And it’s almost certainly a huge pile of [string of expletives deleted]!

A spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday that state lawmakers and the governor have reached a “framework of an agreement” on solving California’s longest-ever state budget impasse.

“The governor and the leaders have reached a framework of an agreement. We will continue to work through the details over the weekend and hope to come to a final agreement Monday when they reconvene,” said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear. He declined to provide any details.

Oh, I think I can provide the details. Without knowing any of them.

Kick the can down the road, by borrowing more money, and deferring the hard decisions until next year.

Sound about right?

Anyone frustrated enough to punch their computer screen right about now?

The cretins at Sadly, No are trying to hurt the sales of Amy Alkon’s latest book, and harm her ability to make a living — just because they personally don’t like her.

You can help fight this.

At Sadly, No, “Tintin” writes:

Amy’s clear goal here is to try to intimidate anyone from posting negative reviews of her chef-d’oeuvre. And I think I’m safe in saying that this intimidation shouldn’t succeed. So, folks, if you’ve read the book, not liked it, and want to stand up for freedom of speech, tell Amy Arnold what you think of the book. Comedy points will be awarded (but only to people who’ve actually read the book) for 3, 4, and 5 star reviews (harder to get removed than 1 star reviews) with what my grandmother used to call “back-handed” compliments — for example, a statement that for a book written by someone who’s mother tongue is Serbian, the book has a surprisingly small number of grammatical errors. Or a statement that even though Amy’s advice got you banned from Safeway, it was worth having to do your shopping in another store just to be able to scream your head off at the woman with a crying baby in the Safeway. Etc., etc., etc.

Amy’s sin is revealing the identity of someone who is leaving phony reviews of her book to harm her. Tintin’s proposed solution: leave even more phony reviews!

Of course, he claims he is not doing this. Tintin says all the right things to avoid a lawsuit: make sure you’ve read the book first; only give it a poor review if you really didn’t like it; etc.

But his post is really a roadmap on how to write bad reviews on Amy’s book. He knows damn well that he is giving his audience a wink and a nod and saying: go trash her book.

And it’s working.

For example, a Sadly, No commenter boasts of having left this one-star review:

If you want to learn how to be really rude and obnoxious and yet keep some weird semblance of self-esteem with a large dollop of ego on top, this book is for you! Arnold Alkon has many lessons on how to set straight innocent people who might have the misfortune of crossing her path and pissing her off. A must read for anyone who lives in the same town as Mr Alkon!

Sadly, No commenters have gone en masse and voted this review as “helpful.” As of this writing, almost 80 people have voted this review helpful — meaning it is now the first review people see when people look up Amy’s book.

If you look at all the reviews, you will see three near the top that were all written on February 17, 2010 — the same day Tintin wrote his post. All are getting voted up and are being promoted to the top as “helpful” reviews. This cretin follows Tintin’s advice and gives it three stars (to keep the review from being deleted) and even admits he hasn’t read the book.

More negative reviews may well be added — all by scum who haven’t actually read the book, but just want to hurt Amy because they don’t like her and what she does.

What can you do?

For one, buy Amy’s book! I have already favorably reviewed it here. It is very funny and worth your money. And if you liked it, leave a favorable review of your own.

But if nothing else, vote down the Sadly, No reviews down as unhelpful. Report them as abusive. And leave a comment on the review explaining why the review is not honest and genuine.

If you have time, do this with any negative reviews left on February 17 or February 18. They are all dishonest and generated by the haters at Sadly, No.

If you’re short on time, make sure to vote down the review quoted above. It is currently the top negative review of her book.

To do this, click the link and vote that the review is not helpful. Report it as abusive. Leave a comment explaining why.

Don’t let these scumbags hurt Amy’s livelihood.

Courtesy of the L.A. Times. Who else?

In assessing the legacy of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, most eulogies have begun by celebrating his legislative achievements, which have touched virtually every American. He is routinely — and rightly — placed among the greatest senators who ever lived. Others have pointed to his less tangible contributions to the nation — that as his brothers’ heir, he kept the Kennedys’ progressive flame lit and continued to carry the torch for the least powerful among us.

. . . .

What we loved and admired in him, what we hope for ourselves and our country, is his sense of moral largeness, his unbounded capacity to care, not because he was a saint but because he wasn’t. By challenging us as he challenged himself, and reminding us where we fall short, Kennedy shames us, a gift that, one suspects, will linger in the national soul.

Oh yeah he said that. A guy who got liquored up, drunkenly drove a car off a bridge, left his female companion to die, and told authorities about all this . . . oh, about ten fucking hours later — you know, once his blood alcohol level was safely back around zero — what a morally large fellow he was!

