R.I.B. - Ramblings In Brief - Eight Is Enough?
This is the diametrically opposed turnabout face on Twitter - for, here, even 140,000 characters will not be considered enough, let alone set as a "limit" for our ramblings in writ...!
There are far too many annoyances out there - far too many - and waaaaaaay too much crap all over the place so that one could promptly attend to it all at once, all in one place, really... And why bother dealing with any of it "in depth" either? Thus, we chose to adopt the expeditive and most efficient method, permanently: blast it all to pieces piece by piece, take no prisoners, spare no one! Most of all; spare no ammo! But we chose to do so in the least painful way possible, with little doses of pain & disdain at a time! The overall effect tends not to be so visceral as it could have been either; for this is not lambasting either, now is it? But don't get us wrong here: in doing so, we do not hope that it will be less painful for everyone involved - at all! Au contraire, we hope it will sting, stab, bite and burn even more furiously since none of these topics (with one glaring exception now and then, really - but, to be honest, there are so few of those it makes one want to cry, really...! But that is another story.) hence, none of these stories deserved or was dignified with a full post to call it its own, anywhere else on the TLB Prime Network - at blogging time, that is! Now tremble in thy booties at the thought that you might be... next!
So here we go again...
MORE R.I.B. - RAMBLINGS IN BRIEF!
And there's no stifling the rambling!
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In this edition -a much-delayed, much-desired and all-around much-packed edition of R.I.B. - we shall go beyond our usual quota of a mere tired triad (or, as I often typo for short, surely, "tirad") of subjects that have been making the news and annoying the hell outta me (which is, all things considered , a good thing. Hell, a very good thing! Hmm... That sounds odd, somehow... But let's just carry on now...?)
Hence, there are too many things to cover and give my two cents worth upon - so, this time out and perhaps only for this time out, we will broaden our scope and tackle not three, not six, but really eight different topics at once! Or one by one, really, as we usually do here...
With so much rambling, one can only hope we won't be found all out of breath afterwards - laid out cold on top of my keyboard. (Dammit - almost typoed that one off as "keyborad" - again! And I'm just getting started! I can't be gasping for a second breath already - in writ, it is the fingers that go blue and start typoing like crazy... But we're getting side-tracked big time now...)
Onwards with the rambles!
First and definitely least off, let's tackle that Doberman of the News - Olbermann.
In a meeting of the minds like we don't need at all but get too much of -on a regular basis too- Olbermann came to Letterman the other night - to talk about his fairly recent dismissal.
On that CBS late night talk-show that time forgot, Olbermann had the gall to say to Letterman that he was too good for his former employer. Using ever-so-slightly-veiled metaphor and thinly-disguised allegory, he wondered out loud ‘if you buy a $10 million chandelier, you should have a house to put it in’ - hinting that his former boss, Al Gore incidentally (as in Al Gore's Current TV - another waste of airwaves technology as any other to be found out there, really) wasn't much of a home at all.
Olbermann is, after all, one of those "high-profile anchors" - one of the big mouths, at any rate. And as The Cutline's Dylan Stableford pointed out, when such heavyweights of media news lose their jobs, especially the way he did, they don't immediately go out there to talk about it, especially not on a widely-viewed show as Letterman's. But Keith Olbermann is a different breed, who moves about to the beating of his very own set of drums - of course - never mind that the drums are archaic and beaten beyond repair already...
Olbermann, was fired by Al Gore's CurrentTV - and then he goes and appears on the "Late Show With David Letterman" a mere week later, all debonair, just to talk about his new unemployment and how that came about. As Stableford pointed out in his own piece about this interesting aboutface, Olbermann was clearly engaging in some reputation rehab - and he achieved that by doing something his kind almost never do: by appearing self-deprecating on the show. He is usually right about everything, him and that other guy from FOX, especially... What's his name... Bill something...! What the HELL...?
Although he stopped short from making too much fun of himself and the situation he is in now, refraining from going into much detail about what went wrong with Al and CurrentTV, he did give away enough crusty details to have everyone and anyone in stitches - which is amazing since, usually, he can only make you cringe. And itch. But that's another story.
Olbermann stated that the nasty, abrupt and, I'd say, merciful split with Current—reminiscent of his falling out with MSNBC a little over a year ago and with ESPN before that—was, in part, his fault. That's right, folks - Olbermann is 3 for 3 now! Getting fired by CNN must be his next career project...
"I screwed up really big on this," Olbermann said. "It's my fault that it didn't succeed, in the sense that I didn't think the whole thing through." - ah-ha! He carefully admits he screwed up but hints that it was merely because he chose the wrong people to associate himself with! Nothing else - not his actual true fault, noooooo... And it is not due to his style, the enraged and irate without much-of-a-cause verve that he displays no matter where he goes... It is indeed amazing to think that this guy got his first break from a mentor such as mister doofus-smile himself - Pat Sajak! He certainly doesn't take after him one iota - good for him. The hair is on its way, though... But that is, again, another story.
