'Bart Simpson' records Scientology ad; producer responds

Scientologist Nancy Cartwright, who does the voice of Bart Simpson on "The Simpsons," has recorded a message in the voice of the iconic animated character promoting the controversial quasi-religious organization.

Cartwright recorded the pitch (audio below) for a robocall to boost turn-out for a Scientology event at the organization's Hollywood center. Though she takes care to identify herself by her real name and not her character, she uses the Bart voice at a few points in the recording.

“This is not authorized by us," said "Simpsons" executive producer Al Jean. "'The Simpsons' does not, and never has, endorsed any religion, philosophy or system of beliefs any more profound than Butterfinger bars." (Okay, it's not Jean's wittiest line).

The move is not only unauthorized, of course, but almost certainly violates Cartwright's contract. Though Fox is remaining mum on the subject, and their legal department is very much looking into the matter, the "Simpsons" characters are owned by Fox. Sure, Scientology is a non-profit group (ahem), but it doesn't matter (a Fox vs. the Church of Scientology lawsuit over the misuse of Bart Simpson? Oh-please, oh-please, oh-please...).

Publicity wise, coming right after the John Travolta fiasco, Cartwright could have probably recorded the message for, say, Hamas, and received less public blowback.

Whys is Scientology so big with HollyWood stars? I just don't get it...

Illinois senate votes to oust Governor Blagojevich

he Illinois state senate on Thursday convicted Governor Rod Blagojevich of abuse of power, removing him from office amid charges that he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama.

More than two-thirds of the 59 senators, acting as a jury following the two-term Democrat's impeachment on January 9, voted to find him guilty, effectively ousting him from office.

The vote was televised live from the state capitol building in Springfield, Illinois. Blagojevich is the first governor in Illinois history to be impeached and removed from office.

Good!

Large Hadron Collider could create long-life black holes

People who feared that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will create long-life black holes that will destroy the Earth might have a point after all.

Defenders of the LHC have said that if it creates any black holes they will only last a millisecond before collapsing.
However, three physicists have been looking at the maths and worked out that any Black Holes could last a bit longer than thought.

Roberto Casadio of the University of Bologna in Italy and Sergio Fabi and Benjamin Harms of the University of Alabama say mini black holes could exist for more than a second. If they last that long, they could eat enough matter to grow bigger and stop themselves from decaying.

However, Casadio, Fabi and Harms think the black hole would lose out, and pass through the Earth or out of the atmosphere before it got to be a problem.

"While the growth of black holes to catastrophic size does not seem possible, it remains true that the expected decay times are much longer than is typically predicted by other models," the three state in a brief paper posted at the scientific discussion website ArXiv.org.

Uh oh...

A recap of Barack Obama’s first seven days as president

He's done quite a bit already!

It's nice actually having a REAL President...

House Judiciary chairman subpoenas Karl Rove

The House Judiciary Committee chairman subpoenaed former White House adviser Karl Rove on Monday to testify about the Bush administration's firing of nine U.S. attorneys and its prosecution of a former Democratic governor.

Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., said the ongoing legal battle to get Rove and other former Bush administration aides to testify may have success with a new president in the White House.

Former President George W. Bush upheld Rove and two other senior aides who asserted they did not have to testify before Congress about their actions in the White House.

The legal dispute between the executive and legislative branches of government is before a federal appeals court.

Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, did not return phone messages seeking comment.

The subpoena commanded Rove to appear on Feb. 2 for a deposition on the U.S. attorney firings and the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, a Democrat.

Maybe we'll see him in handcuffs still?

Obama to Bush: I Can Release Your Records. Don't Like It? Sue.

On his first day in office, President Obama put former president Bush on notice. His administration just released an executive order that will make it difficult for Bush to shield his White House records--and those of former Vice President Dick Cheney--from public scrutiny by invoking the doctrine of executive privilege. Shortly after taking office, Bush handed down his own executive order, amending the Presidential Records Act to give current and past presidents, along with their heirs, veto power over the release of presidential records, which are considered the property of the American people.

"[Obama]'s putting former presidents on notice that if you want to continue a claim of executive privilege that [Obama] doesn't think is well-placed, you're going to have to go to court," says Anne Weismann, the chief counsel for Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW).

Awesome!

Schumer signals support for prosecution of Bush officials

My feeling is generally that of President Obama, that we should be looking forward, not backward. How do we correct the mistakes of the past and how do we keep ourselves secure and preserve vital liberty?

