Romney and other ass holes.

Mitt says that Mike Huckabee is more interested in California voters because he made an appearance on the Jay Leno Show. That goes to show you that this ass hole is as clueless as Huckabees foreign policy. Leno’s show is seen across America and even in Iowa. I thought it was a good move. I saw it and thought it was a great appearance and I’m a voter living in the middle of nowhere.

ABC news did a cutting edge piece and asked most of the candidates what their secret indulgences were and Mitt said his was gnuetella or some other crazy shit. Isn’t that the file sharing program that people use to illegally share MP3’s or porn? Figures. He says he’s all up for change but has a big problem when anyone strays off party lines and criticizes the Bush administration. That sounds like he’s happy with what’s going on in Washington and probably won’t change a thing if elected. This phony has been critical of other candidates misunderstanding of current events and has been quick to criticize when others screw up. We have to remember that this poser has hired a staff of hundreds to monitor everything going on then prepare him with the right thing to say at the right time. Others, spending 22 hours a day shaking the yokels hands in Iowa, don’t have much time to look at a newspaper or spend hours in front of a news network to have a clear idea of whats going on. Oh yeah, and I wonder how long Romney spends plastering “product” on his phony TV preacher haircut.

While watching the network news yesterday I was excited over the prospect that we could have a president that actually says “Das what I’m talkin’ ’bout’. I can see the speech at the UN panning out now. Obama said his secret indulgence was Occasional Cigarettes. Does Phillip Morris make them?

One Iowa geezer said it was time we elected a woman president because the men haven’t done so well lately. This is also why we shouldn’t put much importance on what Iowa thinks. This old geezer didn’t mention that we’ve never had a black president either. I guess he was referring to Hillary and I noticed his old lady was sitting there next to him with a fork in her hand. Remember the woman is a Clinton and for the last 20 years we have had Bush Sr (4)., Bill for 8 years, Bush 2 for 8 years now we want another Clinton for 4 more years minimum. This isn’t change. Hell, Bill will be eligible for office again after 2 terms of Hillary so in theory, for the next 16 years it’s Clinton’s to 2024. Except for flying cars and off-world colonies, the world portrayed in Blade Runner is looking to be a sure thing.

Hillary’s secret indulgence was a safe choice: no risk chocolate, more specifically dark chocolate. Yeah, fill in the tasteless Obama joke here but actually this is a long time Clinton strategy, safe and what the public wants to hear. They showed her serving coffee to a bunch of reporters. I’d love to see her do it if elected President.

The third place Democrat, Edwardson or Edcocktosen (or whatever) said his indulgence was sleeping in. That explains why he looks like he’s sleep walking all the time. In another piece, he was bragging about his packed house audience he had at one campaign stop. Well, it was actually a packed house, or more specifically a packed dining room with 20 or so Iowans hunching each other.

No surprise here, Chris Dodd liked wine. All we need is another drunk Kennedy in office.

Way to go Mike, not showing your attack ad was classy. That’s the one I saw on all the national news networks about a million times. And for only the cost of production. Hey, we all know Mitt Romney is a ass-hole. He’s as real as his religion. You don’t need to sneak in an ad to tell us that. Tell us more about that consumption tax idea that you never proposed here in Arkansas for the 10 years you were Governor. Yeah yeah foreign policy is important but Mike may be more in line with the American public than one realizes. A week after the Benazir Bhutto assassination, I had a co-worker exclaim “Bhutto was a woman?”. Besides, Hillary thought Pervez was on the same ticket and Bhutto was running against him.

John McCain I think he liked… well I don’t care.

Fred Thompson liked cigars. Illegal Cuban cigars. For the time being, I’m pulling for Fred Thompson because he likes cigars. In reality that’s all I’ve heard from him.

As for our Crackpot from Texas: Ron “Bring Back the Gold Standard” Paul. He’s my Vote For the Worst candidate. In the spirit of Sanjaia Malikar, let’s keep him going in 2008 so we can see what others brilliant ideas and performances he has up his sleeve. Has Dennis Kucinich and his hooker wife been voted out yet?

DB Returns, Your Tax Dollars At Work!

Although not a complete a waste of money, the FBI has opened this up again. The DB Cooper mystery is one of the greatest of all times. I think the SOB died on the way down or upon “landing” but it’s still a great story and worth millions (or at least thousands) of tax dollars. On the show Journeyman, they explained that the character portraying DB was simply trying to raise funds to help a friend out of Cambodia. After seeing that, I thought that was a worthy cause and all guilt I might have applied to DB was eliminated.

