We’re behind watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, as we usually are. Hey, we aren’t spring chickens anymore, and sleep usually comes before our favorite shows come on! Here are the choice cuts from Monday that made me laugh out loud.

It’s amazing how much non-information can be reported on for an entire day on news channels! Best bit? All the speculation about how much was spent on the shindig? Totally made up. The media have no idea, and the above video points that out delightfully. And kudos to the Clintons for managing to pull off a wedding for Chelsea that the press couldn’t get any information about. Couldn’t have been easy.

Colbert’s Alpha Dog of the Week this week is hilarious. Well, not hilarious that this guy is a) an asshole and b) crazy as a bedbug, but Stephen manages to make it hilarious in that way he does.

Burning Qurans, having kids wear “Islam is of the Devil” tee-shirts, and posting “No Homo Mayor” signs … more modern Christians showing how very un-Christian they are. I wonder … do they know who Jesus is, and have they ever read what he had to say?

The Japanese are always coming up with some sort of interesting robotic whatnots. This one though is so, well, weird, you really just have to see it for yourself.

Foote explained he spent the weekend in Louisiana where he met a lot of “evil people.” He told the investigator that he also punched a girl on a bus and believed that “something was put in the water,” the arrest report says. Matthew Foote told investigators he believed the dog, a 7-year-old dachshund-Chihuahua mix named Sasha, was possessed by Satan.

Though I wouldn’t ever harm a Chihuahua myself, I do agree with the crazy guy on some of them being possessed by Satan. At least the pack of them living on one side of us seem to be.

More than half of adult Americans take dietary supplements in the belief they will keep them healthy, help them lose weight, or increase vitality and drive, but according to Consumer Reports, they may not realize there is no obligation for manufacturers to show they are safe and effective, and in their latest report they reveal 12 ingredients that consumers should avoid because they have been linked to health risks, including cardiovascular, liver, and kidney problems.

I’ve been bleating about this to friends and family for ages. Dietary supplements and herbal remedies do not have to be tested or even guarantee any kind of quality of product before being sold. You never really know what you are getting when you buy those bottles of pills and liquids. Where were the ingredients grown? How were they grown? Are the things on the label even in the bottle? Who knows! There could be anything in them. So don’t buy them. They could be deadly, or at the very least make you very ill.

Herbal remedies are great. I am a huge proponent of natural medicines, and I have spent years studying (and using) them. If you want to go the herbal route, either study them yourself or find someone you really trust to help guide you, and then get your supplies from an equally trusted source. Or better yet, grow them yourself organically.

And I have to say this one more time: never take comfrey internally. I can’t believe there are dietary supplements and herbal remedies being sold that contain it. While it makes an excellent compress for sprains, strains, and broken/fractured bones (as well as helping heal cuts much faster than any OTC product), it’ll do a number on your liver, and it doesn’t take much to do so. It completely freaks me out that people are consuming it. Seriously. Yipes!

Nevada Senate candidate Sharon Angle continues to be not understand how the world (should) work. She wants “the press” to be her friend and “to ask the questions we want to answer so that they report the news the way we want it to be reported.” I’ll just bet she does want that. Doesn’t every politico want that? Of course they do, they just usually don’t come right out and say it.

No matter what Breitbart or any other silly bloggers say –or non-fact-checking news outlets– no ranches in South Texas have been invaded and taken over by any Mexican gangs crossing the border. I repeat, we have not been “invaded” and there is no outbreak of “war” on the border.

I realize that to people who don’t live in Texas, it may seem like a really HUGE place where something completely out of the norm might happen on the border and people a couple hundred miles away might not hear about it, but just as in other states, most Texans have friends and family all over the state. We just don’t get to see them as often as people who live in tiny little states one can drive across in an hour. If there were gun battles and ranches being taken over near Laredo, I assure you Texans would know about it. The first I heard about it was on Rachel Maddow last night, and before she even declared it yet one more made-up right-wing blogger tall tale, I knew it wasn’t true. Even though I have been out of touch with national news lately, something this big in my own state would have been impossible to avoid hearing about from both my local news and friends and family members.

