Plan B From Outer Space

By Capt. Fogg

It's hard to observe the growing and comical chaos in the GOP without thinking of B movie icon Ed Wood and his Plan 9 From Outer Space, wherein space aliens resurrect dead humans as zombies and vampires to stop evil men from creating the 'Solaranite' bomb. With the Republican circus trying to breathe life into mouldering, uncouth candidates reciting ancient and eldritch formulae to fight the evil Bill of Rights, secularism and the Obama Bomb, it's harder and harder to avoid the suspicion that this is only a movie.

With the economy showing signs of recovery and the ability to substantiate the hysterical portraits of Obama as a Kenyan Communist, Indonesian Socialist ally of big banks, Wall Street and the World Caliphate fading, the GOP must feel like Ed Wood trying to piece together a movie with $273.50 left in the checking account and an unwritten plot. The rising star candidate and the great white hope is making such a fuss about the need for a gospel-based theocracy with sex by permission only that any platform they can cobble together at this point would be so far beyond city limits and so rickety it can't support itself much less a coherent and discernable political position.

Whispers are being heard, CNN.com writes today, about coming up with a new candidate for the GOP ticket and ditching the Chameleon, the Worm and the cut-rate Rasputin. Finding any brand new candidate with any potential of being passed of as sane or decent (if not quite qualified) is remote, as the Tea Party element and the Holy Rollers simply won't accept him any more than they did Huntsman. The rest of the black-hearted Plutocrats aren't going to support Ron Paul and even if they could bring back Reagan from the dead, he wouldn't pass muster as a Conservative in today's party. Who ya gonna call?

The prospect of an open convention with desperate delegates acting like football hooligans in Tampa this August must have Republican strategists doubled over with cramps trying to come up with a plan B before the Grand Old Barrel goes over the falls in November.

With an inability to field a credible candidate so late in the game, the voters are going to have to reconsider a blind allegiance to a party that can't run itself much less a complex 21st century superpower.

The silent treatment

Hell hath no fury like a woman's rights scorned. Love this. David Dayden reports on a powerful protest against Virginia's state sanctioned rape bill. This happened. Hundreds of women gathered and said not a word.

The Capitol ground rules say that we cannot assemble, hold signs, chant, yell or protest. We think silence in the face of this struggle and their unconstitutional rules presents the strongest response to their assault on women. Please come out and stand up for our rights and for the rights of all women in VA to choose the best reproductive route for themselves. These people are used to signs, yelling, chanting etc. It is not new. They are not used to silently being stared at and having to look us in the eye. It gives us the power.

The crazy theocrats got the message, loud and clear. They postponed the vote on the bill. Of course, the polling also showed "55% opposed to the legislation and only 36% in support" so we can assume that factored into their new found reluctance to push it forward quickly. Which is not to say they won't try again to sneak it through when they think no one is watching. Their kind never gives up.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Feisty old ladies

When I'm 75 years old, I want to be a bold old broad just like this:

The Health Secretary was berated by June Hautot from Tooting who claimed he was privatising the health service. Brushing aside his denial, she jabbed at him with her finger and shouted into his face: "Codswallop, don't lie to me, I'm sick of you."

Via Atrios, who is getting on in years himself. He just turned the big four oh a couple of days ago.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

We don't need no education

Watching The Ed Show on MSNBC. They aired a clip of Little Ricky Santorum saying the federal and state government shouldn't be involved in education at all. That it should be solely a function of local government. Translating that to mean: we don't need no stinking public schools teaching liberal crap like the science of evolution to our kids.

Also heard somewhere that the more outrageous Ricky gets, the better he polls. They said he's leading nationally by 10 points. Astounding.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Read it while you can

I was going to post about Romney's big fundraiser with the anti-gay agenda who made his money on a pyramid scheme business so sleazy, he was legally sanctioned by the government. Then I read about how he bullies even his mildest critics with threats of legal action and saw the evidence the he goes after everyone from the most insignificant bloggers to the highest profile news organizations. Now I'm seriously afraid to even post his name.

