A Fable

"The leopard doesn't change its spots...no matter how many free dye jobs you offer it."

The Scorpion and the Frog

One day, a scorpion looked around at the mountain where he lived and decided that he wanted a change. So he set out on a journey through the forests and hills. He climbed over rocks and under vines and kept going until he reached a river.
The river was wide and swift, and the scorpion stopped to reconsider the situation. He couldn't see any way across. So he ran upriver and then checked downriver, all the while thinking that he might have to turn back.

Suddenly, he saw a frog sitting in the rushes by the bank of the stream on the other side of the river. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.

"Hellooo Mr. Frog!" called the scorpion across the water, "Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?"

"Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I try to help you, you wont try to kill me?" asked the frog hesitantly.

"Because," the scorpion replied, "If I try to kill you, then I would die too, for you see I cannot swim!"

Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. "What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill me and get back to the shore!"

"This is true," agreed the scorpion, "But then I wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the river!"

"Alright then...how do I know you wont just wait till we get to the other side and THEN kill me?" said the frog.

"Ahh...," crooned the scorpion, "Because you see, once you've taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?!"

So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog's back, his sharp claws prickling into the frog's soft hide, and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.

Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog's back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.

"You fool!" croaked the frog, "Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?"

The scorpion shrugged and did a little jig on the drowning frog's back.

"I could not help myself. It is my nature."

Then they both sank into the muddy waters of the swiftly flowing river.

I know, mom, but I don't like fish.

My son thought this was hilarious when I shared it with him a while back and, "I know, mom, but I don't like fish," has been a little joke between us ever since.

Stand!

"Keepinitreal" published a post on AN's blog that he/she claimed I would neither post, nor respond to.  Keepinit was mistaken.

KEEPINITREAL SAYS:

I know you haven’t commented on the disgusting blog about you by Kato, but I thought I would share something with you.

Cindiloohoo thought she would play the victim, too, and put her two cents in for her buddy, so I thought I would respond to her with the following, although, she probably will not post it on her blog.

On the contrary, Keepinit, I WANT people to see how you and AN and her other friends handle this situation.  Will it be with grace and class and a sincere wish to end the ugliness?  So far, you’re not on the road to any such place, are you?

Keepinitreal to Cindiloohoo concerning her blog, “Sometimes people snap”:

Hey “C”, I think you need to go back and take a look at HT’s blog again.  It wasn’t a pat on the back for Kato as you seem to believe.

No, it wasn’t.  And I never said it was, so your belief that you have some magical insight as to my belief/non-belief in a "pat on the back" by HT for anyone involved in this particular situation is completely unfounded.  Take some sincerely given advice here – don’t ever try to pass yourself off as a psychic.

Also, too, you betcha, it most certainly wasn’t a “pat on the back” for your girl, AN.  Most of the egregious behavior HT listed, i.e., “personal insults about one’s appearance or family or released personal information or someone’s identity” was both INITIATED BY and REPEATEDLY ENGAGED IN by…that’s right…your girl, AN.

HT said this, “Not taking sides one way or the other, but the nastiness, name calling etc. has reached the point where it is at an all time low.”

HT wrote this after reading Kato’s sick blog.

HT also wrote that after THIS was posted on your girl AN’s blog, when team members for Goliath’s Survivor contest decided, for whatever reasons, to bow out:

“A couple of people that volunteered to participate have either dropped out or have made it abundantly clear they no longer wish to participate.  I am not positive but I believe it was because they didn't like 1 or more of their team members or perhaps because they did not win the first challenge.

I know that this is going to be fun but the important thing to me is teamwork.  I have always believed that nothing brings people together like coming together and having one another's back in good times and bad.

I think the last 24 hours has been a real eye-opener about who is able to work and play well with others, and others who simply will not surrender their grudges. “ 

Whatever reasons were given should have been accepted at face value…because:

A.  That’s simply what polite, decent people do – figuring it’s none of their damned business... and,...

B.  There’s no way of knowing what their real reasons were, without the participants actually personally communicating that information to you.  You know nothing about what might have been going on in people’s lives or what they might have thought would have been good judgment on their part, with respect to their own admitted personal bias and, therefore, value to the team.  Again…you and AN knew NOTHING.

I hope my answers to your post on AN’s blog, which you emphatically stated you wanted to post here, but apparently, for whatever reason, failed to attempt, have been both informative and helpful, Keepinit, as I hope they have been to others who have been watching this exchange.   

