Sunday, November 30, 2008

Obama Invites Amadou & Mariam To Play Inauguration

"Le duo de musiciens maliens a été invité par le futur président américain lui-même à chanter le jour de sa cérémonie d'investiture à Washington le 20 janvier.

Amadou et Mariam cartonnent en ce moment avec leur tube Sabali issu de l'album Welcome to Mali, sorti le 17 novembre 2008. Selon le Figaro, le couple de musiciens maliens, produits par le très branché label Because Music, a été invité par Barack Obama lui-même à se produire à Washington le 20 janvier 2009 pour sa cérémonie d'investiture. Les festivités devraient durer trois jours et se termineront par le serment de Barack Obama et un défilé dans les rues de la capitale."

link

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I've been trying to read French news lately, and from what I gathered it seems like Amadou & Mariam will perform at the Inauguration on January 20th. Nice pick Barack...but think we could get Wu-Tang too? Or how about Dead Prez...don't you think stic.man and M-1 would bring our country together?

Friday, November 28, 2008

Walmart Worker TRAMPLED TO DEATH in Black Friday Stampede



A Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island store Friday morning, police and witnesses said. The 34-year-old worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m. Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him. "He was bum-rushed by 200 people," said Jimmy Overby, 43, a co-worker. "They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too...I literally had to fight people off my back." The unidentified victim was rushed to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:03 a.m., police said. The cause of death was pending.

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was knocked to the floor during the mad rush. She was hospitalized for observation, police said. Three other shoppers suffered minor injuries, cops said. Before police shut down the store, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the store clerk's life. "They were working on him, but you could see he was dead, said Halcyon Alexander, 29. "People were still coming through." Only a few stopped. "They're savages," said shopper Kimberly Cribbs, 27. "It's sad. It's terrible."


LINK


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Jesus Fucking Christ, people are unbelievable. Trampled to death?!? So you could save $50 on a fucking HDTV? Good lord

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Freakonomics VS Marginal Revolution

My two favourite economics blogs are facing off. In a Freakonomics post, Justin Wolfers shamelessly ripped off The New Yorker’s cartoon caption contest and asked readers to submit their preferred caption for a Bush/Krugman photo in the White House. Shortly afterward, Tyler Cowen challenged his Marginal Revolution readers to come up with better ideas. Then Wolfers made the rivalry official with this post. It included an offer for a side bet and a killer announcement:

we have a very special guest judge: Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman has agreed to pick the winning entry.

I wonder whether they asked President George Bush as well. Whose ego would have given up when determining the best caption winner? I am so excited I will not drink any more coffee today.

The Bush-congratulates-Krugman photo that started it all was first spotted on The Economist blog. You can submit your ideas to the first two links above.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

$7,500,000,000,000

2009 is going to be fun...

This video is dedicated to whomever moves into the basement



Had to add this video

I'll Show you my monkey

This Album came out a few months ago.
Worth a view, could you at least one Del verse though.

wow. only in canada...

Meteor or UFO Lights up Alberta's Night Sky - 11/20/2008

obama should choose this guy instead of clinton for sec. of state...

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"Ping Zui, of Hubei, was invited to perform at an awards night in Zhuzhou, reports the People's Daily.

By wearing a pair of specially made goggles, Ping blew up the balloon to the audience's applause.

Zhang Mingchan, chief eye surgeon at Xiehe Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, said Ping's performance was unbelievable.

"The only exit for air is the tear duct, but a tear duct is very narrow and winding. Even if some air can exit from the tear duct, the amount is tiny, so it's really incredible to be able to blow up a balloon using the eyes," he said.

An examination revealed that Ping's eyes are healthy and his eyesight is good.

Ping discovered his talent as a child: "When I was young and swimming with pals in the river, I found my eyes could blow out air," he said."

men who look like old lesibians...

the blog itself is pretty funny but the concept alone made me laugh out loud...

men who look like old lesbians...

land of the free. home of the brave.

Student arrested for 'passing gas' at Fla. school

STUART, Fla. – A student at a Florida school has been arrested after authorities said he was "passing gas" and turning off his classmates' computers. According to a report released Friday by the Martin County Sheriff's Office, the 13-year-old boy "continually disrupted his classroom environment" by intentionally breaking wind. He then shut off some computers other students were using.

The Spectrum Junior-Senior High School was arrested Nov. 4.

A school resource officer placed the boy under arrest after he confessed about his behavior, according to the report. He was charged with disruption of school function and released to his mother.

i salute you: president bush

well, as we all know, there comes a time in every president's life when he must bail out some buds and hand out some pardons. and, with bush just two months away from letting the door smack his ass on the way out, it's pardon time.

there's some real doozies in bush's most recent round of pardons. take for instance a few of his old coke buddies/dealers:

Andrew Foster Harley of Falls Church, Va. Harley was convicted of wrongful use and distribution of marijuana and cocaine

Robert Earl Mohon Jr. of Grant, Ala., who was convicted of conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

Ronald Alan Mohrhoff of Los Angeles, who was convicted for unlawful use of a telephone in a narcotics felony. (unlawful use of a telephone??)

