File it Under: AP or DNC?

From the AP...

WASHINGTON - After nearly 60 days on the road pitching Social Security President Bush is offering a new plan to fix its finances by cutting benefits of more prosperous future retirees. Democrats still aren't buying it.

I want the scenario where Democrats would buy it. But wait, there isn't one. The scenario looks like this: Dem President with Dem controlled congress and tax increases. However if Dems ran the show, Social Security wouldn't even be on the radar screen.

... That would mean lower Social Security payments for future middle- and upper-income retirees than they are currently guaranteed — a fact Bush himself did not mention in his 60-minute session with reporters.

BUSTED! Bushy thought he could get by without anyone realizing that!

Bush's plan immediately drew renewed ire from Democrats.

Bush would "gut benefits for middle-class families," House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said in a joint statement.

It drew more ire?!? Did not see that coming. I had my money on Pelosi dropping trou and running around the D.C. mall screaming lines from the movie Nell. I'd like to see the actual amount "gutted." Probably very little. And here's the real kicker - don't middle and upper income people rely less on SS as an income source in retirement? By definition they make more money and do more with their money than rely solely on the pittance that is a SS check.

Dems on SS reform are a joke. If something affects lower income people, then they're against it because they're for the poor. If it benefits the poor and reduces payments to middle and upper, then they're against it because they're for the middle (sorry poor folk... different day.) SS reform benefits everyone because it keeps a system in place. However, this draws ire.

Lots of ire.

The president appeared at ease in the East Room of the White House as he fielded questions from reporters after a 7-minute opening statement. At times, he twisted the toe of his shoe on the carpeted riser.

WTF? Twisted the toe of his shoe? STOP THE F'ING PRESSES!! He must be lying about something! Or have to pee really bad!

He pledged to encourage oil-producing nations to maximize production and promised to protect U.S. consumers. "There will be no price gouging at gas pumps in America," Bush said.

He spoke on the same day the world's largest publicly traded oil company, Exxon Mobil Corp., announced that its profit for the first three months of the year had risen 44 percent to $7.86 billion from the corresponding quarter a year ago.

DING DING DING! The ol' "big oil is price gouging" meme is about to break out again. Apparently Deb Riechmann felt that Bush's statement and Exxon's earnings were related. Either that or she's also a business news reporter and got her stories jacked up.

Someone explain to me why Exxon's earnings are relevant here. Anyone. I'm hanging my hat on Deb being part of the 85+% left voting bloc of today's main stream press corp. Good work, Deb, you partisan hack.

Outside of the MSM and their faux polling, SS reform is desired by the people that pay into it.

More here, here and WILLisms.com is all over reform.

File It Under: Irony, Possibly Dramatic Irony

How do you define irony?

Let me tell you how.

I went up front in our offices to ask our receptionist about a package I had shipped. While I was up there this black guy comes in. He's dressed in a golf shirt and khaki's.

He asks her "do you buy oil?" We're an oil and gas company. Bright start, eh? She asks what he means and he explains that he's Nigerian and has a tanker that is in the gulf with 200,000,000 barrels of oil (200 mmbo) but his company has had it's assests blocked in the US so he can't get it in to port.

If our company was willing, we could pay him for the fees to dock the ship and recieve a cut of the sales or we could buy the shipment outright. I won't even begin to shootdown the massive gaping holes in this story because general knowledge of the "Nigerian email" scam is so widely known on the internet. What had me shocked was that he had the balls to try to pull this off, with his slick variation, in person. So, laughing, as she begins to deal with him, I go and tell my President.

He wanted to go up there. So he calls security and calls the cops, then heads up there. See, he's British. However, he was raised in Nigeria so he speaks, you guessed it, Nigerian. So he goes up front speaking Nigerian, it takes an eighth for everyone to see that this guy has no idea what he's saying. So my boss stops and says "let me change dialect" and breaks forth again. This guy is a deer in the headlights. He just stands there. By then the security guys come in and whisk him downstairs where a police cruiser is waiting.

Irony is finding the one guy that speaks Nigerian in a 20 mile radius when your running around posing as a Nigerian in a variation of the Nigerian email scam.

File it Under: Dateline

Last night on Dateline NBC, Stone Phillips and company dug deep and did some breaking, tough journalism to bring us an episode called "Fighting the Devil" or something similar.

The first segment was a real life exorcism. I'm not sure I buy into demon possession but the segment had a high hokiness scale, with a group of folks doing a lot of praying around a man who was, supposedly, possessed and who made a lot of odd screaming noises and funny faces and would spit up in a bucket. Rotating heads and vomiting pea soup, it was not.

The second segment was about that group of Darwin semi-finalists that handle poisonous snakes because one verse in the bible (somewhere in the Book of Mark) says "believers shall take up serpents," paraphrasing. Now these folks were a trip. They were all old, had more fingers than teeth and were repeatedly bitch-slapped by the ugly faerie after being repeatedly bitch-slapped by the ugly sprites.

So why would NBC Dateline waste an episode on religious oddballs... extremists... fundamentalists (there we go)?

One can't help but think that with the recent Schiavo blowup and the moonbat talking point that Chimpy McBushilterburton and John Ashcroft were/are going to turn the U.S. into a theocracy, that NBC was just doing their journalistic duty to show the layfolk what's in store for them under Republican rule.

