Crazy People & Guns

My "what the fuck are they thinking" moment of the week came last night when I was watching an episode of '60 Minutes' from 2 weeks ago.

I the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, 60 Minutes was investigating the current laws preventing mentally ill folks from obtaining firearms. One might think that there's a decent system in place to keep the crazies and the guns separated... You'd be wrong.

The problem is that currently the law that restricts people with mental illnesses from buying guns has really no solid way of checking to see if that guy at the Wal-mart or at the pawn shop has a mental illness. The law doesn't require the release of records about someone's mental illness. So, there's only about a 1 in 10 chance that the law will prevent a disturbed person from buying a gun.

After realizing this loophole, you'd think that everyone would be on board with getting this fixed, right? Again, you'd be wrong. Check out this excerpt from 60 Minutes where anchor Steve Kroft is interviewing Gun Owners of America Executive Director, Larry Pratt.

The most vocal (opponent) is Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, which has 375,000 members and sees nothing wrong with the mentally ill buying guns.

"We think this is simply another way of eliminating another large group of people from gun ownership in this country," Pratt argues.

"That large group, two million-plus...are people who have been involuntarily committed," Kroft remarks.

"We think those are two million people who you can't say that, you know anything about what their future behavior is going to be," Pratt says.

WHAT? Did you say 'this is another way of eliminating a large group of people from gun ownership'? ... Uh, yeah! CRAZY FUCKING PEOPLE! What the fuck is this guy thinking?

And his second quote is even more priceless... You don't know what their 'future behavior' might be? Isn't that that the exact fucking reason we don't let FELONS have firearms, asshole?

Of course, Mr. Pratt is the same crazy bastard who immediately after the Virginia Tech shootings made a press release saying:

"The latest school shooting demands an immediate end to the gun-free zone law which leaves the nation's schools at the mercy of madmen. It is irresponsibly dangerous to tell citizens that they may not have guns at schools. The Virginia Tech shooting shows that killers have no concern about a gun ban when murder is in their hearts.

Holy Christ... you just can't argue with crazy. This guy is obviously a couple of beers short of a six pack. I guess that's why he's so opposed to banning nut-jobs from having access to guns.

BREAKING NEWS: CHARTER SUCKS!

For years, I have insisted that Charter Cable is the devil incarnate. Charter is quite possibly the company with the absolute worst customer service policies that is still in operation. If most companies treated their customers as shitty as Charter has over the years, they would be out of business. Luckily for Charter, many customers have no option other than to use Charter to receive more than the standard 4 networks via the rabbit ear antennae.

Well, recently Charter has come under increased scrutiny, including from the Better Business Bureau for their poor treatment and outright abuse of their paying customers.

Last Friday, an article in the Post Dispatch featured a former Charter call center representative and her claims of straight out lying to customers.

"The No. 1 complaint," she says, "was why didn't the technician show up for my appointment?" A simple question, you'd think. But one Gates says call center employees can't answer.

She says call center reps have no idea when installers are supposed to show up, where they are at the time, or when — or if — they might arrive.

"We had nothing in our system that told us anything about where Charter's technicians were," Gates says.

So what do call center reps tell callers?

"We lie to them," Gates says. "We tell them, 'Absolutely, the technician will be there.' " Customers who persist are given another Charter phone number to call, Gates says.

Many of those customers call back to say that second number didn't work.

Gates says reps at the call center know that might happen. "The number doesn't work half the time," she says.

If the call center can't answer these questions, why not just transfer customers to someone who can?

"We were not allowed to transfer calls," Gates says. "Even though we had no training in technical support, we were supposed to answer the customers' questions and sell them new services."

Selling new services was the highest priority, she says.

Call center reps were allowed to transfer only 7 percent of their calls. More than that and they were written up and disciplined, Gates says.

Lovely. So Charter isn't only shitty to its customers, it's shitty to its employees.

AVOID CHARTER AT ALL COSTS, FOLKS! Do what I did and go with DirecTV. Been a happy customer for nearly 8 years. I think I've had to call their customer service line 4 times in those 8 years, and was very satisfied with the service every time.

You've been warned.

Vocabulary Fun

My new word is 'Fucktard'.

I'm going to be slowly working this into my vocabulary to replace the overused 'douchebag'.

I came across 'fucktard' while reading a recent article in Details magazine.

While a douchebag is easy to spot, I believe a fucktard is more encompassing.

This first guy is a douchebag. The second two photos are examples of what I consider fucktards. Consider yourself warned.

Paris Goes to Jail

Let the outrage begin at the miscarriage of justice in California where Paris Hilton has been sentenced to 45 days in county jail for violating her probation.

During the hearing, Paris plead stupidity in defense of her actions.

"I'm very sorry, and from now on I'm going to pay complete attention to everything. I'm sorry, and I did not do it on purpose at all," she told the judge before he announced the sentence.

She said that when an officer who stopped her in January made her sign a document stating her license was suspended, she thought he was mistaken and did not actually look at the document.

Her spokesman, Eliot Mintz, said at the time Hilton wasn't aware her license was suspended. A copy of the document Hilton signed on January 15 was found in the car's glove compartment, court papers say.

