Monthly Archives: September 2012
Foreign Facts ( I was led into this from Dave Barry’s Blog)
One in three busy Brits believe it’s acceptable to answer a mobile phone call during sex, it has been revealed.
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Read the whole article HERE.
Related articles
- Dosh Express Announce How to Make Money from Old Mobile Phones (prweb.com)
- Dave Barry: I did my part to help lighten worker’s load (miamiherald.com)
- Study Shows 66% Of People Suffer From Nomophobia (philadelphia.cbslocal.com)
- Smartphones To Become Largest Segment Of Mobile Phone Market In 2013 – HIS (misco.co.uk)
- The Complete Mobile Music Experience (mycricket.com)
- MI5 agent Dr. Barrie Trower: dangerous radiation everywhere (msarroub.wordpress.com)
Cartoon(s) of the Week – As Romney gets closer to the debates…
Tony Auth of Newsworks.org:
Romney plans health care for the 47%…
– and –
Rob Rogers in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette:
Is Romney sure he wants to cut off about half the contributors?
– and –
Kevin Siers in the Charlotte Observer:
Isn’t Romney the king of mixed messages?
– and –
Nick Anderson in the Houston Chronicle:
At least he has Ryan to depend on…
– and –
David Horsey in the L.A. Times:
Now if he could avoid the bad dreams…
Related articles
- Tony Auth’s farewell as staff editorial cartoonist for The Philadelphia Inquirer (nextlevelofnews.com)
- Eastwood and Romney (Cartoon) (themoderatevoice.com)
Arthur Ochs (Punch) Sulzberger, former NY Times publisher, dead at 86.

Arthur Ochs Sulzberger in 1973
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, known to his colleagues as “Punch“, the fourth publisher of the New York Times, is famous for his decision to publish the Pentagon Papers and to promote a radical redesign that set a new standard for newspapers in the last quarter of the 20th century, has died at age 86, after a long illness.
Sulzberger was publisher of the Times from 1963 to 1992 and chairman and chief executive of the parent company from 1973 to 1997. These titles were passed on to his son, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., the fourth generation of his family to head the paper.
Publishing the Pentagon Papers were the defining moment of three decades of transformation at the Times under Sulzberger. He also automated the Times’ production, unified the Sunday and daily news operations under one editor and divided the paper into four brightly written sections.
Hampered by dyslexia, he was an indifferent student who daydreamed in class. His grades were so poor that he repeated the first year of high school. In 1943, the 17-year-old joined the Marines. His desire to prove himself on the battlefield was thwarted by his father, who arranged a transfer to Gen. Douglas MacArthur‘s staff as driver and jack of all trades. After World War II, Sulzberger earned a degree at Columbia University in 1951. He served in the Korean War as a public information officer.
Related articles
- Ex-NY Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger dies (thestar.com)
- Ex-NY Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger dies (newsobserver.com)
- Ex-NY Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger dies (wtvm.com)
- Arthur O. Sulzberger Dead: Former New York Times Publisher Dies At 86 (huffingtonpost.com)
- Former New York Times Publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Dead At 86 (newyork.cbslocal.com)
- Ex-NY Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger dies (miamiherald.com)
- Former NY Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger dies at 86 (mercurynews.com)
- Ex-NY Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger dies (usnews.nbcnews.com)
- Ex-NY Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger dies (thenewstribune.com)
My radio show is short and earlier today…
Shepherd University is loaded with alumni this weekend and there is a home football game which is covered on WSHC starting at 11 AM. That means that my show, Talk To Me, is only 1 hour long and starts at 10 AM.
I’m putting my short list of songs on my playlist now and that will keep me from blog posting until I’m back home after 10 AM.
If you want to listen at 10, but are outside of the fifty mile or so tuning radius for 89.7, you can listen live on the WSHC web site:
http://897wshc.org. When you get there, click on “Listen Live”.
