Sen. Barack Obama is leaving Trinity United Church of Christ, his longtime religious home in Chicago and a place that has triggered repeated controversies during his presidential bid.Just 20 years to late. More after the jump...
Obama and his supporters "piss" on the memorial for fallen Police Officers in Portland.
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Portland police officers have asked for an apology after they said organizers of a Barack Obama rally set up Porta-Potties on a memorial honoring fallen officers.Video More after the jump...
Earlier this month, 75,000 people gathered in Waterfront Park in downtown Portland to hear Obama speak at a pre-primary rally.
WASHINGTON — After word spread that Prince covered Radiohead's "Creep" at Coachella, the tens of thousands who couldn't be there ran to YouTube for a peek. Everyone was quickly denied _ even Radiohead.More after the jump...
All videos of Prince's unique rendition of Radiohead's early hit were quickly taken down, leaving only a message that his label, NPG Records, had removed the clips, claiming a copyright violation. But the posted videos were shot by fans and, obviously, the song isn't Prince's.
Mischa from The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler has PC Magazine’s 2007 editors’ choice for best webmail-award-winning letter.
It is from an Austin, TX woman to Proctor and Gamble, discussing their "feminine products". Here's just a little sample:Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? Ever suffered from the curse’? I’m guessing you haven’t. Well, my time of the month is starting right now. As I type, I can already feel hormonal forces violently surging through my body. Just a few minutes from now, my body will adjust and I’ll be transformed into what my husband likes to call ‘an inbred hillbilly with knife skills.’ Isn’t the human body amazing?
As Brand Manager in the Feminine-Hygiene Division, you’ve no doubt seen quite a bit of research on what exactly happens during your customer’s monthly visits from ‘Aunt Flo’. Therefore, you must know about the bloating, puffiness, and cramping we endure, and about our intense mood swings, crying jags, and out-of-control behavior. You surely realize it’s a tough time for most women. In fact, only last week, my friend Jennifer fought the violent urge to shove her boyfriend’s testicles into a George Foreman Grill just because he told her he thought Grey’s Anatomy was written by drunken chimps.Crazy!
Go read the whole thing - While it is very funny, it will also ring true to every woman reading it - and serve as a warning to every man who underestimates the power of the mighty monthly hormonal cycle. (Hi honey - why yes it IS that time - why do you ask?)
Is there anything more American than donuts and coffee? Yes - Rachael fuckin' Ray for chrissake. Does Michelle Malkin SERIOUSLY believe that either Dunkin' Donuts or Rachael are secretly supporting terrorists?Does Dunkin’ Donuts really think its customers could mistake Rachael Ray for a terrorist sympathizer? The Canton-based company has abruptly canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men.
Some observers, including ultra-conservative Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin, were so incensed by the ad that there was even talk of a Dunkin’ Donuts boycott.
Seriously Michelle? Seriously?!?
I'm going out to buy that fucking scarf now just because this kind of ridiculous overreactive stupidity has to got to stop.
Students Told Attendance At Religious Ceremony Was Mandatory
LAS VEGAS, N.M. -- The Public Education Department and the American Civil Liberties Union are looking into a religious ceremony before graduation at Robertson High School.It hurt me reading "The ACLU is looking into it." but I am assuming Richard Lopez missed the class on the First Amendment when he went for his teaching license. More after the jump...
Students were told in three notices that attendance at the May 19 baccalaureate at Immaculate Conception Church in Las Vegas was mandatory.
Robertson principal Richard Lopez said going to baccalaureate was optional despite the notices.
He said students could opt out by talking to him.
However, the Las Vegas Optic said Lopez didn't respond to questions about how students would know they could opt out and why attendance was listed as mandatory.
Public Education Department spokeswoman Beverly Friedman said student attendance at religious ceremonies is not mandatory.
She said the state is investigating.
The ACLU also is looking into the issue.
Bwahhhaaa!
I use OOL here in NY but I have heard endless problems with "Comcrap" mostly their use of throttling uploads and slowing Bittorent traffic on their network to a crawl.
Comcrap customers who tried to access comcast's web portal were met with this.
Cnet is reporting
The hackers apparently changed Comcast's registrar account at Network Solutions, which altered the DNS servers that were used to direct Comcast.net requests. In other words, the hackers essentially redirected traffic destined for the URL Comcast.net. Instead, the traffic went to IP addresses in Germany and elsewhere.Cardinal rule number one, never mess with a geek and his access to internet porn.
More after the jump...
Ok, so he didn't say most of these things... but you know he would have if given the chance.
* "Bush doesn't care about China because it's full of black people."More after the jump...
* "We don't have to worry about the cost of my federal programs because at my last visit to Long John Silver's I got a map to pirate treasure."
* "I'm running for mayor of the U.S.!"
* "Countries in the Middle East don't like the Jews since they took for themselves the largest country."
* "My favorite type of pie is devil's food."
* "My grandfather was a ninja turtle."
* "My middle name will help me in foreign affairs because it will make other countries think I have a bushy mustache."
* "Ow! Fire hot!"
* "I do."
He delivered a Memorial Day speech in New Mexico. After greeting the local Democratic Party dignitaries, he began:
On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today -- our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.
More after the jump...
FREEBIRD!!... Play it pretty for Atlanta.
Obama welcomes the crowd in "Sunshine" Florida, not "Sunrise" where they are really from.
Sunshine must be one of the imaginary states Obama believes to exist.
It sounds crazy at first. Amid dire reports about the toxic political environment for Republican candidates and the challenges facing John McCain, many top GOP strategists believe he can defeat Barack Obama — and by a margin exceeding President Bush’s Electoral College victory in 2004.More at Politico More after the jump...
At first blush, McCain’s recent rough patch and the considerable financial disadvantage confronting him make such predictions seem absurd. Indeed, as Republicans experience their worst days since Watergate, those same GOP strategists are reticent to publicly tout the prospect of a sizable McCain victory for fear of looking foolish.
But the contours of the electoral map, combined with McCain’s unique strengths and the nature of Obama’s possible vulnerabilities, have led to a cautious and muted optimism that McCain could actually surpass Bush’s 35-electoral-vote victory in 2004. Though they expect he would finish far closer to Obama in the popular vote, the thinking is that he could win by as many 50 electoral votes.
Coming home from work today, this was the scene on my corner.
From various accounts two canadians from the local High School (One was 21) ,who the hell still goes to High School at 21? Got into some sort of skirmish and both pulled out knives, stabbing each other.
The 21 year old died at the scene the other one was taken to the local hospital, and if that hospital is Victory Memorial, they will probably kill him by accident.
So then it would be a win, win for everyone in the neighborhood
Garth Brooks - "I got friends in low places"
Listen Here.
This is purely speculative, figuring out who John McCain is going to select as a vice president this early in the game is very difficult.
Charlie Crist: Odds 10-1
Positives - Popular Florida Governor, Will keep the sunshine state red in what expects to be a close election.
