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The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Obama's wheels

As a candidate, Barack Obama promoted hybrid cars.

As president, he'll be handed the keys to one.
Well, sort of.

Shortly after taking the oath of office, Obama will climb into the Mother of All Hybrids -- part car, part truck and, from the looks of it, part tank.

In keeping with recent tradition, the Secret Service will place a brand-new presidential limousine into service January 20 to drive the new president on the 2-mile jaunt down Pennsylvania Avenue during the inaugural parade.

Already, spy photos of the limo -- with patches of gray primer -- have leaked out.

And already, the reviews are in:

"Ugly as sin," says one car enthusiast on an auto Web site. "Can't we make a hotter ride for our pres?"

"Sheesh," says another, "why don't they just transport the president around in an Abrams tank."

One news agency, noting its 8-inch-thick doors, says the limo can withstand a "direct hit from an asteroid."

But GM spokeswoman Joanne K. Krell laughed off the comments. "And it will fix you a latte if you ask," she jokes.

In truth, the new presidential limo is a Cadillac, Krell said, although it is "not a direct extension of any single model."

"The presidential vehicle is built to precise and special specifications, undergoes extreme testing and development, and also incorporates many of the top aspects of Cadillac's 'regular' cars -- such as signature design, hand-cut-and-sewn interiors, etc.," Krell said.

"Cadillac is honored to serve and renew this great tradition," she said. "And it is entirely appropriate that an American president has at his service a great American vehicle."

For much of the country's history, the Secret Service didn't even drive the president, evidently oblivious to the dangers of asteroids and other universal bodies.

In the post-Lincoln horse-and-buggy era, it was customary for a security detail to closely trail the president, according to a Secret Service history.

With the advent of automobiles, the Secret Service acquired a 1907 H. White Steamer to follow Theodore Roosevelt's horse-drawn carriage.

White House chauffeurs drove later presidents, until the Secret Service assumed many of the driving responsibilities after Franklin Roosevelt's death in 1945.

In 1965, Lyndon Johnson was the first president to ride in a bulletproof limo in an inaugural parade, less than two years after his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, was shot and killed while riding in an open car.

Cut off from the world

Obama should expect two seemingly contradictory feelings when riding in the presidential limousine, said Joe Funk, a retired Secret Service agent who was President Bill Clinton's driver during part of his career.

"I think he will be surprised about how when he's in the limo, it's a cocoon," Funk said. "The everyday noises will be gone, and he will be totally isolated in this protective envelope."

"At the same time, I think he will be surprised at the communication capabilities, how the phones, the satellites, the Internet -- everything is at his fingertips," he said. "So at one end, you are totally removed from society. The other side of the coin is that he can have any communications worldwide at a moment's touch."

Funk says presidents sometimes chat with the agents, and sometimes don't.

"Every day is different, just like every person," he said. "Sometimes they get in the car and they have a lot on their mind. They're involved in reading material, they're involved in the newspaper, they're talking to local dignitaries or they are talking to Cabinet-level.

"Other times, they are interested in sporting events, in doing the crossword puzzle, interested in the feedback they get from talking to the agents -- primarily the supervisor that sits in the front seat," Funk said.

While the government spares no expense for the presidential limo, the weight of the car makes it less maneuverable and more sluggish than comparable sport utility vehicles, Funk said. And the door and window frames, which accommodate thick ballistic glass, create large blind spots, he said.

Funk's own experience driving Clinton was uneventful, he says, which is a good thing, considering his line of business.

"I was very lucky. We didn't have any close calls," he says. "Everything was very smooth."

But he still considers the experience a career highlight.

"At the end of the day, if you had a good driving day, you do kind of sit back with a certain amount of pride and say, 'I had the president of the United States in the car with me for an hour, two hours, and I got him from point A to point B safely in conjunction with all the other team members,' " he said. "When it's done, you can sit back and take some pride in knowing that you pulled it off."

