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Thursday, August 11, 2016 Writing SEO articles is an art ... kinda
I wrote this for Airborne Athletics couple of months ago; it's one of a series of 10 they commissioned from me. It is SEO'ed within an inch of its life. It's an example of micro-targeting that's been effective for them. They asked me to keep it simple and I did. Simplicity, as Mark Twain will tell you, isn't as easy as it looks. I rewrote this about five times to get it "simple" enough -- and that was after I'd done buttloads of research. I don't get a byline or royalties, but I'm told the views have been "very satisfactory." - Jae
Basketball gives us all we need to succeed. The 18-inch rim
is twice as wide as the ball. Put ‘A’ in ‘B’ and repeat.
Simple.
But, even the greatest basketball players lose sight of that
simplicity. When their stroke is broken they may overthink the problem. That’s
when it’s helpful to get advice from a shooting expert, someone who can help
quickly resolve scoring woes.
Shooting blogs are great resources for amateur basketball
players. In the NBA, a team will pay legendary shooters like Mark Price to walk
players through shot corrections. For the rest of the basketball world, the
advice of shooting blogs is free, helpful – and free.
Some players don’t wait for their shot to break before
following a blog or two. They use the suggestions to continually improve their
games.
Whether you’re looking to make a fix, maintain your skill or
keep up with the latest training methods, the 10 shooting blogs listed below
help make the game simple again.
Slaughterhouse Live
An article I wrote for the River Cities Reader (Davenport, IA). I went undercover to investigate the IBP meat packing plant in nearby Joslin, IL. There had been several ICE raids and the Hispanic community felt they were being targeted. For example, raids typically occurred on paydays, which meant those detained and deported lost their bi-weekly wages. More importantly, the raids seemed to do nothing to harm IBP's hiring of more Hispanic and Asian workers.
Slaughterhouse
Live
I know I'm in there, somewhere, but damned if I can find me. Banshees in my head call me back to the inky blackness of sleep. Demonic phrases like, "Call in sick" and "You don't need this job," cajole me. But, those are minor incantations. Satan is in the details. There's a pain in my left shoulder like a heated Ishanti Dagger being jammed into the socket. My right ring finger is the bloated lead singer in a hellish band of swollen digits, screaming in pain. My left hand is sore and I can't close my right hand into a fist. I finally rise out of bed; I have to be at work by
Since the INS (Immigration &
Naturalization Service) raids two weeks ago, much has been mentioned in the
press about IBP's hiring practices. A standard statement made by sympathizers
of the 142 immigrants arrested by the INS is that employment at IBP is
undesirable, something only immigrants would even consider. Such publicity is
almost beyond the realm of spin control: "Sure, the pay is lousy, but the
work is hard and the hours are long."
What's wrong with taking home a paycheck
from IBP if their checks don't bounce? I was brought up to believe there was
nothing dishonorable about physical labor -- in the abstract.
So, I applied for a job at the Joslin,
I possessed no loathing for the assembly
line process; my American automobile was made on an assembly line. What I
wanted to know was why IBP had such a bad rap among the working class.
IBP is based in
However, my own research had turned up
more interesting nuggets than those offered by a somber talking head, who
claimed to be IBP president Bob Peterson. I say, "claimed" because if
I made more than $6,000,000 a year -- as president and CEO Robert Peterson is
listed in
For instance, Video Bob didn't mention
that, early in its history, when it went by the name Iowa Beef Packers, the
company put your neighborhood butcher out of business. In the early 1960s, the
company's highly automated plants were staffed by local unskilled workers; IBP
paid better than other meatpackers, but offered few fringe benefits. Employees
organized and, in 1965, walked out over the right to strike. Union relations
eroded further two years later when the company began cutting meat into smaller
portions -- minus fat and bone -- for shipping, thus reducing supermarkets'
need for butchers.
By 1969, the company grew to eight plants
in the
That's when things really began to get interesting.
IBP's civil suit elicited decidedly
uncivil behavior; vandalism, death threats, shootings, and 56 bombings (one at
an IBP vice president's home) ensued over the next several months in a struggle
based, in part, on demands for a raise of 20 cents an hour. The company
eventually won $2.6 million for damages suffered in the strike.
In 1970, the company changed its name to
Iowa Beef Processors. Its takeover of two Blue Ribbon facilities in
In the early 1970s, IBP's co-founder,
Currier Holman, paid a mob-related meat broker almost $1 million to ensure that
unions wouldn't interfere with
As IBP began new operations in
During the 1980s, IBP was fined $2.6
million by OSHA for unreported worker injuries and was penalized for hand
disorders suffered by workers caused by meat-cutting techniques.
So, there were at least 2.6 million
reasons for me to be sweating beneath 20 pounds of meshed metal protective gear
at IBP's Joslin plant. Before my first training session with a knife, I, along
with my training class -- now down to nine with a third day defection -- had to
do 15 minutes of hand exercises.
We stretched our hand muscles in an
immense foyer outside the production room floor. The temperature, comfortable
in normal clothing, made me dizzy beneath my protective gear. I wore two mesh
metal aprons, one for the front and one for the back, a mesh arm and shoulder protector,
a white frock, and a safety helmet. I wore a plastic scabbard around my waist
on a chain link sash that had a meat hook with an orange plastic grip and a
John Deere combine colored EBT (edge burnishing tool) attached. A clear plastic
sheath covered my left -- non-knife -- forearm; a mesh glove was on my left
hand. Two Kevlar sleeves were on my arms and I wore yellow gloves on my hands.
I was ready for war with the bloodied carcasses idling overhead on meat hooks.
It was a relief when our trainer led us
into our designated worksite: the cooler. The temperature there is below
freezing, so it felt good to be comfortable for a few minutes. There, standing
around watching our trainer demonstrate our respective jobs, the cold crept
into my body.
At
And therein lies the real relationship:
IBP employees and IBP product. Both are brought in en masse in an orderly
fashion -- herded -- to each of 25 North American IBP plants and used to
maximize profit. The difference is that one group is encouraged to remain
intact by the end of each day.
"We want you to leave the same way you came," a trainer named Jeff told my training class.
In each of my initial three days on the
job, it struck me how similar the human influx was to the bovine entrances. The
mob of humanity – predominantly Hispanic with a sizable Asian population --
reporting for A & B shifts has to climb two sets of stairs and pass an
inspection checkpoint in wafting breezes that smell like charred feces. Those
carrying bags or cases have to open them for security personnel. The cattle
don't have to climb the stairs, but face similar inspection procedures -- most
don't carry any baggage.
Once their shift starts, the humans are on
schedules as tightly regulated as the carcasses flowing from the killing floor.
