And Voila! Tricky, the toughest coyote ever, rests in a cage after its ordeal - which it survived with just some scrapes to its paw!

Hit by a car at 75mph, embedded in the fender, road for 600 miles – and SURVIVED!

When a brother and sister struck a coyote at 75mph they assumed they had killed the animal and drove on.
They didn’t realize this was the toughest creature ever to survive a hit-and-run.
Eight hours, two fuel stops, and 600 miles later they found the wild animal embedded in their front fender – and very much alive.
Daniel and Tevyn East were driving at night along Interstate 80 near the Nevada-Utah border when they noticed a pack of coyotes near the roadside on October 12.
When one of the animals ran in front of the car, the impact sounded fatal so the siblings thought there no point in stopping.
‘Right off the bat, we knew it was bad,’ Daniel explained. ‘We thought the story was over.’

After the incident around 1am, they continued their 600 mile drive to North San Juan – even stopping for fuel at least twice.
But it was only when they finally reached their destination at 9am did they take time to examine what damage they may have sustained.
At first it looked as though it was going to be quite gruesome.

‘[Daniel] saw fur and the body inside the grill,’ Tevyn East said. ‘I was trying to keep some distance. Our assumption was it was part of the coyote – it didn’t register it was the whole animal.’
Daniel East got a broom to try and pry the remains out of the bumper and got the shock of his life.

‘It flinched,’ Tevyn East said. ‘It was a huge surprise – he got a little freaked out.’

'We knew it was bad': Tevyn East, who was in the car when it hit the coyote, bends down to take a look at the fur poking through the fender.

Fur Pete's sake: What Mr. East spotted as he bent down to inspect the damage to his car - the body of the coyote poking out through the radiator.

Wily Coyote: The animal's head can be seen as rescuers took apart the front fender to save it after it was struck by the car at 75mph.

Miracle Escape: As the animal struggled, wildlife protection officials put a loop around its neck to prevent it from further injuring itself. The front of the car is completely taken apart as the coyote begins to wriggle free.

And Voila! Tricky, the toughest coyote ever, rests in a cage after its ordeal - which it survived with just some scrapes to its paw!

A very exciting game ends with a bitter pill to swallow for Raps fans.  Nash and Hedo went at it in the fourth quarter like a Spy vs. Spy episode and the team came within one shot of beating a very good scoring team. That my friends was offence at it’s finest. And what’s not to love about that. I felt like I was watching NBA Jam.

The Zan for Three

Kid Canada

Steve Nash drives to the basket for two on his way to another dominating performance

Nevermind which country he calls his home, people should be checking Nash’s passport to make sure he’s from the planet Earth.  He was unstoppable tonight.  Angry Raptor fans might point the blame at Calderon, but in Jose’s defense, Nash has been making everyone in the league look like Wile E. Coyote chasing the Roadrunner.  He is playing at another level right now – probably on his way to MVP contention once again.

Turkish Delight

Turkoglu is becoming such a joy to watch. He’s a smart player the Raptors can depend on for leadership late in games.  Yes, he missed two jump shots to potentially win the game, but we were only in it becaue he took us there.

He shoots when it makes sense, he made a couple of unreal passes and a few of his pull up jump shots were unstoppable.  If this is “just hitting your stride” then watch out.  He was almost a scratch tonight too.

Late Game Braincramps

It’s the 4th quarter, your best player is shooting 50%,, tell me again why you are taking ill-advised 3pt shots at the beginning of the clock?  Get the ball inside!  It really isn’t rocket science.  Chris Bosh was hitting his shots and was dominating the game.  Why not give Bosh the ball and see what happens?  A few better choices during the 4th quarter and this one goes to the visitors.

(Plus one)  The New Agent Zero

He looks a little like the villain in the Pink Panther cartoons but he is playing the part of the good guy on Jay Triano’s bench right now.  Marco Bellinelli has become a reliable player off the bench.  He shoots the ball well, makes smart passes and plays good defense.  For the second game in a row Belinelli provided key minutes off the bench and provided some mismatch problems on the offensive end.

Zan of the Game

Steve Nash

The guy is probably the best player in the NBA right now.  No offense to Lebron, but Nash is making everyone on the Suns look like a Hall of Fame candidates.  And that’s with hair in his face.

Not Zan of the Game

Jarrett Jack

This guy is struggling big time. He hasn’t performed at the shooting guard and he hasn’t done his job as the back up point guard. It is early in the season but he needs to step it up.  We need him if we are going to win games.

And another thing…

Is it just me or is Steve Nash starting to look like Neil Young?  Just saying.

I have very fond memories of the Looney Toons.  Ben and I used to watch the two hour chunk on Sunday mornings, comparing the quality of the Toons’ jokes to those of the other shows for kids, touting the writing in the 1940’s like a couple of bitter seventy year olds.