Sometimes People Snap

There's been some stir in the local blogosphere about KatoAnon's Tuesday posting.  Several people have made comments that were critical of the rather harsh, in-your-face way she chose to deal with AN's year and a half long history of repeated nasty personal attacks on Kato and others - sometimes even going as far as making vaguely threatening comments such as wondering if someone’s boss knows they’re posting on the internet during work hours.  Kato apparently finally had enough and just blew the hell up.

Now, would I have gone the same route that Kato did?  Not likely.  It's not my particular style.  However, since the premiere of Kato’s blog it’s been obvious that it’s not a blog for children or the easily offended, and considering AN’s repeated nasty cracks here and there about Kato being (paraphrasing here) “from the hood, so what can you expect,” I don’t have much sympathy for AN in this instance.  She’s gone so far over the line so many times that it was inevitable that one of her targets would finally snap and let loose with a firestorm. 

It’s simple, really…if you keep poking a sleeping bear you can expect at some point to pull back a bloody stump.


UPDATE:  Our good friend, HT, has posted a very thoughtful commentary about this situation on the Bat-Blog.  I appreciate and respect his perspective on this issue.


http://hoosiertaxpayer.blogspot.com/2011/08/commentary-by-ht-hts-opinion-ugliness.html

Animal Cruelty

A shocking instance of animal cruelty caught on video...what the heck is this world coming to?

Trifecta?

Recently the Greater Clark County School Board lost a member when Mr. Robbie Valentine decided to resign at the end of the year.  The board has announced that it will select a new member to replace Mr. Valentine, based upon a rigorous vetting of applicants wishing to take Mr. Valentine’s place on the board.

Mr. Mark Pavey, recently elected vice president of the board, and his wife, Connie, executive assistant to the superintendent at GCCS, were spotted by a local reporter as they were entering a travel agency a few days after the board announced its intention to select a new member.  The reporter followed the Paveys into the travel agency and asked Mr. Pavey if he had any specific candidates in mind to fill the spot on the board.  Mr. Pavey, who appeared to be slightly annoyed by the reporter’s question, replied tersely, “No comment.”  He then commented, “What wifey wants, wifey gets…capiche?”

Mrs. Pavey added, “We’d really like to keep it in the family, if you know what I mean.  I have a family member who is just CRAZY to get her hands on some REAL power…and I mean that…literally…

Mr. and Mrs. Pavey declined to comment further and walked away from the reporter in order to speak with a travel agent.*

new school pictures

*Not intended to be a factual account.  See definition of “spoof,” at:

 http://www.thefreedictionary.com/spoof

Bat-Blog The Winner!!!!!

Anonymous Gadflies Grumble

The Goliathandwimmens "Best Blog Summer 2011" poll closed early this morning.  In a hard fought, down-to-the-wire race, the Bat-Blog has defeated all other contenders, leaving them in the dust in the final moments with a huge surge in votes, giving him a 36 vote margin above the nearest contestant at the end.  

Comments have been made, anonymously, accusing HT of cheating, but, as the owner of one of the blogs entered in the contest, I have no such doubts about the integrity of either Goliath's poll or HT.  As a previous Goliathandwimmens Award Winner (Best Internet Gag Summer 2010), I know firsthand how that green-eyed monster, jealousy, can lead others to spew spurious claims of cheating or favoritism.  Don't let their bitterness ruin even one second of your well earned accolades, HT.

Congratulations, my friend - you're a winner!

Elegy

News of the World 

Born 1843

Died 2011

The British people mourn the sudden, unexpected death of a great journalistic institution.

Look!  Page 3!  T*ts!!!

Thank you and goodbye, Murdoch, you massive c**t.

It's War!!!!!

Weapon of Choice

As most of you may know, Goliathandwimmens has announced a declaration of war by putting up a Best Blog poll.  I’ve sat back since this announcement and watched as my fellow competitors have pulled out their “big guns,” i.e., offering money for votes and pandering to the prurient interests with soft porn graphics and other such vile knavery.

I have chosen to take a different, more respectable path. 

A comment was posted on a local forum recently advising all of us blog owners that, “If you must blog or have a forum, follow Goliath because he seems to try (mostly) to keep us informed or entertained.”

I’m not quite sure how the poster’s high opinion of Goliath jibes with Goliath’s own fowl (sic) behavior, such as stalking helpless, innocent chickens and blatantly offering money for votes, but, nonetheless, I’ve taken the poster’s suggestion under serious consideration and have decided to follow his advice.