For my shift --
There's not time to eat and use the
bathroom because employees are required to remove their frocks and protective
gear to enter the bathrooms. Removing my mesh takes 2-1/2 minutes, putting it
on takes the same amount of time. Walking to the cafeteria takes a full minute,
as does the return trip. Factor in bathroom time versus eating time and the
first break becomes an input or output choice.
The second break -- "don't call it
lunch," said a co-worker -- is at
I always wonder what job he does, but my
childhood lessons to avoid strangers covered in blood and bearing knives won't
let me interrupt his reverie.
Exhaustion is commonplace at IBP. A worker
told me codeine or speed can alleviate the strain. I demurred, but completely
understood. The cows have the edge in attitude; their oblivion is complete.
Ours comes in small stretches when cutting isn't what we do, it's who we are.
My job is to pull the scapula, a shoulder
muscle the shape of the
When I pull scapulas at full count, I
perform those four steps about 300 times an hour. That's 2,235 scapulas per
shift. I pulled a full count on just my second day of work in the cooler. But
then I missed my next day because my hands were throbbing like a Bootsy Collins
bass line. When I returned, my supervisor put me on 2/3 count, which irked the
Hispanic worker on my line, who had to pull the scapulas I missed, in addition
to his own work.
"Juevos," he said simply.
"Juevos?" I asked.
"Juevos," he said again, and grabbed
his own testicles for emphasis.
The white guy on the line sympathized with
my aching hands, but advised me to get used to it.
"We all live with it," he said.
Pain is just one scenario IBP workers live
with, another is disease. A young Laotian woman showed me a skin disease she
contracted since working at IBP called "beef rash" (numerous, small,
pimple-like protrusions). Another man has "pork rash" from his
previous employment at a pork processing IBP plant.
Just like the cows, we follow the movement
of the conveyer, except the cows go only one way. We humans get to go back and
forth, hooking, cutting and pulling, thousands of times each work day. The
additional direction doesn't help break the tedium. Therefore, line workers in
the cooler are prone to shouting obscenities and whistling wolf calls at the
few blood-stained females who pass through the cooler.
Occasionally, the men grab each other and playfully
dry hump legs, hips or buttocks.
"Watch it, motherfucker! You're
holdin' up progress!" screamed a man on the line when bumped by a trainee
pushing a cart full of carcasses.
Other remarks are just as profound, Daffy Duck-ish "Woo Woos" or the "llorando" of a heartbroken Mariachi.
Across the 16-yard stretch of bloody,
white plastic conveyer belt at which I work, are the Grade Six master cutters:
the clod pullers. Clods are 40-pound slabs of meat cut and ripped away from the
carcasses. By comparison, my job is a Grade One, which means when I demonstrate
proficiency; I can make $9.04 per hour, instead of the $7.00 I make now.
Qualified clod pullers make $10.65. For their money, clod pullers get a face
full of blood. I call them the meat dancers. Their cuts are intricate and made
while walking. They twist, turn, dip, and sway with the meat. I failed the clod
puller training, but understand the process better for my effort.
While walking with a shank of meat, clod
pullers make jagged incisions along the joint, slice down, trace the paddle bone,
rip the meat down with a forearm, cut the tendons, trace the other side of the
paddle bone, rip the meat down further, then cut the clod off, hook it and
throw it onto the conveyer belt. There are 10 clod pullers, and they let it be known
that their side of the line is no place for "maricons" or sissies.
Immediately after they've pulled a clod,
they clutch their knives to their chest -- a safety precaution -- and walk to
the head of the line to have another dance.
I like to think the repetition and monotony
is unnecessary, that the company could make the work more rewarding and less
stressful on the human body, but I don't have experience generating $12 billion
in sales as IBP does annually.
 Friday, February 22, 2013 Hello World!
I haven't blogged for awhile. I think I will start back up.
Monday, April 20, 2009 All Grown Up
Newt Gingrich is fuming because President Obama shook hands with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela -- and smiled! Left-leaning organizations say they feel betrayed because Obama isn't going after the CIA agents who tortured.
I'm not an expert at much, but I spent a good 30 years in childhood and can attest to the fact that grown-up positions suck from a child's point of view. Of course, I can't know the exact breadth and depth of the challenges our president faces, but I can say this: he's acting like a grown up in dealing with them. As a self-described, proud-ass liberal, I'd love to see him go Rambo and run roughshod over the Michelle Bachmans and Newt Gingrichs of the world. I'd like to see him make them cry. I'd like to see the torturers punished as part of an orgy of leftism that would include Bush, Cheney and Rove as cellmates and Gonzalez and Ashcroft and the rest of that regime living under an overpass together. I'd like to see him get a wild-eyed gleam in his eye -- the one that made me so nervous with Bush -- and kick some serious ass. But, Obama's not a cowboy. He doesn't want to be an astronaut or a fireman when he grows up because he's a fully functioning adult who has to keep it together while the kids are growing up. Would he like to belt a couple of these jerks in the chops? I'm sure he would. But, in a two-party system, when you exclude the other party as the Dems were excluded for eight years, bad things happen. That pretty much puts the kibosh on a gib-smacking rampage. So, metaphorically, Pres. Obama is holding a barbecue for those crappy neighbors who never mow their lawns in order to talk with them about property values; he's shaking hands with a teacher whom he despises because his kid needs a good grade for college; he's working 60 hours a week with that knuckle-cracking idiot in the office who makes his head ache. He's doing this because grown-ups don't have the luxury of cartoonish revenge. When adults are laid off, they don't go in and shoot up the office; they curse their fate and update their resume because it's not about just them. It's also about the kids -- us. Grown-ups forego revenge and grand gestures because they're planning for the future of others that they greatly care about. So, he will extend his hand to those who badmouth America because grown ups say, 'sticks and stones..." And, he will treat tantrummers like Boehner and Cantor and Perry as adults in the expectation that they eventually will recognize that's what they're supposed to be. So, when Newt is pissed off about a handshake, Pres. Obama patiently explains that the old ways of doing business didn't work -- and a handshake isn't a contract. And, to the left he explains that torture is a terrible thing, but prosecuting what was legal at the time is a waste of resources and our only recourse is to ensure it happens no more. That's what a grown-up does. Nobody's happy, but there is a consistency of purpose and vision and there's a guiding ideal behind both situations. Still, I would never underestimate his desire to keep us safe on the way to our own "adulthoods." Having lived through one of the most childish regimes in memory, I'm OK with having an adult in the White House. Wednesday, April 15, 2009 How's This for Brass Ballage?
On Tuesday, Republicans argued that the entire electoral process in Minnesota is filled with doubt.
