Liberal feel-gooders love helping folks -- and this is not to say the tsunami victims don't need help. But do you hear a one of them - black or white - say anything about the genocide victims in the Sudan?

And you sure don't hear Jesse and the Soul Patrol saying anything...

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I'm a big man, and I'm in a constant struggle to lose weight these days.

But this waif of a girl, at a hundred pounds, soaking wet, won the challenge at Denny's Beer Barrel Pub in State College, PA, and didn't look any worse for wear afterward!

19 year-old Kate Stelnick, a Princeton student downed a six-pound burger plus fixins -- bun and all -- in just under three hours last Wednesday.

Denny Leigey Jr., the owner of the bar 35 miles northwest of State College, had offered a two-pound burger for years and conceived of the six-pounder after his daughter went to college and phoned him about a bar that sold a four-pounder.

But nobody had finished the big burger in the three-hour time limit since it was introduced on Super Bowl Sunday 1998. In addition to the meat, contestants much eat one large onion, two whole tomatoes, one half head of lettuce, 1 1/4 pounds of cheese, two buns, and a cup each of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, relish, banana peppers and some pickles.

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Las Vegas weather reporter Rob Blair was fired yesterday after making an offensive slur against Martin Luther King, in what he termed an "accidental slip of the tongue" in an on-air apology broadcast later.

Jim Prather, vice president and general manager of KTNV, said Blair "stumbled" during a weather update at 7:55 a.m. Saturday but added that "this kind of incident is not acceptable under any circumstances, and I'm truly sorry that this event occurred."

Blair was delivering the extended forecast when he said, "For tomorrow, 60 degrees, Martin Luther Coon King Jr. Day, gonna see some temperatures in the mid-60s."

About 20 minutes later, Blair told viewers at the ABC affiliate, "Apparently I accidentally said Martin Luther Kong Jr., which I apologize about -- slip of the tongue."

He offered a full apology during Saturday's 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts.

At 6:11 p.m., co-anchor Christina Brown, who is black, announced, "Right now we want to pause for a program note. Rob?"

Blair, seated at the news desk with co-anchors Brown and Shawn Boyd, said, "On a weather report earlier this morning, I made an accidental slip of the tongue when talking about the Martin Luther King holiday, and what I said was interpreted by many viewers as highly offensive. For that I offer my deepest apology. I in no way intended to offend anyone. I'm very sorry."

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National Church of God in Christ board member Bishop George McKinney said Social Security is in trouble today because of abortion.

"Part of the problem that we're seeing now with Social Security has to do with the fact that 40 to 50 million people who have been killed through abortions have not taken their role as productive citizens."

McKinney said the Democratic Party's support for legal abortion and gay marriage has cost it support in the black community.

COGIC is the fourth largest denomination in the US with 5.5 million members.

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Martin Luther King's legacy is always the subject of much debate and deliberation at this time of year, when the national holiday to commemorate his birth takes place.

There are those who insist that it is not deserved, due to King's activities that some consider to be subversive; there are others who look at it as an excuse and means to denigrate and verbally attack those who do not agree with them politically or socially; and there are those who simply look at it as an excuse for a day off work on the heels of the Christmas/New Year holiday timeframe.

Then there are those who look on this as a day of service -- service to their home, to their community, to their way of life. Some participate by joining in commemorative services, some by reflective thought, some by serving their fellow man, and some - simply by partaking in the American Dream and going to work.

Contrary to the carpings of Jesse Jackson and others who pretend to know what Dr. King would be doing today, why not celebrate the man and his work? Why take the time, as Jackson did in a Jonesboro, GA pulpit yesterday, to attack the Bush Administration or anyone else who disagrees with you?

Dr. King worked so that I, and others, would have the opportunity to openly disagree with the status quo, and to disagree with each other. He worked so that voices wouldn't be silenced simply for being contrary to the larger whole.

I'd like to think that Dr. King would be proud of someone like myself, who takes the time to think and speak my own mind, and who encourages others to do the same.