However, Glenzilla isn't afraid of him so click over there and get the goods, before the guy intimidates Salon into taking it down.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

TransCanada: This land is our land

The project may be on hold but that hasn't stopped TransCanada from pursuing land takings in Texas by eminent domain to build the damn Keystone XL pipeline. They don't need federal approval to do that part. Apparently Texas is happy to help. Thankfully, at least one landowner is fighting back.

TransCanada claims they have the right to simply take the easements under the aegis of common carrier law. The Texas Railroad Commission is backing them up, though that may not be true forever. The easy granting of common carrier status is currently being litigated in some courts.

It's not clear to me the landowners get any kind of compensation at all for being forced to risk their land to potential toxic spills. Which in the case of TransCanada would seem to be virtually assured to happen.

That fabulous invisible hand of the free market just gets to take what it wants I guess. Wondering why I haven't seen any libertarians howling about rent seeking.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Sex. Lies and Santorum

By Capt. Fogg

"He is imposing his values on the Christian church. He can categorize those values anyway he wants. I’m not going to,”

lied Republican candidate Rick Santorum to an assemblage of Tea Bag idiots immediately after having categorized President Obama's "values" and his "agenda"as being

“not about you. It’s not about your quality of life. It’s not about your jobs. It’s about some phony ideal. Some phony theology. Oh, not a theology based on the Bible. A different theology,”

Yes, some phony ideal is on the agenda. A phony ideal involving liberty, Democracy and a constitution that never mentions God or gods or scriptures of any religion and declares that there shall be no religion in government. Science is a phony ideal to sanctimonious Santorum too because we all know that Senators Jesus, Mary and Joseph agree with the oil companies and that the president's job, as 'Rick' told the 'baggers, is to keep gas prices down (and the subsidies up, no doubt.)

No sir, all that Washington, Jefferson and Madison secular prattle is phony and if we're looking for full employment, a decent quality of life and personal liberty you must turn to The Christian Scriptures which forbid us to charge interest on a loan or obtain a divorce or marry whom we will or even to enjoy sex when it isn't only for making babies. Some churches I won't mention have interpreted it to demand a king chosen of God rather than an elected government, but don't bother Rick with that. It's already on his agenda.

So why is this sex-fearing, woman hating, half-witted fake theologian; this lame-brained Longinus and meretricious medievalist mewling about theology while pronouncing Ernulphian maledictions on what he pretends are President Obama's values, cursing them one by one? Because theological statements don't have to be true, you see; don't have to be supported by evidence and are easily and frequently used to do horrible things to people. Cognitively impaired, confused and historically ignorant "conservatives" seem pre-lubricated to receive ecclesiastical wisdom without discomfort and Faith invents facts as well as it rejects them to the despair of brother Ockham.

So Obama, who thinks a Harvard Law degree makes him as good as a white. Christian man, agrees with Justice Scalia that religious freedom does not legalize acts done in the name of religion and yet, conservatives still want to shove the notion that he's a radical, Liberal, Christian-hating Sodomite Commie up the national hoo-ha and true to form, the 'baggers assume the position and take it.

How can any curse suffice?

Second worst Sheriff in the world

Don't usually post on closeted gay GOPers who get caught but this guy is so bad, he might even tie Joe Arpaio for the Worst Sheriff title. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, who also became a high profile figure in Arizona because of his flagrant bashing of undocumented immigrants, is accused of threatening his gay Hispanic ex-lover with deportation unless the paramour agreed to keep their affair a deep dark secret forever.

Apparently, the lover refused the deal and went to the press out of fear for his safety. Details of their extended relationship and somewhat intimate pictures at the link. Word has it some of those pix were sent out over the internets.

But it gets better, or worse, if you're the Sheriff. Babeau is also running for Congress. One wonders how that will play out in the campaign ads. But even more delicious, he was co-chair of Willard's presidential campaign. Emphasis on the was:

“Sheriff Babeu has stepped down from his volunteer position with the campaign so he can focus on the allegations against him," Romney spokesman Ryan Williams told The Arizona Republic in a statement. "We support his decision."

I'll just bet they do.

TBogg has the definitive last word on this story: "Obviously when someone told Sheriff Babeu to "screw the Mexicans" there was a horrible misunderstanding."