File It Under: Inspired

Every once in a while I come across a person who does that one thing that I always try to do: Think before they speak.

Todays winner: Rob Burnett, exec producer of the Letterman show.

Roise O'Donnell, it seems, offered her services to host Letterman's show in 2000 when he was hit with heart problems. She says, on her blog, that Burrentt was rude to her in response. Maybe they had Tom Selleck slated as a guest? Who knows?
So because of that she has turned down a request to appear on the show. She recounted this on her blog and when news of it got out the reporters clamored to get a response from Burrnett.

His response:
"I don't know how to respond to something that never happened," Burnett said. "And the last thing I want to do is get into a fight with a powerful celebrity who has a blog read by tens of people."

Nice.

File it Under: Edited for Your Protection

Which version is your MSM rag printing?

File It Under: Vaction USA

Why go to Disney when you can go to the most famous mall in the US? Mall of America you say? Hell NO!

The Monroeville Mall!
The very mall from the classic "Dawn of the Dead." Not the new, yet good Ving Rhymes version, but the more campy version.

Let's buy some Mickey's bigmouths and plan a roadtrip. Who's with me?

File it Under: Coming Soon

The Bonfire of the Vanities comes to - you guessed it - FIU next week.

In the meantime go see the steaming piles submitted for this week.

File It Under: So Who Gets the Credit?

Does Bush get to call "Scoreboard" on this? I bet the Dem's would say no.

However, since our President is blamed for every atrocity and action that happens on the globe since winning office by our media, it only fair that he get's credit for the pull back of Syrian troops.

Fair is fair. I'm sure MSNBC will spin it as a Jimmy Carter thing. Either that or Al Sharpton is cashing in frequent flier miles to hurry over there for a photo op.

File it Under: Dietary Needs

Gail seems to be eating her neighbor's flower gardens.

I have put forth my "meat haiku" (please... it's in good taste, literally).

So go forth with your barbeque haiku!

Bumped for 4/26! Food poetry blogging - Poetry you can eat...

Fresh fish, seasoning
Grilled in foil add salsa, cheese
Pile on tortillas

More:

Halve jalapenos, remove seeds
Stuff with rich goodness of cream cheese
Wrap in sliced pork
No need for a fork
You'll beg for more on your knees


Grill this one, too. You can marinade the jalapeno wraps as you like and leave the seeds if you like ultra hot. Even leaving the veins can make them bite back. In case you wondered, sliced pork is simply bacon and I took some poetic liberties with "seeds." Sue me.

File it Under: Content Warning

Worst song of 2005 thus far:

Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani

Regardless of this fact, prepare for it to be played 2,391 times per day on the radio. It's songs like this that make me glad I can stream music.

Today's lesson: The internet can solve all of our problems.

File It Under: Cliff's Notes For My Life

So I didn't pay attention in school like this guy.

As as result, I have some questions and I want answers:

1. When that magical day comes that "algebra may save my life" why am I going to have to show my work?
2. The teachers who "don't care if we pass or fail so we need to learn to write a bibliography now?" Do they check sources? Really?
3. Why is it that my time "screwing around" with the computers seems to pay off?
4. Why would I care about getting a "D" on a test about "tectonic plates?" (Update: I work in oil and gas now, this one has become obvious.)
5. P.E.? What productive ever came from P.E?
6. The popular guy that sat behind me in class is still thin, popular and has straight teeth. So when do I get pull some stunt where I get to drive the prom queen home in his dad's Roll's after scoring to Billy Idol songs?
7. Is Dungeons & Dragons still the fast path to my Ozzy induced, devil worshiping suicide pact?

Let me know, cause I still don't know, but then again who does?

File it Under: Blogfluffle II

Blogfluffle is still a creation of FIU! Must credit FIU with any use of the word blogfluffle!

Look, not everyone understands Jeff's humor. That's ok. No reason to start flinging the blog-poo.

That one is ours, too. Blog-poo.

Update: Blog-poo can be used without permission. As a matter of fact, don't reference us here if you use it. Thanky.

File it Under: Economics Ho!

And no, this is not in reference to Snohomish High School silliness...

It appears that hybrid sales exploded in 2004. Sales rose 81% over 2003. For some perspective, hybrid sales still only represented "less than one percent" of new car sales last year (83,153 of ~17,000,000). So the article takes a bit of rounding liberty as that's less than half a percent.

But the point I've stuck with previously, economics, looks to be in play. With high gas prices possibly here to stay, you can be sure that 2005 hybrid sales will be higher than 2004 and the trend will continue as it becomes economically feasible to pay $3,000-$4,000 more for a hybrid than their strictly gas-fueled counterparts.

File it Under: Spring in Bloom

It's a beautiful day here in Dallas, TX. It's also the nicest time of the year. Everything is blooming and temperatures aren't quite up to 102 degree and 64% humidity yet. In honor of this time of year, a botanic tribute.

If you get a chance to visit the Dallas Arboretum, absolutely go. It's a great way to spend a few hours. You can even bring in a picnic and/or a bottle of wine if you like. Date place rating: 97.6 (on a scale of 100).

File it Under: Suspect Fingered

The woman who claimed to have found a finger in a bowl of chili has been arrested. Apparently after an internal Wendy's investigation pointed to no suspects or leads since everyone had all their digits.