Of course, this isn’t stopping some right-wing bloggers from continuing to insist it did happen, and now it’s just being covered up. Some of them are even calling for video proof that it didn’t happen. What do they want? News crews to go out and do shots of ranchers ranching? And do they actually think a Texas rancher who had been invaded and lost his ranch to a gang of Mexican thugs during a gun battle could be silenced? Obviously don’t know many Texas ranchers (or Texans). All the ones I know would be in front of every news camera they could scare up yelling at the top of their lungs about it.

Going even further in their attempt to mislead, many of these right-wing blogs and news outlets are linking to video reports about the violence which is actually going on in Mexico (and has been for a very, very long time) with headlines acting as though these stories somehow prove there have been ranches forcibly taken from Texas ranchers by Mexican gangs, and linking to stories about Mexican drug cartels silencing the press IN MEXICO as proof these gangs across the border are silencing American news sources.^† I have to guess their target audience is rarely bothered to watch said videos or read said stories, all of which don’t match the headlines or linked text at all when one actually bothers to read/watch them.

I still find myself incapable of determining whether these people are stupid or evil. Are they lying because they want to promote their agenda? Or are they passing on untruths because they are too damn stupid to know better? In the end, I don’t think it matters if they are stupid or evil. Misinformation is misinformation, but at least I can usually find a soft spot in my heart to forgive people for being stupid. Stupidity is fixable with education. Evil, not so much.

1. † Actually, I wish American news sources could be silenced. It’d be better than 90% of the crap they spew on a daily basis. I’m sort of surprised Fox News hasn’t jumped on this story … or maybe they have, and I just haven’t heard about it yet. Not like I ever watch or read Fox News. I value my brain cells too much to force them to consume such garbage. [↩]

“General, when is it appropriate to resort to arms to fight for our liberty?” asked a tourist on a recent weekday during “A Conversation with George Washington,” a hugely popular dialogue between actor and audience in the shaded backyard of Charlton’s Coffeehouse.

Standing on a simple wooden stage before a crowd of about 100, the man portraying Washington replied: “Only when all peaceful remedies have been exhausted. Or if we are forced to do so in our own self-defense.”

The tourist, a self-described conservative activist named Ismael Nieves from Elmer, N.J., nodded thoughtfully. Afterward, he said this was his fifth visit to Colonial Williamsburg.

“We live in a very dangerous time,” Nieves said. “People are looking for leadership, looking for what to do. They’re looking to Washington, Jefferson, Madison.”

Except your not “looking to Washington, Jefferson, Madison” at all. You’re hassling reenactment actors, who, while likely well-versed in the people they are playing, are not actually founding fathers. If one wants to look to the founding fathers for answers, might I suggest visiting a library and reading some of the many great words they wrote. Our founding fathers only exist as words, and that’s how one can get to know them. Some people might even be surprised to discover the founding fathers had ideas vastly different from the way they are portrayed in modern times, if they bothered to actually study the many, MANY things they wrote down.

But that would require doing more than going to Colonial Williamsburg and making an ass of oneself by acting as though actors are channeling the minds of people long dead. They’re actors, people. ACTORS.

Yesterday –or maybe earlier today, I do lose track of time on weekends– I ran across a video of a Kiwi walking on a treadmill. No, not a human resident of New Zealand or a small fuzzy green fruit … the endangered flightless bird variety of Kiwi. Made me chuckle…

I just looked into Piwi the Kiwi, because I was curious why one would have a Kiwi walking on a treadmill. Turns out the poor thing broke both his legs, and now they’ve been repaired and he’s on a regime of “treadmill workouts, massage and physio exercises.” Can I have that bird’s healthcare plan please?

