Who Do We Vote For This Time Around? A Letter from Michael Moore (michaelmoore.com)
Edwards is the only one of the three front-runners who has a universal health care plan that will lead to the single-payer kind all other civilized countries have. His plan doesn't go as fast as I would like, but he is the only one who has correctly pointed out that the health insurance companies are the enemy and should not have a seat at the table.
Jim Hightower: THE LUXURY OF CHINESE LABOR (jimhightower.com)
Officials in China have had some trouble making translations from Chinese to English. For example, a sign to alert visitors about a wet floor in a mall came out this way: "The slippery are very crafty."
Lie back and think of ukuleles (guardian.co.uk)
They were overnight sensations, young female singers who lit up the 1960s - and then disappeared. Now the 'lost ladies of folk' are back. Jude Rogers hears their stories.
Lana Cooper: Review of "Mom, Have You Seen My Leather Pants?: The Tale of a Teen Rock Wannabe Who Almost Was" by Craig A. Williams (popmatters.com)
Although his memories are uniquely his own, Williams reminds listeners of the first time of finding music that speaks to you-not your parents or older siblings-and the sense of self-identification, as well as identifying with something much larger, that it brings. He also reminds readers of what ultimately springs from this identification in conjunction with the idealistic nature of dreamy teenage innocence: the uncontrollable urge to pick up a loud, electric instrument and start your own band.
Congress has limited the protection of former presidents and their spouses to 10 years after leaving office.
Who will be the last president to receive lifelong protection from the Secret Service?
A: Jimmy Carter
B: George 'Poppy' Bush
C: Bill Clinton
D: G.W. '#43' Bush
E: Al Gore
Congress limited the protection of former presidents and their spouses (elected after January 1, 1997) to 10 years after leaving office. President Clinton, who was elected in 1996, will be the last president to receive lifelong protection from the Secret Service. Source
Chipshot was first, writing:
The only president who will actually need lifelong protection from the SS is, of course, "D", our beloved leader GeeDubya "43" Bush. He can't step outside a building or a vehicle now without the area being completely sealed off and isolated for miles around him, and I don't see that changing anytime in the future. Of course, he could move his entire crime family to the new family compound in Paraguay or, one day when he's talking with God, he could ask him/her/it to make him as beloved as President Clinton was/is.
Alan J succinctly nails it again:
Bill Clinton
DanD observed:
I remember that it was the Great Bullshitter, Reagan, that made the
Vietnam Era GI Bill "expire" 10 years after active duty separation if a
veteran did not use it during that time. I figure that he may even have
done something similar to that with secret service protection, which
means that -- technically -- RR would have been the last president to get
that life-long protection.
So I'm going to say "A," Jimmy Carter.
In the meantime, I looked it up and found out that it was Nepal that had
a long time moratorium on the Death Penalty since at least the early
1950s. It was then Cambodia that joined the anti-death penalty brigade a
decade or so after Pol Pot was kicked out of that region of killing
fields by Vietnam.
joe b answered:
I`m guessing it`s "C".
bebo replied:
because of a bill that bill clinton signed into law, the next president after him would be the last one to receive lifelong protection from the secret service which unfortunately is bush 43. bebo
And, Sally responded:
All US presidents elected after January 1, 1997 (and their spouses) will receive only 10 years of protection from the Secret Service after they leave office. President Bill Clinton "C" was the last president to qualify for lifelong protection.
Of course who knows what shenanigans GWB will pull before (or "if") we finally get him out of office...
PS Hey DanD, sounds like your "Uncle" has some Jersey ties, and may have been last seen on the Soprano's - if you catch my drift... :)
Keep on shooting those marbles, kiddo.
I dunno….doesn't the FBI have anything better to do? They are spending money on this??? I wonder how old DB would be now…37 years later (assuming he didn't die when he jumped out of the plane in the first place)?
Geez--- you'd think the FBI would concentrate on more recent criminal activity. How much of that $200,000 do they think might be left? Even the original $200,000 probably isn't enough to cover the cost of the FBI looking for him today…assuming they spend no more than three days looking.
CBS opens the night with a RERUN'Without A Trace', followed by 'CSI: The Original One', then another RERUN'Without A Trace'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are Bill Maher, Ellen Page, and the cast of Broadway's "Young Frankenstein".
