We all don't really know that much about 'Joe'. And Joe admittedly doesn't know much more than claims. And he's stated he has no interest in political office. He just wants to be a plumber, to make a living, and achieve his slice of the pie the old fashioned way.

But I'm willing to bet he's never spent 20yrs worshipping before an angry vestment-clad nigger screaming 'God Damn America' while donating $20,000 to his 'Hate Whitey' ministry.

And he knows a shit clog when he sees it. Like when he confronted a self-righteous uppity piece of shit clogging the street in his neighborhood.

Joe is an American, with a whole lot more in common, socially/politically/culturally with any of you reading this than either of the two elitists kissing our collective ass, rolling up their sleeves and mispronouncing 'economy' to pass off as one of us.

And when the elites attack and slime Joe, they show their true disdain for the rest of us.

Joe may not be ready to run for the White House.
And he's probabbly too honest to take the job.
But I'm willing to bet he has a bit more real world common sense, and a whole lot more integrity, than the next person who lives there.


Update:
Now The One feels it personally necessary to dis plumbers in general

I sure hope he can't find one when one of his daughters flushes a tampon.

Another Dumb Idea

Registered sex offenders in Maryland will have to post this 'scarlet letter' on their home this Halloween.

It's all kinda stupid if you ask me.
Don't pictures of pumpkins and other types of Halloween bling serve as a natural attractant for kids?

I remember growing up that if a house had no lights on, or pumpkins out, that meant 'No candy here. Go away!'

What are the odds that kids will see the pumpkin and approach the door?
Do kids even bother to read while in a candy induced state of mind?
What about the stupid Mexican kids who don't know English?

Story Here

In all reality, child molesters aren't likely to strike on Halloween, tricking one kid to 'come inside' while his/her Friends and parents wait on the stoop.

"Peace And Love..."

"...now go fuck off."

Tagged.

I cannot resist any request or demand Jade makes of me. She's just one of those friends you don't say "No" to. And "Maybe" invariably always means "Yes". It's just that way.
As it goes, Jade has tagged me with a "Seven Interesting Things About Me" meme.
Here they are:

1.I just recently learned how to use the 'paint' program. Noted those circles in my MRI pics? Yep! I did that. Seriously. I did. I really did. As recently as last week, I could not have made such a claim. Well, I guess I could have. No,I know I could have. I can claim anything I want. It just wouldn't have been true, is all.

2.I've bragged, for the past few years at least, that I was going to the last man standing. Absolutely, I was never,ever going to sink so low as to jump on the cell-phone-fetish bandwagon. I've gone 44 years without feeling the need to communicate everywhere I was, at all times of the day, no matter what else I was doing. The next 44 years were not going to be any different. Life, and technology, on my own terms,at my own pace meant bliss. ("where's Gino?" "Dunno,cant reach him." hehehe.)

Well, now I have a confession to make. When my sis died, my dad handed me her cell (on his family plan) so he can feel the comfort of hearing my voice any time he needed to. The past several months have been spent beating back Dad's attempt to more readily socialize me. I've hesitantly used the phone to call him, and for him to call me, and left it at that.
Two weeks ago I was playing around, and figured out how to send text and picture messages. It all started by me pixing evidence of my beer consumption to my buddy.(I'm off work on disability. He's jealous.) Buddy responded with a rude gesture, and we are now in a sophomoric competition to see who can top who in rudeness. This is getting crazily strange. I gotta walk the dog in a bit, and I'm bringing the phone with me.

I'm finding the cell phone can be kinda fun in a dark and twisted sort of way.

3. I still do will not have a tattoo.

4. Nor an ipod.

5. I haven't carried a wallet in 23 years. It's unlikely that I ever will, and I can't for the life of me understand why every other dude thinks he needs one. Am I the only one to discover that I.D., money card, and cash all fit nicely in the front pocket of my jeans without that bulge sticking out of my ass?

6. Just because I currently share my life with a dog, courtesy of The Blonde, doesn't mean I like it. I DO NOT LIKE DOGS. I don't want one in my house. And I can't wait for this one to die. Preferably soon.

7. I'm still having way too much fun with the cell phone camera. Somebody needs to stop me.

Big Ugly On The Horizon

One can learn a little bit about current events and politics while spending a Sunday watching football, even when you were hoping to escape it all for the day.
Case in point: the presidential election.
For the first time since I don't know how long, somebody else actually had more commercial face time than Peyton Manning.
This somebody was, surprisingly, Barack Obama.
Obama was every where.

Now, this may come as no surprise in an election year for you folks out there in battleground states. But this is California that I'm blogging from. This state has already been called for Obama, back in December it was. Yeah, December 2001.
I remember.

You see, we aren't used to presidential campaigns round these parts. Those things only happen in places that we only read about in monster buck magazines.

