I'm Back From Vacation!

So... uh... what did I miss?

Man! What a week to be away. Let's just bullet point it:

 Todd Akin's crazy week

 GOP leaders going apeshit over Akin's comments and urging him to quit his Missouri Senate race.

 Mitt Romney deciding to courageously voice his opinion that Akin should drop out of his Senate race a convenient 15 minutes after Rush Limbaugh suggested the same.

 Mitt Romney's ridiculous suggestion that he doesn't want to release his taxes because he wants how much he tithes to the LDS to remain private. HA!

 Mitt Romney going Birther at an event in Michigan.

 Another shooting, this time by the Empire State Building

 Phyllis Diller died.

 Neil Armstrong died.



I'll be back to comment on a more regular basis starting tomorrow, but in the meantime, enjoy this picture of the Grand Canyon... yes, I vacationed in Arizona and actually brought my passport... just in case.

Yet Another Way To Tell That You're Vacationing in a Red State

Another Way To Tell You're Vacationing in a Red State

They thought I was honking in solidarity. I was actually just repeatedly slamming my head into the steering wheel.

(Cross-posted at ABLC)

You Know You're Vacationing in a Red State...

... when this has to be answered in the Frequently Asked Questions section of your resort book.



Part if me wishes it read, "Bibles, as well as Torahs and Korans, are available upon request at Guest Services."

Down Time

I'll be on vacation for a week and I hope that my blogging colleagues can stop by and water the plants while I'm away. I may stop in for a quick post or two, but I'm not making any promises.

In the meantime, please keep a list of the Romney/Ryan lies for me while I'm away. That should keep you extremely busy for the next seven days.

A Vacation From Perspective

I'm kind of disgusted with the constant MSM drum beating about President Obama's vacation in Martha's Vineyard. He should cancel his vacation and sit in the Oval Office and wait for what? For Congress to come back to Washington in September? The bottom line is, no matter what the President does, it is Congress that creates and votes on legislation.

Now I thought I might be teetering on hypocrisy because back in the "good ol' days" I complained about Bush's vacation time, but it's time for a little perspective. In President Obama's 31 months in office, he has taken 61 vacation days. At the same point in their presidencies, Ronald Reagan had taken 112 days off and George W. Bush had taken 180 days off. In fact, it's laughable for a "news" outlet like Fox to whine and moan about Obama's time off when their guy took a combined THREE YEARS off out of his eight years in office. So, no. No hypocrisy. And I may be wrong, but don't remember seeing Bush's vacation time scrutinized nearly as much as what's happening now.

I'm not begrudging anyone their time off to recharge their batteries, especially when you have one of the toughest and most important jobs in the world. But what would your boss say if you took 6 months off in your first 2½ years of employment. Or the equivalent of 10 weeks of vacation time per year? It looks like President Obama's average of about 2½ weeks off per year is more in line with the rest of us plebeians, doesn't it?

Recharging Batteries

I'm out of town for a wedding and a vacation, so there'll be very light blogging here for the week. For a while I kind of felt guilty about it and then I thought, "Hell, if Rachel Maddow can take a vacation, than so can I. And I don't even get paid for this shit!" ...Not that I'm comparing myself to Maddow, but you know what I mean.

Hopefully JHW22 and Desert Crone will pick up the slack while I'm gone. Until we meet again, but judging by the Dow maybe I should say IF we meet again.

Christie Goes To Disney World During Blizzard - UPDATED

A lot of people are making an issue out of NJ Governor Chris "The Cannoli" Christie going on vacation to Disney World during the big blizzard we've experienced.  I really don't think it's that big a deal. What's he going to do, shovel New Jersey out himself? He probably needs help getting out of bed in the morning.

As much as I don't like Christie, this was obviously a planned vacation with his family. A trip to Disney World during Christmas week is not a spur of the moment thing.  But I do hope he enjoys the wonderful, balmy Florida weather.



Heh.

UPDATE (12/28/10 4:45pm): This is the reason Christie should be held accountable:

..it was Governor Christie's responsibility to ensure that the separated powers of the executive branch remained separated. Either he should have scheduled his family trip at another time, or he should have been a boss and told [Lt. Gov.] Guadagno that she could not travel at the same time as he was.

