Kibbles and Bits

Battle rages on over fireman who ate dog food

A black firefighter who stood to collect nearly $3 million over a prank involving dog food in his spaghetti is at the center of a political and racial furor in Los Angeles, where city leaders failed on Wednesday to put the case to rest.

After two days of grappling with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's veto of a $2.7 million settlement in a racial discrimination lawsuit filed by 19-year fire department veteran Tennie Pierce, the City Council voted to send the case back to the drawing board.

"Before we render a decision to settle in the amount of $2.7 million, lets look at all the evidence," Villaraigosa said at a news conference. "Lets ensure that all the facts are on the table."

At issue is whether Pierce was the victim of a harmless firehouse joke or vicious racism when his comrades slipped dog food into his spaghetti two years ago.

The 2005 lawsuit attracted little notice in Los Angeles until earlier this month, when the council took the advice of City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and voted to pay Pierce the $2.7 million without going to trial.

The settlement, one of the largest in city history for a fire department discrimination claim, also would allow Pierce, 51, to retire after one more year of service, when he is entitled to a pension roughly equal to half of his annual salary for the rest of his life.

Critics were infuriated by the huge payout and, egged on by popular KFI-AM talk-radio hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, deluged Delgadillo and the council with cans of dog food in protest.

The settlement was vetoed by Villaraigosa after Kobylt and Chiampou obtained pictures of Pierce himself engaging in a series of fire station pranks -- in one instance apparently helping shave the genital area of a firefighter who had been bound to a gurney.

Pierce, who made a tearful plea before the City Council on Tuesday, admitted engaging in pranks but said they were done out of "love" -- whereas he saw his dog food dinner as racist.

"Whatever anyone says about me, I've always tried to do what's right," Pierce told the council.

Three black members of the City Council led a move to override Villaraigosa's veto, but after failing to muster enough votes were forced to send the case back to Delgadillo. Delgadillo must either reach a new settlement with Pierce's attorneys or take the case to trial.


I’m sorry, but did they miss the part about how this man helped shaved the hoo-ha of a fellow firefighter, out of love??? Well nothing says love quite like tying someone to a gurney and cleaning his whistle. And did Baldy sue anyone? Nooooooo.

This falls under the heading of ‘Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time’. Two million dollars because he can’t take a joke. There are enough real racial injustices out there without trying to cash in on a prank. Alpo spaghetti is too good for this guy.

Nobody needs to see that!

Nude calendar exposes road neglect

They're an unlikely group of calendar centrefolds -- one owns a pharmacy and another a grocery store -- but these pinups have come together to raise awareness about a pressing issue: potholes.

Eleven men and one woman from Leader, Sask., have bared all in the 2007 Highway 32 Pothole Calendar.

One man is pictured riding in a canoe in a pothole, another plants potatoes in a pothole and a third has a strategically placed hubcap. In the background a sign reads "Lost: Highway Paving Crew. Last seen 10 years ago."

It's a humorous approach to a serious problem, calendar organizer Gord Stueck said in a phone interview on Tuesday.

"Highway 32 from Leader to Swift Current was so bad ... you were driving all over the road trying to avoid these potholes," said Stueck.

It was so difficult to travel, Stueck said, that ambulances were forced to take alternate routes. "You couldn't transport patients that were cardiac patients or fracture patients."

Saskatchewan Highways Minister Eldon Lautermilch said a nude calendar won't solve the problem. "They're very creative people," Lautermilch told reporters. "But I don't think a calendar is going to rebuild a road."

Funds from the $20 calendar will go to the Leader Lions Club.

Leno sues over bad jokes

Leno fails to see the humor in joke books

"Tonight Show" host Jay Leno doesn't find anything funny about a collection of joke books that he says have profited by gleaning material from his stand-up routines.

Leno and NBC Studios filed a federal court lawsuit Wednesday to stop comedy teacher Judy Brown from publishing his punch lines in her books, which are largely compilations of jokes uttered by Leno and other comedians, including Ellen DeGeneres, Joan Rivers, Jerry Seinfeld, Lucille Ball and Tim Allen.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, said that Brown and her publishers have turned out nearly two dozen such joke books.

"Brown is no 'author,' " the lawsuit chides. "She is simply packaging the original copyrighted work of [the plaintiffs], drawing and profiting from a well of creativity that is not her own."

Neither Brown nor two of the publishers named in the suit could be reached for comment. Her books include "Joke Soup" and "The Funny Pages."

Earlier this year, a writer identifying herself as Brown posted a comment on amazon.com defending herself against such criticism. She said that her material was always attributed and appropriately compiled according to federal copyright law, adding that her books include information so readers can buy a comedian's CDs and DVDs. She said she has covered the comedy scene for two decades, writing for magazines and newspapers including the Los Angeles Times.

"If my intent had been to 'steal' I could have printed the quotes without attribution," she wrote.Several comedians joined Leno in the suit, including Rita Rudner and Jimmy Brogan. Leno plans to donate any proceeds from the lawsuit to charity, as he has done with the profits from joke collections he has written, according to the suit.

The suit says the books dilute the plaintiffs' ability to market their own jokes even as they turn a profit for Brown:

"As the back cover of one of Brown's books proudly claims, [the books] allow customers to enjoy the jokes of 'the best and brightest comedians … without paying the two-drink minimum at a comedy club.' "


I think someone should sue Leno for impersonating a comedian...

U.S. warns of possible Qaeda financial cyber attack

The U.S. government warned on Thursday of a possible al Qaeda call to attack U.S. financial online services but said there was no evidence to suggest the effort could cause harm.

A person familiar with the warning said al Qaeda may be aiming to penetrate and destroy the databases of U.S. online stock trading and banking Web sites.

Reaction in the financial community was muted, with markets showing little or no reaction.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed an alert had been distributed but said there was no reason to believe the threat was credible.

The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team issued a "situational awareness report to industry stakeholders," said Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke.

The warning said the threat called for attacks to begin Friday and run through the month of December in retaliation for the United States keeping terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba.

None of the sources said where the threat was issued.

"Denial of service is what it called for," said a Homeland Security official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Denial of service is when attackers try to prevent legitimate users from accessing a Web site. They can do it by flooding network connections or filling up storage space so the Web site becomes paralyzed.

The warning said the threat came from a group calling itself "ANHIAR al-Dollar." A person familiar with the warning said the effort was related to al Qaeda and intended to avenge "Muslim brothers in the crusaders' Guantanamo prison camp."


Read on...

Surviving The Holidays - Tip #2

Red Bull is your friend...

And you will know them by their fruit...

Matthew 7:16-20

15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.