So, what's going on?
I Think I know.
Obama has no shortage of money to spend. He can afford to waste some where he doesn't need to win. California's electoral votes are already in his bag. Nothing will change that.
This may seem like a case of 'spending money because you can', but it seems like a smart tactic from this angle.
The last couple of elections were decided by a matter of one state, and very little popular vote difference. (Bush actually received fewer popular votes in 2000 than the (sore)loser Al Gore.)
Similarly, Clinton never did break the 50% threshold,either.
A matter of just a few percentage points in heavily populated California will add hundreds of thousands of votes to Obama's bottom line, and if he wins the election, he's gonna still need the extra cred a higher vote count will bring if he hopes to be accepted as the legitimate winner by a large portion of his detractor base.

Fact is, Obama may be leading in the polls, but he's having big trouble closing the deal, and has yet to poll above 50%. Whoever wins is gonna have a hard enough time gaining acceptance as it is.
You can square this acceptance issue with Obama's history of extremist voting patterns and unsavory alliances.
If you thought the last four elections produced ugly reactions, you ain't seen nothin like the next one.

The Home Stretch

Yesterday was my final follow up with one of three surgeons. A few questions, some explanations, and a consent form.
A decent fellow with an accent and a funny name, he does exude this strong air of confidence and professionalism. I feel that I'm in good hands with him, not that I have much choice in the matter unless I wanted to do the job myself.
And he only stands 'bout 5'2", but since I'll be laying down for the procedure I'm hoping that may not be an issue.
On the way out, I stopped by Imaging and requested a copy of my MRI images. Kinda cool to look at. I've been doing so for hours,already.

This morning I had to report for a swallow study. Basic procedure: shove a thin tube with a camera attached down my nostril and into my throat; force feed me; and then record the videos.
After a few spoons of applesauce,apple juice, diced peaches, and graham cracker, we were done. I did get to watch everything on the monitor. Ever actually seen yourself eat? Kind weird.
The purpose of all this was to establish a baseline for comparison's sake should I suffer nerve damage to my throat muscles during the procedure. One more thing to worry about that I flat out refuse to worry about.
I meet with the neurosurgeon Monday to go over this last, and finally final, diagnostic test.

Now for some show and tell:
This is an MRI view of the right side of my face.

The circled area should be, I think, the main body of the tumor.
(That is, if I know what I'm looking at.)

It's about the size and shape of an egg. Unfortunately, that's not the part that seems to be the concern.

The big deal is the less defined, irregularly shape region just to the north, at about 1-2 o'clock.

They still haven't managed to get a clear enough picture of just what is what in this region. It's also the most critical, what with the location of various nerves and what have you.

And they still are not sure just exactly how far up into the skull it goes. Sure, they got a general idea, but nothing precise. And they won't til they get there.
Or so I'm told.


To the right: an underside view, looking up past my chin into my skull right about even with the lower jaw line. Again, with the tumor circled.

Noticeable, in the outline contours of my face, is the swollen appearance that first got my attention. (It was smaller when I started this process.)

As the mass grows, it constricts other things in the region.

Not bothering me now, but if left unchecked it could cause loss of sensation, difficulty swallowing, tingles or numbness in my right extremities... and some other stuff. Already, there is a noticeable protrusion in my throat when I look into my mouth.











This is my brain on Happy Gas.
Nothing much is happening here.









O.K., show's over.

Two more follow-ups next week, then I'm off to deer season.
It was a bit of a finagle, but I was successful in postponing the endgame til October 30th.

National Hypocrisy

Link
Link
Link

It's been going on for a very long time. Most infamously was the not-so-secret voter fraud that delivered Illinois, and the Presidency, to John Kennedy in 1960.

Democracy depends on two things: the integrity of the vote, and the willingness of the populace to accept it's outcome. Without both, democracy is but a talking point for civics class.

It is up to the elected and appointed officials to guarantee and honest, integral vote. But most importantly, it is up to electorate to defend their own elections by holding officials accountable.
Al Gore almost got away with the stealing of Florida in 2000. In a surprising move to me, the Republican voting public rose up in anger, near riot in a few instances, over what was going on. As a result, Al Gore was foiled, but not until after a long court battle.

Republican voters, generally, tend to be naive 'play by the rules' people not as prone to such shenanigans, but I suspect the memory of 2000 is still strong.
Strong enough, maybe, that the current attempts of the Obama left to steal the vote in important swing states will not be met quietly on election day.

One can only hope.
But don't hope too much.
Republicans are notorious for selling out their voters in appeasement to some interest group on the left in the hope of luring a few of them their way next time.
And Republican leadership is notorious for letting elections be stolen.

But this year is different. The fraud is all out the open this year. It's not just the Chicago of lore. It's every where. And has been. But now is different because everybody knows it.

Whoever wins will still lose as these accusations become further documented.

Tell me again how we are supposed to bring democracy to the world when we can't even keep it for ourselves.

Tell me how President ObaMcain is going to lecture Syria, The Palestinians, Korea, or Russia about the legitimacy of free and fair elections.

Can we even call it democracy while keeping a straight face? Are we gonna keep fooling ourselves about it?

Fabulous!

Betcha they'll put on one hell of a spring musical.

Fidgeting with the template.
Easier to read now?
Feedback, folks.
Appreciated.

