what up wit dis?

no, this can't be allowed to continue. strong arming a reporter for doing his job? nope (where is the change? where is the H O P E???????????)

Reporter restrained after Panetta hearing

-Michael Calderone


Following Leon Panetta’s confirmation hearing Thursday, several reporters approached the CIA director-designate in the hallway outside room G-50 in the Dirksen Building.

There, CongressDaily reporter Chris Strohm — upon asking a question — was physically restrained by a man who accompanied Panetta at hearings both days.

Strohm, when reached by phone Friday, said he was unsure of the man’s role.

“I felt this hand grab my right arm and push me aside,” Strohm said.

By his account, Strohm told the man, “Please don’t touch me” more than once. Eventually, the man let him go.

Tim Starks, a reporter for Congressional Quarterly, said he witnessed Strohm approach Panetta and ask a question, just before the man began “grabbing him by the arm and moving him away.”

“I said to the guy, ‘That’s not the way you do it,’” recalled Starks. ......

huh?

no effing way. ok, this is somewhere president obama MUST step in and put his foot down. kbr should NEVER EVER be awarded an electrical contract by ANYONE much less the pentagon. no. this MUST be reversed and now

KBR wins contract despite criminal probe of deaths
By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – Defense contractor KBR Inc. has been awarded a $35 million Pentagon contract involving major electrical work, even as it is under criminal investigation in the electrocution deaths of at least two U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

The announcement of the new KBR contract came just months after the Pentagon, in strongly worded correspondence obtained by The Associated Press, rejected the company's explanation of serious mistakes in Iraq and its proposed improvements. A senior Pentagon official, David J. Graff, cited the company's "continuing quality deficiencies" and said KBR executives were "not sufficiently in touch with the urgency or realities of what was actually occurring on the ground."

"Many within DOD (the Department of Defense) have lost or are losing all remaining confidence in KBR's ability to successfully and repeatedly perform the required electrical support services mission in Iraq," wrote Graff, commander of the Defense Contract Management Agency, in a Sept. 30 letter.

Graff rejected the company's claims that it wasn't required to follow U.S. electrical codes for its work on U.S. military facilities in Iraq. KBR has said it would cost an extra $560 million to refurbish buildings in Iraq used by the U.S. military, including Saddam Hussein's palaces, which among other problems are based on a 220-volt standard rather than the American 120-volt standard...........

ah but when THEY do it

it's NOT called treason (like releasing the name of a COVERT CIA AGENT. of course that is treason for anyone else, but NOT...you know who)

Hoekstra leaks unauthorized intelligence information via Twitter.»

By Faiz Shakir
Rep. Pete Hoeksra (R-MI), the ranking member of the House intelligence committee, revealed classified intelligence information on Twitter when he reported on his “congressional trip to Iraq this weekend that was supposed to be a secret.” “Just landed in Baghdad,” messaged Hoekstra, who was part of a delegation led by John Boehner (R-OH). CQ reports, “Before the delegation left Washington, they were advised to keep the trip to themselves for security reasons. A few media outlets, including Congressional Quarterly, learned about it, but agreed not to disclose anything until the delegation had left Iraq.” Hoekstra not only revealed the existence of the trip, but included details about their itinerary. In a May 2006 op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, Hoekstra wrote: But every time classified national security information is leaked, our ability to gather information on those who would do us harm is eroded............

you know what?

don't give him time. don't let him recant. don't let him 're-examine the evidence'. he's a giant f**kwad. he can re-examine the evidence a million times. he can say he now sees the light. i won't believe him. i'll NEVER believe him. he doesn't think millions of jews were killed. he thinks ONLY 300,000 were killed and none by the gas chamber. let's say that's true (it's NOT, but let's just say it). even if THAT were true. how horrible is it the nazis killed 300,000 people? he doesn't seem to give a shite.

the catholic church doesn't need him. they have ENOUGH problems WITHOUT him.

he is an evil man. that's it. evil

Vatican scrambles as holocaust-denying Bishop promises to 'look again'
Stephen C. Webster
The Vatican is in damage control mode in a continuing row over a Bishop who recently espoused beliefs that the Nazis did not use gas chambers to murder Jews, and that far fewer than 6 million were slaughtered during the Holocaust.