John Edward Forte of North Brunswick, N.J., and James Russell Harris of Detroit, Mich. Both were convicted of cocaine offenses.


then of course you have the typical white collar criminals:

Geneva Yvonne Hogg of Jacksonville, Fla., convicted of bank embezzlement.

Carey C. Hice Sr. of Travelers Rest, S.C., who was convicted of income tax evasion.

Paul Julian McCurdy of Sulphur, Okla., who was sentenced for misapplication of bank funds.


but then, then you have your real scummy scumbags. we'll call them, bush's brahs:

Daniel Figh Pue III of Conroe, Texas, convicted of illegal treatment, storage and disposal of a hazardous waste without a permit.

Leslie Owen Collier of Charleston, Mo. She was convicted for unauthorized use of a pesticide and violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.


what?! not only was this woman polluting the environment with dangerous pesticides but she was fucking with bald eagles? this had to be one of cheney's picks..

Pirates sign two pitchers from India



"The Pittsburgh Pirates announced late on Monday that they have signed pitchers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Kumar Patel as non-drafted free agents. The two Indian pitchers were discovered while participating in the Million Dollar Arm competition in India last year to find the strongest and most accurate arm in the country.

Singh and Patel emerged as the winners and were then invited to train with University of Southern California pitching coach Tom House in the US. After months of training, the two pitchers — who had never played baseball before entering the contest — threw in front of numerous Major League scouts earlier this month.

Both have been reported to reach a velocity in the low 90s and have impressive accuracy considering their lack of structured training until this year.

Singh and Patel are the first Indian-born players to sign a professional sports contract outside of their home country."

speaking of blood-thirsty robots...

i saw this a few days ago on lords of apathy and have been having nightmares ever since...



god help us.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Pretty soon, we'll all be unemployed

IBM to build brain-like computers.

Lawyers Wanted: Abroad, That Is



Major American law firms have long had a presence abroad, staffed by a combination of local counsel and lawyers from the home office. But as the economic downturn continues to cause upheaval in corporate America and the law firms that serve it, many firms are relying on their international outposts to keep profits up — and a growing number of lawyers are starting to look overseas for work. Not long ago, the City of London was New York’s primary competitor for financial talent, and Britain was often one of the first choices for lawyers deciding to head abroad.

But with Wall Street in tatters and London struggling as the credit crisis plays out, lawyers and analysts say that the most promising places for legal careers are such far-flung locales as Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong. Even though Dubai’s booming economy has cooled sharply recently, lawyers say demand for their services remains strong there, and other overseas markets are still beckoning lawyers despite the global impact of the credit crisis — at least for now.


READ FULL ARTICLE


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Hmmm.......Dubai seems pretty hip, no?

Friday, November 21, 2008

after midnight, we gon' let it all hang down

"In what has become a kind of presidential right-of-passage, the president (or really, the federal agencies that answer to him) has been pushing through a series of last-minute regulations that have the force of law. Everything from pollution controls to family-leave standards can be set by these rules.

And you thought your high school government teacher said that Congress made all the laws.

These de-facto laws are called "midnight rules" or "midnight regulations" because they happen at the end -- or midnight period -- of an administration. If the rules are published in the Federal Register by Friday, Nov. 21, they'll be very hard for President-elect Obama to reverse when he gets into office.

And that's the point. Sure, the administration had eight years to get a lot of this stuff accomplished. But according senior research fellow at George Mason University Veronique de Rugy, most midnight regulations "cater to special interests," and "that is why they are hurried into effect without the usual checks and balances."

...

The Wall Street Journal reports that the new rules, "open the way for commercial development of oil shale on federal land, allow truckers to drive for longer periods, and add certain restrictions on employee time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act."

Man chainsaws his head off to protest his eviction

The last resident in a block of flats due to be demolished cut his own head off with a chainsaw to highlight the 'injustice' of being asked to move out, an inquest heard today.

Desperate David Phyall, 50, plugged the electric chainsaw into the mains and attached a timer to the socket.

He then wrapped sellotape around the machine's trigger to secure it in the 'on' position and tied the handle of the saw to a table leg to hold it steady.

read article here

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this man should be a model for what to do if carla ever evicts anyone from the toast.

the man, the myth, the mustache: tom o'dell



"One of O'Dell's famous terms is "bigguns" used to describe the large knives and swords that he sells. He has also clothed himself in camouflage and combat boots to appear on the show."

i'm a little worried that the only person laughing at all this tom o'dell talk is paul l...

harold mccoo of the cable value network fails



sadly our old friend o'dell wasn't around to assess the situation...

another scummy priest...

"GREELEY, Colo. – A Catholic priest convicted of indecent exposure for jogging naked around a track at a high school has been sentenced to five years probation.

Rev. Robert Whipkey must also complete 100 hours of community service and register as a sex offender under the sentence handed down Thursday in Weld County District Court.

The Denver archdiocese said Whipkey, of Frederick, was placed on leave last year. He officiated at parishes in Frederick, Mead and Erie. He was arrested about an hour before sunrise on June 22, 2007.

Dressed in a blue shirt and slacks, Whipkey told Judge Timothy Kerns that the conviction has ruined his life and that he is unemployed."

