Run Pee

I heard about this on NPR the other day, and thought it was a great idea. Essentially, it lets you know when to get up from a movie to go pee so you don't miss anything.

Listen to the interview here.

New Abu Ghraib abuse photos 'show rape'

Photographs of alleged prisoner abuse which Barack Obama is attempting to censor include images of apparent rape and sexual abuse, it has emerged.

People better go to jail for this! And not just the low level soldiers.

No Torture Needed -- Cookies Did the Job

Fascinating piece coming in tomorrow's TIME magazine. Reporter Bobby Ghosh writes, “The most successful interrogation of an al-Qaeda operative by U.S. officials required no sleep deprivation, no slapping or ‘walling’ and no waterboarding. All it took to soften up Abu Jandal, who had been closer to Osama bin Laden than any other terrorist ever captured, was a handful of sugar-free cookies.”

Former interrogator/member of the FBI Ali Soufan, who testified to Congress last month, tells TIME: “He was a diabetic ... We had showed him respect, and we had done this nice thing for him .... So he started talking to us instead of giving us lectures.” Ghosh points out, “Defenders of the Bush program, most notably Cheney, say the use of waterboarding produced actionable intelligence that helped the U.S. disrupt terrorist plots. But the experiences of officials like Soufan suggest that the utility of torture is limited at best and counterproductive at worst.”

Juan Cole Reminds Gingrich Just Who's Making Broad Generalizations

Republican poobah Newt Gingrich has lambasted Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor as a 'racist' because she implied that a Latina woman could empathize with certain situations as a judge better than a white male could, and so would come to sounder judgments.

Just so everyone remembers, this is Newt Gingrich's idea of the difference between the sexes:

'If combat means living in a ditch, females have biological problems staying in a ditch for 30 days because they get infections.... Males are biologically driven to go out and hunt giraffes.'

I rest Judge Sotomayor's case.

What an ass! (Gingrich, I men).

Ex-NYC police boss once up for top Homeland Security job is accused of lying to White House

Former New York City police Commissioner Bernard Kerik (KEHR'-ihk) has been indicted on charges of making false statements to White House officials vetting him for the position of Department of Homeland Security secretary.

The indictment was handed up Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. It means Kerik will face trials in New York and Washington.

Similar false-statement charges were brought as part of a larger case in New York but were dismissed and transferred to Washington, where prosecutors say the crimes occurred.

The indictment alleges Kerik falsely denied that as a public official he had any financial dealings with contractors seeking to do business with the city. Prosecutors say the contractors spent more than $255,000 renovating Kerik's apartment.

The culture of corruption...

Conservative Media Attack Judge Sotomayor

Sorry for the lack of updates...but it's been 19 days smoke free (I lose interest in MANY things when I quit!).

Political Bites: It's Rush against the world

Political Bites: It's Rush against the world

Don't say it: Conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh has issued a unique challenge to cable network MSNBC. On his radio show Tuesday, the ever-modest Limbaugh said that the cable network is trying to "build its ratings on my back." From his website:

"I challenge you, MSNBC! Thirty days without anything mentioning me. No video of me, no guests commenting on me. See if you can do it ... Let's see if you can do Rush withdrawal. Let's see if you can run your little TV network for 30 days without doing a single story on me, and then let's take a look at your ratings during those 30 days and see what happens.

What an egomaniac! I look forward to seeing Olbermann's take on this.

Congress Passes Landmark Credit Card Reform

The overwhelming vote is a signal of how far the country's politics have shifted as a result of the financial crisis. Despite popularity in the 90-percent range, the bill never had a chance of passing in previous years.

"I've been in Washington twenty years. For the first nineteen we couldn't even get a committee vote on credit card reform despite these practices," remarked PIRG's Ed Mierzwinski.

Despite the shifting political terrain, Congress was unable earlier to win a similar victory over the banking lobby, which blocked a measure aimed at reducing foreclosures by allowing homeowners to renegotiate mortgages in bankruptcy.

Good!

NYT's Dowd Admits Plagiarizing Blog

Dowd, who won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1990, told the Huffington Post that the mistake was unintentional. She claims she never read Marshall's post last week and had heard the line from a friend who did not mention reading it in Marshall's blog.

Yeah right!

Complaint seeks disbarment of Bush lawyers

A coalition of liberal groups filed petitions Monday seeking disbarment of Bush administration attorneys linked to memos on harsh interrogation techniques of detainees.

Complaints were filed against 12 individuals, including former attorneys general John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales and Michael Mukasey and former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, said a member of the groups. The complaints filed with bar associations in the District of Columbia and four states — New York, California, Texas and Pennsylvania — say their licenses should be revoked for "moral turpitude."

"These lawyers misused their license to practice law to provide legal cover for the war crime of torture," said Kevin Zeese, executive director of VotersForPeace.US and a board member with VelvetRevolution.US, the two groups leading the effort.

This is the least that should happen to them!

