Aniston Files for Divorce
I'm not sure what to say about this. I know it's not the end of the world, but it still feels like the end of an era.

New Music
Now Playing: Keren Ann Zeidel
I've just discovered a new singer who's so freaking awesome that I just have to share. Rolling Stone's review of her latest album can be found here, if you'd like to read it, but Keren Ann Zeidel has got the most wonderful voice I've heard in a long time. Check her out. You'll thank me.

?Leftist Totalitarianism? by ?Dictator Professors?
This is such a crock of shit.

Not only are they giving far too little credit to students (who, let?s face it, might possibly be able to think for themselves), but they're actually taking a step backwards into history to a time when Galileo was tortured until he recanted his belief that the earth revolved around the sun.

Allowing students (and by extension the parents of students) to sue professors for doing their job (i.e. providing a broad landscape of ideas and theories) is reprehensible. According to the law, ??suits could be filed by students who don?t believe astronauts landed on the moon, who believe teaching birth control is a sin or even by Shands medical students who refuse to perform blood transfusions and believe prayer is the only way to heal the body.?

The whole point of higher education is to get away from the state-mandated curriculums of grade, middle and high school. College is supposed to be about testing yourself and your beliefs, expanding your horizon, learning about other cultures, beliefs, religions, and histories.

College is not supposed to be about forcing educators to teach what lawmakers want them to teach. I think the end result of this, should it pass, will be that accreditation will be withdrawn and fewer and fewer students will enroll, weakening Florida's higher education until it rests upon a foundation shakier than California's sinking shores.

Oh, the Irony
I?ve tried to hold back in commenting on this, but would it be wrong to point out the irony associated with the Terri Schiavo case? I mean, here is a woman whose current state (brain dead, no hope for recovery, and minus one feeding tube) is the result of an electrolyte imbalance caused by an eating disorder.

Fate, ye are a cruel mistress!

Annoying and Fired
Apparently in life, it really is as simple as "ask and ye shall receive".

It was barely a week ago that I let my Sarah Jessica Parker hate come to the fore in an ugly little entry focusing on the latest Gap commercial where she prances around singing about how pretty she is. [Stepping quickly away from they keyboard, I vomit profusely into the wastebasket]

Okay, I'm back. I have no idea if the gods heard me and decided to smile down from their lofty perches or if Gap finally just woke up and said, "Damn...she's kind of talentless, huh..."

The whys and wherefores are not important. What is important is that SJP has been replaced by the wonderful Joss Stone and SJP isn't taking it very well.

The quote, I believe is: "Joss is not only a teenager, she's also a virtual unknown. Had her replacement been a big star, perhaps Sarah wouldn't have minded so much."

Right. She's a virtual unknown. In your age bracket maybe, Sarah! The hipsters know better. Joss rocks out with throaty soul vocals that rival the best of the best from the thirties and fourties. I think perhaps what you're feeling is sour grapes, Sarah. Now toddle off to HBO where you can butcher another character and leave us the hell alone.

Ann Coulter is an Idiot
From the Democratic Underground's weekly list of the Top Ten Conservative Idiots:

While we're on the subject of Jeff Gannon, Ann Coulter posed some curious questions in a recent article. "Are we supposed to like gay people now, or hate them? Is there a Web site where I can go to and find out how the Democrats want me to feel about gay people on a moment-to-moment basis?" This was, of course, in response to revelations that Jeff Gannon is a gay prostitute.

So I have a couple questions of my own: Are we supposed to like gay people now, or hate them? Is there a Web site where I can go to and find out how the Republicans want me to feel about gay people on a moment-to-moment basis?

It's just that I'm perfectly consistent in my support for gay rights. What I'm not comfortable with is the White House giving a real live prostitute with a fake name who works for a fake news organization that is actually a front for a Republican activist group free and easy access to press briefings so that the aforementioned prostitute can toss softball questions at the president to get him out of sticky situations.

But now we're in a bizarre situation where Republicans like Coulter are one day screaming about amending the Constitution in order to discriminate against gays, or telling me that gays are sinners who are going to hell, or that cartoon characters are secretly working on an evil gay agenda to corrupt our children, or that "tolerance" and "love" are secret gay code words, and then the next day they're telling me that I'm the homophobe and poor gay people like Jeff Gannon need to be defended from the likes of me and my awful liberal friends.

I mean, if gay prostitution is okay - which, according to all these Republicans who are now accusing the left of homophobia, it is - then gay marriage must be double-plus-good, right? Otherwise I just don't get the argument. How come, according to Republicans, it's fine for a gay man to sell himself for no-strings-attached sex with other men online, but it's not fine for two gay men to enter into a lifelong, loving marriage partnership?

Still, at least there's no ambiguity about the fact that Republicans think all Arabs are terrorists. In the same column, Coulter says, "Press passes can't be that hard to come by if the White House allows that old Arab Helen Thomas to sit within yards of the president." So while Ann may have suddenly had a dramatic transformation on gay rights, at least that ol' racism is alive and well.

~~

I have nothing to add. I think it's unconscionable for the neo-cons to point to liberal outrage over the Jeff Gannon scandal and use it to call us homophobic.

Down With the Evil Empire
Now Playing: Rolling Stones
This absolutely typifies the problem with Wal-Mart. They move into a community and everyone thinks, ?Wow, great! Lots of job opportunities.? And then instead, people start finding out what crappy wages Wal-Mart offers and they realize that they could never live on such ridiculous sums, which forces Wal-Mart to seek out ?other options?. God forbid they raise their wages so that legal immigrants or naturally born citizens could afford to work there.