Negatives - Outside of Florida no one really knows who he is.
Lindsey Graham: Odds 15-1
Positives - Very close ally to McCain, Military background.
Negatives - A loss of a very important senate seat, not popular amongst the more conservative Republicans.
Mike Huckabee: Odds 2-1
Positives - Charismatic, does well reaching out to the middle class and Regan Democrats.
Negatives - Suffers from foot in the mouth disease.
Joe Lieberman: Odds 30-1
Positives - Would create a super uber-ticket, strong on national security, would steal traditional Democratic Jewish voters away from Obama, because of Obama's stance on negotiating with terrorists and terrorists organizations.
Negatives - Outside of national security he is fairly liberal, and would disenfranchise even further conservatives that dislike McCain.
Tim Pawlenty: Odds 10-1
Positives - Would put Minnesota in play, and could turn it red, social conservative.
Negatives - Again, like the Florida Governor, Pawlenty is an unknown outside his home state.
Rob Portman: Odds 25-1
Positives - Strong economics background, Former Ohio congressman could keep Ohio Red.
Negatives - Close ties to the Bush administration
Condi Rice: Odds 15-1
Positives - Foreign experience, could appeal to women and minorities.
Negatives - Secretary of State under the Bush administration, never held public office.
Tom Ridge: Odds 5-1
Positives - Former Governor of Pennsylvania, well liked amongst conservatives.
Negatives - First Homeland Security Secretary under Bush.
Mitt Romney: Odds 3-1
Positives - Romney's business acumen is a big asset, Popular Massachusetts Governor.
Negatives - Can't guarantee turning Mass from blue to red, Being a Mormon might be an issue.
Mark Sanford: Odds 7-1
Positives - Huge McCain supporter and fund raiser, young (40), conservative, southern well liked amongst conservatives and moderates.
Negatives - Could turn off voters in moderate swing states like Ohio and Michigan.
ALBANY, N.Y. - New York Gov. David Paterson is granting a full and unconditional pardon to rapper Ricky "Slick Rick" Walters for the attempted murder of two men in 1991.And so it begins, the downfall of New York.
The pardon is expected to halt efforts to deport Walters to the United Kingdom, the country he left as a child.
John McCain hammered Barack Obama Thursday as a military know-nothing who shied away from service after being accused by the Democrat of going AWOL on helping veterans.We could just remove the word "military" and that sums up Obama.
McCain, who had an ugly dustup with Obama last year over judicial appointments, said it was "typical" of his likely November rival to "use the Senate floor to take cheap shots at an opponent and easy advantage of an issue he has less than zero understanding of."More after the jump...
One week after the network’s reality show announced that it would tape its 21st season in Brooklyn this summer — an announcement that fueled speculation that its seven housemates could inhabit neighborhoods from Williamsburg to Coney Island — one Gardens property owner said he has the inside track on snatching the show’s players from hipper neighborhoods.The Brooklyn Paper More after the jump...
The owner of a gorgeous, six-story, five-unit, gut-renovated brick rowhouse on Third Place said MTV is negotiating to rent the whole building — which sits on a block that Time Out New York once called one of the 25 best in New York.
“We entered into negotiations,” the property owner said. “We finalized some negotiations at least six weeks ago. My understanding was that MTV did approve the location, but we’re still in negotiations.”
The elevator building’s apartments have new appliances, mahogany floors, a cool, hip, 1970s vibe — and five units that range from $1 million to more than $2 million.
Contemporary Christian singer/songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman’s five-year-old adopted daughter, Maria Sue, died Wednesday when her teen-age brother accidentally ran over her as he backed the family’s car out of their driveway.Maybe he can write a song about it and call it, "If Jesus was driving the bus, my kid wouldn't be pavement" More after the jump...
Nick Hogan calls his mommy crying that he wants to come home, this is the same kid that showed no remorse for turning his friend into a vegetable platter while drag racing.
He has to spend 8 months in the prison infirmary, because I would assume that if he was placed in genpop his fellow inmates would go Hulkamania all over his ass, and not in a good way if you're on the receiving end.
Listen to the audio here and laugh along with me.
** UPDATE ** Here is additional audio between Hulk and Nick, where they both place the blame on his friend for Nick being in prison and how Nick wants his own reality show.
Listen Here
** UPDATE ** What is it with the fucking Hogan's not being able to drive.
Here is a photo of Brooke after rear ending another car in Florida, well at least she didn't kill anyone.
Hillary Clinton is bleeding away Barack Obama's financial advantage over presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain, new fund-raising figures show.
Obama's bitter battle with Clinton - including the skirmish fought last month in Pennsylvania's expensive media markets - has enabled McCain to narrow the cash gap with Obama, his likely general election foe.
Team Obama reported to the Federal Election Commission Tuesday night that the likely Democratic nominee has $46.5 million left in the bank after having blown through nearly $219 million to fend off Clinton's never-say-die candidacy.
At the same time, McCain has doubled the cash stash he had at the beginning of April.
The Arizona senator now has nearly $22 million in the bank, the federal fund-raising records reveal.
That means McCain has whittled Obama's financial advantage from nearly 5 to 1 at the start of April to slightly more than 2 to 1 at the start of May.
McCain knocked off his last major primary foe, Mike Huckabee, in March. He has been able to stockpile funds ever since.
With the GOP rallying behind him, McCain raked in more than $18.5 million in April, his biggest one-month haul to date. He spent only about $8.4 million last month.
Clinton raised about $22 million over the same stretch, including $10 million in the 24 hours after defeating Obama in Pennsylvania.
She also pitched in $5 million of her own loot to keep her White House hopes afloat, the second time she's loaned cash to her campaign.
Clinton entered May with $30 million in her campaign coffers, but carrying nearly $20 million in debt - owing $10 million to herself and nearly $5 million to ousted chief strategist Mark Penn.
The reports also show Rudy Giuliani loaned $500,000 of his own money to his failed presidential bid. It may not be the last time: His campaign still owes $3.6 million to scores of vendors.
But the ex-mayor is getting a little help from McCain, who apparently is under the impression that Giuliani's endorsement was worth at least $47,878.
That's how much McCain's campaign paid to reimburse Giuliani for flying out to California in a private 727 on Jan.30, when Giuliani simultaneously bowed out of the race and threw his support behind McCain's candidacy.
So your foreign policy is destructive, your domestic policies are non existent, beyond the single word "change". You think that there are more than 57 states, your wife and pastor are both hate mongers. You believe that your core voters are nothing more than Gun carrying, bible toting, rednecks. Who do you blame? Who is the scapegoat? of course
FOX NEWS.
BOSTON — Sen. Ted Kennedy has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, FOX News confirms.
Doctors for the Massachusetts Democrat said Tuesday that "preliminary results" from tests conducted on Kennedy after a seizure sent him to the hospital over the weekend confirmed the diagnosis.
"Preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe," the doctors said in a statement, adding that treatment would likely include "combinations of various forms of radiation and chemotherapy.
Hee hee hee...
Okay, sorry, let me get ahold of myself...
Bwahahahahahahahaha...
What's so funny?
I imagine that 'my people' (real-life & online friends, readers, birds-of-a-feather bloggers) are, as a population, a largely secular lot - ranging from confidently atheist rationalists to areligious agnostics, with a smattering of 'spiritual-not-dogmatic' and weakly-deist rounding out the population.
Given that, some exposition may be necessary before I get to the punchline of this post, so bear with me.
Said areligious community, and the world of Born-Again Christians who wholly accept the Bible as literal fact have few points of cultural intersection. Books like Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins' wildly popular Left Behind novels (a post-apocalyptic serial, based on the literal interpretation of Christian rapture and deeply influential in contemporary-Christian zeitgeist) are virtually unknown to the secularists.
At the core of Rapture eschatology is the notion that sometime (soon!), upon Christ's return to a benighted Earth, true believers/Christians will be swept up by God and vanish from the face of the planet, leaving even their clothes in piles where they stood. Atheists, Muslims and Jews are simply Left Behind to face the consequences of their heresy to be smited by the Almighty for their disbelief.
Now - pulling a mind-job prank on a person whose critical facilities have been addled by such Biblical fantasy is both
[1] absurdly easy
[2] incredibly cruel
... the sort of stunt Penn Jillette would pull if he was in an extra-snarky mood. That the following was orchestrated by a self-described Christian is all the more flabbergasting, and while I felt a tiny bit bad for laughing my ass off, I still feel compelled to share:
in Chris' earlier post Obama is an idiot Part VI
I mentioned that Nuclear Power is our best, cleanest option for an alternative fuel source to lessen our dependence on oil.
I came across this article in GQ Magazine (of all places) talking about Nuclear Power - and the misinformation & unfounded fear people have about it. The first thing many people bring up when discussing anything Nuclear is the accident at Three Mile Island. The accident was a case of a lot of different things going wrong at the same time - but all things considered, the outcome wasn't really that horrible. Let's look at the facts:
How much fallout was there?
From a radiological standpoint, the impact is somewhat easier to measure. Radiation is counted in units called millirems. Because the earth is warmed by the largest nuclear reactor of all—the sun—virtually all of us are exposed to a certain baseline of millirems each year, depending on where we live. At higher elevations, like Denver, the sun is closer, and citizens receive about 180 millirems per year; at lower elevations, like Delaware, residents receive only 20 or 30. Building materials can also make a difference: Because of the presence of -elements like radon in many rocks, people who live in brick or stone houses tend to receive 50 or 100 millirems more each year than people who live in wooden houses. Region also has an impact. In areas rich with coal, residents absorb about 100 millirems annually from the ground; in northeastern Washington State, residents get about 1,500 millirems from local minerals; in certain parts of India, as much as 3,000 millirems per year may come from the ground. A cigarette smoker gets about 1,300 millirems per year, mostly from the presence of the radioactive isotope polonium-210, which is found in tobacco (and, recently, in the autopsy reports of Russian spies). Back home in Washington, D.C., Dick Cheney gets about 100 millirems every year from his pacemaker. Every time you go in for a dental X-ray, you get 5. Chest X-ray: 15. PET scan: 650. In fact, just by being alive, you generate a little radiation of your own, and most people absorb about 40 millirems each year from themselves.
At Three Mile Island, according to a 1980 inquiry by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the maximum level of radiation that anybody within a fifty-mile radius could have received from the accident was about 100 millirems—the equivalent of moving to Colorado for a year, or into a brick house for two. According to another study, by the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Environmental Resources, among 721 locals tested, not a single one showed radiation exposure above normal. A similar study by the state’s Department of Agriculture found no significant trace of radiation in the local fish, water, or dairy products, which tend to register minute impurities. And a study released in 2000 by the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh found that, twenty-one years after the accident, there was still no evidence of “any -measurable impact” on public health.
Given the extreme scale of the meltdown at TMI—including an explosion of hydrogen, the liquefaction of radioactive uranium, and the release of a plume of radioactive gas into the air outside—it is reasonable to conclude that the lesson of Three Mile Island is not merely a matter of what went wrong at the plant but also an example of what went right. For so many people and so many systems to fail so spectacularly all at once, without any measurable effect on public health, may be the last, best proof that a system is working.
What drives this opposition, in many cases, is the conflation of magnitude with probability. That is, when people worry about nuclear power, what they worry about is the scale of an accident, not the likelihood. In this regard, nuclear power is just the opposite of the nation’s coal-fired plants, where harm to the environment is both ruinous and certain but comfortingly slow. It may take decades or even centuries for the effects of particle soot, acid rain, and global warming to claim a million lives. By contrast, the nightmare scenario with nuclear power is decades of cheap, plentiful, pollution-free energy—followed by a sudden meltdown that wipes out a city. For most people, the reality that coal-based pollutants like mercury and sulfur dioxide are killing us every day—taking as many as 24,000 lives per year, according to nonpartisan researchers (that’s a Chernobyl disaster every eleven hours), while nuclear plants have never claimed an American life—is beside the point.
“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times . . . and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK.”That sounds a lot like this:
“I ask Congress to give me authority for mandatory conservation and for standby gasoline rationing. . . . And I’m asking you for your good and for your Nation’s security to take no unnecessary trips, to use carpools or public transportation whenever you can, to park your car one extra day per week, to obey the speed limit, and to set your thermostats to save fuel. Every act of energy conservation like this is more than just common sense — I tell you it is an act of patriotism.”Do we want another Jimmy Carter? More after the jump...
The Libertarian National Convention is being held this weekend in Denver. I've spent several weeks researching the various candidates for the Presidential nomination. (There are a bunch of them.) I try to pick candidates who not only represent my views but will also represent the Libertarian Party well (no whackos). Just to be clear - I am a minarchist - so I was looking for someone that represents that fairly well.
In order of preference, I support any of the following:
1. Mary Ruwart
2. George Phillies
3. Steve Kubby
I would probably be equally okay with Mary or George - I just put Mary first because I think running a woman might give the Party a little more recognition this year. I think George is a good strong candidate - and I like his positions - I just don't think he has a lot of charisma (which is apparently what sells a candidate these days).
I would definitely NOT like to see either Bob Barr or Mike Gravel get the nomination. While they are both probably the best known outside of the Libertarian Party, that is because neither one of them IS a libertarian. They are both examples of something that happens all too often in third-party nominating elections - people who aren't able to get along or rise as high as they'd like in their own parties (Barr with the Republicans and Gravel with the Democrats) so they co-opt a third-party and try to twist it to fit their agendas. Neither of them represents anything even remotely resembling Libertarians. I think it's unfortunate that some members of the Libertarian Party would be willing to sell out the whole purpose of the Party just to achieve a little more press coverage.
