Herself should play by pub rules

Started playing with some numbers. It struck me how different the dems and pubs are in choosing delegates. Is one system better? One party is campaigning for the general election right now, including foreign trips already completed. The other party is gnawing off its own leg below the knee to try to free itself from the predicament it put itself into. You can talk amongst yourselves and come to a consensus answer: It takes a village to _________?

I came to a conclusion: If the dems used pub rules, Herself would win the nomination with ease.

A couple of avenues to explore …

First, the pubs have 5% of their total delegates designated as “super-delegates,” those amorphous beings with PACs waiting to receive contributions from presidential campaigns are they contemplate their endorsement. The dems? 19%. Funny thing, too (like “funny” pathetic, not ha-ha), is that the majority of the dems supers are unelected party figures.

So, first, let’s recalculate the delegate totals by state to 95% pledged and 5% super. The 794 present supers (until the page is turned in the client list book) drops to 202.

Next, let’s switch to the winner-take-all approach of the pubs, as opposed to the proportional allocation the dems use.

Before any changes, the pledged delegates are: O'bambi, 1,677; Herself 1,515.

Recast existing pledged delegates as described above: O'bambi, 1,529; Herself 1,659.

Roles reversed. Who’d be calling for O’bambi to drop out, eh?

Future contests: O'bambi - Guam, Indiana, NC, Oregon, Montana, and SD. Herself - PA (my home state), WV, Kentucky, and Puerto Rico.

Expected pledged counts: O'bambi, 1,851; Herself, 1,991. So very close to 2,024.

Of the 202 super-delegates, O'bambi would need 173, or 86%. Herself would need just 33, or 16%.

The last adjustment is one that just befuddles me. Both pubs and dems rule books provide for a 50% hit in delegate counts for violating scheduling provisions. So Michigan and Florida both violate the scheduling dictates of both parties. The pubs say, “OK, 50% hit!” The dems say, “OK, no delegates for you!”

Hunh? They can’t write a rule and a sanction in advance and uniformly enforce it? if the sanction wasn’t good enough, then change the rule book. Duh?

Presume they merely enforced them: Give Herself half of Florida's recast pledged - 95 delegates. Clinched.

Poor, poor Herself. What a remarkable way to run a party.

Not sure why, but I feel like adding this note. This website has the draw of an impending train wreck. Claims to be a completely anonymous way to send e’s to people. I detest finding things like this. I know I won’t use it, but it is soooo inviting.

taking it like a man

Oh my! I just read some harsh words about Herself. It certainly deserves a “yeah, right” when I write that I often wondered why Herself has never played up or talked about Herself’s role on the Nixon Congressional investigation team. Maybe this is why:

“Because she was a liar,” Zeifman [Herself’s supervisor on the project] said in an interview last week. “She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer. She conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of the committee and the rules of confidentiality.”

Oh my! Those are harsh words indeed! The article is interesting reading about how she removed documents from a publicly accessible area and then wrote a legal brief as if the contents of those documents did not exist. Sounds vaguely familiar to what one of her henchman did when he placed documents from the National Archives in his socks in an attempt to steal them.

Is there a there, there? The article again: The [legal] brief [written by herself] was so fraudulent and ridiculous, Zeifman believes Hillary would have been disbarred if she had submitted it to a judge.

Oh my! I am certain these are not good times for Herself. A liar? Unethical? Oh my!

D’jver just want to break out in song?

Mine eyes have seen the glory
Of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage
Where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning
Of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.

We used to sing that in grade school in the 1960s. Bet they don’t anymore. Where’s the ACLU when you need them most?

I just entered another blogger’s contest. I couldn’t focus on what she wanted, so I randomized my answer. she wrote me! seems pretty cool. she has an iPhone. must be in debt up to her earlobes.

I’m going through my links. Amazing what you find in there, eh? I think these were shorts that amused me some time ago. Seems my link was from a subpage in 2004. Here’s the home page. I just went through 11 pages before my twin popped on line. Didn’t find anything too good. Forget I mentioned it.

When’d I get compromised? Friday? My how time flies when you are trying to rid yourself of being holed by a five-foot camera. Well, I just wanted to share that I seem to be in a repacking mode still. Seems that Fleets stuff emptied the warehouse. Closing off the fourth day without a, a movement thingey. I’ll keep you posted. Yeah, you’re welcome.

I just remembered why I am cranky. In October – maybe even September – I wrote Cyndi Lauper with the full SASE and all that jazz. I nicely asked for a signed pic for my daughter for Christmas. That guy from Dirty Jobs came through. Hell, Drew Carey sent four! Did Cyndi? No. WTF, girl? The link is her address. Somebody harass her. I don’t want to in case she’s just busy and is going to send the pic, and didn’t because I harassed her. I’m smart like that.

Herself lies, flashback

Let’s pick on Herself for a bit. I can’t give a link for this story because I grabbed it off a fee-based search engine. Just trust me, or find it via alternative means. On November 10, 2001, The New York Post published on page 10 a story called, Chelsea Rebuts Mom's Story.

It seems Hillary needed a personal connection to the September 11 tragedy. She didn’t have one, of course, being from New York in the same way that Bobby Kennedy was from New York, so she made one up.

Roll tape …

HILLARY and Chelsea Clinton should have gotten their stories straight (what a great opening. They teach this stuff in journalism school, right? Education is such a wonderful thing). It turns out there are glaring discrepancies (do tell!) in their accounts of what Chelsea was doing on the morning of Sept. 11.

Appearing on NBC's "Dateline" shortly after the World Trade Center attack, Sen. Clinton told viewers how her daughter had cheated death on that fateful morning. (Cheated death? Cheated death? Think, think, think … sounds similar, pray tell, to the dodging-bullets-on-the-runway scene, no?)

"[Chelsea] had gone on what she thought would be a great jog," Clinton explained. "She was going down to Battery Park, she was going to go around the towers. She was going to get a cup of coffee and - that's when the plane hit!" (THIS is the best part of Herself. Never just one misperceived observation, you know, like a shade difference, or – “yeah, ok, you’re not right but I can see that, too.” Naw. Not Herself. We got 1. An activity; 2. A route; 3. A planned event afterward; and 4. A climax! Problem is, of course, of the 42 words, only the last three – the plane hit – are true. This girl is soooo funny.)

Clinton went on to share her fear and confusion when she could not get in touch with her daughter and didn't know where she was. (Ah, but read below. Tell me, tell me, tell me. Chels relates that she “talked briefly with an aide to her mother before the phone lines went dead.” We all know Herself’s iron grip – do you believe for a split second that the staffer did not seek Herself out? Talking to Chels would be information worth a smile or a please-do-not-hit-me card. It is impossible to believe this information did not get to Herself.)

"At that moment, she was not just a senator, but a concerned parent," Katie Couric told "Today" viewers the next morning. (Oh god, I just vomited. BRB …)

As cyber-columnist Matt Drudge reports, the result was widespread media coverage that portrayed Hillary, who was not in New York at the time, as a concerned and distraught mom who had personal ties to the WTC tragedy.

But Chelsea, who had declined to give any interviews, has broken her long silence by writing a first-hand account in Talk magazine. She reveals she wasn't jogging that morning (you don’t say!), and was actually miles away from the disaster (oh my!), safely ensconced in a pal's apartment on Park Avenue South.

