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...is that, cool video games aside , it's designed so that you can't win .

Considering all that has happened to the people there, it's amazing that New Orleans can still manage to work up a protest about something like this . Then again, they have good reason . How long before critics start calling this a " Catholic Tax ?" That's one way to take the edge off . Nowadays, it's not about how well a sequel does as much as how it helps the franchise (see: Land Before Time ).

(I said that Harry Potter was going all WB after Goblet of Fire , but I was joking . Seriously; WTF is this?) Only if Lex Luthor comes back, Mr. Welling . Pardon me . I've always had a soft-spot for evil Redheads . Sad but true . Also sad but true . One last "goodbye" to LOST . Then again ... Batman has been through his share of interesting crossovers . Mood Killers . Of any Brad Pitt incarnation you could copy, why do the scruffy one ? In case you didn't know: Power Girl is the DC Comics Superhero with big boobs .

So I just figured out this page has been up for awhile. Kinda crazy when you consider most non-community blogs tend to die off before now. So I guess, "Yay?"

So much for a united voice on this issue ; 40 Democrats voted no .

Not one professional sports team from the D.C./Maryland/Virginia area is on Forbes' list for worst teams .

Who called CNN? If you did, you were close: they played a song with the word in a story involving an able-bodied 103 black woman . However, this wasn't a pundit or expert or political bobble-head, it was a song. At worst you can accuse the sound/music guy or the producer. But this does put CNN in the running as the network that will air someone using that word live.

"We're saying, 'We're shoving this down your throat, we don't care.' " -- Rep Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), on the House's decision to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

“ We will immediately deliver a physical strike at anyone intruding across our maritime demarcation line .” "It may help the suicide situation, because we workers just need money and the financial pressure on us is great ." “He really should like buy a ticket to, if he wants to demonstrate, buy a ticket to a guy who doesn’t support his point of view .” “It means a lot for him. I think for him emotionally, it’s a big boost. … Once I released the ball, I saw Ron sneaking in . I was just hoping that he got it off in time.” “It’s quite a roller coaster. It’s difficult to be optimistic or pessimistic. We have not stopped the flow .’’

"... things that have happened regarding every political issue since Bill Clinton's second term."

"We can't leave here unless we address that issue ." “Where we were headed was not a mystery to anyone immersed in health care. We were getting paid to have people in the hospital and the part of that which was waste was under the gun. These young doctors, coming into a highly dysfunctional environment, had an affinity for working on processes and redesigning systems .” "I'm not worried about his health, he looks healthy. He cries and throws tantrums when we don't let him smoke. He's addicted ." “ I was really dumbfounded by it . I thought I did everything right.” “Claims remain the conundrum in the employment picture. They remain elevated, while the vast majority of data point to an improving labor market. Not all industries or sectors are seeing the full benefit of the recovery yet .”

Obama meets with Senate GOP , Republicans angry that he won't just quit and give them all the power. Scott Brown continues his attempt to be the new GOP "maverick." Award-winning teacher has her students dress up and Ku Klux Klan members . North vs South , the Korean version. Been awhile since we had a story of twins brutally killing their parent , so we were due.

Slate is messing with our heads , but for a reason.

When kids sang about Obama, it's bad; when the Governor of VA brings the NRA to fifth graders, it's A-OK .

" Such an approach recognizes the critical need to allow our military and their families the full opportunity to inform and shape the implementation process through a thorough understanding of their concerns, insights and suggestions." "[The investigation] is always open. If more information comes through , we can pursue anything." “I thought everybody wanted to win the game. I thought everybody showed up to win the game. But I think at times, when you have a chance to do something — close out a series or win a big game — each guy tries to do it themselves .’’ "A huge population saw the consequences and carnage onscreen...because pregnancy is sensitive to stressors. I wondered whether pregnant women might have a physiological reaction to witnessing harm ." “There’s more than enough work to go around. The real key is coordination . That typically works well, and if problems arise, they get settled.”

Awesome .

