Why Do You Keep Hitting Yourself?

Over at The Children's Corner, toothsome dolt Hadley Heath waxes moronic:

Second, VAWA’s ideological foundation assumes that violence against women is caused by pure sexism. This presumption is actually sexist toward men, and ignores proven causes of domestic violence, such as substance abuse, psychological disorders, and marital instability.

Marital instability is a proven cause of domestic violence! I had to hit her because her objections to me hitting her were destroying our marriage. Everything was fine before she started complaining. And her complaining made me drink and go nuts, too. Who's the real victim here?

Of course, the Violence Against Women Act isn't limited to domestic violence. And there are countless rapists and wife beaters who rape and/or beat men just as often as they rape and/or beat women, so the assumption that sexism is involved in rape and wife beating is actually reverse sexism!

The Oxford History of Kaus as Goatblower

The definitive treatise on the hairless hack's love life, all in one convenient link.

One of the links even eventually brings you back here.

The hack was last seen at the Daily Choler,  accusing Rupert Murdoch and Sean Hannity of  dolchstossing his salad on immigration.

Republican Family Values: I Lost My License, Now I Don't Drive

Life's been good:

After insisting he wasn’t a “deadbeat dad” throughout his failed campaign for re-election, ex-U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh is still dogged by questions about child support.

Walsh, a flame-throwing Tea Party Republican who was trying to land a radio deal and last week announced he was forming a new conservative SuperPAC, filed court papers seeking to end his obligation to pay $2,134 per month in child support.

But once again, Walsh insists he’s no deadbeat.

Both he and his attorney say that since he is no longer employed as a congressman, they want to “modify” the previous agreement so that he pays 20 percent of his current salary.

Walsh is not currently employed and has no salary. But that could change, he said.
“I’m working on it,” he said.

Is anyone surprised that no one will employ this scumbag?

Sympathie für den Kriegsverbrecher

Advertising used to be much simpler, and cheaper.

We built the tanks
With slave labor ranks
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank

Link via.

Reliable Bitches

On today's Reliable Dumbasses, Howie "the Putz" Kurtz chatted with Dana Milbank regarding "the Media's Lovefest With Hillary Clinton."

Yes, the Dana Milbank who called Secretary of State Clinton a "Mad Bitch."

You won't be surprised to learn that the Putz didn't bring up that reference when questioning Milbank about media treatment of Secretary Clinton.  Like Howie's own undisclosed conflicts, Dana's don't merit a mention.

The Assrocket's Red Glare

A little over a month ago, Assrocket Hinderaker told us, "No one tries to shoot up a biker bar."

Assrocket has once again been proven wrong:

A former Navy SEAL known for claiming a record number of sniper killings in Iraq was killed Saturday at a gun range. And the man charged in his death was a fellow veteran, a military official says.

Chris Kyle, 38, was author of the best-selling "American Sniper: The autobiography of the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history." He and 35-year-old Chad Littlefield, also a veteran, were gunned down Saturday afternoon in Glen Rose, Texas, southwest of Fort Worth, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

Police arrested suspect Eddie Ray Routh, 25, and served him with two felony warrants for capital murder.

         ...

At the range, investigators found 25 to 30 weapons, including handguns, long guns and AK-47s, Bryant said. Authorities do not yet know which weapon or weapons were used to kill.

Kyle leaves a wife and children.

(No link to the Ass.)

All the Single Ladies

Kathryn Jean Lopez, on 1/27/13 C-SPAN airing of a National Review Institute panel of ladies:

"So how can we get single women to realize that the government is not their husband....?"

If K-Lo didn't exist, Jane Austen would have to be reanimated just to invent her.

(No link up yet.)

Fraction of a Half-Wit

Howie "The Putz" Kurtz deployed one of my pet peeves in this recent post:

Fox News offered Sarah Palin a new contract before she decided to part ways with the network where she has held forth as a commentator for the last three years.

However, it would be hard to describe it as a generous contract....

The new contract offered by Fox, say people familiar with the situation, would have provided only a fraction of the million-dollar-a-year salary. It was then, they say, that Palin turned it down and both sides agreed to call it quits.

He did this again on his CNN show today.

The Putz uses "a fraction" as a synonym for "a small fraction."   $999,999/1,000,000 is a fraction of one million dollars.  It is, in the context of Sharia Plain, an insanely generous contract offer.  

I suspect that the Putz uses the term "a fraction" because no one will tell him what the actual offer was, or because he promised O'Reilly he wouldn't mention a specific dollar amount or percentage.  Most likely, the Putz is just assuming what everyone else is -- that FOX has wrung the last useful dollar out of Palin and would be insane to keep paying her at the expired rate.  As a media reporter, Kurtz is a joke.

Comic Strips Welcome the 20th Century

Dick Tracy greets a gay couple:



http://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2013/01/22

The possibly Asian character (George Tawara) is based on George Takei.  Regrettably, the strip doesn't identify Brad as George's husband.   

And while this represents progress of a sort, The Mole has been reduced to working as maître d’hôtel at a Lawry's Steakhouse knockoff, at least until Dick Tracy brains him with a garden hoe.

Meanwhile, Gil Thorp is exploring interracial dating, in black and white.  Still no romance between Gil and Marty Moon.



We all need to meet the peacock sometimes.

http://www.gocomics.com/gilthorp/2013/01/19

Not Affiliated With the Fat FOX Fuck

In advance of a planned biography of FOX News Channel heavyweight Roger Ailes, someone is  buying up domain names with Fat Bastard's name in it, such as rogerailesbook.com.

Seems an opportune to time to again disclaim that Roger Ailes, the blog, has nothing to do with FNC President Ailes, FNC in general or anyone or anything else affiliated with FOX.  This site is a non-profit -- and how! -- opinion blog, operated as a labor of love for you, dear reader.  Its humble administrator is perhaps 100 lbs. and 40 million dollars lighter than Fat Bastard and, while he will undoubtedly enjoy checking out of the library a tome which portrays Fat Bastard in an unfavorable light, he has nothing to do with the book or any website wars it engenders. 

We now return you to your irregularly scheduled program.

Pinch-Quitter

Fox News Channel simply wasn't big enough to contain Sharia Plain and Dennis Kucinich.  Something had to give.