Various news sources reported that Olbermann had a $50 million contract with Current - hence, it is no wonder that he used the analogy that he made pompous use of, comparing himself to a $10 million chandelier in a house that is, at best, only half-built. But he might have made it sound even worse when he precised his thought on the Letterman show, in this manner: "I didn't say, 'You know, if you buy a $10 million chandelier, you should have a house to put it in.' Just walking around with a $10 million chandelier isn't going to do anybody a lot of good." Walking around with a chandelier...?!? Now that was no longer self-deprecating - that was pricking around with the stature of his former employer! Bridges totally burned to a crisp - most probably... Although, nowadays, you really never do know anymore...
David Letterman knows self-glamorizing pricks when he sees them, thus it was no surprise at all that he guessed correctly and merely asked confirmation from Olbermann when he asked "You're the chandelier?"
In effect, Olbermann was implying that a guy of his stature and fame shouldn't be joining a sub-par, under-the-radar network anyway.
Me, I still can't believe that this guy used to host "SportsCenter" - being subjected to Canadian cable TV, I thought the worst, most full-of-himself, jerkiest former SC anchor had to be Mikey Landsberg! I was so wrong - I have to admit! Or maybe it,s just me being self-deprecating in the same Olbermann way here...!
But back to The Doberman already - for he hinted he would sue Al Gore's network. He coyly stated, right after his chandelier reference was so slyly unmasked by Dave, that "up to last Thursday, I got my money,'' and then he added "the nice judge will decide whether or not I get more of my money.'' Your money, Keith? Your money?!? By what right? The contract that was signed? You didn't work for that money - and, even if the clause is there and that, in case of such a breach of contract from their part, you are entitled to get that money, it is still not "your money" pal! Not in the honorable sense, it isn't...!
But this is media news, television in the 21st Century - what honor could be found there, really...?!?
It was on March 30th that Current announced that it was letting Olbermann go. In their own wordy statement (note that I do not accuse it of rambling now...! They can keep their lawyers for the Doberman's case, there...!) they explained the decision in such a manner to exonerate themselves, too:
"Current was founded on the values of respect, openness, collegiality and loyalty to our viewers. (...) Unfortunately these values are no longer reflected in our relationship with Keith Olbermann, and we have ended it." The statement was reportedly penned by Gore and Current co-founder Joel Hyatt and issued as a "letter to viewers" on the network's website.
The funniest thing is that CurrentTV scored a major coup by signing another jerk, most probably one even worse than the Doberman himself, in order to fill the void...! Only in America... Where else will a legitimate organization replace a creep with an even bigger creep, in broad daylight? Okay - don't answer that...! Don't open Pandora's Box... The ramblings in writ might never end, then...!
The fact is - CurrentTV replaced Olbermann's show with one hosted by Eliot Spitzer, the former New York governor who resigned in the wake of a prostitution scandal.
Olbermann, reportedly, fired back promptly from his Twitter account: "It goes almost without saying that the claims against me in Current's statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently." I'm just surprised that he mustered enough self-control and professionalism not to laugh in public at the replacement that was chosen... Not to denigrate CurrentTV for its clear and sharp decline, ongoing as we, er, ramble... Not to mock Al and Joel. And Eliot, of course. I mean... Spitzer?!? But this is America - where everyone believes in second chances. Unless your state has the death penalty, that is... But that is another story - yet again.
Now Olbermann, the Doberman of the Airwaves, can join Rick "Che" Sanchez and other lesser-known disgruntled and baffled by their own vehemence broadcasters on the front and show that they truly care about their profession and would still do it - even if and as they are not being paid the big bucks to do it!
But wait - Olbermann is still being paid -the bastard- since he was fired. And that "nice judge" will award him the rest... Most likely, the nice judge never has time to watch TV, let alone Current TV...!
It would be nice, though, to see Olbermann, Sanchez and others like them report on current events completely for free - on their YouTube channel or something (they each have one - rrright?)
They'd win indulgences - if they did it that way... which is, basically, my way...
Next...!
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Was there ever any doubt?
Massachusetts Man was sure to win this: it only took longer, much longer than it should have realistically taken at all...! Republicans must be champions at procrastinating - what a surprise...
Overnight, Rick Santorum slipped into irrelevancy as the prospect of a *Romney vs. Obama* free-for-all became a surefire thing and was finally allowed to kick into gear - just not high gear yet. When it did - and when it really does - watch out! It will be no holds barred between Mitt's and Barack's respective camps - and no pleas such as the one made by CNN's Ashleigh Banfield (begging - okay, not quite begging but urging; fine enough with ya?- for the two camps to stop dirtying the other guy and "bring up their own guy" instead. Keeping it clean, in not so many words. Fat chance of that happening, Ash B! They couldn't do so within their own parties; why in red-white-and-blue blazes would they do so now, when the "real" enemy is within sight, at long last?!? But we're getting digressed BIG TIME now...)
It was funny though to see, as The Ticket's David Chalian reported, the way that the former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum had verbally circled April 24 (the Pennsylvania primary, 71 delegates at stake) and May 29 (the Texas primary, 155 delegates at stake) on his nomination calendar in his speech to supporters, one April evening or afternoon - who really cares anymore? For the fact was already clear then that he was merely keeping the morale of the troops, as best as he could, as it was becoming increasingly apparent that he would never catch up with the former Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney.
