The Seventh Sense

There She Is....

Your new Miss America, Caressa Cameron!

Liveblogging -- Miss America

Liveblogging - Miss America: Behind the Curtain

6:59pm - Ready for the reality special.  Always great to see the girls kicking back and having fun.  Hope they are looking good cause I'm watching on TLC HD!

7:01pm - Um...Clinton Kelly needs a makeover himself.

7:02pm - WHOA...Miss PA needs a tanning intervention!

7:06pm - The girls teaching Clinton the swimsuit walk is too funny.  So glad they don't have casualwear anymore cuz that is MINE!

7:07pm - Susan Powell calls Miss PR "sex on heels".  Um...yeah!

7:09pm - Oh, my GOD!  Miss Ohio is 8 feet tall.  Did Clinton and Susan just talk about boobs that jiggle versus boobs that don't?  Eww.

7:15pm - Clinton Kelly may be a closet heterosexual.

7:16pm - Oh Mimi....  She has a great personality.  You know, I wouldn't be surprised if she did win.

7:19pm - Miss DC looks good in gown, but Miss PR knocked it out of the ballpark with that gown.  Most of these gowns are hideous!  Miss Hawaii was stunning as well.  Did I miss the boat on her?  Miss NY is way too over the top.

7:27pm - I'm really liking Hawaii.  I think she is my final pick.

7:28pm - Sounds like the interviews were pretty tough.  And obviously they highlighted the girls who stumbled or sounded dumb.  I was pleased that they showed a variety of both liberal and conservative answers.

7:35pm - just poured my first glass of wine.  Should get real interesting on this blog...  LOL!  Vivica Foxx told Clinton not to touch them.  Oh my God!  This is so funny...and good!  I think that was a better than 8 interview.

7:39pm - Yep, I used hairspray under arms.  Chicken cutlets should have been number 1.  I don't know a single girl who didn't use them.  Oh, butt glue.  Yeah, that should be number 1. 

7:44pm - I think Kentucky is really cute.  This hidden talents section is really stupid.  Although watching Miss New Mexico tie the cherry stem with her tongue was kinda hot.

7:47pm - I think Kentucky should have been zipped up in a suitcase for her onstage talent.

7:48pm - Again, Clinton with the boob shaking.

7:49pm - Really enjoying Utah on the piano.  Again, Clinton with the shimmying!

7:56pm - The 12 girls eligible for vote in are: Kentucky, Michigan, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio, California, and Hawaii.  I totally love Hawaii now!

Moving to the live blogging box!

It's the Day of the Pageant, Ya'll!

The Miss America Pageant is set to start in just under 2 hours.  I'm sure you all have been busy picking out your top 15, and since it really is a numbers game from this point forward, I thought I would do a quick review of what happens now.

Each girl will maintain their interview score which came from the panel interviews with the judges conducted on Monday.  Each girl is also given a composite score which is tabulated by using her scores in the preliminary swimsuit, talent, evening gown, and on-stage question competitions.  The 15 girls who have the highest composite scores will be announced at the start of the pageant tonight and will re-compete in each on-stage category live.  This year a 16th girl will be selected by fan votes.

The finalist will go through the categories in the following order with various eliminations along the way:

Top 16 in Swimsuit
Top 12 in Evening Gown
Top 10 in Talent
Top 8 in OSQ

Then from the 8:
4th RU, 3rd, 2nd, 1st, Miss America 2010.

I've had quite a time picking out my top 16, but I think I finally have it.  Check out my picks below the fold!  I'll be live blogging the pageant starting at 8pm AND liveblogging the reality TV special Behind the Curtain starting at 7pm EST.

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich Can Act

Anne Frank, Pornographer

It takes a very special sort of stick-up-the-assness to ban The Diary of Anne Frank as being too suggestive ("sexual explcit material" and "homosexual themes") but damned if a town in Virginia didn't do it.

Question Time

Something unusual happened today in American politics -- something never before seen.

President Obama appeared at the Republican party retreat.  Their invitation. He gave a speech, hitting on the same points as his State of the Union, and then....

.... he took questions.

He took questions from Republican congressmen.

It was much like "Question Time" that they have in the British parliamentary system.

And reports suggest that when Obama was questioned and put to task by Republican elected officials, who naturally challenged him on every question, he ran rings around them, coming off as far more knowledgeable.

The GOPers asked pretty typical questions. Some of them tried to play "gotcha." Didn't work. Obama answered their questions and provided his own commentary on them. He called Republicans out for their attacks on him. He noted that they've pretty much called his health care plan a "Bolshevik plot." One of the best moments was when Obama dissed Hensarling's question as a recitation of talking points.

Towards the end, Obama pointed to GOP pollster Frank Luntz, who was sitting in the front row. He noted that when many of the GOP Representatives stand on the House floor to talk issues, Luntz "has already polled it" -- and they get the talking points from him on how to box Obama in. The President kept going back to the theme that the GOPers were in a constant attack mode -- and how that prevented them from being able to work with him.

UPDATE:  Video just in....

UPDATE:  Transcript here.

And Ezra Klein writes:

Obama's Q&A session with the House Republicans was transfixing. What should have been a banal exchange of talking points was actually a riveting reminder of how rarely you hear actual debate -- which is separate from disagreement -- between political players.

This was a surprise. The session was clearly proposed so that Obama could appear to be taking real steps to reach out to Republicans. That implied warm feelings and a studied unwillingness to cause offense. But that was not the event we just saw. Instead, Obama stood at a podium for an hour and hammered his assailants. That makes it sound partisan and disrespectful. But it wasn't. It was partisan, but respectful.

***

Yesterday, I interviewed David Axelrod and was struck by his inability to explain how the White House would highlight the the difference between disagreement and obstruction. Today's session, if it becomes a regular event rather than a one-off, provided part of the answer. He'll debate them directly. But that may be tough to do. Republicans are already spreading the word that they made a mistake allowing cameras into the event. Apparently, transparency sounds better in press releases than it does in practice.

But if this is to be the last of these we see for a while, make sure to take the time and watch it, or read the transcript. It's some of the best political television I've seen in memory.

Writes the Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder:

“Debating a law professor is kind of foolish — the Republican House Caucus has managed to turn Obama’s weakness — his penchant for nuance — into a strength. Plenty of Republicans asked good and probing questions, but Mike Pence, among others, found their arguments simply demolished by the president.”

UPDATE:  Republicans are beginning to realize how they looked stupid... they now think the whole thing was a "mistake". 

I guess it is easy for Republicans to take on Obama on Fox News, but taking him on face-to-face?  Not so much.

How remarkable was it?  Fox cut away from broadcasting it.

