TheChurchMilitant

If this was a murder trial, ol' fancy pants Lance would get the night-night needle.

From Roto-Reuters via Yahoo News:

Armstrong steps down from charity; Nike drops sponsorship

Lance Armstrong on Wednesday stepped down as chairman of the charity he founded to distance the cancer patient-support organization from the widening doping scandal that promises to cost him his seven Tour de France cycling titles.

At the same time, one of his long-time corporate sponsors, Nike Inc., said it could no longer ignore the growing evidence of his illicit behavior as one of the cycling world's premier athletes and dropped its sponsorship of him.

Armstrong said in a statement: "To spare the (Livestrong) foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career, I will conclude my chairmanship." He will continue to serve on the board.

Armstrong is set to lose his record seven Tour de France titles after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency published a 1,000-page report last week that said the now-retired American took part in and organized an elaborate and sophisticated doping scheme on his way to his unrivalled success on the Tour.

Armstrong, 41, has always denied he took banned substances during his glittering career but decided not to challenge the USADA charges against him.

Armstrong founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation in 1997 after being diagnosed with testicular cancer in late 1996, according to the foundation's website. The organization launched the Livestrong brand in 2003 as it widened its cancer patient-support services, and the foundation is now known by both names.

His departure as chairman comes just two days before the foundation's fund-raising gala in Austin, Texas, where Armstrong lives. Celebrities such as Sean Penn and Ben Stiller are expected to attend, with comedian Robin Williams and singer Norah Jones to provide entertainment.

"It is his effort to inoculate the foundation against any risk or damage associated with current controversy in the cycling world," Livestrong spokeswoman Katherine McLane said in an interview.

So far, the foundation's financial health appears not to have suffered from Armstrong's cycling scandal.

Contributions have actually risen this year as the USADA probe gathered momentum. For the year 2012 to date, the foundation has reported revenue of $33.8 million, up 2.1 percent from this point a year ago, according to documents provided to Reuters.

Since late August, when Armstrong said he would not contest the USADA findings and the agency said it planned to strip him of his titles, Livestrong has received more than 16,000 contributions, averaging about $97 each. "This is almost twice normal levels," Rae Bazzarre, another Livestrong spokeswoman.

Meanwhile, Nike, in reversing its earlier stand in support of Armstrong, said it was severing ties with Armstrong, but would continue to support Livestrong.

"Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him," the company said in a statement. "Nike does not condone the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs in any manner."

Cycling's world governing body, the International Cycling Union, has yet to rule on the USADA report. They can either confirm Armstrong's life ban and strip him of his seven Tour titles or take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The USADA report accused Armstrong, as head of the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team, of running "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen." The report included sworn testimony of 26 people, including 15 riders, who described years of performance-enhancing drug use.

From Roto-Reuters via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News:

Lance Armstrong doping case

Cyclist Lance Armstrong has been stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles and banned for life by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Last week USADA released a 1,000 page report accusing the 41-year-old American of being involved in "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen".

"You didn't shoot that little girl. An American video shot that little girl."

From The Atlantic Wire via Yahoo News:

Taliban demands unbiased coverage after shooting 14-year-old

Pakistan's Taliban insurgency faces a spate of bad press in mainstream Pakistani outlets related to the jihadists' failed assassination attempt of Malala Yousafzai, a young blogger who dared protest the Taliban's ban on educating girls. Now the Taliban are plotting terror strikes on TV stations and other media organizations, but local newspapers refuse to stay silent.

The first report of these plots were surfaced by an urdu-language reporter on Saturday, who uncovered a special directive by the chief of the banned Tahreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Hakimullah Mehsud. As local newspaper Dawn reported, "Mehsud directed his subordinate to target the offices of media organisations in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and in other cities of the country especially those media organisations and media personalities who were denouncing TTP after attack on child activist Malala Yousufzai." In response, the Interior Ministry has beefed up security near media organizations. But the Taliban are still whining.

Yesterday, local paper The News International gave voice to the Taliban's pathetic complaints of bias, which offered a rare window into terrorist media criticism. TTP spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan said his group would "continue to respect journalists" except for highly biased outlets. The spokesman for another Taliban insurgent group, Sirajuddin Ahmad of Maulana Fazlullah, spoke at greater length:

He said media provided an opportunity to all those people who were opposed to the Taliban and their activities and used insulting language against them on media. “Right from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to Hillary Clinton and President Obama, all of them used whatever bad language and words they could use on the media but when we tried to reply to them, no media organisation was willing to give us importance. The media is not even allowed to use the real name for Maulana Fazlullah but calling him derogatory names like Mulla Radio,” Sirajuddin complained, but refused to admit that they planned attacks on the media.