The goals Santorum had set simply failed to reflect the reality that he had now slipped into irrelevancy in the race. And he slid into irrelevancy without warning, almost - as, up 'til then, his chances were nearly as good as Romney's. And certainly considerably better than Newt Gingrich - and Ron Paul. Oh, and there was a chick involved, as well - whathername again? Whatever - I hope Mitt picks her as his running mate! It would be like seeing Superman and Wonder Woman run for the White House - opposite Black Vulcan and Perry White...?!? But here I go with the obscure comic-bookie references again - eh?
Actually, I was not the first to do that: it was them! The media! More precisely metronews (yeah; it was them! Them, I say! Bring your pitchforks and torches to, er, their website I guess?)
And no; it's not just about Super Tuesday either...!
They decided, for some reason, to liken the Republican primaries to a symposium of super-heroes - and, indeed, what else could have possibly convened all the Americana concentrated there, right?
Newt was, for some oddball reason that is very hard to fathom, likened to Daredevil. Why? He's not that nimble! But he might well be as blind...?
Ron Paul was Lex Luthor...! Nothing less! A villain? That is terrible miscasting I say! RP should have sued your sorry rear ends! For he was and is the most honest-to-gosh candidate in all the land... Just a tad too liberal for his own good, that's all...
Mitt Romney was, of course, Captain America! As such, the surprising success of the Cappo film and current huge success of the Avengers movie must be immensely encouraging for Mitt - it's one heck of a good omen there! If you cannot be Superman, you better be the next best thing: Cap! Especially these days as he is a true American success story: the great American comeback story! Either be it or have it firmly on your side, in your corner! There is no telling which side Soupsey would actually lean towards, though...
The chick wasn't Wonder Woman either - but, rather, Catwoman? Now that was a bad omen indeed - not only for Michele Bachmann's personal campaign (and dream of becoming the first female Prez!) but it could well be a bad omen for the Republicans overall - yikes!
And poor Rick Santorum was stuck with the Incredibles' - well - Mister Incredible, who else? (You didn't think Elasti-Girl for a second there - now did you? Disney stole that name from DC anyways - grand larceny, tell ya! But it is another story) Truth be told, though, he's been mistaken for a plethora of other zeroes, er, heroes too...
Quite frankly, I haven't the foggiest idea who Herman Cain was supposed to be - which character represented him in this GOP campaign and, truly now, does anybody even remember that he was, at some point, in this campaign - at all?!?
For further evidence that super-heroes and politicians are basically one and the same (all four-color fluff, no substance) one can always listen to what answers they gave when asked about it here - and, incidentally, Cain's answer is one of the very best...! Santorum? He was busy bashing homosexuals that day or something... And Romney was just being his All-American heroic self.
So then, back to the sad, utterly demoralized Santorum camp now: that famous Tuesday night, it wasn't Rick himself but his senior strategist that spoke most ominously of all. "We think regardless of results today, Pennsylvania becomes the make-or-break state for both candidates," said, then, John Brabender to the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza. Prophetic words, these were...! Yoda would have concurred, too...
A prophecy that most certainly invited the Romney campaign and its Super PAC allies to unload a ton of cash to dominate the TV airwaves in the Keystone State in hopes of delivering a knockout punch on April 24 - which they basically delivered indeed. Reports were then that a Quinnipiac University poll showed Santorum's lead in his home state had dwindled down to six points as he headed into a three week stretch without any debates or intervening primary nights to inject new momentum into his bid.
Mr. Incredible was running out of steam and it was only further bad news that, in related news that week, Wisconsin, Maryland voters were told to be "still mixed" on which GOP nominee to go for, too...!
We all know what happened next: after Romney's clean sweep in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C., Santorum needed a knockout win to stay in it. However, even that stood very little chance of preventing Romney from taking on the role of presumptive Republican nominee. By that time, both Romney and President Barack Obama had already shifted their attention, and their rhetoric, to November. Santorum was already obsolete - much less Gingrich and Paul.
The campaign we are now seeing being staged, one full of low blows and such, was already so very apparent back then, as D.C. was reporting: (...) for all the positive talk from Romney about his private sector experience and Obama's boastful ticking through his first-term accomplishments before adoring and financially generous Democrats at fundraisers around the country, it became clear this week that the beginning stages of the general election battle will be largely presented through the negative frames each side is building around the other.
Romney was told to be already about to put forth a three-pronged characterization of President Obama which was aimed at sowing serious doubt among Americans about his stewardship of the country - wow, we see they take these things to another level indeed...! You sow the seeds - you expect a good harvest, of course! Mitt gambled enough dough as it is - he cannot stop now, for crying out loud! And, fear not, he won't: in Romney's telling, President Obama is an enemy of business and free enterprise willing to pile on more debt to fund a larger federal government, a failed leader who constantly attempts to assign blame for the country's economic woes, and (in an act of political jujitsu) a man who has lost touch with most Americans. Ironically enough, Barack Obama was "assailing" the Ryan budget as all this was being said about him, qualifying it of being nothing but a 'thinly veiled social Darwinism' scheme...! One supposes that the case can be made that Obama -as most politicians, really- this huge ego type that refuses to take blame and would much rather prefer to believe that he got it all figured out - and it's everyone else's fault that "his plan" failed to come to fruition...? "It's enough to make you think that years of flying around on Air Force One, surrounded by an adoring staff of True Believers telling you what a great job you are doing, well, that might be enough to make you a little out of touch," Romney further said, after his triumph in Milwaukee. He could have (and will have, before the campaign is over and done) enthused much more than that, too... This will be a no-holds-barred war of words - and to think that, after all that, one of these two guys with little-or-no scruples will become the all-mighty "leader of the Free World" as Jean Chrétien used to say about whomever was the American Prez... A leader with the power of life and death upon most of the world, too - free or not free; mostly the not free part, hmm?