And that something was Fat Bastard giving himself a pay raise with the savings.

We Must Get Ace of Spades Mental Health Treatment

Favorite line in Ace's call to action against the mediatatorship: "Now, until recently, liberalism had at least tried to give some lip service, and perhaps some actual consideration, to the faggy notions of process, fairness, access, and such."

Ace is a very conflicted soul.

Ace also opines:

Fox alone isn't enough. For one thing, any venture needs competition; Fox doesn't really have competition, not for the audience it's targeting.

For another thing, frankly, look: Fox is often pitched too low to do any good with any but the already-alarmed. (Which I consider to be possibly a function of a lack of competition.)

And it never puts him on the teevee either.

Has Ace forgetten about PJTV and The Blaze and ReasonTV and BreitbartTV and The Right Network?  It's almost as if he's given up on internet triumphalism.

Unfortunately, Ace doesn't offer any solutions about what should be done, apart from demanding that billionaires not named Murdoch or Anschutz or Zuckerman or Snider or Bain Capital LLC or Adelson (in the 51st state) "band together to purchase or build a media outlet."  

A high-pitched media outlet, presumably.

Maybe even an actual dog whistle.

Rudy Con Fail

Over at Newsbusters for Children, an unemployed sportswriter and all-around dolt claims that  "there was also a pro-choice, pro-gay marriage Republican in office while Dunham lived in New York (Brooklyn) in the form of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani."

No, there wasn't. Guiliani supported domestic partnerships (which conferred very limited benefits) when he was mayor of New York City.  Afterwards, he supported civil unions but not marriage equality; and supported a federal constitutional ban on equality in the event 5 or more states got gay happy.  In 2011, long after he left office (and stopped campaigning for President) Rudy took the position that the marriage equality should be left to the states, but also criticized the New York Legislature for legalizing same-sex marriage. In other words, he does not support gay marriage.

The rest of the article is even more idiotic and dishonest (falsely accusing an actor of calling Republicans Nazis), but once you recognize that the dolt is lying about his main example of a tolerant G.O.P., there's no reason to waste more time on the dolt.

There's The Rubb

Jennifer "J-Rubb" Rubbin is down on Dancin' David Gregory for not giving Colin Powell the high, hard one on yesterday's Pressed Meat Fun Time Hour:

“Meet the Press” isn’t what it used to be. After a remarkably softball interview with President Obama on New Year’s Day, moderator David Gregory on Sunday let former secretary of state Colin Powell filibuster through one question after another, never following up or, as they used to do in the good old days, confronting the interviewee with statements that directly contradict his spin. Several examples suffice to show that Gregory is ill-prepared, doesn’t listen to the answers or has no interest in conducting tough interviews of the Obama administration’s surrogates. (Maybe it is all three.)

Powell asserted that Chuck Hagel is “superbly qualified” to be defense secretary. Umm. You would think an interviewer would ask: But doesn’t he lack executive experience?

You'd think!  How could Powell possibiy defend Adolf Hagler with a clever comeback to that poser?

After Reagan's inauguration as President, Hagel was named deputy administrator of the Veterans Administration. In 1982, however, he resigned his post over a disagreement with VA Administrator Robert P. Nimmo, who was intent on cutting funding for VA programs. Nimmo had referred to veterans groups as "greedy", and to Agent Orange as not much worse than a "little teenage acne". ...

After leaving government employment, Hagel co-founded Vanguard Cellular, a mobile phone service carrier that made him a multi-millionaire. While working with Vanguard, he served as president and chief executive officer of the United Service Organizations and the Private Sector Council, as deputy director and chief operating officer of the 1990 G7 Summit, and on the board of directors or advisory committee of the American Red Cross, the Eisenhower World Affairs Institute, Bread for the World, and the Ripon Society. He also served as Chairman of the Agent Orange Settlement Fund and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Although he was pressured by some to run for Governor of Virginia, where he had lived for 20 years, in 1992 Hagel moved back to Nebraska to become president of the McCarthy Group, LLC, an investment banking firm. He also served as a Chairman and was CEO of American Information Systems Inc. (AIS), later known as Election Systems & Software, a computerized voting machine manufacturer jointly owned by McCarthy Group, LLC and the Omaha World-Herald company.  On March 15, 1995, Hagel resigned from the board of AIS as he intended to run for office. Michael McCarthy, the parent company’s founder, was Hagel’s campaign treasurer. Until at least 2003, he retained between $1 million and $5 million in stock in Election Systems & Software's parent company, the McCarthy Group.

When Powell dodged Dave's qualification question with this string of irrelevancies:

GEN. POWELL: I think there are a number of reasons.... From there, he went to other things in life. He supported President Reagan in his run for office and as a result of that, he received an appointment as Deputy Director of the Veterans Administration. To show you the kind of courage this guy has and what he believes in, he quit after one year because he felt the Veterans Administration was not doing a good job for veterans and he couldn’t take that. He went back to private life, started a cellular company. In those days, it was something rather remarkable and new, made a fortune, did very, very well, and he continued to serve. And while he was running that cellular company, he also was president of the USO which was in trouble.

....He also has been co-chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. He’s also on the defense policy board. This is a gentleman who knows all of these issues in depth. 

...Dave's failure to follow-up on executive experience was unforgivable.

If I didn't know better, I'd think J-Rubb really didn't care about Senator Hagel's executive experience. But that couldn't be. I'll hear no cynical suggestion that J-Rubb is disloyal to the facts.

Tennessee Pride

Glenn Reynolds' bald brother in arms speaks:

NASHVILLE, Tenn.- Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security has suspended the handgun carry permit of a local man who threatened to "start killing people" to protect his Second Amendment right.

In a statement released Friday officials said they had suspended the handgun carry permit of James Yeager, CEO of Tactical Response based on "material likelihood of risk of harm to the public".

On Thursday, a video of Yeager angrily claiming he would "start killing people" if President Barack Obama moved forward with gun control measures began to go viral on the internet.

"The number one priority for our department is to ensure the public's safety. Mr. Yeager's comments were irresponsible, dangerous, and deserved our immediate attention. Due to our concern, as well as that of law enforcement, his handgun permit was suspended immediately. We have notified Mr. Yeager about the suspension today via e-mail. He will receive an official notification of his suspension through the mail," Commissioner Bill Gibbons said.

