FEMA Meets the Press, Which Happens to Be . . . FEMA
It's so hard to keep up with this stuff, and then there's the outrage fatigue and all, but I do have a little question: Why are we using FEMA employees to pretend to be reporters and ask softball questions when Jeff Gannon is almost certainly still on the White House payroll?
Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism
Of course, it would be foolish to suggest that people are incapable of making distinctions between social networking "friends" and friends they see in the flesh. The use of the word "friend" on social networking sites is a dilution and a debasement, and surely no one with hundreds of MySpace or Facebook "friends" is so confused as to believe those are all real friendships. The impulse to collect as many "friends" as possible on a MySpace page is not an expression of the human need for companionship, but of a different need no less profound and pressing: the need for status. Unlike the painted portraits that members of the middle class in a bygone era would commission to signal their elite status once they rose in society, social networking websites allow us to create status--not merely to commemorate the achievement of it. There is a reason that most of the MySpace profiles of famous people are fakes, often created by fans: Celebrities don't need legions of MySpace friends to prove their importance. It's the rest of the population, seeking a form of parochial celebrity, that does.But status-seeking has an ever-present partner: anxiety. Unlike a portrait, which, once finished and framed, hung tamely on the wall signaling one's status, maintaining status on MySpace or Facebook requires constant vigilance. As one 24-year-old wrote in a New York Times essay, "I am obsessed with testimonials and solicit them incessantly. They are the ultimate social currency, public declarations of the intimacy status of a relationship.... Every profile is a carefully planned media campaign."
Make-Believe Reagan : Rolling Stone:
... Well, I think as I stand by myself on the curb, so much for Fred Thompson. After all, logic dictates that anyone who's too much of a lightweight for Fox News is probably...I freeze. Probably what? Probably a shoo-in for the presidency, that's what! I shudder as I realize my mistake, and suddenly the candidacy of Fred Thompson, which seemed impossibly silly just a few minutes ago, makes deadly serious sense. Thompson may act like a blank slate -- a homespun version of Being There hero Chauncey Gardiner running on a platform of "Whatever you say" and "I'll get back to you on that" -- but he represents something else that no one, after seven years of George W. Bush, could possibly have expected: a new low. It was bad enough when the GOP field was led by a grinning Mormon corporatist and a fascist ex-mayor itching to take his prostate pain out on the world, but Thompson is the worst yet -- a human snooze button, campaigning baldly for the head-in-the-sand vote by asking Americans not to think but to change the channel.
Much more at link, and well worth reading. Matt Taibbi is right on the money, as usual.
Video Professor upset by criticism, sues 100 anonymous critics:
You've probably seen infomercials for the Video Professor on late-night TV; a kindly-looking John Scherer has been pitching his company's computer training videos for two decades now. But Video Professor, Inc. has no problem using less-friendly tactics when confronted with criticism, and the company is now suing more than 100 anonymous Internet posters over derogatory comments that they made about Video Professor's business.
Derogatory? Perhaps. Unjustified? They sound pretty reasonable to me:
9/24/2007 - Melissa writes:I ordered the Excel cd from Video Professor June of 2007. I ordered it through a promotional offer stating "free, just pay shipping and handling" I figured $6 shipping to try the product should be fine. I received it in the mail a few days later, never opened it. 5 days after I was charged the $6 shipping, a $89.95 fee shows up. I sent the unopened disk back and called the main phone number. After waiting on hold for 20 minutes someone tells me they will refund my money. Today, September 24th, I have not gotten my refund. On top of it all, I am STILL receiving disks in the mail. Excel, Quickbooks, Windows, you name it! I receive them every 2 weeks, a $6 shipping fee shows up THEN ANOTHER $89.95 fee for each and every disk they send. I had to cancel the credit card to prevent them from charging me. I have called their main number numerous times to cancel the disks and to get my money back and no one is able to help me. They tell me there is no refund for the disks. I have sent each and every one back unopened. SCAM. Do not use this so called "program." It is a waste of money.
Gosh, and to think that all this time I've been assuming his product was merely the useless crap it so clearly is. But a scam, too! You really get your money's worth with these folks.
Lawmakers Describe 'Being Slimed in the Green Zone' - washingtonpost.com
... Brief, choreographed and carefully controlled, the codels (short for congressional delegations) often have showed only what the Pentagon and the Bush administration have wanted the lawmakers to see. At one point, as Moran, Tauscher and Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.) were heading to lunch in the fortified Green Zone, an American urgently tried to get their attention, apparently to voice concerns about the war effort, the participants said. Security whisked the man away before he could make his point.Tauscher called it "the Green Zone fog."