At the same time, these craptacular wages allow Wal-Mart to keep their prices low so that they can then drive out any competition. So, if you follow this, with Wal-Mart driving it?s competition out of business, people start losing the jobs they currently have and might be forced to take the low-paying jobs with Wal-Mart if they can?t find work elsewhere.

What does this do in the long run? It creates a group of people without benefits (because you know that Wal-Mart can be very stingy with bennies) who possibly have kids. When these people or these kids get sick they go to the ER. But can?t pay for it. You know what happens then? The taxes go up for the other people living in that town and it becomes the job of the town to subsidize the medical care of Wal-Mart?s employees.

Wal-Mart gives absolutely nothing back to the communities it resides in. Unless you can absolutely help it, don?t shop there. They?re part of the evil empire and they don't deserve your money.

Lil' Kim is off to the Big House
According to Yahoo News:
"Lil' Kim was convicted of three counts of perjury and one of conspiracy, but acquitted of obstruction of justice. She could get 20 years ? a maximum of five years for each count ? when she is sentenced on June 24."

Just for fun, I'd like to take you through the best parts of this article, in case you'd rather not read it yourself.

"The former sidekick and mistress of the late Notorious B.I.G. had testified that she didn't notice two close friends at the scene of the 2001 gun battle ? her manager, Damion Butler, and Suif "Gutta" Jackson. Both men have since pleaded guilty to gun charges."

Y'all, when you hang out with people who are nicknamed 'Gutta' things are probably going to take a turn for the worse at some point.

"The shootout occurred outside WQHT, known as Hot 97, when Lil' Kim's entourage crossed paths with a rival rap group, Capone-N-Noreaga. Kim's entourage confronted them about the song "Bang, Bang" from a Capone-N-Noreaga album, which contained a scathing insult to Kim from her longtime rival, Foxy Brown. A shootout erupted, leaving one man injured and more than two dozen rounds fired."

Huh. I didn't realize this was the Wild West.

"Hot 97 is the same station where the posses of 50 Cent and The Game traded bullets last month. No arrests have been made in that shooting, which left one of Game's henchmen wounded in the leg."

Henchmen? Posses? Could this GET more over the top? Why don't we just make up signs for these guys that say, "I have no class and if you don't want to get shot, stay away."

What on earth gives rappers, or anyone who acts like this for that matter, the sense of entitlement that comes along with lying about a shootout that your people took part in. Did you really think that you'd get away with it? Are you that confident in your celebrity or did you think the authorities were just too stupid to figure it out?

Michael Jackson is...Ick
After reading this article on all the porn Michael Jackson kept/keeps stashed around his house - in particular his bedroom and [blech] bathroom - I have a new-found respect for whoever the hell cleans his house.

In fact, I hope he buys enough bleach for you to wash your hands at the end of the day. You know, when you're done mopping up his probably ubiquitous spunk.

Corporate America Is Evil
In case there is still any doubt over why many people don't trust Corporate America, allow me to direct your attention to this article from the BBC:

Pinochet 'stowed $13m in banks'

The former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet stowed away more than $13m (#6.8m) in 125 bank accounts, according to a US Senate investigation.

It found a range of top banks helped Gen Pinochet hide his funds or broke regulations over his accounts.

Bank officials say the accounts were opened under false names and have vowed to co-operate with investigators.

Gen Pinochet's military regime killed and tortured thousands of political prisoners in the 1970s and 1980s.

He is also being investigated in Chile over allegations of human rights abuses and embezzlement of state funds.

Web of accounts

The senate investigation revealed Gen Pinochet and his family members used scores of bank accounts to hide and launder funds over the course of at least 25 years.

It found some of the banks allowed the general to use assumed names on accounts, arranged international wire transfers and set up offshore companies. [This means that they KNEW who he was when they did this - K]

Among the institutions named in the report are Bank of America, Coutts, Riggs Bank and the world's largest financial services group, Citigroup.

"Some banks actively helped him hide his funds, others failed to comply with US regulations requiring banks to know their customers," Democrat Senator Carl Levin said. [All the while knowing that he TORTURED AND MURDERED his own people - K]

All of the accounts have since been closed.

'Full co-operation'

The report said Gen Pinochet's suspicious dealings with Washington-based Riggs Bank spanned 25 years, rather than the eight-year period for which it has already paid a fine.

In January, Riggs Bank pleaded guilty to failing to report suspicious activity relating to accounts held by Gen Pinochet and the government of Equatorial Guinea.

The bank later agreed to pay $8m to victims of crimes committed during his regime. [Yes, a whopping 8 Mil from a bank worth BILLIONS. How incredibly generous. - K]

The BBC's Ian Pannell in Washington says there will now be pressure on the others to do likewise.

In a statement, Citigroup said its accounts for the general were opened "with false documentation using pseudonyms".

Bank of America, for its part, said it had "co -operated fully with the subcommittee in its investigation, conducted a thorough internal investigation and submitted documents as requested".

~~

I wish this surprised me but it reeks of the same self-serving attitude the U.S. has had with Latin America for hundreds of years.

The same exact thing happened in Cuba with the U.S.-appointed Batista whose rule was so debilitating to Cubans that popular unrest eventually led to the revolution and Castro.