Banned In 40 Newspapers!

But We'll show it ...Something about delicate Muslim sensitivies ... We prefer to see all religions as worthy od satire. click on it to get it big enough to read.

Pictures Of Galena

A particulary attractive and well preserved slice of 19th Century Illinois. Most of the shops were predictable on the inside but the main street was not. And ... an Italian meal that could stand up to any of the 15 upscale trattorias that I used to live within walking distance of. It was a good weekend.

The Mississippi

And who expected a 2050 foot sled ride?

Pictures Of Lily

A Soggy Bye-Bye

After spending all last night and part of this morning mopping up after yesterdays Chicago Storms (you saw it on all the news shows) Gt12 is taking a long weekend off to research another locale in the early History of the Republican party ( remember we visisted the birthplace of the GOP last year).

We will be in Galena, home to US Grant from just prior to the civil war through his Presidency.

At least he won the war.

Must Must See TV

Stay til the end ....

Must See TV

Get It now At SportMart!

And We Can Help How?

From AFP.com

23 dead in Iraq as Qaeda clashes with rival militants


BAQUBA, Iraq (AFP) - Scores of Al-Qaeda fighters raided an Iraqi town on Thursday, clashing with rival militants and police after killing a tribal sheikh in fighting that left 23 people dead and 15 others kidnapped.

Brigadier General Ali Dalayan, police chief of Diyala's provincial capital of Baquba, said more than 200 fighters from Al-Qaeda's Iraq affiliate attacked a mosque and the homes of tribal Sunni sheikhs in the town of Kanan.

"The first attack was against a mosque," he told AFP. "They blew up the mosque, then they bombed houses crowded with family members."

Three houses were attacked, including those of two sheikhs who support Iraqi police and US troops in their fight against Al-Qaeda, he said.

"Sheikh Yunis al-Tae was killed in the attack" along with an unknown number of his sons in one of the homes, Dalayan said.

Police countered with the support of gunmen from the Brigades of the 1920 Revolution, a Sunni insurgent group once allied with Al-Qaeda but now one of its fiercest rivals.

The Heart Of The Matter

Forget Experience. Never Mind About Youth. Hell, forget about the Go-Go '90's. This is what it all boils down to:

"To the next U.S. president will fall the huge task of restoring America’s international standing. I wonder whether a dynastic succession back to the House of Clinton as if all we had were Tudors and Stuarts would be the best way of stripping the regal and so returning the country to itself and the world," - Roger Cohen.

From the NY Times today.

Of Course, No One Reads ....

Giuliani's Terrorism Record Investigated

A Time magazine investigation into what Rudy Giuliani "did -- and didn’t do -- to prepare for a major catastrophe is revealing. In addition to extraordinary grace under fire [on 9/11], Giuliani developed an intimate knowledge of emergency management and an affinity for quantifiable results... [but] the evidence also shows great, gaping weaknesses.

(via Political Wire)

You Can Look It Up

The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations adds immortal words from true Americans:

"Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is never try." - Homer Simpson

"Kids are the best, Apu. You can teach them to hate the things you hate. And they practically raise themselves, what with the internet and all." -Homer Simpson

"Bonjour, you cheese-eating surrender monkeys" -Willie the Scottish caretaker, in a 1995 episode.

The Base Of The Bubble

We here in the hinterlands think of "the Bubble" within which The Son-In-Chief functions as being a term for 'inside the Beltway" or "inside the White House".

But, it's more real than that.

Salon explains:

USA! USA! USA!

When a reporter asked Laura Bush recently about her husband's abysmal approval ratings, she said she didn't believe the polls. "As I travel around the United States," she said, "I see a lot of appreciation for him." George W. Bush himself often notes the support he gets from the Americans he meets on the road. "Strangers stand up and say, in front of a couple thousand people, 'I'm praying for you,'" he said at an "Ask the President" event in West Virginia last year. "It helps do the job, it helps keep perspective."