Excuse me while I puke.

P.S. You do know that Harry Reid said today of Ted Kennedy’s death: “it’s going to help us” on ObamaCare.

You do know that, don’t you?

Via Andy Levy comes a lovely story about douchebag Ken Layne:

Meghan McCain, daughter of former presidential candidate John McCain, got involved in a Twitter controversy today, when a man sent her a note that suggested he was suicidal. McCain then tried to find help for the man. The whole situation was then mocked on Wonkette.com, a blog dedicated to political gossip.

The situation unfolded via Twitter while McCain was on a roadtrip in her home state of Arizona. When someone sent her a tweet with the message “please pray for me. SeriousLy please I want death. End it for. Me please. I hate http://myloc.me/enq5,” McCain became alarmed. The website link in the tweet was to a map indicating that the person was in Seattle, WA. McCain then posted a note to her own twitter account asking for help: “Twitter I need your help, I don’t know if this is real or not but this person @rolson141 just implied they want to kill themselves, I just read this just now. Who can I alert, what should I do? Like I said, I just read this just now, I am freaked out by this twitter message”

She and her publicist ended up contacting the police in Seattle and continued to talk to the man over Twitter. The whole situation was disturbing to McCain, as she continued to share over Twitter: “please pray for him everyone, I am shaking. I don’t know the situation but when someone tweets me “they want death”, I am going to do something about it.”

Perhaps the most upsetting thing about the story is how Wonkette chose to cover it. Instead of noting that she was trying to help someone who was depressed and in danger, they made fun of her. “Behold her nervous illiterate twitters,” wrote Ken Layne, a Wonkette writer, “about somebody she doesn’t know who may or may not exist, on the Internet, and perhaps at minimum exists on the other side of the country, typing some sadsack stuff about wanting to die. Teen-agers are hyper-emotional, Meghan, sort of like you…” Certainly, McCain had no idea if the person on the other end of the tweet was really depressed or just seeking attention, but she was legitimately trying to help someone. That deserves respect, not taunting. Yet Layne continued to make fun of her, accusing her of being a second-rate “Bat Man” and of going “progressively more nuts while reading the random twitters of other people.”

You know, I once saw a blogger threaten suicide, in comments to a post of his. Some of you will remember the situation I’m talking about. Some of his commenters mocked him and encouraged him to do it. The next post on his blog was from a relative saying he was dead.

The family deleted the ugly comments, but I saved them somewhere, as a reminder of how subhuman people can be on the Internet.

Regardless of what you think of Meghan McCain, mocking her for trying to help a possibly suicidal person is bottom-feeding, scumbag behavior. From what I know of Ken Layne, however, it’s typical.

The L.A. Times reports:

A “career criminal” who allegedly stole two violins from the home of a Los Angeles Philharmonic musician was extradited from France on Friday to face federal charges after trying to sell the instruments to Parisian shops, the FBI said.

Meanwhile, Roman Polanski, who drugged a young girl and anally raped her, is living high on the hog in France — completely safe from extradition.

Unless evidence emerges that he too has stolen a musical instrument! If that happens, all bets are off!

And Obama grins. Yuk, yuk, yuk:

Paging David Neiwert! Paging David Neiwert! Does this count as “eliminationist” rhetoric?

Of course not! Because, you see, it’s impossible for leftists to engage in such rhetoric.

Sykes also jokes that maybe Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker on 9/11 . . . but was just so strung out on Oxycontin that he missed the flight.

Yuk, yuk, yuk.

Keep grinning, Barry! He looks almost as pleased as when he was shaking the hand of Hugo Chavez . . .

Mark Ames:

[T]here’s still time to prove that you’re not passive, pathetic serfs. That’s right Americans, here’s your chance to prove that you’re not slaves, that you won’t just sit there and take it when they steal from you. We know who stole everything from you. They don’t even hide—they’re all over the TV networks, bragging, strutting, laughing at you. We know where they work, and we know what they look like. They’re literally asking for it. Shouldn’t you, Americans, with your guns and your high and mighty talk about how you protect your rights and your property and your families—shouldn’t you, like, do something? They’re responsible for throwing you out of work, out of your house, bankrupting your retirement, destroying your life and your family and everything you’ve worked for. And they don’t even hide it! So, what’re you gonna do about it? Sit there and complain? Call another fucking rightwing radio talkshow and kvetch like an old Jewish grandmother? Do you have any fucking balls left at all?