Related articles
- Why do we do what we do? (profkevinwilliams.com)
- Oct. 10 Senate debate in Wheeling is canceled (wvgazette.com)
- Back on the radio this morning… I’m so glad! (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)
Rep. Todd Akin has made up his own responses to rape and women…
Rep. Todd Akin has made up his theories about the female body being able to turn off responses to rape.
This is pretty stupid for the Tea Party… and female bodies when subjected to rape do not have ways to shut the whole thing down.
This is not the situation that is defined by response by women to the Tea Party view.
Related articles
- Todd Akin: Claire McCaskill was like a “wildcat” in debate (washingtonpost.com)
- Todd Akin’s wife to GOP: Stop raping my husband! (dailykos.com)
- “The Arbiter For Women”: Todd Akin Just Can’t Seem To “Shut It Down” (mykeystrokes.com)
- Rep. Todd Akin’s comments prove need for sex ed in schools (suntimes.com)
- Rep. Todd Akin Says It’s Rare Women Get Pregnant from ‘Legitimate Rape’ (theatlanticwire.com)
- Todd Akin: ‘Legitimate’ rape victims don’t get pregnant (dailykos.com)
- Claire McCaskill: Todd Akin ‘Makes Michele Bachmann Look Like A Hippie’ (huffingtonpost.com)
So, did businessman Romney really create jobs…or destroy them for profit?
Mother Jones has obtained a video from 1985 in which Romney, describing Bain’s formation, showed how he viewed the firm’s mission. He explained that its goal was to identify potential and hidden value in companies, buy significant stakes in these businesses, and then “harvest them at a significant profit” within five to eight years.
The video was included in a CD-ROM created in 1998 to mark the 25th anniversary of Bain & Company, the consulting firm that gave birth to Bain Capital. Here is the full clip, as it appeared on that CD-ROM (the editing occurred within the original).
Read David Corn‘s story about this video: http://bit.ly/VKJL6L
Character Actor Herbert Lom (one of my favorites) dies at 95…
Anyone who has ever seen any of “The Pink Panther” films or “Spartacus” or “The Lady Killers” has seen the wonderful work of Herbert Lom. The Czech-born character actor died Thursday at his home in London at the age of 95. Lom is perhaps best known for his appearances in Blake Edwards’ “Pink Panther” series as the perennially agitated boss of Peter Sellers’ bumbling Inspector Clouseau. But he moved between dramaand comedy with ease.
Lom appeared in more than 100 films, playing a wide variety of roles that covered horror, historical dramas and comedies. He appeared with Sellers in 1955’s “The Ladykillers” ahead of their work together on the “Pink Panther” films. He also did Television character parts in shows like Hawaii Five-0, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and The Detectives, among others.
Lom also wrote two novels, “Enter a Spy: The Double Life of Christopher Marlowe” and “Dr. Guillotin: The Eccentric Exploits of an Early Scientist.”
Related articles
- ‘Pink Panther’ actor Herbert Lom dead at 95 (kansas.com)
- Pink Panther actor Herbert Lom has died (metronews.ca)
- Herbert Lom, harassed inspector in Pink Panther films, dies at 95 (thestar.com)
- Clouseau finally safe; Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) takes on his final assignment (timesunion.com)
- Veteran Czech-born actor Herbert Lom, famous for roles in the Pink Panther films, dies at age of 95 – @BBCBreaking (bbc.co.uk)
- ‘Pink Panther’ actor Herbert Lom dead at 95 (seattletimes.com)
Quote defines Romney’s career as Massachusetts Governor:
Mitt Romney seems to have been an ineffective Governor.
“It was almost like there was a moat system around the Romney castle. He had aides walking around with fake ear pieces in their ear, pretending that they were secret service agents. He put up a velvet rope in front of the office, made sure no one had access to the governor’s office whatsoever.”
So what kind of president would he make? At least he’d get real Secret Service agents which we would pay for.
