Blogging has been light because things are busy, but I wanted to interject my two cents on the South Dakota law. For those living in a cave, the governor of South Dakota has signed into a law which would effectively prohibit all abortions in the state, including abortions which are necessary to protect the health of the mother. There is … Read More
Brief Oscar Thoughts
(1) I realize I’m no producer/director, but it seems to me that if you want a show to end on time, you don’t fill it up with pointless montages. There should only be TWO montages: (1) the recently-dead actors montage; and (2) the Honorary Oscar award winner montage (2) I found the musical underscoring of the acceptance speeches to be … Read More
2006 Oscar Picks
[NOTE: This post will stay "promoted" at the top for a few days. Scroll down for other posts. And check out (if it’s working) the Brokeback Mountain/Lost mashup movie trailer in the right column, which will also remain for a few days] These are my Oscar picks. The nominee in red is who I think will win. The underlined nominees … Read More
Hairspray: The Movie
Hairspray – the film cast: John Travolta and Queen Latifah have been confirmed to star in the big-screen version of Hairspray to be directed by Adam Shankman (Bringing Down the House). Travolta will play the role made famous by Divine as Edna Turnblad. Latifah will play Motormouth Mabel. A current nationwide search is on for the lead role of Tracy … Read More
Missouri
There’s a bill going through the Missouri legislature that would name Christianity as the state’s official "majority" religion. Obviously, such a law would be struck down as unconstitutional in a heartbeat. It violates the U.S. Constitution as well as the Missouri Constitution. But it’s a little scary that this bill is even being considered.
God Sends A Message To Pat
The members of the National Religious Broadcasters have declined to re-elect Pat Robertson to their board of directors.
On Women’s Health
I’m glad that the candidate for my district, Nathan Tabor, claims an interest in women’s health: You may not realize it, but eight women around the world have died after taking the abortion drug RU-486. …While eight fatalities may sound like a low death count, the toll could climb significantly. More than 800 women have experienced potentially life-threatening complications after … Read More
A La Carte Cable
Many social conservatives are pushing the idea of pay-per-channel cable services. In other words, instead of getting Time-Warner’s Basic Subscription Package, which includes a bunch of channels you will never ever watch, you just pick the channels you want and pay for them individually. Conservatives are behind per-channel cable because it means that your dear precious family won’t be exposed … Read More
Idol Update
Well, the guys’ turn was tonight. As a whole, they are generally stronger than the woman, and I will be surprised if the ultimate winner this year is one of the gals. That said, most of the guys were also a disappointment. It’s pretty easy to separate the wheat from the chaff. First of all, can we just close up … Read More
Family Values: Utah Edition
If Utah legislators have their way, a father can rape his daughter, and by law, she will have to get his approval if she wants to abort the child. I’m glad Amanda Marcotte wrote something about this, because I am speechless: What I find interesting about anti-choice thinking is that while they adamantly deny that what’s in a woman’s body … Read More
Idol Update
I had to mostly agree with the judges on the ten remaining women. A lot of bad song choices, and some lackluster performances overall. Lisa Tucker and Paris Bennett had a slightly off-week, but they still are my favorites. I (like everyone else) was charmed by North Carolina’s Kellie Pickler — pictured right — who, in retrospect, I sold short … Read More
Dumb Lawsuit Of The Week
Nine female fans of American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken are suing Aiken’s record company. The cause of action? They were supposedly duped by the record company’s advertising and promotions into thinking that Clay was straight, when he is in reality, well, not . . . apparently. The angry ladies go on to state, "This is tantamount to a manufacturer concealing … Read More
Enigma Message Decyphered
In WWII, the Germans used the Enigma coding machine to send messages back and forth. The Enigma code, which you can read about here, was so good that even after the Allies obtained an Enigma machine, it still was difficult — if not impossible — to crack certain messages. The M4 Project is a shared computing project. Shared computing is … Read More
Backward Evolution
This is freaky-deaky: An editor of a noted scientific journal says he has discovered a genetic defect that seems to set back the clock on human evolution by more than a million years. The researcher, Uner Tan of Cukurova University Medical School in Adana, Turkey, has posted an online video clip of an affected woman walking on all fours, her … Read More
70’s TV Icons Whose Name Begins With “D” Still Dying
First Don Knotts, then Darren McGavin, now Dennis Weaver. Word has it that Donny Most, Danny Bonaduce, and Dick Clark are rewriting their wills.