Christians Have as Many Abortions as Everyone Else, Catholics Have More

A new study by The Center For Reason (www.CenterForReason.com) finds that Christians have just as many abortions as their non-Christian counterparts. The study concludes that in the year 2000, Christians were responsible for 570,000 abortions. Catholics were found to be the worst offenders, with abortion rates higher than the national average.

San Francisco, Calif. (PRWEB) March 12, 2006 -- With over one million abortions being performed in the US each year, this issue has dominated the political landscape. In recent years the rhetoric has escalated, with the pro-life movement becoming a flagship for Christian morality and ethics. The prevailing Christian doctrine--that abortion is murder--has polarized the issue, firmly placing the vast majority of Christians on the pro-life side of the debate.

Incendiary comments by some of the more outspoken Christian figureheads have sought to portray abortion as an “evil” perpetrated by the non-Christian left. In response to this, The Center For Reason, a private research group, undertook a study to test the premise: “Christians have fewer abortions than non-Christians”. The results disproved the premise.

The study, available as a downloadable report, reveals that Christians have just as many abortions as non-Christians. Data analyzed for all fifty states show that the rate of abortion is the same in the most-Christian segments of the population as it is in the least-Christian. The most-Catholic segments, on the other hand, showed significantly higher abortion rates.

All data sources used in the study are publicly available, and are referenced in the report. All raw data and calculated values are tabulated in the report, to allow full verification of the results.

The report, titled “The Landscape of Abortion”, may be downloaded from www.CenterForReason.com/reports.htm.

Tom Delay misses the irony train...

Addressing a group of Christian Conservatives he said:

"Our faith has always been in direct conflict with the values of the world," DeLay said. "We are, after all, a society that provides abortion on demand, has killed millions of innocent children, degrades the institution of marriage, and all but treats Christianity like some second-rate superstition."

In contrast to Tom Delay who's behavior is in direct conflict to the faith he was pandering. The next paragraph reads:

DeLay was forced to abandon his job as majority leader while facing indictment on charges that he improperly funneled corporate donations to Republican candidates for the House and amid questions about his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Congressional Candidate Slams Press Coverage of Iraq--With Bogus Photo

Howard Kaloogian (R) has posted this photograph on his campaign website with the following caption:

"We took this photo of dowtown Baghdad while we were in Iraq. Iraq (including Baghdad) is much more calm and stable than what many people believe it to be. But, each day the news media finds any violence occurring in the country and screams and shouts about it - in part because many journalists are opposed to the U.S. effort to fight terrorism."

Problem is they had to go to Turkey to take the photograph. Observant bloggers caught the deception.
Via Editor and Publisher

Send The Twins

Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr.(D-MO) called for pulling out American troops from Iraq Monday and blasted President George W. Bush as an "incompetent chickenhawk."

"I have a question for President Bush," said Clay, who voted against the resolution authorizing Bush to go to war in Iraq. "If you really believe that the war that you started in Iraq is a fight to defeat terrorism and to defend our freedoms, why haven't your girls enlisted?"
St Louis Dispatch

ITMFA

ITMFA

Hospital Accused of Dumping Patient on Skid Row.

Kaiser Permanente is accused of dumping a 63-year-old patient in hospital gown and slipper onto the streets of skid row! And it’s on tape.
Apparently this isn't an isolated case either.
Via Neatorama

Finally! They Get it.

They smeared anyone who disagreed with this administration, Michael Moore, The Dixie Chicks, Richard Clark, Joe Wilson, Howard Dean, etc. It's great that people are finally waking up. The rest of the country is finally catching up to the lunatic fringe. Nice to have you here.

You have to read what Chris Mathews said on Imus in the Morning
Via Crooks and Liars

Video-WMP Video-QT

Matthews: "Well I am just going to stick to this point that the president led us in there with the background music of American culture. Everybody was led to believe that we were getting payback, we were avenging what happened on 9/11 and that we are going to get them. Vice President Cheney said we are going to attack terrorism at its base. Over and over the language was, this is where it came from, in fact most recently the President suggested that it was always the hot pursuit, like a new York police chase, we chased them back into their country. We pursued the terrorists back to Iraq and it's all nonsense. The reason there are terrorists in Iraq today like Zarqawi is we created the opening by blowing the country apart.