Our favorites were Wile E. Coyote (Predatorius-Craftilus) and the Road Runner (Delicius-Delicius).  We would talk about the genius of using umbrella corporation ACME as commentary on consumerism, then burst into noisy laughter (commentary forgotten) as poor Wile E.’s rocket scooter stopped just short of the other end of the cliff and he plummets into the canyon.  “How about ending this cartoon before I hit?” he asks sadly, via a sign with writing on it.  The cartoon-makers oblige, and the screen begins to fade to black.

I could say a lot about Looney Toons, and I probably will at some point.  The way it treats life and death as absolutes to be casually accepted, the way that the conflicts stem from basic instincts (the desire to eat, to hunt, to survive), the way that women are only present as nagging wives, tired or overindulgent mothers, or sexual objects, but you know what?  I just watched like three cartoons starring Daffy Duck, and I really just want to talk about how totally awesome Daffy Duck is.

Daffy was originally created as a screwball protagonist, screwball meaning completely uninhibited and nonsensical.  This is the era where he coined his typical, “WOO-HOO!  WOO-HOO!  WOO-HOO!” while jumping madly around a confused foe.  As time went on, though, the creators blessed Daffy with a little more savvy.  His zaniness was replaced with a quick-talking irritability and sense of entitlement, and eventually he hit on his famous catchphrase, “Yoooou’re despicable!”

Now, the thing about Daffy is that he is never quite good enough.  He is always one step behind his self-imposed rival, Bugs, and can never really seem to come out on top.  He constantly senses that he is being somehow jilted, and it’s true, but this never stops him from trying.  Daffy is always trying to get ahead, and in his fervor to be important, he often steps on the straight man.

I don’t know about you, but I can never help but love the underdog.  Or, uh, underduck, as it were.  Daffy just wants to win, just once, and he never seems to, so he loses his temper and gets frustrated and vitriolic and spouts the fowl language he’s famous for.

See what I did there?

A character who always wins is far less interesting than a character who never does, and I feel I have far more in common with poor Daffy than slick Bugs.

What do you think?  Do you have a favorite Looney Toon?  And if you say Tweetie Bird so help me god I will find where you live and slap you in the mouth.  I have had enough cutesy imitations of ‘I tawt I taw a puddy tat!’ to last me several lifetimes.

I am agog, I am aghast….no Marius is not in love at last. But the lunatics HAVE finally taken over the asylum……..

The Curious Case of Crazy Cartoons

Cartoons are the closest approximation to Tarantino’s movies. They start out as a simple ideas inspired by real-life objects/characters/situations and go on to evolve into completely new universes with their own sets of mythologies and histories. Although controlled to the last pixel by their creators, these cartoon characters take up a life of their own and, in the process, have the creators conform to their characteristics. A sub-art form by itself, the cartoon provides so much scope for exploration of both the animation medium and of cinema itself (by exclusion of reality). When Émile Cohl created Fantasmagorie (1908), now accepted as the first ever animation movie, he had given a mile of head start for the genre with the film’s no-holds-barred repudiation of real space and time. Since then, sadly, animation seems to have been moving in the opposite direction, trying to imitate “normal” cinema with its gargantuan technological expertise,  in the same way the latter tries to imitate life. These CG devils do not seem to understand that animation is both an adversary and a complement to photographic cinema – an extreme form of wish fulfillment that wears its manipulation on its sleeve – rather than a clone. Like all genres, the clichés have remained, the spirit and meaning buried. Premiering almost six decades ago, the Wile E. Coyote vs. The Roadrunner cartoon series is one that takes these clichés to the most extreme and, by doing so, digs into the most basic and pertinent of all questions about the medium – What does it mean to be a cartoon?

Honey, I Dehumanized the Kids

The Roadrunner series was conceived by Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese.  And Chuck Jones is as true an auteur that one can find in cartoon filmmaking. One can almost immediately tell a Jones cartoon from the others. His toons are characterized by hard edged drawings with jittery motion that lacks real continuity. His characters are true caricatures, deliberately far from reality, with justifiably no depth at all. These characters somehow appear to know that they are in a cartoon. Consider his stint as the director of the famed Tom and Jerry show. Till then, Hanna and Barbera had been presenting us cutesy, smooth lined and lovable characters (This still remains my favorite era in the Tom and Jerry series) who call out for empathy. With the arrival of Jones, however, things take a dark turn as we see a frenzied Tom chasing a Jerry who seems to be perennially on crack. Jones removes any trace of cuteness from these characters, providing features like vicious teeth and pointed whiskers, and disallows any sympathy for them from us, at least by the virtue of their appearances. It is as if Jones believes that we should know that these are just cartoons and their lives are not going to be altered by our sympathy. That does not mean that he doesn’t give us emotional anchors to hold on to in his cartoons, but just that he consistently avoids the threat of realism – of appearance and of emotions – that plagues the cartoon world so often.

