Shorter

Shorter Maureen Dowd

How dare those dusky people act like us?

Read More

Sick and tired

Sore throat and cough (yes, I had the shot last week so its not that) but I've had to miss going to some things I wanted to go to, and now I'm just sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Here's about all the complexity I can handle right now:


And this one:

Read More

COMING TO A SCHOOL NEAR YOU!!!

COMING TO A SCHOOL NEAR YOU!!!

IF THIS COMES TO PASS AT YOUR CHILD'S OR GRANDCHILD'S SCHOOL, AND YOU WERE TOLD BY THE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR, THE SCHOOL BOARD, OR EVEN BY THE COURTS THAT YOU HAVE NO SAY IN THE MATTER, WHAT WILL YOU DO? BE HONEST, WHAT EXACTLY WILL YOU DO?


A new report is raising alarms that the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, a homosexual advocacy organization founded by Kevin Jennings, now head of the U.S. Office of Safe Schools for the Obama administration, is recommending XXX-rated sex writings for children as young as preschoolers.

CLICK ON THE BUTTON TO READ THE SORDID DETAILS, AND I DO MEAN SORDID.

Read More

Madame Meets Virginia!

Madame (and her awesome hat) sits with First Dude
at the book signing in Virginia

Madame had a book signing in Virginia. Her supporters were hard core, with some of them waiting for hours in the snow. More than 2,000 people came to see Madame! Plus, the First Dude has been on the tour the past few days, which has made it particularly awesome!

I know that laptops really don't have much fashion sense. We all look pretty much the same. However, I must say that I absolutely loved Madame's outfit today. Her jacket and her hat were awesome!

Tonight, Madame spoke at the Gridiron Club, and boy was she funny! She could very easily take Tiny Fea's job!

Madame said that if VP Hairplugs wrote a book it would be called Going Rogaine. She also said that she could see the Russian embassy from D.C. You can check out some more of Madame's funny quotes here and here. I always knew that Madame was a hoot, but I'm glad that everyone else gets to see her humor too.

We're off to Iowa and North Dakota tomorrow. The softy southpaws know these places as "flyover country".

Read More

New Coach, Same Flyers

Peter Laviolette, fresh off the set of TSN and onto the bench of the Philadelphia Flyers, got a vicious taste of reality tonight as his Flyers battled the Washington Capitals. Well, "battled" is hardly the correct term for this team. Basically, what cost John Stevens his head coaching job is rearing its ugly head as Laviolette takes the helm. Defensive mistakes, missed assignments, poor goaltending, and poor execution are killing the Flyers as they progress through the season. And if it continues, a number of current Flyers might find themselves on the waiver wire or traded out of town.

Early on in the 8-2 thrashing handed out by Washington tonight, the Flyers were playing some acceptable hockey. 57 seconds in saw Tomas Fleischmann knock in a rebound past Ray Emery after the Flyers couldn't clear, but the Flyers didn't back down after the quick strike. Mika Pyorala responded for Philly at the 12:06 mark, breaking the Flyers' goalless drought at 172 minutes and 10 seconds. The game was tied at one goal apiece as the two teams felt one another out, and things looked somewhat good for the Flyers as they tangled with one of the Eastern Conference's elite teams.

And then Dan Carcillo derailed the Philadelphia Flyers. I'm not sure what Carcillo was trying to prove to Laviolette, but giving the Capitals a nine-minute powerplay is probably going to get Carcillo a seat in the pressbox.

Let me repeat that: a 9:00 powerplay.

Carcillo was given a two-minute minor for cross-checking, a two-minute minor for instigating a fight, a five-minute major for fighting, a ten-minute misconduct for his actions, and a game misconduct for instigating the fight. How did he accumulate 29 minutes in penalties on one play?

Matt Bradley hit Carcillo, and he took exception by cross-checking Bradley as he was getting up - two for cross-checking.

And then he dropped his gloves - two for instigating and five for fighting.

And then he sucker-punched Bradley, dropping him with the shot and ending both Bradley's night and his own night - ten-minute misconduct and the ejection at the end of the fight.

All of this happened at the 14:33 mark of the first period. Washington would play five-on-four until the 3:33 mark of the second period or less. Being that Washington has one of the most potent offences in the league, including the sixth-ranked powerplay in the NHL, you know that bad things were going to happen to the Flyers.

So after Fleischmann, Mike Green, and Brooks Laich made it 4-1 on powerplay goals, the rout was on. At 11:14, with the Flyers already playing back on their heels, the Capitals scored three times within 4:09 to make it a 7-1 score. Chris Clark scored on a brutal turnover, ending Emery's night midway through the second period. Brian Boucher came in and allowed a Nicklas Backstrom deflection past him to make it 6-1. Mike Green scored his second of the game after an offensive zone turnover led to a Capitals breakout. Green one-timed the Backstrom feed past Boucher, and it was 7-1.