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Angry patriotism

Haven't heard this new Bruce Springstein album yet and the reviewer is bit hyperbolic but the quotes from the Boss are good.

"A big promise has been broken. You can't have a United States if you are telling some folks that they can't get on the train. There is a cracking point where a society collapses. You can't have a civilisation where something is factionalised like this."

(Internet is dicey here tonight so the videos won't load but archiving for future listening.)

"Pessimism and optimism are slammed up against each other in my records, the tension between them is where it's all at, it's what lights the fire."

The album is the last on which Clarence Clemons, the legendary saxophonist from the E Street Band, played on before he died last year. "When the sax comes up on Land of Hope and Dreams," Springsteen says, "it's a lovely moment for me."

RIP Clarence. He was one of the greats. Be worth buying the album just to have his last gig.

If you want a lover

Rainy Friday night here and my belly is full of Indian food. Finally. Been craving it forever and can't get it in the little city. Been such an ugly couple of days in politics. Don't feel like blogging about it anymore tonight so some music. This was on the soundtrack of some TV crime show I was watching last night.



I love Leonard Cohen. He's held up well over the years.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

GOP primary far from over

Lost the link, but read this morning both Texas and Pennsylvania primaries are being pushed back until probably May or June because it will take that long for the courts to decide if their convoluted redistricting is too gerrymandered to be legal. Which of course, means nobody is going to feel all that pressured to drop out.

Santorum is riding the wave at the moment so he's not going anywhere. Newt has a comeback plan. It's not that bad a plan actually. At the moment he's targeting wingnut rich districts in California where delegates will be awarded proportionally. Word has it he's generating a lot of excitement among the Tea Party and so-cons with his -- shall we say -- unique style.

Unlike Santorum, whose social conservatism centers around family values, Gingrich's message is characteristically grandiose. In particular, his ideas for reforming the judiciary to reign in "activist judges" fire up those who see the federal courts as a major threat to religious liberty. More broadly, Gingrich's historical vision of America and American Exceptionalism speaks to those who believe that the country has gotten dangerously off track, both morally and economically.

One supporter notes he's "really drawn to his sense of history — it gives us a sense of how we get out of this mess we're in." And Newt just got another $10 million from Sugar Daddy Adelson so he's good to go for another round.

Meanwhile, the state of Maine has decided if everyone is going to make such a big fking deal about it, okay, they'll do a damn recount on their caucus tally and maybe include all the votes they ignored or declared irrelevant this time. Ron Paul may get his victory there yet. Not that he's likely to quit anyway, but it would boost the troop morale.

The good news is the candidates seem to be burning out on the endless debates. Two of three have been recently cancelled because nobody wants to show up anymore. So there's that.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Bye bye Pat Buchanan

One bright spot in an otherwise dismal news cycle yesterday was the announcement that Pat Buchanan was fired from MSNBC. He blamed the vast left conspiracy, specifically Color of Change and Media Matters.

He's probably right that they were instrumental in his firing, along with the bombardment of cranky viewer emails demanding they kick that bigot out. So great, the left finally threw at least a small monkeywrench into the right wing noise machine. Haven't exactly ground it to a halt yet, but it's a start. So yeah for us. [Grahic via]


[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Virginia mandates rape by the state

I've been trying to find words to express my disgust with this turn of events all day. I've been unsuccessful in coming with anything more coherent than why the fuck are these vile, God bothering assholes allowed to run free in a civil society? So I'm just going to archive this by outsourcing to Dahlia who manages to calmly describe this horrifying conservative attack on women:

This week, the Virginia state Legislature passed a bill that would require women to have an ultrasound before they may have an abortion. Because the great majority of abortions occur during the first 12 weeks, that means most women will be forced to have a transvaginal procedure, in which a probe is inserted into the vagina, and then moved around until an ultrasound image is produced. Since a proposed amendment to the bill—a provision that would have had the patient consent to this bodily intrusion or allowed the physician to opt not to do the vaginal ultrasound—failed on 64-34 vote, the law provides that women seeking an abortion in Virginia will be forcibly penetrated for no medical reason. I am not the first person to note that under any other set of facts, that would constitute rape under state law. ...

