Playing Catch-up With Firefox, Hillary, Obama, ACLU Real Live Porn, and Movies

As I mentioned earlier this week, I downloaded a Firefox extension called "Read it Later" and it's a double-edged sword. On one hand, I'm able to keep track of interesting bits I'd like to blog about, but on the other hand, I quickly garner 20+ links I want to blog about. And you can't delete the bookmarks from the Read it Later interface, but have to go into Bookmarks to do it. S'okay, it's in Beta, and is more good than bad.

This post is about catching up.

Anti-Hillary Film and SCOTUS

I flagged this one at the first mention from the AP about the film Hillary: The Movie (those Repubs are so clever in their titling):

The early reviews are in, and three federal judges appeared in agreement Thursday that a movie lambasting Hillary Rodham Clinton seemed an awful lot like a 90-minute campaign advertisement.

This is problematic from the perspective of, ironically, a campaign finance law partially named after the man they're now left to elect: McCain-Feingold. The federal judges shut David Bossie down and he's now going to SCOTUS to appeal. The sticking point is still that campaign finance law, like a drunken juggalo blocking the keg:

But one provision of McCain-Feingold makes it illegal to use corporate or union money for "any broadcast, cable or satellite communication" if it "refers to a clearly identified candidate for federal office" within 30 days of a primary election or a convention or within 60 days of a general election.

If they feel like listening, this will be a huge ruling, and define legal pre-election free-for-all as financing a DVD slamming your opponent. Damned juggalos.

FDA Says Cloned Meat OK

FDA says it's okay? Honestly, I understand the science, but I'll be fucked if I think there's still not something hinky about pulling some DNA from a hot London Broil and making another cow.

Problem? You betcha. FDA said it's okay. Expect unlabeled samples in your Kroger/Giant Eagle/Piggly Wiggly soon.

Advice? Shop at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. At least for your meat.

ACLU: Larry Craig is Right!

The ACLU stood up for failed human being Larry Craig, stating that a bathroom stall is a private place and there is an expectation of privacy in such a place, even if you're soaping the balls of a stranger through a glory hole.

ACLU: I love you, but no. This is just way the fuck off base. If Seabass accidentally meets me at 3am in the wrong stall and decides to violate me, is that, too, a private place?

"Find a happy place, find a happy place."

Killing an ... Obama?

After Senator Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama and insinuated that he was the next JFK, Harry Smith, on the CBS Early Show pushed the button five steps beyond what everyone was thinking: So, um, do you think Obama will be assassinated just like your brother? Okay, he put it more mildly:



Let Your Movies Define You

And if you didn't have enough social networking sites yet, check out Cinescopes. They'll take your Top Ten movies of all time and translate them into insights about yourself, match you to friends, and all those other good things they can do on this newfangled Internets 2.0.

Take your time, but you can always change it up later. I'm still sticking with my original 10, in alphabetical order, but will probably need some revisions in the future:

12 Monkeys
28 Days Later
Playing By Heart
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Pi
Mirrormask
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Lost in Translation
Shaun of the Dead
True Romance

cough! nerd! cough!



And that's about it for the update. Now I can delete all those bookmarks. Cheers!

Your Part of Iraq: $275/mo

No questions asked, the cost keeps going up. And up. And up. And how does that relate to the current frontrunners in line for the 2008 Presidental Election? Did you not hear the phrase shot round the world: "100 years"?

Brave New Films hits it hard:




Do something.

Navy Invents New Way of Killing People

Holy shit.

Electromagnetic railguns mounted on U.S. naval vessels will use electricity to launch projectiles farther and faster than any ship in today's fleet. When fully operational, the electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) will:

• Deliver hypervelocity projectiles at Mach 5 on impact in support of Marines and ground forces.
• Strike within 5 meters of a pinpointed target from distances in excess of 200 nautical miles.
• Maximize damage through kinetic energy from longer range while minimizing risks to crews and ships.

Tested on 1/31/08: Fired at 2,520 meters per second, the shot generated 10.64mj of muzzle energy.

From Navy, DVICE.

Popehat Growls at Science: Grrr...

We've got a lot of catching up to do. I use FireFox because Internet Explorer is the devil, and about two weeks ago I got a new plugin that is a quick click to a "read it later" bookmark folder. I'll delve into it more tomorrow, but for now, feel free to chew on the Popehat's bile from the Vatican's 1/28 press release:

"Human beings have the specific ability of discerning what is good", the Pope concluded. "In our own time, when the progress of the sciences attracts and seduces for the possibilities it offers, it is more necessary than ever to educate the consciences of our contemporaries to ensure that science does not become the criterion of good, that man is still respected as the centre of creation, and that he does not become the object of ideological manipulation, arbitrary decisions, or abuses."

What the Popehat is trying to say, of course, is that as long as science doesn't get too science-y, and as long as people who have dedicated their lives to studying the measurable and empirical take into consideration the invisible and intangible - ooh, and make sure you prove life starts at conception - then science is a good thing.

You know you've heard this type of thing before: if the high courts of America overturn liberal laws, they are interpreting the Constitution; if they overturn conservative laws, they're out-of-control activist judges, legislating from the bench.

Al-Qaeda, Evangelicals Teaching Hate

The Sun proclaims

Al-Qaeda teach kids, 6, to kill



in a related story,

Evangelicals teach kids, 6, to hate

Bin Laden Apologizes for 9/11

What would happen if Osama bin Laden was not officially blamed by the FBI for 9/11 and yet his son was apologizing and desirous of brokering peace? Welcome to reality. Davis Fleetwood, wonderful as always:

Montel Williams Puts It to FOX On FOX

Montel Williams was brought on FOX as a consultant to jabber about Health Ledger, but that's not what was on his mind. Something was bothering him, like jabbering about Heath Ledger when a couple hundred people died in America yesterday naturally, and that 28 troops have died in Iraq since January 1 (it's actually 41) - with no mention from FOX:



Since March 2003, 3,945 American troops have died in Iraq (4,252 throughout Coalition). 5 troops died from wounds sustained while in Iraq but go unacknowledged by the DoD in the count.

I just hope that when we hit 4,000 someone who gets some television face time takes a deep breath and has the balls to remind us that George Bush has officially killed more Americans than 9/11 in a war that had nothing to do with 9/11, even if it's still being occasionally touted as such.

A Smurfy Update from Croatia

Last week, I got smurfy with the Croatian people. Leave it to them not only to bounce back, but comment on my blog:

we beat record today with 533 smurfs!

(Croatian News Link)

Based on the "we" and the link to the news station not in English, someone directly related to the effort wanted to set me straight. Nice.

How about another picture for posterity:



Congratulations to Croatia and, specifically, this group of persevering Smurfs. Good show.