Since this is the last call, let's break with the standard format and jump straight into the goodie-bag . Let's talk about the good, the bad and the ugly . Like I've said before: Miles was hands down the luckiest character on that damn show . Kate a close second and Lapidus third. I don't count characters like Hurley and Ben because they had established connections. The Battle for the Island : stretched-out yet still worth watching. Especially because I was trying to get an idea of what Ben was going to do, how Desmond was going to sacrifice himself, the special trick that was going to make Smokey vulnerable, and what role characters like Sawyer and Richard would play. On that note, it's interesting to see that in the end, the Island has been "reset," implying that a lot of things (namely the "rules" that govern the Island) can be changed with the changing of the guard. Really, everything that happened from the unplugging to the re-plugging

Well, duh .

"I believe it's common knowledge, and it’s been in the press that he had a slight heart attack a week from Brittany's death coming back from Puerto Rico ." “ It seems as if permits were too often issued based on little more than assurances of safety from the oil companies .” “Michael Bay I love your work! I know what a (sic) artistic brilliant genius you are! Cast me in the next Transformers .” "Previous estimates had shown child deaths falling slowly and neonatal deaths nearly at a standstill ." "It happens. Win some, you lose some ." “ Regular-old Joe Six-pack has been drowned out for a long time . The court made a bad system intolerable.’’

And some other people seem to like it too .

(Link via ) Christ, what an asshole . Hot and smart ; if they loved sports and video games I'd say they were perfect. Muslim-American wins Miss USA, Right Wing goes crazy . That's the way it's always been done around here . A pretty good collection of Magneto stories . Never assume .

Pretty cool stuff .

This is a good example of something the Republicans should be complaining about, yet won't because it's not politically expedient for them. Speaks volumes about the GOP, as well as this crazy media-induced notion that the Obama White House is super-duper liberal. And kudos to C&L for not having "But their Democrats!" blinder.

Quidditch is a dirty, filthy game that should not be viewed by anyone at all, let alone children. Let's start with the obvious: The game is played by having each player climb on top of a long wooden shaft. Then everyone rides their shafts around, trying to "beat off" the other shafts flying all over the place and chasing balls around the field. There's also something called the golden snatch-excuse us, "snitch." A few talented young boys try to find this special tiny thing, which is hard to find, but makes women squeal with delight when you grab it. What kind of author is J.K. Rowling that she'd try to convince impressionable children that the mythical G-spot actually exists? -- via Cracked.com, describing one of the reasons Harry Potter may not necessarily be for kids .

Someone with some credibility is vouching for that James-quit-because-his-teammate-was-shagging-his-mom thing.

“I hope he can separate the theoretical and the interesting and the hypothetical questions that college students debate until 2 a.m. from the actual votes we have to cast based on real legislation here .” " This is the first self-replicating species that we've had on the planet whose parent is a computer." " We really wanted to find something useful , because right now there are not a lot of good treatments out there for fatigue." “The recession we’re emerging from was primarily caused by a lack of responsibility and accountability from Wall Street to Washington .’’ “Let me be clear: this will not, and cannot be, business as usual. There must be an international, not just a regional, but an international response .”

And by nostalgia I mean they hired Doug Collins .

Justin Bieber get a nomination for nest new artist... in the BET Awards .

Jason Whitlock lays the bad play of Phoenix and Orlando on the feet of Amar'e Stoudemire and Dwight Howard, respectively: These guys are clueless. They’re the most talented and important players on their teams and they have the maturity level of 13-year-olds. They set a terrible tone for their teams. Howard just wants to have fun. Stoudemire just wants to score points. Neither is interested in giving a playoff-level defensive effort. You don’t learn how to play great defense in summer/AAU basketball. You don’t learn how to compete at a championship level in AAU basketball. Before summer basketball replaced high school hoops as the most important training ground for a teenage baller, kids used to be taught how to compete, how to accept coaching and that important games pitting equally talented players are most often decided at the defensive end. Howard and Stoudemire are full-blooded AAU Babies. They were raised in the era where the penalty for a high school ph

Comics Alliance has more .

The Problem With The GOP Is That It Isn't Right-Wing Enough . Yikes.

who happens to be a CEO of a major hotel chain.

