nooooo, not ....  yeesh.

Conversion- Reversion-mania!

oy. Hee Hee Hee…

TBK

Scott is making a comeback to Paris with his autumn-winter collection after deserting the French capital for Los Angeles and New York following his return to his homeland in 2001

*

DaMav

Years before George W. Bush proclaimed his support for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages in the United States, the ideologically rigid government of Fidel Castro made a big move in the opposite direction.

Well isn’t that just fabulous?  Gay Cubans may soon be able to marry; but they still won’t be able to vote in a free election, own property, or criticize the gubmint without being sent to a tropical gulag.

Don’t these people have any friends?????

*

The Jawa Report

ooooh—and hot dogs!

Pope issues fatwa!  Riots to begin at noon GMT.

FHM Magazine’s Most Eligible Bachelorette Top 20:

1 Kimberly Stewart

2 Carmen Electra

3 Princess Beatrice

4 Sarah Harding

5 Scarlett Johansson

6 Lindsay Lohan

7 Maria Sharapova

8 Paris Hilton

9 Keeley Hazell

10 Keira Knightley

11 Ivanka Turmp

12 Nicky Hilton

13 Lydia Hearst-Shaw

14 Amanda Hearst

15 Gisele Bundchen

16 Holly Branson

17 Jenna Bush

18 Barbara Bush

19 Britney Spears

20 Kate Moss

SUNDERBANS TIGER RESERVE, India (Reuters) - As the midday sun beats down on the world’s largest tiger reserve, fishermen in a small wooden boat slowly manoeuvre their way through the mangrove forests fringing the Bay of Bengal.

Twenty years ago, the fishermen say they would never have been able to venture through the mangrove creek in eastern India to catch fish, too fearful of the tigers that stalked the area for prey and shelter.

But the once lush, dense mangrove cover is sparse now—reduced to decaying branches—and the big cats have now moved on in search of food and protection.

Wildlife experts say rising sea levels and coastal erosion caused by global warming are steadily shrinking the mangroves of Sunderbans, threatening the survival of the endangered tigers.

The tigers of the Sunderbans regularly swim between islands in search of food and sometimes stray into villages. They are known to have killed at least 50 people over the last five years.

The area is the world’s largest mangrove reserve and one of the most unique ecosystems in South Asia, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

But as sea levels rise, two islands have already disappeared and others are vulnerable.

So why aren’t the mangroves along the Florida coast deteriorating in a similar fashion?  If sea levels have risen in the Bay of Bengal they’ve risen elsewhere - the laws of physics and all.  So how many low-lying islands in the Bahamas - similar in topography to that of those in the Bay of Bengal - have disappeared?  None.

If you are too drunk to drive, you might want to think about ditching the assault rifle. And the cocaine. Ditto the marijuana. And you definitely don’t want to pretend you’re a police officer.

Gwinnett police have arrested a 24-year-old Lawrenceville man after he asked for change for $100 at a fast-food drive-through last week and the clerk noticed an assault rifle in his lap.

Some Georgia redneck?  Nope.

Gwinnett police found Mohammed Faizal Taki semiconscious in a parked car nearby. Taki had pulled off on the side of the road. A search of his car revealed an assault rifle, cocaine, marijuana and various rounds of ammunition, police said. During processing, sheriff’s deputies found a small bag tucked in Taki’s shoes. The white, chalky substance field tested as cocaine, police said. Final tests are pending.

Police charged Taki with driving under the influence, possession of marijuana and cocaine, impersonating an officer, carrying a concealed weapon, possession of a weapon during a crime and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Taki was denied bond and is being held at Gwinnett County Jail.

Smells funny, don’t it?  Drunken convicted felon of a Muzzie with drugs, large bills and an assault rifle?

So I decide to search the interweb for his name.  Here’s his booking photo.

It turns out (although it wasn’t reported widely) that the three French tourists murdered today in Saudi Arabia were probably killed for a reason that made perfect sense to the shooters: they had gone where infidels are not allowed to go.................

Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for his Nashville estate in 2006.

This is just one of his homes that he’s never even at while he’s splooging burned jetfuel all over our imperiled world.

Staghounds

Apparently there is a huge difference in the two yellow paints we used in the hallway/foyer and the kitchen because they blend perfectly where they meet except for where JR rolled off the excess paint when he was done in the kitchen over some touch-up spots in the hallway and foyer…

Yea, it’s dry now.

A Texas prosecutor has decided not to press charges against a cadre of male adult dancers* who were busted earlier this month at a Lubbock sports bar for dancing suggestively in front of 1100 female fans. The dancers, wearing tight leather pants and boxer shorts, were popped after they began gyrating and thrusting pelvises in a manner meant to cause “sexual gratification,”............ me to laugh my ass off........

* Yes that’s a link to all of their photographs.

