The Singer Not The Song

Never underestimate the power of a ridiculous response to a serious situation. Ban "Sweet Caroline?" Incredible. Sandusky is in jail. To date nobody else that allowed this to take place is anywhere near a jail, even though quite a few of them should be. Sandusky did not operate in a vacuum. He was around the campus with boys for YEARS after they initially became aware of it. The people who let it go will be forced out or retire, no doubt with their full benefits and pensions, and nobody will even have to admit they did anything wrong. AND they get to keep playing football. Solid message for everyone. Maybe banning this song is BETTER than putting any of these enabling monsters in jail? Time will tell.

I've never really loved "Sweet Caroline"? And I've never understood it in a SPORTS context. Maybe the world is a better place without it. Personally I prefer "Cherry Cherry." If they can move that one up this may all be worthwhile.

Don't expect to hear Neil Diamond's hit "Sweet Caroline" at Penn State football games this season.

According to Cory Geiger, a writer for the Altoona Mirror, the song has been cut from the rotation along with several other tunes, but he didn't know which ones.

"Sweet Caroline," which is a big fan participation song during games, is being cut because of the lyrics, more specifically the line "touching me, touching you."

Probably a smart move by Penn State, which is still reeling from the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal and doesn't need to add any insult to injury. Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of child sexual abuse and is still awaiting sentencing.

The Freeh Report, which was conducted at the behest of the university, determined several members of the athletic department, including late coach Joe Paterno, knew of the abuse and tried to cover it up. Because of this, the NCAA slapped Penn State with several penalties, including a four-year postseason ban and scholarship reduction.

[yahoo!]

All You Need Is Love My Ass

If you're anything like me you've always assumed this Pete Best guy was somewhat to blame for his fate. This article makes it clear that the guy was fired. So it's really a double whammy, first you get fired, and then you become a punchline for a joke about monstrous bad luck or horrible judgement, and the reality is, he just got fired. Talk about adding insult to injury.

The reality is that Pete Best rocked. His mom is right. The others were just jealous. They went with Ringo and when I was growing up lots of people thought Ringo was kind of inept but charming so the Beatles handled it correctly. If they had gone ahead with Pete Best, John, Paul and George would have ended up in the backseat. It would've been Pete Best and who? As it stands they picked a guy they could outshine.

Also revealing that the Beatles are such rotten bastards collectively that they couldn't even be bothered to give the guy a few bucks, or even ring him up on the phone. They probably sat around in their big Rolls Royce on acid and laughed at him. Maybe they called and when Pete Best answered they hung up! Prank call. And the whole time they are doing this they are coming on with all their peace and love bullshit. All you need is love my ass. Pricks.

John, Paul, George and Pete. It doesn’t really have the same ring to it but in 1960 it was Pete Best behind the drum kit for the Beatles and not Ringo Starr. That changed on August 16th, 1962, however, when Pete Best was fired from the Beatles.

According to Beatles-History.net, Best joined the group in 1960 when John, Paul, and George needed a drummer for a gig in Hamburg. They had met Best at the Casbah Coffee Club, owned by Best’s mother, the year prior and invited him to come play. After the Hamburg show, the not-quite-fab-four started booking gigs around Liverpool.

Best was reportedly the most popular Beatle at the time and some credit him with the group’s initial popularity in Liverpool. But the four members didn’t mesh together on a personal level. As an example, Best was the only member that did not adopt the “bowl” cut.

Best was fired from the Beatles in 1962. The following year the group recorded its first album, Please Please Me, and were nearly immediately struck with Beatlemania.

The reason’s for Best’s firing remains a bit of a mystery. Some claim that the three Beatles didn’t like Best personally. Others say that they were just more impressed with Ringo Starr. Best’s mother said that the rest of the group was jealous of her son.

In 2009, the fifth Beatle talked to Spinner Magazine about his life with, and without the Beatles. Best said that he still isn’t sure why he was kicked out of the group but said that he was pretty sure it didn’t have to do with talent.

Best, who was included on 10 songs in the Beatles’ Anthology, said:

“Being on Anthology, people had a bigger insight into what my drumming was about. From that point of view, I’ve always held my head up high and said, “Yes, it wasn’t the drumming ability.” There have been conspiracy theories — the hairstyle, jealousy, antisocial, didn’t speak enough, Brian [Epstein, the Beatles' manager] may have felt threatened — it goes on and on. I’ve long passed that.”

Best also dropped another interesting piece of information. Best was fired from the Beatles on August 16th, 1962, and hasn’t spoken to any of his former band mates since that day.