Although it never really upped the ante for the Tom and Jerry series, his style sure does work wonders here. In the Roadrunner series, too, there are no attempts at unwarranted emotional bonding even though one does end up rooting for Wile E. within minutes into each episode. For a comparison, these cartoons of Jones are like the early short films of Chaplin that relied purely on slapstick, without ever concentrating on the Tramp’s relationship to us like the later Chaplin films do. Jones relies on Woody Allen kind of humour – throw them all and see what sticks – with his relentless series of gags. His humour does not depend on what happens (which, by the very virtue of the Roadrunner series, is known to every one), but how does it happen and how long does it take to happen. Part of the fun in watching the Roadrunner cartoons arises from this surprise element of time that comes into picture in these skirmishes. Consider this random episode called Hip Hip-Hurry! (1958) that Jones directed. The episode consists of 8 gags of lengths 58, 30, 26, 8, 28, 35, 25 and 106 seconds respectively. The numbers are enough of a witness that Jones revels in writing both gotcha gags and wait-wait-almost-there-boom set pieces (which were a characteristic of his Tom and Jerry cartoons too) equally. And that is the only kind of unpredictability that he allows in the world of Roadrunner.

[Hip Hip-Hurry! (1958)]

Once More Upon a Time in the West

The idea of the Roadrunner show resembles a western (The fact that the coyote is a symbol of the Native American makes this notion all the more interesting!). Like the western genre, it originates as a piece of history – a shred of fact that a coyote is trying to get his hands on a roadrunner – and then develops itself as a myth that is derived from that piece of history (that the coyote always goes after the bird). Two primary characters facing each other off in a vast, cruel and blazing environment is one of the biggest stereotypes of the now-extinct genre. In Roadrunner, too, the geography is sparse, torrid and lifeless and painted with mostly brown and deep yellow colours. Furthermore, the western has always been a playground for writers to tease our moral standings and to tantalize us with notions we try to take for granted. Usually, the “morally good” according to law and social institutions for justice, in the form of police and the sheriff, is pitted against the morally good according to personal conscience and intuition, in the form of the noble outlaw and the lone ranger. Scenarios are written in such a way that our empathy goes against the justice system, which seems to be blinded by its own rules, and the audience is made to unconciously question the way laws are made. In the case of Roadrunner, this sense of balance between “good” according to public opinion and right-wing morality and “good” according to personal experience and emotional connection is maintained in the form of the roadrunner and Wile E. respectively. The cerebral part of us tells us that the roadrunner is never the instigator of trouble and it is plainly wrong to try to kill the harmless being. On the other hand, by virtue of the script, we end up supporting the coyote’s efforts and even want him to get the bird for once. The result is the deletion of human morality – the notion of heroes and villains and good and bad – from the Roadrunner universe.

No Man’s Land

One observation that one immediately makes when watching the Roadrunner cartoons is the strange absence of humans in the toons. There are no human “characters” in the series as such, even though they make their presence in the world felt indirectly now and then. Even when they do, in the form of the regular afternoon trains that run over Wile E., the random trucks that get him at the tunnels and the friendly neighbourhood highway chases, they merely act as deus ex machinas that make sure that Wile E. does not catch roadrunner and that he always chases him.  Same is the case with the ACME Corporation, from where Wile E. obtains all his bizarre gadgets. He always gets what he wants from them although one is not sure how the economy allows for this. ACME is not very unlike our capitalistic companies that benefit from people’s internecine quest for climbing the social ladder as fast as possible and which try to rake money even at the  cost of deterioration of people‘s ways of life (and history has made sure that this policy of ACME holds good for Certain Intelligence Agencies too!). Both humans and institutions perpetuate the myth of the roadrunner and Wile E by their non-intrusion and occasional intrusion. Furthermore, there are no laws in the Roadrunner world.  Unlike in movies like Toy Story (1995), where the toys had to obey the rules of the human world and come into true existence only when they are far removed from observation, Wile E. need not be ever conscious of his actions. He knows that he is being observed by the humans and he would always be made to chase the roadrunner. Even science, with its selective application of its laws, seems to want to keep the myth alive.  All Wile E. can do is to conform to this “fascist conspiracy” of the external world.

The Cartoon with(out) a Difference

In the case of The Roadrunner series, one is safe in saying that if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Far from being wrong, it is the very truth of the world of Roadrunner. The stories of all the episodes of the series are so identical to one another, that it would only be a miracle if one can identify individual episodes. You have this lanky, brown coyote – about 45 years of age, one would say, if Jim Carrey were to play him – who tries, in every which way possible, to get his hands on this clever, thin roadrunner bird. Predictably (I mean predictably), he fails, only to get up again and repeat the process. Each of these vignettes starts out and ends in the same way – with Wile E. concocting some new plan to get hold of the Roadrunner and with him getting caught in his own trap respectively. The only difference between each of these encounters lies in the way Wile E. fails in his mission. In fact, the whole universe of Roadrunner relies on repetition – repetition of situations (what would Roadrunner be without the top view of Wile E. falling into the cliff?), repetition of geography (more than in any other cartoon, the scenery in these cartoons repeats very often, especially noticeable in the background during the chases) and repetition of structure (to the point that the relative ordering of the vignettes and the episodes is ultimately immaterial). Heck, even the single piece of speech in the series comes in the form of a repetition – “Beep Beep”.

