"The paps got another one! Dita Von Teese tried hard not to expose
the punane while getting out of a cab in NYC last night, but they caught her.
Celebs should walk around with those block NSFW boxes all the time."
"Britney Spears wore a see through shirt with a leopard print bra. Just
another one of her crazy outfits. It’s much better than all the muu muus she’s
been wearing though. "
"[C]andidates were asked whether they would support the use of
waterboarding — a technique, defined as torture by the Justice Department, that
simulates drowning and makes the subject 'believe his death is imminent while
ideally not causing permanent physical damage.'
Both former mayor Rudy
Giuliani and Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) suggested they would support using the
technique. Specifically asked about waterboarding, Giuliani said he would allow
'every method [interrogators] could think of and I would support them in doing
it.' Tancredo later added, 'I’m looking for Jack Bauer,' referencing the
television character who has used torture techniques such as suffocation and
electrocution on prisoners. "
"Senior Bush administration officials told Congress on Tuesday that they could
not pledge that the administration would continue to seek warrants from a secret
court for a domestic wiretapping program, as it agreed to do in January.
Rather, they argued that the president had the constitutional authority to
decide for himself whether to conduct surveillance without warrants.
As a
result of the January agreement, the administration said that the National
Security Agency’s domestic spying program has been brought under the legal
structure laid out in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires
court-approved warrants for the wiretapping of American citizens and others
inside the United States.
But on Tuesday, the senior officials, including
Michael McConnell, the new director of national intelligence, said they believed
that the president still had the authority under Article II of the Constitution
to once again order the N.S.A. to conduct surveillance inside the country
without warrants. "
"VIENNA, May 11 (Xinhua) — The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on
Friday said Iran has not hampered the IAEA's inspection of Iran's nuclear
facility.
'The information… is untrue,' IAEA spokesman Marc Vidricaire told
a press conference when asked about recent reports that last month Tehran
refused to give IAEA inspectors access to its Natanz uranium enrichment base.
'We have not been denied access at any time, including in the past few
weeks,' he said.
'Normally we do not comment on such reports but this time
we felt we had to clarify the matter,' he said. "
"Several news outlets uncritically repeated or paraphrased a claim Sen. John
McCain (R-AZ) made during the May 15 Republican presidential debate on Fox News,
in which he said: 'I have kept a consistent position on right to life. And I
haven't changed my position ... on even-numbered years or have changed because
of the different offices that I may be running for.' But, as Media Matters for
America has documented, McCain has in fact waffled on the issue; some
conservatives have responded by accusing him of incoherence and of trying to
appeal to both sides in the debate.Several news outlets uncritically repeated or
paraphrased a claim Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) made during the May 15 Republican
presidential debate on Fox News, in which he said: 'I have kept a consistent
position on right to life. And I haven't changed my position ... on
even-numbered years or have changed because of the different offices that I may
be running for.' But, as Media Matters for America has documented, McCain has in
fact waffled on the issue; some conservatives have responded by accusing him of
incoherence and of trying to appeal to both sides in the debate.Several news
outlets uncritically repeated or paraphrased a claim Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
made during the May 15 Republican presidential debate on Fox News, in which he
said: 'I have kept a consistent position on right to life. And I haven't changed
my position ... on even-numbered years or have changed because of the different
offices that I may be running for.' But, as Media Matters for America has
documented, McCain has in fact waffled on the issue; some conservatives have
responded by accusing him of incoherence and of trying to appeal to both sides
in the debate."
"Referring to the May 15 Republican presidential debate, Rush Limbaugh asserted,
on the May 16 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, that 'there's a
template developing for the Republican debate last night. 'How come there are no
women and minorities on stage?' I guess you forgot about 2004.' He then said:
'And I guess -- you know, the Democrats never get those kinds of questions
because it's always assumed that they're fair and just, and not discriminatory
and all that.'Referring to the May 15 Republican presidential debate, Rush
Limbaugh asserted, on the May 16 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio
show, that 'there's a template developing for the Republican debate last night.