Other reacts from Twitter media people:

marcambinder: Obama looked like a law prof; the GOPers looked like students challenging him.

maddow: This appearance by Obama with House Republicans is really remarkable.

ThePlumLineGS: Imagine if Obama publicly pushed Congressional Dem leaders to pass HCR via reconciliation as aggressively as he's now pushing Republicans.

ezraklein: Obama's Q&A with the House Republicans is the most compelling political television I've seen...maybe ever.

chucktodd: the president should hold Congressional "town halls" more often. Public needs to see this if they'll ever trust washington again

Federal Judge Rules Forsyth County Prayers Are Unconstitutional

And indeed, they are unconstitutional:

Federal District Court Judge James A. Beaty this morning ruled that Forsyth County is violating the U.S. Constitution by allowing prayers with sectarian references before meetings of the county board of commissioners.

Beaty ordered the county to stop allowing prayers under its current policy, which had come under fire from those who said that the county was promoting Christianity because most of the prayers have made reference to Jesus.

Beaty gave the county several options in his order. He said that the county could choose to open meetings without a prayer, or could require that prayers contain no sectarian references.

Mike Johnson, the attorney representing the county, told commissioners this morning that he hopes they will appeal the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. That court traditionally also has ruled against sectarian prayer at public meetings.

Today's ruling by Beaty confirms what a magistrate recommended in November. The lawsuit was filed in March 2007 by several county residents, supported by the American Civil Liberties Union. They asked that the commission only allow non-sectarian prayer at meetings; in those, references to God are allowed, but to specific deities such as Jesus Christ or Buddha are not.

The lawsuit prompted other counties to study their policies on invocations before public meetings. Several, such as Yadkin County, changed their policies to eliminate sectarian prayer. Others, such as the Winston-Salem City Council, have held off, saying they would wait to see the outcome of the Forsyth County case.

And now it is time for the people of Winston-Salem to speak up in insane rants to the newspaper:

• My guess is this judge thinks we all came from monkeys. This is stupid. This country was founded on the basis of the bible. Nothing else. People of different countries with different relgions, close your ears. We can't go to any other country and be allowed to do this crap to their meetings. And atheist, well we all know your going to HELL.
• I always knew that devils/demons controlled our government. It's really starting to show though.
• The ruling is clearly simply against Christianity. What is the justification for allowing any prayer? There is no law or constitutional clause that creates a differentiation between Christian and non-Christian prayer. And there is no law or clause prohibiting prayer. These judges are just making things up.

This third comment amuses me.  No, there is no law or clause prohibiting prayer -- there is, however, a law which prohibits government endorsement of religion (particularly one religion over all others).  It's called the First Amendment.  And when a government body like the Forsyth County board of commissioners engages in prayer -- Christian prayer -- to the exclusion of all other forms of worship from other religions, that clearly violates the Constitution.

After 37 Minute Deliberation, Jury Finds Roeder Guilty of First Degree Murder

Breaking news:

WICHITA, Kan. - A man who says he killed prominent Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller to protect unborn children has been convicted of murdering the doctor.

A jury deliberated for 37 minutes Friday before finding Scott Roeder  guilty of premeditated, first-degree murder. The 51-year-old Kansas City, Mo., man faces a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

Roeder testified that he shot Tiller in the head May 31 in the foyer of Tiller's church in Wichita because he believed Tiller posed an "immediate danger" to unborn children.

His attorneys were hoping to get a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter for Roeder, but the judge ruled that the jury could not consider such a verdict.

The judge's ruling will no doubt be the basis of an appeal.  The defense tried to argue that the jury should be allowed to consider manslaughter, based on the Kansas statute which permits a killing when the killer "is justified in the use of force against another when and to the extent it appears to such person and such person reasonably believes that such force is necessary to defend such person or a third person against such other's imminent use of unlawful force."

The only problem with that is that the last two word "unlawful force".  Abortion is not unlawful.  And that's probably why the judge in the Roeder case didn't allow the jury to consider manslaugher.  Roeder could use force, even deadly force, to prevent somone else's unlawful acts, but not their lawful act.

It makes perfect sense from a public policy standpoint as well.  If we allowed people to decide on their own volition when a murder is "justified" or not, then we basically make murder statutes into a dead letter law.  I would venture to say that many murders are justified in the eyes of the murderer.  But a criminal law system cannot work that way.

RIP Howard Zinn

Best known for his classic, A People's History of the United States, Zinn changed the way many think about America.  The book, written from an unapologetic liberal stance, decided not to glorigy America and its founders, but noted the struggles of real Americans in making change.  Zinn himself would admit that the book has a biased slant -- and it did.  But it was also accurate, and celebrated the capabilities of everyday people to make tremendous change.  A must read.

Economy Grows at 5.7 Percent Last Quarter

That's the fastest growth since 2003, and has caused the AP to declare that it is "the strongest evidence to date that the worst recession since the 1930s ended last year."

Of course, that's just one economic figure.  Unemployment remains high.  But it is a good sign in an economic world starkly devoid of good news.

Bin Laden Comes Out Against.... Global Warning?

Apparently so:

Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, has condemned the US and other industrial economies, holding them responsible for the phenomenon of climate change.

In an audio tape obtained by Al Jazeera, bin Laden criticised George Bush, the former US president, for rejecting the Kyoto pact and condemned global corporations.

"This is a message to the whole world about those responsible for climate change and its repercussions - whether intentionally or unintentionally - and about the action we must take," bin Laden said.

"Speaking about climate change is not a matter of intellectual luxury - the phenomenon is an actual fact."

The reaction will be predictable:  Bin Laden is bad.  He believes in, and condemns, climate change.  Lefties believe in, and condemn, climate change.  Therefore, lefties and Bin Laden are birds of a feather.  Cue stupid conservative reaction.... 3.... 2...... 1....... ding ding ding... we have a winner!

Hitler Responds To The iPad

Yes, it's the meme that won't ever die:

News Reports Deconstructed

In case you ever wanted to report the news, here's how to do it:

Storm's A Brewin'

Yikes, this one isn't kidding.

 

Weather Channel:

As you can see in the graphic, plowable snow will also be found in Paducah and Jackson, KY, Roanoke and Norfolk, VA and Winston-Salem and Raleigh, NC. 

There is no question this is a very sizeable snowstorm for these cities.
 

Thursdays Prelim - details

Well, the judges really seem to be favoring a girl with darker coloring.  But a blond finally snagged a prelim award!

That's Miss Michigan Nicole Blaszczyk with her talent award and Miss Oregon CC Barber with her swimsuit award.

I think Michigan could have won talent even if she couldn't do this:

 

just for her incredible ab muscles.  It's just a little unfortunately that this shot gives her a double chin look.