Oh and to those who say I'm "wasting" my vote - I can live with that. I'd rather vote my conscience than sell out and vote for any of the major parties who absolutely do NOT represent my views at all.
NY Nerd supports the adoption of the world's smallest political platform:To: The Libertarian Party
I endorse adoption of the following as the platform of the Libertarian Party:
"The Libertarian Party supports reducing the size, scope and power of government at all levels and on all issues, and opposes increasing the size, scope or power of government at any level or for any purpose."
Go here to sign the petition.
Never thought I'd hear myself saying this but I'd like to take a moment to recommend you all download a rap record. Greydon Square is a black, atheist, skeptic, hip-hop artist. I first heard an interview with him on The Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast (which I also highly recommend for anyone interested in science and/or skepticism).Raised as a legal orphan in the Department of Children & Family services system of southern California, Greydon Square is a native of Compton, grew up in gang life and is an Iraqi war veteran among other things. Greydon, born Eddie Collins, left Compton in May of 2001, to enlist in the United States army. Then a theist, he served in operation Iraqi Freedom in 03/04 even attending online classes that would help him become a better Christian and even teach the word of god. Greydon left the army to attend school as a Physics major in Arizona. It was while attending college he learned about the logical inconsistencies of a god, why one isn't necessary, and the fallible nature of the bible in which he was raised to believe in. He started an online series of video blogs on youtube.com entitled "Atheist Nation", where in the 3rd video he performed a song live that he had written called "Extian" which made the front page of digg.com, and Richard Dawkins website as well.
I'm not a big rap fan - mostly because I think the lyrics to virtually every rap song I've ever heard are stupid and insulting - to me, to women, to anyone with an IQ over 80, to anyone who doesn't worship the "gangsta" life. But then I heard some of Greydon's songs. Check out these lyrics from "A Rational Response":To battle me you need to reason clearly
Now I'm not sayin fear me
But at least be versed in punctuated equilibrium theory
Grand unified fields, quantum mechanics and dark planets
With logic that's sharper than a blade of d'Artagnan's
To destroy arguments of creationists who cant stand it
Then they try and hit me with the wager
Who? Pascal's wager. Who? Pascal's wager.
Now that's a fool's bet
And against the intelligent it's used less
Really? You bet
This aint nothing new, they use it on kids
But for those who don't know it goes a little like this
Wouldn't you rather believe in God and be wrong
Then to not believe in God and be wrong
If you believe in God and your wrong you've lost nothing
But if you don't believe and you're wrong its all suffering
The problem is you can try it on anything
Switch the Gods around and apply it to anything
The Flyin Spaghetti Monster, Zeus, Amin, Ra
Krishna, Odin, Baal and then Allah
Which one of em's our God?
None of em all false
And blame it on the Atheists its always our fault
Except it never is
So don't get mad at us we just showin ya'll the evidence
Find me a song from The Game or Jay-Z that includes the words punctuated equilibrium theory.
You can check out more - and download his album, The Compton Effect, at his MySpace page or his website.
I need two of these
Maybe I could get some blogging done! My kitties love to "help" me type.
Pregnant women who regularly use mobile phones are more likely to have children with behavioral problems, according to a new study.
The researchers said there may be other possible explanations for the rise in behavioral problems, including that mothers who were frequently on the phone through pregnancy might continue the pattern after birth, spending less time with their babies.So it's not the phones... it's shitty parenting?
Drum solos, useless banter and never ending songs.
NSFW - Vulgar language.
Listen here.
Senator Edward Kennedy has been admitted to hospital in the US after suffering stroke-like symptoms, sources have said.
The Massachusetts senator was taken to hospital in Boston, said an official, who requested anonymity. There was no word on his condition.
Hyannis Fire Lieutenant Bill Rex told The Associated Press an emergency call came in from the Kennedy compound at 8.19am EDT (1219 GMT).
A male was transported to Cape Cod Hospital and then transferred by medical flight at 10.10am (1410 GMT) from Barnstable Municipal Airport to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
The 76-year-old senator has been in the Senate since election in 1962, filling out the term won by his brother, John F Kennedy.
In October, Mr Kennedy had surgery to repair a nearly complete blockage in a major neck artery. The discovery was made during a routine examination of a decades-old back injury.
The hour-long procedure on his left carotid artery - a main supplier of blood to the face and brain - was performed at Massachusetts General. This type of operation is performed on more than 180,000 people a year to prevent a stroke.
Barack Obama is already explaining his anticipated loss to Hillary Clinton in the Kentucky primary this coming Tuesday. In part, Obama blames FOX News. In part, Obama invokes improbable geography:
Obama conceded that he has a steep challenge to get his message and background to voters in states such as Kentucky — where he trails Sen. Hillary Clinton by 27 points, according to a poll published earlier this week — and West Virginia, where voters chose Clinton over Obama by 40 points on Tuesday.
"What it says is that I'm not very well known in that part of the country," Obama said. "Sen. Clinton, I think, is much better known, coming from a nearby state of Arkansas. So it's not surprising that she would have an advantage in some of those states in the middle."
Whether he meant to or not, President Bush, in his comments Thursday opposing diplomacy with despots, unleashed a torrent of GOP ire as prominent Republicans took the opportunity to pile on Barack Obama
Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton said he thought Bush “hit the nail on the head yesterday in Jerusalem. And today, the nails started to complain. It’s not just naïve. It’s dangerous for our country.”After Obama blasted both McCain and Bush on Friday for a failed go-it-alone policy in the Middle East, Republicans ripped Obama for his willingness to meet with nations like Iran without preconditions. The intense focus on national security was reminiscent of the 2004 presidential race between Bush and then-Democratic nominee John Kerry.
A week after his 57-state remark, Obama puts himself in the wrong city.
Both South Dakotans lavished all sorts of praise on Obama, according to reporters present, including The Times Nicholas Riccardi. As the large, enthusiastic crowd of some 7,000 supporters roared and waved "We can do it" signs and Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" blared, Obama bounded onto stage, grabbed the microphone and said, "Thank you, Sioux City!"More after the jump...
Trouble is, Obama was in Sioux Falls.
So was the crowd, which suddenly fell silent. Where are those Southwest Airlines get-away flights when you need them?
Fire up that keyboard.
Cutting Crew - "I just died in your arms tonight"
Listen here.
"I don't necessarily support him being here, but because he's here and we can't discriminate against other races, I support him and his mission to be successful in life," says Muhammad, a junior. "I just kind of wish he had done it at a different institution."
More of the usual stuff, nothing new, death to the infidels, America sucks, I endorse Obama and Israel is evil.
Sign On SanDiego has more.
Barack Obama sorry for 'sweetie' gaffe.
Looking to head off a possible "Sweetiegate," Democratic front-runner Barack Obama Wednesday apologized for using the term of endearment with a Detroit TV reporter.
"Hold on one second, sweetie. We're going to do - we'll do a press avail," Obama told inquisitive WXYZ reporter Peggy Agar.