16 By their fruits you will know them. Do you gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?

17 Even so, every good tree produces good fruit; but the corrupt tree produces evil fruit.

18 A good tree can't produce evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree produce good fruit.

19 Every tree that doesn't grow good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire.

20 Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.

How do you judge a man’s spirituality? You can’t, because no man knows another’s heart. But you can get a pretty good idea of his sincerity where spiritual matters are concerned by watching his deeds.

The Religious Right, Conservative Christians, Christian Coalition. Whatever you call them, they are all the same group. They are a political group, NOT a Christian or religious group. They have hijacked the term “Christian” in order to gain more power and money.

They are Pharisees.

They have only two issues: abortion and homosexuality, to the exclusion of all others. They are rabid and don’t play well with others. So when you see “Christian Coalition”, know that you are seeing a political group with a political agenda, neither christian nor religious. And you will know them by their fruit...even if you don't believe, this is still a wise way to judge character.

Having said that, I bring you this

Famed pastor defends invitation to Obama

Famed pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren on Wednesday defended his invitation to Sen. Barack Obama to speak at his church despite objections from some evangelicals who oppose the Democrat's support for abortion rights.

Obama is one of nearly 60 speakers scheduled to address the second annual Global Summit on AIDS and the Church beginning Thursday at Warren's Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif.

The Illinois Democrat will be joined by a potential 2008 White House rival — Republican Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas — and is urging unity to fight AIDS despite differences on other issues.

Conservative evangelical Rob Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council, e-mailed reporters Tuesday to protest the visit because of Obama's support of abortion rights. "Senator Obama's policies represent the antithesis of biblical ethics and morality, not to mention supreme American values," Schenck wrote.

"Supreme American Values"...something about that phrase gives me a chill. Apparently Supreme American Values include backbiting, sniping, and politicizing the nightmare that is the AIDS crisis. It is obvious to anyone with a brain that Obama scares the snot out of the Right and they will do anything to keep him out of the spotlight, even to the detriment of AIDS victims. But I digress...

Saddleback responded with a statement acknowledging "strong opposition" to Obama's participation. The church said participants were invited because of their knowledge of HIV/AIDS and that Warren, author of "The Purpose Driven Life," opposes Obama's position on abortion and other issues.

"Our goal has been to put people together who normally won't even speak to each other," the Saddleback statement said. "We do not expect all participants in the summit discussion to agree with all of our evangelical beliefs. However, the HIV/AIDS pandemic cannot be fought by evangelicals alone. It will take the cooperation of all — government, business, NGOs and the church."

Obama declined an interview request. But in a statement, he said while he respects differing views on abortion, he hopes for unity "to honor the entirety of Christ's teachings by working to eradicate the scourge of AIDS, poverty and other challenges we all can agree must be met.

"It is that spirit which has allowed me to work together — and pray together — with some of my conservative colleagues in the Senate to make progress on a range of key issues facing America," Obama's said.




Read on...

All I want for Christmas...

Dinosaur nest for sale (eggs included)

An exceptionally well-preserved 65 million-year-old fossilized dinosaur nest with some broken eggs exposing tiny skeletons is up for auction in Los Angeles on Sunday.

The nest of raptors, fierce predatory dinosaurs, is expected to fetch between $180,000 and $200,000.

“It is probably one of the finest dinosaur egg nests in the world. For the tiny skeletons still to be inside the eggs, folded up beautifully like this, means that they had to be almost ready to hatch,” said Thomas Lindgren, consulting director of natural history for the auction firm Bonhams and Butterfields.

Tens of thousands of dollars have been spent on scientific preparation and studies to determine exactly which of the six to eight known species of small raptor is represented by the eggs in the nest. That will be revealed in an academic paper now being prepared for publication next year.


Dinosaur embryo...totally cool conversation piece for the coffee table. Read on...

Sealed with a kiss

Iranian president:'US governs by coercion, force'

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a letter to the American people on Wednesday, accused their government of "coercion, force and injustice" and urged the United States to pull out of Iraq.

Ahmadinejad's five-page letter also called on Washington to recognize a Palestinian state and cautioned the Democratic Party that, after gaining control of the U.S. Congress, they would be "held to account by the people and by history."

The letter was given to Reuters by Iran's Mission to the United Nations.

The Iranian leader, who wrote an 18-page letter to President George W. Bush in May that Bush never responded to, said he was now writing to the American people in friendship because Iran and the United States shared a responsibility "to promote and protect freedom and human dignity and integrity."

"Governments are there to serve their own people. No people wants to side with or support any oppressors. But regrettably, the U.S. administration disregards even its own public opinion and remains in the forefront of supporting the trampling of the rights of the Palestinian people," he said.

"It is possible to govern based on an approach that is distinctly different from one of coercion, force and injustice," Ahmadinejad said.

On Iraq, he said that with a constitution and government now in place, "would it not be more beneficial to bring the U.S. officers and soldiers home, and to spend the astronomical U.S. military expenditures in Iraq for the welfare and prosperity of the American people?" Oh snap!

"As you know very well, many victims of Katrina continue to suffer, and countless Americans continue to live in poverty and homelessness," he said. Double snap!


You know I'd love this guy if he WASN'T INSANE! Remember, this is the guy who calls for Israel's total destruction and believes the Holocaust is a myth.


The Washington Post has a much more in depth account of the contents of the letter. The entire text of the letter can be found here.

Some highlights:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged the American people Wednesday to demand the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and reject what he called the U.S. government's "blind support" for Israel and its "illegal and immoral" actions in fighting terrorism.

The letter to "Noble Americans," distributed by Iran's U.N. Mission, denounced President George W. Bush's policies in the Middle East and U.S. practices in the "war on terror." He appealed to the American people to work to reverse them and called on the Bush administration and the new Democratic-controlled Congress to heed the results of the recent midterm elections.

"Undoubtedly, the American people are not satisfied with this behavior and they showed their discontent in the recent elections," Ahmadinejad wrote. "I hope that in the wake of the mid-term elections, the administration of President Bush will have heard and will heed the message of the American people."

In a message to Democrats, he said, "you will also be held to account by the people and by history."

"If the U.S. government meets the current domestic and external challenges with an approach based on truth and justice, it can remedy some of the past afflictions and alleviate some of the global resentment and hatred of America," Ahmadinejad said.

"But if the approach remains the same, it would not be unexpected that the American people would similarly reject the new electoral winners, although the recent elections, rather than reflecting a victory, in reality point to the failure of the current administration's policies," he warned.

Ahmadinejad said in Wednesday's letter that the U.S. invasion of Iraq, while overthrowing Saddam Hussein which people "are happy about," has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, an exponential growthy of terrorism, and no rebuilding of Iraq's ruined infrastructure.

