We all scream for blog memes!
Full details can be found here. Some explanation and my results are below the fold.
Gimme gimme more more more »
... in Stupid Town (dum dum dum dum).
Some knuckle-dragging intellectual troglodyte politicos in Pennsylvania are hitching their slopey-brows to the ID bandwagon.
In Pennsylvania, experts on both sides have had their say in a debate over whether public schools should teach "intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution. A state House subcommittee heard testimony last week on a bill that would allow local school boards to mandate that science lessons include intelligent design.Ah, it's always refreshing to see the "just a theory" canard, isn't it? Odd how they don't seem to have much of an issue with all those other "just theories" in science (you know, like gravitation).One of the sponsors of the intelligent design bill, Representative Dennis Leh, feels school children need to be taught an alternative to evolution to ensure they are receiving a balanced science education. School children "need to realize that evolution is only a theory. It's not backed by sound science," he says, "and there are many, many scientists -- [including] bio-scientists and physicists who do not believe in evolution."
Given that Representative Leh doesn't even understand what a scientific theory is, I'm not so sure I want to trust his estimation of whether something is based on "sound science." I'm personally surprised he knows "pants first, then shoes."
Finally, we have that old time favorite of "many, many scientists," most of whom apparently don't have names, but they're out there. Honest.
"Personally, I am a creationist," the Pennsylvania lawmaker says. "I don't hide that, and I certainly don't apologize for it. I think it takes far more faith to believe in evolution -- that things just appeared out of nothing -- than [to believe] they were created by an intelligent Creator, in the Christian sense."First, who says things appeared out of nothing? I realize we humans have this cause-effect pattern for which we search, but that doesn't necessitate a "first cause" any more than our appreciation for the clarity of relativity makes quantum mechanics nothing more than voodoo hocus-pocus.
It certainly takes more faith to believe the universe has always been around, in some way, shape, form, or other cliche, than to believe the universe was created by an unknowable deity who has always been around in some way, shape, form, or other fashion made up by ignorant goat-herders in the Middle East. Yup, lots more. Uh huh.
All that aside, please, pass this law and dumb down the children of Pennsylvania; it'll be less competition for my daughter later on.
Extra-special Superduper Bonus: Read all about it! Intelligent Designer deemed "incompetent!"
The problem with intelligent-design theory is not that it is false but that it is not falsifiable: Not being susceptible to contradicting evidence, it is not a testable hypothesis. Hence it is not a scientific but a creedal tenet—a matter of faith, unsuited to a public school's science curriculum.He must be, because anyone who believes in evolution is a liberal atheist just one step away from eating handicapped children!
Shhh, George, better keep this one quiet. Might agitate the base.
(h/t Pharyngula)
Every 26 million years or so, a mass extinction wipes out most of the world's species, and it's usually blamed on a meteorite or an act of God. (The next one's not due for another 10 million years.) But after modeling evolution on a computer, Lipowski noticed that genetic mutations, accumulating over millennia, regularly produce "superpredators"—killers so powerful that they destroy the entire food chain, including themselves. That means the culprits behind mass extinction may not be meteorites, but meat eaters.That's it. Lock up Michael Moore immediately!
The end is nigh!
Fare thee well, Edloe.
Steven Speilberg is confused:
Oscar-winning director STEVEN SPIELBERG is baffled that fewer UFO sightings are made now than were made twenty years ago - because the technology to record would-be aliens is so commonplace today.A few ideas:
First impression: it's a non-decision that makes very little clear. I will probably have more to say about it later.
However, it didn't take long for the wingnut brigade to come up with pithy rejoinders like this:
My question is, why can't we have the Ten Commandments in courthouses, but terrorists can have hot-off-the-press Korans in prison?Here's a hint: one of these things is not like the other things.
The comments are also a regular Republican Talking Points Underground, invoking Terri Schiavo, moral relativism, secular humanism, and flag burning, among other unrelated misdirections. It's tempting to suggest that the nutty side of the right-wing has a blog vomit reflex akin to the Democratic Underground's Bushitler McSmirkyChimp nonsense.
Well, over there at Say Uncle, actually. Ooh and ahh and marvel as the reasonable arm of the right (as opposed to the shrill wingnuts) shares its bloggy goodness with you.