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the only good priest i've ever known:

Rob Halford Pictures, Images and Photos

smells like rotten meat.

Mass. cops puzzled by butcher-quality meat chunks
Thu Nov 20, 8:36 pm ET

"FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – Police are trying to figure out who keeps leaving chunks of meat on the town common, and why. Police said residents have been finding butcher-quality cuts of meat on the common for about five weeks. In the most recent incident, a resident discovered a large piece of raw, unwrapped meat, along with what appeared to be a liver and some bones on Tuesday.

Police Lt. Paul Shastany said someone may be trying to poison animals, so the meat has been sent for testing."

wow.



i mean, the fucking guy is literally stuffing chickens into his hole of death the whole interview...

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Made in USA: China's All Seeing Eye

This Rolling Stone article is a bit lengthy but it is worth reading till the end. I could also not help but remember one of the most famous TV ads of all time.

As fate would have it, the pc/mac boom turns out to be facilitating the creation of a Big Brother state rather than liberating people from it. But the broader question is whether people really need privacy. Are you willing to give up some of your freedom in order to gain temporary security (see quotes)?

newmarket epic flood

sam donaldson is a sickko

baggggh

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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

hot chicks with douche bags

a really funny blog: hot chicks with douche bags!

it's ON

I made my first e-video with the miniscule amount of footage i have:

pretty basic, but everything's working so im pumped. If anyone has any good ideas, lets film it, and become u-tube celebrities!!

Ken Griffey Jr. Named Public Diplomacy Envoy:


From CNN.com

" He has thrilled sports fans for over twenty years with his hitting and fielding exploits. But can Major League baseball star Ken Griffey, Jr. hit a grand slam for the State Department?

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice named Griffey a public diplomacy envoy Tuesday, tasking the All-Star slugger with spreading "the values of the United States" in large part by helping to spark "interest in America and in our culture."

"Public diplomacy must be a dialogue," Rice said after meeting with Griffey in Washington. "This dialogue must extend to every citizen in every country, especially to young people."

She noted that Griffey is uniquely qualified to engage young people given his stature as one of the best-known players in what is arguably the country's most famous sport.

"This is quite an honor," Griffey noted. "I think youth is the most important thing. (I am) looking forward to this opportunity to teach kids (and help) develop them."

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Seriously, what kind of joke is this?

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

speaking of not making cigarette ads like they used to....


"yeah barney, winston tastes good... like a cigarette should!"

Pedroia Wins AL MVP



Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia has won the American League Most Valuable Player award.

Pedroia got 16 of the 28 first-place votes and easily beat out Minnesota Twins slugger Justin Morneau.

Pedroia became the first AL second baseman to win the award since Nellie Fox in 1959.

Five players drew first-place votes. Record-setting closer Francisco Rodriguez got one of them and finished sixth overall.

LINK

Bruins v Canadiens



I've started to watch the Bruins and hockey in general for the first time since Freshman year when I was living in Montreal, and when I remembered this fight, I had to post it.

Ancient Greeks pre-empted Dead Parrot sketch

ATHENS (Reuters) – "I'll tell you what's wrong with it. It's dead, that's what's wrong with it."

For those who believe the ancient Greeks thought of everything first, proof has been found in a 4th century AD joke book featuring an ancestor of Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch where a man returns a parrot to a shop, complaining it is dead.

The 1,600-year-old work entitled "Philogelos: The Laugh Addict," one of the world's oldest joke books, features a joke in which a man complains that a slave he has just bought has died, its publisher said Friday.

"By the gods," answers the slave's seller, "when he was with me, he never did any such thing!"

In a British comedy act Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch, first aired in 1969 and regularly voted one of the funniest ever, the pet-shop owner says the parrot, a "Norwegian Blue," is not dead, just "resting" or "pining for the fjords."

arrrgh matey

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – In a dramatic escalation of high seas crime, Somali pirates hijacked a Saudi supertanker loaded with crude hundreds of miles off the coast of East Africa — defeating the security web of warships trying to protect vital shipping lanes.

The takeover demonstrates the bandits' heightened ambitions and capabilities: Never before have they seized such a giant ship so far out to sea. Maritime experts warned the broad daylight attack, reported by the U.S. Navy on Monday, was an alarming sign of the difficulty of patrolling a vast stretch of ocean key to oil and other cargo traffic.

The MV Sirius Star, a brand new tanker with a 25-member crew, was seized at about 10 a.m. Saturday more than 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya, the Navy said. The area lies far south of the zone where warships have increased their patrols this year in the Gulf of Aden, one of the busiest channels in the world, leading to and from the Suez Canal, and the scene of most past attacks.

The massive supertanker would seem to present a daunting target for the pirates, who usually operate in small speedboats. At 1,080 feet, it is the length of an aircraft carrier and can carry about 2 million barrels of oil.

But experts said its crew may have felt a false sense of security so far from shore, even though pirates have repeatedly demonstrated their skill in taking down big prizes.

Details of Saturday's attack were not known, but in past seizures, pirates have used ropes and ladders to climb the hull — and on large ships, the crew often doesn't notice them until it's too late. On the Sirius Star, the attackers likely would have had to scale about 30 feet from the water to the deck.

