Naomi Wolf on the New Fascism in America

I've never heard of this person before, but the title of her book, The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, made me click the link to her video. I was expecting a right-wing diatribe, since most people using the term "patriot" are suspect in my view, but found her speech to be a lot closer to my own beliefs and fears.

Brit's Mom Penning Parenting Book

Some days the news is slow and it's a bit difficult to find interesting (or stupid enough) things to write about.

And then there are stories that pretty much write themselves. I really don't need to put more than the title for the irony train to flatten us as it barrels through.

Yes, that paragon of prudent motherhood, Britney, has a mom. You know, that whole apple/tree thing? I'm thinking it really applies well here. I find it difficult to blame celebrity alone for Brit's astounding brainlessness when it comes to everything, much less how she's raising (or not raising) her kids. You gotta believe that some of the way Britney behaves comes from her upbringing. You know that whole Willy Wonka thing?

Who do you blame when your kid is a brat,
Pampered and spoiled like a Siamese cat.
Blaming the kids is a lie and a shame.
You know exactly who's to blame:
The mother and the father.

Ah, so true. After all, Britney's nothing more than a spoiled brat in a woman's body, with a large bankroll to continue the spoilage.


Seems her mom is writing a book on parenting. Yeah. That's like Hannibal Lecter writing a book on cooking.

The full story from Yahoo

Time4sleep.co.uk Adds Oak to Their Line

I read recently that Ozzy's kid, Jack Osbourne, has a leather bed. I've wondered what that means. To me, leather isn't the most comfortable thing to lie on, but I suppose certain types of leather, such as suede, as very soft. I would worry about cleaning it. But then I guess it might not be the mattress or siding, it might be the hardware and such. Oh well.

Time4sleep.co.uk, which specializes in leather beds, is now offering Oak Beds. They've just added Oak Beds to their line at the request of their customers to expand their range.

This one is a rather nice bed:



Post sponsored by time4sleep.co.uk

Arkansas - Land of Diamonds!

Okay, I'm going to Arkansas for my next vacation because this is the second time in a year I read about some shmo finding a big diamond lying on the ground!

Apparently there's a national park in Arkansas that is the only diamond field open to the public and people keep finding rocks! This guy found a 3.92-carat white stone!

Full story from Yahoo news

Real Life Simpsons

Okay, this isn't all that new, but it's just so well done that I had to include it. Even the music teacher looks like the cartoon version.

Quizzes!

Anyone who's used Livejournal has seen quizzes. You know - "Which Zodiac Symbol Are You?", "What Cat Are You?", or quizzes about your favorite movies:



Quibblo now has tons of these now, including Christmas quizzes. Now you can fill your blog with these, or send them to your friends! The site even has a forum for discussing the various quizzes.

Man Attempts to Flatten Penny. Is Himself Flattened.

The irony here is not that the man was trying to impress his family by putting a penny on the tracks to be flattened by an oncoming train, and it's not really the fact that he didn't make it off the tracks in time and was hit and killed in front of his family. Noooo, the irony is that he was a retired police officer.

Well, maybe that's not too ironic. The cops I've known, and I've had two in my family - my Grampa and Great Uncle - think it's perfectly ok for them to do things that other people should not or are not allowed to do. Since they enforce the law, they are exempt from it I guess, or at least, they are convinced of their own intelligence or superiority, as enforcers of the law, that it doesn't apply to them. My grampa regularly drove WHILE drinking...with me and my sister and cousins in the car. We thought it was fun at the time. What did we know?

So this ex-cop, not only does he decide to impress his family with his little stunt, he does it at a train station, where the tracks are below the station platform. He had to jump down into that pit the train travels through. So down he goes, but can't quite make the jump back out. His family tries to help him, but there's a train coming at 75 mph and they don't make it. Neither does he.

Imagine the horror of seeing your dad and husband smashed by a train. Some lesson dad.

The full story here

Wheee!

Phoenix Humanities Teacher Suspended For Cheer Routine

I'm not sure how to take this really. On the one hand I have to say that my kids need a teacher who's going to teach the class, not use it as their own ego trip and not fill it with useless crap. It's bad enough that the English teacher is also the cheer coach, but did we really need to take time out to see her "new" cheer? Especially since it's just a ripoff of that "Hey Mickey" video from the 80's.

On the other hand, it wasn't all that long of a break from class and it wasn't inappropriate in any way. Nothing racy I mean. I think the school just got cold feet since the video hit Youtube.

The funny thing is that this school is about pretty close to us here in Phoenix. 3rd time in a week that the area has been in some sort of news.



