John McCain rewrites his own epitaph

From an interesting piece on John McCain at The Daily Kos:

Nobody as consistently and tragically wrong as John McCain should regarded as an authority on matters of U.S. national security, let alone be a fixture on the Sunday talk shows. He's not an expert or even an elder statesman. Now, John McCain is just raging at the world like King Lear, only without the crown he desperately sought but never acquired. At the end of the day, the Vietnam POW Barack Obama lauded as a national hero is now just a sore loser, a small and bitter old man.

I couldn't agree more.

Get out and vote!

Even if you're stupid and bigoted enough to vote for Romney you should still go out and vote. It is our civic duty and our right as Americans to exercise our franchise.

One of my favorite comic strips

Red and Rover

 

 Me too Rover!

Red State Spex!

Get yours TODAY!
(From Tom Tomorrow and DailyKos) 
Click to embiggen

One day to go...

It's Friday!

Election Predictions

Nate Silver, Statistics Uber-Geek at The New York Times is predicting a win for Barry. His predictions are the gold standard of election predictions using a computer model that compares polls, weather patterns, economic data, and probably even dowsing sticks to come up with what has been pretty much on-the-nose predictions of the last two elections. See below for Nate's current prediction on the Presidential Race and the all-important Massachusetts Senate race. (I feel a little more confident today.)

Happy Halloween from Frenchy's House Party!

Happy National Coming Out Day!

Who haven't YOU told??

Oh Gurl!

Rachel Maddow

I loves me some Rachel Maddow. Here's a few snaps I got off the Intertubes. RM through the years...

Nice looking girl. Looks to be from some yearbook-type thing.

Rachel in the 90's.

Rachel now.

Reminds me...

It was a beautiful early October day like today, eight years ago, that I married my dear husband Scott. It was so much like today, with gentle breezes and warm sunlight that came between days with cool temperatures and showers that we celebrated at The Wequassett Inn with our friends and family. Ahh... The sweet memories this day brings.

Romney's Taxes

Hey... isn't today the deadline for Romney to pay $1,000,000 to the hackers that got his tax returns during a break-in at Price Waterhouse Coopers? Keeping my fingers crossed that the guys who've claimed that they did this aren't full of shit. 

Breathlessly - Frenchy

Probe launched into Polish priest who gets young children to lick whipped cream off his knee in creepy school initiation

Ewww!!! This is too creepy for even my blog. Do you really need more evidence that you need to keep your kids away from priests??? Cover your keyboards!

Lifestyles of the Rich & Tasteless (Cont.)

Today we take you on a tour of the Beverly Park residence of one Adrienne Maloof. She is apparently on a TV show called Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and got her dough the old fashioned way; Daddy gave it to her. In addition to this very nice home Daddy should have given her enough money to hire a decorator other than someone who designs porno theaters in Dubai. Take a look:

Actually a fine looking home. Considering it was built only 12 years ago it has some really nice features.

A nice pool and a lovely French "jardin" make it look quite nice. Now let's peek inside.

The family dining room is a little peculiar. Not crazy about the "valence-style" window treatments and what is that in the corner? A spittoon?

There's something to be said about the  huge silk floral arrangement under that gold(en) mirror. Yikes!

The formal dining room is so cold and impersonal. Except of course for the cheap paper lanterns over the fake Italianate dining table and the (also fake) Louis XIII chairs. Don't even get me started on that awful mural. I do like the drapes although cords and tassels would be a better choice than just thumbtacking them to the wall.

Ahh... the foyer. Does this woman know nothing about scale? More fake furniture, fake statues, cheap repro paintings. Ugh!

This time, the family room. The leather backed sofas and gaudy side table are just a nightmare.

One of the bedrooms. Note how the headboard is tied to the repro chinese screen. And what the hell is the bed doing in the middle of the room?

The second floor loggia. I do like this.. alot!

I guess this is the dressing area off of the bedroom above. So beautifully appointed. More fake plants and underscaled cheap repro furniture.

Another photo of the bedroom above. Just awful!

Tacky still-wet paintings, fake ormalou furniture and cheap golden candles. Nice chandelier though.

It looks like the way to the ladies lounge at the Rialto theater in Peoria.

Such a large kitchen that is probably never used except to make cappuccino and flax seed enemas.

The piece de resistance! The parlor. Note the enormous carved rockng chair, the ugly fake Aubuisson carpet and the shockingly tasteless red silk armchairs.

Another view (if you can stand it) of the parlor. It really baffles me how someone could spend so much money on a place and not have a professional decorator give them some help with it.