"I stared senselessly at the television," Chelsea writes. She notes that she talked briefly with an aide to her mother before the phone lines went dead. She then ventured out on her own to try and find a public phone to call Hillary.

"Looking uptown I saw that every phone in view was surrounded by people. Then I looked downtown, the direction everyone was coming from; I assumed the lines would be shorter and went south. People told me later that I had been 12 blocks from the Towers . . ."

"I do remember standing in line at a phone somewhere and hearing a deafening rumble . . . a man standing next to me in line . . . said that one of the Towers had just collapsed," Chelsea recalls.

Calls to Clinton's office were not returned.

(Get this … still laughing …) The piece in Talk indicates Chelsea is as politically savvy as her parents. One of her first thoughts was, "I was worried that with the tax cut, we wouldn't have enough money to repair New York and D.C. and to help the families of the thousands I knew must have died." (Major attack under way – maybe a warzone in NYC – and she’s thinking about federal revenue from a Keynesian perspective. No, I do not believe it.)

A couple of hours later, "Once we stopped running I started praying," Chelsea relates. "I prayed for my country and my city. I stopped berating the tax cut and started praying the president would rise to lead us." (Funny. Just goes to show you the difference in world views. The first thing I do is pray. She does it last, and the press atheistic press laps away.)

herself flambé

This whole story about Herself sprinting off the empty tarmac to dodge bullets in Bosnia is erupting. Funny how the press is just now paying attention.

Without any historical footage or research minions, I ripped her version three months ago - even before Iowa and NH. This is why the press sucks at what it does.

I love being right ... my words, December 31 2007: Oh. So outrageously dangerous that you took your KID? Are you a poor parent or just exaggerating the danger of the trip? How about this – the journalist writing this piece is a bigger moron than you, Puff-babe. He MISSED this obvious issue? Yeah, and I am sure that Sinbad and Sheryl are really into risking their lives, too. This is pathetic.

rambling

Yeah, ok, I’ll get off my ass and write for a bit. Too much swirling around my head taking too much of my focus to be sure not to get caught right between the eyes with some well-aimed golf ball cruising in like its satellite guided to focus on writing here, but, yeah, you’re right, that’s just an excuse (embedded in a rather long sentence).

This must suck. This chick gets about five grand up front to run some heroin from Vietnam to Australia. Gonna get ten more when she delivers the few pounds. Gets busted at the airport. She checked the heroin. WTF? But that’s not the worse of it. She got life in prison. No, still not the worst of it. The prosecution appealed the sentence. Now she gets a firing squad. Drugs are bad for your health.

For a variety of reasons, I think we are in a recession – not the classical kind defined by contracting GDP, but the real kind where people lose their jobs.

Herself’s daily calendar gets released after being heavily redacted. Phone records next. Herself’s story is falling apart. Yoko Ono was not a Beatle; Herself was merely present in the White House.

Gotta love out-in-the-open socialism. This clown says that too many enjoy flying for personal pleasure should be taxed out of existence. Relax, pal.

“Daddy, why does mommy have to go to prison?” “Seems she plotted to blow up things, and killed a man during a bank robbery.” “Silly mommy!” Sara Jane Olson, SLA, gets out after 7 years. What an insult. The guy she shot still dead? UPDATE: Seems it was a woman that was killed in the bank lobby, and her son is not pleased that Sara is out. UPDATE 2: Seems the California Penal Guys aren't happy she's out, either. They miscalculated her release date. She's been whisked off the streets and tossed back in for another year. Ouch.


I love an article that ends with “The explosion vaporized any planet nearby.”

Seems the legacy media is finally agreeing that Herself cannot win the nomination. She is sticking around long enough to see if O’Bambi implodes. What a sad conclusion to an otherwise pathetic political career. The only time she ever led was before a single vote was cast. She has never led the delegates or popular vote. Not for a single day.

These links are guarded like a horde of golden bricks by us Beatles bootleg collectors, but I’m feeling generous. You’re welcome. Here and here and here. Here are your reference pages. Yeah, I got more. No, you can’t have them.

Some files come in FLAC or SHN format. Seems to be some high quality something or other. Search the net for “Magical Jelly Bean” to convert SHNs. Also search for WinAmp and FLAC conversion – there’s a simple way to convert by changing the output. Finally, I like Switch (another free program) to change WAVs to MP3s.

it is to laugh

Sometimes the perfect phrase brings such clarity. Hillary is ready to be Commander in Chief? But she didn't even has a security clearance! But she never attended any briefings! But, but, but ... no wait.

"Saying that Hillary has Executive Branch experience is like saying Yoko Ono was a Beatle."

wyoming

UPDATE - and in Mississippi, too. 61-39. Takes delegates 19-14. The month of March, he takes delegates 208-207. Herself has yet to win a month.

Obama holds serve in Wyoming. Wins 59-40, gets the 7-5 split on delegates I used in my previous posts.

Let's play "Making Toast!" The toaster oven door was already open ... with Wyoming, the tray comes out. Mississippi on Tuesday.

herself must be smoking something

Herself’s problem is that when Herself wins, Herself loses. It all comes down to numbers of delegates. Nothing else matters. Everything Herself says about Herself’s successes is to sway tomorrow’s voting to get tomorrow’s delegates.

Check the numbers and positions so far:

January: “We came back in NH!” The truth is that Herself fell from Herself’s 20-point lead and almost lost it outright.

Pledged delegate counts for the month: Obama, 63; Herself 48.

Super Tuesday: “We won the big states! We won where it mattered!” Herself actually said that – “where it mattered.” Like the other states didn’t?

Pledged delegate counts for Super Tuesday: Obama, 842; Herself 828.

February: “(Silence).”

Pledged delegate counts for the month: Obama, 287; Herself 158.5.

March: “We’re back!”

Pledged delegate counts for the month: Obama, 170; Herself 177. Note that there are 20 Texas caucus delegates left to award, and Obama has taken the 47 awarded by 28-19 (which gives him the outright delegate win in Texas). At that rate, Obama wins the last group 12-8, reducing Herself’s monthly “win” to a net 3.

What I find remarkable is that all the press accounts ask “what went wrong? She was the presumptive nominee. It was hers to lose.” I don’t get that. The only time it was “hers to lose” was before anyone voted. The only coronation was by the press. From the very first votes, Herself has been behind. Herself has never led for even a single day. And now that a very large sampling of the voters have cast, Herself is down 600,000 votes.

Everything about Herself is smoke and mirrors. There ain’t be no there, there.

quick political shot

The results could not have been better in the dem primaries. Herself takes Ohio and Texas, but makes up little delegate ground. Still down over a hundred. The nationwide popular vote is Herself's by a mere 6,000 votes out of 27 million (UPDATE - these data must have included Michigan and Florida - Obama is up by 600,000 in the popular vote).

This was like a dying patient getting a blood transfusion, maybe that bag of white blood cells. A spark of life, a claim to vitality, while we all look at Herself and smile, check our watches, and smile again.