Update: And since I missed it over the weekend, you can also find lots of godless goodness over here at the 16th Carnival of the Godless. Heathens!
Howdy, although I've been tied up with this, that, and the other thing, the regular contributors are chugging away over at 100 Words or Les Nessman. Go check it out.
I'll make my literary return shortly.
...and I have to say that, so far, Vonage rocks.
Update: Our first call to England today and, according to my wife, it sounded better than the normal phone line. Hooray!
...are so many wingnuts* so impenitently stupid?
(Note: Rightwingsparkle and I tend to get along fine, despite her being wrong on a number of things. It's some of her more blockheaded commenters that make me shake my head in a woozy mix of awe and sadness.)
* Moonbats are equally so, mind you.
Well, if 50,000 people is a small town. And let's, for the moment, forget that it's part of a broader metro area of 2.5 million people. Anyway...
All the news about the ridiculous Supreme Court decision that Best Buy has more right to your home than you do made me think of my own city's battle from last year. Thankfully, that one was won by a city council that listened to the residents rather than the wallet of Wal-Mart:
Cheered on by jubilant residents, the Thornton, Colorado City Council has done what the Denver Post described as a "U Turn", and rejected on a 7-2 voted a rezoning for a Wal-Mart supercenter near Interstate 25 at a June 16th. meeting. At a council meeting in March, at which more than 500 residents showed up in opposition to the store, the same city council had voted 6-3 at a first reading in favor of the Wal-Mart, so this week's vote was a stunning reversal for Wal-Mart's plans. The Council went even further, by voting to suspend all new development for the northern part of the city until residents and businesses can come together to plan what they want the future of their corridor to look like.Yes, sometimes politicians will pleasantly surprise you.The Mayor said that he would not allow the Wal- Mart issue to divide the city. "I've been around a long time, and I've never had so much heat in my life," he said. "I don't mind debate, so long as the right decision comes out in the end...I'll be damned if one issue divides this community."
But don't get used to it.
How comes it strikes dumb kids but not, say, Supreme Court Justices who pass laws saying property rights no longer exist?
...but your local government has better ideas about how to use your property than you do, even if it's Wal-Mart putting ideas in their head.
Remain calm. Obey your government masters.
I'm sorry, but my Binky the Magic Space Clown can kick the Flying Spaghetti Monster's ass - and how!
(h/t Pharyngula)
The Discovery Institute, fine purveyors of creationist nonsense, are opposing a Pennsylvania bill that would require the teaching of so-called "intelligent design."
We are writing to express the opposition of Discovery Institute to proposed House Bill No. 1007, which would authorize school districts in Pennsylvania to require teaching about the theory of intelligent design.At first, I was a bit taken aback by their protest. After all, one would think they'd be positively creaming themselves over such a bill. Then I read a little further:
Our opposition to mandating design theory is not because the theory is religious. It is not.Aha! And there we have it.
They realize that if Pennsylvania enshrines it in law, it won't be long before it is challenged and declared (rightly so) unconstitutional, resulting in just "evilution" being taught, with no sign of their psuedoscience in the classroom.
As evidenced by their "wedge" document, little the Discovery Institute says can be taken at face value, because they're a horde of dishonest cretins trying to foist their religious agenda on the American people.
Update: They're eating their own. Excellent!
Scientist by never. That would be CNN's KC Wildmoon, who said the following:
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Earthquakes on the West Coast have prompted fresh speculation about "the big one" -- a quake that could dump a huge section of California into the sea.Um, no. See, the ocean isn't some sort of vast, bottomless cauldron waiting to swallow up land at every opportunity; it's just lower levels of land covered by water. Further, the portion of California that lies west of the San Andreas is moving northwest, toward Alaska. Los Angelinos will never find themselves as the new Atlantis, but they might someday be the new Anchorage.
A few have been large enough to shake the faith of skeptics -- a magnitude 7.2 quake on June 15, followed two days later by a magnitude 6.7, both off the coast near the California-Oregon border.Skeptics? Of what? Earthquakes in California? We might as well call them "idiots," much like we do with creationists.
Earthquakes in the New Madrid area? Some 100 or more are recorded every year, with at least one of them strong enough to be felt my mere mortals in the South, possibly interrupting their daydreams about how to get the hell out of there.
