December 2007
Top 10: Top 10 Business Debacles Of 2007 | The... →
[I]t seems like the debacles this year were bigger and more scandalous than last year. Every time we turned around, there was another deadly product or breach of consumer rights or act of malfeasance. Here’s our roundup of the top 10 worst moments in business this year…
Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Domestic... →
With our current obsession over Muslim terrorists abroad, let’s not forget that there are domestic terrorists operating right here within our borders. Here’s a story of two men in New Mexico who firebombed an abortion clinic just a few weeks ago.
Pharyngula: Poor baby →
Ripping up a copy of your own book is perfectly legal. Freaking out because somebody tore pages out of a book is silly — while I can’t approve of destroying any books on general principles, the kids at that school learned a valuable lesson: nothing is sacred.
Reuters AlertNet - Two suicide bombers die in... →
HAHA! Stupid fuckers: Two suspected suicide bombers were killed in Pakistan’s central Punjab province early on Sunday when the devices they were carrying exploded prematurely in an apparent botched attack on a former minister, police said.
BBC NEWS | US town escapes 666 phone prefix →
Superstitious nonsense: A town in the US state of Louisiana is to be allowed to change its telephone prefix so that residents can avoid a number many associate with the Devil.
The BEAST: 50 Most Loathsome People in America,... →
5. Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid
Charges: Graduates of the Neville Chamberlain school of appeasement, the Democratic leadership continues to ignore the constitution-and the American people-by keeping impeachment “off the table” and refusing to defund the war. True pushovers, they’re too stupid, cowardly, weak and outmatched politically to accomplish anything substantive, their...
Nice to know that my computer's crazy.
Console Log: 2007-12-29 15:08:43.612 Mail[5181] Bwahaha! I am a LetterboxExpandingSplitView, and I shall always be vertical!
Talking Points Memo | Ridiculous →
I’ve been knocking for most of the day on these weird inconsistencies emerging in the accounts of the death of Benazir Bhutto; and now the biggs seem to be digging deeper. A number of clinicians who’ve written in today have said the government’s story — that Bhutto died because she basically knocked her head on the car sun roof while ducking to avoid the bullets — is...
Bush to veto pay raise for the troops. Merry... →
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Bush announced today that he’s going to veto the Defense Authorization bill. This is legislation that’s already passed Congress, and that the administration had no problem with. Now, suddenly, Bush is against it and is going to veto it, threatening pay raises for the troops and more.
Protection and Pay for Federal Judges - New York... →
There now seems to be sufficient support on Capitol Hill to pass a judicial pay raise. Its supporters should move on the issue as soon as Congress returns in January.
Preventing AIDS Prevention - New York Times →
Congress and President Bush should act to eliminate the law that prohibits the use of federal funds for needle-exchange programs in the United States or abroad.
Lies, Lies and Adobe Spies | UneasySilence →
Turns out that 192.168.112.2O7.net is owned by Omniture, a huge behavioral analytics firm. Hmmmmmm, anybody curious why Adobe is doing this? Anybody care to sniff packets? I sense an invasion of privacy here!
Top Ten Archaeology Stories of 2007 →
“At least three of them have been debunked, but whatever.” — pica
Customer Service: Creative Sends Out Crazy Support... →
I can’t believe they included a sales pitch in a support email. Super-lame.
Daily Kos: The overt racist in the GOP field →
Is it any wonder that neo-Nazis are flocking to [Ron Paul’s] campaign? But Paul is against the war in Iraq and he wants FREEDOM! So that must make his racism okay.
Reuters AlertNet - Paris loses out: Hilton fortune... →
Jerry Oppenheimer, who profiled the Hilton family in his 2006 book “House of Hilton,” has said Barron Hilton is embarrassed by the behavior of his socialite granddaughter Paris and believes it has sullied the family name.
Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Demanding... →
No, no, a thousand times no. Much of the resolution deals with the need to do away with discrimination and violence on the basis of religion, and that is of course laudable (though it would be far more compelling if it also condemned discrimination and violence fomented by religion). But the notion that governments can mandate “respect” for religion, or that religious people have some...
Merry Christmas everybody!
Christmas Day - The Issue →
On Christmas eve in 1914, English and German soldiers shared in an impromptu truce. The war-hardened enemies lay down their weapons, left their trenches,and celebrated under the most unlikely circumstances, playing a soccer game in no mans land.
NPR : Grady Memorial Hospital Has Cash Emergency →
Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta’s only safety net hospital for the poor. But the 100-year old institution is on the verge of collapse. Without a major infusion of money by the end of the year, Grady will fail to make payroll and may have to close. Its board of trustees has agreed to resign as part of a turnaround plan.
Previously: Atlanta Hospital in Grave Condition | AP
Dispatches from the Culture Wars: More Huckabee... →
I can’t see how anyone who has actually read [the ten commandments] could possibly think that they are the basis of “most of our laws. Of the ten commandments, only two would even be constitutional in the United States, with a third being constitutional in limited circumstances. The other 7 could not possibly be the basis for any law because they would be clearly unconstitutional.
Think Progress » Bush gives CNN the Helen Thomas... →
Fishbowl DC reports that at his year-end press conference last Thursday, Bush did not call on CNN, “making CNN’s Ed Henry and Helen Thomas (who almost never gets called on by Bush) the only two front-row journos not to be called on.”
The best, the worst, the weirdest - USATODAY.com →
The Poof Daddy Instant Disappearance Award:Mims, whose “This Is Why I’m Hot” triggered downloads and ringtone sales in the millions, album sales around 300,000 and no follow-up hits.
In Kentucky’s Teeth, Toll of Poverty and Neglect -... →
Dr. [Edwin E.]Smith has a rare window on a state with the highest proportion of adults under 65 without teeth, where about half the population does not have dental insurance. He struggles to counter the effects of the drastic shortage of dentists in rural areas and oral hygiene habits that have been slow to change.
I hate it when a web site (I’m looking at you, USAToday) steals focus from a tab I’m reading when it finally loads. Ugh.
Australia to enforce a "ratings system" on web,... →
[I]t’s another misguided attempt to make the Internet into a playground for children where they won’t need supervision.
GOOD Magazine | Guerilla Squat →
Beginning in 2004, the group’s members lived in their apartment-in-a-mall for weeks at a time, surviving on takeout from the food court. They did their best to emulate a real home, toting Crate & Barrel drawers, a china set, and a couch into their cinderblock-lined space
“The tragedy was that the plug was pulled before it got even more ridiculous,” says [artist/squatter Michael]...
The Year’s Most Laughable Political Antics →
Most Likely to Flunk a High School Civics Test Runner up: White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, who admitted she had never heard of the Cuban missile crisis. “It had to do with Cuba and missiles, I’m pretty sure,” she said.
— pica
WatchAmerican Cancer Society Unveils 1.2-Megaton Anti-Cancer Missile | The Onion
Sanata Claus Comes for Failed Business Executives... →
The basic story is that last March, the wise men who run Circuit City came up with the brilliant idea of laying off their more senior salespeople, who get $14-$15 an hour, and replacing them with new hires who get around $9 an hour.
The [Washington] Post reports that Circuit City’s executive vice-presidents will get retention awards of $1 million each. That’s 35 years worth of pay...