The Master Bath. The Viennese "poofs" and the Madonna della Chiese painting are enough to note here.

This is either the Master Bedroom or the bedroom showroom at Murray's Fabulous Fakes. What a fright!

Please note here the owner's extensive collection of Judith Lieber bags and portraits of her dear family so proudly displayed.

I like the Library but if you're going to have glam photos taken of your home, tell the maid not to leave her dust rags around.

 So once again I beg you rich folks out there. If you are going to buy a home and spend $26 million on it (that's what this place is listed for), please, for God's sake hire a professional decorator or one day you may have this big noisy queen dishing your place too.

No more Mr. Nice Guy

Sen. Snott Brown, R-Douchebag, in his desperation has decided to shed the nice-guy-next-door drag and show the world just what an asshole he is. From Daily Kos:

The Scott Brown that showed up at Thursday's Massachusetts Senate debate, "condescending, snide, repetitive, off topic, rote, eager to get personal," and "dark, hyperkinetic," is apparently the Scott Brown that is going to stick around through the rest of this election season. Elizabeth Warren is surging in the polls, and Brown's desperation is showing.

Brown is shedding his Mr. Nice Guy image and going on the attack. Warren is trying to make the race a referendum on a potential Republican Senate and less about personality—a contest she’d have difficulty winning against the likable, everyman Brown. [...]

[A]fter months of warm ads showcasing the senator as a down-to-earth family man and consensus-seeking moderate, Brown debuted a more combative strategy during the debate. The senator’s invective toward Warren only accelerated over the weekend during numerous campaign stops. [...]

Brown batted away questions about whether his comments signaled he was set to embark on a more negative campaign, but did allow, “The true Elizabeth Warren is coming out and will continue to come out.”

Brown apparently thinks the "true Elizabeth Warren" is in the personal issue he just can't get over, her heritage. This is where the truly nasty Brown emerges, in his latest ad.
 

Brown won't run on or answer to the actual issues of this campaign. He's running a campaign heavy on resentment of gender, class, and background, the kind of campaign that Richard Trumka warned voters against falling for. Last week's debate made it abundantly clear that Brown doesn't have a defense against his votes to protect millionaires and Big Oil. All he can do is to try to change the subject.

In doing so, in becoming attack Brown, he loses the main thing he has going for him with non-Republicans, his nice-guy, non-partisan, above the fray image. Instead of exposing Warren, Brown is exposing his own true self. And his true self is an asshole.

Mitt Antoinette

Guidelines for Identifying Gays!

Seriously!

Malaysia's Education Ministry had endorsed “guidelines” to help parents to identify gay and lesbian “symptoms” in their children so they can take early corrective measurements.

Symptoms of gays:

• Have a muscular body and like to show their body by wearing V-neck and sleeveless clothes (I didn't know about the v-necks or sleeveless thing);

• Prefer tight and light-coloured clothes (I'm thinking.... Pastels! - Regent Virini);

• Attracted to men (Duh-uh); and

• Like to bring big handbags, similar to those used by women, when hanging out. (Pay attention TCW!)

 (My comments italicized)

Newspaper editorial boards react to Romneys idiocy on Libya

WM Romney R-Douchebag

Thanks to John Aravosis for this list:

NYT: "An extraordinary lack of presidential character"

Washington Post: "A discredit to his campaign"

Los Angeles Times: "An outrageous exercise in opportunism."

Boston Globe: “His statement was offensive on many other levels…Romney’s actions raise more doubts about himself than Obama.”

Philadelphia Inquirer: “Mitt Romney didn't wait for expert assessments to use the four diplomats' deaths to launch his own verbal assault.”

Miami Herald: “Profoundly inappropriate”

Tampa Bay Times: “The Republican nominee continued to exploit the situation”

Sarasota Herald-Tribune: “Prematurely lobbed off-base criticism”

Cleveland Plain Dealer: “Mitt Romney's trigger finger was so quick that he didn't even get it right”

Akron Beacon Journal: “Unfortunately, Mitt Romney chose to ignore the distinction.”

Boulder Daily Camera: “For someone whose campaign has been studded with tone-deafness abroad, this was stunning, undiplomatic and undemocratic rhetoric.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Yes, it was sad and pathetic to see such callous and uninformed statements from politicians who couldn't wait until they had the facts to use an international incident for political gain.”

 

Geek Humor

From George Takei via my niece Katie.