Would Mr.Incredible have been better than this - above all this crass - would he have been?
That is the question: the irrelevant question now!
B.A. Baracus there would have, likely, gone easy on Santorum, either way - because Rick, as Incredible as he was in his unlikely run, would have a considerably lesser threat than Mitt is. Rick would not pose much of a challenge, really: it would have been like sending Woody Allen to take down Eddie Murphy.
Now Mitt - he is a much more formidable foe than that! And Barack will take the appropriate measures to tackle his threat, even if it means hitting below the belt quite a few times. Romney's personal wealth has been and will be a major target for the Obama campaign and its allies, who paint him as a candidate unable to relate to middle class Americans. In his Tuesday victory speech, Romney made clear he had no plans of ceding that ground to the president. For his part, President Obama used his speech before publishers and editors at the annual Associated Press conference in Washington, D.C., that same Tuesday, to frame Romney as interested in protecting the privileged class with lower taxes at the expense of decimating government programs upon which the elderly and the low-income rely and investments in education, energy and infrastructure. Framing - isn't that actually against the law to do that? And these are Harvard graduates (oftentimes - they can come from other big-name schools, of course; I'm just citing my fave!) going at it and doing that with reckless abandon, too...! We play with words, of course, we jest and we joke around - it's all part of rambling, you know?
Barack Obama's colorful (no pun intended) language does accentuate his resemblance to B.A. Baracus and truly makes him that much closer to "middle-class America" - what else can we say when he hear this: "so we tried this theory out. And you would think that after the results of this experiment in trickle-down economics, after the results were made painfully clear, that the proponents of this theory might show some humility, might moderate their views a bit," our man President Obama said. "But that's exactly the opposite of what they've done. Instead of moderating their views even slightly, the Republicans running Congress right now have doubled down, and proposed a budget so far to the right it makes the Contract with America look like the New Deal," he added with gusto! And then Obama went on to tie Romney to the House Republican budget, which is as good a start to the battle that they are set to wage as any other could have been, really. We know B.A.'s partner is rugged enough to take such things: he's proven it before, as part of the A Team that took the White House away from the House of Skull & Bones there...! Now it's up to Romney to find himself a running mate as hard-as-nails as that...!
In related news, there was that other chick again: Sarah! She felt like dispensing advice, perhaps hopeful for herself or supportive for fellow ambitious hellcat (wrong super-heroine, again: Hellcat's from Marvel, anyhow! Not one of the Avengers, but almost! But we're digressing once more...) And so, Palin's advice for Romney was not to be afraid to go 'rogue' with the VP choice that he will have to make, eventually: a running mate, first, "VP" only if they win, Sarah, only if they WIN. You got ahead of yourself once again there, didn't you? Don't you remember what happened the last time you did that? McCain, your boss, LOST. Don't you jinx Mitt, now!
I still say that Bachmann has got to be the choice here - she's got the look!
Plus: she has got to be smarter than Plain Palin, too...!
We shall see who will emerge from this battle taking shape now - who will survive! It is shaping up to be an epic battle indeed: already we can see so much, that is for sure! The Obama team has made clear it has no intention in letting up on the caricature of Romney as a car-elevator-owning, offshore-account-possessing man so rich he couldn't possibly understand the economic plight facing most of his fellow citizens. And Romney made clear he's just as willing to go negative on the president. And so the media has found it appropriate to coin a phrase to describe this campaign tactic overall: they coined it "opposing negative narratives" and it does rather effectively describe as capture the essence of it, yes! Get this: it will be through so much dirt-digging, name-sullying, all manners of negativity and underhanded tactics that America hopes to find a bright solution for an even brighter future for one and all...!
Right on, Charly! I am sure it's going to work like a charm for ya.
Well, that ain't right for me. That is not luminous! It's ludicrous, at best...
They made fun of Mitt Romney, that he was likely too banged up, too damaged in any fashion in order to continue the fight, now against his true opponent. After such a lengthy mélée with all the other Republican candidates -most particularly Santorum- what does he have left in the tank to focus upon Obama and run full steam ahead towards the one true Goal...? It is the race to the White House after all: the ultimate dream for all the mighty, outrageously rich and politically-inclined peeps out there; just ask Ross Perot... But it is quite simply a shameful exercise when only the rich can adhere to it, first; once you get there, anything goes and nothing is sacred, second; and then corruption attains new heights, as the Powers That Be don't want any changes, they want the status quo, and if you think otherwise - KA-POW - you're JFK-o'd... third!
The mere fact that it is indeed going to be through those opposing negative narratives, that anything can be decided and that everything will take shape from. The mere notion that this negativism, far more than either candidate's prescriptive positive vision for the future (if they truly are capable of that, in all honesty) and any genuine good intentions,will be the driving force that will dictate how this general election contest between Romney and Obama will take shape - it simply turns the stomach and sickens the mind; does it not?!?