Yet physical intrusion by government into the vagina of a pregnant woman is so urgently needed that the woman herself should be forced to pay for the privilege.

Whatever happens in the commonwealth, it’s fair to say it’s no accident that this week the Legislature also enacted a "personhood" law defining life as beginning at conception—a law that may someday criminalize contraception and some miscarriages as well as abortion. Today was not a good day in the War on Women. Abortion is still legal in America. Physically invading a woman’s body against her will still isn’t. ...

Adding, I also wonder, as Charlie asks, where the hell is the AMA? If child molesting priests are allowed conscience exemptions, shouldn't doctors be allowed to refuse to violate their sworn oath? They should be suing these bastards for telling them they can't.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Darrell Issa stacks the deck

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa is at it again, holding yet another inane hearing. This was the scene in his committee room this morning:

Yes, his first panel of witnesses was solely comprised of male religious leaders whose consciences are inflamed by the new rule on women's health services that include contraception coverage. Unsurprisingly, Democrats were enraged and demanded at least one witness to balance this skewed panel.

Ranking committee member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) had asked Issa to include a female witness at the hearing, but the Chairman refused, arguing that “As the hearing is not about reproductive rights and contraception but instead about the Administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience, he believes that Ms. Fluke is not an appropriate witness.”

You can view the rejected testimony here.

Apparently, after the media caught wind of the melee, Issa added a couple of women bringing the total witness list to eleven. One assumes he found women who agree a handful of aging Catholic men, sworn to lifelong celibacy, should dictate government policy on contraceptives for the entire female population of the USA.

You have to love the name of the hearing: “Lines Crossed: Separation of Church and State. Has the Obama Administration Trampled on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Conscience?”. Atrios joked on the twitter machine this morning that the Democrats should hold an all-female hearing on the reproductive health of men. I'd agree. Maybe they could call it something like: "Pelvic Thrust: Does the GOP's Support For Easy Availability of Viagra, Risk Back Injury, Encourage Promiscuity in Men and Enable Out of Wedlock Pregnancies?"

Meanwhile, in a related development, at another hearing Rep. Jeanine Notter gravely informed her colleagues that "health plans shouldn't cover birth control because it causes prostate cancer." No, she wasn't joking.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Que pasa GOP

Desperately seeking outrage, the GOPers are yelping like a pack of chihuahuas about Jim Messina's tweet:

We demand that Mr. Messina immediately apologize and we ask that President Obama disavow his campaign manager's ridiculous statement," said Jennifer Sevilla Korn, executive director of the conservative Hispanic Leadership Network, in a statement.

Bueno Dios, Republicans are always demanding apologies and disavowals from Democrats but when one of their own makes blatantly overt racist statements, it's always -- sorry if anyone was offended...

Of course, Messina was quoting Dana Milbank, who was quoting John McCain, but you can't fit the entire quote into 140 characters.

Figure given the actual knowledge Republicans have about the Latino culture, some clueless GOPer probably saw chimichanga and was hoping it was as insulting as macaca and got the outrage machine rev'ed up. Expect they would love to have a macaca moment at the expense of the Democrats. And guess they're not worried about offending their elderly Caucasian fundie base by pandering to those durn illegals who are "stealing out jobs" and "taking our welfare." Since they don't serve those at Taco Bell, they won't even know what they're talking about.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Suicidal conservatives

Going to be busy with real world stuff for a few hours, so here's a quick hit of interest. Kay discovers who benefits from The Affordable Care Act. Take a look at her map. I'm sure you'll shocked to learn that the redder the state, the more they'll benefit from Obama's health care reforms. And the more vehemently they want to repeal the bill. Apparently they would rather die than accept any program that originated from evel commie socialist libruls.

Of course these are the same people who hate themselves for taking safety net handouts from the federal government. The Republicans have so successfully brainwashed these folks, they actually believe they deserve to suffer.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Dysfunction junction

One and a half months into the new year and our virtually useless Congress is poised to maybe pass one crap bill:

A tentative deal reached by senior House and Senate leaders, which appears poised to pass absent a last-minute snag, would prolong a payroll tax cut that benefits 160 million Americans, extend unemployment benefits and forestall rate cuts to doctors who treat Medicare patients.