Because Honesty Can Sometimes Suck...

...that which I spent three days writing pontificating about will not be published. As it went,fact checking had left me with a bunch of 'facts' that cannot be proven (nor disproven).

So, yeah. My I-don't-know-how-many carefully chosen words have just been eaten by the delete button.

I just can't (adequately enough) defend it, and when I can, I try to avoid talking points or parroting.
There's enough of that shit floating around as it is.

As my readership is quite tiny, I may have gotten away with it, but what would have been gained?

We all need to just face it: what is said on blogs,in bars, or anywhere else in regards to politics is really just wasted air.
No matter who wins, the future course of civilization, or our own small portion of it, is bigger than any one man,any one party, or any one ideology, to effectively overcome the myriad various forces that will shape it.

Trading in lies and bullshit is the realm of the office seeker seeking to improve his own status, wealth, or dating prospects. I'll let them have it.
'America First'. 'Hope and Change'. 'New and Improved'. Whathefuckever...

Don't misunderstand me, as I'm not staking claim to being something that I am not.
Admittedly, I'm as guilty as anybody when it comes to shilling for my own set of ideals, or championing my own, usually correct, bias'.
But I can admit to myself: I honestly do not believe that I am big enough to change anybody's mind.
If I had this power, instead of blogging I'd be spending my time in sales or inventing a new religion, while doing for myself some increased monetary good (and/or expanding my own dating prospects).

So why do I bother dipping my foot into the fetid well of politics?
It's because I enjoy the discussion. I have fun debating the ideas. And despite my generally real-life anti-social attitude, I genuinely like folks on an individual level.
And I don't care what their background is,what their beliefs are, what their lifestyle is, or if they wrongly disagree with me.

It doesn't need to be personal.

I'm sayin... no... now I'm screaming, 'Look at that shit!', two stupid fucks from the land of crooked teeth no less, yes two of them, who are so far removed from what is happening that they haven't a godamned clue what hell they are on opposite sides of.

Is it really worth it?
Is it really fucking worth it?

Review: An American Carol

If you are an overly sensitive Obamacult liberal lacking a sense of humor, see An American Carol and get one. Every left-wing interest group gets the skewer, so if you are a neo-con this movie will provide you with affirmation.

Lots of gags. Some better than others.
Personally, as a whole, I didn't think it was all that good. It had some great moments, don't get me wrong. But moments do not make a movie.

It was kinda like they had all these good gags, and struggled for a way to string them together into a coherent whole. I guess I'll just say that it's a good Netflix caliber comedy that can't hold up on the silver screen.

Today's Self-Loathing Bag Of Pus...

...is none other than feminist,lesbian Obama-loving comedienne Sandra Bernhard demonstrating for us, once again, what a compassionate and loving people they are on the left.

In her opening monologue at some garbage theater in D.C., the hit-with-the-ugly-stick performer gushed that if Sarah Palin should come to her hometown in Manhattan she would be fittingly raped by a bunch of Negroes.

Now she's playing the "I didn't say that" game.
Yes, I saw the video. And she did say that.

She's now been (rightfully) dropped as keynote speaker for a women's shelter benefit this month.

She can pass this disgusting bile off as performance art all she wants. Obviously, there's a market for it among the same segment of the population that supports Obama. But her having access to a microphone doesn't make her an artist any more than having a blog makes a me writer.

This is just a symptom, of course, of some larger disease that infects our political and cultural discourse.
It's not enough for the left to disagree and debate their differences.
It has to be taken to another level of over-the-top hatred.
It's all personal for them.

Unless you see the world through their distorted prism, you are not worth the same basic dignities that they demand for themselves.
They trade in hate.

It must be a sad, pathetic existence.

Five surgeons are discussing whose patients make the best surgical candidates.

The first surgeon says, "I like to see accountants on my operating table. When you open them up, everything inside is numbered."

The second responds, "Yeah, but you should try electricians! Everything inside them is color coded."

The third surgeon says, "No, I really think librarians are the best; everything inside them is in alphabetical order."

The fourth surgeon chimes in . "You know, I like construction workers. Those guys always understand when you have a few parts left over at the end. And if the job takes longer than you said it would, no big deal."

But the fifth surgeon topped them all. "You're all wrong. Politicians are the easiest to operate on . There's no guts, no heart, no balls, no brains and no spine. ! And on top of that, the head and the ass are interchangeable."

The First Lie Of Every Campaign

"This is the most important election of your life..."

A Jury Of His Peers?

In a proper world,that should consist of twelve fathers of teen aged daughters.

An angry Deltona father whacked his teenage daughter's boyfriend with a metal pipe after finding the boy naked in his daughter's room.

When he heard noises coming from his daughter's bedroom Thursday morning and saw a stranger standing naked on the girl's bed, he swung a metal pipe. He then chased the teen out the front door and called police.

The boy was taken to the hospital where doctors closed a head wound with staples.

The father was charged with aggravated battery on a child and bonded out on $10,000.

I would like to see King David or The Nightwriter serve on this jury.