CNN Anchor Tinkles on Bush

Kyra Phillips. She’s an afternoon news anchor on CNN. Nice gig, but nothing spectacular. Then she went to the bathroom, with her microphone still on, while President Bush was speaking about the anniversary of Katrina. We are getting reports that it was just #1 not #2.

Below is the transcript, and video link, of Phillips conversation with an unidentified CNN crapper while in the powder room. Phillips gaffe began 10 minutes into Bush’s speech. CNN has apologized for the “accident.”

This is CNN. This is CNN squatting on President Bush.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF6n5alsG8M&eurl=http%3A...

Kyra Phillips: "–assholes–Yeah, I’m very lucky in that regard with my husband. My husband is handsome and he is genuinely a loving, you know, no ego–[unintelligible] you know what I’m saying. Just a really passionate, compassionate great, great human being. And they exist. They do exist. They’re hard to find. Yup. But they are out there."

[unidentified woman]: ‘We’ll see. He’s going to come, you know, he’s set for an extended visit–[unintelligible]"

Phillips: "I mean, that’s, that’s how you figure it all out, those extended visits. [laughter]"

[unidentified woman]: "Yeah, but my mom, I think she really likes him."

Phillips: "Mom’s got a good vibe? Good."

[unidentified woman]: "Yeah, my brother’s the one that–[unintelligible]"

Phillips: "Brother–of course, brothers have to be, you know, protective. Except for mine. I’ve got to be protective of him."

[unidentified woman–unintelligible]

Phillips: "Yeah. He’s married, three kids, but his wife is just a control freak."

[unidentified woman #2]: "Kyra."

Phillips: "Yeah, baby?"

[unidentified woman #2]: "Your mic is on. Turn it off. It’s been on the air."

Seconds later, Daryn Kagan stumbled through this awkward transition:Daryn Kagan: "Alright, we’ve been listening in to President Bush as he speaks in, uh, New Orleans today. This is the one year anniversary of Katrina making land shore there. President Bush saying if another natural disaster hits, our country–we must, uh, react better than that. Let’s listen in once again to President Bush."

Man Runs Over Own Dog On Purpose (TWICE)

I’ve come to conclude our society is ill after what one local man did to his so-called “best friend.” I couldn’t fathom what I heard on the local newscast last night. A man ran over his dog in a Walgreen’s parking lot off of Laburnum and Mechanicsville Turnpike. ON PURPOSE! TWICE!

This guy needs to be put behind bars and neutered by a local veterinarian. Then work with the SPCA and other adoption shelters in the area. This ranks up there with crimes against children. What was this guy thinking?


The following is the article that ran on NBC12.com.

Henrico Police say a man intentionally ran over his own dog in a Walgreen's parking lot and sped away. NBC12 spoke to the manager of that Walgreen’s and he says the driver actually backed over the dog, stopped and ran over it again.Police hope surveillance photos will help catch this man.

Early this month, at the crack of dawn, a Walgreen's employee on a break heard a commotion at the back of a parking lot on Laburnum and Mechanicsville Turnpike. A man dragged a red chow out of his car, made sure it couldn't move and then, ran over it twice.

Then the man just drove off, leaving the dog to die. Henrico Police say surveillance photos show the man inside the store right before the dog was killed. Police say they hope you can help them figure out who the man is so they can bring him to justice.

Henrico Police Department Lt. Doug Perry says, “As a pet owner, I can tell you it's a horrible crime. Anybody that would do this to a helpless animal needs to be prosecuted."Henrico Police say the man drove off in a gray Chrysler New Yorker. They say it "needed a paint job."

If you have any information, call 780-1000.


The photo above is of Lucy, one of our dogs.

I Live In CVA

I love living in Central Virginia, or CVA. It’s great. Sometimes I wake up and say, “Good morning CVA!” The traffic in and around CVA doesn’t compare to our neighbors to the north, NOVA. Two ticks of the light, or maybe a slow down on 64 near Staples Mill. That’s about it.

CVA is very convenient. If you need to stop by the grocery store after work for a few things, make sure you live in CVA. In CVA, we don’t have to schedule our day around our commute to work or school.

In CVA, our lives don’t consist of driving to work, sitting in traffic, working, driving home from work, sitting in traffic, eating, and sleeping. Since we don’t have to spend all day at work or in traffic, we also have time to spend with family and friends. Our friends in NOVA can't always say that.