'How come there are no women and minorities on stage?' I guess you forgot about
2004.' He then said: 'And I guess -- you know, the Democrats never get those
kinds of questions because it's always assumed that they're fair and just, and
not discriminatory and all that.'"
"FURTHER UPDATE: It's over. House Republicans are proclaiming victory as
Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer have abandoned their effort to change the rules to
allow their majority to operate with more stealth.
Let's give some credit to
conservatives in the House. The conventional wisdom is that in the House, unlike
the Senate, the minority is more or less powerless. But the House Republicans
seem to be well led and to be using effective tactics. They have foiled a number
of pieces of bad and unpopular legislation with motions to recommit; hence
today's effort by the Democrats to change the rules to take that option away
from the minority. "
"At issue for Malkin was a video podcast (video downloaded from the Internet) in
which she criticized the rap-music artist Akon, using excerpts from his music
videos and from a performance in which he performed a sexually explicit dance
with an underage girl. Pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA),
UMG, the corporation that represents Akon, gave YouTube notice that it believed
that postings of the podcast violated its copyrights, and thus must be
de-posted. But Malkin -- represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation --
strongly disagreed, claiming 'fair use,' and arguing that UMG and Akon's true
motive was not to protect creative work, but to avoid harsh criticism.
Yesterday, UMG backed off by rescinding its takedown request. After YouTube got
the word, it allowed the podcast to be posted and viewed.
Hilton,
meanwhile, has been sued by several photograph agencies, including the prominent
X17, for posting copies of their photographs on his site. His attorney, Bryan
Freedman, claims, however, that because Hilton writes words on, and/or
embellishes, the photographs using white pen before he posts them, his use of
the photographs is 'satire,' and thus 'fair use.'
In this column, I'll
explain why Malkin prevailed, and Hilton probably will not. "
"Last week, the media mogul pledged not only to make his News Corp. empire
carbon neutral, but to persuade the hundreds of millions of people who watch his
TV channels and read his newspapers to join the cause. Messages about climate
change will be woven throughout News Corp.'s entertainment content, he said,
from movies to books to TV sitcoms, and the issue will have an increasing
presence in the company's news coverage, be it in the New York Post or on
'Hannity & Colmes.' Yes, as Murdoch said in an exclusive interview on his
climate plan, even Fox News' right-wing firebrand Sean Hannity can be expected
to come around on the issue. "
Elizabeth is getting stronger.
ELISABETH: Islamic terrorists? Extremists? Who blow their own children up?
ROSIE: I don't like to use the word "terrorists" --
ELISABETH: I will use it time and time again because those are the people that flew planes into our buildings and killed our people. Terrorists. Those are people who were in Fort Dix, New Jersey who were plotting to kill our soldiers in cold blood. Those are terrorists. What do you want to call them, Sweet peas? .... What's a murderer? A nice guy is a murderer?
"Gonzales testified in February of 2006 that there had been no such concerns,
but the startling testimony of former Dep. Attorney General James Comey yesterday (video
here) tells quite a different story, including a late-night trip by Gonzales and WH Chief of Staff
Andrew Card to then-AG John Ashcroft's hospital room in hopes of getting his
approval after Comey
would not sign off the program. To his credit, Aschroft refused as well. Even after the White House
--- apparently Bush himself --- called to inform him that Gonzales and Card were
heading over."
"Be it resolved further by the City of Detroit, that our senators and
representatives in the United States Congress be, and they are hereby, requested
to cause to be instituted in the Congress of the United States proper
proceedings for the investigation of the activities of the George W. Bush and
Richard B. Cheney, to the end that they may be impeached and removed from such
office."
"TD.com has learned from a House Republican Leadership aide that the
Democrat leadership is proposing a change the current House rules regarding the
Republican right to the motion-to-recommit and/or the test of germaneness. This would be
the first change to the germaneness rule since 1822 . It would be executed in
the rule on the Budget. Procedural motions as a result of this issue are
expected intermittently, approximately every 30 minutes, throughout the day.
"