The professorial cracker is of course silent on his pro-gun pal, although he found the time for a topical "Helen Thomas is old" joke.

Let's You and Him Fight

Jonah Goldberg, in his latest incarnation as Dr. Doughlittle, channels his pale mate, Derbyshire, in imagining the slaughter of Africans:

The news that an entire family of elephants was slaughtered by poachers in Kenya is depressing. I’m a big squish when it comes to charismatic megafauna, the technical term for really awesome big animals: tigers, whales, dolphins, elephants, lions etc. But I’m also a conservative in the purest sense of the word. The conservation of these creatures is its own reward. They speak to our place in the universe, the majesty of God’s creation, the imagination of children, and countless other intangible factors that resonate from the Bible to literature to our own childhoods.  

To that end, while I’m not sure it makes a lot of sense for the U.S. government to get officially involved militarily, I would love to see some foundation hire some ex-special forces to lend a hand in the worthwhile effort of shooting poachers.

There's literally no problem that shooting foreigners won't cure!

Pantload would shootl the poachers himself, but he's 43 years old, his family can't afford the lost income, and his ass is sorry.  However, he's on the fence as to whether American fodder soldiers should give their lives to save his pachyderm pals. He can be convinced, but he's just not there yet. 

Note also that Pantload's reverence is reserved for those awesome beasts he doesn't eat and/or which can't dine upon him for logistical reasons.  God's majesty and our place in the universe aren't reflected in future bacon cheeseburgers or human residents of Third World.

Grand Old Police Blotter: Three Generations of PaulSots Is Enough Edition

Another libertarian tosspot trying to avoid responsibility for his criminal offspring:

US Airways denied serving alcohol to the 19-year-old son of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, and the grandson of former presidential candidate Ron Paul, who was arrested Saturday morning at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
...
When the plane landed about 10:49 a.m., Paul was charged with consuming beer/wine underage, disorderly conduct and being intoxicated and disruptive.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Lt. Blake Hollar said the teen was possibly served alcohol on the plane, but a US Airways spokesman said Monday that wasn’t the case.

“It is important to note that William Hilton Paul was not served alcohol onboard his US Airways flight from Lexington to Charlotte this past Saturday,” said Todd Lehmacher, via email.

Rand Paul’s office issued a brief statement: “Sen. Paul is a national public figure and subject to scrutiny in the public arena. However, as many parents with teenagers would understand, his family should be afforded the privacy and respect they deserve in a situation such as this.”

The privacy Paul and his family deserve is zero.  The little PaulSot was disruptive and abusive in a public arena, either on an airline or in an airport.  Neither Billy Paul nor his old man have done anything to earn anyone's respect, ever.

Punk III even tried to avoid arrest by dropping his dad's job as Senator.  At a minimum, Senator Paul needs to confirm whether he authorized his son's claim of congressional immunity.

Roger's One Sentence Review

Agenda 21, by Glenn Beck and Harriett Parke: If Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote an Amish romance novel after suffering a traumatic brain injury, it would be better than this.

Fun and Fungibility

Apparently ATM cards provided for public assistance can be used at ATM machines which happen to be located inside strip clubs, liquor stores and bars, at least in the Empire State.  And the pecksniffers are pecksniffing:

“This is morally scandalous,” said Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. “I have nothing against strip clubs, but that’s not what benefits are for. I don’t blame [recipients]. If you are poor, it’s a crummy life and you want to have a drink or see a naked woman. I blame the people who are in charge of this.”

The New York Post sniffs that those who use their ATM cards at "jiggle joints" and "gay dive bars" could have chosen to withdraw funds from wholesome BofA branches just down the street.

Don't tell the New York Post or the Catoads, but the same folks could have cashed out at the BofA teller and then taken the cash to the titty bar next door.

Just Remember

Everyone who is permitted to address you today on the idiot box regarding the "Fiscal Cliff" legislation has just had his or her top marginal tax rate increased, at least theoretically.

Calibrate accordingly.

Update:  Edited for clarity.

The Worst of Humanity

I know secondhand the seriousness of blood clots because some close to me suffers from them.  They are a serious medical condition, regardless of their location.  I don't believe I have a right to claim moral superiority because of connection to someone who suffers from that condition, or that I would have such a right if I suffered from it myself.

In any event, It's not possible to think less of Glenn Reynolds than I already do.

The Special Relationship

Margaret Thatcher and Jimmy Saville

Gun Fight at the K Street Corral

A gun is introduced in the first act: 

Richard K. Armey, the group’s chairman and a former House majority leader, walked into the group’s Capitol Hill offices with his wife, Susan, and an aide holstering a handgun at his waist. The aim was to seize control of the group and expel Armey’s enemies: The gun-wielding assistant escorted FreedomWorks’ top two employees off the premises, while Armey suspended several others who broke down in sobs at the news.

The coup lasted all of six days. By Sept. 10, Armey was gone — with a promise of $8 million — and the five ousted employees were back. The force behind their return was Richard J. Stephenson, a reclusive Illinois millionaire who has exerted increasing control over one of Washington’s most influential conservative grass-roots organizations.
...
“This was two weeks after there had been a shooting at the Family Research Council,” said one junior staff member who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. “So when a man with a gun who didn’t identify himself to me or other people on staff, and a woman I’d never seen before said there was an announcement, my first gut was, ‘Is FreedomWorks in danger?’ It was bizarre.’ ”

Bottom line: After Dead-Dick Dick's armed takeover, the wingnut who owns the Cancer Treatment Centers of America promised Dick $400K a year for 20 years to return the reins of impotence to Matt Kibbe.

Maybe the unnamed aide can share a cell with David Gregory.

via LGM.

Update:  Simple arithmetic corrected.

Fools and Their Money

Romneybot/National Reviewdomite Kevin Hassett, speaking of his love of America:

That prompted a tall, extremely tanned blonde named Kay, from Old Greenwich, Connecticut, to ask Hassett, the co-­author of the 1999 book Dow 36,000, “So what do we do with our money?”

He recommended investing in real estate in another country, maybe in Central America somewhere. A woman to Kay’s right wrinkled her nose: How about a Western country? “Okay, if Europe is what you want, go to Poland,” he said optimistically. “Go to Krakow, buy a house for $50,000, and it’s going to be like Paris in a few years.”