"This act of aggression is one more instance of North Korea's unacceptable behavior and defiance of international law." "It would take me about two and a half weeks to be finished completely, so I think it should go well ." “This survey should not be a substitute for making a decision to repeal the policy.’’ “ I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do . Which is a problem, because I might have to do something else.”

Megan Fox won't be in Transformers 3 . This works for both parties: Transformers is, in part, about big honking' robots beating the shit out of each other while us puny humans try not to get squashed or vaporized. It's also about showing how despite their technological advancements, Autobots and Decepticons have noticeable human characteristics. You got a sense of both in the first movie; the second one? Not so much. Part of that was because the director decided to include Jar-Jar Binks-like robots, but part of it was also due to the movie dealing with non-Transformer-related issues like Sam trying to have a web cam date with his girlfriend. A single Sam is a more compelling character, and the franchise will be better for it. Fox got what she wanted out of this: exposure. She can now pretty much have her pic of projects, and unlike most celebrities who are known more for their looks that their acting ability, she didn't have to star in a reality show or "accidental

But in a suggestive-yet-not-quite-pornographic way .

Because see: we have the alternate reality and then the actual reality. Here's TPM take on last night's primary elections : In Kentucky, the national Republican Party backed the wrong candidate in not one but two primaries. The Democrats managed to hold on to Rep. John Murtha's old seat in Pennsylvania. And while Sen. Arlen Specter is no longer a Republican, his defeat by Rep. Joe Sestak in the Democratic primary means the GOP nominee will face, perhaps, a much stronger opponent than the beleaguered Specter would have been. It was a rough night for the Republicans. No one suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune more than Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. His hand-picked candidate was trounced by tea partier Rand Paul in the Kentucky Senate primary. McConnell's pick, Trey Grayson, only got 35% of the vote despite his party's backing. Grayson even lost in his home county . Got that? The GOP establishment picked losers who lost. Yes, Arlen Specte

“ I can't deny the pictures, obviously people can see them .” "...far too soon to recommend the general use of vaccinia immunization for fighting HIV ." “ The purpose of sanctions is to bring the Iranian side to the negotiating table.” "The ratings for my program are not where I would like them to be ... The simple fact is that not enough people want to watch my program ." “ Having a baby is a great psychological transition that can bring great joy and great stress for some people that can transform into depression . Excessive worry gets turned up way too high and it gets out of control and becomes an illness.” “I told my coaches we would know who we were at halftime. I didn’t know if we were going to win the game or not, but I knew we were going to be in it because you could see that we had great focus .’’

A very interesting episode . Not too exciting, but not too mundane either. I could have watched Ben Linus and Miles bicker back-and-forth for another half hour. I was have expecting Jack so-far-unknown wife, not Claire, to show up at the breakfast table. I totally suspected that Linus would sell his soul for another shot at running the Island. I didn't think we'd get a group meeting headed by Jacob. All and all, it was a decent balance of revelation and suspense: we learned enough to be satisfied for what is now a LOST TV movie on Sunday, yet it's not like the next two-and-a-half hours will be fluff. REVELATIONS The biggest one of all was Jacob's rationale for bringing everyone to the Island: they were flawed people missing something in their lives, and he was hoping that by bringing them to the Island they would find something to make them whole. X-world Desmond has connections with the LA Police Department, namely our favorite trigger-happy cop, Ana-Lucia. Desmond th

As the story goes, he found out that his mom was, um, " dating " one of his teammates. When I first hear the "Shaq & Gilbert's fiance" rumors, I was like, " Man, does this type of stuff happen in the NBA or just to Wizard players? " Turns out that it might be the former.

"Just being aggressive, playing my game . Got shots, took them. Got lanes to the basket, took them." “ This defendant seriously undermined the integrity of the competitive admissions process, compromised the reputation of some of the finest educators and educational institutions in the country, and cheated those who competed honestly for what he fraudulently received .’’ “I served during the Vietnam era. I remember the taunts, the insults, sometimes even physical abuse.” " I feel like I dropped the ball on the legacy that people loved and cherished ."

Not when he goes around claiming that business have shrunk over the last 30 years .

