FRAUD VICTIM ALERT

Morgan Stanley sells out to China

In some more news from the "we need to be bailed out because we're stupid" column, Morgan Stanley tapped Chinese firm, China Investment Corp., which is - surprise - under the control of the Chinese Finance Ministry and The People's Bank of China, the central bank.

Neat, eh? Well, nothing surprises us anymore and Morgan Stanley is no exception in this case. CEO John Mack took responsibility and is foregoing a bonus this year, which although a nice gesture, certainly will not making up for selling yet another piece of U.S. finance to a foreign concern.

Shitheads...

Read the fun story here - "Write down" the toilet...

ABC's GMA and Diane Sawyer reach a new low

On today's Good Morning America Diane Sawyer, complete with her "Somebody stuck a Christmas tree up my butt" facial expressions, interviewed the mother of Omaha, NB shooter, 19-year old Robert Hawkins. Sawyer's line of questioning was the usual watered down garbage, but worse was the fact that Maribel Rodriquez, Hawkins' mother, was not ready for this type of event at all - the pain of her son's actions is just far too fresh and the country isn't through passing it's initial judgment on Hawkins and what he did.

But that never stands in the way of ABC or any of the other media outlets when it comes to getting the scoop. This interview was painful to watch - lots of extended pauses, a shattered parent trying to hold all of that emotion in, and Diane Sawyer's irritating facial expressions and fake empathy - it was all there. Whatever you think of Hawkins or how Rodriguez raised him, you have to admit that this particular interview was ill-timed and ill-advised for ABC and for Ms. Rodriguez. It was just too soon.

Weather "Ken Doll" Sam Champion had one word for the interview when Sawyer went to him for the national forecast - "Riveting". No, not quite Sam, disgusting is more like it, because network news is not about information, it is about the scoop. It is about getting the damaged families of the shooting victims on TV as soon as possible-first, it is about getting their hands on the mall surveillance tapes and getting them on the air-first, and it is about getting the mother of Robert Hawkins on the air and pseudo-grilling her-first.

Congratulations ABC and Diane, you won, you got the exclusive! You also just further established GMA as a half-assed news source, Diane Sawyer as a horrid interviewer, and ABC as a network willing to do anything for the story. Most telling was Sawyer's comments after the segment wrapped - "and by the way, as Ms. Rodriguez left, she broke into tears." Nice Diane. I wonder, did we really need to know that, or was that just your way of capping yet another half-witted attempt to try and be a news breaker? Nevermind, just go away.

Bill Clinton wouldn't sit in on cabinet meetings...unless his boss asked

In Barbara Walters' latest incarnation of her celeb "grab the kneepads and drop to waist level" special - "10 Most Fascinating People of 2007", she interviews the potential "First Lady" and asked him if his wife were elected president, would he sit in on the cabinet meetings. His response, "only if asked," and then he went on to say "And I think it would only be wise if it were on a specific issue. I think it's better for me to give her my advice privately most of the time."

Clinton then said that he would weigh in on issues that he disagreed with his wife on if she were president, but then said, "when she made it, I'd do my best to support it". Feeling his testicles start to mysteriously shrink, he finished with, "I'd keep my mouth shut." Good idea Bill. We wouldn't advise tangling with Hillary, she looks like she could be rough on a guy who seems to have issues with keeping that zipper pointing north.

Oh well, at least Bill will make it interesting if Hillary wins the nomination and faces Rudy or Huckabee. Anyhow, here is the story from ABC News - Read

Mitt Romney stands firm on his faith and apologizes for nothing

Well, you have to hand it to Mitt Romney. He stood in front of an audience in College Station, TX today and gave anyone who has reservations about his Mormon faith and it's potential impact on Romney as president a compelling reason to feel comfortable supporting him. His exact words were actually, "When I place my hand on the Bible and take the oath of office, that oath becomes my highest promise to God," and that pretty much explained where Romney would come down if he were elected to the highest office in the land. So, now the evangelicals can finally relax and vote for the guy if they feel so inclined. And hopefully, shut up about the Mormon aspect of Mitt Romney's life and campaign. Hell, it's not like he's a Scientoligist.