Agar ended her segment with the news that "This sweetie never got an answer to that question," and footage of Obama walking away.
Shortly after 3 p.m. Wednesday, after Agar's report aired and political blogs started buzzing about Obama's sweetie bomb, he called Agar's cell phone to apologize.
First, he said he was sorry she hadn't gotten her question answered.
"Second apology is for using the word 'sweetie,'" Obama continued on the voice mail, which can be heard at wxyz.com.
"That's a bad habit of mine. I do it sometimes with all kinds of people. I mean no disrespect, and so I am duly chastened on that front," he said.
The opinion is 172 pages long, if you want to read it be my guest.
follow this link.
My feeling, so what, if gay couples want to marry let them, because as we have seen heterosexual marriages work out so well. And who knows maybe this is the kind of boost the taffeta market needs.
Just think of the cottage industries that will start popping up, divorce attorneys who specialize in gay marriages, caterers who can plan gay themed weddings with his and his or hers and hers wedding toppers.
And not for nothing, gays know how to throw a party so I'm all for getting drunk off my ass while singing "Dancing Queen" with a 6 foot tranny.
This might be the boost our economy needs.
There is occasionally an improvised quality to Barack Obama's critique of the conduct of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He sometimes seems to be making up his critique as he goes along
Sporting a shiny new American flag pin at an appearance in Rush Limbaugh's hometown, Sen. Barack Obama came up with some novel reasons why the U.S. may be struggling in the war in Afghanistan.
"We don't have enough capacity right now to deal with it -- and it's not just the troops," Obama, D-Ill., told a crowd in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
Obama posited -- incorrectly -- that Arabic translators deployed in Iraq are needed in Afghanistan -- forgetting, momentarily, that Afghans don't speak Arabic.
"We only have a certain number of them and if they are all in Iraq, then its harder for us to use them in Afghanistan," Obama said.
The vast majority of military translators in both war zones are drawn from the local population.
Naturally they speak the local language. In Iraq, that's Arabic or Kurdish. In Afghanistan, it's any of a half dozen other languages -- including Pashtu, Dari, and Farsi.
From IMAO.US
Senator Barack Obama has a some very introspective remarks for his concession speech after losing by 41 points in the West Virginia primary:
"Do you not see the flag pin, you inbred, hillbilly retards?! I wore a @#$% flag pin for you mouth breathers! I broke my campaign's only strongly held principle -- not being patriotic -- for you! My friends won't even look at me when I have it on. I even found Ayers trying to put a bomb on my car. What more do you want from me?More after the jump...
"Is it because I'm black? Is that why you @#$% crackers won't vote for me? Now I know why my wife hates America. Well, you better hope I don't get the presidency, because I will install Ray Nagin as ruler of West Virginia and he will chocolatize your state. When you bitterly head to church on Sunday, you'll find Wright preaching there about how God wants us to kill honkeys.
"So go pluck your banjos while you can, white trash. And does anyone want a flag pin? I don't have any use for it anymore."
Oh yeah, Oprah is a "Whore Girl"
Stay classy um.. crazy bible guy.
Fraggle Rock and The Electric Company are coming back.For the little kids in grown-ups who have yet to grow up, good news is on the horizon: A double helping of nostalgia will soon be making its way to screens both big and small.
Kid-friendly TV series Fraggle Rock and The Electric Company are being steamrolled back into production, the former in a live-action musical film, and the latter in an updated run on PBS.
Now with video goodness.
Check out this music video by unsigned Manchester, UK band The Get Out Clause. They had no money in the budget for camera crews, so they performed in front of CCTV cameras and then requested the footage from the government per the Data Protection Act. Gotta admire that kind of ingenuity.
** I embedded the video, cause it was very cool ** - Chris.
Sue Simmons, a local anchor for WNBC news here in New York, drops the f-bomb during a live promo for the 11pm newscast.
Stay classy channel 4 news.
What I want to know is, what the fuck was he doing?
Just wanted to say congratulations to Homeland Security on having achieved zero compliance as of the May 11th deadline for Real ID.
Believe me - I'm not complaining.The Real ID Act was added onto a bill with no public debate on whether it effectively combated terrorism and identity theft. Almost all sides now talk about wanting Congress and the next administration to discuss the pitfalls of national standards, before killing, keeping or revising Real ID.
I say kill it!
So Chris mentioned to me last night that he'd heard rumors of McCain asking Huckabee to be his running mate. The rationale being that Huckabee would get the Southerners (read: White Conservative Christian wingnuts) to vote for the McCain ticket. This, predictably, caused me to feel nauseous. I already think we're heading down the highway to a theocracy in this country and I don't need Huckabee to be in the Number Two seat - especially considering McCain's age.
On the other side of the equation, we've got Obama who - best case scenario - will lead us into increased taxes, further into socialism/nannyism, and get kicked out of office after four years.
Anyway, I went looking for some info on the McCain VP situation today. I came across this article which reports that Huckabee is actually quietly supporting Obama. Why? Not because he believes in him or his positions - just the opposite.Some U.S. Christians are not reconciled to McCain's candidacy but instead regard the prospective presidency of Barack Obama in the nature of a biblical plague visited upon a sinful people. These militants look at former Baptist preacher Huckabee as "God's candidate" for president in 2012. Whether they can be written off as merely a troublesome fringe group depends on Huckabee's course.
Nevertheless, the word is that some evangelicals dispute Huckabee's support. One experienced, credible activist in Christian politics who would not let his name be used told me that Huckabee, in personal conversation with him, had embraced the concept that an Obama presidency might be what the American people deserve. That fits what has largely been a fringe position among evangelicals: that the pain of an Obama presidency is in keeping with the Bible's prophecy.
Sounds crazy - so I'm going with the idea that it has some truth to it. Because where there are Christians, there is crazy as far as I'm concerned.
McCain's Christian Problem
Word that Hamas has endorsed Barack Obama has finally leaked into the mainstream press.
In an interview made available on Monday on the Web site of the magazine The Atlantic, Mr. Obama responded to a statement made last month by an official of Hamas, which the State Department classifies as a terrorist organization. The official, Ahmed Yousef, said that “we like Mr. Obama and we hope that he will win the election.”
One of the Big Apple's most isolated neighborhoods will soon see its meager mass transit system boosted big-time for a long-anticipated IKEA invasion.
IKEA officials yesterday revealed plans for how they plan to pacify Red Hook, Brooklyn once thousands of shoppers start heading there daily on June 18 when the Swedish home-furniture giant opens its first New York City store on the Beard Street waterfront Highlighting the transportation improvements arranged specifically for the new IKEA is free water-taxi service to and from lower Manhattan.
The service, to be provided by New York Water Taxi, will run every 40 minutes during store hours, said store manager Mike Baker. Water taxis will dock along a 6.5-acre public esplanade that IKEA had to build behind the store to help garner elected officials' support for the controversial $100 million project.