But then, there are traits that are also shared by every other cartoon (Garfield often speaks to us out of context of the cartoon about these clichés) and also perhaps the easiest ones to devise. But, the real success of the Roadrunner series lies not in using these clichés, but retaining them forever, even at the cost of being unfunny and redundant. Jones takes the practice to the breaking point (and beyond) by bombarding us with the same elements over and over. And, through this monotony, he achieves something much more than instant chuckles. Harold Ramis’ brilliant Groundhog Day (1993) examines, albeit in photographic reality, what it takes to live in a completely predictable world – a world that is mathematically derivable, geographically utopian and emotionally unresponsive. Its protagonist, Phil Connors (who is worthy of Bill Murray), after some days of rejoicing over the unlimited power that he has been given, finds himself completely alienated from his people and then, gradually, comes to accept his situation. Beyond that point, he stops attempting to break the loop of time and decides to enrich his own life and that of the others. Now that it is neither possible for him to pursue any goal in life that he may have had nor take his own life, he realizes that the only difference that he can make in this world is to make the people around him happy, even if it is just for a couple of hours. Phil Connors isn’t very unlike our hero Wile E.

Deconstructing Wile E.

The world of Roadrunner is the perfect cartoon world. It is a world devoid of the notions of hunger, injury and death. Even though Wile E. believes that he chases the bird in order to eat it, that can never be his actual motive. The very fact that he keeps chasing the bird for years in vain suggests that food is never a point of concern for him. His role in life is to chase the roadrunner and nothing else at all. In this regard, he shares a very ironical relationship with the bird. For one, he cannot and will not catch roadrunner ever because, if he did, he would not have anything else to do in his life. In that case, he would lose his identity and turn from being a cartoon ‘character’ with unique characteristics to being a mere ink stain on a sheet of coloured paper. He would then be wandering the wilderness for eternity. Nor can he renounce the chase altogether for that would tantamount to him catching the bird and subsequently losing his identity. On the other hand, the roadrunner’s role is to be chased. Since Wile E. knows that his only option is to chase the bird, roadrunner needn’t ever instigate him. But if ever, Wile E. digresses from his job, it would be the roadrunner’s duty to pull him back into the loop since he has his identity to retain. The whole of fabric of Roadrunner is based on this paradoxical relationship that the two characters share.

Now, this is not the foundation that shows like Tom and Jerry are raised on, although they, too, are reduced to no more than a bunch of futile chases. The kinship between Tom and Jerry is built around the human world, unlike in Roadrunner, like a refrigerator loaded with food, a stray canary or a runaway bear. At any point, Tom and Jerry could make a pact and go on with their lives independently – which means that Tom can laze around forever and Jerry can pinch cheese whenever he wants. But, in the case of Wile E., there are no such easy alternatives. His world is defined solely by his chases and contains no other dimension. Tom or Jerry need not be in every scene in an episode, but Wile E. has to be present in every setup of every vignette and, if needed, in every frame. Like Barry Lyndon, the coyote’s life is sealed in the two dimensions he lives in (The ideal sequel, if you can call that, to the Roadrunner show will not be in 3-D, but rather in 1-D, with the two characters represented as two dots that never meet). Even though the initial motive for Wile E. is to catch roadrunner and that for the roadrunner is to evade the claws of Wile E., in the long run, they would inevitably reverse their roles. That is, the coyote. will, eventually, make sure that he doesn’t catch the bird and the roadrunner will make sure that he is chased. This is almost exactly the kind of relationship that Batman and the Joker share in The Dark Knight (2008).

One is tempted to compare the fate of Wile E. to that of Sisyphus, the Greek king who is made to roll a mammoth boulder over a steep hill slope forever, only to find it roll back down (Is it just a coincidence that Wile E. is seen shoving huge rocks time and again?). The coyote’s life, too, goes around in such pointless loops with no end in sight. In fact, Wile E. is the quintessential Absurd Hero, like Sisyphus, who realizes the pointlessness of his life and nevertheless continues. I’m a philosopher only as much as Barack Obama is a ballet dancer, but from what little I have heard about Camus, he draws three possible responses to this realization of the absurdity of the world – Faith, Suicide and Existence. He seems to reject the first two ideas, denouncing them as tricks to repudiate the truth about the meaninglessness of life. In the third option he proposes that life be lived for-the-moment and enjoyed to the fullest, without any hope or ambition and with the constant knowledge of the absurdity of it all, and thus have complete freedom over our actions. This way, the refusal of suicide becomes the very token of acceptance of absurdity and the freedom of choice that it provides. Now, this is where Roadrunner really takes its medium seriously. Unlike Sisyphus, Wile E. (and Phil Connors) does not even have the choice of suicide, so that he can refuse it. His world knows no death. Nor can he make a leap of faith, for he has nothing to hope for, except maintaining status quo. Thus, Wile E. can only take up the third option of living life for what it is. Wile E., like most Chuck Jones characters, knows that he is in a cartoon, that he has to carry on his chase act for ever and that there is no meaning to his life. So all he can do is keep chasing roadrunner – keep pushing the rock – in an attempt to keep both of them happy. Camus sums up the Sisyphus situation fittingly: “The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”. The same should be said about Wile E.