Available in any color, as long as it's black

One Internet wag, adding to the rampant speculation about the new car, made this prediction: It will be painted black. But environmentalists may ask, will it be green?

Not likely. Car enthusiasts believe the overweight vehicle burns diesel and will have low mileage. And with diesel costing about $2.40 a gallon Monday, versus $1.67 for gasoline, this new limo can't be called an economy vehicle.

"The limousines of yesteryear were designed just well enough to provide protection to get the president out of the situation," says Ken Lucci, CEO of Ambassador Limousine Inc. and owner of two Reagan-era limos. "In today's case, they [the Secret Service] expect a prolonged attack, and they expect an attack that is a lot more violent than [with] a weapon you can hold in you hand."

"It literally is a rolling bunker," he says. "It just happens to have wheels on it."

And it's not a bad vehicle for someone whose job is to fix the economy, even if it won't brew coffee on command.

Understanding Borderline Personality Disorder


6- 10 million Americans are afflicted with BPD

By Ethan Elgin


I don’t know how many times I’ve heard a psych nurse say, “Oh man, we're getting another borderline.” To the layperson, this would make absolutely no sense, but to me, I knew what it meant. It meant a war within the hospital staff. A war of treatment and an uncertain outcome for the patient.

Let’s face it; one of the most controversial and potentially stigmatizing psychiatric disorders is Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). First introduced in 1994 in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, (DSM IV) mental health workers have strived for common ground on how to treat patients with this diagnosis.

More info on BPD criteria can be found here.

Often times, the divide, even among particular staff in hospitals, is so great that they debate the validity and even the existence of such a disorder. This can ultimately lead to doing greater harm than good in such a patient who exists in this grey area of stigma.

In an inpatient setting, what makes this most difficult for staff and doctors to get around is the fact that many times these patients engage in self destructive behavior as a direct result of staff interaction (however self-interpreted by the patient). Meaning, to test how much one cares about their current given situation. This is displayed usually by such acts as cutting, head-banging, staff splitting (pitting one staff member against another), or destruction of property.

All of this culminates in looking past the fact that these patients are typically terrified of being in a locked unit, probably waited more than eleven hours in the ER to be seen, have a significant history of emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse, and many times can, in fact, be truly suicidal.

As a society, we tend to overlook the histrionics of an individual as “attention seeking” and especially in an emergency room setting where decisions are, in fact, life or death, these actions usually displayed by a person with BPD are often overlooked; and, in my experience, sometimes to the detriment of the patient.

What I would hope to see happen, in this day and age where personality disorders are increasingly becoming a deep staple of mental illness, is that doctors and intake personnel at hospitals read the literature more carefully; that they begin to hold in-services and take charge of a greater understanding of that which cannot be physically seen, but only heard by an often times cynical ear.

In recent years, steps have begun to be taken to recognize and take more seriously Axis II disorders, but speaking from one who has worked in that setting, it takes far more than simply going through the motions of setting up a care program at the responsibility of people afflicted with this disorder. It takes putting aside the cynicism and stepping up the compassion; in time you’ll notice that even the smallest bit of validation can go a long way towards saving a life.

What does healthy food mean?

What does healthy food mean?


by Leigh Peele

Healthy

healthy - adjective, healthier, healthiest.

1. possessing or enjoying good health or a sound and vigorous mentality: a healthy body; a healthy mind.
2. pertaining to or characteristic of good health, or a sound and vigorous mind: a healthy appearance; healthy attitudes.
3. conducive to good health; healthful: healthy recreations.
4. prosperous or sound: a healthy business.
5. Informal. fairly large: I bought a healthy number of books.

So what in reality constitutes healthy food?

I think our best focus here would be definition option #3: “conducive to good health.”: Good eating habits are conducive to good health. That is what dictionary.com says anyways, but who decides what is healthy and what is not? What does an item of food have to have in order to be deemed a “healthy food?”

