A sneak peek:
Whatever, Dick
"And since I left Halliburton to become George Bush’s vice president, I’ve severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interests. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven’t had now for over three years." – Vice President Dick Cheney, Meet The Press, September 14, 2003 – graph released today by … Read More
Please Deliver Us
THE END OF DAYS IS UPON US: Tom Cruise is "Christ" — so says "leaders" of the Church Of Scientology.
Bombshells In The Libby Case
I haven’t followed the case of Scooter Libby (an extension of the whole Valerie Plame leak thing) lately. But I have to heap praise on the folks at FDL, who are liveblogging the trial from the courtroom. If they gave Pulitzers for blogging, these people would be the recipients. Today is opening statements, and the trial, which I dismissed long … Read More
Academy Award Nominees Announced
My predicted winners are in red: 1. Best Picture: "Babel," "The Departed," "Letters From Iwo Jima," "Little Miss Sunshine," "The Queen." Comments: The surprise here is, of course, the failure of "Dreamgirls" to be nominated. It was a movie that many expected to not only be nominated, but to win. With "Dreamgirls" out of the mix, it is an open … Read More
How Active Is Your Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus?
People who are nicer have more active brains (specifically, larger posterior superior temporal sulci) than people who do not engage in altruistic helping behavior, according to a new study by Duke researchers. More here: Altruism describes the tendency of people to act in ways that put the welfare of others ahead of their own. Why some people choose to act … Read More
CNN Does What News Organizations Are Supposed To Do
CNN decided to investigate the facts of a story, rather than report rumor as fact. Good for them. While Fox News and The Washington Times peddled the story that Barack Obama went to a “madrassa” when he was six years old, CNN actually went to the madrassa and discovered that it is not some school where they teach students to … Read More
SOTU 2007
I stopped writing about Bush’s low poll numbers a while ago, simply because it became redundent to do so, and it only serves to reinforce what everybody knows: Bush is a gloriously unpopular president. But going into his State Of The Union speech tonight, it is worth noting that he has reached all-time lows — even for him. The new … Read More
It’s Official: Today Is The Most Depressing Day Of The Year
Today is officially known as "Blue Monday". It is the most depressing day of the year, according to experts: Dr Cliff Arnall, a Cardiff University psychologist, devised the formula that shows today is the most depressing. His equation takes into account six factors: weather, debt, time since Christmas, time since failing our new year’s resolutions, low motivational levels and the … Read More
Excuses, Excuses
The NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) is a CIA report which pulls together the assessment of all U.S. intelligence agencies into a single document. It is an important document because it provides a complete snapshot of what our intelligence community thinks, based on the latest information. The last time the NIE made news was in September of last year, when portions … Read More
Daydream Believer
Studies at Dartmouth are showing that the "default setting" of our brain is set to "daydream": Some people seem to continually have their heads in the clouds. Perhaps they are pondering during their drive to work the next pickle 24 protagonist Jack Bauer will find himself in. Or maybe they are assessing while buttering toast the Indianapolis Colts’ chances of … Read More
Anatomy Of A Smear
The Washington Post has a nice story about the latest Obama smear. It’s about a "story" (that Obama went to a radical Muslim school and is, hence, a radical Muslim) that leapt from spam e-mail to a conservative magazine to the mainstream media — despite having anonymous sources, and devoid of actual fact. The silly season has started.
On “Spring Awakening”
There was a good mainstream media write-up yesterday about Spring Awakening, for those (like me) into that sort of thing: Teenage sex scenes showing a naked breast, masturbation and sadomasochism aren’t the usual Broadway fare, but "Spring Awakening" has become the surprise hit musical of the season while being hailed as tastefully erotic. Adapted from German playwright Frank Wedekind’s then-scandalous … Read More
New York Times Tackling The Important Issues
The perils of pornography in high definition Yup. Apparently, many performers in the porn industry aren’t exactly embracing high-definition technology, where every wrinkle of cellulite becomes, well, obvious: “The biggest problem is razor burn,” said Stormy Daniels, an actress, writer and director. Ms. Daniels is also a skeptic. “I’m not 100 percent sure why anyone would want to see their … Read More
Sorry, New England. My Bad.
I have this superstition: if I watch an important football game, the team I’m rooting for loses. So I usually try not to pay attention to important football games. However, today I watched — really watched — the Patriots-Colts game. Especially the second half. Oops. SUBSEQUENT THOUGHT: On the plus side, the Patriots’ loss means I can forego the silliness … Read More