Nutz

I not used to it at all. Nor should anyone else be used to it.

Arianna Huffington: Barack Obama's Memento Presidency:

"We got used to the president making strong promises and then caving -- from closing Guantanamo to not extending the Bush tax cuts for millionaires. Now he's making strong promises he's already broken. He's like a political version of the Guy Pearce character in Memento -- he's figured out a way to break promises outside of the limitations of linear time."

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h/t Dick Cooper:

How Socialists Built America | The Nation

Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy were not socialists. But the nation benefited from their borrowing of socialist and social democratic ideas. Barack Obama is certainly not a socialist. But he, and the nation he leads, would be well served by a similar borrowing from the people who once imagined Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the War on Poverty.

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Doomed to repeat. Fascinating.

On Stones in Japan, Tsunami Warnings — Aneyoshi Journal - NYTimes.com:

"ANEYOSHI, Japan — The stone tablet has stood on this forested hillside since before they were born, but the villagers have faithfully obeyed the stark warning carved on its weathered face: “Do not build your homes below this point!”"

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WTF, Apple?

iSpy Conspiracy: Your iPhone Is Secretly Tracking Everywhere You've Been | TPM Idea Lab

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Ah. Yeah.

Someone Finally Fulfilled My Dream of Knowing What a Squirrel Wearing Acorn Bling Would Look Like | Uptown Almanac

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In the Garden of Eden

You've just spent 69 days under the Earth's crust. What are you going to do now?

Edison Pena, Trapped Chilean Miner, Gets Trip To Graceland

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Surprised my night in '94 wasn't included. It was oh-so inspiring.

The 5 Most Inspiring Things Ever Accomplished (While Drunk) | Cracked.com:

"If we were to draft a list of all the artists, writers and musicians who owed their muse to booze, it would pretty much just be a list of all artists, writers and musicians, period. Douglas Adams came up with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy while lying drunk in a field, Jackson Pollock turned being a violent drunk into an art form, Charlie Parker once vomited onto his microphone during a live performance, and Ernest Hemingway was Ernest Motherfucking Hemmingway. But no act of creation so thoroughly embodies the drunken arts as the songwriting of Doug Ingle, from the band Iron Butterfly."

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Again, to all y'all that put your entire lives on FB:

Facebook 'Delete' Can Take 16 Embarrassing Months

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I've got 9 out of 10. Never done the cheese cake factory probably b/c it is full of tourist.

10 Non-Touristy Things To Do In San Francisco (PHOTOS)

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Orange Threat of Beer Bongs

There's no argument too asinine that conservative's won't attempt to justify this crap.

If it is 'just like a beer bong at frat parties', then why are we using it against 'terrorist' in order to extract information? Where is the 'fear' element? That I'll pass out and wake up with penises drawn on my forehead?

Douchebag conservatives.

Comparing waterboarding to beer funnels:

"Doug Powers, a columnist for World Net Daily, must have had a really rough college experience.

In his Monday morning weekly update, Powers jumped on the water-board soapbox and leveled an argument in favor of torturing prisoners. Tugging on the coattails of the recent 'Mancow' waterboarding media fiasco, he comes out with this gem:

A video that shows 'Mancow' Muller doing something that, if there were beer instead of water in that pitcher, happens every weekend at frat parties, can be viewed here.

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Speaking of douchebag conservatives.....

King Douche Newt doth protest way too fucking much:

PostPartisan - Gingrich's Deranged Ethics Advice:

"it’s amazing that Gingrich -- the only House speaker in history to be disciplined for ethics violations -- had the gall to make that claim. Does he think no one remembers?

Let’s review. Gingrich was reprimanded by the House and had to pay a $300,000 penalty for improperly using tax-deductible money for partisan political gain and for submitting false information to the ethics subcommittee investigating his conduct. An investigation by the House Ethics Committee concluded that Gingrich’s conduct represented 'intentional or…reckless' disregard of House rules and that there was “reason to believe” that Gingrich knew he was providing false information.