Because of the remarks by British Bishop Richard Williamson, Israel's chief Rabbinate suspended communication with the Catholic church, but resumed talks Saturday after it was announced that Pope Benedict would meet with Jewish groups to mend ties.

But it appears the media saga of Bishop Williamson is not over. "Since I see that there are many honest and intelligent people who think differently, I must look again at the historical evidence," he told Der Spiegel, according to the Jerusalem Post. "It is about historical evidence, not about emotions. And if I find this evidence, I will correct myself. But that will take time."
..................

please don't divorce us

because gay couples have just as much right to marry as straight couples. i believe that with my whole heart and my whole soul (even if i'm NOT exactly a proponent of marriage by anyone)

could this dude BE any cooler?

nope. he is THE coolest person on earth

Hero pilot Chesley (Sully) Sullenberger sweats lost book
BY BILL HUTCHINSON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
He has nerves of steel, but hero pilot Chesley (Sully) Sullenberger is jittery about an overdue library book.

Living up to his squeaky clean image, the US Airways captain has informed his hometown library that he may not be able to return a borrowed book - about ethics, of all things.

The former fighter pilot has a good excuse: The book was lost when he was forced to make a splash landing on the frigid Hudson River last month.

Sullenberger and co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles have been credited with saving themselves and 153 passengers and crew.

Officials at the Danville, Calif., library revealed that the flying ace rang them up saying the book is still in the crashed airliner's cargo hold and could he get an extension and a waiver on overdue fees.

The book had been borrowed from the Fresno State University library.

Peter McDonald, dean of library services at Fresno State, said he was bowled over by Sully's sense of responsibility. ........

ruby's shoes (walk a mile in her shoes)

words are kind of hard to understand, so here's they're written out

this looks like MY kind o' show

i'm afraid though. not afraid of laughing WITH the newscasters. i'm afraid since it's on mtv, people may not exactly be laughing WITH them............you know where i'm going.

anyway, i LOVE this little video. i've been seeing commercials for the show as well. the blip with john stamos looks hilarious! click on the link below to see what xeni at boing boing has to say. not to worry, it's cool (although i'm sure you knew that)

BB Video: How's Your News? Comedy/News by Disabled People, Produced by South Park's Matt + Trey.

Posted by Xeni Jardin,

here's a lil somethin' somethin' that should make ya smile

well it made ME smile

Dallas hardware store wants George W. Bush to be its door greeter
Jacquielynn Floyd
Former presidents get a pretty good retirement package, but there's nothing wrong with getting out of the house and earning a little extra scratch. If George W. Bush wants some useful occupation for those long, post-presidential workdays, Dallas' own Elliott's Hardware has an offer ready: Come be our greeter!

Elliott's advises of the offer in a press release, but they assure us that they have already directly appealed for the former president and new Highland Park resident directly:

"[W]e are offering the position to Mr. Bush in all sincerity," said Kyle Walters, Elliott's Hardwar president & CEO. "We think it would be a great fit for him as he settles back into life in Dallas."

Really, it's a match made in heaven. GWB is a people-kinda-guy with a great memory for names and faces - exactly the sort of person to make you feel welcome when you're looking for a toilet flange or a socket wrench..........

this is SOOOOOOOOOOOO true

i joined facebook. i, for the life of me don't know why. i did and i am still there. i don't answer surveys or stuff like that (YET being the operative word). i don't have very many friends (then again i am sure as hell not going to use my REAL NAME. there are people i really do NOT want contacting me). these facebook things are all about self-importance and bragging and just a bunch of shite all rolled into a page or two on the internet (oh, i remember EXACTLY why i joined facebook now. to play scrabulous. of course the makers of scrabble made facebook take DOWN scrabulous. i think scrabble is up on facebook now though. i play scramble. similar. i've not got it down pat. i just found out you can rotate the letters. duh! see. here i am talking about MYself)
25.
We Never Do Random Things. Until We Do.