It would seem by the current standards it’s a bit objective. You could come up with a food rating system based on what is conducive to good health based upon each food item. Since our bodies are made up of things that need vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates it seems like making a list of foods that are healthy isn’t really that much of a challenge.

The reverse, “unhealthy,” would mean a detriment to good health. : Bad eating habits are detrimental to good health.

What goes into determining when a food is detrimental to your health? What really are unhealthy foods?

Common sense would tell us that unhealthy foods are foods that provide little to no nutrients, vitamins, or minerals.

Sugar Free Jello Pudding
Low Carb ice cream
100 calories snack packs

None of the above is real food. Low calorie perhaps, but it provide no nutritional content. Obviously, you can have a little of this stuff here and there but if your entire day’s meals were made up of this stuff you might not feel so well after a while.

A loaf of whole grain bread is full of…wait, that has nutrients.

Well a hearty granola and organic cereal full of all those vitamins and minerals is…wait, that isn’t bad for you either.

A hamburger! There you go a lean ground beef hamburger on a whole grain sesame seed bun is…. full of protein, grains, iron.

Potatoes
Carrots
Beans
Oats

Wait!

How come all these foods are becoming blacklisted? How come all these foods are in a category that is detrimental for your health all of a sudden? Is it because they carry those scary things called -gasp- carbohydrates? Is it possible that what is detrimental to your health is the continuing misunderstanding of the difference between what is healthy QUANTITY and what is excessive QUANTITY?

Is it possible that the government and our society of cutting corners in all aspect of life, movement, and activity are the problem? It isn’t carbohydrates, it never has been. It is society’s continuous movements towards laziness and technology. The only fix is in education in the aspect of energy need and usage for one’s body.

Instead of trying to worry about remaking a food pyramid and giving a call to low carbohydrate arms, we need to come up with a solution to save our society from evolving into a couch cushion.

*****
Hear, Hear! I don't want to evolve in to a couch cushion. So, I best get on with the healthier life I have been working on.

A Utah woman spends day stuck headfirst down vent

You want to talk about deep cleaning!

A woman was recovering after spending more than a day lodged inside a vent at her home after falling in while vacuuming it.

Ogden police Lt. Scott Sangberg said they came to the 55-year-old woman's house after family members called police to say they hadn't heard from her in more than a day.

Police entered the home and found the woman stuck headfirst down a large cold air return vent, The Salt Lake Tribune reported in its online edition Tuesday.

Ogden fire Deputy Chief Chad Tucker said the woman was vacuuming vents when saw something inside one, reached for it and fell in.

The woman had cuts and abrasions and was recovering in the hospital Tuesday.

Police say the woman's family hadn't heard from her in about 30 hours.

*****

Just how big are the vents in her house then?

Mexican woman in wheelchair flees on foot

From the "Oops, I screwed up, big time" Department:

Police say a woman who begged from a wheelchair was caught running from a crime scene on foot in Monterrey, Mexico.

Police spokeswoman Sidlayin Robles says 30-year-old Ana Victoria Perez fled on foot after she and her husband allegedly threw a stone through the front window of a furniture store.

Perez was a regular fixture along a main Monterrey road, asking for change from motorists as she sat in a wheelchair pushed by her husband.

Robles said Monday that the couple apparently planned to rob the furniture store but were scared off by a security guard. They have been charged with vandalism.

Police arrested the couple when they returned for the wheelchair.

Believe it or not: The top lies of 2008

The Burlington Liars Club in Burlington, Wisconsin, revealed its 2008 Champion Lie on Monday as part of an annual contest.

The Winner:

- "My grandson is the most persuasive liar I have ever met. By the time he was 2 years old he could dirty his diaper and make his mother believe someone else had done it." - Garth Seehawer of Oconto Falls, Wisconsin.