As we drained the Pinot Noir, Hassett gave his audience the insider’s view of the Romney campaign, describing how its election-monitoring software crashed on November 6 and Obama was probably behind it, “because those guys are so evil.”

The table grumbled in assent.

“The thing we have to understand is, these are people who don’t have any morals,” said Hassett. “They’ll do anything. I’m one of their No. 1 targets. I mean, they really want me bad.”

Read the whole thing, if only to find out who wore "lime-green pants embroidered with pink swordfish and [a] navy polo shirt with white piping on the collar."

And enjoy the veal.  NR already did.

King William's College General Knowledge Paper 2012

Enjoy.

It's Very Far

Moneychangers Win The Templeton

So who should win this year's Templeton?

The John M.Templeton Biblical Values Award is named after John M. Templeton who answered God’s call to intertwine his work as a money manager and his Christian faith. By using his investing talents to helping [sic] ordinary people and practicing biblical values in the market place, John M. Templeton serves as a model to all business executives of faith.

The John M. Templeton Biblical Values Award is given annually to the nationally recognized business executive who most fully integrates Biblical values and work.

Mitt Romney, Dan Cathy, Sheldon Adelson....  This year's competition seems especially tough.

You can vote in comments, or at the link above.

Grand Old Police Blotter: BYUOB Edition

Crapo drinks Maypo and Cuervo, gets blotto:

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Senator Michael D. Crapo of Idaho was arrested early Sunday and charged with driving under the influence in a suburb of Washington, D.C., the authorities said.

Mr. Crapo, a Republican, was pulled over after his vehicle ran a red light, the police in Alexandria said. He failed field sobriety tests and was arrested about 12:45 a.m., said a police spokesman, Jody Donaldson, and then was taken to the Alexandria jail and released on an unsecured $1,000 bond about 5 a.m.

The police said Mr. Crapo, who was alone in his vehicle, had registered a blood alcohol content of 0.11 percent. The legal limit in Virginia is 0.08 percent.
...

In Congress, Mr. Crapo has built a reputation as a staunch social and fiscal conservative. It has been expected that he would take over the top Republican spot next year on the Senate Banking Committee.
...

Mr. Crapo grew up in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and was named a bishop in the Mormon Church at age 31.

He is a lawyer who graduated from Brigham Young University and Harvard Law School.

Eeing a Mormon Republican seems like a good reason to drink, but that's no excuse for getting behind the wheel.

The Contest for Stupidest Romney Has Now Closed

“He wanted to be president less than anyone I’ve met in my life. He had no desire to . . . run,” said Tagg, who worked with his mother, Ann, to persuade his father to seek the presidency. “If he could have found someone else to take his place . . . he would have been ecstatic to step aside. He is a very private person who loves his family deeply and wants to be with them, but he has deep faith in God and he loves his country, but he doesn’t love the attention.”

Either Taggg thinnks someone is stupid enough to believe this story, or Tagggg believes it himself.  Either way, Taggggg is now officially the stupidest Romney ever.

Lush In Pissing Match With Corpse

The wingnut blogosphere's Golden Shower Goddess has filed suit against a necrophiliac enthusiasts' website, Breitbart.com:

The suit says that difficulties managing the Breitbart “media 'empire'” or ideological conflicts or both had spiked the working relationship, creating a “increasingly hostile” work environment. When Loesch tried to terminate her work agreement in September, Breitbart refused and extended the agreement by a year, the suit says.

Breitbart.cοm LLC refuses to allow her work to be published and “sabotages” her attempts to find work elsewhere, the suit says.

The suit basically alleges that the Loesch's access to the Breitbart sites have been cut off, and that she has therefore been denied the opportunity "to earn a living as an Internet editor or otherwise." But the complaint is evasive as to whether the Loesch is being paid per her contract, and does not allege a count for breach of contract. It thus appears that Corpsebart.com LLC is paying her but refusing to publish her yellow journalism, or let her edit its other crap, and she wants out for a better paying gig. (Is WhizBang! still around?) Although paying her to do nothing wouldn't be denying her the opportunity "to earn a living as an Internet editor or otherwise."

If the lawsuit doesn't work out, she can always piss on Breitbart's corpse. 

Update (12/22):  Confidential to Rick Moran and the Daily Choler -- Lush isn't suing "for $75,000," her shyster's reciting the magic words to get into federal district court.  (And the magic words are "in excess of $75,000.")  As to whether Lush's hack has done it correctly, if Corpsebart hires a mouthpiece with more brains than Ben Shapiro, she or he chould have some fun with the pleading filed by Lush's hack.

The Neocon Smear Machine

Robert Wright on the Neocon Smear Machine:

I should have put "pro-Israel" in quotes, because, as I've said again and again, people who are "pro-Israel" in a right-wing sense of the term favor policies that are, in my view, bad for Israel. And that's especially true of the group I'm talking about now: not neocons in general (many of whom are honorable people who fight clean and don't make ad hominem attacks), but the subset of neocons (Kristol, Rubin, Stephens, et. al.) who try not just to counter arguments they disagree with but to stigmatize the people who make them. This subset of neocons -- the neocon smear machine -- has long prevented an open and honest American discussion of Israel, and as a result America, the country with the most influence over Israel, has indulged Israel's worst, most self-destructive tendencies.
...

In case you don't know who Abe Foxman is, he's the guy who believes that, though Jews can build synagogues wherever they want, and Christians can build churches wherever they want, Muslims shouldn't build mosques wherever they want. (This may sound like a bigoted position, but it's grounded in respect for relatives of 9/11 victims, whose anguish, says Foxman, "entitles them to positions that others would categorize as irrational or bigoted.")

The other thing you should know about Foxman is that he's head of the Anti-Defamation League. So far as I can tell, that means he's opposed to defamation unless the target is (1) a Muslim who aspires to build a mosque in the wrong place; or (2) someone whose views on Israel don't meet with his approval -- in which case he'll personally do the defaming.

The only thing Wright doesn't mention is that the Neocon Smear Machine is financed in substantial part by anti-Semites like Rupert Murdoch.  Which is one reason why I say that people like Bret Stephens aren't pro-Israel, they're only interested in their own power and influence.

