Archive for May 7, 2010
FBN in Fold Mode
From InsideCableNews:
ICN has heard that there are more changes on the way for FBN.
- “Imus in the Evening” which I only just noticed yesterday and has had a very short run and was lightly promoted on the network, has been canceled.
- “Fox Business Morning” has been cancelled. The 5am ET slot will be replaced with a “Best of Imus” hour starting Monday. This hour will also feature live news cut-ins.
- The biggest news is the four hour Saturday phone-in program “Your Questions, Your Money” with Dagen McDowell and Tracy Byrnes has been canceled and will end its run by the end of the month.
There are apparently other changes coming but I’m going to hold off on noting those until I hear more.
Bye-bye FBN.
Calling All L.A. Foodies
I’m thinking about food and something draws me to InSaneWiches.com:
I click around and stumble upon the GrilledCheeseTruck and StreetVendor and LAVendyAwards and I think, f*** Washington. We the People are so cool. Look at what just a few of us did.
Woo Hoo!
And then I think about the possibilities.
If Rush Limbaugh Rants Against It You Know It’s a Good Thing
Concord, Massachusetts becomes the first town in the U.S. to ban bottled water.
It’s about freakin’ time someone did this.
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People, if the water that comes out of your tap is so bad, fix it. Don’t buy a bunch of plastic bottles that will end up who knows where.
Oh, and BTW, if BillO or Rush, et al., rant againstt this, it’s because they’re on the side of the bottled water industry.
Rule of thumb: If they’re against it, it’s good for you.
Debt Nation
Look at this gaudy bag the Home Shopping Network is hawking tonight. My God. At $260 a pop, it’s sold out!
You have got to be kidding me.
Don’t know whether to file this under “Fashion,” “Financial Crisis,” “Don’t Get Ripped Off,” “Humor/Satire,” or a yet-to-be-established category called something like, Who-Would-Pay-Good-Money-in-This-Economy-For-a-Fly-in-the-Pants-Purchase-Like-This-That-Went-Out-of-Style-in-1200-BC?
Sex With Animals Still Legal In Florida
The Florida legislature has been working on banning sex with animals for a while now — having already found time to make it illegal for gays and lesbians to marry or adopt a child — but gosh, they ran out of time because of something having to do with fertilizer.
Not a priority, apparently.
Petco Shipping Pet Hair to Gulf to Help Absorb Oil
Hey, might as well recycle the fur instead of throwing it in the trash, right?
Nearly 1,000 grooming salons in Petco stores began shipping donations of pet fur Friday to aid in creating booms to soak up oil from the Gulf of Mexico. The company said it expects to ship up to a ton of donated fur daily. Already, 450,000 pounds have been shipped to the gulf area, where Coast Guard officials say they have not yet used the material.
Petco joins a growing cohort of salons, pet groomers and farmers shipping hair to the Gulf of Mexico. They are all part of a network created by Matter of Trust, a nonprofit environmental group. The group first garnered attention when it helped with the 2007 San Francisco oil spill.
Then again, is this just a huge PR stunt and did I just bite?
Penis Scan Gone Wrong
The terrorists have won:
A TSA worker in Miami was arrested for aggravated battery after police say he attacked a colleague who’d made fun of his small genitalia after he walked through one of the new high-tech security scanners during a recent training session.
Ah. That’s actually kinda sad.
Fox Poll Backfires — on Fox
Playing off of this news, about five California students who were sent home from school on Cinco de Mayo because they wore American flag T-shirts in an attempt to draw Hispanic kids into a fight, Fox is running a poll that isn’t exactly turning out the way it hoped:
I’m willing to bet money that Fox thought the first choice (“teach the kids what the flag means)” would win hands down. Guess they just found a weakness in their propaganda. Undoubtedly they’re rushing to shore it up as we speak.
Oh, btw. If you click on the blue link — “school administrator” — on Fox’s site, you go to an ad for Intel. Tricky.
Petraeus: Times Square Bomber Acted Alone
Times Square bombing suspect apparently operated as a “lone wolf” who did not work with other terrorists.
The general who oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan tells The Associated Press that alleged bomber Faisal Shahzad was inspired by militants in Pakistan, but didn’t necessarily have direct contact with them.
Authorities say Shahzad told investigators he went to a terror training camp in Pakistan, but they have yet to confirm that.
So, the four days of junk speculation about him being trained by the Taliban that we just lived through was just that, junk speculation.
They’re Going to Build a Fence Around Baghdad
Wow, things are really going well in Iraq, or, you mean to tell me this is “democracy?”
The Iraqi defence ministry plans to build a “security fence” around Baghdad to prevent anti-government fighters from entering the Iraqi capital, according to local television reports.
The barrier will be made of concrete, topped by security cameras and other monitoring devices, reports said.
Trenches will replace the concrete wall in agricultural areas.
Eight checkpoints will control access to the capital, according to the report on Iraq’s Al Iraqiyya television station.
Construction on the fence is expected to conclude in mid-2011. Security officials say they will remove checkpoints within Baghdad once the barrier is complete.
Let’s get out of there tomorrow Obama! Why are we spending our tax dollars in a country that does this?
British Elections Held Using Paper Ballots
Just heard Thom Hartmann say that the election in the U.K. yesterday was (1) held using paper ballots — no voting machines!, and (2) television ads weren’t allowed.
How sane. Sounds wonderful.
Wouldn’t it be Nice if Joe Lieberman Actually Knew What He Was Talking About?
Senator Joe Lieberman doesn’t know what he’s talking about:
In response to supposed legal restrictions on the interrogation of U.S. citrizen and suspected Times Square SUV bomber Faisal Shahzad, Senator Lieberman today proposed a bill that would strip American citizenship from anyone who has “provid[ed] material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization” or “engaged in, or purposefully and materially support[ed], hostilities against the United States” or any of its allies.
Unfortunately for Senator Joe, the Supreme Court has made it crystal clear over the last four decades that the federal government simply has no power to take away U.S. citizenship.
Oops. You don’t suppose old Joe is playing politics, do ya? Nah. That would never happen.
Shine Shoes With a Banana?
Here’s a website entirely devoted to ideas for how to re-use stuff. Some crazy ideas there.
Good Morning
It’s a good morning, and I am blessed, because I see these mountains when I look out the window above my desk:
(Source: Mary Whiteflower via flickr,)