The Runners-up, in random order:

- "On a recent flight from New York to LA, we were watching the in-flight movie called Cocoon. It was during a pool scene that we encountered some very violent turbulence. It was so rough that the water in the pool in the movie splashed out onto the passengers and an onboard life raft inflated!! The flight crew had to hand out towels to dry us all off!!" - Jim Kubath of Palm Springs, California.

- "It used to be in the winter when I walked into my house my glasses would fog up. But now, at the cost of fuel, I have my temperature down so low that when I go outside my glasses fog up." - Jerry Olson of Bonduel, Wisconsin.

- "I knew I had to lose weight when both the automatic in and out doors opened when I entered the grocery store." - Michael E. Peters, of Fox Point, Wisconsin.

- "When my uncle wakes up in the morning he often yawns and says, 'I could stretch a mile.' Of course, he never does since he's too lazy to walk back." by Ellen Everts of New London, Wisconsin.

- "This summer with gas at $4.25 per gallon, I drove up to a prepay gas station and asked the lady clerk for $5 worth of gas. She (broke wind) and handed me a receipt!" Gene C. Lasch of Shawano, Wisconsin.

- "I have three German shepherds, outside dogs. This morning, it was SO cold outside that one of my dogs was trying to 'jump start' the other!!!!!!!" - Richard Bosanko of Bristol, Wisconsin.

Lou the mule credited with saving woman from fire

Jolene Solomon is beginning the new year with her life, her mule named Lou and little else.

The Southern Standard in McMinnville reported Solomon had just finished eating supper on New Year's Day when Lou's braying and acting up got her attention.
Solomon, 63, who lived alone, stepped outside, she saw her house was on fire.
She called 911 and as she waited for firefighters, her home and everything in it burned to the ground.

She said her father bought Lou years ago to help her and her late sister, Blue, around the farm. It took Lou months to get over the loss of her sister.
Solomon said she has 'lost it all', but credits Lou with saving her life.

Jolene is staying with family members and plans to rebuild her home.
The home was built by her grandfather and she had lived there all her life.

Scorned ex posts vandalism photo on MySpace

From the "I'm such an idiot" Department:

A scorned 21-year-old in St. Paul, Minnesota, told her ex-boyfriend that he couldn't prove she was the one who vandalized his apartment on three occasions - but then, police said, she posted a picture of the damage on MySpace.

The woman was charged with two felonies for the vandalism.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County last week, she doused the inside of his house with paint - splashing it on the walls, toilet, washing machine, computer and other furniture.

She also allegedly filled the house with trash, impaled a teddy bear on a pole with a knife through its head, and caused other damage.

The woman was still on the lam Tuesday.

The complaint doesn't say why she might have wanted revenge, but it says she found out the man had been seeing another woman when he broke up with her.

As of this moment ...

4222 Brave men and women will not be returning from Iraq
ALIVE!

The Brothers Golberg

The four Goldberg brothers, Lowell, Norman, Hiram, and Max, invented and developed the first automobile air-conditioner.
On July 17, 1946, the temperature in Detroit was 97 degrees.

The four brothers walked into old man Henry Ford's office and sweet-talked his secretary into telling him that four gentlemen were there with the most exciting innovation in the auto industry since the electric starter.

Henry was curious and invited them into his office.
They refused and instead asked that he come out to the parking lot to their car.

They persuaded him to get into the car, which was about 130 degrees, turned on the air conditioner, and cooled the car off immediately.

The old man got very excited and invited them back to the office, where he offered them $3 million for the patent.

The brothers refused, saying they would settle for $2 million, but they wanted the recognition by having a label, 'The Goldberg Air-Conditioner,' on the dashboard of each car in which it was installed.

Now, old man Ford was more than just a little anti-Semitic, and there was no way he was going to put the Goldberg's name on two million Fords.

They haggled back and forth for about two hours, and finally agreed on $4 million and that just their first names would be shown.

And so to this day, all Ford air conditioners show Lo, Norm, Hi, and Max on the controls.

So, now you know...

