yo yo yo search it!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

i don't know if this is true or not


i tend to believe it is though. man, i DO love me some hounds from hell!
picture: The abandoned infant was found in a field with this dog and her newborn puppies.
Dog protected abandoned newborn, doctors say


(CNN) -- A dog sheltered a newborn baby abandoned by its 14-year-old mother in a field in rural Argentina until the boy was rescued, a doctor said Friday. A resident of a rural area outside La Plata called police late Wednesday night to say that he had heard the baby crying in a field behind his house.

The man went outside and found the infant lying beside the dog and its six newborn puppies, Daniel Salcedo, chief of police of the Province of Buenos Aires, told CNN.

The temperature was a chilly 37 degrees, Salcedo said.

The dog had apparently carried the baby some 50 meters from where his mother had abandoned him to where the puppies were huddled, police said.

"She took it like a puppy and rescued it," Salcedo said. "The doctors told us if she hadn't done this, he would have died." ....


Abandoned baby found safe with dog

BUENOS AIRES, Aug. 22, 2008 (Reuters) — A newborn baby abandoned outdoors in winter by her 14-year-old mother was found safe in a dog pen with a mother dog and her brood of puppies near the city of La Plata, Argentine media reported on Friday.

Farmer Fabio Anze found the naked baby girl on Thursday, being kept warm among his dog China's puppies, La Nacion newspaper said. Anze called the police and the baby was taken to a hospital.

Egidio Melia, director of the Melchor Romero hospital, told television and newspaper reporters that the baby was just a few hours old when she was found, and was in good health although she had some bruises.

Nighttime temperatures are chilly but not freezing in the Southern Hemisphere winter in the rural area around La Plata, 40 miles south of Buenos Aires..........

i don't do politics on


my mostly craft, photography and recipe blog

so i'll post THIS here

election season crafting from crafting in a green world

(work of art by teresa anderson)

lifestyles of the rich and effed up

jurassicpork

from welcome back to pottersville says it (much better than i ever could. but i feel it)

It's Our Constitution, Too

Politicians of all stripes, regardless of party or ideological affiliation, have demonstrated a disturbingly proprietary attitude toward the Constitution. Our elected officials in both the legislative and executive branches seem to think that they and they alone are the sole stewards of said document and that they, because they and not us, are sworn to honor it, can parcel out the civil liberties like tiny food pellets into an endless rat maze.

Far from it. What the arch and clueless demagogues in Congress have clearly forgotten is that We the People of the United States of America, are, too, stewards of the Constitution and exercise that stewardship every election day. We elect, according to pre-Diebold political theory, those officials whom we feel and think would be best-suited to directly uphold and protect the founding document of our republic...........

a big ol' whoops......

yeah right, like faux 'news' didn't air this on purpose

Fox mistakenly airs banned attack on Obama
Fox News mistakenly aired most of a new attack ad on Barack Obama after telling The New York Times that they wouldn't run it due to questions about the ad's legality.

In a segment with Shepard Smith and Molly Henneberg, Fox News apparently meant to use an attack ad from the McCain campaign which claims there is a connection between Obama and "convicted felon" Tony Resko.

What the news network used instead was an ad which emphasizes Obama's ties to a 1960s radical named Bill Ayers and connects him to the 9/11 attacks.

The ad was created by a new conservative group called American Issues Project that was co-founded by a former campaign aide to John McCain.

The organization claims it is a non-profit and under no obligation to reveal the identities of its donors, The New York Times reported............

and some background on the ad:

Group to spend $2.8 million on anti-Obama ad
Associated Press
By JIM KUHNHENN
WASHINGTON (AP) — A conservative nonprofit group with a past link to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign wants to spend $2.8 million on an ad questioning Democrat Barack Obama's relationship to a founder of the 1960s radical group Weather Underground.

The ad, which is expected to begin airing Thursday in Michigan and Friday in Ohio, focuses on William Ayers, whose Weatherman organization took credit for a series of bombings, including nonfatal explosions at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol four decades ago.

American Issues Project, the sponsor of the ad, is a nonprofit 501(c)4 organization. One of its board members, Ed Failor Jr., was a paid consultant for McCain's campaign in Iowa last year. The campaign paid his firm $50,000 until July 2007. American Issues Project spokesman Christian Pinkston said Failor has no connection to the McCain campaign now..............

uh oh



What Century is This? Senior Priest Blames Demons for STDs, "Perversions"
Posted by PZ Myers, Pharyngula

In the reality based community, when you've got a problem, you call an expert with some skills and training to deal with it. In the rest of the world, you call a priest to blame evil spirits and do nothing for a small pile of money. How else to explain asking a wizened old Catholic priest to explain 'perversions' and STDs?

