mitt let the dogs out and looked like an idiot

nothing good ever comes from referencing the baha men on mlk jr. day. nothing.

later....

At a King parade in Florida Mitt Romney offered advice to African Americans. “Teach kids they should get married before they have babies and encourage the formation of families. It’s an enormous advantage to kids.”

hey, the south africa is in the news unrelated to miss teen s. carolina

...but it's not really a good thing...via wonkette:

Because there are hardly any pressing problems left in South Africa with which its government must deal, two weeks ago President Thabo Mbeki (on the left) signed into law a bill that makes it a criminal offense for teenagers under 16 to “kiss, touch or rub up against each other in public.” They probably did this in some sort of half-assed effort to stop the spread of AIDS in South Africa, since they don’t really want to get into things like comprehensive sex education and massive condom distribution programs and whatever, not that Mbeki believes that HIV causes AIDS anyway. This was, in fact, also the rule at my high school, and I was warned for holding my boyfriend’s hand under the lunch table and then given detention for whispering in his ear and it definitely didn’t stop me from having sex, so take that lunchladies and stupid government leaders! What did keep me from getting pregnant/diseased from said sexing, though, was the extremely comprehensive sex ed classes that were required by the State of New York and taught without embarrassment by our teacher. But, hey, a new law criminalizing teenage PDA is sooo much better.

Once again: abstinence only education doesn't teach you how to not have sex, it teaches you how to not have safe sex. also, i hope they don't have crowded buses or subways in cape town...otherwise you could commit about 10 crimes on your way to work by unwillingly rubbing up against some random guy with the strange hat...

exploiting the 9/11 attacks for profit, rudy style

more proof that he is running for president of 9/11, not america:

dateline, washington d.c.:

"The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd said Tuesday a fundraising party for Republican Rudy Giuliani seeking $9.11 each from guests exploits the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks for political purposes.

The Dodd campaign called on Giuliani to refuse the money raised at the event, saying the theme "is absolutely unconscionable, shameless and sickening." A Giuliani spokeswoman said the $9.11 idea was selected without the campaign's knowledge.

"Mr. Giuliani was quick to express much vitriol for the independent ad created by MoveOn.org last week; we would hope he would express the same kind of outrage and indignation about this group that he is the beneficiary of," Colleen Flanagan, a spokeswoman for Dodd, said in a statement released by his campaign."

more armed iraqi civilians? i don't see any way this can't work

i'm shocked the fox noise channel hadn't thought of this earlier. now if you could only find a way to make sure they don't shoot the guns at us...

homeland security asks science fiction writers to help prevent terror attacks

no, really...and from the dude who wrote ringwold...i couldn't make this one up if i tried:

Looking to prevent the next terrorist attack, the Homeland Security Department is tapping into the wild imaginations of a group of self-described "deviant" thinkers: science-fiction writers.

"We spend our entire careers living in the future," says author Arlan Andrews, one of a handful of writers the government brought to Washington this month to attend a Homeland Security conference on science and technology.

Those responsible for keeping the nation safe from devastating attacks realize that in addition to border agents, police and airport screeners, they "need people to think of crazy ideas," Andrews says.

The writers make up a group called Sigma, which Andrews put together 15 years ago to advise government officials. The last time the group gathered was in the late 1990s, when members met with government scientists to discuss what a post-nuclear age might look like, says group member Greg Bear. He has written 30 sci-fi books, including the best seller Darwin's Radio.

Now, the Homeland Security Department is calling on the group to help with the government's latest top mission of combating terrorism.

Although some sci-fi writers' futuristic ideas might sound crazy now, scientists know that they often have what seems to be an uncanny ability to see into the future.

"Fifty years ago, science-fiction writers told us about flying cars and a wireless handheld communicator," says Christopher Kelly, spokesman for Homeland Security's Science and Technology division. "Although flying cars haven't evolved, cellphones today are a way of life. We need to look everywhere for ideas, and science-fiction writers clearly inform the debate."

Bear says the writers offer powerful imaginations that can conjure up not only possible methods of attack, but also ideas about how governments and individuals will respond and what kinds of high-tech tools could prevent attacks.

The group's motto is "Science Fiction in the National Interest." To join the group, Andrews says, you have to have at least one technical doctorate degree.

"We're well-qualified nuts," says Jerry Pournelle, co-author of the best sellers Footfall and Lucifer's Hammer and dozens of other books.

Pournelle and others say that science-fiction writers have spent their lives studying the kinds of technologies and scenarios Homeland Security officials have been tackling since the department began operating in 2003.

"We talk to a lot of strange people and read a lot of weird things," Bear says.