FROM THE NY TIMES

F.B.I. Brings a Fresh Set of Eyes to a ’71 Plane Hijacking Mystery

F.B.I.

Clues from another time: a sketch of D. B. Cooper.

By SUSAN SAULNY

Published: January 2, 2008

CHICAGO — It is considered one of the great unsolved mysteries of American crime: how a seemingly quiet man in his mid-40s hijacked an airliner somewhere between Seattle and Reno in November 1971, then parachuted in his loafers and trench coat, making off with $200,000 in cash.

F.B.I.

The tie Cooper left behind and money found nine years after the 1971 hijacking.

Who was he? Did he survive? After all these years, federal authorities say they still do not know, and the case lingers and vexes and fascinates as the only unsolved airplane hijacking in United States history. “It’s a mystery, frankly,” agency officials said in a December news release issued periodically to update old cases.

But now, with the advantage of technologies that were not available decades ago and with newfound attention from an agent on the West Coast, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has announced that the cold case is officially hot again — and the search is on for the parachuter who called himself Dan, and sometimes, D. B. Cooper.

And, for the first time, the F.B.I. is providing pictures and information on the Cooper case to the public on its Web site, fbi.gov. The agency hopes that pictures like the one of Mr. Cooper’s black tie, which he removed before jumping, will prompt a memory, or that someone will offer fresh insight into what happened to all that cash, some of which was scattered in the wilderness and found by a young boy in 1980. (Already, a DNA sample taken from the tie has ruled out several men who claimed to be the parachuting hijacker.)

“This case is 36 years old, it’s beyond its expiration date, but I asked for the case because I was intrigued with it,” said Larry Carr, a federal agent based in Seattle who usually investigates bank robberies, and who was 4 when the hijacking occurred. “I remember as a child reading about it and wondering what had happened. It’s surreal that after 36 years here I am, the only investigator left. I wanted to take a shot at solving it.”

Since the case was turned over to him about six months ago, Mr. Carr has come up with a new way of seeing the incident: as a bank robbery that just happened to be on an airplane. The fresh perspective led to new investigating techniques.

“The classic way we solve bank robberies is with the public,” Mr. Carr said. “Everything we know — pictures, descriptions, m.o., everything. We put it all out there.”

Now, with the information made public, he said, “maybe someone will say: My uncle who disappeared in 1971 — he could have been Cooper. I just never thought about it until now.”

Included in the newly released information are several updated insights on Mr. Cooper that the F.B.I. feels are accurate: he was not an expert sky diver, he had no help on the ground, he was about six feet tall and 175 pounds, with brown eyes.

The physical description came from separate accounts given by attendants on the hijacked flight, Northwest Airlines 305, that left Portland, Ore., bound for Seattle on Nov. 24, 1971. After takeoff, Mr. Cooper handed a flight attendant a note saying he had a bomb in his suitcase. He demanded four parachutes and $200,000 in $20 bills, the F.B.I. says. Upon the plane’s landing in Seattle, Mr. Cooper exchanged all 36 passengers for the ransom, but continued to hold several crew members on the plane with him as, on his orders, it took off again, this time on a flight to Mexico City.

Around 8 that night, Mr. Cooper jumped out of the back of the plane as it was flying somewhere between Seattle and Reno, Nev. It later landed safely.

The F.B.I. opened an investigation while the airplane was still in flight, but despite years of work and the consideration of hundreds of suspects, Mr. Cooper seems to have disappeared into the night.

“If he’s alive today, he’d be about 85 years old,” Mr. Carr said. “Maybe one day I’ll be sitting at my desk and I’ll get a call from an old man who says, ‘You’re not going to believe this story.’”

Why Iowa?

Our kids take an Iowa test at school to see if they’re up to educational standards. It’s based on the testing procedures administered in the state of Iowa. The presidential primary puts a lot of emphasis on what the folks in Iowa think.

I don’t see them as representing the whole of the United States, still we offer them as the benchmark of political and educational standards. The educational testing show’s how well kids know how to take a test or more likely how well teachers train our kids to take tests. The primaries show what’s important to a bunch a corny white folks who live in a land locked state with a great deal of separation from the real world.

All the ass holes in California are feeling sorry for themselves because their primaries don’t seem as important as the ones going on in the heartland. Who cares what the Californians think about the Iowan’s thinking about the political candidates.