In a fundraising plea to supporters, Sen. John Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said that the court’s ruling was “fundamentally misguided” and failed to resolve the equal-protection and due-process violations alleged by the Coleman campaign, saying that some 4,400 absentee ballots remain uncounted. “It’s frankly shocking that many of the same Democrats who so loudly decried voter disenfranchisement during the Florida recount in 2000 have so quickly run away from that principle when it no longer fits their political agenda,” Cornyn said. Holy shit! Let me say that again more slowly: Holy. Shit. This guy is looking to 2000 Florida as a bright and shining moment for his party? And, if you break his statement down, he's saying that the Dems were right and principled in their stand back then. But, he's "shocked" they're not supporting Coleman's position in 2009. Let me break it down for you Mr. Cornyn: 'We try not to support cheaters. We're kind of weird about that.' And before any of you get on your high horse [Crazy Michelle Bachman, I'm looking at you!] and say, 'Oh! He's not cheating; he's just exercising his rights under the law." BS! Norm Coleman is a cheater. Coleman is cheating the citizens of Minnesota out of representation; with his assertions, he is cheating and cheapening the legacy of the decent principled people of Florida who back in 2000 had tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people of color bamboozled out of their votes; Coleman is cheating the U.S. by blocking a senate vote during a time of stress and change; he is cheating because he's not looking for fairness or equality or justice -- he just wants to win. Here is Coleman's legacy: When the Election Night tally had him up by a few hundred votes, he publicly begged Franken to concede -- even though a recount was automatic by law -- in order to save the people of Minnesota the cost of a recount. 'It's what I would do,' he lied. This reminds me of the old Southerners during the Civil Rights era who decided to filibuster -- I believe Strom Thurmond read the phonebook for hours straight -- in order to block votes on the Civil Rights bill. My hope for this sleazebag is that he goes the way of Rudy Boschwitz and falls out of everyone's memory forever. Friday, March 20, 2009 Oh, And I Don't LIke Ronnie, Either
I am neither angry nor irritated by conservatives who are blaming Obama for the nation's mess. Anyone reasonable knows this is an inherited situation.
But, I will not further abide with those who wish to make me a co-conspirator in canonizing Ronald Reagan. Listen, people - I'm not that guy. I have nothing good to say about the man, so look elsewhere if you want to talk up Ronnie. I think we spent the last eight years surrounded by Ronald Reagan's spirit: the lingering racism, the class warfare, the appropriation of the GOP by evangelicals, the demonization of progressive thought, anti-intellectualism, the notion that people in positions of financial power will police themselves and the air of general intolerance. I remain flabbergasted that he is considered a good president. I was there and I wholeheartedly (and if I could borrow somebody's heart it would be doubleheartedly) disagree. I think he was terrible for America. So, there's that. Tuesday, March 03, 2009 Politics and common sense parting ways
Though I'm loathe to give that idiot a forum, I must consider the problem of Rush Limbaugh. But, at least I'll be able to focus on the abstract instead of the specifics of HOW IN THE HELL did Clear Channel decide to pay him $400 million to tear the country apart? And, why isn't anybody boycotting Clear Channel? Jeez!
Anyway, my abstract concern is the Democratic strategy to tie the GOP to Limbaugh. Intellectually, I think it's brilliant with some risks. Personally, I think it's messy and hard to support. By messy, I mean that, at least in the short run, it gives this guy an expanded audience and puts his divisive remarks front and center. Structurally, it couldn't work any other way. After all, Clear Channel needs to protect its investment so any rebuttals by Limbaugh opponents would be "front page" news (Yes, Virginia, journalism is dead). And, since journalism is dead, you have headline writers bestowing heds like "Limbaugh Address Energizes Youth." WTF? Energize youth? Didn't the GOP just lose the youth vote in a landslide? I would argue that what really makes the situation messy is not the guy's listeners, but his broadcast partner. They've got 400 million bones to recover. So, having Limbaugh lead the GOP is their wet dream. It's a large enough forum in which to recoup their investment. And, here's where I see the brilliance of the Dem's strategy. Limbaugh is an entertainer, no matter his delusions of relevance. His audience is comprised of pissed off white males, with a sizeable segment of them racist (his valentine to them was his commentary on black NFL quarterbacks and Donovan McNabb). Even more than a politician, entertainers play to their base. If he attempts to pull in moderates, he will get slapped silly -- like Don Imus. Limbaugh appealing to moderates would be tantamount to Oprah Winfrey chucking her empire to create a bass fishing show. His core would evaporate. Imagine Limbaugh saying Hispanic immigrants are important to this nation; imagine him saying racism does exist; imagine him saying that the U.S. political and economics systems are geared to the wealthy. All of it's true, but toxic, to an audience that believes the only truly aggrieved demographic is the white male. And, here's a scary proposition: Limbaugh can't make a pan-American outreach. He can't try to get us all working together. Why? Because it goes against everything he's built his empire on. It has to be us-versus-them for him because that's his only foundation. So, when he makes the African American man who is the elected head of the GOP apologize for calling his show what it is -- incendiary and vicious -- the Dems have painted the GOP into a corner. Republicans embrace Limbaugh and he has to embrace bigotry, class warfare and intolerance. It pays his mortgage. But, that song and dance pretty much sucked in the last election cycle. Still, the risk lies in good people assuming desirable outcomes materialize out of thin air and hard work is optional. The risk lies in the complacency of people who think evil was overcome in that last election. They underestimate the ease of evil's task. Demolition is a heck of a lot easier than construction. Plus, it's rarely about numbers; it's about perception. The Nazis in Germany were certainly a minority, but the perception among the German people of the era was that National Socialists were a silent, hulking majority -- listening in on every non-conforming word. I've met many German people who survived that time. All of them, including one I've never met, the Pope, claim to have abhorred the Nazi's beliefs -- even if they were registered Nazis themselves. Judging by their tales, a dozen guys were true believers and bullied everyone else into toeing their line. That is the risk. Limbaugh's appeal to our baser instincts could reach a critical mass with enough Americans so that opposition is cowed into silence. By digging in their heels, Republicans could tear down the Dems' hard work. Using a well-placed phrase or glowing headline, Americans could be fooled into thinking hateful beliefs are predominant again. And, isn't it always easy to think the worst of the person next to you? Thursday, February 26, 2009 Other than, 'Don't do that,' what is the GOP agenda? Seriously.
I ask this question in all seriousness, because I've spent hours talking with my conservative friends who say we are now living in socialist hell because of Pres. Obama's policies. I am especially curious to hear the answers of the middle class conservatives who are angry to be bailing out their neighbor who overextended. Is your answer really to let this economy run its course with no governmental intervention? Really?
