Get a grip, weather guys

Severe Weather advisories from WeatherBug.com

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 12:00PM EST SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31

Event Start: In Progress

Event End: Saturday, December 31, 2011 12:00 PM EST

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY HAS EXPIRED

This is New England here and it's the last day in December–do you really think we need to be advised the weather might get a little wintery today? Which, by the way, it didn't. As, it seems, you know. And isn't much likely to, except maybe in the wee hours of the new year, but even that should hardly be noticed because the next few days are forecast to be quite nice. The whole month of December, in these parts, was, if not exactly balmy, at least warmer than usual and much warmer than last year, which was setting records already by year's end. 

So hey, weather guys, take a deep breath or something, like take a nap.

What will we tell the children?

As prospects improve in Iowa, Mitt Romney stays on message - latimes.com

Mitt Romney stands in a chair while addressing voters in Mason City, Iowa.

[Wait. In?]

You know you're losing it…

Lake Superior State University :: Banished Words List

…when certain words or phrases are declared out and you didn't know they were ever in. 

If I get any more out of touch I might have to vote Republican.

Still, allow me to take issue with one Mike Cloran of Cincinnati, Ohio, and the whole gaggle of happy word Nazis at Lake Superior State University over banishing "Thanks in Advance." Nobody at Lake Superior State, I'm pretty sure, is old enough to remember those ancient days when network bandwith was so scarce and network time so expensive that sending an email for the sole purpose of saying thank you–for a favor done, a question answered, a service rendered–was seen as an outrageous waste. So "Thanks in Advance" (read, TIA) was a promise to not say thank you later, and (I seem to remember paying $6 an hour to use a service called CompuServe at 300bps) welcome.

So, have a heart, Lake Superior State University. The writer of TIA might just be some old clueless geezer trying to be nice.

Apparently it's contagious

G.O.P. Field Has Broad Views on Executive Power - NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — Even as they advocate for limited government, many of the Republican presidential candidates hold expansive views about the scope of the executive powers they would wield if elected — including the ability to authorize the targeted killing of United States citizens they deem threats and to launch military attacks without Congressional permission.

I bet you've been wondering how you ever missed this one, isn't that right, Bunky?

Hulu - Earth Girls Are Easy - Watch the full movie now.

Earth Girls Are Easy melds the best of alien-invasion films and musicals…

Well, now you haven't.

Monkfight!

Muslim Police Break Up Christian Broomstick Fight in Bethlehem - Lowering the Bar

So it's not surprising that an unauthorized broom incursion ("accidental" or not) could spark violence, as seen above. And you really should watch the clip, not only to witness the spectacle of priests and monks beating the crap out of each other with broomsticks over who owns the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, but also to see the monk recording the whole thing with his smartphone.

Follow the money

From OpenSecrets.org

Santorumentum? Ya think?

News from The Associated Press

Rep. Ron Paul, drawing big crowds, got a surprise endorsement Wednesday night from Rep. Michele Bachmann's now-former state chairman. Former Sen. Rick Santorum, who has languished for months, suddenly seems to have momentum, just as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich may be losing his.

I walk out of the grocery store this afternoon…

…behind a woman pushing a cart full to the brim with bags, all bulging with purchases, and once outside she meets another woman, presumably a chance encounter with a friend, and she speaks to this other woman as follows:

"I just came here for noodles."

Political correctness comes to the grocery store

I liberated a whole box of these little guys, but there are many, many more that need your help.

Re-hope

Whose Welfare? - NYTimes.com

Offshoot groups created by partisan gurus — Karl Rove pioneered the practice — claim the 501(c)(4) status as do-gooders that allows them to keep the names of their donors secret, unlike traditional political operations. Democrats are hard at this secret megamoney race, too, with Obama campaign veterans politicking as the supposedly independent and socially minded Priorities USA.

 

OK then, maybe I'll just go back to bed

Feel Free to Ignore Iowa - NYTimes.com

To summarize: On Tuesday, there will be a contest to select the preferred candidate of a small group of people who are older, wealthier and whiter than American voters in general, and more politically extreme than the average Iowa Republican. The whole world will be watching. The cookies will be excellent.

They can't shoot straight either

GOP rivals trade fire in Iowa, much of it aimed at Ron Paul - latimes.com

And you want guys like this running around with real guns?

From the ridiculous to the sublime in Iowa

Bachmann's state campaign chair quits, endorses Paul - Iowa State Daily: Caucus 2012

"I think all of us agree on one proposition and that is we have to have the best candidate to take on Barack Obama and end his reign of terror in the United States," Bachmann said.

 

The days are getting longer: What could possibly go wrong?

It's a little below 30º here as we speak and we've had a very, very strong wind all afternoon. Flags are flapping. (I don't know if this has happened to the rest of the country but around here flags–I'm not talking national flags, unless you count the Red Sox, but cutesy flags that say "Hello" and other equally non-commital stuff and have pictures of snowmen or elves on them, that kind of thing–are all the rage. We don't have any on our house of course, being so far out on the leading edge of trendiness we are already past all that stuff. But still.

What I was saying was, I spent a lot of time last month tightening up the windows and it's paying off right now. There is no draftiness I can notice and–here's a bonus worth the price–not one of the windows is rattling. At all. In fact, I didn't even know how windy it really is until I went out for the mail. Sure, there's a little cold around the windows, but that's because some dummy put glass in them, not because the wind is blowing through. Let's hear it for cozy, then.

Also, the days are getting longer. So maybe it will get cold, but how long can that last?

And, take my word for it, next year will be even more fun

After promising no teleprompters, Bachmann reads speech from iPad instead | The Raw Story

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has found a loophole in her pledge not to use teleprompters.

At a campaign stop in Creston, Iowa Wednesday, the candidate read her campaign speech directly from an iPad tablet computer.

You've done this, right?

You go to the grocery store, or the drugstore, or the convenience store. With a list. You buy everything on the list and bring it home. And then you discover the one thing you went to the store in the first place for, the one reason you went out, was not on the list and so you didn't buy it and now you have to go back again.

A really bad night in Pennsylvania

Man Calls 911 to Report Hookers' Breach of Contract - Lowering the Bar

The defendant said he was able to get in just one grope, and that "following that act, the two females took his money and left ...." That is indeed disappointing, but the 911 call to report it was ill-advised. First, it wasn't an emergency; second; it might not even have been a crime; but most importantly, third, reporting it involved an admission of guilt. This was not lost on the officer, who then "informed the Defendant that he was under arrest for Patronization of Prostitution." The man was apparently then booked and released.

From which he learned nothing at all.…

Gingrich, now, will fire all the judges and the state of Virginia

Newt Gingrich-Virginia primary 2012: Newt’s scramble to make it on ballot may come up short.

Gingrich's campaign has already responded, calling the Virginia primary process a "failed system," the AP reports. 

