"I Sarah Palin ... do solemnly swear to ... WAIT- Can I leave befor my term's up?"
Sarah Palin’s leaving office for the potential to do something else. No on e is quite sure what that is, but it shows how delusional she may in fact be if she’s considering the 2012 presidency, especially after permitting Republicans to shout racist and hateful comments at the McCain-Palin rallies…
Anyone got comments on this one? Read more here.
Plus, video of the Maverick’s announcement here.
Whether you’re having a vacation or stay-cation, have fun this weekend!
Whereas most of my family resides in the same state and refuses to travel further than their local Walmart, a specific species of ants have apparently conquered the planet. Not only are they the only species which appears to have actually spanned the globe (excepting humans, of course) but they also recognize one another, despite their geographic regions and greet each other as if they were family! Now, if only my family’s warring factions could learn from their example…
Anyhow, read up on it here.
Is there anything that a multi-billionaire can’t do? Yesterday, Mike achieved what Governor David Paterson and those bozos in the State Senate refused to by managing to STILL retain mayoral control over New York City Schools in a meeting that lasted (get this!) a total of 9 minutes! Hot-damn, sir. Hot damn.
Read more about the efforts of Bloomberg to reinstate Joel Klein, who in turn returned control to our beloved mayor here.
Yesterday in Iran, former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami called the actions of Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad during and after the election a “coup” against democracy. The former president of Iran is a supporter of Mousavi and the opposition protests and has also stated that Iran is suppressing the rights of its people to protest the election’s results. You can read more about his opinion and how a printed newspaper was shut down by Iranian authorities here.
Still, it appears that in Iran, North Korea, and China, among other places, the tools of oppression require suppression and division of the masses. In the 21st century, while technology has helped groups of activists come together there’s another background issue lurking behind the political power of our degree of connectivity:
In essence, activists need to ask what the quality of their communication is after the quantity of of their communications has been assured.
This means that despite repressive tactics such as Iran’s censoring printed newspaper statements supporting the Iranian opposition, China’s umbrella obfuscation of reporters addressing an anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, North Korea’s photoshopped images of Kim Jong Il, or Chinese Pornography filters, these nations’ acts leave nagging questions about the reliability of ALL political information.
By doing so, nations like Iran can turn the tables and implicate the CIA in the death of Neda or North Korea can assert that Jong Il’s health is fine without consequence. And, like a Phillip Seymour-Hoffman-v.-Meryl-Streep showdown in Doubt wherein both sides assert their certainty to the very end, in a political fight, the actors are fighting for the minds of the masses.
It’s important for us to stay as engaged as possible, to become discerning readers, to challenge the information we’re being provided but in an era where what’s omitted, censored, or openly disputed becomes the focal point of the news, as a fellow reader, I urge all of us to remain cautious about what implications we can draw from sources which are, in essence, unknown.
I don’t believe that we can know for certain whether Neda was shot by a CIA agent or that the image of Kim Jong Il was provided by North Korea with North Korea’s permission. However, as the BBC reporter in Tiananmen Square’s report showed, sometimes it’s just as vital to corroborate the methodology of repression. Ironically, the quality of the information we receive might just be embedded in the corroborative power of of the masses making efforts to supplement and corroborate the stories on the ground.
This is also why Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, and Youtube are so vital for transformative political changes.
We might know that Ahmadinejad says the election results were not rigged, that Neda was killed by the CIA, or that Iran’s response to the opposition has been peaceful and civilized, but we know better. First off, we know better than that, partially because of the tactics of repression shown by Iranian police and Basiji. Secondly, we know better because because of the sheer quantity of information yielded by these mass-communication powers levels the playing-field of what once could only have been a state-controlled or state-influenced media.
I am sayiing this as a way of thanking you for stayiing engaged as readers. Both Lark and I appreciate your comments, feedback, input, and (should you desire to do so) potential articles. With that all in mind I suggest you join our facebook page: It’s a simple way to give back and to stay engaged and help to support our development, keep you up to date on the newest and most important news, and give you one more friend to wish a happy birthday to.