It was not clear if the Sirius Star had any armed security on board. In past attacks, alert crews have fended off pirates trying to climb the sides, using water hoses to knock them away. But the pirates have struck back: In April, they fired a rocket-propelled grenade that punched a hole in the side of a Japanese oil tanker, spewing oil into the sea, in an unsuccessful attempt to capture it.

read here

these guys are badass. we should get copyrights and write a screenplay quick...

why mccain lost

"As John McCain's interactive campaign is called disorganized and disconnected by some Monday morning quarterbacks, one thing's for sure. The Republican hopeful's Web team spent far less on online advertising than the Obama camp.

The McCain campaign spent just over $1.5 million on Web media, according to data representing campaign 2008 expenditures into September. Obama's campaign spent around $8 million in '08 as of October."

just an interesting bit. but what's even more interesting? disgraced alaskan senator ted stevens explaining that the internet is not something you just dump something on, it's not a big truck, it's a series of tubes people.



hint: the comedic quote is at the end of the video

Monday, November 17, 2008

Woman Looses 400K To Nigerian Email Scam

Janella Spears of Sweet Home says she simply became curious when she received an e-mail promising her $20.5 million if she would only help out a long-lost relative identified as J.B. Spears with a little money up front. Spears told KATU-TV about the scammers' ability to identify her relative by name was persuasive. "That's what got me to believe it," She said. "So, why wouldn't you send over $100?"Spears, who is a nursing administrator and CPR teacher, said she mortgaged the house and took a lien out on the family car, and ran through her husband's retirement account.

"The retirement he was dreaming of — cruising and going around and seeing America — is pretty much gone for him right now," she said. She estimates it will take two years to clear the debt that accumulated in the more than two years she spent sending money to con artists. Her family and bank officials told her it was all a scam, she said, and begged her to stop, but she persisted because she became obsessed with getting paid. The scheme is often called the "Nigerian scam" and it's familiar to many people with e-mail accounts. It still exists and it still works. Spears first sent $100 through an untraceable wire service as directed by the scammers. Then, more multimillion dollar promises followed so long as she sent more money. The scammers sent Spears official-looking documents and certificates from the Bank of Nigeria and the United Nations. President Bush and FBI Director Robert Mueller were also involved, the e-mails said, and needed her help. They sent official-looking documents and certificates from the Bank of Nigeria and even from the United Nations, saying her payment was "guaranteed." But it wasn't and now Spears is paying the price for her costly lesson. "The hope is [other people] are not going to fall as hard as I fell," Spears said.

LINK

Friday, November 14, 2008

W Giving the Shocker



Only two more months of Dubya in the white house, but he's still blessing us with gems like this.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Pierce Game Winner

this concerned me

cnn:

"Weapons dealers in much of the United States are reporting sharply higher sales since Barack Obama won the presidency a week ago.

Buyers and sellers attribute the surge to worries that Obama and a Democratic-controlled Congress will move to restrict firearm ownership, despite the insistence of campaign aides that the president-elect supports gun rights and considers the issue a low priority. Video Watch shoppers snap up guns of all types »

According to FBI figures for the week of November 3 to 9, the bureau received more than 374,000 requests for background checks on gun purchasers -- a nearly 49 percent increase over the same period in 2007. Conatser said his store, Virginia Arms Company, has run out of some models -- such as the AR-15 rifle, the civilian version of the military's M-16 -- and is running low on others.

Such assault weapons are among the firearms that gun dealers and customers say they fear Obama will hit with new restrictions, or even take off the market."

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imagine if mccain had won and we heard this same story only instead of racist southerners it was blacks living in major cities..

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

killer klowns from outerspace



great 80s flick, 1988 to be exact. written and directed by the chiodo brothers best known for "creating puppets and effects for films such as Critters and Team America: World Police."

"From a Technological Perspective, It is the Beginning"-Eric E. Schmidt

"There is a new common sympton of the flu, in addition to the usual aches, coughs, fevers, and soar throats. Turns out a lot of ailing Americans enter phrases like "flu symptoms" into Google and other search engines before they call their doctors.

That simple act, multiplied across millions of keyboards in homes around the country, has given rise to a new early warning system for fast-spreading flu outbreaks, called Google Flu Trends."

Are we losing our privacy online, or 'scratching the surface of collective intelligence?'-read NYT article here

Palin Open To A Presidential Run 2012



“You know, I have -- faith is a very big part of my life. And putting my life in my creator's hands -- this is what I always do. I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is. Even if it's cracked up a little bit, maybe I'll plow right on through that and maybe prematurely plow through it, but don't let me miss an open door. And if there is an open door in '12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I'll plow through that door.”

Starts around 5:50. Great stuff.

Rumurs of Obama's Cabinet Picks



Al Gore as "Climate Czar"? Powell as Sec of State or Education? Hagel as Sec of State? Richardson as Sec of Interior? Dean in Health + Human Services? Kerry (cringe) as Sec of State? An Energy Security Council? Some interesting stuff...

LINK

q tip - move



q tip just dropped his first lp in like 10 years and shit's hot. pitchfork loved it...i'm pretty sure the track above is a dilla beat too..

garnett treats carlos calderon like the bitch he is



wait, jermaine o'neal is on the toronto raptors?

