Hillary concedes but throws Obama under the bus in the process.
The New Club Drug: Preparation H?
Oh wait, its Long Island guidos... never mind.
FRANKLIN SQUARE, N.Y. – Peter Minichiello is running late, but there’s ample reason. Saturday night’s pre-club customs need to be observed. There’s a routine that must be followed to the letter, else consequences – damaged leather upholstery, in this case – will result.
“I have to get a cover over the middle here,” said Mr. Minichiello, wedging a corner of a large bath towel into the gap between the center console and the passenger seat of his 2003 Lexus. “This shit’s murder on my leather.”
“This shit” is Preparation H – yes, that Preparation H – and increasing numbers of local young men like Mr. Minichiello are using it for purposes other than the treatment of hemorrhoids.
“The way you use it,” said Mr. Minichiello, “is to take your shirt off and rub it all over yourself before you go to the club. It makes you look fucking ripped.”
The science behind the use of Preparation H is somewhat hazy – bodybuilders claim it pulls excess water from underneath the skin – but Mr. Minichiello said he won’t leave for “the club” without applying it. “If you want to get laid, you have to know how to dance,” he said. “And if you want girls to dance with you, you have to look ripped.”
At CVS on Hempstead Turnpike in Franklin Square, manager Lawrence Weisz has noticed a definite shift in the demographic of customers purchasing Preparation H products. “It’s definitely been a lot more younger guys lately,” he said. “It used to be that people would steal it because they didn’t want to come up to the counter and let everyone know they had hemorrhoids. Now, these young guys come in and they’re very aggressive about it. It’s gotten to the point where I can pick out the guys who are going to buy it when they walk in the door.”
Mr. Minichiello said his routine rarely varies. “I usually drive down the block so nobody sees me,” he said, “then I pull over, take my shirt off, rub it everywhere I can reach, then pick up the rest of my boys in my undershirt. It works best if you put it on about an hour before you go in the club.”
According to Mitchell Goldner, manager of a major nightclub in New York’s Meatpacking District, the use of Preparation H is part of the “trickle down” economic effect of New York’s lucrative nightlife industry. “I don’t care how bad the economy gets,” he said. “This is a totally recession-proof business, like funeral parlors or police departments. These kids today would rather starve than not come to our clubs, and this is certainly reflected in the rising sales of Preparation H on Long Island, in New Jersey and elsewhere.”
It’s a clientele Mr. Weisz said he can live without. “I don’t give a shit what these slapdicks are using it for. I wish they’d stay out of my fucking life. To be perfectly honest with you, I think the shit doesn’t even work, because if it did, these club assholes would all disappear. It’s supposed to get rid of hemorrhoids, isn’t it?”
More after the jump...
You may have seen the interview with the father:
For Abdel-Qader Ali there is only one regret: that he did not kill his daughter at birth. 'If I had realised then what she would become, I would have killed her the instant her mother delivered her,' he said with no trace of remorse.
Two weeks after The Observer revealed the shocking story of Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, murdered because of her infatuation with a British soldier in Basra, southern Iraq, her father is defiant. Sitting in the front garden of his well-kept home in the city's Al-Fursi district, he remains a free man, despite having stamped on, suffocated and then stabbed his student daughter to death.
...
Rand, who was studying English at Basra University, was deemed to have brought shame on her family after becoming infatuated with a British soldier, 22, known only as Paul.
She died a virgin, according to her closest friend Zeinab. Indeed, her 'relationship' with Paul, which began when she worked as a volunteer helping displaced families and he was distributing water, appears to have consisted of snatched conversations over less than four months. But the young, impressionable Rand fell in love with him, confiding her feelings and daydreams to Zeinab, 19.
It was her first youthful infatuation and it would be her last. She died on 16 March after her father discovered she had been seen in public talking to Paul, considered to be the enemy, the invader and a Christian. Though her horrified mother, Leila Hussein, called Rand's two brothers, Hassan, 23, and Haydar, 21, to restrain Abdel-Qader as he choked her with his foot on her throat, they joined in. Her shrouded corpse was then tossed into a makeshift grave without ceremony as her uncles spat on it in disgust.
'Death was the least she deserved,' said Abdel-Qader. 'I don't regret it. I had the support of all my friends who are fathers, like me, and know what she did was unacceptable to any Muslim that honours his religion,' he said.
He said his daughter's 'bad genes were passed on from her mother'. Rand's mother, 41, remains in hiding after divorcing her husband in the immediate aftermath of the killing, living in fear of retribution from his family. She also still bears the scars of the severe beating he inflicted on her, breaking her arm in the process, when she told him she was going. 'They cannot accept me leaving him. When I first left I went to a cousin's home, but every day they were delivering notes to my door saying I was a prostitute and deserved the same death as Rand,' she said.
It was two weeks after Rand's death on 16 March that a grief-stricken Leila, unable to bear living under the same roof as her husband, found the strength to leave him. She had been beaten and had had her arm broken. It was a courageous move. Few women in Iraq would contemplate such a step. Leila told The Observer in April: 'No man can accept being left by a woman in Iraq. But I would prefer to be killed than sleep in the same bed as a man who was able to do what he did to his own daughter.'
After spending the past few weeks hopping among safe houses, she was assassinated in a drive-by shooting as she got out of a car to meet someone who was supposed to help smuggle her to Jordan.
It's Tuesday morning; my boss is coming in late; I'm bored; I don't feel so hot; so let's just play this time-wasting Meme:
Go here, and read until you find five quotes that speak your truth.