Bush calls it an "amazing" part of the presidency.

Amazing? Not so much.

From the recently released "Presidential Advance Manual":

"All presidential events must be ticketed or accessed by a name list method for preventing demonstrators. This is the best method for preventing demonstrators. People who are obviously going to try to disrupt the event can be denied entrance at least to the VIP area between the stage and the main camera platform ...

"There are several ways the advance person can prepare a site to minimize demonstrators. First, as always, work with the Secret Service and have them ask the local police department to designate a protest area where demonstrators can be placed, preferably not in view of the event site or motorcade route ...

"The formation of 'rally squads' is a common way to prepare for demonstrators by countering their message. This tactic involves utilizing small groups of volunteers to spread favorable messages using large hand-held signs, placards or perhaps a long sheet banner, and placing them in strategic areas around the site. These squads should be instructed always to look for demonstrators. The rally squads' task is to use their signs and banners as shields between the demonstrators and the main press platform. If the demonstrators are yelling, rally squads can begin and lead supportive chants to drawn out protestors (USA!, USA!, USA!). As a last resort, security should remove demonstrators from the event site. The rally squads can include, but are not limited to, college/young Republican organizations, local athletic teams and fraternities/sororities ...

"Once a group of demonstrators has been identified, the advance person must decide what action to take. If it is determined that the media will not see or hear them and they pose no potential disruption to the event, they can be ignored. On the other hand, if the group is carrying signs, trying to shout down the president, or has potential to cause some greater disruption to the event, action needs to be taken immediately to minimize the demonstrators' effect."

-- Tim Grieve

TMI? TFB.

There is a essay detailing Karl Rove's (adoptive) father pioneering role in the body piercing movement of the '70's.

Louie was the first gay man to introduce me to piercing. After a career as a geologist for Getty Oil, he had retired in Palm Springs and owned an up-scale house off Farrell Street, at the end of Santa Ynez Way...

Louie loved his piercings, they made him smile. People who are pierced will understand.

So there on the floor in his library, amid teaching videos on piercings and piles of PFIQ’s, I listened to one man’s account of his travels through the Los Angeles piercing community in the 70’s and 80’s — the “piercing parties” with folks getting pierced on coffee tables in private homes, nurses that helped, and a guy named Jim. I knew about Jim. I had both my nipples pierced at The Gauntlet.

The rest (with pix) here.

I've always had little trouble seeing why most of what Rove has done would not cause him loss of sleep. But I think the willingness to demonize the community that his father was from is the proof that Rove is, at his core, a bad bad bad man.

An Acceptable Tolerance Of Craziness

What works in NYC maybe is not so good for USA.

Matt Yglesias posts:

McMegan says:
I am not defending Rudy, the presidential candidate. Almost no one who has lived in New York wants Rudy anywhere near the nuclear football, nor would we like to see his strongly authoritarian instincts (however much they arguably may have done for New York's policing) unleashed on the federal justice system. Rudy is craaaaaaaaazy, albeit not in a way that made him a particularly bad mayor.

This is, I think, true. The American people should spend some time considering the fact that a large number of people who voted for Rudy Giuliani as mayor and who then voted for his designated successor have no desire whatsoever to see him in the White House. Part of it is just that being crazy seemed "in character" for New York. It's a town full of crazy people. There was a sort of "that's our Rudy" mentality about it -- what a crazy character! -- after all, Ed Koch was crazy, too, and David Dinkins was just boring. It's a point of pride. Everyone loves the proverbial ranting and raving cab driver. One doesn't, however, necessarily want to see him running the country.

The crux of the matter is that the mayor of a city has way, way, way less power than the president. When Giuliani cooked up his nutty scheme to use 9/11 as a pretext to cancel an election, suspend the rule of law, and extend his term in office, all that happened was . . . none of that happened, since he was just the mayor. By contrast, as we've been learning lately, it's really hard to stop the President of the United States from ordering that people be indefinitely detained and tortured in secret on the basis of God-only-knows what evidence. The damage that these aspects to Giuliani's approach could do as mayor were rather limited, but as a potential president it's a whole different can of worms.