Investigators then pointed out Anna Ayala has a litigious past - unsuccessful lawsuits against GM and The Crazy Chicken (El Pollo Loco).

Hands down, she seems like a callous lady who is seriously abusing the legal system. Trying to palm off blame of the finger to Wendy's should nail down some serious jail-time for her.

Here's a tip: Toe the working-class line and stop trying to grab at a lottery windfall via fraudulent lawsuits. Knuckle-down and earn your scratch. Quit thumbing your nose at our legal system or go to jail.

I'll hand it to her; she pulled out some stops for this scam, if she is, in fact, guilty of making fraudulent claim.

Update: via Wizbang

• Cops Point Finger In Wendy's Case - Honestly, the pun isn't necessary.
• DA: It's safe to at at Wendy's - No. No it's not. The food is crap and just because Dave Thomas is the lovable huggable granddad we never had doesn't make the food taste good.
  

File it Under: Next Blog>> Site of the Day

You know how some U.S. cities have "sister cities" in other countries or other parts of the U.S? I'm not sure what the qualifications are. I think similar population sizes and demographics, maybe.

Anyway, I propose that this site be nominated as FIU's "sister blog." The fact that it's always bitching and whining (like a little sister) has nothing to do with it. It's similar to FIU in traffic and posting frequency except that it's completely opposite in terms of political views. It's a moonbat blog.

So for the meantime, The Blog Warrior is FIU's sister blog. Head on over every now and then and leave a comment voicing your opinion (and to say hi).

Rules for posting at The Blog Warrior:

1. No name calling. It's pointless.
2. No gloating.
3. One error correction per post, per day

I think how the other side's everyday layfolk thinks is interesting.

Next Blog>> Mission Statement

File It Under: "Rape Politics" or "Political Rape"

FoxNews has a story here about a girl who was raped, or was she?

That seems to be the question that everyone can't quite nail down because of who she is and when it happened. The article documents the report of the girl's rape; statements given to the police and the effects that it had on campus life. It also points out a trend of responses and information that came out during the investigation that caused the police to believe that the statements were false and the rape never happened. Now the girl is being prosecuted and the political side of the story comes into play because she was a chapter head of the feminist group "NOW."

The politics of this story bore me. I had my fair share of feminists in college. They were mostly nice girls who were aggressive to most guys in an effort to look strong, but after conversation most were just upset that life wasn't "fair." They were right, it isn't. Same job, less pay; that would piss me off too. The "hard core fem freedom fighter" types gave good speeches about things that would never happen, but they went around bra-less so I can forgive that lack of social vision. (Warning: This statement is designed to cause militant fem fury. Keep away from small children and pets.)

The part that gets me is that rape should not be a charge lightly asserted or lightly taken. I know people who have been raped. I know people who have raped people. I also know people that were accused of rape that lived through the effects of those charges only to find that they could not have and did not do it. There are very few things in life that can turn my stomach but this subject is one of those things.

Rape victims need to be helped. They need to have justice. They need family and friends to be proactive and assertive in understanding what they can and shouldn't do to help.

Rapists need suffer under justice. If they are to ever enter society again they need to acccept the consquences of thier actions and they need serious help. They need to pay resitution.

The person that "cries wolf" needs to suffer the same things as the rapist. There is no stigma as strong in our society as marking someone as a sexual predator. Even after it's proven untrue, the damage done to the relationships of the falsely accused have been polarized in a way that is unfair to any person.

That there was no one charged in this can be either a blessing, if it was a false claim, or a curse, if it was true. Either way the police need to dig until the guilty party is found and when they are then need to suffer the full scope of the law.

File it Under: Government-Sponsored Enron

This is a brilliant read on media bias.

On one hand you have Enron - huge energy conglomerate with a history of predominantly Republican donations and casual ties to a sitting president.

On the other hand you have Fannie Mae - a government sponsored mortgage lender with ties to the Clinton administration.

One company misstates ~$600M in earnings, causes mass media coverage and histeria, to the point where the media tries to make news where it isn't. Company goes under; corporate leaders face charges and prison time.

The other misstates $11B in earnings, is ignored in the media and the former company leaders take their bonuses and quietly go away.

Read the entire thing...

(via Carnival of the Capitalists)

File it Under: Blogshares

Do you dabble in the Blogshares market?

I made decent money off of Darius's blog and now is a golden opportunity to get File it Under at a rock-bottom $0.29 per share. Think we're always going to have 25 hits a day? Think again!

On May 6th, FIU will host the 96th Bonfire of the Vanities by Wizbang.

Get 'em while they're cheap!

This week's bonfire is here... Go forth and explore!

File It Under: Don't Overstay Your 15 Minutes

Great news! Fred Durst and Limp Bizket are going to pick up where Rage Against The Machine left off! That's so rad that I just might puke.

It has me bent because its kinda like letting the Backstreet Boys cover Bob Dylan or letting Ace of Base cover Bob Marley.

Some artists have something to say. They have an observation that gives them cultural relevance outside of the music that they make. Most artists just have a sound. For example, I don't doubt that Sheryl Crow's songs mean something to her, and I like them as well, but they don't cut to the center of any cultural ill and lay it open for observation despite the fact that culture has turned a blind eye to it. When you have songs centered around the abuse migrate farm workers suffered and police brutality like RATM did, it's hard to imagine that Fred Durst and his "Roll em, Roll em, Roll em , Roll em, huh!" lyrics are going to have anything meaningful to add.