Under the plan, a 2-percentage point payroll tax cut would be extended until the end of the year — and the $100 billion cost would be added to the deficit. Unemployment benefits would be extended for the next 10 months and doctors who treat Medicare physicians would avoid seeing their payments cut. Those two provisions would cost about $50 billion and be paid for with cuts elsewhere in the federal budget.

And how are our Congressional professionals planning to pay for their idiot deficit demagoguery? Well they'll bang the rank and file federal workers for pension costs. Cut the timeline for unemployment benefits while the unemployment rate is still almost 9% and "cut $5 billion from a fund created by the Obama health care law aimed at promoting healthy living and curtailing chronic diseases." Because you know, promoting unhealthy living and encouraging the proliferation of chronic diseases is going to save a ton of money. Hell, if enough people die from say cardiovascular disease and diabetes, it could solve the "legacy entitlement" problem in a New York minute.

On the bright side, the deal drops the GOPers lamebrained demand to drug test for jobless benefits. But notably missing from the negotiations is any suggestion instead of robbing working class Peter to pay working Paul, that perhaps the crony capitalists who engineered our current financial ruin with their creative investment instruments might offset the cost themselves instead of pouring their illicit profits into SuperPACs to further rig the game.


[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

GOP women come out for contraception compromise

This is heartening. The Republican women Senators from Maine come out in favor of contraception for all:

Sens. Olympia Snowe (ME) and Susan Collins (ME) — both of whom have sponsored legislation requiring insurers to offer contraception benefits in all health plans — are in favor of the new compromise...

Meanwhile, the old men of the GOP who don't give a flying leap about birth control as long as they can still get their Cialis, are going all in:

Republicans in the senate seem determined to oppose the compromise and have introduced legislation that would allow employers or individuals to opt out of any benefit that undermines their moral beliefs. “They don’t have the authority under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to tell someone in this country or some organization in this country what their religious beliefs are,” McConnell told “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “This issue will not go away until the administration simply backs down,” he said.

Their desperate search for a wedge issue that works has gone beyond pathetic. You might think these ancient idiots who have spent their life in government would know there's nothing in the First Amendment that authorizes a conscience clause. The Church has already received much more in trade for that old trope than they deserve.

But sure, they can keep the issue alive for as long as care to carp about it. In fact, I'm hoping they dodder on and ante up all their chips on that loser bet. They may think they're holding the aces in this game, but it looks like a handful of useless jokers from where I sit.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Hair brained journalism

There comes that moment in the silly season when the vital question of hair dressing is addressed. I think it falls under the 12 cardinal rules of Village punditry. Unsurprisingly, Callista gets clipped in this odd media obsession.

If you're dying to know the secrets of Mrs. Gingrich's miracle bob, click over for the details. I'm only bringing it up because I heard her speak for the first time this weekend on some youtube clip. I was shocked to learn she has such a pleasant speaking voice. I expected a "nails on a blackboard" screechy pitch to go with that brittle hairdo. It was like when you've developed a phone only relationship with someone for years and them finally meet them in person. In reverse.[via]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Natural wonders

I've always wanted to see the Aurora Borealis in real life. I could if only I could bring myself to visit my brother in Alaska in the winter. Haven't managed to do in the last 20 years. Probably should have tried while the solar flares were so active. Apparently they cause spectacular displays like this.

Many more incredible shots here.

These time lapse photos of fireflies remind me of summers in the Happy Valley. There was a certain time of year when it looked very much like this when I walked the big hill into the meadows. Of course, they were moving but they did still leave trails. It was like walking into a fairy tale.

I spent a few days in Paris back in the 90s. I found the residents to be mostly rude if one didn't speak French impeccably, but it is a beautiful city. Lovely photo gallery of Paris in the rain.

This made the rounds a while back, but I didn't get to it for while. If you missed it, it's very cool. Stunning photos of an albino hummingbird.

