Archive for October, 2009
Wednesday Open Thread: October 7th 2009
What’s on your mind this Wednesday?
What stories are you reading that you think others would find interesting — post your links here and share!
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A lot of people are talking about the stupidity in NASA bombing the moon this week “to look for water”. This reminds us of the scene in a recent craptactular version of The Time Machine where idiots tried to dig “lunar colonies” on the Moon and ended up screwing up the orbit, causing the moon to break up and violently change life on Earth. Like this:
With China and India now sending missions into space, and screwing around on the moon themselves, we all should have pause. India, especially, has a great deal of ambition but very little sense in all that it does. If liberals in this country think our government is so bad for the environment and our industries are destroying the planet, they should travel to India. Most of that country is an open sewer. Animals are killed for fun gleefully. There is zero respect for nature or human life if it gets in the way of what the privileged class wants. If anyone is stupid enough to dig lunar colonies and cause the moon to fall out of orbit, it’s India. NASA bombing the moon just gives those fools ideas they should never have.
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Here’s another cautionary tale about the lottery — a man who won the (at the time) largest jackpot in history blew through all the money and is now living in a trailer on his small social security check. All the money went to fancy homes and lavish vacations, or gambled away on horse races.
Back in Cleveland, where one of us grew up, the lottery was the be-all and end-all of dreams and life ambitions. ”Someday I’ll win the lottery” was a life strategy…in the way that “hope” is a military and policy strategy for the current president. No one bothered to think of an idea to make themselves money or try anything entrepreneurial. No one attempted to better themselves through hard work (or Heaven forbid, exercise). Nope. ”I’ll just win the lottery someday”. Idiots blow through FORTUNES betting on sports teams, horses, raffle tickets, lotteries, etc. All because they see some schmuck who wins a big jackpot…but they never pay attention to what happens to these “winners” later.
Sometimes being handed a big pile of money you didn’t earn and don’t know what to do with is a very bad thing. See also: the Trillion Dollars in stimulus spending the current White House forced through Congress in February.
Someone needs to Mod the new Tropico game into a Dr. Utopia strategy parody
Here’s a post that might go over a lot of people’s heads if you don’t play computer games, but indulge a geek-out from us for a moment.
The only computer games we’ve ever liked playing are city-building strategy games…where you are the mayor, emperor, caeser, or president in charge of building a city from the ground up, managing its resources, creating employment and industry, and keeping your citizens healthy and happy. Our favorites in this genre are Caesar III, Pharaoh, Zeus, Emperor (all three from Sierra Studios) and a game called Tropio, where you build a Caribbean island nation up from the ground.
The latest in the Tropico series, Tropico 3, is coming out, and has all sorts of personalization features for what sort of dictator you want to be. From a Fidel Castro type military leader, to a Hugo Chavez-esque lunatic, to an Eva Peron fashionista fascist. You name it, you can create it.
Game “modding” is something many of you might be unfamiliar with as well — this is when programmers take an existing game’s software and “modify” it (hence the “mod) in some way to turn it into something else visually and thematically, while keeping the same game engine. For instance, there was a great game called Star Trek Armada II (where you build a fleet of Romulan, Federation, Klingon, etc. starships and battle the other Star Trek races with all sorts of cool superweapons) that programmers modified to use Star Wars ships instead.
They had to go into the files and change all the existing ships into Star Destroyers or rebel X-wings, etc., making a Star Wars game that George Lucas never had sense enough to make on his own.
We do not have the computer skills to be able to pull off a “mod”. We wish we did, but there’s not enough time in the day to get to everything we want to do…so we’ll never be able to “mod”, no matter how much we want to.
But, SOMEONE out there sure could have some fun with the Tropico 3 engine if they wanted to.
It is RIPE for modding into a Dr. Utopia game…where he is a playable character, along with Mrs. Utopia, and the two of them conspire to create the socialist paradise they’ve always dreamed of, through redistribution of wealth and liberal use of the Alinsky playbook.
The possibilities are endless.
Alas, our talents are limited, or we’d make this happen ourselves.
But, instead, we’ll just put this idea out there…and hope someone does something with it someday.
If collapsing DVD sales are forcing major cuts in Hollywood, how does that impact Democrats' 2010 and 2012 fundraising?
Here’s an interesting story about DVD sales collapsing. For the last five years or so, studios have been relying HEAVILY on DVD sales, as theater attendance has been tanking and the profit-sharing deals for feature films has left the studios with less and less cash. Add on top of this the fact that Hollywood has been churning out one CGI crapfest after another, with little imagination amidst all that generic animation, and it’s been a recipe for disaster for all involved (but mostly – let’s be honest – for people who actually like watching good movies).
