God's litte bellyacher

Some great quotes from the Simpsons 400th episode














"Imploring people I've never meant to pressure a government with better things to do to punish a man who meant no harm for something nobody even saw." After Ned Flanders watches news anchor Kent Brockman use a shocking expletive when Homer accidentally pours a mug full of coffee into his lap. He then logs on the internet and is asked what he is doing by his kids.

"Did you know that everyday Mexican gays sneak into this country and unplug our brain dead ladies?" Homer Simpson responding to watching a lot of FOX news.

Clemson News:
















Former Clemson player and Jet's 2004 second round draft pick Justin Miller Busted For Bar Brawl and Faces Assault Charges For Punching Woman - Sunday night the 23-year-old Pro Bowl returner was arrested after allegedly punching a woman in a nightclub. He was apprehended following a police chase at 4:20 a.m.

Iran Watch:
Iran charges detained Iranian-American scholar - Prominent Iranian-American scholar Dr. Haleh Esfandiar was formally charged with plotting to overthrow the Iranian government by organizing a network "against the sovereignty of the country," according to Iranian television Monday.

Immigration News:
Senate Puts Off Action on Immigration - Senate leaders agreed Monday that they would wait until June to take final action on a bipartisan plan to give millions of unlawful immigrants legal status.

France says no to mass legalisation of undocumented immigrants - France's minister of immigration and national identity, a new ministry created by President Nicolas Sarkozy, has ruled out legalizing undocumented immigrants en mass. The new ministry said today that government policy would be dictated by firmness and pragmatism. "We have to put aside massive legalization. It doesn't work and it penalizes, even immigrants."

Iran expels 70 000 Afghans - More than 70,000 Afghans who were in Iran illegally have been returned in the past month, the United Nations said on Monday, as talks were under way between the neighbors over the controversial deportations.

Immigrant Rental Rule in Texas Blocked - A federal judge Monday blocked enforcement of a voter-endorsed ordinance preventing apartment rentals to most illegal immigrants in this Dallas suburb, opponents of the ban said. The ordinance requires managers to verify that renters are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants before leasing to them, with some exceptions. Violators face fines of up to $500, and each day would be considered a separate violation. Only the federal government can determine whether a person is in the United States legally, wrote U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay. Instead of deferring to federal officials, Farmers Branch has created its own classification to determine which noncitizens may rent an apartment, the judge ruled.

Iraq News:
Iraq makes plans for quick U.S. pullout - Iraq's military is drawing up plans to cope with any quick U.S. military pullout, the defense minister said Monday, as a senior American official warned that the Bush administration may reconsider its support if Iraqi leaders don't make major reforms by fall. The U.S. official did not say what actions could be taken by the White House, but his comments reflected the administration's need to show results in Iraq — as an answer to pressure by the Democrats in Congress seeking to set timetables on the U.S. military presence.

More Lawmaker Hypocrisy: Edwards charges $55,000 to speak to UC Davis students about poverty - Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, who as a Democratic presidential candidate recently proposed an educational policy that urged "every financial barrier" be removed for American kids who want to go to college, has been going to college himself -- as a high paid speaker, his financial records show. The candidate charged a whopping $55,000 to speak at to a crowd of 1,787 the taxpayer-funded University of California at Davis on Jan. 9, 2006 last year, Joe Martin, the public relations officer for the campus' Mondavi Center confirmed Monday.

China News:
Chinese villagers riot over stricter population-control - An intensive campaign to enforce strict population-control measures prompted violent clashes between the police and local residents in southwestern China in recent days, witnesses said, describing the latest incident of rural unrest that has alarmed senior officials in Beijing. The violence appeared to stem from a two-month-long crackdown in Guangxi to punish people who violated the country's birth control policy. The policy limits the number of children families can have legally.

China Questions 2 Companies in Contaminated Toothpaste Exports - Chinese authorities are investigating whether two companies from this coastal region exported tainted toothpaste as more contaminated product, including some made for children, has turned up in Latin America.

Other Crap:
Monkey dead from bubonic plague in Denver - A Denver Zoo monkey has died of bubonic plague, apparently after eating a squirrel stricken with the disease, Colorado health and zoo officials said on Monday.