Matt Taibbi on the poor, persecuted 1%

A Christmas Message From America's Rich | | Rolling Stone

it seems to me that if you’re broke enough that you’re not paying any income tax, you’ve got nothing but skin in the game.

EFF chronicles "The Year Secrecy Jumped the Shark"

2011 in Review: The Year Secrecy Jumped the Shark | Electronic Frontier Foundation

President Obama accepts a transparency award…behind closed doors.

And a whole lot more.

Now it can be told

When Americans banned Christmas - The Week

 

No we can't

Jeff Connaughton: Obama and the Rule of Law

The President is confusing "legal" with "difficult to prosecute successfully." The Justice Department's repeated decisions not to risk losing at trial against Wall Street executives don't make these person's actions legal. (If a district attorney can't prove the actual thief stole your wallet, that doesn't make stealing legal. It simply means that, regrettably, a malefactor goes unpunished.) As Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Director Robert Khuzami said in Senate testimony in 2009, Wall Street perpetrators "are smart people who understand that they are crossing the line" and "are plotting their defense at the same time they're committing their crime."

In from the cold

Decades later, a Cold War secret is revealed | CanadianBusiness.com

From 1971 to 1986 a total of 20 satellites were launched, each containing 60 miles of film and sophisticated cameras that orbited the earth snapping vast, panoramic photographs of the Soviet Union, China and other potential foes. The film was shot back through the earth's atmosphere in buckets that parachuted over the Pacific Ocean, where C-130 Air Force planes snagged them with grappling hooks.

I do not care, said Pierre

Dude. I just wanted to say that sentence into my voice recognition software.

Keeping the evil spirits away until the sun comes back

Yes, it is our House. And the person who puts the lights up every year, Tom, is being celebrated far and wide, or at least here at this address, for getting them exactly right this year.

Democrats seem to think you can solve all the problems in the world by just talking about them

U.S. urges dialogue over Iraqi crisis | Reuters

(Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden spoke by telephone on Sunday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki about violence in Baghdad and a political crisis that has erupted in the week since the last American troops left Iraq.

New to our Work Avoidance list

I'm not really a big fan of those best-of, worst-of lists, but here's one that is worth taking a look at. It's a list of "best" Internet posts during the previous year or, in other words, a list of some stuff worth reading.

The Browser | Writing Worth Reading

Yes, it's another test (of something else)

This does make sense to me

"The term the Internet, when referring to the entire global system of IP networks, has been treated as a proper noun and written with an initial capital letter. In the media and popular culture a trend has also developed to regard it as a generic term or common noun and thus write it as "the internet", without capitalization. Some guides specify that the word should be capitalized as a noun but not capitalized as an adjective." - Wikipedia.

(But don't worry, I'll forget it by tomorrow.)

So the question is, will they finally stop ringing?

I'm tired of being rung at. Look, I walk. I can't avoid them by just driving past. So for the last couple of months, it seems, every time I go into a grocery store, a drugstore, or just walk down Main Street, there's somebody ringing a bell in my face. It's time that goes away, isn't it?

 

(Sorry if that post seems a bit disjointed. I'm practicing with a low-end voice recognition software package. It seems to me that, if we're going to keep using ever smaller, more cramped devices, voice input might be a good thing to learn. I was never very good at dictation. So it might take a while to learn this. But I will persevere. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, you will.)

Yes, Virginia, there is a NORAD

And it's keeping an eye on the guy named Claus. Top secret stuff you can watch on Google Earth. And there's even an app for that.

NORAD Santa

We'll take no shoveling, ourselves

With Snow Scarce, Northern US Has Brown Christmas - ABC News

Dreams of a white Christmas are hanging by a thread in the North, where unusually mild weather has left the ground bare in many places — a welcome reprieve for people who don't like shoveling, but a lump of coal in the stockings of outdoor sports buffs who miss their winter wonderland.

Wild and crazy times in Seattle

The Great Totem Pole Caper - Lowering the Bar

It turned out that the suspect, 69-year-old Charles Jenks, had been dreaming of getting a totem pole for a new home he was building. (He apparently was going to put it inside a two-story stairwell, not just stick it in the lawn where everybody could see it. Because that would be crazy.) I guess these aren't available on eBay, so he decided to steal one in broad daylight. Why he stole two - the second one from outside a grocery store in Oregon - was never explained.

New to our Work Avoidance list

Great Websites for Kids (from the American Library Association). (Librarians rule.)

Cold duck

Sweden's bizarre tradition of watching Donald Duck (Kalle Anka) cartoons on Christmas Eve. - Slate Magazine

Every year on Dec. 24 at 3 p.m., half of Sweden sits down in front of the television for a family viewing of the 1958 Walt Disney Presents Christmas special, "From All of Us to All of You." Or as it is known in Sverige, Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul: "Donald Duck and his friends wish you a Merry Christmas."

Pizza forever

L.A. schools' healthful school lunches panned by LAUSD students - latimes.com

Earlier this year, the [Los Angeles schools] got rid of chocolate and strawberry milk, chicken nuggets, corn dogs, nachos and other food high in fat, sugar and sodium. Instead, district chefs concocted such healthful alternatives as vegetarian curries and tamales, quinoa salads and pad Thai noodles.…

Participation in the school lunch program has dropped by thousands of students.

So here's my idea: They could pay for cutting the Social Security tax with a cabaret tax

The Post-Truth Campaign - NYTimes.com

[Here's] my forecast for next year: If Mr. Romney is in fact the Republican presidential nominee, he will make wildly false claims about Mr. Obama and, occasionally, get some flack for doing so. But news organizations will compensate by treating it as a comparable offense when, say, the president misstates the income share of the top 1 percent by a percentage point or two.

There'll always be an England

Things You Can't Do in a Royal Park - Lowering the Bar

According to the UK's Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces Regulations, 1997 No. 1639, Reg. 4, it is forbidden to do (among other things) any of the following without written permission in Hyde Park or other land to which said regulations apply…

[Click the link, above, for a list of prohibitions.]

Spring is right around the corner now

But look on the bright side: You can deep-fry these shrimp without adding oil

Seafood Surprise: Eyeless Shrimp, Crabs with Lesions – and Bigger Final Settlement Offers from BP | Stuart H. Smith

But what about the 500-plus dead dolphins? What about the crabs being pulled up from the seafloor with oil stains, burns and lesions? What about the record number of dead sea turtles? What about the worst white shrimp season in half a century with catches down a whopping 80 percent across the board? And the shrimp that are showing up without eyes – what do we make of those recent reports? Consider this from Clint Guidry, president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association: “Fishermen are bringing up shrimp without any eyes…they evidently have lost their eyes and they’re still alive. …It tells me something’s wrong.”…

Did I mention that the trial for those victims who forgo a final settlement and instead opt to sue the oil giant is set for February 2012? Attorneys for both sides are deep into the preparation phase. So what we see here is BP taking a run at keeping shrimpers and crabbers out of court – sweetening the claims pot in the 11th hour. BP and its attorneys fully understand that even after doubling final settlement payments, they will end up paying victims much more if these cases go to trial.