Here's mine:
A tough lesson in life that one has to learn is that not everybody wishes you well.
Dan Rather (1931 - )
That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong.
William J. H. Boetcker
My home is not a place, it is people.
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Barrayar", 1991
We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.
Richard Dawkins (1941 - ), "The Root of All Evil", UK Channel 4, 2006
Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.
George Washington (1732 - 1799)
Your turn...
Thanks to Geekologie for this handy translation of the most popular geek gang signs.
Moral dilemma or just good business sense.
Today I tried to get into an intelligent debate with members of a blog I frequent. The subject was simple; YouTube was hosting a video of an insurgent sniping a U.S Military Serviceman. Clearly the video was propaganda for the terrorists and their cause. The video was graphic in nature and disturbing to watch, not only as an American but as a human being. The loss of life is always something that makes me a little queasy in the stomach.
The members of this blog took it upon themselves to make it their own personal “jihad” and did everything in their little internet powers to get this video removed, not because of the graphic nature of the video mind you, because it was one of “our guys” that took one in the dome that was being depicted in this video.
Now I did a brief search on YouTube for “insurgents killed” and there was a query of over 100 videos depicting everything from enemy combatants killed by sniper fire, missiles, bombs and other various accoutrements of war. Equally disturbing, yes, very much so, but it was the “bad guys” getting it and it was clearly a victory for “our side” so the members of this particular blog general feelings were these videos MUST stay. I guess to show the enemy we mean business and we will not tolerate the posting of videos of “our” men getting killed in combat.
So now, as a Republican, I support our military personnel one trillion percent, they are noble men and women doing good work to bring stability to an unstable region and securing not only the safety of people in the middle east, but securing the safety of American living here and abroad.
With that said I am against censorship in its various forms, whether it been the banning of movies, music, books, videos or anything that someone might deem inappropriate. What’s one person’s distain is another’s wild Brazilian tranny fetish, to each their own.
Comments were made regarding Google’s. “moral” responsibility, I guess being that they are a U.S. based company, clearly only videos of U.S military victory’s should be posted.
First, Google DOES NOT have a moral responsibility to anyone, Google is a business, and the function of this business is to make money. No where in Google’s SEC filings does it mention that YouTube is designed to be a depot for “morally acceptable” video’s only, there are strict guidelines on the nature of the videos and Google reserves the right to remove any video that depicts graphic violence, such as the killing of another human being is clearly in violation of YouTube’s terms of service.
Second, there are alternatives, you do not like the videos posted on YouTube, you can visit various other sites that feature light hearted fare, and more socially acceptable videos, you do not like YouTube’s business model then do not frequent the site, you are not a big fan of Google’s politics then use another company for your web searches and email programs and don’t use the copout that, “But that’s my company email”, you want to feign fake distain then have the balls to say, “fuck it” it’s a minor inconvenience, but I will stick to my fundamental beliefs and dump my Gmail account.
Third, you have the power, YouTube and Google are ad generated business, let the corporations know that you will not purchase products, or services from business that advertise on YouTube, me personally I installed “Ad-Block” I do not need to be inundated with advertisements for products I do not need, or want.
Fourth, be intelligent, if you have strong feelings regarding a particular issue, speak your piece in a coherent intelligent manner, “Die in a fire” gets you nowhere and it makes you come off like a inbred moron that lacks the social skills to even be allowed to use the internet.
And Finally, not everyone has the same beliefs as yourself, understand that and accept that, what if one day the corporate heads at Google decide, because they are atheists, there will no longer be videos depicting religious symbolisms or ceremony’s of any faith, because Google has a “moral” responsibility to the board members that do not believe in God, by doing that Google gave up their business model for moral beliefs, and in a country where 40 percent of the people believe in an invisible entity this business model would no longer be as profitable.
Like someone once said to me, “Don’t sweat the petty stuff, pet the sweaty stuff”, ha that was a vagina joke, see what I did there.
Now let me go eat my Kashi cereal, and drink some Starbucks coffee so I can fund terrorism.
You know that "secret" government list that everyone knows about but no one KNOWS about? Well it may contain as many eight million Americans. Yes - eight million - roughly 4% of the population! While that may be too many people to actually round up and ship off into camps, it's still a number that could be easily controlled through intimidation and propoganda.According to a senior government official who served with high-level security clearances in five administrations, "There exists a database of Americans, who, often for the slightest and most trivial reason, are considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated. The database can identify and locate perceived 'enemies of the state' almost instantaneously." He and other sources tell Radar that the database is sometimes referred to by the code name Main Core. One knowledgeable source claims that 8 million Americans are now listed in Main Core as potentially suspect. In the event of a national emergency, these people could be subject to everything from heightened surveillance and tracking to direct questioning and possibly even detention.
And if right about now you're laughing and saying this is just silly paranoia...guess time will tell who was right.
Instead of having to deal with racist preachers or touring the 57 continental United States trying to seal his party's nomination. John McCain quietly, and without the press, visited Walter Reed, the Army's giant medical center in Washington, D.C.
The visit, was "personal in nature."More after the jump...
Walter Reed is where thousands of wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have gone to receive treatment, and presumably the candidate met with such veterans.
McCain is spending the weekend in the Washington area with no public schedule.
Comedian Jim Brewer talks about growing up on Long Island.
Listen Here.
LOS ANGELES - A large fire tore through a back lot at Universal Studios early Sunday, destroying a set from "Back to the Future," the King Kong exhibit and a video vault containing more than 40,000 videos and reels.More after the jump...
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.