In short, KC, what the hell are you on about? Crikey, if this is the standard, any ol' Intelligent Design bobblehead could be a journalist.
...as the House approves a flag-burning amendment.
The House on Wednesday approved a constitutional amendment that would give Congress the power to ban desecration of the American flag, a measure that for the first time stands a chance of passing the Senate as well.House Republicans give a big middle finger to free speech. The Democrats are smelling better everyday. This scares me, both the proposed amendment and the newly alluring scent of the donks.By a 286-130 vote — eight more than needed — House members approved the amendment after a debate over whether such a ban would uphold or run afoul of the Constitution's free-speech protections.
Supporters said the measure reflected patriotism that deepened after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and they accused detractors of being out of touch with public sentiment.Patriotism and nationalism are no reason to turn our backs on what makes this nation great and what inspires our patriotism. If loving our freedom of expression, our ability to speak our minds through our own voices and property, makes me out-of-touch, then so be it.
At least I know which one of us is the true patriot.
But Rep. Jerrold Nadler (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y., said, "If the flag needs protection at all, it needs protection from members of Congress who value the symbol more than the freedoms that the flag represents."Exactly.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal agency collected extensive personal information about airline passengers although Congress told it not to and it said it wouldn't, according to documents.I, for one, am shocked!A Transportation Security Administration contractor used three data brokers to collect detailed information about U.S. citizens who flew on commercial airlines in June 2004 in order to test a terrorist screening program called Secure Flight, according to documents that will be published in the Federal Register this week.
So, I just signed up for a trial account with Vonage. I'll let you know how it goes.
I figure that if I am getting unlimited calls for $25/month and calls to the UK for 3 cents/minute, I'm going to come in way under the $30/month for a standard phone line with a couple of features and the $45-50 in long-distance charges on top of that.
Now, just need to convert our mobile phone plan to a minute-sharing one, and scale back our digital cable to the essentials with HD, and I should be saving on the order of $100 a month. That's a lot of crack, yo!
To me and my father and the rest of you fathers out there.
Maybe it's me, but I think I'd rather have medical science treat me:
A Romanian nun has died after being bound to a cross, gagged and left alone for three days in a cold room in a convent, Romanian police have said.Religion: keeping people stupid through 2005.Members of the convent in north-west Romania claim Maricica Irina Cornici was possessed and that the crucifixion had been part of an exorcism ritual.
Mediafax news agency said Cornici suffered from schizophrenia and the symptoms of her condition caused the priest at the convent and other nuns to believe she was possessed by the devil.
"God has performed a miracle for her, finally Irina is delivered from evil," AFP quoted the priest as saying.
Update: Wait, wait, stop the presses! Religion has found a possible cure for SARS!
Scientists conducting research in eastern China have found that a medicine used to treat schizophrenia is effective in treating patients with the deadlyWhoops, sorry, that says "scientists" and "medicine," doesn't it? My mistake.
SARS disease.
Offered without comment, this:
I never cared what the arguments were over the amount of brain activity, nor did I listen to any gossip about her husband. What I advocated from the beginning is that her parents be allowed to take her home and take care of her until her natural death. It may have taken a bit longer, but as the medical examiner said, she would have died soon anyway....and this:
If I ever become unable to speak for myself.... if my parents ever, ever try to circumvent my husband's wishes as to what medical treatment I do or do not receive, or what type of funeral arrangement he deems necessary, or for that matter any part of my long-term or end-of-life care, please shoot/poison/seriously maim them. I got married for a reason.
Well, not usually, but this one time (not at band camp):
A handful of people at Democratic National Headquarters distributed material critical of Israel during a public forum questioning the Bush administration's Iraq policy, drawing an angry response and charges of anti-Semitism from party chairman Howard Dean on Friday.Of more interest to me is what kind of coverage the true wingnuts will give this."We disavow the anti-Semitic literature, and the Democratic National Committee stands in absolute disagreement with and condemns the allegations," Dean said in a statement posted on the DNC Web site.