The man who brought us lasting lyrical stylings of remaking George Micheal's "Faith" via his single ranged screams and the wonderful classic "Nookie" needs to accept that his 15 minutes may be up.

Stick with lying about tapping Brittney, Fred. It's harder to varify than your lack of ability on this level of the the music business.

File it Under: Tom Delay

I've been hearing a lot about this Tom Delay matter. It's pretty good proof of media bias because as I was watching MSNBC Sunday morning, the hostess, in all her moonbat glory, couldn't figure out why Delay hadn't stepped down as she was interviewing a lady from Time Magazine.

The woman she was interviewing had written an article and while she even said Delay had done nothing illegal, he's (and I'm paraphrasing here) "been associated with some less than shady other folks somehow and that this should sell lots of blue-state newspapers and periodicals since that's the last bastion of subscribers."

Or something close. Last time I checked, Tommy hasn't:

• Drowned anyone
• Had an intern go misssing
• Lied under oath
• Broken into a hotel to steal information from another political party
• Stolen billions from Iraqis
• Even been in the Klu Kluk Klan
• Sold shares insider or plundered funds from a billion dollar company
  

So, in my opinion, he needs to fight this like his life depends on it... (and it really doesn't.) This is just politics... ugly and dirty politics. Would a democrat step down/aside? Ha!

File It Under: Who Really Knows Why?

CNN has on their website a story about a 28 tear old anti-war activist who died this weekend in Iraq. I won't lie to you guys, I struggled with this one. I'm so sarcastic and there are so many things that I wanted to run with or rant about but it just doesn't seem right to do that.

Marla Ruzicka did what she thought was right. I may not agree with her politics but she had the strength of convictions to actually do something about it. Not march, protest, make a documentary for money but actually do something to help, personally.

I don't agree with the politics behind a lot of the humanitarian efforts done in war zones but I can say that I'm proud that she was just as impassioned as the soldiers that risk their lives in Iraq about helping Iraq's people in a real and meaningful way.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." Matthew 5:7-9

File It Under: Emerald State Reverses Gay Marriages

A nice little CNN story notes that Oregon courts have voided same-sex marriage licenses.

I'm sure that this ruling will be filed on soon, but there are a few questions in all the gay marriage flaps that I haven't seen addressed:

1. If they are rulled illegal do they get the filing fee returned to them? Only seems fair that the state government doesn't get to hold on to that.
2. Can they be forced to testify against each other in court?
3. Social Security status - If one dies does the other one get the death benefit?
4. Can they file taxes as married or must they file single?
5. In case of illness who has patient information rights? Who has the newly affirmed "Mr. Schiavo" right to decide when to pull the plug when there is no living will or DNR papers?
6. If it doesn't work out do they have to get a divorce? If so, who gets the alimony?
7. Does thier marriage have to be recognized by other states or the federal government?

File It Under: Studying Premature Ejaculation

A new study is seeking to standardize the time frame that will comprise the clinical definition of premature ejaculation.

I, for one, protest this study and all that it implies.

Premature ejaculations should technically be if you "fire your shot across the bow before pointing you rifle down range." In other words, once you get it in, you're safe. Every money shot in porn is technically "premature" in my book because you missed the target. Doesn't matter how long he was dry firing his ordinace, the payload wasn't correctly placed on target.

The study states that "A man with the condition took 1.8 minutes to ejaculate after beginning intercourse compared to 7.3 minutes for most of the men." So? Maybe the 1.8 minute guy really loves his wife so he's excited, maybe his wife is kegeling and maybe he entered a wormhole in space/time and the clock didn't function properly, mabe he was waiting for the two minute warning. We don't know!!

Likewise, that other guy may have been distracted by thinking about sports, or fantisizing about getting his wife's sister or had a butt cramp or maybe his secretary rode him too hard that day and he has chafing. Too many variables.

Then later they say in the article that "Premature ejaculators and their female partners also had higher ratings for personal distress, interpersonal difficulty with their partner, lack of ejaculation control and dissatisfaction with sexual intercourse." No crap! They are married! Hello! I 'd have personal distress if i was married to a woman that took a stopwatch to bed to time my ejaculations too. She'd have to be a obsessive nag. Women that would time you are too distracted to have an orgasm. They are probably trying to think of ways to spend your 401k on a pool boy to come "clean the filters" and recounting Tivo'ed episodes of Desperate Housewives in thier head instead of focusing on the events at hand. Then, of course, it's your fault when they lay there like corpses and you do all the work and get the rewards for your efforts. Once you're done, they yell at you that "you never bring me flowers" and "we have no romance" and "my mother was right", all the while mad that you left the wet spot on her side of the bed.

My fault indeed.

Finally, they say that "Currently, available data suggest that only 1 percent to 12 percent of males self-reporting PE receive treatment for their dysfunction." Is it a dysfunction? Really. Or is it our master plan to get back at women for the ages that they want you to spend "going down there" versus the milliseconds they want to spend returning the favor. Well, I'm sorry "Mrs. Stopwatch-Oprah-viewing-orgasm-timer" we men of the world have stuff to do so if you can't focus long enough get your cookies as well, it's not our fault. We refuse to bow to your fake "medical syndromes" and your "contrived studies." Our units are working just fine. Half of you can't even find your g-spots. HA HA!