Al ”Ice shelf collapse GLOBAL WARMING reveals hidden world exposing previously unknown species of crustacean and marine anemone” Gore........

FreeRepublic

Three members of a suspected suicide bomb team were blown to pieces on Saturday when their bike laden with explosives hit a bump outside a town in Pakistan’s central province of Punjab, police said.

DougM via Tim Blair

Econ 101, anyone?

Gubbmint Logic

Linky Brokey—Lergnom advised there lurked a virus there.

Sincere Apologies!
this oughta be viri-free—Buffalo News

I really enJOY good things happening to good people.
And good people being good.
Extra-especially when it involves our little corner of the blogosphere...and super especially when the rest of it has been pissing me off to no end lately.

Yay, Steve!

The Iraqi Cabinet approved a draft law Monday to manage the country’s vast oil industry and distribute its wealth among the population — a major breakthrough in U.S. efforts to press the country’s Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish groups to reach agreements to achieve stability.

Ellen W. Griswold models her prom Oscar night duds

Libertas’ “Dirty Harry” with an excellent summation of Oscar night…

The show last night was just...bad. I don’t know what anyone else is saying — I haven’t read the other wrap-ups – but it was just bad. Except for a couple of moments, Ellen’s natural charm couldn’t overcome her extremely weak material, too many marginal montages, terrible musical numbers, and awards no one cares about.

But in the end it comes down to the host. The host should be so good that you don’t want the show to end. Billy Crystal was always a joy no matter how long the show. Steve Martin was good and I even remember Johnny Carson’s delicate self-deprecating touch. Does anyone think Jerry Seinfeld shouldn’t be begged to host next year? He was marvelous last night and obviously wrote his own stuff. And we know he wrote his own stuff because it was funny.

Of course, there was something else wrong and that was the Hollywood community itself. The magic is pretty well gone, isn’t it? The gleen is greatly diminished. Who took your breath away? Who did you cheer for? The Immortal last night was Helen Mirren. The Icon was Martin Scorsese. The Star was Will Smith. We can quibble over a few others but they won’t reach more than a handful. The Oscars used to be bursting with Stars and Icons and Immortals. Now it’s what’s she doing presenting? Why is he up there? What happeend to Jack Nicholson, he used to be so cool? The answer: That’s all they got. The awe is mostly gone. The affection replaced mostly with contempt.

And not one mention of the men and women fighting terror. Not a single word. Not a single word from the dozens who spoke. I find it astonishing that we are at war and not a single presenter or winner had a single thing to say about it. Not a single one. Talk about a chill wind. Talk about a fear of reprisal. Hollywood says they’re against the war but support the troops. Really? Hollywood says they’re against the war in Iraq but support the war in Afghanistan. Really? The lunatics who fight global warming armed with Socialism get slobbered over, but not one of our troops? Terrible. Unforgivable. Last night Hollywood did themselves much more harm than good. It’s one thing to put on just another bad show — but even if audeinces can’t quite articulate what was really wrong, they felt it: The error of omission. The sin of the undone.

Flashback to 1944’s 16th Academy Awards ceremony…

Cheers to the Golden Age of Hollywood

Best Picture
Casablanca (Winner)
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Heaven Can Wait
The Human Comedy
In Which We Serve
Madame Curie
The More the Merrier
The Ox-Bow Incident
The Song of Bernadette
Watch on the Rhine

Best Actor
Humphrey Bogart
Gary Cooper
Paul Lukas (Winner for “Watch on the Rhine")
Walter Pidgeon
Mickey Rooney

Best Actress
Jean Arthur
Ingrid Bergman
Joan Fontaine
Greer Garson
Jennifer Jones (Winner for “The Song of Bernadette")

Best Documentary Feature
Baptism of Fire
Battle of Russia
Desert Victory (Winner)
Report from the Aleutians
War Department Report

Best Documentary Short Subject
Children of Mars
December 7th (Winner)
Plan for Destruction
Swedes in America
To the People of the United States
Tomorrow We Fly
Youth in Crisis

Best Song
That Old Black Magic
Change of Heart
Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe
My Shining Hour
Saludos, Amigos
Say a Prayer for the Boys Over There
They’re Either Too Young or Too Old
We Mustn’t Say Good Bye
You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To
You’ll Never Know (Winner)

Best Short Subject (One-reel)
Amphibious Fighters (Winner)
Cavalcade of the Dance
Champions Carry On
Hollywood In Uniform
Seeing Hands

Best Short Subject (Two-reel)
Heavenly Music (Winner)
Letter to a Hero
Mardi Gras
Women At War

Other Notables
Free passes were given out to men and women in uniform and ten tiers of seats rose up at the rear of the stage for the soldiers and sailors invited to attend the show. Their arrival got the most sustained applause of the night.

And contrary to the inconvenient truth of last night’s energy sucking extravaganza… because of war restrictions that year, only one spotlight was used outside Grauman’s Theatre. In addition, no parking service was provided which meant that guests were forced to *gasp* fend for themselves.

