Sex for cigarettes exchange

I'm not making this up. Two florida women agreed to barter their bodies for a pack of smokes with a man they'd met on a telephone chat line. But the sex basically sucked so they falsely accused their beau of rape!!!???? WTF???!!

Two Tennessee women who accused a man of rape have admitted to cops that they had consensually agreed to sex with him in exchange for a pack of cigarettes. One woman told investigators that the duo filed a phony police report because they "didn't enjoy the sex," according to cops.

The police report did not say whether they smoked the unspecified brand prior or post coitus.

Britain questions Blair on Iraq war (again)

Was the Iraq war justified? Most intelligent people would say no.
Was Saddam Hussein responsible, or linked in any way, the 9/11 terrorist attacks? Most honest people would say no.
Did the Troika Aznar, Bush and Blair, supported in a minor role by Berlusconi, fabricate facts to plunge humanity into one of the biggest foreign policy blunders in history? Most intelligent people would say absolutely.
So why are the culprits of this fiasco still around, fêted, treated as elder statesmen, respected and even listened to? The answer my friends, is blowing in the wind.
As we speak, Tony Blair is facing tough questions in yet another Iraq war inquiry in Britain. The purpose? Nothing. Nada. Rien. Because nothing comes out of these media events. It gives investigators something to investigate, commission panelist a reason to put on pompous panels, reporters something to write about, and bloggers something to blog about. End of day, poppycock.
British newspapers are talking about Blair's vigorous response. They say he stands by his decision, however wrong the facts may have proven. Last I checked, stuborness was a sign of stupidity, not a trait to respect and worthy of emulation. By day's end, Tony Blair will return home to his London luxury loft. He'll enjoy a fine glass of Bordeaux (what else???) with his greasy roast beef. He'll glow with pride at having faced the tough questions and held his ground. What a monstrosity. He'll be beaming.
Iraq, however, will remain plunged into a long journey of human suffering: the dead will remain dead, their families will keep grieving, the demoralizing climate of fear and uncertainty will remain the new reality, courtesy of Mr. Blair and company.

A man who wasn't there

One year ago, I got my cameras, drove for hours in the snow and took some amazing footage of Barack Obama's inauguration. It was a cold day, but the excitement, the optimism, the general feeling that we were witnessing history, that He was our Man, kept us warm and energized. I remember the cold the metal of my cameras, burning to the touch. Great pictures!
That was a year ago. Last night, I heard the man who became president deliver the State of the Union speech.
He looked tired. His presence was not as towering as a year ago. He lacked the force of conviction. His words were empty. They were just words delivered from a teleprompter (which I've heard he even used at an elementary school). His speech dragged with a sense of hollowness.
He wasn't the Barack Obama who inspired the youth of a nation with his audacity of hope. His words rang empty. He seemed detached. Parroting. Reading. Without conviction. Hollow. Without power. Hollow. Empty lies. Very hollow.
He wasn't young, dynamic or energetic. He was produced, manipulated and hypocritical. The man who accepted the Peace Prize while escalating a war. The man who claimed to fight the banks while surrounding himself by bankers. The one who spoke against bickering in Washington, asking for a different tone and manner, while cuddling with Rahm Emanuel and other operators. He wasn't there. It brought to mind the poem Antigonish, by Hughes Mearns

Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish he’d go away...

Listening to Obama's state of the union

Introduction: Same old crap.

Begins with our economy. "We hated the bank bail-out". Yet he put the same people in his cabinet.
"We've recovered most of the money." Yeah, but the bankers got richer, while the people lost everything!
"We cut taxes!!!" Who cares if you cut taxes when people have no jobs, no homes.
Talking about all the jobs he's created??? WTF.
The way he sounds about the recovery act, one would think everyone's getting jobs. What???
"Start in small businesses to create jobs." As far as I know, it's virtually impossible for any of these businesses to negotiate the bureaucracy to get a loan
Going to Tampa tomorrow to a high speed train factory. For when 20 years down the line?
Clean energy. I heard that several times this last year
People are out of work. Seven million jobs have been lost in 2 years. Does he know? Does he care?
He's totally out of touch and I'm bored now. Same oratory delivered to a nation of skeptics. We've lost our innocence.
Blah blah blah

Exploiting tragedy for ratings

Good to know I'm not the only one disgusted with the way the US media is exploiting suffering in Haiti for their own ratings. Sticking cameras into people's faces, going into their homes, asking them intrusive questions is abusive to say the least. BAGNews Notes publisher Michael Shaw takes Anderson Cooper (could be anyone else) to task, asking him to

Please stop.

Please immediately:

-- Stop using the camera to rob people of their dignity when it's the only thing they have left.

-- Stop infantilizing the Haitian people.

-- Stop the pity party.

-- Stop the exploitation of despair to promote your own brand -- especially with those horrible patronizing split-screens.

-- Stop playing savior.

In other words, show some respect little man.

Is stealing from the dead worse than from a child?

The Pennsylvania legal system may soon provide an answer to that question, a variation of the chicken or the egg dilemma. Only that this one is rooted in the arrest of a couple charged with stealing a credit card from a friend who died on their couch on December 4. The couple reportedly admitted to getting the card out of the dead person's purse and going on a $1000 spending spree. At fault, in my humble opinion, was the deceased. It's really poor manners to die at someone else's house.

John Edwards mans up two years later

Former presidential candidate, John Edwards finally admitted he's the father of Frances Quinn Hunter, born February 27 2007 and the reason behind his early departure from the political landscape. It was two years too late -- whatever happened to taking responsibility for his actions. For her sake, I hope that she never knows her dad denied her for almost two years. It doesn't matter: she's got her dad and with all the grief on this world, it's a big reason to celebrate. Happy birthday Quinn!