Another gorgeous early morning up here on California’s northern coast with stars glittering the sky and the waning moon still pulsating with light — supposed to be another warm day, the high expected to be ’72,’ which for us is like 102 elsewhere.

Across the spectrum, though, life is a bitch, or whatever.
President Obama rehearsing for Wednesday night’s debate with Mitt Romney: “We had a great prep, and it was a lot of fun,” he told Stinger (Las Vegas campaign worker, Andrea Stinger). “It’s very nice. Although basically they’re keeping me indoors all the time. It’s a drag. They’re making me do my homework.”
Yeah, just a kind of a drag.

(Illustration found here).

Romney, meanwhile, has lowered the bar: “People want to know who’s going to win, who’s going to score the punches, and who’s going to make the biggest difference in the arguments they make,” Romney told supporters at a rally inside a local air and space museum here. “There’s going to be all the scoring of winning and losing and, you know, in my view, it’s not so much winning and losing or even the people themselves, the president and myself, it’s about something bigger than that.”
Bigger than what?
Trees?
Paul Ryan’s nose?
Whatever.

And a much, much bigger pile of drag bullshit is this:

Two days after the U.S. military resumed joint operations with Afghan security forces last week following a spate of “insider attacks,” a platoon of American soldiers stopped at an Afghan army checkpoint in a volatile eastern province.
The Americans had a cordial conversation and cracked a few jokes with their Afghan comrades during the Saturday afternoon patrol in Wardak province.
The Afghans offered the Americans tea.
Then, according to a U.S. military official, an Afghan soldier, without warning or provocation, raised his weapon and opened fire — mortally wounding the senior American on the patrol.

And a drag statement full of irony and about a decade too late:

In unusually poignant remarks, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said over the weekend that he was “mad as hell” about insider attacks.
“We’re willing to sacrifice a lot for this campaign,” Gen. John Allen said in an interview with “60 Minutes” that was broadcast Sunday.
“But we’re not willing to be murdered for it.”

This, too, will be a drag, a heavy-handed one on my wallet — from the Christian Science Monitor:

Bad, real bad, if Congress and the White House can’t reach a compromise on the “fiscal cliff” — the enormous suite of fiscal laws that are set to expire or take effect at the end of the year, and that include the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts as well as other tax credits.
…
On Monday, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center issued a report that finds that Americans will pay an additional $536 billion in taxes next year if there is no compromise. That works out, on average, to about $3,500 per household.
“That frankly is a lot of money,” said Donald Marron, the director of the TPC, which is a joint venture between the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution.
According to the report — introduced at a press conference on Monday — almost no one will be spared.
About 88 percent of all households will see their taxes rise.
Middle-income households will see an average increase of about $2,000.
Low-income households will see an average increase of $412, and upper-income people will pay an additional $14,173 on average.

Yes, frankly, that’s a whole lotta bullshit — these politicians work like crazy to get elected, but once in office are not worth a flying f*ck.

Speaking of flying — a drag being beaten up by a little kid:

A Queens teacher/former 220-pound college football player was so humiliated when he supposedly got beat up by a 50-pound 6-year-old that he had to see a psychiatrist to get over the emotional trauma.
He’s also suing the city — and telling the media all about it.
John Webster, a 27-year-old gym teacher at PS 330, claims 6-year-old Rodrigo Carpio threw a temper tantrum earlier this year, during which he kicked and bit the former Morrisville State College tailback, causing a broken ankle, an injured knee and “emotional distress.”

I’d keep that shit quiet, wouldn’t you?

And this has to be a drag for Ahmad-a-nad-a-puta-jab:

A cameraman who accompanied Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to New York for the U.N. General Assembly has applied for asylum in the United States, and “he’s afraid to return to Iran,” his attorney said Monday.
New York City-based lawyer Paul O’Dwyer, who said he is working with U.S. authorities on behalf of Hassan Golkanbhan, said his client is afraid of persecution because of his perceived political beliefs.
“He’s perceived as not being a supporter, or being an opponent of the Iranian regime,” O’Dwyer said.
“Somebody who has betrayed the regime and who can no longer be trusted by them.”

Once you see the Bright Lights, Big City, a drag to go home to a beheading.

Finally, and well beyond a literal drag for one “good-hearted guy” — from the UK’s Guardian:

Oregon authorities are investigating how a farmer was eaten by his pigs.
Terry Vance Garner, 69, never returned after he set out to feed his animals last Wednesday on his farm near the Oregon coast, the Coos county district attorney said on Monday.
A family member found Garner’s dentures and pieces of his body in the pig enclosure several hours later, but most of his remains had been consumed, the district attorney, Paul Frasier, said.
Several of the pigs weighed 320kg (700lb) or more.
It is possible Garner had a medical emergency, such as a heart attack, or was knocked over by the animals, then killed and eaten, Frasier said, adding that at least one pig had previously bitten Garner.
The possibility of foul play is being investigated as well.
“For all we know, it was a horrific accident, but it’s so doggone weird that we have to look at all possibilities,” Frasier told the Register-Guard newspaper.
A pathologist was unable to identify a cause or manner of death, the newspaper reported.
The remains will be examined by a forensic anthropologist at the University of Oregon.

Bacon shortage?

Now I’m being an asshole drag.