Across town from me, at Atlanta's Turner Field, hundreds of volunteers work to put the finishing touches on a hot meal and to assemble resources for the city's homeless. The annual effort also provides access to showers and a haircut for those who would otherwise be forgotten. Volunteers with job service knowledge and skills to share, provide help where possible to those homeless, in order that they might be able to lift themselves up by their own bootstraps and remove themselves from the homeless population.

That is their service. They give voice and action to Dr. King's dream of Christian brotherhood, fellowship and mission to and for all. And though there are many who look past that portion of King's dream in favor of other, more "glory-seeking" goals, is it not better to serve yourself, your family and your fellow man? I would dare say it was better in Dr. King's eyes, and it certainly is far better in God's eyes.

Today, I sit in my office, at work. I work to better my company, to better myself and to better my family. I give voice to that work, and am proud to do so. That is how I serve. I am certain Dr. King would applaud my service.

And you? How do you serve?

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In the early-to-mid 90s, the Pentagon considered deploying a number of non-lethal chemical weapons, according to newly-declassified documents.

Most bizarre among the plans was one for the development of an "aphrodisiac" chemical weapon that would make enemy soldiers sexually irresistible to each other. Provoking widespread homosexual behaviour among troops would cause a "distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale, the proposal says.

Other ideas included chemical weapons that attract swarms of enraged wasps or angry rats to troop positions, making them uninhabitable. Another was to develop a chemical that caused "severe and lasting halitosis", making it easy to identify guerrillas trying to blend in with civilians. There was also the idea of making troops' skin unbearably sensitive to sunlight.

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1 They really don't need a new reason, do they?

Posted by: david at January 14, 2005 01:08 AM (Vv/3u)

2 That's hilarious! These all sound like Monty Python skits.

Posted by: oddbrian at January 14, 2005 04:45 AM (xH7dl)

3 This is the sort of stuff that happens when you pay people to just brainstorm, and write down and consider everything they say at least somewhat seriously. I mean, look at what we're studying in all seriousness. Using sound as a weapon. Shooting down artillery shells with lasers. I'm sure that we have invasion plans for Canada and mexico in some filing cabinet in the pentagon. PsyOps does all sorts of wierd stuff. Some of it works, some of it doesn't. Alot of it is one-shot.

Posted by: Firethorn at January 14, 2005 07:47 AM (BPXQB)

4 What -- you mean the Canadian invasion plan isn't serious!? Dammit.

Posted by: McGehee at January 16, 2005 05:36 AM (S504z)

5 I didn't say that the planned invasion of Canada wasn't serious. I'm sure that the group that planned it was very serious. Though I bet it's on the low probability list.

Posted by: Firethorn at January 16, 2005 09:42 PM (BPXQB)

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Ted Kennedy flubbed Osama Bin Laden's name in an interview this week, substituting freshman Senator Barak Obama's name instead.

"Osama bin Â… Osama Â… Obama."

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Figures...

How 'bout you? How nerdy are you?

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My children attend schools in Cobb County, GA (makes sense, since I live in Cobb), and have been affected (for what it's worth) by the stickers placed in science textbooks. The stickers have a single paragraph on them: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."

A federal judge in Atlanta has ordered the stickers to be removed from the textbooks, indicating that they are unconstitutional.

In a ruling issued today, U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper said the stickers violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

"Adopted by the school board, funded by the money of taxpayers, and inserted by school personnel, the sticker conveys an impermissible message of endorsement and tells some citizens that they are political outsiders while telling others they are political insiders," Cooper wrote in a 44-page decision.

The stickers send "a message that the school board agrees with the beliefs of Christian fundamentalists and creationists," Cooper said. "The school board has effectively improperly entangled itself with religion by appearing to take a position. Therefore, the sticker must be removed from all of the textbooks into which it has been placed."

The lawsuit challenging the disclaimers, which call evolution a "theory, not a fact," was brought by six parents who believed the disclaimers violated the principle of separation between church and state. Cooper heard three days of testimony, plus closing arguments, last November.

There are far better things that my tax dollars should be spent on in the Cobb County schools than slapping in or yanking out stickers to satisfy the whims of overzealous school board members or judges.

