Saturday, February 07, 2009

"Standing Head"

Manager of John McCain's Pueblo CO. Campaign Arrested on Child Molestation Charges

(Quelle Surprise, n'est ce pas?)

From the Colorado Independent


Police arrested the former manager of Sen. John McCain’s Pueblo presidential campaign office Wednesday on charges he sexually assaulted a 5-year-old boy left in his care so the boy’s mother could attend a rally for McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, The Denver Post’s Howard Pankratz reported Thursday afternoon.

It’s the second arrest on charges of sexual assault on a child by a person in position of trust in a week for Jeffrey Claude Bartleson, 52, who has faced similar allegations at least five times since 1982 without being convicted of a crime, according to the Pueblo Chieftain’s Nick Bonham.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

From our "What Not To Wear" Collection

Today's Musical Interlude

One of my favorite movies is a filmed production of "La Traviata" starring Teresa Stratas and Placido domingo, and produced, directed and staged by Franco Zeffirelli. The file exudes sumptuosness and the singing is magnificent. I have been waiting for the film to "debut" on DVD so I can buy it. I saw the Zeffirelli production ,albeit without the aforementioned stars, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York several years ago with my friend Craig. It really was superb.

Here for your enjoyment is "Un di felice, eterea", a duet from Act 1.


Mooooooo!

What a cow!

28-year-old Sheyla Hershey of Brazil is the proud owner of the world's largest breasts -- with a staggering, life-threatening, and unfortunately-named bra size of 38KKK.

In May, ABC News reported that Hershey's breasts were 34 FFF after eight surgeries and one gallon of silicone. But she wasn't done yet. On her way to achieving her dream, she encountered certain roadblocks, like Texas law. The state limits the amount of silicone that one person put in their body because the implants could kill her. So she headed to Brazil, which has no such restrictions, and walked away with the breasts of her dreams.


Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Best Obama Headline Yet!


The man's talents are limitless!

File this one under "There's someone for everyone"

All brides are beautiful...



The Cake is made out of Twinkies!!



More Cake Now!!

View From MY Window


With apologies to Andrew Sullivan who does a "bit" like this in his blog.

We've had some interesting weather here recently. Yesterday we had rain, snow, slush, and sleet falling from the sky leaving us with this very pretty scene.

File this under "Do as I say, not as I do"

With all of the tsimmes going on about one vote for one person we now get an inside look at how well legislators in Texas adhere to the concept.


What do you get the Mom who has everything?

From the FHP Geek News Desk

Flash!


IBM Unveils (New) Fastest Supercomputer Dubbed "Sequoia"

For years the world's biggest computer manufacturers have been locked in a race to see who can build the most powerful machine - regularly trading places with each other as they develop faster and more impressive systems.

But IBM today smashed the existing record as it unveiled the world's fastest supercomputer, a machine that is almost 20 times more powerful than the previous record holder.

The new system, dubbed Sequoia, will be able to achieve speeds of up to 20 Petaflops - 20 quadrillion calculations per second - the equivalent of more than 2m laptops.

Sequoia will consist of around 1.6m computer chips, giving it the ability to perform an order of magnitude faster than the 1.1 Petaflop Blue Gene/L computer, which is currently recognised as the world's most powerful.

I've never even heard of a Petaflop!

L'Osservatore Cap Merluzzo


From The Daily Beast:

In attempting to heal a divide in the Church, has Pope Benedict created new ones? A day after key members of the Catholic church are piling on, offering a rare glimpse behind the usual Vatican show of unity. Cardinal Walter Kasper, one of the pope's pointmen on relations with Jews said he was following the issue with "great concern" and "Surely, mistakes have been made in the management of the Curia, too, I want to say this explicitly." German Chancellor Andrea Merkel criticized the pope for reinstating Holocaust-denying bishop Richard Williamson,German Bishop Werner Thissen also said the un-excommuncation was "sloppy work" that damaged relations with the Jews, while his colleague, Bishop Gebhard Fuerst said that "Vatican members didn't look closely enough" at the reinstated bishop's views. Marco Politi, a biographer of Pope John Paul II, said "In three years he has succeded in creating strains with two of the world's leading religions. It raises question about the governance of the universal church."


