ifilus's Blog

Last week, John McCain repeatedly expressed his concerns    about Czechoslovakia -- a nation that has not existed since 1993.

This week, the esteemed Senator is worried about a border -- that has never existed!

On Monday, the evidently senile presumptive GOP presidential candidate was asked by ABC's Diane Sawyer: "Is the situation in Afghanistan precarious and urgent?"

To which McCain thoughtfully responded: "I think it's serious. . . . It's a serious situation, but there's a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle -- particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border."

Of course, Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border.

Never have.
Never will.

(How about the situations in Gaul and Prussia, Senator?)

As the world awaits the ultra-harmonious "One World, One Dream" Olympics in China, the South China Morning Post is reporting that bar owners in the Beijing area are being told by authorities to refuse service to black patrons:

Bar owners near the Workers' Stadium in central Beijing say they have been forced by Public Security Bureau officials to sign pledges agreeing not to let black people enter their premises.

"Uniformed Public Security Bureau officers came into the bar recently and told me not to serve black people or Mongolians," said the co-owner of a western-style bar, who asked not to be named.

Sorry Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Michael Redd, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, Tayshaun Prince and Deron Williams...

No Tsingtao for you!!

Looks like Jason Kidd will be drinking alone this summer.

Speaking to the press Monday, John McCain expressed concern about relations between Russia and Czechoslovakia.

"I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian government took in the last several days," he proclaimed. "One was reducing the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia. Apparently that is in reaction to the Czech's agreement with us concerning missile defense, and again some of the Russian now announcement they are now retargeting new targets, something they abandoned at the end of the Cold War, is also a concern."

Czechoslovakia, of course, ceased to exist in 1993.

On a more positive note, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee told the New York Times that he is currently working diligently to decipher the complicated new fangled technology known as the Internet:

"I am learning to get online myself," said McCain. "And I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself."

What year is it Senator?



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/us/politics/13mcca
in.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

http://thepage.time.com/transcript-of-mccains-remark
s-to-the-press-in-phoenix/

Although you'd never know it from the mainstream media's half baked political coverage, Sen. John McCain had a very bad week.

Not only was he forced to distance himself from the idiotic remarks made by his "economic adviser" Phil Gramm -- the evidently senile presumptive GOP presidential candidate also embarrassed himself on questions regarding women’s health, disabled rights, veteran’s health benefits, and Social Security.

He also made a lame joke about killing Iranians and conveniently  confused the Pittsburgh Steelers for the Green Bay Packers (in Pittsburgh).

And now this: the McCain campaign staff ordered Denver to police to remove Carol Kreck, a 60-year-old librarian and former Denver Post reporter, from public property outside of a McCain "Town Hall Meeting" because she was holding a homemade sign that read: "McCain = Bush"!

She was cited for trespassing...and it was all caught on tape:





STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS, INDEED!

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jul/10/p
rotester-at-mccain-event-had-a-right-to-stand/

Did you pay your property taxes?

I did. On time. Just like every year.

But The Great American Patriot John McCain did not... nor did his multi-millionaire paramour turned wife.

Not since 2003!



According to Newsweek Magazine, the McCains have failed to pay taxes on their beach-front condo in La Jolla, California, for the last four years and are currently in default. Under California law, once a residential property is in default for five years, it can be sold at a tax sale to recover the unpaid taxes for the taxpayers.

The McCains own at least seven homes through a variety of trusts and corporations controlled by Cindy McCain.

UPDATE: Newsweek's report notes that the McCains reacted to the article by quickly paying the bulk of their four years of back taxes yesterday -- but continue to owe additional taxes.

Character anyone?

Lori and George Schappell were born Sept 18, 1961 in Reading, Penn. George Schapell was born Dori Schapell, and was known for several years as Reba Schapell.

As a country singer, George has performed widely in the United States, and has also performed in Germany and Japan. In 1997, she won the L.A. Music Award for Best New Country Artist. She also sang Fear of Being Alone as the voice-over to the credits of a spoof on conjoined twins, Stuck on You.

The sisters are craniopagus conjoined twins, joined at the head and sharing 30% of their brain matter, but having very different personalities and living, insofar as possible, individual lives. As a mark of individuality, and disliking the fact that their names rhymed, Dori changed her name to Reba. By 2007 she was preferring to be known as George.

While Lori is able-bodied, George has spina bifida which has caused growth retardation of her lower body and severe mobility impairment. The two women are therefore of very different heights. There was no wheel chair that suited George's unique condition, so to move around, she must be raised to her sister's height, to avoid undue strain upon Lori's neck and back. The only thing on wheels that was the right height was a bar stool. Using this as the foundation, George designed the wheelchair that she currently uses. One of the benefits of having a high wheel chair is that, unlike most people in conventional wheelchairs, the user is raised to about the height of a standing adult, which better facilitates normal communication.

