Last weekend the organizers of the New York Comic-Con (that's comics convention to any non-geek readers) expected to see around 20,000 people over the three days of the convention. Publishers of both major comic companies, Marvel and DC were to be present, as well as a host of other artists and creators, a special screening of V for Vendetta and, if you looked around enough probably Kevin Smith. It was the first year for the NYCCon, and accordingly, the promoters had no real idea what to expect.

The first day went well, larger than expected crowds, some long lines, but really nothing out of the ordinary. Turn out was strong. Expectations were high for day two.

No matter how high those expectations were, they couldn't have expected the log jam that was to be Saturday. The exhibition floor was set to open at 11:00, and by 10:00, lines extended around the block. By 12:00 the hall, filled to capacity, was shut down by police. For a period of around five hours, floor admittance was on a 1:1 basis. One person leaves, one person gets in.

This caused some rancor among some ticket holders, who bought tickets prior to the event but were prevented from attending for most of the day on Saturday. There was anger. There was bitchy and anemic teeth gnashing. I'm sure the internet message boards were on fire with nasty comments aimed at convention organizers.

Geeks were not the only people barred from attending by police. Many vendors, retailers, professionals, and exhibitors were not allowed back on the floor, which only aggravated matters. People like the Wizard Magazine delegation, the Rolling Stone Magazine of the comics world, were unable to access the floor.

The scene was not much better for those who did get in. Normally orderly panel discussions, typically held in halls filled only to 70% or 80% of capacity were now standing room only. The overcrowding caused security to abandon book bag checks, banning them altogether. The floor was so crowded that many retailers were left unable to do business. It was overall badly planned, and collapsed into total anarchy.

GREG TOPALIAN, event organizer, said this:

“I tried to apologize to as many people as possible yesterday – I’m not running from the errors. It was more people than we ever expected, but at the same time, we should have expected more. It’s my fault. To have people pre-register and travel to the show and then not get in is unacceptable. I know the people who were turned away feel that way, and they should feel that way. There’s no way of talking around that, and I’m not going to put the blame on anything else. I don’t ever expect them to forgive me, I don’t ever expect them to be real New York Comic-Con fans, but I just feel that we have to try and do everything we can to make them feel better.”

It's like a geeky Woodstock, with more nose bleeds and less bad acid.

So yesterday was pretty depressing, what with harvested bodies and whatnot, so today, in an effort to lighten things up I bring you:

BASELESS LIBERAL SPECULATION

Todays rampant speculation involves a totally unproved but much assumed belief that Dick Cheney was drunk when he shot his friend a couple of weeks ago. According to somewhat unreliable sources, including an “anonymous secret service agent” who was “present at the scene” Cheney was, in fact, wasted.

“This was a South Texas hunt,” says one White House aide. “Of course there was drinking. There's always drinking. Lots of it.”

The report, which is HERE if you really want to look at it, goes on to say that,

Agents observed several members of the hunting party, including the Vice President, consuming alcohol before and during the hunting expedition, the report notes, and Cheney exhibited “visible signs” of impairment, including slurred speech and erratic actions.

So, is this true? No, probably not, I mean, the story comes from an outfit called, Capitol Hill Blue, which I have never heard of, and its sourcing is unclear. Am I going to BELIEVE it's true anyway? You bet.

Today in New York four men, including a dentist, were charged with illegally harvesting bones and organs from more than 1000 corpses.

The story can be found in its full form here:

Organs Harvested Like Out Of Some Bad Horror Movie

This is so bad that I must now just quote directly from the article :

The four defendants allegedly made millions of dollars selling unscreened body tissue taken from the bodies of people who never consented to be donors, including that of veteran BBC broadcaster Alistair Cooke.

At the same time, the accused would regularly toss gloves, aprons, and other evidence of their criminal handiwork into the bodies before sewing them back up, prosecutors said.

Horrific.

Donald Trump is MEAN. Martha Stewart must have touched a nerve, as he came out swinging in a letter to Martha, sent yesterday. Here is some of what it said.

“Your performance was terrible in that the show lacked mood, temperament and just about everything a show needs for success,” he wrote. “I knew it would fail as soon as I first saw it - and your low ratings bore me out.”

“Between your daughter, with her one-word statements, your letter writing and, most importantly, your totally unconvincing demeanor, it never had a chance - much as your daytime show is not exactly setting records,” he wrote.

“Essentially, you made this firing up just as you made up your sell order of ImClone,”

WOW. He went right for the jugular with the prison thing. Man. How will Martha respond? My guess: Poison Crumpet.