P.S. Don't lose your sense of humor during these challenging times!

State unemployment claim systems overwhelmed

In just another 'legacy' from the shrub and the cabal ...

Electronic unemployment filing systems have crashed in at least three states in recent days amid an unprecedented crush of thousands of newly jobless Americans seeking benefits, and other states were adjusting their systems to avoid being next.

About 4.5 million Americans are collecting jobless benefits, a 26-year high, so the Web sites and phone systems now commonly used to file for benefits are being tested like never before.

Even those that are holding up under the strain are in many cases leaving filers on the line for hours, or kissing them off with an "all circuits are busy" message.

Agencies have been scrambling to hire hundreds more workers to handle the calls.

Systems in New York, North Carolina and Ohio were shut down completely by technical glitches and heavy volume, and labor officials in several other states are reporting higher-than-normal use.

National Geographic's Best Pictures of 2008


National Geographic's Best Pictures of 2008

See all of the videos at National Geographic here.

Why America Is Still Awesome

For someone who describes himself as a right wing pinko, a militant centrist, a control freak anarchist he makes some sense.

Why America is still Awesome
By John Devore

First things first: Don't freak out about the title. I know things look bleak. You're stocking up on shotgun shells and Dinty Moore Beef Stew, dreading the day you inevitably have to pitchfork-fight a hobo over the last piece of firewood in the Hooverville. Hell, you might even be thinking that Kanye West was wrong for once: maybe "The Good Life" isn't all that. Maybe the mass pursuit of diamond-spackled grills, champagne Jacuzzis and McMansions the size of Vatican City was not actually the happiness we totally had the right to pursue.

This past year, we learned that karma is a bitch. That Wall Street is run by Hamburglars. The government is basically too many pigs at too small a trough. That we're broke, at war(s) and, instead of dealing with it, we've chosen to watch celebrities dance, dance, dance for the bloodthirsty hordes. We torture to make ourselves feel safer, cheat each other to make ourselves richer and have generally behaved like raging assholes.

I get all that, and still I say with total and utter conviction: America is awesome. And we're awesome because we are batshit, out of our minds crazy. The French are intellectuals, the Russians are brooders and the Chinese are hard workers. Americans are crazy. Our optimism, ambition, and self-interest verges on the manic.


America.

Think about it - we're a country of over 300 million people, and each of us is told, and honestly, earnestly believes that we're special. That we have a right to pursue happiness. There's no guarantee that happiness will ever happen. We're just cleared to chase, lunge and claw after that happiness, like an eternal dangling carrot. Our dreams matter. This is pounded into us. It is part of our collective DNA. Everyone is special. We believe it, even if it isn't true.

When we succeed, we succeed big (see: the Empire State Building, Moon landing, cheese-stuffed pizza crust). When we fail, we fail big (see: the Great Depression, Slavery, Spider-man 3). We lurch and strive and aspire to greatness. Other countries fear us (not just because we have over 7,000 tactical nukes, though how utterly crazy is that?). They fear us, mainly, because we are an experiment, and experiments can explode. Or they can go on a rampage, like Frankenstein's monster.

Frankenstein might actually be the closest cultural predecessor. America isn't a democracy where majority rules. We're an anti-tyranny-ocracy. We're terrified of tyranny, no matter what form it takes: the government, the free market, your neighbors. The mob can never fully be trusted. Don't tread on me. Get off my lawn. The forefathers had total faith in two things: "freedom" and "people are jerks." They knew that power corrupts, and so they created a system where power is like a bacon-grease slathered football: slippery.

Checks and balances, filibusters and the rule of law. Eventually, the person who's got the power will drop it. And then there's a madcap, sometimes vicious scramble. Then someone has the football again. Repeat.