Republican lies and the liars that tell, repeat, and defend them

In the midst of an ongoing and developing foreign policy crisis, Republican presidential candidate (and complete douchebag), Mitt Romney stepped up to a podium and lied, misled and proved himself completely unsuitable to lead this country. John Aravosis of Americablog has a terrific column today on the defense of Romney by Republican hacks and liars in the aftermath of his unseemly, opportunistic and completely disgraceful display of intemperance. Money quote:

At that moment in time, when American lives were on the line in Libya and Egypt, no one in America gave a damn about what Mitt Romney was thinking.  But there he was, smirking like an idiot, getting his facts wrong, and treating the death of an American diplomat as "an opportunity."

Not very presidential.  But oh so Republican. 

Is there any doubt that this lying fool would be a disaster as President? To me the answer is a resounding "NO"!

Web Hosting/Registrar GoDaddy Has Been Hacked

Reports are coming in that GoDaddy, one of the world's largest site hosting and domain registration sites has been hacked by a member of (and not the collective) Anonymous according to TechCrunch.com. GoDaddy reports via Twitter that they are working "feverishly" on the problem. If your site or email is hosted on one of GoDaddy's Windows-based servers you are experiencing the outage. Sites hosted on GoDaddy's Linux servers seem to be unaffected. 

Please stand by...

This evening at the House Party Clubhouse

We've been having showers off and on all day but this evening's shower was accompanied by a beautiful orange light. Here's a peek.

Today in Schadenfreudeland

This needs no further commentary from me...

Nice outfit, Mary, won't show the wine stains.

The brand new Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, has been arrested for drunk driving. Cordileone is widely considered the "father of Proposition 8."

Police in San Diego say Bishop Salvatore Cordileone was arrested over the weekend for driving under the influence. Police say it happened in San Diego's College District just before 12:30 Saturday morning. Bishop Cordileone is currently bishop of Oakland -- a post he's held since 2009. Last month Pope Benedict chose Bishop Cordileone to become archbishop of San Francisco -- replacing retiring Archbishop George Niederaur. He's scheduled to assume the new post in October.

 Thanks to JoeMyGod.com for this one. 

Anti-Gay Activist and Proposition 8 Supporter/Donor Charged with Molesting Boys on Church Outings

Real good, down-home family values on display. From Back 2 Stonewall

A longtime anti-gay activist, California Prop 8 donor,  and  elementary school teacher was taken into custody on August 17th after admitting inappropriate contact with young boys.Caleb Douglas Hesse, a teacher for the Morongo Unified School District since 1987 (most recently, he was teaching first grade at Friendly Hills Elementary School in Joshua Tree) and a longtime youth volunteer with the virulently homophobic Evangelical Free Church of Yucca Valley, has  confessed to sexually abusing “numerous underage boys,” with authorities believe the crimes occurred between the early 1980’s and as recently as a week ago.”

Investigators say Hesse met the majority of the victims during overnight outings with a youth group at the Evangelical Free Church

During his arraignment on August 21st Hess recanted his confession and changed his plea to “not guilty”.

Hess’s bail was set at 2,5 million dollars.

*The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department is asking anyone who may have been a victim of Hesse’s or who may have additional information to call (909) 387-3615

GOP Rep finances phoney Democrat in Florida Primary

These scumbags just can't do anything honestly. Lies, fraud, deception and secret money are the tools of their trade. To wit (from Maddowblog):

Rep. David Rivera's (R-Fla.) career has become almost comical. The conservative freshman has been investigated by the FBI, IRS, Miami-Dade Police Department's public corruption unit, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, and Florida Department of Law Enforcement over allegations that he abused his office in the state legislature and repeatedly lied on financial disclosure forms.

And now, things have managed to get worse.

The FBI and Miami-Dade police have opened separate criminal investigations into the campaign of a Democratic congressional candidate who, vendors say, was aided by GOP Rep. David Rivera.
Federal agents gathered campaign records, invoices and began interviewing employees at two mail and data companies used by Democrat Justin Lamar Sternad's primary campaign. Sternad spent about $43,000 in unreported cash and checks on mail services, a witness told The Herald and authorities. Some of the money was stuffed in envelopes bulging with $100 bills.
Federal law required Sternad to quickly report any contributions -- including loans -- just before the Aug. 14 primary, which he lost to Democrat Joe Garcia, a longtime Rivera rival who Sternad bashed in one of his 11 mailers.
Rivera, investigators suspect, was behind the sophisticated mail campaign run by Sternad, who was an unknown political newcomer and hotel night auditor.