Goliath frequently posts “cultural arts” type material, apparently meant to enlighten his barbarian visitors.  This, I suspect, is what the poster was referring to in his effusive praise of the headless one, so I’ve decided to follow that fanboy’s advice.  My weapon of choice to deploy in this particular blog war will be…philosophy.  You just can’t get more high brow, high falutin’ or culturally elitist than that.  I may not win the Blog War, but I firmly believe that I CAN and WILL win the Culture War.

Behold and tremble, hoi polloi, at the awesome might of philosophical “shock and awe”:

We lost...thank goodness!!!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/17/japan-usa-shootout-womens-world-cup_n_901132.html

At first I felt disappointed about this loss, but then I came across someone who explained why it's actually a good thing that Americans suck at soccer:

"Why in the name of our Lord and Savior who was killed by the Jews so we could have ever lasting life, is America in some soccer tournament?? Why? Because it's all part of Barak Osama Homo bin Laden's plot to install socialism on our shores."

Bachmann Marriage Overdrive

Marcus and Michele Bachmann are thuper therious about protecting traditional marriage.



Marcus would be an awesome first lady, don't you think?

!!!!!JACKPOT!!!!!

Mr. Mark Pavey, who campaigned on the promise "pinkie-swear," that he would always take the ethical path where his wife, who is employed by the school system, was concerned (and then promptly didn't), has been elected as the new VP of the School Board.

When asked if this might mean more "training" time for her in Florida, Mrs. Pavey replied, "Florida!  Pfft!  That's SO last year! I figure if my husband can manage to "save" the school system money by cutting, for example, unneeded and unnecessary janitorial positions, I should be able to embark on some "training junkets" to The Hamptons - after all, that's where the "smart set" goes!*

Mr. Pavey added, "Honey, all those trips I promised you for all those years...well, pack your bags, baby!  The suckers taxpayers of this county will be more than happy to send you to all the vacation beaches "training seminars" necessary to ensure that the little gravytrains students at our personal travel fund schools are provided with the most well traveled trained staff possible."*

So congrats, you two!  I'm sure you'll always do what's best for the Pavey family students!  And Mark, don't you mind all those suckers voters who are having second thoughts about your integrity - after all, integrity doesn't pay the travel expenses, does it?

UPDATE:  For the sake of readers who may not be intellectually gifted enough to recognize obvious satire, I have added a disclaimer:

* = Not intended to be a factual statement


pietro lombardi jackpot pictures

Father's Day

Cross-posted at Clark County Chatter:




When my sisters and I were little my dad loved to drive (still does) and would regularly take us out on "road trips" on the weekends.  We always loved it and got very excited when he would say, "All right, everybody, let's go for a ride."  Sometimes we knew what our destination was going to be...a lot of times we just got in the car and headed out...

We had a red 1965 Mustang like the one above when I was a little girl and mom, dad and the three of us girls traveled endless miles in that little car.  We went to state parks and nature preserves.  We grew up in Louisville and he took us to Frankfort to see the capitol building and historic sites like Perryville Battlefield Park.  Sometimes we just drove out into the country, stopping at little stands/restaurants to catch a bite to eat.

Later on dad bought a Plymouth Gran Coupe.  It was HUGE and had AIR CONDITIONING!!!  I found a picture of one that looks just like ours did:

With that car we went on a road trip out west and crammed in every site we could - we took a northwest course first to California and then took a southerly route back home.  Some of the things we saw/visited: The Corn Palace, Hoover Dam, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, Yosemite, San Francisco, Sequoia, Death Valley, Las Vegas, the great Meteor Crater in Arizona, the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Painted Desert - and more.

I'll always be grateful to my parents for that trip, and to my dad for all the other weekend road trip adventures he took us on.  They left me with some of the best, sweetest memories of my life.

Changes

It's been pointed out in the comments that allowing anonymous commenting has resulted in a confused mess when readers try to follow the conversations.  I initially allowed anonymous commenting to make it easier for people who didn't understand how to "sign up" to publish their comments without difficulty and to provide them with a sense of confidentiality and safety.  

Unfortunately, the anonymous commenting here has gotten completely out of hand and I am going to have to switch back to allowing only registered users (Google, Open ID, Blogger, etc.) to comment.  For those who don’t know how to get an ID (you may actually already have one and just don’t realize it), here’s a link to explain:

http://openid.net/get-an-openid/

If you're a Chatter member you can send me a PM for more information if you need it.