'The violation does not represent only a single instance of reckless conduct,' a report by an investigative subcommittee concluded. 'Rather, over a number of years and in a number of situations, Mr. Gingrich showed a disregard and lack of respect for the standards of conduct that applied to his activities.'

To be clear, the ethics case against Gingrich was no partisan witch hunt. The investigative subcommittee that determined he had violated ethics rules was headed by Florida Republican Porter Goss. The vote to reprimand him and impose the penalty was 395 to 28."

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Uh, yeah, I'd like to see the FCC try to enter my home.

This needs to be fixed.

FCC’s Warrantless Household Searches Alarm Experts | Threat Level | Wired.com

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I can't tell you how many times I've made this argument to my conservative friends who work for corporations that suck billions from the federal teat yet love to bitch about some 'welfare-queen' anecdote a friend of a friend told them.

I'm met with the usually slack-jawed blank stare 99% of the time.

The High Cost of Poverty: Why the Poor Pay More - washingtonpost.com:

"You have to be rich to be poor.

That's what some people who have never lived below the poverty line don't understand.
This Story

Put it another way: The poorer you are, the more things cost. More in money, time, hassle, exhaustion, menace. This is a fact of life that reality television and magazines don't often explain.

So we'll explain it here. Consider this a primer on the economics of poverty."

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The kids are NOT alright. Though maybe not much different that other generations. Just more media savvy.

Top Six Ways To Kill Piper: Middle School Girls Make Instructional Cartoon About How To Kill Classmate (VIDEO):

"A Pierce County mother says she's horrified by a cartoon video - posted online - that showed several ways to kill her sixth grade daughter. The cartoon was made off school grounds by some of her daughter's classmates, girls aged 11 and 12. Titled 'Top Six Ways to Kill Piper,' it includes depictions of girls shooting her, making her commit suicide, poisoning her and even pushing her off a cliff."

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This would explain a lot.

Cocaine test prompts Red Bull removal in Germany

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Too Easy to Find

I want to party at Obama's house. I call DJ!

Obama's Secret Record Collection : Rolling Stone:

"When Barack Obama moved into the White House on January 20th, he gained access to five chefs, a private bowling alley — and a killer collection of classic LPs. Stored in the basement of the executive mansion is the official White House Record Library: several hundred LPs that include landmark albums in rock (Led Zeppelin IV, the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed), punk (the Ramones' Rocket to Russia, the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols), cult classics (Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, the Flying Burrito Brothers' The Gilded Palace of Sin) and disco. Not to mention records by Santana, Neil Young, Talking Heads, Isaac Hayes, Elton John, the Cars and Barry Manilow."

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Sometimes it seems we are getting a little too connected.

I Am Here: One Man's Experiment With the Location-Aware Lifestyle:

"To test whether I was being paranoid, I ran a little experiment. On a sunny Saturday, I spotted a woman in Golden Gate Park taking a photo with a 3G iPhone. Because iPhones embed geodata into photos that users upload to Flickr or Picasa, iPhone shots can be automatically placed on a map. At home I searched the Flickr map, and score—a shot from today. I clicked through to the user's photostream and determined it was the woman I had seen earlier. After adjusting the settings so that only her shots appeared on the map, I saw a cluster of images in one location. Clicking on them revealed photos of an apartment interior—a bedroom, a kitchen, a filthy living room. Now I know where she lives."

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"What good is the truth if you can't tell a lie, baby"

Lies Take Longer Than Truths:

"A new technique that separates truth from lies finds it takes about 30 percent longer to fib."

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Finally!

3D porn to revolutionise industry; World; LIVENEWS.com.au:

"Hong Kong film makers are preparing to leave filmgoers goggle-eyed by releasing the world's first pornographic movie in 3D, a news report said on Sunday."