What I found particularly interesting is that Piwi is half the size of a “normal” four year old Kiwi (presumably the bird and not human or fruit kind), yet they say Kiwis are “about the size of domestic chickens.” I thought the Kiwi on the treadmill seemed rather large enough, and I also thought it was about the size of a domestic chicken. Now I have to guess that the chickens in New Zealand are huge and Kiwis are giant marauding flightless birds (prone to breaking legs — at least this one seems to be), because I tell you, I think Piwi is a rather large bird.

I will now go back to thinking of Kiwis as adorable fluffy things of small stature. The concept of Kiwis being larger than the one is the video, well, it disturbs me for some reason.

We shall not speak of the size of Kiwis again.

A few types of Eukanuba and Iams dry dog and cat foods have been recalled due to salmonella risk. The list appears to include regular retail formulas as well as special vet supplied varieties. If you use these brands, start reading here and it’ll lead you to the rest of the information you need.

The clucking heads on CNN believe there needs to be a “crackdown” on bloggers who spread lies and misinformation:

“There are so many great things that the internet does and has to offer, but at the same time, Kyra, as you know, there is this dark side,” Roberts said. “Imagine what would have happened if we hadn’t taken a look at what happened with Shirley Sherrod and plumbed the depths further and found out that what had been posted on the internet was not in fact reflective of what she said.”

But Phillips replied that the mainstream media “can’t always do that.”

“There’s going to have be a point in time where these people have to be held accountable,” Phillips said. “How about all these bloggers that blog anonymously? They say rotten things about people and they’re actually given credibility, which is crazy. They’re a bunch of cowards, they’re just people seeking attention.”

Point number one: I can imagine what would have happened had the media –of which CNN is a large part– hadn’t “plumbed the depths further,” because they didn’t. No major news outlet did. They ran with the story put forth by a blogger without looking into it one tiny little bit until it became obvious they didn’t actually have the whole story. A woman who was doing a great job in her position with the USDA was asked to resign. That’s what happened when they didn’t bother to fact check and plumb those depths. Hell, they didn’t even dip their toes into the fresh water of facts.

Point number two: Why would the media not be able to fact check? That would be an integral part of the job of being a journalist. First one checks the facts of a story, and THEN one reports the facts. One doesn’t report bullshit and then eventually take the time to make sure it isn’t bullshit, at least not if one wants to be considered a journalist/reporter. Presumably, the clucking heads at CNN want to be thought of as journalists and reporters, right? Then they better find time to do their jobs. Doesn’t matter if every other news organization on the planet is reporting the sky is blood red, if it isn’t true, why bother reporting it? Oh yeah, ratings! Who cares about facts!

Point number three: Breitbart isn’t an anonymous blogger. His name is totally plastered all over everything he does, and what he does is spread lies and misinformation. For anyone, let alone a news organization (or the NAACP or the US government) to believe anything he says without thoroughly vetting it is the height of stupidity. How many times does someone have to feed them bullshit while calling it prime rib before they begin to get suspicious of taking the plate and gobbling it down? So CNN and every other media outlet sucked down the bullshit Breitbart was serving up, but now it’s anonymous bloggers that are the problem.

There’s an easier solution to the problem of bloggers spreading misinformation than to attempt to regulate the online speech of millions of people: hold news organizations accountable for not checking into the veracity of the stories they report. There are far fewer of them to regulate and hold accountable, and it is, after all, THEIR JOB TO REPORT FACTS. If they wouldn’t be reading blogs, taking everything they read on the internet as god’s given truth without doing just the barest minimum of fact checking, and then running to the nearest camera to breathlessly spread the word –or bullshit, as it may be– the Sherrod incident wouldn’t have happened, at least not quite like it did.

Is Brietbart to blame for tossing bullshit out there? Yes, but mainstream media is responsible for the story getting spread worldwide and the subsequent stupidities that followed, and we should expect better from CNN (and the other major news outlets) than we do from any blogger (most especially Breitbart) … what with reporting factual news stories BEING THEIR JOB and all.

Can you tell I am still somewhat inflamed about this?