By Dan Zak

Washington Post Staff Writer

1. We have been tagged in a Facebook note titled "25 Random Things About Me."

2. Update: We have received seven of these alerts in the past seven days from seven different people.

3. This is just another online outbreak of mass self-disclosure and self-importance, like personality e-mail forwards of yore (boxers or briefs? Pacino or De Niro?). Everyone is typing out Random Things this week, and asking -- nay, tagging -- us to do the same.

4. A friend's No. 3 Random Thing: "One of my favorite things to do is belt out monster ballads in my car, while pretending that I don't see people looking at me like I've lost my mind."........

we know this

they've been telling us about it for a while. so now what are we going to actually DO about it?

Army official: Suicides in January 'terrifying'

From Barbara Starr and Mike Mount
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One week after the U.S. Army announced record suicide rates among its soldiers last year, the service is worried about a spike in possible suicides in the new year.

The Army said 24 soldiers are believed to have committed suicide in January alone -- six times as many as killed themselves in January 2008, according to statistics released Thursday.

The Army said it already has confirmed seven suicides, with 17 additional cases pending that it believes investigators will confirm as suicides for January.

If those prove true, more soldiers will have killed themselves than died in combat last month. According to Pentagon statistics, there were 16 U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq in January.

"This is terrifying," an Army official said. "We do not know what is going on."

Col. Kathy Platoni, chief clinical psychologist for the Army Reserve and National Guard, said that the long, cold months of winter could be a major contributor to the January spike......

this is an interesting read

what would YOU do? (i know what i'd do if i were the parents. i would NOT ask one of my children to help me. that is so guilt-inducing, i couldn't even begin to fathom it. am i judging mr west's parents. perhaps, yes, i am. after all they were both not only in the medical profession, but in the MENTAL medical profession). that aside, would i have helped MY parents? not just yes, but HELL yes

I Killed My Parents -- They Asked Me to Do It

By John West, Counterpoint Press

In November 1998, John West's father, who had recently been diagnosed with cancer, asked him an extraordinary favor: help him commit suicide. After the tremendous weight of those words settled squarely on West's shoulders, he looked at his father and said the only thing he knew to say, "You got it." So, on the evening of July 2, 1999, John helped his father take a cocktail of pills. By morning, he was dead. The death was attributed to the cancer, and only West knew better. Months later, his mother asked West the same devastating favor and, again, he agreed. For more than a decade, West kept the secrets to himself, not even telling his sisters the role he had played. Now, he is coming out with his side of the story in The Last Goodnights: Assisting My Parents with Their Suicides Counterpoint Press, 2009). The following is an excerpt from the book.

***

I don't know what my booze bill was for that time, but I'm sure it was big. I had a good reason, though: I had to kill my parents. They asked me to. Actually, they asked me to help them with their suicides, and I did. And if that doesn't justify throwing back an extra glass or three of Jameson's on the rocks, then I don't know what does.

My father was Louis Jolyon "Jolly" West, MD, a world-renowned psychiatrist and former chairman of the department of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles, age seventy-four. My mother was Kathryn "K" West, PhD, a respected clinical psychologist at the West Los Angeles (Brentwood) Veterans Administration Hospital, age seventy-five...........

i don't think this is a JOKE

i mean I THINK IT'S A JOKE, i just don't think the p4cm (passion for christ movement) thinks it's a joke (pic from the p4cm site)



i found it via feministe and again, i think it's for real.

this was in the nyt the other day

and i think i forgot to link to it. it's WONDERFUL!!!
this is a MUST stop by and see
I LEGO N.Y.

by Christoph Niemann (pics from Christoph Niemann as well)
During the cold and dark Berlin winter days, I spend a lot of time with my boys in their room. And as I look at the toys scattered on the floor, my mind inevitably wanders back to New York.

and you're not going to hear this from ted on oprah

or larry king live. but you WILL hear it from

from michelangelo signorile at the gist

Haggard's Pump 'n Go: Serving You 24/7

This is a clip from my interview with Grant Haas, the young man who came forward last week and made sexual allegations against Ted Haggard, which Ted Haggard admitted to and apologized for on "Larry King Live" last week.