I like to think of myself as a Patriot. I know that's kind of cheesy, but I've OD'd on snark recently. Sorry internet, but pure, uncut ironic disaffection has become an inadequate coping mechanism. I am not a bible-thumping, jingoistic redneck with the stars and stripes tattooed over generous man boobs. Nor am I an effete, pseudo-intellectual hipster with smooth, manicured hands who blames America for inventing cancer, earthquakes and human vices. But I am a Patriot, because this country gives me the right to be off my rocker.

Let me define my Patriotism: I think America is awesome the way the Whos in Whoville think Christmas is awesome. A Grinch can steal all the accouterments of patrio-eroticism --the flag, the eagle, the Statue of Liberty. And like the Whos, who didn't require gifts or a tree to celebrate Christmas, I will happily salute the idea that defines "America."

And that idea is basically that I get to say this: I am John DeVore and you are not. I am a right wing pinko, a militant centrist, a control freak anarchist. I believe in gun rights and gay rights. I want gays to experience the joys of divorce, and I want them to be well armed. I am a Texan, which means I'm the American equivalent of a Klingon. But I live in Queens, New York, one of the most ethnically diverse places on Earth. My local dive bar is the United Nations. I'm a half-Mexican/half-redneck, who was raised both a Catholic and a Baptist. How many countries does that happen in? It happens here like ... all the time. I'm not even the weirdest multicultural mutt out there - we elected one for president.

I have dreams, and I work my ass off stumbling in the general direction of those dreams. And all I ask is this: If I tell you to get off my lawn, get off my lawn. If I don't tell you to get off my lawn, come on in! Let's drink beer and play Xbox. I am one of approximately 301,139,947 other people who all think they are special. Are we all really special? Who knows. Probably not. It's a savage world and life is cheap. But we think we are. That's what counts.

I'm not excusing our excesses and mistakes. Actions have consequences, and even America is not immune to that fundamental fact of nature. We all go down together. But we're still awesome, not down for the count. It is a dark time for the rebel alliance. But our adaptability and individuality will succeed. Each of us will succeed, alone and together. We can't count on politicians because, let's face it, they are glorified sanitation workers. Count, instead, on the Awesomeness of America: our pursuit will not be deterred or delayed. Don't call it a comeback.

Winston Churchill once wrote "Always count on America to do the right thing, after they've exhausted every other option." Well we've done everything except the right thing for a nice long stretch of time and we're, if nothing else, exhausted. Looks like we're well on our way ladies and gents!

*****

Makes you think a bit doesn't he?

It's easy to fix the economy

You want to economy to be fixed?

Then you want President Obama to reinstate and re-enforce our basic 'economic rights' that FDR first enunciated in his Economic Bill of Rights speech

Franklin D. Roosevelt, delivered his Economic Bill of Rights speech on January 11, 1944, during the Second World War, which included:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

As FDR concluded: “All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens.”

If we truly had these rights again - they have been stripped from us by the repugicans one by one ever since Roosevelt first bespoke them in 1944 ... especially in the last eight years - the economy would take take of itself.

And I Quote

"Senator Al Franken ... Has a nice, drive-the-wingnuts crazy ring to it."

~ David Neiwert

How to add 1 billion points to the global I.Q. cheaply and easily

Almost one-third of the world’s people don’t get enough iodine from food and water. The result in extreme cases is large goiters that swell their necks, or other obvious impairments such as dwarfism or cretinism. But far more common is mental slowness.

When a pregnant woman doesn’t have enough iodine in her body, her child may suffer irreversible brain damage and could have an I.Q. that is 10 to 15 points lower than it would otherwise be. An educated guess is that iodine deficiency results in a needless loss of more than 1 billion I.Q. points around the world. […]

“Probably no other technology,” the World Bank said of micronutrients, “offers as large an opportunity to improve lives … at such low cost and in such a short time.”

Yet the strategy hasn’t been fully put in place, partly because micronutrients have zero glamour. There are no starlets embracing iodine. And guess which country has taken the lead in this area by sponsoring the Micronutrient Initiative? Hint: It’s earnest and dull, just like micronutrients themselves.

