I was awakened just now by a very loud, highly amplified announcement: “[FirstName LastName], This is the [MyTown] Police Department. We need you to answer the phone, and come to the door with your hands in the air. You are under arrest.” Sometimes they vary it by adding the street address, and adding “we are not going away.” This started at some time before 5am, and it’s been going on for at least 10 or 15 minutes. It repeats and repeats, almost like a recorded announcement, quite calmly. I got up and looked to make sure that no cop car…
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Recently, Dave over at DDtB noted that Google Reader’s shared items can scroll off one’s web page widget pretty quickly, but that it set up a fairly nice unordered list if you copied it off the widget for further commentary on your blog. And so it does, especially if you choose Paste Special > Remove MS Word formatting, which also removes Mozilla- and Google-added style elements. This is handy if you have a number of links grouped together and want to grab them for a quick omnibus post. Not so easy if they’ve already scrolled off the widget and are on either your…
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Here’s a way to get yourself noticed: strip and jump in front of cars. In remote eastern Utah. On a Sunday. Honk! Scenic view included nude man, police say – Salt Lake Tribune Police in eastern Utah arrested a naked man they say was jumping in front of cars on a highway. About 11:50 p.m. Sunday, Uintah County Sheriffs deputies and a Vernal officer found the naked 24-year-old from Austin, Colo., at a scenic viewing spot along U.S. Highway 40. Sheriffs Lt. John Laursen said motorists reported the man was jumping in front of their vehicles and as deputies arrived…
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Zimbabwe dicator-for-an-indeteriminate-period-of-time Robert Mugabe is in Rome at an international food conference; his presence there has been called “obscene” by the UK and Austrailian delegations, because his “land reform” (ie., crony land-bribes) policies are putting his people in danger of mass starvation. Also, his thugs are in the habit of burning food supplies in areas thought to support the opposition MDC. He has also refused food aid in the past, because he wants total control over food supplies to “opposition” areas. BBC NEWS | Africa | Zimbabwe blocks political aid “Zimbabwe’s government has banned at least one international aid group…
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This is one of the top stories of the day: Democrats Agree to Compromise on Delegates : NPR I’ve heard or read dozens of stories in the lead-up to this decision, listened with only passing attention to soundbites, and frankly, I’m tired of being lumped in with the wrong demographic group. I am a white, middle-aged suburban woman. I am a Democrat. I am NOT a Hillary Clinton supporter – in fact, I’ve never liked her, although I gave her grudging props during her husband’s term for trying to get her health policies through a hostile Congress. When she insisted…
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The press is not free in Zimbabwe, and the state-controlled news organs are little more than cheerleading mouthpieces for the Mugabe regime. Independent weekly The Zimbabwean recently started a Sunday edition that’s become the country’s most-read Sunday paper. How? It’s printed in South Africa and distributed by truck; except that this Sunday’s edition won’t be arriving. The truck was hijacked and burned, and the two drivers badly beaten. This is Zimbabwe » Blog Archive » Assault on media freedom in Zimbabwe The Zimbabwean was established in February 2005 to stand against Mugabe’s media blackout. It exploits a loophole in Zimbabwe’s…
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The Salt Lake Trib’s letters to the editor often contain some interesting insights into life in Utah; I haven’t lived there for more than 30 years, and I feel I know the place because I can read the opinions of the cranks and the apologists and the activists and the completely whacked-out religious nutcases. This time, it’s a teenage girl’s perspective on the Texas FLDS polygamy case. She starts well, but I don’t think she can really imagine what it’s like to be raised in that society – no “modern girl” could, because essentially these are girls who are living…
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Riot Police and CIO stop Church services HARARE – Baton-wielding riot police on Sunday burst into a number of Anglican church services across the capital Harare, disrupting mass at churches aligned with the Right Reverend Bishop Sebastian Bakare. Bakare was appointed substantive bishop of the Harare diocese in December following the ouster of Bishop Nolbert Kunonga, Mugabe’s prominent pet bishop.
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Pastor who endorsed McCain apologizes for remarks about Catholics – Los Angeles Times Commenters on liberal-Christian, Episcopalian blogs I read have been complaining for weeks about John Hagee’s apparent invisibility on the media radar, while Rev. Wright was in the crosshairs of the right wing, hoping to pick off Obama from a tangent. Well, what goes around comes around; McCain’s pet pastor, whose support he needs in order to gain grudging favor from the religious right, finally gains albatross status.
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Man sues airline over flight spent in toilet | Oddly Enough | Reuters But Mutlu was allowed to board after a JetBlue flight attendant agreed to give up her seat and travel in an airline employee “jump seat.” It was not clear in the lawsuit whether the flight attendant was working. However 90 minutes into the flight, the pilot told Mutlu the flight attendant was uncomfortable and he would have to give up his seat and “hang out” in the bathroom for the remainder of the flight, the lawsuit said.