Bush's poll numbers have been in the crapper for a while now, and it looks like he is starting to see some of the results. His party, and really much of America, are not at all pleased about the pending deal to transfer management of US ports from a British company to one under control of the United Arab Emirates. Why are US ports not managed by, I don't know, say, the US? I don't know. What is clear is that Republicans, ARE NOT HAPPY. Bill Frist, Republican heavy hitter said,

“The decision to finalize this deal should be put on hold until the administration conducts a more extensive review of this matter,” Frist said in a statement. “If the administration cannot delay the process, I plan on introducing legislation to ensure that the deal is placed on hold.”

That's serious smack talk for a Senator. Also observe Speaker Dennis Hastert's biting comments.

“This proposal may require additional congressional action in order to ensure that we are protecting Americans at home.”

The Republican Speaker of the House? Accusing Bush of neglecting national security? Aww snap. It's Jerry Springer time.

Bush, never one to miss an opportunity to swagger, came out swinging saying today,

“It sends a terrible signal to friends around the world that it's OK for a company from one country to manage the port, but not a country that plays by the rules and has got a good track record from another part of the world. He went on to say that, “They ought to listen to what I have to say about this. They'll look at the facts and understand the consequences of what they're going to do. But if they pass a law, I'll deal with it with a veto.”

WHOO HOO.

Who will win? Congress? The president? Probably not the American people. Will a bouncer in a black tee-shirt have to break up a Hastert/Bush slap fight at the next state of the union address? I hope so.

As you may remember, last season saw two concurrent versions of the Apprentice on the NBC schedule. The standard, hosted by the baffling Donald Trump, was joined by a Martha Stewart version. Martha had just gotten out of jail and had decided to leap into the reality TV market. Rather than actually filming any chunk of her own, probably quite compelling life, she chose instead to take on a spin off of the Apprentice.

It of course failed.

Martha claims that the reason the show failed was not because of its tremendous lack of originality, but due to overkill. Apparently her's was to be the only version, the original plan being for her to fire Donald Trump on the first night of her show. Donald was resistant, so both shows went to air.

“Having two 'Apprentices' was as unfair to him as it was unfair to me,” she said. “But Donald really wanted to stay on.”

Donald, in a spirit of buisness-like civility, blew his stack. He denied everything she said, noting that he co-owns the show and said that he wishes she “would be able to take responsibility for her failure.”

Damn.

So what will come of this? Will this end here as many have speculated, two bitter media whores airing their dirty laundry in public? I don't think so. I believe that hot heads and mutually strong business acumen will prevail, resulting in a Pay-Per-View celebrity boxing match between the two of them. Vegas odds give the match to Trump, as he outweighs her by a good 100 pounds, but I have my money on Martha Stewart. She has reach, is probably lightning fast, and lets face it, has done time. She knows how to stand up for herself, having probably beaten discipline into more than one usurping cellmate with, for example, a folding chair. She would be most likely to fight dirty. I wouldn't put smuggling a razor blade into the ring, or kicking Trump in the privates in an early round past her, and anyway, I'll bet Trump has a glass jaw. I've got my money on the crown Queen of the doily mafia.

Want to see a picture of what the guy Cheney shot looks like? Then click on the hunter below. The picture's just a little too stark to put on the main page.

Check this story out from the Washington Post:

Sex Sting Tactics Condemned

The article says that:

I'm sure the police chief had to twist arms to get people to sign up for that assignment.

“Jones, I got an assignment for you, but you might have to screw a few prostitutes.”

“Awww chief…”

I always have a thought when I see someone like Dick 'America's Wackiest Hunter' Cheney say something like this:

.”It's nothing I can talk about,” Cheney said, “I may well be called as a witness at some point in the case and it's, therefore, inappropriate for me to comment on any facet of the case.”

In that quote he is refusing to comment on the whole, 'Scooter Libby was operating under Cheney's approval when he committed treason by blowing an undercover CIA agent's cover' thing. On the surface his statement seems to be true. Yes, it sort of would be inappropriate to comment on the ongoing case, maybe no more inappropriate than instructing a subordinate to carry out your illegal dirty work for you, but bad form regardless. The problem I have is that when I hear that kind of thing it sounds like a cop out, 'I'm guilty but I don't want to say so' sort of statement. It seems like that if he knew he was innocent it that he would have no problem saying so. It's just a gut reaction, but it seems right to me.

Oh, and he shot a guy in the face. I know it's been done to death, but I just can't help myself.

How would you like to get pulled over by the Incredible Hulk?

'Hulk' Star Joins L.A. Sheriff's Dept.