Ta-da — Canada!

Full Storyin the New York Times

Personally, I think Canada is not earnest and dull. I have enjoyed being in that country every time I have been there.

Law professor wants to webcast RIAA lawsuit

Campaigning law professor Charlie Nesson wants the whole world to see how the RIAA shakes down students, so he's asked for the proceedings to be webcast.
The RIAA wants to hide under a rock:
A Harvard Law professor representing some students sued by the recording industry for illegally downloading music has filed a motion to broadcast online the proceedings of two cases being heard by the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.

The professor, Charles R. Nesson, argues in the motion that to stream the court proceedings over the Internet — or as the students put it in their request, 'admit the Internet into the courtroom' — would help the public understand the legal issues at play in the industry’s lawsuits against thousands of computer users, many of whom are college students.

The plaintiff, the Recording Industry Association of America, which announced last month that it would stop bringing new cases against students in favor of working with Internet Service Providers to take action against repeat offenders, has described its lawsuits as an educational effort focused on illuminating the consequences of illegally sharing music — something Mr. Nesson takes a jab at in the motion.

'Surely education is the purpose of the Digital Deterrence Act of 1999, the constitutionality of which we are challenging,' the motion reads. 'How can RIAA object? Yet they do, fear of sunlight shone upon them.'

Speed camera pranksters

Some high school students in Maryland are reportedly taping fake license plates to their cars, then speeding past speed cameras so that owners of the cars with the real license plates get fined.
Students from Richard Montgomery High School dubbed the prank the Speed Camera "Pimping" game, according to a parent of a student enrolled at one of the high schools.

Originating from Wootton High School, the parent said, students duplicate the license plates by printing plate numbers on glossy photo paper, using fonts from certain websites that "mimic" those on Maryland license plates. They tape the duplicate plate over the existing plate on the back of their car and purposefully speed through a speed camera, the parent said. The victim then receives a citation in the mail days later.

Students are even obtaining vehicles from their friends that are similar or identical to the make and model of the car owned by the targeted victim, according to the parent.

U.S. household debt down for first time since tracking began in 1952

The Wall Street Journal reports that U.S. citizens have suddenly become quite thrifty.
200901061042 Usually, frugality is good for individuals and for the economy. Savings serve as a reservoir of capital that can be used to finance investment, which helps raise a nation's standard of living. But in a recession, increased saving -- or its flip side, decreased spending -- can exacerbate the economy's woes. It's what economists call the "paradox of thrift."

U.S. household debt, which has been growing steadily since the Federal Reserve began tracking it in 1952, declined for the first time in the third quarter of 2008. In the same quarter, U.S. consumer spending growth declined for the first time in 17 years.

Hard-Hit Families Finally Start Saving, Aggravating Nation's Economic Woes

Cannery Woe



Speedy Gonzales

Hacker offers gas

Someone hacked into President-elect Barack Obama's Twitter account and sent out false "tweets" offering $500 worth of free gas in exchange for filling out a questionnaire.

Twitter is a social networking service that allows users to keep in touch with people through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to the question: What are you doing today?

More than 155,000 users follow Obama's updates and received the following questionnaire: "What is your opinion on Barack Obama? Take the survey and possibly win $500 in free gas."

The site, which allows users only 140 characters per post, addressed the hacking situation in the following statement: "A number of high-profile Twitter accounts were compromised this morning, and fake/spam updates were sent on their behalf. We have identified the cause and blocked it. We are working to restore compromised accounts."

View Obama's Twitter page here: http://twitter.com/BarackObama.

Did you know ...

By law the shrub's Secret Service protection ends in ten years, and he's the first President to "face" such a cut-off of Secret Service protection.

But assuming he's alive and well in ten years, the shrub will still be the most despised person in American politics, and he'll still be the subject of a parade of death threats from nuts in America and abroad, and his Secret Service protection will be quietly extended to last for life.