Read more here

Ann Coulter is Tactfull

Just when you thought she couldn't be any more sweet than she already is, she says something even more adorable.



While appearing on my favorite tool's MSNBC show, the queen of the dark side actually quoted the National Enquirer when trying to smear John Edwards. I mean, when I'm looking for verifiable journalistic integrity I turn to the National Enquirer. I've got an inquiring mind, dammit!

Seriously, is it just me? I know Dems see this stuff a mile away, but do other Cons hear this stuff and believe it? Do they think it's legitimate to attack a person's personal and moral lives rather than go after their political views or records? I guess it works for them. Cons still talk about Monica but poo poo you when you point out the Clinton surplus versus the Bush DEFICIT. Even today, Bush tried to claim that the deficit being something like 8 BILLION dollars less than projected was proof that his economy was robust and 'working'. Praised his tax cuts even.

The full story on Annie at Crooks and Liars.com

Ah, Orlando. The City Beautiful

This is how they intend to keep it beautiful I guess.

They passed a law making it illegal to feed homeless people.



I suppose the idea is; if you feed the homeless, they'll congregate there. Or; out of sight, out of mind?

Either way, it's pretty heartless for the town the Mouse built. Wait. That's redundant. Now you know why I don't miss it much.

Anyway, the law has been tested for the first time. A 22 year old was arrested and tried for feeding the homeless in beautiful Lake Eola. Been there a hundred times. Disney holds events there. The homeless hang there. Always have, always will. Stopping the aid this man and others give them won't change that. It's downtown. The only thing that will stop homeless people from finding it an attractive place to squat is to remove all dumpsters and don't let people work, eat or drive there.

The full story from Crooks and Liars.com

Moen Faucets

I am renting right now, but soon plan to own my home. the issue of fixtures is soon to come up and faucets is high on the list. I've always been interested in design, being an artist, and the design of faucets and fixtures has always intrigued me. Moen faucets have always been among my favorites. Their designs are sleek and stylish and pretty creative as well. I love their shower designs the most.

Faucet.com has a huge selection of faucets and fixtures for the various sinks in your home. Their site is pretty well laid out and helpful, and you can buy straight from the site, from a large number of companies. The ease with which you can search, shop and buy all from one site is great. Not being limited to one particular supplier is a marvelous feature.

Uh, hellooo? Hot?

I know it's a bit insensitive to bust the chops of the two people who recently passed away while competing in two running events, but it really hard not to.

The first individual 35 Chad Shreiber, died while running the Chicago Marathon in what news organizations called "unusually hot and humid" conditions. Puhlease... 90 degrees isn't all that hot. I know I live in the desert where it regularly reaches 110, but c'mon, even in Chicago, 90 isn't that hot.

As of the writing of this blog entry, it has been determined that the dude had Mitral Valve Prolapse. A heart condition which should have prevented him from running if he knew about it.

This doesn't change the fact that at least two other people collapsed and one is still in critical condition. C'mon people. Water? Even if it's not all that hot, water? Hydration? Seriously.

Then find out that another man died in some Army 10 mile run, again in what news organizations described as 70 degrees and unusually humid. 70?! How can a temperature of 70 even be included as if it was a factor?!

"My God, It's Full of Tards"

An Ethiopian man was arrested for making a joke about Al Qaida and bombs in the airport in Boston. The article doesn't say, but I'm assuming it's O'Hare.

What's amazing here is not the stupidity of this mental midget, it's the stupidity of the people commenting on the article. Without fail, each comment criticized the airport for over-reacting and violating this man's First Amendment rights.

C'mon people. Grow a couple neurons.

Most of the comments here are a scary reflection of the same stupidity that led this moron to joke about bombs at the airport.

First of all, the man's got no First Amendment rights. He's not even an American Citizen. He's an Ethiopian national.

You're telling me that you didn't know you couldn't joke about bombs at the airport? Your telling me that you think the First Amendment covers anything and everything your retarded ass wants to say? Before you show how stupid you are, I suggest you know what you're talking about first. This is the same retarded blindness that allowed a member of Al Qaida to say that he "didn't need to learn how to takeoff or land a plane", only how to fly it - and have that ignored by our vaunted FBI.

This is the same stupid argument I hear all the time. The First Amendment is not a cover-all umbrella for anything you want to say. You can't yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater. Such behavior can cause a panic and result in bodily injury. You can't say something anything you want about someone if it's not true. It's called "Slander". You can't write anything you like, it's called "Libel". All are punishable by law.

To quote Rage Against the Machine:

"WAKE UP!!!"

The full story from UPI