It appears to have been a rather clumsy scheme. Congressman Rivera, fearful that Joe Garcia may defeat him in November, allegedly arranged for Sternad to run in the Democratic primary.

As part of Sternad's "campaign" (I use the word loosely), he quietly spent tens of thousands of dollars, in cash, on anti-Garcia mailings -- through the same local printer Rivera has used. Where'd all this unreported cash come from? Law enforcement officials would like to find out.

What's more, Sternad's family income is about $30,000. How he was able to spend $43,000 in unreported cash on direct mail is also unclear. The money didn't come from legal donors -- his total cash on hand as of late July was $120.97.

Minnesota State Rep "in Dutch" over rest-stop tryst with 17 year-old youth

Way to keep the anti-gay types off our backs douchbag! Once again, from Towleroad:

Rep. K. Gauthier, Douchebag

Congressman Kerry Gauthier, a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2001, has ended his reelection campaign after being caught having consensual and legal encounter with a 17-year old at a highway truck stop, largely due to pressure from his fellow Democrats.

Having admitted the encounter, and facing no criminal charges at the moment, Gauthier said his self-denial led to his "mistake."

"I am sorry for the hurt this has caused my family, friends and my constituents. I know I made a mistake and am determined to make amends as best I can," he said.
Gauthier [said] his unwillingness to accept he is gay led him to the act. He said he is getting counseling. He also said he feels badly for the teen and wouldn’t talk specifically about the incident to protect the boy.
"I can change my behavior, but I cannot change the fact that I am a gay man, and have known this since my college days. I simply must act like a mature gay man would act, and not as the incident portrays me."

Governor Mark Dayton said pressure on Gauthier to step aside wasn't about the same-sex aspect of his tryst, procured with a Craigslist ad, but was about "morals".

"I think it’s just something that goes beyond the morals of Minnesotans - to solicit on Craigslist sex with a minor and do it in a public area, publicly owned area, as a state legislator, and come back to the parking lot with his clothes disheveled," he said, according to EDGE. "It’s not about whether it’s a same-sex or a heterosexual act. It would be the same if it were the same circumstances involving a heterosexual individual."

Anti-Gay Pastor Convicted of Masturbating in a Public Park

Stop me if you've heard this one before. From Towleroad:

Grant Storms, Hypocrite

Want some piping hot Schadenfreude for breakfast? Well here it is...Anti-gay activist and self-confessed hypocrite Grant Storms, made famous for his homophobic crusades during New Orleans' annual Southern Decadence event, has been convicted of obscenity after being caught masturbating in a public park. 

From NOLA.com:

[Judge Ross LaDart] promptly found Storms guilty of the single count of obscenity. He sentenced Storms to three years of probation, citing no evidence of a criminal history.
LaDart also ordered Storms to be evaluated, apparently psychologically. The judge noted that in Storms' confession, he admitted that Feb. 25, 2011, the day he was arrested, was the third time that week that he masturbated in Lafreniere Park.
"Lafreniere Park is a public place," LaDart said in announcing the verdict. "Lafreniere Park is a place that was chosen by this defendant to engage in a history of masturbation."
Storms declined to testify. His attorneys, Brett Emmanuel and Donald Cashio, did not overtly deny their client masturbated in the park but argued he never exposed his penis. The exposure was a necessary element of the obscenity charge.
In his confession, Storms told Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office Sgt. Kevin Balser he had taken a break from his grass cutting business to sip a beer in the park, where he said he became "horny." He said he put his hands into his underwear, but he never exposed himself.

Storms said previously he was looking for a "thrill' by taking care of his business in public. 

I'll just bet he's thrilled now! Filthy hypocrite!

Fresh Kvetch

Is it me or does anyone else think this is crazy? Last night I went out with my gurlfriends for what turned out to be a delicious dinner at Ross' Grill in Provincetown. I was thinking I'd love some nice cold shrimp so I ordered a shrimp cocktail. The waitress told me that the $3 a pop shrimp were "peel-and-eat". Now I am not averse to peeling shrimp. In my culinary career I have peeled my share of the buggers but if I am out for a nice dinner, I really don't feel like getting up after the appetizer, washing my hands and smelling fragrant soap for the rest of the meal, nor do I want my fingers to smell of shrimp the rest of the meal. For $3 a shrimp they should peel the damn things, don't you think?

Just for the record I had a different appetizer, Calamari with a delicious soy-sesame dipping sauce, and for dinner I had Seared Scallops with citrus beurre blanc and chive oil on a risotto cake which was fantastic.

I do love eating at Ross'. I just wish they'd peel the shrimp for you.