Nobody escapes the Mittens

Romney approves of premature deportation for Obama’s uncle | The Raw Story

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R) said yesterday that he approves of deporting an uncle to President Barack Obama who was arrested in August on a charge of drunk driving, even though the man has a driver’s license, Social Security card and no prior criminal convictions.

Stuff you hadn't started worrying about yet

‘Space ball’ drops on Namibia | The Raw Story

A large metallic ball fell out of the sky on a remote grassland in Namibia, prompting baffled authorities to contact NASA and the European space agency.…

Several such balls have dropped in southern Africa, Australia and Latin America in the past twenty years, authorities found in an Internet search.

And while you were watching those French women, you rogue…

Model busted for smuggling cocaine in breast, buttocks implants | The Raw Story

ROME — Italian airport police eyeing up a busty Spanish model’s curves made a startling discovery on Wednesday — 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds) of pure cocaine stashed as implants in her bust and backside.

Maybe it's some kind of EU thing.

Yes, there's still time to nominate the worst headline of the year

British women sue over French breast implants | The Raw Story

British women sue over French breast implants

Just shut up and keep hoping, mope

Undernews: Obama administration declares talking about jury nullification to be a crime

Paul Butler, NY Times - Earlier this year, prosecutors charged Julian P. Heicklen, a retired chemistry professor, with jury tampering because he stood outside the federal courthouse in Manhattan providing information about jury nullification to passers-by.…

The prosecutors who charged Mr. Heicklen said that “advocacy of jury nullification, directed as it is to jurors, would be both criminal and without constitutional protections no matter where it occurred.”…

It's just a guess, of course…

Medical Journal Article: 14,000 U.S. Deaths Tied to Fukushima Reactor Disaster Fallout - PR Newswire - sacbee.com

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An estimated 14,000 excess deaths in the United States are linked to the radioactive fallout from the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan, according to a major new article in the December 2011 edition of the International Journal of Health Services.…

…but (and note the PRNewswire slug there at the top) I'm thinking you could make a pretty good sandwich out of this. And easy, too. Some good rye bread and a little mustard ought to do the trick. Yum.

Wait! We just bought party hats!

US growth revised down for third quarter - FT.com

The US economy grew at a slower rate than initially thought in the third quarter…

We are shocked. Shocked, I say.

Watch the R's chase their tails

Tea Party ‘super PAC’ going after Sen. Orrin Hatch | iWatch News

An outside spending group affiliated with the conservative Tea Party movement is targeting long-time Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch in 2012 for not being conservative enough.…

Just a thought, but shouldn't the government, sooner or later, figure out how the internet works?

Firefox Add-On Bypasses SOPA DNS Blocking | TorrentFreak

The pending Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) continues to inspire opponents to come up with creative solutions to circumvent it.…

When installed, users can click a single button to resolve a blocked domain via foreign DNS servers…

Ironically, it was the government that invented the internet (ARPA, not Al Gore) but then suddenly, somehow, suffered some weird memory collapse.

Or maybe it's just the congress that doesn't understand the internet, sort of like how they don't understand everything else. Those who can, the old saying goes, do; those who can't, teach. And those who can't even teach govern.

If the terrorists don't get you the government will

US: Don't publish details of lab-bred bird flu - CBS News

(AP) WASHINGTON - The U.S. government asked scientists Tuesday not to reveal all the details of how to make a version of the deadly bird flu that they created in labs in the U.S. and Europe.

The lab-bred virus, being kept under high security, appears to spread more easily among mammals. That's fueled worry that publishing a blueprint could aid terrorists in creating a biological weapon, the National Institutes of Health said.

But the NIH said it was important for the overall findings to be published in scientific journals, because they suggest it may be easier than previously thought for bird flu to mutate on its own and become a greater threat.…

Or the birds.

 

A little reading for extra credit

The Great Train Robbery | Crime Magazine

In August of 1963, 15 men pulled off “The Great Train Robbery,” at Sears Crossing in Buckinghamshire in southeast England, netting the equivalent of $68.5 million in today’s dollars.  Of the £2,631,684 stolen, less than £400,000 was ever recovered.

The mastermind, known as “the Ulsterman,” would never be identified.  One of the robbers, Ronnie Biggs, became an international celebrity after escaping from prison.   

Times Square

iPhoto: Phil Compton

Not all is well in R-land

This Gingrich Aide Has the Worst Timing - Politics - The Atlantic Wire

Rick Tyler, who quit Newt Gingrich's campaign when it was in the doldrums only to watch his old boss soar in the polls, is rejoining the Gingrich effort just as the candidate's lead in polls disappears…

[And]

Tyler was not one of the Gingrich staffers who joined Rick Perry's campaign, a decision that looks pretty bad in hindsight. Perry was the hot new maybe-candidate all summer, but his lead in polls evaporated once he started talking out loud.…

No, does not sound good.

Yikes!

Ron Paul panic seizes Iowa establishment - Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns - POLITICO.com

What especially worries Iowa Republican regulars is the possibility that Paul could win here on January 3rd with the help of Democrats and independents who change their registration to support the libertarian-leaning Texas congressman but then don’t support the GOP nominee next November.

Iowa, we think, is an imaginary place, so an imaginary candidate would be just perfect. Take a deep breath there, establishment. 

What you see is what you get

Why a Constitutional Law Professor Should Not Sign an Unconstitutional Military Detention Bill | Truthout

You don't need to be a meteorologist to know if it's raining outside, and you don't need to be a constitutional scholar to know that permanent wartime powers amounts to the overthrow of the Bill of Rights of the US Constitution.  

Make yourself crazy for the holidays

Let It Snow: Google Adds Christmas Easter Egg | Fox News

Google is helping searchers get into the Christmas spirit by offering a sprinkling of snow on their computer monitor.

When typing the words “let it snow" into the popular search engine, a flurry of snowflakes trickle down the screen, followed by frost. You can wipe away the frost by clicking the left button on your mouse as an ice scraper or pressing the "Defrost" button, which appears in place of the blue "Search" button.

But wait...Paul who?

Analysis: Gingrich, Romney ready for Iowa sprint

If you can't get in, get close

CA startup sees entrepreneur-ship as visa solution

Bye bye Bears

Chicago Bears: Chicago Bears' loss to Seattle Seahawks all but ends season - chicagotribune.com

The Bears (7-7) have lost four straight games, tying for the longest losing streak in the Lovie Smith era…

Holy wind chill, Batman!