Hilton was also required to enroll in an alcohol education program by February 12. As of April 17, she had not enrolled, prosecutors said.

I'm sure Paris was just too burdened with the high-pressure of her many jobs as a "handbad designer," reality TV and film "star", fragrance namesake, and all-around socialite. She doesn't have time to read silly pieces of paper insignificant people like police officers give her! Come on!

And it's obvious that she was not raised this way. Her mother has complete respect for the law.

As a city prosecutor said during closing arguments that Hilton deserved jail time, Hilton's mother, Kathy, laughed. When the judge ruled, Kathy Hilton then blurted out: "May I have your autograph?"

(Upon leaving the courtroom) when a reporter asked what she thought of the judge's decision, a visibly angry Kathy Hilton responded: "What do you think? This is pathetic and disgusting, a waste of taxpayer money with all this nonsense. This is a joke."

I'm sure Paris just made a simple mistake. It's good to see she stood up like a responsible 26 year old and handled this herself.

Hilton had arrived at the Metropolitan Courthouse 10 minutes late and ignored screams of photographers as she swept in with her attorneys, mother and father, Rick Hilton.

Oh well, at least she's got her looks...

Regent University: The Bush Administration's Favorite Law School

Is there any wonder why our current administration is full of morons and political hacks when the most highly represented law school in current appointed positions is Pat Robertson's Regent University?

Jon Stewart opines on Monica Goodling's grant of immunity and Pat Robertson's "prestigious" law school.

One of the funniest damn things I've seen from Jon Stewart in a while. Here's the Daily Show clip.

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Woman ‘tricked into sex’ by penis cream treatment

Quite possibly the dumbest woman on earth...

A Syrian-born airline pilot allegedly tricked a schoolteacher from Haverfordwest into having sex with him by pretending he had to administer ointment on the end of his penis, a jury heard yesterday (Tuesday).



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Catholics, Crow, Kids and Cancer

Once upon a time, long, long ago, the leaders of the Catholic church picked and chose who they deemed holy enough to get into heaven by how much money they gave to the church. It really didn't matter what you did (or how bad it was) as long as you forked over the cash.

Well, things have changed and the Catholic church has corrected those corrupt and hypocritical ways... Or have they?

Earlier this week, St. Louis Archbishop Burke resigned as Chairman of the Board at Cardinal Glennon Children's Foundation in response to Sheryl Crow being chosen as the entertainment at a benefit for the Bob Costas Cancer Center at Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center. Burke is upset with Crow's view on abortion and outspoken support of stem-cell research.

"It's very painful for me," Burke said during a news conference Wednesday. "But I have to answer to God for the responsibility I have as archbishop."

Now, I understand that the Archbishop has standards he must live by and doctrines to follow. But aren't we being a little short-sighted here? This isn't about you or your religion, padre. This is about helping kids with cancer. This is about helping support a center that provides medical care for kids fighting a disease that very well might kill them. And you, in your pius view, believe that who sings at this event and their personal political views are more important than helping these kids? You must, because not only have you resigned your post on Cardinal Glennon's board, but you also believe Catholics — even those who already have bought tickets to the show — "should think hard before attending."

Some will say that since this event is at a Catholic institution that Archbishop Burke is right to take this stand. My question is, do doctors who share the same views on abortion and stem cell research practice at this facility?

If so, will they be fired?

What about the donations for the event or money in the collection plate on Sunday?

Will the church consider that money dirty if they are donations taken from those who also agree with Sheryl Crow?

Will they be returning those donations? Um, I bet not.

Bob Costas weighed in by saying "I have never applied a litmus test, Catholic or otherwise, concerning the politics or religious beliefs of any of the generous performers who have come to St. Louis to help this worthy cause, nor do I intend to ..." Way to go, Bob. Actually using some common sense.

As if that weren't enough, Archbishop Burke last month approved a memo criticizing Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a national organization of breast cancer survivors and activists. The memo said the archdiocese could not endorse the charitable group because it gave financial grants to Planned Parenthood, supports embryonic stem cell research and has dismissed a link between abortions and incidents of breast cancer.

Following that, on April 4, the archdiocese sent a letter to St. Louis Catholic schools that echoed the criticism. The letter said schools should be aware of the archdiocese's position as they plan charity events, and suggested they direct donations to Catholic hospitals that do breast cancer research instead of the Komen Foundation.

When contacted about the claims the archdiocese made in the letter, spokeswoman Susie Knopf said the St. Louis chapter of the Susan G. Komen group has never funded Planned Parenthood and she disputed the claim that the charity supports embryonic stem cell research.

According to Knopf, "Komen has not funded any grants involving human embryonic stem cell tissue, but has funded grants involving adult stem cells. Whether embryonic stem cells will have a role or be of value in the fight against breast cancer has not been clearly determined."

So, just to recap... The Archbishop resigns from his position of Chairman of the Board of Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital and encourages his flock not to attend a charity event for kids with Cancer because Sheryl Crow is appearing. He also has a letter sent to local catholic schools basically encouraging them not to donate to a well-respected breast cancer charity based on things that aren't even factual.

How Christian of you, Father. Glad to see you are watching out for the young and the weak and the helpless...