The commission issued an order seeking Steed's removal from the bench in February, after a 14-month investigation determined Steed was a polygamist and as such had violated Utah's bigamy law.

Hypocrisy at its finest.

"There is no allegation that it's affecting his performance on the bench," Parker said. "It really is truly only about his private conduct."

Oh, great, that's all we need....the administration gets wind of this asshole attorney and suddenly they're pulling this "conduct vs duty" shit on Frist, Rove, Libby, [insert name here], and [insert name here].

Steed legally married his first wife in 1965, according to court documents. The second and third wives were married -- or "sealed" as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints refers to it -- to him in religious ceremonies in 1975 and 1985.
The three women are biological sisters...

EEWWWWWWW!!! That's disgusting! Apart from being every man's fantasy, of course.

...and no one in the family was expecting that the second and third marriages would be civilly recognized.

So, wait, he's essentially allowed to sleep with the sisters just for the hell of it and THAT'S OKAY, TOO??!!!

I'm about ready to bag this whole Mormon church state and just raze Utah to the ground. Or, release a whole bunch of Fabio look-alikes and watch those fat, slobby-ass men gradually self-destruct. Either way is fine with me, really.

-janelane, fundamentalists beware

CNN.com - Utah judge with 3 wives fights for job - Nov 2, 2005

Its worse than we could have ever imagined.

Legal experts consider the 55-year-old Alito so ideologically similar to Justice Antonin Scalia that he has earned the nickname "Scalito."

In 1991, in one of his more well-known decisions, he was the only dissenting voice in a 3rd Circuit ruling striking down a Pennsylvania law that required women to notify their husbands if they planned to get an abortion.

He also wrote the opinion in 1999 in a case that said a Christmas display on city property did not violate separation of church and state doctrines because it included a large plastic Santa Claus as well as religious symbols.

Oh, wait, no...that's about what I imagined.

Regrettably, I was not able to meme the original version of this story in which poll results about American's desires for the next justice were included. 46% said that overturning Roe V Wade was a bad idea. Here's a guy that thinks Mormons are living the good life, and he can't possibly represent the 46% of people who don't want to chuck Roe V Wade.

Hey...isn't that figure 5 percentage points higher than Bush's approval rating?

-janelane, heading for the hills

CNN.com - Bush nominates Alito to Supreme Court - Oct 31, 2005

In the memorandum, M. Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart's executive vice president for benefits, also recommends reducing 401(k) contributions and wooing younger, and presumably healthier, workers by offering education benefits. The memo voices concern that workers with seven years' seniority earn more than workers with one year's seniority, but are no more productive.

To discourage unhealthy job applicants, Ms. Chambers suggests that Wal-Mart arrange for "all jobs to include some physical activity (e.g., all cashiers do some cart-gathering)."
....
In an interview, Ms. Chambers said she was focusing not on cutting costs, but on serving employees better by giving them more choices on their benefits.

"We are investing in our benefits that will take even better care of our associates," she said. "Our benefit plan is known today as being generous."

Ms. Chambers also said that she made her recommendations after surveying employees about how they felt about the benefits plan. "This is not about cutting," she said. "This is about redirecting savings to another part of their benefit plans."

Quick! Mr. President! This woman has GOT to be on your staff!

What a bitch. Could all upper management people at that company possibly be as bad?

-janelane

///
Do you know what makes a human being decent? Fear. And therein lies the problem. None of you has anything left to fear anymore. You rest comfortably in seats of inscrutable power, hiding behind your false idol, far from judgment, lives shrouded in secrecy even from one another. But not from God.
- Loki, "Dogma"

Wal-Mart Memo Suggests Ways to Cut Employee Benefit Costs - New York Times

FLORENCE, South Carolina (AP) -- Crystal Chockley thought something was wrong when her brother-in-law didn't show up for her husband's funeral.

Hours after burying Perry Harrell, she found out why. Larry Harrell died in a car wreck on his way to the funeral Saturday.

Darwin sure is hitting this family hard.

-janelane

CNN.com - Man dies driving to brother's funeral - Oct 25, 2005

The "FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY'' sticker stumped 25 percent of even those who could read every word, and misled 90 percent of the adults in the lowest literacy group.