“You find that hard to believe, but it is true. I played three of four times on the same bill as them as the support band, so we’d be coming off and they were going onstage. There were things to be said but that wasn’t the place to hear your differences, onstage, so there was no communication. We’d pass like ships in the night. Some people say, ‘Well, why the hell didn’t you just pick up the phone?’ and I’ve always said, ‘Well, have you ever tried to phone a Beatle? It just doesn’t happen. You couldn’t get to them.”

[theinquisitr.com]

Big Brother Lurking Behind Post Office Failure

Isn't it obvious? They are trying to make the Post Office fail on PURPOSE, and when that happens, you know what they'll say? "You should do everything ONLINE." And then you'll put everything online, it will all be hacked, and the government will take all of our money and give it to the half zombie, half alien conquerors they make a deal with so THEY can survive at OUR expense. The only good thing is that when this happens the ruling elite will put Donald Trump in charge, with Sarah Palin and vice whatever and they will get married and be on TV all day. And to top it all off the zombies will get sick of them and then eat them and we'll all be able to see THAT too. Come on. How great will that be?

Here's another thing. Annual health payment of $5 billion? What the fuck is WRONG with all of them? How sick are these people? Why? Don't they get a physical before they hire them? Do they single out the people most likely to develop long term illnesses? Where is their HR Department, in a cancer ward? Holy crap. Hire some sturdier folk for heaven's sake. I thought they'd be in decent shape walking around all day.

Finally, can we really afford to knock ourselves out to support these people when we know how sick they get and they also periodically blow up and start shooting for no good reason? Enough is enough. Let them fold. We may as well get the zombie thing started already. You know it's coming.

The nearly bankrupt U.S. Postal Service on Thursday reported losses of $57 million per day in the last quarter and warned it will miss another payment due to the U.S. Treasury, just one week after its first-ever default on a payment for future retiree health benefits.

The mail agency said it is being hurt significantly by mounting expenses for future retiree health benefits. Those expenses, mandated by Congress in 2006, made up $3.1 billion of the post office's quarterly loss, while workers compensation tacked on another $1.1 billion in expenses. The agency's operating loss was $1 billion, mostly due to declines in first-class mail.

"We have simply reached the point that we must conserve cash," Thurgood Marshall Jr., chairman of the Postal Service's board of governors, said in explaining the payment defaults. He cautioned that the mail agency may have to delay other payments if necessary.

The Postal Service for months has been urging Congress to pass legislation that would allow it to eliminate Saturday mail delivery and reduce the annual health payment of more than $5 billion. The post office defaulted on that payment last week when the House failed to take action before heading home for a five-week break.

The mail agency says it will miss the second $5.6 billion payment due on Sept. 30, also for future retiree benefits, as cash runs close to zero.

[Associated Press]

First In, First Out

I was dragged out to sea. Wicked accident. Will describe later, if ever.

If you believe in evolution you believe we evolved out of the muck and mire of primordial seas. So in the water we began, and evolved up onto land and into apes and then whatever. Last stop - zombie. Everybody knows the story.

Perhaps it's only natural that the sea dies off first. First in and on the Earth, first out into oblivion. Poetic thought right there.

The dead fish clogged the water supply to the power plant. "We've never seen anything like it." Famous last words.

Thousands of fish are dying in the Midwest as the hot, dry summer dries up rivers and causes water temperatures to climb in some spots to nearly 100 degrees.

About 40,000 shovelnose sturgeon were killed in Iowa last week as water temperatures reached 97 degrees.

Nebraska fishery officials said they've seen thousands of dead sturgeon, catfish, carp and other species in the Lower Platte River.

And biologists in Illinois said the hot weather has killed tens of thousands of large and smallmouth bass and channel catfish and is threatening the population of the greater redhorse fish, a state-endangered species.

So many fish died in one Illinois lake that the carcasses clogged an intake screen near a power plant, lowering water levels to the point that the station had to shut down one of its generators.

"It's something I've never seen in my career, and I've been here for more than 17 years," said Mark Flammang, a fisheries biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

The fish are victims of one of the driest and warmest summers in history. The federal U.S. Drought Monitor shows nearly two-thirds of the lower 48 states are experiencing some form of drought, and the Department of Agriculture has declared more than half of the nation's counties -- nearly 1,600 in 32 states -- as natural disaster areas. More than 3,000 heat records were broken over the past month.

Iowa natural resources officials said the sturgeon found dead in the Des Moines River were worth nearly $10 million, a high value based in part on their highly sought eggs, which are used for caviar. The fish are valued at more than $110 a pound.