From the beginning it's been not true. Now you can't prove motive and you can't prove somebody lies, but from the beginning everything about how they've got WMD's, they are a threat to us, they are going to bomb us with a nuclear weapon, this country is going to be an easy liberate, it's going to be a cake walk. As Cheney said as recently as ten months ago the insurgents are in their last throws. Everything that is said is not true. And right to the end here, here we are now and it's not a civil war and when Allawi the prime Minster is saying it is a civil war and here is the president quoting his own people that it's not a civil war. I mean the denial has been continuous. So you really can't count on the administration to tell you what is going on. That is just the fact. You've got to check it out.

By the way, the president said this week that he wants the whole truth about what is going on in Iraq, the whole truth and that the media isn't telling the whole story. I'll tell you what we are not telling. We are not showing pictures of the twenty five hundred bodies coming back because they won't let us show the pictures. They don't want the whole truth out and that's the fact."

Watch Keith Olberman cover the war memo

Via Crooks And Liars
Olbermann goes over the newest released memo from The U.K on this segment. Keith blasts the Bush line of "no president wants to go to war, " after it reveals the war plans were already drawn up five days before Colin Powell went to the UN.

Video-WMP Video-QT

Andrea Mitchell actually brings up the Downing Street memo (she doesn't call it that) and says war was inevitable from the start while she hits up on the "painting of a spy plane" to trick Saddam into firing at it so they could then justify invading Iraq.

Mitchell: It was very clear that George Bush was set on going to war...

The Media Stikes Back

The Media responds to the President blaming Iraq on negative reporting.
Via Editor And Publisher

Appearing on NBC, its Baghdad correspondent Richard Engel said, “Most Iraqis I speak to say, ‘Actually most reporters get it wrong--it’s the situation on the ground is actually worse than the images we project on television.’"

Read more

NYT Wakes Up About 2nd Downing Street Memo

This is the whole reason I started keeping track of this stuff.
I posted this February 4th. I guess it's actually news if the NYT reports it.
From: 3/27 New York Times
Bush Was Set on Path to War, British Memo Says

Another Downing Street Memo

via think progress

The Guardian reports a newly-disclosed British memo provides evidence that Bush had made up his mind to attack Iraq almost two months prior to the war:

A memo of a two-hour meeting between the two leaders at the White House on January 31 2003 - nearly two months before the invasion - reveals that Mr Bush made it clear the US intended to invade whether or not there was a second resolution and even if UN inspectors found no evidence of a banned Iraqi weapons programme.

and this from crooks and liars

"In the few weeks before its fall, Iraq's Ba'athist regime made a series of increasingly desperate peace offers to Washington, promising to hold elections and even to allow US troops to search for banned weapons. But the advances were all rejected by the Bush administration, according to intermediaries involved in the talks... Mr Perle was travelling in Europe yesterday and unavailable for comment. However, he told the New York Times he had been told by the CIA not to pursue contacts with the Iraqis.

Justice Scalia flips the finger in church

Justice Scalia flips the finger in church

BOSTON, March 27 (UPI) -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia startled reporters in Boston just minutes after attending a mass, by flipping a middle finger to his critics.

A Boston Herald reporter asked the 70-year-old conservative Roman Catholic if he faces much questioning over impartiality when it comes to issues separating church and state.

"You know what I say to those people?" Scalia replied, making the obscene gesture and explaining "That's Sicilian."

The 20-year veteran of the high court was caught making the gesture by a photographer with The Pilot, the Archdiocese of Boston's newspaper.

"Don't publish that," Scalia told the photographer, the Herald said.

He was attending a special mass for lawyers and politicians at Cathedral of the Holy Cross, and afterward was the keynote speaker at the Catholic Lawyers' Guild luncheon.

LoJack For Dogs - Pet Tracking Device

GlobalPetFinder
Finally, a really worthwhile use for cellular technology. Global Pet Finder is essentially LoJack for dogs in case they get lost. If your dog wanders out of the area, it will transmit its location every minute to your cell phone, PDA, or pager. You can also check your dog's location on their website. Alternatively, you can manually locate your dog by dialing "FOUND" from your cellphone.

One other really cool feature is a temperature sensor, which will cause the unit to transmit a warning if the air temperature gets dangerously high or low.

-- Curt Nelson

Via Cool Tools

Fridge Lights

Turn your Fridge into a Lite Brite.
Instructions here

Housing Hangover

Via Crooks And Liars

Check out this video from ABC News: "Rising interest rates squeeze homeowners to the breaking point.

All in the Family: The Bush's Profit from tragedy

Two interesting Bush Family financial developments hit the news today.

