"Conservative host Sean Hannity made clear his disdain for CNN's environmental alarm when the show he co-hosts convened a panel of graduate students to discuss the program.
Several students involved say their views were misrepresented, and they are now complaining the Fox talker made them out to be a bunch of science-denying rubes. 'We ... feel like we were sold out by Fox News,' Chris Hain, one of the participants, told RAW STORY."
>>>>>>>
Hain was one of about 10 graduate students at the University of Alabama-Huntsville
_______
Yawn. Another anti-gay, right wing.... wait for it.... you know you can guess it...... Closeted Gay Republican getting busted buying some vitamin D.
"State Rep. Richard Curtis, R-La Center, admitted to having sex with a man he met at an adult video store in Spokane last week, according to a police report released Tuesday afternoon. The police report offers a damning and far different version of events from the brief account Curtis gave to The Columbian Monday, one that seems likely to threaten Curtis’ political future."
_______
Here's Mark Morford's latest column. I love the way this guy writes.
"Somewhere deep in the bowels of the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center which is naturally connected by a series of secret, rotting, subterranean vacuum tunnels to the National Security Agency and the Homeland Security Department and Dick Cheney's nipple-torture fetish room, is a vicious little computer bank running an encephalitic version of Microsoft Vista that's right now churning through some sort of satanic algorithm designed to mine enormous piles of chaotic data from a million unreliable global sources, all in an effort to add tens of thousands more names to the U.S. government's specious and hugely flawed master terrorist watch list and oh my God look at that, 500 more were just added in the time it took you to read this fantastic little sentence. What a thing."
"RIDGWAY, Pa. - It's furry and walks on all fours. Beyond that, about the only thing certain about the critter photographed by a hunter's camera is that some people have gotten the notion it could be a Sasquatch, or bigfoot. Others say it's just a bear with a bad skin infection."
"WASHINGTON - Devil's Revenge. Spontaneous Combustion. Hot sauces have names like that for a reason. Now scientists are testing if the stuff that makes the sauces so savage can tame the pain of surgery."
One is credited with dreaming up the technological innovation that has arguably done most to transform our lives in recent years; the other is behind a cartoon about a custard-hued family in middle America.
Yet both the worldwide web founder, Tim Berners-Lee, and the Simpsons creator, Matt Groening, are among the world's top 10 living geniuses, according to a report which ranks individuals according to their "genius factor".
It used a scoring system to assess contenders on how much their contribution had turned conventional thinking on its head, the popular acclaim they received, their intellectual power, their achievements and their cultural importance
"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Work colleagues who spend their day gossiping, organizing their home lives, or who press 'reply all' on e-mails are among the biggest nuisances in the office, according to a survey released on Monday."
"BERLIN (Reuters) - Passengers on a German train mistook a Halloween reveler dressed up as a gore-covered zombie for a murder victim and called the police. The 24-year-old man fell into a drunken slumber on his way home from a Halloween party in Hamburg, police in the northern town of Bad Segeberg said Monday."
Gordon Brown's plans to tighten the law on cannabis by increasing the penalties for possession suffered a fresh blow yesterday as the latest official figures showed the decision to downgrade the drug had been followed by a significant fall in its use.
British Crime Survey statistics showed that the proportion of 16- to 24-year-olds using cannabis slumped from 28% a decade ago to 21% now, with its declining popularity accelerating after the decision to downgrade the drug to class C was announced in January 2004.
Blogging from an undisclosed Holiday Inn in the California desert.
Conditions: On Fire.
Most redundant thing I did today was smoke a cigarette whilst driving through SoCal.
All I need is some tater salad and some sauce and you could serve me up at a BBQ.
Most ironic exits along the highway:
Raging Waters Dr. in San Bernadino
and....
Palm Date Avenue... cause if this TV in the hotel has hotel porn, then that's what I'll be having tonight.... a Palm Date. Thank you, Thank you very much. I'll be here all we.... uh, well, only tonight before I drive off to my next location.
"Even though most US executions have been postponed due to a debate about lethal injection, the state of Alabama intends to execute Daniel Siebert on Thursday because of concerns that pancreatic cancer might kill him first."
_______
Fear news network.
I'll be driving through the fires tomorrow. Wish me luck. Hopefully I can get some good pictures.
"Questionable 4-year-old FBI memo presented as new to stoke terror fears Did al Qaeda start the California wildfires? As more than a million people escaped the flames, Fox News anchors couldn't help speculating about a terrorism link to the blazes ravaging southern California. 'I've heard some people talk about this a little bit to me, but have you heard anybody suggest that this could be some form of terrorism,' Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy asked Wednesday morning. Correspondent Adam Housley said he's received 'hundreds of comments' from readers of his Fox News blog speculating about a link to terrorism."
"The San Francisco Chronicle reported last May that the California National Guard had been depleted and warned that severe “equipment shortages could hinder the guard’s response to a large-scale disaster,” such as a “major fire”: In California, half of the equipment the National Guard needs is not in the state, either because it is deployed in Iraq or other parts of the world or because it hasn’t been funded, according to Lt. Col. John Siepmann. While the Guard is in good shape to handle small-scale incidents, “our concern is a catastrophic event,” he said. “You would see a less effective response (to a major incident),” he said. At a press conference five months ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) echoed these concerns, stating, “A lot of equipment has gone to Iraq, and it doesn’t come back when the troops come back.” The Chronicle reported that the California National Guard was missing about $1 billion worth of equipment."
"Did you just grope me? Shall we head to the police? That's the message women are flashing on their cell phones with a popular program designed to ward off wandering hands in Japan's congested commuter trains."
Still basking in the Crimson glory of a long awaited, thorough, Alabama Ass Whuppin' that was placed upon the Tennessee Vols last Saturday.
