G20: Sometimes Cheap Laughs Are The Best

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Pittsburgh Irates
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• Pittsburgh Irates: NICE
• At 2:23- "Pri-MAHN-tee Brothers HOAGIE?" Damned blasphemer! Rioting in the streets? That calls for a full-out crusade n'at.

And from the So Funny It's Almost Sad file:

I missed this on it's first run but the rerun is hilarious.

Throws her bike at the f'ng cops. I swear good dumbassery never gets old.

What's a Good Summit Without Keanu?

So, it's over huh?

A few thoughts, if I may...

• My prize for best exhibit: Greenpeace.

Subtle, well thought-out, nice execution, most of all- no destruction. I gotta wonder, however, how many folks sitting in traffic wouldn't have liked to have seen ol' Bob Duvall and the boys swoopin' down the Allegheny to help the danglers off the bridge?

When sunlight hit the sign just right, however, you could see the real message (Magnus Patris):

• Nice job keeping the malcontents out of the Downtown area. Pity the city didn't get a chance to showcase the barricades on the storefronts and the pretty banners on the unoccupied spaces. Bigger pity there was a need for so many banners. Nice windfall for the company(s) that came up with all the banners.
• As for the mob/police interaction: Fortunately, I think, it was less than of a problem than expected. After bringing in such a show of force, I think the "mob" underwhelmed law enforcement, initially, causing a certain sense of security and confidence (rightfully so). At the risk of offending all the nouveau-constitutional scholars out there, I think that the early harassment (messing with the food bus, hassling the lawful assemblers, etc), though purely chickenshit moves all, was necessary to set the bar a little higher than usual. Does that bus bus get hassled if it's parked them same way this Thursday, probably not. But it's all part of the game and all involved know how to play. I park my bus to tweak your nose, you cite my bus to punch me in the arm, I complain and bitch in the media,thereby getting the the issue and the ACLU before a judge, to give you a shove, you have the judge "maybe" bend the Constitution a little to shove me back, and it's on. Unfortunately, all the anti-climactic early skirmishes fed into the mess Friday night. If you take a bunch of people, with no intent other than creating chaos, and limit their chaos-making and mix them with a bunch of police, shipped in and dressed for preventing/putting down chaos, and limit their opportunity to use their neat-o toys, a mess is what you get. There is no bigger supporter of the police than I, but you didn't really think all the police and National Guard came from parts unknown just to do the tourist thing, did you?
• As for the rousers of the rabble: Where were you 2 weeks ago? Where will you be next week? Is there a tour schedule? Who do follow around, ala the Deadheads. I'd hate to think you've all gone to your establishment lives and your establishment jobs. You guys really aren't hypocrites roaming the countryside, spending mummsy and daddies corporate-earned money, looking for shit to break, are you? Just askin'.
• Now for the rabble: Please permit me to go into Keeanu Reeves mode for a moment.

As I asked above, where were you 2 weeks ago? Funny, but I didn't see any accounts of protesting in the streets of Oakland in the PG or the Trib or even the Pitt News. No stories of anyone protesting the military-industrial complex by breaking windows at that naval sandwich shop or that colonel's chicken joint. Where was your social conscience then? Surely, it wasn't just that things were getting boring at the O so you thought it would be a good idea to make some mischief. Was it? And then, to get angry when your hand got smacked? Really? And- about that hand- remember back when you was a wee tot and mommy told you not to touch the stove? Remember? No! Hot! How many times did you touch that stove? If your is answer is more than twice, you should return all your student loan money, cuz all that book-learnin' ain't gonna do you no good. The point is this: There's people in town to cause chaos, and the cops are ready. Probably this isn't your fight, due your lack of protesting history (see above). The cops are marching in the streets, the robocop truck is blaring "stay the eff off the streets or bad things might happen", the Pitt Admin is texting "stay the hell in your dorms for it may not be safe outside, youngsters". And, you, our brightest of the bright, our leaders of tomorrow, our hope for the future, TOUCH THE GODDAMNED STOVE!!! And then, naturally, you bitch and whine all over the media and, more naturally, post all over Youtube. Grandma called it a life lesson kids.

All in all, it coulda been alot worse. Nice job, Pittsburgh.

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Nice continuing coverage by Infinonymous. Check out the wrap up here.

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Related personal note:

To the Boy Mayor: As you are aware, since you are no doubt among the literally tens of people that read this little public display of written drivel, I am currently an avid player of the Incarceration!: Home Edition game. From time to time there are away games. The last away game was played to benefit the Esplen section of Pittsburgh (for your benefit, see map here). We were told this was being done in preparation for the G20 Summit. I even got a nifty t-shirt that says so. But the Esplen part of the trip was missed by the whole media. What gives? Esplen is a perfect example of Pittsburgh stepping into the future and way from the past. I'm just sayin'.