Other transit improvements will include beefed-up bus service and free shuttle service connecting to the three closest subway stops, which are still over a mile away.
But John McGettrick, co-chair of the Red Hook Civic Alliance, says it's not enough and that IKEA will ruin the neighborhood's unique maritime character.
He said that besides lacking subway service, Red Hook doesn't have adequate roads and parking to handle an IKEA- "especially since many customers won't be from Brooklyn and arrive by car."
"There's been no IKEA in this country ever put in a situation like this; most others like the ones in Elizabeth and Paramus in New Jersey have direct access off highways," he said. "This is on a tiny peninsula that is basically a dead end."
Red Hook itself is fenced off from the rest of the borough by the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, and even the nearest highway entrance on the BQE is over a mile away from the 346,000-square-foot store.
IKEA is offering 1,400 parking spots, although the project's environmental impact statement estimates about 14,000 cars arriving on Saturdays. McGettrick says he believes it will actually be 20,000.
But IKEA spokesman Joseph Roth said he expects most New Yorkers to leave their cars home and use the new transit options.
For example, IKEA is offering free shuttle service every ten minutes from three subway stations: Borough Hall/Court Street in Downtown Brooklyn, Smith/9th Street in Carroll Gardens, and 4th Avenue/9th Street in Gowanus.
And the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is extending the B61 and B77 bus routes to stop directly in front of the store.
Roth said customers could arrange home deliveries, which cost an average of $50 to $100, "instead of lugging heavy items on trains or ferries."
But just in case they want to drive, IKEA officials said the city has agreed to hang over a dozen signs directing drivers from the BQE to IKEA, via the shortest routes on local streets.
Glenn Reynolds from Pajamas Media reviews Ron Paul's book.
Paul is, in my opinion, on-target in his criticisms of the Patriot Act (which I opposed) and in his opposition to some sort of government-provided National Health plan.
Those who favor national health care schemes should take a good, hard look at our veterans’ hospitals. There is your national health care. Those institutions are a national disgrace.l If this is the care the government dispenses to those it honors as its most heroic and admirable citizens, why should anyone else expect to be treated any better?
WASHINGTON - Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr launched a Libertarian Party presidential bid Monday, saying voters are hungry for an alternative to the status quo who would dramatically cut the federal government.
His candidacy throws a wild card into the White House race that many believe could peel away votes from Republican Sen. John McCain given the candidates' similar positions on fiscal policy.
Big thanks to NY Nerd who helped me track down this song.
Egypt Central - "You Make Me Sick"
Listen Here.
via: Ace of Spades HQ
Good help is so hard to find nowadays, (especially if your a Democrat.)
ACROSS NORTH TEXAS (WBAP) -- The two beacons of illegal immigrant exclusion laws won the mayor's office yesterday in their respective cities. Farmer's Branch voters elected Tim O'Hare over Gene Bledsoe by a wide margin, with Irving voters deciding to re-elect Herbert Gears to lead their city with 54% of the ballots.
Both O'Hare and Gears have spearheaded the fight to exclude illegal immigrants in their cities attracting the ire of Washington D.C., the focus of the national news media and the desperation of other American mayors who want to follow in their footsteps looking for a solution to the national issue of undocumented workers.
There's no chance of them changing the nominee, of course, but Ron Paul delegates (now disproportionately higher than their original votes because of their clever tactics at state and county conventions) could be the swing votes on deciding platform planks (voting with the conservatives on economic issues and the moderates on social issues) and thus nudge the Republican Party platform in an overall more libertarian direction.
Ron Paul's forces quietly plot GOP convention revolt against McCainIn the last three months, Paul's forces, who donated $34.5 million to his White House effort and upward of a million total votes, have, as The Ticket has noted, been fighting a series of guerrilla battles with party establishment officials at county and state conventions from Washington and Missouri to Maine and Mississippi. Their goal: to take control of local committees, boost their delegate totals and influence platform debates.
Paul, for instance, favors a drastically reduced federal government, abolishing the Federal Reserve, ending the Iraq war immediately and withdrawing U.S. troops from abroad.
They hope to demonstrate their disagreements with McCain vocally at the convention through platform fights and an attempt to get Paul a prominent speaking slot. Paul, who's running unopposed in his home Texas district for an 11th House term, still has some $5 million in war funds and has instructed his followers that their struggle is not about a single election, but a long-term revolution for control of the Republican Party.
And a lot of people just like me. It's National Fibromyalgia Awareness Day.
For those of you who don't know what Fibromyalgia is (and have only seen those retarded commercials for Lyrica) - you can go here for a thorough overview. In a nutshell Fibromyalgia is a disorder that causes chronic pain, all-encompassing fatigue, sleep problems, and many other symptoms which can include irritable bowel and bladder, headaches and migraines, restless legs syndrome (periodic limb movement disorder), impaired memory and concentration, skin sensitivities and rashes, dry eyes and mouth, anxiety, depression, ringing in the ears, dizziness, vision problems, Raynaud's Syndrome, neurological symptoms, and impaired coordination. It is a disorder that I live with every day. Some days are better than others but no day is completely pain-free.
To get a feel for chronic pain, you can take the NFA Clothespin Challenge:
Here is how it works:
1. Place a clothespin on your finger
2. Set a timer for 30 minutes
3. See how long you can bear the pain. Did you leave the clothespin on for 15 minutes? 10? 5?
4. For each minute you adverted that clothespin pain, donate to the NFA-$20 a minute, $10 a minute, $5 a minute...
5. NOW. Imagine this pain forever... This should help you understand what it is like to live with constant pain - but people with FM can't just "remove" the pain the way you can remove that clothespin!
If you are interested in helping? Support the National Fibromyalgia Association. Every penny helps us support FM patients as they strive to manage their pain.
I don't usually go for stuff like this but it's a friend of a friend...so if you could take a minute to read this story and sign the petition, it would be very much appreciated:Melissa "Fiver" Kern has been a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien since she read The Hobbit as a child, and has always loved books. Her heart leaped when she saw the preview for Peter Jackson’s film adaptations of Lord of the Rings, and she has been involved in organizing like-minded "Ringers" in the Southeast for many years now.
The hard truth is that Melissa has just been diagnosed with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Essentially, it causes all the motor neurons in the brain to shut down, gradually making the muscles unable to function. It’s very rare (1 in 1 Million) for someone who’s only 34 years old to come down with this, as it mainly affects people between 50 and 70. Life expectancy is 3-5 years from diagnosis, and there is no cure. (She’s had the disease for about a year already.) The disease progressively takes away movement and coordination. In September, she marched with fellow LotR fans in the annual DragonCon parade. Six months later, she is barely walking, and needs my help to climb stairs or get dressed. We have a son, Matthew, who just turned six.
She is excited about the filming of "The Hobbit" sequels, but was apprehensive about the release dates of 2010 and 2011: She doesn’t even know if she’ll still be alive when these movies are released. I told her to make that her goal : to be around to see these films in the theater. But we don’t know how this disease will go.