[Associated Press]

Er-Ah, Stoned Again!

See my entry on this from a week or two ago. Her whole damn family got involved in a PR campaign saying there were NO DRUGS OR ALCOHOL involved. Well guess what? That's called LYING. Now we're up to "there were no OTHER drugs or alcohol" involved. Next she'll have her whole family challenging the fact that Ambien is actually a drug.

Basically this ditz is so out of it she doesn't know what she's taking, then she says she might have taken the wrong thing, then she didn't take anything, and THEN she gave a whole diatribe about her doctor telling her it was probably a seizure from an old head injury. Usually when I get caught and I'm stoned I say "the jig is up." Not Ms. Richie Rich. Anything but taking responsibility for driving around stoned and not knowing what she's doing. She's a MENACE II SOCIETY.

I am getting a head injury just reading through this crap. They need to put her UNDER the jail. She tried to get this case decided in the press, and drum up sympathy for herself, and NOW WHAT? Hey she was on drugs. The cop and the truck driver were right. She was STONED OFF HER ASS. What a SHOCK! A KENNEDY, stoned. Who could believe that?

If I got in this mess they would be working on seizing my car and busting my chops nine ways to Sunday. I will hold my breath and wait for her to own up to her bullshit. I wonder if she's going to try to stick with the head injury story in light of the blood test that shows she was STONED OFF HER ASS. I could type that all day.

STONED OFF HER ASS. Man that feels good.

Kerry Kennedy had a generic version of the potent prescription sleep aid Ambien in her system after she struck a tractor-trailer while driving erratically on a Westchester County highway this month, court papers filed on Wednesday said.

Final toxicology results showed that no other drugs or alcohol were in Ms. Kennedy’s blood or urine, a deposition submitted to the court by prosecutors said.

Ms. Kennedy, the former wife of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, had told the police after she had been stopped that she takes the drug Synthroid every morning at 7:30 for a thyroid condition, and on occasion, she takes Ambien to help her sleep.

She is facing a misdemeanor charge of driving with ability impaired by drugs and has pleaded not guilty.

Ms. Kennedy was arrested on July 13 after she swerved into a tractor-trailer on Interstate 684 and continued driving, exiting the highway just after 8 a.m. Officer Joel Thomas of the North Castle police found a dazed and disoriented Ms. Kennedy behind the wheel of her damaged 2008 Lexus, with the engine running and a flat tire. A witness reported that Ms. Kennedy left the accident scene, court papers said.

Officer Thomas said Ms. Kennedy was “swaying” and exhibited impaired speech. She told the police she felt dizzy and had no memory of a collision, court documents show.

Zolpidem, a hypnotic and sedative class drug prescribed by physicians to treat temporary insomnia, has been known to cause strange, though rare, side effects. The reported problems include sleepwalking, short-term amnesia and “sleep-driving” — driving while not fully awake, according to a guide approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Ms. Kennedy told the officer that the two medications were “next to each other on her counter, and it is possible she took the sleep medication instead of the thyroid medication,” according to the papers filed by the Westchester district attorney, Janet DiFiore.

The toxicology tests, administered nearly five hours after the accident, showed that Ms. Kennedy, 52, had evidence of zolpidem, the chemical found in Ambien and other sleep aids, in her system.

The amount of zolpidem detected in Ms. Kennedy’s blood — 14 nanograms per milliliter — is low, said David M. Benjamin, a clinical pharmacologist and forensic toxicologist based in Massachusetts. Dr. Benjamin said it would be difficult, based on the level alone, to pinpoint when she took the zolpidem.

Ms. Kennedy had also made the suggestion, based on neurological testing performed by her own doctors, that the collision resulted from a possible partial seizure caused by a long-ago head injury.

[New York Times]

Skip To The Next One

This is one thing I've always loved about the car business. They live in the future. There's a very simple reason for this. You can go over to a Ford dealer and buy a 2013 Ford Escape right now, and drive it over to your friend's house and show off.

"Lookee here. I got the NEW Ford Escape. 2013 model. It's great. I'm AHEAD OF THE CURVE. I'm into next year's model already. Yeeeee-hah!"

Three points. Number one, it's an aptly named car. It's called an Escape because you need to know how to get the fuck out of there when it catches on fire.

And two, now that they've screwed up the 2013 version, why don't they just press on with their marketing? Ford should just SKIP 2013 and move ahead and start making 2014 Ford Escapes, and the idiots that buy them now can feel even MORE ahead of the curve and increase their bragging rights. If there are indeed any bragging rights involved in buying a car that is spontaneously combustible.

