Author Orson Scott Card: Gays not “acceptable, equal citizens”; “I will act to destroy that government and bring it down”

How long before married people answer the dictators thus: Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage, and help me raise my children in a society where they will expect to marry in their turn. Biological imperatives trump laws. American government cannot fight against marriage and hope to endure. If the Constitution is defined in such a way as to destroy the privileged position of marriage, it is that insane Constitution, not marriage, that will die.

I've been told by a number of people that I should read his books. I'm glad I never took the challenge!

I won't buy any of his books!

Colbert Study: Conservatives Don't Know He's Joking

conservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said while liberals were more likely to report that Colbert used satire and was not serious when offering political statements.

Are people really this stupid????

Swine flu may be in Connecticut

Fears of swine flu have schools in East Haddam shutting down tomorrow.

There are three schools in the district: East Haddam Elementary School, Nathan Hale-Ray Middle School, and Nathan Hale-Ray High School.

News Channel 8 has learned that two students that recently returned from Mexico are ill, but we don't know yet if they do in fact have swine flu.

As a precaution, the district will be closing the schools so that they can be thoroughly cleaned.

A press conference will be held at 2pm where we'll learn more details.

Gov. Jodi Rell is also holding a press conference today at 2:30pm to discuss swine flu.

The Centers for Disease Control said today that the number of cases of swine flu in the United States has jumped to 64.

Great...

Sources: Specter intends to switch parties

Several officials say veteran Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania intends to switch parties, advancing his own hopes of winning a new term next year while pushing Democrats one step closer to a 60-vote filibuster-resistant majority.
The sources said an announcement could come later in the day — or Wednesday. The officials who provided the information did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss his plans.
Specter is a 79-year-old veteran of five Senate terms, and one of only a handful of moderate Republicans left in Congress in a party made up largely of conservatives.

Holy crap!!! This is HUUUGE!!! Welcome to the New New Deal!

Paranoia pandemic: Conservative media baselessly blame swine flu outbreak on immigrants

Summary: Conservative media personalities have baselessly blamed Mexican immigrants for spreading swine flu across the border, despite the fact that several reports have indicated that U.S. swine flu patients had recently traveled to Mexico.

Karen, you NAILED this prediction!

Hannity's Waterboarding: Submit Your Question and the Answer He Must Give to Stop

Hannity has now broken ranks. He has agreed to be waterboarded, and Keith Oblermann has offered him $1000 per second that he undergoes it with the money going to charity.

But, waterboarding is for a purpose. We are told by those same cowards that waterboarding is not torture and is effective to obtain the truth to a critical question.

Recently, rightwing nut Frank Gaffney told Matthews that Saddam Hussein had a hand in the Oklahoma City bombing. He must have been waterboarded--how else could such a credible statement been elicited?

So, in addition for Olbermann's money that will go to charity, let us use Hannity's waterboarding to get a key question answered...and, in the tradition of the Bush Administration, why not pre-determine the answer and continue the waterboarding until Hannity provides it?

I love how Hannity has been silent since Olbermann's offer...

Rove mocked spending on flu preparedness

Bush’s Brain doesn’t appear to be quite so prescient in the face of a potential global flu epidemic.

Writing in a column in the Wall Street Journal in February, Rove attacked Democrats for what he dubbed as reckless spending — stimulus money being doled out to industries “that added jobs last year.”

Among them? Education and healthcare.

What nefarious programs were Democrats trying to insert? Among other things, Rove cited $900 million for “pandemic flu preparations.”

Nice job!

Olbermann Calls Hannity's Bluff: $1000 For Every Second Of Waterboarding (VIDEO)

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann announced on Thursday that he is willing to pay $1,000 to charity for every second that Fox News anchor Sean Hannity undergoes waterboarding torture.

As HuffPost noted yesterday, Hannity was prodded by actor Charles Grodin into agreeing to subject himself to waterboarding to benefit a charity for the families of U.S. soldiers.

On MSNBC tonight, Olbermann called on Hannity to stay true to his word, and argued the benefit of having the arch-conservative pundit tortured would be that he might finally recognize the "deadly seriousness" of the debate over detainee treatment.

"What a breakthrough it would be if, by having reality literally forced upon him, a buffoon like Hannity were to realize the deadly seriousness of this," Olbermann said. "The searing truth: that the moment of torture automatically makes the presumed bad guy recipient the victim, and makes the torturer into the evildoer."

From there, Olbermann laid out his offer: "For every second you last, a thousand dollars -- live or on tape, provided other networks' cameras are there. A thousand dollars a second, Sean, because this is no game. This is serious stuff. Put your money where your mouth is, and your nose. Oh, and I'll double it when you admit you feared for your life, when you admit the horrible truth -- waterboarding, the symbol of the last administration, is torture."

