- Oh NAACP, how you make me laugh…and laugh….and laugh. While I’m all for stamping out racism wherever and whenever it exists, your continued insistence on interjecting race in places and situations where it doesn’t exist and isn’t relevant is freaking hilarious. For example, the mortgage companies that dicked over the entire American economy by handing out undeserved loans to people who had no hope of paying them back didn’t target any one group for these loans, yet there’s the NAACP, filing lawsuits Friday against two of the nation's largest mortgage lenders -- HSBC and Wells Fargo -- alleging "systematic, institutionalized racism" in their subprime lending. Riiiiiight. Because white people, Hispanic-Americans and Asian-Americans aren’t suffering at all and no one from those groups got taken to the cleaners with a subprime mortgage they shouldn’t have received and can’t pay back. The only good part of this ridiculous lawsuit by the NAACP is that the group claims - emphasis on claims - that it’s not looking for actual monetary damages from HSBC and Wells Fargo. “We want to see the books," NAACP CEO Benjamin Jealous said. "We are not seeking damages; we just want them to fix the problem.” Whatever you and your organization are seeking, B., you all are bogus. You’re putting me in the awkward position of having to defend to mortgage giants that clearly are a huge part of our current economic crisis. Yet because of this absurd lawsuit, I have to agree with Wells Fargo spokeswoman Melissa Murray, who said, "The NAACP's allegations are totally unfounded and reckless. We have never tolerated, and will never tolerate, discrimination in any way, shape or form in any of our business practices, products or services.” Oh, and maybe if the NAACP didn’t have a well-deserved reputation for filing similar suits against numerous other lenders, this one would have more legitimacy. In other words, the NAACP is just suing everyone, claiming that every lender in sight is racist. It’s exactly the sort of finger-pointing, victim-mentality approach that causes so many to dismiss the NAACP as nothing more than a deluded, whiny group of people who think everyone has wronged them and is out to get them……..
- Lane Kiffin may be several months removed from being head coach of the Oakland Raiders, but that doesn’t mean that Kiffin or the Crypt Keeper, a.k.a. questionably alive Raiders owner Al Davis, are any less bitter at one another after their contentious parting. Davis fired Kiffin and held a bizarre press conference in which he reached back into the technological dark ages by using an overhead projector to make his case that he fired Kiffin because of repeated insubordination and other acts unbecoming an NFL head coach. Kiffin didn’t back down, disputing all of Davis’ allegations and insisting that the Raiders pay him the money still owed to him on his contract. Then, Kiffin was hired as the new head coach at the University of Tennessee and you may have figured that it would be the end of the feud with Davis. Of course, you would have been wrong. The fact that both men had separate, unrelated jobs to do on opposite sides of the country wasn’t enough to keep them from being at one another’s throats. Seems that the Crypt Keeper fired off a letter to the University of Tennesse administration on Jan. 22, warning them about Kiffin and all the devious things Davis claims he is guilty of. The letter details the Raiders grievances against Kiffin and accuses Kiffin of "inducing" assistant coach James Cregg to breach his Raiders contract and leave for Tennessee. Additionally, the Raiders are seeking access to Kiffin's employment agreements with the university, which the university is understandably reluctant to give. As for Kiffin, he’ll have his say next week when he gives a deposition in his lawsuit against the Raiders to get the two months pay from them for the time he was unemployed before being hired at Tennessee. "Starting with Al Davis' nationally televised press conference publicizing the firing the head coach Lane Kiffin last fall, the Raiders have continued to attack coach Kiffin in the media," Kiffin's lawyer, Alan Loewinsohn said in a statement. "That assault continued today, long after he left the Raiders, when the Raiders issued a statement and 'leaked' a letter, a letter they wrote months ago to coach Kiffin's new employer, the University of Tennessee, in which the Raiders again attacked coach Kiffin's character.