"I consider it extremely unlikely that you, the American people, consent to the billions of dollars of annual expenditure from your treasury for this military misadventure," he said.

"Now that Iraq has a constitution and an independent assembly and government, would it not be more beneficial to bring the U.S. officers and soldiers home, and to spend the astronomical U.S. military expenditures in Iraq for the welfare and prosperity of the American people?," Ahmadinejad asked. "As you know very well, many victims of Katrina continue to suffer, and countless Americans continue to live in poverty and homelessness."

Iran and the United States have had no diplomatic relations since 1979 when, after the revolution, militants seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and kept 52 people hostage for 444 days



This guy kind of reminds me of the Iraqi Information Minister, Mohammed, only with less personality. You remember him, don’t you? Man I loved him...

Judge rules paper money unfair to blind

Judge says Treasury Department is violating the law by keeping all money the same size and feel

A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Treasury Department is violating the law by failing to design and issue currency that is readily distinguishable to blind and visually impaired people.

Judge James Robertson, in a ruling on a suit by the American Council of the Blind, ordered the Treasury to devise a method to tell bills apart.

The judge wrote that the current configuration of paper money violates the Rehabilitation Act's guarantee of "meaningful access."

"It can no longer be successfully argued that a blind person has 'meaningful access' to currency if she cannot accurately identify paper money without assistance," Robertson wrote in his ruling.

He further ruled that finding a solution to the problem would not be an "undue burden" on the government and ordered the Treasury Department to begin working on a solution within 30 days.

The American Council for the Blind has submitted several alternatives, including embossing, holes punched in the paper or using different-sized bills for different denominations.

The Treasury Department had no comment on the ruling.



Read on, and then submit your ideas.

X-Men illustrator dies in Superman pajamas

Wearing Superman pajamas and covered with his Batman blanket, comic book illustrator Dave Cockrum died Sunday.

The 63-year-old overhauled the X-Men comic and helped popularize the relatively obscure Marvel Comics in the 1970s. He helped turn the title into a publishing sensation and major film franchise.

Cockrum died in his favorite chair at his home in Belton, South Carolina, after a long battle with diabetes and related complications, his wife Paty Cockrum said Tuesday.

At Cockrum's request, there will be no public services and his body will be cremated, according to Cox Funeral Home. His ashes will be spread on his property. A family friend said he will be cremated in a Green Lantern shirt.

Cockrum received no movie royalties, said family friend Clifford Meth, who organized efforts to help Cockrum and his family during his protracted medical care.

"Dave saw the movie and he cried -- not because he was bitter," Meth said. "He cried because his characters were on screen and they were living."

"He had a genuine love for comics and for science fiction and for fantasy, and he lived in it," Meth said. "He loved his work."


You can't make this stuff up. Read on...

Surviving The Holidays - Tip #1

While driving in holiday traffic, sing in your car with gusto! It makes frazzled drivers smile and they stop and let you in front of them.

And so it begins...

“The War on Christmas”. Be prepared to hear that phrase a lot in the next month. This war really heated up last year when Wal-mart decided it’s greeters could no longer wish shoppers a “Merry Christmas” for fear of offending someone. Then it was this nativity scene and that Christmas decoration. It is absolutely ludicrous, and this season appears to be no different.

I am posting these two stories (the first of many I’m sure), because I’d really like to understand this.



First, you have this story: Peace sign creates stir

Update to this story here...



And now this: 'Nativity' booted from Ill. holiday fair




I just want to understand. As a Christian, I’ve never been offended upon being wished a “Happy Halloween” Not once. I don’t celebrate Halloween, but I’m not offended by the isles upon isles of costumes, decorations, and candy. I realize that most people are not worshipping Satan when they trick or treat. It’s just not my thang, but I realize that it might be yours.

I am not offended by the menorah, pictures of black Jesus, Santa Claus, or jack-o-lanterns. And I am certainly not offended by a peace symbol, what some Christians say is a satanic symbol. God forbid we should hang up a symbol of peace (and that IS what it is), in a time of war, during the Christmas season.

So, does it bother you? Are you offended by the greeting ‘Merry Christmas’ even though you may be Jewish? How about agnostic? Atheist?

If you are agnostic or atheist, does it really offend you to be wished a Merry Christmas? How about a Nativity scene? Christmas decorations?

I respect your opinions, I just really want to know.

So basically, he’s just wasting gas, right?

Bush says U.S. won't pull out of Iraq

President Bush, under pressure to change direction in Iraq, said Tuesday he will not be persuaded by any wisdom calls to withdraw American troops before the country is destroyed stabilized.

"There's one thing I'm not going to do, I'm not going to pull my head out our troops off the battlefield before the mission is an utter failure complete," he said in a speech setting the stage for high-stakes meetings with the Iraqi prime minister later this week. "We can accept nothing less than victory for our contractors children and our grandchildren."

"We'll continue to do what we want be flexible and we'll refuse to make the changes necessary to succeed," the president said.

Bush pushed back against skeptics of his goal of spreading death and destruction freedom across the Middle East. "I understand these doubts but I do not care about share them," the president said.

Earlier Tuesday, Bush blamed the escalating bloodshed in Iraq on 911, Saddam Hussein, haters of freedom, democrats, an al-Qaida plot to stoke cycles of sectarian revenge, and refused to debate whether the country has fallen into civil war.

Jordan's King Abdullah, hosting the Bush-al-Maliki summit, has warned that the new year could dawn with three civil wars in the Mideast — with one in Iraq added to those already ongoing in Lebanon and between the Palestinians and Israelis. The country is reeling from the deadliest week of sectarian fighting since the war began in March 2003.

Bush, dodging a direct answer of whether a civil war exist, tied the three conflicts together in a different way. He said recent strife in Lebanon and the heated up Israeli-Palestinian dispute are, like Iraq, the result of extremists trying to choke off any chance of his approval rating rising above 30% democratic progress.

"No question it's tough, no question about it," Bush said at a news conference with Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves. "There's a civil war lot of sectarian violence taking place, fermented, formatted, fomented in my opinion because of these attacks by al-Qaida, causing people to seek reprisal."



There's more, if you can stand it...

This falls under the heading of "It's about time"...

UK scientists invent male 'pill' that can be taken hours before sex

British scientists have developed a revolutionary pill that men could take as a one-off contraceptive just before a date.

The tablet would prevent a man from being able to impregnate a woman, but within a few hours his fertility would return to normal.

This would make it much more acceptable to men than other 'male pills' under development, which alter hormone levels and have to be taken over the long term.

It is also more likely to be trusted by women as they are not relying on their man having to remember to take his pill every day for it to work.