Fix

Those Madonna links work now. Watch!

Does This Make Barry Bonds A Steroid Dealer?

Giuliani Spent More Time at Yankees Games

The New York Times looked at Rudy Giuliani's claim to have spent more time at Ground Zero than some of the 9/11 rescue workers and finds he spent "a total of 29 hours in those three months, often for short periods or to visit locations adjacent to the rubble. In that same period, many rescue and recovery workers put in daily 12-hour shifts.

"Meanwhile, Salon shows how Giuliani used his time: "By our count, Giuliani spent about 58 hours at Yankees games or flying to them in the 40 days between Sept. 25 and Nov. 4, roughly twice as long as he spent at ground zero in the 60 days between Sept. 17 and Dec. 16. By his own standard, Giuliani was one of the Yankees more than he was one of the rescue workers."

Clearly, GT12 Has Underestimated Reagan

"A moment I've been dreading. George brought his ne're-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida. The one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work."

-- Ronald Reagan in his recently published diaries, May 17, 1986.

GT12 Sports Corner

(photo: Mitt Romney's favorite Quarterback?)

'cause we love sports because the way it makes builds character. Kinda like Religion, No?

Sources: Vick, attorneys consider plea deal

CNN) -- Federal prosecutors have offered a plea deal recommending an 18- to 36-month prison sentence for suspended NFL quarterback Michael Vick for his alleged role in a dogfighting operation, but Vick's attorneys are trying to reduce that to less than a year, two sources told CNN on Monday.

Vick's attorneys hope to hear back from National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell's office sometime Monday about Vick's career options before entering into any deal with federal prosecutors, the sources said.

Vick's three codefendants in the dogfighting case have accepted agreements to plead guilty in exchange for reduced sentences.

If Vick doesn't accept a deal, he could face additional charges in the case on Monday, when a grand jury convenes in Richmond, Virginia. See a timeline of the case against Vick »

The NFL is considering what, if any, sanctions they should impose on the 27-year-old suspended Atlanta Falcons player.

Court documents released last week showed that two of Vick's alleged partners said he helped kill dogs that didn't fight well, and that all three men "executed approximately eight dogs" in ways that included hanging and drowning.

The dogs were killed because they fared poorly in "testing" sessions in April at Vick's property in Virginia where the dogfighting venture was based, according to documents released following plea agreement hearings Friday for Purnell Peace, 35, of Virginia Beach, and Quanis Phillips, 28, of Atlanta. See what Vick's former co-defendants admitted »

A third man, Tony Taylor, 34, of Hampton, Virginia, already had his plea deal approved.

In the court documents, Peace and Phillips said that the money behind the Bad Newz Kennels dogfighting operation came "almost exclusively" from Vick, and they told prosecutors that other accusations in the 18-page indictment are true.

Colbert Has Warned Us About This Repeatedly

From CNN

Bears eat man at beer festival

BELGRADE, Serbia (Reuters) -- A 23-year old Serb was found dead and half-eaten in the bear cage of Belgrade Zoo at the weekend during the annual beer festival.
The man was found naked, with his clothes lying intact inside the cage. Two adult bears, Masha and Misha, had dragged the body to their feeding corner and reacted angrily when keepers tried to recover it.

"There's a good chance he was drunk or drugged. Only an idiot would jump into the bear cage," zoo director Vuk Bojovic told Reuters.

Local media reported that police found several mobile phones inside the cage, as well as bricks, stones and beer cans.

The Best Argument for Term Limits

Because too much time in DC obviously renders you stupid.

Here it is, the big Cheney quote for '94 when he, it shows, he was amazingly prescient.