I'd pay good money to see this!

Rell signs gay marriage bill

A decade-long battle for same-sex marriage in Connecticut has ended with the governor's signature on a bill updating the state's laws.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed the legislation Thursday, one day after the state House and Senate both approved it.

The bill removes gender references from state marriage laws. It also transforms existing same-sex civil unions into legally recognized marriages as of Oct. 1, 2010.

The law comes after last fall's state Supreme Court ruling that gay couples have the right to wed in Connecticut. Even if the bill hadn't passed, same-sex marriage would still be legal because of the ruling.

Three other states -- Massachusetts, Vermont and Iowa -- also allow gay marriage.

A great day for civil rights!!!

The Pulitzer-winning investigation that dare not be uttered on TV

The New York Times' David Barstow won a richly deserved Pulitzer Prize yesterday for two articles that, despite being featured as major news stories on the front page of The Paper of Record, were completely suppressed by virtually every network and cable news show, which to this day have never informed their viewers about what Barstow uncovered. Here is how the Pulitzer Committee described Barstow's exposés:

Awarded to David Barstow of The New York Times for his tenacious reporting that revealed how some retired generals, working as radio and television analysts, had been co-opted by the Pentagon to make its case for the war in Iraq, and how many of them also had undisclosed ties to companies that benefited from policies they defended.

Wow!

The Bigots’ Last Hurrah

On the right, the restrained response was striking. Fox barely mentioned the subject; its rising-star demagogue, Glenn Beck, while still dismissing same-sex marriage, went so far as to “celebrate what happened in Vermont” because “instead of the courts making a decision, the people did.” Dr. Laura Schlessinger, the self-help media star once notorious for portraying homosexuality as “a biological error” and a gateway to pedophilia, told CNN’s Larry King that she now views committed gay relationships as “a beautiful thing and a healthy thing.” In The New York Post, the invariably witty and invariably conservative writer Kyle Smith demolished a Maggie Gallagher screed published in National Review and wondered whether her errant arguments against gay equality were “something else in disguise.”

Wayyyy too many gems to quote here!!!

As usual, Frank Rich is a must read!!!

Stephen Hawking hospitalized, reported very ill

Famed mathematician Stephen Hawking was rushed to a hospital Monday and was seriously ill, Cambridge University said.

The university said Hawking has been fighting a chest infection for several weeks, and was being treated at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, the university city northeast of London.

"Professor Hawking is very ill," said Gregory Hayman, the university's head of communications. "He is undergoing tests. He has been unwell for a couple of weeks."

Later in the afternoon, Hayman said Hawking was "now comfortable but will be kept in hospital overnight."

I hope he's going to be okay!

CIA waterboarded Al Qaeda suspect 183 times in 1 month, memo reveals

But perhaps more shocking than these newly revealed torture methods is a memo's reference to the fact that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (still in U.S. custody) was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003 and Abu Zubaydah (the man who allegedly fears insects) was waterboarded 83 times in August 2002.

Doesn't this just prove it's ineffective???

iBotnet: Researchers find signs of zombie Macs

The variants have been found inside bogus copies of iWork ’09 and Adobe Photoshop CS4 which were shared on the popular p2p torrent network. The author of the malware downloaded the original/trial versions of each program and introduced a copy of the malicious binary into the packages. Users who then downloaded and installed the applications from the torrent download would have been infected. It is estimated that thousands of people have downloaded the infected torrent files.

Why would you pirate iLife? I just got a five person license for about $85.

Palin Says She Considered Abortion

In her first out-of-state political appearance since last fall's presidential election, former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin confided to 3,000 at a right-to-life event here that she had "just for a fleeting moment" contemplated seeking an abortion after learning she was pregnant with her son Trig, who will turn 1 on Saturday.

Right wing hippocrates!

We Didn't Start the Flame War

Watch We Didnt Start the Flame War and more funny videos on CollegeHumor

I don't normally post this type of stuff, but I got a real kick out of this.

NSFW.

NASA names cosmic treadmill after Colbert

What do you do when you're NASA and comedian Stephen Colbert wins your contest to name the new wing for the International Space Station? You name an orbital exercise machine after him.

The Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or COLBERT, is expected to keep astronauts in shape.

With the help of a legion of fans, Colbert got the most votes in the space agency's online poll soliciting names for Node 3, which will be called Tranquility after the Sea of Tranquility, where Apollo 11 landed on the moon.

Funny! I'll have to watch this later...

Lehman Sits on Bomb of Uranium Cake as Prices Slump

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is sitting on enough uranium cake to make a nuclear bomb as it waits for prices of the commodity to rebound, according to traders and nuclear experts.