Promiscuity, as well as homosexuality and pornography, says 73 year-old Fr. Jeremy Davies, is a form of sexual perversion and can lead to demonic possession. Offering what may be an explanation for the explosion of homosexuality in recent years, Fr. Davies said, "Among the causes of homosexuality is a contagious demonic factor."

Fr. Davies continues: "Even heterosexual promiscuity is a perversion; and intercourse, which belongs in the sanctuary of married love, can become a pathway not only for disease but also for evil spirits.".........


and please don't even get me started on ALL of the damage some members of the catholic clergy have caused. just don't

Friday, August 22, 2008

big-ass dragonfly




friday 6:55 am

lilly ledbetter is speaking at the dnc!

I just got some exciting news. Next week, I'm going to be speaking about our fight for fair pay for women to millions of people around the country — and even around the world.
Tuesday night, at approximately 9:00 p.m. Eastern, I'm scheduled to speak at the Democratic National Convention.
The movement in support of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is catching on — but we still need your help. Please spread the word about my appearance at the convention by
sending an eCard to your friends, family, and co-workers today.
The convention is an incredible forum to reach a wide variety of people. I'm not a political person, and I won't be making an endorsement for President. But this issue isn't about politics. It's about fairness.
Along with my friends at the National Women's Law Center, I've been working hard to get both Republican and Democratic legislators on board with the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. And
we're always looking for more support from fair-minded people across the country — which is why this opportunity to reach out to such a large audience is so exciting.
It's been more than a year now since the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision written by Justice Alito, ruled that even though I was paid less than my male co-workers for nearly two decades, I wasn't entitled to sue for pay discrimination. If I've learned anything in that time, it’s that we can’t do this alone. In these hard financial times, we need all the help we can get to ensure that our daughters and granddaughters have a shot at a fair workplace and a better future, and to send a message that our anti-discrimination laws mean what they say.
Thanks again for everything you’ve already done to help us in this struggle.
Best,
Lilly Ledbetter
P.S. If you haven't already, please
write to your Senators and urge them to pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

sand




via wooster collective

they just happened to be on letterman last night


so, how cool is this?

jamie and adam from the flickr craft pool (via craftzine) by oddgumi

mythbusters

i had to

(via boing boing)

chainsaw maid



more

but mommy WHY would you open an investigation

into someone when there is NO clear basis of support?

wouldn't that cost money? wouldn't it be against our constitution?

why mommy why?


New Guidelines Would Give F.B.I. Broader Powers

WASHINGTON — A Justice Department plan would loosen restrictions on the Federal Bureau of Investigation to allow agents to open a national security or criminal investigation against someone without any clear basis for suspicion, Democratic lawmakers briefed on the details said Wednesday.

The plan, which could be made public next month, has already generated intense interest and speculation. Little is known about its precise language, but civil liberties advocates say they fear it could give the government even broader license to open terrorism investigations.

Congressional staff members got a glimpse of some of the details in closed briefings this month, and four Democratic senators told Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey in a letter on Wednesday that they were troubled by what they heard.

The senators said the new guidelines would allow the F.B.I. to open an investigation of an American, conduct surveillance, pry into private records and take other investigative steps “without any basis for suspicion.” The plan “might permit an innocent American to be subjected to such intrusive surveillance based in part on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, or on protected First Amendment activities,” the letter said. It was signed by Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

As the end of the Bush administration nears, the White House has been seeking to formalize in law and regulation some of the aggressive counterterrorism steps it has already taken in practice since the Sept. 11 attacks.............

hey peeps what happens when a more liberal administration gets in office. eventually a democrat (or 'worse') WILL get there (i think it will happen this november actually). don't you think this kind of thing will backfire on y'all? what if this kind of thing is used against conservatives? to spy unjustly on the good ol' white boy network? will you lay back down peacefully if that happens? i know the answer to that already.

oh my goddess

you KNOW he's dyin' to use the 'n' word. you just KNOW he is. plus what the f**k is he saying here? i don't understand. hitting the grrrl? what does THAT mean? then of course comes his holding back of the 'n' word. i know his head is spinning 360 degrees while he's spewing this slime


Discussing Obama, Limbaugh suggests Dems, media believe "you can't criticize the little black man-child"




On the August 20 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh asserted of attacks by Sen. John McCain against Sen. Barack Obama: "[S]ee, there are Democrats -- the drive-bys" -- a term Limbaugh uses to denote the national media -- "are just so upset with these so-called 'ferocious attacks.' These have been benign. Even the Britney Spears/Paris Hilton ad was funny. It was benign." He later added: "It's -- you know, it's just -- it's just we can't hit the girl. I don't care how far feminism's saying, you can't hit the girl, and you can't -- you can't criticize the little black man-child. You just can't do it, 'cause it's just not right, It's not fair. He's such a victim."..........

come on now

how can you NOT know how many houses you own? if your last name isn't hemsley YOU SHOULD EFFING KNOW.