'Life-threatening' storm set to slam Southwest, plains - Weather - TODAY.com

A "dangerous" winter storm is expected to hammer New Mexico and the high plains of Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas, weather.com reported Monday.…

Blizzard conditions were "likely" for New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas with snow and winds diminishing by midday Tuesday…

Citing the National Weather Service, Reuters reported the storm was expected to produce up to 16 inches of snow in some areas with wind gusting up to 50 mph.…

A blizzard watch was also in effect until Tuesday for parts of Colorado, New Mexico and Kansas, with high winds and up to a more than a foot of snow expected across the region.

Meanwhile we are looking at something a little more moderate–even warm–here, which is a good thing because temps were below 20º over the weekend.

Our bulbs are dim enough already, Congress says

Congress' bill may slow switch to efficient light bulbs

Congress' move this weekend to save Thomas Edison's 131-year-old incandescent light bulb from a federally-required phaseout, slated to begin Jan. 1., may slow but not halt the nation's switch to more efficient lighting.

Some guys are just never happy, I guess

The Associated Press: Tea partyers not keen about GOP presidential field

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Just a year ago, tea party activists came roaring out of the congressional elections eager to shape the looming race for the White House.

Things have not gone as planned.

Somewhere between Yoknapatawpha County and Lake Wobegon

Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio is a collection of sometimes dark, almost gothic tales of midwestern small-town life near the turn of the 20th Century that collectively form one of the landmark works of American literature. And, it's a highly readable book. Available from Project Gutenberg (here and in our reading list) and, surely, elsewhere.

Some images you just can't un-see

Surging Ron Paul cuts into Newt Gingrich’s dream of winning Iowa caucus - NY Daily News

Surging Ron Paul

Oooops

SEC Says Rudy Ruettiger Is A Stock Scammer - Forbes

To many football and movie fans, Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger is a hero, an ordinary kid who overcame extraordinary odds through hard work and determination to become part of Notre Dame folklore.

The Securities & Exchange Commission, however, says Rudy Ruettiger has grown up to become a penny stock promoter and scammer.

Re-hope

Obama expects Congress to extend payroll tax cut for entire year when lawmakers return in 2012 - The Washington Post

 

Please make it stop

Presidential election 2012: Majority of Americans  want the campaign season to be over   - NY Daily News

There are more than 300 days until the presidential election--and most Americans already wish it was over.

A whopping 70% of respondents polled by USA Today/Gallup said they can't wait for the race to end, compared to just 26% who say they can't wait for it to begin.

Yea!

Going There | Talking Points Memo

Amid the ongoing controversy over the ‘Fast and Furious’ gun-walking scandal, the NRA has been pushing a much more outlandish conspiracy theory — that the Obama administration created the program to lay the groundwork for taking away Americans’ 2nd Amendment rights.

Catching up with the Arcata police log

Vulgarians Meld Into Loonscape – December 12, 2011 | The Arcata Eye

Wednesday, November 2 8:48 p.m. It took a week for a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship to evolve from sweetness and light to hysteria and police involvement. Called to a Valley West motel where they were staying so as to stand by as the man collected his possessions, an officer found that he had already done so and the woman had been banned from the premises.

11:22 p.m. The conflicted couple was reported arguing in a Valley West parking lot, but within minutes had migrated to another nearby motel to continue negotiations.

Thursday, November 3 2:42 a.m. The same motel called about guests making a lot of noise in Room 133. They were evicted.

10:03 a.m. Police were called to a Valley West motel where an aggressive man in Room 122 had been acting violent and threatening the staff. He had to go, but the woman was allowed to stay.

High! Drama!

High Stakes, High Drama For Final Debate Before Voting Begins | Fox News

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – It’s been 32 weeks since the first Republican presidential debate. Since then, a changing cast of contenders has faced off a dozen times across the country with millions watching at home.…

Really?

So then, why am I not entertained?

Undernews: Kardashians' talent finally explained

USA Today - [Barbara Walters] grilled Kris Jenner and her daughters Kourtney, Khloe and Kim Kardashian about having no talent. "You don't sing, you don't dance, you don't act. Forgive me, but you don't have any talent," said Walters to the gang.

"But we're still entertaining people," said Khloe.

No no no, Fox News…

Will Republicans Snatch Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory In 2012? | Fox News

With voting for the Republican presidential nomination starting in three holiday-shortened weeks…

…the way it works is, the weeks may have holidays in them (is it OK to use the word holidays here, Fox News?) but they are still exactly the same length as every other friggin' week.

Woohoo! Should have bet $20 Gs

Rasmussen poll shocker: Gingrich tanks in Iowa, Romney now on top - CSMonitor.com

Not so fast, Newt Gingrich. A new Rasmussen poll shows the former House speaker sinking below Mitt Romney in the firm’s latest survey of likely Republican caucus-goers in Iowa.

This could wind up being the longest-runnng TV variety show ever

5 things to watch in tonight's GOP debate

Seven GOP presidential candidates meet tonight for their final debate of the year…

[That would be the year 2011, not the year forever, if you were confused about that.]

 

When Jack Abramoff thinks you're a crook, well...

Abramoff: It’s easy to corrupt congressional staffers | The Raw Story

Abramoff added that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, now running for the presidency, had engaged in lobbying for the government-sponsored mortgage bank Freddie Mac. Gingrich had claimed he accepted payments of $1.6 million from the bank for serving as a “historian” and adviser. It didn’t seem to help, as the bank later accepted more than $72 billion in taxpayer bailouts.

In truth, Abramoff said, “Newt and others… say they’re strategic advisers, they say they’re giving general world vision views to these people, but [lobbying] is exactly what they’re doing.”

Free rent

Undernews: The return of debtors' prison

Think Progress - Federal imprisonment for unpaid debt has been illegal in the U.S. since 1833.…But as more Americans struggle to pay their bills in the wake of the recession, collection agencies are using harsher methods to get their money, ushering in the return of debtor’s prisons.

They're baaack

Despite some debate over whether or not it's actually recovered from the Deep Water Horizon spill, the Gulf of Mexico will soon welcome BP to start drilling under its waters.

Coming soon to a government near you?

Europe: Open Data: Turning Government Data into Gold « INFOdocket

The Commission has launched an Open Data Strategy for Europe, which is expected to deliver a €40 billion boost to the EU’s economy each year. Europe’s public administrations are sitting on a goldmine of unrealised economic potential: the large volumes of information collected by numerous public authorities and services. Member States such as the United Kingdom and France are already demonstrating this value.

Take all that government information and sell it, baby, sell it. 

Yeah, it's definitely a shoe-in now

Locking It Down | Talking Points Memo

Mitt Romney campaign announces the endorsement of Christine O’Donnell. Really.

Some hippies in Wisconsin want to save the trees or something

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE7BD1BW20111214

...iPhoned

Stats are not forever

Five years of home sales to be revised lower in 'meaningful' way - chicagotribune.com

If you thought the U.S. housing market couldn't get much worse, think again.

Far fewer homes have been sold over the past five years than previously estimated, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday.…

Wait! I'll take them!