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Britian's Prince Harry, in a brainless show of monumental proportions, donned a Nazi uniform for a costume party last week. The photo showed up on the front page of London's Sun newspaper this morning.

The prince had intended to go to a military college this fall, but this may put a kybosh on Harry's military plans.

Labour backbencher and former armed forces minister Doug Henderson said the incident demonstrated that the prince was unfit to train as a British Army officer at Sandhurst.

"If it was anyone else the application wouldn't be considered. It should be withdrawn immediately," Henderson said.

"A quick way of nipping it in the bud is for Harry to make it clear he has withdrawn his application for Sandhurst," he told Sky TV.

Harry is due to begin training at the elite Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst later this year.

Harry is third in line for the British throne, behind his father, Prince Charles, and his older brother, Prince William.

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Don King is suing ESPN for $2.5 billion, claiming defamation of character.

The suit stems from a SportsCentury segment aired last year that called King "a snake oil salesman, a shameless huckster and worse," and claimed he had killed two people, instead of the one that he was convicted of.

Most of the material in the program had been printed or broadcast earlier about King, who has spent much of his career in court, but he said he had just had enough.

"I just felt that this was the straw that broke the camel's back and I can't take it anymore, and I'm going to fight back," King said at a news conference. "I seek justice."

The suit also says SportsCentury accused King of threatening to break the legs of heavyweight Larry Holmes and of cheating boxer Meldrick Taylor out of $1 million from a fight and then threatening to have Taylor killed.

King has represented fighters from Ali to Mike Tyson, and has been sued by several of them — including a $100 million lawsuit filed against him by Tyson. King paid $7.5 million to former middleweight champion Terry Norris in late 2003 to settle a suit. King sued former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis for libel.

King also has beaten federal charges, including tax evasion and fraud. He served nearly four years in prison for the 1967 beating death of a man who owed him money. In 1954, he killed a man who was robbing a numbers house he operated in Cleveland, but it was ruled self-defense.

It also shows what everyone already apparently knows: that King is a shyster and showman cut from the P.T. Barnum mold.

More recently, King has become a Republican and much to the chagrin of many Republicans of all stripes (but most especially getting the goat of black Republicans), King was part of a Republican outreach program that toured the nation last summer during the Presidential campaign.

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Michelle Malkin gives the rest of us a glimpse into her mailbag today.

I thought I got lots of hate mail (indeed I do), but she gets plenty more, and just as juicy as what I get, too.

UPDATE: I'm not the only one who noticed. LaShawn & Baldilocks are just plain indignant about it, while DarkStar asks, "What makes her so special?"

I can't argue that -- Like I said, some of my hate mail would make the walls blister as well. And I'm sure most of us have received our share.

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'Nuff said.

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Judge Michael Chertoff, the man who headed the Senate's Whitewater investigation has been tapped to head up the Department of Homeland Security.

Chertoff will replace the original choice of the White House, Bernard Kerik, who withdrew his name last month amid the emergence of his having employed an illegal alien as a nanny.

Chertoff has an extensive background in prosecuting terrorism-related cases, and in working with the FBI.

He was the head of the Justice Department's criminal division from 2001 to 2003 until made an appeals court judge in 2003. As the administration's top anti-terrorism prosecutor during that time, he dealt with how to handle illegal immigrations involved in possible terrorism cases, and was involved in prosecuting such high-profile cases as that of Zacarias Moussaoui.

Chertoff has also worked on combatting cybercrime and was a member of former Attorney General Janet Reno's Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys. He earned his law degree from Harvard University.

During more than 10 years as a federal prosecutor in Newark and Manhattan, Chertoff pursued political corruption, health care fraud, bank fraud and savings-and-loan fraud.

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In the same vein as LandoverBaptist.org and Betty "I'm A Better Christian Than You" Bowers, comes the apparently fictional Jesus Christ Superstore. The primary item up for "sale" are action figures for all the world's major religions.