Everyone that has fallen by the wayside during this Republican thing has already gone through it: for them, at least, the public tarnishing is a thing of the past. Until the next chance to achieve this "dream of accessing the White House," that is!
These campaigns take their toll on you, though - oh yes they do!
Santorum has since been likened to a deflating balloon, by some... It comes to mind that he was likely full of hot air all this time, too... It could have been worse, chum: you could have been a Cain supporter, or a Gingrich guy! Bachmann backer? I'll keep on saying that she's making a come-Bach! Get it? Ha.
When one thinks of all that money wasted in losers' campaigns though - all the good that such big money could have done for the poor, the needy, the elderly, the sick, the deprived, the despaired - instead...
One HuffPost "super-user" (another super-hero?!?) summed up the entire proceedings very aptly though, quite recently too: he (she or it) wrote that:
The "GOP" originally stood for "Government Of the People", they should change it to the "GOBC", "Government Of the Big Corporations".
So true, ethiopia1a!
It may explain why Mitt The Man Romney can be so despised despite all of his obvious attributes...?
Next!
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There have been talks of banning things, left and right - in a supposedly liberal society, it is kind of perplexing. However, tolerance is being tested alright; and certain things apparently have to go, according to some nitwits...
Well...
Bans shouldn't apply to certain things - for the whole idea behind ''banning'' is to take out roots of evil or potential harm from our midst: and now tell me, you fools, how could this possibly apply to the free distribution of BIBLES?
It has been all over the news as it is:
Latest News -
search results
- TORONTO — An Ontario public school board's decision to ban distribution of GideonBibles to its young students has unleashed a torrent of threatening calls and ...www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20120408/
gideon-bible-handout-ban...
more results from ctv.ca » - An Ontario public school board's decision to ban distribution of Gideon Bibles to its young students has unleashed a torrent of threatening calls and hateful emails ...www.cbc.ca/.../story/2012/04/08/toronto-
ontario-bible-ban-schools.html
more results from cbc.ca » - TORONTO An expected ban on the free distribution of Gideon Bibles at public schools in a southern Ontario school district has angered those who see the decision as an ...www.thespec.com/news/ontario/...bible-
handouts...ban-despite-pressure - Cached
more results from thespec.com » - An Ontario public school board's decision to ban distribution of Gideon Bibles to its young students has unleashed a torrent of threatening calls and hateful emails ...kitchener.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/
CTVNews/20120409/gideo-bible-ban... - Cached - Bluewater District School Board trustees are monitoring threats and hate mail which includes racist threats and questions of members patriotism as they prepare to ...www.benedictionblogson.com/2012/04/08/
ontario...bible-distribution-ban - Cached - An expected ban on the free distribution of Gideon Bibles at public schools in a southernOntario school district has angered those who see the decision as an atheist ...swo.ctv.ca/.../bluewater-gideon-bible-
ban-120321/20120321/?hub=SWOHome - Cached - Security on hand as Ontario school board set to vote on Gideon Bible ban; Tribute to Christopher Hitchens – 2012 Global Atheist Convention; European Atheist ...doctore0.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/
security-on-hand-as... - Cached - ... calls and letters from those upset by a possible ban. ... of Gideon Bibles at public schools in a southern Ontario ... for the school to give their children a Gideon Bible.toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/.../gideon-bible-
school-ban-120320/20120321/... - Cached
more results from toronto.ctv.ca » - Ontario: Free Gideon Bible handouts face another public school ban despite pressurewww.alliancealert.org/2012/03/21/
ontario-free-gideon-bible...ban... - Cached - TORONTO — An Ontario public school board’s decision to ban distribution of GideonBibles to its young students has unleashed a torrent of threatening calls and ...thechronicleherald.ca/canada/82338-
threats-issued-over-ban-bible... - Cached
Ironically, and quite comically too, you can find an ad to enable you to order Bibles online right after all these news stories of Bible-BANNING here and there...
Thanks Google - the irony is indeed delicious...
Sponsored Results
-
Wide Selection of Translations. Affordable and Fast Shipping.www.Bibles.com
Whoever thinks their freedom of thought is being threatened by a freebie needs to undergo some form of therapy, the sooner the better... It reeks of serious self-assertive disorders - or worse! The bad news is that I seriously doubt that ANY therapy can be of any help whatsoever: the only succor you might get would be through brain surgery - or Divine Intervention! Best of luck with all that: you definitely will need it!
As for the nitwits who want this banned implemented and enforced so damn much, now, the best reply you could get would be to be pummeled with a hundred free Bibles, tossed from five different directions and all aiming at your turdy head! Maybe then you would appreciate that it such a compact little book (being only the New Testament - the one that counts! Sorry, Rabbis!) not any more heavier than it could be - and you might appreciate that it is FREE. Because it would really suck if, on top of being pummeled and pelted by all of these books, you would have had to pay for every single copy, too...!
Next!
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All of you guys have heard about LinkedIn - rrrrright? Right.
Some profiles boggle the mind there: names all in lower case, little or no information readily available to the curious browser, so many faceless job-seekers - heck, some profiles don't even have NAMES on them! You think I'm kidding? Search for '''''''''''''' ''''''''''''' yourself - you'll see it with your own eyes: that ''name'' is in there, too! And many times over, too!