U.S. Mint halts production of $1 coins -- no one wants them

The Mint says there are enough $1 coins sitting in Federal Reserve vaults to meet demand for a decade, and the inventory was on track to hit two billion by 2016.

Perfect

Cheney calls for air strike on Iran over captured drone | The Raw Story

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said on Monday that President Barack Obama should have ordered an “air strike” on Iran after they recently captured a U.S. drone.

Obama gets Carterized by a crisis in Iran. And as you may recall, in the case of the Iran hostage crisis at the end of Carter's term, it turned out the R's were playing footsie with the Iranians behind the curtains all along. 

Now, Iran wants an apology (for a U.S. drone flying, intentionally or otherwise, into its airspace), which makes it all the better. You can just imagine how "Obama apologizes to Iran" goes down with the wackadoodles, right?

Apple takes cue from Captain Obvious

VIDEO: iPad 2 Says "Temp Too High" When Dumped in Lava

Honestly the stunt seems to be an expensive way to promote free iPhone cases, but it is rather amusing to watch the device burn down into a smoldering heap of melted components. Even more, the tablet actually displays the message "temperature is too high" as the molten rock digests its outset shell and glass.

Meanwhile, for our next trick...

Miami policeman drives car up light pole  - NY Daily News

According to WSVN, the man's fellow officers said they'd "never seen anything like it before." Officials are still investigating what caused the incident.

After the Frost

iPhone photo: Phil Compton

OK, wait, this is a joke, right?

TheAtlanticWire Vocal Fry Isn't Just for College Girls http://t.co/aWKG0xSA 12/12/11 1:22 PM

Awwww, some poor guy at Forbes

Life Isn't Fair - Deal With It - Forbes

There seems to be a lot of talk these days about what is fair, and what is not. President Obama seems to believe life should be fair – that “everybody should have a fair shake.”...

(And you know where the rest of this is going, right?)

CC Mint post among "Best of Holidailies"

Chocolate Chip Mint: Somewhere Between Naughty And Nice

(More at Holidalies.)

Life is not fair to The Donald

Bitter Donald Trump Clings to His Debate - Politics - The Atlantic Wire

Donald Trump spent  this morning huffing and puffing the attempting to give his fizzling debate a last breath of relevancy by claiming credit for Romney's sagging numbers. Trump called into Fox & Friends on Monday morning spouting off about Romney's numbers were sagging because he turned down the debate and, of course, that Gingrich's are skyrocketing for saying yes.

Just trust us, say health care outfits

The weekly watchdog: Dec. 5 - Dec. 9 | iWatch News

Health insurers bank on poorly informed consumers, writes Senior Analyst Wendell Potter. He says the industry and its allies are lobbying the Obama administration to ignore the new health law’s requirement for clearer policy information, arguing that to comply will cost millions of dollars that insurers would have to pass on to consumers.

Cookies bite back

ABC News: Cookie Dough Linked to E. Coli Outbreak http://goo.gl/mag/SgWGQ

But no monkey business in the barracks

Conservatives and "homo-bestiality" - Sex - Salon.com

This week conservatives got all hot and bothered over bestiality – which they condemn, of course, but just can’t stop talking about.

Last week, the Senate voted to repeal an archaic military ban on sodomy that happens to also reference sex with animals.…right-wingers were quick to announce that the repeal of Article 125 meant bestiality was being legalized in the military.

Toys and toys

I  mentioned a while back that I've retired my Nook Color to a smaller, lighter, simpler and much easier to read Nook Touch, so then what to do with the retired, tabletesque Color? A little mini-SD card with Android installed is the answer. The Color is now a mosty full-fledged Android tablet–a little on the slow side, RAM-challenged, and somewhat deluded (it thinks it's a phone) but otherwise a capable and entertaining device. Whether it will become really useful is another question. It's a proof-of-concept device. 

Android (this is Android 2.x, so not the newest version) is useable. It feels a little bit out of register to me–maybe the way it handles paralax is not exactly the same as the way iOS does. I could live with it. But as most Android tablets cost the same or more than an iPad (ditto for phones), the question is why. Meanwhile, it's fun. 

Also, it's good to have a few extra toys around because it looks like the easy weather is coming to an end and we'll be lucky to see 40 again before, say, March. Alas.

Black Vase

iPhone photo: Phil Compton

Labor force shrinks

The New Republic: Our Deeply Daunting Jobs Hole http://goo.gl/mag/cqZi7

And how perfect is this?

Poll: 3/4 say don't reelect Congress - MJ Lee - POLITICO.com

The anti-incumbent sentiment toward members of Congress has reached a 19-year high…

We have Elizabeth Warren running against some creepy naked R for the Senate and our Rep, a guy named Olver, just retired after being re-districted out of his seat. So yea! Throw the rascals out!

Couldn't see that coming. hmmm?

Trumped | Talking Points Memo

Now it’s clear that Gingrich and Santorum will be the only participants in Trump’s “debate,” it seems The Donald is losing his enthusiasm.

We are shocked, I tell you, shocked

Hillary Clinton and Internet Freedom - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com

Hypocrisy from the U.S. Government — having U.S. officials self-righteously impose standards on other countries which they routinely violate — is so common and continuous that the vast majority of examples do not even merit notice. But sometimes, it is so egregious and shameless — and sufficiently consequential — that it should not go unobserved. Such is the case with the speech delivered by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday at a Conference on Internet Freedom held at the Hague…

What. Really?

Democrats May Cave… - Politics - The Atlantic Wire

 

Throw it up against the wall, see if it sticks

Rove group hits Warren for being too pro-Wall Street | The Raw Story

The Massachusetts Senate candidate Wall Street most fears is now the target of a new advertisement that attacks her for being too pro-Wall Street.…

The ad, released by former Bush strategist Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS group, suggests that Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren was somehow responsible for bailing out irresponsible banks (she wasn’t), which later gave their executives massive bonuses.…

It’s not the first time Warren, now running against Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), has been attacked by Crossroads GPS. In their last ad against her, Rove’s group went in the opposite direction, suggesting that she’s really one of the founders of “Occupy Wall Street”…

Lowering the Bar: The Homeland Security Snow-Cone Machine

The Homeland Security Snow-Cone Machine

Every time you think "homeland security" can't get more ridiculous, it gets more ridiculous. There have been plenty of examples already showing that l...

Source: http://goo.gl/mag/Nle8o

Shared via Google Currents

...iPhoned

Christmas spirit prevails

No felony charges for LA Walmart pepper-sprayer - BusinessWeek

Prosecutors say a Los Angeles woman accused of attacking Black Friday shoppers with pepper spray won't face felony charges.

Also they have a lot of ice and snow. In Maine.

The Umbrella Cover Museum

The Umbrella Cover Museum was founded in 1996 on Peaks Island, Maine by Director and Curator, Nancy 3. Hoffman. Having discovered that she had five or six umbrella covers she didn’t know what to do with, and eventually stealing one from a local department store, she decided to start a museum. 