Lori and George spent the first twenty-four years of their lives living in an institution in Reading in which the majority of inmates suffered severe intellectual disability. Although neither is intellectually disabled, George's condition required special care. A court decision was made that their parents would be unable to care for them properly and they were removed and institutionalized. In the 1960s there were few hospital institutions for those people who had special needs that were unusual. In order that they might be placed in the institution, they were diagnosed as suffering from intellectual disability. When they reached adulthood, George, with the help of Ginny Thornburgh, wife of a former Governor of Pennsylvania, fought to have this diagnosis overturned and Lori and George were able to go to college.

They live in an apartment, each maintaining their own private space. George has several pets. They respect each other’s privacy in terms of work time, recreation and friendships.

In 2006, George was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Reading, PA. Lori did not join the LDS Church, but has been supportive of her sister's decision.

Lori and George have acted in an episode of Nip/Tuck, playing Rose and Raven Rosenburg. They have also appeared in a number of television documentaries about their lives as well as talk shows.

Previously, George designed support equipment for people with physical handicaps, including her own specialized wheelchair, and a mobility aid for dogs. She is also a trophy-winning bowler.

Lori acts as George's facilitator. She works in a laundry, arranging her workload around George's singing commitments. Lori says that, as a fan of George's, she pays to attend her concerts, just like all the other fans, simply making herself quiet and "invisible" while her sister is on stage.

ESPN.com is reporting that the New Jersey Nets and Milwaukee Bucks are on the verge of a trade that will send Richard Jefferson to the Bucks for forwards Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons.

ESPN, citing NBA front-office sources, said the deal had been agreed to and submitted for league approval in advance of tonight's NBA draft.

...whose iconic place in American culture was established by his arrest in Milwaukee for the following (brilliant) comedy routine:





How many comedians will ever get the Supreme Court to judge their material?

The following exchange took place on Wednesday's 'Today Show':

NBC’S MATT LAUER: “If it’s working Senator, do you now have a better estimate of when American forces can come home from Iraq?”

SEN. MCCAIN: “No -- but that’s not too important. What’s important is the casualties in Iraq."




Thus inspired, I humbly present more intellectual commentary from your esteemed "straight talking" Republican candidate for President...

Please enjoy John McCain, in his own words:


"I will veto every single beer, um, bill with earmarks." --speaking at the National Small Business Summit, Washington, D.C., June 10, 2008

"We should be able to deliver bottled hot water to dehydrated babies." --Kenner, Louisiana, June 3, 2008

"I'm glad to have his endorsement. And thanks for asking." -- after seeking and receiving the endorsement of Evangelical pastor Rev. John Hagee; whom he would later denounce.

"Make it a hundred...That would be fine with me." - to a questioner who asked if he supported President Bush's vision for keeping U.S. troops in Iraq for 50 years.

"I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated."

"Well, it's common knowledge and has been reported in the media that Al Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran. That's well known. And it's unfortunate." - before correcting himself by saying Iran was training "extremists," not Al Qaeda.

"I will conduct a respectful debate. Now, it will be dispirited -- it will be spirited -- because there are stark differences. I am a proud conservative, liberal Republica-- conservative Republican...Hello? Easy there."

"I am a illiterate that has to rely on my wife for all of the assistance I can get." -after being asked whether us uses a Mac or a PC.

"It's not social issues I care about."

"F*** you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room." -- to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), during a testy exchange about immigration legislation.

"There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today." -- prior to visiting a Baghdad market while being flanked by 22 soldiers, 10 armored Humvees, and two Apache attack helicopters.

"The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should. I've got Greenspan's book."

"You know that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran? Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran."

"I had something picked out for you, too - a little IED (improvised explosive device) to put on your desk." --to Jon Stewart .

"Do you know why Chelsea Clinton is so ugly? Because Janet Reno is her father." -- at a 1998 Republican fundraiser.

"Americans are very frustrated, and they have every right to be. We've wasted a lot of our most precious treasure, which is American lives." --on the Iraq war .

"I think I'd just commit suicide." --in October 2006, on the prospects of the Democrats taking back the Senate in the November election.

"No, I'm calling you a f****ng jerk." --to fellow Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, when Grassley asked "Are you calling me stupid?"

"Only an a**hole would put together a budget like this ... I wouldn't call you an a**hole unless you really were an a**hole." -- to Budget Committee Chairman and fellow Repulican Sen. Pete Domenici, during a Senate budget hearing.

"There's no doubt in my mind that we will prevail and there's no doubt in my mind, once these people are gone, that we will be welcomed as liberators." --on the Iraq war, "Hardball" interview, March 24, 2003.

"We're going to prevail and we will win and it'll be one of the best things that's happened to America and the world in a long time 'cause it'll reverberate throughout the Middle East." --on the Iraq war, "Meet the Press" interview, March 3, 2003.

"I said, 'The nice thing about Alzheimer's is you get to hide your own Easter eggs'.""

"At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you c*nt." - to his wife, Cindy, after she playfully twirled his hair and said "You're getting a little thin up there." -- as reported by numerous witnesses in the book 'The Real McCain' by Cliff Schecter.

