Weekend open thread

If this is class warfare, whose side are you on?

The GOP should draft one of John Tyler's grandkids to stymie Mitt and Newt

This story's been making the Internet rounds for a few days, but if you haven't read it, it is truly amazing.

Two of the grandchildren of John Tyler, the tenth president of the United States, are still alive.

John Tyler was born in 1790.

???

Tyler sired 15 children and was still sowing his wild oats when he was in his 70s.

He was sort of the Barack Obama Sr. of his day.

One of Tyler's sons, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, born in 1853, proved the sperm didn't fall too far from the tree. He fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. in 1924 as well as Harrison Ruffin Tyler in 1928.

Might Harrison Ruffin Tyler be presidential timber today. He'd be 84 this year and might bring back memories of Ronald Reagan for conservatives yearning for a return to Whigdom.

Newspaper distresses over legislation that already is in the grave

Ever on top of the issues of the day, the morning paper today came down, hard, in support of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which, as everyone lknows, perished mightily last week after every one else on the planet (aside from Hollywood lobbyists) mounted fierce opposition.

Cluelessly, the paper wondered who could possibly object to the universally loathed legislation, which would allow websites to be shuttered without due process if anyone -- anyone -- made a claim that the site played host to copyrighted material.

For instance, if a Reading Eagle blogger posted a copyrighted photo without compensation or attribution, the site might go dark until CEO Peter Barbey could muster his army of lawyers for a high-priced appeal to the federal judiciary.

Not that any of this matters, since the legislation was doomed before the editorial was even a glimmer in the polyestered eye of opinion page editor Jim Homan.

Coming next week: A hard-hitting editorial on the pros and cons of the Volstead Act.

Spencer won't permit watercooler chatter unless it is first filtered through his phantom communications director

Everybody knows that rank-and-file workers, government and otherwise, waste thousands of hours every year gossiping at their desks, posting sarcastic Facebook updates, dishing dirt on how hapless the bureaucrats are, or otherwise venting about their bosses, whom they generally despise.

Vaughn Spencer,m less than a month into his term as Reading mayor, will hear none of it.

Over the weekend, Hizzoner issued a sweeping Media and Communications Policy, designed to muzzle not only department heads who might turn out to be blabbermouths, but also the drones who sit in cubicles all day long, their carpel tunnel getting worse by the minute.

Henceforth, the proles will have to shut the hell up about city policies while on the clock. And all contact with the media by their superiors must be authorized by the city's Communications Director, a position that has not yet been filled by a Spencer crony and, in fact, does not even exist.

Here's what the policy has to say about the requirement of employees to zip it:

In other words, don't say anything bad about the mayor or his policies while in City Hall or you'll be lining up for food stamps.

Already, city firefighters are afraid to talk to the press about a fire.

Oh, for the glory days of Joe Eppihimer!

How far Spencer's muzzling gets depends on council, and already members are in revolt.

Donna Reed, herself a former reporter, wrote in an e-mail:

This is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read and certainly speaks to how poorly the administration thinks of our city employees.  Anyone who tries to obstruct or abridge any citizen's (particularly a public servant's) right to free speech clearly lacks the understanding of what constitutes a true democracy and a free press.
 
Please remember City Council has not sanctioned the position of communications "director."  I therefore question the validity and enforcement of this policy and will seek a charter advisory board opinion.
 
I will remain vocal on this matter and continue -- as Vaughn asked of me during his campaign -- to be a proponent for open and transparent government.  Zipping lips is not acceptable policy and certainly raises the spectre of government officials trying to hide dealings from the public.

Marcia Goodman-Hinnershitz concurs:

It is important to establish a communications policy but it must be done within the framework of the governing laws.  Beyond the issue of constitutional rights to free speech, I believe the city budget process has been bypassed by a policy being promulgated by a position that has not been approved through the position ordinance.  Through my attendance at the public meetings held by Mayor Spencer, I have found that there is a lack of understanding and adherence of the correct process to amend the city budget, create new positions, and to move forward policy changes.

The mayor (ha, ha) referred all media inquiries to his Communications Director.

You can read the complete jackass document here.

You write the caption

This is what I mean by man on dog.

Why not have your vasectomy performed by Dr. Dick Chopp?

You'll have to head down to Austin to have the procedure, but, oh, will you have a story to tell your grandkids future girlfriends.

More funny physician names here. (NSFW, so don't miss clicking on the link)

Head on over to McDonald's and nibble on this tasty delicacy

Are you one of those folks who thinks everything tastes like chicken?

Well...

This flavorful treat is chicken, perhaps in the same sensethat head cheese really is cheese.

PETA reports:

What you're looking at is not a newly discovered pink Burmese python or the material used to make lawn flamingos. It's actually something edible (and I use the term "edible" loosely).

This is actually mechanically separated meat, the main ingredient in many commercial chicken nuggets (and the companies use the term "chicken" loosely). The picture has been circulating around the Internet for a while, but it's still creating buzz because it shows something we rarely see.

It's made by sending animals' bones through a machine that scrapes off the last bits of flesh and blood and smashes them together to form a paste more nausea-inducing than the kind you ate in kindergarten. The paste has to be soaked in ammonia to kill the bacteria, the "chicken" flavor has to be added to it, and the whole mess has to be dyed so that it no longer resembles, well, a big bloody log of unidentifiable animal bits.

Pass the tofu, please.