Wow, Columbia Journalism Review, here we come. Clearly Pakistani reporters should be giving equal weight to the pros and cons of shooting children in the face.

The Taliban is mad because the rest of Pakistan is mad at them over the shooting. "Undoubtedly this is the worst press the TTP has ever had, there is no doubt," Rana Jawad, Islamabad bureau chief of Geo News, told The Guardian's Islamabad correspondent Jon Boone. The Taliban have been furious that justification for the attack, that the girl was being "un-Islamic," was not being placed prominently in news stories. Muhammad Amir Rana of the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, says the Taliban are taking a PR beating. "We have seen a similar public sentiment in the past, but this time it is quite unique," he said. "This case has provided a catharsis of the masses for all the grievances that have been building up for years."

Apparently, the insurgent groups just aren't very media savvy, according to Mullah Yahya, a former high-ranking Afghan Information Ministry official, who spoke with The Daily Beast's Sami Yousafzai. “First of all, attempting to kill a 14-year-old girl is a low act,” he said. “Second, claiming responsibility for it is a sign that the [Pakistani] Taliban are not aware of the media’s importance. I have seen more anger against the religious elements in the past week than in all my 40 years of life.” So here's to you, Pakistani press. You've defied the all-too-common media trap of false equivalence.

More on Malala Yousufzai, a little girl with more guts than any politician anywhere...

Malala Yousufzai's Fight for an Education

Many Americans following the story of 14-year old Malala Yousufzai feel stunned and outraged. Malala, an outspoken Pakistani teen, was shot and critically wounded by the Taliban for speaking about girls' education issues in her country. Two of Malala's classmates were also wounded in the attack as they were coming home from school.

- Yahoo! Contributor Network via Yahoo! News

The Malala moment: 6 Pakistani views on the girl shot by the Taliban

The shooting of 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai by a Taliban gunman has shocked Pakistan and led to some extraordinary writing in the press on how Islamic radicalism is enabled. On the back foot for years, liberals are getting a new hearing against extremist religious parties, the powerful military, and a populist anti-US politician.

- Christian Science Monitor via Yahoo! News

Angelina Jolie? The goat rapists must be quaking in their sandals now. Remember how she freed Pussy Riot and brought the rule of law to Mother Russia? Oh, never mind..

Jolie says Taliban attack on Malala 'beginning of revolution in girls' education... - ANI via Yahoo! India News
UK police concerned about wounded Pakistani girl's "well wishers"... - Roto-Reuters via Yahoo! News
Shot Pakistani girl can recover, UK doctors say - Roto-Reuters via Yahoo! News
all 38 news articles…

Leftist feminism means lying for powerful men without whom you'd be a nobody.

From The Atlantic Wire via Yahoo! New:

Hillary Clinton Falls on Her Sword

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appears to be sacrificing herself for the sake of the administration after she took the blame for the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi and controversial aftermath. To put things quite literally, she told a CNN reporter on Monday, just a few minutes after landing in Peru for a visit, very plainly, "I take responsibility" for what happened in Libya on September 11. CNN makes it clear that she "insisted President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are not involved in security decisions." With the election right around the corner and everything, Clinton added, "I want to avoid some kind of political gotcha."

It couldn't have been easy for Clinton to take the fall like that. It's not like she was backed into a corner by Republicans. In fact, Republicans have been actually defending Hillary Clinton lately as they direct the blame towards Barack Obama and Joe Biden who happen to be seeking reelection in three weeks. Senior Romney adviser Ed Gillespie was one of these Republicans on Sunday when talking with Fox News's Christopher Wallace about the attack and confusing aftermath. Gillespie described the administration's reaction to the attack as "an effort by President Obama and Vice President Biden to say, no, it was really Secretary Clinton."

When you put it like that, it does sort of sound like Clinton was backed into a corner, doesn't it? Regardless of whether she wants it or not, Hillary Clinton's job is on the line in the upcoming election, and everybody knows that this Benghazi attack is really turning into a headache for the Obama campaign. The administration did a good enough job brushing off accusations that it had screwed up when it pointed to the intelligence agencies for sending mixed reports in the days after the attack. Indeed, The Atlantic Wire's John Hudson said late last week that the blame was shifting from the State Department to the CIA and called it "quite the unexpected development." Push come to shove, though, it seems a lot simpler for Secretary Clinton to call mea culpa then it does to drill down into the guts of America's intelligence operation for the Middle East...