The Umbrella Cover Museum appears on our Work Avoidance list.

No sense in getting your own mitts dirty

Romney Unleashes The Hounds | TPM2012

Thursday morning saw Mitt Romney finally shift onto the offensive over Newt Gingrich’s surge in the polls. He brought out two surrogates - former NH Gov. John Sununu and Sen. Jim Talent.

 

The Obama Doctrine

Comment: Deadly Embraces : The New Yorker

America’s targeted killings along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, mainly by Predators overseen by the C.I.A., has become routine and even bureaucratized during the Obama Administration. The program has evolved into one of acronyms, budget allocations, and lawyerly reviews. It may be the most organized, codified, and formally rationalized assassination campaign in world history.

Post social! Dude!

Social networking's salad days are ending, Forrester says | Deep Tech - CNET News

"We are going to move to a post-social world that's a little like the Web in the year 2000."

Curmudgeons rule! Get used to it.

Oh come on, tell us what you really think

OPINION: Listen up, hired hands (This means you, Congress) | The Daily Republic | Mitchell, South Dakota

It just might be that no one takes Congress too seriously because its members take themselves so seriously.

How else do you explain a public approval rating of only 9 percent and still not one hint of any change in the collective behavior that has made the institution and its members as popular as chickenpox? Golly, even a blind sow finds an acorn every now and then.

Not this bunch.

Look both ways

News from The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Texting while driving increased 50 percent last year and two out of 10 drivers say they've sent text messages or emails while behind the wheel despite a rush by states to ban the practice, the National Traffic Safety Administration said Thursday

But not a flake in sight...

...here. Up there on the hills, I guess. Because there are indeed cars with snow on the roof on Main Street this morning. Maybe an inch or two, but still. It's snow. Definitely snow. 

OK, as long as they keep it up there it's fine with me. Here it's 40ish and it looks like it's going to stay that way at least through the weekend. And no more snow in the forecast, at least for a while. This is sure to bring out the white-Christmas crowd in force but just ignore them, I say.

In favor of politics? Surely you jest.

Left blogs fume over Plan B decision - Tim Mak - POLITICO.com

Stunned progressive bloggers were furious over the Obama administration’s surprise decision to continue to restrict the sale of the morning-after pill to minors, overriding an earlier FDA recommendation.

At a time when president’s campaign is trying to rally the party’s base, the left bloggers expressed confusion and disappointment that a Democratic administration would make such a decision - and they said believed Obama had shoved aside the science about Plan B One-Step in favor of re-election politics.

We are shocked, I tell you. Shocked.

One good point

RealClearPolitics - Obama's Rx: Bad News for Middle Class

Fair share? In the Kansas speech, Obama extolled Minnesota manufacturer Marvin Windows and Doors for laying off workers only once in 100 years. During tough times, Obama noted, Marvin's unnamed owners shared the pain of reduced compensation with their workers.

So who is Obama's jobs czar? Not the suckers at Marvin. General Electric chief executive Jeff Immelt, whose compensation doubled last year as GE was seeking concessions from workers, is Obama's go-to guy on jobs. The New York Times reported that General Electric didn't pay a dime in federal taxes in 2010 -- even though the multinational corporation earned $5.1 billion in U.S. profits.

The party of Lincoln comes to this

GOPers prep for 'alpha dog' debate - Maggie Haberman - POLITICO.com

The GOP race has narrowed to a two-man contest between Gingrich and Romney

They're kidding, right?

Some kids’ cereals may have way too much sugar, report finds - BostonHerald.com

Shop Window

iPhone Photo: Phil Compton

NOVA on Hulu

Hulu - NOVA: Killer Subs in Pearl Harbor - Watch the full episode now.

Osawatomie...

...that town in Kansas where Obama spoke the other day, was (as you probably know) also the place Teddy Roosevelt spoke during the run-up to the election of 1812. Roosevelt ran in 1812 as the presidential candidate of the progressive Bull Moose party and lost. To Woodrow Wilson. (Maybe you didn't know that.)

December 7, 1941

Images from Pearl Harbor.

70 Years | TPM Media

Seriously

Whoa, Did Something Die in Here? Oh, It Was Freedom - Lowering the Bar

While you weren't looking, those hilarious pranksters in Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which among other things authorizes the military to detain U.S. citizens arrested in this country "without trial until the end of the hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force," meaning until the "War on Terror" is over, meaning never.

That's seriously what just happened.

Yup, much easier to just screw you

Why No Financial Crisis Prosecutions? Ex-Justice Official Says It’s Just too Hard - ProPublica

Well, according to a now-departed Justice Department official who used to be in charge of investigating such matters, the Justice Department has decided that holding top Wall Street executives criminally accountable is too difficult a task [5].

Villains exposed

How "The Muppets" made Occupy Wall Street - Andrew Leonard - Salon.com

A specter is haunting America: the specter of Communist Muppets!

Don’t you dare smile! I just watched, mouth agape, a segment on the Fox Business “Follow the Money” show that definitively exposed the new Muppets movie as yet another example of liberals trying to brainwash your kids against capitalism.…

Oh go ahead, tell us what you really think

The infantile style in American politics - 2012 Elections - Salon.com

The farce known as the GOP presidential campaign has officially become a freak show. Newt Gingrich, the creepiest huckster in American politics, whose unique combination of hypocrisy, opportunism and sanctimoniousness led to his being unceremoniously bounced from Congress back in 1998, is now the front-runner to become the Republican presidential nominee.…

B/W, ambient light, action

A collection of outstanding photojournalistic photos from TIME:

The Old One Two: Underground Boxing in New York - LightBox

Which is not exactly a far-fetched idea

Kucinich: Is Obama stumbling into war with Iran? | The Raw Story

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) on Monday questioned whether the Obama administration was trying to provoke Iran into an armed conflict.

A novel in progress by our very own Lynn C Dot

Now & Then, appearing for the first time on our book list and again, no doubt, when it winds up on the best-seller lists.

Can't wait for the movie

Be on the Lookout - Lowering the Bar

The Little Caesar's pizza restaurant in Southgate, Michigan, is asking for information relating to the person in a gorilla suit who has repeatedly invaded the premises in order to dump a bag of sand on the floor. The perpetrator then flees in a dark blue Chevy Cobalt driven by a Caucasian man (or possibly a gorilla wearing a Caucasian-man suit).

So when you say outside…

News from The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- NASA has found a new planet outside our solar system that's eerily similar to Earth in key aspects.

Really? Payfors?

Dems Drop Details Of Payroll Tax Cut While GOP Signals Early Opposition | TPMDC

The payfors haven’t been completely finalized, but will come from three sources.…

Yeah I know, living language and all that (see Lexicographer's Dilemma on our reading list), but do we really need to get that ugly about it?