I read about these NOVA people all the time. How they have to constantly drive on beltways and bridges named for presidents. NOVA people even have HOV lanes. But those get clogged as well. CVA has shoulders.

NOVA has the METRO. Unfortunately it doesn't have enough stops, go figure. CVA has the GRTC, with just enough routes.

In CVA, English is rampant, and the language of choice.

And the outskirts of CVA even have horses and cows, not Maryland or D.C.

CVA is the place to be if you want to have a life.

Lee's Documentary Flooding with BS

Watching parts of the Spike Lee documentary "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts” on HBO over the past two nights has been interesting at best. I took away many different views on the Hurricane Katrina disaster. At times, I couldn’t believe the horror many of the NOLA citizens suffered through. Other times, I was just left shaking my head at what people were saying.

The first act talked about the hurricanes approach, and landfall. Then the residents started talking. And the BS started flowing into our living room. I couldn’t believe the conspiracy theorists. These were folks that decided to ride out the third worst hurricane disaster in our nation’s history. Of course this is after Bush, Nagin, and Gov. Blanco ordered mandatory evacuations.

Many of those interviewed were saying that the government blew up the levees in order to flood the overwhelmingly poor 9th ward. Right. It couldn’t have been a barge slamming into the side of a levee. That wouldn’t make sense? The requiem also digs into the ludicrous topic of blowing up levees by bringing up Hurricane Betsy, which hit in 1965, that there was an intentional breach of the levee. I had to change the channel for a minute.

C’mon people. The government, while not perfect by any means, wants to help. Remember the Coast Guard’s non stop efforts to rescue people from roofs and attics?

Celebrities are interviewed. Activists Sean Penn and Harry Bellefonte make an appearance. For a second I thought Penn was the second coming of Clara Barton as a man. But then I remember Penn brought his own personal photographer to New Orleans as a publicity stunt, traveling around in a boat that he and managed to sink. Bellefonte says a ridiculous comment, claiming that New Orleans' residents were "racially of no importance" to Bush. And that’s just one of many snippets.

The most educated comment of the entire film came from Radio talk show host Garland Robinette "People think we got hit by a hurricane. But we got missed by a hurricane." He went on to say that the flooding resulted when water broke through the ill-maintained levees. Changes to the levees should have been in place well before the flooding and storm surge last August.

Lee’s film depicted the horrible event in many different ways. The photography was excellent, and really brought the disaster into the spotlight. Lee also showed different aspects of the human error on the local, state, and federal level. However, the racial commentary was unremitting throughout. It was expected. But it encompassed all four acts, taking away from the devastating event itself.

I plan on watching “When the Levees Broke” again this weekend; maybe my outlook will be different.

The Barfield's Brawl

I have a thing for archaic baseball players. And no the picture above is not of George (taco) Bell. I don’t know what it is. But I can go for hours trying to name obscure players. For example, if the names of former MLB’ers Pat Listach, Odibie McDowell and Todd Benzinger were to come up in conversation with friends, I’d listen.

And so I learned today, while listening to the Jim Rome Show, that former MLB slugger Jesse Barfield was going to be a topic of discussion, I listened. Barfield was a big time hitter for the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees in the 80’s, when hair curled into the “jerry” variety and uniforms had stirrups.

On Sunday, Barfield was sent to the hospital after being shoved down a flight of stairs by his son. According to a report in the Houston Chronicle, a sheriff involved with the case said the Barfield’s were getting ready for church, and went to check on what was delaying Jeremy, "and they got into an argument,"

Jeremy Barfield, a prospect with the Mets, will face a Class A misdemeanor charge of family assault. Family assault. I didn’t even know there was such a charge.

The elder Barfield is expected to recover from his injuries. Thank goodness. I didn’t want to have to pause, when his name comes up in conversation with former teammates Kevin Maas and Steve Sax.

Snakes on a Plane

"Snakes on a Plane" opens today. I have a feeling many people that pay money to see the B-Movie, will be leaving the theatre saying exactly what Samuel L. Jackson says, "I've had it with these mother fucking snakes on this mother fucking plane!" One thing is for sure, Sam Jackson never turns down a role.

According to IMDB, the title originated at an after-work happy hour among Hollywood colleagues to see who could come up with the most awful pitch for a movie. Producer David Berenson, gave his pitch for this movie based on a script called "Venom."

"Snakes" will compete with the likes of "A Movie About Two Burning Buildings in New York" and "Will Ferrell in a Racecar" for some idiots money. But i guess since Hollywood knows that many people hate to fly and hate snakes, it will work. Hoping for creapy, instead of cheesey. Beware of the digitally created snakes!