"Spin City," Moran grumbled. "The Iraqis and the Americans were all singing from the same song sheet, and it was deliberately manipulated."
But even such tight control could not always filter out the bizarre world inside the barricades. At one point, the three were trying to discuss the state of Iraqi security forces with Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, but the large, flat-panel television set facing the official proved to be a distraction. Rubaie was watching children's cartoons.
When Moran asked him to turn it off, Rubaie protested with a laugh and said, "But this is my favorite television show," Moran recalled.
Porter confirmed the incident, although he tried to paint the scene in the best light, noting that at least they had electricity.
'Nightmare' tarantula rescued in N.Y.
SMITHTOWN, N.Y. (AP) – An orange tarantula with venomous fangs was rescued Friday after its owner said he could no longer care for it.''This is the kind of spider that nightmares are made of,'' said Roy Gross, chief of the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
He said the spider is aggressive and can jump 3 feet and bite with its large fangs. The bites are dangerous to humans.
The spider, known as an ornate golden baboon, has a fat body 5 inches long that is covered in orange hair. Male baboon spiders can have a leg span of about 8 inches, and the female is even larger.
Gross said he was glad the owner, whose name was not released, called the SPCA instead of dumping the spider.
''This spider is so aggressive, it will bite you just to bite you,'' he said. ''It's not a pet you want to cuddle up with at night.''
Baboon spiders have a life span of up to 25 years, are native to southern Africa and spend most of their time near their nests, which are usually holes in the ground.
The SPCA took the spider to a sanctuary for reptiles and other animals.
Romney Speaks Up for Sons' Decisions
BETTENDORF, Iowa (AP) -- Despite his call for the nation to show a ''surge of support'' for U.S. forces in Iraq, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Wednesday defended his five sons' decision not to enlist.
The former Massachusetts governor said his sons were showing their support for the country by ''helping get me elected.''
More California E-Voting Reports Released; More Bad News
... Some of these are problems that the vendors claimed to have fixed years ago. For example, Diebold claimed (p. 11) in 2003 that its use of hard-coded passwords was “resolved in subsequent versions of the software.” Yet the current version still uses at least two hard-coded passwords — one is “diebold” (report, p. 46) and another is the eight-byte sequence 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 (report, p. 45).
OK, it's pathetic. I sit at my desk, surrounded by corn fields, and watch 46th Street at Times Square on earthcam.com.
Look! Other people! Walking! And some of them are talking at the same time! And not a Buckeye t-shirt in sight!
Yes, I know most of those people are tourists. But even tourists get temporarily smarter in Manhattan.
Because I really can't think of another explanation for this:
Jobs warns knockoff iPhone "lacks many key features" | Brad Ideas
Steve Jobs of Apple Computer warned today that a rumoured cheap Chinese iPhone knockoff making its way toward America is an inferior product which lacks many of the important features of the iPhone. “It may look a bit like an iPhone, but when consumers discover all the great iPhone features that are missing from it, we think they’ll still line up at Apple Stores for the genuine article,” said Jobs in a released statement. Designed by software nerds, the knockoff, dubbed the “myPhone” by fans, has not yet been confirmed.Apple released a list of features reported to be missing from the “myPhone.”
* The iPhone has special software that assures you will always use the trusted AT&T cellular network. Lacking this software, the myPhone accepts any SIM card from any random network. Users may find themselves connected to a network that doesn’t have the reputation for service, trust and protecting the privacy of customers that AT&T has. In addition, users may be stuck without 2 years of guaranteed AT&T service.
* The iPhone is configured to assure you the latest iTunes experience. The myPhone might function before you have installed the latest iTunes and registered your phone with it. Indeed, the myPhone lacks the protections that block it from being used without registering it with or reporting back to anybody, depriving the user of customer service and upsell opportunities.
* The iPhone has special software that assures all applications run on the iPhone have been approved by Apple, which protects the user from viruses and tools that may make the user violate their licence agreements. The myPhone will run any application, from any developer, opening up the user to all sorts of risks.
* The iPhone protects users from dangerous Flash and Java applications which may compromise their device and confuse the user experience.
* myPhones don’t forbid VoIP software that may cause the user to accidentally make calls over wireless internet connections instead of the AT&T network. Quality on the internet is unpredictable, as is the price, which can range down to zero, causing great pricing uncertainty. With the iPhone, you always know what calls cost when in the USA.
More at link. Very well done.