But the Colorado Springs TV news station which broke the story reported only a few details -- that Haggard once masturbated in front of Haas and sent Haas sexually explicit messages, and that the New Life Church paid him hush money to stay silent about it -- and did not even remotely present the fuller picture that Grant Haas lays out, which is very much about the abuse and exploitation that has gone on at New Life Church and is likely still going on.

Haas came on my show and spoke about his relationship with Haggard in full detail and about others in the church as well as how the church responded to his allegations. It was a very long interview that stretched over an hour and a half. I've provided a video clip of one part here. I will post more audio/video tomorrow and in coming days.................

here's the link to part ii

"Ted Two"

i do agree with what they're saying

i just have an issue with them using WOLVES (as being bad) in their video. oh, and i don't say things like killing two birds with one stone. i don't like that EITHER.

anyway, it's quite evident most (not all, i'm careful to say NOT all) of the people in these 'anti-immigrant' groups are white supremacists. they can deny it all they want, but it's true

White supremacism lies at the root of the 'respectable' nativist right

By David Neiwert

We've known for some time -- ever since the Southern Poverty Law Center first reported it back in 2002 -- that there was a web of interests and backgrounds that connected some of the most prominent conservative anti-immigration "think tanks" to white-supremacist organizations, all revolving the activities of an environmentalist-turned-nativist named John Tanton.

Despite the overwhelming evidence, though, that this was the case, these groups -- particularly the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and NumbersUSA -- have continued to enjoy mainstream respectability, in large part because they have continued to deny the connections to Tanton and to each other.

Now, the SPLC has definitively established the connections, thanks in large part to reporter Heidi Beirich's intrepid investigative work digging through Tanton's own papers and examining the groups' leaders records. One can only hope the report will finally persuade genuine conservatives and thoughtful Republicans that they would want nothing to do with either these organizations or their largely fabricated disinformation, which disguises a hateful, white-supremacist agenda..........

i WAS going to say

how long before THIS happens here. but it already has here and that's only ONE example

nujood ali, hero of mine, rape survivor, divorcee oh and 10 year old

and most likely she is still in line for an honor killing because of course EVEN AT 10, BEING SOLD TO A 30+ YEAR OLD WHO BEAT AND RAPED HER DAILY, SHE HAS 'DISGRACED HER FAMILY' (by wanting to be a human being instead of a sold object)

A 10-Year-Old Divorcée Takes Paris
Old Divorcée Takes Paris

In a dimly lit corner of a Paris bar a delighted young divorcée describes in a soft voice how she spent the day throwing snowballs for the first time in her life. That is not remarkable. This is: Nujood Ali is just 10 years old — and was, until recently, the youngest known divorced person in the world.

Slender with thick hair and a shy smile, Ali made headlines in Yemen last April when she walked out on a man more than three times her age, to whom her father had married her off. It was an act driven by terror and despair. (See the top 10 crime stories of 2008.)

Nujood's ordeal began last February, when the family gathered to celebrate her wedding to a motorcycle deliveryman in his 30s. She first set eyes on the groom when she took her marriage vows. After spending her wedding night with her parents and 15 brothers and sisters, Nujood was taken by her new husband to his family village, where, she says, he beat and raped her every night. After two nightmarish months he allowed her to visit her parents, who rebuffed her pleas to end the marriage.