That, Dr. Wolf said, was probably because its icon was so strange. The label depicted an oddly-stretched human shape encased in what looked like a series of ghostly shrouds. Take this pill to stop hallucinations? To start them?

"A lot of people thought that icon meant the drug was radioactive," Dr. Wolf said.

Some funny quotes for an NYT article on Rx bottle labels. Not a chair-gripping, hot-tech topic, but reality nonetheless.

-janelane, FOR THE EAR

And Now, a Warning About Labels - New York Times

It doesn't matter how brainy you are or how much education you've had - you can still improve and expand your mind. Boosting your mental faculties doesn't have to mean studying hard or becoming a reclusive book worm. There are lots of tricks, techniques and habits, as well as changes to your lifestyle, diet and behaviour that can help you flex your grey matter and get the best out of your brain cells. And here are 11 of them.

Cool article about staving off dementia. Hopefully grad school won't drive me to using modafinil any time soon...that shit's hardcore.

-janelane, mind-expanding

Update: I also meant to include the quote about Modafinil which can apparently, "keep a person awake and alert for 90 hours straight, with none of the jitteriness and bad concentration that amphetamines or even coffee seem to produce."

New Scientist 11 steps to a better brain

BLUFFTON, South Carolina (AP) -- A would-be carjacker got a different kind of jolt from his intended victim's morning cup of coffee, authorities said.

The suspect tapped the car window Wednesday morning with a gun and motioned the driver to get out, Chief Deputy Roy Hughes said.

But the driver -- who had just bought a cup of hot coffee -- slammed the car door into the carjacker's legs, threw the coffee at his neck and face and wrestled him to the ground, Hughes said.

Sounds to me like the muggee already had a couple of cups.

-janelane, "A-mer-ica....fuck ya!"

CNN.com - Hot coffee thwarts carjacking - Oct 21, 2005

My gut feeling is that Motorola might score if they aim higher next time. The same Engadget fanboys who booed the ROKR would probably part with a few extra bucks for a pricier model with a head-turning design and a USB 2.0 jack. But I still think marketing execs overestimate the appeal of music phones. In Cingular's ads for the ROKR, hot young urbanites multitask between dancing and dating as calls come into their beat-blasting headphones. "I associate my BlackBerry with work," a friend retorted to me. "I use my iPod to forget about work. I don't want it to fucking ring."

While I agree the ROKR sucks (100 songs on a phone that doesn't flip??), I don't agree with the above sentiment. A multitasking phone/music/internet/data storage thing totally appeals to me. I fast run out of pocket space around campus with my car keys, phone, iRiver, memory stick, and money. Hell, I don't even see why we can't combine all 5. Yada yada security, yada yada separation of work and play, whatever the hang-ups, I still think we should try.

-janelane, tech savvy by proxy

NEW YORK (AP) -- Jessica Biel has been proclaimed "the sexiest woman alive" by Esquire magazine.

HAHAHAHAHAH!!!! That's right...move over Cindy Crawford, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, and Elizabeth Hurley....Jessica Biel can out-sex any of you!!!!

I've never, EVER met a guy who thought Jessica Biel was even remotely attractive, much less "sexy" before or AFTER her move from 7th Heaven to pornography. This seems like a case of "Hi, Esquire, my name is Jessica and these are my millions."

-janelane, "I voted for Hurley"

CNN.com - Jessica Biel named sexiest woman alive - Oct 7, 2005

Microsoft will introduce a set of corporate products today that will move it more fully into competition with the leading makers of security software for Windows computers.

The company will outline plans for a package of corporate security software and services called client protection technology, along with software for identity management and access for corporate customers. The services will go into limited testing later this year; Microsoft would not give details on general availability or pricing.

This year Microsoft has announced a series of initiatives in security products for home users. In January it began testing an antispyware product, and it has announced a subscription antivirus and antispyware service called Windows OneCare.

Those products and the company's declaration that it plans to offer a wide range of products in the security field pose new competition to established security software makers like McAfee, Symantec and Trend Micro.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Yeah, I'm sure all those people over at McAfee are shaking in their boots!!!

Also, what's up with "remedial training program" for their programmers?

-janelane, suspiciously

Microsoft to Introduce New Security Software for Windows - New York Times