Miss Oregon looks great in swimsuit and supposedly has a pretty good talent.

Although word is that she gave everyone at rehearsal a little peek at her, well....um...you know.  This is the problem with slits cut too high.  I remember a few years back when a Miss NC USA contestant ended up with pictures all over the web that left nothing to the imagination.  But so far no photos of Oregon have surfaced and she evidentially got the gown fixed before the show last night.

So now it is time to create our top 15 lists.  I'll be back with mine later today and I'll offer some insight into how this whole point system is going to work this year cause, believe me, it is different every flippin' year. 
 
 
 

Wednesday Prelim - details

Winners last night were:

Miss California, Kristy Cavinder in Talent and Miss New York, Alyse Zwick for Swimsuit

Miss California presented a ballet en pointe.

And Miss NY apparently struted like a peacock while greased up to within an inch of her life.

The good news is that most folks seem to think that PR's talent was passable, so I don't think she'll be knocked down too hard by that.  Kentucky looks like she was a close second in swimsuit with Arkansas as a notable mention.  But OSQ (onstage question) and evening gown remained pretty dull.

Tonight is the final night of prelims.  I'd look for Virginia to bag a double prelim award by winning swimsuit tonight.  As for talent, I have no clue and after only an hour and a half of sleep last night, I'll just plan on being surprised.
  
 

What I Would Like To See In The State Of The Union Tonight

I would like to see Obama move away from bi-partisanship.  He has left so much to Congress (especially health care) and it has given him a big fat zero.  I don't think he needs to slam Republicans, but he needs to show resolve in getting the things he promised us done.

Tuesday Prelims - the details

Word on the pageant blogs is that Tennessee and Texas were right up there with Puerto Rico in swimsuit.  Should have some pictures in the next several hours.

DC and New Mexico seem to be considered the faves in on-stage question.  Now let me clarify something.  There is a misconception about pageants that the interviews are easy or that the girls are dumb and while that may be true for that other national system (the one that gave us Carrie Prejean and the girls who wanted to help American kids find Iraq on a map) it isn't true with Miss America.  The questions are very political, very heated, and often very pointed.  I've been asked what the US should do if we ever catch Osama Bin Laden; whether or not I think women should be allowed to wear religious head dress in ID photos; and whether or not I am (or really was at the time) a virgin.  The on-stage question offers some insight into who might have done well in interview and that is our highest point percentage category.

Utah's piano playing really impressed and most are calling her a close second for talent.  You can find video of Caressa's winning talent at the following link: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1337641205117&ref=mf  I am warning you in advance that the videographers obviously enjoy the performance.  I personally think she sounds as good as Beyonce.

And everyone seems to agree that evening wear was dull.

In other news, we have the superbowl match-up queens.

That's Indiana versus Louisiana (with Robin Leach as ref).  Wonder if either of them would have an opinion on the news of this Super Bowl ad.  Personally, I don't think we should be telling women not to have abortions because their babies might grow up to be NFL quarterbacks.  But I'm just the pretty face here, so I'll leave the political commentary to Ken.

My predictions for tonight are that Kentucky will win swimsuit and that Puerto Rico will disappoint in talent.

One last question...what is Rush Limbaugh doing in this pic?

I think either massaging his heart in order to avoid another cardiac arrest or giving mad props to his homeys back in the Keys.  (RL is a judge for this year's pageant.)
 

It's an iPad

 
Contrary to rumors that Apple was going to announce the iPhone being available for Verizon, they instead just announced their new coolest thingee.... the iPad.

Think of an iPhone that's half the size of a laptop.  .5 inches thin, 1.5 pounds, 9.7 inch IPS touchscreen display.  10 hours of battery life, runs all iphone apps, has 16, 32 or 64 GB storage ... see more here.

Good, presumably, for movies, e-books....

 

Did You Know....?

Fox News chose to not broadcast the Hope for Haiti Now benefit concert (both CNN and MSNBC did). Instead, Bill O’Reilly aired a segment about Sarah and Bristol Palin’s “body language” during their Oprah interview and Sean Hannity conducted an interview with Karl Rove on the Obama administration’s approval ratings and health care reform.

ACORN Filmmaker Busted

Remember that conservative filmmaker who posed as a pimp, went into ACORN offices, and secretly recorded what happened?

Quite a coup for the guy, whose name is James O'Keefe.  He got to be on Fox, he pretty much dessimated ACORN (which, despite a few bad eggs, was a very worthwhile community organization), and just a few months ago, 31 far-right House Republicans introduced a congressional resolution to praise O'Keefe's work, claiming he was "setting an example for concerned citizens across America."

So what is Mr. O'Keefe doing now?  Getting snagged by the FBI:

The conservative young filmmaker whose undercover sting damaged a liberal activist group last year faces federal criminal charges in an alleged plot to bug the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.).

James O'Keefe was among four men who created a ruse to enter the lawmaker's downtown office, saying they needed to repair her telephones, according to court records unsealed Tuesday. O'Keefe used his cellphone to take pictures of two men, Joseph Basel and Robert Flanagan, who are accused in an FBI agent's sworn affidavit of impersonating telephone company workers. Stanley Dai is accused of aiding the Jan. 25 plot.

All four were taken to a suburban New Orleans jail and charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony. If convicted, each man faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Bugging a senator.....Well done, conservative model citizen!

UPDATE:  The Salt Lake City GOP has uninvited Mr. O'Keefe to this event:

...and even Glenn Beck weighs in against O'Keefe:

BECK: If they were doing that — that’s Watergate. Insanely stupid and illegal. … I haven’t heard his side, but you don’t do anything illegal, that’s Watergate territory. You just don’t do that. And besides that I don’t think you go dressed up — I mean it’s a senator. For the love of Pete, it’s a senator.

CO-HOST: First of all, it’s different than an ACORN office. Because you’re talking about a U.S. senator here! [...]

BECK: It’s exactly the same thing I said for the state dinner. You must not allow — the Secret Service must come down on these peoples in the White House like a box of rocks. You don’t do anything to hurt security for the president or for a senator or anybody else. You don’t mess around with it. Ever, ever, ever, ever. … We have enough [evidence] to, I believe, condemn.

UPDATE: Looks like one of the four break-in boys, Stan Dai, is the same Stan Dai who once wrote an anti-feminist piece called "The Penis Monologues".

A Special Thank You

Thank you to The Seventh Sense's senior beauty pageant correspondent, Heather, for gracing the website with pictures of hot girls.  I fear they will overtake the rest of this site in terms of popularity.

But so what?

Can I Pick 'Em or What?

So two of my picks took home prelim awards last night.

Yes, that is Caressa Cameron, Miss Virginia and Mimi Pabon, Miss Puerto Rico accepting the talent and swimsuit awards respectively.