File It Under: Peta Needs Better Demographic Studies

KFC in Texas Greets PETA With Sprinklers

Just for the record, I don't agree with most Peta stances. However, let me offer some advice: In Texas, we don't care. See, if a person eats fried chicken do you think they are concerned about how the chicken got to that fried state? We don't care what happened to that chicken along the path to the infamous bucket, we only care that we get our gravey and jalapenos. Yes, we want fries with that.

Peta needs to get a election map and realize if it's a blue state you have a chance of people caring, if it's red then we probably don't treat animals as gods since we have one already.

The good news is that Brownsville's water is rated as "Superior" with the water commision so you probably won't catch any flesh eating bacteria from it. I'd hate to have to inflict the moral question of whether or not taking antibiotics would cause the bacteria to suffer on you noble protectors of life. (Unless it's a fetus, right?)

File it Under: Ventriloquism

Hi, I'm Kofi Annan. Watch me talk out of my ass.

That article can be reprinted at The Onion.

File It Under: Dumbest Story of All Time?

Here is a in depth analysis of the "man date."

What is a man date you ask. When 2 dudes go out without the crutch of sports or business as a pretext.

The more I read this article the more I have to ask this question: If you are indeed a man, do you (a) give a crap what other people think, (b) do much of anything that isn't tied to sports or business in some way, or even (c) obsess over whether or not you are doing something that might be perceived as gay?

It's a really dumb, insecure guy that cares about that crap.

Personally, if I have "dude a" ever tell me "hey I saw you out with dude b the other day and you were out at dinner, it looked like your gay" your going to get one of the following responses depending on where you fall on my friend hierarchy:

• If I somewhat respect you you'll get the uncomfortable joke "Oh don't worry, I'd never trade off to him when I was hoping to bone you and your narrow arse."
• If I consider you an acquaintance you'll get the slightly rude "really, you noticed that all by yourself? So have you been working on that all night or did you get a group of chimps working around the clock to help you figure that out? I think you're just jealous."
• If you are a low ranked guy I know and/or possibly dislike you'll get the "why bring that up to me? Are you just cruising for a piece of my ass?"
• If you just some random guy you get the "I used to own a guy like you in prison. You're making me all sentimental. I think I might kick your ass and the sodomize you just for old times sake."

Notice in all four a lack of denial. That is because as a man you really don't care what they think. The "dude you looked gay" conversation is all about dominance. When you get challenged it's not about orientation it's about can I score points , or dominance, over you.

This writer doesn't know, because he's not a man.

(Score: Dominance point for me, writer 0)

File It Under: Bible/Death Penalty Revisited.

It seems that the Colorado case where a death penalty verdict was overturned because jurors quoted the bible in deliberations isn't over after all. Haralan, who was given the death sentence, had the punishment phase of his ruling changed from death to life in prison after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that jurors might have been unduly influenced after studying such verses as "eye for eye, tooth for tooth."

It seems that now the prosecution of the case has filed to have a new hearing on that, in saying that Bible was not substituted as law in this case but provided "part of the moral underpinning" for assessing Robert Harlan's character and crime."

This should be interesting.

To review my past position:

I feel that the original death penalty ruling should have never been overturned because ruling on the hypothetical grounds of what "might have" influenced the jurors was not based on anything other than conjecture. Hypotheticals don't have facts behind them , just variables . In time you can adjust any hypothetical to make it change values.

I also think that this ruling could only come about if the scripture in question was from the Bible since it has become avant guard to bash Christians in American society. It seems that every other religion is untouchable in the PC world but you can crack on the Christians all you want. Has anyone sued to have eagles remove from American symbols since the Eagle is a religious symbol of Native Americans? Has anyone tried to remove the All Seeing Eye from the back of the dollars or the laurels from the talons of that eagle? Less of a major point here and more of an observation; definately up for debate.

To allow for those who last time thought I was saying I believe that ruling along the lines of the bible, and contrary to the law, was ok; I'm not advocating a religious state. However, the reality of the situation is that in having a jury system, you inadvertently accept that the belief systems of the people in the jury will effect the outcome of the case. So if the "vengeance of the Bible quoting Christian" is a bad thing for your case, then It's the lawyers job to root that out in the vior dire at the beginning of the case.

Now, this counter filing on it's own will be a intersecting proposal because it is based on the question of can the court change this verdict based on the moral standard that they judged this guys character and actions on? If they rule that the Bible verses somehow brainwashed people into making moral judgments that they otherwise wouldn't have made (which is hypothetical again), then you have to ask should Christians, or people of faiths, be allowed to sit on a jury at all.

Out of personal experience, and as a person who worked for a while for a federal court, I can't see how you can remove people from their biases. That's just how it is. If you have a black defendant, the prosecution tries to lands as many white jurors as he can and the defense tries to land as many black jurors as he can. If it's a rape trial the prosecution will always try to get as many middle age men as possible because they have a "I have to protect my daughter" mentality. Don't believe me? Watch "Runaway jury." It's fiction, but the selection process isn't.

Overall, I still hope this guy gets the death penalty. I don't think the ruling was changed under direct proof of jury interference. I still think that the deliberation of the jury needs to stand and not be oveturned unless they have proof of juror misconduct.