"Once you ... took down Saddam Hussein's government, then what are you going to put in its place?" Cheney asks on the tape. "The other thing was casualties ... The question for the president, in terms of whether or not we went on to Baghdad and took additional casualties in an effort to get Saddam Hussein, was, 'How many additional dead Americans is Saddam worth?' And our judgment was, "Not very many," and I think we got that right."

This could just as easily be Hillary

Tommy Makem 1932 -2007

Tommy Makem, a protestant Music Hall singer from Ulster, joined up with Catholic, rebel-rooted Clancy Brothers in the late '50's and rode the New Folk Revival in the early '60's.

In the late '70's I was introduced to them and the magic that they brought to my life and the wisdom they brought to my ears was remarkable.

Tommy died August 1, during GT12's tech crash, but now that some of the machine's are running and work is caught up, attention must be paid.

Please watch and listen to this song about an insurgent who opted to resist the invaders of his country. And go have a pint.

Time to Open More Stores In Shanghai?

That's where the employed people are.

From Raw Story:

Wal-Mart CEO says customers are 'running out of money'

Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott Jr. says customers are "running out of money."
Earlier this week, consumer juggernauts Home Depot and Wal-Mart reported softer than expected earnings.

Penned the New York Times, "the sober forecasts reverberated across Wall Street, sending the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index down by nearly 2 percent, with the Dow dropping more than 200 points. Shares of both Wal-Mart and Home Depot fell around 5 percent.

"Economists said the sluggish performance of the chains — Wal-Mart missed its profit forecast and Home Depot’s earnings dropped — could signal broader troubles in the economy."

Buried in the article was a sobering remark indeed: “Many customers are running out of money at the end of the month,” said H. Lee Scott Jr., the chief executive of Wal-Mart.

Santayana Time

then again, when isn't it?

Help The General!

Jesus' General has identified Our country's greatest Menace. He writes to Media Matters but maybe you've seen the evil doer.....

Dear Media Matters,

After completing hundreds of hours of research by watching The O'Reilly Factor, I've identified America's enemy. It's a Kos reading, eight year old Sioux, Jewish, atheist, Mexican, anti-war, lesbian gangster, son of a World Trade center casualty who has shows on Air America and MSNBC and is using his position at Media Matters to take Christmas away from us.

Unfortunately, that's as far as I could narrow it down. We'll need your help to finally nail this dangerous perp. I'm enclosing an artists rendition of her. Please compare it to the various members of your staff. Once you have a match, convince the perp to sign a terrorist application. That'll give us an excuse to take her into custody, torture her into madness, and then try her in front of a jury composed of knuckledragging crackers.

Heterosexually yours,

Gen. JC Christian, patriot

To Church

Because it's Friday, we need some Religious Ecstasy. And some great drums.

(Note to Mr GB and Mr. SM - that's some killer snare work. )

La Revisit Bonita

After Live World (or whatever it was called) we celebrated the Genius that is Madonna.

This week we learned that her collaborators that day were members of Gogol Bordello, who we also happen to find to be quite a hoot.

So, for Friday, I urge you to once again enjoy Maddy and the Ukraine Boyz as they re-locate la Isla Bonita from the Caribbean to the Baltic.

GT12's Nod To Elvis

By '64 he was no John Lennon. '65 is when I got hooked on the Beatles. Elvis was always 'old' music. By 1977 he was no more Rock than The Starland Vocal Band.

Nothing changed my mind on this until maybe the 90's when I grew to appreciate those pre-Army Sides. But compared to the stuff coming out of Atlantic at that time? No contest.

Peter Guralnick's books did nothing to change my mind.

Anyway ... Above is the most popular picture in the United States Archives. I picked up a coffee mug with the photo on it a few years ago and it has been my constant companion at work ever since.

Nothing really says more about how bizarre and pathetic both of these men had become.

I love it.