Check out this YouTube of 92k people chanting with the might of a decade of frustration.
In case you aren't from Alabama and are wondering what the crowd is saying, it tis:
"Hey Vols! Hey Vols!! Hey Vols!!! We just beat the hell out of you. Rammer Jammer, Yellow Hammer, Give 'em hell, Alabama!"
Oh baby, it makes me nipples hard.
_______
The post today will be short and sweet as I've got a butt load of stuff going on. More on the ch-ch-ch-changes beginning of next week. Be on the look out for some California forest fire pics.
Just because somebody says something doesn't make it true.
"I've sort of gotten tired of explaining that, no, the Founding Fathers actually weren't all born-agains and bible thumpers. Not hardly. (Probably better to say that the great majority ranged from believers in an entirely impersonal God -- Deists -- to believing Christians who nonetheless viewed popular religious enthusiasm with a polite and paternal disdain.) But presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, himself a Baptist minister, actually told a crowd yesterday that 'most' of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were 'clergymen.' As these folks at Politifact.com point out, one out of 56 were clergymen. It's a creative definition of 'most'."
_______
The largest man made structure in the world.... is a pile of garbage.
"The enormous stew of trash - which consists of 80 percent plastics and weighs some 3.5 million tons, say oceanographers - floats where few people ever travel, in a no-man's land between San Francisco and Hawaii. Marcus Eriksen, director of research and education at the Algalita Marine Research Foundation in Long Beach, said his group has been monitoring the Garbage Patch for 10 years. 'With the winds blowing in and the currents in the gyre going circular, it's the perfect environment for trapping,' Eriksen said. 'There's nothing we can do about it now, except do no more harm.'"
"PARKER, Colo. -- One teenager has been released from the hospital and another remained in serious condition after their hands were severely injured during a game of tug-of-war at school."
"Two Georgia men pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges of operating a moonshine still in the Chattahoochee National Forest. One of the bootleggers faces up to 35 years in prison for his crimes: making the brew, selling it, and not paying taxes on the proceeds. Back in college, the Explainer had friends who brewed their own beer, and that wasn't against the law. So why is moonshine still illegal? Because the liquor is worth more to the government than beer or wine. Uncle Sam takes an excise tax of $2.14 for each 750-milliliter bottle of 80-proof spirits, compared with 21 cents for a bottle of wine (of 14 percent alcohol or less) and 5 cents for a can of beer. No one knows exactly how much money changes hands in the moonshine trade, but it's certainly enough for the missing taxes to make a difference: In 2000, an ATF investigation busted one Virginia store that sold enough raw materials to moonshiners to make 1.4 million gallons of liquor, worth an estimated $19.6 million in lost government revenue. In 2005, almost $5 billion of federal excise taxes on alcohol came from legally produced spirits."
_______
I'd like to think this was true, but this UK reporter doesn't live here. If the country would put my tribe in charge, then things would be much, much better.
"It may be daring to say it but America seems to be experiencing an atheist moment. Although 'In God We Trust' was declared the national motto by an act of Congress more than 50 years ago and has been stamped on the currency for longer than that, some considerable doubt has developed of late. If you look at the bestseller list over the last year, you'll find a number of books on atheism - to the surprise of the publishing industry."
" Yesterday (9/11) I was running errands in downtown. I had a lot on my mind and was not having the best day ever. After returning to my car 15 minutes after the meter expired, I expected to find a parking ticket. But no, in place of a parking ticket was a Rick James vinyl... SCORE! "
Here's the problem. Republican's whose purpose is to abolish any and all government services. Both Republicans and Democrats who are too terrified to offer up a visionary plan for conservation and water maintenance because, inevitably, they may need to ask the populace to sacrifice in the short term for long term gain by, gasp, paying a few extra tax dollars. Politicians who are too damn worried about getting reelected than they are about doing what's right and being a leader.
This is ludicrous. Put a bandaid on it and leave it to the next generation to deal with.
ATLANTA (AP) -- With the South in the grip of an epic drought and its largest city holding less than a 90-day supply of water, officials are scrambling to deal with the worst-case scenario: What if Atlanta's faucets really do go dry?
So far, no real backup plan exists. And there are no quick fixes among suggested solutions, which include piping water in from rivers in neighboring states, building more regional reservoirs, setting up a statewide recycling system or even desalinating water from the Atlantic Ocean.
"It's amazing that things have come to this," said Ray Wiedman, owner of an Atlanta landscaper business. "Everybody knew the growth was coming. We haven't had a plan for all the people coming here?"
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue seems to be pinning his hopes on a two-pronged approach: urging water conservation and reducing water flowing out of federally controlled lakes.
.......
"Former Gov. Roy Barnes, a Democrat who was defeated in 2002, told reporters this week that he had planned to offer grants to fix leaks that waste millions of gallons of water each year. He also said he planned to build three new state reservoirs in north and west Georgia to help insulate the state from a future water crisis. But those plans died when he left office."
_______
Here, here, DK poster. Pelosi and Reid DO suck and I call them every other day to tell them just that. You go to Congress with the Democrats you have not the Democrats that you want.
"The nation's airlines were late more often this summer, lost more baggage and bumped more passengers off flights than in any summer this decade. They also made more money. Despite the worst summer ever for air travelers, major airlines posted huge profits as they packed more passengers into fewer and smaller planes.
Profit at American Airlines, the nation's largest carrier, jumped more than tenfold to $175 million in the third quarter while Delta Air Lines, the third-largest, said net income quadrupled to $220 million compared with the year-earlier period. Profit would have been higher if not for rising fuel costs. The results elated investors but fueled anger among consumer groups. 'I'm aghast there isn't more public outcry over this,' said Kate Hanni, president of the Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights, a consumer advocacy group based in Napa Valley. 'They're making money hand over fist at the expense of passengers.'"