Robert Bork has died.

How Can You Tell When The NRA Is Lying?

Its p.r. flack is writing:

"Out of respect for the families, and as a matter of common decency, we have given time for mourning, prayer and a full investigation of the facts before commenting:"

How much respect and decency does the NRA have?

This much:

While the NRA has not responded to media inquiries and stopped all social media activity, NRA News, a show owned and operated by the NRA, has continued to broadcast online. The topic of the broadcasts has been the Newtown shooting, and hosts and guests alike have said directly that the shooting should not be blamed on guns.

... 

"I don't think the issue is an issue; I don't think the issue is parenting, or Hollywood, or guns, or rap music, or young men.... It is the foundational stuff... whether it's a lack of love, a lack of empathy for others, an apathy," Edwards said.

On Monday, NRA News host Ginny Simone led her program with "the national debate about the need for tougher gun laws," during which both she and her guest, National Review columnist John Fund, stuck to anti-gun control talking points.ore commenting.

The NRA spent most of the past weekend communicating with their whores, ordering them to lay low and reminding them what happened to Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock when they spoke their minds.

More on McArdle

For those who are stupid enough to believe that Meeeegan McArdle can tell the Constitution from the holes in her head, but not too stupid to read altogether, this article will be of considerable assistance.

Money quote: 

“Nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill,” Justice Scalia added. Government buildings in general could still ban guns. And the court said it had no quarrel with “laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.”

It hardly needs to be explained to anyone of average intelligence that there is nothing in the United States Constitution which forbids legislation prohibiting people licensed to own and use a firearm from selling, giving or bequeathing that firearm to a person who is not licensed to do so (the examples given being felons and the mentally ill). 

Your first clue that McArdle doesn't know what she is talking about is that she can't bother to get simple facts straight from news articles written at a fourth grade level, even though that is part of her job.  McArdle is no more capable of understanding a Supreme Court opinion than she is of writing a blog post which doesn't demonstrate what a dolt she is, at great length.

Update (12/19):  Link fixed.

Pisher Stephens

Right-wing toochis lecher Bret Stephens has set his sights on former United States Senator Chuck Hagel because Hagel took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Stephens simpers:

"I'm a United States Senator, not an Israeli Senator," Mr. [sic] Hagel told retired U.S. diplomat Aaron David Miller in 2006. "I'm a United States Senator. I support Israel. But my first interest is I take an oath of office to the Constitution of the United States. Not to a president. Not a party. Not to Israel. If I go run for Senate in Israel, I'll do that."

Read these staccato utterances again to better appreciate their insipid and insinuating qualities, all combining to cast the usual slur on Jewish-Americans: Dual loyalty. Nobody questions Mr. Hagel's loyalty. He is only making those assertions to question the loyalty of others.

Hagel's statement is so unremarkable it's unremarkable.  He's not describing anyone else; he's not speaking about Jewish-Americans.  (Everywhere I see this quote, I never see the question or statement to which Hagel is responding.  How convenient.)  Perhaps Stephens can explain who Hagel's criticizing with "Not to a president.  Not to a party." -- All presidential voters?  All partisans?

The real reason Pisher Stephens hates Hagel is because Hagel doesn't show single loyalty to the neocon death cult agenda. Stephens isn't loyal to any country in the sense of wanting what's good for any country.  Like almost every other Smacky winner, he only cares about ensuring that others fight the wars he fantasizes about.  

John Judis explains the source of Pisher's malice:

The attempt by the Republican Jewish Coalition and The Weekly Standard, which still holds a special grudge against Hagel for opposing the Iraq war, may not succeed in derailing Hagel’s nomination. AIPAC has been quiet to date on Hagel’s potential nomination, and J Street, its liberal counterpart, has actively backed Hagel, who spoke at its 2009 conference. So has Aaron David Miller. [The Staccato Code is imperceptible to the human ear -- RA]  One key indicator of Hagel’s chances at confirmation will be whether John McCain speaks out in his favor. The two men used to be very friendly –Hagel was the co-chair of McCain’s presidential campaign during 2000 – but fell out over the Iraq war. If McCain backs Hagel, then Obama may be willing to risk the controversy that the pro-Netanyahu groups are likely to foment. But if the Republicans coalesce against Hagel, as they did against Susan Rice, Obama may worry that the nomination fight will overshadow his efforts to evade the fiscal cliff.

Peter Beinart piles on:

A guy named Ronald Reagan said so in 1981, when AIPAC and the Israeli government were lobbying against America’s sale of AWACS surveillance planes to Saudi Arabia. “It is not the business of other nations to make American foreign policy decisions,” Reagan told the press. Was Reagan implying that AIPAC—a largely Jewish organization—was doing the business of “other nations” and thus disloyal to the United States? Luckily for the Gipper, Stephens didn’t write a column back then.

Again, it's all about single loyalty.  Stephens doesn't give a fuck about the people of Israel, and he certainly wouldn't fight for them.  He's all about shutting up people who oppose his lunatic fringe war agenda. 

Shut Up and Learn to Die With It

Apropos of my last post, Meeegan McArdle has raised her empty head and spewed the following:

Lanza seems to have been fond of violent video games, and spent hours playing them.

What does this even mean?  Hours per what?  Day?  Week?  Lifetime?  And McArdle offers no evidence, no link, to support her claim.  The linked WSJ article says he was a frequent customer at GameStop; it does not disclose his purchases. The claim appears to derive from a couple of U.K. e-rags (not cited by McArdle) which offer no source for the assertion.

Based on that alone, the Deadly Beast has committed media malpractice and deserves to disappear from the face of the web.

Of course, there's more.

Lanza tried and failed to buy a gun, presumably for use in the attack.  Lanza's mother seems to have been the registered owner of the guns he had, and may have been killed to get her guns. 

Again, no proof of any of this.  Reports from authorities are that Mrs. Lanza was found in her bed with multiple gunshot wounds to her head from one of her own guns.  Yet McArdle wants her readers to believe that Mrs. Lanza's son dispatched her by some means not involving a firearm, then gained access her guns and desecrated her corpse with a few rounds to the head.  

More:

Lanza shot everyone at least three times, according to the medical examiner.  If anyone tried to play dead, a commonly recommended strategy, it didn't work.  