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Further personal, though unrelated, note:

This week's picks: clev +13.5, nyg -7, nyj -2.5, ne-4, det +6.5, den +1.5

Last week 3-3, Season 5-7

Please feel free to jump on the gravy train. I don't wanna keep all of this sheer sports genius to myself. Just givin' back. It's what I do.

If We Build It...

I was just reading the latest from The Carbolic Smoke Ball (those guys are geniuses):

Pittsburgh Replaces Locals With Cardboard Figures For G-20

and it hit me- why stop at the people? WTF are you talking about you ask? Why, only the solution to the Pittsburgh-getting-destroyed-during-the-G20-Summit problem. Two words.... BLAZING- F'ING- SADDLES!!!

The fake Rock Ridge in Agua Dulce (as opposed to the real Rock Ridge, which was on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank).

Hope this helps.

Leftovers Edition

Cleanin' up the scraps...

• G20: I can't wait for this all to be over. I'm still not sure why it's coming. " Our time to shine to the rest of the world, we're not all smoky and sooty, our economy turned around from the steel days, blah blah blah blah". Part of me thinks this is so much ado about nothing, kind of a cross between a Grateful Dead tour and the Y2K "it might be a mess!". However, lots of imported police, National Guard, and shiny new gear and training tells me probably not. I certainly hope the Boy Mayor and Dan the Man didn't screw the pooch by not saying "thanks but, no thanks". But, who's gonna pay for this hasn't been answered. The Police Chief in Scott Township certainly had the right idea. Probably best to keep your head down and stay out of town for a while.

• Racists, Competitors or Jerks?: Do you mean to tell me that a tennis player, a politician and an "entertainer" acting rudely in the same month is a signal of the the fall of Western Culture? Paaa-f'ng-leeez! Serena Williams? 2 words- John McEnroe. Two more- Jimmy Connors. 2 more- Ille Nastase. Hey folks, players have been yelling at and berating officials for years. Get a life. Rep. Joe Wilson- you think that was bad? I suggest you spend some time watching the Brits on C-SPAN some time. That was probably an "I'll do it if you do it too" thing. At the last minute, the other kids backed out and Lil' Joey got punk'd. Kanye West- Why all the hand-wringing and overthinking? Why can't it just be he's a boozed-up douchebag and leave it at that?

In other words....

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I went 2-4 in the football pool at work last week. You're welcome to all those who decided to bet the kiddo's college fund. Let's help that mortgage this week. This weeks picks: New Orleans +1/2, Washington -10, San Francisco -1 1/2, Minnesota -10, Tennessee -7, Cleveland +3.
Guaranteed picks. Maybe not winners, but picks just the same.

Today's episode- "Bring on the G20" or "Puttin' on the Ritz"

Today, I got to take part in a community improvement project in the Knoxville neighborhood. I was, as was about 35-40 similarly situated individuals, "invited" to participate by the good folks at the Allegheny County Adult Probation Office because of gross knuckleheadedness on my part from a couple of years ago. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

Some observations...

1. This bit of, what they call in judicial parlance, "community service" involved walking the Bausman St., Knox Ave., Brownsville Rd areas picking up debris from the streets. (For the record, I neither live in Knoxville nor is it the community where I committed my acts against the state but that might be a rant for later.) I've gotta say, judging from the butts in the street, Newports are waaaaaay more popular than ashtrays.
2. The locals must have had a great 4th. Plenty of fireworks schrapnel everywhere.
3. Stuff must be cheap in the neighborhood. Examples: bag of ammo found, plenty of not-quite-so empty stamp bags in the street. (Must not be good to the last drop y'all ). To be fair, though, no needles.
4. Plenty of dog lovers around. Lovers of BIG dogs.
5. The piece-of-shit Porsche with the Cali plates and the tree trimmings in the backseat was a nice touch.
6. Residents must be happy about Verizon coming to the city. Lots of satellite dishes on the houses.
7. Apparently, these pickup parties are a monthly happening. The community guy that was there was taking lots of pics to show the community that someone is trying to clean up the area. Couple of more cleanups and the Boy Mayor will be able to bring in the G20 tour. The view from Mt. Washington's gettin' old anyway.
8. More than a few SUVs idling with folks countin' cash. Must be counting confirmation money to take to the bank. Or not.
9. It was nice to hear thank yous from from some of the residents on the porch or driving by. Was it a coincidence that the thank yous came from those with the least amount of debris at there curb? Probably. Conversely, seemed like most of the wary looks and the calls of "don't forget this end of the street" came from those with the most overgrown mini-junkyards.
10. I might have to rethink my postion on what's goin on in Sheraden.