Oh go ahead, tell us what you really think

The Republicans' Farcical Candidates: A Club of Liars, Demagogues and Ignoramuses - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

 

Keep hoping

Opinion: Wall St. plays Occupy White House - Joel Kotkin - POLITICO.com

Even while trying to exploit the Occupy Wall Street movement for political purposes, Obama still leads in financial sector donations, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He has secured more cash from the financial elite, at this point, than all the GOP candidates combined. He has even raised twice as much as they have from Bain Capital, the venture firm co-founded by Romney.…

Books everywhere

E-book market forecast to hit $5.2B as the book industry burns — Tech News and Analysis

These shifts are resulting in the biggest change in publishing since the time of Gutenberg.

And the perfect kind of reader is right here (Amazon and Kobo have comparable devices at comparable prices). It's lightweight, easy to carry and hold, runs approximately forever on one battery charge and has a touchscreen, e-ink display. E-ink, it turns out, is far, far preferable to a back-lit, computer-style screen if what you want to do is just sit and read. Also it does nothing else but read: It is essentially a single-purpose device. OK, it does twit, but then everything twits, doesn't it? I'm pretty sure my toaster twits, and I'm sure my phone does. But it (the Nook Touch) doesn't check email or make coffee.

My previous book reader, a Nook Color, was good but heavier to hold, and I found the back-lit screen fatiguing after a while. I'm planning to install Android on it and use it as a tablet, although I'm expecting it to be mostly a fooling-around-with tablet instead of a real tablet because its processor is on the slow side (presumably the new Nook Tablet improves this situation, but I don't want to know bad enough to find out). Still, fun. And Angry Birds.

Headlight

iPhone photo: Philip R. Compton

Bah

12 Days of Holiday Tips | USA.gov

Get your holidays off to a great start!

From the aforementioned USA.gov ("Government made easy") comes this list of 12 tips for celebrating the upcoming season of holidays:

1. Make a budget.
2. Get a job.

And we can't wait to find out the other ten!

Wow! Free markets win again! (You lose.)

School Lunches and the Food Industry - NYTimes.com

House ethics...

Dan Boren, Oklahoma Lawmaker, Shares in Gas Field Bounty - NYTimes.com

House ethics rules do not prohibit lawmakers from taking steps to aid industries in which they have a financial stake.

...is an oxymoron on the scale of military intelligence or jumbo shrimp. The government is corrupt from bottom to top (who knew US law enforcement agencies conduct "Attorney General Exempt Operations," BTW?) and that is really not a good thing.

(Sorry about the links to the Times but, dude, if you haven't figured out how to deal with that by now you should just go buy yourself a book.)

Tradition: A shifting target

From a piece on people having conversations with their phones (yes, we said with their phones) in public…

Virtual Assistants Raise New Issues of Phone Etiquette - NYTimes.com

But, he predicted, “there will be a small minority of traditionalists who yearn for the good old days when people just texted in public.”

(And an even smaller minority of "conservatives" who yearn for quill pens (just like Alexander Hamilton!).)

Apparently you need an Alabama driver's license (or one from Japan) to drive in Alabama

Alabama arrests another foreign car executive under new immigration law | The Raw Story

The Guardian reports that Honda manager Ichiro Yada was arrested earlier this week at a checkpoint in Leeds, Alabama, despite being able to show police his passport, US work permit, and international driver’s license. He was not taken into custody, however, but was ticketed and released on a signature bond.

Yada’s international license was apparently not sufficient to satisfy the letter of the law, which required him to carry either an Alabama license or one issued by Japan.

Or you have to be nuts. Take your pick.

New to our Work Avoidance list

iPhonography, a showing of photos made with a, you know, iPhone (or iPad) in which our Midwest bureau chief is, BTW, represented by the following submissions:

http://fxphotostudioshow.tumblr.com/post/13498326051/intake-by-philip-r-compton-effects-used-color

http://fxphotostudioshow.tumblr.com/post/13498060150/jaguar-by-philip-r-compton-effects-used-vintage

http://fxphotostudioshow.tumblr.com/post/13452773747/endless-beach-by-philip-r-compton-effects-used

http://fxphotostudioshow.tumblr.com/post/13498085462/reflection-by-philip-r-compton-effects-used

http://fxphotostudioshow.tumblr.com/post/13452698725/beach-horizon-by-philip-r-compton-effects-used

http://fxphotostudioshow.tumblr.com/post/13585289171/to-dream-in-color-by-philip-r-compton-effects

http://fxphotostudioshow.tumblr.com/post/13585055391/painted-ladies-by-philip-compton-effects

http://fxphotostudioshow.tumblr.com/post/13585187154/dreaming-of-the-sea-by-philip-r-compton-effects

(If you are a Facebook user you can "like" these pictures, which increases the chances they will be picked for a print show in New York later this month. So why are you still just sitting there reading this?)

Wall Flower

iPhone photo: Philip R. Compton

But can it eat Cleveland?

Look at This Giant Bug! | Popular Science

This amazing/disturbing picture is of a giant weta, the world's biggest insect…

Throw the book at 'em

Hullabaloo

You won't see much mention of it in the traditional media, but Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is suing the big banks for foreclosure fraud. That's a really big deal.…

It still probably won't land these crooks behind bars, but it will certainly be leverage toward much, much stiffer penalties against the banks than the Obama Administration is hoping for with their papered-over settlement.

It's a case case

It develops I have so many cases–cases for gadgets long forgotten, cases for obsolete stuff, cases of every size and shape (but universally, it seems, black)–that I need a case to keep them in. Fortunately, I have one. Is that a lucky thing or what?

If it was good enough for Tiny Tim it's good enough for Newt

Gingrich Still Wants to Hire Children as Janitors - Politics - The Atlantic Wire

Newt Gingrich, who got some flack last month for suggesting we eliminate child labor laws and allow underpriveleged children to clean schools for pay, has sort of recanted on his position. And by recanted, we mean he acknowledged that janitorial work can be dangerous, so these children shouldn't be allowed to do much more than clean the bathrooms.

Tis the season, etc.

Naah, it'll never fly

December Named National Awareness Month | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

WASHINGTON—In an effort to combat what organizers are calling "our current epidemic of complete and utter obliviousness," the American Foundation for Paying Attention to Things has declared December "National Awareness Month."

Really, this would make a great sitcom

Fox treading carefully in Gingrich-Romney race - Salon.com

The Republican primary campaign has become a two-man race, with unloved ostensible front-runner Mitt Romney currently suffering the indignity of trailing in the polls to self-satisfied serial adulterer Newt Gingrich.

Oh wait. It is?

R is for…

Meet the new Social Darwinists - Republican Party - Salon.com

They’re not conservatives. They’re regressives.