No one will convince Herself that this is not Her Turn. No matter what comes in November, if She is not the dem candidate, then 2012 will be completely lost to Her. She will be long past Her expiration date. And look at how Her fellow senators have all lined up against Her - She has debts to settle on the side of people's heads NOW. This is Her only chance. She will not bow out.

She is going to travel into uncharted territories now, having seen the 'Bama blood She can draw in the primary results. Herself is about to go nuclear, like a rancid and dangerous stowaway on the SS Minnow that vexes the Professor, Skipper, and Gilligan episode after episode.

If She does stand in August declaring, "Victory is Mine!" then all around Her will be the smoldering remains of the dem party.

She cannot open a lead in pledged delegates - the math is not there. 'Bama will enter the convention with a pledged delegate and probably popular vote lead. If Herself takes the nomination through unpledged delegates, the populace of 'Bama backers will not follow. I also think 'Bama, if he isn't too tarnished, will get an independent run financed by Mike Bloomberg. Either scenario puts McCain in the White House.

Last night was probably the worst thing that could have happened to Herself. She just doesn't know it. Sometimes the best medicine is unplugging the ventilator. But for now, isn't it nice to see Herself smiling again? I can still picture Her so giddy and full of energy as She trampled into the ground those that stood in Her way 20 years ago.

"Phew! What's that smell? Oh yeah, I forgot. Her colon shut down a few days after Super Tuesday. Man, all due respect, lady, but would you kindly die? You're fouling the air all around you."

obama's rough ride

It takes 2,025 delegates to win the dem nomination. Under their system, however, over 19% are unpledged and can enter the convention floor and vote for any candidate they choose. In order for Obama to secure the nomination, he needs to win a supermajority prior to the convention. By my calculations, in order to silence Hillary, he needs to win 60% of the remaining total delegates.

Going to open-source-and-always-fun-if-not-frightful-to-cite answers dot com, I found a context for these numbers. There are currently 4,049 total delegates to the Democratic National Convention, including 3,253 pledged delegates and 796 superdelegates. The total number of delegate votes needed to win the nomination is 2,025.

As an aside, there are currently 2,380 total delegates to the Republican National Convention, including 1,917 pledged delegates and 463 unpledged delegates all but 123 of the unpledged delegates are vote assigned. The total number of delegate votes needed to win the nomination is 1,191. Bottom line to this digression? 19.4% of the dem delegates can vote for any candidate they choose, compared to only 5% of the pub delegates.

I suggest that 2,025 is not the real number to secure the nomination for Obama. It is 2,183. He needs not just a split on pledged, but a supermajority of unpledged in order to lock those folks into casting according to popular vote.

Pick a number to represent the supermajority, but I am going to assume that number of is 70%. Anything less and Herself is on a level playing field. One-half of the unpledged is 1,626; 70% of the pledged is 557. The total Obama needs is 2,183.

According to CNN, here’s the pledged and unpledged dem counts so far: Omaba, pledged 908, unpledged 131, total 1,039; Herself, pledged 877, unpledged 223, total 1,100. There are 1,910 total delegates left, both pledged and unpledged.

With 2,183 delegates coming from primaries and caucuses as the goal, Obama needs 2,183 less 1,039, or 1,144. With 1,910 left to be decided (4,049 less 2,139), Obama needs 60% to achieve the goal.

So now the superdelegates and pundits are talking. Maybe they’ve done the same math and realize that 60% is a tall order. Chris Bowers, whoever the hell he is (even though he is from my home state), says he will quit the dem party if the superdelegate vote goes against the popular vote. Donna Brazile says the same thing.

Conversely, Ann Althouse, “a check on freewheeling democracy.” (Hunh?) Glenn at Instapundit, says he understands the logic (I guess something akin to a judicial function in government), but that Ann’s “attitude is not going to be shared by many people who've spent the last nearly-8 years claiming that winning the popular vote is more important than winning the electoral vote.”

More than interesting … are all of the remaining runway walks proportional delegate allocations? If Herself gets a winner-take-all contest by a couple of points, the 60% climbs quickly.

i wasn't angry when i started to write ...

In a post entitled, Pravda, tagged Humor, and offered up on 2/8/8, one of my daily blog reads relays a line I will find useful at some time in the future. To wit:

It's been reported that proud Soviet automakers challenged their American counterparts to a competition at the Brussels World's Fair in 1958.

A Swiss engineer made an exhaustive comparison of a Soviet and an American car, and he favored the American.

After an awkward pause, the Soviet press reported that "in a recent international auto competition, the Russian car placed second and the American car was next to last."

White snow flaked
Onto the humped-over dog
She shivered
As her canine colon
Released its brown mass.
The accumulated snow
Caressed its steamy gift.

Interesting video of a six-gill shark at 3,300 feet. Massive. I muted the sound – people narrating live video allows annoy me.



If you follow this link after being told what it is, then you need to seriously review your life. The intro screen explains it … seems it is a staring game like we did as kids. The woman on the screen will eventually blink. Go for it, loser. And if you lose but keep on trying or seem to enjoy winning a bit too much, go here.

This thing called fuzzmail looks like it could fun. It records your typing an e – including pauses, adds, changes, deletes, etc., and then sends a link to the receiver of your e so they can read the e as you typed it. A little thought can result in something rather humorous.

Alright, enough about them – what about me? Trying to change banks so I can begin to control what little money I seem to have left. Because I never got one reissued, I need a new driver’s license because I moved a couple of years ago. The local DMV does DLs on Thursdays. One day. That’s it. I will not give up. Tired of money not being available when I know damn well it should be.

I have four trips in the next 5 or 6 weeks, Virginia and Connecticut twice each. Boston needs to fit in there, too. Just underscores that I need to get my finances baselined and under my sole control.

I ended a major project on Friday by releasing for review 19 applications at an average of 150 pages each. I am still staring ten miles away after the dry-heave stage of those docs finally ended. Took me five weeks at hyper speed to generate them.

WT PIAPS is all in a huff about MSNBC saying they “pimped out” Webster Hubbell’s daughter. Well, she was pimped out. She was calling super delegates and saying, “you are not voting for Senator Clinton, you are voting for my mom.” How pathetic. Young lady, your mom’s job description is basically domestic and emotional. The President of the United States is precisely the opposite. Clinton had a child making some emotional plea – yeah, pimped out. What’s the issue here?

Last political note. Obama is going to clean up today and the next few days. Listen to WT PIAPS not speak of him at all – she will down play the victories as “expected” and will shift her discussion to attacked McCain. “Expected”? Why, because of the number of blacks in those states? Because of – what, exactly? Washington State is somewhat pale, eh? I’ll tell you why they are expected. She ONLY does well in large states where she has bought her votes since the co-presidency of 1992/3-2000/1. Those states had something to offer so those were the only ones she paid any attention to. Small states were just that – small. So she ignored them. And is paying the price now.

Read an article about a dem that offered a competing health-care program with bipartisan support. To quote WT in a closed-door meeting with him, “We will crush you. You will wish you never mentioned this to me.” Hey, WT! Blow me. Arrogant bitch …

politics simplified a bit more

Romney is brilliant.

How, pray tell, does one drop out of race after scoring recognition as the only conservative worth anything in the race and then get labeled such an accolade as “brilliant”? Is this similar to a sportscaster’s use of the word when describing some otherwise fast-food-counter-boy’s catch of a football off his head for a 35-yard gain?