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Dominic Monaghan and Jason Randal.
NBC begins the night with a FRESH'Deal Or No Deal', followed by the SEASON PREMIERE'Celebrity Apprentice - Festering Carbuncle of Desperation', then a FRESH'ER'.
Leno is FRESH, but writerless, and the network doesn't want you to know who the guests are.
Conan is FRESH, but writerless, and the network doesn't want you to know who the guests are.
On a RERUNCarson 'The Scab' Daly (from 12/4/07) are Shannyn Sossamon and Alicia Keys.
ABC starts the night with a RERUN'Ugly Betty', followed by a RERUN'Grey's Anatomy', then a RERUN'Desperate Housewives'.
Jimmy Kimmel is FRESH, but writerless, and the network doesn't want you to know who the guests are.
The CW offers a RERUN'Smallville', followed by a RERUN'Supernatural'.
Faux fills the night with LIVE'College Football'.
MY fills the night with the movie 'Gone In Sixty Seconds'.
A&E has 'CSI: The 2nd One', 'The First 48', another 'The First 48', and still another 'The First 48'.
AMC offers the movie 'Navy SEALs', followed by the movie 'Rio Bravo', then the movie 'The Searchers'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep. 1 Bonapartes;
[1:00 PM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 8 Clarke;
[2:00 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 36 Carmarthen;
[2:30 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 2 Westpoint 11;
[3:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 9;
[3:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 10;
[4:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 16;
[4:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 17;
[5:00 PM] My Family - Ep 9 Sitting Targets;
[5:30 PM] Coupling - Episode 4;
[6:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 1 Lanterna;
[7:00 PM] BBC World News America;
[8:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 2 Momma Cherri's;
[9:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 1 La Riveria;
[10:00 PM] BBC World News America;
[11:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 2 Momma Cherri's;
[12:00 AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 1 La Riveria;
[1:00 AM] Coupling - Ep. 4 The Melty Man Cometh;
[1:40 AM] The World Stands Up - Episode 9;
[2:00 AM] The Weakest Link - Episode 9;
[3:00 AM] Changing Rooms - Ep. 5 Benenden;
[3:30 AM] Changing Rooms - Ep. 6 Glasgow;
[4:00 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 36 Carmarthen;
[4:30 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 2 Westpoint 11;
[5:00 AM] Cash in the Attic - Episode 6;
[5:30 AM] Cash in the Attic - Episode 7;
[6:00 AM] BBC World News. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives', 'Project Runway', another 'Project Runway', and 'Make Me A Supermodel'.
Comedy Central has 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', 'Futurama', another 'Futurama', still another 'Futurama', 'South Park', another 'South Park', and 'Drawn Together'.
Jon Stewart is pre-empted.
Colbert Report is pre-empted.
FX has the movie 'Corky Romano', followed by the movie 'Me, Myself & Irene', then the movie 'Me, Myself & Irene', again.
History has 'Modern Marvels', another 'Modern Marvels', 'Gangland', and another 'Gangland'.
IFC -
[06:15 AM] IFC Short Film Showcase;
[07:15 AM] Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.;
[08:55 AM] Bus 174;
[11:00 AM] The Glass Shield;
[01:00 PM] Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.;
[02:40 PM] Bus 174;
[04:45 PM] The Glass Shield;
[06:45 PM] Shattered Glass;
[08:30 PM] Framed on IFC #3;
[09:00 PM] When Will I Be Loved;
[10:30 PM] Kissing Jessica Stein;
[12:15 AM] Fall Time;
[01:50 AM] Media Lab Results;
[02:00 AM] Framed on IFC #3;
[02:30 AM] When Will I Be Loved;
[04:00 AM] Kissing Jessica Stein;
[05:40 AM] The Dancer Upstairs. (ALL TIMES EST)
SciFi has the movie 'Raptor', followed by the movie 'Pterodactyl'.