Warren Zevon may have written it best:

He was an accident waiting to happen

Most accidents happen at home

Maybe he should've gone out more often

Maybe he should've answered the phone

Hip-shakin' shoutin' in gold lame'

That's how he earned his regal sobriquet

Then he threw it all away

For a porcelain monkey

He threw it away for a porcelain monkey

Gave it all up for a figurine

He traded it in for a night in Las Vegas

And his face on velveteen

From a shotgun shack singing Pentecostal hymns

Through the wrought iron gates to the TV room

He had a little world, it was smaller than your hand

It's a rockabilly ride from the glitter to the gloom

Left behind by the latest trends

Eating fried chicken with his regicidal friends

That's how the story ends

With a porcelain monkey

He threw it away for a porcelain monkey

Gave it all up for a figurine

He traded it in for a night in Las Vegas

And his face on velveteen

Hip-shakin' shoutin' in gold lame'

That's how he earned his regal sobriquet

Then he threw it all away

For a porcelain monkey

Don't Forget "Jeb In '12 - Next In Line"

Time For A Career Change?

Salon provides a test for future reporters:

You -- yes, you! -- can go on the road and be a campaign reporter! But first you must pass the ACTAT -- the Advanced Campaign Trail Aptitude Test.

For the first time, Salon is bringing the secret standardized mainstream-media test to the public, publishing the actual* questions reporters must answer correctly before they can travel with any candidate. This is not a basic news quiz. This is the real deal.* It's hard.

How to take the test: Number a piece of paper 1 to 30, and take the test. Check your answers against the answer key on Page 3. If you get only five to 10 questions right, you qualify as a well-informed citizen. If you get more than 15 right, you may be focusing too much time on politics and not enough on your family. If you get every question right, you can have my job.*

*Just kidding.

...

0-5 correct. Cub. Give it a few years. You are not yet ready for the trail.

6-15 correct. Up-and-comer. Occasional campaign bus rides allowed.

16-25 correct. Trail ready. Head for the Iowa State Fair.

26-30 correct. Top-tier pencil. You are in a select group. Go scoop the New York Times.

I scored 21.

Too Good To Be True

Van Halen, with Roth, to begin reunion tour

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Rock band Van Halen has reunited with the group's original singer David Lee Roth for their first tour together in more than 20 years, they announced on Monday at a news conference.

Van Halen, with David Lee Roth (2nd from right), got together in 1996 for the MTV Video Music Awards.

Roth, 52, spoke virtually nonstop at the press event, promising that the band's upcoming 25-date North American trek was merely the precursor to a world tour and to a new album.

"This is not like the Police," Roth said, referring to another band that recently papered over personality differences to launch a one-off reunion tour. "The idea is that this will continue on and on and on."

"We think we got it right this time," Roth added. "You come and judge the performance harshly, please. I beg you, come on down and see."

The 25-date trek begins on September 27 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and wraps up on December 11 in the Canadian city of Calgary. Key stops include Chicago (October 16, 18), New York City (November 13) and their native Los Angeles (November 20)
But it will not exactly be a reunion of the classic lineup famed for such hits as "Panama" and "Runnin' with the Devil," because bassist Michael Anthony has been replaced by lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen's 16-year-old son, Wolfgang.

Tax And Spend Republican?

"It seems safe to conclude that George W. Bush will go down in history as the biggest taxer and the biggest spender ever,"

- David Boaz, on CATO's blog. Check the data.

GT12 Ahead Of The Curve?

GT12 has already scheduled an intensive meeting with Representative Bratwurst's constituent's for this weekend. Champagne anyone?

Hastert's Friday presser spawns retirement speculation

Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has notified local supporters that he will hold a press conference this Friday at the Kendall County Courthouse, a conservative blog in Illinois reported, fueling speculation that he will announce his plans not to run for re-election. Cal Skinner reported on Illinois Review over the weekend that Hastert sent letters to his supporters inviting them to a press conference at the courthouse Friday at 10 o'clock in the morning. The former speaker does not state his intentions for the upcoming election cycle in the letter, but many Republicans in the state expect him to announce his retirement some time this month.

As Politico's Josh Kraushaar notes, Illinois has one of the earlier filing deadlines for candidates to announce their plans, forcing incumbents to announce their intentions early.