Caressa is a vocalist:

And Mimi is my new girl crush...

 

I'll get into some commentary about last night's competition and predictions for tonight later today.  For now, just enjoy.  
 

What the World Needs Now...

So, after about 6 years of being an avid reader of the Seventh Sense, I was finally able to convince my dear friend Ken here that there is only one thing missing from his blog. Only one thing keeping him from total world blog domination.

Hot girls.

Seriously. And although I think I left the category of "hot girl" a few years back, I still consider myself an expert having once been considered a hot girl by most people I knew. (I realize that this statement requires a photo to prove my qualifications, but that ain't happenin'.)

And since tonight marks the beginning of the Superbowl of Hot Girls (aka the Miss America Pageant), Ken and I thought it would be fun to introduce all of you to the world of pageantry. Now, I can definitely prove my qualifications here. I was Miss Forsyth County 2003, Miss Asheboro 2004, Miss Hickory 2005, and Miss North Carolina Sweetheart 2005. I won numerous talent, community service, and interview awards (although sadly, no swimsuit awards. I guess I just liked ice cream too much.)

Now you may be saying, but Heather, Miss America isn't on TV until Saturday night (TLC 8pm EST) what do you mean it starts tonight? Well, friends, it actually started days ago when the girls arrived in Vegas and I began picking my top competitors. You can check out my girls at my personal blog: www.9peoplesfavoriteblog.blogspot.com .

So far, the girls have already competed in interview and tonight starts the preliminaries. The girls are divided into three groups and for three nights each group rotates through a series of competitions. Each night, they compete in either talent, on-stage question, or both evening gown and swimsuit. All of these competitions are scored (along with their interview) and at the end of each night, the girl who had the highest score in her group's competition wins a prelim award. However, these awards are only given out in talent and swimsuit.

Now all this is done off camera, so you won't see it on TV. That's where I come in. I'll be presenting you with the inside scoop on who won what along with pictures of gorgeous girls. And on Saturday night, I'll top it off with some liveblogging of the actual Miss America finals being held live on TLC. Sound good?

Tea Party Convention Unraveling

The Tea Party "movement", which was supposed to be a movement of common average people, is starting to fall apart at amazing speeds, as it tries to transform itself from a grassroots movement into an actual politican party:

A Tea Party convention billed as the coming together of the grass-roots groups that began sprouting up around the country a year ago is unraveling as sponsors and participants pull out to protest its expense and express concerns about “profiteering.”

The convention’s difficulties highlight the fractiousness of the Tea Party groups, and the considerable suspicions among their members of anything that suggests the establishment.

The convention, to be held in Nashville in early February, made a splash by attracting big-name politicians. (Former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska is scheduled to deliver the keynote speech.) But some groups have criticized the cost — $549 per ticket and a $9.95 fee, plus hotel and airfare — as out of reach for the average tea partier. And they have balked at Ms. Palin’s speaking fee, which news reports have put at $100,000, a figure that organizers will not confirm or deny.

Tea Party events exploded last winter, as increasingly large gatherings protested the federal stimulus bill, government bailouts and proposed health care legislation. While they vary by name, specific tenets and relative embrace of anarchy, such groups tend to unite around fiscal conservatism and a belief that the federal government — whether led by Republicans or Democrats — has overstepped its constitutional powers.

***

Philip Glass, the national director of the National Precinct Alliance, announced late Sunday that “amid growing controversy” around the convention, his organization would no longer participate. His group seeks to take over the Republican Party from the bottom by filling the ranks of local and state parties with grass-roots conservatives, and Mr. Glass had been scheduled to lead workshops on its strategy.

“We are very concerned about the appearance of T.P.N. profiteering and exploitation of the grass-roots movement,” he said in a statement. “We were under the impression that T.P.N. was a nonprofit organization like N.P.A., interested only in uniting and educating Tea Party activists on how to make a real difference in the political arena.”

Mr. Glass said he was also concerned about the role in the convention of groups like Tea Party Express, which has held rallies across the country through two bus tours, and FreedomWorks, a Tea Party umbrella. He called them “Republican National Committee-related groups,” and added, “At best, it creates the appearance of an R.N.C. hijacking; at worst, it is one.”

Erick Erickson, the editor of the influential conservative blog RedState.com, wrote this month that something seemed “scammy” about the convention. And the American Liberty Alliance withdrew as a sponsor after its members expressed concerns about the convention’s finances being channeled through private bank accounts and its organizer being “for profit.”

I find none of this very surprising.  The whole Tea Party movement was destined for confusion and destruction because it was founded on nothing but discontent.  Even after all these months, it still hasn't defined itself. 

For example, what does it want?  Does it want to work within the GOP infrastructure, or create change from outside the current two-party system?  Is it conservative or libertarian?  Is it limited to economic, small-government issues (i.e., low taxes), or is there a plank that involves social issues as well (i.e., gay rmarriages)?

And most of all, who is in charge?

'Sup With The Lack of Blogging Lately?

Oh, a show.  Work.  Life.  Burnout.  All that.

Plus, not a lot to say that is particularly insightful.

Haiti was bad, but I guess everyone knew that.

Scott Brown being elected to the U.S. Senate was bad, but not as bad as everyone made it out to be.  He's a liberal Republican from Massachusetts, which is on a par with a moderate Democrat from any other state.  He's probably to the left of many Senate Democrats, so I wouldn't sweat it out.

Really, the ONLY thing that really struck me as comment-worthy was last week’s ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, where the court declared that corporations and unions may spend money on political advertising that urges the election or defeat of a candidate for public office.  Obama called it one of the worst decisions in the area of public interest; conservatives praised it as a reaffirmation of the First Amendment.

Obama was, of course, right, and conservatives were wrong.  The First Amendment protections of free speech apply to individuals (as do ALL the Bill of Rights).  Remember, we recognize rights as things "endowed by our Creator" to us.  God did not contemplate that the oil lobby would have free speech rights.

I fear that decision will impact our political landscape profoundly and negatively, but there are sound arguments that disagree with me.

Anyway, I'm more-or-less back.  And maybe I'll even have a "guest" contributor soon, too.  So, stay tuned.

Is There No End To Stupid Conservative Spin on Haiti?

Glenn Beck today, speaking of Obama:

BECK: I also believe this is dividing the nation…to where the nation sees him react so rapidly on Haiti and yet he couldn’t react rapidly on Afghanistan. He couldn’t react rapidly on Ft. Hood. He couldn’t react rapidly on our own airplanes with an underwear bomber…it doesn’t make sense. [...] Three different events and Haiti is the only one. I think personally that it deepens he divide to see him react this rapidly to Haiti.