I told you the jug-eared arch-criminal would be declared the winner no matter what.

Can the "scientific" polls be far behind?

One of the yahooiest Yahoos at Yahoo News, Jeff Greenfield, desperately tries to upright the derailed commie train. Why? He could be a commie, but more than likely it's because he has fallen to the last rung of the AmericaLast media ladder, PBS. [Yahoo is more like the subbasement.] After being discarded by ABC and CBS, he now realizes he needs government largesse to survive in his doddering old age. I call it The Big Bird Syndrome.

Obama wins the second debate. Too bad it's not the one that mattered.

When the evening began, one observation dominated the conversation: “If President Barack Obama has another debate like the last one, the election’s over.”

When the evening ended, I was struck by a different thought: If Obama had performed this way at the first debate, the election would have been over.

In every debate, whatever the format, whatever the questions, there is one and only one way to identify the winner: Who commands the room? Who drives the narrative? Who is in charge? More often than not on Tuesday night, I think, Obama had the better of it.

From a substantive view, there was one argument that the president was seeking to make over and over: Don’t let Mitt Romney fool you; he’s a rich guy out to protect the interests of the well-off, not the middle-class.

Hee-hee. Wallet envy.

That’s why he referenced not just Romney’s tax plan, but Romney’s taxes, the fact that the Republican presidential nominee paid a lower rate on his millions than ordinary working-class folks do on theirs, the fact that Romney has invested heavily in China. And when Romney went at Obama with almost the exact same argument he used so devastatingly against Newt Gingrich—“have you checked your pension?”

—Obama came back with, “I haven’t looked at my pension; it’s not as big as yours. (For super-wonks it harked back to a 1982 debate between Mario Cuomo and the super-wealthy Lew Lehrman, when Cuomo reached over, grabbed Lehrman’s hand, and said, “Nice watch, Lou!”)

As a tactical matter, Obama executed one of the toughest of maneuvers: the counterpunch. When Romney attacked Obama for hindering the use of coal, the President recalled an appearance of Romney as governor of Massachusetts, where he vowed to shut down a coal-fired power plant. (The fact that Romney was probably right about the danger will be the subject of earnest substantive post-debate analyses that have no place here!)

And in talking about an area where the Obama administration has clear vulnerabilities—the attack on the American consulate in Libya—Obama summoned the inherent high ground of the presidency to condemn the “politicization” of the attack.

To be clear: There was nothing particularly off about Romney. He had several strong moments, most especially contrasting what Obama said he would do in 2008 with what in fact had happened over the past four years. This was, and is, the single most powerful argument against returning Obama to the White House, and Romney deployed it effectively.

It’s just that Obama found what he could not find in Denver—a coherent thread to make the case that he understands the middle-class in a way Romney does not. For those Democratic partisans wondering where “the 47 percent” argument was, Obama was saving it for the close which—because of a pre-debate coin flip—Romney could not answer. In this sense, it was like Reagan’s famous “are you better off?” question from 1980.

In a larger sense, however, Obama’s success is unlikely to have anything like the impact of that 1980 debate, nor will it likely alter the terrain of the campaign as the first debate of 2012 did. Had the Obama of this debate showed up two weeks ago, he might well have ended Romney’s effort to present himself as a credible alternative to the president.

That opportunity vanished that night. While it’s clear that Obama’s performance will revive the enthusiasm of his supporters, it seems unlikely that it will cause those impressed by Romney to reconsider. Like they say in show business, timing is everything.

What La Greenfield really wants to say is: "Why in the world did the AmericaLast media expose Emperor Haile Unlikely as a disdainful imbecile after the first debate?"

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Moon Nazis.

From IMDb:

Iron Sky (2012)

The Nazis set up a secret base on the moon in 1945 where they hide out and plan to return to power in 2018...

**No, kiddies, it's worse than it sounds.**

When you get a bunch of Finns, Germans, and Aussies together to make a sci-fi "comedy" about lunar fascists trying to take over Earth, you can't help but make a mess that is way too self-consciously dumbass. Check out the carnage...

Iron Sky - enter the official site

Iron Sky: The First Four Minutes - YouTube

It's part Star Wars® rip-off, part attempted political and social satire, and all pathetic. It is this kind of movie that gives dumbass films a bad name.

Memo To Would-Be Filmmakers: If you want to make a Nazi farce to try to prove you are oh-so-clever and have something important to say...STOP! The Producers (1968) [not REPEAT NOT The Producers (2005)] said it all.