Republican leaders in the House have also counseled their members considering retirement to step down early enough so that potential successors have enough time to raise the campaign cash necessary to run a successful race.

A Difference Only In Degree

Between some of us and some of our 'enemies' the 'evildoers'

"All for Jesus. All for Jesus. All for Jesus. All for Jesus," - Sam Brownback's stump speech in Iowa.

Not That It's A Civil War Or Anything

WaPo provides on-the-scene reporting from outside Baghdad:

Col. Michael Garrett on how his troops are "fighting in multiple directions": "I'm not fighting one sect or the other. I'm fighting both. And not only am I fighting both, but at certain points I have to put my forces in between the Sunni and Shia groups to protect the populace."

Maj. Craig Whiteside on the difference between Shia and Sunnis: "Shiites don't like to shoot. . . . They just EFP you. The Sunnis use snipers, RPGs, mortars -- they'll attack you in every possible way."

Maj. Rick Williams on the nature of the fight. "We are in the land of the blood feuds. It's very difficult to tell a tribal fight from a sectarian fight because interests are pretty mixed. You can't just put up a fence . . . Any group you work with can turn on you. That is part of the operating cost."

Lt. Col. Robert Balcavage on what U.S. troops accomplish when they attack forces of al-Qaida in Iraq and the Sunni Islamic Army: "We blow AQI and Jaish al-Islami up and make them bigger than they are."

Sgt. Josh Claeson on how it all feels: "Our basic mission here is to drive around and get blown up."

Does "Western" Mean Ignorant?

GT12 has basically supportive feelings toward Bill Richardson but ...

Richardson Stumbles at Gay Rights Forum

"Underscoring the importance of gays and lesbians in Democratic politics, most of the party's presidential hopefuls gathered in Los Angeles on Thursday night for a televised forum on gay-rights issues," the Los Angeles Times reports.

"Six candidates participated. All were jockeying to firm up support among gay and lesbian voters, one of the party's more active and reliable voting blocs.

"However, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson "got caught up in the most tense moment of the evening when he was asked whether he believes people are born gay or whether it is a choice.

"Said Richardson: "It's a choice.""Richardson released a statement moments after the event, saying that he had misunderstood the question and that he does not believe people choose to be gay.

"USA Today notes the questioners, including singer Melissa Etheridge, "pulled no punches in trying to make the candidates feel their frustration over their inability to marry and other issues."

Today's Laugh

OK, not a very nice one ... But I remember the days when I hated GHW Bush for being the spineless clue-free entitled prinicple-ditching idiot of a preppie that he is and I hated his evil entitled post-debutante bitch of a spouse even more ....

Those were simple, carefree days of my youth (OK, my 30's). The Bush Dauphin's reign of Error has made me forget the diseased genetic pool that is GHW & Barbara.

Well, they're getting some of what they deserve:

First Father: Tough Times on Sidelines

“I love you, sir, but your son’s way off base here,” they might say, according to Ron Kaufman, a longtime adviser to Mr. Bush, who has witnessed any number of such encounters — perhaps at a political fund-raiser, or a restaurant dinner, a chance meeting on the streets of Houston or Kennebunkport, Me. They are, he says, just one way the presidency of the son has taken a toll on the father.

Tough Shit Sherlock. ROTFL.

Pat Buchannon Is Sleeping with One Eye Open

From the NY times today:

Minorities Now Form Majority in One-Third of Most-Populous Counties

In a further sign of the United States’ growing diversity, nonwhites now make up a majority in almost one-third of the most-populous counties in the country and in nearly one in 10 of all 3,100 counties, according to an analysis of census results to be released today.

The shift reflects the growing dispersal of immigrants and the suburbanization of blacks and Hispanics pursuing jobs generated by whites moving to the fringes of metropolitan areas.