Even as we go about our daily lives...
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz et al are patting themselves on the backs for being private citizens who are not incarcerated. So, unless one or all of them decide to hold up a convenience store, that is the end of that. Don't let it eat you up.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009 You know what's weird?...
I'm not carrying around the same anger that possessed me for much of the last eight years. I was no kitten-kicking anarchist; I simply lived a seething beneath the surface life. That happens when you get slapped frequently for no other reason than someone can do it to you. I was embarrassed when we bragged about torturing enemy combatants (slap) and mortified when speaking out against that was considered anti-American (slap). I was flabbergasted at the chutzpah of Lynn Cheney, an openly lesbian woman who practiced the most divisive of sexual and racial politics despite being a target for her compatriots (slap); I was dumbfounded that Halliburton could rummage through our pockets while soldiers died thanks to their bumbling (slap). I was astonished to see an alleged president of the United States so publicly bought and sold by business interests (slap). I despised Dick Cheney and he didn't care (slap). I watched a Justice Department drop racial and sexual discrimination cases so they could protect the interests of white, conservative Christians who apparently were in some kind of danger (slap).
I feel like a character in Portnoy's Complaint; I have awakened from those eight years and the only thing I can muster is: WTF? What the fuck was that about? Still, I'm not angry. Would I like to see Bush and his cronies doing time for robbing this nation blind? Yeah, sure. But, more importantly, we've got to fix a whole bunch of crap. I am... resigned to the notion that the party is over and things will be different. Not that you can tell with the conservative GOP crowd. Lots of obstructionism going on there. A woman named Tara Wall, a GOP operative, twisted Attorney General Holder's words around to make him out to be some kind of racist. He said Americans are often cowardly when it comes to true discussions about race - and I agree. What encouraged me about Wall's comments (as well as Limbaugh's, McConnell's, McCain's, Palin's) are that in the wake of eight years of being slapped in the face by this crowd, we recognize it as the BS that it is. Wall, for instance, went so far in her attack on Holder that she praised all the white voters for Obama -- the vast majority, of course, being white, DEMOCRATIC voters. Oooh! I bet she wishes she could take that sentence back. You see, it's just like my mother told me. If you do dirty things and don't change, you're going to end up in places you don't want to be. So, in conclusion, my life right now can be summed up by my last visit to Ruby Tuesdays, when the waitress wanted to know if I needed more lemonade. "Nah. I'm cool," I said. And, I am. Monday, February 23, 2009 Just Got Back and I'm Getting Crap Already
OK Anonymous -
In answer to your "It appears random" remark about my first posting since the Jurassic era: thank you. It is nice to have some interaction, even if it's being poked at. I am moved by glances, music, smells, bells and kind remarks. If moved enough, I will do what I did in the last election season -- give money I don't have to a candidate I will never meet in the hope that some small part of life in the U.S. will be better than it was before. Talk about your Chaos Theory. But, mostly, I'm moved by small things... smells, bells, you remember (hell, it was in the last sentence). This particular song, "Flagpole Sitta" by Harvey Danger (no, it's not Lit and it's not Green Day) reminds me of how close this American Family is, even when we hate each other much of the time. I am moved by the fact that a silly song from 10 years ago, written by someone much younger than me, from a different race and area of the country, could speak so directly to me. It's that American Family thing, again. It's not the best part of me, admittedly, given this lyric: "I'm not sick but I'm not well/and I'm so hot/'cause I'm in hell/been around the world/and found that/only stupid people are breeding/the cretins/cloning and feeding" Still, it's cathartic. So, in conclusion - 'Yes. It was random, but I liked it." I'm Back! Redux
My easy listening recommendation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TSYEPPkCBQ Friday, January 23, 2009 Norm Coleman, Douchebag of the Year  I LOVE this article. Lots of bile, but spot on IMO. - Jae Thank you Proud2beMinnesotan, via neptunehillsides.blogspot.com by way of GIN AND TACOS DOT COM) It was a banner year for assholes. It would take one gigantic cocksucker to claw his or her way over the likes of Hank Paulson, Liddy Dole, Ted Stevens, Rod Blagojevich, “Hot Karl” Rove, Joe the Plumber, both Clintons, and more political strategists, campaign managers, and pundits than we can count. Is there any person out there who feels able to answer the call, to remove the Excalibur Dildo from the stone and become its master? The chair recognizes the Senator from Minnesota. Norm Coleman spent 2008 with his hands wrapped around Dignity’s throat, eventually forcing its head underwater until the bubbles stopped rising. For a man who once lost a gubernatorial race to the pro wrestler who carried the minigun in Predator, it is practically inconceivable that he could go downhill from there. Like a 16th Century explorer, Coleman decided that the only way to find out if an elected official’s career could get any worse was to provision some wooden ships, crew them with a few hundred stout men, and set sail for the edge of the map. Coleman, widely recognized to be one of the most humorless puds on the planet (and one who looks strangely like the offspring of John Kerry and a yardstick), decided that the way to compete with comedian and former SNL writer Al Franken was to out-funny him with cute campaign ads. Rather than striking a serious tone to make Franken look like an amateurish joke candidate, Coleman managed to make himself look like the amateur. In a thousand years scientists may understand how a United States Senator managed to look rinky-dink in a race against a smug comedian, but for the moment we remain baffled. Among his many ads attempting to be funny, the pièce de résistance of Coleman’s idiocy was one entitled “Why Not?” The ad features three actors playing dipshit slobs in bowling shirts (you know, the condescending caricature of how six-figure DC political consultants see “average voters”) discussing Franken’s many failings in a ridiculously affected and overdone “Superfans” accent. That’s how we dress and how we talk! The commercial ends with the alpha-Grabowski suggesting that they run for Senate themselves…why not? They’re just as qualified as Franken!!! It’s not the most offensive ad you’ll ever see, but it sets a new mark for inanity which may not soon be equalled. Coleman’s campaign is perfectly represented in his ads, a mixture of mouth-frothing attacks and attempts at humor which appear to have been conceived, approved, and executed by a council of stroke patients. One commercial break might feature “Angry Al“, painting Franken as an unstable, profane lunatic while the next break would bring the cloying Leave it to Beaver comedy of “Got It,” which may be the first ad to close with an image of the candidate hunching over a garbage can. In a remarkable synthesis of the two styles, Coleman sunk to new depths in “Excuses“, in which an 8 year-old girl clutching a teddy bear hurls insults at Franken before closing with a “My dog ate it” joke. A sampling of Coleman’s advertisements leave open the very serious question of whether or not he has ever met another human being. Running the kind of campaign that makes Americans hate politics so goddamn much, one that simultaneously insults their intelligence and bombards them with vile rhetoric, is nothing new. It’s certainly not enough to win a nondescript political figure the CotY. However, what Coleman did after Election Day elevated him from mere ass clown