07/30/2007
News: Aquafina, Paris Hilton, Supreme Court, Alberto Gonzales
Increasing number of Americans view Supreme Court as too conservative: "The percentage who said the court is 'too conservative' grew from 19 percent to 31 percent in the past two years, while those who said it is 'generally balanced in its decisions' declined from 55 percent to 47 percent."
Sightings of massive "raptor-like" bird with alleged 15 to 20 ft. wingspan continue in Southwest: "(It) looked like what was possibly two people standing on top of a mountain up there. Something that big ... I guess it kinda makes you feel like it could come over and carry you off if it wanted to."
New York Times calls for the impeachment of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: "As far as we can tell, there are three possible explanations for Mr. Gonzales’s talk about a dispute over other — unspecified — intelligence activities. One, he lied to Congress. Two, he used a bureaucratic dodge to mislead lawmakers and the public: the spying program was modified after Mr. Ashcroft refused to endorse it, which made it “different” from the one Mr. Bush has acknowledged. The third is that there was more wiretapping than has been disclosed, perhaps even purely domestic wiretapping, and Mr. Gonzales is helping Mr. Bush cover it up. Democratic lawmakers are asking for a special prosecutor to look into Mr. Gonzales’s words and deeds. Solicitor General Paul Clement has a last chance to show that the Justice Department is still minimally functional by fulfilling that request. If that does not happen, Congress should impeach Mr. Gonzales."
Outed Tom Tancredo staffer Tyler Whitney leaves Tancredo's campaign to work for openly gay mayoral candidate running for mayor of Flint, Michigan.
Provincetown belfry: the movie.
Rob Schneider slams Dina Lohan. Not sorry for drag depiction of Lindsay on The Tonight Show: "When Mrs. Lohan stops partying with her child, then I'll have an ounce of respect for her! I don't care if her parents are both crummy – you cannot blame your parents anymore. She's not a kid. Lindsay, get it together, America will forgive you but you gotta do something positive with your life. I hope she does okay but at a certain point, there's so many bigger problems in the world than Lindsay Lohan. I hope she gets her head out of her nice, cute little rear end and finds a life for herself. She's very talented, and a special little actress but there are so many people out there who'd trade positions with her in a heartbeat and use it better than she is."
Gay couple to move in to Wisteria Lane.
Man arrested for stabbing sea lion with steak knife: "Police said [Hai] Nguyen was fishing off a Newport pier about 12:30 p.m. when the sea lion apparently snatched the bait from his fishing pole. Becoming upset, authorities said Nguyen stabbed the animal with a steak knife. 'It was close enough so he could just reach out and stab it in the water,' said Sgt. Evan Sailor, a police spokesman. 'A number of people witnessed it and called police.'"
An heiress no longer? Paris Hilton's grandfather cuts off $59 million inheritance: "He was, and is, extremely embarrassed by how the Hilton name has been sullied by Paris. He doesn't want to leave unearned wealth to his family."
Pepsi's Aquafina bottled water to disclose that it's merely filtered tap.
The Incredible Hulk, version 2.0, revealed...
Lowes pulls its advertising from The O'Reilly Factor.
After Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani dodge the CNN/YouTube debate by saying they have "scheduling conflicts," CNN calls their bluff and reschedules them: "It’s unclear whether the other candidates will actually participate in the rescheduled debate. Romney recently mocked the debate, stating, 'I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman,' referring to a citizen dressed as a snowman who submitted a question about global warming." Ron Paul, Tommy Thompson, and John McCain have all agreed to participate.
Photographer and filmmaker Sean Smith goes inside the Iraq surge.
Posted 2:15 PM EST by Andy in Mitt Romney, Nature, News, Paris Hilton, Republican Party, Rudy Giuliani, Supreme Court | Permalink
Like it?
Subscribe to FREE Towleroad daily headlines with our RSS feed!
RECENT STORIES:
I'm confused about the Aquafina thing. Where else did people think the water was coming from? I mean, it's purified water. If I wanted water from a natural source, I'd take a sip from the Hudson.
Posted by: Anita | Jul 30, 2007 2:33:32 PM
Wow! Go Rob for sticking to your guns and not apologizing!
Posted by: Allen | Jul 30, 2007 2:55:13 PM
I am so sick of Paris Lohan Ritchie, I wouldn't blink an eye if a bus ran her over.
And ha ha, Bill O'Reilly. Guess that's what you get when you say boycotts are Unamerican, then call for a boycott of Pepsi, then claim you never called for a boycott of Pepsi. Moron.
Posted by: Marco | Jul 30, 2007 3:06:13 PM
The large bird
http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/bodhidharma/giantbirds3.html
Link goes to a pic of 25 ft wingspan and oot long feathered Argentavis Magnificens at the LA Museum of Natural history. Thought to be extinct for close to 6,000 yrs.
Way cool if there are some styill around. The states better step in imediately and declare any hurting or killling of said possible rare creature to be a high crime punishable by a heavy sentence or some schmuck red neck hunter is going to finish off for good such magnificent creatures.
Paris = Ha Ha.
Posted by: anon | Jul 30, 2007 3:38:33 PM
that should read as 5 foot feathers
Posted by: anon | Jul 30, 2007 3:39:30 PM
"I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman."
