Who's that lady?

The News Leader's Cory DeVera wrote a story in this morning's News-Leader: Seminars prepare public of the worst:

Dr. Howard Shayne of Fox Grape Family Dentistry told about 40 attendees at the dentistry seminar that he believes hard times are coming, perhaps through a natural disaster like Katrina, an earthquake or a flood, an economic collapse, a terrorist attack, a government breakdown and/or a takeover.

He offered a list of items to put in an emergency pack to prevent dental problems and minimize pain or inflammation in the event of a toothache.

The list included: a tooth brush, tooth paste (optional), dental floss, rounded toothpicks, mouthwash, rubbing alcohol to sterilize, cold and hot packs, dental wax that can be used to temporarily fill in a cavity, tooth paste for sensitive teeth, ibuprofen and/or aspirin, Kank-A for mouth sores, vaseline; and a tea bag, which can be placed on a cut lip to help stop bleeding.

But what if you can't get to a dentist?

"If things go to heck in a handbasket, and there is no dentist, then things are going to change," said Shayne. "Things are going to have to be done we probably can't anticipate."

Besides an array of seminars, attendees could visit with a variety of vendors hawking everything from the "Black Ops School of Combat" training courses, courses on conducting legal research from the Erwin Rommel School of Law, custom water-treatment systems, television antenna, gardening equipment and lab tests.

Bring a toothbrush and perhaps a change of underwear.

Several frequent bus riders alerted the driver to the comments on this article, especially this one from KountryKathi, which she posted at 9:50 AM on May 15, 2011:

I went to this on Saturday and was disappointed to say the least. The flyers I saw had all sorts of things that were to be covered and many weren't. The booths had some educational info, but most all were selling their wares. This is fine, but there was no info on how to do it yourself and for less cost than say buying freeze dried food. I asked one person if their filters were interchangeable with another company's set up and she didn't know. Most, but not all, of the seminars were put on by people that were also selling something. The dental one was one that wasn't selling anything, but I didn't wait around 2 hrs to see it either. I think it took us 2 hrs to see everything and we didn't rush thru and did ask questions.

On a more positive note, ABC books was there and they carry a lot of books that would help a person be more prepared and self sufficient. There was a booth that was selling Geiger counters and he was actually explaining how any radiation from the nuclear mishaps in Japan are VERY unlikely to cause harm here in the USA.

There was a couple of booths that dealt with what I would call conspiracy theories, but I am sure others consider them the gospel truth.

I would love to see more how to do it yourself information. For example, canning and dehydrating food, how to shelter in place, bug out bags and what sort of disasters we in the Ozarks can expect. There is another one planned for this fall, so we will see.

As to the Tea Party, they had a gal at a booth and the gentleman friend I was with described her as looking like a hooker. Why?? platform heels, skin tight short dress that shower her obviously enhanced boosom and appeared to have had as much facial plastic surgery and botox as Joan Rivers, lolol. Add to that the white cowboy hat with the big feather enhancement, well, you get the picture. If that is how they want people to see them, it is their choice.(emphasis added)

Could this be the gal KountryKathi is describing? Can't tell for sure, her face is obscured. Say, is that Senator Roy Blunt serenading her?



Maybe it's a photo of Sarah Palin, she wears leather a lot. But I've never seen a photo of Sarah in a cowboy. Seen Reagan in one, seen Obama in one, but never seen Palin in one, almost seen it once, but not never.

Naw, that ain't a photo of Sarah Palin. This is a photo of Sarah Palin:

HEY! Who's that lady with Sarah? Is that our Tea Party Gal? Let's take a closer look. That's definitely a white cowboy hat.

Can we a close-up?
In God We Trust! It is her! It's got to be her. This has got to be the gal manning (no pun intended) the Tea Party Booth at the doomsday festival!

And that is why the Tea Party will never be a real political force in MO 7.

A Dairy Queen Blizzard to whomever can identify the gal!

xxxx

This post deals with screen captures of various twitter accounts. Click on the images for a larger view.

Both the Huffington Post and Politico have picked up on Billy Long's tweets from yesterday..... the ones he didn't delete that is.

From The Huffington Post:

So as Navy SEALs hunted down one of the greatest threats to America's security in a highly dangerous undercover operation, what was Leon Panetta thinking about? "On Monday, Panetta fielded questions from 25 congressional freshmen during a long-planned and, as it turned out, well-timed tour of CIA headquarters. Rep. Billy Long tweeted from the tour, "Panetta 'watching it unfold live I thought- this is like watching a Harrison Ford Movie' when asked who should play him- he said 'Al Pacino.''" Robert Gates' uncanny resemblance to Ruby Dee really is an asset right now. [Politico's Karin Tanabe]

From Politico:

Movies will certainly be made about the death of Osama bin Laden and the CIA-led operation that killed him.