The movie has drawn ridiculous ammounts of attention. The creator of a blog, cleverly titled, Snakes on a Blog, was invited to the movie premiere in Los Angeles. People on youtube.com and google movies, making their own "Snakes on a Plane" thrillers.

For $8.50 there has to be something better out there. No thanks.

Remembering Allen's Comments, Not Biden, Webb

Two Democrats and a Republican are sitting in a tree. Saying ethnic comments and many don’t agree! Bellowing over with laughter, the Democrats fall out. Shining the media spotlight on Republican in the media spotlight, cause that’s what it’s all about.

In case you missed Allen’s remarks plastered all over the news, this is what he said at a campaign rally in southwest Virginia on Friday. Allen repeatedly called a volunteer for Democrat James Webb "macaca." During the speech in Breaks, near the Kentucky border, Allen began by saying that he was "going to run this campaign on positive, constructive ideas" and then pointed at S.R. Sidarth in the crowd.

"This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere. And it's just great," Allen said, as his supporters began to laugh. It’s common practice for a campaign team to follow the opponent at rallies and functions.

After saying that Webb was raising money in California with a "bunch of Hollywood movie moguls," Allen said, "Let's give a welcome to macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia."

Allen later stated that he was welcoming Sidarth to Virginia because his opponent, Webb, never leaves the beltway.

Webb was under fire during the Virginia Democratic Primary for his cartoon depiction of opponent Harris Miller. Miller, who is Jewish, was shown with a hook nose and money spilling from his pockets. The Webb campaign said there was no anti-Semitic intent and that the images would not be used again

Then there is Joe Biden from Delaware. Remember his recent comments about Indian-Americans? Didn’t see too much of that.

Back in July, on an edition of the C-SPAN series "Road to the White House," the boisterous Delaware Democrat is shown shaking hands with a man and boasting about his support among Indian-Americans. "I've had a great relationship. In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking," Biden said.

Many political insiders believe the recent remarks of Biden and Allen could damage any hope for the presidential nomination in 2008. Frankly, I don’t think Biden or Allen will be on their party ticket in 2008.

But the way the media handles what politicians say is nothing new. It’s just another example of the liberal slant of the major media outlets in our country. Sometimes it’s hard to steer away from it. But for people like Biden and Webb, who cares, they can say what they want. Many mainstream media watchers will never know.

Full Throttle Frustration: Mayfield Out at EMS

For the past two seasons, Jeremy Mayfield led Evernham Motorsports into the Chase for the Nextel Cup. One of just seven drivers to finish in the top 10 in points two years in a row, Mayfield was the senior driver for the Dodge operation. Since 2003, Mayfield has won two races and captured three poles.

But in the eyes team owner Ray Evernham, driver loyalty went out the window, fast. This past week, Mayfield's season came to a screeching halt, and on Friday he was "terminated" from Evernham Motorsports. The team had fallen out of the top 35 in owner points, and Mayfield had fallen out of favor with Evernham.

To get to the breaking point, you have to look back on the season that wasn't meant to be.

The season began on an ominous note when Evernham decided to switch Mayfield's crew chief, Kenny Francis, and pit crew with his younger teammates Scott Riggs and Kasey Kahne, and elder statesman Bill Elliott. Essentially, the number 19 team (Mayfield) became the 9 team (Kahne), the 10 team (Riggs) became the 9 team, and the 19 team became the 91 (Elliott) research and development team.

Got that. Ok.

The switch paid off for Kahne. Kahne has scored four series wins, and currently sits 11th in points, just outside the chase-eligible top 10. Last year, Kahne finished his sophomore season mired in 23rd place. Not the points position one NASCAR’s most marketable drivers and 2004 rookie of the year should be finishing. Evernham and his many sponsors knew this.

So a switch was necessary. However, Evernham decided that taking away the parts of Mayfield’s high achieving team was the answer. Clearly, the organization was building its future around the younger Kahne.

Mayfield was paired with a rookie team engineer in Chris Andrews, who worked with Elliott on the 91 car. The two never clicked, and the engine sputtered on a season of promise, starting with the Daytona 500 in February. Mayfield’s best finish on the season has been 13th at Talladega. His average finish has been 27.9. Andrews is still the crew chief of the 19 team.

Even the third Evernham team, led by Riggs, was performing better than Mayfield. Riggs missed the Daytona 500, yet still sits in 22nd place.