Nujood finally found her moment to escape one day, when her mother gave her a few pennies and sent her out to buy bread. Instead she took a bus to the center of the capital, Sanaa — a city of 3 million people — where she hailed a taxi and asked to be taken to the courthouse. She had never been inside a courtroom but had once seen one on television, she says, and knew it was a place where people went for help. There she sat silently on a bench, uncertain as to what to do, while crowds of people scurried past, scarcely glancing at the quiet child. It was only once the courthouse emptied during the lunch recess that the judge noticed her and asked why she was there. "I came for a divorce," she told him. Horrified, he took her to his house to play with his 8-year-old daughter, and granted the divorce two days later................

picture:

Nujood Ali

BORIS HORVAT/AFP/Getty

please read kathleen parker's column

i think she hits on ALL of the points i would have hit on and perhaps one or two, i didn't even think of. i agree with her a million percent.


Phelps Takes a Hit"

wednesday night with a fat man in the bathtub

take your pick

this is VERY queer indeed

NOOOOOOOOOOOO pun intended. ok ok ok, pun INtended
i saw a video on cnn of rupaul's new show (video follows) and when i got home (now) i was going to post it.



i just HAPPENED to dash on over to madame arcati's blog and i found this unbelievable bale remix BY THE SAME DUDE WHO IS PRODUCING RUPAUL'S NEXT ALBUM (coincience??????????)


downlad bale out

here's a link to RevoLucian's itune remixes. why not support him by buying one or two?

the following is NSFW in any way shape or form

oh stephen!

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Paul McCartney Appearance

Funny Political Videos
More Funny Videos

i love letterman even more now

undercover black man hooks us up to


bill hicks on the letterman show (albeit 15 years ago)
............If you’re a standup comedy fan – or a student of pop culture more largely – something happened last Friday night you should know about.

Bill Hicks – who died of metastatic cancer 15 years ago – performed on “The Late Show with David Letterman.”

The comedy routine was taped in October of 1993, but it was never shown... until Friday night. Letterman accepted blame for banning the performance in the first place. And he apologized to Hicks’s mother, face to face.

The “censoring” of Bill Hicks by Letterman – who had been his biggest champion – was a major event in Hicks’s legendary life. Letterman didn’t know at the time that Hicks had pancreatic cancer and would be dead within months...................
please watch it:

you go ashly!

for the record i don't know ANYTHING about defenders of wildlife (some 'wildlife' organizations actually want to build herds and animal groups up JUST SO YOU CAN HUNT THEM). that's why i'm careful about actually giving my full endorsement. i DO like what they've done and said about sarevil and her aerial wolf hunting though. i'll have to do a bit of research on the group itself now


Actress Judd goes after Palin over aerial wolf killing

David Edwards and Stephen C. Webster
It seems as though Campaign 2012 is already underway.

In a new video advertisement, Hollywood personality Ashley Judd slams Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin--former running mate of Sen. John McCain in his failed bid for the presidency--for her support of aerial wolf hunting in the state.

"Now back in Alaska, Palin is again casting aside science and championing the slaughter of wildlife," says Judd.

The ad is part of a campaign by the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, which has launched a Web site to counter what they say is Palin's "anti-conservation agenda."
......................

'cause i always loved this song (a LOT)

and because i am a rabid supporter of COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION (and a rabid doubter of abstinence only 'education') ................

Abstinence-Only Education is for the birds: Let's talk about sex baby.

.......................It is appalling that for a culture as saturated with sex as ours, it is in the arena of education that certain groups want the most censorship and control. Perhaps because it is one institution that parents can have some control over through PTAs, charters and community organizations. It is unfortunate that what is being taught in school isn't matching up to the level at which youth internalize the sex in the media and have sexual experiences whether it be with peers, through pornography, video games or watching movies. Whatever it is, youth are exposed to sex and have a variety of sexual experiences. It is unfortunate that it is not therefore discussed honestly in school.

So I was excited to see this article in the Boston Globe about a church community that teaches real sex ed, you know, the kind that talks about sex.