We read the talented Nikki Finke’s blog, Deadline Hollywood Daily, every day, first thing in the morning, not for Hollywood news but to see how what’s going on there could impact politics.
Hollywood and trial lawyers are Democrats’ two biggest money streams. If either, or both, of those dry up, Dems are in serious trouble for 2010 and 2012, when they will need all that money most.
No one in the political commentary world is picking up on this — but it seems obvious to us. All of the studios, agencies, and entertainment companies are cutting staff. Magazines like Gourmet and Modern Bride are shuttering, laying off hundreds of Ivy League educated, white, urban, professionals — all indoctrinated in the same schools, with the same Dem blinders forever on.
All of these people being fired are liberals…liberals who, until so recently in this The Golden Age of Hope and Change and Rainbow Sneezing Unicorns, made a lot of money and used to give heavily to Democrats.
Now that these people are unemployed, doesn’t it seem like political donations will be the first things they cut?
Hera knows they won’t be skimping on the Mystique Tan or the Rogaine, folks. And the charitable donations to Greenpeace or the Sierra Club or whatever are still great for PR. But, what can donations to the DNC really do for these Hollywood types when they’re unemployed?
They’d rather keep their vanilla soy cinnamon pumpkin mocha-chinos and their Itunes bebopping, thank you very much Bob’s Big Boy Governor Tim Kaine, DNC Chair.
Just watch…there is a very, very good chance an entire network will go down before the 2012 elections. NBC is in very dire straights, and MSNBC is consistently lower rated than the Cat Fancy and Model Train Enthusiast channels on cable. In fact, completely unplugging the cable and watching blank, nails-on-the-chalkboard, Heather O’Rourke-style white static on the TV is more enjoyable than spending an hour with Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann.
Hollywood and the MSM at large bet everything on Dr. Utopia and linked themselves inextricably to him.
As his popularity and power fade, so will theirs, it seems.
And as it does, things come full circle so that impoverished Hollywood has less money to prop up The Lightbringer and all his cronies.
Keep your eyes on Hollywood for no other reason than what happens there, doesn’t stay there…unlike Vegas, it all resonates in Washington, for sure.
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Related: Here’s Nikki Fink’s take on why David Letterman won’t be investigated for sexual harassment by CBS. In a (withered, disgusting, pervy) nutshell, it’s because Letterman’s boss, Les Moonves, also sleeps with subordinates…and the ultimate big boss over there, Sumner Redstone, does the same damn thing. So, since all of them diddle the helpless wage-slaves under them, believing they are gods with invincible thunder sticks for weiners, they protect each other and Letterman’s allowed to do the vile, porcine things he does with reckless abandon.
Next ACORN scandal: direct connection between ACORN and 2008 Obama campaign
Here’s is what we are hearing on the ground here in Chicago…but we don’t have a lot more than just bits and pieces.
We have told you over and over again what the lot of us witnessed in Iowa, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana in terms of Dr. Utopia’s campaign workers using intimidation, fraud, and downright nastiness and evil to game the Democrats’ caucus and primary system.
All of these tactics are Alinsky method approaches ACORN itself uses.
We have long believed the Obama campaign, at its highest levels, gave direct orders to ACORN and its volunteers, as well as $800,000 in funding, to make sure Dr. Utopia won the Iowa caucus in particular. We know for a fact busloads of Chicagoans were bused down to Iowa to vote in those caucuses, even though they were not Iowa residents. Plans were in place to make sure no one stopped them…and we believe ACORN was behind those plans, and ACORN members were at those caucus sites causing all the problems.
We’re hearing that ever since the White House started to distance itself from ACORN and ACORN itself realized it’s going under, that ACORN members are now coming forward to talk about Dr. Utopia’s 2008 campaign.
This could get very, very interesting…and is one of the things we have long wanted exposed.
And Dr. Utopia is on record saying he knows nothing about ACORN and has never been involved with them — though we all know that’s a big lie.
How is he going to explain it when it’s proved his campaign used ACORN and the SEIU as field muscle to game the caucus states, in particular?
More as we hear further on this…but it’s something to watch out for.
Narcissism in the White House cost Chicago the Olympics
George Will has a great article out that made us think about something everyone else seems to be overlooking.