Fyodor's Rating: 1/2 cannolo [cannolu for you Sicilians] out of 5

What have we done to our girls?

Once upon a time, kiddies, this sort of crime would have caused national outrage and self-examination if it had been perpetrated by boys. Now we have become so depraved that when little girls do it, it causes nary a ripple...

From ABC News via Yahoo! News:

Teen Girls in Videotaped Beating of Woman Are Remorseless, Cop Says

Six Teenage Girls Videotaped the Brutal Beating and Posted it on Facebook

Four teenage girls caught on videotape laughingly beating a defenseless woman are remorseless and defiant even as they are about to be arraigned on criminal charges in a Philadelphia court, police said today.

The girls videotaped the beating and posted it on Facebook. Someone who saw the video called the cops.

Four of the six teens involved have been arrested and they are aged 16 and 17, according to the Chester Police Department. Authorities are searching for the other two girls.

The cell phone video shows five girls standing on the street Tuesday night, playing around for the camera before the assault began.

"It's a group of girls on a corner chatting, rapping, goofing around," Chester Police Det. James Nolan told ABCNews.com.. "Then they decide, from the audio, you hear them say they're going to 'f**k this b***h up.' They plot the thing as they walk up."

The teens approach a woman sitting on her doorstep and a girl takes the first punch. They chase her into the house where the woman screams as the girls laugh and beat her with their hands, fists, feet and a chair. The video shows the girls pushing each other out of the way and then delivering a flurry of punches to the defenseless woman.

"It's 90 seconds or so that they beat on her and then they run out," Nolan said, calling the beating "senseless."

Surveillance footage from outside shows the six girls run out of the house and down the street. The victim did not call the police. Police said it "seems to be the case" that the woman suffers from "some diminished capacity," but they do not know the details of her mental capacity.

After the video was reported to police, the 48-year-old victim was interviewed by police and treated for injuries. She sustained treatment for her injuries.

The girls have been charged with simple assault, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, burglary, harassment, and criminal trespass, Nolan said. The district attorney's office has decided that the girls will be tried as adults and they could face up to 20 years in prison, if convicted.

Police knew of only one attorney retained so far for one of the suspects and the attorney did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Nolan said that the girls are not showing any remorse.

"It was a big party and they're still defiant," Nolan said. "There's no discernible reason for what happened other than fun, sport."

Nolan said that for the community and even for veteran law enforcement officials, the assault has hit a nerve.

"You can see it. Things like this happen, but we usually get the end result," he said. "To actually see it go on, that's what's got everyone's attention. To actually see the crime happen, it's almost like we're all witnesses, which is something we don't often have."

"It's people's greatest fear to be attacked unwarranted," Nolan said. "It's the one fear people have, to be attacked."

Arlen Specter, Requiescat in pace.

Senator Brain Damage now knows The Truth. The dumbass AmericaLast media? Not so much...

Centrist Sen. Specter died fighting for moderation

Arlen Specter, a pugnacious and prominent former moderate in the U.S. Senate who developed the single-bullet theory in President John F. Kennedy's assassination and played starring roles in Supreme Court confirmation hearings, lost a battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma at a time when Congress is more politically polarized than anyone serving there — or living in America — can remember.

- Associated Press via Yahoo! News

May God have mercy on his soul. He's going to need it, as we all do.

Watch as America's first mulatto president miraculously returns to his incisive, decisive, genius self.

From Roto-Reuters via Yahoo News:

The pressure's on Obama in debate rematch with Romney

No matter what the Ghoul-In-Chief does tonight, the AmericaLasters will claim the election is, once again, over.

Let's hope he takes their advice and "takes the gloves off" [Instant Translation: "More fascist bullying"] like Tailplagiarist Joe did last week. Babes and independents should pay close attention.

Dumbo The Presiphant* continues to dump your tax dollars down the crapper.

From Yahoo's Motoramic:

Battery company with federal cash goes bankrupt

By Justin Hyde | Motoramic

No company has embodied Washington's hope for an American-built electric vehicle business like A123 Systems. [Solyndra, anyone? - F.G.] The Massachusetts-based company was supposed to become the leading home-grown supplier of lithium-ion batteries for automakers in the United States and around the world -- fueled in part by a $249 million grant from the Obama administration. Today, A123 Systems filed for bankruptcy, saying much of its assets would be sold after losing $857 million over the past several years. Here's why it failed.

