Take That, Ferguson!

Guys Who Could Use a Good Kick to the Crotch

#1: Mohammed al-Madadi

A federal official said that the man went to the bathroom to smoke a cigarette, and was confronted by air marshals on board the plane. The passenger understood he had diplomatic immunity, and made sarcastic comments that the marshals took as a threat

Two F-16 fighters from Buckley Air Force Base, in Colorado, were scrambled to intercept the plane, the authorities said. They escorted it for the last five minutes of its flight, and it landed safely in Denver.

#2: Virginia Governor Bob McDonnel.

WHEREAS, April is the month in which the people of Virginia joined the Confederate States of America in a four year war between the states for independence that concluded at Appomattox Courthouse; and

WHEREAS, it is important for all Virginians to reflect upon our Commonwealth’s shared history, to understand the sacrifices of the Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens during the period of the Civil War, and to recognize how our history has led to our present; and

WHEREAS, all Virginians can appreciate the fact that when ultimately overwhelmed by the insurmountable numbers and resources of the Union Army, the surviving, imprisoned and injured Confederate soldiers gave their word and allegiance to the United States of America, and returned to their homes and families to rebuild their communities in peace,
[Wow, that's some revisionist history!]

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Robert McDonnell, do hereby recognize April 2010 as CONFEDERATE HISTORY MONTH in our COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, and I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens.

#3: Dr. Jack Cassell:

Dr. Jack Cassell, an Orlando-area urologist and part-time Republican crank, probably couldn't have imagined what he was getting himself into.

This week, Cassell's medical office posted a sign for patients and their families: "If you voted for Obama...seek urologic care elsewhere. Changes to your healthcare begin right now, not in four years."

The ethically-challenged physician told the Orlando Sentinel he wouldn't deny care to patients who support the president, but Casell wants those patients to feel unwelcome and seek medical treatment from doctors who don't care how they voted.

But perhaps the most important coverage was an interview between Cassell and Alan Colmes on the radio Friday night.

Cassell: Hospice cuts in 2012…Does the government want people to die slowly?
Colmes: Do you really think the government wants people dead?
Cassell: Well I think that they’re cutting all supportive care, like nursing homes, ambulance services…
Colmes: What to you mean they’re cutting nursing homes?
Cassell: They’re cutting nursing home reimbursements
Colmes: Isn’t what they’re cutting under the Medicare plan what was really double dipping; they were getting credits and they were getting to deduct them at the same time.
Cassell: Well you know, I can’t tell you exactly what the deal is.
Colmes: If you can’t tell us exactly what the deal is, why are you opposing it and fighting against it?
Cassell: I’m not the guy who wrote the plan.
Colmes: But if you don’t know what the deal is why are you speaking out against something you don’t know what the deal is?
Cassell: What I get online, just like any other American. What I’m supposed to understand about the bill should be available to me.
Colmes: It is; it’s been online for a long time; it’s also been all over the media…

So, Sandra Bullock Married This, huh?

Imagine you're Sandra Bullock. You're attractive, successful, probably perfectly pleasant. Basically, you've got options. Lots of options for fellas to spend your time with. So how do you end up saddled with this tool bag? I mean, seriously, just look at this owl casting of a human being.

Honestly, if you somehow ended up married to this enema nozzle, wouldn't you just expect that screwing porn stars would be the least awful thing he was likely to do during the course of your marriage?

And would you be surprised to read this:

Adding another potential bombshell element to the sudden explosion of Sandra Bullock’s marriage, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively that Jesse James has more than 12 homemade sex tapes.

The tapes Jesse made with other women are shocking. “Most of the tapes feature a mass amount of Nazi paraphernalia,” an insider tells RadarOnline.com. “It’s all really quite disturbing.”

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So, what, did sandra Bullock lose a bet? Is she secretly awful? Maybe she thought she was getting this Jesse James:

At least we know that that Jesse James had a hand and a heart and a brain

Happy Birthday, Ya Nut, Ya!

Yesterday was Michele Bachmann's birthday!

Somehow I missed it, but won't you now join me in singing Happy Birthday?



Happy Birthday to youuuuu

You are completely insaaaane!

You're an embarrassment to the State of Minnesooootaahh. . . .

And by extension, the nation at large!

Coal Mining Tragedy

The tragic accident in the Massey coal mine in West Virginia was sadly predictable and preventable.
The Massey Coal Mining Company has long flouted safety regulations nad gotten away with it. And now at least 25 miners are dead due to the company's negligence and indifference to human lives.

From the Washington Post:

Massey has frequently been cited for safety violations, including about 50 citations at the Upper Big Branch mine in March alone. Many of those 50 citations were for poor ventilation of dust and methane, failure to maintain proper escape ways, and the accumulation of combustible materials.

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration cited the mine for 1,342 safety violations from 2005 through Monday for a total of $1.89 million in proposed fines, according to federal records. The company has contested 422 of those violations, totaling $742,830 in proposed penalties, according to federal officials.

But the company had a litany of violations just last month at the Upper Big Branch mine, according to the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration Web site. In March, U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration officials cited the mine, which is owned by Massey subsidiary Performance Coal Co., for failing to control dust; improperly planning to ventilate the mine of dust and the combustible gas methane; inadequate protection from roof falls; failing to maintain proper escapeways; and allowing the accumulation of combustible materials."

Why hasn't this ridiculously dangerous operation been shut down? Maybe because Massey CEO Don Blankenship's habit of throwing campaign money at mostly Republican candidates? Or maybe because of the general anti-regulation attitude that has infected Washington since the 1980's? The kind of attitude that leads to this kind of toothless enforcement of safety rules:

Mining companies are permitted to contest violations and proposed penalties and safety violations are not placed on a company's permanent safety record until a dispute is settled, officials said.

That's right. If you or I commit a crime, the judge hands sown a sentence. If a mining company violates the law, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration proposes a penalty, and the mining company gets to contest it. And then something like this happens:

From the New York Times:

A justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court and a powerful coal-company executive met in Monte Carlo in the summer of 2006, sharing several meals even as the executive’s companies were appealing a $50 million jury verdict against them to the court.

A little more than a year later, the justice, Elliott E. Maynard, voted with the majority in a 3-to-2 decision in favor of the coal companies.

That coal-company executive mentioned in this story? Don Blankenship.

Judge of the Day: Elliott Maynard

On the left: Chief Justice Elliott E. Maynard, of West Virginia, and today’s Judge of the Day. On the right: Don L. Blankenship, chief executive of Massey Energy. The setting: exotic Monaco.

Since the Federal agencies won't do their jobs enforcing the rules, I hope the miners' families sue this son of a bitch into the poorhouse.