BabbleFest

That didn’t take long. Heads have begun to roll in Bell, California, the little town where the government officials get paid more than whole neighborhoods of the working stiffs they’re supposed serving.

We originally commented on this story a few days ago. Now comes word that in a closed-door city council meeting the three highest paid officials, the city manager, assistant city manager, and police chief have agreed to resign. Without severance packages. Looks like the Bell city council members have been studying somebody’s technique for tossing people under the bus to save your own hide. 

But alas, it may be too little too late to save the council members, themselves knocking down around $100,000 a year for their part-time council jobs.  The citizens apparently are not entirely satisfied with the ouster of the three officials:

The crowd erupted in applause after the announcement but immediately yelled out questions about what would happen to the council members. Four of the five are paid close to $100,000 annually. When their questions were not answered, they shouted, “Recall!”

And in another strange twist, it now turns out that while four of the five council members are making around $100,000 for their part-time council jobs, Councilman Lorenzo Velez, who moved to open the meeting to the public but was overruled by the city attorney, is making just a little bit less than the others:

Velez, who makes only $8,076, has expressed shock at the amount his fellow council members are paid. Vice Mayor Teresa Jacobo said Velez makes less than the others because he was appointed, not elected. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office is looking at the salaries of council members to see whether they violate state law.

This has got to be one of the most corrupt and abusive groups of political hacks in the country. Or is it? Maybe citizens around the country had better start paying more attention to what their “leaders” are up to.

In any event, pass the popcorn. This is the best part of the movie. The angry citizens have just dispatched Igor the evil lab assistant, and now they’re after the monster and the mad scientist who created it.

P.S.   Kudos to the LA Times for exposing this cesspool. Now if only they’d spend a little time looking into the sewer in Washington, D.C.

I’m thinking the “Angry Mob Playset” may be a hot Christmas gift this year in Bell, California.

When residents of  that town, with a population of 38,000 and a per capita income under $25,000, found out from the LA Times that their city manager is making almost $800,000, their police chief makes more  than the Los Angeles police chief, and their part-time city council members were collecting $100,000 a year, the angry crowd that showed up at the next city council meeting overflowed out into the street, with those barred from the room banging on the door and shouting.

More details are here. It’s fun reading, if you like harrowing tales of government abusing the governed.

I’m guessing there may be some turnover in city government next election.

According to the National Enquirer, quite possibly the last bastion of non-partisan investigative journalism in America, two additional women, both apparently massage therapists, have come forward with allegations of improper behavior by the former vice president.

More details, if you can stomach them, are here.

Bush administration:  economy adds 275,000 new jobs = jobless recovery! worst economy since Great Depression!

Obama administration:  economy loses 454,000 jobs = great news! fewer jobs lost than expected! investors reassured! recovery continuing!

No, really, the Obama sycophants actually have the nerve to publish this drivel at CNNMoney.

Sounds like the makings of a new reality show:

Authorities said a drunken man and woman were arrested after they were found pushing a baby stroller holding two young boys, open containers of alcohol and a bayonet inside.

The incident occured at about 1:30 a.m.

More details are here.

UPDATE:  The Portland Tribune had this story in 2007 or 2008, and chose not to publish “an unconfirmed story”. I wonder if the Tribune also chose not to publish the unconfirmed – and false – story about McCain’s alleged affair during the 2008 presidential campaign? (see “Related Observations” below).

Portland officials have confirmed a story first broken by the National Enquirer detailing a complaint for “unwanted sexual contact” made against former Vice President and global warming huckster Al Gore.

A Portland massage therapist accused former Vice President Al Gore of “unwanted sexual contact” at a hotel during an October 2006 visit, but no charges were filed due to lack of evidence, law officials said Wednesday.

An attorney representing the woman contacted police in late 2006, said Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schrunk. Schrunk said the woman — who has not been identified — refused to be interviewed by detectives and did not want the investigation to proceed.

The woman, however, contacted police in January 2009 and gave a statement, saying Gore tried to have sex with her during an appointment at the upscale downtown Hotel Lucia, where Gore was reportedly registered as “Mr. Stone.”

The incident occurred October 24, 2006. Gore was in Portland to give a speech on climate change. But it appears it was the condition of his own lower hemisphere that was on his mind:

In a transcript of the interview released by police, the massage therapist said she had an appointment with “Mr. Stone” at 10:30 p.m. but the hotel’s front desk told her he wouldn’t be available until 11 p.m. When she knocked on the door, Al Gore opened it, and when she asked what she should call him, he replied to “Call me Al,” the woman told police.

She said she was doing requested abdominal work on Gore when he started to moan and demanded she go lower.

I will not “go lower” and present the disgusting details of this lurid tale.

You, however, should by all means feel free to go ahead and read the full article here.

Related observations:

Clinton, Kennedy, Gore, Dodd, Edwards … are they all pigs, or are these guys the exceptions?

You may recall that it was also the Enquirer that exposed John Edwards hiding in a hotel bathroom. Have we reached the point where the National Enquirer is the only source of investigative journalism left in America? Or is it just the only one that doesn’t decide the “newsworthiness” of a story based on the party affiliation of the participants?

I’m speechless.

President’s panel on cancer warns that environmentally caused cancers, like from chemicals, have been grossly underestimated and are REALLY REALLY HUGE threat to human life…

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/health/research/07cancer.html

And you can trust them on this, because they are sure that if they had actually done the research –which they did NOT do – the research that they did not do would support the conclusions that they have already concluded!

“This is an evenhanded approach, and an evenhanded report,” Dr. Leffall said. “We didn’t make statements that should not be made.” “He acknowledged that it was impossible to specify just how many cancers were environmentally caused, because not enough research had been done, but he said he was confident that when the research was done, it would confirm the panel’s assertion that the problem had been grossly underestimated.”

This explains a lot!

The Civil Rights Division encourages qualified applicants with targeted disabilities to apply. Targeted disabilities are deafness, blindness, missing extremities, partial or complete paralysis, convulsive disorder, mental retardation, mental illness, severe distortion of limbs and/or spine.

This is an actual quote from the job listing, available here:

http://www.justice.gov/oarm/jobs/attorneyvotingoarm2010..htm

 This language appears in the third paragraph under “Other Information.”

People all over the world are crazy about american football.  That is the reason why one finds it hard to find super bowl tickets  on time. Specially new york giants tickets  sell like hot buns in black. On the other hand, arizona cardinals tickets  are easier to come by, comparatively. The same holds true for tickets for dallas cowboys  games as well.

Apparently, when your name is Andy Dick, the name pretty much says it all.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — David Stroupe said it was one of the worst experiences with a performer in the history of the Funny Bone Comedy Club.

He was referring to Andy Dick, a former co-star on the 1990s sitcom “NewsRadio,” who appeared at the Funny Bone last weekend.

Stroupe, the club’s managing partner, said the 41-year-old actor-comedian made inappropriate comments while on stage, groped patrons, took women into the men’s room and urinated on the floor and on at least one person.

Later, Mr. Dick could not be found at his hotel and missed his car and his flight out of town. That’s because he was busy elsewhere, being cited by Columbus police for urinating on a sidewalk.

Where’s Jon Lovitz when you really need him?