I don't know why, but this cracked me up...

NZ Herald: Female koalas indulge in lesbian "sex sessions", rejecting male suitors and attempting to mate with each other, sometimes up to five at a time, according to researchers.

The furry, eucalyptus-eating creatures appear to develop this tendency for same-sex liaisons when they are in captivity. In the wild, they remain heterosexual.

Scientists monitoring the marsupials with digital cameras counted three homosexual interactions for every heterosexual one.

"Some females rejected the advances of males that were in their enclosures, only to become willing participants in homosexual encounters immediately after," say the researchers.

"On several occasions more than one pair of females shared the same pole, and multiple females mounted each other simultaneously. At least one multiple encounter involved five female koalas.

My husband cautioned me not to make a snarky remark about the necessity of men when all your needs are seen to by others lest you think I was being disingenuous with my Valentine's dedication, so for his sake, I'll refrain. I can just imagine homophobes' heads spinning when they bring their little impressionable children to the zoo and find the cute koalas in a five way lesbian encounter.

Dina Sansing from US Weekly was stunned into silence when Glenn Beck hinted that he'd like to take some "nude photos" of her during the discussion about tawdry pictures of American Idol's Antonella Barba.

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via Chris Achorn:

BECK: Dina, let me tell you something. I don`t think you have to be famous. I think you just work in the average environment in America now, somebody would get a picture of you, and then it would be posted all around, and it will happen in your office.

SANSING: Possibly.

BECK: You don`t think so?

SANSING: Well, it depends. You know, it depends...

BECK: Dina, I`ve got some time and a camera. Why don`t you stop by? No? OK.

Her silence and glare tells the story. She was a trooper and bounced back into the segment. but Beck's a major league jackass...

Boy, is this sure to ruffle some Christian feathers. Paging Mr. Donohue... Mr. Donohue...

WaPo :

Filmmakers and researchers on Monday unveiled two ancient stone boxes they said may have once contained the remains of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, but several scholars derided the claims made in a new documentary as unfounded and contradictory to basic Christian beliefs.

"The Lost Tomb of Jesus," produced by Oscar-winning director James Cameron and scheduled to air March 4 on the Discovery Channel, argues that 10 small caskets, called ossuaries, discovered in 1980 in a Jerusalem suburb may have held the bones of Jesus and his family.

One of the caskets even bears the title, "Judah, son of Jesus," hinting that Jesus may have had a son, according to the film. The claim that Jesus even had an ossuary contradicts the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven. Read more...

David Edwards of RawStory compares CNN and FOX's coverage of the story. For more about the show, visit the website at Discovery.com.

John had linked to Arthur's post about the evidentally punitive measures the brass are taking at Walter Reed, in retribution for the soldiers speaking out about the horrible conditions they were enduring during their convalescence and rehabilitation.

Well, unfortunately, Walter Reed is not the only facility, nor the only crackdown from the Department of Defense.

E&P: A report today that soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center are being told not to speak with the press is apparently just the latest move in a recent effort to tighten restrictions on journalists' access to many military facilities, according to the president of Military Reporters and Editors.

Continue reading »

( graphic via Big Lizards) Roy posted this from the Imus Blog:

During the past week I’ve gotten several links from some of the biggest liberal blogs/websites on the Internet, Crooks & Liars, Think Progress, and Daily Kos. These are not sites that would normally link to this blog. As anyone who reads my blog knows I routinely slam liberal politicians and media.

But these guys rose above politics to try and bring awareness to the problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Some might say they’re doing it as an opportunity to slam the Bush Administration. I don’t think that’s it. I think it’s a genuine concern for active duty soldiers and veterans.