Well, an e-mail really, to Governor Jeb Bush. It went something like this:
Governor Bush -No, I don't expect anything other than a canned response, if that.I voted for your brother in the last Presidential election, and am a firm supporter of many of his foreign policies, however I must admit I have been rather disgusted by the pandering I see going on from each of you now (and not just you, but also men such as Frist and DeLay, who - in light of the Schiavo autopsy - have been shown to be, at best, woefully misguided, and, at worst, outright liars).
Quoting from a CBS News story about your latest efforts to keep the Schiavo saga alive:
"Between 40 and 70 minutes elapsed before the call was made, and I am aware of no explanation for the delay," Bush wrote. "In light of this new information, I urge you to take a fresh look at this case without any preconceptions as to the outcome."
I have a nutty idea, so try to keep up with me. Could it be, just possibly, that when you find your wife unconscious in the wee hours, your first instinct is not to mark the time down accurately just in case a prosecutor, or perhaps a Republican governor, tries to come after you 15 years later in a bid to win votes?
Please, drop this insanity. The "Save Terri's Liquid Brain" brigades were wrong. Terri didn't say anything. Terri didn't see anything. Terri has been gone since the day her cerebral cortex turned to goo. Please stop acting like yours has as well.
If anything, you're helping to ensure that moderates like myself march into the Democratic camp next election cycle.
Not that you'll see this or read it, but thanks anyway.
...but only because Rachel demands it of me.
Honest injun*.
(found at Dean's world)
* No offense to injuns, American or otherwise.
Get your mind out of the gutter, folks. We're talking about brains.
People with bigger brains are smarter than their smaller-brained counterparts, according to a study conducted by a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher published in the journal “Intelligence.”Yes, some days I'm glad to have inherited what we call the "Hoff head." The wee Fiona has it too, evidenced by her being in the 15th-20th percentile for height and weight, but the 70th percentile for head circumference. No, no, it's not freakish (you've seen the photos) - it's better.The study, published on line June 16, could settle a long-standing scientific debate about the relationship between brain size and intelligence.
I expect to be receiving "Enlarge your brain NOW!!" spam by the morning.
Much like a stupid dog that keeps going back to the owner that kicks it, the Republicans still can't let the Schiavo matter drop.
Gov. Jeb Bush said Friday that a prosecutor has agreed to investigate why Terri Schiavo collapsed 15 years ago, citing an alleged time gap between when her husband found her and when he called 911.No? Every other card-carrying "Save Terri's Liquid Brain" Brigade member has certainly had few qualms about slandering Mr. Schiavo on little more than their own agenda-driven, tin-foil suspicions.Bush said his request for the probe was not meant to suggest wrongdoing by Michael Schiavo.
It's as if the "god of the gaps" argument has been taken and reshaped as the "guilt of the gaps." Not so oddly, the same people tend to make use of both.
Update: John Cole is on it too.
I'm coming to visit you in a few weeks.
Please don't become a land of unprecedented destruction.
It pains me greatly to have to say this because it makes me feel like a rightwing crank when I do, but there’s no escaping it: the Left truly does hate America.And how does H-Bonobo know this? Why, because some on the left have questioned the case for war, and others have said some generally stupid things. I don't think you could make a better case for liberals hating America.They hate everything about it; it’s Judeo-Christian heritage; the God-given rights it protects for its citizens; its free markets; you name it, they hate it.
Except for the 99.9999% of arguments that might actually be better and have some merit to them. The Ankle Biting Pundits (who still need a hyphen) say to you: "America: love it or leave it, baby!"
Keep it up, folks, this is how you lose elections.
So what if it's a victimless "crime" and any such action would be a disgusting overreach of Federal powers? This is about principles!
Let's see, I supported Michael Schiavo's decision to let his wife Terri pass, and I also support the efforts of the husband of a brain-dead woman to save his unborn child. Yet, Michelle Malkin feels the need to co-opt the moment by calling it "the culture of life in action."
That's right, all those of us who have recently been painted as "the culture of death" by those on the far-right apparently have been told that our minds are made up for us. We're not allowed to want this husband to help his child enter the world.
Irony: the wishes of a husband and wife only count when they support the agenda of the "save Terri's half-brain plus liquid goo" brigades. Then it's all about beauty and light and the culture of life. Get off your goddamn high horse.
Oh how I long to live in this black and white world where people are shameless and completely agenda-driven.
Or not.