If only those 6 and 7 year olds had thought strategically.  And, again, the reports are to the contrary.

McArdle claims it "br[oke] my heart to even type those details."  Imagine how she'd feel if she'd tried for accuracy.

She also omits other details, such as Mrs. Lanza's trips to the shooting range to encourage her  troubled son to handle lethal weaponry.  All in all, McArdle appears to be making large parts of the story up for her own purpose -- which is to argue against gun regulation.

You see, Adam Lanza was not only an "anxious sad sack" but also an unstoppable killing machine:

He had all the mental health resources he needed [sic] -- and he did it anyway. The law stopped him from buying a gun [sic] --and he did it [sic] anyway. The school had an intercom system aimed at stopping unauthorized entry -- and he did it anyway.

And if you can't stop one particular person, then there's no reason to even try to pass a law which might address some other circumstance.  Just shut the fuck up and learn to play dead.

We couldn't, for instance, make it a crime for a person licensed to own or carry a firearm to provide access to a weapon to a person who wasn't licensed to do so, or a minor, or an incompetent person.  We couldn't also legislate civil penalties, and impose liability, for such a thing.  (The right to keep and bear arms includes the right to give them away to any felon or nut - look it up.)  We tried something like that with vehicles, and no unlicensed person or minor was ever deterred from driving because of such laws.  Never happened; never will.  

Meeegan knows that won't work, so she doesn't even mention it.

But she is generous enough to offers a solution that don't interfere with her libertarian pals'  holy jollies.

My guess is that we're going to get a law anyway, and my hope is that it will consist of small measures that might have some tiny actual effect, like restrictions on magazine capacity.  I'd also like us to encourage people to gang rush shooters, rather than following their instincts to hide; if we drilled it into young people that the correct thing to do is for everyone to instantly run at the guy with the gun, these sorts of mass shootings would be less deadly, because even a guy with a very powerful weapon can be brought down by 8-12 unarmed bodies piling on him at once.  Would it work?  Would people do it?  I have no idea; all I can say is that both these things would be more effective than banning rifles with pistol grips [sic].  

You know, with this new fangled social networking, I'd bet it's just as easy to round up a flash mob of bum rushers as it is to gather a group of libertarian tw*ts to prance around the Jefferson Memorial. 

We can also slash public education budgets even further, so any future Adam Lanza will think twice before risking the risk the wrath of an overcrowded classroom.  

Profit!

We Have to Put Future Procreation By Republicans On The Table

This article asserts that both of Adam Lanza's parents were/are Republicans.  (It's from the Telegraph, so who knows if it's true.)  So where is the call for a conversation about the role Republican copulation plays in our culture of violence?

The same article also asserts that Adam Lanza was a fan of violent video games.  No evidence is offered.  Lanza left school in the tenth grade, probably four or more years ago.  He reportedly is a loner with no friends and an aversion to social interaction.  His mother is dead, and his father and brother aren't talking.  No one has found an online presence.  Reportedly, a/the computer in his home was trashed, and police aren't saying what they found, if anything, in the home.  I haven't seen the claim that Lanza was into violent video games attributed to anyone (either with a name given, or speaking anonymously).  

It seems that the people currently talking about video games and "Hollywood" (purveyors of such products as this and many like it) are playing one of two angles: Either they want to distract people from gun legislation, or they figure gun legislation is inevitable and want their pet hard-on to ride its coattails on a wave of "do something."  Examples of these folks are Tom Ridge (see below), Joe Scarborough, Chuck Todd and Nooners.

Apart from the lack of a connection to the present matter, the focus on video games and popular culture is wrong for a more fundamental reason.  People, mentally ill and not, kill based on the Bible all the time.  See, Andrea Yates, Scott Roeder, David Koresh, George W. Bush, &c.  The Bible doesn't make them kill any more than video games make people kill. (It might be argued give people better hand-to-eye coordination, but nothing beats the skillbuilding you get from a trip to the shooting range with mom.)  So get back to me about video games, Chuckles and  Morning Joe, when the next items on your hit list are "the Bible" and "the Glenn Beck Show."

Like video games and other words and images, guns don't cause people to shoot other people.  Unlike video games, guns propel projectiles which can destroy human organs rapidly, from a wide variety of distances.  Which is why children should be protected from guns and their users by society as a whole, and from crap video games and television and movies from their parents and guardians.

Separated At Birth

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei; Governor Mike Huckabee

(link)

God was in Sandy Hook Elementary School. This is something dicks like Huckabee refuse to understand.

Background: here.

Latest Victims of the Video Game Industry, According to Former Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Daniel Barden, 7

Olivia Engel, 6

Josephine Gay, 7

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

Dylan Hockley, 6

Madeleine Hsu, 6

Catherine Hubbard, 6

Chase Kowalski, 7

Jesse Lewis, 6

James Mattioli, 6

Grace McDonnell, 7

Emilie Parker, 6

Jack Pinto, 6

Noah Pozner, 6

Caroline Previdi, 6

Jessica Rekos, 6

Avielle Richman, 6

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Allison Wyatt, 6


Rachel Davino, 29

TEACHER

Dawn Hochsprung, 47

SCHOOL PRINCIPAL


Nancy Lanza, 52

MOTHER OF GUNMAN


Anne Marie Murphy, 52

TEACHER

Lauren Rousseau, 30

TEACHER


Mary Sherlach, 56

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST


Victoria Soto, 27

TEACHER

(Ridge statement here.)

Terrible News Today

Flipping through last night's cable coverage of the massacre in Connecticut, I saw that FOX News's coverage was relatively sane (admittedly I only saw a few minutes at a time).  Hannity and Van Susteren didn't have on any of the usual talking assholes who are their regular guests, and their presentations focused on facts.  (I've read FOX also had on that inbred cracker Mike Huckabee, who believes that a well-off Connecticut suburb is a hotbed of Satanism, whose brats deserve to die.)  But the usual fantasies of union thugs, evil teachers, FEMA camps &c. were not on obvious display last night. 

 Most likely, the dolts at FOX aren't bright enough to make that stuff up on the fly, during a breaking news event, and they'll be back wallowing in the sewers with the right-wing bloggers by Sabbath's end.  I won't be surprised to see Steven Crowder in Newtown, attempt to "dialogue" with grieving parents by shoving them come Monday morning.  For now, though, the cretins may just be following their boss's orders:

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has called on United States lawmakers to ban automatic weapons following the Connecticut school massacre, alluding to Australia's response to the Port Arthur massacre.