A season of frustration blew up in July at Chicagoland Speedway. Mayfield called out Evernham, wondering why he never was at the racetrack. “He [Evernham] encourages us when he’s around, but we haven’t seen much of him lately.” Evernham was in Kentucky with developmental driver Erin Crocker. Mayfield later recanted his comments, but the damage was already done.

After kissing the wall at Indianapolis, while fighting an ill-handling racecar, Mayfield limped home with a 41st place showing, and talk about his days with EMS being numbered grew. He was replaced by Bill Elliott for the road course race at Watkins Glen.

Then on Friday, without any notice, Mayfield was fired by Evernham. "When the performance is not up to par, it's frustrating on both sides," Evernham said Friday. "The decision was made because of the performance of the car. There was certainly frustration, and we weren't pleased with some of the comments that were made. But in no way was that the reason for the change."

Mayfield disagreed and traded paint with his car owner. "It's not professional, that's for sure,'' Mayfield said of the way the matter was handled.”That's the way everything has worked around here for a while.''

Nothing has been announced for plans for 2007, but many sources have Mayfield piloting a Toyota for Bill Davis Racing. Mayfield would join Dave Blaney and be the senior driver for the organization. Bill Davis Racing has had success already with Toyota in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. It will be interesting to see if Toyota makes an immediate impact in the cup series.

As for Evernham, leaving drivers high and dry is nothing new. In 1999, Evernham bolted from Jeff Gordon and the #24 team to start up Dodge Motorsports. He signed the young Casey Atwood for 2001, and after one sub par season, he dismissed the driver, ironically for Mayfield. Atwood has never been the same driver since.

Elliott Sadler is expected to take over Mayfield's old ride, possibly as early as this weekend at Michigan. Sadler will have to qualify on time since the 19 is currently 36th in owners points.

Evernham’s replacement for Mayfield at Watkins Glen, Bill Elliott, came home in 27th place, proving that sometimes it’s more than just the driver. It’s the owner.

No Liquids on the Tarmac

I woke up this morning and thought about everything that happened yesterday in regards to the “liquid terror plot.” First I wondered how my cousin and his girlfriend were going to get back to the States from Munich, Germany next Saturday. Then I thought about the day when all air travelers will only be able to carry on essential documents -IE passports and boarding passes-and medicines.

Reports yesterday said that all liquids and gels were not allowed on domestic flights. If you buy a Big Mac at the McDonald’s in the terminal, forget the ketchup when you board.

There were even more extreme measures implemented on international flights originating from Europe, no electronics or carry on bags. No cell phones, ipods, laptops, PDA’s. You get the point. Just me, myself, and I.

If I was on a Trans-Atlantic flight, I would have to use the 1987 airline headphones to watch the crappy movie that has a florescent green line running through the screen. No thanks.

The TSA is allowing baby formula and insulin. But, if these terrorists are going to die anyways, why do they care if the TSA makes them taste the concoction.

Back to my cousin and his girlfriend. Hopefully, they will return safely to Dulles on the 19th, without having the crap scared out of them for eight hours. I hope they get the memo about having to check everything under the sun BEFORE they arrive at the airport in Munich.

If there is anything positive that can come out of this terror scare, overhead compartment space should not be as much of a concern anymore. And the idea of being able to use a cell phone as a timer for a bomb, just might keep the devices off of planes. After all, it’s one of the last places in the world you don’t have to hear other people’s conversations.

ANWR Could Help Pain at Pump

With news today about the corrosion of a BP pipeline in Alaska, motorists won’t be happy when it’s time to fill up the family SUV today, or tomorrow. It seems a though gas prices change (for the worst) more often than grocery baggers at the local supermarket.

But it’s not like there aren’t oil preserves in Alaska ready to be tapped. It's as easy as four letters ANWR. It sure would be nice to say “screw the caribou” and have nearly 16 billion barrels of oil at our finger tips. But, it seems that drilling the 1% of the 19 million acre Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) needed would impose on the caribou and ducks already living in the region.

Caribou and ducks are an important part of the environment in Alaska. They deserve to live in their natural habitat. But can’t they thrive on the grasses, ponds, and lichen of the other 18 million acres?

The 1% of the refuge where the drilling would take place is known as The 1002 Area. It’s a legislative term. The 1002 Area holds lots of valuable resources that could help our gas guzzling nation alleviate its dependence on foreign oil. It also holds employment opportunities. Someone has to work on the natural gas and oil lines.