Bush: I'm the Commander Guy - The Caucus - Politics - New York Times Blog
WASHINGTON, May 2–And you thought he was still “the decider.”President Bush coined a new nickname for himself — ‘’the commander guy” — on Wednesday, as he criticized Congressional Democrats in a speech to the annual gathering of the Associated General Contractors of America, a construction industry trade group.
The man who last year proclaimed “I’m the decider,’’ in response to a question about whether he would fire Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary, came up with this latest moniker in explaining why he vetoed an Iraq war spending bill that dictated a timeline for troops to withdraw from Iraq.
“The question is, ‘Who ought to make that decision, the Congress or the commanders?,’’ Mr. Bush said. “As you know, my position is clear – I’m the commander guy.”
The woman who needs a veil of protection from modern life | the Daily Mail
Before knocking on Sarah Dacre's door, I take the precaution of checking my mobile phone. It's switched off, as she has requested.
"Last time someone came to visit," she warns, "I started feeling awfully nauseous. It turned out he had a picture phone with him and had left it switched on. A picture phone!"
She pauses, looking genuinely horrified. Apparently, this type of mobile automatically sends signals to a local base station every nine minutes - "No wonder I felt so sick."
[snip]
Sarah, 51, is one of a growing band of people who claim to be experiencing extreme - and incapacitating - sensitivity to electrical appliances, as well as to certain frequencies of electromagnetic waves.
"Wi-Fi, or wireless broadband networks, seem to be the worst thing," she says.
"Closely followed by mobile phones - particularly if they're being used in an enclosed space - the base stations of cordless telephones and mobile phone masts.
"I have to restrict the amount of time I spend on the computer or watching television, and make sure I don't have too many household appliances on at once, because that sets me off as well."
[more at link]
Can't be near a cell phone but can sit in front of a TV or computer -- certainly convenient, but does not, um, compute. Her neighbor's wireless router makes her sick, but her own toaster doesn't? Time for a double-blind test, folks.
Wipe your arse less, suggests Sheryl Crow | The Register
Eco-friendly chanteuse Sheryl Crow - who's just completed a US "Stop Global Warming College Tour" with "environmental activist" Laurie David - has formulated a cunning plan to save the planet: use less toilet paper and dispense with the services of paper napkins.Crow's mission during her 11-stop campaign was "to persuade students to help combat the world's environmental problems", the BBC notes. Her illuminating blog reveals she "spent the better part of this tour trying to come up with easy ways for us all to become a part of the solution to global warming".
And here's the upshot of that contemplation: "I propose a limitation be put on how many sqares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting. Now, I don't want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where two to three could be required."
[more at link]
Ya gotta wonder why Rush Limbaugh bothers to hire writers.
Massive spam shot of 'Storm Trojan' reaches record proportions
.... Irony, it seems, isn't lost on the attackers. "This is really a self-fulfilling prophecy," said Swidler, "by warning users about a worm attack to get them to click on a worm."There's little funny about the attack. "We're seeing both a very high volume of spam and a self-replicating worm," said Swidler. "This combination is kind of sophisticated. It's technically sophisticated in how they package the payload, but also in how they're trying to fool users into clicking on the attachment."
The malicious spam, Swidler went on, tries to convince users that their computers are already infected with malware and now part of a botnet. "They're telling people that their e-mail access is about to be cut off, and that they have to install this patch to continue using [e-mail]."
[more at link]
That's not ironic, that's clever and kinda funny. You know what's really "ironic"? That Computerworld, which bills itself as a serious IT publication, would run this kind of "Head for the hills!" article and never once mention that the threat only applies to computers running Microsoft Windows. That's "ironic." Also "moronic" and "corrupt."
... is what's needed here. Unfortunately, shortly after this picture was taken, the owner drove off the edge of the earth.
Click photo for larger version.
Thousands of pets may have fallen ill
Veterinary chain estimates 39,000 affected
Tuesday, April 10, 2007 3:29 AM
By Andrew Bridges
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- Pet food contaminated with an industrial chemical might have sickened or killed 39,000 cats and dogs nationwide, based on an extrapolation from data released yesterday by one of the nation's largest chains of veterinary hospitals.Banfield, The Pet Hospital, reported that an analysis of its database, compiled from records collected by its more than 615 veterinary hospitals, suggests that three out of every 10,000 cats and dogs that ate the pet food contaminated with melamine developed kidney failure. There are an estimated 60 million dogs and 70 million cats in the United States, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.
The hospital chain cared for 1 million dogs and cats during the three months when the more than 100 brands of now-recalled contaminated pet food were sold. It saw 284 extra cases of kidney failure among cats during that period, or a roughly 30 percent increase, when compared with background rates.