The goal of PROJECT FIVER is to deliver a petition to Peter Jackson, New Line, and whoever takes the Directorship, asking that Melissa be cast as a costumed hobbit extra in the film. Even if she’s not there when the movies are released, just being part of the production of The Hobbit, even if it’s just sitting at a table in the background, will absolutely mean the world to her. It would be her reason to hang on.
Someone has written Spongebob Squarepants Scat Fic.
More after the jump...In Dyker Heights (Brooklyn), New York - a 70 year old woman needed 27 stitches after a man broke into her home:Officials said the intruder entered through a kitchen window at the Dyker Heights apartment, which is one unit in a six-family building, on 70 Street and found the homeowner inside.
The burglar clubbed the woman, who is in her 70s and identified as Carmela Boccadifuoco, on the back of the head with a blunt instrument and fled the scene, police said.
Then we have this woman who also had an intruder break into her home - in Texas...The woman said she grabbed her pistol and walked into the living room where she saw a man standing in her house. She fired a shot in the man's direction, which sent him running through -- and shattering -- a glass door as he fled the scene.
The homeowner was not hurt.
Thank God for the strict gun control laws we have here in New York, huh?
So I will try and make up for it today...
No promises though because I may have to work on my TPS reports. Sigh...
When we started this blog we were using Haloscan for our comments.
After trying it for a few weeks I have found that it doesn't provide the functionality as other programs.
I started using intensedebate.com a free service that provided more functionality and allowed for greater control of the comments, an easier to use interface and a seamless blend into the template.
Now the problem, how the hell do I remove haloscan and resort back to a clean template without losing all of my widgets, posts and hand written code.
I scoured the internet, haloscan's forum was no help I found other users that had the same problem and some even resorted to the drastic measure of redoing their whole blog and in turn losing everything.
So now I provide you an easy fix, that will revert your blog back to the original blogger template and a clean slate in which to install Intensedebate, if you so desire.
** This is only for the New Blogger templates written in xhtml ***
CAUTION, by doing this you will lose all of your comments, only do this if you want to completely remove Haloscan from your blog.
1. Go into your layout and edit html, download your current template and save it to your computer in case you mess up along the way.
2. click on the "expand widget template"
3. using "ctrl + F" open up your find bar on your browser and search for "haloscan"
you should see something like <--- Start Haloscan part 1 ---> <--- Start haloscan part 2 ---> and <--- Start haloscan part 3 --->
delete all the code between <--- Start ---> and <--- end ----> for all 3 and save your template.
View your blog, you should now be on the front page of your blog, and as you can see the "comments" icon is missing, the next step will now revert the comments section back to its original Blogger features.
4. Again using your "ctrl + F" search for the following code
b:if cond="'data:post.allowComments"
So, lets just say he meant to say 47 states, not including Alaska and Hawaii.
He's still an idiot.
(H/T Ace of Spades HQ for the graphic)
Reuters
A California man described by prosecutors as an "eco-terrorist" was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison on Thursday for plotting to blow up a federal forestry site, telephone towers and other targets.
Eric McDavid, 29, was convicted by a federal jury in March after two co-conspirators, Zachary Jenson and Lauren Weiner, pleaded guilty and cooperated with the government. Weiner is due to be sentenced on May 15 and Jenson on August 7.
McDavid's sentence of 235 months in a federal prison "should serve as a cautionary tale to those who would conspire to commit life-threatening acts in the name of their extremist views," U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said in a statement issued in Sacramento, California.
Federal prosecutors said the three defendants planned to attack targets including the U.S. Forest Service Institute of Forest Genetics, the Nimbus Dam and Fish Hatchery, cellular telephone towers and electric power stations.
As part of the plot, Weiner ordered a book called "Poor Man's James Bond" with recipes and instructions for creating explosive devices, they said.
McDavid, Jenson and Weiner were arrested in January 2006 outside a store in Auburn, California, after buying items to create the explosives, prosecutors said.
You might have seen this family on the Discovery Channel
Michelle Duggar, 41, is due on New Year's Day, and the latest addition will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. There are two sets of twins.
"We've had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us," she said, laughing.
The Duggars' oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.
The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children—whose names start with the letter J—are home-schooled.
Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.
The new show looks at life inside the Duggar home, where chores—or "jurisdictions"—are assigned to each child. One episode of the new show involves a "jurisdiction swap," where the boys do chores traditionally assigned to the girls, and vice versa, Duggar said.
"The girls swapped jurisdictions, changing tires, working in the garages, mowing the grass," she said. "The boys got to cook supper from start to finish, clean the bathrooms," among other chores.
Duggar said she's six weeks along and the pregnancy is going well. She and her husband, Jim Bob Duggar, said they'll keep having children as long as God wills it.
"The success in a family is first off, a love for God, and secondly, treating each other like you want to be treated," Jim Bob Duggar said. "Our goal is for each one of our children to be best friends, and everybody working together to serve each other makes that happen."
The other Duggar children, in between Joshua and Jennifer, are Jana, 18; John-David, 18; Jill, 16; Jessa, 15; Jinger, 14; Joseph, 13; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 10; Jeremiah, 9; Jedidiah, 9; Jason, 7; James, 6; Justin, 5; Jackson, 3; and Johannah, 2.
More after the jump...
Code Pink is now resorting to witchcraft to beef up the number of its supporters protesting Berkeley's controversial Marine Corps Recruiting Center.More after the jump...
The women's anti-war group has told ralliers to come equipped with spells and pointy hats Friday for "Witches, clowns and sirens day," the last of the group's weeklong homage to Mother's Day.
"Women are coming to cast spells and do rituals and to impart wisdom to figure out how we're going to end war,"
after three months of continual protest, their actions barely capture the attention of even the Marines at the recruiting center.
Capt. John Paul Wheatcroft said he's unfazed by Code Pink's antics.
"They're always in pink and wear funny things, half-shaved heads, one side with hair and the other one bald, yeah, I'm pretty much used to anything,"
Would make a great gift... ** Ahem ** NY Nerd.
Without giving numbers, Microsoft said Xbox 360 sales jumped 54% in the week following the title's launch, compared with the prior week, and more than 2.3 million people played it on its Xbox Live online service
Stuck at the Holiday Inn JFK, for a corporate rah.. rah.. meeting, talk amongst yourself
More after the jump...Hundreds flood streets in protest of Sean Bell verdict
Protesting the acquittal of three cops who killed the groom with a 50-shot blast on his wedding day, they demonstrated outside One Police Plaza and at five other locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn.More after the jump...
Dozens were arrested, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, Bell's fiancee Nicole Paultre-Bell, and the two survivors of the Bell shooting, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman.
The most dramatic demonstration was on the Upper East Side, where about 100 protesters waded into traffic and made for the Queensborough Bridge.
"Get on your knees! Get on your knees!" an organizer yelled.
And they did before the police, who greatly outnumbered the protesters, could stop them.
