The Bullshit Observer

Republican campaign worker Gayle Quinnell, 75, says she compiled 3-pages of information at her local library in Shakopee that supports the assertion that Barak Obama is an Arab - a classification that she apparently equates with being Muslim (even though one is an ethnicity and the other is a religion.) So she asked McCain about it. McCain says in short, "Not true." But in an astounding act of willfull ignorance, she still believes it is true.

In other news, Rensselaer County in upstate New York with the name Barak Osama on them. "Oh whoops," they said. "Totally just an honest typo." Of course, dear reader, I'm sure it was an honest typo. As you can see on your keyboard, the "s" and the "b" are right, um, next to....uh, never mind. You can tell Rensselaer County what you think of their little "mistake" over here.

Clearly the ignorant, white-trash, fear-based, bigot voter demographic is really the GOP's for the taking. You don't even have to pander to them. Basically, anyone who relies on Jeff Foxworthy to tell them whether they're a redneck, is going McCain/Palin for sure.

This just in: it's actually McCain whose citizenship is at issue. Here's the video on that

Originally Sarah Palin had welcomed the troopergate probe and said that she would happy cooperate with it. But once she became the GOP's VP candidate, she was not so welcoming. See how she did that? She got the probes hopes up and then totally dissed the probe, just like she dissed the poor 'ol bridge to nowhere. She sort of slammed the door in the poor confused probe's face. Said, "Thanks but no thanks, Probe." So what was the poor probe to do?  The probe did the only thing probes know how to do.

It probed anyway.

Now the probe, after completing all the probing, found that she illegally abused her power as Governor when she, the first dude, and her staffers made a total of 19 phone calls pressuring Alaska's Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire their former brother-in-law. Why so many phone calls? Well, apparently the guy wouldn't take no for an answer. He kept expainin' to Palin' that, no, it's not legal to discipline a guy and then later fire him for the same reason without new evidence. But they kept askin' cuz they didn't get their way. Sound like anyone we know? Cough Bush Cough.

But aside from knowingly and willfully breaking the law (laws are so inconvenient, doncha know) there's the total debacle that followed. You see, when Palin' went to replace 'ol Walt Monegan she chose a guy named Chuck Kopp whom she knew from her campaign. Chuck was from Kenai and allegedly big into the whole sexual harrassment game. In fact, he had been reported several times. Nice vetting. Well, when the pesky mainstream media got ahold of that one, well, they were like flies on rotting moose meat. Kopp resigned 14 days later. Then, and here is the really wierd part, he gets a $10,000 severance package. Now, I don't know how it works up there in Ahhlaska, but where I'm from, you don't get severence when you quit. You get a handshake and a wave. But up there in in Oil Rich Alaska apparently your letter of resignation works like a check. Not only that, but in Chuck's case they didn't treat it as wages. It was a lump sum treated like a 1099 in exchange for agreeing not to sue the goverment. Hmmm.

Poor Monegan, by the way, didn't get a thing for his 38 years of service but a box to put his shit in. Except he did get the probe. And the probe got him a little justice - and a nice running start at the wrongful termination suit. 

Sarah Palin finally granted an interview this week. Reporters asked why it is she's been invoking the name of 1960s-era radical William Ayers in her criticisms of Sen. Obama. 

It's a simple question. Not a trick question.

Her response, the AP:

"It's relevant to connect that association he has with Ayers, not so much he as a person Ayers, but the whole situation and the truthfulness and the judgment there that you must question if again he's not being forthright in all of his answers," Palin said. "It makes you wonder about the forthrightness, the truthfulness of the plans he's telling Americans with regards to the economic recovery."

I think what she's trying to say there is that Ayers is not to be trusted, and since Obama knew Ayers, Obama's plans for economic recovery may be bogus. Which, when you think about it, makes perfect sense.

Yes it does! Yes it does! Yes it does infinity.

By the way, a piece of toast with Palin's likeness burned into it just sold on eBay for $31.00. God bless America.

About a year and a half ago I reported that Circuit City had laid off 3,500 workers that their management had claimed were over-compensated (at a paltry $15/hr) and replaced them with cheaper labor. They offered to those workers the same job at lower wages. I predicted that their customer service was about to go from  completely unhelpful to the retail equivalent of garden gnomes.

Yet management guru's applaud the move and predicted that more companies would follow suit.

"If lower-cost labor is available, it's the right thing to do. They're not a charity," says Francie Dalton of Columbia, Md., president of Dalton Alliances, a management consultancy. "If it was your business and you have lower-cost labor available, you should do the same thing."

Six months ago I reported that their stock had since taken a nose dive.

Since that time they've lost contracts, missed out on a merger with Blockbuster, had their value go down by 87%, and have had manufacturers bail on them. Now Circuit City is about to become Circuit ghost town. That is to say, they're going under.

And I say, "Good." Any company that doesn't realize that they sell goods to people, not stock to investors, deserves to go out of business. Goodbye Circuit City and let that be a lesson to you Francie Dalton.

Not sure which one represents which

A story is in full circulation about an incident at a craps table in Puerto Rico involving John McCain and his evil twin: Senator Hothead. It's from Jeff Dearth, a media investment banker, and it goes something like this:

Apparently there is some kind of rule or tradition in craps that everyone’s hands are supposed to be above the table when the dice are about to be thrown. McCain—“very likely distracted by one of the many people who approached him that evening,” Jeff says charitably—apparently was violating this rule. A small middle-aged woman at the table, apparently a “regular,” reached out and pulled McCain’s arm away. I’ll let Jeff take over the story:

“McCain immediately turned to the woman and said between clenched teeth: ‘DON’T TOUCH ME.’ The woman started to explain...McCain interrupted her: ‘DON’T TOUCH ME,’ he repeated viciously. The woman again tried to explain. ‘DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU’RE TALKING TO?’ McCain continued, his voice rising and his hands now raised in the ‘bring it on’ position. He was red-faced. By this time all the action at the table ha