"It has meaning, when you see a peak like that. We see so many pets here, and it coincided with the recall period," said veterinarian Hugh Lewis, who oversees the mining of Banfield's database to do clinical studies. The chain continues to share its data with the Food and Drug Administration.
FDA officials have said the database compiled by the huge veterinary practice would probably provide the most authoritative picture of the harm done by the tainted food.
In central Ohio, no confirmed cases of pet poisonings have been reported, although some cases are suspected.
From its findings, Banfield officials calculated an incidence rate of .03 percent for pets, although there was no discernible uptick among dogs. That suggests the contamination was overwhelmingly toxic to cats, Lewis said. That is in line with what other experts have said.
At least six pet-food companies have recalled products made with imported Chinese wheat gluten tainted with the chemical. The recall involved about 1 percent of the overall U.S. pet food supply.
Measuring the tainted food's impact on animal health has proved an elusive goal. Previous estimates have ranged from the FDA's admittedly low tally of roughly 16 confirmed deaths to the more than 3,000 unconfirmed cases logged by one Web site.
"On a percentage basis, it's not breathtaking, but unfortunately it's a number that, if it was your pet that was affected, it's too high," veterinarian Nancy Zimmerman, Banfield's senior medical adviser, said of the newly estimated incidence rate.
In another estimate yesterday, the founder of a veterinary group said 5,000 to 10,000 pets might have fallen ill from eating the contaminated food, and 1,000 to 2,000 might have died.
The estimate was based on a Veterinary Information Network survey of 1,400 veterinarians among its 30,000 members. About one-third reported at least one case, said Paul Pion, the network's founder. He cautioned that a final, definitive tally isn't possible, and that even his estimate could be halved -- or doubled.
Banfield's veterinarians treat an estimated 6 percent of the nation's cats and dogs. After the first recall was announced, the chain beefed up its software to allow those veterinarians to plug in extra epidemiological information to help track cases, Zimmerman said.
The new template allowed vets to log what a sick pet had eaten, any symptoms its owner might have noticed, the results of a physical examination, any urine and blood test results and other observations.
Salon.com | Your modern-day Republican Party
Leading GOP presidential candidates believe in the power of imprisoning American citizens with no charges or review.
Glenn GreenwaldApr. 01, 2007 | (updated below)
Various Republican candidates attended a meeting of Club for Growth, and afterwards, National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru spoke to Cato Institute's President Ed Crane about what they said. This brief report from Ponnuru is simply extraordinary:
Crane asked if Romney believed the president should have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens with no review. Romney said he would want to hear the pros and cons from smart lawyers before he made up his mind.Mitt Romeny can't say -- at least not until he engages in a careful and solemn debate with a team of "smart lawyers" -- whether, in the United States of America, the President has the power to imprison American citizens without any opportunity for review of any kind. But in today's Republican Party, Romney's openness to this definitively tyrannical power is the moderate position. Ponnuru goes on to note:
Crane said that he had asked Giuliani the same question a few weeks ago. The mayor said that he would want to use this authority infrequently.It sounds like Giuliani is positioning himself in this race as the "compassionate authoritarian" -- "Yes, of course I have the power to imprison you without charges or review of any kind, but as President, I commit to you that I intend (no promises) to 'use this authority infrequently.'"
Two of the three leading Republican candidates for President either embrace or are open to embracing the idea that the President can imprison Americans without any review, based solely on the unchecked decree of the President. And, of course, that is nothing new, since the current Republican President not only believes he has that power but has exercised it against U.S. citizens and legal residents in the U.S. -- including those arrested not on the "battlefield," but on American soil.
What kind of American isn't just instinctively repulsed by the notion that the President has the power to imprison Americans with no charges? And what does it say about the current state of our political culture that one of the two political parties has all but adopted as a plank in its platform a view of presidential powers and the federal government that is -- literally -- the exact opposite of what this country is?
[much more at link]
No U.S. Backup Strategy For Iraq - washingtonpost.com
During a White House meeting last week, a group of governors asked President Bush and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about their backup plan for Iraq. What would the administration do if its new strategy didn't work?The conclusion they took away, the governors later said, was that there is no Plan B. "I'm a Marine," Pace told them, "and Marines don't talk about failure. They talk about victory."
Pace had a simple way of summarizing the administration's position, Gov. Phil Bredesen (D-Tenn.) recalled. "Plan B was to make Plan A work."