First:

Former first lady Barbara Bush donated an undisclosed amount of money to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund with specific instructions that the money be spent with an educational software company owned by her son Neil.
(Read more)

Second:

Bush's Uncle Earned Millions in War Firm Sale
An SEC filing shows William H.T. Bush collected about $1.9 million in cash, plus stock valued at $800,000, from the deal.
(Read more)

See a map of where your email travels

Email graphic traceroute (Geeky Fun)
Paste an email with full headers (we need the 'Received' lines -- we don't need your email addresses, digg). The app will (we hope) trace the path your email message took as it passed through various servers, on Google maps.

Bush Stump Speach

More video from Crooks and Liars, and it's the Daily Show at it's best. The ending is phenomenal.
Watch it

Crooks and Liars Videos

Crooks and Liars watches TV so we don't have to.
There's a bunch of video in here that are just too good to miss.

Dick Cheney thinks his early Iraq statements reflect reality

Bush in Cleveland: Signs of the Apocalypse: First question asked of Bush Tuesday was:

My question is that author and former Nixon administration official Kevin Phillips in his latest book, "American Theocracy," discusses what has been called radical Christianity and its growing involvement into government and politics. He makes the point that members of your administration have reached out to prophetic Christians who see the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism as signs of the Apocalypse. Do you believe this, that the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism are signs of the Apocalypse?

Bush makes false claim about Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda Keith Olbermann catches him:

Olbermann: "Who does the President think he's F'n kidding?"
I know it's hard to believe Mr. President, but they have these things know that actually record what you say and are able to play back what they record. Even after a long period of time. Keith Olbermann and Countdown supply the evidence.

Bush dodges Helen Thomas: Talks about when we're (not) getting out of Iraq

Quote of the day, 3/21

Via NeedleNose

From Busy, Busy, Busy, on Dubya's remark yesterday that "I was very careful never to say that Saddam Hussein ordered the attacks on America":

Which brings to mind other typical uses of this particular semantic construct...

* ... I was very careful never to say you couldn't lose money.

* ... I was very careful never to say I love you.

* ... I was very careful never to say I was still on the pill.

* ... I was very careful never to say I've been tested recently.

... all of which share the characteristic of being an after-the-fact technical exculpation of a conscious attempt to mislead. You only have to be very careful to avoid making a provably false statement when you are knowingly trying to disseminate the corresponding false impression while retaining plausible deniability.

The entirely unfunny punch line, as a commenter reminded me a while back, came in a Zogby poll of 944 soldiers in Iraq, reported at the end of February:

. . . 85% said the U.S. mission is mainly “to retaliate for Saddam’s role in the 9-11 attacks."

Sorry 'bout that, guys. But Dubya was careful never to say your mission was accomplished....

Desktop Bluesman

The desktopbluesman welcomes you.
Check your sound settings.
You need to have the sound on to enjoy this site.

Via The Presurfer

The Top 10 GOP Sound Bites: Iraq Anniversary Edition

Go read the rest of this great post and graphic from: Perrspectives.com

THREE YEARS OF WAR IN IRAQ: A TIMELINE

From:
MARCH 19, 2003: Bush launches invasion of Iraq

MARCH 30, 2003: Donald Rumsfeld: We know where the WMD are

We know where [the weapons of mass destruction] are. They’re in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat. [ABC This Week, 3/30/03]

T0:
MARCH 19, 2006: “Complete victory”

On the eve of the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion, President Bush yesterday promised to “finish the mission” with “complete victory,” urging the American public to remain steadfast but offering no indication when victory may be achieved. [Washington Post, 3/19/06]

Via Think Progress

Why is George Bush So Awesome?

Rocketboom asks the question.
Watch the answers

Spongeback Mountain

Missile Command - High Score

Via TheRawFeed

A new documentary called HIGH SCORE follows classic arcade game enthusiast Bill Carlton as he attempts to break the all-time high scoring record of the Atari classic, "Missile Command" -- 80 million points set in 1983. Here comes the VIDEO!

He estimates about 2 solid days of game play

Bush and the Straw Man

Interesting article on Bush's favorite retorical technique.
He over simplifies and misrepresents the opposition position, refutes it and then claims that his oppositions position has been refuted.
For example :

Not long after taking office in 2001, Bush pushed for a new education testing law and began portraying skeptics as opposed to holding schools accountable.