Houses Add Up to A Snag for McCain

Campaign Has Cast Obama as Elitist


Washington Post Staff Writers
Sen. John McCain's inability to recall the number of homes he owns during an interview yesterday jeopardized his campaign's carefully constructed strategy to frame Democratic rival Barack Obama as an out-of-touch elitist and inspired a round of attacks that once again ratcheted up the negative tone of the race for the White House.

A week dominated by vice presidential speculation and the run-up to the Democratic National Convention was quickly overtaken by the McCain miscue. In an interview with Politico.com, the presumptive Republican nominee was asked how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, heir to a beer distributorship, owned.

"I think -- I'll have my staff get to you," McCain replied. "It's condominiums where -- I'll have them get to you."..........


Take the McCain House Tour!

With Places to Hang His Hat on Two Coasts -- and a Few in Between -- the Candidate Is Living Large

Washington Post Staff Writer
Indoor and outdoor swimming pools! Spas and state-of-the-art fitness centers! Views of the Arizona mountains, the Pacific Ocean and downtown Phoenix!

John McCain isn't just a presidential candidate. He's a veritable bling-master, worthy of an "MTV Cribs" episode, those televised tours of brazenly gilded homes led by celebrity owners like 50 Cent, Hulk Hogan and Bow Wow.

Except that the good senator may trump them all. His family's real estate holdings are so plentiful that not even McCain is sure of the number.............

Thursday, August 21, 2008

some out of the ordinary red river rafters

i'm a little (understatement) offput

i’m not a lawyer (duh!!!)

i don’t understand our justice system at all.

#1) why was this man out on bail to begin with? he had an explosive device in his vehicle at a probation office (that’s the july 11th occurrence).

#2) why does he get bail set AGAIN at 2 million (he is still in jail because i guess he can’t afford 2 mill) after bringing 4,000 rounds of ammo, 70 magazines, a pistol, 2 assault weapons, 3 miscellaneous weapons, surveillance equipment, a tactial vest, face masks and 11 bombs to the same probation office

i though a judge had a right to DENY bail. is that not correct? can’t a judge deny bail entirely? oh and here is the definition of TERRORIST: (from
the free dictionary) the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear

so
#3) why wasn’t/isn’t michael solano considered a terrorist? we have WAYYYYYYYYYY more evidence against him than we do against let’s say james robinson the retired brigadier general or the james robinson that’s a 3rd grader for that matter.

and one last thing

#4) how did michael solano accumulate so many arms and ammuniton without sending up a red flag? do we not care?


Police: Man with bombs 'ready for war' with city
CNN) -- A police officer and two civilians subdued an armed man who drove to a California probation office with 11 crude bombs, 70 loaded magazines and more than 4,000 rounds of ammunition, police said. The man, Michael Solano, 54, of Sacramento, was out of jail on bail for a July 18 incident in which police said an explosive device was found in his vehicle at the probation office.
"This guy was ready for war," Yreka Police Chief Brian Bowles said in a written statement. "We were very lucky this guy was stopped and nobody was killed yesterday."
The incident occurred Tuesday afternoon, when people saw Solano acting suspiciously near the Siskiyou County Probation Department and called police, Bowles said.
Solano aimed a gun at an officer, police said. Two civilians then jumped into the fray and, with the officer, subdued Solano and wrestled the gun away, police said.
During the scuffle, Solano repeated that he wanted to be killed and reached for the officer's gun and Taser stun gun, Bowles said.
Solano was handcuffed and searched. Police found a pipe bomb in his shoe, Bowles said. A neighborhood near the probation office was evacuated after Solano told police that he had 10 bombs in his car parked nearby, authorities said..........

my guilty pleasure

although i'm NOT very guilty about it. i LOVE it and i won't hesitate to say so. it is offensive TO EVERYONE ALL OF THE TIME. it's THE best

reno 911
i have a secret crush on terry

freaky

(emily isn't real from makezine)

i can only just sit here

and shake my head.

here's what buffy said

My Country 'Tis of thy People You're Dying
w/m © Buffy Sainte-Marie
Now that your big eyes are finally opened.
Now that you're wondering, "How must they feel?"
Meaning them that you've chased cross America's movie screens;
Now that you're wondering, "How can it be real?"
That the ones you've called colorful, noble and proud
In your school propaganda,
They starve in their splendour.
You asked for our comment, I simply will render:
My country 'tis of thy people you're dying.

