Yes, ICantSeeYou

In perhaps the dumbest move by anyone of 2009 - PETA is pushing to rename fish "sea kittens"

A new campaign by PETA is trying to re-name fish "sea kittens" in order to restrict fishing.  "No one would hurt a sea kitten" PETA says on their website with this really cute and disturbing picture...

So now we don't call them fish - we call them sea kittens.  When you go to dinner ask for the sea kitten of the day.

Sarah Palin said she fears her First Amendment rights may be threatened by "attacks" from reporters

In a conservative radio interview that aired in Washington, D.C. Friday morning, Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin said she fears her First Amendment rights may be threatened by "attacks" from reporters who suggest she is engaging in a negative campaign against Barack Obama.

Palin went on to say that her criticism of Obama's associations, like those with 1960s radical Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, should not be considered negative attacks.  Rather, for reporters or columnists to suggest that it is going negative may constitute an attack that threatens a candidate's free speech rights under the Constitution, Palin said.

"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations," Palin told host Chris Plante, "then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media." 

Now I assume that the average person reading this blog has a basic understanding of the First Amendment.  For those who need a refresher here it it... it's only one sentence :

 "The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that expressly prohibits the United States Congress from making laws "respecting an establishment of religion" or that prohibit the free exercise of religion, laws that infringe the freedom of speech, infringe the freedom of the press, limit the right to peaceably assemble, or limit the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Did you notice what I did... I took a few words there and made them bigger - I even made them a different color for you.   Sarah, if  you are reading this even you should be able to understand this.    I highlighted it for you.

The first Amendment protects THE MEDIA against people in GOVERNMENT.    You have it BACKWARDS Sarah.

When you are ready - here is a link to the Wikipedia article on the Constitution.  I believe YOU CAN ORDER IT ON TAPE.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution

A Video Demonstration of Microsoft's multi-touch Surface Sphere. Watch as they turn it into a globe of the earth and spin it around. Isn't new technology cool?

Oh, yummy: guy loses arm to gator - in Nubbin Slough

We love the punch line so much, we're gonna give it to you first.

An Okeechobee man lost his arm to a gator in (get ready....) Nubbin Slough.

The reason the guy only has a nubbin of a left arm might have something to do with this:

He was drinking, according to witnesses.

And he ignored friends' warnings that swimming across a canal was pretty stupid.

So Kasey Edwards, who said he never paid "too much mind" to alligators swimming in canals,
is now paying attention.

He's in the hospital, his arm severed three to four inches above the elbow.

Gotta give him some credit. He had to swim out of that canal. With one arm.

Washington lottery pulls candy-themed scratch tickets due to a complaint that it would encourage children to gamble, despite you have to be 18 to buy them

State lottery pulling scratch game after complaint it could appeal to kids

Washington's Lottery is removing a scratch game featuring pictures of popular candies after a complaint that it could appeal to children.

Gov. Christine Gregoire's office on Thursday asked the lottery to pull the game, which features tickets that look like labels for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Jolly Rancher and other candies, after investigating a concern that it could be perceived as a game for kids.

Lottery Director Christopher Liu asked the state's 3,900 scratch-ticket retailers to remove the game, but it may take a few weeks for the game to disappear from shelves and vending machines, said Jacque Coe, spokeswoman for the lottery.

"The stores have been pulling the ticket, and they're making good progress," Coe said.

Of the original 1.9 million candy tickets printed, 600,000 were still on the market before the decision to pull them.

The $2 game features Hershey products and prizes from $2 to $20,000. Tickets went on sale in March.

That the candy-themed game might appeal to kids "didn't rise up as a concern at that time," Coe said.

"In retrospect, we can see where now it might be misinterpreted, and we want to avoid any confusion, any perception that we might be putting the ticket out there to appeal to anyone who's not an adult."

The candy game brings in less than 1 percent of the lottery's revenue and was selling below average, Coe said.

The Hershey game is one of 33 scratch-ticket varieties, many of which also use popular brands and themes, such as "Deal Or No Deal" and outdoor sports, to appeal to buyers.

Washington's Lottery buys most of its games from MDI Entertainment, a subsidiary of Scientific Games, and makes no direct arrangements with brands that appear on the tickets, Coe said.

"This particular brand may have been misconstrued and won't be repeated. We're very committed to preventing sales to minors," she said, citing the lottery's "Not 18? Not a Chance" campaign.

Gregoire has fought against the marketing of cigarettes and alcohol to minors. In 2006, as the lottery was revamping its business strategy, she warned Liu against promoting gambling to teenagers and young adults.