Finally long time readers know how much I love religious sightings on ordinary objects, like finding Jesus on a grilled cheese sandwich. This one isn't religious, and it's old now. Not sure how it worked out, but bidding on a bit of dried glue that looks like Homer Simpson was over $237,000 when this was posted. Not even that great a likeness. Since I have no luck at winning the lottery, always hoping to make a fortune on a sighting like this so I can retire.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

The politics of violence

Admit I've been a bit disturbed about the violence being commited at Occupy protests lately. I've been worried this would nullify all the past good work done these many months by peaceful protesters who have kept this movement alive and relevant. Dan checks in today with a thoughtful post addressing the situation.

Count me in on the non-violent side. I don't believe anarchy accomplishes anything but creating chaos. The optics are terrible. Don't think it sways the casual observer in the general public who might be reached to the cause. Even to me, who's sympathetic to the cause, it looks like mere attention seeking with no discernable platform. It dilutes the message and taints any progress for positive change.

I've always been a pacifist and have long thought the anarchists of the day pretty nearly destroyed the peace movement in the 60s. It would be shame if the Black Bloc were allowed to co-opt this movement as well. I wish they would cut it out and use their energy for construction rather than destruction.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Santorum and Ron Paul cry foul

Romney declared victory in both the Maine caucus and the CPAC straw poll but little Ricky and Ron Paul aren't ready to concede so easily. Ricky says Willard bought the CPAC win.

Rick Santorum suggested on Sunday that Mitt Romney's campaign may have rigged a straw poll of conservative activists by paying the entrance fee for supporters.

"You have to talk to the Romney campaign and how many tickets they bought," Santorum said. "We've heard all sorts of things."

Of course, the losers say that just about every time. Ron Paul was accused of bussing his supporters in previous wins. And really, who the hell cares? CPAC is about as predictive as a coin toss and only reflects the views of a small subset of fringers. Suppose it matters to the candidates, since the CPACers include the so-called opinion leaders of the far right. But their adherents have pretty much shrunk to the 27%ers who are going to vote GOP no matter what.

Of more import is Ron Paul's alleged loss in Maine which smacks of establishment GOP manipulation. It's inarguably suspect that a local GOP chair decides to postpone the caucus based on a forecast of a mere 3 inches of snow. In Maine. That wouldn't be grounds to postpone an outdoor barbecue up there and indeed, it didn't scare the Girl Scouts into postponing an event in the same damn county. Which coincidentally happens to be a Ron Paul stronghold. In fact, the 16% of the precincts whose votes won't be counted just happen to be where Willard would have been trounced.

As I said earlier, it's likely Ron Paul is going to win the delegates in Maine anyway, but optics still matter to encourage his supporters elsewhere. Can't blame him for refusing to concede. [Photo via; believe it's a photoshop]

[Thanks to The Week for the name check]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Delegate strategery

Well Romney eked a bare victory yesterday, winning the CPAC straw poll and allegedly winning the Maine caucus. Of course, in Maine, which has a bizarre weeks long caucus process, not all the precincts have voted but the the GOP's big honcho declared Willard the winner and says the rest of the votes won't be counted. This, even though Willard only "won" by 194 votes. Feels like Iowa all over again.

In any case, unsurprisingly the media narrative this morning is about Willard's "comeback." But is Willard really winning? Or is the real story, that Ron Paul is amassing the delegates.

It works like this: Romney, Santorum and Gingrich supporters vote in the straw poll, then leave. Paul supporters vote in the poll and stay around for the county business meeting to be elected delegates. Because those delegates are completely loyal to Paul, not to the straw poll results, Paul, not Romney, Gingrich or Santorum, might actually be winning the caucuses. So, who the hell knows how many delegates any Republican has at this point.

Again, this is the Masschusetts Democratic primary I worked on back in the early aughts, all over again. Robert Reich jumped in late. Everyone said he would never get on the ballot. His grass roots supporters flooded the local caucuses and won seats to the nominating convention. But they were mostly new political activists. They did the same thing, voting in the early rounds and then leaving with the belief it was all over. But the voting continued for many more rounds long into the night with the end result being a five man race. If we had instant run-off voting at the time, I'm convinced Reich would have won.

The point being, this is the most bizarre GOP presidential primary I've seen in my lifetime. Ron Paul could well be winning the delegate count, but that story is unlikely to be reported. [graphic via]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]