What a finely crafted set of interrogatories, my friend! Allow me kindly to elucidate and perhaps broaden your political understanding.

The premise is the old political adage that when your opponent is headed for the cliff, get out of the way.

Let’s marshal some facts …

We all know that Hillary is not made for long-term use. She cannot control her temper, she whines, she cries, she loses her voice, her money sources turn up dirty, her cold shrilly bitch self shines through like an illuminated 40-watt bulb behind so many rotted holes in old cardboard.

“What to do?” a girl asks herself in such a predicament. Why, move the primaries up! Bunch them so early that I can spend my way to an early coronation! Brilliant! (Yes, this is the sportscaster use of the term.)

But not everyone in Liberal Mecca agreed with her plan, and Michigan and Florida were stripped of their delegates. “No big loss,” Humungo Thighs mused, “I won’t need them!” But alas, it seems that she does … but I am getting ahead of myself!

We all know that the Clinton stock-in-trade is personal attacks. BJ Clinton was dispatched to South Carolina. Ut oh! Too bad, BJ, looks like ad hominine attacks are, shall we say, so 1990s, so passé.

So the Pig in a Pantsuit (hereafter, PIAPS) did not clean up on Super Tuesday. In fact, the deepest review of numbers shows she got her electoral clock cleaned. She is descending faster than Howard Dean after the yell in Iowa 2000. Can I get a YEEE HAAW?

The money game is also causing PIAPS quite the concern. Seems Obama is raising a million dollars a day. Every day. PIAPS is writing her own checks, and had the typical gall to suggest that her staff was working without pay – typical Clinton, “they offered. They said you [PIAPS] are doing your part, so we are going to do ours.” The statement hung out there for a news cycle, until it was confirmed that NO ONE went without even a single paycheck. White trash.

Oh, before I forget, since she was the only name on the ballot in Michigan and Obama upheld his pledge to the party to not campaign there, WT PIAPS won both contests – and promptly said that those states should have their delegates reinstated so as not to disenfranchise them. The request fell flat like an Uncle Buck pancake.

So now, it seems that she is in for a long fight. Obama has money and appeal. He is the only fresh face out there. WT PIAPS is old guard. Delegates are even. Obama owns the short-term momentum. It is lining up as a fight to the convention, just two months before the election.

Romney views all of this. He realized he was the only real threat to McCain. “Why did that piece of dirt from Arkansas/Illinois/New York/Your State Here want such an early Super Tuesday? Because with no incumbent, not even a seated VP running, the pubs would clearly fight it out. She could begin the national campaign in February, while we are still trashing each other until August. She could have a shadow government in place for months!”

Brilliant analysis! “Quiet, I’m thinking,” he says. “Sorry,” I intone. “So, now there are a set of facts clearly established on the table. Obama is in it for the long haul. He has a very real chance of getting the nomination. That gives him at the very least lifelong name recognition. He will be the face of a new generation financed on the presidential campaign fund. There is no way he is getting out. That ties up the dems through August. So I have to free up the pubs. Use WT’s own logic against her.”

Stunningly brilliant! In a twist to the old adage, instead of getting out of his opponent’s way – and be clear that the dems are the opponents – he took a quick side step, and then pushed her over the edge.

Pub VP? Thompson. Better be. Right now, if it is McCain v. Obama, I stay home. If it is McCain v. WT PIAPS, I vote. Only the pub VP will get me out in an Obama run. Ever see that jaw of McCain’s? What is that? He better have that looked at. Might be cancerous.

the doctor is in ... feb 08

(I am back from a well-deserved doctor’s respite at … well, nowhere. Just been busy with my day job. We have a new case – Red and Swollen Eye in a 61-Year-Old Man. Not sure what to make of it. Let’s start with the pic.)


(Oh, my! Somebody done poked that dude in the eye with a stick or something! Must’ve hurt. What’dya think it could be? Something about this guy looks dirty to me. Let’s get some data …)

BACKGROUND
A 61-year-old man presents to the emergency department (ED) with a 5-day history of pain with associated redness and swelling in his right eye. (“Five days,” you say. Uhunh … scribble scribble … ok.)

The patient had been diagnosed with herpes zoster (is that like Herpes Complex Z? Z?!? Z is like towards the end of the alphabet. That can’t be good) a few days before this presentation; he was discharged to home with a prescription for acyclovir and hydrocodone. (AAH—AAK—PSYCH—AAHPSYCH—LOVER. Acyclovir … got it here somewhere. OK, “first-time or repeat outbreaks of genital herpes.” This boy got sexed in his eyeball. That’s disgusting.)

Since he started taking acyclovir, the pain and swelling in his eye has increased. (Good. Done go have sex involving your eyeball it oughta hurt. At least now we know it weren’t no stick that got stuck there. Damn boy, whatchu thinking? You on the other side of some sleazebag glory hole?) He also reports binocular diplopia and decreased visual acuity. (BI-nocular? He got one eye shut from a getting a dick jammed in it. The only “bi” thing around here is his sexual orientation.)

On the day of presentation, he is nauseous and vomiting (yeah, after you woke up, saw the glory hole, the line of satisfied customers … I am quite sure you were puking), and he cannot open the affected eye (stick, stick, stick, poke, poke, poke. Of course he can’t open it! Hell, he probably passed out from getting clubbed by somebody’s ankle spanker), which demonstrates ptosis (p-p-pu-TOE-s-s-s-sis) of the upper eyelid, generalized proptosis, and mild periorbital erythema with associated edema.

The right pupil is 8 mm in diameter and nonreactive to direct and indirect light. (Still trying to get the license plate off that man club that hit him.) Intraocular pressure in both eyes is normal at 12 mm Hg.

What is the diagnosis? (He got a little excited about his first gay experience, went to a bar, and became a bit too intrigued about what was on the other side of those holes in the wall. Poor guy. Still puking his guts out. He got love clubbed …)

DIAGNOSIS: (See above.) Cerebro-rhino-orbital phycomycosis (CROP)/mucormycosis. (Yeah, the only “crop” he saw was the riding kind when he had the bit in mouth up on stage. Poor dude – the first time can be so humiliating.)

(Alright, alright, we’ll let the fake docs have their say … fine. Be that way. I know how it is with people like you. You know, just a side note – I kinda HAVE to leave this other stuff in. You should see my page rankings for just god-awful diseases. I do have some fraction of a conscious, somewhere, I am sure I do. Well, maybe not, but I read a lot and I know what one looks like. So read on – just remember – they are WRONG. The guy just had a very rough first outing at the club. That’s all.) CROP is an aggressive, invasive infection that is caused by broad, nonseptate fungi with irregularly shaped hyphae from the class Phycomycetes. The genera that typically cause infection are Rhizopus, Rhizomucor, Absidia, and Basidiobolus. The spores of these fungi are ubiquitous and gain entrance to the human body through the mouth and the nose. Individuals who are immunocompetent will phagocytize these spores; therefore, they do not develop the disease.