I'm also going to have to start deleting some comments, which I really hate to do, but can't see any way around it.  If you attempt to "out" someone by addressing them by what you suspect is their real name when they haven't previously done so themselves, your comment will be deleted.  If you call another poster names like bitch (or any other spelling of that), ho, skank, etc., your comment will be deleted.  If you post a comment that accuses someone of a crime based upon hearsay, your comment will be deleted.  If you feel that someone has committed a crime and have evidence of such, I strongly advise and encourage you to contact the authorities - but this is not the place to make those kinds of accusations.  

I hope these changes will be welcomed by my readers, most of them anyway, and I'm sorry for any inconvenience they may cause, but I simply feel that I have no other choice, considering what has been happening in the comments.    

Beauty and the Beast - A True Life Scary Fairy Tale

A monstrous alien queen gives her marching orders to her crazed underlings...and they obey.

"Palin referred to the crosshairs website when she tweeted supporters last year, urging "commonsense conservatives and lovers of America" to "RELOAD."

Beauty...

...and the Beast...

"My mommy always said there were no monsters...no real ones...but there are."

Fraidy Cat

Once again Nana has deleted/edited one of her own posts in a vain effort to try to "erase all trace," of her, "scat."

What's the matter, AN?  Are you really, for all your spit and vinegar, just a "fraidy cat," after all?

Nana Covers Her Ass (Tri-State Textile Mills Depleted of Inventory!)

Life has been VERY full for me lately with my two jobs and a few unexpected problems and illnesses suffered by family members, friends and one of my dogs, so I haven't had much time lately to do anything but quickly scan the local forums and blogs, but a couple of things caught my attention in the last forty eight hours that I had been meaning to address.  

On the CCC, Kelley had posted about the hit-and-run damage to her little green Neon car.  Nana had subsequently posted on her forum, under the thread titled "Kelley," a picture of a little green car with obvious crash-related damage, accompanied by the words, "Karma is a Beyotch!"   But she must have decided, for some reason, that her little, "victory dance/stomp," wasn't quite appropriate, so she deleted it.  Poof!  In fact, it appears that she has deleted the entire topic!  

Oh my.

Try as I might, I can only think of two reasons for Nana to take such a drastic action:

1.  She realizes, somewhat belatedly, as usual, that she has yet again made a complete and total ass of herself by publicly crowing, cawing and cackling about the misfortune of an internet opponent, regardless of the fact that such misfortune likely has had a very negative impact upon innocent family members of said opponent, including innocent children - which doesn't really do much for Nana's supposed and continually self-ballyhooed stance of being all about, "protecting the children."  

2.  The picture she posted was an actual picture of Kelley's car after the hit-and-run damage.  This would lead one to speculate, of course, how Nana would come to have possession of such a picture, since I can't seem to find any instance of Kelley posting a picture of the damage her car sustained in the incident.  

I really can't seem to come up with any other reasons why Nana might scrub her post.  

If any of my readers have any other theories, I'd love to hear them.  Inquiring minds want to know!

P.S. 

Nana, if you truly believe in Karma and you truly think that Kelley is suffering from the wrath of that "Beyotch," does that mean that you also believe that YOU have personally suffered her "wrath," as well, as demonstrated by the fact that your son has such a serious, life-long, life-threatening illness?  

Just something to think about.

Sarah Palin's Tragical History Tour

Listen, my children, and you shall hear
A whistling sound 'twixt Sarah's ears...



I look forward to her edumacatin' us all on that whole "statute of Liberty" thing, too.  Thank goodness she brought it to everyone's attention.  Sheesh! Any of us may have been breaking the law without evening knowing it!  But you know what they say...ignorance of the law is no excuse!

Right, Sarah?

Has Nana finally lost it?

I was very surprised to read the accusation Nana made on her forum that I was a "coward" who blocked her from commenting here.  I have done no such thing.  In fact, I opened this blog to anonymous comments a few weeks ago and have not banned anyone thus far.  But just to be on the safe side, I checked just now and, sure enough, nobody is blocked and anonymous comments are still allowed.

I know that sometimes on this here "interwebs" comments don't always go through and fail to post, for whatever reason.  Perhaps Nana ran into an instance of one of those glitches.  I really don't know.  All I know is that the accusation she posted about me blocking her from commenting here is simply untrue.  I'm not going to take the harsh step of calling her a flat-out, bald-faced liar, though, since she may have been genuinely mistaken.  I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that she's a bit...confused...or paranoid...or delusional...

Crazy Neighbor Lady PSA - Are You "Rapture Ready?"

DIY Rapture Readiness Kit.

Remember...a good scout is always prepared!