My two favorite shows cover the Shirley Sherrod situation with the usual hilarity mixed with truth…

If you only watch one news video today, this is the one to watch … and pass on to anyone you know who watches Fox News. Not that they’ll believe Fox News has any other agenda than bringing them “fair and balanced” news, but one can always hope they open their eyes and see the truth.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

For far too long white Americans have been told that diversity is something beneficial to their existence. Statistics prove that the opposite is true. New Hampshire residents must seek to preserve their racial identity if we want future generations to have to possibility to live in such a great state. Affirmative action, illegal and legal non-white immigration, anti-white public school systems, and an anti-white media have done much damage to the United States of America and especially New Hampshire. It is time for white people in New Hampshire and across the country to take a stand. We are only 8 percent of the world’s population and we need our own homeland, just like any other non-white group of people deserve their own homeland.

Those would be the words of Ryan J. Murdough, a man who is running for a House seat in New Hampshire. You can read more about this interesting individual here. This isn’t the only –or first– obnoxious thing this man has had to say.

And there’s really nothing to be said about what he said. If someone doesn’t see it as wrong, I doubt anything anybody could say about it would change their mind. This is the sort of thing you either know is wrong or your just an idiot.

Days after the NAACP clashed with Tea Party members over allegations of racism, a video has surfaced showing an Agriculture Department official regaling an NAACP audience with a story about how she withheld help to a white farmer facing bankruptcy — video that now has forced the official to resign.
–Fox News

Except, you know, it’s on Fox News … so it isn’t actually news or true: On CNN, wife of farmer says former USDA official is a “friend” who “helped us save our farm”.

This is what I was talking about in my Tweet earlier about how America is letting news organizations tear it apart. Lies, lies, and more lies. Manufactured outrage all around. I am so sick of this bullshit.

Addendum: A nice break down of the whole mess at Media Matters.

Filipino teenage singer Charice Pempengco says she prepared for her debut on the hit TV show “Glee” by getting Botox and an anti-aging procedure “to look fresh on camera.”

She’s 18 freaking years old and already panicking and wanting to look “fresh” on camera. How is it even possible for an 18 year old to NOT look fresh? It’s completely insane. This is a person who is not going to handle aging well at all. I guess she’ll be having her first face lift at 20.

But this is really nuts…

But Roth said there might be some benefits for on-camera teens in Hollywood. “Some people do have hyper-active muscles and muscles are what create the wrinkles in certain types of expressions.

Why yes, it’s true. When people laugh, cry, EXPRESS THINGS, their face muscles move and produces ridges and lines. It’s NORMAL. It isn’t normal to have a line-free and expressionless face like a plaster mask. Newsflash … your face shows your life. I have wrinkles. I’m 45 years old. I should have wrinkles. Wrinkles from laughing, crying, living. They show where you’ve been and how you’ve lived your life!

Why, some of these wrinkles and lines I have had since I was a kid, because it’s normal and natural. In fact, the only ones that actually bother me are the ones on my forehead, and I have seriously had them since I was a little girl. It’s just the way my face was put together though, and I would never get injections or anything to get rid of them. They just are a part of me, like my tattoo, or my bell piercing, or the fact I am skinny and one of the palest people on the planet. All these things could be changed or “fixed” with procedures and enough money, but I don’t think they need fixing.

Any 18 year old who already thinks their face needs to be fixed or freshened needs to have their brain examined.

This morning on the local news, one of the new “morning girls” was out talking to Austin Energy about their need for more linemen and what the job entails. She was all dressed up for the part and in a bucket truck, because that’s the way “morning girls” give their reports. Poles and tower climbing (and controlled descents) are interesting subjects to me, having been around people involved in these things forever, so I ran into the living room to watch.

As the guy was explaining what they do, another guy was rescuing a dummy from a pole. I couldn’t wait to see how Austin Energy did it, because I know how Lin and his guys would do a rescue like that. Let’s just say if I ever find myself somewhere really precarious and need to be rescued with the use of climbers and ropes, please –PLEASE– call my husband and let his guys do it! OMG. I do not have the words. You just have to watch the video yourself.