Salon.com Life | Oprah's ugly secret
Oprah's ugly secret
By continuing to hawk "The Secret," a mishmash of offensive self-help cliches, Oprah Winfrey is squandering her goodwill and influence, and preaching to the world that mammon is queen.
By Peter BirkenheadMar. 05, 2007 | Steve Martin used to do a routine that went like this: "You too can be a millionaire! It's easy: First, get a million dollars. Now..."
If you put that routine between hard covers, you'd have "The Secret," the self-help manifesto and bottle of minty-fresh snake oil currently topping the bestseller lists. "The Secret" espouses a "philosophy" patched together by an Australian talk-show producer named Rhonda Byrne. Though "The Secret" unabashedly appropriates and mishmashes familiar self-help cliches, it was still the subject of two recent episodes of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" featuring a dream team of self-help gurus, all of whom contributed to the project.
The main idea of "The Secret" is that people need only visualize what they want in order to get it -- and the book certainly has created instant wealth, at least for Rhonda Byrne and her partners-in-con. And the marketing idea behind it -- the enlisting of that dream team, in what is essentially a massive, cross-promotional pyramid scheme -- is brilliant. But what really makes "The Secret" more than a variation on an old theme is the involvement of Oprah Winfrey, who lends the whole enterprise more prestige, and, because of that prestige, more venality, than any previous self-help scam. Oprah hasn't just endorsed "The Secret"; she's championed it, put herself at the apex of its pyramid, and helped create a symbiotic economy of New Age quacks that almost puts OPEC to shame.
Much more at link, long but definitely worth clicking through the ad.
Subtitles are a bit annoying, but worth it.
I used to have a job which involved, among many other things, explaining MS Windows and Word Perfect to lawyers ("Get down here right now! Half my screen is off my screen!"). This guy is entirely too reasonable to be a real user.
US urges scientists to block out sun
The US wants the world's scientists to develop technology to block sunlight as a last-ditch way to halt global warming.It says research into techniques such as giant mirrors in space or reflective dust pumped into the atmosphere would be "important insurance" against rising emissions, and has lobbied for such a strategy to be recommended by a UN report on climate change, the first part of which is due out on Friday).
The US has also attempted to steer the UN report, prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), away from conclusions that would support a new worldwide climate treaty based on binding targets to reduce emissions. It has demanded a draft of the report be changed to emphasise the benefits of voluntary agreements and to include criticisms of the Kyoto Protocol, which the US opposes.
The final report, written by experts from across the world, will underpin international negotiations to devise an emissions treaty to succeed Kyoto, the first phase of which expires in 2012. World governments were given a draft of the report last year and invited to comment.
The US response says the idea of interfering with sunlight should be included in the summary for policymakers, the prominent chapter at the front of each panel report. It says: "Modifying solar radiance may be an important strategy if mitigation of emissions fails. Doing the R&D to estimate the consequences of applying such a strategy is important insurance that should be taken out. This is a very important possibility that should be considered."
Lake Superior State University :: Banished Words List :: 2007
I suppose if I were trapped at some godawful cow college in Outer Michigan I'd want attention too, but please stop.
George Orwell Was Right: Spy Cameras See Britons' Every Move
Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- It's Saturday night in Middlesbrough, England, and drunken university students are celebrating the start of the school year, known as Freshers' Week.One picks up a traffic cone and runs down the street. Suddenly, a disembodied voice booms out from above:
"You in the black jacket! Yes, you! Put it back!'' The confused student obeys as his friends look bewildered.
"People are shocked when they hear the cameras talk, but when they see everyone else looking at them, they feel a twinge of conscience and comply,'' said Mike Clark, a spokesman for Middlesbrough Council who recounted the incident. The city has placed speakers in its cameras, allowing operators to chastise miscreants who drop coffee cups, ride bicycles too fast or fight outside bars.
Almost 70 years after George Orwell created the all-seeing dictator Big Brother in the novel "1984,'' Britons are being watched as never before. About 4.2 million spy cameras film each citizen 300 times a day, and police have built the world's largest DNA database. Prime Minister Tony Blair said all Britons should carry biometric identification cards to help fight the war on terror.
"Nowhere else in the free world is this happening,'' said Helena Kennedy, a human rights lawyer who also is a member of the House of Lords, the upper house of Parliament. "The American public would find such inroads into civil liberties wholly unacceptable.''
Yeah, well, she obviously hasn't been to the US lately.
More here.
Deep-Frying Feast By Airport Managers Stokes Union's Fire - washingtonpost.com
Can deep-frying a turkey ever be a bad idea, especially at a holiday party?