_______
I never wore a bike helmet until my early 30s. And that's because going 30-40 miles an hour on a mountain trail warrants a hard shell noggin coverer.
"The wussification of American children is a relatively recent phenomenon, but a very real one. We pamper our kids, over-schedule them, overemphasize fairness in competition (the score ends in a tie ... again!) and keep them indoors too much, to the point that we're doing them a huge disservice. Kids aren't learning how to get hurt, lose, fend for themselves, find their balance and discover minor dangers on their own - all important parts of growing up."
'I think we need to be put back in touch with our childhood...to be reminded of what's important, like memories about people we loved, or things that happened to us that affected our lives, things we can laugh about and shed a few tears about... I think storytelling is a way of saying 'I love you. I love you enough to tell you something that means a great deal to me.' ' -- Kathryn Tucker Windham"
Ms Windham wrote a book called 13 Alabama Ghosts. If you were raised in Alabama you know this book about as well as you know the Bible. Especially around this time of year.
"13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey is a book first published in 1969 by folklorist Kathryn Tucker Windham and her former English teacher, Margaret Gillis Figh. The book contains thirteen 'true' ghost stories from the U.S. state of Alabama. The book was the first in a series of seven '...and Jeffrey' books, most featuring ghost stories from a Southern state. Jeffrey in the book's title refers to a ghost that allegedly haunts Windham's home."
In an interview last week in the Urban Tulsa Weekly, Cooley slipped a pretty big reveal about the new album... 'Shonna (Tucker, the band's bassist) actually came in with three songs. It's her first contribution and all three of her songs are going on the new record.' We've actually been sitting on that piece of news for a pretty long time. Nice to finally have it confirmed publicly. Can't wait to hear Shonna belting out a few on the new record! Word is she sang one at a recent soundcheck. "
_______
Patterson as an action hero? Still not sure why he would work for Dick Cheney though.
"As eclectic as it is, Jason Isbell finds a unifying characteristic among this wealth of Shoals-based music. 'Everything recorded in Muscle Shoals -- from straight-up country to the Stones -- was soul music,' Isbell argues"
_______
If you've been around DBT for a while then, assuredly, you are familiar with the legend of Chris 'Monster' Quillen.
Some friends have created a memorial MySpace for Chris. Go read the stories and quotes from the truley amazing individual.
In 2007, the Critical Darlings expanded to a quartet (with the addition of guitarist / vocalist Joe Orr and drummer Josh Coulliard) and have started work on their second album, tentatively titled Satisfactionista, with producer David Barbe (R.E.M., Drive-By Truckers) behind the board. Of special interest is the collaboration with David Bowie’s inimitable pianist Mike Garson (Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans) who appears on the track “Something Unseen” (which also finds Drive-By Truckers’ Brad Morgan on drums). If that’s not enough, The Darlings are one of the first to employ Pete Townshend’s Lifehouse Method in “co-composing” several tracks with The WHO’s songwriter / guitarist via software that produces a unique song based on data input. It's no wonder that Lee Valentine Smith of Creative Loafing has named the Critical Darlings “a great little buzz-worthy band” and dubbed McKay “power pop potentate.” For more info, mp3s, photos and the latest updates, visit... www.criticaldarlings.com
" Lauderdale: Eleven of the thirteen tracks come in between 3:18 and 3:55, so they know the formula and execute it effortlessly. 'Exhale' reminds me of a grittier Gin Blossoms with Eddie Vedder-like vocals while 'Breathless P.M.' slows things down and adds a slide guitar. At different points they seem on the verge of anger, but instead cooler heads prevail and no punches are thrown. Overall, consistency rules and highs and lows are avoided. It echoes the Goo Goo Dolls thirty drummers ago crossed with mid-tempo Americana country rock. - mark"
"Anthony Kiedis (the lead singer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and his girlfriend Heather Christie gave birth to their son last week. The child’s name is Everly Bear. He was named after Anthony’s favorite band the Everly Brothers. As for the bear part, it was a little part mom and a little part, well, crazy. People has the details: 'The mama came up with Bear,' Kiedis says. 'That made sense to me because he's from me and I feel like I'm part of the bear clan, and I think it's nice to have a little bit of earth in your name.' Whoa, whoa, whoa. If the ground rules for naming your kid are using your favorite band and what animal you think you are, I am so on board. As soon as I find an Amazon woman whose womb is capable of nurturing my super-child, I’ve got the perfect name: Dethklok Triceratops"
"When Radiohead announced last week that they would be releasing their seventh album, In Rainbows, via their official Web site, there was much fanfare and some honest-to-goodness debate about the future of the music industry, the validity of major labels and just how people consume music."
"NEW YORK (Billboard) - He was the chain-smoking, Jack Daniels-drinking guitarist for one of the most explosive bands in history. But in his memoir 'Slash,' out October 30 via HarperEntertainment, the former Guns N' Roses member wants to set the record straight."
"The guitarist for indie pop rockers Death Cab for Cutie still expects to release his solo album in January even though federal border agents seized a computer hard drive containing the master tracks. A courier was headed to Seattle-based Barsuk Records from a studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, when U.S. Border Patrol agents seized the hard drive Sept. 19, Chris Walla said Wednesday. 'I don't know what red flag could possibly have gone up at the border,' Walla said in a phone interview from Portland, Ore. 'It's so baffling to me.'"
_______
There's so much garbage in the LBC. It's kinda hard being Snoop D-O-doubleG.