Now that the long houses “breed superstition”
You force us to send our children away
To your schools where they're taught to despise their traditions
Forbid them their languages;
Then further say that American history really began
When Columbus set sail out of Europe and stress
That the nations of leeches who conquered this land
Were the biggest, and bravest, and boldest, and best.
And yet where in your history books is the tale
Of the genocide basic to this country's birth?
Of the preachers who lied?
How the Bill of Rights failed?
How a nation of patriots returned to their earth?
And where will it tell of the Liberty Bell
As it rang with a thud over Kinzua mud?
Or of brave Unlce Sam in Alaska this year?
My country 'tis of thy people you're dying.

Hear how the bargain was made for West,
With her shivering children in zero degrees.
" Blankets for your land" - so the treaties attest.
Oh well, blankets for land, that's a bargain indeed.
And the blankets were those Uncle Sam had collected
From smallpox diseased dying soldiers that day.
And the tribes were wiped out
And the history books censored
A hundred years of your statesmen
say, "It's better this way".
But a few of the conquered have somehow survived
And their blood runs the redder
Though genes have been paled.
From the Grand Canyon's caverns
To Craven's sad hills
The wounded, the losers, the robbed sing their tale.
From Los Angeles County to upstate New York,
The white nation fattens while other grow lean.
Oh the tricked and evicted they know what I mean:
My country 'tis of thy people you're dying.

The past it just crumbled; the future just threatens
Our life blood is shut up in your chemical tanks,
And now here you come, bill of sale in your hand
And surprise in your eyes, that we're lacking in thanks
For the blessings of civilisation you brought us
The lessons you've taught us;
The ruin you've wrought us;
Oh see what our trust in America got us.
My country 'tis of thy people you're dying.

Now that the pride of the sires receives charity.
Now that we're harmless and safe behind laws.
Now that my life's to be known as your heritage.
Now that even the graves have been robbed.
Now that our own chosen way is your novelty.
Hands on our hearts
We salute you your victory:
Choke on your blue white and scarlet hypocrisy.
Pitying your blindness; How you never see -
that the eagles of war whose wings lent you glory,
Were never no more than buzzards & crows:
Pushed some wrens from their nest;
Stole their eggs; changed their story.
The mockingbird sings it;
It's all that she knows.
" Oh what can I do?", say a powerless few.
With a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye:
Can't you see how their poverty's profiting you?
My country 'tis of thy people you're dying.


i cannot believe this. i don't want to believe this. but it's TRUE. let's just put aside for a moment the fact these mountains and peaks are sacred to the aboriginal people of this country (THEIR country). really, even if you take them OUT of the equation, WOULD YOU WANT TO SKI AND PLAY ON SNOW MADE OUT OF SHITE? i know MY answer. and then if you toss back in the native american people of the region (or ANY people for that matter), it makes my skin crawl

Do Native Americans Have First Amendment Rights?

by: Leslie Thatcher, t r u t h o u t | Interview
Ninth Circuit rules effluent does not defile sacred space. Forest Service argued skiing on treated sewage "a compelling government interest."

The San Francisco Peaks of Northern Arizona "are sacred to at least 13 formally recognized Indian tribes ... and this religious significance is of centuries duration."(1 Resort located on Humphrey's Peak, the highest and - to the tribes - most holy of the San Francisco Peaks. That decision was appealed by the Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe, the ) In February 2005, the US Forest Service issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision approving a proposal to make artificial snow using treated sewage effluent at the SnowbowlHavasupai Tribe, the Hualapai Tribe, the Yavapai-Apache Nation and the White Mountain Apache Nation. The Circuit Court ruled for the Forest Service. In February 2007, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court unanimously overturned the lower court's decision. On Friday, August 8, 2008, the en banc majority of the Ninth Circuit Court ruled that "using treated sewage effluent to make artificial snow on the most sacred mountain of southwestern Indian tribes does not violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act ('RFRA'). It also holds that a supposed pleading mistake prevents the tribes from arguing under the National Environmental Act ('NEPA') that the Forest Service failed to consider the likelihood that children and others would ingest snow made from the effluent."(2).................