Infection is most common in immunosuppressed persons, specifically in patients with poorly controlled diabetes mellitus (often in the setting of metabolic acidosis), and in patients receiving the iron-chelating drug deferoxamine. Unlike immunocompetent individuals, whose bodies phagocytize the spores, immunocompromised patients have massive spore proliferation. Mucormycosis is described almost exclusively in patients with compromised immune systems or metabolic abnormalities. The spores attach to the nasal or oral mucosa, where massive germination and hyphae formation occur, allowing the fungus to directly invade the blood vessels. Areas of ischemic infarction and necrosis are seen in the infected tissue. The fungi invade the blood vessel lumina and cause thrombosis through inflammatory occlusion. Infection usually begins in the nasal cavity and the maxillary sinuses, followed by direct invasion of contiguous structures, such as the palate, the orbits, the ethmoid sinuses, and the brain. Orbital involvement occurs when the ethmoid sinuses are affected. Intracranial spread can occur through the ophthalmic artery, superior fissure, or cribriform plate.

Rhinocerebral infections are usually fulminant and have high morbidity and mortality rates, despite improved diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. Mortality rates of 30-70% are quoted in the literature, with higher mortality rates seen in older series. The mortality rate in diabetic patients appears to be lower than it is in nondiabetic patients and in patients with intracerebral involvement. Death may occur within 2 weeks if CROP is left untreated or is unsuccessfully treated. Additionally, until the 1950s, this disease was almost always fatal. Even with recovery, permanent residual effects, such as blindness and cranial nerve defects, occur in up to 70% of cases.

The clinical manifestations of CROP may include orbital and facial pain, fever, periorbital and orbital cellulitis, proptosis, purulent nasal discharge, and mucosal necrosis that appears as black eschars in the nasopharynx, the oropharynx, and the tissues surrounding the orbits and sinuses. These clinical features are not universally seen; therefore, a high index of suspicion is required. Ocular involvement leads to afferent papillary defects and loss of visual acuity. Progressive extension of necrosis into the brain can lead to cavernous sinus thrombosis and abscess formation. The patient may demonstrate an altered mental status, convulsions, aphasia, or hemiplegia.

Patients with diabetic ketoacidosis are most often affected, but opportunistic infections may also develop in association with renal deferoxamine therapy (eg, in patients with chronic renal disease) or with immunosuppression (particularly in patients with neutropenia or those receiving high-dose corticosteroid therapy).

The diagnostic study of choice is computed tomography (CT) scanning of the orbits and sinuses. In affected patients, CT scans demonstrate soft-tissue swelling, sinus mucosal thickening, and bone erosion. Intracranial and cavernous sinus involvement may also be present. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), if available, can show extension of the infection into the surrounding blood vessels, orbital fat, and intracranial areas. Urgent biopsy is usually indicated. Necrotic and edematous tissue with neutrophilic infiltrate is frequently seen with fungal elements (which are broad, nonseptate hyphae with branching at 90°).

The cornerstone of medical treatment for CROP is the administration of systemic amphotericin B at the highest patient-tolerable dose. Local packing of the involved mucosal membranes with an amphotericin B solution is effective for minimizing local disfigurement. When on the medication, the patient should be assessed for nephrotoxicity, as well as other systemic symptoms of toxicity, including fever, nausea and vomiting, phlebitis, anemia, and electrolyte abnormalities. Liposomal amphotericin B may be more efficacious; it is less toxic, thus allowing higher doses of the medication to be given. Additionally, local irrigation and packing of the areas to aid delivery of amphotericin to necrotic and poorly perfused tissues is recommended, because poor vascular supply may prevent systemic therapy from reaching the fungus and because local irrigation of infected tissue has been reported to be an important adjunct to treatment that may even help prevent disfiguring surgery. Treatment of the underlying disease (eg, hypoxia, acidosis, hyperglycemia, electrolyte abnormalities) and discontinuation of any immunosuppressants are also important. The physician should evaluate any steroid medication, antimetabolites, or immunosuppressants that the patient is taking, and such agents should be discontinued if appropriate. It is encouraged that the advice of an infectious disease specialist be obtained.

Aggressive, emergency surgical debridement of all necrotic tissue is necessary; sometimes, multiple procedures are needed to clear all necrotic tissue. The vaso-occlusive effect of mucormycosis leads to infrequent bleeding of the involved tissue; therefore, debridement of affected tissue until normal, well-perfused, bleeding tissue is encountered is ideal. Intraorbital irrigation of amphotericin B may be considered as an adjunct treatment. Surgery may often be disfiguring. Orbital exenteration, as well as removal of the sinuses, may be necessary. Some authors have suggested hyperbaric oxygen as an adjunctive treatment. Reconstructive surgery after complete resolution of infection should be considered.

Indeed, a multidisciplinary approach is best for the treatment of this condition. An ophthalmologist is required to evaluate for ophthalmoplegia and optic neuropathy. An oculoplastic surgeon can provide an orbital evaluation, as well as perform debridement and reconstruction. An otolaryngologist is required for biopsy or debridement of the nasal and sinus cavities. An infectious disease specialist can provide guidance for appropriate medical treatment with antifungal agents. Internal medicine specialists and endocrinologists are useful for the medical management of underlying systemic etiologies. Neurosurgery may be necessary if intracranial involvement is present. Finally, a pharmacotherapy specialist can assist with dosing of amphotericin B.

The complications of CROP include intracranial invasion, cavernous sinus thrombosis, blindness, occlusion of the central retinal artery, and airway obstruction caused by infections of the head and neck (with spread to the carotid sheath or the mediastinum through the fascial planes). The prognosis of CROP is guarded, with reported mortality rates of 30-70% (as stated earlier).

In this patient, treatment with amphotericin B was promptly initiated. CT scans of the orbits and sinuses demonstrated an air-fluid level in the right maxillary sinus, mucosal thickening of the right anterior ethmoid sinus, and preseptal cellulitis. An MRI of the head showed enhancement of the intraconal fat and rectus muscles of the right eye. The patient received emergency sinus debridement, and a biopsy was performed. Pathology demonstrated fungal angiitis and orbital inflammation that was consistent with mucormycosis. The patient underwent 3 additional operations, including exenteration of the right eye, and received hyperbaric oxygen treatments. After hospitalization for 3 weeks, he was discharged to home in good condition.

eat till you die

Does work block certain websites? Use this link to override the blocks. But then again, maybe they blocked them for a reason? Like decreased productivity? Just a thought.

Here’s a hit-and-miss set of laws, with more categories on the left. The laws for tech include, Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence.

This is a well-done post of pics from around the world of families and the food they consume during one week. Notice how both the food bill and the shit increases as the locale comes to America.

I’m getting a little pissed off at all the mentions of fractals I see on the net. I haven’t a clue what a fractal is. Looks like a creative Spirograph thing. I prefer the gear-shaped wheels and colored pencils. Maybe that’s because I am simple. If you like fractals, here’s some free source code. Have fun, whatever the hell you are doing.