The chief opposition, however, had nothing to do with the merits of measuring performance, but rather the cost and intrusiveness of the proposal.

Read the article here

How to Make Your Grandmother A Porn Star

Not really ... Just a site that makes book covers to mess with stranger's minds.
Titles include: "How to Murder a Complete Stranger and Get Away With It" and "How to Overcome Nymphomania"
Great idea for reading in the park or on the train.
More at FlapArt.Com

Via Neatorama

Dogs in Babushkas

No idea why, but .. here's a whole gallery

Talking Cats

They talk! Who knew.

Ashamed- Animation

Powerful video from PeaceTakesCourage.Com - worth reading and watching. I know a guy who used to do this kinda stuff.
I'd link to it.
More and main site here.

Bush Approval Rating - New low (33%) and Great Quote

President Bush is at 33% in the new poll taken by The Pew Research Center, which puts him slightly above amoebic dysentery and just below Dick Cheney’s smile. Il Duce could have mustered more support while hanging in Piazza Loreto.Yet, my favorite part of the Pew survey is that when asked to use words to describe our very own Il Puké, those most often mentioned were “incompetent,” “idiot” and “liar.”

Via America Blog

Nice Jugs: Bottled Water /Tap Water...City Paper compares

Bottled water is a $400 billion industry, is it really better?

City Paper: So I've always thought that bottled water was safer than tap water. Am I to understand I've been misled?

Daniel Favre: Actually, water bottling is one of the least regulated industries. Studies have shown that bottled water is sometimes less safe than tap water, with higher levels of arsenic and bacteria. In 2004, Coke was required to recall about a half million bottles of Dasani in the U.K. due to elevated levels of bromide, a known carcinogen.
Read the rest

Dragon Illusion

This is a wonderful optical illusion. This little dragon is made out of paper - you simply cut it out and stick it together, and stand it on a table or window ledge. But when you move around, the dragon's head seems to follow you around the room. Have a look at the video, to see what we mean. The effect is really uncanny.
You can download a copy of the actual dragon and try this illusion for yourself.
Download and instructions from Grand Illusion

The Republican House Blocks Port Security

Via Think Progress

Moments ago, the House of Representatives narrowly defeated an amendment proposed by Rep. Martin Sabo (D-MN) that would have provided $1.25 billion in desperately needed funding for port security and disaster preparedness. The Sabo amendment included:

– $300 million to enable U.S. customs agents to inspect high-risk containers at all 140 overseas ports that ship directly to the United States. Current funding only allows U.S. customs agents to operate at 43 of these ports.

– $400 million to place radiation monitors at all U.S. ports of entry. Currently, less than half of U.S. ports have radiation monitors.

– $300 million to provide backup emergency communications equipment for the Gulf Coast.

Now HERE is a quote for the ages

via america blog

"Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You didn't place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."

- Jamie Raskin, testifying Wednesday, March 1, 2006 before the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee in response to a question from Republican Senator Nancy Jacobs about whether marriage discrimination against gay people is required by "God's Law."

Mixed Twins

Born to mixed race parents. The odds of such a birth are about a million to one, experts said.
Story and more pictures here

Idiot: Bill Napoli

Bill Napoli a Republican state senator for South Dakota who had these words of wisdom to say about acceptable rape exceptions for the abortion ban:

A real-life description to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life.

StreetWars: Be an Asssasin

Via Neatorama

You can hunt your target down any way you see fit; you can pose as a delivery person and jack them when they open the door, disguise yourself and take them out on the street, etc.

If you are successful in your assassination attempt, the person you killed will give you their envelope and the person they were supposed to kill becomes your new target. This continues until you work yourself through all the players and retrieve the envelope with your (or your team’s) picture(s) and name(s). Then you win. Cash…but first live in fear.

Link | LA Times Article

StationRipper: It's like Tivo for internet radio

StationRipper can record Shoutcast radio broadcasts, saving each song as an individual MP3 file (naming it with the band name and song name). Broadband connections can download 3k+ songs a day (shots here were of 50 stations being recorded for 3.5 hours - with over 2k songs downloaded).
(Probably wont be long before this gets shut down too)

Simpson's Theme On Guitar

via J-Walk Blog

Good idea!