I wondered why I hadn’t received a single link from a conservative blog or website. I thought well they just didn’t like any of my posts. So I went and checked the right wing blogs I normally read when I get time, Redstate, Pajama Media, Hot Air, and Michelle Malkin. Except for Ms. Malkin, not one of these sites even mentioned the Washington Post Story or anything about Walter Reed that I could find. When Malkin talks about it, she was not able to rise above politics and used it as an opportunity to slam the liberal media and democrats. She even had the balls to say she wrote about this issue 8 years ago....read on

Roy, supporting the troops is a political wedge issue that the right tries to wrap themselves around to attack liberals. The proof is quite evident. Pinky Pinkerton is just the latest example of I've posted about. Keep sending those emails: at pinkerto@ix.netcom.com. Yes, we can disagree about the war, but none of us put the troops in the crosshairs. It's a convenient way for the right to attack us because we disagree with BushCo. and the war, as you've now witnessed. Try to find how many stories they've done regarding body armor, training, extended tours of duty, benefits and you won't find many. Notice the graph at the top. They consider the deaths of our troops in Iraq nothing more than a "line" on a graph--as if their deaths are worth less. And no mention of the innocent Iraqis that have perished because of this war...

Think Progress has more...

rudy rudy rudy

We know that New York's ex-mayor has a predilection for cross-dressing - although we agree with Jeffrey Feldman that the real cross-dressing lies in Giuliani's decision to wear the rags and frills of a conservative fundamentalist Republican.

To which the Religious Right has so far responded, "Why, hello, girlfriend!"

Odd that a tough, straight ex-DA from the streets of New York would do this, but when I was a New York resident under Rudy's mayoralty I thought it was mildly entertaining and inoffensive - Rudy the Enforcer shows his other side. "You have the right to remain ... divine. Anything you say can ... and will ... be held against you."

What I can't figure out is how he's became the darling of the right. The fact that he's now trouncing (or is that flouncing?) McCain in the polls just shows what a weak candidate the Senator from Arizona has become.

Here's the video of Rudy and Donald Trump:

At his confirmation hearing yesterday for an ambassadorship to Belgium, nominee Sam Fox got grilled by Senator Kerry for the $50,000 contribution he gave to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the same group that spread lies and attacked Kerry's decorated military service during his 2004 Presidential run. Needless to say, Kerry had some business to take care of. It's rather surreal to hear a major swift boat funder tell Kerry that he's a hero for his military service.

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Bob Geiger weighs in and has a partial transcript. AP covers the story too.

While it's nice to see Senator Kerry finally get some satisfaction, this is what he should have been doing back in 2004. The SBVT lies were transparent and easily debunked -- by official Navy records no less. Although he didn't get much help from the media who refused to call out the blatant lies, inconsistencies and discrepancies, he could have defused this easily. Instead he ignored and, in turn, validated them.

Dan Gerstein responds to Sargent's piece.

Dan Gerstein has responded to my post below. He says there's no problem at all with the fact that The Politico published a piece by him attacking some of Joe Lieberman's high-profile foes at the same time that he was collecting money from Lieberman...

What happened here is this: Gerstein used The Politico as a platform partly to settle the old scores of -- and to advance the current agenda of -- a paying client, but without mentioning the "paying" part. Is that really what Harris and VandeHei envision for something they're hoping to establish as the preeminently credible Web-based political publication?

As Duncan says:

For years it's been news, an almost obligatory reference in any article about bloggers, that Markos got a few bucks from the Dean campaign, something he fully disclosed at the time. Then it was big news that Markos had a friend who worked for Mark Warner which, again, wasn't exactly a big secret and the mere fact of this friendship was an existential taint of some sort.

Now the hot insiders at the Politico are letting paid flacks for politicians write articles without disclosing that information. And it's us unethical bloggers who have issues. What a bunch of wankers.

Apparently it's just fine by The Politico that they gave Gerstein a platform to bash bloggers without disclosing the fact that Gerstein is paid by Lieberman now and yes---it makes a difference,. The Politico knew exactly what he was going to say and it appears to me that Gerstein was given the platform to settle old scores for Harris and VandeHei as well in my opinion. Way to go. And you wonder why people turn to blogs.