If there are egregious cases, I don't think you can say blanket no looking back, no prosecutions. If there are egregious cases, yes, you have to look at them.

But overall, the tone of Barack Obama and of Attorney General Holder — I've spoken to him privately on this, as well as what he said at the hearing — is not to spend too much of our time, a lot of our time, looking backward and pointing fingers.

It's, rather, going forward and making the policy better in the future.

Good!

US companies cut 45,000 jobs even before stock market opens

Somebody was working this weekend to make sure thousands of other people didn't.

US companies announced they're cutting 45,000 jobs by 9 am Eastern Time on Monday morning, even before the US stock market opened, according to a quick count by Raw Story.

This crisis is about to get very personal for a lot of people.

MSNBC Wants to Add a 3rd Prime-Time Show

Building on the momentum of its prime-time hours, MSNBC is developing a 10 p.m. program that would complement its left-leaning evening lineup, the cable news channel’s president said this week.

A new program could increase the competition between MSNBC, a unit of NBC Universal, and its two chief competitors, Fox News Channel and CNN, for news viewers in the time slot. Unlike most major networks, MSNBC’s original programming ends at 10 each weeknight. The 8 p.m. program “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” is rerun at 10 p.m., where it usually ranks third.

But Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, is making 10 p.m. a priority now. In an interview on Tuesday in a studio on the Mall, hours after the inauguration of President Obama, Mr. Griffin said that the channel needed a third original show in its lineup.

“We can’t let this momentum stop,” he said.

Is big Eddie finally getting his own show??? Rumor has it that a deal might be in the works.

We'll see...

Al-Qaeda cell killed by Black Death 'was developing biological weapons'

The group of 40 terrorists were reported to have been killed by the plague at a training camp in Algeria earlier this month.

It was initially believed that they could have caught the disease through fleas on rats attracted by poor living conditions in their forest hideout.

But there are now claims the cell was developing the disease as a weapon to use against western cities.

Experts said that the group was developing chemical and biological weapons.

Interesting...

President Obama's first order: Halt pending regulations

Even as President Obama and family come to grips with their new status, the hours-old administration is already fast at work.

In his first act as President, Obama approved a memo by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel which orders all federal agencies to freeze former President Bush's pending regulations until the new administration has a change to review them.

On his new Web site, WhiteHouse.gov, the President also issued a proclamation that Jan. 20, 2009, is to be a "national day of renewal and reconciliation."

President Obama called upon all Americans to "serve one another" as a way of helping to "remake this nation."

IT'S A NEW DAY!!!!

Pro-Life Group up in Arms over Krispy Kreme's Abortion Doughnuts

Krispy Kreme, being the genial purveyor of glazed goodness that it is, decided to get in on the Obama inauguration craze and is offering one free doughnut to every costumer on January 20, Inauguration day, and released this seemingly innocuous press release:

"Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD) is honoring American's sense of pride and freedom of choice on Inauguration Day, by offering a free doughnut of choice to every customer on this historic day, Jan. 20. By doing so, participating Krispy Kreme stores nationwide are making an oath to tasty goodies -- just another reminder of how oh-so-sweet 'free' can be."

Well, The American Life League noticed the liberal use of the word choice and decided to blast the chain bakery for producing abortion doughnuts.

This is just silly. But, mmm, free donuts...

Rick Sanchez Blasts Joe "the plumber"

More gold!

Tennessee Republicans practically riot after Dems elect Republican House speaker

New Tennessee Speaker of the House Kent Williams "lied" to fellow Republicans Tuesday by ignoring the party's choice for the job and joining with 49 Democrats in voting for himself, new state Rep. Joe Carr said.

"There is history in Tennessee politics for this kind of shenanigans," Carr, a newly elected Republican from the Lascassas community northeast of Murfreesboro, said during a phone interview.
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Carr was one of 49 Republicans voting in the minority for Rep. Jason Mumpower of Bristol to be the next speaker.

"I don't think we should be surprised," he said of the vote. "What caught us off guard is that someone went back on their word. Then he votes for himself to do the very thing he said he wouldn't do, which is self-serving politics."

This is freaking awesome!

Bursts of Methane Gas Detected on Mars

Something is happening beneath the surface of Mars that causes substantial amounts of methane gas to burst out regularly, a discovery that NASA scientists said today represents the strongest indication so far that life might exist, or once existed, on the planet.

The methane is released into the atmosphere in specific areas and at regular times, they found, in a pattern that would be consistent with the gas being a byproduct of biological activity beneath the planet's parched surface.