Why the hell would you bother having a profile on a networking site, meant to help get you known, making contacts and eventually find the dream job - only to leave it FACELESS, NAMELESS EVEN, provide next to nothing in terms of motivation to get you hired or simply make it as unprofessional, uninspired and uninspiring or as lousy as can be...?!? WHY EVEN BOTHER WITH THIS...?!?
The worst is yet to come, though: imagine someone so unenthusiastic about what they do that they post an obvious bogus monicker to go along with their current position. Worse, still, is the guy who posts his real name, but no pic - however he (or she) is so utterly ashamed of what he/she does and which company he/she is associated with, that instead of listing the function and the company, he/she leaves that vital info extremely vague...! Let's say the prone-to-be-a-disgruntled-employee-very-very-soon is named Chose Binne, just for argument's and this example's sake - trust me, it is a popular name back there, in Cul-Bec... It comes out looking something like this:
Chose Binne
Furthermore, this person is too shy to declare what he or she does there: it is so abysmally dull and all, it is not to be mentioned, either! Hence, the mention simply states that he -or she- is merely ''en poste'' - in function, there, wherever that may be and whatever the work may consist of...! I don't know about you but, me, I can imagine a lot of different possible ''functions'' that this would entail there...!
And as for the location: surprisingly enough, the city is mentioned - but all it says, really, is that the employee in question is pleading to do something else, anything else, within the grimy confines of these very same city limits...! The hoot is that, next, the need to obfuscate is evident again as it is is listed as being in the area of Canada...?!? Wow - really, GPS man? (Or grrl...!) Anybody who has ever flunked geography 101 would still be able to tell you that Montreal is a city to be found in the God-Forsaken ''Canada area'' alright - and Thank God that there is only one of those ''Monts Réals'' too...! But such an area is way wider than THAT... sheesh!! What happened there, of course, I suspect, is that this guy or gal wanted to leave his/her location off the charts as well - but LinkedIn somehow managed to override that command, since it is, after all, so much the opposite of what one should do when one bothers with a LinkedIn profile in the first place... And, so, the city where this guy's or gal's IP address originated from got registered, no matter what he or she tried to do against the site's very nature...! Good luck denying that you hate your job, hometown, overall area in the coming days, weeks, pal...! I only give you so much (maximum six months, usually) before you either quit or make them fire thee!
Everybody else: if you open up a profile on a site like this, if you BOTHER to create a profile on a website which is meant to be used to network actively and share, exchange, possibly do business and so on - please make sure that you also BOTHER doing it right - for your own sake, really.
Next!
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Believe in signs? No? Maybe you should...!
François Hollande probably does, now: a ere few ours after he took over from ol' Sarkophagusy there, he gets on his presidential plane, all pompeux and proud of himself, for a hot date with Angela in Germany...
And his plane was hit by lightning!
Did Nostradamus predict this one, I wonder?
On a quick sidetrack, too, I wonder who Hollande is connected to on Linked In?!?
Wouldn't it be a hoot if it was the likes of Chavez, Mladic, Dubya?!?
One wonders, also, what sort of omen this could be: poor FH looks enough like the prototypical French wimp as it is, he is going to get bullied all Europe (and this is the guy who is supposedly going to make things economically viable all over the European Union again - RIGHT!) and now it appears that even GOD Is against him...! Maybe it is just Ségolène that cursed him one time too many...? Lest Sarko did it...! Howcome he didn't get hit by lightning, though? Sarko and his Carla could have spontaneously combust many times over - yet, nothing happened. Rien! Further evidence that observers are right: whether it's Sarko or Hollande, c'est du pareil au même! The same way that France missed the boat when they chose Nicolas Sarkozy over Ségolène Royal, they made a major faux pas when they preferred François Hollande over Marine Le Pen! When you have the remarkable opportunity to elect someone named either Ségolène or (even better) Marine - YOU DO IT! But you didn't - alors, tant pis pour vous, conards!
Anyhow - where was I when I started digressing again? Ah, yes...
When lightning hits you, you're supposed to know that you've been given a new lease on life! Now, Hollande has gotten it so soon into his presidency - he likely won't even get the message and chaos will ensue all over Paris within six months!
Let's just hope it spares my true favorite European spots!
Next!
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The NFL + NIKE = a marriage made in hell.
Not hell in terms of sports wear but really in terms of oversaturation - of course.
These two brands are already ''out there'' enough - they're in the public eye as it is, they're linked to one another in the public's mind already and they're indissociable from the overpaid, overrated and oftentimes over-the-hill as well athletes that they both have in common.
So why in blue blazes have them join efforts, too?
New NFL uniforms are displayed on mannequins during a presentation
in New York, Tuesday, April 3, 2012.
The NFL and Nike showed off the new look in grand style
with a gridiron-styled fashion show at a Brooklyn film studio.
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
You can see it for yourself right here - the so-called new unis are anything but that!
The lone exception to that is the Seattle team's uniform which was, at long last, fundamentally changed - and it was about time! Maybe the new look can fundamentally change the loser aura that the team has always had, too... Hey - sorry to be so blunt, but I feel for Seattle! And I used to be sleepless, too, so...
Bet you didn't know trees, ferns and moss are neon in Puget Sound.