Carter says comments were ‘careless’ after the 39th president had blasted Bush administration as ‘worst in history’ - Former President Jimmy Carter on Monday said his comments over the weekend about the Bush administration were “careless.”

Schwarzenegger accuses government on warming - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and fellow Republican Gov. Jodi Rell of Connecticut accused the U.S. government on Monday of "inaction and denial" on global warming. "It's bad enough that the federal government has yet to take the threat of global warming seriously, but it borders on malfeasance for it to block the efforts of states such as California and Connecticut that are trying to protect the public's health and welfare."

Is Ubuntu the Linux OS for Law Firms?

And by the way, Mama... alligators are ornery because of their medulla oblongata.

"My mother told me not to get a tattoo of Roy Orbison. But what momma don't know, won't hurt her."

Time to open-up a can of whoop ass!













Bush White House fires back at Jimmy Carter - The White House on Sunday fired back at former President Jimmy Carter, calling him "increasingly irrelevant" a day after Carter described George W. Bush's presidency as the worst in history in international relations.

CIA: Iraq Wealth Funding Al-Qaida - Iraq is bankrolling Al-Qaida's efforts in Pakistan, fueled by kidapping ransoms and money donated to anti-American efforts, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Although my faith in the CIA has faltered over the past half a decade.

College students caught in music industry crackdown on online music piracy - A group called the Recording Industry Association of America was accusing the University of Nebraska-Lincoln sophomore of illegally downloading 381 songs using the school's computer network. Ms. Barg couldn't imagine anyone expected her to pay $3,000 -- $7.87 per song... "Obviously I knew it was illegal, but no one got in trouble for it," Ms. Barg said.

Sly Fined for Importing Restricted Drugs -Actor Sylvester Stallone was formally convicted Monday of importing restricted muscle-building hormones into Australia and ordered to pay $10,651 in fines and court costs. New South Wales state Deputy Chief Magistrate Paul Cloran said the "Rocky" and "Rambo" star failed to show he had a valid prescription for dozens of vials of human growth hormone found in his luggage when he arrived in Sydney for a promotional tour in February.

DiCaprio bites back over eco 'hypocrisy' - Leonardo DiCaprio hit back at charges of hypocrisy Saturday as he unveiled an eco-documentary he wrote, produced and narrated at the Cannes film festival. When asked after the premiere of "The 11th Hour" whether he had taken a fuel-guzzling jet on his way to the French Riviera, the "Titanic" star spat back sarcastically: "No, I took a train across the Atlantic." DiCaprio later came back to the reporter, saying that he was irritated with the media for going after prominent environmentalists such as former US vice president Al Gore for supposed inconsistency in their private lives.

How did An Inconvenient Truth become required classroom viewing? - First it was his world history class. Then he saw it in his economics class. And his world issues class. And his environment class. In total, 18-year-old McKenzie, a Northern Ontario high schooler, says he has had the film An Inconvenient Truth shown to him by four different teachers this year."I really don't understand why they keep showing it," says McKenzie. "I've spoken to the principal about it, and he said that teachers are instructed to present it as a debate. But every time we've seen it, well, one teacher said this is basically a two-sided debate, but this movie really gives you the best idea of what's going on." McKenzie says he has educated himself enough about both sides of the climate- change controversy to know that the Al Gore movie is too one-sided to be taught as fact. Even scientists who back Mr. Gore's message admit they're uncomfortable with liberties the politician takes with "science" in the film. God bless the little children...

For 2008, Who Isn't a Flip-Flopper? - Flip floppery is everywhere in American politics these days. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R) used to support abortion rights, but now, seeking the votes of conservatives in New Hampshire and South Carolina, he doesn't. Former senator John Edwards (D-N.C.) voted to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, but now that the state is hosting an early caucus, he opposes such a plan. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in 2000 that he saw no benefit from ethanol, but now, hoping for a win in corn-crazy Iowa, he sees the alternative fuel as practical, though he's still opposed to subsidizing it.

Yucky News of the day - Nude photos of nursing home residents prompt investigation - Authorities say they have identified 3 of 4 nursing home residents who were photographed nude. The elderly residents at Greenwood Manor in Iowa City don't know who took the photos, or why they were taken.