Principal investigator Michael Mumma, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said the detection does not mean that life definitely exists on Mars, because the gas can be produced by subsurface geological or chemical processes as well.

Neato!

Ex-officer arrested in BART shooting

The former police officer accused of shooting an unarmed man at a northern California commuter train station was arrested Tuesday in Nevada, authorities said.
Oscar Grant, 22, was killed January 1 in a shooting at a subway station in California's Bay Area.

Oscar Grant, 22, was killed January 1 in a shooting at a subway station in California's Bay Area.

Former Bay Area Rapid Transit officer Johannes Mehserle was arrested on a fugitive warrant connected to the fatal shooting.

Mehserle is accused of the shooting of Oscar Grant III at an Oakland, California, station on New Year's Day. The incident was captured on video by several witnesses and spurred violent protests in the northern California city.

Mehserle, 27, was taken into custody in Douglas County, Nevada at about 7 p.m. (10 p.m. ET), Sgt. Dan Coverly of Douglas County Sheriff's Office told CNN affiliate KGO-TV in San Francisco.

Mehserle resigned from his job as a BART police officer days after the shooting. The transit agency's police force and Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff are investigating the incident.

Good. This needed to be done.

Obama Closing Guantanamo: Preparing Order In First Week

Advisers to President-elect Barack Obama say one of his first duties in office will be to order the closing of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay. That executive order is expected during Obama's first week on the job _ and possibly on his first day, according to two transition team advisers. Both spoke Monday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Obama's order will direct his administration to figure out what to do with the estimated 250 al-Qaida and Taliban suspects and potential witnesses who are being held at Guantanamo.

It's still unlikely the prison would be closed any time soon. Obama last weekend said it would be "a challenge" to close it even within the first 100 days of his administration.

Finally...

Rice elected to Hall

In his final at-bat, Jim Rice has hit a home run.

Rice, the fierce and feared slugger who spent his entire 16-year major league career with the Red Sox, was at last elected to to the Baseball Hall of Fame this afternoon on his 15th -- and final -- season on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot. Rice was named on 76.4 percent of the ballots. Seventy-five percent is required for induction. Rice received 412 of 539 votes, just seven more than the minimum amount necessary.

He will be joined in this year's class by Rickey Henderson, who spent 25 years in the majors and ranks as the all-time leader in runs (2,995) and stolen bases (1,406), and who is widely regarded as the best leadoff hitter of all time. In his first year on the ballot, the 50-year-old Henderson received 94.8 percent of the vote.

Rice, who batted .298 with 382 home runs and 1,451 RBIs from 1974-89 while following Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski in the Red Sox tradition of superstar left fielders, is the first player to be elected in his final year of BBWAA eligibility since 1975, when longtime Pirates star Ralph Kiner was chosen.

It has been a long journey to Cooperstown for the 54-year-old Rice, whose candidacy had been a topic of intense debate among writers and fans since he first appeared on the ballot in 1995.

It's about time!

As Usual, Let's Hurt The Workers...

The UAW and its local unions are barred from striking General Motors Corp. as long as GM has loans from the federal government, according to the agreement GM signed with the Bush administration last month.
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The U.S. Treasury set myriad conditions on GM as part of the plan to loan the company $13.4 billion for survival. Those terms had not been fully disclosed until GM filed the documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Unbelievable...

Palin: Couric, Fey profited by 'exploiting' me

Tina Fey and Katie Couric have been treated almost as heroes among the media elite" because of their role in creating a negative image of her, Palin agreed, saying, "A lot of people are capitalizing on, I don't know, I think, perhaps, exploiting that was done via me, my family, my administration.

Cry me a fucking river...

Conyers: Obama Should Not Nominate Sanjay Gupta

Rep. John Conyers has written a letter to Democratic colleagues urging them to join him in publicly opposing the nomination of Dr. Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General.

Conyers, the veteran Judiciary Committee chairman, writes that Gupta "lacks the requisite experience needed to oversee the federal agency that provides crucial health care assistance," and requests that fellow Democrats join him "in signing a letter to President-Elect Barack Obama that Dr. Sunjay Gupta not be nominated for the post."

What the fuck is wrong with democrats??? Have they become drunk with power???

This isn't how to maintain a majority.

George W Bush farewell by Will Ferrell

LOL!

Apparently he's doing a Bush show on Broadway. I'd love to go...