Experts believe it could transform family planning by allowing couples to share the responsibility for contraception - a role that traditionally falls to women.

Critics argue, that men lack women's motivation to prevent pregnancy, making it hard for women to trust them to take a contraceptive pill.
(Well duh)


And in a related story, Maury Povich goes off the air due to lack of “Who’s Your Daddy” guests...


Read on...

Proving once again that tard doesn't fall far from the tree...

U.S. Embassy Asks Bush Twins to Leave Country

Amid a growing barrage of front-page headlines, U.S. embassy officials "strongly suggested" President Bush's twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara Bush, cut short their trip to Buenos Aires because of security issues.

But the girls have stayed on, celebrating their 25th birthday over the weekend and producing even more headlines about their activities.

Officials say the media coverage upstaged publicity plans for the new U.S. Ambassador Anthony Wayne, who had only recently arrived in the country.

Stories of the twins' visit took on wild proportions in the Argentinean press. One tabloid headline had the young women running nude in the hallway of their hotel, a report the hotel staff denied to ABC News.

According to sources, the U.S. embassy encouraged the two girls to cut their stay short because the added attention was making their security very difficult.

But to the dismay and anger of some U.S. embassy and security staff, the girls stayed on.

Thursday night, an ABC News producer was able to walk into their hotel unchecked and engage Barbara Bush in conversation while she checked her e-mail on a computer in the lobby. Jenna sat talking with friends on a sofa nearby. No Secret Service agents were anywhere to be seen in the lobby, according to ABC News' Joe Goldman.

And yesterday the Bush twins were spotted at the Sunday soccer matches, wearing team jerseys and sitting in the owner's box, watching Argentina's top team Boca Juniors compete. Several games have been canceled due to violence in the crowds this year. In fact, last weekend no spectators were allowed to attend the match other than season ticket holders.

Also, former Boca star Diego Maradona was in a VIP box on the opposite side of the stadium. Maradona, who was honored before the match with a statue, is a fierce critic of U.S. policy in the region and joined a leftist protest movement last November - led by Venezuelan socialist Hugo Chavez - that opposed the U.S. president's appearance at the fourth Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Sources tell ABC News the twins plan to stick to their original itinerary and stay in Buenos Aires until Thursday.



Following in daddy’s footsteps and embarrassing the world, one country at a time...


Read on, ABC News and Fox Sports

Caption Contest!

"I'll take the one on the left. He looks house-trained"



Come on, you clever people. I stayed up too late last night, so my regular morning snark escapes me. Write a caption for this photo, submit it in the comments section. Play as often as you want. You know you want to!

PS. The prize for winning this contest will be the love and admiration of the masses!

Clay Aiken Allergic to Nuts!

Love life doomed!




Do you even need to know any more? Clay Aiken is allergic to nuts.

That's it.

Nuts...

Clay Aiken...

Let the endless jokes begin...





If you really must read on, you may do so here...

For the easily amused (of which I'm one)

This kept me entertained for way too long.

Apparently, there's several of us out there who are this retarded.

From the NYT:

Crazy for Line Rider

Every now and then, the Web provides a showcase for talent in corners where you never would have expected to find it.

Consider, for example, the amazingly simple, but overwhelmingly addictive Flash-based game/simulation/physics experiment known as Line Rider.

You start on a blank white screen. You draw lines—hills, ramps, valleys—with a pencil tool. When you click Play, a tiny, weird, funny little guy on a sled gets dropped onto the uppermost line you drew—and gravity takes it from there. Make your lines too steep, and he wipes out. Make them too shallow, and he runs out of momentum and stops. Cross them in just the right way, and the simulation goes nuts and spits him forcefully hundreds of feet in the air.

It’s spawned an entire mini-subculture of Line Rider nuts, who spend hours drawing elaborate fantasyscapes for their little sledder guys, and then capturing the results (either with a screen-capture program or even with a camcorder filming the screen) and posting them on YouTube.

It looks easy. But it’s actually darned difficult, especially because there’s no eraser tool, and lines you draw from the left and from the right behave differently.

Still, I’m almost sorry to hear that a new version is in the works with an eraser tool. The difficulty of creating a great course using today’s crude tools makes you even more amazed at the genius of the best Line Rider artists’ work. Check out these, for example:




One of the most famous, thanks to its ski-village motif.

A spectacular underwater theme, with an amazing finish.

Anyone up for caving? Tragic ending, though.

There’s a downloadable, standalone version here, and there are spinoff versions, apparently all by the same guy, called LineFlyer (motorcycle), Jeep Flyer (Jeep), and Line Boarder (snowboard).

But none of them quite match the quirky, funny strangeness—and timekilling potential—of the original, not-quite-finished Line


Videos of success

I had no success...

This little piggy went to market...

Democrats Pledge Array of Investigations

The incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is promising an array of oversight investigations that could provoke sharp disagreement with Republicans and the White House.

Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., pledged that Democrats, swept to power in the Nov. 7 elections, would govern "in the middle" next year. But the veteran lawmaker has a reputation as one who has never avoided a fight and he did not back away from that reputation on Sunday.

Among the investigations he said he wants the committee to undertake:

_The new Medicare drug benefit. "There are lots and lots and lots of scandals," he said, without citing specifics.

_Spending on government contractors in Iraq, including Halliburton Co., the Texas-based oil services conglomerate once led by Vice President Dick Cheney. (My personal favorite!)

_An energy task force overseen by Cheney. It "was carefully cooked to provide only participation by oil companies and energy companies," Dingell said. (My second favorite!)

_A review of food and drug safety, particularly in the area of nutritional supplements.

Meanwhile, the incoming chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee said his committee would not take on contentious issues, such as extending expiring tax cuts or overhauling Social Security, at the beginning of the year. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., said Democrats do not want a fight with President Bush and want to prove they can govern.

"The first thing we're going to do is try to work together on things we know we can accomplish," Rangel said. "Rather than have the committee against the president, it's not going to happen," Rangel said.


Where does one sign up to join a committee against the president?


Read on...

And the “Worst Commencement Speech Ever” award goes to…

Journalists have no morality, PM's wife tells students

Cherie Blair has launched an extraordinary attack on the media claiming there is "no professional morality in journalism".

The Prime Minister's wife took her revenge on a profession that has bedevilled her for years when invited to address students at Roehampton University on Wednesday.

She told a stunned audience that it was "not a noble calling" and journalists "have no ethics". Then, Mrs Blair - who was at the university in south-west London to open its Human Rights Centre - turned her attention to the Daily Mail and the Press Complaints Commission.


And in other news, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism has rescinded Laura Bush’s recent invitation to speak at its graduation ceremony...