Would I vote for the guy? Not likely, he is still part of that "holier than thou" crowd who doesn't seem to be ready to let the regular guy live with his mistakes and move on to better things. Remember his criticism of Obama for talking about his drug use as a young man? It is that type of crap that we do not need any more of, because it assumes that Romney himself may have some skeletons in his closet that he doesn't want the rest of the world to see. Do I care about his past? No, but I don't want anyone sitting in judgment of me, especially a politician.

That said, I give Romney credit for standing up and setting the record straight on where religion, specifically his religion, fits in with his run for the presidency.

 

At any rate, here is the story from the fine folks at My Way News after the jump - Read

Michigan legislature reduces "suck factor" by about 1%

In the "Yesterday you were really stupid, today you're just stupid" department, we have an update on the Michigan state legislature and their foray into a ridiculously proposed and implemented 6% service tax. While we won't go into what services were affected by the tax, you can go here to see the damage.

At any rate, the state legislature and the governor actually took a few minutes from their finger pointing and media posturing to repeal this great idea, replacing it with a surcharge on the state's main business tax. That ought to encourage existing businesses to stay and potential business tenants to just turn around in Toledo and head back south, but that is for another post. Throughout all of this crap, there wasn't really a lot of discussion about managing money responsibly, so I am betting that we can expect some more exciting fireworks about this time next year when they have blown through all of that great windfall of additional tax revenue. It's just what we have come to expect from Michigan state government these days.

While we still think that the Michigan state legislature is about half a step above a retarded chicken in intelligence, let's give them a microscopic bit of credit for figuring out that this service tax idea was extremely stupid and not a well thought out proposal, and repealing this errant bit of legislation. True, they could have done a lot more in terms of saying, "hey, why don't we manage our money better and actually stick to a realistic budget?", but it's government, right? I mean, we do get what we vote for, yes?

Let's try and do better next time, eh?

Here is the follow-up to this whole debacle in The Detroit Free Press - "Duh..."

Sudanese morons call for teacher's death over teddy bear naming error

If you watched MSNBC's Morning Joe program this morning, you saw Joe Scarborough accurately refer to these Sudanese animals calling for Gillian Gibbons' death "idiots". You also saw his sidekick, news bunny and  resident nitwit, Mika Brzezinski, do her usual "ahem, well now..." bullshit that she usually starts in with when she is uncomfortable with something that is way above her competency level. That aside, Scarborough cut her off and repeated his assertion that these clowns are indeed idiots. Thank goodness someone on that show has some balls.

We agree with Joe, these Sudanese radicals are fanatical little children with the no intelligence of any kind, being led by radical religious leaders who wish to use them in their continued hijack of Islam. This is the same country that brought us genocide, as well as other atrocities, and they also had Osama Bin Laden as a guest for a spell.

For this Gillian Gibbons to be labeled as someone who was looking to "encourage the hatred of Muhammad" is completely absurd. The fanatics are doing that every time they pull some half-assed stunt like this, and they are only making the Middle East look like a backwards circus of uneducated fools with their "Muhammad at any cost" mentality.

Anyone who thinks that this due to anything other than religious fanaticism is fooling themselves. This is because these morons want to make Muhammad the "global prophet" and they have been building towards this movement for a long time. I hope that we can correct this through education, but this sure as hell is starting to look like it is going to conclude with a war. God help us all if that should happen.

Here is the story from the fine folks at Breitbart.

Michigan legislature demonstrates just how stupid politicians can be when they really try

Well, just when you think you have seen everything from the State of Michigan and it's band of fools who call themselves "political leaders", well prepare for 12:01AM on Saturday, December 1, 2007. For it is then that the citizens of Michigan are going to see a 6% service tax go into effect that taxes the following services in the State of Michigan -

