Source

If you are reading this post it’s already too late for you, but this study does give me a good excuse to post this:

Okay, it’s a crappy photo but I just don’t have the paparazzi skill of intruding on people’s lives just to snap a photo of them. Instead I just pretended to be talking on my Blackberry Curve while I took these. (If I had an iPhone it would have looked better).

Maria Shriver at Brentwood, CA Starbucks

Hopefully she was telling her hubby Arnold to stick to his guns and not raise taxes.

Ever since Adobe’s introduction of Photoshop, it has been all but expected that the standing President would have one or more photos doctored showing them holding a phone upside-down. The message being that the politician is so used to faking photo ops and so clueless that they didn’t even notice that the phone was upside-down as they posed for the press corps. Ha, ha.

The following photo was sent around relating to both the mortgage crisis and Katrina suggesting the President did little more than pose for photos during those great times of need.

Highlighting his front runner status, Obama already has his own upside down photo.

But where is the upside down photo of Hillary Clinton? Is her staff so clueless or in disarray that they can’t take the 60 minutes it takes to work up a quick fake and slip it onto the Internet?

There is perhaps no greater example of Hillary’s lack of technological savvy that despite having raised multiple tens of millions of dollars her campaign couldn’t find one teenager with a Mac to whip something up to match the Obama photo above. It is amazing how stuck in the past her campaign is, raise money, buy TV spots, raise money, buy more TV spots. No wonder Obama is the front runner.

More details at Snopes.

More horrible - She gave birth to 7 kids.

Elisabeth told police her father began sexually abusing her when she was 11 and he locked her up in a room in the cellar on August 28, 1984.

During the 24 years that followed, she said she had six children by him.

The seventh child was a twin who died shortly after birth. Josef Fritzl removed the body and burned it.

The two oldest children, aged 18 and 19, and the youngest aged 5, had been locked up with their mother since birth and had never seen sunlight or received any education, police said.

Josef’s wife Rosemarie had been unaware of what happened to her daughter and it was assumed she had disappeared voluntarily when her parents received a letter from her saying they should not search for her.

source

This guy should be beaten to death in a public forum. Come to think of it so should his wife, there’s just no way I am believing that she didn’t have any idea what was going on in the basement.

Warning: You might laugh yourself to death. Hello Rocky emailed me asking what these people look like today.

For some the 1980s are best typified by the classic John Hughes films, for others it would be the “Rock of the 80s” format, and still others it’s Reaganonmics. For me, however the 80s were all about big hair…

9/11 Conspiracy Theories ‘Ridiculous,’ Al Qaeda Says

In case you don’t understand the humor, this is The Onion’s way of saying that conspiracy theorists are indeed idiots (he uses the word “nut cases”). This opinion is not unique. Bill Maher feel the same thing:

As do Penn & Teller (who call them “f*cking crazy” and a “special kind of *sshole”):

And while we are not comedians, heck we’re not even funny, we too feel this way.

SAINI SUNPURA, India — A baby with two faces was born in a northern Indian village, where she is doing well and is being worshipped as the reincarnation of a Hindu goddess, her father said Tuesday.

…

Rural India is deeply superstitious and the little girl is being hailed as a return of the Hindu goddess of valor, Durga, a fiery deity traditionally depicted with three eyes and many arms.

Up to 100 people have been visiting Lali at her home every day to touch her feet out of respect, offer money and receive blessings, Singh said.

Village chief Daulat Ram said he planned to build a temple to Durga in the village. “I am writing to the state government to provide money to build the temple and help the parents look after their daughter,” Ram said.

source

I have sympathy for the kid, so while this may sound cruel it isn’t meant to be at her expense:

First thought - Only in India.

Second thought - Doesn’t the dad look like someone who would father a baby with two faces.

This is a first and probably a last but I actually agree with Paul Krugman’s conclusion in today’s NY Times Not every bit of it mind you but the overall conclusion:

The subsidized conversion of crops into fuel was supposed to promote energy independence and help limit global warming. But this promise was, as Time magazine bluntly put it, a “scam.”