Read on...

The Other Casualties of War

You don't have to die to make the ultimate sacrifice


When war started in Iraq, a generation of U.S. women became involved as never before-- in a wider-than-ever array of jobs, for long deployments, in a conflict with daily bloodshed. More than 155,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Among their ranks are more than 16,000 single mothers, according to the Pentagon, a number that military experts say is unprecedented.

How these women have coped and how their children are managing has gone little noticed as the war stretches across a fourth year.

In the military, parental status is not a barrier to serving in a war. All deploy when the call comes -- single mothers, single fathers, married couples -- relying on a "family-care plan" that designates a caregiver for children when parents are gone.

But war duty can be especially difficult for single parents. A year ago, Sgt. Leana Nishimura returned to the United States to face practical difficulties, emotional issues, and unavoidable questions concerning her children: Will there be another deployment? What if a parent does not come back?


This is her story...



What strikes me most about this tragic story is that when Sgt. Nishimura returned home, her life in shambles, it was not the government who helped her get her get it back on track. She was broke, she had no job, no family, her kids were on the other side of the country with no means to get home, and she had no place to live even if she could bring them home.

The well-known charitable program, Operation Hero Miles, which donates airline miles to U.S. service members, was only geared to hospitalized troops and their families. She and her children did not qualify.

Fellow guardsmen offered to donate miles to her, only to learn that airlines would not allow such mileage transfers.

The pastor and elder of the church across the street delivered groceries.

Her new boss donated a bed for her daughter.

There were clothes and food and other help from volunteers.

Much of this happened because Nishimura was "adopted" by First Christian Church of Havre de Grace through a National Guard program, Partners in Care, which links needy soldiers with congregations.

Needy soldiers...

One of her senior officers, Maj. Timothy Mullen, wrote letters on her behalf, which inspired contributions for the plane tickets from three chapters of the 29th Division Association, a veterans group, and four churches.

Her children and their grandmother would board a Christmas day flight at a total cost of less than $1,500, covered largely by the generosity of strangers.

Private citizens, churches, and fellow soldiers. Not one ounce of help from the government she’d risked her life for. Not one penny from the government who tore her children’s live apart. How do you compensate for destroying a child emotionally?

Now multiply this scenario by at least ten thousand fold.

Think about this the next time you hear your president babble on about supporting our troops. There is no support for our troops. There are only shattered lives, and broken children...

Wisconsin parents want controversial book out of class

Angelou account of rape stirs objections

Some Fond du Lac parents have asked school officials to remove former U.S. poet laureate Maya Angelou's autobiography from the high school curriculum.

Students at Fond du Lac High School read "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" in sophomore advanced English classes.

But some parents have objected to passages that describe Angelou's rape and subsequent unwanted pregnancy. About 80 people attended a meeting Tuesday at the school this week to discuss the book and the request to remove it.

School Superintendent Gregory Maass said the initial complaint came from one family.

"We had a mother and father and student who questioned the book," he said. "The high school provided the student with an alternative book."

The parents were not satisfied and asked for the book to be removed from the curriculum, Maass said.

Fond du Lac High School Principal Mary Fran Merwin said parents, teachers, principals and at least two ministers spoke at the meeting, where no decision was made. She said the school has used the book for a decade.

"It is Angelou's own account of growing up," Merwin said. "It has a number of attributes, and it's a historically relevant story about a black woman growing up in the United States."

School board president Gary Sharpe said the request was the first to remove a book in his eight years on the board. A school committee will make a decision on the book, and if parents remain unhappy, they can appeal to the superintendent and school board, he said.





Can people still be this backwards? Maya Angelou is one of the most phenomenal poets/writers of our times. Her speaking voice is so striking, so melodic, I liken her to a female James Earl Jones.

The fact that her speaking voice is so unusual is what makes her story to intriguing. She was raped by her mother’s boyfriend at the tender age of eight, after which, he was arrested and sent to prison where he was kicked to death by other inmates. Angelou, feeling that her voice and the fact that she’d told about the rape was the cause of his death, never spoke again until the age of 14. She lived six years in complete silence fearing the power of her own voice.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is an account of this story. It’s a tremendous book. She doesn’t dwell on the account of the rape. It is a story of triumphing over incredible odds.

This is the book these parents want to outlaw. I would be very interested as to what family skeletons they had in their closets that would cause them to fear such a book.


Below is a short video of her wonderful spirit and her beautiful speaking voice.

You shoulda seen the one that got away!

'Jaws' record-breaking catfish caught in Spain

A British angler has landed a European record on his first catfishing expedition. Carl Smith, pictured right with friend Dave Jones, caught the 226lb wels catfish on holiday in Spain.

The men struggled with the 8ft monster for more than 90 minutes and have named it Jaws.

Cartoonist complains that nobody take him seriously...

Gunman in standoff with police at Miami Herald

Miami police evacuated the The Miami Herald building this morning after a man claiming to be armed walked into the sixth-floor El Nuevo Herald newsroom and barricaded himself in the top editor's office, police said.

Employees identified the man as El Nuevo Herald cartoonist Jose Varela.

They said Varela appeared agitated and demanded to see El Nuevo Herald's executive editor, Humberto Castelló. He appeared to be armed with a handgun, employees said. El Nuevo Herald is a Spanish-language newspaper published by The Miami Herald Media Co.

While barricaded in the office, Varela twice telephoned Miami attorney Joe Garcia, who had represented him in a condominium dispute several months ago. Garcia said that Varela declared his motive is to take control of the newspaper. Garcia said Varela told him in Spanish that, "Now they're going to have to deal with the truth."

Garcia also said that Varela told him he had a gun, but said that he didn't intend to hurt anyone nor himself. When Varela called and said that he would demand that editor Castelló should be fired and that he was the new editor in charge of the newsroom, Garcia said he thought that the cartoonist was joking.


It is now being reported that he is armed with a sub-machine gun, so it's really not funny.

Ok, a cartoonist taking over his boss’s office and declaring himself editor in chief IS funny. He’s a cartoonist. With a sub-machine gun.

"Laugh, and I keel you..."


CNN Link...

Miami Herald Link 1, 2


UPDATE:

Armed cartoonist in custody, police say

The gun-wielding cartoonist who had entered the Miami Herald building, demanding to speak with an editor Friday, has been taken into custody without incident, police said.


Gun-welding cartoonist? Am I the only one who thinks this is hysterical?


And what type of gun do 3 out of 4 cartoonists prefer, you may ask? UPDATE #2:

Kramer quits comedy, decides to open university instead

Whites Only Scholarship Creates Outrage

Joe Mroszczyk, president of the College Republicans at Boston University, admits he set out to stir up a hornet's nest when he came up with the idea of offering a whites-only scholarship at the school. But he got a little more buzz than he bargained for.