When that happens, CIA Director Leon Panetta suggests that Al Pacino play him.

On Monday, Panetta fielded questions from 25 congressional freshmen during a long-planned and, as it turned out, well-timed tour of CIA headquarters.

Rep. Billy Long tweeted from the tour,

Long tweeted that the tour was arranged “some time ago,” adding “what a day to tour CIA Headquarters and have a Q & A with Director Leon Panetta- incredible- riveting recap of events.”

The Missouri congressman said the details of “how everything unfolded” were “incredible” and “remarkable.”

“What planning, preparation and execution,” he tweeted.

At 9:40 PM, May 1, JamesMNHarris retweeted a tweet from a BenjaminHackett, which Billy Long, tweeting under the pseudonym of "Auctnr1" retweeted: RT JamesMNHarris RT @benjaminHackett House Intelligence committee aide confirms that #Osama Bin Laden is DEAD. US has the body.(click on image for larger view.)

Twenty minutes later, at 10:00 PM, Auctnr1 made the following tweet (referencing the previously scheduled tour of CIA headquarters for twenty-five freshman reps):

We're scheduled to tour the CIA tomorrow and hear remarks from Leon Panetta. Wonder if plans will change or we'll hear Panetta's the best ever!

Several members of new media in Southwest Missouri picked up on that tweet. Randy Turner was the first one to notice it. He was also the first to notice that Long had deleted the tweet

Seventh District Congressman Billy Long rapidly deleted a sarcastic tweet about he expected to hear tomorrow about how great CIA director and soon-to-be Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is.

The tweet, of course, was made before the news that a CIA-led operation resulted in the death of terrorist Osama bin Laden.

Long must have realized that his tweet was in poor taste, even for him and deleted it.

Fortunately for those who are not into revisionist history, Long's tweets and re-tweets were captured through an iPhone app. This was not Billy's first rodeo.Billy Long in Neosho with his ever-ready iPhone

The next morning, Long tweets about his tour of CIA Headquarters in Langley with quite a different attitude from the previous night:These are the tweets the DC new media picked up on:

Timing is everything--what a day to tour CIA Headquarters and have a Q & A with Director Leon Panetta- incredible- riveting recap of events.

Then this one (I almost wish Long was have used the phrase "Penatta's the best ever" in this tweet):

Director Panetta was rightfully proud of our incredible Men & Women in the Military& Intel Communities.

And finally this one:

“Panetta 'watching it unfold live I thought- this is like watching a Harrison Ford Movie' when asked who should play him- he said 'Al Pacino.’”

Ok, picture this: CIA HQ on the day after the President announced to the US and the world (ok so Billy announced it first on Twitter)that Osama Bin Laden had been killed in daring raid on his compound in Abbottabad.

I can just imagine Director Panetta describing the events that lead up to the raid, the intelligence gathering, the planning, the discussions with the President, the final go-ahead and, when the mission was underway, the atmosphere in the White House Situation Room.*
Perhaps sensing that he was loosing some of the members of the tour with the details, I can imagine Director Panetta saying, to describe the night in a framework that even Billy could understand, that it was 'watching it unfold live I thought- this is like watching a Harrison Ford Movie'.
Then I can imagine Panetta opening up the floor for questions. Questions all of us would have wanted to ask: How long was this planned? How did you find where Bin Laden was living? What happened to his body? All questions pertaining to the mission.

Then, a member of the tour asks, "Who will play you in the movie?"

I just hope it wasn't Ozark Billy who asked that question.

But then again, I maybe hope it was so the rest of the twitter universe can see what a lot of us down here in MO 7 see: the man is out of his league.Billy Long with his ever-ready iPhone.

While I was gathering information and screen shots for this post, I went back to Long's Twitter account and Harris's twitter account to nail down the times the tweets came across.

Not only was Long's sarcastic tweet about Panetta deleted, but Long also deleted his retweet of JamesMNHarris announcing the death and capture of Bin Laden's body:

The tweet is here:


Later, the tweet is gone-- it was between the tweet about Geraldo and Greenwood:


Remember, Billy Long retweeted Harris' tweet at 9:40PM, but when I went to Harris' tweets, I can't find it.

I have deleted some of my tweets before, usually for grammar corrections or because I couldn't nail down the facts. But Long, while known for smack talking and code-talking, also tweets some pretty outlandish stuff.

No, don't get me wrong, he did the right thing by deleting them. He screwed up by posting them in the first place. I expect more from a member of congress and a member who secured an appointment to the Homeland Security Committee.



I guess to some in D.C., Billy seems amusing, but that dog don't hunt too much down here.Can Billy Long be trusted with state secrets? Does he need his iPhone taken away from him? Do we want to trust Billy with state secrets?