Uhhhhh.....

See, with Ft Hood, the underwear bomber, and Afghanistan (presumably, the bombing which killed several CIA agents), what was Obama to do?  The events had already happened.  All of the un-exploded passengers in the UndieBombie’s airplane would have remained un-exploded after the failed attack. All of the victims at Ft. Hood who survived received immediate medical care; it’s not as if President Obama could have ordered them to heal faster or anything.

By contrast, with events like Haiti, you have generally 72 hours to recover victims.  Right NOW, there must still be people trapped under the destroyed buildings in Haiti, and thousands of survivors without access to food or medical supplies. It's STILL an emergency situation.

Surely even Glenn Beck's pea-sized brain can figure out the difference.

Beck's premise is faulty.  Polling shows that majorities of Americans approved of Obama’s handling of the Christmas Day plot and that it didn’t divide the country.

In any event, Beck only wishes the nation was divided about this one:

Even conservatives Bill O’Reilly and Laura Ingraham took issue with the Limbaugh-Beck attack. “It’s good that he reacts quickly to Haiti,” O’Reilly said last night on Fox News, later asking Ingraham, “You have no problem with his quick response to Haiti?” “Yeah, no,” she replied.

Haiti Earthquake Caught On Video

Banks Hit With Fees

Turnaround is fair play:

President Obama proposed Thursday a sharp increase in the taxes paid by the nation's largest financial institutions that he said would raise at least $90 billion over the next decade while constraining the industry's ability to take large risks and to collect what he described as "obscene bonuses."

The tax, which must be approved by Congress, is meant to make a splash, demonstrating to the public that the administration is now focused on reforming the financial industry after more than a year of bailout efforts. The nation's largest banks are expected to report large annual profits over the next week, along with plans to set aside billions of dollars for employee bonuses, a recovery made possible by massive federal support.

"We want our money back, and we're going to get it," Obama said Thursday. "If these companies are in good enough shape to afford massive bonuses they are surely in good enough shape to pay back every cent they received from taxpayers."

The bank industry experts are saying this will hurt the economy, because the banks will merely pass on the tax, called the Fiscal Responsibility Crisis Fee, to the consumers.  I seriously doubt it will have a huge impact, because the fee is only being assessed against the mega-banks that took TARP money.  Other banks will not be passing on that fee, since it won't be asssessed by them.  Or as the Obama Administration says: ""Firms that raised prices would give smaller rivals a competitive advantage, creating an incentive for companies instead to swallow the cost, potentially by reducing employee pay."

The GOP will, of course, not be happy about this, but they'll have a hard time opposing it without being branded as "being in the pocket of the big bank fatcats"

STFU, Pat Robertson

After the 9/11 attacks, Robertson said liberal civil liberties groups and homosexuals were at least partly reponsible for the terror strikes that leveled New York's twin towers.

 

After Hurricane Katrina, Robertson again blamed Americans for invoking God's wrath.

Now, he's at it again, claiming that the catastrophe in Haiti was brought on by the Haitians themselves for "making a pact with the Devil".  Watch: 

PAT ROBERTSON: And, you know, Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, "We will serve you if you will get us free from the French." True story. And so, the devil said, "OK, it's a deal."

And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other. Desperately poor. That island of Hispaniola is one island. It's cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti; on the other side is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, et cetera. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to God. And out of this tragedy, I'm optimistic something good may come. But right now, we're helping the suffering people, and the suffering is unimaginable.

KRISTI WATTS (co-host): Absolutely, Pat.

The Reverand Paul Raushenbush responds at the Huffington Post:

Go to Hell, Pat Robertson -- and the sooner the better. Your 'theological' nonsense is revolting. Don't speak for Haiti, and don't speak for God. Haiti is suffering a catastrophe and you offer silliness at best, and racism at the worst. Haiti was the first island in the Western hemisphere to overthrow slavery and white oppression -- this is what you call a pact with the Devil? God's heart is breaking with this tragedy, and ours should be too. You never had much credibility -- but now it is all gone.

The "pact" that Robertson refers to is an old wive's tale.  There simply is no basis for it in history.  Pat is promoting the old 19th century European worldview that because the people of Haiti were slaves who revolted, they were therefore against God's order.

More factual problems with Robertson's statement: Napoleon III cam to power in the 1850's; Haiti became independent in 1804.  And the Dominican Republic is prosperous and well-off?  Hardly.

For its part, the Christian Broadcasting Network issued a statement, arguing that Haitians "allegedly made a famous pact with the devil," but Robertson "never stated that the earthquake was God's wrath."

No, of course not. All he said is that is Haiti agreed to "serve" Satan, became "cursed," and is now burdened by a disaster. Why would anyone draw a connection from that?

UPDATE:  As always, the Rude Pundit minces no words....

By the way, if you wanna prove your God is so goddamn powerful, let him cause an earthquake somewhere that's not on a fault line, or let him whip up a hurricane in, say, the middle of the desert. Otherwise, shut the fuck up about how big and strong he is. In fact, Pat Robertson, you saggy, sick, senile fuck who needed to be ground up into soylent green about a decade ago or buried alive with Jerry Falwell's corpse, if your God is such a dick that he'd try to prove some bullshit point by flattening a country of poor, beaten down people, then fuck your God. Motherfucker oughta spend some time hanging with his son to learn how to treat the meek.

KUDOS also to Rush Limbaugh for saying this, while tens of thousands die, power and water is cut off, hospitals are non-existent, etc.:

I could sit here and be really cynical.  I'll hold off on the cynicism for a couple hours, I'll hold off on it.  I'm going to hold off on it, give the show's flow a chance to establish, 'cause it's going to be the Media Tweak of the Day.

....Yes, I think in the Haiti earthquake, ladies and gentlemen — in the words of Rahm Emanuel — we have another crisis simply too good to waste.  This will play right into Obama's hands. He's humanitarian, compassionate.  They'll use this to burnish their, shall we say, "credibility" with the black community — in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country.  It's made-to-order for them.  That's why he couldn't wait to get out there, could not wait to get out there.

Among the many things offensive and wrong with what Rush says, I wasn't aware that Obama didn't to sew up his credibility with the black community.

Quote Of The Day

Sarah Palin on Glenn Beck's show, explaining why George Washington is her favorite founding father:

“That is who you need to find to serve in government, in a bureaucracy,” Palin said. “Those who you know will serve for the right reasons because they’re reluctant to get out there and seek a limelight and seek the power. They’re doing it for people. That was George Washington.”

That's from Sarah Palin, folks -- the woman who quit her job as governor to write a book, go on a massive book tour, and get a very lucrative deal as a contributer to Fox News.