Such " unruly behavior " indeed; and what's this about wrecking a slavery museum ?

“I was in bed. There was a big explosion near my room. I went out of the room, other people did too and at that moment the wall outside was hit by bullets .” " The world's transformed only if we turn to each and every one of our brothers and sisters and see the face of Christ superimposed on them . The ones we disagree with most are the ones we're obligated to share our lives and teach the most." "If these results can be confirmed by further research, this suggests that strategies aimed at reducing dietary fat intake may be useful in managing asthma ." “It’s tough any time you have to sit around. Especially at this time of year when you know you have a pretty good formula for how you have been playing basketball and everybody has a great rhythm.’’ "That's the same look that he gives them when he says, ' You're hired .'"

A robot can perform a heterosexual ceremony in Japan , and America still has a problem allowing gays and lesbians to get hitched?

Stay Thirsty, my friends . Iron Man in 20 . 'Nuff said . Donald Trump's hair is real . Oh; it's going to happen . AutoFAIL . One of the cheapest natural cleaners out there . I may actually pick up a comic book after all this time . Danica McKellar . Oh, how the Republican Party has changed .

Gospel singers were robbing churches . Plural . Pat Buchanan thinks that with Kagan confirmed American Jews will have too much representation on the Supreme Court . Nine (former) members of the Department of Education were caught trying to access President Obama's student loan records .

NBC puts the once-promising show out of it's misery .

Warner Bros. is playing hardball in order to keep Superman .

One gets caught selling crack cocaine , the other swindles friends out of a total of $1 m .

C&L has the story here .

( pic via ). “I know it sounds crazy, but I thought we were phenomenal in training camp. I thought we looked better in training camp than we did two years ago, quite honestly. As a team, I thought we were close, we started out great and then obviously we fell apart with injuries and all kinds of other issues, but you could see that everybody wanted to get back . It was tough the last three weeks of the season because we had to make a choice.’’ " I think it is shocking that we don't have a much higher proportion of our children . . . in excellent, quality child care." “ Metro’s performance has been outstanding .” "I was like, that's really creepy. I haven't logged in. I didn't give it permission . I didn't do anything." " Small businesses and their customers will be able to keep more of their own money . Making sure small businesses can grow and prosper is vital to putting our country back on solid economic footing."

None of these women will ever look at their husbands/boyfriends/lovers again .

After 85 years, the comic strip is calling it quits ...as far as newspapers are concerned, anyway.

" We want peace but they want war. Come and get in. We will fight with our bare hands. We will stay ." “I think increasingly you will see a sprinkling of these kinds of churches all over most metro areas. I don’t think it’s going to be the dominant model, but . . . alongside the standard white-bread congregation and the all-immigrant congregation, there will be this growing mixture of diverse congregations : the pan-Asian, pan-African, and truly multiracial and multiethnic.’’ “These stats suggest that racial disparities in who gets stopped has more to do with officer bias and discretion than with crime rates , which is what the Police Department argues.” " About 60 to 70 percent of people taking these drugs have mild heartburn and shouldn't be on them ." “She has served in a number of elite legal jobs where decision makers were exposed to her exceptional legal acumen. If you work with her, you realize you’re working with a brilliant lawyer, and a lot

Good luck with that .

Whether you liked it , hated it, or gained some kind of insight from it , last night's episode was definitely a classic LOST story. And despite the snark, Mother's comment to her soon-to-be victim rang true: the more questions this show answers, the more questions will be raised. Why? Because the only way we'll truly know everything is by going to the absolute beginning. And as "The Phantom Menace" proved, sometimes you can go back too far . So for the sake of the show, LOST begins with "Mother" finding Claudia, helping her give birth, and than pulling a " Taking Lives " by assuming Claudia's natural role as the matriarch. The new family plays "The Blue Lagoon" until it's revealed that there are more people on the Island (even back then people thought they could just kick their shoes off and make themselves home) and Mother has to deal with it as only she knows how. REVELATIONS (DISCOVERIES) Jacob and the MIB are twins. &q

"I don't know why he did it ....I hadn't heard that he was mentally ill. He wasn't poor either." "Their three-person relationship formed the bedrock for the conspiracy ." “There seems to be an emerging consensus that it’s time to move on .” “That’s the beauty of our team. It makes us so dangerous. When you look at Cleveland, you know you’ve got to stop LeBron. With us, we’ve got four or five guys who can lead us in scoring . You never know where it’s going to come from and that’s what makes us so dangerous — different guys stepping up different nights.’’ "I have also been informed that one 8-year-old child has survived , which given this tragic event, is truly a miracle."