Third, finally, this isn't even the first recall of these rolling bombs. They don't brake either, the carpet gets in the way. It's an UNSTOPPABLE rolling bomb. More like a military assault vehicle of some kind as opposed to a wholesome SUV that transports a family while destroying what remains of our atmosphere. What's a catchy slogan for all this? "American engineering - second to all."

Ford Motor Co. is telling owners of one version of the brand-new Ford Escape not to drive the SUVs until dealers can fix fuel lines that can crack and spill gasoline, causing engine fires.

The company issued the unusual warning on Thursday and said it is recalling 2013 Escapes equipped with 1.6-liter four-cylinder engines. Dealers will pick up the Escapes and drop off a loaner car that customers can use until the repairs are finished. The company is hoping to ship parts and get all the SUVs repaired in the next two weeks.

Ford says it has three reports of fires: two at the factory and one while a customer was driving an Escape. No one has been injured.

The recall affects 11,500 Escapes in the U.S. and Canada. Only 4,800 have been sold to customers. The rest are on dealer lots and will be fixed before they are sold, spokeswoman Marcey Zwiebel said. "We are obviously taking very quick action in the interest of our customers' safety," she said.

Escapes powered by other engines are not affected, nor are other Ford models with 1.6-liter engines, Zwiebel said.

This is the second recall of the redesigned Escape, which went on sale in June. On Saturday, the company said it would recall more than 10,000 Escapes to fix carpet padding that could interfere with braking. Problems often crop up when new vehicles are introduced, even though automakers have improved quality in recent years.

The new Escape is among Ford's top-selling vehicles. People bought 28,500 last month, up 28 percent from June 2011.

[Associated Press]

Er Ah, Oops

Good to know that she wasn't messed up on alcohol or drugs, but what are the other alternative explanations? She may have taken Ambien. She doesn't know if that's what she took. So she wakes up in the morning and she doesn't know what pill she's taking and she took the wrong one and drove into a truck and then drove away. Hmmmmm. Well what a RELIEF that she wasn't on alcohol or drugs. Some people would say Ambien is a drug? But her family says there were no drugs or alcohol WHATSOVER in her system. Does her family know more than she does about what she's doing? SHE said she may have taken Ambien. We're up to toxicology now and we'll see where that goes. Maybe her family keeps her locked up and when she gets out she makes up stories about taking Ambien? That could be it.

According to the doctor quoted below by the time they tested her the Ambien could have been totally out of her system so we'll never know.

What if she didn't take any Ambien and she's just a bad driver? What if she didn't take any Ambien and she was pissed and decided to hit the truck on purpose? This could be the perfect cover story for a female suburban Rambo, wreaking havoc on the highways in a reincarnation of Thelma from "Thelma and Louise." In the end of the movie they drove the car into a canyon and they both probably died.

I wonder how the truck driver feels reading this. "Oh, Ambien. I understand. Be careful now, y'hear! Get along little doggies." Probably just a nice benevolent guy.

In my time I've seen so many of these Kennedys arrested it's not even news anymore. Getting arrested is like a rite of passage for these people, and I've never heard of ANY of them going to jail. If I got caught in a bind like this I don't think my family would be issuing any supporting statements. I'm just an average Joe. With a lower overall family percentage arrest rate than the Kennedys, who are rich and have every advantage in life. There I said it.

New questions are being raised about the sleeping pill Ambien after Kerry Kennedy, the ex-wife of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, may have been under the influence of the sleeping aid when she was involved in a crash with a tractor-trailer on a New York highway and left the scene.

Kennedy was arrested and charged with driving while impaired Friday. She is due in court Tuesday.

ABC News has learned that Kennedy told police she may have taken Ambien sometime Friday morning, but doesn't remember for sure. But her family said in a statement released to ABC News that there were no drugs involved.

"Kerry Kennedy voluntarily took breathalyzer, blood and urine tests -- all of which showed no drugs or alcohol whatsoever in her system. The charges were filed before the test results were available," the Kennedy family said in a statement released Friday.

The results of Kennedy's toxicology tests are still pending. But legal analysts say whatever they show could play a big role in her defense.

"Ambien has a short half life, so by the time she went to the hospital and by the time her blood was analyzed, the drug actually could have disappeared from her system," criminal defense attorney Dana Cole said.

There have been previous complaints about Ambien lulling people into trance-like state.

Last year, 60 million Americans were prescribed a sleeping aid.