So Obama and Tubby Thighs. Think it isn’t over? They split the vote damn near even. The delegates are about even. But think about the broader structure. She had such a large lead – now they are even. That means that she is tanking and he is rising. Also, he brought in twice what she did in cash last month and is on pace to do another $30 million this month. She had to lend her campaign $5 million, presumably out of her futures trading account. His polls are rising as well as his bank account. The next 5 or 6 states are his territory – more good press. She’s not OK until late March and April with states that lean her way. Too long to kill the burden of the press on her bank account. She had to can Bubba after the South Carolina fiasco - openly negative politics won't work, and there'll be a helluva price to pay if behind-the-scenes bullshit surfaces. She pulled the fucking tears thing again? If they are real, good lord, what will happen if she were in office? Her voice is going. Not made for the long haul. She’s toast. I love it when bad things happen to bad people.

You just have to love passive-aggressive people. You have to. So full of anger, moxey, vermin, but utterly lacking the balls to say it to your face. And when they do, it is always in this closed sense like a canned speech thought out from beginning to end – they can’t thrust and parry in real time! How depressing! I love a good fight. I especially love changing positions in a fight. Confuse the enemy. It has nothing to do with what is right or wrong, it is the thrill of the argument. Then the climax arrives and you can see they have built themselves to either spontaneous combustion or actually scoring a good verbal point. What to do? Turn your head slightly away – just the effect of dismissal, but not to obscure your lowered voice, and grovel out, “You’re a fucking idiot. And you wonder sometimes. Amazing.” Then walk away. Yes! Be sure to know your opponent though – that is the perfect set up to get something large tossed at your head. This site has some nice P-A stuff on it, but is broader and a fun read – he posts pics of things he finds.

Not sure what to make of this video. Couple of yahoos shooting a tennis ball at unfortunately speeds.



These people have too much time on their hands. Kinda pisses me off. But they did create a pretty cool spice rack. Look at the pics, and read only if you feel swarmy. Yeah, OK, they seem like nice people. Fine. I am sure they are. Shall we have a flight of Chards at the dinner party tonight? I’ll put little oak barrels on the table. Oh, we could plank the salmon! Let me think … something fresh and open tasting to start with, to balance the smokey main course … help me, Pookey, what do you think?

So Albert Einstein has a website, and I thought it would be cool to read some of his hand-written papers. Took me 5 or 6 layers to see an actual doc – very poor design. Cute programming, but utterly lacks flatness. It’s like roaming hallways. Anyway, so I finally get to one, and it’s in German! Man, that guy was smart! Reminded me of something my dad said once. He had a house in Mexico. The locals were typical poor rural Mexican. A local has a dog, and the guy says something to it. The dog responds. Whatever “sit” or “get me a beer” or “scratch my balls” is in Mexican. Anyway, my dad says, “that’s amazing. I have a hard enough time getting my dog to learn simple things like ‘stay’ and here your dog has learned a second language! That’s one smart dog.” The guy just looked at my dad like he had a third eye. My dad never explained himself in such situations. Would have taken away the charm.

In case you were wondering where you are going after you die, here’s a map. Click on it to see it bigger. More charts here.



Bye …

politics simplified 2

I am loving watching the wheels turn round and round in the presidential primaries. The pubs have their hands full with McCain (read, “liberal”) and Romney (read, “only conservative with enough money to compete”). The press despises conservatives, so Romney gets ignored or scoffed at. McCain gets all this adoration. The truth of the matter is that pubs vote, not the press, so Romney is odds on to win the nomination.

The dem side is so very fun. Glance over the articles on lucianne dot com to see the disdain for the Clintons coming from within. Nobody ever liked them. They were and always will be trailer-park trash. They just had a meaner dog, so people were afraid of them. The headlines tell the true story. Senators and governors are lining up for Obama, and, more importantly, giving exhaustive reasons for their support. They dislike Hillary, they dislike Bubba, and do not want that crowd running against any pub for the title of POTUS.

It will not play well in post-Labor Day events if Hillary is the nominee. Mud fights, old war stories … the pubs can play just as dirty as the Clintons. Bubba is licking his wounds and Hillary’s feet big time. The truth is simple: they won previously through raw power. Everyone knew the filthy game, but the dems sat quietly because it was their guy. No more. If Hillary gets the nod because of the carry-over of past structural power, the dem base will not be enthused. Romney (or McCain) will reach out and another Reagan-Democrat voting black will emerge.

The best of this is that Hillary is the victim of her own arrogance. She manipulated this Super Tuesday so early in the process. She assumed that it would give plenty of time to pummel the pubs. She did not figure in that her own party would turn on her, and see the lead up to Super Tuesday as crucial to victory in November. So the party is pulling out all stops to stop her. It is to laugh.

True story. Came from a Secret Service agent at the White House. Hillary and Bubba arrive on their first day. Hillary gets out of the limousine with satchel in hand. Goes to hand it to the agent standing there. “I’m sorry, ma’am, I need to keep my hands free at all times.” Hillary says, “then what the fuck good are you,” tosses the bag at his feet, and walks into the White House.

Trailer-park trash finally smelling their own stench.

politics distilled january 23, 2008

Just got done watching (over three days) the re-issued Born to Boogie. Remarkable slice of my life up there on the screen. It really was as I saw it in my mind all these years. Am listening to 20th Century Superstar as I write.

My twin is blissfully clueless on things politic, yet discussions come up at work, voting time is within sight, so I am going to distill the political landscape from time to time.

For the uninitiated, I am conservative by nature and independent by registration. I am conservative because I find that competition in an open marketplace is far superior to government-run anything. What’s the best run agency/department/whatever in the federal government? The United States Postal Service. Why? Because they are mandated by their charter to operate at breakeven, and the ultimate judge is the price for the first ounce of a first class letter. Every other federal and state agency/department/whatever is run like an asylum: give them what they need so they shut up and don’t hurt anyone. The problem is that they need more and more all the time.

I think unions suck primarily because they are socialism – just look at their political leanings: bigger government always. More proof? Look at what they did to the public school system. They invented the concept of social promotion – pass the kid to the next grade because he’ll feel badly being left behind. The result is graduating functional illiterates. I heard a teacher complain that No Child Left Behind made her prove competency in every subject. What do you teach? “Special Ed.” You have the kids for every subject? “Yes.” So you want to teach them something for which you cannot establish competency? “But they are spe--.” Smile. Pig.

So onto current politics.

Forget the dems and pubs for a moment. Ralph Nader and Mike Bloomberg are sniffing around the edges as if they may start campaigning. We had Ross Perot a few cycles ago – John Anderson a few cycles before that. Third parties were common until FDR changed the name on the deed for the White House. Let at the historical record: the Socialist party always ran a candidate. After several cycles of FDR, what emerged with the dems and pubs. The Socialists somehow folded into the dems. Seeing other folks raise their hands to join is not new, nor will elect anyone from that ticket – but it could play kingmaker. Ross Perot took enough votes from George the Elder to give Bubba a plurality victory. Mike Bloomberg will do the same thing to Hillary – but I bet he is waiting to enter until it is clear Hillary will be the nominee. I think he detests her, and would love to do to her what Ross did to the Elder.

The dems race is just two people – Hillary and Obama. Hillary’s biggest problem is that her negatives are so high. If we had absolute knowledge, I bet she sets a record every time votes are cast for people that vote against her rather than for her opponent. She is paper thin, she has junk yard dogs surrounding her, and she does everything to fulfill the picture of a candidate rather than the substance. Just look at how quickly the press turned on her following NH. It is clear they detest yet fear her. The best part of watching her campaign is to see Bubba work his old parlor tricks. In the 1990s, they were magic; today they are the fuddy-duddy uncle whom everyone gives the stage to for a few minutes out of past respect.