No War for Oil

Yannow, all snarking aside, it really does sadden me to see just how far Hollywood has fallen. I’m seriously beginning to wonder if our industry can ever again rise to the standards of ethics and brilliance it once possessed.

Is the Golden Age merely a dream remembered?

At this point, I’m afraid the answer is yes.

Stats and notables courtesy of The Oscar Site and Wikipedia

ya could quit suckin’ the Algore “It’s a Moral Issue” Kool-Aid… OR

*clicky*

Ya could just buy your way free with Carbon Neutral Credits for your your g/f or your kitty’s flatulence...

I think there’s a country song in there somewhere...

ST. LOUIS — A St. Charles man accused of buying automatic weapons and a Claymore mine and bargaining for grenades was indicted this week on four federal machine gun charges. ...originally arrested Dec. 29 and charged with three counts of illegal possession or distribution of a machine gun and conspiracy to violate machine gun statutes.

During November and December, [Suspect #1] bought two M-16s, a Heckler & Koch MP-5 fully automatic submachine gun and a Claymore mine from a government informer, not knowing they had been rigged not to work.

He also negotiated to buy a box of 30 grenades and said he wanted any guns the informer could get, “big or small.” The grenades were never delivered.

The men met several times in the 5700 block of West Florissant Avenue, where [Suspect #1] worked. One of [Suspect #1]’s co-workers, [Suspect #2], met with the men once, according to the indictment, and “stated he wants to buy as many explosives as possible because, ‘we’re going to war.’” In an interview earlier this month, [Suspect #2] said he didn’t remember the comment and suggested it may have been a joke.

Wow, eh?  Buncha gotdanged Midwestern red-necks. 

oh.  wait.

[Suspect #1], [Mousa M. Abuelawi, 22], ... is a Palestinian immigrant, is single and has no children and no assets… Abuelawi’s co-worker, [Suspect #2], ...is Thaed Abde Sumad…

Yep.  Just a joke, S.A. Smith.  Get it?

Stoo

everything south of Callais...

Just wogs though,… Nothing to do with us. Apart from prices at the pump.

Islam is growing fast among African Americans, who are undeterred by increased scrutiny of Muslims in the United States since the September 11 attacks, according to imams and experts.

Converts within the black community say they are attracted to the disciplines of prayer, the emphasis within Islam on submission to God and the religion’s affinity with people who are oppressed.

Some blacks are also suspicious of U.S. government warnings about the emergence of new enemies since the 2001 attacks because of memories of how the establishment demonized civil rights leaders Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

What the “journalist” fails to offer up is that the “oppressed” who have the alleged affinity for Islame are in fact oppressed by Islame itself and its other adherents who are charged with killing apostates.

At a street-corner mosque in one of Atlanta’s oldest and poorest neighborhoods, a recent Friday sermon illustrated the power of the history of Islam in the United States for blacks.

Men and women sat separately on the mosque floor, heads covered, as cleric Nadim Ali recounted stories from history of Muslim slaves brought from Africa who struggled to uphold their faith in the face of slaveholders’ opposition.

Did this cleric mention the role of Islame in the slave trade to the Americas?  Did he mention the current slavery of Africans at the hands of Moslems?

Well… The truth of the matter is finally revealed in the last paragraph of the article…

“For young African Americans, there is some attraction to learning about traditions that have been associated with resistance to European imperialism,” said King, who has adopted the name Bilal Mansa since his conversion.

Aha!  See!  It’s about refuting the white man is his religion of Christianity.

Murdoc Online via Misha

At least 11 people died and more than 100 people were injured at an annual spring festival in eastern Pakistan celebrated with the flying of thousands of colorful kites, officials said Monday.

These people could find a way to kill and maim with a bowl of fricken oatmeal.

U.S. trucks will for the first time be allowed to make deliveries in Mexico under a year-long pilot program that expands cross border trucking operations with Mexico, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters announced today during a visit to truck inspection facilities in El Paso, Texas.

U.S. trucks will get to make deliveries into Mexico while a select group of Mexican trucking companies will be allowed to make deliveries beyond the 20-25 mile commercial zones currently in place along the Southwest border.

Secretary Peters said the new demonstration program was designed to simplify a process that currently requires Mexican truckers to stop and wait for U.S. trucks to arrive and transfer cargo. She said this process wastes money, drives up the cost of goods, and leaves trucks loaded with cargo idling inside U.S. borders. The Secretary added that under current rules, U.S. trucks are not allowed into Mexico because the United States refused to implement provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement that would have permitted safe cross-border trucking.

“The United States has never shied away from opportunities to compete, to open new markets and to trade with the world. Now that safety and security programs are in place, the time has come for us to move forward on this longstanding promise with Mexico,” Secretary Peters said.

Are we the only ones paying attention here????????????