Another candidate for Mother of the Year - Mom blames Satan for burning baby in microwave - A woman blames the devil and not her husband for severely burning their infant daughter after the 2-month-old was put in a microwave. Eva Marie Mauldin said Satan compelled her 19-year-old husband, Joshua Royce Mauldin, to microwave their daughter May 10 because the devil disapproved of Joshua's efforts to become a preacher.

More lawmaker hypocracy.
(CA) - A Vallejo woman reportedly suffered minor injuries Friday when her car was rear-ended by State Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, while driving her new state-issued 2007 Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUV talking on a cell phone. Migden: Voted last year to impose a $20 fine for talking on cell phones while driving.






Legislation to add "weight and height" to anti-discrimination law in Massachusetts has been proposed to give special protection to short and fat people. - The bill, which would make Massachusetts the second state in the United States to offer such protections, applies mainly to the workplace but also covers landlords and real estate interactions. "This is one of the last physical aspects of people that you can acceptably laugh about," said Rep. Byron Rushing, a Boston Democrat who is sponsoring the bill, said it is a question of civil rights. "You can be a shock jock on the radio and talk about fat people for a solid week and no one would ever think of having you lose your job. It's still acceptable." Is there any end to what will be included into civil rights?

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

"Vi veri veniversum vivus vici." - "By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe."

Paris Hilton won't appeal the 45-day jail term she was sentenced to earlier this month for violating probation, according to court documents filed Thursday. Hilton will be separated from the general inmate population in a unit that contains 12 two-person cells reserved for police officers, public officials, celebrities and other high-profile inmates, Whitmore said. She could have a cellmate.

The number of people in the United States from ethnic or racial minorities has risen to more than 100 million, or around one-third of the population, according to a U.S. Census Bureau.

Obama Parody On Limbaugh Show Sparks Controversy - The song "Barak the Magic Negro" was produced for the Rush Limbaugh show by songwriter Paul Shanklin.

Limbaugh had referred to Obama many times as "Obama the 'Magic Negro'", each time prefacing the comment by saying title with regard to Obama originated in an L.A. Times Op-Ed by commentator David Ehrenstein. "while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest. As might be expected, this figure is chiefly cinematic—embodied by such noted performers as Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman, Scatman Crothers, Michael Clarke Duncan, Will Smith and, most recently, Don Cheadle. And that's not to mention a certain basketball player whose very nickname is "Magic." If have you have not heard it, listen to it here.

How to insult, swear, cuss, and curse in 180 languages!

McCain Goes Nuts Near Senate Floor - Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, launched into a shouting match during a Thursday Capitol Hill meeting. Cornyn accused McCain of being too occupied campaigning for president to take part in the negotiations. "Wait a second here, I've been sitting in here for all of these negotiations and you just parachute in here on the last day. You're out of line." Cornyn said to McCain. "Fuck you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room," McCain reportedly answered.

Carter Blasts Bush on His Global Impact - Former President Carter says President Bush's administration is "the worst in history" in international relations, taking aim at the White House's policy of pre-emptive war and its Middle East diplomacy.

Hundreds of youths clashed with police in the Danish capital Saturday, setting fire to street barricades to protest the demolition of a building in a hippie enclave. Protesters also clashed with police early this week when workers tore down a condemned building in Christiania, a partially self-governing section of Copenhagen that is home to an alternative lifestyle community. Two months ago, angry youths went on a rampage in downtown Copenhagen to protest the eviction of squatters from a youth center in another part of the city.

Leonardo DiCaprio discusses his upcoming environmental documentary "The 11th Hour."
"Yes, a lot of the science is very hard to wrap your head around. But I was very clear in the movie. I want the public to be very scared by what they see. I want them to see a very bleak future. I want them to feel disillusioned halfway through and feel hopeless."

Global warming debunked? - Climate change will be considered a joke in five years time, meteorologist Augie Auer told the annual meeting of Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers in Ashburton this week. Water vapour was responsible for 95 per cent of the greenhouse effect, an effect which was vital to keep the world warm. The other greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen dioxide, and various others including CFCs, contributed only five per cent of the effect, carbon dioxide being by far the greatest contributor at 3.6 per cent. However, carbon dioxide as a result of man's activities was only 3.2 per cent of that, hence only 0.12 per cent of the greenhouse gases in total. Human-related methane, nitrogen dioxide and CFCs etc made similarly minuscule contributions to the effect: 0.066, 0.047 and 0.046 per cent respectively. A combination of misinterpreted and misguided science, media hype, and political spin had created the current hysteria and it was time to put a stop to it.
My question here is will this side even be mentioned in "The 11th Hour"?

