Happy Birthday, Monicagate!

An anniversary we’d all rather forget.By Timothy Noah
Posted Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008, at 7:00 PM ET

Bill Clinton
The press loves anniversaries of big public events because they’re predictable, a quality seldom found in the news. Coverage can be planned in advance. Stories can be written, laid out, and put to bed without any worry that later developments will compel revisions. Sputnik is turning 50? Let’s cover it. The only thing it can possibly do while we’re not looking is turn 51.Given this predisposition, I find it worth studying the rare instances when the press accords a significant anniversary little attention. In November 2006, I offered a few tentative thoughts about why the 20^th anniversary of the Iran-Contra scandal went largely ignored. Today, let’s consider the 10^th anniversary of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.It was 10 years ago on Jan. 12 that Linda Tripp notified Whitewater Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr’s office that she had audiotapes of Monica Lewinsky telling her that she’d had an affair with President Bill Clinton, and that he’d urged her to lie if asked about it under oath. (For the full chronology, click here.) Ten years ago on Jan. 13, Tripp wore a Federal Bureau of Investigation wire while discussing this further with Lewinsky at a hotel bar in the Pentagon City shopping mall. Ten years ago on Jan. 16, the FBI had Tripp lure Lewinsky to the bar once again, this time to allow FBI agents to swoop down on Lewinsky, haul her off to a hotel room, and question her about the affair and whether the president had suborned perjury or obstructed justice. Ten years ago on Jan. 17, President Clinton, while being deposed by lawyers for Paula Jones—the plaintiff in a lawsuit alleging that Clinton harassed her sexually while he was governor of Arkansas—stumbled into the perjury trap that Starr had set:The rest at Slate.com.

UPDATE: In an effort to push my techknowledge LOADED mind (oooppsss). I shall try to do an update worthy of Glenn, Charles, Jules and Tim…BTW Tim, DO press onward and upward.

Here goes nothing and it may be…..During the FIRST Clinton campaign THIS was the theme…Don’t Stop by Fleetwod Mac. Which, during his second administration turned into Don’t Stop, by the Rolling Stones. Monica answered in song Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, Billy answered with Close But No Cigar, speaking of Monica, Do Have a Cigar-Pink Floyd .

Can you tell that I feel positively vituperative, towards Demoncrats today?

Beware the press with an agenda

If you’re old enough to remember Vietnam, you’ll remember seeing these photographs that Neoneocon describes. I remember them well, and at the time, I was upset but suspicious that we weren’t being given the whole story. During the Vietnam years, I had seen enough duplicity and self-righteousness among the people who proclaimed themselves “pacifists” and “warriors for peace” (traitorous Jane Fonda comes to mind, as do many of the celebrities of that era), that I distrusted much of what the elites told me (and yes, I knew they were elites, even back then, because they took pains to distinguish themselves from the rubes and hicks among which I included myself). 

I’ve known the truth about the photo showing General Loan executing the Viet Cong terrorist for decades, but to this day I had never heard the true story of the little napalmed girl. And that’s not right. Because they are pulling the same kind of crap today, thirty plus years later. 

(h/t Dr. Sanity)

“The most elite audience in the nation” – oh yeah?

Daniel Finkelstein of the Times of London hands the New York Times a slapdown of completely deserved, if not heroic, proportion.

Throwing stuff is cool.

A few weeks back, Angus got me thinking about people (ok, blokes; why is it always blokes?) making videos of throwing stuff.

As a response, I offer him this: How to make a vision-guided fireball-throwing RV-targeting catapult out of an ordinary 2800-pound industrial robot.

Watch the videos and see how they did the maths here. And no, I’m not clear on the gladiator or bunny-suit references either. But if these boys ever make it to Western Australia, I’ll gladly shout them a beer.

–via Hack a Day

spot_the_dog

 

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Battle of the Rock Anthems

Ash started it. Working Class Man or Thunder Road — or another song entirely? Which one better deserves the all-windows-open, turn-it-up-to-11 treatment?

spot_the_dog

Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr’s new single, “Liverpool 8,” is a sort of musical autobiography — albeit heavily abridged — in which Starr sings about his teen years in the local merchant navy, joining Rory Storm’s skiffle band in 1959, the Beatles’ stint in Hamburg and selling out Shea Stadium at the height of Beatlemania. It’s a charming start to Starr’s fifteenth solo album, also called Liverpool 8, on which he collaborated with his old mate Dave Stewart. “…..Read the Rest…. Rolling Stone

You’re Still Lurking…You Devils, You…..

haloscan.com/comments/australianjerem…

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Quote of the Day….