But for a drug that's supposed to help you sleep, it's amazing how active you can be and not know it.

There are numerous claims of "sleep driving" by people who took the drug.

A woman learned she was "sleep cooking" and even fried an egg, while another woman woke up and found out she wasn't even home.

Kerry Kennedy's cousin, former Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy crashed into a barrier near Capitol Hill, saying he had been disoriented after taking Ambien.

The details of Friday's accident don't fit Kennedy's public image -- a mother of three who has no known history of substance abuse.

"I seriously doubt that she'll be looking at any jail. She's looking at a fine and probably some sort of drug or alcohol program that she'll need to attend," Cole said.

[ABC News]

Nobody Goes There Anymore, It's Too Crowded

This is a great statement on America. McDonald's finished last in customer satisfaction based on this survey. They serve 68 million customers a day. What's wrong with this picture? Is it masochism? Americans flock to places they hate? Are we a country of whiners? What would happen if the customer satisfaction score went down and the number of customers went up? Would they invest money in improving their facilities and service or would they release a swarm of cockroaches to piss people off even more? It's almost a reverse marketing model.

I think McDonald's is doing well because people are going broke and Macky Ds is the best they can do. As long as America keeps failing their business should be good. They could probably increase profits by NOT spending the $1.5 billion on WiFi and this other crap. Just hire some recently laid off surly types and they're all set.

Over the past two years McDonald's stock has jumped from $70 to $90 a share. The message from Wall Street to McDonald's management is clear, "everything you're doing is just great. Screw 'em." In a related note, ALL of my kids hate clowns, and they love McDonald's anyway. People love...what they hate! Clear as mud.

Guess many McDonald's customers aren't lovin' it. McDonald's finished last in a ranking of its restaurant peers in a report released Tuesday by the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Fast food restaurants Papa John's, Subway and Taco Bell all scored better than the burger giant. Among restaurants specializing in burgers, Wendy's led the pack, followed by Burger King.

The ranking isn't new territory for McDonald's, which serves 68 million customers per day. Except for 2009, when McDonald's edged ahead of of KFC and Burger King by a percentage point, McDonald's has consistently placed last in the ranking since 1995.

But Mickey D's is steadily improving. Its 73 percent satisfaction score in 2012 is a substantial gain from its all-time low of 59 percent in 2000.

McDonald's issued a statement in response to the findings: "At McDonald’s, customer satisfaction has, and continues to be, a top priority. We take all customer feedback seriously. Our internal and third-party research shows that we continue to make progress in satisfying our customers. Business results also reinforce this. In fact, the producers of the American Customer Satisfaction index said that McDonald’s customer satisfaction is at an all-time high. Still, we know we can do more by continuing to offer our customers great value, menu variety and a positive service experience every time they visit our restaurants.”

The company plans to spend $1.5 billion this year to make over its restaurants with more comfortable seating, WiFi, and McTV, reports Forbes. Recent menu changes have included smoothies, oatmeal, and bakery items. In May, McDonald's announced plans to stop buying pork from farms using gestation stalls that confine animals during the breeding and post-birth processes, a move the Humane Society of the United States considered a victory. And there is, of course, their latest claim that nothing on the menu is "unhealthy."

[Shine from yahoo!]

Shame Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

First off, how can a guy who has a hairdo like this talk about anyone else being ashamed?

It's a shame Trump didn't run, because then people would have a reason to listen to The Braying Oracle and really evaluate what he said. As it stands, I can't understand why his opinion has any value whatsoever. Without Palin he's nothing.

Trump is also oblivious to the fact that he's insulting most of America and its government. The Health Care bill passed through the legislature, and now it's survived the challenge to its legality or Constitution-ality or whatever, and these guys are still beefing and crying. If the Republicans are re-energized by this, good for them! If you re-energize an idiot you have a re-generized idiot. I'm looking forward to seeing that.

Why should Trump care about this? He has all the health insurance he needs. Does he look in the mirror? That should be more of a priority. A guy who has run casinos into bankruptcy is calling Judge Roberts a dummy. Fix your hair! OMG!

Mitt Romney will benefit from the Supreme Court health-care ruling, though Chief Justice John Roberts should be "ashamed" of his role in the decision, businessman Donald Trump told CNBC.

The conservative jurist provided the deciding vote in a 5-4 ruling that said the health-care plan's individual mandate, which requires Americans to have health insurance, passed constitutional muster.

While the decision allows the Affordable Care Act to go into law, Trump said the ultimate winner could be President Barack Obama's Republican challenger Romney.

