Cloudy and overcast this Wednesday morning here along California’s northern coast, just a swipe away from all the nefarious shenanigans occurring all over the freakin’ place.
Weather is not the absolute end being of life — then again….

In DC, there’s the end — most especially the offshoot of President Obama’s state-of-the-union speech last night, his fifth, and apparently the talk was about the same as the last four.
People will attempt to dodge the words, but the finish is not always the end.

(Illustration found here).

Beyond the political bullshit, big news here in California is the whip-lash off the shoot-out yesterday in Big Bear with supposed cop-killer Christopher Dorner — the cabin were he was reportedly held up was burned down and there’s a charred body inside — and they don’t really know if it’s Dorner.
The LA Times:

The last burst of gunfire Tuesday came after the suspect, attempting to flee law enforcement officials, shot to death one San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy and seriously injured another.
He then barricaded himself in a wooden cabin outside Big Bear, not far from ski resorts in the snow-capped San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles, according to police.
Just before 5 p.m., authorities smashed the cabin’s windows, pumped in tear gas and called for the suspect to surrender.
They got no response.
Then, using a demolition vehicle, they tore down the cabin’s walls one by one.
When they reached the last wall, they heard a gunshot.
Then the cabin burst into flames.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said he would not consider the manhunt over until a body was identified as Dorner.

The words, ‘heard a gunshot,’ tells the tale — suicide seems to be the net end to violent perpertrators nowadays.

Meanwhile, back in DC the talk was the speech. Obama outlined plans to put some more kindling under the tepid fire of the US economy, including a raise to the minimum wage to $9 an hour, maybe the GOP will find holes in that sucker, but the address could have been delivered on the stump anytime last summer.
Though, he did cut to the chase on climate change, saying, “If Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will…” but the words seemed hollow, and dangerous.

And there was the always present lot of clapping and non-clapping, depending on the political party — I couldn’t help but watch little Eddie Cantor’s continual response from down near the front (he’s such an Eddie Haskell), and carried that ridiculous, pious face Republicans are so fond of expressing most of the time. The SOTU itself, however, was fairly-plain and near-about ordinary.

A run-of-mill guy’s response after Obama’s speech (via Yahoo): Two phrases in President Obama’s State of the Union address jumped out at me — “brain mapping” and “clean energy.” These are phrases it is hard to imagine Mitt Romney having used if he had won the election.

On the GOP side, Marco Rubio led the response, but like all these addle-minded nit-twits, they don’t work well under pressure, which led to the long-standing Obama rebuttal curse (via Raw Story): “In the short time I’ve been here in Washington, nothing has frustrated me more than false choices like the ones the President laid out tonight,” Rubio said. He then reached for a water bottle and drank while staring at the camera, then continued. “The choice isn’t just between big government or big business.”
The gulp of water like a strangle in the throat of common sense — the guy’s an idiot,  just like whatshisname during the VP debate last fall.

Rand Paul gave the Tea Party response — being a hardcase political moron, Paul can’t remember where he was — from Yahoo: Despite being an elected member of the Senate, the junior senator from Kentucky at times spoke as though he were an outsider—even using the word “they” when referring to other members of the institution to which he belongs.

Ted Nugent was also on hand in the speech gallery — they will let anyone in there, I guess.
Via the LA Times:

Nugent has been an outspoken, often colorful, opponent of the Obama administration.
He was seated in a top row of the guest gallery, in a corner where he remained during the address.
“We’ve heard it all before,” he said. “You just can’t get more of a predictable, flowery script every time he speaks.”
Reporters stopped him in the halls to hear his review.
“My favorite part is what I couldn’t hear clearly,” he said. “I didn’t have to get angry.”
Nothing, it seemed, swayed his view: “The scam rages on.”

Yes, Mr. Ted, it sure does.