According to Charli E. Coon, J.D., a Senior Policy Analyst for Energy and the Environment at The Heritage Foundation, “Drilling in the 1002 Area would occur during the harsh winter months, when operations will require the use of iced airstrips, iced roads, and iced platforms. The 16 billion barrels of oil that lie untapped there would be more than enough to replace the oil Americans would purchase from Iraq over 58 years.”

Environmental extremists say that many of the species will become extinct. Yet according to anwr.org, since the drilling began in 1968, the Central Arctic Caribou Herd (CACH) has grown from 3000 animals to its current level of 32,000 animals.

So here we are, at the local Shell station, filling up our over-priced hybrid vehicles, watching the money ooze out of our pockets. One hundred dollars on pump eight please.

Think about all the sheiks in the Middle East, driving around the desert in their Mercedes, laughing at us “dependents.” Or think about Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and his OPEC cronies turning down their spigots. Oil doesn't mix with much, besides geopolitics.

While we cringe as a nation when we fuel up, Comet and Blitzen continue to enjoy the desolate tract of Alaska’s wilderness.

All 19 million acres.

Cacklin' with Curry at the Funnybone

He has preformed on Comedy Central countless times. He is probably most famous for making tv audiences laugh on Friday nights on ABC's "Hangin' With Mr. Cooper" from 1992 to 1997.

This past weekend, Mark Curry preformed at the Richmond Funnybone.

And well, he was pretty damn funny.

The the highlight of his routine was, he asked the audience what they wanted to talk about and pretty much stayed true to his word throughout the show. Much of the show was improv, which isn't the easiest thing to do.

I've been to the Funnybone seven or eight times now, and Curry's show was one of the more impressive ones. It was worth every cent of the $20 ticket.

Curry loves to engage the audience in his act, and no topic is considered off limits with him. Porn, football, gas prices, you name it, he will talk about it.

It's pretty amazing Curry is even telling jokes these days.

On April 17, Curry was burned on over 20% of his body when an aerosol can that had fallen behind Curry's water heater exploded. His horrifying experience never came up during his side-splitting act. Curry discussed the ordeal with RTD writer Daniel Neman recently.

Curry emphasized the point that "life is a celebration" throughout his hour long laugh session. I don't recall him doing this the last time he was in Richmond, which leaves me to believe that it might come from his recent near-death experience.

Curry's fame came from his sitcom on ABC. But, it's comedians from NBC's Last Comic Standing that will take the stage at the Richmond Funnybone in the coming weeks. John Heffron, Ralphie May, and Alonzo Bodden are all scheduled to appear.

Richmonders Swimming in the Stink

It might look pristine from the air or land, but in reality the James River is full of shit. People really swim in this body of water on a regular basis, even though it's on the dirty-water list for bacteria.

Ahh, now that's what I call refreshing.

Looking for a fecal frenzy? The pony pasture is a popular place. Not to mention, it isn't exactly the safest place to cool of on a sticky southern afternoon. People drown in the river every year. Usually due to ignorance.

Many wealthy Richmonders own homes along the James. When the river floods, the bacteria infested water undoubtedly finds its way into these million dollar estates.

You know there is a problem when you must wear a shoe of some sort so you don't shread your foot up on a shard of glass.

While the conditions have slowly improved over the years, due to higher environmental standards, apparently there is still work to be done. In today's RTD there is an article about cleaning up Richmond's rapid-filled river.

Ready to go for a dip?

Five Godwin Students Killed in One Year

To say it has been a tough year for many Godwin High School students and their families is an understatement. Since the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year, five Godwin students have been killed in four separate incidents.

There is an article in today’s Times-Dispatch about the latest death. Mani Deep Kamineni, 16, drowned last weekend while swimming at Virginia Beach. It is the most recent tragedy to strike the school.

The other students killed:

Matthew Lanzer, 17, car crash

Heather Moorefield, 14, car crash

Robert Snead, 15, car crash

David Holcomb, 17, cardiac arrhythmia

Many schools around the country deal with tragedies like this throughout the school year.

I began to think about my four years as a Godwin eagle, 1996-2000. The class of 2000 was a fortunate one. Luckily, no one in my class died. But in August, before we all went to college, Stuart Cassidy, a rising senior was killed in a car crash. It was the only time many of my friends had to experience the death of a fellow student.

I can’t imagine losing five students, friends, brothers, and sisters, over the course of one school year. When the bell rings in September, thousands of students will return to the halls and classrooms, five will not.