Catch-Up Post

This is just random news from this past week that I was not able to comment on since I was gone a good portion of the week for my grandfather's funeral. (h/t to Michelle Malkin and Hot Air for the links)

-- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has a meltdown over what she knew about waterboarding. What did she know, and when did she decide to ignore it? Honestly, I don't care if the CIA waterboarded terrorist suspects. It got us the information we needed to stop further terrorist attacks. I don't think tea and cakes is going to work this time.

-- Obama decides that releasing the detainee photos would be a bad idea, after all. You think?

-- Miss California gets to keep her crown. Donald Trump decides that Miss California was being unfairly attacked because of her answer, and keeps her on. He also reminds the press that Obama also believes a marraige is between a man and a woman.

-- Speaking of gay marraige, NH Governor John Lynch gets wishy washy on the gay marraige bill. He refuses to sign the bill as is, stating that it needs to add provisions so that religious institutions such as churches are protected. Doesn't mention protecting businesses who won't do business in planning a gay wedding. for religious reasons. Didn't he say he was against gay marraige?

Obama Injects Himself Into State Politics

We were just talking about this overreach of the Obama administration on Meet The New Press today in regards to the auto companies. Now Obama wants to inject himself into state politics, as well?

Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) asked Obama to implore Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) against challenging New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in the Democratic primary next year, FOX News has learned.

Israel was poised to announce his candidacy until the president intervened with a Friday afternoon phone call in an effort to clear the field for Gillibrand, a source told FOX News, calling the move "messy."

"This is a tough, heartfelt decision for me. I have received encouragement to pursue this fight from all corners of our great state," Israel said in a statement.

The senators solicited Obama's assistance to help Gillibrand avoid a competitive primary in 2010, a Democratic New York source told FOX News.

Menendez heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the panel charged with electing party members to the Senate and led by Schumer in past years.

It's rare for a president to inject himself into statewide politics. And a host of New York political insiders with ties to several House Democrats say they're angry that the president even got involved.

"What? You can't have a primary? It's decided in backroom deals?" asked a source who spoke to FOX News on the condition of anonymity. "What if someone told Obama he couldn't have a primary and Hillary (Clinton) would just be the nominee? Where would he be? It's an outrage."

At least his own party are upset by the move. If they weren't, I'd wonder what was going on behind the scenes.

I don't like the idea, myself. But the Democrats are truly getting what they are asking for.

Meet The New Press

If you live in New Hampshire, tune in to Meet The New Press on 1490AM WEMJ at 9 a.m. today. I'm going to be one of the panelists talking about the news and events with Doug and Skip from Granite Grok as well as a couple of other bloggers from New Hampshire.

Some of the topics we will be talking about is John Lynch's wishy-washy decision on gay marriage in NH (including whether triad marraiges are next), where there is such a thing as "free chicken," and Alinsky's Rules for Radicals.

Instructions on livestreaming the show on your computer can be found here.

"The Celebrity Apprentice" Finale

Last year, the bad guy won. This year, it was the geriatric comedian.

Before the show started, I told my mother that I never thought I would find myself rooting for Joan Rivers. This was an instance where I was hoping she would kick poker player Annie Duke's butt. And she managed to come through.

But it apparently didn't go so smoothly. The task: create a red carpet program to promote Kodak as well as their charities. They were both given a designer to help them with their spaces. When Joan's assigned designer has a hard time reading what she wanted, and she suggests that he work with one of her people, he gets insulted and quits the task. Because the designer was the owner of the company, Annie's designer also promptly quit, forcing both teams to scramble. And Annie was not happy.

Joan's team was having a hard time coming up with celebrities to show up at their event, so Herschel Walker got the bright idea of hiring impersonators instead.

The teams were judged on five criteria -- how much money they brought in, how well they raised awareness of their charities, how well they branded Kodak, celebrity appearances, and the overall presentation. Annie won on two of the criteria -- raising money (almost a given), and awareness of her charity. Joan won on the other three, giving Annie her first loss and tieing their records as Project Managers.