to the rarefied air of the legitimate cocksucker. Let’s say you play a basketball game and at the end of four quarters the score is tied. Do we play overtime or does one team simply demand that the other concede defeat? If you’re Norm Coleman, and perhaps only if you’re Norm Coleman, the latter is the correct choice. Faced with an almost incomprehensibly close outcome on Election Eve, Coleman simply declared victory even though Minnesota law mandates an automatic recount in the unlikely event of a race this close. He indignantly demanded that his opponent waive “his right” to a recount to - get this - to save the taxpayers the cost of re-counting the ballots. Those fiscal conservatives! Note well that it isn’t the candidate’s “right” that produces recounts; it’s the voters’ right and the state’s right and responsibility to make sure that we figure out who actually won the goddamn election. Semantics, of course. Once the recount got underway Coleman really reached into his bag of Asshole, instantly transforming from a nondescript, robotic putz into the incarnation of Nixonian paranoia coupled with right-wing Talk Radio fury. When Franken gained votes in the recount Coleman’s leeches helpfully noted that it was producing “improbable shifts that are overwhelmingly accruing to the benefit of Al Franken. ” The Secretary of State is a Democrat, proving indisputably and for all time that the process is overwhelmingly slanted to Franken’s benefit. Campaign lawyer and professional jagoff Fritz Knaak knoted that the integrity of the process had been “breached” and that “the supercharged environment we’re in leads us to suspect everything. ” Nixon would be proud. Knaak and Coleman concocted one baseless charge after another, including the infamous “ballots in the car” story that led Bill O’Reilly to confidently claim “the fix is in” long after Knaak, Coleman, and Gov. Pawlenty admitted that it was not true. Like all people who go too far in politics, Coleman’s party eventually turned on him. Gov. Pawlenty took to the talk shows defending the integrity of the recount and rebuking Coleman for “throwing gasoline on the fire” of the Talk Radio histrionics. One of Minnesota’s most prominent right-leaning newspapers editorialized: "It’s hard to believe we’re writing this, but it’s clear that Franken - known for his over-the-top humor and partisan antics - is the one acting with class in this serious situation. Voters, indeed, deserve to know the outcome of a recount. It’s not up to those who may or may not be the winner. "With Franken in the lead Coleman did exactly as we would expect by taking his fight to court. While the merits of his legal argument are outside of my jurisdiction, the fact remains that the courts’ rulings in Coleman’s favor have not put him back in the lead. He will continue to drag the race out into 2009, making it likely that Congress will be sworn in before the outcome is known in Minnesota. What a year, Norm. What? There’s MORE? Yeah, apparently this fucker is as corrupt as a cheap hard drive. CREW named him one of the most corrupt men in Congress after it was revealed that he lived rent-free in Washington on the tab of a Republican consultant who has been paid almost $2 million from Coleman’s PAC and, in a completely unrelated hiring decision, who hired Coleman’s wife as a “consultant” to the tune of $101,000. Not salacious enough for you? Well, now the FBI is on Coleman like glue over allegations and hard evidence that an Iranian millionaire (I’m not making this up) from Bloomington, MN named Nasser Kazeminy used an offshore oil drilling company called Deep Marine Technology to funnel $75,000 to Coleman through Hays Insurance, a company whose employees consist of…Coleman’s wife (pictured, who, I shit you not, invented and markets something called the “Blo & Go“). The Deep Marine CEO and shareholders blew the whistle, telling the FBI that no insurance or services were rendered by Hays Insurance. Coincidentally, and much to the delight of the wealthy investor behind a drilling company called Deep Marine Technology, Coleman introduced a bill in the Senate on June 12 calling for more offshore drilling in US waters. Norm Coleman, holy shit. You are one enormous cocksucker. You managed to excel at being lame, condescending, dirty, hysterical, paranoid, and crooked all in the span of a few months. Most people (Blagojevich for example) can only handle one at a time. And Norm, if you think that I am about to make a joke based on the phrase “handle more than one at a time” in an essay about how much wang you suck, well, unlike your campaign ads I tend to work a bit harder than that for comedy. Congratulations, 2008 CotY Norm Coleman. May your trip home from Washington and, eventually, into Federal prison be a smooth one. Thursday, November 20, 2008 Can we PLEASE Cut the Crap About the 'New South' Now?  I have been on an Obama high for a while now, so it's good to be back and share my absolute joy that Sen. Obama is now President-elect Obama. It's so nice that I even referred to the WHITE HOUSE OCCUPANT (WHO) as president in a recent article. I have never done that, not in 8 years. Ah, the sweet nectar of forgiveness. President Obama is reaching out to opponents as he said he would and studiously approaching some very complex problems facing the nation. But, I can't help but notice that some are not sharing in my joy. From the Christian Scientist Monitor: >The political marginalization of certain Southern whites, economic distress in rural areas, and a White House occupant who symbolizes a multiethnic United States could combine to produce a backlash against what some have heralded as the dawn of a postracial America. In some parts of the South, there's even talk of secession. And, more: >In an election in which barely 20 percent of native Southern whites in Deep South states voted for Obama, the newly apparent political clout of "outsiders" and people of color has been unnerving to some. "In states like Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, there was extraordinary racial polarization in the vote," says Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta. "Black Americans really do believe that Obama is going to represent their interests and views in ways that they haven't been before, and, in the Deep South, whites feel exactly the opposite." But for nonviolent secessionist groups like the League of the South, the hope is for a more vigorous debate about the direction of the US and the South's role in it, says Michael Tuggle, a League blogger in North Carolina. Mr. Tuggle says his group isn't looking for an 1860-style secession but, rather, a model that Spain, for one, is moving toward, in which "there's a great deal of autonomy for constituent regions" – a foil to what is seen as unchecked, dangerous federal power in Washington. "To a lot of people, the idea of secession doesn't seem so crazy anymore," says Tuggle. "People are talking about how left out they feel, ... and they feel that something strange and radical has taken over our country." < What I love about these secessionists is their absolute obliviousness to the black populations within their states. The South has the highest proportion of black people in the union -- Mississippi is the state with the highest percentage. I wonder how "not so crazy" secession because of a black president would seem to them? And, if they do secede, is their plan to do it without the permission of their black citizens? That sounds more like mass kidnapping to me. Or, are we re-thinking slavery? Wait. Didn't we fight a war over this shit? Yeah, we did. Let me steal the words from annotatedrant.com and provide my learned take on a potential Southern Strategy -- one that excepts roughly 20 percent of Southern white people and 95 percent of Southern black people. November 3, 2004 Fuck the South. Fuck 'em. We should have let them go when they wanted to leave. But no, we had to kill half a million people so they'd stay part of our special Union. Fighting for the right to keep slaves - yeah, those are states we want to keep. And now what do we get? We're the fucking Arrogant Northeast Liberal