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Now, THIS is a wrestling move. This guy would kick Mickey Rourke's ass.

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Bad Attitude

It is incredible that this is not a major story for every news outlet in the U.S. Thus the times in which we live....

SIEGELMAN SPEAKS! EX-GOV CALLS '02 ELECTION "STOLEN" BY THE WHITE HOUSE!:

"So far, the mainstream press coverage of Don Siegelman's ordeal has pointedly ignored the theft of the 2002 election. Clearly, Siegelman himself does not regard that theft as a side issue, but as a major crime, and one that is quite relevant to his whole story.

Today, the Alabama governor is not allowed to speak up on his own behalf. He's locked away inside a federal prison cell, and, for good measure, has been silenced by the Alabama courts. As Scott Horton has so aptly put it, Don Siegelman is the Man in the Iron Mask."

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Brief win for the good guys. Important win.

Judge: White House logs are public:

"WASHINGTON - White House visitor logs are public documents, a federal judge ruled Monday, rejecting a legal strategy that the Bush administration had hoped would get around public records laws."

And another really important brief win:

BREAKING: REID PULLED TELECOM BILL:

"Harry Reid just pulled the telecom bill. The Senate will take it up again after the first of the year, but for now there will be no retroactive telecom immunity."

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What the hell is wrong with these people.

Princeton Student Admits Faking Attack :

"A Princeton University junior who claimed to have been beaten by two men in black ski caps for his conservative views admitted on Monday that he made up the attack, according to Princeton Township police officials."

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Finally, FINALLY an organization that's will clean up all of this filth.

Singleton hunts for 'A-Team' team

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And as we wind on down the road.....

More on the rigged election and rigged imprisonment of Alabama Governor Siegelman.

Not a damn peep about any of this in the 'traditional media'.

'Incestuous' US attorneys downed Democratic governor:

"Siegelman, then the Democratic incumbent, was running against Republican Bob Riley in the 2002 election, and had by all appearances won the election against Riley, by a margin of roughly 3,000 votes. However, overnight, more ballots for Riley were 'found' and counted by an all-Republican panel and subsequently sealed by then-Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor. A 'cabal' of Republicans recounted the votes, determined Riley the winner, and the Attorney General then sealed the ballots. In order for Democrats to even challenge the ballots, they would have to get a court order. 'To this day,' says Alexandrovna, 'those ballots remain sealed.' 'Pryor...' says Papantonio, 'everybody understands--that have followed his career at all--he was the guy that gets the midnight appointment during the recess. He's a recess appointment by Bush, because everybody realized what a thug--and he is a thug. I'm down here in the south and I'm very familiar with Alabama--the legal system up there. He is absolutely a thug. And he then gets appointed to the appellate court as a recess appointment.'"

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They hate him. They really, really hate him.

Poll: Bush approval plummets among military families:

"There is a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg pollout today that shows that a majority of those with military connections -- active duty, vets and families -- disapprove of Bush and his war and only 36 percent believe the war was worth it."

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I see Paris, I see France, I see your underpants through my security cam.

LOOK :: Official Motion Picture Website

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And as we wind on down the road.....

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When the Well Runs Dry

Awful. Absolutely awful.

Infrastructure matters. Pumps and levees and bridges and powerlines..... all matter.

Only those who believe government can be a solution can fix our crumbling infrastructure.

Those who believe that government should be shrunk so small as to be able to drown it in a bath tub, well......

Terrible, terrible, terrible.

Police: More victims in submerged cars:

"MINNEAPOLIS - Divers searched the Mississippi River on Thursday for more bodies entombed in cars trapped beneath the twisted steel and concrete slabs of a collapsed bridge. As many as 30 people were missing as the rescue effort shifted to recovery."

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George Bush is funding the terrorist with weapons. And history repeats and repeats and repeats......