 

UPDATE:  I love Steve Benen's observations about the Palin-Beck interview, which I rip off here in its entirety:

WHAT PALIN AND BART SIMPSON HAVE IN COMMON.... About 12 years ago, there was an episode of "The Simpsons" in which Bart was supposed to deliver an oral report on Libya. Bart, of course, hadn't done his homework and had no idea what to say. He stood up, cleared his throat, looked at the blank page in front of him, and winged it.

"The exports in Libya are numerous in amount," Bart said earnestly. "One thing they export is corn, or as the Indians call it, maize. Another famous Indian was Crazy Horse. In conclusion, Libya is a land of contrast. Thank you."

None of this made any sense, but Bart couldn't just stand up and say, "I have no idea what I'm talking about because I'm unprepared." He had to say something, so he made up some silliness and got the ordeal over with as quickly as possible.

Every time I hear Sarah Palin try to answer any question on any subject, it immediately reminds me of Bart's classroom presentation. Take yesterday, for example, when Glenn Beck asked Palin, "Who's your favorite Founder?"

This isn't the former half-term governor's best subject. Palin did, after all, boast not too long ago that the Founding Fathers wrote the Pledge of Allegiance. But like Bart, she couldn't just take a pass, so she told Beck, "You know, well, all of them, because they came collectively together with so much ... so much diverse and so much diversity in terms of belief, but collectively they came together."

She eventually said, "And they were led by, of course George Washington." I kept waiting for her to say, "Or as the Indians called him, George Washington."

If "all of them" sounds like a familiar response, it's because Katie Couric asked Palin about which newspapers she reads. "Um, all of them," she replied.

I realize right-wing activists adore the former governor, but her conspicuous unintelligence should be obvious to anyone above the age of 4.

Nancy Pelosi: Is She Crazy... Or a Kook?

Sarah Palin made her first appearance as a contributor to Fox News on Bill O'Reilly's show.  The whole transcript is here, and it is as you might expect.

But one particular section jumped out at me for some reason:

O'REILLY: Do you know Nancy Pelosi? Have you ever met her?

PALIN: I met her once in the Capitol building, yes.

O'REILLY: Yes? Did you have...

PALIN: She wouldn't remember me, but...

O'REILLY: She wouldn't — I think she'd remember you, Governor.

PALIN: No, no, no.

O'REILLY: But did you chat with her? Do you have any idea?

PALIN: Chatted with her a little bit, yes. She was leading a group of school children through on a tour. And I thought, well, that's nice that she has that time on her hands that she could do that.

O'REILLY: Yes, but the school children need to be led. You know that.

PALIN: Yes, that's what I'm saying. It was nice.

O'REILLY: Now, do you think that she's a kook?

PALIN: I think that she, too, is quite disconnected from what her constituents are telling her — and constituents all over the country.

O'REILLY: But she's a San Francisco liberal. But — but do you think she's actually crazy?

So Palin -- a woman who quits her job as governor before her first term is out and takes a lucrative job at Fox -- is mocking Speaker Pelosi who took the time to escort schoolchildren around the Capital Building.  How nice.

And of course, all O'Reilly wants to know is whether that make Pelosi a crazy woman, or a kook.

Haiti Relief -- How You Can Help

The UN has stated that over 3 million people in Haiti are impacted by the devestating earthquake that hit yesterday.  This raw uncut footage from CBS highlights how bad it is:

UPDATE:  According to CNN, the Haiti Prime Minister is saying that the death toll could be "hundreds of thousands".

For those interested in helping immediately, simply text "HAITI" to "90999" and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill.

Or you can go online to organizations like the Red Cross and Mercy Corps Mercy Corps to make a contribution to the disaster relief efforts.

Twitter is playing a critical role in collecting donations to help disaster victims, CNNMoney.com reports.

Single Ladies In Mayberry

It's True That Dogs Can Detect Earthquakes Before They Hit

Video proof from the 6.5 magnitude off the California coast on Sunday:

Opening Statements In Prop 8 Trial

Apparently, the defense in the Prop 8 Trial isn't doing well.  According to liveblogging reports, the opening statement by the defense included this statement:

“Racial restrictions were never a definitional feature of the institution of marriage.”

This was reportedly met with laughter from the courtroom.  It is clearly not true.  Even as late as the early 20th century, if women married an Asian who lived in America, she would lose her citizenship.  And then, of course, there were all kinds of bans on interracial marriage until the Supreme Court struck thos bans down in the mid-1960s.

It's clear what the defense tack is going to be from another point made by the defense in its opening:

The purpose of the institution of marriage, the central purpose is to promote procreation and to channel naturally procreative sexual activity between men and women into stable enduring unions… it is the central and we would submit defining purpose of marriage.

This is going to come as news to elderly people who marry, married people who are unable to procreate, and married people who choose not to procreate.  There isn't a single state which inquires into procreation plans or possibilities when two people get married, so it's a little hard to argue now that procreation is THE "defining purpose" of the institution of marriage.

For more in-depth coverage of yesterday's action, and up-to-the-minute coverage of today's events:

• The Courage Campaign's Prop 8 Trial Tracker

• FireDogLake's Prop 8 Trial liveblog

• LGBT POV

RELATED:  Nate Silver shows us that states which ban gay marriages are more likely to have higher divorce rates than states which permit gay marriages and civil unions.

Google Beats Out Blog

The American Dialect Society (ADS) has named google - the verb - as its Word of the Decade. According to the ADS, the verb google (meaning to "search the Internet") won out over "blog", which, according to Grant Barrett, the chair of the ADS's New Word Committee, "just sounds ugly."

Tweet was named the top word of the year for 2009.

Fail - "a noun or interjection used when something is egregiously unsuccessful" - was 2009's most useful word.

Does Putting Your Bra Color On Facebook Really Increase Awareness of Breast Cancer?

Some say no:

To be sure, it's been fun to share a cyber-laugh with girlfriends; after a day or so of the Facebook bra color campaign, it started to get silly: One of my favorite status updates was "commando," and my aunt told me a friend of hers who recently had a baby updated her status with the quip "soaked in milk." But because of the lack of context, this latest awareness effort is nothing more than innocuous titillation. Were Facebookers thinking more about breasts or the cancer that plagues them?

Though moments of levity are important, breast cancer is still a serious disease, says Dailey. An effective awareness ad campaign recognizes this. She quotes Kairol Rosenthal, author of "Everything Changes: The Insider Guide to Cancer in Your 20s": "You can be fun, creative, and a little bit sexy, but it has to involve the impact of the disease so that there's a call to action." Otherwise, says Dailey, "it's all sex and no substance."