Anyway, if you'd like to donate to save this wanted child, you can do so here.
BEGIN SHAMELESS PLUG
You, perhaps? Well, if you do, let me know - because, if you open an INGDirect online banking account with me as a referral, they'll drop twenty-five bucks into your account as soon as you fund it.
I'm not just about altruism, because I get $10 in mine too. But, you know, you come out ahead and that's what counts.
INGDirect is currently paying 3% on the savings, which is higher than most brick-and-mortar banks you're going to find. I use it for rainy-day funds, have it tied to my checking account, and move money to it after each paycheck (don't worry, I also move money into retirement accounts netting - hopefully - a lot more than 3%!).
Anyway, if you're interested, let me know.
END SHAMELESS PLUG
Or Kos. Not much difference most of the time, truth be told.
Body and blood of Christ?
Nope, not unless he's some African kid in England:
Boys from Africa are being murdered as human sacrif ices in London churches.Don't worry, though - these aren't churches of your average British citizen, whose mythological nonsense has largely been tempered by progress and reality. Rather, it's the churches of African immigrants, importing their mythological nonsense that has yet to be so tempered.They are brought into the capital to be offered up in rituals by fundamentalist Christian sects, according to a shocking report by Scotland Yard.
However, you righteous Westerners aren't off the hook - far too many of you, particularly in the USA, still believe in goofy stuff like transubstantiation, saviors rising from the dead, demonic possession, and a "spirit war" raging all around us. You're not less nutty than these Africans; you're less violent.
Amen for that.
Some people aren't very pleased with a certain artist:
A performance artist wearing a business suit and safety harnesses jumped repeatedly from a museum roof to create photographs that recall scenes from the World Trade Center attack, but his spectacle was scorned by some onlookers and victims' relatives.I'm curious: is there an expiry date on this self-proclaimed ownership of the disaster? When does it become ok for us to use the tragedy of September 11, 2001 in artwork?
I mean, other than the cheesy, maudlin, crap-tastic, Toby-Keith-style glurge already produced, and wholly unfit to adorn even an ugly refrigerator door?
I wonder what they'd say about Picasso's Guernica?
Sean Penn, visiting Iran as a citizen journalist (and professional scowler), scored an interview with Muslim cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who leads in the opinion polls for the upcoming Iranian elections.
In between state-approved questions such as "Peanut butter: crunchy or smooth?" and "Those Americans are the spawn of Satan, huh?" he got the good gentleman to speak about American democracy:
Rafsanjani replied that Iran is allowing eight candidates to run for president -- certainly a greater number than American voters faced last November. "If the number of candidates is a proof of democracy, we are ... better than the Americans in this regard," newspapers quoted Rafsanjani as telling Penn.Odd, when I look here, I see 14 candidates affiliated with political parties, and a whole turban-load of write-in candidates. Nevermind that our candidates, whether they have a chance in hell of winning or not, probably don't have to worry about being disappeared by the current government, or perhaps blown up by Islamic kookity-kooks.
So much for Iranian democracy.
Mr. Penn continued his quest for international warm fuzzies:
The actor caused a stir when he attended Friday prayers last week and heard the “Death to America” chants. But on a visit to Iran's Film Museum in Tehran this week he told a student that those oft-heard chants hurt Iran-U.S. relations.See, they're not really saying "death to America," they're saying "Please, come smoke the hookah pipe with us, neighbor, and let us talk about the weather, all in a spirit of brotherly love." I feel so silly now for taking the threats of fundamentalist Islam so seriously. Who knew that 9/11 was just an invitation delivery gone awry?"I understand the nature of where it comes from and what its intention is," he said. "But I don't think it's productive because I think the message goes to the American people and it is interpreted very literally."
Modicum of sanity returns to Congress.
Jennifer Wilbanks, the "runaway bride," might be coming to a TV movie near you.
I wonder who will play her, seeing as how Marty Feldman's been dead for over 20 years.