(pic courtesy: The Yerton Dreamhouse)

Why do we continue to watch beck? For the same reason we continue to watch Wile E. Coyote. Both are perceived as evil (the coyote is, after all, just trying to eat), both keep coming up with more and more outlandish means to accomplish their ends, both are not taken seriously by their main adversaries (the only time the road runner even acknowledges the coyote is when he has to step out of the way), and both of them are doomed to failure.

And so we can’t turn away. They keep trying, they keep failing, and we keep watching that failure, every party wondering who among them will be the least persistent and eventually give up.

Unlike the coyote (who somehow can afford – and find for purchase – rocket skates, but not a cheeseburger), Beck wants you to watch – that’s his purpose. The more outrageous he gets, the more people go, “oh no he di’int,” and tune in.

And unlike the emaciated coyote, Beck knows where his next meal is coming from.

(via Salon.com: Progressives are like slave owners; and LA Times: Slavery was a liberal cause.)

I’m still stuck on the boat on the Indian Ocean; I’m currently at day 36 of my 10 day trip and still counting….. Ho hum, best laid plans and all that.

Being that I’m not too busy at the moment I was taking a break, having a coffee and watching the marine life at the side of the boat. Specifically I watched a shark epically fail 3 times in trying to catch and eat a flying fish. Whilst the shark looked dramatic in its thrusts breaking the surface of the water, it realistically got nowhere near its prey. The fish upping its pace each time and skipping away from the shark.

Reminiscent of a Wile E Coyote cartoon, I almost expect the fish to let out a ‘beep beep’ Road Runner style. Looking a bit dejected the shark then turned its attention to a sea snake, who despite being really small in size, comparatively speaking, gave the shark a simple hard stare, causing the shark to cut its losses and drop deeper beneath the surface. Still hungry.

I’m not sure but possibly the sea snakes have all gone a bit bad ass as a result of the other day.

One thing I did notice in this exchange was that the when sharks eyes catch the lights from the boat (night time here at the moment) they reflect in a truly demonic fashion. Like a deer in headlights, but the most sinister water based deer you’ve ever seen.

I hate long shots. I guess that’s why I’ve been taking the easy way out of situations, by running. And whoever tells you running doesn’t help is one big fat liar. I’m serious. At times, running away from it all, no matter how temporary, helps the most. Trust me, I should know, I’m a runner and also the one who always slipped out the back door. Call me a coward but it got me through the darkest of days. Try, just don’t make it a habit.

As soon as it turns into an unbreakable habit, you just stopped living because you are so busy running. For as long as Wile E. Coyote is chasing, the RoadRunner will keep on running… I told myself that everyday until last night. A shot came knocking from miles away.

As I was saying, I hate long shots. Shots, itself, gives me jitters. I could handle rejections, mistakes, improvisations but I could not handle me, not being good enough. Intolerable, period. I guess it is difficult when you’re your own critic.

Having said all of the above, I am rethinking long shot, this one in particular. For once, just this one moment in time, for a mere second, I am turning myself into an optimist. I shall go the distance and shoot. This will be the furthest free kick I would have taken. And yes after thinking about the ‘what’s the worse that could happen’ scenario and consulting my person, the shot is best taken than let go. I am nervous. It is a new challenge despite being an old field. But hey, what’s the worse that could happen? I’d fall and I’d fall and I’d fall again but last I checked, I have been getting up. I may not rise to the occasion but I got up.

Now, it’s time to crawl (before I walk, that is).

The pain of starting over and the chances of making new mistakes can be heard spurring me on.

XOXO

Whoopsies, someone better tell Hillary and Obama that their man in Tegucigalpa is a crazed, paranoid, anti-Semitic common commie criminal.

They’re torturing me, Honduras’ Manuel Zelaya claims

It’s been 89 days since Manuel Zelaya was booted from power. He’s sleeping on chairs, and he claims his throat is sore from toxic gases and “Israeli mercenaries” are torturing him with high-frequency radiation.

“We are being threatened with death,” he said in an interview with The Miami Herald, adding that mercenaries were likely to storm the embassy where he has been holed up since Monday and assassinate him.

. . .

Honduran police spokesman Orlin Cerrato said he knew nothing of any radiation devices being used against the former president.

“He says there are mercenaries against him? Using some kind of apparatus?” Cerrato said. “No, no, no, no. Sincerely: no. The only elements surrounding that embassy are police and military, and they have no such apparatus.”

. . .

Israeli government sources in Miami said they could not confirm the presence of any “Israelis mercenaries” in Honduras.