"This was a big one," Trump said during his weekly "Squawk Box" appearance Tuesday. "This energized the Republican Party like never before. I think it's going to maybe elect Mitt Romney."

As for Roberts, who ruled with the majority that the individual mandate is constitutional so long as it's considered a tax rather than a penalty, Trump had harsh words.

"John Roberts should be ashamed of himself," he said. "He's looking like a dummy. His decision was not written by the supposedly smart man he is .... The decision makes no sense."

Trump speculated that Roberts sided with the court's liberal justices in an effort to appease the Washington establishment by giving "a Georgetown-type of opinion."

"Now they love him in Washington," Trump said. "That's probably what he wanted. I think that's the sole reason he did it."

[CNBC]

Innocent But Still Guilty

I've been away at sea for awhile and had to take a break from posting while dodging garbage in the South Pacific. I love this story. Clemens had a teammate, Andy Petitte, who testified that he took steroids using the guy Clemens used as a trainer. The trainer testified that he gave Clemens steroids. He also testified that he gave steroids and HGH to Clemens' wife. But Clemens claims that while all these people around him were using performance enhancing drugs he was not using them.

Clemens has a reputation as a fierce competitor. One example of this was his confrontation with Mike Piazza. In retrospect this looks like a classic case of 'roid rage, but since he wasn't actually taking anything we'd have to draw another conclusion and just say he's an asshole.

But the jury must be correct, right? I heard a story that Mrs. Clemens had a bad reaction to an injection and Clemens said "it will pass" and told her to lay down. Now if MY wife said she took a performance enhancing drug and had a bad reaction I would take her to the hospital. Strikes me that a guy who reacts the way Clemens did has some familiarity with the drug, and that gives him the confidence to bat his wife away like a pesky fly instead of taking her to the emergency room.

But what do I know? Everybody else using drugs, but Clemens...NOT using drugs. I suppose this is a logical conclusion because in America even though you are plainly guilty if a jury says you're innocent that's the end of it. If they could acquit the cops for beating Rodney King after seeing that video this should come as no surprise.

O Happy Day.

A jury acquitted Major League Baseball pitching great Roger Clemens on Monday of all six criminal counts against him in a trial on charges that he lied to Congress when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

Clemens, dressed in a beige suit, blue shirt and tie, showed little emotion as the verdict was read, but choked up during brief comments after he emerged from the federal courthouse in Washington.

"It has been a hard five years," Clemens said, as he thanked his wife, family and teammates. "I put a lot of hard work into that career. I appreciate my teammates that came in and all the emails and phone calls from my teammates."

Jurors deliberated for a total of about 10 hours before coming to a decision. The verdict was another setback for prosecutors who insisted on pursuing the case even after their first effort ended in a mistrial.

One of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, Clemens was charged with one count of obstruction of Congress, three counts of making a false statement and two counts of perjury. He did not take the stand in his own defense during the two-month trial.

If convicted, Clemens would have faced a maximum prison term of 30 years, though under federal sentencing guidelines he most likely would have received 15 to 21 months.

[Reuters]

Nothing To Fear But Burning Yourself To Death

I found this interesting because the reaction of the Chinese government is to DETAIN these people. Now if they are willing to set themselves on fire, what impact do they think detaining them will have? What's a little detention versus being willing to burn yourself to death?

Also interesting that these "self immolators" are being called terrorists. I'm not sure suicide equates to terrorism, but I'd like to review this equation with the Chinese security officials if they are available for comment.

Finally, is this an effective form of protest? Why don't the Chinese just ignore it? If enough of them set themselves on fire there's really nothing more to worry about. If I have a problem and I set myself on fire that's pretty much the end of it, right? It's a problem that's solves itself. Obviously there's something about setting yourself on fire that disturbs the Chinese. Whatever problems you have they want you to deal with it straight up and not light yourself on fire. They must think this has symbolic value and will galvanize the world to sympathize with the Tibetans. Maybe the problem with the Chinese is that they don't watch enough TV and they don't realize that most people are incapable of any kind of galvaniz-ation or anything beyond going to work and complaining. Americans might be better equipped to take this kind of thing in stride.

Hundreds of Tibetans in Lhasa have been detained by Chinese security officers after two self-immolation protests against Chinese rule over Tibet, a U.S.-broadcaster said, stoking concerns of spreading unrest among Tibetans in China.

On Sunday, two Tibetan men set themselves on fire in Lhasa, state news agency Xinhua said, the first time in four years of a major Tibetan protest against Chinese rule. One of the men died.