Continuing to distance themselves from a lovely little place called Reality, Terri Schiavo's parents don't buy the autopsy results:
An autopsy that found Terri Schiavo suffered from severe and irreversible brain-damage has done nothing to sway her parents' position that she deserved to live and may have gotten better with therapy.I realize that they believe they were acting in the best interests of their daughter, and that they loved her, and that losing a child is a terribly hard thing to endure (I dread even thinking about losing the wee Fiona, as it depresses me immediately). However, perhaps one day, when they hop a jet plane back to the world of reason, they'll see that Terri wasn't there in any meaningful sense and that they ended up being pawns for the political agendas of people like Frist and DeLay, who stood before the entire country and lied.
To all of you who, now that you've been shown to be wrong, are crying about conspiracies and pay offs and such: you disgust me to no end. Your claims of some moral high ground amount to nothing more than standing on top of a pimple on a monkey's ass. Piss off.
The independent autopsy report on Terri Schiavo is to be released tomorrow. Maybe this will quiet down the non-stop self-righteous grandstanding we've seen from powerful politicians and right-wing bloggers since the day she died.
What's that? You say they pretty much shut up when she died and moved on to the next cause du jour of righteous Jesus-powered indignation?
Huh, go figure. Oh well, they can maybe start back up tomorrow.
I'm curious to see what it says; I don't think the public ever had enough facts to make an informed decision (not that it ever stops them, particularly politicians), and so it fell to the State Courts. Because state's rights are the most important thing in this federalist system, until such time as they don't serve your purpose, and then let's vote to make it a federal issue (again, not taking sides, just saying that politicians and rabid partisan pundits are largely full of shit).
Um, anyway, so yeah - tomorrow.
Update: The results are in.
An autopsy onCountdown to right-wing nuts screaming about conspiracies and such... 5... 4... 3...
Terri Schiavo backed her husband's contention that she was in a persistent vegetative state, finding that she had massive and irreversible brain damage and was blind, the medical examiner's office said Wednesday. It also found no evidence that she was strangled or otherwise abused.
Update 2: Speaking of brains, here is what an obviously crazy person has to say about them and death.
Update 3: Well, that didn't take long, let's go visit the comments at Blogs for Terri's Half-Brain:
The results that are reported on the autopsy report are baloney!!! Of course they're going to say that. I wonder if we'll ever know the real truth.Conspiracy Loon 1, Reality 0.
On the bright side, there are a couple of rational people present as well.
Update 4: Everything I was going to say, but said better than I would have.
Update 5: Ooh, a little more right-wing love from the Blogs for Terri's Half-Brain site.
Yes Sirena....ERnesto is a liberal, Blame America first, BEAT BUSH NO MATTER WHAT coward who revelled in watching this woman die.Can you feel the love tonight? These imbeciles are unable to even comprehend that someone might reasonably disagree with them. The "culture of life" wishing death on someone - ah, sweet irony, thy name is right-wing nutter.I've said so on here on another post.
You're not " grey "...you're contemptable.
Fanatical right wingers? Neo-cons? Bothered by congress? Bothered by Florida's Gov?Be a man ERnesto.....stand up for yourself. Face the truth.
You hate George W Bush. You hate his brother. You hate the NAME, BUSH period. Are you so afraid to admit to what you are or what you REALLY stand for?
You loved this murder on tv, didn't you?
Your contemptable kind, got off on this. You had BUSH right where you wanted him. He couldn't help, or you people would cry FOUL. You had the courts block out her family, and MADE them watch as they murdered their daughter. Did that make you happy ERnesto?Was Terri the weapon against GW BUSH? Was her death the ONLY way you could defeat him? Cause, you clowns surely failed in FLORIDA, and in OHIO four years later.
You sacrificed a living, breathing human being, for the sake of " political payback " and you don't even have the courage to stand up to admit it.
When this comes to it's logical conclusion ERnesto? You and your ilk, will be the first to be fed to the EUTHANASIAN centers. WHY?
Cause your useless to everyone and anything.Your life has as much meaning, as that stuff people scrape off their shoes when they step in it.
Pitty? I was in error. Contempt?
Pfffft....you aren't even worthy of that.
You aren't worthy of recognition that you even exist.When it's your turn?? I'll be watching with a smile.
Poetic Justice
Yeah, so there's another 100 words posted for your reading pleasure (or displeasure, depending on whether you like this stuff or not). Today we deal with the happy topic of genocide, probably in the Balkans, although with only 100 words it's possible I didn't provide enough for you to figure any of that out. So, make of it what you will (like, say, a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl).