Sundance -
[06:00 AM] In Short: Festival 10;
[07:00 AM] L'Eclisse;
[09:00 AM] Episode 2;
[09:30 AM] (Episode 2);
[10:00 AM] The Cruise;
[11:30 AM] No Looking Back;
[01:30 PM] Bodies, Rest & Motion;
[03:15 PM] Da Kath & Kim Code;
[05:00 PM] L'Eclisse;
[07:15 PM] No Looking Back;
[09:00 PM] Adam's Apples;
[10:35 PM] Short Hymn, Silent War;
[11:00 PM] Nose, Iranian Style;
[12:00 AM] Episode 4;
[12:35 AM] Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon;
[01:55 AM] Episode 4;
[03:00 AM] Wynton Marsalis + John Besh;
[04:00 AM] Adam's Apples;
[05:40 AM] Short Hymn, Silent War. (ALL TIMES EST)
Host
David Letterman appears on "The Late Show with David Letterman" on the CBS Television Network in New York January 2, 2008. The January 2 episode is the first original show taping since the start of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike.
Photo by John Paul Filo
David A. Grafton, a designer of lenses used for optical effects, will receive an Academy Award.
The Gordon E. Sawyer Award, presented to Hollywood technological innovators, will be given to Grafton Feb. 9 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' dinner to honor scientific and technical achievements.
Grafton designed electro-optical systems for such companies as IBM and Xerox and began consulting with movie studios in the 1970s, his work contributing to special effects in the "Star Wars" flicks, "Blade Runner" and other films.
Terry Jones giggles as he describes his latest project: vacuum cleaners, dryers and parking meters singing opera on stage.
The Monty Python alumnus and an all-Portuguese cast are rehearsing for the Jan. 12 world premiere in Lisbon of "Evil Machines." Jones co-wrote the libretto and is directing.
To make the author's vision real, the singers climb into elaborate costumes, including one that creates a 15-foot-tall vacuum cleaner.
The show captures some of the absurdity that was the hallmark of the British comedy troupe Jones co-founded. Almost 40 years on, he retains that offbeat sense of humor.
Actress Mary Steenburgen and husband, actor Ted Danson, listen as Democratic Presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., not shown, speaks during a campaign stop at the First United Methodist Church in Indianola, Iowa, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008. Democratic and Republican candidates are going all out Wednesday to encourage supporters to vote for them in the close Iowa caucus Thursday.
Photo by Jeff Chiu
A former "Dateline NBC" correspondent claims that in the aftermath of September 11, the network diverted him from reporting on al Qaeda and instead wanted him to ride along with the country's "forgotten heroes," firefighters.
John Hockenberry, who was laid off from "Dateline" in early 2005, wrote in this month's Technology Review that on the Sunday after the September 2001 attacks he was pitching stories on the origins of al Qaeda and Islamic fundamentalism. He claimed that then-NBC programming chief Jeff Zucker, who came into a meeting Hockenberry was having with "Dateline" executive producer David Corvo, said "Dateline" should instead focus on the firefighters and perhaps ride along with them a la "Cops," the Fox reality series.
Hockenberry is a distinguished fellow at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Mass. But for more than 20 years, he was a broadcast journalist working at National Public Radio, ABC News and from 1996-2005, a correspondent at "Dateline." Hockenberry's blistering article trained much of its fire on the controversial NBC newsmagazine, which has been criticized for its "To Catch a Predator" series -- a "highly rated pile of programming debris," in Hockenberry's words.
Another bombshell is Hockenberry's claims that General Electric, NBC's parent company, discouraged him from talking to the Bin Laden family about their estranged family member. Hockenberry asked GE, which does business with the Bin Laden family company, to help him get in contact with them. Instead, a PR executive called Hockenberry's hotel room in Saudi Arabia and read a statement about how GE didn't see its "valuable business relationship" with the Bin Laden Group as having anything to do with "Dateline."
Individual privacy is under threat around the world as governments continue introducing surveillance and information-gathering measures, according to an international rights group.
"The general trend is that privacy is being extinguished in country after country," said Simon Davies, director of London-based Privacy International, which released a study on the issue Saturday. "Even those countries where we expected ongoing strong privacy protection, like Germany and Canada, are sinking into the mire.
Greece, Romania and Canada had the best records of 47 countries Privacy International surveyed.
Malaysia, Russia and China ranked worst, but Great Britain and the United States also fell into the lowest-performing group of "endemic surveillance societies."
Rep. Tom Lantos, a California Democrat and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced on Wednesday that he will not seek re-election this year because he has cancer of the esophagus.