This just in:

Asked Wednesday whether he’d be interested in Dick Cheney had the vice president not already have served under Bush for two terms, McCain proclaimed:

“I don’t know if I would want him as vice president. He and I have the same strengths. But to serve in other capacities? HELL YEAH!"

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- The Milwaukee Brewers selected Joe Scott, 87, in the opening round of the MLB Draft Thursday. Scott, who also plays first base, spent two decades in "black baseball" with the Chicago American Giants, New York Black Yankees, Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Memphis Red Sox.

Brewers manager Ned Yost refused to confirm exactly how the club plans to use their versatile new player.

"If 'Scotty' can play third, maybe we'll platoon him with 'Hally' and 'Branny', " Yost suggested. "We'll just take it day to day. It's a long season."

Bill Hall immediately renewed his request to be traded.

For Scott, this moment had been decades in the making. He'd always hoped Major League Baseball would embrace him, but he never thought the embrace would happen more than 50 years after he'd ended his playing career.

"It has been a great day," Scott said.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080606&c
ontent_id=2852599&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

A Tale Of Two Pastors By: Nicole Belle on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 

Both presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain have found it necessary to disavow support they’ve received from pastors they’ve described as “spiritual mentors.”

While Barack Obama has to continually answer for things that have been said at Trinity United, SteveAudio finds that John McCain not only has escaped the same kind of scrutiny, but has actually not hurt himself at all with the religious conservatives to whom he tried to appeal by disconnecting himself from Hagee and Parsley.

No one on the right, NO ONE, cares about Hagee, with the possible exception of a few moderate genuine conservatives, that is. All 3 of them.

But the far-right Evangelical end-times Christians, for whom Hagee is a dog whistle the size of a Marshall stack, will still support McCain, even more now than before. Not only is he a “true believer” by courting and wedding Hagee, but now he’s been bloodied by the secular humanists that threaten the Christian way of life. His rejection of Hagee’s support isn’t a betrayal of Hagee’s prophecy, but a tactical retreat in the face of the abortionists, school desegregationists. and gay-marriage supporters whose defeat his administration will hopefully bring about. And thus is a stronger hero born.

It’s a no-lose situation for McCain. Stay beside Hagee and he appears committed to the religious right that he derided in 2000. Disavow Hagee and the religious right sees it as proof of their persecution at the hands of the evil secularists, and rally around their perceived martyr.

CRAWFORD, Texas - Jenna Bush couldn't see herself getting married at the White House surrounded by antique furniture and oil portraits of presidents. So she and Henry Hager said "I do" Saturday at President Bush's ranch in Crawford where the corn is thigh-high, roads are named 'Cattle Drive' and the Texas flag is painted on the rooftops of barns.

"This is a joyous occasion for our family, as we celebrate the happy life ahead of her and her husband, Henry," Bush said. "It's also a special time for Laura who this Mother's Day weekend will watch a young woman we raised together walk down the aisle."

The president and the bride picked "You Are So Beautiful" for their father and daughter dance.




Below is a photograph of U.S. Marine Ty Ziegel and his wife Renee on their wedding day.




Sergeant Ziegel, 26, was injured during his second tour of George Bush's war in Iraq. He was trapped in a burning truck that had been targeted by a suicide bomber. The heat melted the flesh from his face and after returning to the United States, he spent 18 months in Brooke Army Medical Center, not far from the happy Bush compound in Texas.

Ziegel's injuries led to the loss of his left forearm and of three fingers of his right hand. He was rendered blind in his right eye. He also sustained widespread severe burns that led to the loss of his ears and much of the tissue on his face. His shattered skull was replaced by a plastic dome, and a face was constructed more or less from scratch with salvaged tissue, holes left where his ears and nose had been.

Despite the range and severity of his injuries, and after over 50 operations, Ty recovered enough to leave the hospital to marry his longtime sweetheart, Renee Kline, in 2006.

They lived together in Illinois until their separation last year.



Most certainly, Sgt. Ziegel joins all Americans in sending best wishes for continued health and prosperity to the Bush family on their "most joyous occasion".

“My friends, I will have an energy policy which will eliminate our dependence on oil from Middle East that will then prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.”

-- John McCain; 5/1/08

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."

- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02

Not really as "miraculous" as Pip prematurely proclaimed:

Houston - As it turns out, Brewers right-hander Yovani Gallardo did not escape serious injury Thursday in a collision at first base in Chicago.

Far from it.

An examination in Milwaukee this morning revealed Gallardo suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in that collision with Chicago's Reed Johnson near first base in the fifth inning. He was placed on the 15-day DL and right-hander Dave Bush was recalled from Class AAA Nashville to replace him.

No decision will be made on surgery until the swelling subsides in Gallardo's knee. But he in all likelihood will miss most if not all the rest of the season, a severe blow to the Brewers' chances in 2008.

Kudos to the Brewers' medical staff for misdiagnosing an easily detected ACL injury! And to the always brilliant Ned Yost for allowing Gallardo to continue pitching for an additional inning and 2/3 -- after the injury occurred!