funny and creepy at the same time. the occular cavitiy of a powerpuff girl is the size of a buick.

[ awesome! -k]

What Cartoon Skeletons Look Like

Just in case you wondered. I know I did.

[ See, when i clicked this, i thought it'd be a joke site. It's even funnier that it's real... -k]

Positions for Intercourse To Be Avoided Following Total Hip Replacement

] U.S. veterans from the war in Iraq are beginning to show
] up at homeless shelters around the country, and advocates
] fear they are the leading edge of a new generation of
] homeless vets not seen since the Vietnam era.

Unacceptable.

Homeless Iraq vets showing up at shelters - (United Press International)

] The good news is that we may have figured out how to
] solve the moral problem that's been holding up stem-cell
] research. The bad news is that the solution will
] introduce a whole new kind of horror.

Interesting. Someone is finally thinking outside the box on this one, and I like it. Its not creepy...its a brilliant solution to the stem cell problem. Both sides win. I hope this is something the bioethics committee will really consider.

[ Agreed. -k]

Monster Farming - The creepy solution to the stem-cell debate. By William Saletan

] Family Values
]
]
] Yesterday:
]
] Bush introduced Mike and Sharla Hintz, a couple from
] Clive, whom he said benefited from his tax plan.
]
] Last year, because of the enhanced the child tax
] credit, they received an extra $1,600 in their tax
] refund, Bush said. With other tax cuts in the bill, they
] saved $2,800 on their income taxes.
]
] They used the money to buy a wood-burning stove to
] more efficiently heat their home, made some home
] improvements and went on a vacation to Minnesota, the
] president said.
]
] "Next year, maybe they'll want to come to Texas,"
] Bush quipped.
]
] Mike Hintz, a First Assembly of God youth pastor,
] said the tax cuts also gave him additional money to use
] for health care.
]
] He said he supports Bush's values.
]
] "The American people are starting to see what kind of
] leader President Bush is. People know where he stands,"
] he said.
]
] "Where we are in this world, with not just the war on
] terror, but with the war with our culture that's going
] on, I think we need a man that is going to be in the
] White House like President Bush, that's going to stand by
] what he believes.
]
]
] and today...
]
] A Des Moines youth pastor is charged with the sexual
] exploitation of a child.
]
] KCCI learned that the married father of four recently
] turned himself in to Johnston police.
]
] Rev. Mike Hintz was fired from the First Assembly of
] God Church, located at 2725 Merle Hay Road, on Oct. 30.
] Hintz was the youth pastor there for three years.
]
] Police said he started an affair with a 17-year-old
] in the church youth group this spring.

[ This has nothing to do with Bush, in the sense that I'm not so unreasonable as to pin the Reverend's actions on anyone but himself. I bring it up to point out a contrast I see all too frequently between moralist statements, and actual behavior.

On the right, "culture war" is code for "homosexual agenda", it's built into that frame. Something tells me the threat to Rev. Hintz' marriage was not homosexuality, but Adultery. Adultery with a youth over whom he could assert control, and authority.

I don't think hypocracy is necessarily as horrible as many of my generation do, but when you get up on stage with the president and decry the state of our values, you better be pretty clean yourself. -k]

Moral values... (from atrios)

] Through early October, 99.9 percent of indecency
] complaints --- aside from those concerning the Janet
] Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" during the Super
] Bowl halftime show broadcast on CBS --- were brought by
] the PTC, according to the FCC analysis dated Oct. 1. (The
] agency last week estimated it had received 1,068,767
] complaints about broadcast indecency so far this year;
] the Super Bowl broadcast accounted for over 540,000,
] according to commissioners%u2019 statements.)
]
]
] The prominent role played by the PTC has raised concerns
] among critics of the FCC's crackdown on indecency.
] %u201CIt means that really a tiny minority with a very
] focused political agenda is trying to censor American
] television and radio,%u201D said Jonathan Rintels,
] president and executive director of the Center for
] Creative Voices in Media, an artists' advocacy
] group.
]
] PTC officials disagree.
]
] "I wish we had that much power," said Lara
] Mahaney

Activists Dominate Content Complaints

] SEATTLE The unattached, freewheeling,
] consequence-free years following Frank Anderton's
] graduation from college are being spent in "one of the
] coolest offices in all of Seattle," the 24-year-old
] reported Tuesday.
]
] "Man, it's the greatest feeling in the world, knowing
] that I could do anything right now," Anderton said,
] sitting at his desk at 8:30 p.m. Friday.

[ Almost too real to be funny. Almost. -k]

The Onion | Wild, Unattached Twenties Spent At Work

] Political elites, such as party activists and members of
] Congress, tend to be more extreme than the public.
]
] At first, this seems puzzling, because they should have
] an incentive to move to the vote-rich middle. But many
] members of Congress represent districts that are safe for
] their parties, and the threat to their re-election comes
] in party primaries that are dominated by the more
] activist and extreme wings of the parties.
]
] This tendency is reinforced by the rise of cable
] television, which attracts viewers by means of
] contentious "infotainment" programmes, and
] Internet bloggers, who engage in fierce polemics
] with no editorial filter.

A very interesting analysis. I've said that whether you are red or blue has to do with whether you are more afraid of the communists or the fundamentalists. Americans intuitively understand that the structure of their political system is the reason that it doesn't seem to reflect their interests. This comment takes that a little deeper.

I agree with his comment about the blogosphere. Its not a conversation. Its not a dialog. Its a million soap boxes. The popular ones tend to be the most polar because they are the most emotionally charged. The blogosphere, as it currently exists, is part of the problem. Its a check on the mass media, but it will be nothing more unless it can provide discourse.

The red and the blue, by Joseph Nye

] James Tobin, 44, of Bangor, Maine, the former regional
] director of the Republican National Committee in New
] England, faces charges of conspiracy to commit telephone
] harassment and aiding and abetting telephone harassment.
] He face a jail sentence of up to five years if convicted.
]
] Tobin allegedly took part in a conspiracy to jam five
] telephone numbers run by the New Hampshire Democratic
] Party, and one associated with a local Professional
] Firefighters Association, in an attempt to stop
] opponents' "get-out-the-vote" efforts. More than 800
] hang-up calls jammed the phone lines for about 90 minutes
] on election day, AP reports.

[ I look forward to hearing the facts of this case. If true, he deserves harsh penalties. Suppressing the vote is morally reprehensible behavior. -k]

Senior Republican charged in phone jamming plot

] In modern times there has never been anyone quite like
] Rove, possessing such a long working relationship with
] and influence over a president%u2014a newly re-elected
] one who will wield an expanded majority in Congress.
] "I've been searching for a parallel figure," said
] Marshall Wittmann, a political strategist and writer.
] "The closest is Bobby Kennedy in his brother's
] administration. But even that doesn't get it. Because as
] loyal as Karl is, his political ambitions extend beyond
] one family."

[ A compelling article on what we might be able to expect from the next four years... -k]

MSNBC - Rove Unleashed