"SANTA ANA, California (AP) -- Snoop Dogg will pick up trash and perform other park maintenance as part of his sentence for carrying an illegal weapon in an airport last year, authorities said Thursday. Snoop Dogg Snoop Dogg was arrested last year for carrying a collapsible baton at John Wayne Airport. The rapper, whose real name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr., will do 'everything from raking leaves to painting benches' in order to meet the 160 hours of community service he was ordered to perform, said his attorney, Donald Etra. 'He's glad to make a contribution to Orange County,' the attorney said."
"(10-17) 13:43 PDT HALF MOON BAY - The director of a Half Moon Bay Catholic charity has been charged with a misdemeanor count of soliciting prostitution for allegedly offering a woman $500 to have sex with him after she asked him for help finding a job, prosecutors said."
Michael David Niece pleaded not guilty to the charge Tuesday in San Mateo County Superior Court through his attorney. Niece was not present in court, and an answering machine message at the Half Moon Bay home he shares with his wife indicated they were on a pilgrimage in Italy.
'Pilgrimage in Italy'? Ummmmmm, don't think you can call it a 'pilgrimage' when you're sitting on a beach in the Mediterranean sipping Limoncello.
Gotta love the organizations mission statement:
"We ground our work in a firm belief in the God-given dignity of every person and we take seriously the gospel mandate in Christian scripture to practice the works of mercy," says a statement on the Web site. "We are not a charity in the traditional sense, and the ministry is not just about giving handouts. It is about walking with our brothers and sisters in need, trying to live lives of 'active love' and taking personal responsibility in addressing struggles in life."
"Regular swearing at work can help boost team spirit among staff, allowing them to express better their feelings as well as develop social relationships, according to a study by researchers. Yehuda Baruch, a professor of management at the University of East Anglia, and graduate Stuart Jenkins studied the use of profanity in the workplace and assessed its implications for managers."
Amen to this. No matter how much the religious right wants the contrary and no matter how much they'll lie to make it the contrary, the U.S. was founded on secular principles of the Enlightenment. We ain't no christian nation. That's a recent development.
Atrios and Andrew Sullivan agree that there's something fishy in Ann Coulter's desire to see Judaism wiped off the face of the earth so we can all be 'perfected' by becoming Christians. This is an uncomfortable thing for Jewish people to think about, but isn't that actually a very banal baseline belief of all Christians and Muslims everywhere? Jews don't evangelize like this, and I don't think Hindus do either, but our world's great crusading faiths certainly do and converting everyone is . . . the whole point! This is one reason -- probably the reason -- that whatever the electoral politics of the matter, it's probably not a great idea to encourage politicians to 'talk about faith' more. For America to work as an enterprise you need people with deeply held but mutually inconsistent religious beliefs to all work and live together peacefully. Rubbing everyone's noses in the precise implications of other people's beliefs (Christians think Jews shouldn't exist, Jews think Christians are worshipping a false messiah, Protestants think Catholics worship idols, etc.) isn't really helpful."
_______
If this be the case, then I've already perpetrated 3 felonies this morning. 1 against my alarm clock, 1 against dresser in my room that I jammed my toe upon, and 1 against my car for taking me to work. I'm looking a 5-10 years.
Just say no to cursing inanimate objects. You could face serious jail time.
"A West Scranton woman could face up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $300 for allegedly shouting profanities at an overflowing toilet while inside her Luzerne Street home. Dawn Herb, whose potty mouth caught the attention of an off-duty police officer, was charged with disorderly conduct recently, prompting her to fire off a letter to the editor and vow to fight the charge. “It doesn’t make any sense. I was in my house. It’s not like I was outside or drunk,” said Ms. Herb, who resides at 924 Luzerne St. along with her four young children. “A cop can charge you with disorderly conduct for disrespecting them?”"
_______
He got sick of people asking him, "Can you hear me know". "Yeah, MFer, I CAN hear you now. STFU!"
"Performance artists are known for pushing the bounderies, but one Australian has astonished his contemporaries by having a third ear implanted onto his arm."
"(10-15) 10:59 PDT Beckley, W.Va. (AP) -- He told police he just wanted to take the grandchildren out for a spin and treat them to some food at an area drive-in restaurant. But a police officer warned the man that hauling four unrestrained children, all around age 4, on a busy street in a 15-foot motorboat pulled by a lawnmower isn't a good idea. The 61-year-old man drove to Beckley's King Tut Drive-In on Saturday afternoon from his home in the nearby community of Bowling Addition."
_______
In other baby news......
I didn't know you could use them as a weapon?!? That's freakin' cool. I gotta gits me one. When I do, I'm going to trick it out with little baby spikes and baby razor blades. I'm going to have the baddest baby weapon in town. People will cross to the other side of the street to not meet me and my weaponized baby.
"My Beer Manifesto. My Beer Goals. My Beer Philosophy. Beer, beer, beer. Other than my family, a few sports, and music, beer is my favorite thing to talk about, study, and admire"
I also hope to invite other bloggers (or could we call them, "bLAGERS?") to post here every once in awhile. Hopefully, this will be people in regions I can't quite get to.
_______
Wonder if they can make little tiny toxin trees to plant on my liver
"CHICAGO (Reuters) - Scientists have figured out a way to trick plants into doing the dirty work of environmental cleanup, U.S. and British researchers reported on Monday. Researchers at the University of Washington have genetically altered poplar trees to pull toxins out of contaminated ground water, offering a cost-effective way of cleaning up environmental pollutants."
_______
I will never work another job where I have to sit in a cubicle. Hell on earth. What's worse is I worked for a company that had half cubicles. Meaning, you didn't have any walls. You just stared at 4 other people who were 2 feet away from you all day long. It super awesome when the loud chick in talking on her phone and the back of your head all freakin' day long.