and while we're at it, MY personal absolute favorite buffy song:

the nutmeg grater: we're not surprised that piece o' steamin crap

the nutmeg grater: we're not surprised that piece o' steamin crap

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

lovely



from dark roasted blend dewdrops and spiderwebs

please check out the other amazingly beautiful photos at the link above

coincidentally



i just bid on (and won) a lot of 100 d&d dice (on ebay. i USUALLY now ONLY get stuff on etsy but ebay had the dice). i've never actually played d&d, i wanted the dice to make stuff (like jewelry)

saw this on boing boing and HAD to post it


Pro-Obama D&D tee


( McCain staffer slams Dungeons and Dragons players )

too cool



(from instructables)

as far as i'm concerned it's NOT a typo. PRICK

is the correct word

it's in the 10th paragraph of the article linked below

ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gxVW-aUPQsPkU0JKEleSPNCyxSsAD92L2HJ80">

Obama veep announcement expected in coming days

By NEDRA PICKLER



.............After focusing on Obama, the article discusses several possible McCain picks, and relates, "His top contenders are said to include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Less traditional choices mentioned include former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, an abortion-rights supporter, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential prick in 2000 who now is an independent.".............

on the coat tails of musharraf's leaving

and king george's dethroning (i have my fingers crossed we don't enter into 100% martial law with the king never planning on leaving) we have THIS ugly story (not that it should be a surprise to anyone mind you)

POLITICS: Bush Covered up Musharraf Ties with Qaeda, Khan
Analysis by Gareth Porter*

WASHINGTON, Aug 19 (IPS) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's resignation Monday brings to an end an extraordinarily close relationship between Musharraf and the George W. Bush administration, in which Musharraf was lavished with political and economic benefits from the United States despite policies that were in sharp conflict with U.S. security interests.

It is well known that Bush repeatedly praised Musharraf as the most loyal ally of the United States against terrorism, even though the Pakistani military was deeply compromised by its relationship with the Taliban and Pakistani Islamic militants.

What has not been reported is that the Bush administration covered up the Musharraf regime's involvement in the activities of the A. Q. Khan nuclear technology export programme and its deals with al Qaeda's Pakistani tribal allies.

The problem faced by the Bush administration when it came into office was that the Pakistani military, over which Musharraf presided, was the real terrorist nexus with the Taliban and al Qaeda. As Bruce Riedel, National Security Council (NSC) senior director for South Asia in the Bill Clinton administration, who stayed on the NSC staff under the Bush administration, observed in an interview with this writer last September, al Qaeda "was a creation of the jihadist culture of the Pakistani army".

If there was a state sponsor of al Qaeda, Riedel said, it was the Pakistani military, acting through its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate. .........

and they have the nerve


to call barack obama elitist? what do you call someone who has enough money to own EIGHT homes (when a TON of people are having trouble or losing the ONLY home they have)? what do you call someone who has (inherited) MILLIONS of dollars and doesn't share it with her sister? what do you call someone WHO DENIES SHE HAS A SISTER when it's a plain as day FACT

well you call them the mccains


Cindy McCain's Half Sister 'Angry' She's Hidden

by Ted Robbins

All Things Considered, August 18, 2008 · Last Tuesday, NPR broadcast a story about Cindy McCain's business and charity work. In it, Ted Robbins described McCain as the only child of Jim Hensley, a wealthy Arizona businessman. The next morning, NPR received an e-mail from Nicholas Portalski of Phoenix, who heard the story with his mother.

"We were listening to the piece about Cindy McCain on NPR, All Things Considered, and it just struck us very hard," Portalski said.

His mother, Kathleen Hensley Portalski, is also Hensley's daughter.

The Portalski family is accustomed to hearing Cindy McCain described as Hensley's only child.

She's been described that way by news organizations from The New Yorker and The New York Times to Newsweek and ABC............


picture:

Courtesy Nicholas Portalski

Portalski is shown with her late father, Jim Hensley, who also was Cindy McCain's father.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

the nutmeg grater: even though we've never actually met#links#links

the nutmeg grater: even though we've never actually met#links#links

cool



big blue bear from lawrence argent


it's at the colorado convention center

(via makezine)

i got this from feministing

as the poster said (Posted by Jessica), it really IS creepy, yet it really IS something we should all see

the reusable sandwich bag


(well wrapper) redeux!!!

the small object shows us how (via craftzine)

i posted the first one as well (although it may have been posted on the reformed pirate)

this is an unbelievably frightening and ugly story

it gave me chills. the woman that wrote this is an american. she was treated like cattle, like shite. can you imagine how the OTHERS (non-americans) were treated? you give someone a tiny bit of power and this is EXACTLY what happens.

absolute power corrupts absolutely
ugly ugly ugly

wrong wrong wrong
At JFK Airport, Denying Basic Rights Is Just Another Day at the Office
By Emily Feder, AlterNet.