The bankrupt bank, in the throes of paying off creditors, acquired uranium cake “under a matured commodities contract” and plans to sell it when the market improves “to realize the best prices,” Chief Executive Officer Bryan Marsal said.

Jesus, this sounds like the plot of a cheesy thriller!

Ron Howard's Call To Action

I don't know how I missed this!!! Dated, but definitely worth a look if you haven't seen it yet.

I only heard about it from last week's Bill Maher show.

Bush officials to be indicted for sanctioning torture

Scott Horton from The Daily Beast reports that Spanish prosecutors will seek criminal charges against Alberto Gonzales and five high-ranking Bush administration officials for the sanctioning of torture at Guantánamo Bay, with the public announcement expected on Tuesday in Madrid:

I love it!

Franken Won Most Senate Votes, Minnesota Court Rules

A Minnesota court confirmed Monday that Democrat Al Franken won the most votes in his 2008 Senate race against Republican Norm Coleman, who immediately announced plans to appeal the decision.

Coleman has 10 days to appeal to the state Supreme Court. Once the petition is filed, it could further delay the seating of Minnesota's second senator for weeks.

Franken triumphantly declared victory and urged Coleman to concede in a hastily-organized press conference in front of his Minneapolis home. "The court said that I should be certified," he said. "The three-judge panel said I was the winner of this election. And I would love to be certified in ten days. And I call on Senator Coleman to allow me to get to work for the people of Minnesota as soon as possible."

Can this please just end???

Thoughts on Bill O'Reilly and Squeaky the Chicago Mouse

Dear Bill: Thanks for including the Chicago Sun-Times on your exclusive list of newspapers on your "Hall of Shame." To be in an O'Reilly Hall of Fame would be a cruel blow to any newspaper. It would place us in the favor of a man who turns red and starts screaming when anyone disagrees with him. My grade-school teacher, wise Sister Nathan, would have called in your parents and recommended counseling with Father Hogben.

Roger Ebert does a good dressing down of O'Reilly.

ASU Stiffs Obama, Claims Too Inexperienced For Honorary Degree

Universities typically confer an honorary degree on commencement speakers, particularly those who have reached the pinnacle of their career or achieved the top of their field. Arizona State University (ASU), though, says it will not confer an honorary degree on this year's commencement speaker, President Barack Obama, because "his body of work is yet to come."

WTF??? I hope he refuses to speak then.

Texas legislator suggests immigrants Americanize names

Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here? ... Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?

Good grief!

The Disappeared

The Red Cross concluded, based on the "consistency" of the accounts of the detainees in separate interviews, that the prisoners had been subjected to what "amounted to torture and/or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment."

But the report documents the treatment of only those 14 high-value CIA detainees whom President Bush publicly announced in September 2006 had been transferred to Guantánamo. Because the Bush administration had a preexisting arrangement to permit the Red Cross access to detainees at Guantánamo, the transfer to the U.S. detention facility in Cuba allowed the organization to question those prisoners for the first time. At the time of the transfer, Bush said the CIA interrogation program had provided valuable intelligence in the war on terror and had taken "potential mass murderers off the streets before they have a chance to kill." Without offering any numbers, he also said that the CIA detention program had involved "only a limited number of terrorists at any given time." But Bush said the detention program was being ended, adding: "Once we have determined that the terrorists held by the CIA have little or no additional intelligence value, many of them have been returned to their home countries for prosecution or detention by their governments."

This has got to stop!

Fox News is Fucking Crazy

"Little did I know, Mr. Rogers was an evil man. By telling children they're special just for being who they are, he helped create this generation of worthless, lazy socialists who think they're entitled to rewards without working... at least according to Fox News.

Watch the video. The Fox News anchors are completely serious when they attribute the differences in academic performance between Asian and American kids to the fact that Asian children didn't grow up with Mr. Rogers telling them they were unique and special. It's not that we have a failing education system or that parents aren't instilling the proper work ethic in their children. American children under perform because Mr. Rogers taught them to expect everything in life to be handed to them on a silver platter.

They actually use the word "evil" to describe Mr. Rogers and criticize him for his "optimistic message." Then one of them starts babbling about how children should go back to churning butter and making their own sweaters. I didn't make it all the way to the end, but I wouldn't be surprised if they blamed him for 9/11.

Jesus...

Austin, TX Fans Get Surprise Showing of Star Trek Movie

According to our man on the scene, the evening started off normally at the Fantastic Fest Star Trek event at the Alamo Draughthouse Theater in Austin, Texas on Monday night. Star Trek filmmakers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof kicked things off by telling the crowd of around 200, that they would be seeing the Star Trek preview after Wrath of Khan. Two minutes in to the showing of TWOK, the film appeared to have ‘melted’ and the guys came back out on the stage and appeared to be stalling for time while the film was fixed…and then, wearing a ball cap, Leonard Nimoy came out in front of the audience holding a film can.