The reason all the Iowa primary crap is getting so much attention right now is that the writers of real television entertainment are on strike. Reality TV is the big winner right now and you can be damn sure that if there was a fresh episode of Carpooling or Cavemen on that there wouldn’t be all the focus on Iowa, Battle of the Choirs, Asshole Romney, the 3rd place guy for the Democrats or Dancing with the B-Grade actors and actresses.

Christmas Surprises!

SURPRISE: Promising muslim candidate with reform/democracy/antil AlQueada platform assassinated in Muslim country. Rudy said to Wolf Blitzer that it was an Islamic Terrorist. As of this writing, they really haven’t analyzed the bits an pieces of the son of a bitch that blew himself and several others up and determined he was an Islamic anything (it’s highly likely though). Musharraf condemning the attack from one side of his mouth secretly stating with the other side “one down, one to go”. If you wonder why there’s hasn’t been a successful attempt on Pervez, it may be because he’s worked out a deal with Al Qaeda: providing them with a little real estate to establish new training grounds and replenish power up there in the “tribal regions in exchange for his continued power. You know, my guess is that if Prez Pervez wanted to take care of shit in the “tribal region” he could. For the most part, Pakistan can’t handle the idea of “democracy”. Their answer after the killing: burn a bus, tear up a hospital, riot, kill. Using that as a method of correcting the problem hasn’t worked before, why should it now. Maybe it’s just a little stress relieving to smash up a hospital.As far as this assassination goes, I’m SURPRISED it didn’t happen sooner. And SURPRISE, all the US presidential candidates are faining concern and disgust.

George Bush SURPRISED that multi-holed outhouse we call Pakistan with 10 billion in military “aid” and other surprises to fight those very terrorists that probably just blew up Bhutto. It’s reported that about half went to the appropriate toilet, that being the Pakistani military. The other half went to some other toilet and will never be seen. The results of that 10b purchase was a bunch of brown skid marks that formed as it circled the bowl. Bin Laden is still holed up in the “tribal regions” of the Pakistani toilet and still in control. It’s time to stop fucking around there and lay waste to the “tribal regions”. Oh Yeah, SURPRISE!!! Pakistan has nuclear weapons!

I’m not surprised the Nintendo Wii was, for the most part, unavailable over the holiday season. Our family has had a great time with ours that Santa purchased way back in October. Nintendo also insists that parents fax a signed form and release allowing children under the age of 14 access their website and that form must stipulate what those kids have access to. Nintendo also provides free controller jackets and straps if needed as a response to safety concerns. I am surprised at this level of corporate responsibility.

Because a bloody shoe was found in the cage of a tiger that surprised a few visitors, the folks out there at the SF zoo think that one of the victims may have been taunting the tiger by somehow swinging his foot in the cage. Surprise! Tigers apparently don’t like that. If the families of the boys who were killed and injured surprise everyone and file a lawsuit, I think the zoo should be able to counter sue for the loss of their tiger based on the stupidity of the moron who supposedly put a piece of himself in the cage.

The French are now hated by the folks in Chad. SURPRISE! The French are hated just about everywhere.

“He was speaking figuratively, not literally,”

Mitt is back peddling on his claim that his dad joined Dr. ML King in a March in Detroit. He said it several times but he forgot to throw in the “air-quotes” when he did.

FROM USA TODAY: In a major speech on faith and politics earlier this month in Texas, Mitt Romney said: “I saw my father march with Martin Luther King.”

He made a similar statement Sunday during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press. He said, “You can see what I believed and what my family believed by looking at our lives. My dad marched with Martin Luther King. My mom was a tireless crusader for civil rights.”

“He was speaking figuratively, not literally,” Eric Fehrnstrom, spokesman for the Romney campaign, said of the candidate.

Yada-Yada-Yada: Hey Mitt, your dad could have been Martin Luther King Jr. but if you’re not a Democrat today, you aren’t getting the black vote. Therefore pandering and making up stories to get a little street cread is useless.

 

Yeah, we need these bastards out…

Celebs Take Up Arkansas Murder Case
By JON GAMBRELL

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - An effort to free three young men convicted in the lurid 1993 slayings of three 8-year-old boys is gathering speed, with rock stars and other celebrities taking up their cause and about 150 supporters rallying Wednesday on the steps of the Arkansas Capitol.Supporters of the “West Memphis Three” say prosecutors and a small-town police force railroaded the young men because of their fascination with heavy metal music and the occult. And they say new DNA tests and other forensic evidence call their guilt into question.At the Capitol, sympathizers including Natalie Maines, lead singer for the Dixie Chicks, unfurled a long banner of postcards asking for the men to be released.