A joint effort by the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ, OWL aims to help teens understand sexuality. As Detwiler recalls the sessions of three years ago, the pictures demonstrating what sexual intercourse looks like were "shocking to kids, but also helpful. It helped them to grasp another dimension of sexuality." So did the frank discussions about dating norms, the chance to pass around condoms, and informal conversation about the way sex is portrayed in magazines, movies, and music. OWL is among a handful of sex-ed programs that take a position more radical than it may, at first, sound: namely, that sexuality education should actually talk about sex. While events like the spike in teen pregnancies in Gloucester last year or the bulging bellies of youthful pop stars (or Alaskan first daughters) can prompt outcries for better sex ed, most of what we call "sex education" is really about preventing the bad stuff. As one Newton teacher puts it, "It's all been reduced to two issues: teen pregnancy and STDs. That's all really important, but I feel we're losing other important things.".................

if the above link doesn't work try this one to feministing

the nutmeg grater: dick, i'd vote for you

the nutmeg grater: dick, i'd vote for you

some good (and cool at that) news

and we should be doing EVERYTHING in our power to protect this land and ALL OTHER LAND including OUR OWN (from destruction and pollution and sarah palin)

Many New Species Discovered In Hidden Mozambique Oasis With Help Of Google Earth
ScienceDaily (Feb. 1, 2009) — Space may be the final frontier, but scientists who recently discovered a hidden forest in Mozambique show the uncharted can still be under our noses. BirdLife were part of a team of scientists who used Google Earth to identify a remote patch of pristine forest. An expedition to the site discovered new species of butterfly and snake, along with seven Globally Threatened birds. The team were browsing Google Earth – freely available software providing global satellite photography – to search for potential wildlife hotspots. A nearby road provided the first glimpses of a wooded mountain topped by bare rock. However, only by using Google Earth could the scientists observe the extent of woodland on the other side of the peak. This was later discovered to be the locally known, but unmapped, Mount Mabu. Scientific collections and literature also failed to shed light on the area............



picture: Scientific surveying Mount Mabu -- Mozambique - found a wealth of wildlife including Pygmy Chamelons. (Credit: Julian Bayliss / Kew)

young republicans

keeping it hip



(from the full ginsburg found via americablog)

i always forget how very much i like them

Pilobolus Dance Theatre - More free videos are here

pilobolus

carrie fisher has a blog

i read some of the entries and was entertained, amused and impressed (she even talked about marianne faithfull whom i adore)

(ht to john at americablog

i guess women can't go out in india either

from feministe

i thought this was cool

an interactive youtube video featuring (and combinging) academy award nominees AND the spot the difference in the pictures game. it goes on for 30 levels too

(found via boing boing)

in case anyone is wondering

i am VERY deeply disturbed by a woman who already has six children getting in vitro to have more. VERY disturbed

this pope benedict is some piece of work

discounting everything else he's done and said in the past, within the past couple of weeks he's UNexcommunicated someone who is a holocaust denier and now this:

Katrina 'divine retribution' pastor promoted
Cleric quoted as saying the hurricane was a punishment for 'immorality'

because that's a VERY 'christian' thing to believe. kill and wound the 'sinners'. hmmmmmmmmmm. wwjd?

the catholic church and it's old white men who KNOW EFFING NOTHING should clean itself out. first not only get rid of ALL OF THE PEDOPHILES BUT TURN THOSE F**KERS OVER TO THE AUTHORITIES and second get rid of all of the misogyny in the church, third make it your job to educate about birth control and safer sex (you don't have to do the actual education if it's too much for you, BUT SUPPORT THOSE THAT DO USE COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION), fourth support not only glbt peeps, but support gay marriage and finally PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH do unto others...................(there's so much more, but we'll cover that later)

VATICAN CITY - An Austrian pastor who has been quoted as calling Hurricane Katrina God's punishment for sin in New Orleans is being promoted to the rank of bishop.

The Vatican announced Saturday that Pope Benedict XVI has tapped the Rev. Gerhard Wagner, 54, to be auxiliary bishop in Linz, Austria. It made no mention of the reported remarks about Hurricane Katrina.

Wagner has served since 1988 as pastor of a church in the Austrian town of Windischgarsten and received a doctorate in theology from the prestigious Gregorian Pontifical University in Rome, the Vatican said.