Related articles
- Romney’s Latest Reboot is to Pretend He’s Barack Obama (politicususa.com)
- MA Lawmakers Dish on Romney: ‘The Man Did. Not. Care.’ (crooksandliars.com)
- Mitt Romney then and now (ask.metafilter.com)
- MA Gov. Deval Patrick’s Rousing DNC Speech Slams Romney’s Record As Governor (mediaite.com)
Romney’s right-wing religious supporters have a terrifying view (and a disgusting one) of liberals:
Here is why we have to keep Romney and his buddies away from controlling America:
So liberals are Nazis and are going to gas Christians like Nazis did Jews in WWII era. Also, I don’t think Christians in America are a minority… hopefully only the ones who share Pat Robertson‘s obscene attack. And Robertson sees Romney as his buddy.
Related articles
- Romney campaigner Pat Robertson tells man to beat his wife (americablog.com)
- Pat Robertson to humiliated hubby: ‘Well, you could become a Muslim and you could beat her’ (rawstory.com)
- Jews Must Be Converted | American Right Wing Nuts’ Hates Fest (theageofblasphemy.wordpress.com)
- FRCWC Says Shame on You Pat Robertson (peacemattershere.wordpress.com)
- Mitt Romney’s new economic message: Keep the word ‘God’ on coins (dailykos.com)
- Romney/Ryan 2012: Pallin’ around with terrorists (dailykos.com)
Romney screws up his own crowd energy in Ohio. Who would have guessed?
Today on Morning Joe I realized why I like watching this in the morning and why a RINO like Joe Scarborough is fun to watch. Here’s what happened this morning:
They rolled a clip of Romney and Ryan in Ohio. Romney introduces Ryan to the crowd and the crowd starts cheering spontaneously “Ryan, Ryan, Ryan!”
Wow! They crowd is fired up! This is the point, right? Right?
But then Romney has a major conflict. He looks at the crowd and at Ryan and then he admonishes the crowd with his hand held up in the HALT position, “Wait a sec, wait a sec! Romney, Ryan, Romney, Ryan, Romney, Ryan.” (Emphasis Romney)
Does the crowd comply? No. The crowd falls silent. They are not chanting “Romney Ryan”. Awkward.Romney seems to think the crowd has complied and says “There we go. That’s great.” Gesturing confusedly back to Ryan, he says, “Thank you.” Ryan fidgets in the background, sticks his hands in his pockets.
Romney is oblivious that he just ruined the one moment of energy they were going to get. Another self inflicted wound.
End clip. Cut to Joe and Mika in the studio. Joe has his hands over his face, and he mutters in agony, “Sweet Jesus.”
Want to see what it really looked like so you can experience the morning entertainment for yourself?
Here:
What fun! 🙂
Related articles
- Watching Romney in Ohio, Joe Scarborough Covers Face and Mutters ‘Sweet Jesus’ (politicususa.com)
- Joe Scarborough On Deadly Romney Crowd Reaction: ‘Sweet Jesus!’ Romney A ‘Horrible Politician’ (mediaite.com)
- Scarborough Cries ‘Oh, Sweet Jesus!’ as Romney Fails to Lead Chant (crooksandliars.com)
- Joe Scarborough’s Reaction To Mitt Romney’s Uninspiring Attempt At Enthusiasm Is Priceless (businessinsider.com)
- Ed Schultz Says Mitt Romney Has ‘An Ego Bigger Than Asia’ (mediaite.com)
- Addressing ‘the stench’ (maddowblog.msnbc.com)
- Mitt Romney fails Ohio audition for cheerleader-in-chief as chant fizzles (guardian.co.uk)
What is the potential of the youth vote in the election?
It’s a pretty substantial 20%… the question is will they show up? Here’s the demographics:
Here in the Shepherd University area where we see an awful lot of the youth category daily, we are curious as to how involved students are getting in the campaigns. From what I see it is minimal at best.
How is it where you are? Does it look like we will surpass the 2008 election or fall below it’s total of young voters? We’ll have to wait and see.
Related articles
- Loreto urges youths to register to vote (leytesamardaily.net)
- UPA ‘cheating’ youths: Modi (thehindu.com)
- ‘Discussion on Voter Turnout at the Economic Club (jonathanjuteau.wordpress.com)
- Reaching First Generation College Students (insidehighered.com)
- New ID Laws May Shoot Down College-Student Voters (huffingtonpost.com)
Singer Andy Williams is Dead at 84.