It sure can, according to the air traffic controller's union, especially if the sizzling goes on inside administrative offices at Dulles International Airport. The union is blasting its managers for deep-frying a turkey last week in offices adjacent to the Dulles terminal and just a few hundred feet from the control tower.
An airport fire marshal made managers turn off the cooker.
Kieron Heflin, a representative with the air traffic controller's union, complained in a letter to management: "It has . . . come to my attention that the Dulles Management decided it would be a nice idea to DEEP FRY A TURKEY in the Dulles administrative quarters, surrounded by carpet, linoleum, an airport, aircraft, a control tower, thousands if not millions of gallons of jet fuel and thousands of passengers and employees."
Yes, You Can Surf in Cleveland, Before the Brown Water Freezes - New York Times
“Surfing Lake Erie is basically disgusting,” said Bill Weeber, known as Mongo, 44. “But then I catch that wave and I forget about it, and I feel high all day.”Scott Ditzenberger hoped to experience the same feeling when he heard that the first blizzard of the winter was pounding across the Midwest.
“I was so excited I could barely sleep last night,” said Mr. Ditzenberger, 35, who quit his job as a lawyer in August to spend more time surfing and to film a documentary about Cleveland’s surf community.
GR8 TaT2 Maker
It's job training for one of the few secure occupations left in this country.
Soldiers of Christ (Harpers.org)
... “Church” is insufficient to describe the complex. There is a permanent structure called the Tent, which regularly fills with hundreds or thousands of teens and twentysomethings for New Life's various youth gatherings. Next to the Tent stands the old sanctuary, a gray box capable of seating 1,500; this juts out into the new sanctuary, capacity 7,500, already too small. At the complex's western edge is the World Prayer Center, which looks like a great iron wedge driven into the plains. The true architectural wonder of New Life, however, is the pyramid of authority into which it orders its 11,000 members. At the base are 1,300 cell groups, whose leaders answer to section leaders, who answer to zone, who answer to district, who answer to Pastor Ted Haggard, New Life's founder.Pastor Ted, who talks to President George W. Bush or his advisers every Monday, is a handsome forty-eight-year-old Indianan, most comfortable in denim. He likes to say that his only disagreement with the President is automotive; Bush drives a Ford pickup, whereas Pastor Ted loves his Chevy. In addition to New Life, Pastor Ted presides over the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), whose 45,000 churches and 30 million believers make up the nation's most powerful religious lobbying group, and also over a smaller network of his own creation, the Association of Life-Giving Churches, 300 or so congregations modeled on New Life's “free market” approach to the divine.
Golly, wotta shock. Didn't anyone around here read Elmer Gantry?
In a strip mall in Heath, OH, Nails 3000 and Doggy Style Self-Service Dog Wash.
Nails 3000 used to be called Nails 2000, but they wisely rebooted just before Y2K, and are thus good to go for another thousand years.
Running With Scissors - Movies - Review - New York Times
“Running With Scissors” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It has many disturbing scenes of sexuality, drug use and age-inappropriate behavior and professional misconduct.
Rolling Stone : The Hopeless Stupidity of 9/11 Conspiracies
... I have two basic gripes with the 9/11 Truth movement. The first is that it gives supporters of Bush an excuse to dismiss critics of this administration. I have no doubt that every time one of those Loose Change dickwads opens his mouth, a Republican somewhere picks up five votes. In fact, if there were any conspiracy here, I'd be far more inclined to believe that this whole movement was cooked up by Karl Rove as a kind of mass cyber-provocation, along the lines of Gordon Liddy hiring hippie peace protesters to piss in the lobbies of hotels where campaign reporters were staying.Secondly, it's bad enough that people in this country think Tim LaHaye is a prophet and Sean Hannity is an objective newsman. But if large numbers of people in this country can swallow 9/11 conspiracy theory without puking, all hope is lost. ...
Language a bit strong, but he does a good job of demolishing the "Loose Change" nonsense.
Telegraph | News | US outraged as Pakistan frees Taliban fighters
Pakistan's credibility as a leading ally in the war on terrorism was called into question last night when it emerged that President Pervez Musharraf's government had authorised the release from jail of thousands of Taliban fighters caught fighting coalition forces in Afghanistan.Five years after American-led coalition forces overthrew the Taliban during Operation Enduring Freedom, United States officials have been horrified to discover that thousands of foreign fighters detained by Pakistan after fleeing the battleground in Afghanistan have been quietly released and allowed to return to their home countries. ...