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

After banning YouTube, military launches TroopTube (AP)

SEATTLE - The U.S. military, with help from Seattle startup Delve Networks, has launched a video-sharing Web site for troops, their families and supporters, a year and a half after restricting access to YouTube and other video sites.

TroopTube, as the new site is called, lets people register as members of one of the branches of the armed forces, family, civilian Defense Department employees or supporters. Members can upload personal videos from anywhere with an Internet connection, but a Pentagon employee screens each for taste, copyright violations and national security issues.

Part of Delve's work was to build speedy tools for approving and sorting incoming videos. Its technology also crunches video files into several sizes and automatically plays the one that best suits viewers' Internet connection speeds...

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if i was a troop i'de be bullshit. politicians always inform us that they're fighting to protect our freedoms...

Fat kids found to have arteries of 45-year-olds

ap:

NEW ORLEANS – Obese children as young as 10 had the arteries of 45-year-olds and other heart abnormalities that greatly raise their risk of heart disease, say doctors who used ultrasound tests to take a peek inside.

"As the old saying goes, you're as old as your arteries are," said Dr. Geetha Raghuveer of Children's Hospital in Kansas City, who led one of the studies. "This is a wake-up call."

The studies were reported Tuesday at an American Heart Association conference.

About a third of American children are overweight and one-fifth are obese. Many parents think that "baby fat" will melt away as kids get older. But research increasingly shows that fat kids become fat adults, with higher risks for many health problems.

"Obesity is not benign in children and adolescents," said Dr. Robert Eckel, a former heart association president and cardiologist at the University of Colorado-Denver. It is why the American Academy of Pediatrics recently recommended cholesterol-lowering drugs for some kids, he noted.

Raghuveer wanted to see if early signs of damage could be documented. She and colleagues used painless ultrasound tests to measure the thickness of the wall of a major neck artery in 70 children, ages 10 to 16. Almost all had abnormal cholesterol and many were obese.

No one knows how thick a 10-year-old's artery should be, since they're not regularly checked for signs of heart disease, so researchers used tables for 45-year-olds, who often do get such exams.

The kids' "vascular age" was about 30 years older than their actual age, she found.

Barack means Lightning, Rahm means Thunder

Aaron Keyak:

"Remember when it was reported that President-elect Barack Obama had a problem with the Jewish vote?

That is no more.

In one of President-elect Barack Obama’s first Presidential decisions since Election Day he selected Representative Rahm Emanuel to be his Chief of Staff. We all know that Emanuel has “has a proven commitment to Israel’s security and served as civilian volunteer on an Israeli military base during the Persian Gulf War of 1991.” We also know that Emanuel’s “aggressive, pragmatic style of politics” makes him the perfect selection to be Obama’s Chief of Staff.

But could have Emanuel’s selection had something to do with his first name - Rahm?

In Hebrew, Rahm (רעם)* means “thunder” and Barack (ברק) means “lightning.”

“If you are near...lightning you’ll hear thunder as one sharp crack”

Thunder & Lightning = Change that can get it done"

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this business with rahm serving in israel during the first gulf war shall provide plenty of ammo to conservative conspiracy theorists...still, i'm interested to know his explanation of what he was doing there..

A Funny Thing...

The last thing I read before hacksaw's latest post was chapter five of Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs. It was called Appetite for Replication and centered around a Guns' and Roses tribute band. At one point Chuck actually wonders about the effect of the upcoming Chinese Democracy album on the fake group. When I finished it I opened my blog reader and BANG! - Nick/hacksaw has thought about the same object at the same time, a few thousand kilometers away. This is faith's funny way to remind me about the recent invite to blog at Party Intellectuals.
And I do not even believe in faith.
But I will be posting here every now and then. In a way, tonight's weird coincidence did not just connect me with Nick but with all of you.
So,
Hi, pleased to meet you.

Olberman gets passionate and owns It

chinese democracy

well, rolling stone has released a review of guns n roses long awaited "chinese democracy." read it here!


g n r's new single:

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Watch "Boxcar Bertha"

No worthwhile clips of it on youtube, but it is a fucking great Scorsese film from '72, filmed on a budget of $600,000. Maybe I just missed the boat, and everyone else has seen this, but I hadn't even heard of it before tonights spontaneous online rental. Anyways, worth watching. Makes me look even further down on Scorsese for that last shot he put in 'The Departed.'

Our New Chief of Staff


Drunks Try to Mount Art Horse

I can't embed this video, but its worth checking out

Saturday, November 8, 2008

This Years Forgotten Independent

Palin 2012



But seriously, since when does the GOP listen to electro from dirty-socialist-Frenchies?

This Must Be The Place

Byrne may be a tad past his prime (ref. Stop Making Sense), but this is a neat arrangement.

The Dude Abides



More great journalism from Greta and Fox.

General Motors: "WE'RE FUCKED"

The American auto industry is running on fumes. General Motors, the nation's largest automaker, warned Friday that it may run out of money by the end of the year after piling up billions in third-quarter losses and burning through cash at an alarming rate. Ford sustained heavy losses, too.