I coudn't agree more. YouTube is totally awesome, but our national debate regarding the future of the presidency is way too trivialized already. I think that it's silly to ignore the effect that the internet has had on the presidential election process, but there has to be a screening process to ensure that on-line participation is conducted in a serious manner that is respectful of the important issues that we face.
I just agreed with Mitt Romney. I think I need to perform a little fellatio, just to balance the universe again.
Posted by: Brian | Jul 30, 2007 3:49:56 PM
Check out the comments at daily kos.. sounds like the Lowes news isn't really "new news." Lowes pulled ads from the show earlier this year and then apparently started to run them again... will that happen this time too??
here is one of the reports on the earlier removal: http://www.newshounds.us/2007/01/30/lowes_drops_advertising_from_the_oreilly_factor.php
Posted by: gabriel | Jul 30, 2007 4:06:05 PM
Brian, Are you kidding... I think the presidency should be held to a higher standard too. But this administration is a run away train wreck that needs to be impeached! We now have a jackass as president, who sunk so low as to steal the elections. Face it the higher standard ended 7 years ago. People should be able to ask questions in a free setting, that isn't controlled by the parties. Never forget republicans will always blow smoke up your ass and call it a higher standard...but it really is just their standard line of hypocrisy.
Posted by: Vinny | Jul 30, 2007 4:37:29 PM
The Paris Hilton piece was from an "Onion" type of publication and some ass-clown media outlets took it for real and ran with it - it's completely false actually.
Posted by: fake | Jul 30, 2007 5:20:59 PM
“Gay couple to move into Wisteria Lane.” Just remember everyone; we were warned. And what is it with the endless vogue on the outside vague on the inside articles on AfterElton? Do they think everyone luvs the gays now? Have they forgotten that Housewives gay creator Mark Cherry is a PIG! And not just because he’s a fag Repug. So far his only gay characters with more than a couple of lines are:
1. Featured DH son, Andrew, who AfterElton seems to have forgotten is a psychopath who hit a woman while driving, drove on, she died, and he never showed any remorse. A little more serious a plot point than the also reprehensible seducing of his mother’s bi boyfriend just to hurt her. Yes, Andrew’s boyfriend was actually likable but he’s long gone with the wind in favor of,
2. A little girl’s beauty pageant coach who was more fem and childish than they were. We realize that some friends of Dorothy, like Homer Simpson, like their "gays flaming," so there was probably much hands-in-front-of-the-face-close-clapping and shrieking with glee over Mapa's mince-for-money pageant coach. Chacun a son queer. But we’d hold our nose for him every week over Cherry’s greatest needless demonization,
3. A child molester with a large display of photos of his half-naked victims in his house among the toys he used to help attract them. This multi-episode character was especially unforgivable because one was initially led to believe it was going to be a lesson for Middle America in false suspicion but ended up only showing lovable Lynette totally right about the Evil Next Door.
So one can only shudder at what kind of gay “couple” Cherry will create. Mrs. & Mrs. Carson Kressley perhaps? Ross the Intern marries Bobby Trendy? Feeling up Lynette’s pre-teen twins while she’s getting chemo? Running a Tina lab in their basement? Date rape drugging Andrew who Cherry is predictably promising will be back to his evil ways this season?
Contrast DH’s dated and demonic portrayal of gays with the gay characters on “Brothers & Sisters” that immediately follows it. Not without foibles or problems but not 60s stereotypes or homicidal villains and pedophiles either.
F your Cherry, and not in the good way.
Posted by: Leland | Jul 30, 2007 5:24:37 PM
The Hilton material is highly suspect, but isn't it nice just to dream about it?
Posted by: Jerry | Jul 30, 2007 5:45:38 PM
The bird was most likely a Golden Eagle or an errant California Condor. Most people are unfamiliar with such large birds and are very likely to exaggerate their size upon spotting one in the air.
Posted by: DCN | Jul 30, 2007 7:05:38 PM
"I coudn't agree more. YouTube is totally awesome, but our national debate regarding the future of the presidency is way too trivialized already"
On one hand, yes, it is strange to have YouTube-style questions in a debate. However, more 18-34 year-olds watched this debate than any other in history. Therefore, it was a success! The demographic that usually skips the boring debates (my generation) actually tuned in and got informed. The debate was very informative, just a bit more entertaining.
Personally, I think Mittens Romney is a bit afraid of such a new idea where there is little chance of the politicians dancing around the subject. As you saw in the YouTube videos, the people asking the questions were very frank and didn't sugarcoat their thought.
Posted by: damien | Jul 30, 2007 8:48:05 PM
Thanks, Fake, for clearing this up. I'd hate to think that the granddad was doing something right...albeit six years late.
Posted by: Jack Scribe | Jul 30, 2007 9:23:49 PM
Leland - did you really just call the pedophile a "gay character" ?
Also, the DH show is all about crazy characters.. it isn't like any of them (gay or straight) haven't done something 'bad'. They all have secrets. That is the point of the show! others on the show have done worse than Andrew (who, by the way, has turned around and become the total good son now who is taking care of his family).
Posted by: gabriel | Jul 31, 2007 12:07:26 PM
I really don't see what the big fuss is over the Aquafina water- it's true that it comes from a public water source (which has always been printed on the label) however before it is bottled up, it goes through further purification- 7 steps I think I read. I don't know where you live, but that's definitely cleaner than the stuff coming out of my tap.
Posted by: Jenn | Aug 3, 2007 4:44:14 PM