I had yet another MRI today and felt a bit wonky afterward, so I Googled "MRI side effects" and found this:
MRI side effects | The Medical Blog NetworkI recently had an MRI, this is the third or fourth, any time I go though the anti-theft devices at stores. The alarm sounds when I have nothing on me. If anyone can help please email me at xxxx@yahoo.com thanks
---------------
Magnetism
Submitted by Dr. Rob Lamberts on Thu, 01/05/2006 - 7:02pm.The test to see if you have become magnetized is to float in the water on your back and see if your head points to north.
I had one bipolar patient become unipolar in this way. She also became very attractive.
Robert Lamberts, MD
Evans Medical Group
FBI Investigates Popular Artist Kinkade
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The FBI is investigating artist Thomas Kinkade and company executives over allegations that they fraudulently induced investors to open galleries, then ruined them financially, a newspaper reported Tuesday.Relying on information from former Kinkade dealers contacted by federal agents, the Los Angeles Times reported that the FBI is focusing on issues raised in litigation brought by at least six former Thomas Kinkade Signature Gallery owners.
At least 10 former dealers nationwide have alleged in arbitration claims that the ''Painter of Light'' -- a California native beloved by some but reviled by the art establishment -- exploited his Christianity to persuade people to invest in the galleries, which sell only Kinkade's work.
After they had invested tens of thousands of dollars each, the ex-owners said, the company's policies drove them out of business. They say they were saddled with limited-edition prints no one wanted to buy, forced to open stores in inappropriate venues and undercut by discount galleries peddling the same items at prices they couldn't match.
Some also say Kinkade -- who claims to be the most widely collected living U.S. artist -- schemed to devalue his public company, Media Arts Group Inc., so he could buy it on the cheap. In 2004, Kinkade and other investors paid $32.7 million to take Media Arts Group private, changing its name to Thomas Kinkade Co.
''These dealers became investors primarily because they were believers in faith, love, family and God, and the paintings reflect those values,'' said Joseph Ejbeh, a Michigan attorney who tried an arbitration case that began in San Francisco in December 2004.
Kinkade Co. spokesman Jim Bryant said the Morgan Hill, Calif.-based company was unaware of an FBI investigation.
''We assert that there are no legitimate grounds for a federal investigation of any kind,'' Bryant said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press.
FBI agent Brian Wickham did not return a phone call Tuesday from the AP.
Kinkade's paintings typically include tranquil scenes of country gardens, churches, streams and lighthouses in dewy morning light. Many contain images from Bible passages.
Roughly 10 million Americans have a Kinkade painting at home. The wall hangings and spin-off products are said to fetch $100 million a year.
For more on Kinkade's sleazy shtick, see this. I dissed Kinkade's wretched oeuvre in a column a few years ago and never heard the end of it from his fans. Hey, folks, I'm not the one pissing on Winnie the Pooh.
Anti-Spyware Group Targets AOL 9.0 As 'Badware' - Internet News by InformationWeek
An anti-spyware group on Monday slapped AOL's client software with a "badware" label, and told users to avoid installing the program because it "adds software without disclosure" and "interferes with computer use."Stopbadware.org, a non-profit group headed by Harvard University and Oxford University, and backed by Google, Sun, and Lenovo, blasted AOL 9.0 for the kind of deceptive installation practices usually reserved for adware and spyware. In the past, Stopbadware.org has limited itself to pegging such dangerous programs as the file-sharing Kazaa peer-to-peer software, fake anti-spyware scanners, and screensavers bundled with Trojan horses and keyloggers.
According to the group's online alert, it considers the AOL software irresponsible for 8 different reasons, among them that it installs software such as the You've Got Pictures screensaver and ViewPoint Media Player without telling the user, that it adds the AOL toolbar to Internet Explorer without adequate disclosure, and that it fails to uninstall completely.
"We currently recommend that users do not install the version of AOL software that we tested, unless the user is comfortable with the level of risk we identify," the organization concluded in its online report.
AOL 9.0 is the free-of-charge software that the Virginia-based Internet service provider hands out to subscribers for connecting to, and accessing the Internet.
Rep. Schmidt's Marathon Ad Questioned - New York Times
[click photo for larger view]
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt is fast, capable of running a marathon in 3 hours, 19 minutes, 6 seconds.
At least that's what a photo on the Ohio congresswoman's Web site shows.
No way, says a rival who contends that the picture from the 1993 Columbus Marathon is doctored and complained to state election officials. A four-member commission panel ruled Thursday that there was enough evidence to look into the complaint.