China has branded the self-immolators "terrorists" and criminals and has blamed exiled Tibetans and the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, for inciting them.

At least 35 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since March 2011 in protest against China's six-decade rule over Tibet, according to Tibetan rights groups. At least 27 have died.

[Reuters]

And So It Begins

As long time fans (fan?) of this website know, we have been predicting the zombie apocalypse since we started posting here a few years ago. I actually waited a few days on this one, and I had to contact all of my friends (friend?) in Miami to get the local story. I had a feeling the "official" story would be a load of crap. Sure enough the police and government officials are already engaged in a cover up. Typically I don't write about stories where someone actually dies. That's usually Captain Bringdown's (semi-retired) beat. But since this one confirms Daily Downers as the "go to" blog/site for accurate predictions on our dismal future I have no choice but to cover this one.

This story talks about LSD, and other stories have talked about other drugs like "bath salts." Stuff I've never heard of. Come on. Here's a picture of a guy on LSD. These guys don't eat other people. They just don't. A little music on a sunny day in Miami and this guy is looking at a butterfly for six hours and playing an air raid guitar solo. If drugs made you do this don't you think this would've happened already?

I'll tell you what else is great, if you go to this link there's a video, and before the video there's a commercial for mayonnaise or something. So for some people this story is an opportunity. Eat food and not people. A solid message.

This face eating guy either became a zombie in some way we don't know about or more likely escaped from a government lab or island where they keep the zombies. Like they keep the aliens in the desert in Roswell, NM. Now we know that one of those islands off the Florida coast is probably a full fledged zombie campground. The first thing I'm trying to figure out is what is the bigger threat? Zombies or aliens? I'm going to go with zombies. The aliens probably have advanced weapons to vaporize us. Relatively painless. The zombie thing is going to hurt. Badly. Buy water, food and guns. You're welcome.

A naked man was shot dead by Miami police as he chewed at the face of another naked man. The circumstances of the horrific attack are still unknown – and the victim remains in hospital with grave injuries. The gruesome drama unfolded on Saturday off the city's MacArthur Causeway, with the aftermath captured on film by a Miami Herald surveillance camera.

Witness Larry Vega told WSVN-Fox 7 he saw a man biting the victim’s face.

He said: “I told him to get off and the other guy just kept eating the other guy away.”

The cyclist notified police, who ordered the man to stop. Vega added: “The guy just stood, his head up like that, with pieces of flesh in his mouth. And he growled.” The officer fired, but the man continued to chew, prompting him to continue shooting, eventually killing him. Police say the attacker may have been suffering from a drug-induced mania which causes the body to heat up, causing some users to strip off, the Miami Herald reported.

Armando Aguilar of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police suggested the drug may have been a new form of LSD. He told NBC 6: "Seventy-five to 80 percent of his face was missing, and he was actually swallowing pieces of the man's face."

[Huffington Post]

Oh Whoop De Doo For You Mr. Mountain Climber

Bunch of egomaniacs.

"Climb every mountain,
sing every song."

Give me a break. O look at me, I climbed Mount Everest. Big deal! Who cares? Last week a whole bunch of people went up there and died. This week, there's a whole new crowd. Now you could say, "wow, these guys are just adventure hungry madmen. Cool!" Or you could say, "these guys are idiots." Guess what I would say. Correct! Look at this guy. Outside climbing a mountain. Boy that looks like fun eh? Morons.

Stay home. Mow your lawn. Between that and driving this weekend that's enough danger for me.

Scores of climbers were headed for the summit of Mount Everest on Friday in what is expected to another busy weekend on the top of the world.

Last weekend, four climbers died on their way down from the summit amid a traffic jam of more than 200 people scrambling to conquer the world's highest peak as the weather worsened. A similar crowd is expected this weekend, but there have been no reports of climbers in trouble and the weather is good.

Gyanendra Shrestha, an official with Nepal's Tourism Ministry, said he had reports that 82 climbers reached the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) summit on Friday morning.

Shrestha, who is at the base camp, said 120 climbers started the last phase of the climb on Thursday night but not all of them reached the summit. He said it was normal for some of the climbers to quit at the last treacherous part of the climb for various reasons.

There were still more climbers expected to try to reach the summit on Saturday — probably the last day of this climbing season.

"This is the last chance for climbers to attempt to reach the summit. If they can't, then there is not going to be another opportunity this season," another official Mohan Krishna Sapkota said.

[Associated Press]

It's Just Impossible To Express Yourself Anymore

They make this sound so wrong. You have a problem with your neighbor. If you go postal or yell at them it's awkward. Leaving poop in the mailbox, it can give someone pause, a little time for reflection.

