Was the mayor really raking leaves?

WEEKEND LEFTOVERS:

What? A whole week end passed and nobody called 911 to report that Mayor Plusquellic was seen in Halloween costume blowing leaves into his neighbor's yard?

The November issue of Harper's Index reports that the volume of the average human brain has shrunk 10 pct. over the past 10,000 years, which only partly explains Glenn Beck.

Connecticut Sen. Zelig (a.k.a. Joe Lieberman) is telling his critics that his waffling is really his effort to "do what's best for America." What would be best in his case is simply to get an offshore pizza route.

Since the National Football League has always been committed to parity among the teams, might it not consider giving the Browns 10 downs for each series - or, one per yard. It's a start.

A months-long study by McClatchy Newspapers revealed that Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street giant, quietly believed the housing market would crash as it was selling $40 billion in securities based on 200,00o risky mortgage loans. The scam has produced soaring profits ($50 billion plus in 2009, $20 billion in year-end bonuses) for the firm while its clients lost hundreds of millions of dollars and left countless homeless. It recalls the words of mobster Carmine Sabatini in The Freshman when he was questioned about his financial shell game:

"This is an ugly word - this scam. This is business. If you want to be in business, this is what you do."

The NFL may call offsides on Rush

MIDWEEK MADNESS:

THE RESPONSE to Rush Limbaugh's bid to become a co-owner of the NFL's pathetic St. Louis Rams has been largely negative so far. Surprise, surprise. The owner of the Baltimore Colts says he doesn't want to play this hand. The NFL's Players Association as well as Commissioner Roger Goodell believe the potential arrival of race-baiting Limbaugh into the muscular world of pro football would hardly be a salutary presence in a league where three-fourths of the players are African-Americans.

Race-baiting? He lost his job an ESPN's Sunday night football after he accused sportswriters of being uncritical of the Philadelphia Eagles' Donovan McNabb because they cozy up to black quarterbacks. He also likened pro football to a contest between "Bloods and Crips," notorious street gangs, without guns. It's even been more obvious since Barack Obama became president. Limbaugh now projects a vision of ObamaWorld, as he calls it, to a daily routine of violent black kids beating up white kids. As he runs into the negatives of his latest dream, Limbaugh should be reminded of the words from Jeremiah: "As ye sow, so shall ye reap". I'm a long way from being a Biblical scholar, but somehow those words ring true to me.

Why am I so amused by the chutzpah of adulterous, sin-hating guys like Republican Sen. John Ensign who are now out to save the Republic from the monstrous fate of a health reform bill? Ensign is the Nevada once-religiously clean political star who paid off his mistress's husband (his former chief of staff) with $97,000 in "gifts" after it was discovered that he had been enjoying a jolly good time in bed with the chief's wife for months. Now that the transaction is complete, an apparently unrepentant and rehabbed Ensign is back on TV hammering the health bill. Can anybody tell me why we should believe him? (By the way, Ensign's lawyer says the gifts were legal because they were within the limits of tax rules. Problem solved.)

Blame me for being a broken record but I admit that the Orly Taitz saga is so fascinating that I can't walk away from it. The latest twist for this Queen of the Birthers is that she says she will refuse to pay a $20,000 fine by a Federal judge who accused her of misbehavior in her many lawsuits challenging President Obama's birthplace. She described Judge Clay Land to TV's Joy Behar as "corrupt and delusional." When a reporter asked her about whether she intended to pay up, she responded:. "You must be kidding."

Careful there, Orly. I've never known judges to kid around in their decisions. In your own deluded trot, you may have taken a step over the cliff.

UPDATE: Rush has been cut from the practice squad by a team of bidders for the Rams. They concluded that he would only "complicate" the deal to buy the team. He's said to be angrier than hell, and you can expect a torrent of invective from him on this issue. He'll have to settle for a seat in the end zone. Maybe he will organize his own league with only white players from Alaska and his idol Sarah regressing to her days as a cheerleader.