The police effectively shut down a Burlington Coat Factory when a woman who claimed to have won the lottery offered to pay for everyones merchandise.  It’s not known if the woman actually won any lottery but she did start writing out checks for people’s rent.  The woman claimed the she had been “used by her family members all her life” and that it was her turn to give back.

Unfortunately, law enforcement  in Ohio doesn’t believe in altruism and when the women left to procure more cash, the cops asked everyone to leave the store. Maybe the policemen should focus on those actually committing a crime instead of practicing acts of charity.  Just a thought.

Link: http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2009/10/13/story_clothing_lottery.html?sid=102

Now that the presidential race is over and the nation knows who will be sitting in the White House come January, things seem a little less exciting. 

Browsing news sites and watching CNN, one notes a lot more pessimism hovering across the face of anchors now that the manifestation of change has become a reality, and everything has stayed the same.

Or, in some cases, has just gotten a whole lot worse.

Even staples of the American economy are not holding up so well. As of October, General Motors has seen a 45 percent drop in sales. This is the worst drought the company has experienced since 1945. Bad sales are attributed to the apprehension consumers have felt since the credit crunch, leading to a decline in automobile sales. Just like how the mortgage crises made real estate a buyer’s market, so too is the automobile business. In usual fashion, the government has been slow to offer financial assistance to the troubled industry. 

But that is not all. 

President-elect Barack Obama has already been warned by the CIA to prepare for terrorist attacks shortly after he is inaugurated. He is already under pressure by Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to cancel the missile defense system in central Europe. If he does not get rid of this Bush mandate, then Medvedev has threatened to deploy missiles near the Polish border.

Overseas, our allies in the Middle East are teetering on violence. Hamas fired rockets into a city in southern Israel, threatening the five-month truce that has persisted there. 

And now the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries might foil the brief reprieve this nation saw from skyrocketing gas prices. As a barrel of oil quickly drops to $50, the cartel is considering cutting production to 1 million barrels to keep the world’s attention.

Not even the rich and famous can escape misfortune. Firefighters have been battling an out-of-control wildfire south of Santa Barbara, Calif., where such celebrities as Rob Lowe and Oprah Winfrey live.

Already more than 100 homes have burned down, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed a state of emergency in the area.

Michael Moore is already working his new film that will have an “end-of-the-empire” tone in regards to the American economy. Just to put icing on the pessimistic cake.
However, there is something heartwarming amongst the negative world outlook.

It is a live-feed puppy cam showcasing six adorable baby puppies of the Japanese hunting breed, shiba inus. The site launched a month ago and has already received 2 million views. Although the puppies spend the majority of their time on camera sleeping, the occasional yawn or scratch is enough to keep one glued to the screen waiting for movement. 

So while the world may be spiraling downward, at least there will always be things like puppies to keep us feeling better.

Republican presidential nominee John McCain says each of us is Joe the Plumber. Apparently every citizen of the United States of America is a white, middle class male with a small business that earns more than $250,000 a year.

Well that is news to me. Last I checked I was a female college student making no money. It makes me wonder: Who is this man everyone has found a common thread with?

Joe the Plumber is actually Samuel Joe Wurzelbacher and he is not much of a plumber. In fact, he never served an apprenticeship, does not own a license or belong to a plumbers’ union (four of which endorse Barack Obama).

He is a 34-year-old single father who stumbled upon accidental fame.

Wurzelbacher came to notoriety when he approached the Democratic presidential nominee and accused him of stalling his dream of purchasing a plumbing business that would make more than $250,000 because of the higher taxes that would be enacted. It was this encounter that elicited from Obama the now infamous statement, “I think that when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

Since that exchange, Joe the Plumber has become the moniker for Wurzelbacher and the latest campaign strategy for McCain. Republicans have latched onto the idea of a hard-working, middle class American who will be hurt by Barack Obama’s tax hikes.

So McCain has ditched his slogan of “Straight Talk Express” for a campaign that focuses on letting Americans keep the wealth they earn. It is a last-ditch effort for McCain who is trailing Barack Obama in national polls and it is working … kind of. McCain is now leading Obama by one percentage point in Florida.

Now everybody can relate to Joe the Plumber. Log onto John McCain’s Web site and you can see video testimony from Bill the Contractor, Duane the Entrepreneur, Joe the Magician and Tara the Teacher. Apparently in a world run by a McCain-Palin administration, all Americans are straight out of a children’s show where a person is reduced to nothing more then his or her employment. I cannot wait for Bob the Builder to upload his personal story.

Fortunately for Joe, he is looking to put the plumber nickname aside for something a little more prestigious, say, Joe the Congressman? Since his brush with fame, he is considering a run for office in 2010. But Joe the Country Music Star could be coming a lot sooner. Wurzelbacher recently signed with a Nashville public relations firm to begin a shift from toilets to the stage. An album could be out as soon as Inauguration Day. With a career change like that, Wurzelbacher probably will not be as concerned with Obama’s tax hikes. Sorry, John.

Since Sarah Palin’s introduction to the general election, I’ve had trouble understanding her political appeal.

It might be her folksy way of talking or her perceived incompetence in handling interviews, but either way there isn’t a word that has come out of her mouth that I have been able to take seriously. This perception has only deepened as Nov. 4 nears and the media continues their aggressive onslaught against her.

In fact, there are very few similarities I have been able to draw between Palin and other politicians and far more that I can find when I compare her to Hollywood celebrities. 

Most notable is Tina Fey’s portrayal of the governor on “Saturday Night Live.” Airing on Thursday nights, these half-hour election-special parodies showcase the “30 Rock” star impersonating Sarah Palin in all her moose-hunting, pro-life, book-banning glory.

The spot-on imitation (and Sarah Palin’s recent appearance on the show) has helped lift “SNL” into the Nielson top 10 for prime time. So at least these skits are helping the popularity of something, even if it’s not the McCain-Palin ticket.

And what good celebrity doesn’t have a little sex scandal in her life? Hustler Video is producing a porn inspired by the Alaskan governor entitled “Nailin Paylin” in which a look-alike of the vice-presidential candidate will be getting down and dirty with Russians and a creationist college professor and even engage in a three-way with Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton doppelgangers.

The Alaskan governor has even gotten the attention of rapper Jay-Z, who just recently dedicated his song “99 Problems” to McCain and “the one who says ‘You Betcha’”.

So what’s next for Sarah Palin in the world of the mainstream media if she doesn’t make it to the White House? Some industry insiders like the idea of a Palin talk show, as she is someone who would appeal to red-state housewives. Others think she has a future as a political commentator on a news network (Fox News, anyone?).

There are even thoughts of giving her her own reality TV show a la “The Osbournes.” Who wouldn’t want to see Sarah and Todd and their funky-named kids running around and getting into all sorts of trouble in Alaska? I know I would.

Although it is nothing new for the media to poke fun at political candidates, it seems to me this is the root of Palin’s notoriety. She might be a well-respected governor in Alaska, but as a vice-presidential candidate there is little I see of her as an esteemed politician.

These days it has been pretty hard to argue that America has much popularity overseas. President Bush has not been well received in the States, so it should come as no surprise that he’s not all that favored among those in foreign countries either.

His invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, his refusal to sign the Kyoto Treaty and even something as trivial as his improper grammar during speeches has dropped America a few rungs on the popularity ladder since the 1990s.

But it is one thing to be out of the clique and another to suddenly be considered the poor kid in the neighborhood.

Unfortunately, that is what seems to be the sentiment some countries of the world have of the good old United States.

Read the rest of this entry »