July 2009
100 posts
A Bit of Advice to Prez Obama, From Larry Flynt
From TheDailyBeast-
President Obama:
You have proven to be a great campaigner. You have yet to demonstrate your ability to govern. Who needs the Republicans? They don’t know what compromise is. They’re just out to derail your presidency. Bitch slap ’em at every opportunity and put them in their place. They lost; you didn’t.
As for disloyal Democrats, you need to yank the carpet out from under...
Shocker?
From The NYT-
Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, the sluggers who propelled the Boston Red Sox to end an 86-year World Series championship drought and to capture another title three years later, were among the roughly 100 Major League Baseball players to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, according to lawyers with knowledge of the results. Some of baseball’s most cherished...
“This came to me for some reason as I was waking up this morning: do you think in...”
–
-Ken Jennings
WatchJudge Sotomayor gets TMZ’d?!
Coming to a Store Near You?
With states strapped for cash like never before, politicians have to either cut spending (Not popular) or raise revenue (through taxation, also not popular.) Strangely enough, there is one lobby that is dying to be taxed; The Pot Lobby.
In California, studies show that $1.3 billion dollars could be raised by taxing the sale of marijuana…That is quite the pretty penny! Pot is already...
Money; the Energy Nerds Need to Work Together
From The NYT-
A contest set up by Netflix, which offered a $1 million prize to anyone who could significantly improve its movie recommendation system, ended on Sunday with two teams in a virtual dead heat, and no winner to be declared until September. But the contest, which began in October 2006, has already produced an impressive legacy. It has shaped careers, spawned at least one start-up...
Conflict Resolution ALA Brew
From Politico-
The charge of disorderly conduct was dropped by the Cambridge, Mass., police amid a national debate over the propriety of the arrest. Obama said at his news conference.last week that the policy had acted “stupidly,” although he later said he “could have calibrated those words differently.”
Obama said during his later comments on the matter that at the end of a telephone...
I Firmly Stand Behind Maine's Indians on This...
From ESPN-
INDIAN ISLAND, Maine — Leaders of Maine’s Penobscot Indian Nation are calling attention to a baseball player whose contributions to America’s pastime have been largely overlooked.
Penobscot Chief Kirk Francis and tribal Rep. Wayne Mitchell gathered with others Tuesday at the Indian Island grave of Louis Sockalexis to make their point. Sockalexis played professional...
WatchI don’t want to begin rambeling on how great Sarah Palin is for the Democrats. Instead, I want to reveal her lyrical and literary brilliance for what it is.
Reading sections of Palin’s incoherence, appearing on Conan O’Brian, Mr. William Shatner.
The Greatness of NPR Pay$ Off
From NPR-
Every day on NPR, listeners hear funding credits — or, in other words, very short, simple commercials.
A few weeks ago, a new one made it to air: “Support for NPR comes from the estate of Richard Leroy Walters, whose life was enriched by NPR, and whose bequest seeks to encourage others to discover public radio.”
NPR’s Robert Siegel wondered who Walters was. So...
Plaxico Burress and Bernie Madoff, Cell Mates?
From ESPN-
NEW YORK — Manhattan’s district attorney says he wants former Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress to serve time in prison, the New York Post reported. Robert Morgenthau told the newspaper that Burress, who shot himself with an unlicensed gun in November, was willing to agree to spend a year in jail, but prosecutors insisted on two, the Post reported. “We’ve...
AI- It is Only a Matter of Time....
From The NYT-
A robot that can open doors and find electrical outlets to recharge itself. Computer viruses that no one can stop. Predator drones, which, though still controlled remotely by humans, come close to a machine that can kill autonomously.
Impressed and alarmed by advances in artificial intelligence, a group of computer scientists is debating whether there should be limits on research...
Now That Cronkite's Gone........
From Time-
In the wake of Walter Cronkite’s death, Time conducted a poll to find out which news anchor Americans trust the most, and Jon Stewart won resoundingly with 44% of the vote, beating out Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Jon Stewart, but I differentiate him from national news anchors. He’s a comedian, not a journalist, and he...
WatchA Delightful 180 from Senator Lindsay Graham
With Obama Weighing in , This is Not Going Any...
From Wicked Local-
Cambridge — Disorderly conduct charges will be dropped against Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s office.
The incident sparked cries of racial profiling by Gates and others.
“The City of Cambridge, the Cambridge Police Department, and Professor Gates acknowledge that the incident of July 16, 2009 was...
“No, no, no! I’m probably 20 percent atheist and 80 percent agnostic. I...”
–
-Brad Pitt
While giving an interview to Bild.com for his new Nazi Bashing flick, Inglorious Bastards, Pitt was asked about his faith. He was raised as a Southern Baptist, but by his faith equation, it doesn’t seem like much of it stuck.
“I cannot believe that a Frenchman visiting Kiev went back home and told his...”
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-VP, Joe Biden
It was unclear who the Frenchman the vice president was referring to, one Russian journalist speculated Alexander Dumas, who was well known for traveling extensively in the region. “It’s certain you have so many beautiful women.”