What you thought we wouldn't notice these two very similar movies because they're being released three weeks apart ? The plot for " Killers :" While on vacation with her parents, Jennifer Kornfeldt ( Katherine Heigl ) meets Spencer Aimes ( Ashton Kutcher ), a good looking single man. The two soon fall in love and continue their relationship back home, rushing into a quick marriage. Jen thinks she has found the perfect man, but she doesn't know Spencer actually works for the CIA and often spends his days chasing and killing criminals. Their life is about to take a turn for worse when they discover one of their friends is actually contracted to kill the couple . The plot for " Knight and Day :" Miller (Cruise) is a secret agent who goes on a blind date with unlucky-in-love June Havens (Diaz), and ends up pulling her into a serious yet comedic journey to protect a powerful battery that holds the key to an infinite power source. In other words : c

Goes to show that not everyone's perfect . SYDNEY (AFP) – An Australian physicist has uncovered an error in dictionary definitions that has likely stood uncorrected for a century. University of Queensland academic Stephen Hughes found that entries for the word 'siphon' incorrectly said atmospheric pressure is the force that allows the device to move liquids from one place to another. "It is gravity that moves the fluid in a siphon, with the water in the longer downward arm pulling the water up the shorter arm," he said. "An extensive check of online and offline dictionaries did not reveal a single dictionary that correctly referred to gravity being the operative force in a siphon," he added. Hughes, whose fields of study include astronomy, meteors, planets and the moon, said he first found the error in the Oxford English Dictionary last year.

The Goldman Sachs thing translated for those who may still be a tad confused.

"What can I say about the finale? I have to say I'm a little bit hesitant to use adjectives when I talk about the finale because I see so many things." “ It strikes me that if a nominee does not have judicial experience, they should have substantial litigation experience.’’ “ I personally talked a lot of mothers out of giving up their children .” " We're a playoff team and they're a championship team . They're just better than we are." " The foremost message for these high-risk groups remains that they should work to control their modifiable traditional risk factors -- blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, smoking." “ The debt crisis will change the nature of European monetary union . The euro zone has moved away from a monetary union and towards a transfer union.” "It probably wasn't my best idea. I'm sorry for everything that happened . ... I had no idea my individual score would mess so much with team score

Now that we know who Obama's Supreme Court is , let's just address some of the myths that are being prepared.

" Before Herschel , it was not clear how the material in the Milky Way came together in high enough densities and at sufficiently low temperatures to form stars." "The political atmosphere obviously has been toxic, and it's very clear that some of the votes that I have cast have added to the toxic environment ." “Then, we were at a tipping point in the right direction. Now I’m afraid we’re at a tipping point in the wrong direction .” " But I have to say, Class of 2010, all of you have a separate responsibility . To be role models for your brothers and sisters. To be mentors in your communities. And, when the time comes, to pass that sense of an education's value down to your children, a sense of personal responsibility and self-respect." "We want to block it off to where the oil doesn't get into the marsh areas. What they're trying to do is just prevent . I know it's still east of here but they're just trying to do

Nope. Not jealous. Not jealous at all . Some people really like Iron Man . "X-Men: First Class" gets their director . Pokemon are either weapons that must be harnessed or creatures that must be destroyed . Eric Cantor is a loser . It's getting harder and harder for men to find work . Guys: always make sure she's satisfied .

It's not a holiday for everyone .