When there's no bar at all

News from The Associated Press

Recent data suggest the economy is picking up. Retailers reported a strong start to holiday sales over the Thanksgiving weekend, consumer confidence surged in November to the highest level since July and Americans' pay rose in October by the most in seven months.

Many economists say that is driving stronger growth in the final three months of the year. They forecast a 3 percent annual rate for the October-December quarter. That would be an improvement from the 2 percent rate in the July-September quarter.

"A party base that seems to have been lobotomized overnight"

Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community

As seen by the German magazine Der Spiegel…

Somebody's not trying hard enough

Google Ngram Viewer

So I ask myself…

…where is the law that says I can't have a baloney sandwich for breakfast? And why don't I ask myself that more often?

Good question

Inside Obama's re-election math - CNN.com

So why, then, was [Obama] in Scranton this week pushing the payroll tax cut?

It is a complete mystery to me that at a time when everybody is running around blabbering the Social Security system is out of money and the program has to be pared down Obama is making a signature issue out of cutting the Social Security tax. Well, maybe not such a mystery after all. Fail to the Chief.

A very excellent book

Jack Lynch's The Lexicographer's Dilemma: The Evolution of "Proper" English, from Shakespeare to South Park rocks. It's one of the best books you'll read all year, or at least for the rest of it. If you hurry. You can find a link to the Barnes & Nobel instance of it on the reading list.

eBooks attack

When eBooks attack, mass paperbacks die - GeekWire

Ailing for months, [the demise of the mass paperback book market] is now all but assured by Amazon’s recent bold announcement. Not the over-analyzed, over-iPad-compared Kindle Fire announcement. Rather, by the far less interesting news – to the gadgetphiles – that the least expensive, wonderfully readable and portable Kindle is now $79...

Oh no!

Time Inc.'s Soon-to-Be CEO Doesn't Have Time to Tweet - Business - The Atlantic Wire

Horses OK, inspectors not so much

News from The Associated Press

Slaughter opponents pushed a measure cutting off funding for horse meat inspections through Congress in 2006 after other efforts to pass outright bans on horse slaughter failed in previous years. Congress lifted the ban in a spending bill President Obama signed into law Nov. 18 to keep the government afloat until mid-December.

It did not, however, allocate any new money to pay for horse meat inspections, which opponents claim could cost taxpayers $3 million to $5 million a year.

Achievement is where you find it

Herman Cain's team bumbles toward 2012 - Jonathan Martin - POLITICO.com

Herman Cain is in the midst of “reassessing” whether to continue his 2012 bid, but its legacy is already settled: His campaign will go down as one of the most hapless and bumbling operations in modern presidential politics, setting a new standard for how to turn damaging press coverage into something far worse.

But…but…but…

Kucinich: Federal Reserve has captured control of our government | The Raw Story

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) called for the U.S. Federal Reserve to be reformed after Bloomberg reported the central bank secretly loaned nearly $8 trillion to financial institutions from 2007 to 2009.

Tens of thousands of documents obtained by Bloomberg under the Freedom of Information Act showed that banks reaped an estimated $13 billion in profits thanks to the low-interest loans.…

“Remember the great debate we had here over the 700 billion in TARP funds?” he said on the House floor Tuesday. “There was no debate over the 7.7 trillion the Fed gave the banks.”

CNET: The end of fun

Microsoft reportedly readying Office for the iPad | Microsoft - CNET News

Is this a personal best for Perry?

Rick Perry Forgets Two Things in the Same Sentence - Politics - The Atlantic Wire

Previously, Rick Perry has shown that he is capable of remembering two out of three things at a time, but on Tuesday, at a campaign event in New Hampshire, he reportedly forgot both the United States voting age and the date of the general election. And he managed to make those mistakes in the same sentence, as The Washington Post recounts…

Our Midwest bureau editor featured in digital art show. W00t!

Amazing FX Photo Studio for #iPhone #Photo • Jaguar by Philip R. Compton Effects used: Vintage...

(And click "previous" below picture for another; browse the entire show for several more. Also some other stuff.)

What? A Jane Austen finger puppet you say?

Jane Austen - Finger Puppet and Magnet - Boing Boing Shop

Also this:

Slide to Unlock Magnet - Boing Boing Shop

Just don't ask me mine

Obama's Favorite Word: 'Frustration' - Politics - The Atlantic Wire

Everywhere President Obama looks these days -- protesters, polls, liberals, conservatives, Congress, his own supporters -- he seems to see one thing: frustration. When President Obama wants to talk about his bad poll numbers without really talking about his bad poll numbers, he talks about "frustrations."

Everything's up to date in…wait…Oklahoma?

Dangers of Texting While Driving Facts & Laws | Vlingo

Text messaging is banned for all drivers in 30 states and the District of Columbia. In addition, novice drivers are banned from texting in 8 states (Alabama, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia) and school bus drivers are banned from text messaging in 2 states (Oklahoma, and Texas).

The map is a little out of date–about a year–but you can see that once you hit Ohio it's Katie bar the door. Also a few other places. Don't say you weren't warned.

The wrong meme

News from The Associated Press

American [Airlines] says labor-contract rules force it to spend at least $600 million more than other airlines. That's partly a result of AMR avoiding bankruptcy last decade, while airlines like United and Delta were able to scrap existing labor contracts after filing Chapter 11.

American blames high labor cost when it should be blaming the other air lines for paying sub-standard wages.

Right, like thats gonna happen

Pardoning a Death Row Turkey | AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF MAINE

Imagine if, instead of a turkey, the President made a point each Thanksgiving of pardoning an actual human being.…

But every time's the right time in Ohio

Livewire | TPM

Cain Campaign Lists Ohio Events In The Wrong Time Zone

Arch Street

Details, details

Note: Before Attaching Ankle Monitor, Make Sure Leg Is Real - Lowering the Bar

Because if the leg is detachable, that defeats the purpose of attaching a monitor to it. Unless your goal is to keep track of the leg, in which case no problem…

No Republican could do worse

Federal Cuts Give Maine a Chill as Winter Approaches - NYTimes.com

President Obama has proposed sharply cutting the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program…

Under Mr. Obama’s proposed budget, the overall heating aid program would get about $2.6 billion, down from $4.7 billion in 2010-11. The House and the Senate are considering smaller but still significant cuts, with the final amount yet to be determined.

Plenty of time to screw this up too

Pakistan demands US vacate suspected drone base - Yahoo! News

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani government has demanded the U.S. vacate an air base within 15 days that the CIA is suspected of using for unmanned drones.

 

She should have just called a cop

News from The Associated Press

A woman who allegedly fired pepper spray at other customers during a Black Friday sale has surrendered to authorities, Los Angeles police said Saturday....

Meanwhile, police in suburban Phoenix came under fire when a video was posted online showing a 54-year-old grandfather on the floor of a Walmart store with a bloody face, after police said he was subdued Thursday night trying to shoplift during a chaotic rush for discounted video games.