The situation is so severe, GM has suspended talks to acquire Chrysler and is appealing to the government for help as the slumping economy drags cars sales to their lowest level in a quarter century.

GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said the company will "take every action" possible to avoid bankruptcy.

"We're convinced that the consequences of bankruptcy would be dire," he said, adding that the company would use every source of potential funding. "We need to find a way to get through this, and that's really our focus," he said.

GM also planned more job cuts, including another 5,500 salaried and factory workers. But company officials cautioned that those measures alone would not be enough and that federal aid is essential.

Ford saw its cash supply decline rapidly and announced its own job cuts Friday. But it's in better shape because the company borrowed billions of dollars in 2007 by mortgaging its factories. The Dearborn-based manufacturer said it had enough cash to make it through 2009.

Friday's events called into question the future of Detroit's three automakers and heightened pressure on the government to take action.

President-elect Barack Obama on Friday indicated that help may be on the way. At a Chicago news conference, he said Congress must pass an economic stimulus measure either before or just after he takes office in January, and he mentioned aid for the auto industry.

Top executives of General Motors, Ford, Chrysler LLC and the president of the UAW met with Congressional leaders Thursday to discuss some $50 billion more in loans, participants said. The loans would include $25 billion to help the companies withstand the weak economy and another $25 billion for future. The money would be in addition to the $25 billion in loans that Congress passed in September to help retool auto plants to build more fuel-efficient vehicles.

IHS Global Insight analyst George Magliano said the cash problems reported by GM and Ford were worse than experts had thought. And that raised the risk of bankruptcy.

"It's close," he said about the possibility of one of the U.S. automakers filing for Chapter 11 protection. "Up until now, we knew the cash numbers were tough, but we didn't know how bad."

Companies that run out of cash generally can sell assets, cut costs or file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to keep creditors at bay while they reorganize.

GM had said previously it could fall short of cash needed to operate in the first few months of next year, and Ford has said it has about seven months of money, Magliano noted.

If GM files for bankruptcy, Fitch Ratings analyst Mark Oline said there is "a very high risk" that it would pull in Ford and Chrysler, too, because GM probably would be forced to discount vehicles deeply to generate cash for creditors, and other automakers would be forced to follow.

GM said it lost $2.5 billion in the third quarter, but more important, it spent $6.9 billion more than it took in — nearly double the spending rate of the second quarter.

The news came just hours after Ford announced it had lost $129 million for the quarter. The company burned through $7.7 billion in cash, but said it could keep going through 2009. Ford also said it would cut another 2,260 white-collar workers in North America.

GM called off talks with Chrysler to concentrate on its own business.

Privately held Chrysler wouldn't comment on GM's remarks, but said it remains focused on returning to profitability. It also said it will continue to "explore multiple strategic alliances or partnerships."

GM's cuts included the indefinite layoff of about 3,600 workers beginning early next year as it slows production at 10 assembly plants to match anticipated weaker sales.

"We are cutting to the bone," said Fritz Henderson, GM's president and chief operating officer. "What we want to try to do is size the business for this kind of volume level ... and frankly, put us in much better shape when the industry improves."

GM reported a net loss of $4.45 per share during the quarter, compared with a record-setting loss of $39 billion, or $68.85 per share, a year earlier. Its automotive operations saw an adjusted loss of $2.8 billion.

Revenue fell to $37.9 billion from $43.7 billion.

The results exceeded Wall Street estimates. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predicted a loss of $3.70 per share on sales of $39.4 billion.

The company announced it would bolster its cash reserves by $5 billion by the end of next year through reduction of sales promotions and further production cuts in the first quarter.

GM will cut capital spending to $4.8 billion from $7.2 billion and delay several vehicle models. But GM said it will continue funding for the Chevrolet Volt electric car and the Chevrolet Cruze, a small fuel-efficient model. Both are due out in 2010.

GM also suspended its matching contribution for employee 401k plans, and suspended tuition reimbursement. In addition, salaried employees will not receive incentive pay next year for their work in 2008, GM said.

GM, which has about 123,000 employees in North America, will also cut another 1,900 salaried jobs on top of the 5,100 announced last summer.

But the cuts and delays may not be enough to keep the company's cash supply from falling dangerously low.

"GM's estimated liquidity during the remainder of 2008 will approach the minimum amount necessary to operate its business," the company said in a news release.

And the company's cash shortage in the first two quarters of 2009 could fall significantly short of the minimum amount unless industry conditions improve or GM gets government funding, GM said.

GM shares fell 44 cents, or 9.2 percent, to $4.36 in Friday trading. Ford shares rose 4 cents, or 2 percent, to $2.02.

___

AP Business writers James Prichard and Jeff Karoub in Detroit and Vinnee Tong and Bree Fowler in New York contributed to this report.

LINKIFICATION

Friday, November 7, 2008

Obama Wins Omaha District: 1 More Electoral Vote

I know this doesn't have any real importance, but I think it speaks to Obama's strength and intelligence as a politician, as this is the first time Nebraska has ever split its vote. No one really thought there was any chance of this happening, but Obama put a lot of people on the ground to get out the vote in Omaha, while it was ignored by McCain and the media. While one electoral vote may seem irrelevant even in a close election, there were some potential scenarios in which the electoral college vote could have been tied. Take a look at the map from September 20th, just flip New Hampshire (where Obama was only leading by one point at the time) to McCain and the votes are tied 269-269.