Turnovers? Check.
Poor defensive play? Check.
Poor puck control? Check.
Weak goaltending? Check.
Lack of execution? Check.

If it weren't for the grinders on this Flyers team, they may have been shutout again. Hartnell and Pyorala scored a couple of goals after some hard work. Pyorala scored by going to the front of the net after the Flyers won a race for the puck, and Hartnell scored after some grinding and mucking behind the net.

I'm not saying that a team like the Flyers can't win on talent alone. But they are proving that they simply can't run with the elite teams of the Eastern Conference when it comes to their talent level. Much the same as I wrote about the Edmonton Oilers earlier this week, the Flyers need to work hard and stop playing soft. They simply don't work hard enough to earn wins, and they cannot be rewarded by the Hockey Gods for playing like it's a Saturday afternoon beer league game.

It's time for the Flyers to buckle down and start playing some smashmouth hockey. Guys who are supposed to score - Briere, Van Riemsdyk, Carter, and Richards - have to lead this team in the effort department. The grinders can't be expected to carry the offensive load, and the stars should feel responsible for the bottom falling out on this Flyers team. Ray Emery seems like he should be a bonafide star in the NHL, but really appears to be the Achilles' heel for this team at this point. He hasn't won a game on his own, nor has he helped when the bleeding starts.

Peter Laviolette will most likely put this team through its paces in the next few days as he establishes his systems and values. I'm not saying this will be easy for Laviolette, but this team needs a clean slate at this point.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

Read More

Gold Buffalo Bullion Coins Sold Out, Gold Eagle Fractionals Limited

Yesterday, the US Mint released information related to the status of their gold and silver bullion coin offerings. These are the bullion coins sold via their network of authorized purchasers, and not the collectible coins offered for sale on their website.

The inventory for the 2009 American Gold Buffalo bullion coins has been depleted and no additional inventory will be available. These coins first went on sale October 15, and have sold 200,000 to date. This amount puts the annual total above the 172,000 coins sold in 2008 and the 167,500 coins sold in 2007. These higher sales come despite the fact that the 2009 dated coins were available for less than two months.

The inventory of fractional 2009 American Gold Eagle bullion coins, which were just released on December 3, has been depleted for 1/10 ounce coins and is limited for the 1/2 and 1/4 ounce coins. The remaining coins will be offered for sale under the US Mint's allocation process with additional inventory available by mid-December. The previously suspended one ounce coins are also expected to be available in mid-December by allocation.

Finally, sales of the 2009 American Silver Eagle bullion coins, which were suspended on November 25, will resume on December 7 subject to allocation.

Currently, all gold bullion coins offered by the US Mint have been either suspended, sold out, or very limited. The activity follows similar actions taken throughout last year, which eventually led the US Mint to restrict bullion coin sales to only one ounce Gold Eagles and one ounce Silver Eagles, which were subject to rationing.

Beyond the implications for precious metals investors, the continuing issues the US Mint is having fulfilling public demand will have an impact coin collectors, as we have already seen this year.

In October the US Mint announced the cancellation of a slew of collectible gold and silver products due to their inability to meet public demand for bullion coins. This came at a time when they actually seemed to be making progress at meeting full demand. The long standing rationing programs for Gold and Silver Eagles had been put to an end in June 2009, and the Mint finally began production of long delayed bullion products like the Gold Buffalo and fractional Gold Eagles.

When the US Mint announced that collectible proof and uncirculated Gold and Silver Eagles would not be produced for 2009, they indicated that they were "working diligently with current and potential blank suppliers to increase supply" so collectible offerings could be resumed in 2010. The recent round of suspensions, sold out coins, and limited availability make the prospects for next year less certain.

For the most part, collectors seem to have finally made with the fact that there will be no proof Gold and Silver Eagles this year. Are we prepared to accept the same fate for another year?

Read More

A Lonestar LOTUS

Madame signs a soldier's uniform at Ft. Hood

Madame 45 had two book signings today in Texas. I like Texas. I have some friends, who are calculators, who were invented down here. They are good guys.

Prior to the signings today and after I posted last night, Madame put up two more Facebook notes. One of them was to preemptively call out the crazies who might misconstrue something she said about the Great Opologizer.

The other post was a moving story about the American soldier. It is quite patriotic. If I had tear ducts, I would have cried.

First stop today was Plano. Madame must a bit of the Alaskan weather down with her because the Texans thought it was cold! It's that darn global warming?! Right Algore? The second stop was at Ft. Hood. Madame really appreciates the military. She donated the proceeds from this stop to the families of those who were killed in the shootings at Ft. Hood. She is one giving lady.

Tomorrow we are off to Virginia. Then, Madame is going to speak at the Gridiron Club in Washington D.C. with Bawney Fwank. Oh, that's going to be a hoot!

Read More