I arrived at JFK Airport two weeks ago after a short vacation to Syria and presented my American passport for re-entry to the United States. After 28 hours of traveling, I had settled into a hazy awareness that this was the last, most familiar leg of a long journey. I exchanged friendly words with the Homeland Security official who was recording my name in his computer. He scrolled through my passport, and when his thumb rested on my Syrian visa, he paused. Jerking toward the door of his glass-enclosed booth, he slid my passport into a dingy green plastic folder and walked down the hallway, motioning for me to follow with a flick of his wrist. Where was he taking me, I asked him. "You'll find out," he said.

We got to an enclosed holding area in the arrivals section of the airport. He shoved the folder into my hand and gestured toward four sets of Homeland Security guards sitting at large desks. Attached to each desk were metal poles capped with red, white and blue siren lights. I approached two guards carrying weapons and wearing uniforms similar to New York City police officers, but they shook their heads, laughed and said, "Over there," pointing in the direction of four overflowing holding pens. I approached different desks until I found an official who nodded and shoved my green folder in a crowded metal file holder. When I asked him why I was there, he glared at me, took a sip from his water bottle, bit into a sandwich, and began to dig between his molars with his forefinger. I found a seat next to a man who looked about my age -- in his late 20s -- and waited..............

god does NOT hate fags

at least in california she doesn't! (of course anyone who believes in a god who doesn't like someone based on their sexuality alone, is sure not believing in an accepting god. i never understood that. how people's gods could be so racist, so sexist, so homophobic, so cruel, so so so so JUST LIKE THEM!!!!) is beyond me.

anyway, this is good news to californians. there are those who will not comply with the law. they should be punished.


Calif. Court Puts Gays' Care Over Doctors' Faith

(hey, what's up with that headline? it seems sooooooooo doctors are sooooooooooooooooo much more above 'the gays'??????????????)
Washington Post Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 18 -- Doctors may not refuse medical treatment to gay men or lesbians for religious reasons, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled Monday.

The court ruled that physicians' constitutional right to the free exercise of religion does not exempt businesses that serve the public from following state law that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

That holds true, Justice Joyce L. Kennard wrote in the 18-page decision, "even if compliance poses an incidental conflict with the defendants' religious beliefs."

If a doctor wants to refuse a service because of religious beliefs, the court found, he or she must refuse all patients, or provide a doctor who can provide the service to everyone............

Monday, August 18, 2008

oh no no no no no

i LOVE pandora. it CAN'T shut down!

if you've never listened to it, i highly recommend it. however, it looks like you had better hurry


Music service Pandora near decision on possible shut-down


Pandora, a popular web radio service, has indicated that the burden of royalty payments under a new rate schedule imposed by rates agent SoundExchange could force the company's closure, according to a report in Saturday's (8/16) Washington Post.

Pandora founder Tim Westergen indicated to the Post that an estimated 70% of the company's revenue for 2008 will go to royalty payments, leaving minimal cash to support the company's operations and return any margin to investors of the venture-backed startup.

Under a ruling by a federal panel last year, per-song performance royalty rates for web-based broadcasters doubled, while terrestrial broadcasters maintained their freedom from obligation of that royalty.

U.S. Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) is attempting to forge a late compromise between SoundExchange, which represents artists and record companies, and web broadcasters, but both sides remain far apart on key points, according to the Post..........



Perhaps Pandora Must Be Our Sacrificial Lamb

Michael Arrington
TechCrunch.com
Pandora made a bold political statement today, saying they'd likely shut down rather than continue to pay exorbitant fees to play music to listeners of its massively popular service.

Radio stations pay different rates depending on how they broadcast music. Terrestrial stations (normal FM/AM stations) pay nothing, a tribute to their powerful corporate parents with limitless lobbying budgets. Satellite stations pay approximately 1.6 cents per hour per listener. By 2010, Pandora and other Internet radio stations, which have few lobbying resources, must pay 2.91 cents.

Pandora says they're alread paying 70% of their $25 million in yearly revenues in royalty fees, and it is driving them out of business. Other Internet radio stations are even worse off...............