Now, Chris Chase of the Shutdown Corner may be of the opinion that Nike didn't ruin football (American Football, mind you - that and only that. Let them never touch down upon one single iota of the REAL futebol: European Futebol! We know they won't, either: Europe has Dolce & Gabbana for that!) and so Nike shan't ruin the "fun of it" for those ''traditionalists'' who revere the NFL as if it was God's Creation on the Seventh Day... And NFL unies as if they were the Golden Fleece - to avoid any more sacrilege...
Well, Chris - and all of ye ''traditionalists'' and pukes wet-behind-the-ears all over college football towns - listen up or rather read up...!
The truth is... Nike couldn't ruin anything because it isn't even WORTH ruining.
Football teams are just COMMERCIAL TOOLS - no team in the whole blameable NFL deserves to be put on any sort of pedestal whatsoever. This silly thing you call a "Super Bowl"" - it is as empty a "legend" as Superman is! No team - not the Packers, not the Cowboys, not the 49ers, not the Dolphins, not even the Patriots - can truly be deemed to have been "something else" at all; because they never faced international competition! Granted, unlike the silly goose NHL, your NFL truly is a "national" league: but you can't call yourselves the best when you only basically play amongst yourselves!!! What if there were other teams on your level, elsewhere? There aren't, but what if there were? Would the damn New York Giants steal victory then - or would they fall off their beanstalk big time?
The real reason that the NFL is less than nothing though is another entirely: any so-called professional league that allows teams to call bounties on players' heads for an entire year and then, finally, after a whole year, they suddenly get wind of it and act upon it at last, but only after countless players could have been seriously injured...? Well, that is not a professional league! Any league like that is nothing but a third-rate amateur gladiator outfit! Sure, it served as a reminder that there are no Saints left on this Earth (pun so fully intended - it hurts to intend it so fully and completely as that!) and, if there are, they sure as hell will exist after Judgment Day do not play the silly game of American Football! They don't play rugby either, mind you! But that is another story...
The ultimate reason that the NFL is less than nothing though is yet another one, though: any league that welcomes back Michael Vick doesn't deserve to stay in business!
And in the light of what happened to Junior Seau recently - the NFL can stuff it. Real down deep.
Next...!
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Since we are in Neanderthal Foolish Lards territory...
''Cagewriter'' Maggie Hendricks mused over it at length already (two paragraphs) - BROCK IS BACK
(BORING... That is my input! More of it - below!)
Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar returned to his roots on Monday night, appearing on WWE's "Monday Night Raw." With a glare and then an F-5 of John Cena, he jumped back into the world of professional wrestling after a four-year career in MMA.
Warning: WWE fans chants some NSFW language in this video.
Lesnar hasn't been in WWE since 2004. He started fighting in 2007, and was given a title shot in the UFC in just his fourth fight. After taking the title from Randy Couture, he beat Frank Mir and Shane Carwin before losing to Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem. The December loss earned a title shot for Overeem, while it convinced Lesnar tor retire from MMA.
Let me get this straight, Maggie - this vanilla gorilla is a proven loser in a real fight, yet it's huge news that he is back in the McMahon circus, for more completely make-believe acts of, on occasion, extremely convincing, gruesome, heinous and despicable/reprehensible/sickening acts of violence...? Like the time he manhandled an handicapped opponent: the kid had only one leg, if I recall correctly...? Or the time he beat up some jobber so severely: there was blood everywhere! In a real fight, he's the one bleeding and unable to take or handle the pain: in these make-believe crappy scenarios, we are meant to still gobble up the farce that the overgrown cromagnon that he is can actually also be a sadistic, calculating, methodical maiming machine?
I always say, personally, that "I only aim to maim" not to kill...
But this terrifying ogre is tainted goods: I am even surprised that the wretched WWE took him back, as his aura of invincibility is totally gone and everybody knows, now, that behind his inflatable big arms lie only a wanna-be bully that cannot take the abuse back.
That he lost to Alistair truly speaks volumes:
Alistair Overeem at the 2012 International Consumer Electronic Show
in Las Vegas, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012.
in Las Vegas, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012.
Heavyweight Alistair Overeem has failed a drug test,
throwing his UFC 146 title fight
with champion Junior Dos Santos
in jeopardy
with champion Junior Dos Santos
in jeopardy
and enraging
UFC president Dana White.
UFC president Dana White.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP,Jack Dempsey
The chump is nothing more than another pumped-up-full-of-steroids GOON!
Will Alistair join Brock in the WWE? Two Gorillas for the price of admission to see ONE - the WWE has a long history of featuring those... And to think that Vinnie Mac and Co were supposed to have learned their lesson, with Superstar Billy Graham and the first wave of such, ah, subject-cases...
Some people truly do not ever learn - to paraphrase a great, all-natural Mixed Martial Arts fighter - from Brasil! Brasil é o pais do suingue - mais da força fisica também!
A força toda NATURÀL! ;-)
Bet you don't even know who I am referencing here, Maggie...!
Maybe I should challenge thee to get inside the cage, too, as I did with Lufisto...!
She never answered my challenge though - the coward hoe - so why would I challenge a fellow writer now - even though a "cagewriter"...!?
Might as well just move on...
Next!
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So...
Nxt!
Typo, sorry - I did mean NEXT...!