Others are jealous and angry:

As a member of the all-too-exclusive club of long-term ovarian cancer survivors, let me first say I used to resent the enormous amount of attention breast cancer got over other cancers. Breast Cancer Awareness Month (also known as "pink nausea" by certain folks) seemed to begin in late July and end in late November, totally eclipsing the far more lethal (per capita) cancers of ovarian and pancreatic.

Both are valid points.

Frankly, I'm sold on the first argument.  Why do we even have "Breast Cancer Awareness Month"?  Is there any adult out there -- male or female -- that isn't aware that there is this thing called "breast cancer"?  Isn't more required at this point than just promoting awareness of breast cancer?  Can we move past pink M&Ms and Facebook memes and maybe put our energies into -- oh, I don't know -- raising money for actual research and cures?

I'm less convinced by the second argument, although I certainly sympathize.  But the truth is that advances in cancer research move the ball forward for all types of cancer.  Is it unfair that breast cancer seems to get top billing over ovarian, testicular, lung, brain, pancratic, and all other types of cancer?  Perhaps.  But to the extent that awareness of any of those cancers leads to more dollars for cancer research, all types of cancer are likely to benefit.

Are Filibusters Unconstitutional?

Finally, someone makes the argument that requiring 60 votes on every piece of legislation is not what the Framers intended.  Here's the problem, in a nutshell:

So on the health care bill, as on so many other things, we now have to take what a minority of an inherently unrepresentative body will give us. Forty-one senators from our 21 smallest states — just over 10 percent of our population — can block bills dealing not just with health care but with global warming and hazards that threaten the whole planet. Individual senators now use the filibuster, or the threat of it, as a kind of personal veto, and that power seems to have warped their behavior, encouraging grandstanding and worse.

Ending filibusters require supermajorities.  In effect, any bill cannot be passed if there is a filibuster standing in its way.  This is clearly not what the Framers wanted:

Here’s why. First, the Constitution explicitly requires supermajorities only in a few special cases: ratifying treaties and constitutional amendments, overriding presidential vetoes, expelling members and for impeachments. With so many lawyers among them, the founders knew and operated under the maxim “expressio unius est exclusio alterius” — the express mention of one thing excludes all others. But one need not leave it at a maxim. In the Federalist Papers, every time Alexander Hamilton or John Jay defends a particular supermajority rule, he does so at length and with an obvious sense of guilt over his departure from majority rule.

References to the tone taken by Hamilton and Jay in The Federalist Papers are not particularly persuasive.  However, the explicit mention of supermajorities by the Constitution does create, in my view, a negative inference that all other legislation must be passed by majority.

Second, Article I, Section 3, expressly says that the vice president as the presiding officer of the Senate should cast the deciding vote when senators are “equally divided.” The procedural filibuster does an end run around this constitutional requirement, which presumed that on the truly contested bills there would be ties. With supermajority voting, the Senate is never “equally divided” on the big, contested issues of our day, so that it is a rogue senator, and not the vice president, who casts the deciding vote.

The procedural filibuster effectively disenfranchises the vice president, eliminating as it does one of the office’s only two constitutional functions. Yet the founders very consciously intended for the vice president, as part of the checks and balances system, to play this tie-breaking role — that is why Federalist No. 68 so specifically argued against a sitting member of the Senate being the presiding officer in place of the vice president.

I find this more persuasive.  The filibuster effectively denies the VP one of his constitutional duties.

Third, Article I pointedly mandates at least one rule of proceeding, namely, that a majority of senators (and House members, for that matter) will constitute a quorum. Article I, Section 5 states in part that “a majority of each shall constitute a majority to do business.” Of course, in requiring a simple majority for a quorum, the founders were concerned about no-shows for a host of reasons — not least of all because the first legislators had to travel great distances by stagecoach.

That's nice, but I don't think that really speaks to passing of legislation.

But the bigger reason for the rule was to keep a minority from walking out and thereby blocking a majority vote. In Federalist No. 75, Hamilton dismissed a supermajority rule for a quorum thus: “All provisions which require more than a majority of any body to its resolutions have a direct tendency to embarrass the operations of the government and an indirect one to subject the sense of the majority to that of the minority.”

It would be illogical for the Constitution to preclude a supermajority rule with respect to a quorum while allowing it on an ad hoc and more convenient basis any time a minority wanted to block a vote. Yet that is essentially what Senate Rule 22 achieves on any bill that used to require a majority vote.

That makes sense.

The problem is, how does this get changed?  It is unlikely that the U.S. Supreme Court would dare intervene in Senate Rules -- that would be one branch of government monkeying around with the internal procedural rules of another branch.  Mind you, I think the Supreme Court should do that, but I'm fairly certain they won't.  The author proposes another solution:

The president of the Senate, the vice president himself, could issue an opinion from the chair that the filibuster is unconstitutional. Our first vice presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, felt a serious obligation to resolve the ties and tangles of an evenly divided Senate, and they would not have shrunk from such a challenge.

That's all well and good, but once the VP does that, we find ourselves in a bit of a constitutional crisis which will have to be resolved by.... the courts.  And we're back to Square One.

Still, I'm glad there is dialogue about this.

RIP Miep Gies

New York Times:

Miep Gies, the last survivor among Anne Frank’s protectors and the woman who preserved the diary that endures as a testament to the human spirit in the face of unfathomable evil, died Monday night, the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam said. She was 100.

Sarah Palin To Contribute To Fox News

Like she doesn't already?

Details:

Ms. Palin will not have her own regular program, one person with knowledge of the deal said, though she will host a series that will run on the network from time to time. This person would not elaborate, but the network does have a precedent for such a series.

Host a series.  Presumably, with a script.  Damn.  I was hoping they would just let her talk.

SSM in Federal Court

The Washington Post has a nice preview of the federal case involving same-sex marriage, which is about to begin its trek through the federal court system.  This will be the first case which attempts to argue that banning same-sex marriage violates the United States Constitution.  If it succeeds, then all states (being subordinate to federal law) will have to allow and recognize same sex marriage.

The case is notable not just for the subject matter, but also because of the attorneys arguing in favor of SSM:

Theodore B. Olson, a conservative Republican, and David Boies, a famed litigator and Democrat. The two are close friends who were on opposite sides in Bush v. Gore, the Supreme Court case that decided the 2000 presidential election, but they found common ground pressing for constitutional recognition of same-sex marriage.

"From a conservative standpoint, people who wish to enter into the institution of marriage wish to enter into something that is the building block of our society, and that is itself a conservative value," said Olson, who served as solicitor general under President George W. Bush.

Said Boies: "This team really sends a message that this isn't a question of anything to do with political ideology."

Also unique about this case is the fact that the court proceedings will be uploaded at regular intervals onto Youtube [UPDATE: see below].