There are so many deserving targets out there—or rather, let’s call them “opportunities” out there to prove that you’re not the world’s biggest suckers and most passive, pathetic slaves that the planet has ever hosted. I’ll give you one, a real shocker. Her name is Betsy McCaughey . . .

[Ames proceeds to explain that McCaughey opposes socialized medicine -- although the way Ames puts it is: "BETSY MCCAUGHEY WANTS TO KILL YOU IN ORDER TO ENRICH HERSELF."]

So, here is what I’m going to ask readers: DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE BETSY MCCAUGHEY LIVES? DOES ANYONE KNOW HER HOME ADDRESS? If you do, please send it to us and we’ll publish it. Then Americans can prove to Russians that they are not slaves, they do not sit back passively and allow themselves to be killed by vampires like McCaughey. Americans fight back, right? We’ll see. Send your information on her address to: ames@exiledonline.com

Mr. Neiwert? Is this eliminationist rhetoric?

Care to weigh in?

Bueller? Bueller?

(Thanks to Well-Armed Lamb.)

UPDATE: Here is from comment #8 to Ames’s post:

Timmy, don’t be such a pansy. What all decent people want to see right now is these rich fucks being dragged out of their mansions by a mob, shitting and pissing themselves with terror, then being shot with their blood and brains blasting over the snow. Then watching it again and again on Youtube with your mates. Fuck criminal charges. Preach on, Brother Mark.

Comment #27:

Drag her into the streets and burn her. Once everyone sees one of them getting it, the other 60,000 who lost their jobs the other week can get to work on the rest of em.

We’re getting closer and closer to that elusive leftist eliminationist rhetoric . . .

A plane hits a flock of geese and loses power. A quick-thinking, cool-under-pressure pilot performs a miraculous landing on the Hudson river.

It’s a heartwarming story that reaffirms your faith in the human spirit.

That is, until you read about the douchebag who is threatening a lawsuit.

Today Allahpundit posted a video of an Egyptian television cleric who essentially drools over footage of the Holocaust. His hatred for Jews is cartoonish, yet all too real. Allah says:

How often do I explicitly ask you to watch an entire clip, especially one this long? I’m asking this time.

I watched the whole thing, and I agree. It’s about 10 minutes and worth every second:

The guy says charming things like this:

In a nutshell, the Holocausts of the Jews in Germany were because of their own deeds.

. . . .

Let’s watch what Germany did to Israel — or rather, to the Jews, so we can understand that there is no remedy for these people other than imposing fear and terror on them.

Even though you’ve been asked to watch it all, I know that some of you will be short on time. If so, skip ahead to 7:50 and watch for a couple of minutes, as this ghoul crows over some the most horrible images of the Holocaust imaginable: men being tortured, skeletons of men burned to death, tractors pushing piles of emaciated corpses, and the like. I took the liberty of transcribing some of the commentary:

[L]et’s watch what the German [sic] do to the Jews. These are corpses of dead humans and the shattered bones of Jews. Here we have a crematorium in which the Jews were burnt. These are Jews who are being prepared to be burnt. Look, these are Jews dying of hunger or by gas. Look how they round them up and put them on trucks. Note the humiliation on his face, Allah be praised. . . .

Look what starvation (the Germans) inflicted upon them. Look what humiliation. These are people being buried alive. Does this look like a human being? He is placed in a ditch to be buried alive. This is a pile of bodies. . . .

Look, this is a barbed wire, used to crush their bodies. He and five others will be hanged with a single chain. Concentrate on this, my brothers. Watch this. Look, they are tying five heads together. These are bodies. Here they are drilling a hole in his back with a nail. This child awaits his turn. Watch their humiliation. These are corpses, Allah be praised. The (Jews) are oppressors. . . .

These are bodies, these are dead people, these are skulls. These are the bodies of the Jews being loaded like animals. Watch this tractor clearing away the corpses of the Jews, and these are the refugees awaiting their turn to be killed.

The mentality that fueled Nazi Germany is alive and well in radical Islam today. This mentality is sick, twisted, and disgusting. What’s appalling is the thought that it is also commonplace.

The headline reads: Girl sold for beer, meat. But let’s be fair to the guy: he also got $16,000:

A man in California has been arrested for arranging to sell his 14-year-old daughter for 16,000 dollars, 100 crates of beer and several cases of meat, police said Tuesday.

Authorities in the rural farming community of Greenfield, 225 kilometres southeast of San Francisco, said the 36-year-old Hispanic man sold the child to an 18-year-old man who was to marry the girl.

You knew it happened in California, right. Where else?

Between this and the family naming their kid after Hitler, I’m starting to wonder whether every parent in this country has his child’s best interests at heart.