For someone who seems eager to exercise the power of the bully pulpit at public events, the reticence to exercise the legitimate powers of his office responsibly is puzzling, and alarming. It is a dereliction of duty and an abrogation of responsibility. Yes, the world will keep turning. But it isn't the Governor's duty to keep the world turning. It is his duty to ensure the administration of the state government and to run the executive branch. Especially in an emergency. Especially when there is almost a week's notice that the emergency is going to hit. It is inexcusable.

Rush Hospitalized - 2009 Out With A Bang?

NY Times: Rush Limbaugh, the pre-eminent conservative talk radio host, was said to be resting at a hospital in Honolulu after suffering chest pains Wednesday afternoon.

...paramedics responded to a call at 2:41 p.m. from the Kahala Hotel and Resort, and then took Mr. Limbaugh to The Queen’s Medical Center, where he was listed in serious condition.

A hospital spokesman, N. Makana Shook, would not not comment on the report when called by The New York Times Wednesday night, and Mr. Limbaugh’s associates could not be reached for comment.

Why would Rush pick such an exotic place to have a vacation? Why couldn't he choose Myrtle Beach or even San Diego, even though that sounds strangely foreign as well? I mean, isn't Hawaii a foreign place? It doesn't even sound like a US state. In an ironic little twist, the hospital that Limbaugh was taken to is the same hospital that was misidentified in the Obama birther conspiracy.

If ever there was a time for imprecatory prayer...

Slow Blogging Weekend

Heading to Boston early tomorrow morning to spend the weekend with relatives, catch the Mets/Red Sox game at Fenway Park and do some general relaxing with some good food, good wine and good company.

I'll still have President Obama's Weekly Address up (if it's available at 5am) and a couple of Must Reads posted by noon. If I feel so compelled, I may be a-postin' and a-Twitterin' with the use of my handy dandy cellular phone machinery.

Have a great weekend and a happy and reflective Memorial Day.

Checking In

Just stopped by to see what was going on and sonofabitch! Not only is Mr. The Armadillo Joe minding the store, he's restocking the shelves, rotating the stock and sales are going through the roof! You go, you bad motherfucker! Hope you don't blow your wad on the first day.

Things are good here in the lovely fields of Gettysburg. The Mrs. and I along with our in-laws stopped in to the Jennie Wade House (the only civilian killed during the battle of Gettysburg) and spent last evening fine dining at an excellent restaurant call The Herr Tavern. Today we spend the bulk of the morning and the beginning of the afternoon in the newly renovated Gettysburg Museum and Visitors Center and then started touring the battlegrounds. Luckily my father-in-law is a huge Civil War buff and gave us a run down of the battles during the first day of fighting in Gettysburg, July 1, 1863. His detailed information, from what brigades fought where and what leaders made what decisions is pretty damned impressive.

The only problem we've encountered so far is the weather. It was kind of misty yesterday and we had light rain this morning. During today's battle ground walk we were blessed with a little sunshine but were quickly overtaken by a thunderstorm. Apparently, there's a tornado that touched ground about 35 miles northeast of us in Lancaster, so I can't complain.

We'll spend our second day on the grounds recounting the events of Day Two's battles. We'll also check out the cemetery. (One of my favorite things to do is explore cemeteries... I don't know why, it just is.) In the meantime, I'll leave you in the capable typing fingers of Mr. The Armadillo Joe.

By the way, yes, I read the Gettysburg Address in the room reserved for that at the museum, along with some criticism from the day's Lincoln detractors. Some of the newspapers wouldn't even reprint his speech " to spare the reader insult." It only reminded me that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Light Blogging

I'm going on a little vacation to Gettysburg and then visiting family, so I don't know how much blogging I'll be doing these next few days. In the meanwhile, Mr. The Armadillo Joe will be taking care of the store. Hopefully, Fraulein will drop in as well.