Danger Room - Wired Blogs:

"The Pentagon 'cannot ensure that U.S.-funded equipment has reached Iraqi security forces,' according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

Not only did Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I) fail to 'maintain a centralized record of all equipment distributed to Iraqi forces before December 2005.' But there's 'a discrepancy of at least 190,000 weapons between data reported by the former MNSTC-I commander and the property books,' too."

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More weapons incompetence.... or greed. It is one or the other. Pick your poison.

"--a plane flown only by Iran--"

Why don't we just hand deliver the schematics for a nuke to Iran.

GAO: Pentagon mistakenly sold F-14 parts:

"WASHINGTON - The Pentagon accidentally sold to the public more than a thousand aircraft parts that could be used on the F-14 fighter jet — a plane flown only by Iran — after saying it had halted such sales, government investigators say."

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With such appalling displays of incompetence and downright fucking evilness why would anyone trust a Conservative government to spy. Why would you trust them to only go after 'the bad guys'.

I promise you that the Bush Administration are using these 'surveillance activities' in ways that would make Nixon's break in look like play school.

I want my Constitution back. I want my country back.

Bush Administration's intelligence chief acknowledges 'series' of other 'secret surveillance activities':

"President Bush authorized a 'series of secret surveillance activities' by executive order after Sept. 11, 2001, according to a letter from Bush Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell to Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA).

The disclosure marks the first time 'that the administration has publicly acknowledged that Bush's order included undisclosed activities beyond the warrantless surveillance of e-mails and phone calls that Bush confirmed in December 2005,' according to the Washington Post."

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Uuuummmmmmm, errrrrrr, uhhhhhhh, hmmmmmm.

D'errrrrrrrrr.

YouTube - Libertyville Abortion Demonstration

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Things to do today:

1. Put on kevlar
2. Ask for raise
3. Duck

Police: Boss kills workers who asked for raise:

"EAST POINT, Georgia (AP) -- The owner of a car dealership has been accused of killing two employees because they kept asking for pay raises."

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Hell, let him drive. He's probably better than 75% of the people with 2 arms and legs that are currently on the road.

Facing prison, armless driver turns in his keys:

"LAND O' LAKES, Fla. -- There was a time when nothing could keep Michael Francis Wiley from behind the wheel -- not even a triple amputation that makes simple tasks like tying a shoe impossible.

Even police, who busted Wiley so many times that it's now a felony for him to drive, couldn't stop him."

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To Kill a Dirty Word

My oft harangued home state deserves a lot of the shit flung its way. Shitty politicians, race issues, fundamentalist preventing beer on tap and titty clubs, inflexibility, etc, etc. (N.B. I do reserve the right to punch you square in the mouth if you talk shit about her and aren't a product of an Alabama womb).

But I'm a firm believer that negative extremes often produce a fertile ground for the equal and opposite extreme to develop... especially in the arts. You need pressure and conflict and the world working against you to produce superior art.

Not only in the arts, though. There's a reason the best Marines are produced on Paris Island in South Carolina. The place is a hell hole. You want a superior soldier? Train them in the worst possible conditions, then.

Anyway, it has always been a pleasure of mine to know that one of the most popular American novels was written by an Alabamian and that that novel's power is in its ability to positively influence people's view regarding bias and injustice.

2nd most popular book in the U.S. next to the Bible. Get some of that!

Alabama town uses "Mockingbird" to learn from past

U.S. readers often cite it as their favorite novel. It ranked second only to the Bible in a reader survey of books that had affected them the most. Library Journal voted it the novel of the 20th century.

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This report was produced by the Bush administration. It doesn't even mention the issues with gun control and points the finger at privacy laws. Do you get that? Privacy laws were what caused the rampage at Virgina Tech.

I'm sorry, but that's about the biggest load of bullshit I have ever heard. I work with privacy laws every damn day in a University setting. This 'report' is a bullshit attempt to take more of your privacy away by this gestapo of an administration.