Andy Williams was a voice of the 1960s whose biggest hit, the Henry Mancini song “Moon River“, became his p
Williams was on the pop charts into the 1970s, and continued to perform in his 80s at the Moon River Theatre he built in Branson, Mo.
Williams died Tuesday night at his home in Branson following a yearlong battle with bladder cancer. He was 84.
He became a major star the same year as Elvis Presley, 1956, with the Sinatra-like swing “Canadian Sunset,” and for a time he was pushed into such Presley imitations as “Lips of Wine” and the No. 1 smash “Butterfly.”
In 1970, when even Sinatra had given up and (temporarily) retired, Williams was in the top 10 with the theme from “Love Story,” the Oscar-winning tearjerker. He had 18 gold records and three platinum, was nominated for five Grammy awards.
“The Andy Williams Show”lasted on television in various formats through the 1960s and into 1971, and featured Williams alternately performing his stable of hits and bantering casually with his guest stars. Williams was the first to introduce The Osmond Brothers and presented some greats like Ray Charles, Mama Cass and a then unknown Elton John.
Retirement was not on his schedule. As he told the AP in 2001: “I’ll keep going until I get to the point where I can’t get out on stage.”
Williams is survived by his wife, Debbie, and his three children, Robert, Noelle and Christian.
Related articles
- Moon River: Andy Williams (keepthecoffeecoming.wordpress.com)
- The Final Four! Andy Williams Vs. Valient Himself (metalsucks.net)
- Andy Williams’ 75th Year Celebration Planned for September! Celebrity-filled lineup!! (bransonaroundtown.net)
- UPDATE: Andy Williams Recovery Continues (bransonaroundtown.net)
Salon is having a limerick contest…
Five rhyming lines might be the ideal way to describe Mitt Romney’s ill-starred campaign fundraiser in Florida. If you can put a limerick together, you can enter Salon’s contest.
Here are a couple of competitors:
At a meeting in Boca Raton,
Mitt Romney was filmed by a phone
as he quipped to his host,
“Through this race I would coast,
If I just had a darker skin tone.”
This man of the uppermost class,
Who hopes to gain critical mass,
Leaves nothing to chance, sir,
But pulls every answer
Reliably out of his ass.
Send your entries to limericks@salon.com. The deadline is 5 p.m. ET on Sunday. Please include your name and hometown. Good luck!
Related articles
- Introducing the Salon limerick contest! (salon.com)
- Salon limerick contest (salon.com)
- Limerick contest winners (salon.com)
- Write us your best political limerick | Open thread (guardian.co.uk)
- More on Limericks (poetic-muselings.net)
Early voting is underway in many states… how about yours?
Nov. 6 is officially Election Day , but the election has started right now — thanks to modern-day open absentee and early voting.
Voting has already begun in multiple states, including some key swing states: North Carolina, Wisconsin and Virginia. My state, West Virginia, started absentee voting five days ago (ends Oct. 31) and begins in person early voting on October 24 (through Nov. 3).
Check the list below and see where your state has early voting. I notice that Connecticut, my original home state, is not on the list (nor is Massachusetts and Rhode Island). Not sure why.
Related articles
- States whose polls are open early… (underthelobsterscope.wordpress.com)
- The all-important early vote, and how to track it (washingtonpost.com)
- Early Voting: What It Means for the Race (theroot.com)
- Are You Voting Early? (ireport.cnn.com)
- Early Voting Spurs Campaign Before Obama-Romney Debates (bloomberg.com)
- Early voting forces presidential campaigns to alter tactics (sacbee.com)
- Obama, Romney focus on early voting (politico.com)
- Which States are Already Voting? (politicalwire.com)
My Favorite Blogger Post of the Day:
Regarding Mitt Romney’s truly stupid comment about how airliners should have openable windows:
Heh. Indeed.
Romney doesn’t seem to know why airplane windows don’t open.