"I want to ensure that we are not, in any way, marketing lottery products to youth," she wrote in a Feb. 10, 2006, letter to the lottery director.

The candy game may have been at odds with that directive, and Gregoire "hopes that [the lottery] will be mindful of this kind of marketing" in the future, said spokeswoman Laura Lockard.

Court says military police can't have lovers

Italy's highest court has ruled that the nation's paramilitary police, the Carabinieri, must not have extra-marital affairs to avoid sullying the force's name.

The ruling stemmed from one Carabiniere's appeal against a lower court ruling sentencing him to four months in jail for insulting and threatening to throw a desk at his boss, who had asked the policeman to break off an affair with a married woman.

Italy's Court of Cassation agreed that any affair is a private matter, but noted that the military police were called to "exemplary conduct and could not bring discredit to the armed forces with extra-marital relationships."

The Carabinieri, Italy's gendarmerie, are the most prominent of several national police forces. Their motto is "Faithful through the centuries."

Man blames Listerine for blood alcohol level of 0.27

SANDPOINT, Idaho - A northern Idaho man who failed a breath test during a court hearing had his bail increased from $10,000 to $100,000.

First District Judge Justin Julian didn't believe Anthony Wayne Johnson's explanation last week that the breath test found he had a blood alcohol content of 0.27 because he had used Listerine before coming to court.

Julian increased the bail and reset Johnson' preliminary hearing for June 11.

Johnson, 39, is accused of discharging a firearm in a home near the Pend Oreille River west of Seneacquoteen on May 18. No one was injured.

Parents fight to call baby girl 'Elvis'. The couple decided to call their five-month old girl Elvis despite the fact that they don't own any of Elvis Presley's records, or even like him very much.

What the five-month-old girl may look like

A Swedish couple have been banned by authorities from calling their baby girl 'Elvis', on the grounds that Elvis isn't a good name for a girl.

The decision was made by Swedish tax authorities, with whom babies' names must be registered.

The couple decided to call their five-month old girl Elvis despite the fact that they don't own any of Elvis Presley's records, or even like him very much, The Local reports.

The girl's mother, Linda, told the Metro newspaper (not us, the Swedish one): 'We talked about lots of names and then Elvis popped up. We thought it was a name that was both pretty and gender-neutral. We're not Elvis Presley fans at all.'

But the Skatteverket (the National Tax Board) disagreed about the whole 'gender-neutral' thing, saying in their report: 'It is the National Tax Board's view that Elvis is a first name of a masculine type and as such may, in light of standard practice, be considered clearly inappropriate as a first name for a woman.'

The parents plan to appeal the ruling.

There have been a number of run-ins between the Skatteverket and parents desiring an unusual name for their sprog. In 2007, one couple successfully appealed a ban on them naming their baby girl 'Metallica', and in 2004, a change in the law was proposed to help out a couple who wanted to call their son 'Superman'.

Marine Earns Reassignment by Passing Out "Bible Coins" in Fallujah. How do you open the coin to read the Bible... no one knows.

And people wonder why Iraqis look askance at us. We aren't in Iraq as missionaries, and this sort of action, no matter what the intent, is bound to produce anger in a country that already looks upon us as occupiers.

On Thursday the U.S. military confirmed that a Marine in Fallujah had passed out coins with a Gospel verse on them to Sunni Muslims at a checkpoint. The man was immediately removed from the checkpoint and reassigned. This followed a McClatchy newspaper report on the coins.

"It did happen," said Mike Isho, a spokesman for Multi National Forces West. "It's one guy and we're investigating." Marines at the western gate of Fallujah were searched, he said and one was found with the coins.

The coins had Arabic translations of a Bible verse on them. On one side, the coin read, "Where will you spend eternity?" and on the other, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16."

Despite the fact that the military states this was an isolated incident - and it probably is - this sort of thing will just fuel the fire and possibly increase the activity - or resolve - of insurgents.

Sheikh Mohammed Amin Abdel Hadi said:

"We say to the occupiers to stop this. This can cause strife between the Iraqis and especially between Muslim and Christians . ... Please stop these things and leave our homes because we are Muslims and we live in our homes in peace with other religions."

Before anyone says the Iraqis are upset over nothing, think of it this way: how would you feel if the situation was reversed and you passed through a checkpoint in the U.S. with military "occupiers" handing out coins with Muslim verses on them? Wouldn't you be insulted and angry?

After Losing Nukes, Air Base Fails Inspection: Security Caught Playing Games On Cellphones

Minot’s 5th Bomb Wing flunks nuclear inspection

The 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., has failed its much-anticipated defense nuclear surety inspection, according to a Defense Threat Reduction Agency report.