All the media attention is focused on a $250 Caucasian Achievement and Recognition Scholarship offered by Mroszczyk and the BU chapter of the College Republicans. Applicants must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or higher; they must write two essays; and, here's the kicker, they must be at least one-quarter Caucasian.

The application itself offers an explanation: "We believe that racial preferences in all their forms are perhaps the worst form of bigotry confronting America today."


College Republicans, wow there's a surprise.


Read on...

Simply Stunning

The first remarkable close-up pictures of animals in the womb


An unborn elephant, tiny but perfect in every way. A dolphin swimming in the womb, just as it will have to swim in the ocean the moment it is born. An unborn dog panting.
Each one amazing and now, thanks to these remarkable pictures, they can be seen for the first time.



Using an array of technology, the images reveal what until now has been a secret - exactly how animals develop in the womb. Using a combination of three-dimensional ultrasound scans, computer graphics and tiny cameras, the team were able to show the entire process from conception to birth.





See more pictures here...

Ain't love grand?

Starmer, one of the pine nut-eaters over at Johnson’s place apparently has the hots for Ann Coulter, and so has an arsenal of AC pictures at his fingertips. I understand he also has them plastered on his bedroom walls. His mother said she doesn’t mind. She’s just glad the object of his affection is a woman this time.

There seems to be an ugly rumor going around that there is a resemblance between me and AC. Starmer had no problem coming up with this side-by-side comparison shot.







In case you are confused by the uncanny likeness, I’m the one on the right.

Happy Turkey Day!

Hope you have a great one!

Excuse me while I screw my head back on...

Top-Secret Torture

The Bush administration claims detainees can't disclose how they were treated.
Buried within a recent government brief in the case of Guantanamo Bay inmate Majid Khan is one of the more disturbing arguments the Bush administration has advanced in the legal struggles surrounding the war on terrorism.

Mr. Khan was one of the al-Qaeda suspects who was detained in a secret prison of the CIA and subjected to "alternative" interrogation tactics -- the administration's chilling phrase for methods most people regard as torture.

Now the government is arguing that by subjecting detainees to such treatment, the CIA gives them "top secret" classified information -- and the government can then take extraordinary measures to keep them quiet about it.

If this argument carries the day, it will make virtually impossible any accountability for the administration's treatment of top al-Qaeda detainees. And it will also ensure that key parts of any military trials get litigated in secrecy.

The trouble is that at least some of the secrets the government is trying to protect are the very techniques used against people such as Mr. Khan -- and its means of protecting them is to muzzle him about what the CIA did to him.

CIA official Marilyn A. Dorn said in an affidavit that Mr. Khan might reveal "the conditions of detention and specific alternative interrogation procedures." In other words, grossly mistreating a detainee now justifies keeping him quiet.


Ok, follow the logic (if you dare).

I torture you. I torture you in top-secret ways, which are classified. You go on trial. You cannot testify as to how I tortured you because that would be giving away top-secret classified secrets. So by torturing you in classified ways, I am binding you to secrecy. About being tortured. In top-secret, classified ways.

(I could do this all day but my head hurts)

So in essence, I am giving away top-secret, classified information to suspected terrorists. By torturing them. Shouldn’t I be on trial then??? After all, I’m giving away classified, top-secret secrets. To terrorists. Top-secret.

By their own definition, if the terrorist can’t testify because he’s been given classified information (the "alternative" interrogation tactics) by the torturers themselves, then isn’t giving classified information to terrorist a crime in and of itself?

So does this mean the torturers are terrorists? At the very least I think this makes them un-American and therefore should be poked with a flag.

Seriously, my head hurts. And my brain is all twisty. Congratulations Rumsfeld, you evil genius…


Read on....



And in related news (now you've gone and done it)...



Janet Reno Files Challenge to Terror Law

Former Attorney General Janet Reno and seven other former Justice Department officials filed court papers Monday arguing that the Bush administration is setting a dangerous precedent by trying a suspected terrorist outside the court system.

"The government is essentially asserting the right to hold putative enemy combatants arrested in the United States indefinitely whenever it decides not to prosecute those people criminally _ perhaps because it would be too difficult to obtain a conviction, perhaps because a motion to suppress evidence would raise embarrassing facts about the government's conduct, or perhaps for other reasons," the former Justice Department officials said.

Read on...

In a surprise decision, The Decider decides not to decide…

Bush hasn't decided what to do with troops in Iraq

President Bush said Monday he isn't ready to decide between rival calls to increase or scale back U.S. troops in Iraq.

Awaiting the results of a Pentagon review and recommendations from a special commission exploring Iraq options, Bush refused to tip his hand about any change in the level of American forces in Iraq, now at more than 140,000.

"I haven't made any decisions," Bush said while traveling in Indonesia.


A decision to decide is expected shortly…

Yes, especially if you’re self employed!

Must I buy my boss a pricey holiday gift?

Giving gifts at the office can be stressful. Here's what works well - and what not to do.

Late Night Quickies

Granny’s' got a gun

A 92-year-old woman was shot to death Tuesday after she fired at three narcotics officers trying to serve a warrant at her house, officials said.

As the plainclothes Atlanta police officers approached the house about 7 p.m., a woman inside started shooting, striking each of them, said Officer Joe Cobb, a police spokesman. One was hit in the arm, another in a thigh and the third in a shoulder.






If the turban fits...

US Airways said Tuesday it is investigating the removal of six Muslim imams who were passengers on a Monday flight heading to Phoenix, Arizona.

The alert was raised after the men performed their normal evening prayers in the airport terminal before boarding Flight 300.

I'm sorry, but you guys scare us when you do stuff like that.







Great balls of rubber!

"We did a little bit of research on how big rubber band balls are, and realized there was one out there that was 3,120 pounds and we knew we could do it."

"The rubber bands ... sometimes they'll break. That hurts."

And ladies, he's single!






Gives a whole new meaning to the word "butthead"

A man who dresses up as a giant cigarette and uses hip-hop music to encourage children in Lynchburg and beyond to avoid smoking pleaded guilty Tuesday to bigamy. Phillip Dale Williams, 37, had as many as four wives at the same time.

Williams faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced March 9.

Think he'll get traded for smokes?

I'm a little cranky...

So I happen across this website, not sure how I got there, I was lost in linkland. Now I hate to even add the link to this tard’s site because it’s just so, so, STUPID. This guy is actually requesting donations so he can crank out these bumper stickers with the names of dead soldiers on them.