Nimoy noted to the crowd that it just didn’t seem fair that people in Australia were the fist to see the film and asked them "wouldn’t you rather see the new movie?" And apparently the crowd went wild. After that they showed the entire new Star Trek movie. Nimoy stayed for the entire event as did Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof.

I am sooo jealous!

Vermont legalizes gay marriage with veto override

Vermont has become the fourth state to legalize gay marriage — and the first to do so with a legislature's vote.

The Legislature voted Tuesday to override Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of a bill allowing gays and lesbians to marry. The vote was 23-5 to override in the state Senate and 100-49 to override in the House. Under Vermont law, two-thirds of each chamber had to vote for override.

The tide is turning...

Rain, rain, go away: Sox opener postponed

Due to rain, today's game has been postponed and is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. tomorrow.

Bummer!!!

Anybody Can Change...

"There's just so much bad in the world," he says, shaking his head. "Makes you wonder where it all comes from."

It's a longish read, but worth it. I won't spoil the story with more details.

Playing For Change | Song Around The World "Stand By Me"

Playing For Change | Song Around The World "Stand By Me" from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

This was awesome! Enjoy...

Al Franken's marathon struggle for a U.S. Senate seat is over... probably

Al Franken, satirist, comedian, author and general scourge of the Right, has been battling Minnesota incumbent Senator Norm Coleman for his seat in Washington. Coleman, a Republican, was declared the winner in November but the very narrow margin triggered a recount.

After the lengthy recount, Franken was deemed to be the new winner, again by a very narrow margin. Coleman and his allies refused to concede and the two sides have been battling it out in court since then.

Earlier this week Franken won a key ruling by a Minnesota Supreme Court-appointed three-judge panel who will allow only 400 disputed ballots to be reconsidered. This is unlikely to be enough for Coleman to regain his lead.

Finally...I hope...

6 shot, hostages taken in Binghamton, NY

A gunman blocked the back door of an immigration services center with his car before walking through the front door firing, wounding at least six people and taking as many as 41 hostage, officials said.

Mayor Matthew Ryan told the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin that there was a hostage situation involving a gunman with a high-powered rifle.

The FBI was sending hostage negotiators and an evidence response team to the scene, said a law enforcement official who was not authorized to speak about details of an ongoing hostage response and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The gunman barricaded the rear door of the American Civic Association with his car before entering through the front door, firing his weapon, the official said.

The newspaper reported 41 hostages in the building of the American Civic Association and said apartments were being evacuated.

Holy crap! Scary...

Blagojevich indicted on federal corruption charges

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been indicted on charges he engaged in a "wide-ranging scheme to deprive the people of Illinois of honest government." A federal grand jury handed down the 19-count indictment against Blagojevich, his brother, two former aides and two businessmen on Thursday. It accuses Blagojevich of corruption involving billions of dollars in state pension bonds.

FBI agents arrested the Chicago Democrat in December on allegations that also include trying to auction off President Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat.

Illinois lawmakers impeached him and threw him out of office in January.

Blagojevich has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

Finally!

CT Votes To Decriminalize Less Than Half-Ounce Of Marijuana

On a groundbreaking vote, the legislature's judiciary committee decided Tuesday night to decriminalize marijuana possession for adults 18 and older who have less than half an ounce of the drug.

Under a compromise, the marijuana laws would not change for anyone under 18, and the amount that would be decriminalized was reduced from less than 1 ounce to less than half an ounce. The possession of small amounts would no longer be a crime and would instead be an infraction with a maximum fine of $250 that could be paid like a speeding ticket.

Some Democratic legislators, including Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney of New Haven, have been pushing hard this year for decriminalization, saying that doing so could save the state more than $11 million in law enforcement costs annually because far fewer people would be sent to state Superior Court to be overseen by prosecutors and probation officials. If marijuana users were issued a ticket that could be paid by mail, they would no longer need to go to court.

Finally some sense...

Ed Schultz to join MSNBC

Veteran talk radio host Ed Schultz joins MSNBC as host of "The Ed Show," premiering on Monday, April 6. "The Ed Show" will air weekdays, 6-7 p.m. ET. The announcement was made today by Phil Griffin, President, MSNBC.

"I am thrilled to have Ed kicking-off our primetime lineup," said Griffin. "Ed's proven that he can connect with Americans and will be a perfect compliment to Chris, Keith, and Rachel. He's already made his mark on radio and I'm excited to see what he'll do with the 6 p.m. hour."

I'm a day late in posting this, but Congrats are in order for Big Ed!