Went to see Iron Man today, so here is what happens after all the credits roll.
Behold, the power of political staging:
The Obama rally, as seen on TV:
The Obama rally as seen from the other end of Reynolds Coliseum.
townhall.com
This news makes me sooooo happy!!
'Buffy,' 'Everwood' and other shows will stream on new site.
Ready to feel old? It's been ten years since Seinfeld's final episode aired.
In honor of the anniversary, Newsweek has a debate going on: Does Seinfeld still hold up after all these years? Ten years ago critics called it a classic - like Mary Tyler Moore or I Love Lucy - that would stand the test of time. Has that been the case? Both sides of the argument are covered here.
Personally, I gotta go with the first guy:
Nope: When 'Seinfeld' signed off, it was hailed as a classic—the original must-see TV. Looking back now, you can't help wondering, what were we thinking?More after the jump...
The Chicago Tribune is doing their annual Best Character on TV Tournament.
Personally I'm rooting for Barney Stinson or Dexter Morgan but you can vote for your favorites here.
Voting for the first round ends May 9th, then the Sweet Sixteen round will begin immediately after that.
In Washington DC they have a shiny new baseball stadium. That's the good news. The bad news is that everything else in the city - which, let's face it, was never in great shape to begin with - is deteriorating rapidly.
Matt Welch of Reason Magazine discusses the rat problem that is plaguing the city:
Washington, D.C., is lousy with rats, and not just of the human variety. I knew that before moving here—you’d always see them scampering around sidewalks and alleys when walking around town—but it took living full-time in the city to appreciate both the awe-inspiring magnitude of the infestation and the jaw-dropping indifference of a municipal government more focused on giving free money to billionaires than addressing the capital’s legendary civic rot.More after the jump...
Apparently even al-Qaeda can't run a message board that doesn't have flamewars....the, shall we say, quality of the contributions to these forums is not always the highest. I come across quite a bit of posturing and bravado in these forums, hating on 'enemies' and back-patting of 'allies'. The recent initiation of an 'al-Jazeera watch' feature on one of the forums tracking perceived slights and misrepresentation by the now maligned station reminds me of nothing so much as the partisan media criticism found on so many political blogs). There's a lot of posting of articles or news reports clipped from the media, with long comment threads of cheering or jeering. I remember seeing a bitter post on one of the main forums a few weeks ago (al-Boraq? I forget) complaining that the "internet jihad" had failed since the forum had degenerated into personal attacks and what we would call flame-wars.
Wonder if they break out the LOLCat macros that say "Fail" too.
Actually the above is from a pretty interesting analysis of the internet's role in al-Qaeda's agenda.
Exit Polls
Hillary wins Indiana
Obama wins N.C.
More to come...
**Update** 7:35
Karl Rove on Fox News, he looks good, nice tie.
Obama loses the gun loving, bible holding non Arugula eating vote.
**Update** 7:41
Fox News is calling NC for Obama, considering that the polls just closed I am not a big fan of exit polls.
Polls in Indiana will close at 8:00PM in some counties.
**Update** 8:10
Obama showing a big lead in NC
Clinton up by 100K in Indiana
**Update** 8:15
Fox News Primary drinking game
- Do a shot when Shepard Smith says, "gas tax"
- Drink a beer when someone in studio says "Working class"
- Do a shot when Shepard Smith says, "We are streaming on the internet"
- Drink a beer when someone in the studio says, "Wedge Issues"
- Do a shot when Karl Rove says, "Red State Democrats"
- Drink a beer when Shepard Smith says, "you're in my camera"
- Do a shot when Shepard Smith botches the foxnews email address
**Update** 8:21
CBS news is calling Indiana for Clinton.
**Update** 9:01
Karl Rove has a great tie.
**Update** 9:05
Obama speech MST style.
He wants, "change" ... go figure.
Shepard Smith just called the speech bullshit.
**Update** 9:55
Kristen's ass just got some great camera time.
For those who didn't take Economics 101 (or took it and forgot most of it about twenty minutes after you took your final), here is an excellent explanation by Megan McArdle of why the whole idea of a "gas tax holiday" is useless pandering (and worse) by our politicians.
Like about a zillion economists and most other people who were not whacked upside the head with a stupid stick, I think it's worse-than-useless pandering. There's not so much a debate as a bunch of economists saying "this is bad policy" and two campaigns sticking their fingers in their ears, saying "lalalalalalalalalal I can't HEAR you!"
Four Things in Your House Dirtier Than a Toilet...1. The keyboard you’re using right now. Your keyboard can be an incredibly accurate representation of what’s in your nose and your stomach. Of 33 randomly sampled computer keyboards tested by a British consumer group this year, four were dirty enough to be considered a health hazard, and one harbored hundreds of times more bacteria than your average toilet seat.
Read the rest here.
Number 6. - The Clinton's only shoot people in the back, never in the face.
This is taking a silly rivalry a little too far.
nbc.com
NASHUA, N.H. -- After a Red Sox-Yankees argument spilled outside a bar, a Yankee fan aimed her car at a group of people to scare them and didn't brake, hitting and killing a man, authorities and witnesses said.
The Yankees fan, Ivonne Hernandez, was arraigned Monday on reckless second-degree murder and drunken driving charges and was held without bail. She did not enter a plea.
Hernandez, 43, was speeding early Friday toward a small group that included the man, Matthew Beaudoin, 29, and never hit her brakes, a prosecutor said Monday.
"She accelerated at a high speed for about 200 feet. She went directly at this group of people," prosecutor Susan Morrell said. "She indicated to police that she wanted to scare this group of people. She thought they would get out of the way."
Beaudoin died of massive head trauma at a hospital, Morrell said.
Hernandez, of Nashua, was arrested at the scene. She said she had been drinking and refused to take a breath-alcohol test, said Morrell. Hernandez said she had been in an argument with the group.
Hernandez's public defender, James Quay, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Authorities won't describe the argument, but witnesses said it heated up when Hernandez identified herself as a New York Yankees fan. Like the rest of New Hampshire, Nashua, 45 miles northwest of Boston, is Red Sox country.
Bartender Tanya Moran said the argument spilled outside, and at least one person in a group that included Beaudoin began chanting against the Yankees when they saw a Yankees sticker on Hernandez's car.
Hernandez allegedly gunned her car and struck Beaudoin and Maria Hughes, 21. Hughes had only minor injuries, which Beaudoin's sister Faith said was because her brother shielded Hughes, a friend.
Read more here.
(H/T) to NY Nerd for finding this story.
Sen. Barack Obama won the endorsement of the Teamsters earlier this year after privately telling the union he supported ending the strict federal oversight imposed to root out corruption, according to officials from the union and the Obama campaign.
It's an unusual stance for a presidential candidate. Policy makers have largely treated monitoring of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters as a legal matter left to the Justice Department since an independent review board was set up in 1992 to eliminate mob influence in the union.