What I found interesting was how much Joan got under Annie's skin -- it seemed that it was all she talked about during the task. And after the designer fiasco, Annie went on a tear. In the boardroom, she kept repeating that Joan caused the designer to quit and pull her designer, which she denied (you'll have to judge for yourself whether it was Joan's fault on this or not -- I personally think the designer was being overly sensitive). During the task, Joan didn't seem to have a second thought about Annie, just focused on the task. Annie tried to use the designer thing against her, but Joan vehemently defended herself against Annie on the point.

But overall, I think the right person won this season. Even though Annie raised the most money, Joan raised enough money with class and dignity and without the same tactics that Annie used.

Some of the best moments from the episode:

-- Dennis Rodman was sober! Afterwards he tried to attack Jesse James from what he said in the boardroom about his sobriety and getting Rodman to sober up. Jesse replied with, "You're just too stupid to realize that I care about you."

-- Trump to Scott Hamilton on his choice for who should be the Apprentice: "Scott, who would you do?"

-- Brande Roderick's good sportsmanship, and explaining that her and her friends now use the term "Whore Pit Vipers" with each other.

-- Annie's colorful epitaphs against Joan after finding out that the designer was no longer working for her.

-- Joan calling an impersonator friend to ask him for help on the day of his mother's funeral service, and having him get a big kick out of it.

Overall, good finale. And the person I wanted to win this time won. :-)

More News Over RapeLay

Gamepolitics is reporting that the developers of the controversial game RapeLay are "bewildered" by the protest from New York based women's group Equality Now, and reiterated that there is nothing they could do about it here because it's not sold in the United States.

I thought I had written a post on the controversy before, but I guess I didn't. If you aren't aware of what the controversy is, the game (of which a NSFW review can be found here) is basically a hentai game that acts as a rape simulator. Earlier this year, Amazon pulled the game (and the person distributing the game) from their listings once they found out it was there and someone complained.

Well, this new development plays into a problem with the idea of banning the game here in the United States. Mainly, that it's not available here in the United State legally, only in Japan. So they are complying with Japanese laws, and was only meant to be sold there. The copies of the game that are here in the U.S. were either obtained through illegal sales or by downloads.

The group is trying to ban something that isn't even sold here. All they're doing is getting more people curious about the game. After Amazon pulled it, they should have just left it alone.

LaBarre Property To Be Sold In Auction

I honestly don't know who's going to buy it.

MANCHESTER – The Epping property of suspected serial killer Sheila K. LaBarre is scheduled to be sold at a foreclosure auction later this month.

The auction for the circa-1777, Cape-style farmhouse and 119.2 acres of land is scheduled for 11 a.m. May 28 at the property on 70 Oak Hill Lane in Epping.

LaBarre was convicted last year for the first-degree murder of Kenneth Countie, 24, a special-needs adult who lived at her Epping farm, and Michael Deloge, 38, who disappeared in the fall of 2005. She is currently in a Massachusetts prison serving two life sentences without parole.

The two victims were believed to have been killed on the property LaBarre inherited from Wilfred J. LaBarre, who she claimed was her common-law husband.

Someone in the comments made it a point to point out that she was convicted of her crimes, but the story calls her a "suspected" serial killer. The editor explained the distinction, stating that a federal law states that three murders qualifies someone to be a serial killer. They still don't know if she killed anyone else on that property. I guess the first thing someone is going to do when they buy the property is dig the place up and see if anyone else is buried there that the cops might have missed.

For some background on the case, check out my blog entries here and here and here and here and here when the trial was going on.

Networks Ready To Put The Brakes On The Obama Show

President Obama is just costing the networks too much money with his constant need to broadcast news conferences.

By and large, they personally forked out for his campaign, they voted for him, and they know he is capable of boosting TV ratings just by making an appearance.

But executives at the Big Four broadcast networks are seething behind the scenes that President Obama has cost them about $30 million in cumulative ad revenue this year with his three primetime news conference pre-emptions.

Now top network execs quietly are hoping that Fox's well-publicized rejection of the president's April 29 presser will serve as precedent for denying future White House requests for prime airtime.

