In Alito, G.O.P. Reaps Harvest Planted in '82

If anyone is wondering how it came to be that the Republicans have control of the White House, the Senate, the House, and the Supreme Court, read this article from the NY Times.

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In some ways, the Republicans deserve to have all that control. They've been working and planning for decades, and now it's finally paying off.

- Jean Chen

Taken for a Ride

From Yahoo News:

"Exxon Mobil Corp. posted record profits for any U.S. company on Monday — $10.71 billion for the fourth quarter and $36.13 billion for the year... Exxon's profit for the year was also the largest annual reported net income in U.S. history."

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No comment.

- Jean Chen

does the truth matter?

Best selling author James Frey has gotten busted for wildly exaggerating portions of his memoir, "A Million Little Pieces."

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At the same time, it was discovered that JT Leroy, who wrote a memoir about being a teenage male hooker, is actually a middle aged woman with middle class roots.

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Does the truth matter when it comes to memoirs? Knowing that "A Million Little Pieces" is not all true, is it still a strong piece of work? What about JT Leroy's "memoir?" Can it still hold it's own as a fictional work?

Also, how accountable should authors be in writing their memoirs? They aren't journalists. But should they be accountable?

-Jean Chen

a more tolerant church?

From the NY Times:

"Pope Benedict XVI said Wednesday in his first encyclical that the Roman Catholic Church has no desire to govern states or set public policy, but can't remain silent when its charity is needed to ease suffering around the world...

In the encyclical, Benedict said the church's work caring for widows, the sick and orphans was as much a part of its mission as celebrating the sacraments and spreading the Gospels. However, he stressed that the church's charity workers must never use their work to proselytize or push a particular political ideology."

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The Catholic Church is going to focus on charity and not on pushing ideology? I find this really hard to believe, but I'm hoping that it's true.

- Jean Chen

political bets

Check this out... you can place bets on how many times Bush will say, "Space Terrorism" during his State of the Union address. You can also bet on how many times he will say, "nuclear" and on how long Jack Abramoff will be sentenced to prison:

Click here for the site.

- Jean Chen

that's your finger in my chili!

The couple who was convicted of planting a finger in a bowl of chili at Wendy's just got sentenced to nine years in jail. Nine years! Sure, it was a bad thing to do, but nine years is a long, long time.

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I wonder how much jail time Tom DeLay will get.

- Jean Chen

Movies!

Heh heh, check out these spoofs:

From Mad TV (Memoirs of a Geisha)

From SNL (Chronicles of Narnia)

Economic Sanctions

From Yahoo News:

"British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday that Western countries were likely to seek economic sanctions against Iran after Tehran restarted its nuclear program but Iranian leaders said they would not curtail the research even in the face of sanctions."

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How do folks feel about this? Sometimes I wonder if economic sanctions are the answer... When we had them against Iraq for ten years in the 1990s, it only seemed to harm Iraqi citizens. Over a million Iraqis died because they didn't have adequate access to medicine, clean water, etc. And clearly Saddam Hussein didn't care. And look at Cuba. Fidel is still in charge and the only thing sanctions have done is deprive Cubans of daily necessities.

- Jean Chen

David Letterman Serves Bill O'Reilly's Ass on a Platter

Check out this clip of Bill O'Reilly on David Letterman. He gets ripped to shreds, which is pretty funny.

Watch the clip.

It's long (about 12 minutes) but worth it. What I find interesting is that two years ago, there's no way someone as mainstream as David Letterman would be talking about how being in Iraq is a mistake. He may have been thinking it, but he would never have voiced it. So why is it all of a sudden ok to speak out against Bush and the war?

- Jean Chen

more trash

Ok, one more piece of trash to start out your New Year. Someone wrote Cliff Notes to R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet." Truly truly a work of genius:

Read the Cliff Notes

-Jean Chen

Hee hee

Check out Kevin Federline's website. He's coming out with a hip-hop album.

I guess with a good producer and some studio sound effects, anyone can rap.

- Jean Chen

Forget the Bird Flu

People are freaking out about the bird flu, but there's a stomach bug (Clostridium difficile also known as C. diff) that's going around that seems much more dangerous. It's already killed hundreds of people:

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- Jean Chen