“You want to do anything you can to right this wrong,” said Maines, whose earlier criticisms of President Bush outraged many country music listeners. “I’m just amazed that these guys are still in prison and have turned into men in prison.”

For years, prosecutors have steadfastly maintained the defendants committed the crime. And the convictions have withstood numerous appeals, with the Arkansas Supreme Court saying in 1996 that there was “substantial evidence” of guilt.

The grisly killings of Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore shocked West Memphis, a blue-collar town of about 28,000 across the Mississippi River from bustling Memphis, Tenn.

Police found the battered bodies of the three Cub Scouts in a drainage ditch a day after they disappeared from their neighborhood. Their hands were bound to their legs with shoelaces, and one boy was sexually mutilated, prosecutors say.

Three teenagers - Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley - were arrested a month later, largely on Misskelley’s confession. Misskelley told investigators how he watched Baldwin and Echols sexually assault and beat two of the boys as he chased down another who was trying to escape.

The case - two trials, held in 1994 - included testimony and prosecutors’ allegations that the defendants acted as part of a satanic cult, and that they used to eat the hind legs of dogs and participate in orgies.

A jury gave Misskelley life in prison plus 40 years. Baldwin got life without parole. Echols, then 19, the oldest of the three, was sentenced to die. No execution date has been set.

A 1996 HBO documentary, “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills,” galvanized many supporters, who say that it reinforced their belief that the defendants were falsely convicted because they listened to heavy metal music and dressed in black in a small Southern town with a strong Christian faith.

“They were listening to Metallica. They were listening to the musicthey liked,” said supporter Kody Bradshaw, 19, of Gurdon. “I feel blessed to be an avid, open supporter in my town. We live smack in the middle of the Bible Belt.”

Since the film’s release, Echols’ art made from old magazines and prison-issued razors has sold at auction, the proceeds going toward a defense fund. Echols contributed lyrics to rock band Pearl Jam’s2006 album. Henry Rollins, frontman for punk rock band Black Flag, issued a tribute album in 2002 to raise money for their defense. ComedianMargaret Cho highlighted the case several times on her blog, posting a picture of herself across from a bespectacled Echols, sitting behind prison glass.

“Damien is beautiful like a girl, with a pale, delicate complexion that is Dove Cleansing Bar-worthy,” Cho wrote after a 2004 visit. “He is an inspiring teacher and a remarkable thinker. His writing is a constant source of wonder, especially as he lives in this terrible captivity.”

In all, the defense fund has received more than $1 million over the past decade from celebrities and Internet donors, money that has gone toward new DNA testing and a second federal appeal on Echols’ behalf, said supporter Capi Peck.

The new appeal, filed in October, includes the results of DNA tests conducted by a private laboratory in Virginia. The lab said much of the evidence failed to yield reportable results, but on the material that could be tested, no traces of the three defendants were found.

The filing also included claims by forensic experts that the bodies were not mutilated by the killers, but mauled by animals.

A federal judge ordered the state courts to examine the new claims first. The Arkansas attorney general has asked for more time to look over the material. However, a spokesman said the state stands behind the convictions.

Asked Tuesday if he would consider commuting or pardoning the three, Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe said: “No, absolutely not.”

The Arkansas Supreme Court in 1996 roundly rejected an appeal from Echols and Baldwin, who were tried jointly. It also upheld the judge’s decision to let the jury see evidence such as a funeral register Echols owned, as well as a journal that contained “morbid images and references to dead children.”

Defense lawyers claimed detectives coerced two taped statements out of the then-17-year-old Misskelley, who they say had the mental capacity of a child. Supporters of the three point to inconsistencies - how Misskelley offered the wrong times for the slayings and the wrong colors for the shoelaces that bound the second-graders.

But the Arkansas high court noted that Misskelley was advised of his rights three times during a four-hour interview with officers. The court also noted Misskelley’s “detailed knowledge of the injuries inflicted on the boys.”

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a 1997 appeal from Echols.

What is clear from the record is Echols’ macabre imagination.

“I kind of enjoy it because now even after I die, people are going to remember me forever. They’re going to talk about me for years,” he told the documentary filmmakers.

“People in West Memphis will tell their kids stories. It will be like, sort of like I’m the West Memphis boogeyman. Little kids will be looking under their beds before they go to bed.”