Elite? How about this for arrogant: the South is the Real America? The Authentic America. Really? Cause we fucking founded this country, assholes. Those Founding Fathers you keep going on and on about? All that bullshit about what you think they meant by the Second Amendment giving you the right to keep your assault weapons in the glove compartment because you didn't bother to read the first half of the fucking sentence? Who do you think those wig-wearing lacy-shirt sporting revolutionaries were? They were fucking blue-staters, dickhead. Boston? Philadelphia? New York? Hello? Think there might be a reason all the fucking monuments are up here in our backyard? No, No. Get the fuck out. We're not letting you visit the Liberty Bell and fucking Plymouth Rock anymore until you get over your real American selves and start respecting those other nine amendments. Who do you think those fucking stripes on the flag are for? Nine are for fucking blue states. And it would be 10 if those Vermonters had gotten their fucking Subarus together and broken off from New York a little earlier. Get it? We started this shit, so don't get all uppity about how real you are you Johnny-come-lately "Oooooh I've been a state for almost a hundred years" dickheads. Fuck off. Arrogant? You wanna talk about us Northeasterners being fucking arrogant? What's more American than arrogance? Hmmm? Maybe horsies? I don't think so. Arrogance is the fucking cornerstone of what it means to be American. And I wouldn't be so fucking arrogant if I wasn't paying for your fucking bridges, bitch. All those Federal taxes you love to hate? It all comes from us and goes to you, so shut up and enjoy your fucking Tennessee Valley Authority electricity and your fancy highways that we paid for. And the next time Florida gets hit by a hurricane you can come crying to us if you want to, but you're the ones who built on a fucking swamp. "Let the Spanish keep it, it’s a shithole," we said, but you had to have your fucking orange juice. The next dickwad who says, "It’s your money, not the government's money" is gonna get their ass kicked. Nine of the ten states that get the most federal fucking dollars and pay the least... can you guess? Go on, guess. That’s right, motherfucker, they're red states. And eight of the ten states that receive the least and pay the most? It’s too easy, asshole, they’re blue states. It’s not your money, assholes, it’s fucking our money. What was that Real American Value you were spouting a minute ago? Self reliance? Try this for self reliance: buy your own fucking stop signs, assholes. Let’s talk about those values for a fucking minute. You and your Southern values can bite my ass because the blue states got the values over you fucking Real Americans every day of the goddamn week. Which state do you think has the lowest divorce rate you marriage-hyping dickwads? Well? Can you guess? It’s fucking Massachusetts, the fucking center of the gay marriage universe. Yes, that’s right, the state you love to tie around the neck of anyone to the left of Strom Thurmond has the lowest divorce rate in the fucking nation. Think that’s just some aberration? How about this: 9 of the 10 lowest divorce rates are fucking blue states, asshole, and most are in the Northeast, where our values suck so bad. And where are the highest divorce rates? Care to fucking guess? 10 of the top 10 are fucking red-ass we're-so-fucking-moral states. And while Nevada is the worst, the Bible Belt is doing its fucking part. But two guys making out is going to fucking ruin marriage for you? Yeah? Seems like you're ruining it pretty well on your own, you little bastards. Oh, but that's ok because you go to church, right? I mean you do, right? Cause we fucking get to hear about it every goddamn year at election time. Yes, we're fascinated by how you get up every Sunday morning and sing, and then you're fucking towers of moral superiority. Yeah, that's a workable formula. Maybe us fucking Northerners don't talk about religion as much as you because we're not so busy sinning, hmmm? Ever think of that, you self-righteous assholes? No, you're too busy erecting giant stone tablets of the Ten Commandments in buildings paid for by the fucking Northeast Liberal Elite. And who has the highest murder rates in the nation? It ain't us up here in the North, assholes. Well this gravy train is fucking over. Take your liberal-bashing, federal-tax-leaching, confederate-flag-waving, holier-than-thou, hypocritical bullshit and shove it up your ass. And no, you can't have your fucking convention in New York next time. Fuck off. Tuesday, October 28, 2008 McCain's Conundrum, Distancing Himself From a GOP That Defines Him
By Gary Kimaya in Slate
Here is the link: http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2008/10/28/gop_shipwreck/index.html Some conservatives have tried to argue that Bush betrayed true conservatism by running up a ruinous deficit and expanding entitlement programs like Medicare. They compare him unfavorably to Ronald Reagan, modern conservatism's patron saint. But this revisionism gets the historical record wrong. The truth is that Saint Reagan expanded entitlements, grew the federal government -- including a $165 million bailout of Social Security -- and raised taxes. The right-wing myth of Reagan as an anti-government, anti-tax purist is just that: a myth. The same is true for his anti-Communism. Reagan talked a tough game, calling the USSR an "evil empire" and rattling his saber, but usually behaved pragmatically. When his ill-considered intervention in Lebanon failed, he wisely pulled U.S. troops out. In short, Reagan's ideology and his practice were often at odds. The dirty little secret of modern conservativism is that Bush is more like "Reagan" -- the mythical Reagan, that is -- than Reagan himself ever was. Bush actually did what Reagan just said he was going to: He cut taxes for the wealthy, handed over the keys to the economy to corporate interests and deregulated everything in sight. His most glaring and destructive imitation of the mythical Reagan was his catastrophic decision to invade Iraq. Fatally, Bush really believed his own Churchillian rhetoric. He decided the fight against Islamist terrorism was an epochal showdown of good vs. evil -- and unlike Reagan, he proceeded to act militarily on this grandiose belief. (Yes, Reagan illegally tried to overthrow the Nicaraguan regime, but the Iran/Contra scandal that tainted his legacy wouldn't even make the Top Ten list of Bush's misdeeds.) This is why, to this day, the Republican Party and the mainstream right wing has never repudiated Bush. (To their credit, "Paleoconservatives" like Pat Buchanan and right-libertarians like Ron Paul and Antiwar's Justin Raimondo broke with Bush on Iraq, but they are marginal figures on the right.) How can conservatives repudiate someone who put into practice all of their most cherished ideas? To criticize Bush on substantive grounds, they'd have to explain not only why his policies violated conservative orthodoxy, but why they never once made that argument for the last eight years. They can't do either, which is why they are forced to take the evasive, intellectually dishonest line of blaming Bush's failures on his arrogance and incompetence. Of course Bush was arrogant and incompetent, but those shortcomings don't explain his failed presidency. He failed because he acted on the extreme right-wing ideas that Reagan only paid lip service to. The right wing is running as far away as it can get from Bush, but it still shares his beliefs. That's why it [and John McCain] cannot and will not muster any real arguments against his policies. Monday, October 20, 2008 Another Reason I Despise George Will
George Will: Colin Powell Endorsed Obama Because He’s Black