File it Under: Permanent Presence

It looks like Afghanistan is proposing that the U.S. have a permanent military presence in their country.

I can see the advantages of having a base in Afghanistan. It would serve as a great intelligence center and forward post for assisting and leading Afghan troops in their continuing quest to snuff out the reminants of the Taliban.

"The conclusion we have drawn is that the Afghan people want a long-term relationship with the United States," Karzai said. "They want this relationship to be a sustained economic and political relationship and most importantly of all, a strategic security relationship to enable Afghanistan defend itself, to continue to prosper, to stop the possibility of interferences in Afghanistan."

Nothing wrong with that reasoning. And it's much easier to pull off if the Afghan citizens support our presence. I think I recall a lot of Germans bad-mouthing the U.S. military, in general, hearing we're scaling down and pulling out of their country and then whining about the economic results of us leaving. If our presence is needed and wanted in Afghanistan, so be it. The Middle East is the East Berlin/East Germany of the 21st century.

Not to mention that our military presence in Afghanistan will provide much needed security for that oil pipeline Smirky de Bushliburton, Don Rumsfeld and Karl Rove have had planned since Bush's went AWOL to have that abortion while drunk in the 70's.

Come to think of it... that pipeline seems way behind schedule. I hope Michael Moore investigates.

File It Under: HARD HITTING NEWS

CNN has broken a major story. This is HUGE.

They have the playlist off the President's iPod.

Mental Note: Call Woodward and Bernstien and call them chumps.

Look at the in depth analysis of this and how it effects the President's inner thoughts:

"The playlist does reveal a rather narrow range of babyboomer tunes. Writing in the London Times, Caitlin Moran noted: "No black artists, no gay artists, no world music, only one woman, no genre less than 25 years old, and no Beatles."

No Beatles.

If Tony Blair had only known that Pre-Iraq...

In future stories I hope they uncover what whether he squeezes the toothpaste from the middle or the end so that I can understand his thinking on trade balance amoung the G8 partners and it's effect on Southern American countries democratic movements.

File it Under: News

In an attempt to head off the lawsuit filed against them, Caterpillar has just released their new line of bulldozers, in memory of Rachel Corrie.

If you'll recall, Rachel was the lady who failed to yeild right-of-way to a bulldozer in Isreal a couple of years ago. Since then, the plight of yeilding to 15-ton objects was brought back into the light, along with general heavy-machinery safety.

Caterpillar Inc. stock was down slightly on light volume during Monday trading.

No word on what Caterpillar was going to do to their entire line of human rights and US law breaking machines.

*satire, fake... but you knew this. I also suck at photoshopping. My apologies.

File it Under: Loopy

Maybe it's my mood again but this post cracked me up to no end...

Still is.

Our maintenance guy changed our airfilters this morning. I wonder if that has anything to do with it.

Update: Pull my finger!

WTF?

File It Under: In Accordance With the Prophecy...

In accordance with some really old scrolls and stuff today I will use my powers to block out the sun, partially in the US, but entirely over the pacific where my marine minions dwell.

I will then call forth the leviathan and destroy all those who worship Barry Manilow, eat frozen yogurt or have participated in a "peace march" without the subtle belief that they might meet a hippie chick and score.

Then I will ascend to the top of Mt. Baldy, in New Mexico, where I begin the 3rd age of man. The age where all that serve me have matching fund 401ks and the rest are forced to watch C-SPAN and survive on WIC.

As it was proclaimed, "...And he shall come forth from the masses, balding and full of venom for the blue states and he shall smite those whom need a good smiting and make them call him "Daddy" and then he shall feast of the carcasses of fated calves between two sesame seed pieces of bread and eat of the oil boiled potatoes of Idaho and it shall be good..."

And so it is said and so it is written

PS: for fun, end every sentence today with your coworkers by saying "In accordance with the prophecy..." It's a quick way to get the rest of the day off.

File it Under: Belated April Fools

I'm feeling a little spry this morning so here's the deal.

Will has a good post on trackback spam and how it sucks but that trackbacks are important to the blogosphere. I agree and they're real important to us tiny blogs because it can bring new traffic to our little nooks.

However, in an effort to do an ironical practical joke, I'm going to fake trackback his post with Viagra, Cialis, Mail order degrees, insurance and/or maybe a Nigerian business scam.

FIU: Sneaky Bastards. Or So We Think!

Update: Either Will didn't catch the joke or he didn't think it was funny because my fake trackbacks are all gone.

File It Under: Political Math

CNN.com - Congress may extend daylight-savings time - Apr 7, 2005

In the article they point out that as an energy measure we might extend daylight savings time. They project that an additional 2 month of daylight savings time would save approximately 10,000 barrels of oil a day.

However, Americans use an average of 20,000,000 barrels of oil a day.

Let me see, that's roughly 0.05 percent of our per day usage of oil?

If theysaid that they were extending daylight savings time so that people could watch more daytime baseball, I could buy that. This, however, is silly.

Now that I've said that, watch it become a partisan issue.

File it Under: Reform Thursdays

Because Thursdays stink!!

Not really.

Every Thursday, my favorite new blog, WILLisms.com, puts out another great Graphic & Point on the pro-SS reform issue.

This week's topic: The EPI has their head in the sand.

Read the back issues, too.