Save your time and brain cells, kiddies. The reason is simple: Americans don't want and won't buy overpriced and under-performing products.

That photo above comes from an April 2010 speech in the Rose Garden of the White House, where President Barack Obama hailed A123 with Chief Executive David Vieux on his left, for its plans to create 2,000 jobs by 2012. A123 also won $125 million in grants and tax credits from Michigan state officials for building plants there. I was in the audience covering the event, and walked out of the White House while talking to two new A123 employees -- both grateful engineers who had lost jobs in the recession and spent months e-mailing resumes with few responses.

*An Asian presiphant, of course. An African presiphant would be racist.

When A123 opened its plant in Michigan later that year, Obama called again to congratulate Vieux: "This is about the birth of an entire new industry in America -- an industry that's going to be central to the next generation of cars," Obama said according to a transcript released by the White House. "When folks lift up their hoods on the cars of the future, I want them to see engines and batteries that are stamped: Made in America."

But A123 was never able to turn the promise of its creation by MIT students and faculty into real-world products. It lost out on supplying batteries for the Chevrolet Volt to South Korea's LG Chem, with General Motors executives at the time citing the more established firm as a safer bet. A123 did eventually win a GM contract for batteries in the upcoming Chevrolet Spark EV, but that wasn't expected to be a high-volume model.

A123's biggest bet lay with Fisker Automotive, and when the Fisker Karma suffered a series of launch delays and sales far below expectations, A123's finances began to take a hit. The company also had to spend $66 million on a recall of its Karma battery packs in 2011 due to a charging defect. While it tried to find other uses for its batteries outside the auto industry, none came close to generating the kind of revenue a major automotive supply contract might.

Since that Rose Garden speech, American have proven far less excited about electric vehicles than what the Obama administration expected. President Obama's goal of having one million plug-in hybrids or electric vehicles on the road by 2015 looks like it will come up short by some 600,000 vehicles, according to Pike Research. So far this year, Americans have bought about 31,000 all-electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids -- and all of their batteries were made by suppliers outside the United States.

While demand has fallen far short, battery supply has boomed. The Obama administration was far from alone in thinking that battery makers were a source of future jobs; A123 and Vieux had been guests of President George W. Bush when he touted his energy plans. Governments around the world, especially China and Japan, have poured billions of dollars into battery research and manufacturing. That money has yet to produce a breakthrough that would make EVs as usable as liquid-fuel vehicles, but it has created a mini-glut of battery makers, driving down prices. A123 attempted to lower its costs with deals in China and Korea, but neither paid off in time.

A123 says in its bankruptcy filing that its assets will be bought for $125 million by supplier Johnson Controls. Its failure will only strengthen arguments from Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney that the Obama administration wasted millions of dollars in its pursuit of green jobs. Obama was right on the broader point: Batteries will be essential to future vehicles around the world. [Hee-hee. - F.G.] But that change won't happen as quickly as he expected, and every nation that builds cars in volume will have its own favored firms vying for the same opportunity. Voters will have to decide whether the chase was worth the charge.

I will give Citizen Hyde the benefit of the doubt. He is probably just a car guy who knows less than nothing about economics, politics, history, or business.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Benito Hussein Whossaner has blood on his fangs and yet mocks a mother's tears.

From The Blaze:

Mother Of State Dept. Official Killed In Libya says White House Has Been Telling Her Outright Lies

The mother of one of the Americans killed in the deadly terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi wants answers about her son’s death — which really doesn’t sound like too much to ask.

Instead, she says the Obama administration has been stonewalling; and one month later, she is still waiting for the answers that were promised to her. In fact, the administration has told her “outright lies” about the Libya assault, she said.

Pat Smith, the mother of Sean Smith, a State Department official killed in the Libya attack, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday that President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden told her they would tell her the truth about what happened to her son.

“They promised me. I told them please, tell me what happened. Just tell me what happened,” she said. “I told them don’t give me any bologna – you can keep your political stuff. Just tell me the truth. And I still don’t know. In fact, today I heard that he died of smoke inhalation.”

“You don’t know the cause of death?” Cooper asked, visibly surprised.
“No, I don’t,” Smith replied. “I look at the TV and I see bloody hand prints on walls thinking, is that my son’s? I don’t know. They haven’t told me anything.”

Smith also said the Obama administration has been telling her “outright lies” about the attack. She revealed that U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice and other senior officials told her that the attack occurred because of the anti-Muslim YouTube video that was originally blamed for the assault.