Lantos, 79, is the only Holocaust survivor elected to Congress and is known for his dedication to human rights issues. He is serving his 14th term, after joining the House in 1981.
Lantos was born in Budapest, Hungary. In 1944, as a teenager, he was sent to a labor camp but eventually escaped. Three years later, he came to the United States on an academic scholarship.
Actor George Lopez, left, greets Parker McLachlin, right, after his drive off the first tee of the Plantation Course during the pro-am event of the Mercedes Benz Championship golf tournament in Kapalua, Hawaii, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008.
Photo by Eric Risberg
Eddie Murphy celebrated New Year's Day by tying the knot with film producer Tracey Edmonds.
The pair exchanged vows Tuesday on a private island off Bora Bora in French Polynesia in front of a small group of family and friends, their representatives told People magazine.
Karaoke machine companies are subject to additional copyright fees if they reprint song lyrics in companion brochures or broadcast the lyrics on television, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday.
The ruling came in a case brought by Leadsinger Inc, a New York-based company that manufactures karaoke microphones.
The microphones are embedded with microchips containing recorded songs. When one of the microphones is plugged into a television, song lyrics appear on the screen in real-time with the music, enabling a person to sing along.
Leadsinger has already paid for a license to reproduce and distribute the songs on the microchip.
But BMG Music Publishing, part of Bertelsmann and owner of the lyric copyrights, said the license did not cover Leadsinger's broadcast of the lyrics in sync with the music or its reprint of them in a companion booklet.
People walk across the floor of the rotunda of Los Angeles City Hall, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008. Since its completion in the late 1920s, City Hall's exterior and interiors have been the scene of hundreds of movies and television shows. Its classic design stands in for venues far and wide, and for a price the studios love: free.
Photo by Reed Saxon
Without warning, Myanmar's military junta has ordered a massive 166-fold rise in the annual satellite television levy in an apparent attempt to stop people watching dissident and international news broadcasts.
With no word in state media of any license fee increases, the first satellite dish owners knew of the hike was when they went to pay the 6,000 kyat levy, only to be told it was now 1 million kyat ($780), three times the average citizen's yearly income.
The increase is way beyond the meager means of virtually all the former Burma's 56 million people, for whom international broadcasts such as Al Jazeera or Norway-based dissident network Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) are the main source of news.
Without satellite, the only other television news is on rigidly state-controlled MRTV. The few private television stations avoid all current affairs in favor of a diet of soap operas and pop music.
A French court has definitively quashed plans to return the preserved head of an indigenous Maori warrior from western France to New Zealand, judicial officials said on Wednesday.
Donated by a French collector in 1875, the head has been held since then in a museum in the western city of Rouen, which decided last year to return it as an "ethical gesture of respect" for the Maori people.
But the French culture ministry stepped in to block the transfer, arguing the head was now part of France's cultural heritage.
On December 27, an administrative court ruled that city authorities had failed to consult a scientific committee before withdrawing the head from a national museum collection, definitively blocking the transfer.
Drivers talking on cell phones are probably making your commute even longer, concludes a new study.
Motorists yakking away, even with handsfree devices, crawl about 2 mph slower on commuter-clogged roads than people not on the phone, and they just don't keep up with the flow of traffic, said study author David Strayer, a psychology professor at the University of Utah.
If you commute by car an hour a day, it could all add around 20 hours a year to your commute, Strayer said.
Overall, cell phone drivers took about 3 percent longer to drive the same highly traffic-clogged route (and about 2 percent longer to drive a medium congested route) than people who were not on the phone. About one in 10 drivers is on the phone so it really adds up, said Strayer, whose earlier studies have found slower reaction times from drivers on the phones and compared those reaction times to people legally drunk.
A Hampton University professor is shedding new light on night-shining clouds that might be affected by climate change. Jim Russell is the lead scientist for the NASA-funded AIM satellite, the first to study the wispy "noctilucent" clouds, which only appear above Earth's poles.
The Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere satellite is providing the first global mapping of the cover and structure of these clouds, which coalesce as icy dust particles about 42 to 60 miles above the Earth's surface.
The mapping showed that the clouds are more sensitive to changes in the upper atmosphere than was previously thought, as they are changing in brightness and reach.
Scientists say that's why people as far south as Colorado and Utah have spotted the clouds in recent years.
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