Keith Olbermann’s special comment about Afghanistan

“General McChrystal has doubtless served his country bravely and honorably and at great risk, but to date his lasting legacy will be as the great facilitator of the obscenity that was transmuting the greatest symbol of this nation's true patriotism, of its actual willingness to sacrifice, into a distorted circus fun-house mirror version of such selflessness.

”Friendly fire killed Pat Tillman.

“Mr. McChrystal killed the truth about Pat Tillman.

“And that willingness to stand truth on its head on behalf of "selling" a war -- or the generic idea of America being at war -- to turn a dead hero into a meaningless recruiting poster, should ring essentially relevant right now.

“From the very center of a part of our nation that could lie to the public, could lie to his mother, about what really happened to Pat Tillman - from the very man who was at the operational center of that plan - comes the entire series of plans to help us supposedly find the way out of Afghanistan?

“We are supposed to believe General McChrystal isn't lying about Afghanistan?

“Didn't he blow his credibility by lying, so obviously and so painfully, about Pat Tillman?

”Why are we believing the McChrystals?

See the whole thing here.

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Cutest. Video. Ever.

Sorry to have to do this to you, but I do believe this is indeed the cutest. video. ever.

I dare you to watch it and not say, “Awwwwww….”

Another “Black Friday” example of ugly greed

If alien beings ever come to earth to decide whether or not to destroy us, they should spare us why, exactly?

Can anyone really deny that when you get down to brass tacks, human beings are animals?

Black Friday turns a little ugly again this year, as early morning Wal-Mart shoppers ripped into shrink-wrapped items that were supposed to remain closed until the 5:00 a.m. sale time.

Management at the Upland Wal-Mart called local police to the store at 2:44 a.m. when customers began "fighting inside," reported the Los Angeles Times.

About 300 people were in the store, which had remained open all night as a security precaution after a Wal-Mart worker on Long Island, N.Y., was trampled to death last year on Black Friday when a surging, impatient crowd rushed the doors after the store opened. “This was without a doubt the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said one employee, who said she has worked a dozen Black Fridays. “They wouldn’t let people line up,” she added. “They were belligerent. They just bombarded the store.” Several officers were sent and stood by as shoppers were kicked out and the store closed down, Etchason said. The bargain hunters were told to line up in the parking lot. Meanwhile, the carts were emptied and all the items returned to the shelves, employees said. But they said that outside, people began “yelling and screaming,” pounding on the glass doors and trying to sneak into the store through the lawn and garden section.

Big Bang Theory!

A very big thank you to David Gerrold for inviting me to Tuesday night’s taping of Big Bang Theory at Warner Brothers.

BBT is one of those shows that’s criminal of you not to be watching. But not to worry, if you’re not, everyone else is: It’s the number one comedy on television right now, and deservedly so.

KOST’s Bryan Simmons came along and, as a fellow Trekkie, was excited to spend time with Mr. Gerrold, especially for lunch at Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank before the taping, where the famous Trek alum and sci-fi luminary regaled us with true Trek tales.

The BBT episode we saw taped is holiday themed, with special guest Christine Baranski returning as Leonard’s mom, and it promises to be one of the funniest yet. (Sheldon gets a big surprise at the end.)

Even better, we got to hang out backstage after the show and meet the stars, the writers and the producers. Tres cool.

Bottom line, Penny (Kaley Cuoco) is about a hundred billion times hotter in person than on TV.

If abortion is murder…

Finally, a major media pundit asks the question I’ve been asking anti-choice proponents for years… If abortion really is “murder,” then what do they think the legal punishment should be for doctors who’ve performed them and women who’ve had them?

The “abortion is murder” rhetoric always falls apart at this point. What this shows us is that most of the people shouting that abortion is murder DON’T REALLY BELIEVE THE RHETORIC.

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Antarctic ice breaking up

Global warming has caused a massive ice floe in the Antarctic to break up, sending an unprecedented number of icebergs floating to New Zealand and endangering shipping lanes.

How to fix Saturday Night Live

I’m as in love with January Jones as any Mad Men fanboy is… but I have to admit her turn last week as guest host on Saturday Night Live just wasn’t… er… that good. Okay, it was awful. Okay, it was embarrassing. I felt terrible for Miss Jones. I wanted to jump through the TV screen and rescue her.

But it wasn’t her fault. She’s simply not that kind of performer. The fault lies with the producers of SNL who are picking guest hosts based solely on who’s churned out some new product on the music store shelves or some semi-tepid new flick at the box office. As a result, we get a string of guest hosts who simply don’t have any comedic or hosting chops. (There have been a few pleasant surprises – Taylor Swift – but for the most part, this has been a continuing problem with the show the last few years.)

There’s a fantastic critique posted today on MSNBC explaining 10 ways to fix SNL, and I can’t argue with a single point.

What’s really wrong with America

What's really wrong with America? MEN PEE SITTING DOWN, that's what! And God's going to destroy countries that let men pee sitting down! Barack Obama pees sitting down, I bet!

A Christian pastor is preaching the "truth" about men peeing sitting down.

No, I'm not kidding.