“In fact, all of them did. All of them did,” she added. “Leon Panetta actually took my face in his hands like this and he said, ‘trust me. I will tell you what happened.’ And so far, he’s told me nothing. Nothing at all. And I want to know.”

Smith also recounted her interaction with President Obama himself at a reception.
“I cried on Obama’s shoulder and then he kind of looked off into the distance,” Smith said. “So that was worthless to me. I want a note for God’s sake.”

“You deserve answers,” Cooper agreed.

The investigation into the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi last month, where Smith was killed along with three other Americans, is ongoing. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a special hearing on Wednesday to address the attack.

Carroll H. Cook, Requiescat in pace.

From AP via Yahoo News:

College football guru Beano Cook dead at 81

You wouldn't understand. It's a Pittsburgh thing.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Beano Cook, the college football commentator with an encyclopedic knowledge of the sport he dearly loved, has died.

The 81-year-old Boston native had worked for ESPN since 1986 and was the sports information director at his alma mater, the University of Pittsburgh, from 1956 to 1966. The school announced Thursday that Cook had died in his sleep.

"He was one of a kind," ESPN executive chairman George Bodenheimer said. "There never was and never will be another Beano. His combination of humor, passion, love of college football and his engaging personality left an indelible mark on the sport and touched anyone who knew him."

Born Carroll H. Cook, he grew up in Pittsburgh before graduating from the university in 1954, and was known for his love of the college game and, in particular, championing the cause of northeastern teams including Penn State and Pitt before either school was a nationally known power.

"Beano Cook was an American original. His passion, depth and breadth of knowledge, and humor were unique," ESPN host Chris Fowler said. "He was an invaluable early mentor to me and friend. His imprint can still be seen on GameDay each week."

Cook, like many in the business, fell in love with simply being around the competition. With a career that took him so many places, it was hard not to get wrapped up in it.

"Getting to know the athletes really provided me with my fondest memories," Cook once said. "That was the most fun."

He said his favorites from his time working at Pitt were Mike Ditka, who went on to become a Pro Football Hall of Famer, and basketball star Don Hennon.

His wealth of knowledge about college football and memory for details made him an irresistible storyteller, as well a passionate pundit.

He wasn't always right, but he wasn't afraid to make bold pronouncements, such as when he predicted Notre Dame freshman quarterback Ron Powlus would win at least two Heisman trophies. Powlus never even won one, but Cook's prediction made him famous forever.

In recent years he was a frequent contributor on ESPN Radio and did a weekly podcast with ESPN college football writer Ivan Maisel.

He was an unapologetic defender of college football, while recognizing its warts, and wasn't shy about touting its superiority to the pro game.

"On Sundays they play for money," he once said. "On Saturdays they play for passion, for the love of the game. I think that's why it's our greatest sport."

Cook was ABC Sports' press director for the NCAA after leaving the SID job at Pitt, and later worked in as a writer or media representative for the St. Petersburg Times, Miami Dolphins, the Mutual Radio Network, and CBS before joining ESPN.

"Beano was a unique human being and he was college football at ESPN. I am indebted to him. Beano was a tremendous help at the start of my television career and I would not be where I am today without him," ESPN analyst Lee Corso said. "I am forever grateful to Beano and the time we spent behind the GameDay desk."

Cook received his distinctive nickname as a youth, when his family moved from Boston to Pittsburgh. A neighbor of the Cook family said, "Oh, from Boston, like the beans" and tabbed the 7-year-old "Beano."

Cook is fondly remembered at Pitt, where the media room in the Petersen Events Center is named after him.

"Beano left a legacy never to be matched. Not matched in accomplishment, wit or loyalty," Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson said. "Like so many others, it has been my privilege to be the beneficiary of Beano's counsel and friendship. He loved the University of Pittsburgh and his name is synonymous with all good things at Pitt.

"We all feel a tremendous void in our lives today."

Many in and around college football concurred on Thursday.

"It's a sad day for college football," Penn State coach Bill O'Brien said.

"Especially in the state of Pennsylvania, where he was an icon."

Lyin'-ass bitches abound!

The Marie Antoinette of The Party of Blasphemy, Buggery, and 'Bortion can't believe anybody would dare to call her, Benito Whossane Husseiner, and their fellow blood soaked ghouls of lying in order to hold onto power.

From The Blaze via KFYI.com:

Debbie Wasserman Schultz gets into heated debate over Benghazi attack with Piers Morgan

Appearing as a guest on Piers Morgan’s CNN show, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz did her best to defend the Obama administration’s handling of the deadly 9/11 terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. She also tried to explain away the trove of misinformation that was circulated by the White House in the days following the attack that left U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead.