Stay engaged-
So, you’ve read South Carolinian Governor Sanford’s emails to his Argentinian adulteress. You know of his Defense of Marriage Act hypocrisy, that Sanford didn’t want to allow same-sex unions, and that he’s a man of God who refuses to leave office despite using government funds while committing one of the Seven Deadly Sins. As John Stewart said, he’s "just another conservative mind with a liberal penis."
You could be pretty angry about the entire ordeal but, instead:
Why not kick back, watch this video, and laugh?
I know I did!
Oh, Mark … we hardly knew ye.
Thanks, Daily Kos!
What was once interpreted as a wink was actually discovered to have been Sarah Palin’s fantasizing about aiming an automatic rifle at McCain Republicans during the 2008 elections. The GOP, recognizing it’s battling a popular president and a population that’s bored of them, has turned inside to attack one-another now like baby sharks.
Place bets on who survives and read more about the in-fighting here.
Apparently, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s puppet might just be more real than the current simulacrum we like to call the crazy leader who is threatening to blow up Hawai’i over the upcoming weekend. More doctored photos have recently popped up, tending to fuel a media suspicion that North Korea’s leader is unhealthy or dead.
I, however, still like to think that anyone can use photo-shop and that the media is just spinning its wheels trying to make sense out of a 12-year old’s last-ditch efforts at making a history report for school look really realistic and factually supported. In my dreams that report would begin with: "Did you know Kim Jong Il went to Disney World?…"
Man are we gullible!
A+!
How the hell the secret service didn’t leak this explosive secret is beyond me.
From Runner’s World:
Tell me about a memorable run during the campaign that really stands out.
Oh, my gosh, the one that really stands out I’m embarrassed to death to repeat. I went for a run at John McCain’s ranch a couple of days before the debate with Joe Biden. [...] I fell coming down a hill and was so stinkin’ embarrassed that a golf cart full of Secret Service guys had to pull up beside me. My hands just got torn up and I was dripping blood. …
If you guessed BOTH, you win!
While Joe Jackson was responsible for Michael’s fame, to a certain extent, Joe Jackson was also the key potential source of Michael’s strangeness:
Jackson’s image as a father was tainted throughout the late 1980s through the mid 1990s in which the media reported stories told by some of his children that Jackson was abusive towards them. When he managed his family, he ordered each of them to call him "Joseph", which led to several siblings being estranged from their father.
In 2003, in an interview for BBC TV, Joseph admitted to using physical punishment on his children and also voiced his disapproval of homosexuality.
Michael Jackson claimed that from a young age he was physically and emotionally abused by his father, enduring incessant rehearsals, whippings and name-calling, but also contended that his father being a strict disciplinarian played a large part of his success. In one altercation — later recalled by Marlon Jackson – Joseph held Michael upside down by one leg and "pummeled him over and over again with his hand, hitting him on his back and buttocks." Joseph would also trip up or push his male children into walls. One night while Michael was asleep, Joseph climbed into his room through the bedroom window. Wearing a fright mask, he entered the room screaming and shouting. Joseph said he wanted to teach his children not to leave the window open when they went to sleep. For years afterward, Michael suffered nightmares about being kidnapped from his bedroom.
Michael first spoke openly about his childhood abuse in a 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey. He said that during his childhood he often cried from loneliness and would sometimes get sick or start to vomit upon seeing his father. In Michael’s other high profile interview, Living with Michael Jackson (2003), the singer covered his face with his hand and began crying when talking about his childhood abuse. Jackson recalled that Joseph sat in a chair with a belt in his hand as he and his siblings rehearsed and that "if you didn’t do it the right way, he would tear you up, really get you." -wikipedia
You can read more about how Michael finally got his revenge, here.
Heterosexuality is so pervasive in English-speaking cultures that even a supposedly risquee advertisement can fail to bridge the gap from heteronormativity to sexual permissiveness and acceptance.
What was that last sentence about?
Click the video to watch-
The point being, that for as "daring," "progressive," and "bold" as this advertisement was, sexuality was still almost exclusively limited to heterosexuals. The only potentially non-hetero body-paint to clothed interaction was between the woman who was (apparently coupled with the male) and the server flight stewardess.