The evil Jews are torturing poor Zelaya with poson gas and radiation waves, they’re out to assasinate him! What a loon! And this is the crazy ass Chavez wannabe that the Obama administration has thrown in with. Oh, and remember that supposed “coup” the Obama administration is obsessed with punishing the Honduran government and people for? It turns out that it wasn’t a “coup” at all, under Honduran law, the removal of former President Zelaya was Constitutional.

CRS Report: Honduran ‘coup’ appears legit

In response to the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, the U.S. State Department cut off foreign aid to Honduras and stopped approving visas for government officials. The U.S. is even threatening now to de-legitimize that nation’s upcoming November elections, and has been treating the interim government of Roberto Micheletti as a rogue regime.

But State’s is not the only opinion. By way of contrast, a new report (click here for the pdf) from the Congressional Research Service bears out what our editorial board has been pointing out for months now: The situation in Honduras should not be a cause for concern in Washington. It should a relief.

President Zelaya, who was attempting to subvert the constitutional order of Honduras by seeking re-election (considered a crime there) was removed from office by the order of civilian authorities, and the constitutional order of succession was honored afterward.

. . .
.
“The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service concluded the removal of former President Zelaya was Constitutional, and we must respect that,” Rep. Aaron Schock said today. “It’s unconscionable the administration would attempt to force Honduras to violate its own Constitution by cutting of foreign aid.”

See also:
HONDURAS: CONSTITUTIONAL LAW ISSUES
Spinning Zelaya

So, the Obama Administration and the State Department picked the side with the crazed, paranoid, anti-Semitic common commie criminal, the same side Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega, and the Castro brothers are on. Go figure.

/I swear, these Obama Administration and State Department morons could watch a hundred episodes of the Road Runner cartoon and still bet on Wile E. Coyote

♣ You Would Think That We Would Be Used To This… ♣

“You must never be satisfied with losing. You must get angry, terribly angry, about losing.”

—Richard Nixon

DETROIT — The Detroit Lions are the one team in Detroit and the state of Michigan that can galvanize the entire state. For the last 10 years, that has been akin to organizing a lynch mob. The Lions have not always been this horrible. I mean, they have been bad, but this decade (save for 2000) has been legendarily bad. It looks even worse coming out of arguably their most successful decade since the NFL-AFL merger, the 1990s, which saw the Lions post five winning seasons (1991,’93-’95, ‘97) and make the playoffs six times (‘91,’93-’95, ‘97, ‘99). That 1991 team went 12-4 behind the likes of Rodney Peete, Erik Kramer, Chris Spielman, Ray Crockett, rookie reciever Herman Moore, and some 3rd-year running back named Barry Sanders. They fell one win short of the Super Bowl, losing to the Washington Redskins in the NFC Title Game. Their worst seasons were three 5-11 years (‘92, ‘96, ‘98) that were quickly turned around the next year. While the ’90s Lions won no championships (and just one playoff game), they were actually pretty fun to watch. Horribly Frustrating, but fun nonetheless. Now however…not so much.

The Detroit Lions have not won an NFL game that counted since December 23, 2007, stretching out over 19 regular season games. On that cold December day, they defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, and ended what had been a brutal six game losing streak that took the Lions from a 6-2 NFL comeback story, to a 7-8 washout who narrowly missed the playoffs. The Lions would lose their final game of the season the following week in Green Bay and finish the 2007 season 7-9, their best season since 2000 (9-7). After the 2007 season, things looked like they were FINALLY heading in the right direction for the Lions. Then 2008 happened!

As you all know, the Lions crashed face first into the toxic wasteland of 0-16, making them the first team to go winless since the NFL went to a 16-game schedule in 1979. Tack on the six straight losses that preceded the win over KC, and the Lions have lost 25 of their last 26 games! That’s Criminal! They did so with the most impotent offense in recent memory, the worst defense known to mankind, and the most inept head coach in the history of sports. Now you would’ve figured that when you look at the scorched Earth left behind after the first winless NFL season since 1976, and the subsequent ridicule and conjecture that would come with it, you would think that everything that was done wrong would’ve been righted. Well, you must not know the Detroit Lions.

As I said in a blog back in January about the team’s owner William Clay Ford Jr. in explicably giving Matt Millen a Contract Extension after his third season of 13 or more losses: “No other owner who cared about winning would’ve kept Matt Millen in charge past 2004…Think about that for a second! You are the worst person at your job. You’re always forgetting to add pickle. You’re always putting the Big Macs on buns with no seeds! You consistently keep coming up grossly short on money. And your boss sees this, ignores all calls to fire your slacker ass, and seemingly, out of spite, promotes you instead! That’s the type of logic we have to deal with from the Detroit Lions.”

The Detroit Lions have operated under the notion that in spite of their numerous gross failures over the last decade, that they are the smartest person in the room. When common sense and general consensus says fire someone or say…DRAFT AN OFFENSIVE LINEMAN OR DEFENSIVE PLAYER (D-Line or Safety)….they use that special Spider-sense that tells them that the fans, media, and so-called “experts” in places like New England, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and New York have no idea what they are talking about. Then they go out and draft a QUARTERBACK! Then follow that up by wasting a second first-round pick, one that was basically gift wrapped to them by the Dallas Cowboys, on a useless TIGHT END! Their “rationale” was that they were drafting for “talent” and not “need” as if the two are mutually exclusive. By the way, the quarterback that they drafted, Matthew Stafford, may be showing himself to be just as useless as the tight end.