Morgan began by pointing out the obvious.

“It was very clumsily handled,” he said about the response to the Libya assault. “Was it scandalously handled? Should heads roll?”

Observe as the none-too-bright criminals [who think they're the smartest people ever] try desperately to hold their coverup alive...

After rolling her eyes and shaking her head, Schultz said that President Obama knew Ambassador Stevens personally, which had nothing to do with Morgan’s question whatsoever.

She continued: “What we need to do when the United States has been attacked, when Americans have been killed while serving our country; we don’t need to have Mitt Romney and the Republicans in Congress taking their first instinct, being to take cheap political shots–”

“Let me stop you there,” Morgan interrupted. “Because it’s not about Mitt Romney or what he did…what’s equally inappropriate though is the suggestion that Ambassador Rice and others made public statements which were deliberately misleading in the sense of blaming this video when in fact it has to be known after four or five days that it was much more likely to have been a terrorist attack that had been plan.”

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and other officials made public statements in the days after the attack, saying it was the result of an anti-Muslim video, not terrorism.

Schultz was literally shocked that Morgan would make such an accusation.

“I can’t even believe that you would suggest that Ambassador Rice would make deliberately misleading statements,” she said.

Schultz argued that things were “unclear” following the attack and it was important to conduct a thorough investigation before making a determination. Remember, Morgan asked her if the Obama administration was irresponsible for attributing the attack to the anti-Muslim YouTube video before the facts were known.

Altering his question slightly, Morgan asked where Schultz would admit that Ambassador Rice was simply wrong in her statement.

Schultz refused to provide simple yes or no answer and instead justified the Obama administration’s handling of the incident, saying they were working on the best information they had at the time.

She then attempted to accuse Republicans of using the attack as a “political opportunity” yet again. She called what the GOP is doing “un-American.” Morgan was forced to interrupt her.

“You are flogging the wrong dead horse,” he interjected. “It isn’t about what Mitt Romney or Republicans did. The… really important horse that should be flogged is the behavior and the statements of those who were in positions of responsibility and, we would assume, knowledge, and it’s pretty un-American, pretty un-American, to put out completely false statements before you know the facts, isn’t it?”

“It is not OK for you to be saying that the administration was putting out completely false statements,” Schultz said, a look of disbelief on her face.
Morgan rebutted her by saying the information that the White House released turned out to be completely wrong.

“That doesn‘t mean it’s false,” Schultz replied.

“What?” Morgan shot back, flabbergasted.

“That doesn‘t mean it’s deliberate,” she clarified.

I suppose my kissing it to make it better is out of the question...

Some things seem to get lost in the translation, but you get the drift: dear Jen is in pain.

From IANS via Yahoo! Maktoob News:

Jennifer Love Hewitt breaks her wrist

Los Angeles, Oct 8 (IANS) Singer [Huh? Not lately, at least not on this continent. - F.G.] Jennifer Love Hewitt is nursing a broken wrist after she got hit during boxing sessions.

Chances are it happened when JLH hit someone or something with her fist.

Wow. Check out those wrists.

The actress was trying to get in shape ahead of the second season of her US TV drama "The Client List", in which she plays a single mother working as a high-class prostitute, [Massage therapist, if you please. - F.G.] with a few fitness rounds in the ring, but the exercise routine has left her in pain, reports contactmusic.com.

She tweeted: "Guess who broke her wrist boxing to get fit for season two! I will be spending the weekend resting in my pjs (pyjamas)."

Bugs Bunny played the pyana for Yosemite Sam once...

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Did you ever wonder how Benito Hussein Okhrana could go from 12 points up to dead even in less than a month without having been caught with a naked underage girl at a Motel 6?

Poll: Pennsylvania the Newest Battleground State?

In a new poll conducted both before and after last Wednesday’s presidential debate, Pennsylvania may have moved from leaning toward President Obama to a battleground.

- National Journal via Yahoo! News

Presidential race now a dogfight as Romney surges... - Roto-Reuters via Yahoo! Canada News
U.S. presidential race now a dog fight... - Yahoo! Maktoob News
all 12 news articles…

The lifers at State throw Hitlery and the Boy Blunder under a bus as they prepare for a Romnoid victory.

It's time for impeachment hearings, kiddies. Even the AmericaLast Media is reporting on Benito's clumsy coverup.