At the Washington conference, Bear offered to put biometrics researchers in touch with movie special-effects experts. The experts might be able to help the government determine how to match the face of someone walking through an airport to a grainy photo of a known terrorist.

Bear's latest book, Quantico, is a sci-fi thriller that has FBI agents and a bioterrorism expert racing to hunt down a homegrown terrorist.

"We'll play 'What if?' with anything," says Sage Walker, an emergency medicine physician turned sci-fi writer and the only woman in the group. She says the discussions with government officials "tend to be very intense and far-ranging."

So are discussions between the writers. During a coffee break at the conference, Walker, Bear and Andrews started talking about the government's bomb-sniffing dogs. Within minutes, they had conjured up a doggie brain-scanning skullcap that could tell agents what kind of explosive material a dog had picked up.

The 9/11 Commission called the 2001 terrorist attacks a result of the government's "failure of imagination." For this group, Walker says, there's no such thing as an "unthinkable scenario."

Why offer their ideas to the government instead of private companies that pay big bucks?

"To save civilization," Ringworld author Larry Niven says. "We do it in fiction. Why wouldn't we want to do it in fact?""

attention al qaeda, we are now prepared for your cloaked ship phaser attacks. this whole story makes my brain hurt on so many levels....

rupert murdock says drinking beer causes global warming

really? this from the guy who has made al gore-bashing a family-friendly hobby? oy...let's just all stop drinking and we'll save the planet, right? if you're really that concerned rupert, why don't you cut down some of the hot air being spewed on fox noise or in the new york post?

save the polar bears, fire bill o'reilly! there's an idea.

why is iraq such a mess? no craigslist, that's why.

after spreading "freedom" and "democracy" to the middle east, some in washington want to spread craigslist to iraq to help supply iraqis and us armed forces better.

The Bush administration...has been "slow and timid" in pointing out ways in which Americans can support troops "and connect with the Iraqi people [the soldiers] are risking their lives to save."

...creating "a military craigslist-style" website where units or provincial reconstruction teams could "identify equipment and supplies that would help the Iraqi people."

just a thought, from a non-military person, but you might want to get the electricity up and running in iraq first...but then let's not stop with craigslist...how about iraqi match.com?

pluie to be shot from the skies for cash

ok, not pulie per se, but wolves in general. the ny times reports today, in the wonderfully titled article "alaska to pay pilots in plan to kill wolves:"

Alaska will pay pilots licensed to shoot wolves from the air $150 for each wolf they kill under a new plan intended to protect their prey, including moose and caribou, state wildlife officials said yesterday.

so i ask myself, what would pluie, the wolf so-famously killed by ranchers on the west wing think? and then i remember the wise words of c.j. cregg:

"More people get killed getting change out of vending machines than get killed by a wolf attack. Number of people killed last year retrieving change from a vending machine: four. Number of people killed by a wolf attack: zero."

"all i want are jets with frickin laser beams attached to them!"

really? we are naming defense projects after 24? what's next? project grissom to improve fingerprinting databases? and is it just me or does this sound like a stupid-ass, won't-work-but-we-will-spend-billion-on-it-like-missile-defense-anyway idea anyway?

from usa today:

The Homeland Security Department and the military this summer will test whether drones flying 65,000 feet above the nation's busiest airports could be used to protect planes from being shot down by terrorists with shoulder-fired missiles.

Dubbed "Project Chloe" after a character on Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's favorite TV show, 24, the anti-missile strategy is the latest to be explored by government leaders looking to thwart potential missile threats at commercial airports...

forever stamps? i can't even find the one i bought yesterday

the u.s. postal service, perhaps in an attempt to defuse the disproportionate hype that always accompanies a stamp rate hike, has come up with an idea to calm some nerves...but not mine:

The cost of mailing a letter will go up on May 14, but you'll be able to lock in that price - no matter how rates rise in the future - by buying the new "forever" stamp. The post office governing board agreed Monday to accept the new 41-cent rate for first class mail recommended in February by the independent Postal Regulatory Commission. The board also agreed to the proposal for a "forever stamp," that will always be valid for mailing a letter no matter how much rates increase....expected to be attractive to many people is the forever stamp. The first forever stamps will sell for 41 cents apiece, but they won't have a price printed on them and they will remain valid for sending a letter regardless of any future rate increases.

lock in my stamp price? i'm not getting a frickin mortgage! could the postal folks spend their time on something worthwhile, like making the stamp machines not give out dollar coins as change. now that's an inconvenience, not a two cent hike. what a stupid idea. and who's gonna go into a post office and say, "give me 10 forever stamps." stick to what y'all do well: getting me my netflix and newsweek no matter the weather.