Savage on Obama choice for CIA director: "[M]aybe Bill Ayers picked Leon Panetta"

Summary: Discussing President-elect Barack Obama's choice of Leon Panetta to head the CIA, Michael Savage asserted, "[M]aybe Bill Ayers picked Leon Panetta." He later asked, "Is it Bill Ayers and his crowd in Chicago who said 'Pick Panetta. He's a man we can trust'?"

This guy is nuts!

Apple cuts copy protection and prices on iTunes

Apple Inc. closed its final appearance at the Macworld trade show Tuesday by cutting the price of some songs in its market-leading iTunes online store to as little as 69 cents and disclosing that soon every track will be available without copy protection.

FINALLY! Can we make this retroactive to songs already purchased????

Levi quits oil field job; Palin denies she helped him get it

Levi Johnston, the teenager planning to marry Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol, has quit his North Slope oil field job over questions about his eligibility to participate in an electrical apprenticeship program, Johnston's father said Monday.

Johnston this fall began working at the Milne Point oil field through the ASRC Energy Services apprenticeship program.

However, radio talk show commentator Dan Fagan, in a column published Sunday in the Anchorage Daily News, questioned how Johnston could take part in the apprenticeship program without the required high school education.

Johnston's father, Keith Johnston, said in a telephone interview that his son decided to resign and return home to work on his education.

LOL...

Trooper: Politics Held Up Drug Case Involving Levi Johnson's Mother

Last month, 42-year-old Sherry Johnston of Wasilla, Alaska was arrested and charged with selling OxyContin, a prescription painkiller. Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnson, the young man who just had a baby with Bristol Palin, the daughter of 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

Now an Alaska trooper is alleging that the investigation and arrest of Johnson was delayed for political purposes.

"[A]s soon as investigators realized who the target was...this case became anything but normal," Kyle Young wrote in an email to the union that represents troopers and other Alaska law enforcement officials.

"It was not allowed to progress in a normal fashion, the search warrant service WAS delayed because of the pending election and the [regional] Drug Unit and the case officer were not the ones calling the shots," he continued. (You can read the whole email, in PDF form, here.)

Surprised? I'm not.

Video: Calif. cop shoots apparently helpless man in the back

Disgusting...

‘Is Anything President Does Legal?’

On Sunday’s Face the Nation on CBS, host Bob Schieffer seemed to be acting out a scene from Frost/Nixon as he questioned Vice Presdient Dick Cheney about the terrorist surveillance program: "Do you feel you went too far, Mr. Vice President, in your surveillance?...Do you -- do you believe that the president, in time of war, that anything he does is legal?"

Cheney shot back with some historical context: "I can't say that anything he does is legal. I think we do, and we have, a historic precedent of taking action that you wouldn't take in peacetime...If you hark back in our history you can look at Abraham Lincoln, who suspended the writ of Habeas Corpus in the middle of the Civil War...or FDR in World War II...when he provided for internment camps for Japanese-American citizens. Most people now look back and say that was wrong. But what we did was modest by those comparisons."

SCHIEFFER: But nobody thinks that was legal.

CHENEY: Well, no. It certainly was in the sense he wasn't impeached. And it was a wartime measure that he took that I think history says today, yeah, that was probably a good thing to do.

If only he'd said this earlier, maybe the spineless dems would have taken up the offer.

Inventor of the Hawaiian shirt dies

You'd be forgiven for never hearing of designer Alfred Shaheen.

Yet he inspired one of the most colourful, amusing and unforgettable styles of fashion ever known - the Hawaiian shirt.

Sadly the pioneering textile manufacturer has died at age 86, his family have confirmed.

Truly, a sad day...

Democrat Al Franken Named Winner of Minnesota Senate Race

The former television comedian and liberal satirist ran a tight race against incumbent Republican Norm Coleman. The outcome has been subject to nearly two months of uncertainty as votes were recounted. Monday's results say Franken won the seat by 225 votes, out of nearly three million cast.

Coleman's aides say they will mount a legal challenge to the results. They say some ballots were mishandled and others were left out of the recount.

Woo Hoo!

Guilty: Coulter's latest book filled with falsehoods

These falsehoods include her defense of claims made against Sen. John Kerry by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth; her assertion that "Fox News has never been caught promoting a fraud"; and her claim that President-elect Barack Obama was referring to Gov. Sarah Palin when he said "you know, you can put lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig."

Who'd ever have thunk this???

Anyhow, I promise more regular updates from here on out.