Hillary's votes are institutional votes: unions, people that believe government should solve all problems, etc. She knows her base – she just said yesterday that government should play a bigger role in the economy. Good lord, lady, can you be more of an open socialist? No one does government-run health-care on this planet that is anywhere comparable to our competitive system. You want to tax away huge profits of oil companies? Then you need to accept that the oil companies were stop making comparable investments. In fact, they will leave American soil in total. They will build gas refineries in South America and Mexico, and ship refined oil up. You think 65% imported oil and about 20% imported gas is a lot? Just go messing with the capitalist society. You cite, monster thighs, that there are 43 million people without insurance in this country. You are either stupid or a liar. You know full well that number is the number of people without private insurance. You know full well that government programs pick up over 80% of those people. You also know that every county in this nation is required to have one hospital that serves every emergency without asking about ability to pay. In fact, they cannot even accept insurance cards until the emergency service has been rendered. Our system works, and mark my words, lady, you will destroy it if you let the government run it.

I have heard first-hand stories about this woman and her treatment of those around her. She is simply not a nice person. She is ruthless, condemning, angry, and walks through life as if she deserves everything. I just cannot consider a person like her to be worthy of a vote. If she were my neighbor, we would not be friends. If she were my coworker, we would not share time outside job requirements.

Obama is an interesting person. Too young to have any clue beyond a vision. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe Reagan was so good because he was too old to have anything but a vision.

You know what? I’m bored. Onward. Obama another day.

The Brits are going to extract cell stems out of the bone marrow of heart patients, and inject them into the scarred portions of the heart. They figure six months post-injection is a good measurement time. The only problem with the study is that they are going to give an equal number of people placebos. False hope. They already know what will happen with no stem cells added. Why not expand the study to give everyone a chance? Kinda sad.

This is humorous … Algore’s globe-be-toasty science is taking a cold bath lately, so he’s found himself a new position: gay marriage should be legalized across the nation. Quoting the boy, “Gay men and women ought to have the same rights as heterosexual men and women -- to make contracts, to have hospital visiting rights, to join together in marriage, and I don't understand why it is considered by some people to be a threat to heterosexual marriage.” It is considered, Atheist Al, to be against teachings in the Bible. That’s the issue, son. Let’s be clear, ok? And actually, for someone so versed as ignoring data as you, I guess it comes as no surprise that you have ignored the data out of European countries that have approved gay marriage: more children being raised in single-parent homes, more juvenile delinquency, and more drug use. Maybe instead of being a threat to heterosexual marriage, Allie, it can be viewed as a threat to our next generation. What an inconvenient truth, eh?

More another day.

royal flatuence

That She-Man with the Monstrous Thighs “won” the Nevada caucus just like Algore “won” the presidency in 2000 – more popular votes, less delegates. Good job, ThaSMoT!

A couple of interesting quotes concerning Norway’s socialized health-care system: “Norwegians have complained for years over the long waiting lists they face for care at local hospitals. Now a new report shows that care for the elderly is far from sufficient in what's widely billed as one of the world's wealthiest countries.

“A survey of 80,000 elderly persons living in 162 Norwegian townships indicated that only those with the most serious medical ailments and disabilities received a room in a nursing home.”

Hunh. Go figure. Even “one of the world's wealthiest countries” can’t pull it off. Maybe there’s something to this capitalist-based system afterall.

Now maybe the elderly can’t get into a nursing home, but a dude that lived in a cave and garbage dump and won’t bathe can. What a great country!

You know that line about farting in front of the Queen? Like it’s a bad thing? Seems the Norwegian royal family rents itself out to read erotic fairy tales at company parties. Norway is such an interesting country!

So it seems that when silicon electrodes go on steroids when lithium is added and bulk up about four times. Then, like Giambi after he got scared of losing his big contracts, they deflate about the same when power is extracted. This expansion and contraction, it seems, makes for a pretty shitty battery – it just stops working before it leaves the factory. Now the idea is to work on a smaller scale – do it on nanotech and limit the thickness of the silicon to one thousandth of a hair. The expansion still occurs, but survives the cycles. The upshot is that silicon holds charge ten times better than carbon. Laptops would run 40 hours. I think I got all this right, if not read it yourself. I won’t be offended. Fuck you for doubting me.

Remember Mount St. Helens? Before and after shots.



Remember that dude name Harry Truman that refused to leave his cabin on the side of the mountain? I think he was in what is now the cleavage. I doubt there’s even DNA left.

This is interesting. A site with several lists to hook you up with free short- and long-term housing. One of the sample ads here reads, “HOUSE GUEST(S) wanted to occupy a mountain cottage(s). Full time. Located in the foothills, one hour from Sacramento. Bottom of canyon. Four miles from freeway. You can fish off the porch. Keep all gold found in the river. Must love outdoors, remoteness. Pets permitted. References required. No job. No addictions. Please leave a message.” $30 a year to subscribe – about 200 ads an issue. Great way to disappear.

Want to talk to the dead? Here’s your guidebook. Let me know how it works out for you.

Gotta run …

politcally irresponsible

In case you have nothing to do this afternoon, here’s the Logo Channel Saturday afternoon lineup. The ellipses are from the website.

My Mums Used to Be Men. Meet Louise, the 12-year old daughter of two transgender parents living in Great Britain. When Louise finds herself the subject of media frenzy surrounding her parents' lifestyle, she decides to reach out to families that are constructed similarly to her own. After meeting a boy named Jamie and a transgender mother named Claire, Louise feels less... (So this guy is probably gay. Then he gets a sex change, and hooks up with a woman. How ironic.)

The Believers. What happens when a group of trans-people want to reclaim their spirituality and start an all-trans gospel choir? Transcendence Gospel Choir, the first ever entirely transgender choir, consists of individuals who are attempting to overcome feeling "Bible burnt" by the Christian Right while at the same time trying to form a musically cohesive choir... (I am sure looking at who sings soprano and who sings bass would be rather confusing. I love the use of the label, “Christian Right” like it’s a bad thing.)

Camp Out. If it isn't hard enough being a gay teenager in the midwest, imagine being a gay Christian teen. With the derision of society, family and the church against them, ten gay Christian teenagers struggle to confront the questions of faith and their burgeoning sexuality in light of what their church and Christian society has told them. This documentary... (“Burgeoning sexuality”? Is this a soft porn piece?)

Why is the underlying theme of all of these bits so negative? Why is that worn in the sleeve so consistently and blatantly? Can’t movies be made about the gay culture that are positive and supporting? It is always so much “them versus us.”

I was driving home today and heard an old Buffalo Springfield song (“For What It’s Worth”) that struck a thought:

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong

(Here’s the YouTube.)

THAT is precisely the problem with the democratic argument in politics today. The pubs say, “They [Islamic pilots and blow-up dolls] are wrong. We are right.” Libs say, “We are wrong” – and then END the commentary. They spend hours and hours droning on about how wrong W is – but they NEVER say, “Those people over there are wrong, TOO.” So the pubs gleefully call the libs “enablers.” That’s the price paid for presenting half an argument.