File It Under: Our "Oral Youth " Finds That It May Not Just Be A Cold Sore

After the conversation regarding the increase of oral sex among teens we have a new study: Half Of Sexually Active Young People Get STDs

It seems that the concept of "virginity preserving oral sex" doesn't stop the fact that crotch crickets and thier bacterial pals still like warm, moist places.

My prediction: Sex toys are gonna be the next big hit. Followed by a wave of uniary tract infections because the kids can't seem to figure out the bacteria/hygene "thing."

Then again, I'm cynical.

File it Under: Tasty Bacon

I'm very disappointed to learn today that Texas ranks dead last In Pork per capita this year.

Then again, maybe we should wear that as a badge of honor...

Torn between greasy, tasty goodness and less sucky fiscal irresponsibility... Woe is we.

via Sploid

BREAKING - Michigan and California (homes to Darius and Tom, respectively) rank 48th and 50th!

FIU - Home of Less Sucky Fiscal Irresponsibility Bloggers' Senators and Representatives [TM]

BREAKING 2 - Last trademark revoked. Horrible.

File it Under: Immigration without Acculturation

France has been notoriously tolerant of the social habits of incoming waves of immigrants from the Middle East and Africa. Predominately Moslem, many of these newer immigrants have been absolutely unwilling to embrace French culture. This has lead to growing cultural rifts, and has lead to increasing violence and brutality.

One stunning and noteworthy indication that this violence is attributable to racial hatred is the horrible preoccupation with many of the violent Moslems attacks against Jews.

From, the Weekly Standard...

The evidence of hostility is sobering: The number of violent acts and threats nearly doubled, from 833 in 2003 to a record 1,565 in 2004. Of these, 62 percent were directed against Jews, who make up just 1 percent of France's population.

These figures, of course, capture only incidents sufficiently severe to come to the attention of the authorities. Beneath the radar are other incidents, seemingly petty, yet telling, such as one I happened to witness in a Paris department store a few months back. A woman was pushing her baby in a stroller down an aisle. Behind her was a well-dressed, prosperous-looking Arab woman in a hurry. Suddenly the Arab woman pushed the mother, saying, "Move, dirty Frenchwoman!" ("Degage, sale francaise!"). The familiar epithet "dirty Jew" is apparently being extended for more general use.

Also startling... At a series of recent protests held by students protesting reforms in the education system, hostile racist Moslems launched attacks against groups of young whites.

Repeatedly, peaceful demonstrators were attacked by bands of black and Arab youths--about 1,000 in all, according to police estimates. The eyewitness accounts of victims, teachers, and most interestingly the attackers themselves gathered by the left-wing daily Le Monde confirm the motivation: racism.

Some of the attackers openly expressed their hatred of "little French people." One 18-year-old named Heikel, a dual citizen of France and Tunisia, was proud of his actions. He explained that he had joined in just to "beat people up," especially "little Frenchmen who look like victims." He added with a satisfied smile that he had "a pleasant memory" of repeatedly kicking a student, already defenseless on the ground.

Simply put, something has to be done. Let's hope some relevant change is adopted by the French government in an attempt to stomp out this wave of violence, because if inaction leads the public to take action- the resulting exchanges of violence could tear France apart.

Regardless of how you feel about France, their entire country deserves moral support at this time...

(Via Instapundit.)

File it Under: Dedication

In order to provide the best for our readers, we here at FIU are constantly going the extra distance.

More cowbell: just one way of showing our appreciation here at FIU.

File It Under: Did the Coke Machine Vendor Escape Charges, Too?

NewsNet5.com - News - Teen Will Not Face Charges For Handing Out Mints At School

Follow me here: Kid "A" gets mints out of mothers purse. Hands them out to classmates. Kids get sick so student "A" gets in trouble "because school policy prohibits anything that resembles a drug."

The pills had caffeine, more specifically

"taurine, a common ingredient in energy drinks such as Red Bull."

And a single serving is 6 mints, or 15 grams, of caffeine.

Question: Why is it kid "A"'s fault? The pills contained nothing illegal and would only make someone sick if the ate too many of them. Do they have Dr Pepper police in the cafeteria? Coffee police in the teachers lounge? Those are both sources of caffeine that could be abused in excess. The hypocrisy stems from the school worrying over lawsuits instead of letting this teach kids a needed lesson.

What kind of stupid big brother society are we turning into? Seriously. Has personal responsibility died or what?

If they need to protect our kids from "french fries in school" and "caffeine" while they indoctrinate them with political correctness instead of math and science, fine. But at some point someone has to say to these little sheep that follow so submissively "welcome to the real world, if you make dumb choices they are going to effect YOU and YOU are going to be the ones responsible with living with the consequences." Quit babying these kids and let them learn from the object lessons they give themselves instead of telling them them that they are victims and diminishing the experience that they put themselves in.

There is a direct logic that gets the point home to the kid hugging the toilet, yacking his guts out is this senario: "Don't just take whatever someone gives you to take, without question, especially in excess." Wait until they start drinking - they will learn it all over again if they aren't smart.

Some of that tough love may keep a few young folks from finding out about stuff like GHB the hard way.

File it Under: Speaking of Remotes...

Just in time for one of those voice remotes... Al Gore and Joel Hyatt Unveil Current ...

Offering a glimpse of the independent network first announced at last year's National Cable & Telecommunications Association convention, former Vice President Al Gore and entrepreneur Joel Hyatt, joined by executives and on-air talent, revealed this morning that the name of the new venture, formerly known as INdTV, will be Current.