Yahoo News
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney speaks during his keynote address to the U.S. Labor Department's 2006 National Summit on Retirement Savings at the Willard Hotel in Washington March 2, 2006. REUTERS/Larry Downing

Porn Stars for Bush! On the plus side, It's ok to shoot them in the face

Porn star Mary Carey to dine with Bush again
The former candidate for California governor is to attend the United to Victory dinner with Bush on Thursday, and have lunch at a related event Wednesday where Bush adviser Karl Rove is the guest speaker.

Design your own Paper Box

Create, print, cut, paste and enjoy:

Design your own Paper Box
Via Ursi's Blog

Why you need a shredder

Via J-Walk Blog

An interesting experiment at cockeyed.com: The Torn-Up Credit Card Application.

I get a heck of a lot of credit card applications in the mail. A bunch for Visa, quite a few from Mastercard and tons of them from American Express.

I almost always tear them in half and throw them away. Sometimes, if I am feeling particularly paranoid, I'll tear them into little bitty pieces.

Is that good enough? Could a determined and dexterous criminal gather all the bits, tape them together and apply for a card in my name?

Yes he could.

Would a credit card company balk when confronted with an obviously resurrected application?

No it wouldn't. Not even when it requests the card to be sent to a different address.

Retired Supreme Court Justice: "Republican leaders pose a direct threat to our constitutional freedoms."

In an unusually forceful and forthright speech, O’Connor said that attacks on the judiciary by some Republican leaders pose a direct threat to our constitutional freedoms.
Read the rest . Raw Story

I expect we'll be seeing this headline more often....

Bush Shocked by Arrest of Former Adviser

Claude Alexander Allen, a top aide to the President, was the No. 2 official in the Health and Human Services Department when Bush nominated him in April 2003 to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. Bush nominated Allen to the court again a year later, but he never received a Senate vote.

Claude Alexander Allen, 45, was arrested Thursday by Montgomery County police for allegedly claiming refunds for more than $5,000 worth of merchandise he did not buy, according to county and federal authorities.

Read the rest

Znax

Znax is a simple game where you have four minutes to make as many squares as possible. All the corners of the squares must be of the same color and you get more points for making bigger squares.
Via I Really Dont Like The Word Blog

SpokePOV: LED Bike Wheel Images

via Instructables
Spoke POV is an easy-to-make electronic kit toy that turns your bicycle wheel into a customized display! The project includes a free schematic design, open source software for uploading and editing stored bitmap images, and a high-quality kit with all the parts necessary to build your own.

Gallup: More Than Half of Americans Reject Evolution, Back Bible

Via Editor and Publisher
A Gallup report released today reveals that more than half of all Americans, rejecting evolution theory and scientific evidence, agree with the statement, "God created man exactly how Bible describes it."

Another 31% says that man did evolve, but "God guided." Only 12% back evolution and say "God had no part."

Gallup summarized it this way: "Surveys repeatedly show that a substantial portion of Americans do not believe that the theory of evolution best explains where life came from." They are "not so quick to agree with the preponderance of scientific evidence."

The report was written by the director of the The Gallup Poll, Frank Newport.

Breaking down the numbers, Gallup finds that Republican backing for what it calls "God created human beings in present form" stands at 57% with Democrats at 44%.

Support for this Bible view rises steadily with age: from 43% for those 18 to 29, to 59% for those 65 and older. It declines steadily with education, dropping from 58% for those with high school degrees to a still-substantial 25% with postgraduate degrees.

Newport wraps it up: "Several characteristics correlate with belief in the biblical explanation for the origin of humans. Those with lower levels of education, those who attend church regularly, those who are 65 and older, and those who identify with the Republican Party are more likely to believe that God created humans 'as is,' than are those who do not share these characteristics."

Gallup has asked this question, in different forms, going back to 1982, but has consistently shown support at 45% or higher for the notion that "God created man in present form."

The most recent poll, last September, posed the question this way: "Which of the following statements comes closest to your views on the origin and development of human beings." This produced the 53% who chose "God created man exactly how Bible describes it," the 31% who said man did evolve but "God guided," and the 12% who backed evolution with God playing "no part."

New Sea Creature Found

New animal resembles furry lobster
PARIS, France (AP) -- Divers have discovered a new crustacean in the South Pacific that resembles a lobster and is covered with what looks like silky, blond fur, French researchers said Tuesday.

Scientists said the animal, which they named Kiwa hirsuta, was so distinct from other species that they created a new family and genus for it.
Read more Via CNN

Call a big company and speak to a person

Via The Raw Feed

No more pressing 1 for tech support, 2 for sales etc... This site lists tricks and unpublished phone numbers of large companies. GetHuman Database

Seinfeld Map

Via J-Walk Blog

Here's an annotated map of prominent places featured on the Seinfeld TV show: The Geography of Seinfeld.