This dude has all the makings of being Joey Harrington, v. 2.0. The only difference between the two is Stafford has a stronger arm and throws more interceptions. Stafford developed a legendary following by the suckers here in Detroit because of a combination of the ridiculous amount of hype he has received by being drafted 1st overall, and being signed to the single most ridiculous contract in NFL History: $78 Million, with an absurd $42 Million GUARANTEED. Remember, there are no guaranteed contracts in the NFL, and some of the league’s best players aren’t getting a third of that kind of money. Players that Stafford is making more money than include: Tom Brady, Ray Lewis, Peyton Manning (for now), Phillip Rivers, and Ben Roethlisberger. Stafford got that before he ever threw a pass in the NFL.

Never mind that in college, Stafford had the reputation of never quite living up to his full potential, never won any big games, and had a penchant for throwing bad interceptions at inopportune times. In that aspect, he’s a perfect fit in Detroit. But all the Lions want people to hear is how great of an arm he has and how he’s made some incredible throws in Practice (yes, we’re talking about Practice, not a game!). Considering, I heard Rod Marinelli and the rest of last year’s team talk about how great they looked in practice, I wasn’t exactly sold. Then Stafford was placed against veteran Daunte Culpepper where he had to “compete” for the starting job. Culpepper, who started 5 of the 16 Ls from last year, is back in shape and looks like the dude who used to drop bombs on the Lions back in the early parts of this decade when he was with the Minnesota Vikings.

While Culpepper handled the offense in the Preseason, including committing no turnovers and moving the ball with precision, Stafford was the “gunslinger” that all the suckers wanted to see. He was also the inconsistent rookie that I thought he was. He threw one touchdown and four interceptions in four games. Culpepper threw one touchdown, no interceptions in three games. Yet when it was all said and done, and anyone who wasn’t drinking Stafford’s bathwater could see, the rookie wasn’t ready. That didn’t stop new coach Jim Schwartz (aka WCF) from naming the rookie the starter, defying all logic once again. After the Stafford Stans and Lions slaps thought that Stafford was gonna go all Matt Ryan on the New Orleans Saints last week, he looked, well, terrible. He passes for a mere 152 yards, and threw three brutal interceptions. One must remember, Ryan’s first start came against the…DETROIT LIONS!

Then came yesterday’s debacle against the Vikings. One of the many ridiculous comparisons made about Stafford is that he’s a “young Brett Favre”, and that they are willing to accept his throwing countless interceptions because Stafford is a “gunslinger” with “swagger” (BTW, can that word, and whoever invented it, die on New Year’s Eve!?). Well, the old Brett Favre was on display yesterday with a new age Jim Brown in the backfield named Adrian Peterson. After the Lions defense actually showed up in first half, and the Lions somehow gathered a 10-0 lead (after Stafford threw one brutal pick as the Lions were driving for an early TD), and lead 10-7 at halftime…then second half happened! Things went to hell quickly as the Vikings, in all, scored 27 straight points, highlighted by Stafford throwing two more horrible picks that turned into Game, Set, Match. Vikings 27, Lions 13.

The only thing worse than the Lions, is this loser mentality the fans have developed, including some of the Stafford Stans insisting that Stafford is better than Culpepper, and “would rather win two games with Stafford, than six or seven games with Daunte.” If this were ever said in front of me, that might be a reason to go. That’s what we’ve come to in Detroit. We’re so messed up in the head that we would rather lose with an over-hyped/rated rookie than win with a competent vet for a year (or perhaps just 6-10 games) then send the rook out there after that. But what do I know!? To the Stans, Stafford is Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Brett Favre all in one. You know, minus the accuracy, heart, touch, experience, patience and wins. Speaking of Wins, if the Lions don’t get one next Sunday against the Redskins, it might be a minute before we see another one.

And truthfully, that’s what this is all about. Its not about “prepping for the future” like the candy-asses and the Stans like to say, it’s about getting a “W” ASAF’nP! The all-time NFL record for consecutive losses is 26 games, belonging to the 1976-1977 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Those Bucs, the last team prior to the ‘08 Lions to go winless, had a bit of an excuse being that they were an expansion team. Still, that team lost all 14 games in 1976, then followed that up by losing their first 12 games in 1977! The Lions tragic number sits at 8 from breaking that dubious record. Don’t think it couldn’t happen. We thought 0-16 couldn’t happen, but the Lions proved that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLLLLLLLLEEEEEEE!!!!

