A Mountain of Dumb, ctd.

 Wow.  Somehow she managed to raise (lower?) the bar with this one: 

"Gulf disaster needs divine intervention as man's efforts have been futile. Gulf lawmakers designate today Day of Prayer for solution/miracle" 
~Sarah Palin via Twitter

I get high with a little help...

I'd like to welcome a new voice to the Scared Center family, Eric Giordano.   Eric brings a centrist perspective, Poli-Sci edumacation and a desire to rant to the table which really means someone who knows what they're talking about will be helping me out in this space.  Eric shares in my loathing of the Tea Party movement and also thinks Sarah Palin is the anti-christ.  In other words he's awesome.

The good thing about this is it will free me up to write more about my two favorite things:  boobs and golf.   It's a Win/Win when you think about it.

(note: Eric is not the hot Asian in the picture above, which is a god damned shame.  That's Jarah Mariano.   Jarah probably thinks Drill Baby Drill has little to do with oil prospecting which is totally fine in most circumstances, just not on this blog)

US Open Final Thoughts

After the insanity that was Moving Day at the US Open on Pebble Beach, Sunday's cool-down should have come as no surprise.  There was no way anyone was going to match the dual-66 magic that Tiger and Johnson posted Saturday, especially on a US Open Final Round setup.

So the winning number?  Even Par.  Not -3, not -6.  E.  Just the way the USGA drew it up.  Graeme McDowell's victory required an "unflappable" final round score of 3-over 74.   So if you wanted to see low scores and eagles abound - or a  replay of Tiger's unreal second on 18 - you came to the wrong place.   Pebble was playing lightning fast and hammering away at mistakes.  It's casualties were three of the biggest names in the sport, Tiger, Phil and Ernie, and the bomber who had a seemingly commanding three-shot lead in the final group.

The Notables:

Gotta Give Biden Props for This

Fool me eight times?!

Jon Stewart tears up the last eight administrations' empty promises to get the US off of oil dependence.   Call me a pinko if you will but this guy is pretty much the only one talking politics in the media with the slightest shred of integrity.    There, I said it. 

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
An Energy-Independent Future
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

US Open Day 1

Golf's Second Major Championship is the only thing that can dull the pain of the Celtics horrible loss last night.  The Masters and US Open are by far my favorite tournaments and the obsession is practically unhealthy.  Nothing quite compares to the drama those two tournaments consistently give us and yesterday's opening round was no exception.   Let's breakdown some highlights and lowlights.

Another Moronic Phil Shot - Mickelson was trapped behind the two cyprus trees on the 18th fairway and instead of taking his medicine and laying up - which every other player on tour would have done - he tried to hit a retarded draw around the trees and over the water.  Didn't work out.   No shit it didn't work out!   People ask me all the time why I don't like Loveable Loser Phil.   This shot was exhibit A.

De Jonge What?  Micheel Who? - Two of the three 18 hole leaders are relatively unknown, which is unfortunate for poor Sean Micheel who only won the '03 PGA Championship "It's amazing how quickly people forget you." he said after the round.

Hoffman's 18 -  This was just heart-breaking.   After the amateur's second shot was slightly boxed out by the cyprus trees on 18, he tried to bend a low cut only to clip a branch and have it ricochet into the ocean.  Two-in-Three-out.   He yanked his fourth left and into the water again.   Four-in-Five-out.  Six into the right greenside bunker.  Seven stayed in.   Eight popped out to 10 feet and he saved himself a dreaded ten by nailing the putt.   Poor guy was even par on the tee box and dropped 70 spots on the leaderboard by the time he tossed his ball into the Pacific. 

Moore's 17 - This was just baffling.   First he pulls out a fairway metal on the 208 yard par 3 - way too much club - and pushed it right....  all the way over the 18th tee box.   From here he got some miraculous relief from the tee box sign, popped his come backer into the left greenside bunker and somehow got up and down for one of the wackiest bogey's you'll ever see on tour. 

Paul Casey's Grindin' - This guy kicks ass.  Not because he's a big name, because he's not.   Not because he makes it rain with wins on tour; he doesn't.   No, I like him because Yoda the Golf Instructor used Casey's swing  for my comparison video (compare these mirror-image swings after the jump!)   Casey was strong early with birdies on 3 and 5 but then started struggling to hit greens.  But boy did he make up for it with the flat stick.   He finished the round with 24 putts on the late-day poana greens to put him in a tie for the lead with what's-their-names. 

Stay tuned for Round 2 action!

Phew! Stimulus Saves A World At Play

Okay look, if you rake in $1.3B in annual revenue, you don't need another $54M from the taxpayers, mmmkay?

The Mohegan tribe, which owns the Mohegan Suncasino in Uncasville, Conn., has been awarded a $54 million loan from federal stimulus funds.

The tribe runs the sprawling Mohegan Sun casino, halfway between New York City and Boston, which earned more than $1.3 billion in gross revenues in 2009. Each tribe member receives a cut of the profits, a number a tribal official said was "less than $30,000" per capita per year. The stimulus money is a loan from a U.S. Department of Agriculture rural development program that is meant to help communities of less than 20,000 people that have been "unable to obtain other credit at reasonable rates and terms and are unable to finance the proposed project from their own resources."

Not that I really expect any less from Leiberman and Dodd, but... cmon guys!  At a time when every excessive dollar spent by the government is heavily scrutinized, they should know better than to pull this kind of crap.