Will talks, at length, about how inappropriate it was for the current president and first lady to travel to Copenhagen, at great taxpayer expense, and deliver remarks wholly centered on themselves. Mrs. Utopia said the words “I”, “me”, “mine, mine, mine”, more times than most people can count (but Will did). Her husband, The Lightbringer, was almost as bad. Mrs. Utopia told bizarre stories about being a 20 year old, bouncing up and down and sitting on her aged father’s lap, watching Carl Lewis win his medal (while also cheering against the United States and in favor of the Soviet Union’s Olga Korbitt). The two of them talked about how close the Olympics would be to the house convicted felon Tony Rezko helped them buy in Chicago…a house so near unrepentant domestic terrorists William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, Louis Farrakhan, and other unsavory types it would be like living down the street from Dracula, Frankenstein, and Oprah Winfrey themselves.
Shudder.
But, the Utopias said the IOC should give Chicago the Olympics because it would make things so convenient for them — they could look out their windows and see the Olympics, could walk their children to the Games (especially since we hope the lot of them are indeed living in Chicago again in 2016, after Utopia’s single term…but something tells us they’ll all be in Honolulu, far from Chicago starting in 2013).
Here’s where things are interesting to us: the Chicago Olympics Committee and the White House BOTH claim Chicago was slotted to be in the “top two, at least” before the Utopias (with Oprah in tow) landed in Denmark.
Before any of the three of them opened their narcissistic mouths, Chicago was in the top two, according to all reports.
In Chicago itself, people in the City government were so confident Chicago would win that we kept hearing, over and over again, that “it’s in the bag”.
But, then Dr. Utopia flew to Denmark and followed his wife’s spoiled, indulged, me-me-ME!, remarks with the special brand of narcissism of his own.
And Chicago fell flat on its face, a DISTANT FOURTH, instead of making it to the last round of voting as expected.
Does anyone else see what we see: that Chicago’s Olympics bid really does seem to have been stronger, and had a better chance, if Mrs. Utopia in particular never opened her mouth?
Sarah Palin's at it again! Another ninja throwing star via Facebook
We. Love. This. Woman.
Sarah Palin’s at it again…this time a Facebook message about why we must win in Afghanistan, supporting General McChrystal as the current president continues to hem and haw and insist “hope for the best” is a proper military strategy.
Someone please remind us why it’s appropriate for the POTUS to be yucking it up with George Lopez in TV commercials and jetting off to Copenhagen to embarrass himself and others while THERE IS A WAR GOING ON that needs the Commander in Chief’s attention.
Couldn’t agree with Palin more on this:
For two years as a candidate, Senator Obama called for more resources for the war in Afghanistan and warned about the consequences of failure. As President, he announced a comprehensive new counterinsurgency strategy and handpicked the right general to execute it. Now General McChrystal is asking for additional troops to implement the strategy announced by President Obama in March. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers in harm’s way in Afghanistan right now. We owe it to all those brave Americans serving in uniform to give them the tools they need to complete their mission.
We can win in Afghanistan by helping the Afghans build a stable representative state able to defend itself. And we must do what it takes to prevail. The stakes are very high. The 9/11 attacks were planned in Afghanistan, and if we are not successful there, al Qaeda will once again find a safe haven, the Taliban will impose its cruelty on the Afghan people, and Pakistan will be less stable.
Our allies and our adversaries are watching to see if we have the staying power to protect our interests in Afghanistan. I recently joined a group of Americans in urging President Obama to devote the resources necessary in Afghanistan and pledged to support him if he made the right decision. Now is not the time for cold feet, second thoughts, or indecision — it is the time to act as commander-in-chief and approve the troops so clearly needed in Afghanistan.
- Sarah Palin
This is a damn shame, because we used to like pistachios.
Pistachio growers are using Levi Johnston in their advertising.
We can’t remember the last time we bought pistachios, but certainly won’t be rushing out to buy them now.
It’s been years since we had pistachio ice cream, either, and that used to be a favorite too.
But, with money tight and snacks and treats the first things to go, we certainly won’t be making any splurges on anything pistachio-related in the near future. Companies that think Levi is a bodyguard and papparazzi-worthy celebrity certainly don’t deserve our patronage.
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UPDATE: It looks like Johnston is really going to pose nude for Playgirl…but doesn’t know whether they’ll show his “front or his back”.
We think it’s marvelous this clown is completely discrediting himself like this.
It’s going to make it really hard for the MSM to continue to use him to attack the Palins when every article written about him from now on will include pictures of his bare Alaskan butt and teeny weiner (from what we hear…thanks to our friend Wess for the tip on that…so to speak).
It is almost as fun watching Johnston destroy himself as it was watching HRH Princess Caroline of Kennedy make a fool of herself in her own right last December.
Maybe after his shoot Johnston can get a job here in Chicago working at The Lucky Horseshoe on Halsted, where we’d love to stuff nickels in his g-string, because that’s just about all he’s worth. (And apparently there’s a lot of extra room in that g-string to fit a whole mess of nickels, if you know what we mean).