Michael Moore's new film is Cannes's hottest ticket

2007 Sexiest Man in America ... Michael Moore?

Farrah Fawcett's Cancer Has Returned - Farrah Fawcett, who was declared cancer-free in February, discovered this week the cancer has returned. Will she be #2 in the Death Pool?

Terrifying News of the Day - A court in Azerbaijan has jailed two journalists for writing and printing a newspaper article that was critical of the Islamic religion and the Prophet Muhammad. Samir Sadagatoglu was sentenced to four years in prison while Rafik Tagi was given three years. The court ruled that their article 'Europe and us' was insulting to Islam and Muslims for saying that European societies were more successful than Muslim ones because Christian teachings were based on peace and tolerance while Islamic values, based on the teachings and actions of Muhammad, were not.

It Takes Two to Tango...

More news about Clemson's pregnant athletes possibly losing scholarship. On the school's athletic website, athletic director Terry Don Phillips said that coach Marcia Noad had included the following clause as part of the team's written rules: "Pregnancy resulting in the inability to compete and positively contribute to the program's success will result in the modification of your grant-in-aid money. Please consult your coaching staff immediately to discuss."
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 - No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. The most prominent public face of Title IX is its impact on high school and collegiate athletics, the original statute made no reference to athletics.
So I suppose the question becomes, does removing a scholarship from a female who becomes pregnant violate Title IX. Since only females become pregnant, this will be lumped into discrimination based on sex. Is modifying the aid money the athlete receives excluding them from the benefit of the educational program or activity (namely an athletic scholarship)? The first hurdle is being able to discuss this issue as a male without being labeled a male chauvinist. I recently had a conversation about this issue with a self-described liberal feminist, and it was pointed out to me that since men cannot become pregnant there can not be an equivalent comparison to make the determination of discrimination or equality. Denying a female who becomes pregnant the opportunity to participate in any scholastic or athletic program in a State sponsored college or university clearly violates Title IX and is not in the spirit of this statute. Although it must be acknowledged that the student athlete receiving aid made a commitment to their institution and is receiving the aid based on their participation in that program. Should there be any repercussions based on a student athlete's actions? This is a difficult issue that is not going away.

On a lighter note

Dog Nurses Tiger Triplets at China Zoo.










You may remember this story last year, a depressed tiger in zoo who lost its cubs being given little piglets dressed up like tigers. A popular but untrue story. This story even made it to local news networks, including my local Pittsburgh Channel 11 news, disregarding the fact that the truth was only a click away if someone was doing even a minimal amount of fact checking. So who knows, this story may make snopes before you know it.




Holy Crap of the Day - Daycare shut down after infants found crying in storage closet.

Where is this heading? The government has overturned its proposed ban on the creation of human-animal embryos ... scientists would be allowed to grow the embryos in a lab for no more than two weeks, and it would be illegal to implant them in a human.

Immigration Legislation News of the Day - The Bush administration and a bipartisan group of senators reached agreement yesterday on a sprawling overhaul of the nation's immigration laws that would bring an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants out of society's shadows while stiffening border protections and cracking down on employers of undocumented workers. The Senate deal would grant temporary legal status to virtually all illegal immigrants in the country, while allowing them to apply for residence visas and eventual citizenship. A temporary-worker program would allow as many as 400,000 migrants into the country each year, but they would have to leave after two years. And the current visa system, which stresses family ties, would be augmented by a complex point system that would favor skilled, educated workers. Most of those changes would take effect only after the implementation of tough new border controls and a crackdown on the employment of undocumented workers.

Ambiguously Gay Moment of the Day

Clemson on ESPN

Here is the portion of ESPN Outside the Lines from earlier in the week which was mentioned in the last blog entry. All the non-Clemson content has been edited out, so sorry.

Sexiest Vegitarian Girl Next Door

Jakšić - Found the town in Croatia where the great grandfather was from. A small mountain town that bares the family name in Croatian.