Address and locations are from the actual Seinfeld scripts, observations, and website descriptions. Since some address are from the scripts, they may not make perfect sense in a real life. Build your own Jerry Seinfeld virtual tour!

Access to liberal websites banned by the Marines in Iraq

But the Conservative sites seem OK
Via Wonkette

* Wonkette – “Forbidden, this page (http://www.wonkette.com/) is categorized as: Forum/Bulletin Boards, Politics/Opinion.”
* Bill O’Reilly (www.billoreilly.com) – OK
* Air America (www.airamericaradio.com) – “Forbidden, this page (http://www.airamericaradio.com/) is categorized as: Internet Radio/TV, Politics/Opinion.”
* Rush Limbaugh (www.rushlimbaugh.com) – OK
* ABC News “The Note” – OK
* Website of the Al Franken Show (www.alfrankenshow.com) – “Forbidden, this page (http://www.airamericaradio.com/) is categorized as: Internet Radio/TV, Politics/Opinion.”
* G. Gordon Liddy Show (www.liddyshow.us) – OK
* Don & Mike Show (www.donandmikewebsite.com) – “Forbidden, this page (http://www.donandmikewebsite.com/) is categorized as: Profanity, Entertainment/Recreation/Hobbies.”

Kitty & Rooster, Weird Friendship.

via elcap

Funny Cats

Poll shows majority in five Southern states disapproves of President Bush

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A majority of adults in five key Southern states disapproves of President Bush's job performance and says the war in Iraq was not worth fighting, according to an Elon University poll released Friday.

In the survey, 52 percent of respondents said they disapproved or strongly disapproved of Bush's job performance, compared to 43 percent who said they approved or strongly approved
read more

Former U.S. official In Iraq admits stealing more than $2 million

Via The Stakeholder
A former Iraq reconstruction official, Robert Stein, a convicted felon inexplicably put in charge of $82 million in contracts, pleaded guilty Thursday to corruption, bribery and weapons charges.

He now admits stealing at least $2 million, and accepting at least a million dollars more in bribes.
Read the rest

03/02/06 FOX Poll: Majority, better if Democrats win control of Congress

(Can't wait to see the on spin this one)
Fox News
NEW YORK — Most Americans oppose allowing a Dubai company to run some U.S. ports, even as a majority understands the U.S. would continue to control port security, according to a new FOX News poll. One in four sees the United Arab Emirates as a strong ally, but most either disagree or are unsure. In addition, the poll shows Republicans have lost ground on the issue of terrorism, and by a wide margin voters now think it would be better for the country if Democrats win control of Congress in this year’s midterm election.
more here

From Boiling to Frozen

A man throws boiling water into the air in Saskatchewan during a typical mid-winter, -40c day, it freezes before it hits the ground.

Lego Portraits

Lego mosaics of Kirsten Dunst (and others)
via Neatorama

Soybean Fueled Car Built by High School Students

Via Neatorama
Five kids from the auto shop program at West Philadelphia High School built a car that can go from 0 to 60 MPH in 4 seconds, get more than 50 MPG, and get this - uses soybean oil as fuel!
Story and Video link

Natalie Portman Rap from SNL

Video probably won't last for long:

and it didnt.... its here now on NBC
Via Waxy.org

SplashBack

Via I really don't like the word Blog
Splashback is a chain reaction game where you try to clear the board of blobs with a limited amount of moves, but the better you are at getting chain reactions the more moves you get... and you carry over how many moves you have left from level to level. It is delighting addictive. Give it a try.

The $39 Experiment

Asking random companies for free stuff:
I was going to take my ($39) roll of stamps and send 100 letters to 100 different companies, asking for free stuff. I figured that I couldn't do any worse than blowing the $39 at a casino, and who knows... maybe a few of these places would actually send me something good.
Daily updates with the results.

Via J-Walk

Bill Frist threatens to re-structure the Intelligence Committee in order to block NSA hearings

With enough votes to force hearings to investigate Bush's warrantless spying program, Majority Leader Bill Frist has threatened the Senate Intelligence Committee, and warned it not to hold hearings, promising to re-structure the committee and ensure that hearings are not held.