The witching hour was bleak last night-
The State Senate standoff in Albany ended up screwing New Yorkers at midnight last night when, regardless of where you stand on mayoral control of City schools, the bill for deciding school control was scuttled. This bill, in addition to not increasing the State’s sales taxes means that all of the preparation that went into getting the bills on the floor as well as the negotiations, lobbying, etc., were fruitless. Oh, and you can forget about the same-sex marriage bill too, until the standoff in the New York Senate has been resolved. But the question is why did the standoff even happen? Who bears responsibility for this?
The NY Times suggests the GOP wanted to go out with a bang, since they’re destined to lose more seats in the upcoming elections. You can read more about it here.
So, this morning on the 7 A.M. train, I look over the shoulder of a guy with a Wall Street Journal and this photo was used to cover Franken’s Senate Seat victory:
I couldn’t stop laughing.
Decontextualized, I liked to imagine that Franken was extremely proud of his wife’s ability to emulate a blow-up doll (as indicated by the photo) but funny variations just kept spinning and riffing on this one.
If you’ve got subtitles for this photo, please take the time to post ‘em in the comment box.
Love, always- TZK
If your relationship looks like Jezebel’s edited video of John and Kate, you can pretty much guess where your relationship is headed.
Thank goodness I didn’t wade through the series when they distilled it down to 3 minutes for me!
Luv it!
OK! Magazine for their new issue coming out this week with his death photo on the cover. Inside is the complete tribute to his corpse, according to the cover. Chances are the article inside on what could have saved him is not, ”Why He Wouldn’t Have Died if Magazine’s Like Us Would Have Left Him Alone.”
I’ll admit, when I first saw this my initial reaction was to want to read more. The picture arrests the eyeballs because it is so shocking.
That being said, my next thought was for my own humanity, and hell, all of our humanity. This is the type of thing that sells magazines, which is why the pub can fork over $500,000 for the shot. Yet even for a tab, this is beyond low.
Just when I thought the world was beginning to look a bit bleak: The now anti-funny ex-comedian Al Franken can laugh last- It’s unlikely the court’s decision finding Al Franken had won the Senator’s seat will be appealed.
This means democrats can push their progressive agenda through at 60 votes, provided that former Republican Arlen Specter votes with the democratic majority. Read all about it Here, with or without the bunny ears.
"And why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up."
- Dr. Thomas Wayne, Bruce Wayne’s father, speaking to a young Bruce Wayne- "Batman Begins."
It’s almost like the news got really sucky and I’ve decided to pull a summary and look for happier things to post tomorrow
(Hence the photo of Jodie Marsh kissing a snake: It’s like hotness kissing the news frog-prince!)
- Here’s an update though-
And as a side-note, as ridiculous as it might seem given the state of the economy, I’m beginning a new job on MONDAY! I’m nervous, excited, and I am looking forward to continuning to post as often as possible.
Lark’s got some crazy-cool ideas under way too, so expect the digital equivalent of strippers with fireworks in the near future!
For those of you out there who are still looking for jobs out there, know that I’m rooting for you with all of my might.
Sincerely,
via Technovia
President Zelaya was awakened by gunfire, removed from his office, and exiled to Costa Rica. It’s the first Centrla American military coup in 16 years!
"Hey, where’d my presidency go?" – President Zelaya
Besides railing against America, attempting to legalize drugs, increasing the Honduran homicide rate, and taking total control of the Honduran media, this guy also really attempted to defy the constitution of Honduras by altering the presidency to constitutionally allow more than one presidential term, despite the constitution specifically stating that such requests were never to be allowed:
In 2009 Zelaya caused uproar with his call to have a referendum June to decide about convening a Constitutional National Assembly to approve a new political constitution in order to allow the President to be re-elected, given that the current constitution only allows a president to serve for a single term. The constitution explicitly bars changes to some of its clauses, including the term limit.…
The referendum was ruled unlawful by Honduras’s highest court. Zelaya rejected the ruling and sacked Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, the head of Honduras’s armed forces. Velásquez had refused to help with the referendum because he did not want to violate law. The sacking was deemed unlawful by the Supreme Court as well as by the Congress.