Long Island Wine Country

I've lived in New York my whole life and have only driven through the vineyards on Long Island once. So since the wifey and I are winos, we decided to do a little bed and breakfast "weekend" and check out the local wineries at the end of the north fork of Long Island.

Hopefully, Armadillo Joe and Fraulein will mind the store while we enjoy a little quiet time, eat some good food and get inebriated on some fine wine. I'll be back Tuesday evening provided the world doesn't end before then.

National Leader's Vacation

(Click on image for full size.)

What would you say to an employer who hired you, put you up in a mansion and told you you had 18 weeks of vacation a year?

The numbers are out. George W. Bush's reign of stupidity ends with 1,020 days of vacation. 1,020 out of 2,920 days as President. That's almost 35% of the time spent in office. About 18 weeks per year. 4½ fucking months a year x 8 years = 3 full years on vacation.

The breakdown: 149 trips to Camp David for a total of 487 days. 77 trips to his Crawford ranch for a total of 490 days. 11 trips to Kennebunkport for a total of 43 days.

Unfuckingbelievable.

Douchebag of the Day: Greg Pollowitz

National Review's Greg Pollowitz has written a quick little item titled "While The Big Three Go Bankrupt..." with nothing other than three quoted paragraphs from an MSNBC article regarding Barack Obama's planned vacation for the holidays. He then adds his one line of commentary:

Let's see what the MSM's reaction is to the Obama vacation, but I bet it's slightly different than coverage of President Bush from 2005 and Katrina.

How many times are we going to go over this in the remaining six weeks before Inauguration Day? Considering that Barack Obama is the President-elect and is George W. Bush is still actually President, I think the MSM's "reaction" is going to be completely different in comparison to a sitting president who was clearing brush at his photo-op ranch while a U.S. city drowned. He then went ahead and had another photo-op with a certain Senator from Arizona before deciding to return to Washington.

The idea that Pollowitz would gripe about the media's treatment of Obama regarding vacation time is laughable at best and very sad at worst. Right now, the wingnuts are looking for anything to disparage the man for not doing something about our current economic crisis before taking office while the sitting Republican president actually had a complete day this week with nothing scheduled on his calendar. Nothing.

I will make a little wager with you, Mr. Pollowitz. I will bet you that from the time Obama actually takes office, he will spend less vacation time in his eight years (yes, I know I said eight years) than Bush took in his first two years.

National Review's Greg Pollowitz - Douchebag of the Day.

(H/T Bob Cesca)

Adding - As a New Year's resolution, I think I'll make "Douchebag of the Week" a recurring post.

On Vacation

Sorry for the lack of posting these past few days. I am on my honeymoon in Italy with my lovely new bride and won't be back til next week. I'll tell you all about it when I return.

On Vacation...

...and getting married, but boy, there's so much that's happened in the last week, I know I'll be beating on my keyboard frequently, so stay tuned.

Off For The Weekend

Well, I have to tell you, I have thoroughly been enjoying my blogging for the past few months and it seems I've had less and less time to do it. It gives me an outlet to vent my frustrations and also gets the creative juices flowing.

There's been so much to write about this week! The Walter Reed scandal and the Scooter Libby verdict alone is enough for any "full-time, I get paid to blog" writers to develop Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. And let's not forget the hearings on the fired Federal Prosecutors and the daily FOX News distortions. The possibilities are endless and make my head swim.

But shlubs like me who do this as a hobby don't have the time to be able to put it all down, let alone develop informed opinions while making it entertaining to read. So, as my fiancee would kill me if I brought my laptop on our weekend getaway, I'll be walking away from my desk and leaving the bitter cold of New York for sunny Las Vegas for three fun-filled days. (I'll keep a note pad handy and scour the local papers in search of my next topic.)

In the meantime, those who read my blog (all three of you), continue to search for the truth on any of the sites listed on the right, search for new blogs and support the writers who post fervently by leaving them a comment. Believe me, it makes all the difference in the world when you realize someone might actually be interested in reading what you write. Let them know you're tuned in - leave your own opinion. If a blog is never read, does it still rant?

I'll be back soon enough and ready to pounce on the next insane story. I most likely won't write about my weekend, because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Have a great weekend!