A little off topic for us, but this year’s Tour de France promises to be an epic race as well as the last TdF for the great(est) American cyclist Lance Armstrong. So courtesy of our Independent Sources’ occasional contributor, Luke the Drifter, we bring you his pre-race analysis: 
With regard to Jan Ullrich, no one should be 100% […]

Jill Stwart’s latest column, Republican Murder-Suicide, asks whether we will ever again have two-party politics in California:
We’ll remain a one-party state as long as the GOP fails to quell its far-right, which insures the party’s failure in California.
As a fiscally conservative Democrat, I want California to return to a two-party system, and thus engage in […]

It’s a little before 9 pm on a Sunday night and my phone rings and it’s none other than an intrusive telemarketing call. As a charter member of the “Do Not Call” Registry, how is this possible? Well there is a little loophole for charities and sleazy telemarketers positioning themselves as charities. It turns out that charities have […]

Two weeks ago we questioned whether Los Angeles County’s new count of 90,000 homeless was inflated. We argued 1) the agency taking the count had an interest in maximizing the number; 2) one out of one hundred LA County residents homeless? seems high, and inconsistent with other counties; 3) no explanation for massive jumps from […]

Set your Tivos, Le Tour de France starts July 2nd. Whether you enjoy the sport of cycling for its athleticism and mind-numbing team tactics or if you just like to see an American kick French ass in their home country, this year’s race is not to be missed. It is also the debut of the […]

A documentary that is aimed to deconstruct common misconceptions and stereotypes about Muslims in America succeeds in confirming stereotypes about documentaries and reality shows. Namely, the outcomes of the shows are decided before production begins. In fact, the desired outcome is probably part of the pitch to get the programs funded. In the most recent […]

A short article in Wired about how many World Trade Center occupants saved themselves by networking:
… one of the lessons is: Disobey authority. In a connected world, ordinary people often have access to better information than officials do. … After both buildings were burning, many calls to 911 resulted in advice to stay put and […]

Microsoft announced that it will add RSS feeds to the version of Internet Explorer that ships with its next-generation operating system at the end of next year.
That means they’ll only be twenty months or so behind Firefox and Apple’s Safari. Those browsers also added tabbed browsing long ago … something Microsoft is getting around to […]

Looking for a good laugh?
Check out the link to Huffington’s Toast’s collection of Ward Churchill comics.

In giving a justified slamming to Edward Klein’s new Hillary Clinton book, Los Angeles Times writer Tim Rutten states: 

The way to handle “The Truth About Hillary” responsibly is to give it no further notice, no wider discussion.
Silence.

Note to Tim, this is all well and good but don’t you think these words would have had more […]

With her biological clock ticking, this granny didn’t think she had time to waste on flaky boyfriends:

Furious that their romance was ending, a 78-year-old great-grandmother shot her 85-year-old ex-beau to death as he read the newspaper in an Atlanta senior citizens home, police said.
“I did it and I’d do it again!” Lena Driskell yelled to officers who […]

Microsoft is been touting the next release of Windows, due at the end of 2006 and code-named “Longhorn,” but Ars Technica finds that many users are not even using Windows XP yet –
Windows XP has been out for nearly four years, and Longhorn is due within the next 18 months. Despite that, a new survey […]

Campaign-style flyers arrived in mailboxes in L.A.’s South Bay and West Side this week, urging the citizenry to rise and save … the 310 area code?
Using language usually found in Save The Whales appeals, the mailers urge residents to “let the CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission) know that the 310 area code needs to be […]

From InhouseJD:
Both Newsday and MSNBC, amongst other sources, jumped all over Vladimir Putin’s scheming to achieve another term in 2008.  This comes as a surprise to absolutely no one, and continues to exemplify just how little Putin cares about the opinions of the rest of the world. 

MOSCOW — Lawmakers are considering an electoral amendment next week […]

Pretty much any paper (or political blog) you look at today will likely have a story about the 5-4 vote Supreme Court ruling giving cities broad power to seize homes and small stores to make way for business development. This is a contentious ruling the dissenters said puts shopkeepers and homeowners at the mercy of local […]