In addition to the Supreme Court, Zelaya’s referendum was declared illegal by the Congress, the country’s attorney general, and the country’s top electoral body. The Congress began discussing how to impeach Zelaya. On June 27, 2009, thousands of protesters opposed to Zelaya’s rule marched through the capital city.
The Supreme Court, the Congress, and the military have recommended that voters stay home because the referendum would be neither fair nor safe to voters. The National Human Rights Commissioner, Ramon Custodio, said "I would tell the people to stay calmly at home in order not to get involved in any incident or any violence by going to vote ‘no,’ because they might be assaulted by these mobs," referring to Zelaya’s supporters.Wikipedia
Obama still says unoficially that he supports him as the President of Honduras under their constitution. It’s probably true, but there’s a shit-show going on down there now.
"It will look this big only because your monitor is tiny" – John Edwards
Edwards has a sex tape out there somewhere. Ew.
You can read more about the tell-all book on Edwards coming out soon and the tape of him and his mistress here.
Look, every now and then someone needs a savior. I’ve chosen mine and it’s Florence and the Machine. JULY 6th, 2009:
Their album "LUNGS" comes out.
It’s sort of like preparing for the rapture.
I am honestly looking forward to this album like I haven’t looked forward to an album before. Even more so than the "Dirtbombs’ We Have You Surrounded". This is Brit-pop Indie Soul with internal vision, drive, and surprising candor and character.
It’s like listening to someone passionately glimpsing madness and attempting to describe that world through a pidgin language through indie-rock and soul songs we’ve long-since forgotten but know intuitively. In other words, they know their roots and they pay their respects, but Florence and the Machine also surpass those limitations.
It’s pure.
It’s catchy as hell.
It reminds you of things you’ve loved, things you’ve known, like the scents you associate with your favorite places but could never describe unless it’s before you. It’s like a kidnapped baby of garage-rock, indie, and, soul finding its way in the world. It’s like your childhood blanket but in a musicla form. It’s magnificent. It defies description.
I cannot wait.
Video below:
Obama’s leading the troops out of Iraq! (Of course, they’re likely going into Afghanistan, but one less war is a great thing!)
Iraqi forces are prepared to take back their nation this week while US forces pull out of the cities and concentrate their efforts into less urban surrounding areas.
Read more here.
Brilliant scientist combines modeling technology with ultrasound or MRI images to create awesome sculptures of unborn babies! It’s based on a process called rapid prototyping and you can see more photos, learn more about the genius behind it, and learn a bit about the technology HERE.
It’s so cool I’m almost convinced that I want one!
… But maybe a pregnant friend can just have two made?
SAD BUT TRUE!
THE TV PERSONALITY WITH A LOT OF INFOMERCIAL HEART PASSED AWAY ON SUNDAY!
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!
HE WAS HIT IN THE HEAD BY OVERHEAD LUGGAGE ON A RETURN FLIGHT SLIGHTLY BEFORE PASSING AWAY!
YOU CAN ALSO GET IN ON A VIDEO OF HIM TALKING ABOUT HERE!
BUT WAIT- AFTER BILLY PASSED AWAY, THE FAA RETRACTED A STATEMENT BLAMING PASSENGERS FOR NOT WEARING THEIR SEATBELTS AND GETTING HIT IN THE HEAD!
BILLY, WE MISS YOU ALREADY!
(Hence, the caps in you honor- Just for this post!)
Maybe not, but you should read up on the bill and how important it is to the 21st-century vision of America (and JOBS!) here.
After his passing, a deconstruction of the mystery and tragic nature of Michael Jackson’s life begin to surface:
-at 2 minutes and 30 seconds into the video, the song ‘Morphine" transitions into the plaintive and sorrowful cry of "demerol! demerol, oh God he’s taking demerol!"
Michael Jackson had been addicted to the substance for over 20 years according to a friend and another corroborating source. The same drug is now believed to have led to unfortunately early demise.
Accident? Murder. Still.
Ratings at MTV have been on the decline for the past two years and the network recently laid off some 50 workers. This means: Time to restructure programming!
If you just thought, “Yes, music videos,” you obviously do not understand the meaning of Music Television. They must do everything in there power to NOT play music. It’s just too much to ask.
