Monthly Archive for July, 2012

New York City is all set to unveil their new “Domain Awareness System.” Does the name alone sound a little Big Brothery? It combines several streams of information to track both criminals and “potential” terrorists, including their network of TV cameras (Almost as extensive as the one in Chicago) and even listening devices. Some NYers say that if you’re not doing anything wrong, you don’t have anything to hide, while others think it’s a violation of privacy.

Dick Cheney’s full interview with ABC aired on GMA and he said that President Obama is worse than history’s greatest monster Jimmy Carter. Cheney also talked a little bit about his position on gay marriage (which he supports) and ABC announced that he will be going fishing instead of going to the Republican National Convention.

John McCain was asked to respond to Dick Cheney’s comments about Sarah Palin. He said he respects Cheney, but has had many strong disagreements with him in the past, including on Sarah Palin.

A Florida man had his hand bitten off by an alligator on Friday. Now he’s being charged with a misdemeanor for “feeding” the alligator. Really.

The Westboro Baptist nutjobs decided to protest outside of a military base in Seattle and were met by a counterprotest. They were out-numbered 10-1 by protesters dressed as zombies.

Horrendous Anthem Update: Harper Gruzins parents say that they are proud of their daughter’s rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.

Things have gone from bad to worse for the Octomom. First she was doing softcore porn and flip-flopping on whether or not to give stripping a try. Now she is asking her fans to donate $150,000 so she can buy a house for her and her litter. The Octomom thinks that she has fans?

A British man in France was overcome with Olympic spirit and tried to swim across the Atlantic Ocean from France to New York. That’s about 3,594 miles or so. His friends thought it was a joke, until he disappeared over the horizon. Then they called in a rescue helicopter and a dingy to bring him back to dry land.

Rahm Emanuel has decided to join Ald. Joe Moreno in his crusade against Chick-fil-a. The Rahmfather says that “if you’re gonna be part of the Chicago community, you should reflect Chicago values.” Again I ask you, do you really care about the “values” of a fast food restaurant? I’d say it was dumb for the proprietor of a business, that in theory wants to have as many customers as possible, to wade into the political swamp. But it’s equally dumb for elected officials to spend any time worrying about the political statements of the CEO of a fast food restaurant. I can’t believe anyone is wasting their time talking about the political beliefs of a fast food CEO. As a matter of fact, I’m so dumbfounded that I’m going to stop writing right in the middle of what I’m sa……

Aurora theater shooter James Holmes sent a notebook with his plans to a psychiatrist at the University of Colorado Anschutz medical campus in Aurora. The notebook was “full of details about how [Holmes] was going to kill people,” and included “drawings and illustrations of the massacre.” It arrived a week before the shooting, but had been sitting in the mailroom the whole time.

James Holmes reportedly asked one of his jail guards how The Dark Knight Rises ends. Wow… I mean, just… wow.

Greatest over-reaction in human history? A Penn State alum compares the NCAA penalties against his school to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

A woman spotted a mountain lion in her neighbor’s backyard, panicked, and called police. When the cops arrived, they too spotted the lion, but it hadn’t moved an inch… because it was stuffed.

Moment of Racially Insensitivity: A Greek athlete was kicked off of the Olympic team after she tweeted ”With so many Africans in Greece, the West Nile mosquitoes will be getting home food!”

The balloon boy family is back! The owner of the ill-fated balloon has sold pieces of the mylar contraption to Topps for use in baseball cards.

Sally Ride, the first American woman astronaut died Monday at age 61. He had been battling pancreatic cancer for 17 months. In addition to being the first American woman to fly in space, she was also a physicist and helped to develop the Space Shuttle robotic arm. She was one of 8,000 people who responded to a newspaper advertisement seeking NASA applicants. She joined the space agency in 1978 and left in 1987.

Josh Nowlan is one of the first Aurora survivors to speak to the press. He is a 31 year old Iraq war veteran, and was shot in the left calf and right arm trying to protect his newlywed friends. He said he wants to go back into the screening room where the killings took place, “look down at that same seat and say ‘I beat you. You did not take this life.’ ” We’ve also heard from a number of other survivors, including fellow Iraq war vet Christine Blache, who said that she was totally unprepared for violence like that.

The prosecutor in the Colorado shooting is warning that there is no such thing as a slam dunk. She also says that no matter what, the case will go on for quite a while, maybe even years.

Arlene Holmes the mother of the attacker says that ABC took her “you have the right person” remark out of context. She says that she meant that she is his mother, so by contacting her they had the “right person”

The Second Amendment’s newest defender? Rapper Ice-T. He says that it’s our last line of defense against tyranny. Of course, he was saying that people need to defend themselves against the police… so it’s not exactly the most reasonable defense out there.

The Westboro Baptist nutjobs have decided to protest a candle-light vigil for victims of the shooting in Aurora. Denver Comic Con has asked their volunteers to put their t-shirts on an create a human wall to block the protests. Once again, the nerds come to the rescue.

Apparently fewer teens want to drive these days. The percentage of 19-year-olds in the U.S. who have driver’s licenses dropped from 87.3% in 1983 to 69.5% in 2010. This actually makes sense when you think about it, driving is a step towards independence, and not only is the economy making it hard for teens to do things like get jobs to pay for cars, but independence has become a bit of a dirty word. Automotive companies are still desperately trying to court younger drivers though.

A new poll says that 66% of Americans believe that Washington has made the economy worse. But if this poll is accurate, we’ve crossed the economic Rubicon. 34% blame President Obama, while 18% blame President Bush.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water. A surfer in South Africa was bitten by a shark… twice. (Usually they bite you once, realize you don’t taste very good and spit you out) He’s given his first interview and says that he thought it was a dolphin at first. Ya know, until it bit him.

Australians are getting death threats via text messages. The scam says that they have two days to pay $5,000 or they’ll be killed by a hit man “sum1″ hired. Listen, I know there are plenty of people who would like to take a shot at me, but I’d reply that they should tell me my address and what I had for lunch the past three days, and then maybe I’ll buy it.

Remember that fire aboard the USS Maine a couple of months back? The NCIS says that it was intentionally started by an civilian contractor who wanted to leave early that day.