Bulls**t

This caught my eye because this man was the LOML's (Love Of My Life's) high school classmate:

Terror attack has scuttled Nevadan's Navy career

The Navy gave Cmdr. Kirk Lippold a medal for saving the USS Cole and preventing further loss of life after al-Qaida operatives blew a huge hole into the guided-missile destroyer in the Yemen port of Aden on Oct. 12, 2000. Little did Lippold know then that his fast-track career might be over.

Lippold, a 1977 Carson High School graduate, apparently is the first commissioned military officer or civilian official since George W. Bush became president to be held liable for failing to prevent an act of terrorism against the United States, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Well, if he cruised into that port ignoring all the warnings . . . oh, wait.

But there are questions why Lippold didn't know, before his refueling stop in Yemen, that two separate intelligence programs had found signs of a possible attack on U.S. interests in the Middle East in the days before the Cole bombing.

One of them, a secret Pentagon program now known as Able Danger, had identified Yemen as one of five "hot spots" of al-Qaida activity believed to be targeting U.S. interests. Two days before the Cole attack, Able Danger analysts briefed Gen. Peter Schoomaker, then head of U.S. Special Operations Command, on their findings.

Nothing about the briefing reached Lippold. Nor was he told that U.S. embassies in Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East had been closed for fear of violence.

How does the Commander of one of our ships in that area miss out on this kind of information?

How about a breakdown of communication, the kind that's bit us in the ass before?

Lippold's adherence to security procedures was questioned, but the report was dismissed by his entire chain of command, "finding that he could not prevent the bombing." Unfortunately, the taint still hangs on his career.

I can appreciate the idea of constant vigilance. If you're heading into a foreign port and you have your pipes exposed (so to speak), you probably have to keep an eye on the locals. But if Lippold had seen that briefing, it stands to reason that a routine refueling would have been treated as less of a routine.

What's the capper, though?

Meanwhile, promotions and honors have flowed to higher-echelon figures such as Gen. Peter Schoomaker, who did not act on the intelligence briefing he received two days before the Cole attack. Schoomaker has been promoted to Army chief of staff.

Scapegoating. What a lot of crap.

Hai-Poo

Yesterday, I decided to write a little poetry. Haiku, with one singular subject. I also encouraged my co-workers to contribute. You see, Creative Departments are composed mostly of people who, in some way, refuse to grow up. I myself may be on my fifth childhood by now. So here are my sophomoric verses in all their inglory:


my eyes, they water
love cannot support this pain
I curse cheap diapers


three o'clock, and haze
a noxious noose 'round our throats
Qdoba no more


Are you inspired? Drop one of your own.

Words a Copywriter Hates to Hear

"So what else you got?"

(That, in a nutshell, is how work is going.)

Zero hour is coming

Hang in there, Shannon.

Tax Day is only one day away.

Oh, crud. That means I should do my taxes before tomorrow, eh?

Roll Addition

I've added Dodger Blues.com thanks to my cousin Tim.

Tim lives in Claremont (a suburb of L.A.) and goes to as many games as possible. If anyone knows the scuttlebutt on Da Bums, it's him. So thank you, Timmy. The site is absolutely irresistible.

Be sure to skim the section called "Asshole of the Moment." It's great stuff . . . insightful and snarky.

How low can they go?

Nobody outside of Las Vegas has been watching this particular bit of homegrown nastiness, so I've sat back with my proverbial bowl of popcorn and watched the show, refusing to air it out so people in other cities can see how awful our local politicians really are.

After all, the kind of political corruption trial we got was the exact kind you'd expect: County Commissioners took bribes from a strip club owner in exchange for favorable votes.

When this first broke, I shrugged. The Commissioners that got tagged were absolutely no surprise. You'd heard, "under the radar" of course, of all types of shady dealings. So Federal charges were just the inevitable stop in their illustrious political careers.

Daily, as the trial wore on, I'd read the juicy headlines. My favorite so far was "Dario Never Paid," in reference to the comped drinks, lap dances and who knows what else he got on his frequent visits to Galardi clubs.

Until now. What I thought couldn't get any crappier just did.

PUBLIC CORRUPTION CASE: Galardi names more officials

Ex-strip club owner says former commissioner provided sex

Former strip club owner Michael Galardi rattled off a list of public officials Monday to whom he said he made cash payments and confirmed that he had several sexual encounters with former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny.

Galardi stunned the courtroom when he testified that Kenny performed oral sex on him about six times during the time she served on the County Commission and took cash bribes to lobby for legislation beneficial to his topless club empire.

"Oh, for heaven's sake," a woman in the federal courtroom audience muttered after Galardi's admission.

My sentiments exactly, lady. Ew. Just ew.

It's disgusting enough that Galardi shelled out hundreds of thousands of dollars to public officials (whether in cash bribes or "services rendered"). But this, somehow, made the whole horrid affair just a little shittier.

Just to let you know, Kenny is a government witness. She got in a room with the FBI and started singing.

But now, I'm thinking of a local political cartoon I saw when Erin Kenny's deal first made the papers. In it, she was seen in silhouette behind a glass "FBI" door. And she was on her knees.

I'm sure the artist knew even then what she was all about.

Nevada politics is a dirty little business, made even dirtier by those who have the cash and the power. When those who deal in vice are the ones lobbying the officials, it's only a matter of time before our public buildings become cesspools.

I'm not surprised. Not at all. But I do feel a little dirtier.

Ew. Just frickin' ew.

The Birthday was successful

I'm still alive.

This week, I'm home with the boy, who's on Spring Break.

But work is already calling, so I suppose I'm NOT on break.

Bleah.