"We will continue to make our decisions on White House requests on a case-by-case basis, but the Fox decision gives us cover to reject a request if we feel that there is no urgent breaking news that is going to be discussed," said one network exec, who, like all, would not speak for attribution fearing repercussions from the administration.

"If the president wants to make it tough for your network, he can," the exec added.

Another network executive confided, "Nobody wants to take on the White House, so we'll have to tiptoe through this."

This is probably the most telling quote of the whole piece.

"The millions of ad dollars the president is costing us could help us keep some of those people working."

Fox decided that they didn't want to run the most recent presser on their network but instead run it on Fox News Channel and Fox Business Channel, and in a sense they did pay a price for the decision -- their reporter was not allowed to ask Obama a question. But Fox may have set a precedent, so now networks can get braver with the White House if the president makes another frivilous request.

"Dollhouse" Recap -- End of Season

From what I have read, they will be back for another season. Since tonight was the season finale, here's a recap for those who have never seen this great show before.

Warning: Spoilers!

Echo (Eliza Dushku) is an active, or "Doll." She is one of many actives in the Dollhouse, hired out to do all kinds of missions. Most are romantic, but on occassion they are called on to do more dangerous assignments.

The first five episodes, it took some time to build. It focused on Echo, who was starting to become more self aware of her situation in her "doll" state. We are also introduced to some other "dolls" -- Sierra and Victor, primarily. As the show goes along, you find that the dolls all often come to the Dollhouse to escape from an aspect of their past -- Echo, aka Caroline, was part of a group of activists who let some animals loose, and in the process one of her crew was killed by a security guard. Sierra is escaping a man who raped her. We haven't figured out Victor's story yet at this point.

An FBI agent named Paul Ballard knows the Dollhouse exists -- he just needs to prove it at any cost. He knows about Caroline/Echo, and makes it his mission to save her. In the process, he has a neighbor across the way named Mellie that he starts to fall in love with. But it turns out that she isn't who she seems -- she is a sleeper agent "doll" code name November who lost a daughter and went to the Dollhouse to escape the pain of her daughter's death.

Then there is the mysterious Alpha, who we finally meet in episode 11. Throughout the show, we just know that he is a rogue "doll" who had 46 different personalities imprinted in him in an accident and committed a bloodbath within the Dollhouse.

Tonight's episode -- WOW. We learn so much more about who Alpha really was before he was in the program, and what really caused him to snap. Before he was Alpha, he was a criminal who was in prison for kidnapping and attempted murder. He was given a chance in the program, but he fell for Echo when she came in. After attacking Whiskey (who we find out is really Dr. Saunders -- the real Dr. Saunders was killed in Alpha's initial attack), he is sent to the chair to go through his old personalities to find out what happened, but instead has all the personalities imprinted in him and he goes crazy.

In the last episode, after gaining re-entry in the Dollhouse, he kidnaps Echo, imprinting in her an old Whiskey personality, and kidnaps another woman for purposes of turning her into a homemade "doll" and imprinting her with Caroline's imprint. He then imprints Echo with all of her old personalities at once, hoping that it will turn her into "Omega" and that she will kill the woman with her imprint to "start anew." But instead, Echo just becomes a stronger version of her own personalities, and the result is that she ends up attacking Alpha and beating the hell out of him, even after he kills the woman who had her personality and holds her personality wedge hostage.

Ballard ends up helping the Dollhouse in recovering Echo from Alpha, saving her personality wedge in the process. He decides to work for the Dollhouse, in return that they release November from her contract and pay her in full.

In the meantime, we also discover that Echo is still self-aware in her "doll" state, when she is headed to sleep, and whispers "Caroline."

Now I really can't wait for the next season to air. Or to get the DVDs, just so I can see the now mysterious 13th episode that they didn't air (Fox order was for 13 episodes, and they counted the unaired pilot as a episode).

I Thought It Was Just In My Family

USA Today has a short article today on how the recession might bring about another Baby Boom.

Leibensperger has seen as many as 23 new patients in a week, all of them pregnant. More women are sitting in her waiting room these days with round bellies and lots of questions.

"They're probably having sex more, not having outside activities that they're doing instead," Leibensperger said. "It brings people closer together. It's a huge stress relief for them."

