This is my boom stick

Creepy.

Now that the Necronomicon has been found, you know it's only a matter of time before someone records that garbage and unleashes an army of the undead on us all. I for one, will be purchasing a shotgun, brushing up on my neck-snapping skills and possibly calling Michigan native Bruce Campbell for a zombie-slaying consult.

Also

Everyone else is really dumb

Jokes about Polaks being stupid can suck it.

Reason #485,000 why most men should not talk about issues of gender

This is a story of men behaving badly in groups.

Excuses, excuses, excuses. In column on espn.com's Page 2, Jason Whitlock says that the Duke lacross rape incident ( Here if you have no idea what I'm talking about.) shouldn't be viewed through a racial filter, rather one of gender. If he would have just stopped there, we might have been okay. After all, rape is a male-on-female crime in a far larger proportion that it is a one-color-on-another-color crime.

However, Jason is a professional columnist and has somewhere around 1,000 words to back this statement up. Which he does, beautifully, with the classic argument that "boys will be boys" and that's why this is a crime of gender-not because men in society are raised to have little respect for women in general, and no respect for women who may happen to strip for a living, but because they just can't help themselves.

Some highlights:

Men behaving badly in groups -- especially under the influence of alcohol -- cuts across all social, economic and racial demographics.

I always have contended, somewhat jokingly, that there should be rules outlawing men from gathering in groups of three or more without a woman as chaperone or serious surveillance equipment. Whitlock's law: A man's intelligence, maturity and decision-making skills decrease as the number of men within earshot of his voice increases.

Whitlock's law is a product of a youth spent sucking on beer bongs and zig zags, hosting and attending bachelor parties, growing up on the barstools inside my father's tavern and planning debauchery and lewd behavior with teammates and friends of all races.

I can honestly say that I don't have a male friend who could avoid saying, "There go I but for the grace of God" when thinking about the Duke lacrosse players.

Disgusting, utter bullshit and excuses, excuses, excuses. You can't treat a woman like a human being because of some societal constructs associated with being male? You can't understand the word "no" because you're around your buddies?

Whitlock isn't all bad here-he does suggest an education program, but what he suggests "...what constitutes sexual harassment, sexual assault, the dangers of alcoholism and drugs, unwanted and unwed pregnancy, how to respectfully socialize with people outside your race, etc." isn't anything the average college freshman hasn't heard a million times before. The problem here lies much, much deeper, mostly with Whitlocks male community excuse and his contention that strippers deserve no respect, just because they happen to take their clothes off for a living. His contention that alcohol and "planning lewd behavior" from an early age in a whacked out form of "male-bonding" is an excuse for the way these snotty Duke brats treated that woman is incredibly misguided.

Bottom line: Teach men how to view a woman as a human being, not as something they can degrade, ridicule and control and then maybe we'll talk. Jason and I agree on one point however-boys aren't raised to become men, they're raised to become idiots and sexists and that's probably where the problem lies.

(Note-I know this does not apply to all men. I know several who are respectful and gracious and lovely. Please hold off on thinking me a crazy man-hater, because I'm not.)

Don't get it twisted

So, Cynthia McKinney. You know who she is right? The Georgia congresswoman (D, of course) who's playing a game of "who-assaulted-whom" with Capitol Hill police who claim they didn't recognize her when she tried to bypass security and enter the Capitol Building. (FYI- Members of the House do not have to go through the security rigamarole, but are asked to wear special Congress pins. McKinney was not wearing hers at the time of the incident.)

Capitol Hill police are seeking a warrant for her arrest, charges as yet undisclosed. She is crying racism/sexism. A picture, for reference.



I'm fairly certain her claims of racism are justified-if she was a white woman, or a white man for that matter, chances are Capitol Hill police wouldn't have given a second thought as to her validity as a member of Congress.

At any rate, Cynthia was on Wolf Blitzer last night. Some highlights.


BLITZER: … you were talking earlier about racial profiling, and that there was racism involved in stopping you for questioning because you weren’t wearing your congressional pin.
MCKINNEY: Now, Wolf, you know I didn’t say that, so, don’t twist my words. BLITZER: Well, tell us what you said.
MCKINNEY: Don’t even begin to twist my words.

Wolf-this woman tangled with Capitol police. She will not hesitate to lay the smack down on you.

BLITZER: When did you — when did you change your hairstyle?
MCKINNEY: In January of this year. But don’t you think it’s really frivolous? And, really, I — I can’t even describe — if the security of the House of Representatives of the United States is based on how members of Congress wear their hair, Wolf, I think this is really ridiculous.

The contention here is, that McKinney changed her hair from the braided style in the photo above to a more free-flowing, mini-fro kind of deal and police are claiming they didn't recognize her because of her hair. Which is outrageous This woman has been in Congress for 11 years. Her hair has been changed for several months. This is seriously ridiculous, but it doesn't change the fact that Cynthia McKinney is still a Grade-A badass.

Also-I'm not certain about this and have no way of confirming, but I think she may have been the Congress member who is shown saying "We would like to call on the Senate, but the Senate is absent." in Farenheit 9-11.

At any rate-Well played Cynthia. Well played, indeed.

I've seen the needle and the damage done

I can't believe this is still shock to people. Heroin was huge when I was in high school, and I'm sure it's still huge three years later. For that matter, drugs of any kind in Westmoreland County are ridiculously hard to get ahold of. You name it, I know someone who did it on a regular basis.

It's times like this when I'm reminded of what a totally different world Western Pennsylvania is. Weird, crazy things happen there-Confederate flags, people who know how to shoot guns, etc, etc, etc. None of that exists here and I've yet to determine if that's about location or culture or economics or just a weird anomaly.

Oh Westmoreland County. You are a strange beast.