A month into the grand writing experiment, I have some thoughts on the subject and the site. Maybe I'll get around to jotting them down. Been so busy keeping track of the Michael Jackson trial, you know.
If you have thoughts on it, do drop them in the comments, or in an e-mail.
A former Bush adminstration official is crawling out of the woodwork:
A former Bush team member during his first administration is now voicing serious doubts about the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9-11. Former chief economist for the Department of Labor during President George W. Bush's first term Morgan Reynolds comments that the official story about the collapse of the WTC is "bogus" and that it is more likely that a controlled demolition destroyed the Twin Towers and adjacent Building No. 7.Well, if anyone would know, it's the former chief economist for the Department of Labor.
Errr... ummm.
On the off chance you'd like to ask Dr. Reynolds about his theory, he can be reached at mreynolds@econmail.tamu.edu.
Go on, bottoms up, kill some brain cells - we'll make more!
Scientists have grown fully mature brain cells in a laboratory for the first time, using a technique that mimics the natural process of brain regeneration.Science is amazing, isn't it? While the cave-dwelling superstitionistas among us pray to this god or that, science moves right along, delivering more than clasped hands ever could.It promises to open the door to new ways of treating and possibly curing debilitating brain diseases such as Parkinson's, epilepsy and Alzheimer's.
Given that Alzheimer's runs in my family, this is particularly good news, and gives me some comfort that I won't spend my final days pooping myself and talking to wee people who live among the kitchen cabinets.
Huzzah!
If my fellow political right-leaners out there need to be told to steer clear of nutty crap like this, then perhaps the right truly has lost its collective mind.
Ooh, maybe this will fuel a "Clinton Rape List" to accompany the "Clinton Death List" that right-wing conspiracy kooks were e-mailing about with abandon.
Michael Jackson found not guilty on all counts.
Works for me.
The dude is weird, don't get me wrong, but I don't think - from what I saw and heard - that he's a sex offender (at least beyond making guessing what sex he is somewhat of a challenge).
Naturally, this will come as an upset to those who are just so certain in their heart of hearts that someone as odd as Michael Jackson can only be up to no good. After all, look at how them homersexurals molest little boys all the time, and they ain't nothin' near as weird.
Update: Lest anyone think I'm sitting here typing with one white glove, aspiring to be Corey Feldman aspiring to be Michael Jackson, allow me to say that I think the bulk of people leaving flowers and poetry and life-size photos and prayer beads and pretty pretty pictures at every makeshift Michael shrine across the planet are more wacko than Jacko.
Oh oh, looks like Katie Holmes is finding a new religion:
Katie Holmes says she's converting to the Church of Scientology, embracing the religion of her boyfriend, Tom Cruise.Ms. Holmes continued by saying:Holmes, in London to promote her new film, "Batman Begins," said Monday that she's excited about her lessons in Scientology, a religion founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.
Look, if everyone else can walk around believing in global floods, arks full of animals, burning bushes, parting seas, virgin births, and raising the dead - without so much as raising an eyebrow - then my belief in thetans and aliens and scientificky gobbledy-gook shouldn't even register.Wow.Hey, if the Mormons can just go around making stuff up, why can't L. Ron Hubbard? Let our dear leader rest in peace.
Many meetings ahead, so here is something to hold you (or to make your eyes glaze over, depending on your own special circumstances):
Impossible, I thought. I was right. It's like New Coke all over again, but without the hoopla. And the, uh, soft drinks. But that's how similes work, so it's a-ok.
It may seem perfectly logical to the person who does it (hey, two pedals - two feet!), but to the rest of us, we'd really like to know that the red lights on the back of your vehicle mean you are stopping. This is hard to do when you're braking and accelerating, but I'm sure your brake shop loves you.
Anyway, knock it off, you're right up there with the old lady with blinker flashing for her entire drive to the grocery store.
Traffic will thank you, or at least I won't be cursing your name as I continually find myself running up on your ass at every light.
If that's you I saw in the logs searching for elements of our collective past, drop me an e-mail! I lost track of you after leaving my last job, and it looks like you moved onto something new too.
Or something.
Note: The rest of you - the inflammatory stuff you're looking for is down below. Welcome back!