•  Administrative and management consulting

•  Airline ticket services

•  Copying services

•  Carpet and upholstery cleaning

•  Courier services

•  Downhill skiing

•  Grocery and restaurant delivery

•  Interior, graphic, fashion and industrial design

•  Letter or résumé writing

•  Stenography and transcription services

•  Investigation and detective services

•  Limo services

•  Security and patrol services

•  Mailbox rental

•  Money delivery

•  Investment advice and financial planning

•  Janitorial and other cleaning services

•  Landscape care and design

•  Storage units

•  Contracted office administrative services

•  Manicures and pedicures

•  Facials and make-up application

•  Body piercing and tattoos

•  Hair replacement and weaving

•  Weight loss services

•  Massages, tanning or steam rooms

•  Astrology, palm reading, numerology and fortune-telling

•  House sitting

•  Dating and social escort services

•  Baby shoe bronzing

•  Bail bondsmen

•  Genealogical investigations

•  Personal fitness training and shopping

•  Wedding chapel and planners

•  Singing telegrams

•  Shoeshines

•  Burglar, security and fire alarm installations

•  Tour operators

•  Charter fishing and dinner cruises

•  Hot air balloon, glider and helicopter rides

•  Travel arrangement and reservation services

•  Merchandise warehousing

Now, I know what you're thinking - "the government throws new taxes at us every year, why is this any different?" This is different because of two things - one, it was dumped on the shoulders of Michigan taxpayers to make up for the fiscal irresponsibility of the legislature and the governor; two, preparing for this tax and implementing it into a business like a hair and nail salon or landscaping is going to be a nightmare for the owners of these businesses.

The Michigan legislature has been working to find alternate ways to raise the same amount of money that this new service tax would bring into Michigan's coiffures so that they could then repeal the service tax, but to date, they have not been able to develop an alternate plan.

Surprising? Hardly, these clowns are the only group in the nation who can develop an ill-advised tax, decide that it's stupid only after almost everyone in the state tells them it is, and then backpedal into a desperate search for an alternative funding measure in the eleventh hour so that the citizens don't march on the capitol in Lansing and torch the place.

As is the usual mode of operations in Michigan, Democrats are blaming Republicans and Republicans are blaming Democrats, but at the end of the day both parties and their half-assed representatives have been worthless with regard to this and many other budget debacles that have the state in it's current listing towards complete capsize.

The Detroit Free Press has all of the details here, but we though it'd be fun to point this one out just so you can see how bad things can really get when politicians are left unsupervised.

Fun in Chicago - Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's chief mouthpiece blames Cook County government incompetence on Stroger being black

Sound stupid? Well, that is because it is. Of course it is due to the fact that Todd Stroger isn't the brightest bulb in the closet and he cannot control his minions in Cook County, Illinois government. You see, Stroger wants to harness the citizens of Cook County, Illinois (of which Chicago is part) with a $3 billion dollar budget which includes a 2 percent sales tax hike, as well as other tax hikes. Of course, Chicago residents (and most likely, all Cook County residents) would just like the "braintrust" that is the Cook County government to control their spending and financial waste that they have been so good at piling up to the heavens to this point, but Stroger and his chief mouthpiece, Commissioner William Beavers don't want to have to be accountable. Who in government does, right? That's a story for another day...probably tomorrow. I digress.

Nope, they want to make this into a race issue because when Stroger's massive budget goes before the board, it is voted into the ground. I wonder if Mr. Beavers and Stroger ever gave any thought to the fact that folks in their county and on the board just see them for what they are - greedy little politicians who just love all of that extra spending cash with no one holding them accountable for how they spend it *cough*cough* "undeserved pay raises".

Anyway, enough of our "regular guy" analysis, here are some priceless quotes from Mr. Beavers (these are great), courtesy of the fine folks Chicago Sun Times:

• “If Todd was a white man, he wouldn’t have half these problems”
• “Who’s gonna control the county — white or black — that’s all this is”
• “[Commissioner Tony Peraica] hates everybody who’s black . . . all black elected officials”
• Beavers ended a media session by yelling back “don’t forget” that he’s “the hog with the big nuts and I’m gonna tell you what it is.”

Commissioner Peraica, to his credit, kept his replies above board and didn't really take Beaver's race-baiting attempts to heart. Needless to day, Stroger's goal of having a budget in place by tomorrow (Friday, November 30) is going to fall short. Try again, bozos.

Read the story from the Chicago Sun Times here.