LINK

Go Celtics

Obama's New Press Secretary Owning Hannity



I like the apparent pick of Robert Gibbs for press secretary, check out this video of him taking down Hannity after a debate.

just because i fucking hate joe the plumber



it was funny. the other day these two old people came into my work and started chatting about the obama victory. the first thing they both said was that obama was going to raise spending by the likes of which we've never seen.

the woman said, "don't you know, all that money he promised you from iraq is going right into afghanistan?? your generation will be bankrupt!"

and i said, "right, but bush, a republican, preeminently invaded both countries..."

and her husband spoke up, "it was clinton's fault! you gotta' read more son. clinton had a chance to catch these terrorists and he let 'em go.."

i think we're going to see a lot more problems magically blamed on obama and nancy pelosi...

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Craigslist cracks down on prostitution, illegal activities

In a pact with more than 40 states and territories, Craigslist is taking steps to prevent people from posting classified ads that can facilitate prostitution, human trafficking, child exploitation and other illegal activities.

Read LA Times article here.

This cop out from craigslist will rob me multiple giggles while perusing the 'casual encounters' page. (And by the way, the actual definition of peruse is to read through with thoroughness and care.) I'll also have to find a new online outlet for my global prostitution ring. Fuck.

But on a serious note, it's pretty upsetting to see craigslist working and communicating so closely with law enforcement. Takes away from the mission and charm of the website. My 2 cents.

Bush and Obama Dinner Party

From CNN.com
"President-elect Barack Obama and President Bush are set to meet in the White House on Monday, a get-together both men say they are looking forward to.

“Michelle and I look forward to meeting with President Bush and the First Lady on Monday to begin the process of a smooth, effective transition," Obama said in a statement. "I thank him for reaching out in the spirit of bipartisanship that will be required to meet the many challenges we face as a nation."

Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said the two men will sit down in the Oval Office."

--------------------------

Completely normal, I know. But, this mandatory dinner and my natural skepticism of politics (despite all the faith we have in Obama) just reminds me of this Bill Hicks bit.

Election Tidbits From Newsweek

I found some of these really interesting;

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request.

-- The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and very disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that the crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied. Michelle Obama was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates. "Why would they try to make people hate us?" Michelle Obama said to a top campaign aide.

-- On the Sunday night before the last debate, McCain's core group of advisers--Steve Schmidt, Rick Davis, adman Fred Davis, strategist Greg Strimple, pollster Bill McInturff and strategy director Sarah Simmons -- met to decide whether or not to tell McCain that the race was effectively over, that he no longer had a chance to win. The consensus in the room was no, not yet, not while he still had "a pulse."

-- The Obama campaign's "New Media" experts created a computer program that would allow a "flusher"--the term for a volunteer who rounds up nonvoters on Election Day--to know exactly who had, and had not, voted in real time. They dubbed it Project Houdini, because of the way names disappear off the list instantly once people are identified as they wait in line at their local polling station.

-- Palin launched her attack on Obama's association with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber, before the campaign had finalized a plan to raise the issue. McCain's advisers were working on a strategy that they hoped to unveil the following week, but McCain had not signed off on it, and top adviser Mark Salter was resisting.

-- McCain also was reluctant to use Obama's incendiary pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright as a campaign issue. He had set firm boundaries: no Jeremiah Wright; no attacking Michelle Obama; no attacking Obama for not serving in the military. McCain balked at an ad using images of children that suggested that Obama might not protect them from terrorism; Schmidt vetoed ads suggesting that Obama was soft on crime (no Willie Hortons); and before word even got to McCain, Schmidt and Salter scuttled a "celebrity" ad of Obama dancing with talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres (the sight of a black man dancing with a lesbian was deemed too provocative).

-- Obama was never inclined to choose Sen. Hillary Clinton as his running mate, not so much because she had been his sometime bitter rival on the campaign trail, but because of her husband. Still, as Hillary's name came up in veep discussions, and Obama's advisers gave all the reasons why she should be kept off the ticket, Obama would stop and ask, "Are we sure?" He needed to be convinced one more time that the Clintons would do more harm than good. McCain, on the other hand, was relieved to face Biden as the veep choice, and not Hillary Clinton, whom the McCain camp had truly feared.

-- McCain was dumbfounded when Congressman John Lewis, a civil-rights hero, issued a press release comparing McCain with former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, a segregationist infamous for stirring racial fears. McCain had devoted a chapter to Lewis in one of his books, "Why Courage Matters" and had so admired Lewis that he had once taken his children to meet him.

-- The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for the Democratic primary debates, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me ... answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."

fox news reports: what the fuck were republicans thinking picking palin?



this is great. everything we thought was true. and then some..

Hey

I saw Zach and Miri make a porno last night cause someone bought me a free ticket. The movie was alright and definitely funny in parts, but the best scene was a pixies montage. So here's the track that everyone probably already knows and loves, but is always worth another listen. The video isn't official, but is pretty sweet.