Bruno Gets Bagged in UKRAINE
From Reuters-
KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine has banned “Bruno,” Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedy about a gay Austrian fashion reporter, objecting to its scenes of nudity and homosexual sex, the culture ministry said on Wednesday.
The ex-Soviet state, where conservative views on homosexuality still prevail, had already banned “Borat,” Cohen’s previous satire aimed at...
Ben Behaving Badly?
From NY Daily News-
A Nevada worker has slapped the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger with an explosive suit claiming the two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback raped her in his penthouse suite.
Andrea McNulty says Roethlisberger forced himself on her last summer after luring her to his posh room at the Harrah’s hotel in Lake Tahoe during a celebrity golf tourney.
...
Finally I can Sleep Without Worrying
From RollCall-
Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) returned to the Capitol this week, after being sidelined by illness for nearly two months.
The 91-year-old Byrd, who is third in line for the presidency and the longest-serving Senator, was hospitalized for about six weeks with multiple infections. He was released on June 30, but had not been back to the Senate for votes until...
WatchAlthough CNN’s Campbell Brown is not a stand out news anchor, this interview she does with Julie Menin is relatively revelaing, and Brown offers some great insight into the inside operation of TV InfoTainment journalism.
This is a Real Shame
From The Boston Globe-
Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation’s pre-eminent African-American scholars, was arrested Thursday afternoon at his home by Cambridge police investigating a possible break-in. The incident raised concerns among some Harvard faculty that Gates was a victim of racial profiling.
Police arrived at Gates’s Ware Street home near Harvard Square at...
WatchUnlike most wine coniseurs, this beer expert is less of a snob, and more of a nerd.
Pretty interesting, especially towards the end.
Like Father Like Daughters
From The Daily Mail-
President George W. Bush’s twin daughters were a Secret Service nightmare, a new book claims. Jenna and Barbara Bush would pull every trick imaginable to lose their security detail it has been claimed. ‘Jenna would purposely try to lose her protection by going through red lights or by jumping in her car without telling agents where she was going,’ author...
A MISCARIAGE OF JUSTICE!
From Jonathan Turley-
Donald Trump is vowing to appeal the ruling by Camden County superior court judge Michele Fox that he was not defamed when Timothy L. O’Brien’s 2005 book “Trump Nation: The Art of Being the Donald” claimed that he was worth only between $150 million and $250 million –rather than being the billionaire that he claims on television. The case turned on the actual malice...
Shaq's adding Reality to the Reume
From ESPN-
In a new ABC reality television series that begins filming this week, Shaq will take on other top athletes in their own sports. “Shaq Vs.,” which is set to premiere Aug. 18 at 9 p.m. ET, begins filming Wednesday in Pittsburgh, where Shaq will take on Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in football. Future episodes of the hour-long show will feature Shaq...
“Joe the Plumber — you can quote me — is a dumbass. He should stick to plumbing”
–
-Meghan McCain
WatchI am kind of angry Obama axed this Pentagon project.
A Flip Flopper gets Bounced at Sonia's Party
From NY Magazine-
If you were watching the first (and most boring) day of the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings yesterday, you may have appreciated the brief moments of excitement that ensued when pro-life advocates in the room sporadically interrupted some senator’s wearisome opening statement — before being quickly escorted away under the fuming visage of Senator Patrick Leahy.
But...
Get Well, Reading Rainboy Guy
From People-
LeVar Burton was injured in a five-car accident in West Los Angeles, police tell PEOPLE.
Burton, 52, whose TV acting has included roles on such programs as Roots and Star Trek: The Next Generation and who served as the longtime host of Reading Rainbow, was driving his 2006 Mercedes eastbound along Beverly Boulevard at about 7:40 p.m. Monday when a 74-year-old woman driving...
Tapes are Still King, In the Slammer
From Billboard-
NEW YORK (Billboard) - As music retailers struggle to stay in business, a Los Angeles firm is doing nicely targeting a demographic that gets bigger every year — prisoners.
More than 2.3 million people were locked up in federal, state or local systems at midyear 2007, according to the U.S. Dept. of Justice, and they want their Michael Jackson and Pink Floyd just like...
Johnny Green Dick
From Reuters-
BERLIN- A Berlin brothel has come up with a novel way to negate the impact of the global economic crisis and target a new group of customers at the same time — offering a discount to patrons who arrive on bicycles.
“The recession has hit our industry hard,” said Thomas Goetz, owner of the “Maison d’envie” brothel.
“Obviously we hope...
Salt Lake Meets Saudi Arabia
From The AP-
SALT LAKE CITY – A gay couple say they were detained by security guards on a plaza owned by the Mormon church and later cited by police, claiming it stemmed from a kiss on the cheek. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said that the men became argumentative and refused to leave after being asked to stop their “inappropriate behavior.” The men say they were...
Death Won't Keep Billy From Pitching On
From LA Times-
The booming, bearded TV-pitchman died nearly two weeks ago of complications from heart disease, and his ever-present spots were pulled from their perches on late-night and cable TV. But the pitch must go on, and Mays has returned in TV commercials filmed before his June 28 passing. Two new Mays commercials — for Mighty Tape and the Mighty Putty Super Pack — will...