"What could I have done to deserve this?"

And maybe the neighbor says,

"Yeah I have been a bad neighbor lately, maybe I should change my ways. Someone is obviously pissed off at me."

But now in these politically correct times, these time tested means of diplomacy between neighbors can no longer be used by sensible people everywhere. And then they put the video on youtube! So the bad neighbor wins, since you can see below that they have engaged in malicious rumor mongering, and the good neighbor suffers for the use of some extra excrement. Is our world getting better? With this Big Brother surveillance cutting us off from a common sense response to neighborly abuse? I think not.

The former president of CNN's Headline News almost found himself in deep doo-doo after he was caught on camera placing a bag filled with dog excrement in a neighbor's mailbox last week.

Bob Furnad was seemingly oblivious to the surveillance camera capturing him and his dog as he looked up his neighbor's driveway, then shoved a plastic baggie into their mailbox.

Hours later Benjamin Dameron and Ralph Miller discovered just what he'd left behind. Dameron said that he was "shocked" to discover what was in the bag.

"We cannot figure out why he did it," Dameron said. "At this point we really don't care why he did it … You know it was a silly thing to do, and were over it. I mean it's just a silly prank."

Dameron, 71, said that the prank that you'd expect from a teen came from Furnad, who is also a respected professor at the University of Georgia.

Furnad, who was head of CNN Headline News until 2001, admitted to the act to police and local media, but did not apologize.

"This was an immature act in response to years of malicious rumor mongering that I consider defamation of character," he told he told the Covington News.

Dameron and Miller have lived in Worthington Manor, a historic home in the quiet, upscale Georgia town of Covington for more than two decades. They say they haven't spoken to Furnad in years, and that any feud is news to them.

But nasty neighbor run-ins like this are all too common - and thanks to ever-present surveillance cameras, it's now easier to catch people in the act, and anyone can find these clips on YouTube.

[abcnews.com]

Kill The Umpire. Seriously.

At a glance, your knee jerk reaction to this would probably be, "this guy is a jerk." But hold on a second. First off, a lot of these umpires stink. It's hard to stand idly by while your grandson is getting called out on strikes where the pitches are about a foot outside. I've seen it many times. Kids can be traumatized by this. Instead everyone is worried about the umpire and his broken nose. If an umpire doesn't want his nose broken, let him get his eyes checked for Chrissake.

Even in professional baseball, these umpires are just no good. During one particular tirade with an umpire, Orioles manager Earl Weaver headed to the dugout screaming, "I'm going to check the rule-book on that," to which the umpire replied, "here, use mine." Weaver said, "that's no good - I can't read braille." The guy was blind. For real! You can look it up. Look at Pete Rose here. He knew the score.

The second and more significant point, why is this umpire's life and safety more valuable than mine? This Alabama law says that if you assualt an "official" it's a felony but if you punch out an ordinary citizen like me, that's just a misdemeanor. WHAT? If anything these umpires are LESS valuable members of society than your average citizen. ANYONE can go out there and blow calls all day. Takes no special talent at all. With all the technology they have today, they should review the replay and if the umpire got it wrong, too bad. The only umpires who deserve legal protection are those who get the calls RIGHT. And they are few and far between.

As reported by Birmingham Fox affiliate WBRC -- and noted by USA Today, among other outlets -- Jefferson County, Ala., resident Darryl Keeton was arrested after attacking an umpire following a youth softball game at Mt. Olive ballpark, the local baseball field. After a game spent heckling the official, Keeton took matters further by attacking the official in the parking lot outside the ballpark, punching him in the face and leaving him with a bloody nose.

Because Keeton was attacking a sports official and not a normal member of the public, a Alabama law stipulates that brief attack must yield Class C felony charges which could land the grandpa as many as 10 years in prison.

"A bloody nose most of the time will get you a misdemeanor, and that's wrong, but yeah, there's a law on the books that if you assault an official it's a Class C felony," Jefferson County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Randy Christian told WBRC. "That's a serious crime, and it should be."

Keeton's assault on the official was limited to a first punch thanks to the timely intervention of an off-duty Birmingham police officer, but by that time Keeton -- who was released on bond shortly after his arrest -- had already done enough to land himself felony charges and thoroughly embarrass himself in the process.

"You let the kids and the coaches work that out, that's part of life," Sgt. Christian told WBRC. "But if he's not embarrassed about that, I'm certainly embarrassed for him."

[yahoo! sports]