To Boldly Go...Backwards

Honestly, I didn't have a problem until about midway through the film...at which point I realized that every single lady on screen was either a mother, a ho, or an intergalactic hood ornament.

She has a point, but then again, the movie is really about three men: Spock, Kirk, and McCoy. I really agree with the second comment made after the article.

Yet, I do hope this new franchise will have prominent and strong female characters in the future.

Also, the statement that Romulan's often have women commander's is correct. But that is for battle ships, not necessarily for mining ships. I guess I'm not enough of a geek to truly know whether that makes a difference.

In any case, I absolutely LOVED this movie, and so did my wife. So much so, that we plan on taking my mom to the IMAX showing when it opens in a few weeks, and I will DEFINITELY buy the DVD!

P.S. That Trek convention this author mentions? I believe that was the one I went to, and I was probably about her age too.

Rotten office fridge cleanup sends 7 to hospital

An office worker cleaning a fridge full of rotten food created a smell so noxious that it sent seven co-workers to the hospital and made many others ill.

Firefighters had to evacuate the AT&T building in downtown San Jose on Tuesday after the fumes led someone to call 911. A hazmat team was called in.

What crews found was an unplugged refrigerator crammed with moldy food.

Authorities say an enterprising office worker had decided to clean it out, placing the food in a conference room while using two cleaning chemicals to scrub down the mess.

Why does kitchen Nightmares come to mind???

Analysis: Cheney attacks may not help GOP

To the chagrin, perhaps, of Republicans looking to rebuild the tattered party, Dick Cheney has grabbed the spotlight.

The recurring theme of the once-reclusive and largely unpopular former vice president: President Barack Obama has put Americans in danger of a new terrorist attack by promising to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and banning torture.

When Obama took office, former President George W. Bush went quietly to his new house in Texas, slipped intentionally into anonymity and honored protocol by staying silent about his successor.

But Cheney, widely remembered for heading to undisclosed secure locations at times of national crisis and for working invisibly behind the scenes, has done just the opposite.

Most recently he took a shot at Colin Powell, Bush's first-term secretary of state, a retired Army general, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and lifelong Republican who endorsed Obama's candidacy.

Through a spokesman, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele declined to discuss Cheney or his remarks, which have dominated cable news political debate and talk radio since the former vice president spoke out most recently last Sunday.

Ya' think???

This asshat needs to learn to STFU!

Gadget Lab Hardware News and Reviews Microsoft’s ‘Laptop Hunter’ Ads Made on Macs?

Here’s something that should get Mac fan boys foaming at the mouth. Pictured above is the office of Alex Bogusky, the brains behind Microsoft’s new Laptop Hunter commercials. Sure enough, those are two MacBook Pros sitting on his desk.

And pictured below is the surrounding office space of the ad agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Yup, those are Macs, too. That could suggest the advertisements bashing Mac computers and users were themselves created on Macs. We’re not judging: Since when are ad agencies obligated to use the products they’re helping sell? We just love the irony.

LOL!!!!

Britain bans Michael Savage along with Nazis and terrorists!

Hamas MP Yunis Al-Astal, Jewish extremist Mike Guzovsky, former Ku Klux Klan leader Stephen Donald Black and neo-Nazi Erich Gliebe are also on the list, as is controversial radio host Michael Alan Weiner, also known as Michael Savage.

Ha!

Marriage Bill Passes in Maine House 89 to 58

Maine drew familiar battle lines this morning. Proponents of marriage equality see this bill as an end to discrimination and a path to fairness through equal civil rights. Opponents spoke endlessly about lifestyle choices. procreation, God and the Ocean Grove pavilion. The bill won a 21-14 vote of approval in the Senate last Thursday.

Governor. John Baldacci, a Democrat, remained uncommitted as of Monday. He has opposed gay marriage in the past. If the governor signs the bill into law, opponents are expected to organize a campaign under Maine’s people’s veto law to force a repeal referendum. Polls have shown Mainers to be split on the question.

The Northeast is leading the way! What happened California???

Bonuses To New York Times Execs Under Fire

According to the New York Times proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, corporate president and CEO Janet L. Robinson received a total compensation package valued at $5.58 million in 2008, up well over a million from the $4.14 million she received in 2007, and the $4.4 million she received in 2006.

Robinson's $1 million base salary has remained the same for three years. In 2008, Robinson's total compensation included, in addition to her base salary: $1.6 million in stock awards, $1.5 million in options, a $35,000 bonus, $562,500 from the non-equity incentive plan, $898,171 from the "Change in Pension Value and Non-qualified Deferred Compensation Earnings," and "other compensation" of $46,368.

So the Boston Globe's unions have made considerable concessions to the NYT, but management is still threatening to close the paper.

YET, where are the concessions from the executives???

Swine Flue Fears

After I returned from a public health meeting yesterday with community leaders and school officials in Comal County , Heather suggested I send an update to everyone, because what we are hearing privately from the CDC and Health Department is so different from what you are hearing in the media. Some of you know some or maybe all of this, but I will just list what facts I know.

I really hope this isn't true!