It starts with the typing a rope around the underarms and chest of the dummy for lowering to the ground. Terribly easy for things to go wrong and someone to die that way. Crushed chest is not a nice way to go, and that’s only one of the problems lowering someone tied in that way can experience. But then … just … OMG … if the dummy wasn’t dead before it was rescued, I suspect it was most definitely dead as it mostly plummeted to the ground. I’m not kidding.

I wish I could explain how Lin and his guys would bring someone down off a tower (or pole), but though I now basically how it’s done, he’d explain it so much better. I should make him write a post about it. I can say it’s very controlled, very tied off, and very safe for everyone involved. Next time they have some guys going through the certification test, I should go watch and take photos. When they are pretending to rescue an unconscious someone from a tower, they don’t use a dummy. It’s actually one of the other guys. As you can imagine, that makes it serious business.^†

I was looking for the link to the video, so I could send it to Lin, as I know he will laugh as hard at it as I did (until his inner safety manager wakes up and starts ranting about the insanity of these guy’s rescue methods). It made me laugh my butt off again when I found it, so I just had to share it here too. Probably won’t be funny to many other people, but maybe you’ll see the humor (and horror – I have an inner safety manager too).

Seriously, if I am ever dangling from an overpass, draped over the top of a flag pole, or in some other way suspended off the earth and need rescuing, please for the love of all that is good and right, don’t let the cops try to rescue me and don’t let anyone from Austin Energy anywhere near me. I really, really want Lin and the guys to pull me down. My chances of surviving my rescue would be SO much higher. LOL!

And by the way, News 8 has still not found a proper replacement (in my eyes) for Amy Hadley. I still miss waking up to see what Amy was getting into early every morning.

1. † And talk about team building and learning to have trust and confidence in the abilities of your coworkers! “Saving” each other from 100 foot up would certainly do that! Kind of makes falling backwards into someone’s arms at a business conference seem a little wimpy doesn’t it? LOL! [↩]

I don’t spend much, if any, time keeping up with the personal lives of performers –actors, artists, musicians, and such– until it’s almost unavoidable (everyone on the planet is talking about it). Too often, when confronted with the lives of the people whose work I admire and respect, I find a can’t stand the person, and then I can’t stand their work either. Mel Gibson is a perfect example.

I used to adore Mel Gibson as an actor. He was good at acting. Maybe he still is, but I don’t bother watching his movies anymore, and that started well before he publicly began to lose his mind. I caught him being interviewed on some entertainment show once a long time ago, and he said something about his wife that set off bells in my brain. Gave me the impression he was an asshole, and I lost respect for him and thus also his work. I was sad and angry about that, because I really did enjoy his work up to that point in time.

Then … he started losing his mind in public, or maybe he just started showing publicly what had been going on privately all along (which I find likely). Today I listened to the latest leaked tape of a phone conversation with his most recent ex, and all I can really say is … the guy needs some psychological help. He also needs to be locked up somewhere for a while. Nut house, prison, doesn’t matter. He’s dangerous. Probably not to you, me, or any other normal person out here, but to his ex and their baby? Yes, I do believe he is a danger. If he wasn’t this insane before, he most certainly is completely off his rocker now, and there’s little room for doubt he’s an abusive asshole.

I’d say it’s sad, but it isn’t. What’s sad is that someone who seems to have the intelligence necessary to realize they need help, and has the resources to get the best help possible, doesn’t get help and instead lashes out at the world and their own loved ones. What’s sad is that his children, including the newest one, will grow up knowing their dad is the sort of person who would hit someone hard enough to break teeth when angry and threaten to kill the mother of one of his children, but … I suspect his other, older kids might already know more about that than any of us do. Being abusive to this degree doesn’t just manifest overnight. Who knows what happened in his first marriage.