I was kinda rooting for GOOOOORE!!! Vision.

The first national network created by, for and with an 18-34 year-old audience, Current will offer 24 hours of programming in a unique, short-form content format when it premieres August 1. Current will invite audiences to move beyond their roles as viewers to become active collaborators, encouraging them to help shape the network's content and fulfill its mission -- to serve as a TV platform where the voices of young adults can be heard.

Apparently Gore is now appearing to have re-invented MTV. They don't mention music videos anywhere so apparently it'll be just like MTV, complete with left-wing funding. How much money are folks going to dump into 18-34 programming before they finally accept the fact that those folks don't vote?

"The Internet [which Algore invented - ed.] opened a floodgate for young people whose passions are finally being heard, but TV hasn't followed suit. Young adults have a powerful voice, but you can't hear that voice on television ... yet," said Gore, who serves as the network's chairman of the board. "We intend to change that with Current, giving those who crave the empowerment of the Web [which Algore invented - ed.] the same opportunity for expression on television. We want to transform the television medium itself, giving a national platform to those who are hungry to help create the TV they want to watch."

You heard it here first, folks. It's DailyKos for TV... with fewer Hitler references, probably.

Promising a slate of programming that's smart, fun and fearless (as a truly independent network)...

I wonder if that's more or less independent than MTV's Rock the Vote? It's also good to get that initial "we're independent" claim in there, too.

Taking its cues from their media consumption habits, Current will offer short-form programming in the TV equivalent of an iPod shuffle. Its "pods" will be 15-second to five-minute segments that range from the hottest trends in technology, fashion, television, music and videogames, to pressing issues such as the environment, relationships, spirituality, finance, politics and parenting, subjects that young adults can rarely find on television.

Ah yes. We're the ADD generation, too. Nothing over 15-30 seconds, please. Otherwise I'm liable to start counting ceiling tiles because the dots are like oddly-shaped pepper grains on a silly white surface of the moon will be full again soon dinner time will be here and now and later is a chewy candy heh girls named candy are slutty I like class but I skipped my share in college is not a random item art project that's a collage silly...

Back to the article...

Guided by young hosts set in a club-like atmosphere...

Then all you'll need are glow sticks and some ecstasy. Now that's entertaining TV. Of course that would make C-SPAN hot to watch, too, I suppose.

Current is led by a talented executive team with deep experience in television news, entertainment, business, finance, advertising sales, marketing and youth culture. They include: Al Gore (Chairman of the Board), the former two-term Vice President...

And world's sorest loser (I sure hope this venture doesn't fail!!)

Joel Hyatt (Chief Executive Officer)...

Nice one-two punch there.

Current is unleashing the creativity of young people, enabling their voice to be heard and their stories to be shared. What's possible just got a lot more exciting."

And in debt. Let's hope they fare better than Air America. I, for one, can't wait... heh, there's 1476 dots on that ceiling tile.

File It Under: PSA For Today's Oral Youth

U.S. kids have an amazing ability to come up with the perfect plan for stuff that we adults are too stupid to see. The want to preserve their virginity and stay safe from STD's so it's, "I know, let's just have oral sex."

Let me outline why this is dumb:

1. STDs on the crotch are hidden by clothes... herpes on the face, not so much
2. The mouth has saliva, so the STD stuff can transfer
3. You may not get pregnant but the possibility of crabs living in your eyebrows has to detract from the experience
4. Braces
5. Most important one: Guys, do you really want girls to know up front the earthshaking orgasms that oral can give when you haven't even given them that disappointing 1:30 run at vaginal sex? They're going to be that much more disappointed with you when you finally convince them to let you score. You might as well buy them sex toys and a copy of "Dawson's Creek" on DVD and let them replace you all together.

Back in my day we relied on cheap wine and beer for a reason. The cheap drunk made her think that what you were doing was fun. Stick with the classics, they're classics for a reason.

One final word of advice: If your too embarassed/scared/worried to buy some condoms and do it the right way, you got no business having sex.

File it Under: Sloth

For those that just don't feel like exercising their thumbs...

I think the devices should be given away free with any purchase of this or this.

File It Under: Liberals Launch Second Wave of Food Attacks

America has changed for the worse after the last elections.

This is the second time this week that a conservative speaker has been assaulted with a food item while speaking at a college campus.

What is wrong with America's college students? Seriously, who thought this was a good idea to show disdain for a speakers point of view? But mostly what a waste of food, or in this case condiments.

Back in my day we had Ramen noodles and we were glad to have that. There were no fancy pies to eat much less hurl. You were forced to hope that Taco Bell would keep tacos at $0.39 so you could eat one hot meal a day. And we drank Natural Light and Lone Star and we were thankful to have that. And we went through the sacrament line 5 times and we weren't ever catholic. These kids are spoiled.

If we wanted to protest a speaker we had the balls to throw rocks because prison food was better than what we had.

Kids today....

BTW, both time the speakers had the class to blow it off and continue making the protester's claims seem even more marginalized and even more of the moonbat conspiracy theory. I can't see why the free thinking dems counted on the college vote to win, it seems that they can't even plan an effective protest on thier own campus.

File it Under: PSA

Very very true.

Suggested by Rob. Nice work.