"Intel Corp. is often credited, or blamed, for popularizing the office cubicle. Now it is joining some prominent Silicon Valley peers in reconsidering the concept. The chip maker, emulating experiments at companies such as Cisco Systems Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., is planning tests in three U.S. locations of new office layouts. Plans include tables where several users can plop down with laptop computers, multiworker desks, and lounge-like settings with armchairs -- all a far cry from the mazelike grid of tall gray cubicles in most Intel buildings. Behind such tests is a growing recognition that classic, Dilbert-style cubicles have many shortcomings. For one thing, they tend to block visibility without blocking much noise from other cubes."
_______
Brains.... BRAAAINS!
I can make it turn right and left. I'm a super freakin' genius.
"THE Right Brain vs Left Brain test ... do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise? If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa. Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it. "
"Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts now faces more shocking allegations in a lawsuit filed against him. A second petition was filed today in district court that includes the university's Board of Regents as a defendant. Inside the petition is a scandal vulnerability assessment which contains a web of new allegations. It claims Mrs. Roberts spent the night in the university's guest house with an underage male on 9 separate occasions."
" Wisconsin GOP chair faces charges in enticement of teenage boy.
Brown County GOP Chairman Donald Fleischman has resigned his post, says a spokesperson, after being accused of enticement and fondling of an underage boy, reports the Green Bay Press-Gazette Saturday"
_______
It is a long fall from the top of those moral high-horses. Goose and gander ain't never seen eye to eye with this bunch.
"The soldier son of talk radio relationship counselor Laura Schlessinger is under investigation for a graphic personal Web page that one Army official has called 'repulsive.' The MySpace page, publicly available until Friday when it disappeared from the Internet, included cartoon depictions of rape, murder, torture and child molestation; photographs of soldiers with guns in their mouths; a photograph of a bound and blindfolded detainee captioned 'My Sweet Little Habib'; accounts of illicit drug use; and a blog entry headlined by a series of obscenities and racial epithets. "
And, shite, I haven't even checked the headlines for today yet. Who knows which combination of commandments some Republican is breaking today. I'm sure a Republican is coveting someone else's killing or something.
_______
So, hey, what's been going on with the guy that nobody wanted to have a beer with back in 2000.
"Former Vice President Al Gore said today that he is 'deeply honored' to win the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize today along with a United Nations panel for their work fighting global warming. Gore, who is in the Bay Area today, said in a statement that plans to donate the proceeds to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan non-profit organization working on the climate crisis. Gore is to meet with the group this morning in Palo Alto."
Past year: Emmy, Oscar, best selling book, Nobel Peace Prize, admired and respected around the world, all around badass.
"Did you hear that Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize? Yup. He did. And an Oscar and an Emmy.
Just so we are clear what that leaves us with, in this corner:
Former vice president Al Gore and a United Nations panel that monitors climate change were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today for their work educating the world about global warming and pressing for political action to control it. In a brief public appearance in California, Gore vowed to use the award to increase awareness and push for a more urgent response to climate change
And in that corner, hiding behind anyone in uniform:
President Bush is a competitive guy. But this is one contest he would rather lose. With 18 months left in office, he is in the running for most unpopular president in the history of modern polling.
Nice call by the SCOTUS in 2000. Do you think the Justices are proud today?"
"Oslo: A review of the ballots in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize has shown that George W. Bush is the winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. James Baker III has been sent by the Bush Administration to coordinate efforts on the ground. The United States Supreme Court in a surprise vote of 5 to 4 have declared George W. Bush the winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, stated that 'allowing Al Gore to win the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize violates the spirit and intent of the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Consitution.' Justice Alito was joined in the majority decision by Justices Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy, and Chief Justice Roberts."
_______
But we won't say anything will we. We'll keep out mouths shut again just like last time. Be a 'Good German' now.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The richest one percent of Americans earned a postwar record of 21.2 percent of all income in 2005, up from 19 percent a year earlier, reflecting a widening income disparity among different classes in the nation, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing new Internal Revenue Service data. ADVERTISEMENT The data showed that the fortunes of the bottom 50 percent of Americans are worsening, with that group earning 12.8 percent of all income in 2005, down from 13.4 percent the year before, the paper said. It said that while the IRS data goes back only to 1986, academic research suggests that the last time wealthy Americans had such a high percentage of the national income pie was in the 1920s."
"Tour Dates for This Is American Music - A Rock & Roll Revue' featuring The Drams, Glossary, Grand Champeen, Two Cow Garage www.myspace.com/ThisisAmericanMusic Tue 11/27 Dan's Silverleaf 103 Industrial St Denton, TX 76201 (940) 320-2000 www.danssilverleaf.com Wed 11/28 Davey's Uptown Ramblers Club 3402 Main Street Kansas City, Missouri 64111 Telephone: (816) 753-1909 http://daveysuptown.com/ Thu 11/29 Hideout 1354 W Wabansia Ave Chicago, IL 60622 www.hideoutchicago.com Fri 11/30 Club Garibaldi 2501 S. Superior St. Milwaukee, WI 53207 414-483-6335 Sat 12/01 Billiken Club (at Saint Louis University) 20 North Grand Blvd. St. Louis, MO http://www.myspace.com/thebillikenclub free show!"
"NASHVILLE (Billboard) - The final tally on the Rolling Stones' two-year world tour is in and it topped a half billion -- making it the top grossing trek in history. The staggering total -- $558,255,524, to be exact -- was accumulated between August 21, 2005, and August 26, when the 'Bigger Bang' tour wrapped at the O2 arena in London after a second European leg."