I love the Detroit Lions. I seriously do. But just like I’m fed up with the coonery and buffoonery in the Detroit city government, I’m fed up with the know-it-all arrogant incompetence of the Fords and the Lions. However, unlike you fakes and phonies who claim to be “Lions-Free”, I openly watch the Lions, knowing that I will likely end up pissed off by 4:15pm as I have been every NFL Sunday since 12/23/2007. However, just because I support them, doesn’t mean I’m happy with them. That’s why from now until the day they win another game, my blogs will now reflect how long we in Detroit have been held hostage by this team’s losing.

So Until Next Time, That’s The Way It Is, Today, Monday September 21, 2009.

The 639th day since the Detroit Lions last won an NFL Game.

Take Care, God Bless, Always Dare To Be Different, and G.O.M.A.B.! Σ

source: Bonhams

As one passes the first anniversary of the failure of Lehman Brothers, one might be wondering where (beyond one’s mattress) one should be parking what’s left of one’s resources.

As Wired.com reports, the auctioneers Bonhams have an idea:  natural history artifacts.  The 42 items to be gaveled in a sale to held in Las Vegas on October 3 range from a fossilized fish, estimated to go for about $1,000, to a 66 million-year-old T-Rex skeleton (above), one of the best ever found– and estimated to fetch as much as $8 million.  Other highlights include the largest shark jaw ever found, a giant pig skull, and the skeleton of a duck-billed dinosaur.

Collectables, of course, have an uneven history as investments…  but then, how’s that stock portfolio doing this last year or so?

As we rethink our portfolios (and the arrangement of our living rooms), we might recall that it was on this date in 1949 that Warner. Bros. introduced the Road Runner in the cartoon short “Fast and Furry-ous.”  Created by Michael Maltese and the incomparable Chuck Jones, The Road Runner’s “beep, beep” (like the sounds of most other Warner Bros. cartoon characters) was voiced by Mel Blanc.

The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote make their debut

The Leap

So you know it’s an intuitive hit when the next day you wake up freaking out about what you’ve just committed to. Twenty-one days of writing (and posting) in a row?! What was I thinking?! Oh yeah, that’s right. I WASN’T thinking. This came from my power center, and then I believe the wine took over which led to my bold public pronouncement. I’m telling you right now, if I hadn’t made this public, I would so be laying out in the sun right now reading my May issue of Vanity Fair (yes, I’m 5 months behind! Can’t you feel my pain?).

Well, you now get an idea of what happens when the head has a chance to wrap itself around a decision to follow one’s intuition. As I woke this morning, I noticed my tongue sliding across my teeth and I realized I was checking to see if any of them were really broken. It has been a long time since my last broken teeth dream. From what I remember (because I’ve researched this just a bit during my recurring broken teeth dream days), dreaming about your teeth breaking signifies a loss of control. And yup, I’d say that’s about exactly what I feel right now.

For the next 20 days (or is it 19?), I can’t wait around for a swelling of inspiration to hit me hard enough to force me to sit down to write, and I can’t NOT post because what I’ve written doesn’t measure up to my internal editor. I have effectively hurled myself out over the edge of something and I have no idea what lies below. I’m second-guessing myself, clamoring in the air for a chunk of earth, a branch, a cloud, something. (Are you picturing Wile E. Coyote here hanging mid-air in a puff of smoke and dust, just outsmarted by the Roadrunner? If you are, you got the feeling right on. If you’re not, go back to the picture above and get the feeling!)

And if you’re thinking, “Geeez, Hilary, you’re so dramatic!” Then you should know that the last time I followed a strong intuitive hit I got married, and well, if you’ve been reading these posts from the beginning, you know that lasted 55 days, and I’ll tell ya that leap was quite a ride. The dust and smoke pictured above? A mere sneeze!

So, the unknown – it is both exciting and terrifying. Exciting because of the possibilities that lie ahead (this feels so right!) and terrifying because you have no idea what they are (doh!). Letting go of control. It worked out famously with the steak the other day. And the marriage? That was a fiasco, but it wasn’t a mistake.

So, what is today? Day 1 or Day 2? My head says, “Day 2. Day 2!” because that’s one more day down. But my gut says, “Sorry, Day 1.” Damnit! Twenty days to go.

Free Printable Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes Coloring Pages
What’s up, Doc? Raise your hand if most your life lessons came from Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, Foghorn Leghorn and Looney Tunes? You need free printable Looney Tunes coloring pages! Read on…
Read on…

Found this by way of HotAir.  Professional Obama suck-up, Charles Blow says :

Conservatives speak in bumper stickers. Obama speaks in thesis statements. In fact, he sometimes seems constitutionally incapable of concision.

He also seems to display a disdain for irrational excitability and confronts it with either princely dispassion, mocking disbelief or stirring oratory that speaks more to posterity than to the people in front of him.

The problem seems to be that the general public is too stupid to comprehend the elaborate Acme DeathtrapSoaring Rhetoric that Obama, amazing awesome guy that he is, has been generating.  Thus, we are never ensnared in his works of awesome genius.

Let’s roll that clip.

Family Guy explores this existential question. Amazing video.

(Thanks Brett)