This shit makes my blood boil. The laws ain't the problem. If, per Mike Leavitt below, "People don't understand what they can share and what they can't share" is true, then its not the laws fault. Its the damn lazy fucks in charge who don't take the time to educate themselves and their employees on those laws. And trust me, Academia in the U.S. is fraught with lazy, fat cat bureaucrats who actively work against any type of innovation because they don't want to change their Luddite ways.

Absolute bullshit.

Virginia Tech report faults privacy laws:

"'People don't understand what they can share and what they can't share,' said Mike Leavitt, the secretary of Health and Human Services."

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SiCKO going to be BIG. It's time to crush these greedy fuck medical insurance companies. They practice 'preventative healthcare'. It is their goal to prevent you from getting healthcare because it will cost them money.

Daily Kos: *UPDATED*: Nurses Give Moore, SiCKO 8-minute Standing Ovation:

"Yes I timed it.

After yesterday's national debut of SiCKO, 1,000 nurses from the California Nurses Association and across the country rose as one, roared, and continued roaring for 8 full minutes. I had goosebumps and tears in my eyes at the same time, and so did everyone else in the theater."

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Put this in the "news that should not be news" category. Spielberg makes movies, right? Who gives a fuck who he endorses, then? Is the Stars Wars voting contingency waiting to hear from Lucas on who they should vote for in '08? I shan't be voting for Jar-Jar.

Gee, I'm waiting to see who Paris Hilton endorses (probably herself).

It. Doesn't. Fucking. Matter.

Clinton Gets Endorsement From Spielberg:

"NEW YORK — Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton has won the endorsement of film producer and director Steven Spielberg, ending a tug-of-war between Clinton and Barack Obama for the Hollywood heavyweight's affections."

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The liberal media that isn't:

For seven hours, MSNBC hosted only conservatives and reporters to discuss immigration:

"During the seven hours of the June 11 edition of MSNBC Live (9 a.m.-4 p.m. ET), 15 segments aired about immigration or the Senate immigration bill, none of which featured a Democratic or progressive commentator. Indeed, in nine of the 15 segments, the anchor interviewed a conservative anti-immigration activist who had opposed the bill -- including six separate solo interviews with MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan. The remaining six segments consisted of two panels with Buchanan and conservative activist and Manhattan Institute senior fellow Tamar Jacoby (who, alone among the guests, favored the recent immigration bill), an interview with Congressional Quarterly immigration reporter Michael Sandler, an interview with MSNBC terrorism analyst Joe Cantamessa, and two reports from MSNBC congressional correspondent Mike Viqueira."

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Fuuuuuuuuucckkkkkk....k........kk.....k

You Are So F--ing Obscene / The president says it, you say it, your kids say it all the time. So what's the f--ing problem?

Let us now recap: Since 2003, BushCo's own nipple-terrified regulatory agency has been working like a prudish little ferret to destroy perceived indecency, particularly those "fleeting expletives" that love to pop up in major media, threatening to fine any network roughly $5 bazillion for any appearance of the dreaded "f--" or "s--" or anything else that causes unusual tingling sensations anywhere in the pallid body of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.

Dismissed as eye-rollingly idiotic by every cunning linguist in existence, this absurdly strict rule nevertheless caused enormous panic and trepidation among generally spineless network honchos who immediately shifted programming and yanked uncut versions of "Saving Private Ryan" from broadcast and fired on-air talent for the slightest indiscretion and desperately called their lawyers in prayer. It was, to put it simply, f--ing ugly.

Fast-forward to now. A New York appeals court just told Bush's hard-line FCC that they are, in essence, a bunch of simpleminded out-of-touch dweebmonkeys and that the TV networks, while morally vacant in nearly every way imaginable, still cannot be held to such impossible standards when such juicy curse words are a common element of everyday speech, including that of President "Stop This S--" Bush and Dick "Go F-- Yourself" Cheney and just about every other being anywhere, with the possible exception of the ghost of my late grandmother.

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