*President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1, 2011. Seated, from left, are: Brigadier General Marshall B. “Brad” Webb, Assistant Commanding General, Joint Special Operations Command; Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough; Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Standing, from left, are: Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; National Security Advisor Tom Donilon; Chief of Staff Bill Daley; Tony Binken, National Security Advisor to the Vice President; Audrey Tomason Director for Counterterrorism; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism; and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Please note: a classified document seen in this photograph has been obscured. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

(By the way JamesMNHarris, reading your tweets... what kind of vehicle do you drive? I have spent over $125 to fill the tank on my Chevy Suburban, but it's got a 454 motor and I haul our Airstream with it. For my daily driver I drive a 10 year old 4 cylinder 5 speed S-10 that gets about 25 mpg. Maybe you ought to think about getting a car that gets better gas mileage?)

"It's like a big block of cheese, see."

John Stone, one of the first Springfield bloggers I met in person,

wrote a blog he called "The Curbstone Critic" which is still out there in cyberspace.

I have good memories of sitting in the Patton Alley Pub sharing simple thoughts with John, the Snarling Marmot, Fat Jack, Rhetorica, Desdinova and The Complex Mind.

My brother John, in addition to his blog, "By The Numbers" (linked on my link list on the sidebar) and "Hooniverse", has starting posting on "Curbstone Classics". His first post is about this wonderful1972 Oldsmobile 98 Hardtop Coupe. Yeah!

Anyhow, I lost the link to John's post about the big black 98 (I'm partial to those early 70s big GMs-- Dad had a Buick Electra Duece and a Quarter (225) that was bigger than most living rooms I've been in) and, in searching for it, I came across John's blog again. Yeah, it's still out there.

He was a jet fighter pilot, he had strong opinions about dang near everything, took great photographs and died in the downtown bus transfer station taking photographs-- like this picture of Jesus in a tree. The tree didn't make it through the 2007 ice storm... John writes, "Sadly -- now Jesus lies on the ground cut by a chain saw into about ten pieces.... Even more gruesome than the cross.... SGF fundamentalists must have watched the Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

So, on a whim, I did a search of John's blog for any mention of Billy Long. Remember, John died of a heart attack in 2007, so anything he wrote about Billy Long pre-dates Long's foray into politics.

What did The Curbstone Critic have to say about Billy Long? Lots!

October 5, 2004: "Billy Long, a local businessman, who is willing to put his livlihood on the line to be a whore for any freep idea that comes down the line on his radio program on radio KWTO."

February 22, 2005: "Billy Long, a local used car salesman, and peddler of anything and everything, and a good Repug, said something that makes my IQ of 64 look like Einstein."

April 8, 2005: "But we can hold Billy personally responsible for what HE does, can't we? It's the old crazy right-wing idea of taking personal responsibility."

August 2, 2005: "Billy Long fitting in 18 commercials in a 30 minute period and Bonnie Bell doing some sort of Valley Girl talk imitation. So incessantly in-your-face right wing that Bill O'Reilly got an amplifier for his butt plug to drown out the noise."

September 14, 2005: "Billy Long got up early this morning to memorize the latest "talking points" memo for right-wing radio. Unfortunately, he actually believed it, since he didn't bother doing any checking of his own."








John thought Billy Long "half the time (he) doesn't have any idea of what he is talking about. And his only real interest in life is to sell me something."

Yep, I can just imagine what fun The Curbstone Critic would have with Billy Long.

Among the posts mentioning Long was this one, written on the occasion of comments made by Billy Long on his KWTO Morning Line Show on the occasion of the funeral of Coretta Scott King that John titled The Vile State of Local Radio:

Thursday, February 09, 2006
The Vile State of Local Radio
I kinda' like local radio salesman Billy Long. I understand that half the time he doesn't have any idea of what he is talking about. And his only real interest in life is to sell me something. But that doesn't bother me since I can always laugh at him, note I said AT HIM, not WITH HIM.

But he has a bad habit of collecting talking points from KKKarl Rove every morning and then mindlessly repeating them, as he did this morning. By slimeing the funeral of Coretta Scott King. He didn't like it -- said it was too political -- I choked on my oatmeal. That's the same way they threw slime all over Paul Wellstone after practically his entire family was wiped out. And by the way, Billy, who the hell asked for your opinion on this woman's funeral anyway. Who in the world gives a flying fuck at a rolling donut hole what the hell you think about it? When you are dead and gone ... no one will care. Her name will be remembered for hundreds of years.

When you think about it what is the difference between Billy slimeing the funeral of Coretta Scott King, who he didn't know, and the Rev. Fred Phelps, of the Westboro Baptist Church slimeing the funerals of soldiers that he didn't know either?