I am repulsed. I am so repulsed that I left the following comment:

I don’t own an SUV.

Having said that, you are a giant asshat. SUV's are not the cause of this war. A maniacal, sociopathic, power hungry administration is. Do you really think that if, by some magical wand-waving, there were no more SUV’s, then this war would end? Grow up! Soccer moms are not the cause of the war nor the continuation thereof.

This war was waged for control and power and money. Control over the oil, power over the land that produces the oil, and the money that comes from owning the oil. This entire country is run on oil. Do you really think that an SUV is the largest source of all the need? You are pitifully uninformed.

Soldiers are not dying so people can drive SUV’s. Soldiers are dying because we have self-centered, greedy, evil men running our country. How dare you lay the responsibility of this outrageous war at the feet of people because of the kind of car they drive. Stop wasting your time and resources on such worthless banalities. Put the blame where it belongs. Perhaps then you will actually accomplish something worthwhile.


You know, I’m sure the sentiment is in the right place (?), they want an end to the war just like the rest of us. But, like PETA, they totally screw up a good message BECAUSE THEY’RE A BUNCH OF BARKING MOONBATS.

Come on guys, you’re making the rest of us look bad and completely obliterating the cause.

Like I said, I'm a little cranky. Boneheads...

Bad day to be a shrub...

First Daughter Barbara Robbed in Argentina

First Daughter Barbara Bush had her purse and cell phone stolen as she had dinner in a restaurant in Buenos Aires, Argentina, even though she was being guarded by a detail of Secret Service agents.

White House Staffer Robbed, Beaten In Waikiki

The acting director of the White House Travel Office was robbed and beaten in Waikiki early on Tuesday morning outside a nightclub, according to Honolulu police.

Two injured motorcycle officers in serious condition

Two of the three Honolulu Police Department motorcycle officers involved in a crash while escorting President George W. Bush to Hickam Air Force Base are in serious condition at The Queen's Medical Center.

Reading Between the Lines

Selective Service: Ready for a draft

Although Congress is unlikely to follow calls from a top Democrat to bring back the military draft, the United States does have a plan, if necessary, aimed at inducting millions of young men for service.

The Selective Service System, an agency independent of the Defense Department, says it's ready to respond quickly to any crisis that would threaten to overwhelm the current all-volunteer military.

"We're prepared to do the mission with whatever time period we're asked to do it in. Our current plan is 193 days and that was based on manpower analysis."

With an active list of more than 15 million names, Schuback said an estimated 93 percent of all men in the United States between 18 and 26 have registered for the Selective Service, as required by law.

While U.S. commanders insist sending more U.S. troops is not the answer in Iraq, they concede they really couldn't maintain a much bigger force than the 150,000 deployed there now because the U.S. military is just too small.

Military experts say it's highly doubtful a military draft would ever again be green-lighted because the volunteer system works.

They also say any major attack against the United States would certainly result in a surge of additional volunteers that would make a draft unnecessary.



There's something about that last line that makes me very uncomfortable, I just can't quite put my finger on it...


Read on...



And in other news:




Larry, Moe, and Curly Consider Raising Troop Levels in Iraq



LARRY:

Pentagon officials conducting a review of Iraq strategy are considering a substantial but temporary increase in American troop levels and the addition of several thousand more trainers to work with Iraqi forces, a senior Defense Department official said Monday.



Moe:
But some officials and senior military officers are arguing against the idea, saying that it could undercut a sense of urgency for Iraqi units to take on a greater role in fighting the insurgency and preventing sectarian attacks. Gen. John P. Abizaid, the head of the United States Central Command, told Congress last week that the military was stretched so thin that such an increase could not be sustained over the long term.


Curly:

Bwoop boopboopboopboopboop...


Throw it against the wall, boys, and see what sticks...

Read on...

Repulsive murderer UPDATE #378

Victim's sister: O.J. publisher offered hush money

The O.J. Simpson book saga took another twist Tuesday when his former sister-in-law, Denise Brown, accused the media company behind the project of trying to buy her family's silence for "millions of dollars."

A spokesman for News Corp., owner of Fox Broadcasting and publisher HarperCollins, confirmed that the company had conversations with representatives of Nicole Brown Simpson's and Ron Goldman's families over the past week and that the families were offered all profits from the planned Simpson book and television show, but he denied that it was hush money.

"There were no strings attached," News Corp. spokesman Andrew Butcher said.

Denise Brown told NBC's "Today" show Tuesday that her family's response was "Absolutely not."

"They wanted to offer us millions of dollars. Millions of dollars for, like, 'Oh, I'm sorry' money. But they were still going to air the show," Brown said. "We just thought, 'oh my god.' What they're trying to do is trying to keep us quiet, trying to make this like hush money, trying to go around the civil verdict, giving us this money to keep our mouths shut."


Read on...

Late Night Quickies

Hippies still trying to ruin the country

America won't win another war until the 1960s flower children are pushing up petunias. Radicalized, the flower children morphed into lefty loonies who now masquerade as social progressives. No matter what they rename themselves, however, their agenda hasn't changed. (via C&L)








Gingerbread Nazi Art Display Is Too Much

"I can differentiate between real Nazis and that the atrocities they performed compared to these little gingerbread men, but I guess some people can't."









Beauty queen puts down arms to save legs

Jerusalem, Nov 19: Miss Israel has been given permission not to carry her assault rifle during service in the Israeli army because she says it bruises her legs.

Reigning beauty queen Yael Nezri, a private who recently completed basic training, said the bruises were making it difficult for her to model in photo shoots.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Nezri, 18, had been granted an exemption by her commanders during her two-year army stint.





PlayStation 3 sells on eBay for $15,100

A girl can dream

Edwards Says Obama Should Run For President

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards isn't yet willing to commit to another run for president, but the 2004 Democratic nominee for vice president said Sunday that Illinois Sen. Barack Obama should get into the race.

"I hope he runs. I think he should run," Edwards told The Associated Press. "This is such an important job that I would urge anybody who can make a serious contribution to the campaign and the dialogue _ either in our party or the other party _ to run."

Should he enter the race, Obama _ along with New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Edwards _ would be among the favorites for the party's nomination. While none of the three have said for certain they are planning to run, Edwards said Sunday that anyone with something to offer should get into the race.

"America ought to have a choice among the best possible people to be president of the United States. And I trust the judgment of the voters."


Read on...

The drums are banging ever so quietly...

Hersh: CIA Analysis Finds Iran Not Developing Nuclear Weapons
(via C&L)

Washington - A classified draft CIA assessment has found no firm evidence of a secret drive by Iran to develop nuclear weapons, as alleged by the White House, a top US investigative reporter has said.