But, there's more to it than just seeking good sex. Regular check-ups at the OB-GYN are costly.

Many people have lost their jobs and their insurance, which means they are not coming on a regular basis to get refills on birth control.

Leibensperger admits, "Sadly, when people cut back on expenses, they sometimes do not want to take care of that co-pay and the cost of birth control."

Anecdotally, I actually believe it. Last year, I was pregnant with my son. When I called my mother to tell her the good news, she told me my cousin Christina (maternal side of the family) was pregnant, also. A few months later, my cousin's wife Joanne (paternal side) announced that she was pregnant, then my cousin Andrea (Christina's sister) announced around the same time that SHE was pregnant, as well. And now, Joanne is about to have child number two. So it could have been a coincidence. But that's an awful lot of babies in the family

We Certainly Love Free Chicken

Not too long ago, Popeye's was running a promotion for free chicken. The response? Overwhelming. Store in NYC ran out of chicken. In this economy, anything "free" is a blessing.

Well, KFC ran a similar promotion recently with their new grilled chicken. The offer was two pieces, with two sides. Again, the response was so overwhelming that some stores ran out of chicken.

The promotion, which was promoted on Oprah Winfrey's website, was supposed to go on until next week (Wasn't valid on Mother's Day. Because what cheap bastard gets their mother free chicken on Mother's Day?). KFC has decided to end the promotion early and issue staggered rainchecks.

Now, this promotion was a huge mess from the get-go. Especially since not all the stores were participating in the promotion. Most franchise stores opted out of the promotion because corporate said they weren't going to reimburse them for the free chicken, so they would have been stuck with the ensuing bill. Which is what happened with a Quiznos promotion not too long ago, which forced franchises to opt out so they wouldn't lose their shirts, either.

In response, competitor El Pollo Loco has said they would honor the coupon, even on Mother's Day. There aren't many El Pollo Locos around, so good luck redeeming the coupon there.

Too Hot For TV?

Rep. Jim Moran is putting a bill through Congress where any ad mentioning erectile dysfunction (ED) would be banned from the airwaves between certain times.



Frankly, banning them outright is not a good idea, because ED is a serious medical condition, and can actually be an indicator of other health issues. Maybe if they toned down the ads a little bit it might be more palatable for the family hour, or even make an exception for these ads on the side effects that is required for the ads to run by saying "Ask your doctor about potential side effects."

Triad Marraiges

Give me a break.

Less than 18 months ago, Sasha Lessin and Janet Kira Lessin gathered before their friends near their home in Maui, and proclaimed their love for one another. Nothing unusual about that—Sasha, 68, and Janet, 55—were legally married in 2000. Rather, this public commitment ceremony was designed to also bind them to Shivaya, their new 60-something "husband." Says Sasha: “I want to walk down the street hand in hand in hand in hand and live together openly and proclaim our relationship. But also to have all those survivor and visitation rights and tax breaks and everything like that.”

Maine this week became the fifth state, and the fourth in New England, to legalize gay marriage, provoking yet another national debate about same-sex unions. The Lessins' advocacy group, the Maui-based World Polyamory Association, is pushing for the next frontier of less-traditional codified relationships. This community has even come up with a name for what the rest of the world generally would call a committed threesome: the "triad."

Unlike open marriages and the swinger days of the 1960s and 1970s, these unions are not about sex with multiple outside partners. Nor are they relationships where one person is involved with two others, who are not involved with each other, a la actress Tilda Swinton. That's closer to bigamy. Instead, triads—"triangular triads," to use precise polyamorous jargon—demand that all three parties have full relationships, including sexual, with each other. In the Lessins case, that can be varying pairs but, as Sasha, a psychologist, puts it, "Janet loves it when she gets a double decker." In a triad, there would be no doubt in Elizabeth Edwards’ mind whether her husband fathered a baby out of wedlock; she likely would have participated in it.

I don't know if anyone remembers the episode of The Simpsons called "There's Something About Marrying," where Springfield legalizes gay marraige. Homer becomes a officiant of gay weddings after Reverend Lovejoy refuses to do them. After he marries every gay couple in town, he then starts to marry people to anything else.