DRTA inspectors gave the wing an “unsatisfactory” grade Sunday after uncovering many crucial mistakes during the weeklong inspection, which began May 17. They attributed the errors primarily to lack of supervision and leadership among security forces.

Inspectors from Air Combat Command also participated, but the Air Force refused to provide specifics on their findings.

Security broke down on multiple levels during simulated attacks across the base, including against nuclear weapons storage areas, according to the DTRA report, a copy of which was obtained by Air Force Times.

Inspectors watched as a security forces airman played video games on his cell phone while standing guard at a “restricted area perimeter,” the DTRA report said. Meanwhile, another airman nearby was “unaware of her duties and responsibilities” during the exercise.

The lapses are baffling, given the high-level focus on Minot since last August, when 5th Bomb Wing airmen mistakenly loaded six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles onto a B-52 Stratofortress and flew them to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., where the plane sat on the flight line, unattended, for hours. That incident not only embarrassed the Air Force, but raised concerns worldwide about the deterioration in U.S. nuclear safety standards.

Col. Joel Westa took command of the 5th Bomb Wing following that fiasco. After it failed an initial nuclear surety inspection, or dry run, in December, Westa acknowledged this inspection was going to be the “most scrutinized inspection in the history of time.”

Even so, airmen were unprepared.

“Overall their assessment painted a picture of some things we need to work on in the areas of training and discipline,” Westa said in a statement.

His airmen are working diligently to correct deficiencies, he said.

Inspectors from Air Combat Command will now return to Minot in August to determine if the necessary improvements have been made. Eventually, the wing will have to pass a full defense nuclear surety inspection.

Although the wing failed, it will keep its certification to handle nuclear weapons and will carry on with training right up to the day ACC inspectors revisit the base, said Maj. Thomas Crosson, a command spokesman. The base lost its certification immediately after the incident last August and didn’t have it restored until March 31, after it passed a second dry run.

The wing will participate in both a Red Flag exercise this summer and a nuclear readiness operation exercise as it prepares for the inspectors’ next visit, Crosson said.

DTRA inspectors gave the wing passing grades in nine of 10 areas they examined, including safety and technical operations, but failed it for its nuclear security.

“The most serious failure is the one regarding security, which is exactly what the Minot incident was all about,” said Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists.

Teacher Fired Over a Bikini? (w/great pic of bikini clad teacher)

                   

She claims school officials fired her after they suspected she worked on a topless fishing boat.

Tiffany Shepherd, the single mother of three boys, ages 9, 6, and 2, never suspected that a second job she took on a fishing boat would cause her to lose her teaching job. Shepherd, who taught science for four years at a high school in Port St. Lucie, Florida, says she decided to take a second job onboard a fishing boat where she wore a bikini while assisting customers.

However, Tiffany says when school administrators mistakenly believed she was working on a topless charter boat, she lost her job. While school officials claim they let her go due to excessive tardiness and absences, Tiffany is convinced her bikini moonlighting gig had something to do with her firing.

Another scientific study that is completely flawed. This one is about Dogs and Allergies... but read my comments about how to spot these bogus conclusions.

I love these daily studies that come out.  Invariably they are done by dopey scientists who just want to publish something.  99% of the studies you see are flawed.  Ever hear of Double-Blind studies?  Most of these studies don't bother.

In this case they conclude that having a dog reduces your odds of getting allergies in the future...  OR DOES IT?

On the other hand perhaps those who are less allergic in the future... were less allergic in the first place.  DUH.   The dog is not relevant.

This is how you do a study - give 200 kids dogs at age 2, and then follow 200 kids who don't get dogs at the exact same age.  Do allergy tests at date in the future.  This study didn't do that at all - they just asked people who had dogs some questions.

Here is the article.  Next time you read about a study think about how they are conducting it.

Having a dog in the house reduces the risk that young children will develop allergies, German researchers said on Tuesday.

The finding, based on a six-year study of 9,000 children, lends weight to the theory that growing up with a pet trains the immune system to be less sensitive to potential triggers for allergies like asthma, eczema and hay fever.

Just why this should be is unclear but scientists believe youngsters may get beneficial early exposure to germs carried into the house on the animal's fur, which helps their immune systems develop.

"Our results show clearly that the presence of a dog in the home during subjects' infancy is associated with a significantly low level of sensitization to pollens and inhaled allergens," said Joachim Heinrich of the National Research Centre for Environmental Health in Munich.

The same protective effect was not seen in children who had frequent contact with dogs but did not have one at home.

Previous studies have suggested that exposure to pets may have a protective effect against allergies but many of these studies were based on retrospective questioning of subjects about their exposure.