State law prohibits candidates from publishing false statements designed to promote their election.
The photo shows Schmidt near the finish line at the marathon with a time clock showing 3:19:06, which would have made her one of the top finishers. But a newspaper list of the top runners does not include Schmidt, said Nathan Noy, who is seeking to run as a write-in candidate against Schmidt.
Noy said he believes the photo may be fake and suggested that Schmidt never even participated in the event. In the photo, Schmidt doesn't cast a shadow while other runners do.
Joseph Braun, an attorney representing Schmidt, denied that the photograph is fake. He produced what he said was an official race results book, listing Schmidt as the fifth-place finisher in her age group with a time of 3:19:09 -- three seconds slower than the time depicted in the photograph.
The time clock reflects when the photo was taken, not her official time, Braun said.
On her Web site, Schmidt, who is 54, said she has completed 59 marathons. In April, she received a public reprimand from the Ohio Elections Commission for claiming on her Web site that she had two college degrees when she had only one.
The Hot Issue: Should Pluto be a planet?
45% YES - It's been a planet for 76 years. Why change now?
14% NO - It's not in the same league with the real planets
41% MAYBE - I can't decide which experts to agree with
Reader Comments (1-10 of 29) Click here to vote and comment
Aug 24, 2006 12:11 pm MAYBE -
In the great scheme of things, does it really matter?
Aug 24, 2006 11:58 am YES -
It's too late to backtrack now. These so-called scientists need to find a clue. Rhode Island isn't an island either but are you going to change it now? I believe it's a planet.
Aug 24, 2006 11:52 am YES -
We have been taught since we were told of Pluto is a planet, now they wanted to re-write the history. Whats next? John Wilkes Booth didn't shoot Abe Lincoln?
Aug 24, 2006 11:52 am MAYBE -
I'm surprised the Republicans haven't tried to include in their redistricting...
Aug 24, 2006 11:42 am MAYBE -
I also think the bottoms should be a planet.
Aug 24, 2006 11:37 am MAYBE -
Who cares? Why not just let Maurice Clarrett blast it to smithereens with an AK47 and be done with it!
Aug 24, 2006 11:32 am YES -
The question is Is Goofy a dog?
Aug 24, 2006 11:31 am MAYBE -
This is a hot issue? I'd say it's a very, very cold one and most of us don't really care. That is not to say we are not interested in increased knowledge of the universe. I'm just more interested in what the whole universe is expanding into. Is it just more space or what? Maybe it's heaven or hell!
Aug 24, 2006 11:30 am YES -
Yes, the same way a fertilized egg is a human being. MW
Aug 24, 2006 11:19 am MAYBE -
Who cares? Star-gazing is a waste of time and tax payer money.
Mass murder in the skies: was the plot feasible? | The Register
...We've given extraordinary credit to a collection of jihadist wannabes with an exceptionally poor grasp of the mechanics of attacking a plane, whose only hope of success would have been a pure accident. They would have had to succeed in spite of their own ignorance and incompetence, and in spite of being under police surveillance for a year.But the Hollywood myth of binary liquid explosives now moves governments and drives public policy. We have reacted to a movie plot. Liquids are now banned in aircraft cabins (while crystalline white powders would be banned instead, if anyone in charge were serious about security). Nearly everything must now go into the hold, where adequate amounts of explosives can easily be detonated from the cabin with cell phones, which are generally not banned.
The al-Qaeda franchise will pour forth its bowl of pestilence and death. We know this because we've watched it countless times on TV and in the movies, just as our officials have done. Based on their behavior, it's reasonable to suspect that everything John Reid and Michael Chertoff know about counterterrorism, they learned watching the likes of Bruce Willis, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Vin Diesel, and The Rock (whose palpable homoerotic appeal it would be discourteous to emphasize).
It's a pity that our security rests in the hands of government officials who understand as little about terrorism as the Florida clowns who needed their informant to suggest attack scenarios, as the 21/7 London bombers who injured no one, as lunatic "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, as the Forest Gate nerve gas attackers who had no nerve gas, as the British nitwits who tried to acquire "red mercury," and as the recent binary liquid bomb attackers who had no binary liquid bombs.
For some real terror, picture twenty guys who understand op-sec, who are patient, realistic, clever, and willing to die, and who know what can be accomplished with a modest stash of dimethylmercury.
You won't hear about those fellows until it's too late. Our official protectors and deciders trumpet the fools they catch because they haven't got a handle on the people we should really be afraid of. They make policy based on foibles and follies, and Hollywood plots.
Meanwhile, the real thing draws ever closer.