"MORGAN CITY, Mississippi (AP) -- Legendary bluesman Robert Johnson's death has been linked to a jealous husband, the supernatural and pneumonia. So it's unsurprising that there are three separate graves bearing his name in the rural Mississippi Delta. I'm looking for one of those graves now during a drive through towns like Greenwood and Itta Bena."
"In the first lawsuit over file sharing to make it to court, a jury ordered a woman who record labels claimed illegally shared songs to pay the labels $222,000."
To think a gay man in Alabama aspires to political office in the area of education?!? Wants to serve his community and contribute to the betterment of his fellow menses and womeneses?!?
Washington, D.C.--Howard Bayless has become the first openly gay man elected to public office in Alabama, according to the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which endorsed him. Bayless, a former board chair of Equality Alabama and current co-chair of the Equality Federation, won a special election Tuesday for a seat on the Birmingham Board of Education.
But I thought that 'teh gays' were only about dancing with their shirts off and funny mustache parades and wearing leather and practicing sexual behavior so deviant that Jebus had already designated a one way ticket hell for 'teh gays'.
"Whenever anyone tells me Manhattan is decadent, I'm telling them they ain't seen nothing 'til they've mingled amongst some of the religious in Montgomery, Alabama. Hoo, boy... PZ gives the sanitized version of the death of Reverend Gary Aldridge, a graduate of Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, home to some of this country's greatest master debaters. Oh, the Rev. Aldridge also worked for Falwell:
Clothing: The decedent was received wearing two (2) wet suits, one scuba diving mask, one pair of diving gloves, one pair of slippers, one pair of rubber underwear, two (2) ties, five (5) belts, eleven (11) straps.
Personal Effects: One yellow metal ring intact on left ring finger, one dildo."
That's right! It's not the gays, but the snorkeling religious leaders in Alabama.
Can't wait to see how the church members try to spin this one. Don't think 'wide stance' is gonna work to well in this case.
"'He's a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military and he has been most forceful in the last 10 years or more in fulfilling some of his more ancient commitments that the United States has a right to inject its power through military means in other parts of the world,' Carter told the BBC in an interview to air later on Wednesday. 'You know he's been a disaster for our country,' Carter said. 'I think he's been overly persuasive on President George Bush and quite often he's prevailed.'"
_______
FAUX Business Channel is going to be about business in the same manner that FAUX News is about News.
"NEW YORK - If your hipbone is connected to your BlackBerry or your thighbone is connected to your cell phone, those vibrations you're feeling in the car, in your pajamas, in the shower, may be coming from your headbone.
Many mobile phone addicts and BlackBerry junkies report feeling vibrations when there are none, or feeling as if they're wearing a cell phone when they're not."
"WASHINGTON - Draftgore.com, which describes itself as a group of grass-roots Democrats, underwrote a full-page open letter to Al Gore in Wednesday's New York Times, imploring the former vice president to enter the presidential campaign. ADVERTISEMENT The ad, which says 136,000 people have signed Draftgore's online petition, was published two days before this year's Nobel Peace Prize is expected to be announced. Gore has been nominated for the prize because of his campaign to bring attention to global warming."
_______
Credible on anything because why? It was leaked to FAUX News by the Bush administration. Nice.
"A small private intelligence company that monitors Islamic terrorist groups obtained a new Osama bin Laden video ahead of its official release last month, and around 10 a.m. on Sept. 7, it notified the Bush administration of its secret acquisition. It gave two senior officials access on the condition that the officials not reveal they had it until the al-Qaeda release. Within 20 minutes, a range of intelligence agencies had begun downloading it from the company's Web site. By midafternoon that day, the video and a transcript of its audio track had been leaked from within the Bush administration to cable television news and broadcast worldwide."
_______
Hmmmm. Ahhhhh. Well, seems to be a pretty good point in this article.
"The triumph of Western civilization is, first and foremost, a triumph of pipes and valves and the fact that water runs downhill. Aqueducts bring fresh water in, cobblestoned underground tunnels move used water out, and, presto, our world is clean.
But here is the problem: We have become victims of our own success. Ever wonder why your dog can gobble, lick, and gnaw all he wants along the glorious buffet of a city street and (almost) never get sick? Your dog is used to eating shit. Americans, on the other hand, grow up eating almost no shit at all."
HOT SPRINGS, S.D. - It was the most intense fire ever recorded in the Black Hills National Forest, but nearly all homes coated with a slimy gel were saved while dozens of houses nearby burned to the ground.
But the frustrating part:
Some firefighters say gel is not more widely used because it is still new, the firefighting industry can be slow to embrace new technology, and the backpack sprayers can be slow and unreliable at higher altitudes.
With this kind of success, why not buy in wholesale with the gel?
In the July wildfire that destroyed 33 homes near Hot Springs, a Black Hills tourist town, electrician and volunteer firefighter Gorden Sabo helped spray 27 homes with gel. Twenty-five of them withstood the blaze, he said.
One gelled home was destroyed because it was missing a garage door and the flames got inside, while the other home could not be saved because it started burning before it could be completely covered with gel, Sabo said.
John Nash, 63, was delighted to find that his house had been saved.
"I shook his hand," Nash said of Sabo. "I was pretty impressed. I lost everything except what he'd gelled — sheds, trucks, tractors. It was total wipeout except for the house."
Sabo has developed a $12,000-to-$20,000 gel system that can be attached to fire trucks and recently has begun to sell it to fire departments. (By comparison, a compressed-air foam system for a fire truck, which is what most fire departments use to protect homes, costs about $80,000.) The gel is made by such companies as Barricade International of Hobe Sound, Fla.
"Gel is a 21st-century tool. It has to become a mainstay of the fire service, and it's not yet," Waggoner said.
"SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian doctors used an intravenous feed of vodka to keep an Italian tourist alive after he consumed large quantities of a poisonous substance."
"'I made my arguments and went down in flames. History will prove me right.' --Texas Rangers owner George W. Bush after voting against realignment and a new wild-card system during a Major League Baseball owners meeting in September 1993. Bush was the lone dissenter in a 27-1 vote."
" For six decades, they held their silence. The group of World War II veterans kept a military code and the decorum of their generation, telling virtually no one of their top-secret work interrogating Nazi prisoners of war at Fort Hunt. “We got more information out of a German general with a game of chess or Ping-Pong than they do today, with their torture,” said Henry Kolm, 90, an MIT physicist who had been assigned to play chess in Germany with Hitler’s deputy, Rudolf Hess. ”During the many interrogations, I never laid hands on anyone,” said George Frenkel, 87, of Kensington. “We extracted information in a battle of the wits. I’m proud to say I never compromised my humanity.”…read on BushCo. and the Republican Congress will always be known as the “Party of Torture.” Their pundits as well are a disgrace to the American flag that they wrap themselves around in everyday…"
_______
Oh, man, this has turned into a great story. I blogged about it a couple of weeks ago here.
Two US men are locked in a war of words over custody of an amputated leg, which one of them says he lost in a plane crash and another insists he owns since it was inside a barbecue he bought at an auction.
John Wood of South Carolina says he had left the limb inside the barbecue smoker at a storage facility, because he wanted to be buried with it. But the storage business auctioned off the barbecue and other items after Wood fell behind with payments.
Wood is now up in arms over the leg the buyer of the barbecue wants to keep.
Shannon Whisnant, who was at first shocked by what he found inside the smoker, now believes it could bring him fame and fortune.
For now, he has put up a sign on the smoker charging adults three dollars and children one dollar for a peek inside, even though the leg is no longer inside but at a funeral home.
He believes a lot more money could be made by going on television shows.
Whisnant even suggested joint custody of the leg, much to Wood's outrage.
"LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Comedy Central is set to announce Wednesday the pickup of a second series from 'The Daily Show' host Jon Stewart's production company. ADVERTISEMENT The sketch-variety show 'Important Things With Demetri Martin' is slated for the second half of 2008; anywhere from six to 10 episodes will be executive produced by Stewart and Martin, who has been a featured contributor on 'Daily Show.' 'Martin' is the second series Comedy Central has ordered from Stewart's Busboy Prods. since they struck a first-look deal in 2005. 'The Colbert Report' was their first collaboration"
Here's a backstage interview with Bettye from last year.
_______
Here's a special review of Bruce Springsteen's new record by Patterson Hood
The Boss is Back?
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - MAGIC
For those of you out there who used to love Bruce Springsteen and perhaps thought that we'd never again hear a new Springsteen album that makes us say "Hell yeah!" again, I'm pleased as shit to reportthat I think we finally have it.
Upon hearing the single, Radio Nowhere, I was initially amused at how much the opening guitar riff sounded like Jason Isbell's DBT song "Never Gonna Change".Not in a bad way, Lord knows I spent enough of my youth emulatingBruce so a little unintentional payback was kinda a sweet irony. (One could make a fun game of going through Adam's House Cat's Town Burned Down album and counting the moments where I rip off the Boss, but I digress). Still, I liked it better than any single he's released in a long time and I hoped that it was in indicator of how the new album might sound.
Upon first hearing the new album (which like any self-respecting modern day fanatic, I ripped off and illegally burned, no worry though, as I have purchased the vinyl now and by the way KUDOS for releasing it on beloved 33 1/3 a week before the CD comes out. Too fucking cool. I hope our label will do that with our next album, but again, i digress). Where was I? Oh yeah, upon first hearing it I wasthrilled to like it so much. Hell, I proclaimed, best damned Bruce album since 1987's Tunnel of Love.
Oh, i've been a little tough on my childhood hero in the past decade or so. I skated through the bad 90's making the best of whatever happened. Tom Joad really did have some great songs, i just couldn'treally listen to it all that much. The show I saw on that tour was incredible, but certainly not a ROCKSHOW. The Rising was supposed to be the "return to form" but I fucking hated it (except for the song Empty Sky, which I really loved). The rest of it, i'd honestly just as soon hear his so-called mid life crisis albums (Human Touch anyone?).
Really wanted to like Devils and Dust, but just didn't. I did like the Pete Seeger thing, especially the live shows from it and held out hope that maybe this new revitalization would bleed into his next album ofnew original material.
Boy did it.
Upon about ten more listens (don't think I ever made it through The Rising that many times) I've changed my mind.
Magic is flat out my favorite Bruce Springsteen album since 1982's masterpiece Nebraska.
For years, I've held out some small hope that he'd make another Rock record like Darkness on the Edge of Town. Instead, he's given us a killer pop record like The River. (Which for the record is my all timefave, although the 78-82 period is pretty much perfect to me). At his prime, Bruce was the master at blurring the lines between the personal and the political and wrapping a message up in a pop song format. This time he's delivered the goods (and boy, do we need it now!)
He's obviously pissed, but who ain't. Only a moron can look around and not see that shit is fucked up. Only a master can take that anger and create great art from it. It may not change the world, but we all need a soundtrack as we deal with the daily bullshit. When I was a teenager, it was Springsteen's music that literally kept me going when I felt alienated from the world and alone out there. Now as I'm aforty plus year old man with a wife and kid of my own, I'm awfully proud and pleased to have a great new Bruce Springsteen album to crank up in the car as I pull out of here to win.