This is especially true of corn ethanol: even on optimistic estimates, producing a gallon of ethanol from corn uses most of the energy the gallon contains.

If even Paul Krugman recognizes this maybe we can finally get past the global warming boogey man and look sensibly at energy production. OK, probably not since even Krugman still can’t shake the insistence that the majority of global warming is man made when in fact temperatures have plateaued or fallen slightly since 1998 , but hell it’s a start.

Global Warming, Ethanol, Paul Krugman

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist
threats and have raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.”
Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or
even “A Bit Cross.” Londoners have not been “A Bit Cross” since the
blitz began in 1940 and tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have
been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last
time the British issued “A Bloody Nuisance” warning level was during the
great fire of 1666.

Also, the French government announced yesterday that it has raised its
terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in
France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender.” The rise was precipitated by
a recent fire that destroyed France’s white flag factory, effectively
paralyzing the country’s military capability.

It’s not only the English and French who are on a heightened level of
alert. Italy has increased the alert level from “Shout Loudly and
Excitedly” to “Elaborate Military Posturing.” Two more levels remain:
“Ineffective Combat Operations” and “Change Sides.”

The Germans also increased their alert state from “Disdainful Arrogance”
to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs.” They also have two higher
levels: “Invade a Neighbor” and “Lose.”

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the only
threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy.
These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish
navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Source: Viral Email
Photo: Does it all matter

My favorites from the video: “Gerber’s servers,” “Midget Ear muff” and “jogging partners” however they did miss..

“rack”
“guns”
“navies”

h/t: Yapdogg

A New York Times reporter shoots pictures of guys posting signs illegally, a misdemeanor, and one of the guys assaults him. The reporter writes about it and then states he isn’t going to press charges because the guy told him he was going to assault him.

I began photographing the poster operation. After about two minutes, one man asked me why I was taking pictures. “Because what you’re doing is illegal,” I replied.

He answered, “Breaking cameras is illegal, too, but if you don’t stop taking pictures, I’ll break your camera.” He modified “camera” with an adjective I am not permitted to repeat here. I identified myself as a reporter from The Times. “I’ll break your camera,” he said, using that adjective again, “and you can print that in your paper.”

I distinctly remember thinking, “No, I can’t.” Then, rather than antagonize him further, I started taking pictures of the poster-covered scaffold pipes across Broadway.

The approach came so swiftly, I cannot even say whether it was from in front or behind. But I do remember a furious face inches away from mine as the man said he had warned me not to take any more pictures.

The next few minutes are — as they say — a blur. I was suddenly on my back on the sidewalk, near the curb, trying to hold on to my camera and fend off my assailant, with my right leg pressed against his chest.

…

My injuries were minor. A finger of my right hand was numb for a while, but I have since regained feeling. I have a four-inch-long bruise on my right knee. That seems to be it.

The police came quickly, though not in time to arrest anyone. I filed a complaint. The responding officer characterized the events as “criminal mischief” — intentionally damaging someone else’s property. It can be a misdemeanor or a felony.

I’m not inclined to press charges. While my assailant’s actions were frightening, they resulted in part from what he interpreted as provocation: that is, my taking pictures after he had explicitly warned me not to. He did not take my wallet, cash or briefcase; something he could easily have done while I was on the ground. Nor do I recall him using much more force than was needed to wrest the camera from me. He didn’t kick me gratuitously when I was down. He did what he threatened to do, but no more.

His rationalization?

In the greater scheme of things, my quarrel isn’t with him, anyway. It’s with the suits who made the decision in the first place to undertake an illegal marketing campaign.

…

As my agitation subsides, my gratitude grows; first, of course, for the fact that I was not seriously injured, then for the fact that so many strangers came forward to help me that night. The student, for instance, retrieved the shreds of my notebook and stayed until a friend of mine arrived on the scene to collect me. I asked why they had bothered.

“Because it was right to do so,” Mr. Zannino said. “Wish I could have done more.”

