I just saw a TV ad for Sprint. They were offering a new phone. It was called the "Sprint Music Store". With this new phone — and phone plan — you can download songs directly to your cellular. The TV ad featured Bon Jovi, but presumably you can download other artists. That tagline informed me: "Now you can download music … Read More
Entertainment News
Two Crappy Television Networks Go Off The Air In Order To Form One Really Crappy Television Network NEW YORK (Reuters) – CBS Corp (NYSE:CBSA – news) and Time Warner Inc.’s (NYSE:TWX – news) Warner Brothers television network on Tuesday said they will close their respective UPN and WB networks and jointly launch the CW network. Here’s our guess at the … Read More
Michael Moore? Or James Dobson?
I’ve been amused by Chris Matthews’ comment that bin Laden is like Michael Moore. Others on the right have also said that bin Laden’s rants sound like it comes from lefties. Oh, really? Here are some direct quotes from bin Laden in his recent "Letter to America". Assume, for this thought experiment, that all references to Islam, Allah, and the … Read More
Coming Soon To A Controversy Near You
Well, now that the War On Christmas is over (By the way, who won? Will there be a Christmas next year or not?), the next holiday to get all political is going to be Easter: Gay families plan to attend White House egg roll NEW YORK (AP) — Three months before the annual Easter egg roll at the White House, … Read More
Plug Finally Pulled
It was getting slightly better in my opinion, but nowhere near like the Sorkin days: NBC Cancels West Wing After Seventh Season
I Hate It When My Myths Are Shattered
I always liked the story about the etymology of the term "computer bug" (and similar terms, like "debugging". You may know the tale: Moth found trapped between points at Relay # 70, Panel F, of the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator while it was being tested at Harvard University, 9 September 1945. The operators affixed the moth to the computer … Read More
Vatican Gets It Right
That’s it. Sign me up for the Catholic Church. ROME, Jan. 18 – The official Vatican newspaper published an article this week labeling as "correct" the recent decision by a judge in Pennsylvania that intelligent design should not be taught as a scientific alternative to evolution. "If the model proposed by Darwin is not considered sufficient, one should search for … Read More
Logic We Love To Laugh At
Anyone who saw or read about the Golden Globes knows that many of the honored films and TV shows are hardly "family fare". There’s "Brokeback Mountain" (the so-called "gay cowboy" movie), "Weeds" (a very funny show on Showtime about a Mom who deals in dope in an upscale California suburb), and "Syriana" (a George Clooney movie which depicts Middle Eastern … Read More
Greenberg On The Physician Suidice Case
I said it, but Greenwald said it better when he writes that the assisted suicide case shows the Administration’s true colors: [O]nce the Bush Administration took power, democratic processes in this area ceased to matter. John Ashcroft was hell-bent on putting an end to physician-assisted suicide in Oregon because he personally believes it to be morally wrong, and he wasn’t … Read More
Ayotte Case Decided
I gave the backgrounder on the case back in November. It concerned a parental notification law in New Hampshire, a statute which required notification of parents (or a court order, in the alternative, under certain circumstances) before a teenage girl is allowed to have an abortion. The ruling was somewhat surprising, but the bottom line is that it didn’t alter … Read More
Scalia’s Idea of Morality
I don’t want to get all legal-wonkish here, but Publius notes an interesting comment in Scalia’s dissent in today’s "physician-assisted suicide" case. Scalia wrote: From an early time in our national history, the Federal Government has used its enumerated powers, such as its power to regulate interstate commerce, for the purpose of protecting public morality–for example, by banning the interstate … Read More
Breaking News: SCOTUS Upholds Physician Suicide Law
With all this talk about Alito, people seem to forget that the U.S. Supreme Court is actually in session. CNN is reporting that it just upheld Oregon’s physician-assisted suicide law. Here’s the blurb from SCOTUSBlog: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the U.S. attorney general does not have the power to bar doctors from prescribing lethal drugs for use … Read More
TV Sends Out Distress Signal
Ah, modern technology: British military choppers searched the English Channel for hours this month after receiving a distress call relayed from space. A military base in Scotland — 650 miles away — picked up the signal on Jan. 5, relayed by satellite. Something terrible had surely happened, and rescue teams were rushed out to find the victims. But there was … Read More
Pornography Assignment Canned
Probably a good idea, too: A high school research assignment on Internet pornography was canceled after parents in this Cleveland suburb complained. Superintendent Jeff Lampert said that although the teacher’s apparent goal to discuss the harmful effects of pornography was well-intentioned, he agreed with parents that the assignment was inappropriate for 14- and 15-year-old freshmen at Brooklyn High. The assignment … Read More
From The Sublime To The Ridiculous
Sublime: The great Shelley Winters who passed away this weekend: Several actors have won more than one Academy Award. But Shelley Winters was the only star who scored multiple trophies–and an underwater rescue of Gene Hackman. Winters, the unsinkable two-time Oscar winner who worked and worked and worked, whether the job came in a prestige picture (Lolita), a disaster epic … Read More