I really wanted you to know that the new record from Glossary (http://www.glossary.us ) entitled The Better Angels Of Our Nature is available for FREE from our website. I thought you may not mind hearing about getting something for free. If you've never heard Glossary, I've been playing pedal steel and guitar in this band for 6-7 years and this is by far the best thing we've ever done. We like it so much that we want as many people to hear it as possible, so we are giving it away. On October 23rd you will be able to purchase a CD copy of the album if you like. We will be releasing the CD in runs of 200-250 with different artwork by regional artists for each limited run. Thanks for taking the time to read this! Here's a quick link:
Just a note to say that we are streaming four songs off of our upcoming vinyl and iTunes EP "Can't Take it With You" on our MySpace page.
1. Angels on a Passing Train 2. Hard Up! 3. Can't Take it With You 4. If You Didn't Laugh You'd Cry
And so Kirk can have something to look forward to, could you send a friend or two our way? He is a simpleton who loves nothing more than approving friend requests.
"Radiohead, the internationally renowned band, has taken the unusual step of telling fans that they can pay as much or as little as they like for the band's new album In Rainbows"
"Hello Friends, Just wanting to give an exciting update on some great press that Adam Smith photography has recently received. Check out the current issue of 'Hittin' the Note' Magazine Issue #53. In there you will find a feature article on Adam Smith's work. Adam talks in depth with 'Hittin' the Note' about his photography and his career. ALSO: Adam Smith Photography in PASTE MAGAZINE! The PASTE 7 October 2006 AN ASSORTMENT OF OUR(PASTE MAGAZINE) ENTERTAINING BITS OF WHATEVER 7) Adam Smith's The Last of Their Kind Georgia-based music photographer Adam Smith's The last of their kind is an intriguing look at blues legends like the late Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside. Shot mostly in rural Mississippi, the series chronicals these musicians doing what they do best on dilapidated porches and abandoned freight cars, and at live shows and Juke Joints. www.adamsmithphotography.com Paste Magazine October 2006"
"MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (AP) -- Ryan Adams pitched another fit for a Minneapolis audience, a few years after his last local meltdown. Adams Ryan Adams, upset about the monitors at a Minneapolis show, stalked off stage. Throughout a show Thursday night, the 32-year-old singer-guitarist complained about the sound monitors onstage at the State Theatre. At one point, he moved two monitors, his microphone and his guitar pedals."
"For three decades he's been at the money burning, drug crazy heart of rock and roll. Now, in his scorching autobiography, Ronnie Wood reveals the inside story of his outrageous life in the Rolling Stones. My fellow Rolling Stone Keith Richards is my brother and mate but it's fair to say our relationship has had its ups and downs. During a period in the early Eighties, I was freebasing a lot of cocaine."
"Madonna, the Beastie Boys, John Mellencamp and Leonard Cohen lead a wildly disparate class of nominees for 2008 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They join Afrika Bambaataa, Chic, the Ventures, Donna Summer and the Dave Clark Five on the ballot. Five acts will be inducted March 10, 2008, at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel."
"Since Texas musician Carter Albrecht's bizarre and tragic death, concerns have surfaced about Chantix, the stop-smoking drug he was prescribed. Those closest to Albrecht believe the drug contributed to his death."
"Al Gore pioneered legislative building blocks, to help establish Internet infrastructure, also referred to in D.C as 'intiatives'. When speaking on CNN about executing such 'intiatives', it was spun out of context to mean he took the intiative to invent the internet. California Draft Gore has assembled a brief synopsis detailing the events which involved Al becoming the punchline of a politcal spin. It all starts with his legislative actions, historically known as the 'Gore Bill'."
"Congressman Tom Allen missed each of the three votes the House of Representatives held yesterday, bringing his missed votes total to 132. He also missed three days of votes for a fundraising [sic] trip to California two weeks ago. Over the last three weeks the House has only held votes on ten days -- Congressman Allen has missed four of those days completely, for a total of 22 votes.
"Maine Republican Party Chairman Mark Ellis said, "Congressman Allen really seems to have lost interest in showing up to work. At the very least, he should tell his constituents why he is choosing to leave them unrepresented in Congress less than a year after he was reelected. For these and the many other days that Tom has skipped votes, Mainers deserve to know the answer to the question: Where was Tom?"
Yeah, where was he? The Maine GOP actually tells us in a subsequent press release:
"October 2, 2007
"It has come to our attention that Congressman Tom Allen was in Bangor on Monday attending the funeral of a family member. Without question, the most difficult times in our lives are those in which we grieve the loss of family or friends. Our thoughts are with Congressman Allen and his family during this difficult time," said Maine Republican Party Chairman Mark Ellis."
Nice crocodile tears. And for the record, Allen's voting record is a stellar 98 percent.
_______
Republicans are in the process of creating a bill that would ban monkey/pigeon unions.
"They're an odd couple in every sense but a monkey and a pigeon have become inseparable at an animal sanctuary in China. The 12-week-old macaque - who was abandoned by his mother - was close to death when it was rescued on Neilingding Island, in Goangdong Province. After being taken to an animal hospital his health began to improve but he seemed spiritless - until he developed a friendship with a white pigeon."
Do you know this clenched and panicky group? Of course you do. They're the throngs of megachurch lemmings Karl Rove masterfully manipulated and rallied and whored to Bush's very narrow advantage in two elections." ....... "And why? Because the fundamentalist mind-set is not so much a firm and rational set of beliefs based on thoughtful interpretation of strict Biblical screed as it is, well, a paranoid wallowing in fear. Fear of the Other, fear of change, of progress, of the new and different and young and the sexual and the truly spiritual. And as we all know from almost seven years of Bush, fear knows no reason. It knows no stability. Fear is simply insatiable, voracious, and about as un-Godlike as Jesus with a machine gun."
