Infamous West Virginians - Senile Senators, Lawless Lottery Winners, and Scary Teachers

Well, at least Senator Byrd's appearance on Hannity & Colmes last night didn't make him look any more rambling and incoherent than usual. Except for maybe this:

COLMES: You quoted historian Alan Bullock who wrote about Hitler's dictatorship resting on the foundation of a single law, the enabling act. The Republicans kind of went crazy and said, oh, you compared Bush to Hitler, you compared him to the Nazis, you invoked Hitler on the floor of the Senate. What did they misunderstand about that?

BYRD: I invoked history. I was putting it as a historian. What is this all about? I pay no attention to the flies, the gnats, the little bug bites. I keep my eyes on the ball. This is about freedom of speech. Men have lived and died for and shed their blood for centuries for that right to speak, to speak out, to speak out against the king, as it were.

Flies, gnats, little bug bites? Uh, what?

And at the end of a discussion regarding his previous KKK membership (which turns out to be okay, because it was in 1872, or something) he said something very true:

I tell you frankly, I have done my best to do the right thing. The people of West Virginia know that. They know the history. And they put it aside. They continue to return me. I was wrong, as many young men are wrong today, even when they join groups. That's all in the past. (emphasis added)

Yes, we do continue to return him - even after he dies, I expect he'll continue to be elected and they'll prop him up on the floor of the Senate, like Weekend at Byrdie's or some such thing.

I thought the most striking thing about the interview was how freaking much the senator looks like Yoda. Seriously, is it just me?

I wish West Virginia would get some good publicity for a change. We have Jack Whittaker, who won a $314.9 million Powerball jackpot on Christmas Day 2002, and will not stop getting robbed, sued, arrested for DUI, re-arrested for DUI, etc.

Maybe he wouldn't have so many problems with theft if he'd stop carrying around over $100,000 in cash. And maybe he wouldn't have so many problems with chewing his food if he would invest in some teeth.

And then, of course, we have Toni Woods, the Braxton County teacher charged with being scarily inappropriate with some boys. That were on the middle school wrestling team. Of which she was the ASSISTANT COACH.

I just don't have room to say "WHY???" as many times as I feel is necessary. And notice that she's from "Strange Creek" which is pretty amusing.