Giant of Internet Radio Nears Its 'Last Stand'

Pandora, Other Webcasters Struggle Under High Song Fees

Washington Post Staff Writer

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Pandora is one of the nation's most popular Web radio services, with about 1 million listeners daily. Its Music Genome Project allows customers to create stations tailored to their own tastes. It is one of the 10 most popular applications for Apple's iPhone and attracts 40,000 new customers a day.

Yet the burgeoning company may be on the verge of collapse, according to its founder, and so may be others like it.

"We're approaching a pull-the-plug kind of decision," said Tim Westergren, who founded Pandora. "This is like a last stand for webcasting."

The transformation of words, songs and movies to digital media has provoked a number of high-stakes fights between the owners of copyrighted works and the companies that can now easily distribute those works via the Internet. The doomsday rhetoric these days around the fledgling medium of Web radio springs from just such tensions.........



cool website: art moco



human sculpture Artist Briana Mazzio uses acrylics and hot glue out in Charlotte, North Carolina to create these exquisite busts.
and

A 1949 iconic Eames House in chocolate by Thomas Haas. Via Notcot.

monday with an a acoustic dave grohl

hmmmmmmmmmmm

what IS a funny last name? my last name ends in a vowel. it's not funny though. it's a rather NICE last name. LONG yes, but nice. just because my last name ends in a vowel doesn't mean i am any less of an american than this steamin' pile


"[P]ro-White" radio host Edwards asks of Media Matters' funders: "[W]hat do you want to bet that a lot of those 'wealthy liberals' have funny last names?"


In an August 15 blog post, James Edwards, co-host of the "pro-White" Political Cesspool Radio Show, responded to a Media Matters for America item noting that Jerome Corsi, author of The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality, appeared on the July 20 edition of the show and is reportedly scheduled to appear in its August 17 broadcast. In his post, headlined "Gays, liberals attack Jerome Corsi," Edwards wrote that Media Matters was "founded and is run by homosexual David Brock." After asserting that Media Matters is funded by "a bunch of 'wealthy liberals,' " Edwards said: "And what do you want to bet that a lot of those 'wealthy liberals' have funny last names?"

Edwards also wrote: "And notice that no one ever refutes anything I've written. They can't. But they hate the fact that I'm telling the truth on my blog and on the radio show, so, because they can't refute me, they simply resort to name calling." In fact, Media Matters highlighted some of Edwards' comments. Edwards has asserted on his blog that "[i]nterracial sex is white genocide" and called British historian David Irving -- who was, according to BBC News, "jailed by an Austrian court after pleading guilty to denying that the Holocaust took place" -- a "real hero" and "a survivor of the Jewish Holocaust against free speech." ......

i'm putting aside all of the people issues

that's another story for another time

i AM NOT putting aside the animal stories right now. 'it's just a dog. you can get another' IS NOT the right answer. it's NO acceptable answer at all.

i will tell you, i have loved each and every dog i have ever had just as much as any human in my life. i have. no excuses. no embarrassments. no lies. i have. i would do ANYTHING within my power (and i have) to save their lives (if they had a chance at a quality life).

this is as i said UNACCEPTABLE even if one doesn't feel the same about animals as i do
Dog dies after traffic cop apathetic to owner's pleas

SAN MARCOS, Texas -- A police officer was accused of inappropriate behavior after his misconduct may have resulted in a dog's death, ABC News reported.

Officer Paul Stephens pulled over Michael Gonzalez for speeding at 100 miles an hour down an interstate highway, prompting the driver to get out of the car, saying, "He's dying."

Gonzales and his girlfriend Krystal Hernandez explained that they were speeding to reach a veterinary clinic because their pet poodle Missy was choking.

The dashboard camera of the police car shows Officer Stephens yelling and criticizing the couple for putting other people's lives at risk for a dog.

"You're driving down the highway at 100 per hour," he said. "It's a dog, it's OK. You can get another one. Relax."

Stephens kept Gonzalez on the roadside for 15 minutes. The dog died as the couple waited for Stephens to issue a citation.

The couple tried to convince the officers several different ways to allow them to save their pet, KWTX Channel 10 News reported.

Gonzalez and Hernandez said they begged Stephens to let them go to the vet and turn themselves in for the speeding ticket later.

Gonzalez also offered to stay behind with the officer while Hernandez took the dog to the vet.