Heinrich's study, by contrast, was designed before the data was collected. Experts consider such prospective studies make for more reliable results.

Parents answered detailed questionnaires about possible allergic symptoms in their children, from birth to the age of 6, and blood samples were also taken from a third of the group to test for antibodies to common allergens.

Surprise, There is a Difference Between Black Brains and White Brains: Obama's Pastor Explains It All to You

"In comparing African-American children and European-American children, we were comparing apples and rocks."

"Different is not deficient." It would seem there is a profound difference between the black brain and other brains after all. At least according to Reverend Wright. According to this shining exemplar of Barack Obama and the deep scholarship of black liberation theology, black people are right-brained and white people are left-brained. Asian people don't make the discussion since that would be, well, unfortunate.

If you're like me you've probably been wandering about the world babbling something about racial equality in America that affirms, "There are no differences except differences of degree between different degrees of difference and no difference." You could also say, "All men are created equal." How left-brained of you.

Now comes Reverend James Wright to set us all straight. He notes in passing that the right-brain of black people is somehow descended from the griots of Africa. The griots were people who could remember long, very long, poems; proto-rappers if you will. White people had something like that too, but then they invented ... writing. Or was it the Asians? I forget since, alas, my griot genes are slim to none.

At any rate, being descended from griots seems to me to be a lucky win in genetic lotto if you get one of the 100 top rapper slots in the world. It will probably be a bit more problematic if you want to get a job that involves actual analytic skills.

Reverend Wright's mindset is indeed fascinating. You can see the brain in fervid action above.

State moves to ban fake testicles on vehicles

Senate lawmakers in Florida have voted to ban the fake bull testicles that dangle from the trailer hitches of many trucks and cars throughout the state.    

Republican Sen. Cary Baker, a gun shop owner from Eustis, Florida, called the adornments offensive and proposed the ban. Motorists would be fined $60 for displaying the novelty items, which are known by brand names like "Truck Nutz" and resemble the south end of a bull moving north.

   

The Florida Senate voted last week to add the measure to a broader transportation bill, but it is not included in the House version.

   

In a spirited debate laced with double entendre, Senate lawmakers questioned whether the state should curtail freedom of expression in vehicle accessories.

   

Critics of the ban included the Senate Rules Chairman, Sen. Jim King, a Jacksonville Republican whose truck sported a pair until his wife protested.

   

The bill's sponsor doubted it would succeed.

   

"It's probably not going to make it through the process," Baker said on Thursday. "It won't be much of story in a few days."

BRITNEY SPEARS former manager LARRY RUDOLPH has fuelled speculation he has reunited with the troubled star by announcing she is set to make a triumphant comeback

Comeback from what?  She never had talent and no one takes her seriously at all anymore.  Do they mean she might put out an album with her wonderful voice... maybe using her British Accent?

BRITNEY SPEARS former manager LARRY RUDOLPH has fuelled speculation he has reunited with the troubled star by announcing she is set to make a triumphant comeback.
The pop star dismissed Rudolph after he joined forces with her parents and staged an intervention to get Spears to enter rehab at the beginning of last year (07).
But according to New York gossip column PageSix, the music svengali has now re-entered Spears' camp, meeting with the singer four times over the past few weeks and reporting "huge improvements in her".
He tells MySpace Celebrity, "She's still got a comeback in her. She's in great shape, I mean really great shape. She's in an amazing position for a comeback right now. She could end up being the biggest comeback in history.
"The public, for a while, was throwing darts at her. I think the tide turned and people started to understand what was going on with her.
"Everyone is rooting for her. Everybody wants to see her get through it... to see Britney back on stage. She is the world's greatest entertainer."
As for her recent stint on TV sitcom How I Met Your Mother, Rudolph insists Spears loved her return to the spotlight: "It was a really positive experience for her. She talked
about it quite a bit the last time I saw her... She wants to do it again."

Long Island man busted for trying to post bail with counterfeit $50

MELVILLE, New York - Police say it was no surprise a fake $50 bill got a Long Island man arrested: He was trying to use it to pay his bail on a traffic charge.

The transaction compounded Cyheam Forney's legal problems and landed him in jail.

Police say they spotted the 31-year-old Forney making an illegal left turn on Thursday and discovered his license had been suspended.

Forney was arrested on a misdemeanor suspended license charge _ until officers said he proffered the counterfeit currency as bail money. He was being held early Friday on a felony charge of possessing a forged instrument.