The laughable elitist joke Barbara Streisand endorses Hillary

Is anyone shocked by this moron's endorsement of Team Hillary? Of course not, she is one of many Hollywood and entertainment/media elites who think that their opinion actually matters. If you have ever read her vomit-inducing blog - complete with this dork surrounded by roses and sitting posed like a queen - you will understand just how laughable this endorsement really is because it appeals to virtually no one who will be impacted by the next election. For example, what woman do you know who has married a half-assed man, and then further pussy-whipped him into weeping when he can't find her for 30 minutes in their massive home? No, not Bill! Hahaha! Yes, I know, there are a lot of you, minus the big house, and usually they are weeping because you came home, but you get the point.

Sorry, I had to indulge myself with that one, but back on track - Streisand is one of many who think that she is going to sway the voter with her endorsement, "messages", and criticism of the current administration, but history has proven that few regular folks actually listen or care. In fact, they usually go the opposite way from what these blowhards push as the "way to go". Guess what sweetheart? We already know how to make decisions for ourselves and we also have normal lives with normal daily events and challenges, like paying bills, dealing with sick children and spouses, and trying to figure out where the next dollar and meal will be coming from. We empathize with your daily challenges - picking out your new Jaguar, picking the caviar out of your teeth, and making sure that the Gulfstream G5 is well stocked with champagne before you jet off to that bastion of high-brow thought, Paris; but we can honestly make our own decisions as they impact our relatively simple lives. For the record, at this point in the Democratic primary run, Obama is looking far more professional than Team Hillary. In our humble, Midwestern U.S. opinion.

Dumb ass.

Read the thankfully short story in Yahoo! Malaysia (???) here.

Democrats invade the CNN/GOP debate with lots of "greenery".

We think that Michelle Malkin can be rather irritating sometimes, but she has hit the nail on the head this time in regard to the number of registered Democrat "plants" who showed up in the YouTube video questions to the GOP candidates in last night's CNN/GOP debate from St. Petersburg, Florida. She has it on her blog here, so give it a look and have yourself a little chuckle. If you have to give credit to these little dopes, it is that they have some steel ones hanging in order to look this stupid on the national stage! Oh well, we expect the same from the little GOP clowns that will likely show up at similar Democratic gatherings in the months to come.

While this was funny the first time we heard it - largely because it is typical of the Clinton campaign to pull this crap in order to maintain polling numbers, a slight lead, or public favor - the overall volume of these little Democratic minions getting into the "bloodstream" smells like a Howard Dean email went out to the special interests folks and they kinda, sorta mobilized. I say "kinda, sorta" because this wasn't really a very well placed effort, and the questions were far too easy to sense and disseminate, given CNN's relative quick realization that they had been had by a bunch of amateurs. Just as long as we all realize that this was CNN, got it? Good.

Look, there is no damage to the GOP over this, the damage is to the credibility of the debate structure, CNN, and the idea that the voting public is ready to utilize this new technology responsibly. Although the media will not report on it, the real damage may have been done to the Democrats, as they ended up looking like nothing more than mischievous high schoolers with their little foray into video meddling. How many times have we seen a political party screw themselves because they couldn't control their rogue insiders from doing stupid things that look stupid on the national stage? Howard "Yeaaarrgghhh" Dean is probably the most at fault for this because he seems to have fallen hook, line, and sinker for presenting the BS rhetoric that guys like Terry McAuliffe were so good at during the 2004 campaign.

While the Republicans still look like the party of the "holier than thou", the Democrats still look like the whiny elitist brat pack that cannot get anyone to take them seriously because they don't take themselves seriously. They won't elect guys like Dodd and Biden to office because they want the status quo "golden girl" or the young and inexperienced "man of color" to represent their party, instead of men who look professional, polished, and who are equipped to actually lead a party and possibly a nation. There is no plan for the national health care nonsense that they keep throwing out there, and out of Hill and Barack, Obama is the only one who is presenting an honest evaluation of how health care can be structured to include most of the folks that each is targeting for the benefits. Hillary says she's going to insure us all, come hell or high water. Barack is going to insure those of us who truly need it, and then work from there.

Sorry, the soapbox was present, but you know where we need plants at debates? Off to the side of the podiums, maybe nice ferns or ficus trees, but not some dimwitted housewife who is also a wonk for the steel industry.