Billy Long is a vile racist ... but he would deny it ... which only shows how badly out of touch he really is ... perhaps if he had black neighbors, or lived in New Orleans, or was poor, or had the man on his back all day, he would be a little more gracious to those who are less fortunate than he is. But I doubt it. Coming from an area that ran the blacks out years ago.

So I dedicate this song, sung by the Pigman on Billy's radio station, hisself as an inspiration to Billy Long.

But I don't expect him to get the message.

posted by John Stone at 2:29 AM 0 comments links to this post

From Bob McCarty Writes, "Was Poker-Playing Congressman Bluffing?" 03.31.2011:http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Almost five months after Billy Long won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in Missouri’s 7th Congressional District, some people are wondering whether the words used on the campaign trail by the auctioneer and real estate industry mogul-turned-politician were serious or just a World Poker Tour-style bluff for votes.

First, some background.

On Nov. 9, 2009, then-candidate Long sat down for a short interview (see video below) with Josh Marsh, Morning News Watch host on KZRG radio in Joplin, Mo.

During the interview, he spoke about the hardships and sacrifices he was willing to make if voters in southwest Missouri elected him to Congress:

“You have to sell your business. If you have a fiduciary business, you have to sell that, so I’ve gotta walk away from a business I built up for 30 years. Who’s gonna buy it without me there? Answer: Nobody. Whoever I sell it to has to take my name off of it. Now, what’s it worth? Absolutely nothing.

“I own a third interest in the largest real estate company in Springfield; I have to sell that. Do you want to buy a real estate company today? You know, they’re not worth anything, and I have to give up my real estate broker’s license.”

One of those people interested in comparing Long’s rhetoric to reality is Clay Bowler, the conservative Missouri blogger who became the victim of a witch hunt after a complaint by the recently-elected congressman prompted FBI agents to visit him at his Ozark, Mo., home. Five days ago, he reported there was no record yet of Billy Long selling auction house to meet House rules and campaign promise.

The other person is yours truly.

After reading Bowler’s aforementioned post Wednesday, I decided to ask Congressman Long whether or not he had, indeed, sold his auction and real estate businesses.

In a fax sent to his office early Wednesday afternoon, I asked him the following questions:

1. Please name and briefly describe the “fiduciary businesses” in which you hold a sole or part ownership interest.

2. Have you put any of your fiduciary businesses up for sale? If yes, which ones? If not, why not?

3. Have any of your fiduciary businesses been sold? If so, which ones? If not, why not?

Note: I should have asked him if he gave up his real estate license as well, but, alas, I overlooked that.

More than 24 hours after submitting my questions to the congressman’s Washington, D.C., office, I have received NOTHING — not even an acknowledgment of receiving my inquiry — in the way of a response; therefore, I suspect I will have to wait until mid-June to find out. That’s when federal lawmakers’ annual personal financial disclosure reports become public.

UPDATE 4/14/11 at 11:49 a.m. Central: Two weeks have passed since I asked Billy Long to answer questions about his business enterprises, but the freshman congressman has chosen not to reply to my question. Even this morning, his media flak, Bret Funk, blew me off, saying, “Apologies Bob, we are initially focusing on our district press for media requests. Please keep us in mind in the future.” As the video below shows, he is too busy to take questions.

Stay tuned!

This morning, from The Hill.com, comes this story about our Congressman Billy Long and his auctioneering debut on C-SPAN yesterday: Rep. Billy Long shows off his skills:

How long would it take to auction off the nation’s $15 trillion debt? Presuming you had a buyer, the answer is about 20 seconds.

This news comes by way of former professional auctioneer and freshman Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.), who took to the House floor on Wednesday and rolled his tongue at lightning speed, leading an imaginary bidding war up from $3 trillion to the actual debt of $14 trillion.

“The way our debt is, [Rep.] Jeff Duncan [R-S.C.] and I are some of the few people who can actually keep up with the numbers,” Long said.

Long still owns Billy Long Auctions LLC, which auctions a variety of items. Long’s fellow freshman Duncan specialized in real estate auctions.

But no matter, because when Long began “auctioning” the national debt, it was all a blur.

“Do I see 7, 7, 7 trillion? Eight! Eight trillion, 8 trillion. Wamana wamana 9!” he warbled at warp speed.

This went on all the way up to 14 trillion, and when there were no “takers” for the “15,” Long pronounced “Fifteen? Fifteen? No? Sold! At 14 trillion.”

Red in the face from his performance, Long then explained that the good news is that all those numbers could also be said backwards, and he volunteered for the challenge.

“When we get the spending under control here, I’ll be back.”

ITK is very much looking forward to hearing Long do the auction in reverse.

rm2804