And LAST...
And definitely LEAST too...!
FOR THE NUMBER OF THE DAY WAS... EIGHT.
INDEED.
Well, let's go find that number again - as we go back to the God-Forsaken county of Quawbeck again - aye, le Cul-Bec itself, up there, mired in the rear end of La Canada...
Do you know what the salary of a well-meaning but utterly useless Bank Manager can actually get to be, these days...? Well, the 2011 tax season has come and (mercifully) gone away where it came from (back to the pit - THE PIT, I SAY!) and we have seen some staggering figures here and there...
How about this one now:
Eight million dollars a year - 8.4 millions, to be exact - for doing WHAT?!?
He has a legion of overambitious bloodsuckers managing each and every one of his bank's branches, doing all the groundwork for him. He has a platoon of shrewd finances ''experts'' - experts at keeping the cash flow going in a single direction; into the bank's vaults - watching his back... He benefited from a silver spoon, the best colleges affordable to his clan, the required accreditation to be able to pull the wool over everyone's eyes and keep on collecting, ad infinitum (or so it appears right now) and he knows it! In brief, he has got it made - visibly. And yes, he knows it alright: just to listen to his gloating...
Granted, we are taking about someone high-ranked within his financial institution's structure: oh yeah, this guy's official title is that of ''chef de la direction'' - but his peeps call him ''président" for short... He was, ten years ago, one of those whizzes that got ranked among the ''Top 40 Under 40'' - but that couldn't last, visibly. Ask him what the reeling world economy will be like next year, next month, next week - he will be wrong about it. Yet, he is financial royalty - yes he is! The guy could be referred to as King Louis, no doubt; for crying out loud - after all, he makes enough dough, these days, for it to be viewed as a king's ransom indeed, he has an iron grip upon all of the customers of his bank's savings and his actual name really is Louis, too...! VACHON... Louis VACHON - richer, considerably richer though than the dough boys behind les gâteaux Vachon... doh! Heck, this banker is richer (and considerably more so, too) than the creepier one of them all in all-around creepy Cul-Bec: the wretched Prime Minister himself, Jean Charest!!! That fact alone says it all, I do believe.
You know, back in the day, in the old kingdom of France, the real Roi Louis dreaded getting wind of anyone being richer, for it would be creating, in effect, ''a kingdom within the kingdom'' - and he was right. We know what happened next: it got more and more revolting individuals thinking that they, too, could be richer, bigger, better than the king - and they were all right about that, of course; but that is another story... It led to the violent désinstitution of the king (it doesn't get any more violent than a beheading, folks!) and total anarchy, for a time...! One could say that with the appointments of the likes of Mitterand, Sarkozy and Hollande, it is still anarchy running wild there - but let's not go there right now...
The best buddy of our man Louis here -let's call him J.D.- had something to say about the whole outrageous deal (which they might even try and spin as a ''bargain'' for any financial institution today...! Right on.) and he had this to say about it:
Le président du conseil d'administration de la banque, Jean Douville, a soutenu que la majorité des actionnaires étaient d'accord avec cette rémunération, qui reflète, selon lui, «la réalité dans laquelle nous vivons». Il a fait valoir que les salaires élevés sont nécessaires pour attirer et retenir les gens de talent. (1)I won't even dignify that bit with a translation - use Google Translate at your own risk and peril, folks!
It remains scandalous, absurd and utterly unacceptable that the pathetic President and Chief Executive Officer (sweet GOD, they even capitalize ''officer''!) of the National Bank that does pretty much zero for the Greater Good of All of Mankind is cashing in nearly 955 000$ in base salary plus 2,5 millions in bonuses in the form of company stocks plus 2,2 millions in the form of stock options plus an additional 1,8 millions (as if the previous bonuses weren't enough already!) in the ever-popular form of what they call ''des mesures incitatives" - a nice, fat incentive amount of cold hard cash meant to encourage the guy to carry on ''performing'' - but, once again, we ask DOING WHAT?!? Performing seems to be the key word in there, all right: acting his part, which he can so readily enact thanks to all that accreditation he bought himself, at second banana schools all around his native stomping grounds...
Well, you know what all this should be inciting the rest of us to do?
You know... Oh yeah - YOU KNOW...
King Louis there is but one of the many clods that got it made this way - and they are numerous, despite the fact that they represent only a single percent of the population...
Roseanne Barr made one heck of a suggestion about that, recently enough - and it sounded a hell of a lot like the French Revolution all right - by sheer coincidence...! The rift appeared to have been exactly the same, back in 1793 or 1848 - one percent extremely and abusively wealthy versus ninety-nine percent dirt poor, abused and fed up of this injustice. But, perhaps, Roseanne is so inclined to the most drastic solution due to the fact that her country's equivalents of Louis here easily rake in twice as much as he does - and then some...! Incredible - not as Mr. Incredible but as in incredibly appalling, yes.
No one is worth in excess of eight million bucks a year - not Vachon, not an Olbermann anchorman, not an American financier - no one.
Yeah, EIGHT SURE IS ENOUGH INDEED.
It was way too much, in fact!
We're going back to a maximum of ***3*** topics per post as of our very NEXT update here - PROMISE!
Sempre Por O Melhor!!!
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posted by Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ at 2:02 PM
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