Top 18 falsehoods

"Going Rogue": The 18 Biggest Falsehoods In Palin's Book

Three deaths

Edward Woodward (The Equalizer), Dennis Cole (70's hunk actor) and Ken Ober (super nice guy and host of MTV's Remote Control way back when) all died today. And I'm not feeling too good myself.

The Prisoner

I found the re-imagined "The Prisoner" as dense, as obscure and as maddening as the original, and got hooked.

People forget these were the complaints about the original when it was new. "Unwatchable, makes no sense, follows no plot," etc.

The only drawback is that people will be looking for the spy angle from the original, and I suspect the new version is aiming away from that entirely, looking to skewer a different target.

Jim Caviezel is serviceable, and Ian McKellen, as always, is a joy to watch.

Episodes #3 and #4 air tonight, #5 and #6 (coincidence?) airs tomorrow on AMC.

It’s easy to miss something you’re not looking for

Watch the video and see how well you do. We humans are pretty piss-poor when it comes to data-gathering.

Urban Legend ER

If you can't see the video, go here.

Water on the moon

NASA has found a “significant amount” of water on the moon. Is there some way of bringing it to southern California since we seem to be running low on it?

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A "significant amount" of frozen water has been found on the moon, the US space agency NASA said Friday, boosting hopes of eventually setting up a permanent lunar base.

Preliminary data from a moon probe "indicates the mission successfully uncovered water in a permanently shadowed lunar crater," NASA said.

"The discovery opens a new chapter in our understanding of the moon," it added in a statement.

The data was found after NASA sent two spacecraft crashing into the lunar surface last month in a dramatic experiment to probe for water.

One rocket slammed into the Cabeus crater, near the moon's southern pole, at around 5,600 miles (9,000 kilometers) per hour. It was followed four minutes later by a spacecraft equipped with cameras to record the impact.

Carrie Prejean’s solo meltdown

America was vibrating with excitement, watching Carrie Prejean on Larry King. During the interview, she fingers Sarah Palin as her “hero.” Then, she has a freakout, ripping off her microphone during her solo act, and acting like a spoiled master brat.

The Prisoner

A "re-imagining" of The Prisoner premieres this Sunday on AMC. From what I'm hearing, this one's taking a turn away from the Cold War spy meme of the original to more of an allegorical examination of modern society. Where the original was an indictment of Cold War paranoia, this one appears to be an indictment of predatory capitalism.

And it has the always incredible Sir Ian McKellen.

Pretty good interview with McKellen is here, including this nice quote: "Even halfway up the mountain, the view can be pretty good."

Faking the video

Jon Stewart catches Fox News’ Sean Hannity playing fast and loose with video footage to make an anti-Obama protest look bigger than it really was.

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Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage
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How's that work?

Why are Fox News and Glenn Beck taking credit for the departure of White House Communications Director Anita Dunn? She had taken the position only on an interim basis, and her stepping down had been planned from the beginning.

 

It's almost like they don't really care about reporting accurately.

Passed

The health care overhaul bill passes the House 220-215.

Absolutely brilliant! BEST Jon Stewart bit EVER!

This is the best Jon Stewart bit he’s ever done on The Daily Show. His mocking of Glenn Beck is devastating! And absolutely, brilliantly on target!

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“V” – universal health care is EVIL!

The writer of the pilot of the "V" remake on ABC snuck in some blatant anti-health care propaganda.

You see, one of the alien's SINISTER takeover plans is "universal health care." They were so obvious about it they interjected characters REPEATING "universal health care" with looks of horror on their faces. In one character's case, it was the aliens' promise of "universal health care" that finally convinced him they were evil.

I'm not kidding.

The script was written by Scott Peters. Scott Peters can go to hell.

Thinking about dying

I can understand how disconcerting it is to consider the prospect of NO LONGER BEING. We can't even imagine "not being." It's just about impossible. My Christian friends tell me the prospect of no longer existing should be a frightening one (so I should make myself believe in talking snakes, talking donkeys, and dudes living inside fish bellies, so as to avoid it), but I think of it this way:

I did not exist and was not aware for the billions of years before I was born, and I don't seem to have had any problems with it. I imagine that it'll be much the same for the billions of years after I'm gone.

But here's another thought to consider: Because our consciousness can ONLY be aware of its own existence, perhaps the final few moments of awareness will appear -- as an illusion from our point of view -- to stretch on and on into infinity, where in reality we will actually be "gone." But to us, time may appear to stretch that final moment onward -- our awareness perhaps like a tape that slows down and stops on that one, final note. To the outside world, the tape has stopped and there is no more music, but to the tape, it’s still playing that last note forever.

That's why it's best to die banging a hot chick.

Where are the protesters?

Where are the tea party protesters? Where are the "deficit hawk" Republicans? You know, the ones who go nuts about "government spending" and blast President Obama for the deficit?

They're livid that Obama wants to spend 90 billion bucks a year on health care... "SPENDING MUST STOP!!!" they shriek.

And yet, strangely, they're silent on the 680 billion-dollar defense appropriation bill.

How come we have so much money to kill people with, but none to heal them with?