The News Corp chairman used the social media platform Twitter to express frustration at the easy availability of automatic and semi-automatic guns in his adopted country.

'Terrible news today,' he tweeted. 'When will politicians find courage to ban automatic weapons? As in Oz after similar tragedy.'

One could point out that the aged lizard hasn't used his American organs to promote such an agenda -- just the opposite.  FOX has used, and almost certainly will again use, the spectre of a gun grab to elect and re-elect Republican candiates.  However, even a stopped dick can be right twice a day.  People of conscience should follow Rupert's advice and vote all the NRA whores, of both parties, out of office.  

Here's God's divine plan, according to Mike Huckabee: 

Medical Examiner H. Wayne Carver II spoke with reporters on Saturday afternoon and said that all of the victims have been identified. He said that most of the schoolchildren who died were first graders and died of multiple gunshot wounds....

The children: Charlotte Bacon, Daniel Barden, Olivia Engel, Joseph Gay, Ana M. Marquez-Greene, Dylan Hockley, Madeleine F. Hsu, Catherine V. Hubbard. Chase Kowalski, Jesse Lewis, James Mattioli, Grace McDonnell, Emilie Parker, Jack Pinto, Noah Pozner, Caroline Previdi, Jessica Rekos, Avielle Richman, Benjamin Wheeler, Allison N. Wyatt.

The staff: Rachel Davino, Dawn Hochsprung, Anne Marie Murphy, Lauren Rosseau, Mary Sherlach, Victoria Soto.

Update (12/16): Another explanation is that FOX & NRA & Friends are running scared.  Wishful thinking?  I hope not.

Update II (12/17): Eric Boehlert documents FOX's history as an organ of the NRA.

You Don't Need More Evidence That Glenn Reynolds Is A Worthless Piece of Shit

But here it is anyway.

Because There Are No Reasons

Don't kid yourself.  There will never be a cure for all mental illnesses and we will never stop mentally ill people from harming other people. I'm all for helping the mentally ill, and searching for solutions, but there won't ever be a cure for mental illness any more than the life span of humans will ever in the future extend an another 10 years.

We can make mentally ill people less dangerous, to others, if not to themselves.

The problem is that everybody thinks an attack by a mentally ill person won't happen to them. Almost all of them are right. And who gives a shit about other people?

New Media Suicide Watch

Attention former employees of Newsweak -- you lost your jobs so that your employer could bring this to the masses:

Fish Spatula  This is a weird little item, especially for someone like me, who doesn’t actually like the taste of cooked fish.  (Don’t yell at me, it seems to be genetic; my sister has the same aversion, even though both my parents love fish).  I don’t quite recall how we acquired this, but now I wouldn’t do without it.  It’s obviously designed for transporting your delicate fish from cookware to plate, but it’s good for any oversized item.  I wouldn’t say I get it out every day, but I can say that when I’ve needed it, I’ve really needed it--it’s helped me lift a layer cake without breaking it, move the Arnold Schwarzenegger of capons to a serving platter, and otherwise solve tricky jobs that could easily have gone very badly indeed.  Probably especially great if you actually like fish.

You won't believe what Suderman uses it for.

The relatively less uninteresting thing is that even though MeeCardle has the same crap on her list every year, she apparently pens a different description of the same crap each year.  Must be something in her contract.

I've taken the liberty of removing the income-generating amazon.com link from the selection quoted above.  Anything to hasten the inevitable death of the Beast with All Hacks.

MoldOld Reveals How Her Column Is Created

"MY college roommates and I used to grocery shop and cook together. The only food we seemed to agree on was corn, so we ate a lot of corn."

This also explains why it takes three days.

The Romney Curse Continues

"Hello Manny. I ran for president. I lost," Romney told the fighter, according to Pacquiao publicist Fred Sternburg.

Romney told Marquez, "I would have won if I was a Latino."

Update: Meanwhile, on the latest episode of People Unclear on the Concept of a Boxing Match: "Marquez feinted left and threw one of the most vicious short rights in recent boxing history, hitting Pacquiao flush in the face and sending him to the canvas, right in front of Mitt and Ann Romney’s ringside seats ('I couldn’t believe it, he went down right in front of me!' Ann said later.)"

Why Can't Wingnuts Read?

 Over at Depends Media, Rick Moran's XXL adult undergarments are in a twist:

What is it about the liberal education monolith that so despises our cultural heritage? The bastardization of our history, the assault on values, the trivialization of profound truths that have defined western civilization for 500 years — there is a price to be paid in developing incomplete citizens; ignorant of the arts and unaware of the giants on whose shoulders they are supposed to stand. 

What caused Rick to write that incomplete run-on sentence?  This article at the U.K. Telegraph website, which originated from God knows where:

A new school curriculum which will affect 46 out of 50 states will make it compulsory for at least 70 per cent of books studied to be non-fiction, in an effort to ready pupils for the workplace.

Books such as JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird will be replaced by “informational texts” approved by the Common Core State Standards. Suggested non-fiction texts include Recommended Levels of Insulation by the the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the Invasive Plant Inventory, by California’s Invasive Plant Council.

The new educational standards have the backing of the influential National Governors’ Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, and are being part-funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Jamie Highfill, a teacher at Woodland Junior High School in Arkansas, told the Times that the directive was bad for a well-rounded education.

“I’m afraid we are taking out all imaginative reading and creativity in our English classes.

“In the end, education has to be about more than simply ensuring that kids can get a job. Isn’t it supposed to be about making well-rounded citizens?”

Supporters of the directive argue that it will help pupils to develop the ability to write concisely and factually, which will be more useful in the workplace than a knowledge of Shakespeare.

Now, if Moran had a brain and 30 seconds worth of curiosity, he could've found out what the Common Core State Standards Initiative had to say about its standards: 

The standards mandate certain critical types of content for all students, including classic myths and stories from around the world, foundational U.S. documents, seminal works of American literature, and the writings of Shakespeare. The standards appropriately defer the many remaining decisions about what and how to teach to states, districts, and schools.