The trial, dubbed Perry v. Schwartzenegger, challenges the constitutionality of Prop 8, which California voters passed last year, overturning the California legislature which permitted SSM.  It begins today.

Some say this is a long judicial road to the inevitable end: a rejection of SSM by the U.S. Supreme Court.  Most do not believe the U.S. Supreme Court will have the votes in favor of SSM.  I'm a bit more optimistic than most.  Having Olsen argue in favor of SSM, bring the conservative argument to the fore (which he does in Newsweek here), will go a long way.  Also, despite the fact that this court leans conservative, it is only SLIGHTLY conservative.  We must remember that a conservative Supreme Court overturned Lawrence v Texas.

UPDATE:  Okay, I guess the proceedings will not be on Youtube.  The U.S. Supreme Court is blocking the broadcast.... they just issued an emergency injunction barraing broadcast.... for 36 hours while they decide whether broadcasts can go forward at all...

UPDATE 2:  With the Youtube broadcast being 86ed, it looks like the place to follow the proceedings is this site, which is liveblogging it....

Greenport HS Production Of Peter Pan Fail

Because I'm not blogging much today:

Entire Internet Gets Pwned, Hangs Head In Shame

A very short Youtube went slightly viral the past couple days.  It was of a very unenthusiastic girl playing the cowbill for the Boise State marching band during the Fiesta Bowl.

It was all fun and games until this tweet showed up....

 
I didn't think the video was very funny to begin with.

British Therapists Determine That G-Spot Doesn't Exist

Quel domage:

Researchers at King's College London in the United Kingdom have brought the elusive G-spot to the forefront with a study of more than 1,800 female twins. The study suggests that there is no genetic basis for the G-spot and that environmental or psychological factors may contribute to whether a woman believes that she has a G-spot. The new study is published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

I would take this with a grain of salt.  Let's remember that:

• the researchers were British
• the women in the studies, who were twins, were British

Maybe all it means is that British female twins lack that particular erogenous zone.

Interesting Theory About The Christmas Underpants Terrorist

Andrew Sullivan quotes at length from an anonymous reader who has very interesting thoughts on the Christmas underpants terrorist.  You can read Sullivan's post here, but I will attempt to summarize.

It starts with the question: "Why didn't the terrorist just go to the airplane toilet and blow up the plane from there?"

And the suggested answer is that al Qaeda probably had a good idea the attack wouldn't necessarily result in carnage -- i.e., they suspected that this naive young recent-convert-to-fundamentalist-Islam might get caught at airport screening or something like that.  The goal of terrorism, one needs to remember, isn't necessarily to kill, but to create terror -- something at which (arguably) the Christmas underpants terrorist was successful (gauging the reactions -- or over-reactions -- of some in the political sphere).

So that's probably why he wasn't trained to go to the airplane loo to detonate himself.  Because that wasn't necessary in order for al Qaeda to spread fear.  It was to be done in the open.  If the bomb detonates, great (from an al Qaeda perspective).  If it doesn't, you still get nationwide fear and over-reaction, something you wouldn't get if all that happened was that the Christmas underpants terrorist took a humiliating stroll from the airline toilet back to his seat with a failed bomb in his pants.

The 12 Days of Christmas

This is technically a timely post, since we are still in the 12 Days of Christmas.  Today is in fact the 12th Day, because the star appeared above the manger on Christmas Eve and it took the three magi twelve days to follow it and arrive at the manger and who the hell cares?

Anyway, for "The Sing-Off" fans, here's Straight No Chaser doing their version of 12 Days of Christmas, live, although it's really a tribute to Toto's "Africa" (starting at the 2:00 mark or so):

Local Woman Posthumously Wins Darwin Award (Runner Up) [Warning: Gallows Humor]

The Darwin Awards are given every year to "those who improve our gene pool by removing themselves from it."  In other words, the awards are given to those who are too stupid to live... literally.

The 2009 Darwin Award winners were announced, and they included a Greensboro (N.C.) woman:

(3 June 2009, North Carolina) Greensboro was innundated with four inches of pouring rain in two hours, stranding several cars on flooded roads. Rosanne T., 50, was not deterred. She hopped on her moped and drove to a convenience store where she "possibly had a beer," according to her mother, before deciding to blunder home through the storm. She phoned home to say, "My moped has two rubber wheels, Mom, I'll be fine."

North Carolina does not require a license to own a moped.  Ms. T. had acquired hers two years previously after a DUI conviction.

The Highway Patrol had blocked off several roads that were inundated with water, including Rosanne's path home. But she rode right past the officer and the barriers, lost control of her vehicle, and fell into the swollen creek below. The officer retrieved rope from his vehicle and proceeded to haul her from the water.

He then interviewed the woman, probably inquiring about her motivation for speeding through a roadblock during a flash flood. When the officer returned to his patrol car to call for assistance, Rosanne took the opportunity to escape--by jumping back into the creek!

The officer attempted to rescue her again, but alas, it was too late.

The victim's mother speculated that her daughter's motivation for jumping into a flooded creek was to rescue her drowning moped. "She loved that thing."

The 2009 winners were from Belgium:

(26 September 2009, Belgium) The city of Dinant is the backdrop for this rare Double Darwin Award. Two bankrobbers attempting to make a sizeable withdrawal from an ATM died when they overestimated the quantity of dynamite needed for the explosion. The blast demolished the building the bank was housed in. Nobody else was in the building at the time of the attack.

Robber One was rushed to the hospital with severe head trauma; he died shortly after arrival. Investigators initially assumed that his accomplice had managed a getway, but the second bungler's body was excavated from the debris twelve hours later. Would-be Robbers One and Two weren't exactly impoverished--their getaway car was a BMW.

The other winner was this guy:

He phoned authorities when he got into trouble, but he wasn't able to tell them where he was, because he didn't know how to operate his GPS device, which he packed with him.

His body washed up on the beaches a few weeks later. 

Cost/Benefit Of Health Care

Rush thinks American health care is boffo, but a great graphic making the rounds lately (one originating from National Geographic) says otherwise.  Give it a couple minutes of your time -- it plots U.S. health care versus the health care of other nations.

Here's all you need to know:

• the left side is the cost of health care per person for each country
• the right side is the average life expectancy for that country
• A country/line in red represents a country without universal coverage (U.S., Mexico) while a country/line in blue represents a country with universal coverage (everybody else)
• the thicker the line, the more people in that country avail themselves of heath care (doctor's visits, etc.)

Click on it to embiggen:

The first thing you'll notice is that Americans spend more -- waaaaaay more -- on health care than citizens of other countries.  And we spend way more even though we don't use health care as much. 

And what about the bang for the buck?  We actually have a lower life expectancy than most other countries.

Best health care in the world, Rush?  By what measurement?