] A Simpsons toon is coming out of the closet. Not that
] there's anything wrong with that
]
] Speaking during a weekend panel at San Diego's Comic-Con
] convention, show producers dropped a bomb: An upcoming
] Simpsons story line will focus on what happens when
] Springfield legalizes gay marriage.
]
] "We have a show where, to raise money, Springfield
] legalizes gay marriage," producer Al Jean told comic book
] fans. "Homer becomes a minister by going on the Internet
] and filling out a form. A longtime character comes out of
] the closet, but I'm not saying who."

LAME story line...

] It has also become the longest running comedy series on the tube
] and has spawned a billion-dollar franchise for Fox, which after
] some protracted negotiations, agreed to a new four-year deal with
] the show's six stars that gave each of them a whopping pay raise
] to $250,000 per episode.

Okay. Maybe not lame when you make $250k every time you went to work.

'Simpsons': A Gay Old Time

] HONG KONG (AFP) - Life as a couch potato is more deadly
] than smoking, according to new research which found more
] people in Hong Kong died from lack of physical activity
] than from tobacco consumption.
]
] The study of Hong Kong residents aged over 35 who died in
] 1998 found a lack of physical activity caused more than
] 6,400 deaths a year, compared with just over 5,700 from
] smoking, the South China Morning Post reported Saturday.

I better start smoking...

Lack of activity more deadly than smoking

] NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Courtney Love showed up five hours
] late to a New York court hearing on a reckless
] endangerment charge Monday, drawing a sharp rebuke from
] the judge, who warned the dazed-looking rocker that she
] narrowly missed being deemed a fugitive.
]
] A visibly annoyed New York Criminal Court Judge Melissa
] Jackson admonished the 39-year-old singer that she was
] about to issue a bench warrant for Love's arrest for
] being tardy.
]
]Asked how she felt following the 15-minute hearing, Love answered:
] "I feel great except for this nonsense."

I bet she was feeling "great".

CNN.com - Judge scolds Courtney Love - Jun 28, 2004

] Jerusalem used to be the direction in which the prophet
] Muhammad and the first Muslims turned to pray. In time,
] Muhammad changed the direction, or qibla, and Muslims
] began to pray facing Mecca, as they do today. All the
] Bush White House did was change the qibla of American
] Middle East policy from Jerusalem to Baghdad. While the
] present clique of White House ideologues assumed that a
] safe, stable, and democratic Iraq would reshape the
] region, Zinni, Brzezinski, and company still maintain
] that the peace process is the key. They don't know more
] about the Middle East than the Bush White House; they're
] just angry that someone replaced their absurd reductive
] paradigm with another, equally absurd reductive paradigm.

Good article.

Palestine Policy Paralysis - Face it: There is no -key- to Middle East peace.

] Earlier this week, I cited recently declassified
] documents to show that Ronald Reagan did indeed play a
] major role in ending the Cold War. Now it's time to note
] that a similar set of documents shows that Reagan also
] played a major role in bringing on the terrorist war that
] followed—specifically, in abetting the rise of Osama
] Bin Laden.

Reagan's Osama Connection - How he turned a jihadist into a terrorist kingpin

] But what ever happened to the pistol?
]
] The sidearm has made its way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
] Sources say that the military had the pistol mounted
] after the soldiers seized it from Saddam and that it was
] then presented to the President privately by some of the
] troops who played a key role in ferreting out the old
] tyrant. Though it was widely reported at the time that
] the pistol was loaded when they grabbed Saddam, Bush has
] told visitors that the gun was empty—and that it is
] still empty and safe to touch. "He really liked showing
] it off," says a recent visitor to the White House who has
] seen the gun. "He was really proud of it."

What a $200 billion dollar war buys you.

TIME.com: A Saddam Souvenir

] Naked students ride the 'Nemesis Inferno' roller coaster
] at Thorpe Park in Surrey, southern England, May 21, 2004,
] during their attempt to break the world record for the
] most naked people to ride on a roller coaster. The group
] successfully set a new official world record on Friday
] with a total of 81 volunteers completing the attempt.
] (Howard Sayer/Reuters)

um..okay.

Nude Rollercoaster Ride...

] NEW YORK (AP) -- Given all the barely clad women that are
] booty-shaking, grinding and gyrating on BET during the
] day, it's hard to believe things could get any wilder
] after dark.
] While outright nudity is blurred out, the videos still
] contain enough sexual content to make R. Kelly blush.
] There's Ludacris' "Booty Poppin' " video, featuring
] close-ups of jiggling posteriors as women take it all off
] in a strip club. And in Nelly's "Tip Drill" video, women
] shake so wildly that bikini bottoms pop off, and a posse
] of leering men grab various body parts. Later, the women
] simulate sex acts with themselves.

I wish MTV played videos.

Really wild videos come out at night

] LONDON (Reuters) - London's police fears that allowing
] pubs and clubs to open 24 hours a day could lead to a
] rise in violent crime, disorder and nuisance, the Daily
] Telegraph newspaper said on Saturday.
]
]
]
]
]  
]
]
] A leaked report from the Metropolitan Police says
] officers are concerned that all-day drinking will lead to
] a rise in violent crime, more drink-driving and public
] disturbances.

Police Fear 24-Hour Drinking to Fuel Crime in London

] Couples caught kissing passionately in public in
] Indonesia could spend five years in jail.
] Heavy kissing could carry a maximum penalty of five years
] in jail or a $29,000 fine. Anyone caught flashing would face similar penalties.

Now, I would have thought that flashing would be a more
harsh of a penalty than heavy kissing.

Kissing ban - Mar. 9, 2004