Of course, Moran could have realized the article was bunk without ever leaving the Telegraph website. Mandating 70 percent of the total school curriculum be non-fiction (you know, history, math, science, homosexual indoctrination, &c.) doesn't mean the replacement of any particular book. It means that up to 30 percent of the curriculum can be fiction. It's hard to imagine any non-religious high school or junior high where more than 30 percent of the textbooks used in any school day are works of fiction.

A non-brain dead Moran would also realize that National Governors' Association, which is dominated by Republican governors, isn't part of the "liberal education monolith."
Anyone with third grader's critical thinking ability would question the credibility of an article published at the Telegraph's website, particularly when the article quotes someone speaking to "the Times."

This is the standard m.o. of the wingnut blogger.  Find an article that superficially supports one of your deepest prejudices, and cite the article as proof of your delusion without bothering to check if the article is accurate, or facially credible, or even if it actually supports your premise. 

Another one of the Initiative's standards states, "[t]he ability to write logical arguments based on substantive claims, sound reasoning, and relevant evidence is a cornerstone of the writing standards, with opinion writing—a basic form of argument—extending down into the earliest grades." Moran was out sick on the years that was taught.

Nasty, Brutish and Short

To paraphrase Sayre's Law -- wingnut infighting is so bitter because the i.q.s are so law.

His Job At Newsweak Is Probably Safe

Greasy-wigged non-journalist Howard Kurtz gets catty:

Meanwhile, the "winning" team--the pundits at MSNBC--got to pay a private call on the president on Tuesday. Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz, Lawrence O'Donnell and Al Sharpton were big Obama boosters during the campaign. (Arianna Huffington also joined the soiree.) A White House statement said the president had met with "leading progressives" to talk up his economic plan. Progressive they are indeed, but wouldn't they rather be known as journalists?

Given that they're a talk radio host, a former talk radio host, a civil rights activist and a Senate aide turned television scriptwriter -- and they're all pundits, as Kurtz himself writes -- why would they "rather be known as journalists?"

Did Howie the Putz sniff about journalistic integrity when President-Elect Obama met with partisan television pundits George Fwill (ABC), BoBo Brooks (PBS) and Billy Kristol (FOX)?  Did he whinily inquire as to whether FOX's Sean Hannity wished to be thought of as a journalist when W. Bush met with Hannity in the Oval Office?  Has the Putz ever lofted similar snark at anyone who ever spoke with a right-wing pol off the record (say, Tim Russert with Dick Cheney)?

The most amusing thing is that this comes at the end of Putz's post about the relationship between FOX News and Karl Rove, in which Rove is billed as a "political commentator" and in which the Putz says nary a word concerning American Crossroads.  Wouldn't Rove rather be known as a "political kingmaker?"

The Weakest Link

"A source calls the layoffs 'a bloodbath' and estimates that half the editorial staff [of Newsweek] will be gone."

Yet MeeCardle is still there. 

Moral: You can't get blood out of a turnip.

Extremist Makeover: House Edition

Did you know Catfood Commissioner-For-Life Paul Ryan is a compassionate conservative?  According to a trial balloon floated in the Republican organ PoliticHo, he is indeed!

Campaign sources tell us that within days of being named Romney’s running mate, Ryan began agitating to reach out to people living in disadvantaged, at-risk communities, arguing internally that Republicans are badly served when they seem to be talking only to rich white people and advancing an agenda that benefits primarily the well-off. He contended that the real victims of the war on poverty — the poor — don’t trust Republicans and might be less suspicious if they got the sense that the party cared about them or was sympathetic to their needs.

The response from Romney aides: Forget it. Romney advisers decreed that there was no obvious political constituency for those ideas that was winnable by Republicans and that it was off-message for a campaign preaching a broader economic message. With two weeks left in the campaign, Ryan finally gave a civil society speech at Cleveland State University, one of his favorite moments of the campaign. But the speech was too late and was drowned out.  

You'll recall that Sarah Palin-with-a-heart was so dedicated to the poor that he even offered to re-wash their dishes in the presence of the media.

Even PoliticHo (in the personages of stenographers Slappy Ho and VandeHo) has trouble keeping an older straight, white face telling this tale:

Ryan held his tongue as long as he was on the ticket but on Tuesday night will say what he has been wanting to say for months — but which, to be fair, he has seldom said during the course of his political career.

But the 'Ho assures us it must be true because don't worry your pretty little heads

Top Republicans tell us Ryan tried to push his ideas for a more creative “war on poverty” during the presidential campaign but was muzzled by nervous Nellies at Mitt Romney’s Boston headquarters who didn’t see an immediate political payoff. So Ryan seethed when the “47 percent” tape emerged, convinced that the impact was worse because the campaign had no record on issues relating to inclusion or poverty, exacerbating the out-of-touch image that the hidden camera cemented.

If only Mitt Romney had listened to these selfless sages who refuse to take credit for their brilliant strategy -- he assuredly would've won the under $50K voters as well.

Missing from this fantasy on ice is a response from Romney, his advisers, or his Nellies.  But dead men contradict no narratives.

Meanwhile Marco Rubio's setting in motion a plan that's sure to please: "Rubio’s Senate chief of staff is Cesar Conda, an expert policy mechanic who worked in the George W. Bush White House as an economic adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney."  A no-bid defense contract in every pot is the new trickle-down Laffer curve.

Tippi Hedren and Tyler Too

If Fat Bastard was serious about getting Petraeus to run for President, he'd have thrown in a FOX News Blonde or two.

Rough Boys

Much wingnut ado about Pete Townsend declaring himself a "neo-con."  Much less wingnut ado about the rest of the quote, "I like the idea of America as the world’s police force, and then we don’t have to do it.’’

Haviing someone else kill and die for you -- that's the true definition of a neo-con.

Still, Gary Glitter is the ultimate neo-con.

Dick Army Loses Nominal Head

It was a matter of principle (sic - principal).

Upd ate (12/5):  I told you so.

Advice for the Cluelorn

In a last-ditch effort to save her phony-baloney job at The Daily Beast, Meeegan McArdle has assumed her new role as Agony Ayn.

She is soliciting pleas from troubled souls via mcmeganmoney@gmail.com .  (No, seriously.)   Correspondence cannot be entered into.