Romney commenting on a forced landing of a plane his wife was in when there was an accidental ekectrical fire:
When you have a fire in an aircraft, there’s no place to go, exactly, there’s no — and you can’t find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don’t open. I don’t know why they don’t do that. It’s a real problem. So it’s very dangerous.
The Republican nominee’s command of airplane needs and technology lets us see the weakness of his intelligence. Just think, he could be running the technical needs of this country.
Related articles
- Romney Wonders Why Airplane Windows Don’t Open (politicalwire.com)
- Romney: “I Don’t Know Why Airplane Windows Don’t Open” (littlegreenfootballs.com)
- Romney: Why Don’t Plane Windows Open? (drudge.com)
- Mitt Romney Doesn’t Get Why Airplane Windows Don’t Open (nymag.com)
- Mitt Romney wants airplane windows to roll down in case of fire so people can breathe more easily (dailykos.com)
- Hilarious Reactions to Romney’s Airplane Windows Comment (alternet.org)
- Another day, another Romney fail: Airplane windows edition (dailykos.com)
Outrageously stupid quote of the week: Ann Coulter shows off her cultural/political knowledge.
When asked by George Stephanopoulos if immigrants‘ civil rights were being attacked, conservative columnist Ann Coulter showed her knowledge off on TV.
“No. I think civil rights are for blacks. What have we done to the immigrants? We owe black people something. We have a legacy of slavery. Immigrants haven’t even been in this country.”
Is it any wonder that Ms. Coulter has such a conservative following?
Related articles
- Ann Coulter: Democrats ignoring blacks, courting Hispanics (news.yahoo.com)
- Ann Coulter Claims “Civil Rights Are For Blacks” (lezgetreal.com)
- Ann Coulter: Civil rights are only ‘for blacks’ (thegrio.com)
- Ann Coulter: ‘Civil rights are for blacks – what have we done to the immigrants?’ (thegreatone22.wordpress.com)
- Ann Coulter says immigration reform isn’t a civil right; libs diminish civil rights, hurl venom, hate (twitchy.com)
- Ann Coulter Claims Only Black People Have Civil Rights (VIDEO) (addictinginfo.org)
The New Romney Health Plan for the Poor…
I watched’ “60 Minutes” last night and heard Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney reveal his new plan for the millions of Americans who don’t have any health care coverage: Go to the emergency room.
“Well, we do provide care for people who don’t have insurance. If someone has a heart attack, they don’t sit in their apartment and die. We pick them up in an ambulance, and take them to the hospital, and give them care. And different states have different ways of providing for that care.”
– The 2012 Mittster
As just about anyone will tell you, this is a publicly more expensive program and must less effective than insured quality care on an ongoing basis.
This is the same man who implemented the universal health care law in Massachusetts (what we tend to call Romneycare) while he was the governor. He also reiterated the need for universal coverage back in 2010 during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“Look, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for us to have millions and millions of people who have no health insurance and yet who can go to the emergency room and get entirely free care for which they have no responsibility, particularly if they are people who have sufficient means to pay their own way.”
– The 2010 Mittster
Does this guy ever stick to his opinions? Are any of his thoughts really his own?
I doubt it.
Related articles
- Romney and Health Care (thepage.time.com)
- Mitt Romney Says the Emergency Room Is a Fine Health Insurance Plan for the Poors (slog.thestranger.com)
- Mitt Romney, On 60 Minutes, Cites Emergency Room As Health Care Option For Uninsured (afgelocal704.com)
- Romney was against emergency room care before he was for it – Washington Post (blog) (washingtonpost.com)
- Romney and Health Care – TIME (thepage.time.com)
- Romney Solidifies Major Shift On Health Care (VIDEO) (tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com)
- Mitt Romney: Don’t Have Health Care? Call Ambulance and Hope for the Best (alternet.org)
- Let Them Eat Emergency Rooms: Mitt Romney Says ERs Will Provide Care for the Uninsured [Say What] (gawker.com)
- Just go to the ER, redux (allbleedingstops.blogspot.com)