Meth found in boy's Halloween trick or treat bag




RAMSEY, Minn. – When their children returned from Halloween trick-or-treating, a couple found suspected methamphetamine and $85 in cash among their 7-year-old son's Snickers bars and Skittles. Lars and Shelly Brosdahl called police, who confirmed that the substance was methamphetamine, worth up to $200 on the street.

Someone who looked like a teenager dropped something into their son's bag as he went trick-or-treating with his 9-year-old sister on Halloween night, the Brosdahls say.

"He said some bigger kid ran by him and asked if he wanted some candy," Lars Brosdahl said. "He said `Sure,' and the kid dropped it into his bag."

The clear crystals looked like rock candy, the parents said.

"The (kids) could have OD'd on it. That's what makes me so shaky and upset," Shelly Brosdahl said.

Police think the young man was a suspect fleeing police after a report of an assault in the area that night.

Police in Ramsey, northwest of Minneapolis, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Can I Get an AMEN

...Finally

i figured i'de take this time to both congragulate obama and kick sununu when he's down. becuase he's an asshole.

we all know by now that obama has kicked mccain's ass. what you may not know know is that former nh governor jeanne shaheen has defeated scumbag jon sununu in a tight senate race. here is a comical, almost tim and eric like real commercial from sununu:



"A strong economy, no internet taxes, small business growth, no death taxes?"



you'll note in this add sununu even helped clean the toast house's own lamprey river. i think this video both illustrates a complete doosh who tried to grift new hampshire and lost as well as an end to comical political videos as we know it. for at least a year or two...

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

It's Done

I may be drunk, and may have had to much fun partying in the streets with 500 Parisians chanting Obama....but my expert political opinion says that it is fucking over. No more bullshit election tactics and no more worrying about that dumb bitch from Alaska living in the white house. Obama is in.

Go Vote

Monday, November 3, 2008

i don't know why this made me laugh...

Singletary looking for snitch on pants-dropping episode

"Profootballtalk.com is reporting that interim head coach Mike Singletary of the San Francisco 49ers is looking for the player who leaked the bare facts about Singletary dropping his drawers during a halftime speech to his team a week ago.

Profootballtalk.com suggest the search begins with former Arizona Cardinal and current San Francisco receiver Bryant Johnson."

Source: Profootballtalk.com

i was just reading random sports rumors following the ridiculous news that iverson is heading to detroit for billups (some think as part of an ellaborate plan to lande lebron in 2010) when i found the above...it made me laugh. i just don't really get it..he dropped his pants at halftime?

FUCK YOU SARAH PALIN YOU MOTHERFUCKING EPIC FUCKING FAIL.



my blood is now boiling..how many times has she gotten the job description of the vice-president wrong?

palin: "well they've gotta' be exclusively of course concentrating on the administrative side of, of governance and umm, there again that's where my executive experience will be put to good use but john mccain and i have spoken a lot about the missions that we'll be on together and about where he would like to see me lead and energy independence is, is first and foremost what i will be able to help in a supportive role being able to help him get this nation firmly on that path toward energy independence annd is paramount that we do this otherwise we're gonna' be continually reliant on foriegn sources of energy circulating hundreds of billions of dollars a year into foreign countries instead of right here, creating jobs here with domestic solutions for drilling and mining safely..."

please god, buddah, chuck norris, flying spaghetti monster: don't let this woman near the white house...

many of you have probably seen this but...



"MONTREAL — A Quebec comedy duo notorious for prank calls to celebrities and heads of state has reached Sarah Palin, convincing the Republican vice-presidential nominee she was speaking with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In the interview, which lasts about six minutes, Palin and the pranksters discuss politics, pundits, and the dangers of hunting with current vice-president Dick Cheney."

it's really real.

i'm john mccain and i'm an illiterate



see if you can spot the glaring spelling mistake in this shitty add...

More Sarah Palin

One day left in the election. Obama will win. But I am going to miss watching clips of this moron every day.

Sad Grampa

In Case You Missed It

Sunday, November 2, 2008

RIP Jimmy Carl Black

This past weekend Jimmy Carl Black, the original drummer for Frank Zappa's The Mothers of Invention, died from lung cancer. ::huffs another butt:: He was famously known as 'The Indian of the Group' and on many albums was credited for drums, vocals, and poverty. It's hard to find a video that featured him, but he is briefly shown behind the kit in the video below. Although, I mainly chose the video for Zappa's great remarks after the song is over.

The Constitution Preaches Equality!



Man, I might miss these airhead remarks from Sarah Palin. I would maybe give her the benefit out of the doubt here because she was caught off guard....but I'm not even sure what the fuck she is trying to say.

Tobacco

Here's the new hit in the hip-hop/electronica genre



There is also a track with Aesop Rock
Tobacco - Dirt (feat. Aesop Rock)

Of Montreal - Gallery Piece

My Favorite of the New Album, plus some crazy moves.

M83

Because this band makes me want to live forever. Here's a good graveyard girl remix, and of course Kim & Jessie Video. If anyone finds a good K&J remix, please post.

http://www.mediafire.com/?z4i1m1bej9k

Saturday, November 1, 2008