From July 1, 2005, to July 1, 2006, metropolitan Chicago edged out Honolulu in Asian population, and Washington inched ahead of El Paso in the number of Hispanic residents. In black population, Houston overtook Los Angeles.

“The new wave of immigration, along with its continued dispersal to the suburbs and Sun Belt, is transforming the places which are now being classified as multiethnic and majority minority,” said William H. Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution.

“The new melting pots are not large international gateways,” Professor Frey said, adding, “Rather, many are fast-growing suburbs themselves.”
In 36 counties with more than 500,000 residents each, non-Hispanic whites are now a minority, up from 29 counties of that size in 2000.

The Whole Colorful Story Here.

The Black Menace

When Hypocrisy and Homophobia aren't enough ... there's still Racism. Or, better yet, a fetid stew of all of 'em!

From Maine Democrats

Bob Allen: The Scary Black Man Made Me Do It

When a high profile individual makes a fool of himself/herself in public they usually drop out of sight for awhile while they come up with a plausible excuse (alcohol, drugs, satan) and then re-emerge to float it about a bit.

State Rep. Bob Allen, (R-Merritt Island) offered an undercover officer (whoops!) 20 bucks, if he could perform oral sex on him. Only $20? Well, that was his second mistake.

The third mistake? The excuse. He starts by saying, “I certainly wasn’t there to have sex with anybody and certainly wasn’t there to exchange money for it.” Explaining both the $20 and the arrest for soliciting prostitution.

Then he makes it better by adding, “This was a pretty stocky black guy, and there was nothing but other black guys around in the park…” Ah, the “big scary black man” defense. A classic! Allen claimed he was afraid that he “was about to be a statistic” — which he did become. But just a different category of statistic.

So it was black-man fear that drove him to peek over the top of the stall door in the bathroom, suggest that the large scary black man and he find a more private location and when the undercover cop asked if he wanted a [insert obvious] … Allen offered to, um, return the favor in advance, so to speak.

Allen, whose publicity shot shows him a good thirty pounds lighter, has been a longtime foe of gay and lesbian rights despite listing “water sports” as a hobby on his official page. Obviously he can’t be gay.

He’s just a regular guy who found himself surrounded by stocky black men and fearing he might become a victim of physical violence took the proactive step of offering the biggest guy in the bathroom oral sex… and offering to pay him for it.

Ya gotta believe that somewhere, Sylvester is smiling....

If You're Brown, Get Outta Town

... and don't even think about rights if you're not right in the head.

From the LA Weekly

Pedro Guzman's Return
Wrongly deported to Mexico, a developmentally disabled man is found safe
By DANIEL HERNANDEZ
Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - 9:30 pm

EIGHTY-NINE DAYS AFTER HE WAS DEPORTED from the Los Angeles County jail system to Tijuana, mentally troubled U.S. citizen Pedro Guzman returned to his home in Lancaster this week, shivering, stuttering and re-igniting a host of uncomfortable questions for the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Guzman appeared at the U.S. border crossing at Calexico late Sunday night, where he was detained on a probation warrant. He was moved to the downtown L.A. jail, and then to the Lancaster jail. There, Superior Court Judge Carlos Chung ordered him released on August 7. That Tuesday afternoon, Pedro Guzman was finally resting at his brother Juan Carlos Chabes’ home on a flat stretch of the Antelope Valley while his mother, Maria Carbajal, and brother Michael Guzman faced a frenetic band of news reporters at the headquarters of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California in the Belmont area near downtown.

It was a chaotic news conference, as reporters scrambled for details of how Pedro Guzman made it home and why he was deported to Mexico in the first place. Mark Rosenbaum, the ACLU’s legal director, hammered away at the feds, using damning, emotional language to fault the government for deporting Guzman by using nothing short of racial profiling.

“This government deported Pedro Guzman because of his skin color, did not examine or review his documents stating that he was born in California because of his skin color, did not bother to comfort this family when he was found because of his skin color,” Rosenbaum said.

Do Follow the Link above and read the rest of this horror story