…

And the student seemed to understand what moved me to take these pictures in the first place. “While I’m a fan of certain forms of ’street art,’ (i.e., Banksy and his ilk),” he said, “I can’t stand the abuse of public space for advertising purposes, especially when it’s sanctioned by big corporations.”

It isn’t just the fact that this pinhead reporter was assaulted that’s wrong. It’s the whole idea that because the assailant was “provoked” it’s OK. Beyond that it’s the idea that because a corporation wants to make a profit they are responsible for an individuals illegal actions merely because they exist. And beyond that is the idea that this reporter has so little self worth he feels like he deserves what he got.

Writ large (hah, threw a fancy term in there for you educated types) this is America’s foreign face. In the 90’s Osama and company told us that they were going to attack us. When they did we were initially shocked and angry, but it didn’t take long before we started justifying the attacks, it was our fault for supporting Israel when we had been plainly told not to. Not long after that we started trying to convince ourselves that we were really at fault because after all we were exploiting the Islamic people of the world and we really did deserve to be attacked. As long as we play along America is a beacon of light to the world. The problem is apparently President Bush never really boned up on the play book and so when someone shoved he shoved back and shocked everyone so badly that they don’t know how to respond other than to tsk! tsk! us and try to look away. I imagine that the same sort of reaction would have been forthcoming if this reporter had stood up and whipped the living crap out of the guy who attacked him.

Update: I wasn’t specifically talking about Iraq above. We invaded Afghanistan 18 months before Iraq, and people seem to have forgotten but at the time it was not a particularly popular move. There were protests and calls for us to understand the terrorists. Now that it appears Barack Obama may be elected there are calls for us to rejoin the international community. How? By establishing relations with Syria and Iran, two countries sponsoring terrorism against our closest ally in the region. In Iran’s case they are also training terrorists attacking our troops in Iraq, after of course taking Americans hostage for over a year in 1979 and sponsoring the group that blew up the barracks in Beirut in the 80’s (after the US intervened to prevent Israel from overrunning the camps where the PLO had taken refuge) and that same group continued taking US hostages throughout the 80’s eventually executing a Marine Lt. Col there as part of a peacekeeping force. In response to all of this we nodded our heads, admitted how bad we were and pledged to try and do a better job understanding the just rage of the Palestinian people and slunk away. That changed with Bush. Iraq is another matter but if you want we can start dredging that up too.

We closed the Independent Sources offices to attend the Thur/Sat NCAA regionals in Anaheim, CA. One of our regular supporters comped the staff with 5th row seats (and who says blogging doesn’t pay?).

The exciting conclusion to the UCLA - Texas A&M game.

View from the 5th row.

Staff members having a good time despite the ‘no beer’ rule at the game.

Photo credit bottom photo: Insider

This must have been one bizarre 911 call…

911: What is your emergency?

Caller: My husband is dead. He was killed by a manta ray?

911: He was stung by a manta ray while swimming?

Caller: No, he was standing in the boat.

911: He was stung by a manta ray while standing in a boat?

Caller. No, the manta ray hit him in the head.

911: A manta ray hit your husband in the head?

Caller: Yes, it came flying out of the water and struck him in the head.

911: Have you been drinking?

Anyway you get the idea. Here’s the AP story…

A vacationer from Michigan out for a family boat ride in the Florida Keys died Thursday when a 75-pound spotted eagle ray flew out of the water and struck her in the head.

“Out of nowhere, a spotted eagle ray pops up in front of the boat and collides with the victim,” who was standing at the bow, said Pino, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The ray was about 5 to 6 feet wide, he said.

The accident happened about 10 a.m. as Zagorski’s father, Virgil Bouck, 88, was driving the 25-foot boat about 25 mph through Vaca Cut toward the open Atlantic Ocean, Pino said. Investigators think Zagorski and the ray died instantly from the impact, according to Pino.

Also aboard were Zagorski’s mother and sister, Pino said. Zagorski’s family called 911 as Bouck pulled up to a dock at a house along the waterway, he said.

Today vs. Yesterday. Yikes!

47 years old and looking every bit of it.

h/t: FL Bill