Friday, January 1, 2010

Headlines - Friday

Happy New Year - let's hope it's better than the last one!
 
 
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Nine New Year's resolutions that are bound to fail
 
On December 31 everyone is thinking about ways to improve themselves for the coming year. Why bother? That will all be forgotten by February 12, and then you'll still have problems and be a failure. But we're here to help!

Most New Year's resolutions are fairly common, so we found replacements for all the basics. They're fun, easy, and you'll be a whole lot better off following our advice than trying to lose the same five pounds that you've been trying to starve off your frame since Dick Cheney first started to terrorize the nation with his fat face and iron fist. Follow these easy steps and you won't be a better person in 2010, but you will feel better when you don't have to throw in the towel.

http://gawker.com/5437266/nine-new-years-resolutions-that-are-bound-to-fail?skyline=true&s=x

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Has anybody heard if the bloggers over yonder at RedState still believe that "Tonight... We Are All Rush Limbaugh"?

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Excuse me, but WTF would he do this for?

The Obama administration recently moved to triple the number of endangered sea turtles that can be caught by industrial fishing fleets off the Hawaiian coast. In the Gulf of Mexico, sea turtle bycatch will increase by 700 percent.

Loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles are federally endangered species in very real danger of extinction, but instead of protecting them, Obama has decided to allow more sea turtle killings. These species won't recover if Industrial fishing fleets continue to snag turtles with their deadly hooks -- now is the time to increase protection, not decrease it.

http://www.all-creatures.org/alert/alert-20091228-2.html

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Western troops accused of executing 10 Afghan civilians, including children: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6971638.ece

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President Barack Obama's announcement that intelligence agencies had information that could have headed off the attempted airplane bombing on Christmas Day but failed to share it has left many of those who have urged a dramatic overhaul of the intelligence community exasperated.

"It's discouragingly familiar," said Tom Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey who co-chaired the 9/11 Commission. "It's exactly the language we heard when we were making recommendations for the 9/11 report. That was five years ago. We made our recommendations based on the fact that agencies didn't share information, and it seems to be the case that, once again, they didn't share information. It's very discouraging."
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1209/Sounds_familiar.html?showall

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Top ten weirdest moments of 2009:

- Obama has to be sworn in twice
- Sarah Palin resigns
- Sheila Jackson-Lee addresses Michael Jackson's funeral 
- Blago does reality tv
- White House beer summit
- Sanford confesses — and confesses, and confesses
- Tom DeLay goes on "Dancing With the Stars"
- Bloomberg, Gingrich and Sharpton team up to talk education at the White House
- Steele vs. Limbaugh 
- Doug Hoffman says ACORN stole his election  

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Your landline probably won't make it through the next decade:

The (almost) one in five Americans relying exclusively on a plain old telephone line should prepare to kiss that wall jack goodbye as the major wireline telephone providers back away from that dying (and expensive business). However, AT&T in its filing doesn't offer a way to bridge the gap for that 20 percent of Americans relying only on landlines, nor does it address what an all-IP future means for the 33 percent of Americans who have access to broadband but do not subscribe (although those broadband laggards might be paying for a digital voice product from a cable provider).

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This Chris Matthews quote is a Palinesque work of art:

MATTHEWS: And I think we have got to get serious about catching terrorists, not just catching weapons. I'm waiting for the terrorist who knows kung fu or something that gets on an airplane without a weapon. God knows what that is going to be like.

Hey, Gerald, happy new year, even under this circumstance.

Have a Happy New Year, even though we live under the grave threat of KUNG FU FIGHTING TERRORISTS!

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                                                                 2009 was over, so there was no turning back.

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And 30,000 more soldiers and years more of this makes us safer -- how, exactly?
Raw Story: 2009 started with the promise of a different way forward and a return of America's prestige as a role model in the world. It ended with the President who embodied that promise being burned in effigy in the very place he plans to escalate an 8-year-old futile war.
 