Letters threaten Pakistani Christians to convert to Islam - Pakistani Christians in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan are reportedly receiving menacing letters asking them to close their churches and convert to Islam within 10 days, although some letters did not say what the consequences would be if Christians failed to comply, others are reported to have threatened bombing or the execution of all Christians. Police have increased security at churches, it said.

Today's urban legend - 2006 Darwin Awards. This one makes the rounds every year. ==> Multiple TRUE/FALSE.

Pet news of the day. Raisins, grapes, even in small amounts, can kill a dog. From April 2003 to April 2004, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center got 140 calls about dogs that had eaten varying amounts of raisins or grapes. More than 50 of those dogs developed "clinical signs" ranging from vomiting to kidney failure. Seven of the dogs died.

Clemson news - Clemson University Upset by ESPN Report on Abortion and Scholarships. Officials at Clemson University in South Carolina are upset by the content of an ESPN investigative report showing that seven current or former students there had abortions in order to retain their athletic scholarships. The report said a school policy takes away scholarships from pregnant students but official contest that claim. Just by chance I happened to be watching ESPN Outside the Lines waiting for NFL today. Thanks to TIVO I was able to record the segment and will attempt to post the segment within the next few days.


Clemson Student Wins Maui Vacation in Online PETA Contest

Jessica Comolli has been crowned the 2007 "Sexiest Vegetarian Girl Next Door".















Holy Crap of the day - Rapper (R. Kelly), still up on child porn charges, compares himself to slain civil rights leader. "I'm the Ali of today. I'm the Marvin Gaye of today. I'm the Bob Marley of today. I'm the Martin Luther King, or all the other greats that have come before us. And a lot of people are starting to realize that now."

More influential mental giants support Hillary Clinton.
Jenna Jameson: "I love Hillary. I think that in some ways she's pretty conservative for a Democrat, but I would love to have a woman in office. I think that it would be a step in the right direction for our country, and there would be less focus on war and more focus on bettering society."
Jenna Jameson: "Absolutely. The Clinton administration was the best years for the adult industry and I wish that Clinton would run again. I would love to have him back in office. I would love to have Al Gore in office. When Republicans are in office, the problem is, a lot of times they try to put their crosshairs on the adult industry, to make a point. It's sad, when there are so many different things that are going on in the world: war, and people are dying of genocide...I look forward to another Democrat being in office. It just makes the climate so much better for us, and I know that once all our troops come home, things are going to be better and I think that getting Bush out of office is the most important thing right now."

The chairman of the Michigan Republican Party said Wednesday that he will try to bar Ron Paul from future GOP presidential debates because of remarks the Texas congressman made that suggested the Sept. 11 attacks were the fault of U.S. foreign policy. -Story- "Have you ever read about the reasons they attacked us? They attack us because we've been over there. We've been bombing Iraq for 10 years," Paul said. Although I think what he said may be stupid is barring him from saying it the proper response, shouldn't the voters hear these comments and make their own decision?

Five years and counting...

Today's Iran news... One year away from nukes?
Today's Hillary news - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton voted Wednesday to advance legislation cutting off money for the Iraq war, then refused to pledge to support the measure if it came to a vote, then said she would.
Become a Hillraiser.
Hillary Clinton wants more need based college aid and less achievement based aid. "So we've got to get the cost of college down. We need much more in the way of college aid. We also need to get back to need based aid because a lot of kids who are really good prospects for college, they may not be the A student, but they're the solid B student, or they're the really hard working C student." Read the entire transcript or watch if you dare...

Today's Global Warming news - Only five years left, oh my. Our planet is just five years away from climate change catastrophe - but can still be saved, according to a new WWF report.
Are these the people leading the Global Warming revolution? Environmental activists are building a replica of Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat—where the biblical vessel is said to have landed after the great flood—in an appeal for action on global warming, Greenpeace said Wednesday.
More crappy television on the CBS fall line-up. CBS is ready to unleash a reality take on "Lord of the Flies," quietly wrapping filming on a new skein in which a group of 8- to 15-year-olds will create their own society.
Uran legend of the day - Xylitol danger, sugar substitute used in sugar-free gum can be harmful to your dog. ==> TRUE
Happy 46th Birthday Enya.
On this day in 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), overturning its earlier ruling, declaring the establishment of separate public schools for black and white students inherently unequal. This victory paved the way for integration and the Civil Rights Movement.
Man I love those Japanese.