The Christian section includes figures of "God Almighty," complete with Kingdom-Come Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle and wearing the "Hallowed cloak of invulnerability." There are also figures of "The Pope" (with Holy Cross Kali sticks, 'Meek and Mild' Walther PPK handgun and wearing his blood red Vatican Assault uniform) and Jesus Christ (includes Ninja-Messiah throwing nails and Death Killer-Cross pump action over-under shotgun).

Christians aren't the only ones these folks have gone after. Buddhists (Buddha, with Fighting Staff of Meditation, Magnum66 automatic Nirvana pistol, and Invincible Holy Orange Cape of Enlightenment; and Dalhi Lama, with 'Tibetan terror'AK-12 automatic machine pistol, Magnum66 automatic Nirvana pistol (complete with transcendental silencer), also fire and forget self-enlightening laser), Hindus (Krishna, with 'Jungly Colt' 45 pistol and laser sighted automatic 'Ganesh-garnish' S&W with silencer; and Shiva, In Four-Armed warrior incarnation with Untouchable-Toucher Uzi automatic), Jews (Chief Rabbi, with 'Kosher Kill' sniper automatic handgun and Jehova mklll silencer, also Staff of the Vengeful God), and even the vaunted 'religion of peace' (The Ayatollah, with Holy Struggle SZ-924 stun gun, 'Pokem' harpoon pistol and wearing Kohmeni Midnight Warrior yashmak; "Islamic Jihad," with Smith and Islamabad SLR rifle with 'Holy Vision' laser sight and plastic explosives included; and Allah, represented by an empty box and the caption "He who may not be shown") are shown.

Each figure has a caption above it, from "Cosmic Warrior and lover of many women" above the Krishna figure to "His is the kingdom, the power and the glory" above the God Almighty figure. Some of them might be considered to be out of line ("the father, the son, and the bad motherf..." over the Jesus Christ figure), but I'm guessing that this is the "next" religious satire site to try to offend everybody. After all, their overall slogan is "Putting the fun back into fundamentalism and laughter into sectarian slaughter."

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The Rathergate report is out, and CBS News has dumped four employees (including infamous 60 Minutes producer Mary Mapes) in it's wake.

Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush's National Guard service.

The action was prompted by the report of an independent panel that concluded that CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece. The panel also said CBS News had compounded that failure with "rigid and blind" defense of the 60 Minutes Wednesday report.

Asked to resign were Senior Vice President Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs; 60 Minutes Wednesday Executive Producer Josh Howard; and HowardÂ’s deputy, Senior Broadcast Producer Betsy West. The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was terminated.

The full "independent report" is online for your perusal in PDF format.

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Reaction to the Armstrong Williams-Department of Education scandal was swift and furious over the weekend, as I wasn't the only one to make a lot of noise on the issue (LaShawn Barber, Michelle Malkin, Rob Bernard, DC Thornton, Amy Ridenour, Sisu, Nate Livingston, Expertise, Booker Rising, Eduwonk, Wizbang, The American Prospect's Tapped column, Powerline & others too numerous to mention).

In the wake of Friday's revelations, Tribune Media Services, who syndicated his column to newspapers nationally, abruptly dropped his column, and most likely, his television show, The Right Side with Armstrong Williams (syndicated on Sinclair stations and aired nationally on cable/satellite networks TVOne and The Liberty Channel) will be cancelled as well. No word on his radio show, which airs on a handful of stations across the nation.

Williams was apologetic in this morning's column, appearing on TownHall.com.

I understand that I exercised bad judgment in running paid advertising for an issue that I frequently write about in my column. People need to know that my column is uncorrupted by any outside influences. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for my bad judgment, and to better explain the circumstances.

The fact is, I run a small business. I am CEO and manage the syndication and advertising for my television show. In between juggling my commentaries and media appearances, I stepped over the line. This has never happened before. In fact, my company has never worked on a government contract. Nor have we ever received compensation for an issue that I subsequently reported on. This will never happen again. I now realize that I have to create inseparable boundaries between my role as a small businessman and my role as an independent commentator.

I accept full responsibility for my lack of good judgment. I am paying the price. Tribune Media has cancelled my column. And I have learned a valuable lesson. I just want to assure you that this will never happen again, and to ask for your forgiveness.