The Simpsons made it into a joke, but based on this it's no longer a joke.

"Reaper" Recap -- Three Episodes Left For the Season

A must-see every week. I should blog about this show more.

Warning: Spoilers!

Anyway, for those who don't know the show, Sam Oliver (Bret Harrison) is a Reaper -- because of a deal his parents made with the Devil (Ray Wise), on his 21st birthday he's been commissioned to collect souls for the Devil. His friends Sock (Tyler Labine) and Ben (Rick Gonzalez) help him out on his captures, while his girlfriend Andie (Missy Peregrym) helps them out on occasion.

At the end of last season, we were left to wonder what the deal was with Sam's father since he seemed to survive being buried alive, and also the all-important question--who really WAS Sam's father? Well, at the beginning of this season, we find out that Sam is, indeed, the son of the Devil. And we also find out that Sam's father is now a zombie -- the deal he made with the Devil included a provision that he can never really die. He's kept alive at home in the freezer at first to keep him from decomposing, then he lives in Sock's mother's garage (the house has somehow transferred over to him now that his mother is re-married) after Sam's mother kicks him out.

This season, Sam seems really focused on finding a way to break his deal with the Devil -- he discovers a soul named Alan (Sean Patrick Thomas) who found a way to beat the Devil, but is tempted back to Hell again soon after he tells Sam that he has to challenge the Devil at something that he's good at in order to get out of the contract.

We are also introduced to Sam's half-brother Morgan (Armie Hammer), who is poised to be the Devil's right hand man in Hell. Problem is, his work ethic isn't the best. So he's sent to train with Sam. After the Devil starts to think that Sam should be his right hand man, and after Sam tries to fix it so that Morgan will win the contest, Sam accidently ends up beating him, and the Devil takes everything away from Morgan.

And some minor plot points -- Ben is now dating a demon named Nina (Jenny Wade) who tried to kill Sam because of his status as the Devil's offspring. Andi broke up with Sam after finding out he was the Devil's son, but is still determined to help him out of his deal.

Last night, some major developments -- whent eh show begins, Morgan tries to kill Sam, but can't do it. He is now pretty much destitute since his friends abandoned him due to his lack of money. Sam pitys him and lets him stay with him. He ends up causing a nuisance of himself, and they vote to kick him out. Sam advises him to find his own path, and he does -- by trying ot kill Sam.

Tony tells him about the new group for reformed demons -- following his late "husband" Steve (Michael Ian Black) on the road to righteousness and on the road to Heaven. It's this group that are still commissioned to kill all the Devil's offspring, so as Morgan enters with Nina (who was flirting with him throughout the episode in order to lead him to the meeting), the demons proceed to kill him.

Sam is commissioned to get a live person to sign the Devil's contract and get the paperwork in. Problem is, the guy's too smart to sign it, thinking that he can recant on his deathbed. He ends up going to meet with Tony and the rest of the "Stevetologists" after Sam decides that he doesn't want to lead living souls to the Devil. He finds himself watching Steve talking to him telling him to recant and tell Sam that he's in danger, and that his path isn't destined for evil.

Great show. There's three more episodes for this season. I hope it gets renewed for next year.

Specter's Official Democratic Credentials

Okay, I know, I know. Not all Democrats are this misleading, although they don't have the best of track records as of late.

Arlen Specter, the RINO who decided that he would rather be a Democrat, has a new website: Specterforthecure.com. This has come out after he made comments that if it weren't for the Republicans in office, Jack Kemp would be alive today. Classy.

Well, Specterforthecure.com is not a site that is collecting money for cancer research. It's a site dedicated to collecting funds for Specter's campaign. A spokesperson claims that it's on the site that they are collecting money for the candidate, but the only indication is small print at the bottom saying the site is sponsored by "Citizens for Arlen Specter."

He should be called to the carpet for this -- it's terribly misleading, especially after what he said about the Republicans in regards to Jack Kemp's death. The people of Pennsylvania should just vote him out already.

"Under My Bus"

No comment. Just wanted to share since Zo is just the man.