Seymour Hersh, writing in an article for the November 27 issue of the magazine The New Yorker released in advance, reported on whether the administration of Republican President George W. Bush was more, or less, inclined to attack Iran after Democrats won control of Congress last week.

A month before the November 7 legislative elections, Hersh wrote, Vice President Dick Cheney attended a national-security discussion that touched on the impact of Democratic victory in both chambers on Iran policy.

"If the Democrats won on November 7th, the vice president said, that victory would not stop the administration from pursuing a military option with Iran," Hersh wrote, citing a source familiar with the discussion.

Cheney said the White House would circumvent any legislative restrictions "and thus stop Congress from getting in its way," he said.

HERSH:

A month before the November elections, Vice-President Dick Cheney was sitting in on a national-security discussion at the Executive Office Building. The talk took a political turn: what if the Democrats won both the Senate and the House? How would that affect policy toward Iran, which is believed to be on the verge of becoming a nuclear power?

At that point, according to someone familiar with the discussion, Cheney began reminiscing about his job as a lineman, in the early nineteen-sixties, for a power company in Wyoming. Copper wire was expensive, and the linemen were instructed to return all unused pieces three feet or longer. No one wanted to deal with the paperwork that resulted, Cheney said, so he and his colleagues found a solution: putting “shorteners” on the wire—that is, cutting it into short pieces and tossing the leftovers at the end of the workday.

If the Democrats won on November 7th, the Vice-President said, that victory would not stop the Administration from pursuing a military option with Iran. The White House would put “shorteners” on any legislative restrictions, Cheney said, and thus stop Congress from getting in its way.

The Democratic victory unleashed a surge of calls for the Bush administration to begin direct talks with Iran.

But the administration's planning of a military option was made "far more complicated" in recent months by a highly classified draft assessment by the Central Intelligence Agency "challenging the White House's assumptions about how close Iran might be to building a nuclear bomb," he wrote.

"The CIA found no conclusive evidence, as yet, of a secret Iranian nuclear-weapons program running parallel to the civilian operations that Iran has declared to the International Atomic Energy Agency," Hersh wrote, adding the CIA had declined to comment on that story.

A current senior intelligence official confirmed the existence of the CIA analysis and said the White House had been hostile to it, he wrote.

Cheney and his aides had discounted the assessment, the official said.

"They're not looking for a smoking gun," the official was quoted as saying, referring to specific intelligence about Iranian nuclear planning.

"They're looking for the degree of comfort level they think they need to accomplish the mission."

Read on...


And so it begins. I believe it will begin quickly, perhaps by the first of the year. After all, the Whitehouse will need to attack Iran oh, say, before the summer of '07 because the race for president will start picking up steam by the fall.

And ya know what folks? We don't have enough bodies to start another war. We don't even have enough bodies to finish the war we already started. Can you say D-R-A-F-T?

You know I posted something in the comments area of the post about OJ Simpson. It lists the characteristics of a sociopath. I think it bears repeating when discussing this administration.

Sociopathic characteristics:

Not learning from experience
No sense of responsibility
Inability to form meaningful relationships
Inability to control impulses
Lack of moral sense
Chronically antisocial behavior
No change in behavior after punishment
Emotional immaturity
Lack of guilt
Self-centeredness


So there we have it. Our President, our Vice President, and OJ Simpson.

Sleep tight babies...

It's Sunday and I'm in the mood for fluff...

Since everyone who visits here is apparently in the Witness Protection Program and therefore unwilling to fork over any personal information (see post below), I decided to make it a little easier. This has more to do with taste than attributes.

Name four movies that you love so much that you’ve seen them a million times. These are movies that you enjoy no matter how many times you’ve seen them. No personal information required, so your cover is safe!

I’m a movie girl so it’s hard to narrow it down to four, but the first ones that come to mind are (in no particular order):


1. Jaws (the original, the rest sucked)

2. Last of the Mohicans (long hair, long rifles, who could ask for anything more?)

3. First Knight (Best movie kiss ever! Plus you have Gere, Connery, sword fights. I loves me some swashbuckling!)

4. It’s a Wonderful Life (Holiday tradition, makes me cry every time)


There are many more, but that’s the short list.

And if you don't play along, there will be consequences...

But enough about me....

...we want to know about YOU!

What does the person you're closest to think your best quality is? Now this can be your best friend, a room mate, a family member or spouse. What do others think of you? And are they right?

And please, check your modesty at the door...

Tastes like chicken...

Sausages affected by draconian trade laws

A SPICY sausage known as the Welsh Dragon will have to be renamed after trading standards’ officers warned the manufacturers that they could face prosecution because it does not contain dragon.

The sausages will now have to be labelled Welsh Dragon Pork Sausages to avoid any confusion among customers.

Jon Carthew, 45, who makes the sausages, said yesterday that he had not received any complaints about the absence of real dragon meat. He said: “I don’t think any of our customers believe that we use dragon meat in our sausages. We use the word because the dragon is synonymous with Wales.”

His company, the Black Mountains Smokery at Crickhowell, in Powys, turns out 200,000 sausages a year, including the Welsh Dragon, which is made with chili, leak and pork. A Powys County Council spokesman said: “The product was not sufficiently precise to inform a purchaser of the true nature of the food.”


I can think of another product that could benefit from a little clarification…

Wanted: man to land on killer asteroid and poke it with a stick!

This is my absolute favorite story of the day. I guess they got that whole shuttle-blowing-up-on-take-off thing worked out.


Nasa now plans to go where only Bruce Willis has gone before. The US space agency is drawing up plans to land an astronaut on an asteroid hurtling through space at more than 30,000 mph. It wants to know whether humans could master techniques needed to deflect such a doomsday object when it is eventually identified.

The proposals are at an early stage, and a spacecraft needed just to send an astronaut that far into space exists only on the drawing board, but they are deadly serious. A smallish asteroid called Apophis has already been identified as a possible threat to Earth in 2036.

Chris McKay of the Nasa Johnson Space Centre in Houston told the website Space.com: "There's a lot of public resonance with the notion that Nasa ought to be doing something about killer asteroids ... to be able to send serious equipment to an asteroid.


Personally I’m more concerned about killer tomatoes, but I digress…


"The public wants us to have mastered the problem of dealing with asteroids. So being able to have astronauts go out there and sort of poke one with a stick would be scientifically valuable as well as demonstrate human capabilities."


Really? Is that really what we want? Well I know I was telling Clint just the other day how I wished NASA would get on the ball and start spending billions of dollars to go poke an asteroid with a stick, but that’s just me. I’m the queen of poking things with a stick (ask me about the armadillo and the tarantula some day).


Read on...