Motley Moose – Archive

Tomorrow is a big day for football fans. No, not futbol. Apologies to our foreign Moose and lurkers, but I’m talking about the uniquely American sports tradition known as the Super Bowl, the Granddaddy of extravagant sporting events. An epic battle first waged on January 15, 1967, between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Coach Vince Lombardi and Quarterback Bart Starr led the Packers to a 35-10 victory.

Tomorrow’s Super Bowl XLIII, pitting the underdog Arizona Cardinals against the crushing #1 ranked defense of the Pittsburgh Steelers, is a much different game than the one played back in ’67.

Super Bowl I was the only Super Bowl in history that was not a sellout in terms of attendance, despite a TV blackout in the Los Angeles area. Days before the game, local newspapers printed editorials about what they viewed as a then-exorbitant $12 USD price for tickets, and wrote stories about how to pirate the signal from TV stations outside the Los Angeles area.

If you happen to be in Tampa tomorrow, you and three friends can still catch the game live, and in person for a measly 15,000 US dollars.  Oh, how the times have changed.

Looks like I’ll be ringing in the New Year hunched over my laptop, working like mad to beat a rapidly approaching deadline. You see, I’ve recently experienced what my IT guy euphemistically calls a “hardware failure”. A complete, utter hard-drive meltdown.  I lost everything. Not the least of which was months upon months of work, writing, and research. I’m now having to re-create it, some from whole cloth so to speak, in a matter of days. Also vanished into the ether: three nearly finished Motley Moose diaries. Sigh. And that, in a nutshell, is what I’ve been up to lately. Up to my supraorbital ridge, truth be known. I hope you’ll all forgive my general cyber-silence. It’s temporary, I assure you.

So, while working feverishly this evening. I caught an e-mail from a former supervisor with whom I’m collaborating for my current project (solar baby, solar). This guy’s more than just an old boss.  He’s a colleague, a mentor, and a truly great friend.  

The US Air Force, NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command), and Pentagon sources confirm that Santa’s Sleigh was lost from radar screens at 2,300 feet, somewhere over the western Bering Sea, after tracking a steep descent. Aviation experts said that if the descent continued at that rate, Holiday celebrations around the globe would likely turn somber this year.

Governor Sarah Palin (R – AK), has declared a state of emergency and insists that every available resource would be dedicated to the search and rescue effort. At a press conference with Gov. Palin, which included an odd ceremony in which a large caliber rifle was boiled then buried in her back yard, the Governor said, “We think Putin raised his head up over there in Russia, under the umbrella of job creation, also Maverick”.

Inspiried by this exchange; (with apologies to the Bard).

To troll, or not to troll–that is the question:

Whether ’tis nobler in the blog to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

Or to take to the keyboard against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them.

On November 7th, 1860, in the still dark hours of the morning, President Elect Abraham Lincoln excused himself from the Telegraph Office in Springfield, Illinois to walk home and wake his sleeping wife with the news.  Lincoln was “gently touching her shoulder” and received no reply when he whispered her name.   He later recalled, “I spoke again, a little louder, ‘Mary, Mary!  We are elected!‘”

The celebrations had begun hours prior as the returns poured in from around the Nation by wire. Despite the air of elation around him, it’s clear that the burdens of the Presidency weighed heavily on Lincoln’s mind. Only a matter of minutes before he woke Mary, Lincoln uttered to friends, “God help me, God help me”.

No, not really, but according to the PPP poll released very early this morning Ron Paul is pulling about 4% that John McCain might otherwise get.

Yet another sign that the McCain/Palin campaign is coming unraveled as the election draws to an increasingly inevitable conclusion:

Joe (Sam) the Unlicensed Wanna-be Country Singer and Planted Liar has gone AWOL.

F#$k!  Alright, who was supposed to be watching him?  Looks like old Joe the Douche was out stumping with the Palinator, and forgot to let Grandpappy John in on the plans.  Thanks much, Joe the No-Show.  

Desperation to resurrect his increasingly hopeless Presidential aspirations has led John McCain to press his divisive rhetoric even further beyond the pale: associating Barack Obama with the specter of socialism. Consequently, he has fueled the irrational fears of his less than reality based supporters to such an extent that they equate Obama with terrorism, with treason, and with the bizzaro belief that the Democratic nominee is somehow a danger to the Nation. Fostering an atmosphere of anxiety and anger may likely earn McCain a place in history alongside the likes of Joe McCarthy.  Whatever honor lies extant in him has suffered under the yoke of his blind ambition.

How will history judge John McCain?  As the son of a public high school History teacher, I was taught to look to the past when seeking to learn about our present–and our future.

Got Google?  Does your version auto-populate when you start typing into the search box, like mine?

Good.  Try this:

Go to Google, and type in the words:  “how do”

Crossposted at DailyKos

Heh.  You read me right.  Ha, ha, ha, ha!  Joshua Trevino, co-founder of the conservative blogging flagship site Redstate can’t pull the trigger for the McCain/Palin ticket.