" Ignorance is not an excuse to an individual's age ." " So what if I touched her ?" "They're invading their old territories in a remarkable way in Canada . I found huge dams throughout Canada , and beaver colonies with up to 100 of them in a square kilometer." “Today’s cars are more and more complex and the technology is growing more sophisticated. We must make sure the safety and oversight of these vehicles advances, too .” “Citizenship is a cherished right and we can’t have Congress deciding at the spur of the moment to strip citizenship. Any United States citizen can be prosecuted to the limits of the law . They could be prosecuted for treason, up to the death penalty. . . . What more could you want than that?’’ " You can be less than mediocre and be a movie star ."

There; I saved you about five minutes of your life .

You see, she had to apologize : Andrews has a bigger sympathy base, she's on a more popular show and her and Hasselbeck are technically co-workers (both "The View" and "DWTS" are on the same network and Disney owns ABC and ESPN where Andrews works). It's not all good in Britain right now . Cops deserve more money ; you want them to get a stipend from organized crime? They always want to practice first . Because male prostitutes are very experienced at carrying luggage , that's why. If your spouse has dementia, odds are you do too .

( pic via ) Wow . Just wow. Jack's comment, "There is no Sayid " says it all. And as of the end of the episode, you can probably say the same of Sun, Jin and Frank. I could go into the off-Island flash-ways, but there wasn't as much there as there was in the "real" world. Well, except for the fact that (once again) Jack's obsession with fixing things leads to embarrassment . Anyway; as questionable as events were , we learned that there are now three candidates (Jack, Hurley and Sawyer) three wild cards (Kate, Miles and Claire) and three "protectors" (Richard and Ben) left. At this point, the wild cards and the "protectors" are still expendable, but something tells me at least two of them will do something awesome before the series finale. DISCOVERIES Smokey knows how to rig explosives; I just find this interesting considering his smashing Zoe's radio seemed to indicate that he wasn't a fan of technology. Whatever his final

" This rally was double the size of the largest rally that has ever been held in Greece...tomorrow afternoon, we will also be holding a protest in front of Parliament, and if the government does not listen, there will be more strike action next week." "I think it'd be great. I don't have to worry about [my patients] being arrested ." "He defended me from a lot of dangers and problems. He was a shield to me, a protector ." “That’s pretty much the game plan for how we’re going to have to beat this team . We’re going to have to do it together and collectively.’’ "A part of their healing will be getting our students back into some of their routines. In the case of the women's and men's programs, our lacrosse teams will honor Yeardley by continuing their seasons ." " I'm the one designing @ErinAndrewsESPN's dresses for the show, so I'll just assume that @ehasselbeck is jealous... and stupid (for) her comments ."

Long Story = Short: That cool Iron Man movie may not have had a completed script .

Someone coming out, that is . Actually, you could make the same case for other forms of music (rock, hip-hip, R&B) as well. Other than pop music (which seems to thrive off of sexual ambiguity) most of the other genres tend to lean toward having their artists portray a straight persona.

Some of the episodes of Transformers and G.I. Joe were a little weird.

“I know when you win your first two at home the first thing you tell your team is, ‘That’s what they’re thinking [the series hasn’t started].’ Even though, that’s not what they’re thinking . They’re thinking, ‘We’ve got to win the next game.’ ’’ "When we started this study, I really suspected that we might find that the obesity or overweight might not be the driving force. What we found is that it didn't matter. No matter how good your social skills, if you were overweight or obese you were more likely to be bullied ." "[Lieberman] told me that [going independent] is the most liberating thing . He was right. I'm much happier now, to be perfectly candid." " Clearly it was the intent of whoever did this to cause mayhem, to create casualties ." (P.S.: more info here .) “The oil that is still leaking from the well could seriously damage the economy and the environment of our gulf states and it could extend for a long time. It could jeopardize the live

"You don’t have to fuck every goat on the farm to be a goat fucker as long as the only thing you fuck are goats." -- Tintin, referring to yet another Red State blogger attempting to apply faulty logic to not-too-subtle racism .

( via ) Kirkpatrick Swazyerussell . Dating profiles that get attention . Celebrity video game cameos . The "Iron Man 2" cast chats it up . The Teen Queens of TV . The toilet paper bandit . How do you sleep ?