With those conservative nutjobs at the Vatican making nice with Holocaust-deniers, and the conservatives in our country hoping the economy completely fails, and sending out "Barak The Magic Negro" cd's, one has to wonder "am I the only sane person left here?"

Something new in Washington

From Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Dish

He Said It!

It has taken Obama two weeks to say something that George W. Bush couldn't manage to say in eight years: "I screwed up." This is change we can really believe in.

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

How many more must die?

Today's Oscar Moment

As I mentioned in an earlier post, 1939 was the golden year for movies in Hollywood. Here we have Hattie McDaniel receiving her well deserved Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Scarlett's "Mammy" in the movie "Gone With The Wind". What a classy woman!


I've been missing something, I think

I am, as most of you know, a huge fan of science fiction, and I was told I must watch "Torchwood" on BBC America. It stars the very handsome (and gay) John Barrowman as Jack Harkness, an immortal (I haven't seen the show yet so I don't know the specifics) who has taken the name of a Captain that served during the 2nd World War. As I understand it, this scene shows the immortal "Jack" meeting the Jack from the 40's. I really do have to watch this show! I have already placed season 1 in my Netflix queue.


And the Republicans go even further into madness

They seem to be taking the TGV down the rabbit hole. From Politico:

Joe the Plumber advises GOP-ers


Fresh off his stint as a war correspondent in Gaza, Joe the Plumber is now doing political strategy with Republicans.

When GOP congressional aides gather Tuesday morning for a meeting of the Conservative Working Group, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher – more commonly known as Joe the Plumber — will be their featured guest. This group is an organization of conservative Capitol Hill staffers who meet regularly to chart GOP strategy for the week.

Wurzelbacher, who became a household name during the presidential election, will be focusing his talk on the proposed stimulus package. He's apparently not a fan of the economic rescue package, according to members of the group.

If nothing else, GOP aides are using the appearance to get staffers to attend the 9 a.m meeting.

“In case you weren’t planning to attend CWG tomorrow morning, you might want to reconsider because Joe the Plumber will be joining us!” Kimberly Wallner, an aide to South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, wrote in a message to her e-mail list this afternoon.

Last month, Wurzelbacher did a brief stint as a war reporter for the conservative web site pjtv.com.

These people have, in the words of Julia Sugarbaker, "just completely lost their minds"!


Comcast's foray into Super Bowl Porn

Comcast is investigating what it calls an "isolated, malicious act" in which 30 seconds of pornographic content was aired during its telecast of the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Corporate affairs manager Kelle Maslyn said the cable company has "some leads" and will "aggressively pursue" them "until we come to a resolution."

The incident affected only customers not watching the high definition broadcast. It's not known how many customers saw the porn clip, she said.

Comcast is offering $10 credits to any customer in Tucson "who was impacted," (oh no she didn't just say that!) she said in a statement issued Monday afternoon. To get the credit, customers should call 888-315-8219.

Be warned that the clip uploaded here is NSFW (Not suitable for work). Adults only please!


College Republicans are bitchin' cool!

From John Aravosis over at AmericaBlog

Monday, February 02, 2009

In the name of "Bi-partisanship"

Congressional Democrats, in order to sway some Republicans to join them in the economic stimulus package, have "sweetened the deal" by adding business tax cuts and taking out some spending programs that the Republican "noise machine" made fun of (see: School Yard Bullies). The House stimulus package passed the chamber without one Republican vote for passage, which made me (and others) think; Why give them anything if they are going to vote against it anyway?

The Democrats are in the majority because the Republicans so thoroughly screwed up the economy with their disastrous war, out of control spending on Defense, Homeland Security (anyone out there still feel safe?), and tax cuts for Exxon/Mobil, Shell and others. I say that the "Dems" should take those tax cuts and spending on ridiculous items such as iPods, lingerie, etc.
and spend the money where it is needed in jobs production, infrastructure, and mortgage assistance or tax cuts for middle and low-income families. That would certainly stimulate the economy of our little nest here on the Cape. As the old saying goes, "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem."

'Nuff said.

Today's "Introduction to Opera" piece

From Mozart's "Cosi Fan Tutti" we present for your consideration the trio "Soave sia il vento". Don't try to figure out what they are singing about. Just close your eyes and enjoy the lovely sound.