UPDATE #2: FYI, Playgirl Magazine folded in January 2009…but Playgirl as an entity continues. Some of you are confused about that. There is no longer a printed magazine, but Playgirl exists as a website that mostly gay men go to. Accounts vary, but someone at Playgirl actually admitted once that only 30% of its readers were women. We bet even less women go to the website…because internet porn is truly a male domain…with gay men in particular spending the most time in the adult world.
It’s just a short time before Johnston starts guesting at FratPad or doing videos for Sean Cody or the Chi Chi La Rue gay-for-pay brands.
There’s certainly a market for a goodlooking idiot like him to make a decent amount of money being as naked and shameless as possible.
UPDATE #3: While we hate the commercial above, and have made our feelings clear on Levi, we LOVE the green Alaska shirt he’s wearing.
Does anyone know where it’s sold? We’d love to have one or two of those, size medium, to promote Alaska around Chicago. It’s guaranteed anything Alaska will invoke a discussion on Palin here, which we always welcome.
Can anyone identify where that shirt is sold and give us a link so we can buy one?
Thanks!
Tuesday Open Thread: October 6th, 2009
What’s on your mind this Tuesday?
Did you see Michelle Malkin’s post on the cost of Dr. and Mrs. Utopia jetting off to Copenhagen in support of Chicago’s failed Olympics bid? It costs over $100,000 an hour to fly Air Force One. Add on top of that the fact Mrs. Utopia arrived in Copenhagen on a separate flight, with Oprah Winfrey aboard, not to mention other cronies like Valerie Jarrett, and the real costs of this jet-setting is in the tens of millions (all that support staff, several Cabinet members, all of those armored limousines, the hotel rooms, the fuel costs, the air crews, etc.).
And that’s all on top of what Chicago blew on the Olympics on its own.
It’s staggering. Really and truly staggering.
Great Merciful Zeus! Gourmet Magazine and Modern Bride are being shut down!
This is a real shocker…but Conde Nast is shutting down both Gourmet Magazine and Modern Bride…all because readership in the MSM, at large, plummeted in 2008.
Here’s what we think is happening: OBVIOUSLY, there are many variables in play, with the main one being that people no longer have any money to buy food let alone glossy magazines, no matter how much they love them. But, in a larger sense, so many people looked at the MSM’s cheerleading for Dr. Utopia and all the propaganda these liberal writers and “journalists” have spewed out in the last year that almost everyone we know has stopped watching TV, stopped going to movies, stopped reading magazines, and have turned almost exclusively to Internet sites they like for the news and entertainment.
We have no idea what’s happening in the rest of the country, but this is what’s going on with people we know. Ourselves included. One of our favorite magazines used to be Vanity Fair, but damn it if we’ll ever buy another issue of it because of all the Hillary and Sarah bashing those elites at their keyboards indulged in over there.
The MSM is completely out of touch with reality and regular Americans.
True, Gourmet and Modern Bride weren’t exactly Kool-Aid water carriers for Utopia, so they’re victims caught in the crosshairs of something much, much bigger.
There is a very real possibility that NBC could go under within the next few years. All of its shows are tanking. Jay Leno’s primetime yawnfest is a disaster. GE’s looking to unload its entertainment divisions for a song.
This coincides perfectly with the networks of NBC turning themselves into Dr. Utopia’s personal mouthpiece…and people have been turned off…and now they are tuning out…in droves, it seems.
Vanity Fair will probably fold soon itself. You might not know this, but it already folded once before…the magazine was big in the early part of the Twentieth Century, lost its way and its readers, then came back in the 1980s. It looks like Graydon Carter has finally run it into the ground again. We would not pick up dog feces with it these days. The National Enquirer is more accurate, newsworthy, and enjoyable.
What do you think will be the next MSM related show, network, or publication to go under. We don’t believe The Chicago Tribune is long for this world either.
What think you?
Happy Birthday Garlic!
Happy Birthday to one of our favorite commenters here…someone who we consider a real and true friend (just one who we hope to actually meet in person some day).
Thanks for all of your wisdom, spirit, support, and encouragement. You are a real American original and truly one of the favorite people we “met” during the campaigns.
We can’t imagine working on this site without your remarks and feedback and wish you as much positivity and love today as you put out in the world — which is a LOT, to be sure.
Love you, Garlic.
Happy, happy, happy birthday to you!
(Here’s a little Elvis Costello singing to Hillary Clinton on her birthday in 2007, too!)