Starting next Tuesday at a hotel in Oakland, the Raiders will no longer be able to rely on unsupported allegations made in the media, as a key Raiders personnel, starting with Al Davis, will finally have to answer questions under oath at their depositions, a process that coach Kiffin is confident will demonstrate that he was fired by the Raiders without cause and show that the continuing assault of allegations being made against him are false.” Nice statement, but I’d prefer to hear it from Kiffin, mostly because we already know dude will say almost anything at any time. His attacks on Davis, his cheating allegations against Florida coach Urban Meyer during recruiting season and his alleged comments to one top recruit that if he chose to go to South Carolina that he’d end up pumping gas for a living like every other player from his area who went to South Carolina attest to that. What I wouldn’t give to be in that deposition when Kiffin is sworn in and gets to tee off on the Crypt Keeper. Give ‘em heck, Lane, even if we’re not sure that Al is still actually alive. Prove you were fired without cause and make the old man pay………
- On the positive side, Louisiana Sen. David Vitter isn’t in the same elite category as former Sen. Larry Craig (R.-Id.) when it comes to misbehaving at an airport. Vitter may have (allegedly) had an angry altercation with an airline worker at Washington Dulles International Airport last week, but at least he didn’t pull a Craig and solicit sexual acts from another dude in an airport restroom using secret signals sent underneath the wall between two stalls. What Vitter may be guilty of is having a robust sense of entitlement, figuring that as a United States senator, he can get on a flight even if he shows up a mere 20 minutes before it’s scheduled to depart. According to an unidentified eyewitness, Vitter rushed to the gate his flight was departing from and even though the door to the boarding bridge was already closed, Vitter opened it anyway, triggering an alarm. For some odd reason, an airline worker warned him not to enter the walkway. Airport personnel are funny that way; they get antsy when angry people try to barge into places they’re not supposed to go. Flashing that healthy ego and sense of entitlement, Vitter allegedly unleashed a tirade upon the poor worker who dared to stand in his way. Vitter refused to back down until airport police arrived on the scene, at which point he left. As you’d expect, Vitter is trying to spin this incident in his favor, downplaying its severity. "After being delayed on the Senate floor ensuring a vote on my anti-pay raise amendment and in a rush to make my flight home for town hall meetings the next day, I accidentally went through the wrong door at the gate," he said. "I did have a conversation with an airline employee, but it was certainly not like this silly gossip column made it out to be." You accidentally went through the wrong door? My man, here’s the problem: there was no “right” door for you to go through. You were late to board your flight, which means you don’t get to go through any doors. There is no “late entry door” for VIPs who get to the gate 20 minutes prior to takeoff. I’m guessing that when the Transportation Security Administration finishes looking into this incident, the version of the story they tell is going to be nothing like the one you’re selling now. But hey, at least this isn’t nearly as dirty and negative at the last time your name ended up in a scandal. You remember that one, right? The time back in 2007 when you were linked to a Washington, D.C., prostitution ring? That was the one where you pulled a Jason Giambi, denying what you were accused of but issuing a very generic, vague apology for "a very serious sin." If nothing else, your illegal behavior is gradually trending towards the less severe end of the scale…….
- It’s never a good sign when the police get a warrant for your arrest, but it’s an even worse sign when no one is quite sure which of your recent indiscretions the warrant is for. Yes, Lindsay Lohan had a prolific past couple of year when it comes to breaking the law, posting not one, but two arrests in 2007 on driving under the influence charges. It’s believed that the warrant is somehow related to those two charges, for which Lohan served less than two hours in jail and was sentenced to three years' probation. Lohan entered guilty and no-contest pleas to the charges, but there must be unresolved issues surrounding those cases or Beverly Hills police would not be asking Lohan to turn herself in on an arrest warrant issued Friday. Heck, maybe it has something to do with the fact that she was also touched up with a cocaine possession charge in the second incident. I suppose there could be charges against Lohan for the criminally bad pop music she’s put out, which I’m not sure even qualifies as music. But she hasn’t put out an album since 2005, and I’m not sure what the statute of limitations is on horrifically awful pop music. Even though I find that type of offense much more offensive than losing control of your Mercedes-Benz convertible and striking a Beverly Hills curb, as Lohan did in her first DUI incident, or trying to run a woman down in your whip just two weeks after checking out of a Malibu drug and alcohol rehab facility, as Lohan allegedly did in her second DUI incident. But for now, Lohan’s most relevant title isn’t creator of crappy pop music, actress or lush, it’s wanted criminal………..
- Yeah, serving windshield wiper fluid to 10 children under your supervision at the day care you run out of your home would be a good reason to surrender your license and close up shop. Carolyn Bynum of Scott, Ark., I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that you are not a good child care provider. The fact that you somehow managed to serve windshield wiper fluid to 10 children, ages 2 to 7, gives me license to say just that. Even if your claims that a friend recently brought you groceries and you thought the blue windshield wiper fluid was a sports drink, you’re still a moron and not nearly smart enough to be looking after anyone’s kids. Heck, if you can’t read the label on a bottle of windshield wiper fluid, you’re not even fit to care for yourself, but there’s not much that can be done about that. While it’s good that you feel awful about what happened, the fact remains that you’re a freaking idiot and no amount of guilt would make things better if you were allowed to continue caring for children and served them, let’s say antifreeze, thinking it was lemonade. No props for voluntarily turning over your license after meeting with inspectors from the Department of Health Services, because that was the only acceptable option. I hate piling on when people are having bad days, but your bad day put others in danger and that’s not cool. Because of your actions and carelessness, one of those 10 kids you served a tall, cool glass of windshield washer fluid spent the night in the hospital for observation. Thankfully none of the children was seriously injured, but the fact that you won't have the chance to put any more children in jeopardy is something we can all be grateful for…….
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