Check out the McClatchy Newspapers for more.

Senator Al Franken

Minnesota election officials have certified Al Franken's victory in the Senate race there.

Now the incumbent Senator, Norm Coleman, will file several lawsuits, repugicans will (and are) lie loudly and repeatedly about the performance of election officials, and over the next few weeks it'll become "common knowledge" that Franken stole the election (which of course, he didn't).

As you may remember but he won't, Coleman said shortly after the election -- when he was ahead by a couple of hundred votes, instead of behind by a couple hundred votes -- that Franken should ask the state to skip the mandatory recount, because that's what he (Coleman) would do if he was behind.
Read more from the Associated Press

Like, Duh, Dude

Don't you just love it ...
Levi Johnston, the boyfriend of governor Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol, has quit his north slope oil field job over questions about his eligibility to work in an electrical apprenticeship program, Johnston's father said Monday.

Read more in the Anchorage Daily News

Apparently a high school diploma is needed to work as an apprentice and guess who doesn't have one.

Financial Woes

German billionaire Adolf Merckle, whose investment company was renegotiating its bank debt, died after he was hit by a train and may have committed suicide, Die Welt reported.

Read more at Bloomberg

The shrub's fucking of the world's economy is having many after-effects and in places one may not expect them as well.

Crops absorb livestock antibiotics

Consumers have long been exposed to antibiotics in meat and milk. now, new research shows that they also may be ingesting them from vegetables, even ones grown on organic farms.

For half a century, meat producers have fed antibiotics to farm animals to increase their growth and stave off infections. now scientists have discovered that those drugs are sprouting up in unexpected places.

Vegetables such as corn, potatoes and lettuce absorb antibiotics when grown in soil fertilized with livestock manure, according to tests conducted at the university of Minnesota.

Our Readers in Real Time

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Japan, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Poland, Indonesia, Hungary, India, Mexico, Turkey, England, Sweden, Germany, Ireland, Singapore, Taiwan, South Africa, Israel, Australia and the United States

are enjoying Carolina Naturally.

JetBlue and TSA pay $240,000 to man refused boarding because of Arabic writing on shirt

JetBlue and the TSA have settled a lawsuit brought by a man who was refused boarding on an airplane because he was wearing a shirt with Arabic writing on it (the TSA said that this was like "wearing a T-shirt at a bank stating, 'I am a robber.'"). They've paid him $240,000.
The lawsuit claimed Jarrar, 30, invoked the First Amendment but acquiesced after it became clear to him that he would not be allowed to fly if he did not cover his shirt with one given to him by JetBlue officials.

"All people in this country have the right to be free of discrimination and to express their own opinions," Jarrar wrote on his blog. "With this outcome, I am hopeful that TSA and airlines officials will think twice before practicing illegal discrimination and that other travelers will be spared the treatment I endured."


The shirt in question: "I am not a terrorist"

What a difference a year makes

We ended 2008 averaging 421 readers a day here at Carolina Naturally and so far 672 readers a day stopped in to read in 2009.

We must be doing something right.

Angry Ohio boy, 4, shoots baby sitter

This is why stricter gun regulations need to be in place in the US.

Police say an angry 4-year-old Jackson, Ohio boy grabbed a gun from a closet and shot his baby sitter.

Eighteen-year-old Nathan Beavers was hospitalized Sunday with minor wounds to his arm and side after the shotgun attack.
Police say another teen was also injured.

Witnesses told police the child was angry because Beavers accidentally stepped on his foot.

Beavers was watching the child at a mobile home in Jackson with several other teenagers and several other children.

Jackson County Sheriff John Shashteen says authorities are investigating.
The child has not been charged.

*****

The child does need his backside tanned in the woodshed though and the idiot who left the shotgun where the 4-year-old could get to it should be jailed for an extremely long period of time.

Good Question

What's another word for thesaurus?

~ Steven Wright.