From Glenn Greenwald:

The Senate Intelligence Committee was created in 1976 and, from the beginning, it has been unique in its structure and operation. Due to the urgency of ensuring that our country has nonpartisan and non-politicized oversight over the Government’s intelligence activities, the Intelligence Committee is structured so that -- unlike every other Senate Committee -- the majority is unable to dominate the Committee’s operation and agenda, and the minority has much greater powers than it does on any other Senate Committee.

Yet again, Republicans are threatening to radically change long-standing rules for how our government operates all because they cannot manipulate the result they want. From redistricting games to changing the filibuster rules, when Republicans are incapable (even with their majorities) of manipulating the political result they want, they use their majority status to change how our government works in order to ensure the desired political outcome.

Read the rest here

35th Top Zarqawi Aide Captured

How many top aides can one guy have?
Blogenlust has a list.
via NeedleNose

The Simpsons come to life

Watch the video here
Story and backup video links via
The Sun Online

Bush was told before Iraq invasion: Sadaam attack unlikely

From Crooks and Liars

Murray Waas:

Two highly classified intelligence reports delivered directly to President Bush before the Iraq war cast doubt on key public assertions made by the president, Vice President Cheney, and other administration officials as justifications for invading Iraq and toppling Saddam Hussein, according to records and knowledgeable sources...

The second classified report, delivered to Bush in early January 2003, was also a summary of a National Intelligence Estimate, this one focusing on whether Saddam would launch an unprovoked attack on the United States, either directly, or indirectly by working with terrorists....

The report stated that U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously agreed that it was unlikely that Saddam would try to attack the United States -- except if "ongoing military operations risked the imminent demise of his regime" or if he intended to "extract revenge" for such an assault, according to records and sources....read on

Gallup: 2 Out of 3 Americans Want U.S. Pull Out from Iraq

via editor and publisher
Also:
Bush's handling of Iraq drew the support of just 35%, while 64 percent said they disapprove.

Of the 1,020 adults surveyed, 59% said President Bush can no longer manage the government effectively.

Al-Qaeda Infiltrated UAE Government, According To 2002 Letter

New evidence has emerged that key agencies of the United Arab Emirates may have been infiltrated by al-Qaeda. In May or June of 2002, al Qaeda officials wrote a letter to the UAE government claiming the emirates were “well aware” of the infiltration.

The key sentence:

You are well aware that we have infiltrated your security, censorship, and monetary agencies along with other agencies that should not be mentioned
Read more at Think Progress

Bush caught lying on tape

Watch the video on crooks and liars
Tonight, the AP revealed secret transcripts and video tape proving that President Bush was briefed on the specific threats posed by Katrina before it hit land and did nothing to keep us safe.
Four days after the Hurricaine Bush said "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees"

Father of Neo-Conservatism says Neo-Conservatism has failed

Crooks and Liars has the video

Jon Stewart on Larry King

Cnn has the transcript
and Crooks and Liars has the Video

STEWART: ... This vice president thought a 78-year-old man was a bird. It happens. What are you going to do?

KING: We've declined as a society right?

STEWART: I cannot tell you how many times I'll turn around and go, "Grandpa," oh no it's a pigeon.

GOP thinks exposing their ethical violations is unethical

From America Blog

Speaking of GOP corruption which we seem to do an awful lot of these days....we've finally learned what the GOP thinks is unethical: reporting on the GOP ethics violations. From The Hill:

The House Republicans’ campaign operation is charging that a recently released Democratic report on Republican corruption violated ethics rules.

The 103-page report, “America for Sale: The Cost of Republican Corruption,” was compiled by the Democratic staff of the House Rules Committee and released by the panel’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Louise Slaughter (N.Y.), last week.

The report reiterates repeats many of Democrats’ long-held concerns about Republicans’ actions on healthcare, energy, the environment, homeland security and Hurricane Katrina.

Congresswoman Slaughter did a post on the report over at DailyKos when she released the report last week. The full report is available in a pdf version here.

Zogby Poll: 85% of Troops think war is retaliation for Saddam’s role in 9/11

Where would they get that idea???

The troops have drawn different conclusions about fellow citizens back home. Asked why they think some Americans favor rapid U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, 37% of troops serving there said those Americans are unpatriotic, while 20% believe people back home don’t believe a continued occupation will work. Another 16% said they believe those favoring a quick withdrawal do so because they oppose the use of the military in a pre-emptive war, while 15% said they do not believe those Americans understand the need for the U.S. troops in Iraq.

And there's more