I am finding it so hard to stay away from politics. When such stupid stories come out, how can I? Tell me if you can in any manner believe this story:

(Confirmed voice recording of Bill Clinton): There is this whole business of the new politics. Well I got a taste of the new politics today. We need a new politics where we all love each other. You’ve heard all that. There’s a radio ad up in the northern part of Nevada telling Republicans that they ought to just register as Democrats for a day so they can beat Hillary and go out and be Republicans next week and vote in the primary. Doesn’t sound like the new politics to me.

Today when my daughter and I were wandering through the hotel, and all these culinary workers were mobbing us telling us they didn’t care what the union told them to do, they were gonna caucus for Hillary.

There was a representative of the organization following along behind us going up to everybody who said that, saying 'if you’re not gonna vote for our guy were gonna give you a schedule tomorrow so you can’t be there.' So, is this the new politics? I haven’t seen anything like that in America in 35 years. So I will say it again – they think they're better than you.

Think about this for a moment. An ex-President of the United States, complete with Secret Service protection, actually witnesses a union rep saying these things? Sees a union goon following behind taking names and numbers of defectors? Oh. My. God. And he rather sheepishly ignored this situation? Wasn’t there press around him at the time? This lie is so frickin’ blatant. Bubba is just trailer-park trash. He has lost all his personal credibility. The boy is imploding. What a shame.

Actually, I don’t look at New Hampshire as a Hillary win at all. I see it all as packaging. They set it up that if Obama didn’t win big, then Hillary was the “comeback bull.” In reality, that was just a repackaging of her 20-point lead that evaporated. Obama made up 20 points in a week. She collapsed in NH. Today, Nevada should be interesting since Hillary lost the lawsuit to block casino voters from voting at work (caucusing, whatever). It will be fun to see the teacher vote that Hillary loses. Of course, Hillary is packaging South Carolina as a no-expectations state because of the disproportionate black vote. These people are so unbelievably racist.

Let’s see … we hit gays, Quran thumpers, and liberals. What’re we missing? Let me think. The handicapped!

OK, so this mentally handicapped prostitute is waving down vehicles. Some guy being interviewed said that she had “just really poor hygiene.” Ten bucks for a little hum time. The customer is or was in law enforcement. Remarkable little vignette.



Funny thing is, I have often said that I would never pay for sex. But isn’t marriage the same thing at a higher price?

See ya …

no mas

Hillary won? This is why I bailed on politics. Millions and millions of dollars spent on polling techniques, and they get it completely wrong. Politics is a child’s game. Reminds me of being at Shadowbrook Diary when I was 10 or 11 with my dad. I said, “I want this!” It was some ice-cream dish with the most wonderful description. My dad gently talked me out of it by pointing out other dishes, one of which I eventually got. Twenty-five or 30 years later I was at the same place. They had substantially the same menu. There was my dish! The one I wanted when I was with my dad! “Six heaping scoops of ice cream smothered in …” Oh. It was a local dish, came with a feed bag, a catheter, and free overnight parking. No wonder he talked me out of it.

Politics is nothing but putatively believable manipulation. Child’s game. I am done with children’s games.

Let Hillary and Obama fight the good fight. Let Hillary turn ugly (uglier). Next.

arkansas trash

Over the past year as the democrat primaries were moved forward in time, I felt that the Clintons were behind it for one simple reason: Hillary is not designed for long-term wear. She needed a coronation, not a mud fight. With her ability to raise money, the assumption was there that she would overwhelm all comers like a huge wave engulfs kids swimming just a few feet from shore.

Iowa comes. View the statements in and around the voting so far. The night before Iowa, Bubba talks about him losing that state, too. In NH, Hillary dismisses Iowa as NH being a “new state, a new day.” Bill said yesterday that Iowa made a mistake. Claimed people were voting for a “fantasy.” He said that the short time between Iowa and NH – which I continue to maintain he engineered – meant that voters were not casting based upon their hearts but headlines. Hillary cries, literally, about how hard it is on the trail, and then remains stoic as a supporter publicly and to her face mentions assassination and Obama in the same sentence. Funny, she was very quick to denounce some people holding up shirts asking her to iron them, as if a woman's place is in the home - why did that seem planted to me? She dismissed MLK’s work as only beginning when LBJ “passed” (she used that word) the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She somehow forgot to add that Senate republicans passed the Act over the strong objections of the democrats, including the rather vocal Algore, Sr.

How utterly despicable these people are. When the results go against them, they attack the voters as misguided lemmings. “Listen to me. I know what you should do. I am right – you are wrong.” I thought I was narcissistic. Naw, I know I am. But I do not hold a candle to these clowns.

Why is Obama so popular right now? Perhaps no more a reason than Jimmy Carter got elected: the democrats want a change. There has been 28 years of either a Bush or a Clinton in the White House. Hillary wants that to be 32 or 36. Even FDR’s run ended at 20 years when Truman left office. It is time for a change.

It is time for Obama? I have no idea. I’m an independent with long republican roots. I will not vote in the primary. I will wait to see if I will vote in the general. I think Obama is going to get excoriated in the general campaign, but so does every candidate on the national platform. We’ll have to see if the heat tempers him or exposes structural flaws.

Hillary will get pounded today in NH. The real issue is how close to 50% Obama can get. If he cracks well into the 40s, then the fickle California crowd will follow his aura. That will toast Hillary. Her only chance is to sweep February 5. In the interim, she will lose South Carolina and Nevada. The latter has to be particularly galling to her.

I watched her Senate campaign as the NY Carpetbagger which was so carefully orchestrated to avoid any possibility of confrontation, of probing. Try as she might, that is just not possible in a presidential campaign. The national press, no matter how tightly in bed they were with her before, are egomaniacs drunken with their power. They love to take people down. The scent of blood blinds them. Hillary’s third-place finish in Iowa, even though by just tenths of a percentage point, was all they needed. Second place is no longer any good for her. She must win. The measuring rod has become the margin of victory by Obama. The longer the rod, the more blood in the water.

How much do these people lie? Bubba’s cell phone rings. He says that only Hillary has the number. Think about that. For everything the guy is involved in, from fundraising to fornication, all he has is a dedicated hotline to Hillary? Just does not ring true, not even considering that he has multiple phones but only one with him. His words ring as hollow as when he said, “I think we all know what we are talking about” as he dodged the “sexual relations” questions.

These people are trailer-park trash that has been dressed up to look pretty. They left their social strata and played with the elites for a long time based, in large part, upon Bubba being an “exceptionally good liar.”

It’s time to go home, people. In truth, we really never knew you, and what we did know we didn’t like very much.

What will be interesting is the next phase. When the Clintons lose their powerbase and are no longer feared by former associates, the books to be written are going to be exceptionally brutal. No, I do not feel sorry for them in the least.

Want a very bold prediction? Michigan moved their primary up considerably, and in a show of support with the national party, all of the major candidates withdrew and no longer appear on the ballot - except Hillary. Watch a groundswell of write-ins for Obama. If he wins that state based upon a write-in campaign, Hillary will lose it publicly and ugly.