Congress to Introduce Bill to Protect Blind People From Hybrid Cars (The Cars Eat People For Fuel)

BALTIMORE —

A bill intended to protect blind people and other pedestrians from the dangers posed by quiet cars will be introduced Wednesday in Congress.

The measure would require the Transportation Department to establish safety standards for hybrids and other vehicles that make little discernible noise, including an audible means for alerting people that cars are nearby.

"The beneficial trend toward more environmentally friendly vehicles has had the unintended effect of placing the blind and other pedestrians in danger," said Democratic Rep. Edolphus Towns, who's sponsoring the bill with Republican Rep. Cliff Stearns.

The Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind has pushed for the legislation to protect those who rely on their hearing to know when to cross the street.

While the organization is not aware of people being struck by cars they couldn't hear, NFB President Marc Maurer has said he fears it's only a matter of time.

Preliminary results of an ongoing study at the University of California-Riverside have indicated the cars pose some risk. The study found that hybrids operating at slow speeds must be 40 percent closer to pedestrians than combustion-engine vehicles before they make enough noise for their location to be detected.

Hybrid vehicles operate on battery-powered electric motors when idling and traveling at slow speeds; internal combustion engines, with their distinctive rumble, kick in when the cars speed up.

The bill would require the Transportation Department to conduct a two-year study before issuing safety standards. Automakers would than have two years to comply.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is planning a listening session this spring to consider possible solutions to the quiet-car problem and is already working with manufacturers.

Wade Newton, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said he couldn't comment on the bill's specifics but added that manufacturers were eager to address the issue.

Clarence Ditlow, president of the Center for Auto Safety, said he favored enhanced safety standards for quiet cars but wasn't sure a two-year study was necessary.

"It seems to me that if we can put audible signals on walk signs for the blind, then we can put an audible signal on a hybrid," Ditlow said.

Madonna Compares Britney's Suffering To African Cruelty

Who's worse off... Madonna because she just passed Spears in the most stupid contest.

Madonna has spoken out again on the subject of Britney Spears – this time to compare her treatment at the hands of the paparazzi to “people inflicting cruelty and pain on each other” in Africa.

The singer – currently promoting upcoming album, Hard Candy - tells the latest issue of Vanity Fair that she finds Britney’s situation "very painful.”

She said: "When you think about the way people treat each other in Africa, about witchcraft and people inflicting cruelty and pain on each other, then come back here and, you know, people taking pictures of people when they’re in their homes, being taken to hospitals, or suffering, and selling them, getting energy from them, that’s a terrible infliction of cruelty.

“So who’s worse off?"

Thieves Use 'Craigslist Hoax' to Cover Tracks (w/pic of unibrow and his dumb ass looking wife/sister)

Thieves Use 'Craigslist Hoax' to Cover Tracks

A recent "Craigslist hoax" -- where someone posted a Craigslist item that said anyone could take anything from a Oregon home -- turns out to have been a diversion to cover the tracks of thieves. The crooks, Brandon and Amber Herbert, had come by the victim's house because it was advertised for rent. They apparently saw some horse saddles they wanted to steal, so they placed the ad, then joined the mob of people ransacking the joint. Unfortunately for the thieves, investigators TRACKED THE IP ADDRESS of the computer that placed the ad back to the Herbert's house, where cops found the computer and recovered deleted files that prove they placed the ad.

Pregnant teens keep smoking

NEARLY half of Australia's teenage mothers smoke during pregnancy, a study has found. And only one in 15 teenage smokers quits after they get pregnant, despite proof that smoking past the 20th week of gestation leads to a sicklier baby that weighs significantly less and is prone to chronic diseases later in life.

But the researchers say they are taking some positives out of the research, published in The Medical Journal of Australia.

"It shows that women should be encouraged to give up smoking throughout their pregnancy, because there are positive benefits (from doing so) the whole way through, especially before halfway," said associate professor Elizabeth Sullivan from the University of NSW's School of Women's and Children's Health.

The research was taken from data on births in five Australian states from 2001 to 2004.

It found that 43.2% of teenage mothers smoked during pregnancy, compared with 17.9% of all mothers. Only 6.7% of teenage mothers who were smokers quit before the second half of their pregnancy.

Previous studies have linked smoking during pregnancy with low birthweight, slower development and a predisposition to chronic disease in later life in the child. It has also been linked to sudden infant death syndrome, childhood obesity and diabetes.

This study found that, on average, babies born to teenage smokers were 180 grams lighter than babies born to teenage non-smokers. However, there was no noticeable difference in birth weight if the teenage smoking mothers quit the habit before 20 weeks' gestation.

Reducing the quantity of cigarettes smoked during pregnancy also reduced the risk of low birthweight.