By: Blue Texan Sunday October 19, 2008 This morning on "This Week" George Will was asked what he thought about Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama. His response? Black, black, blackety-black black black blackety-black. SNUFFLEUPAGUS: We just found out that former Sec. of State General Colin Powell has said he's going to vote for Barack Obama. Big impact? WILL: Some impact. And I think this adds to my calculation -- this is very hard to measure -- but it seems to me if we had the tools to measure we'd find that Barack Obama gets two votes because he's black for every one he loses because he's black because so much of this country is so eager, a, to feel good about itself by doing this, but more than that to put paid to the whole Al Sharpton/Jessee Jackson game of political rhetoric. Huh? Excuse me, but what the fuck do Al Sharpton and Jessee Jackson have to do with George W. Bush's Secretary of State, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a lifelong Republican endorsing Obama? Oh, right -- they're all black. Pretty incredible that no one on the panel challenged Will's blatant racism (America's voting for the black guy out of white guilt) but based on the batshit crazy wingnut comments on Faux News' website. Will is just articulating what the GOP base is telling itself: Powell's just going with the brother because he's a brother. Here's a great response to “George Will, and there were hundreds -- in TEXAS, no less!: "George Will and the rest of the GOP Klan can bite my large white butt, Remember, the ‘R’ in Republican stands for racist. It’s part and parcel to their philosophy and platform. They live it, breathe it, feed it to their kids every morning with corn flakes and toast. They try to dress it up, to make it more palatable to the rest of us but as the saying goes: No matter how much frosting you put on a cowpie, it’s not a birthday cake." I concur. Hell, I don't think anyone's stated the obvious. The GOP has had every opportunity to consider an African American candidate. And, contrary to the reports I originally read, Colin Powell was not actively pursued by the GOP higher ups. He was considering it himself, but demurred because he didn't feel he could be protected. The chants of 'Run, Colin, Run' only came from the GOP after he had decided not to run. Tuesday, October 14, 2008 America's Relationship to the GOP
Milhouse to Bart Simpson: Remember the time your cat ate my goldfish? And you lied and said I never had goldfish. Then why did I have the bowl Bart? Why did I have the bowl?
Monday, October 13, 2008 I'm No Michael Richards Fan, But This Was Some Sublime Writing
Helene:Hello Kramer.
Kramer: Oh Helene how are you?. Helene: I Haven't worked since 1934 how do you think I am?. Kramer: Well that's only 58 years. Helene: It was a Three Stooges short, "Sappy Pappies." I played Mr. Sugerman's secretary remember?. Kramer: Right,right, that was Shemp right?. Helene: No, no Curly. The boys play three siblings, who find a baby, the baby's been kidnapped, and the police think they did it. Kramer: Uh right. Helene: But, but of course they didn't do it, the police have made an awful mistake. Kramer: Right. Helene: Moe hits Curly with an axe; the Stooges catch the kidnappers. Kramer: Right. Helene: But it's too late. Kramer: Really? Helene: The baby's dead. Kramer: Really? Helene: The boys are sent to Death Row and are executed. Kramer: Well I don't remember that part. Helene: I played Mr. Sugerman's secretary. Kramer: Oh yeah you were very good!. Helene: It was so sad, for the Three Stooges, what with the dead baby, and the stooges being executed and all. Kramer: Yeah well that was an unusual choice for The Stooges. Friday, October 10, 2008 Bank Robber Hires Decoys on Craigslist, Fools Cops
By Caroline McCarthy, CNET News
In an elaborate robbery scheme that's one part The Thomas Crowne Affair and one part Pineapple Express, a crook robbed an armored truck outside a Bank of America branch in Monroe, Wash., by hiring decoys through Craigslist to deter authorities. It gets better: He then escaped in a creek headed for the Skykomish River in an inner tube, and the cops are still looking for him. "A great amount of money" was taken, Monroe police said, but did not provide a dollar value. It appears to have unfolded this way, according to a Seattle-based NBC affiliate: Around 11:00 a.m. PDT Sept. 30, the robber, wearing a yellow vest, safety goggles, a blue shirt, and a respirator mask went over to a guard who was overseeing the unloading of cash to the bank from the truck. He sprayed the guard with pepper spray, grabbed his bag of money, and fled the scene. But here's the hilarious twist. The robber had previously put out a Craigslist ad for road maintenance workers, promising wages of $28.50 per hour. Recruits were asked to wait near the Bank of America right around the time of the robbery--wearing yellow vests, safety goggles, a respirator mask, and preferably a blue shirt. At least a dozen of them showed up after responding to the Craigslist ad. "I came across the ad that was for a prevailing wage job for $28.50 an hour," one of the unwitting decoys, named Mike, said to the NBC station. As it turns out, they were simply placed there to confuse cops who were looking for a guy wearing a virtually identical outfit. Authorities eventually found the getaway inner tube (a getaway inner tube!) and suspect that accomplices may have picked up the robber in a boat. According to the NBC affiliate, police hope to track him down by figuring out who posted the Craigslist ad in the first place. Craigslist founder Craig Newmark was not immediately available for comment. Thursday, October 02, 2008 Honest to God - Someone Wrote This  Newsweek Blogger MrZoid: No sir, it is as far fetched as it gets. All politics aside, Dinosaurs and Human beings never roamed the earth at the same time; I reference you to the procedure of carbon dating. No more conversation on this topic please, for the sake of all on this board, no more dinosaur talk. Preparing for jaw to drop. Wait for it. Wait for it.... Newsweek Blogger Guesswhat_imaconservative: mrzoid...i'm a chick...and no it's not far-fetched. guess you never been to glen rose, tx. carbon dating is bs by the way. they've dated fish as being extinct for millions of years, then found live ones. oopsy. dino discussion dropped. And, there it is. The failure of our educational system. The Cubs' reason for losing. Santa's mistress. It's all here. I have peered into the face of abject stupidity and it has no self-esteem issues. OK. I have to repeat this with amazement in my voice: "They've dated fish as being extinct for millions of years, then found live ones." My God.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 GOP Running With Scissors and No Leadership  From Slate.com: Lord of the Flies" inside the GOP:
So who runs the Republican Party? Apparently nobody. Perhaps the most startling political development of the bailout process thus far was the amazing lack of leadership on the GOP side of the aisle. Let's run down the list of Republican leaders who attempted to persuade skeptical House Republicans: President Bush, John McCain, Dick Cheney, and John Boehner. (We'd add Newt Gingrich to this list, but no one is quite sure if his last-minute support was actually cover for his behind the scenes whipping against the bill.) Bush's leadership and trust issues within his party has been evidenced for quite some time, and the icing on the Bush legacy cake is that fact that he could only convince FOUR Texas House Republicans to support his bill. And then there's John McCain, who last week decided to insert himself into the process and then (before the bailout failed) took credit for getting wavering House Republicans on board. Perhaps he did get a few wayward House GOPers on board -- but it wasn’t enough. Now McCain gets a double stomach punch: He's stuck being seen as supportive of this bailout (which isn’t exactly popular with the conservative grassroots) and he gets to share in the blame for the defeat since he didn't have enough political capital to get this done (By the way, not a single member of the Arizona GOP delegation voted for this bill). Watching the McCain campaign deal with this yesterday, one could sense that they were fearful that they were going to look inept and take an even deeper political wound than they sustained last week. Thursday, September 25, 2008 Another Hail Mary from McCain? He's Going to Run Out of Hails or Marys Pretty Soon  What Is Politics?