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This would be a great op-ed if I wasn't so sure it would be followed by one denouncing any government role in health coverage reform: http://brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.com/2010/01/this-would-be-great-op-ed-if-i-wasnt-so.html
 
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If only Barack Obama had the balls to renege on his apparent deal to not prosecute the Bush/Cheney junta: http://brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.com/2010/01/if-only-barack-obama-had-balls-to.html
 
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DBP threatends bloggers

The guys with the black leather trenchcoats are busy this week:
Two bloggers received home visits from Transportation Security Administration agents Tuesday after they published a new TSA directive that revises screening procedures and puts new restrictions on passengers in the wake of a recent bombing attempt by the so-called underwear bomber.
But it seems that there is a problem for the DBP-- bloggers blog, so when the TSA tries a bit of threatening, those bloggers will blog about it and the goons don't like being dragged out into the daylight:
In the wake of public outcry against the Transportation Security Administration for serving civil subpoenas on two bloggers, the government agency has canceled the legal action and apologized for the strong-arm tactics agents used.
This is what the fuss was about.
 
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Sailingstone
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Judging for the National Geographic's 2009 international photography contest is underway. The Big Picture has some of the entries posted. One of them features some of Death Valley's mysterious "sailing stones".  Scientists still can't figure out how the rocks migrate across the desert.
 
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Although most of us wish we could erase the Bush years from history, these two sites gave me some hope in those days. Americans say "sorry everybody" and the world responds with a site called "apologies accepted".
 
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This is sure to win more hearts and minds
 
US Judge Dismisses All Charges in Blackwater Iraq Killings

WASHINGTON - A federal judge dismissed manslaughter charges Thursday against five Blackwater security guards in the 2007 deaths of Iraqi civilians in a Baghad square, finding that prosecutors wrongly used the men's own statements against them.

The September 2007 shootout in Baghdad's Nusoor Square left 17 Iraqis dead and two dozen wounded. The killings led Iraq's government to slap limits on security contractors hired by Blackwater, now known as Xe, and other firms.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina found that the government's case was built largely on "statements compelled under a threat of job loss in a subsequent criminal prosecution," a violation of the Fifth Amendment rights of the five men charged.

 
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The Brits are investigating an elite Army interrogation unit for crimes against Iraqi detainees. Moreover, the Ministry of Defense has 47 separate investigations underway against British forces for abuses against the Iraqi people, abuses largely instigated by the Americans.

Don't hold your breath for anyone in the Obama administration to bring anyone to justice for illegalities or abuses during the Bush administration.

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Another year has come and gone. As with most years, we look back at 2009 and say, "good riddance." Some good things happened, sure, and in your life, I hope the good outweighed the bad. And here's hoping that the worse thing that happens to you this year is that you keep writing "2009" on your checks for a little while (you know you're going to).

But in the world of current events, things never seem to go well. And this is generally because of those who've dedicated their lives to making sure that things don't go swimmingly. These are the people who go out of their way to build the bumps in the road, who toss monkey wrenches in the gears, and generally make nuisances of themselves. For these people, we have the 2009 News Dive Awards.
http://griperblade.blogspot.com/2009/12/2009-news-dive-awards.html
 
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So, Dick Cheney is back in the corporate media, telling everyone that President Obama is ignoring national security and endangering America. And the corporate media let him get away with it, as if he's some paragon of expertise on the issue. He is, in fact, the exact opposite. It was his administration's incompetence that allowed the worst ever attack on American soil, and it was his administration that followed that attack by undermining our national security, even more.
 
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dispenser1.jpeg

Oooh, baby. That's a Nu-Life Communion Host Dispenser, equipped with a rapid reload system for fast wafer loading and quad-rotator technology that allows up to 400 wafers to be fired without reloading. If you need to shovel Jesus into people's mouths at a high rate of speed, this is the gadget for you. And you can get it in gold, silver, or white.

dispenser2.jpeg

Or maybe you'd prefer the Communalabra Germ-Free Communion Host Dispensing System, which is only available in gold, but does have accessories: a Host Tube Quick-n-Easy Re-fill & Re-load System, and embroidered carrying cases and covers.

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Catholic church thanks anti-gay NY senators for their bigotry (and should have their tax exempt status revoked immediately)
 
It's that time of year when you thank all the fellow bigots in your life, so New York's Catholic Church has sent Sen. Ruben Diaz and his fellow "No Homo Marriage" voters a note of appreciation for all of their hard work in keeping those dirty queers down.

"On behalf of the Bishops of New York State and millions of other New Yorkers, please know that we are proud of you for taking this stand. Please know that Catholic New Yorkers across the state are deeply appreciative of you for this vote of conscience. May God's blessings be bestowed upon you and your family in abundance this holiday season."