There is nobody so irritating as somebody with less intelligence and more sense than we have.  

Don Herold

Quotations Page

Bush complains Darfur action moving too slowly

U.S. President George W. Bush (C) speaks alongside Special Envoy for Sudan, Richard Williamson (L) and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington January 17, 2008. Bush said on Thursday that international efforts to address violence in Sudan’s Darfur region were moving too slowly and that the United State would push to accelerate the process. REUTERS/Jason Reed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President George W. Bush said on Thursday that international efforts to address violence in Sudan’s Darfur region were moving too slowly and that the United State would push to accelerate the process.

The United States has been seeking to get a 26,000-strong African Union-U.N. peacekeeping force into Darfur but Bush’s special envoy resigned last month amid frustrations about the slow pace.

“The United Nations considers the Darfur issue a central issue and it’s on its agenda, we agree,” Bush told reporters after meeting with his new special envoy, Ambassador Rich Williamson, at the White House.

“The United States can help what has been a process, frankly, that has unfolded a little too slow for our liking, and we can help,” he said. “I plan to accelerate our efforts.”

Reuters

Polish Scientists Figure Out Length of Perfect Legs…

 So many legs, so little time.

When it comes to great gams, it’s all in the proportion.

That’s the conclusion reached by Polish researcher Boguslaw Pawlowski, whose studies of men and women’s preferences led him to conclude that legs 5 percent longer than average are most attractive to both sexes. “Long legs are signaling health,” Pawlowski explained to New Scientist magazine, adding that shorter legs are associated with a higher risk of diabetes and other debilitating diseases.

Fox News

Kenya Turned Into A Killing Field. It just NEVER Stops, Does It?

Nairobi’s Kibera slum was a centre of police operations Shots leave man dead Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has accused the government and the police of turning the country into “killing fields of the innocent”. His Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) said seven people were shot dead in Nairobi on the second day of protests against elections it says were rigged. Police denied Mr Odinga’s claim that they were “on a killing spree” and said they were acting “with restraint”. EU politicians have meanwhile urged it to cut aid to Kenya’s government.

BBC

US team makes embryo clone of men

Stem cells are the ‘master cells’ of the body

US scientists say they have produced embryos that are clones of two men, in an attempt to produce patient-specific stem cells.

Researchers removed DNA from donated human eggs, and replaced it with DNA from the skin cells of two volunteers.They produced embryos with genetic material that matched the men’s, but did not go on to extract stem cells. UK experts say the research, published in the journal Stem Cells, is a small but not a great step forward.

‘World first’

The team at Stemagen Corporation in La Jolla, California, says the work could be an important stage in developing embryonic stem cells for patients.

It shows that the approach using human embryos does still have promise Prof Jack Price

They produced five embryos called blastocysts from 25 donated eggs. DNA fingerprinting proved that at least one of these was a clone.

“We’re the first in the world to take adult human cells and then document that in fact we were able to clone embryos from them,” lead researcher Dr Samuel Wood told the BBC.

BBC

Castro: Not Well Enough to Campaign. Campaign!? You, Fidel? You Jest, Right? Sorry, I mean Left.

ClipSyndicate

Stolen Car Crashes Into Home….But Owners Say…We Needed the Crawl Space

ClipSyndicate

 House owners would like to thank that wonderful car thief, for saving them money on building/renovation contractor’s.

Working Class Man

Us Aussies, for some reason (possible his awesome ability to scream for hours without losing his voice) quite like a guy called Jimmy Barnes, who was the singer for a band called Cold Chisel. Now, both Barnesy and Chisel had their hits, and so if you’re interested, click for more.

No Bears for Oil Update: THIS is Why Polar Bears Aren’t Protected

Any. fucking. questions?

No bears for oil. Oh Puhleeze, huh?

Why hasn’t the polar bear been granted federal protection? Maybe because the Bush administration plans a last-minute handout of oil leases on its habitat.

AP/Jonathan Hayward

Why hasn’t the polar bear been granted federal protection? Maybe because the Bush administration plans a last-minute handout of oil leases on its habitat.

Salon

Been there, Done that….woman. Novel idea (and not the book type). Have no fear Katharine Mieszkowski, you will find your way into this new age. By the way…have you heard of Iraq?