But at the same time, when ethical lines are crossed, I will call people on them. Period.

Many on the conservative side of the coin have railed on about people like Bill Moyers receiving tax monies to promote a political agenda in the past, yet those same voices are silent now.

The bottom line is that wrong is wrong.

I appreciate Williams' apology this morning, and his stock certainly rises a bit as a result. He has owned up to his mistake and is willing to move forward. I, too, am willing to move forward, and while I can certainly forgive his shortcoming in this case, I cannot ignore it.

I stand by my statement of Friday, when I indicated that his word would be suspect in the future.

While his apology appears genuine, only his actions as time moves forward will tell me if he truly has learned his lesson and is worth listening to again.

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Armstrong Williams has admitted getting paid to the tune of $240,000 by the Bush Administration to promote the Administration's No Child Left Behind legislation in his syndicated column, on his radio and television shows and to "encourage" other blacks in the media to do the same.

The campaign, part of an effort to promote No Child Left Behind (NCLB), required commentator Armstrong Williams "to regularly comment on NCLB during the course of his broadcasts," and to interview Education Secretary Rod Paige for TV and radio spots that aired during the show in 2004.

The contract, detailed in documents obtained by USA Today through a Freedom of Information Act request, also shows that the Education Department, through the Ketchum public relations firm, arranged with Williams to use contacts with America's Black Forum, a group of black broadcast journalists, "to encourage the producers to periodically address" NCLB. He persuaded radio and TV personality Steve Harvey to invite Paige onto his show twice. Harvey's manager, Rushion McDonald, confirmed the appearances.

Williams said he does not recall disclosing the contract to audiences on the air but told colleagues about it when urging them to promote NCLB.

Williams' contract was part of a $1 million deal with Ketchum that produced "video news releases" designed to look like news reports. The Bush administration used similar releases last year to promote its Medicare prescription drug plan, prompting a scolding from the Government Accountability Office, which called them an illegal use of taxpayers' dollars.

We constantly come under scrutiny by others from both sides of the aisle, from some conservatives who are wary of our presence, and by many liberals who insist that we are "on the take" or "reaching for scraps from 'Massa's' table." We constantly have to prove that we are not some sort of 'spook sitting by the door' when Armstrong comes along and not only accepts taxpayer money, but doesn't see anything truly wrong with it!

Williams said Thursday he understands that critics could find the arrangement unethical, but "I wanted to do it because it's something I believe in."

My God! You mean to tell me that if you believe in something, no matter how illegal or wrong it may be, it's OK, because you believe in it!?

If Williams believed in NCLB so much, then he didn't need to be paid to tell folks about it in what was supposed to be a forum of his own opinion.

This calls into question any and all pundits that appear on behalf of the Bush Administration on television, radio and in print across the board. When those on the left call commentators on Fox News into question for being "paid operatives" what sort of defense is there? After all, Armstrong Williams claimed to be his own man, yet was a paid operative of the Bush White House.

Well, I can tell you with complete certainty that the folks that I know and associate with on the right aren't paid by the Administration. On the contrary. If I were, I wouldn't be scraping to get by like everyone else.

Armstrong's entire message becomes suspect as far as I'm concerned, though. And as far as I'm concerned, he becomes "damaged goods" in terms of any sort of conservative black message.

Just damn.

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Major League Baseball's Angels now have a new name: "The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim."

The team, most recently known as the Anaheim Angels, continues to play their games in Anaheim's Angel Stadium. But the name change was supposed to reflect the team's representation of the entire Los Angeles area.

The inclusion of Los Angeles reflects the original expansion name awarded by Major League Baseball in December 1960 and again returns the Angels as Major League Baseball's American League representative in the Greater Los Angeles territory that Major League Baseball expects the team to serve.

The Los Angeles region, which is comprised of Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties, is the second largest media market in the country. This name change will strengthen the Angels' long-term economic health by enhancing the marketability through this metropolitan area and beyond.

Not surprisingly, the city has taken the team to court.

An Orange County (CA) Superior Court judge is expected to rule on a temporary restraining order later today.

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