But Stephens ignored their pleas..........

a flaming windbag

spewing vileness every time he opens his yap

Corsi: Critics of Obama might be "put ... in jail" if he's president


(and you know people actually BELIEVE this shite. they figure, if it's on tv, it HAS to be true)

Appearing on the August 16 edition of C-SPAN's Washington Journal, Jerome Corsi, author of The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality (Threshold Editions, August 2008), asserted that, if Sen. Barack Obama were elected president and someone were to write a book critical of him or to publish "a cartoon like The New Yorker," "Obama might just have to create a department of hate crimes and put them in jail." Responding to a caller's assertion that "we cannot question Obama," Corsi stated:

Ma'am, you make some very interesting points. Senator Obama is now appearing to have the thinnest skin of anybody I've ever seen run for president. ........

Sunday, August 17, 2008

you HAVE to laugh


from i can has cheezburger (via makezine)

yesterday i posted a fake beer ad


using a woman's body as a beer holder (and f**k object. AT THE SAME TIME). that was disturbing to me.

then today i saw this and yesterday's ad DOESN'T EVEN COME CLOSE TO DISTURBING

silly me - i guess a dead woman can still be a sexy woman

Wrangler features sexydead models

Apparently the cowboy jeans company decided to "spice up" their ads a bit: by featuring corpses along with the tagline, "We are animals." Because, you know, murder is so hot right now. The one after the jump is so disturbing (trigger warning) that I honestly felt like I might throw up. I don't think I've ever seen the sexualization of violence against women so disturbingly portrayed on an ad before.

They also come with a live ad that's being run in France (along with these gems), as Melissa at Shakesville says, is "featuring the jeans models engaging in some animalism pre-death...?--I've no idea. Don't ask me to explain. I cannot." Took the words out of my mouth.........

my desk at work



(and it's really NOT that far from the truth)

wiring from dark roasted blend. do check out the rest of the photos. they're pretty good/funny/amazing/dangerous

sunday humor

but the asswipes who released 'the study' weren't kidding

Right-Wing Hate Group Blames Immigrants For Increasing Greenhouse Emissions»


In a new report, the right-wing Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is promoting its anti-immigrant agenda by suggesting that “Immigration to the United States significantly increases world-wide CO2 emissions,” and “future levels of immigration will have a significant impact on efforts to reduce global CO2 emissions.” CIS criticizes “environmentalists” for using a “piecemeal” approach of opposing fossil fuels and promoting conservation, claiming that the real way to help the environment would be to stop immigration. .......

so THIS is what all that profit is about

controlling our nation (and it's elections) of course! well we knew it all along, now we have the proof.

we're NOT going to hear (from msm) anything THEY (exxon/mobil) don't want us to hear. BUT not to worry, we STILL (for the time being that is) have access to the truth

ExxonMobil owns the media’s convention coverage.»



As ThinkProgress noted yesterday, ExxonMobil is sponsoring CNN’s coverage of both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. We also noted that CBS’s political coverage is sponsored by ExxonMobil. Now, it appears that National Journal has also opened its doors to Big Oil sponsorship, announcing on its website that its coverage of the 2008 conventions will be “presented by ExxonMobil”:

natjournal1.jpg

this is OUR country?

blackwater, halliburton, kbr

they have all been accused of horrible crimes. from rape to murder to NOT PROTECTING our troops (by allowing things such as shoddy electrical work to occur in iraq --where some of our troops have been electrocuted) to overcharging for services provided in iraq (water, food, etc).

six letters to six of the men who (allegedly) MURDERED (i think i have to say allegedly although there is a great deal of evidence in this case. no one has been brought to trial so i must say allegedly. same with the rapes and shoddy construction). it's a start. it's the same thing with lynndie england though. sure the subhumans who (allegedly) committed these crimes may indeed be guilty but the people who are REALLY guilty and who will NEVER BE BROUGHT TO TRIAL OR NEVER MADE TO PAY are the people RUNNING HALLIBURTON, KBR AND BLACKWATER AND OUR KING AND HIS COURT. they are the ones who really should be brought to trial and made accountable.

Justice Dept. Moves Toward Charges Against Contractors in Iraq Shooting

Washington Post Staff Writers

Federal prosecutors have sent target letters to six Blackwater Worldwide security guards involved in a September shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, indicating a high likelihood the Justice Department will seek to indict at least some of the men, according to three sources close to the case.

The guards, all former U.S. military personnel, were working as security contractors for the State Department, assigned to protect U.S. diplomats and other non-military officials in Iraq. The shooting occurred when their convoy arrived at a busy square in central Baghdad and guards tried to stop traffic.

An Iraqi government investigation concluded that the security contractors fired without provocation. Blackwater has said its personnel acted in self-defense.............