Happily though, it means no more glossy, faux-reality shows starring rich blondes that make your life seem shitty and unexciting. Instead, we’ll get low-fi, more real reality shows, starring poor non-blondes that you can watch to make you feel better about your life, like 16 and Preggers and Made: I Wanna Be Anyone But Me.
All politics have not been canceled today due to the unfortunate demise of one of the world’s biggest icons. German Lady Chancellor Angela Merkel is at the White House hanging out with Obama to discuss the other current tragedy-Iran.
Today, Obama and Merkel stated that they “speak with one voice” about the civil unrest that has erupted there.
Obama still isn’t ready to fully condemn Ahmadinejad, but said he “respects the rights and heed the will of its people…We see and we condemn it.”
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Oh man, this is just gonna get sad from here on out. As we reported earlier, the search is on for Michael’s doctor. But why? TMZ is reporting that his death may have been caused by an overdose of a physician-administered medication:
“A close member of Michael Jackson’s family has told us Jackson received a daily injection of a synthetic narcotic similar to morphine — Demerol — and yesterday he received a shot at 11:30 AM.
Family members are saying the dosage was “too much” and that’s what caused his death.”
Michael Jackson’s doctor’s car was towed away and the Doc has oh-so-conveniently disappeared now that an investigation in currently underway by police. The doctor conicidentally, perhaps, appears to be missing after Jacko’s attorney off-handedly mentioned that certain unnamed individuals were enabling Mikey’s pill habit. Catch the details surrounding the newest caper, here.
Those eyes don’t lie, especially when they’re all hopped up on opiates and running around in circles. While Australia’s one of the biggest producers of legal opiates for morphine, etc., crop circles have been found as a product of wallabies’ ambling about and searching for munchies. Said one wallaby: "it’s a bad scene; I got out while I could."
Read more here
-The Awl.
Jackson’s passing away at 50 has been as tragic as it was strange. His relationship with America and the rest of the world has been complex, as Koons’ statue seems to attest to. The only way I’ve been able to make my peace with Michael Jackson’s multiple-facted existence has been to acknowledge him as a dedicated artist, a premier choreographer, dancer, and singer. He was a catalyzing force since the 80s and a symbolic icon whose performances bridged divisions around the world. Although it’s hard to reconcile J5 Michael Jackson, Motown 25 MJ, Thriller and Bad Michael Jackson, and the later Michael Jackson known only via the tabloids, to me the only true Michael Jackson will always and only be Michael Jackson the entertainer while he entertained. Say what you will about the rest of his existence, the legacy of MJ’s artistry will pass stand the test of time as one of the most spectacular achievements that any artist could aspire toward accomplishing.
TMZ has been doing excellent Michael Jackson coverage and I have been using them as my most up to the date resource for MJ news. And now, some clips in memoriam:
"Hey, sister-in-law, give me back my millions!" – Dane Cook
Sad story really. Family businesses are typically a bad idea when you earn as much as Dane Cook has earned, but his sister-in-law is hardly justified in helping steal what appears to be $1.6 million with Cook’s half brother from Dane Cook’s company. Read more about it here, but avoid MY BEST FRIEND’S GIRLFRIEND at all costs:
“If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with.” – Michael Jackson
Thousands have taken to Twitter and Facebook to mourn Michael Jackson’s passing. Fans have gathered outside his home in Gary, Indiana and outside the hospital. Above is a photo of people in Times Square reading the news on a ticker and more images of mourners can be found here.
I’ve spent several hours on the phone with friends discussing his music and what a shock the news is. When I went outside for a smoke just ten minutes ago, a car at a stop sign rolled down the window and the man asked me if I had heard the news about Michael.
For all the bizarre details surrounding his life, his career managed to remain unharmed. He meant something to everyone and with culture moving so quickly now because of the Internet, he is possibly one of our last great universal icons.
What a sad day. Farrah Fawcett passed away this morning and now it is being reported by TMZ that Michael Jackson has passed away.
The King of Pop suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon and paramedics were unable to revive him. He was just 50 years old.
I’m going to go cry now.
Lark
shadow campaigner
boyo