By Marc Armbrinder This is the time when politics matters the most, not the least. * When the philosophical differences that each party organizes around are put to the test of reality. * When conflict builds consensus. * When the public craves answers and debate from their politicians. * When the stakes of the presidential election could not be more acute. Comparative advantage: the best thing the presidential candidates can do now is to practice their politics honestly, not to abandon politics altogether -- itself, of course, a political move. Suspending your campaign basically says: all that over the past sixteen months? It wasn't important. Ignore what I said or did. Too late. The tough thing here for McCain is that nobody in Washington asked him to come back; nobody seems to need him to come back; and that Democrats simply do not trust John McCain's motives. Friday, September 19, 2008 "Do Not Go to Ortho" Nothing Political Today, Just Supporting a Fellow Twin Cities' Blogger
Do not go to Otho. I'm not talking about the food, the drinks, or the decor. The reason you should not go there is much more serious.Background: My good friend Imran and I threw a party at our building last Friday night. It was 80's themed with costumes, decorations, and a professional DJ. Many people we work with celebrated with us - public defenders, private attorneys, city attorneys, county attorneys... It was a welcoming environment and everyone had a blast. We even worked out a deal with Otho for a late night happy hour special and 80's music for our guests starting at midnight after the party ended.
Background on Otho: It's located in the Skyscape Condominium complex. Considering both Grant Park Condos and Skyscape are full of young professionals adjacent to this restaurant, you would expect it to be constantly crowded. But it's not. Imran and I always tried to support business there. We had celebrated a birthday there. And Imran and his fiance had their engagement party there. We thought we were doing our local establishment good by bringing them our business. What happened: At midnight, as we were cleaning up the party room, I received a phone call from one of my guests: "The bartender is saying there aren't any drink specials. He's being really rude about it." I walked over to try and clear up the problem. I walked toward the establishment and many of my other guests were standing outside talking about how rude the bartender was being to them. I walked inside and asked to speak to the manager. When I found her she indicated to me that now they were honoring the special and playing the music. I thought the problem was solved. I was excited because the wild party-goers had calmed down and now everyone was talking in different groups. No one was boisterous. No one was going nuts. And there were only 4 people in the entire bar that were not with our party.When Imran came, he ordered a few shots for himself and two friends. The aforementioned bartender poured them and then printed up the bill. Imran was planning on spending more money, so he told him to hang on to it and he'd pay it. That was not good enough for the already angry bartender who continued to wag the bill in front of him to get him to pay immediately. Oblivious, Imran then went to grab the other two shot-takers to come to the bar. The bartender followed him with the bill in hand. He approached him and said:"Hey, [racial slur] take your fucking shots and pay your bill!" Imran was so shocked by this statement, he said, "What the fuck did you just say?" As words were exchanged, the bartender said, "If we were out on the street, I'd fucking kill you!" and proceeded to come from behind the bar in an aggressive manner. Several people were witnesses to the bartenders aggression. The manager grabbed me and told me that Imran had to be kicked out of the establishment. I saw the confrontation and went between everyone and grabbed Imran and said, "Let's get out of here." Once outside, I found out what happened and came in and told everyone who I brought to Otho that we were leaving and not giving them another cent of our money.That bartender used a racial slur against my friend and threatened his life. The establishment kicked my friend out. That bartender was back at work at Otho the next night. I would not be surprised if he had a history of such behavior based on how he was acting to the patrons before he served Imran. To this date, no formal apology has been issued to Imran and as far as I know that bartender is still working there. The service industry is no place for racism or violence; and therefore, should have no place for Otho. Do not go to Otho. If they are willing to keep such a person under their employ, they do not deserve your money or your time. And please, tell everyone you know.Update: Both my friend and others have been in touch with management several times since this incident. One individual stayed after we all left that evening to speak with the manager and Imran himself called after he got home. As far as I know, no apology has been issued nor has there been any action taken against the bartender. Tuesday, September 09, 2008 Secret Killing Program In Iraq
This is what my own personal fear has always been. America has already been listening in on her citizens' electronic conversations. Now, there is a secret and, I assume, high-tech assassination program. Are we to believe we'd never be targets?
Bob Woodward's new book says this new, secret killing program in use in Iraq has been much of the reason violence there is down. Militant of Reddit, a community of bloggers, chimes in. He or she hints about having inside information about the program. Here is the link - http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/70g8w/secret_killing_program_is_key_in_iraq/: "When this program is shown to the world, it will be marveled at, until the basic methods sink in. This, coupled with news that special forces were able to listen in on every move and heartbeat of the Iraqi PM... "All I can get away with saying is put two and two together. And then, ask yourself whether this is a technology and a tactic and a program that you feel comfortable with your government having and keeping secret. "I know the broad overview of what this program is and how it is operated - how much of the specifics I know is a matter I'll leave alone. But do you, the voter and citizen of a 'free' country, enjoy the idea that people can be tracked and listened to no matter where they go or what they're doing or what precautions they take? When the very sustenance they take in results in the loss of their privacy? Sure, in this situation one would think, 'Oh, but they're terrorists!' But do we -- now -- believe in summary executions on the battlefield? And, wouldn't you like to know what this is all about, considering the level of secrecy and threat coming from washington these days?" |