State Department: We didn't link Libya attack to video

The State Department said Tuesday it never concluded that the consulate attack in Libya stemmed from protests over an American-made video ridiculing Islam, raising further questions about why the Obama administration used that explanation for more than a week after assailants killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

- Associated Press via Yahoo! News

State: never felt Libya attack due to film... Associated Press via Yahoo! News
The Key Question the State Department Won't Answer... - The Atlantic Wire via Yahoo! News
US officials: We didn't link Libya attack to video... - Associated Press via Yahoo! News
all 5 news articles…

TV is a monstrous waste of time and brain cells, but...

...how can any red-blooded American boy resist Connie Britton AND Hayden Panettiere at the same time? Sure, we'll have to put up with inane soap opera plots, but that's just there to fool our women into believing this is something other than soft core porn.

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

The latest from the AmericaLasters: NOW it's Ok to question the polls.

Are the polls biased in favor of Mitt Romney now?

It wasn't all that long ago that conservatives argued that pollsters were rigging their surveys for President Obama

- The Week via Yahoo! News

How High is Romney Bouncing?

Pew shows Mitt Romney leading by four points, the tracking polls paint a confusing picture, swing state polls show President Obama leading by a small margin, and fewer Obama supporters than Romney supporters are "extremely likely" to vote. Here's our guide to today's polls and why they matter.

- The Atlantic Wire via Yahoo! News

THE RACE: Romney Sees Opening on Foreign Policy... - ABC OTUS News via Yahoo! News
Romney: ‘There is no question in my mind. We’re going to win’ - Yahoo! News
all 9 news articles…

Is Mitt Romney really pulling ahead?

Republicans are overjoyed with a reputable Pew poll showing Romney with a 4-point lead over Obama, even though other polls show Obama slightly ahead

- The Week via Yahoo! News

Romney gains ground on Obama on economic issues... - Roto-Reuters via Yahoo! News
Analysis: The Polls -- They Are A Changin' - ABC OTUS News via Yahoo! News
Romney’s post-debate surge... - National Constitution Center via Yahoo! News
all 14 news articles…

Featured Post

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Why do people fanatically defend this liar and cheat despite this overwhelming evidence? Money? Power? Politics? Perversion? I don't care. This case is closed.

Appendix A (Affidavits)

Cyclists

Frankie Andreu

Michael Barry

Leonardo Bertagnolli

Volodymyr Bileka

Tom Danielson

Tyler Hamilton

George Hincapie

Jörg Jaksche

Floyd Landis

Levi Leipheimer

Filippo Simeoni

Stephen Swart

Christian Vande Velde

Jonathan Vaughters

David Zabriskie

Other Witnesses

Betsy Andreu

Piero Boccarossa

Larry Bowers

Marco Consonni

Renzo Ferrante

Emma O’Reilly

Dawn Polay

Jack Robertson

Paul Scott

Lory Testasecca

Jean-Pierre Verdy

Appendix B (Videos)

Appendix C (Correspondence between USADA & Armstrong or their legal representatives)

Appendix D (UCI Correspondence)

Appendix E (Federal Court Decision)

Appendix F (Rules)

UCI

USAC

USAT

USADA

USOC

WADA

Appendix G (Correspondence re. Initiating Cases)

Appendix H (Armstrong's Licenses with USA Cycling)

Appendix I (Armstong Elects Not To Go To Arbitration)

Appendix J (Excerpts from Books)

Appendix K (Charts)

Appendix L (Operacion Puerto File + Summary)

Appendix M (Frieburg File + Summary)

Appendix N (Kristin's Korner Blog Entries)

Appendix O (1999 TdF DCOR)

Appendix P (Vrijman Report + WADA Response)

Appendix Q (AFLD Documents re. Responses to DOJ Questions)

Appendix R (AFLD Documents re. Declaration of Jean-Pierre Verdy with Attachments)

Appendix S (Tailwind Corporate Documents)

Appendix T (Lance Armstrong's Testing History)

Appendix U (Transcripts of Video and Audio Clips)

Appendix V (Bologna Court Decision on Ferrari)

Appendix W (News Media)

Appendix X (US Postal Service Documents re. USPS Cycling Team)

Appendix Y (Armstrong & Tailwind v. SCA Productions)

Hearing Transcripts

Hearing Exhibits

Claimant Exhibits

Respondant Exhibits

Depositions & Exhibits

Lance Armstrong

Mark Gorski

Stephanie McIlvain

William Stapleton

Appendix Z (Miscellaneous)

Appendix AA (Acceptances of Sanctions)