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"Neil Gaiman Addresses the University of the Arts Class of 2012"

I've tried to like Colin Powell, but it seems like he was in on lying us into Iraq, which I consider an unforgivable sin:

This is insane, even for the Washington Times:

Adam Nathaniel Yauch died Friday. If you're age 16-66 — maybe 106 — you know him as MCA, one-third of the Beastie Boys. He was 47. Way too young. But gone.

Now, half-white Barack Obama (exactly my age) didn't say a word, even though he was talking to college kids that day, but make no mistake, MCA was no Jay-Z or Kanye West. This guy was the real deal, groundbreaker, up from his bootstraps, Brooklyn boy made good. Funny the "coolest president ever" doesn't say a word about the passing of MCA. Weird and kinda sad, actually.

"Yauch was born an only child in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Frances, a social worker, and Noel Yauch, a painter and architect," Wikipedia says. "His father was Catholic and his mother was Jewish." Kinda like Barack, all over the place, half this, half that, and a tough life ahead from the outset. But nothing from the first half-white, half-black president (MSM has made him black — he's not; he's half-and-half. No, Trayvon Martin wouldn't have looked like his son.)

The president took time from his busy schedule to comment on the passing of black musicians. When Whitney Houston, a longtime crack addict, died this year, the White House put out a statement. "I know that [Mr. Obama's] thoughts and prayers are with her family, especially her daughter," press secretary Jay Carney said. "It's a tragedy to lose somebody so talented at such a young age."

And when accused pedophile and drug addict Michael Jackson died in 2009, the White House weighed in with the president's thoughts. "He said to me that obviously, Michael Jackson was a spectacular performer, a music icon," spokesman Roberet Gibbs said. "And his condolences went out to the Jackson family and to fans that mourned his loss."

8/10.

The finally have a movie with good action scenes. Although I liked the first fight scene with Whiplash in Iron Man 2, every fight in the Marvel Universe after Blade has been average at best.

Hulk vs. Loki is fight of the century.

Lots of laughs, almost all well integrated into the story. The conflict between the characters is really well done.

Stay through the credits. There are not one but two scenes, one midway through the credits, and another after they end.

Why can't we Americans have nice things?

FiveThirtyEight: Is Obama More Popular Than He Should Be?

On the Economy: Economic Models Need to Include Leverage…(duh)

The Nation: The Beltway Continues to Ignore GOP Radicalism

The National Memo: How The GOP’s Golden Boy Works His Con

TIME: Why Being Overweight Could Earn You a Lower Salary

"Assuming that [House Republican Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's budget] keeps military spending in its historic range (he has indicated that he would), this implies the elimination of almost the whole federal government. His budget would leave no room for federal support of education, roads, bridges and other infrastructure, the federal court system, the Food and Drug Administration, the national park system and everything else associated with the federal government. It would have been useful to point this fact out to readers in a lengthy piece that attempted to give readers a sense of Representative Ryan's vision."

"Years before [George Zimmerman] stood at the center of an international storm over the killing of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, the Florida man used his page to complain about "mexicans" and celebrate a victory in a criminal case against him."

Saturday afternoon doesn't see so far away now, does it?

"Teenagers drinking hand sanitizer to get drunk" reports USA Today:

Teenagers are showing up in Los Angeles emergency rooms after drinking inexpensive liquid hand sanitizers to get drunk.

Cheap and easily accessible hand sanitizers contain 62 percent ethyl alcohol.

The Los Angeles Times says six teenagers have shown up in two San Fernando Valley emergency rooms in the last few months with alcohol poisoning after drinking hand sanitizer.

Some of the teens used salt to separate the alcohol from the sanitizer, making a potent drink similar to a shot of hard liquor. Distillation instructions can be found on the Internet.

Although there's only been a few cases, county public health toxicology expert Cyrus Rangan says it could signal a dangerous trend.

A very dangerous trend! Los Angeles county had a 2010 population of 9,818,605, 25% of which are 18 or under. Once six teenagers have gone astray, they all start to look guilty.

Al Franken says "There are no death panels." The resulting Fox Nation headline? "Al Franken Misinforms."

The Avengers has gotten a stellar review from the Associated Press.

I have midnight premier tickets.

The AP reports "Romney says Obama's jobs record a failure":

Mitt Romney on Thursday visited a factory shuttered when George W. Bush was in the White House, and said its lingering idleness marks a failure of President Barack Obama's economic policies.

"Had the president's policies worked it, would be open again," the Republican presidential contender told a small audience seated in the cavernous space. Obama visited the factory — then open — during his 2008 campaign for the White House, and Romney's aides chose the site specifically for its presumed political advantage.

So we should return to Bush-esque Romney economic plans? This guy can't articulate what he's going to do different than Bush economically. All he has articulated is a repetition of Bush: tax cuts (for the rich), deregulation, etc, etc.

Except for the political symbols brought in for Romney's speech — among them an American flag and a big sign that said "Obama Isn't Working," — the factory is a nearly empty, dusty shell of a plant where workers once turned out sheets of wall board used in housing construction.

I suppose we should blame Obama for the housing crises that shuttered this factory too. This guy has no chance.

Beat the Press: Robert Samuelson Shows that the Post Has no Fact Checkers on Its Opinion Pages

FAIR: A Racist at National Review? Do Tell

The New York Times: U.S. Tightens Rules on Antibiotics Use for Livestock

Reuters: U.S. sues Apple, publishers in e-book price scheme

John McNeil killed a white man who assaulted him in his home. But, unlike George Zimmerman, he's serving life.

Mitt Romney will be the only presidential nominee since 1996 who left the primary season with a negative net approval rate.

Allen West later said "he's heard" up to 80 U.S. House Democrats are Communist Party members, but wouldn't name names.

From "Romney confronted over Mormon doctrines":

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was confronted at a town hall meeting here Monday by a young man who read from the Book of Mormon and asked Romney whether he agreed with his church’s one-time belief that interracial marriage was a sin.

Romney, who is on the cusp of becoming the first Mormon ever to win a major party’s presidential nomination, became visibly agitated with the man’s line of questioning. The former Massachusetts governor replied to his question with a terse “No.” Later, Romney said that he would talk only about the practices of his faith, not its doctrines.

Cute gimmick, but call it what it really is, low level faction infighting between mainstream Protestant religious beliefs and Mormonism.

Let's face it: every president up to and including Obama has had to profess a believe in the divinity of Jesus since Washington, or at least deftly avoid the question of their Deism. Similar questions could be asked of all of them, but that's a subject no one will brooch. How much grief do you think a reporter would get if one asked G. W. Bush if he thought Buddhists should be put to death?

And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.

-- Leviticus 24:16 (King James Version)

Conservatives enjoy taking a "tough on crime" posture, so you might wonder why a hardcore conservative rag like The National Review would publish "Injustice System" by Conrad Black:

The United States has 5 percent of the world's population, 25 percent of the world's incarcerated people, and 50 percent of the world's lawyers. Ninety percent of its criminal cases are determined by accused people forgoing their constitutionally guaranteed right to trial in favor of an agreed sentence. It was accepted by the Supreme Court in the cases decided last week that defendants frequently receive inept advice. It is also frequently the case that the government spuriously seizes the assets of defendants as ill-gotten gains - on the basis of fraudulent affidavits in ex parte actions - so that the defendants can't engage the counsel of their choice, and then stays those proceedings while the criminal case is decided without the presence of a serious defense counsel.

It is also usually the case that the public defender, provided in response to the much-mythologized Gideon v. Wainwright case of 1963, is an underfunded and docile dupe of the prosecutors, who is paid according to the number of clients he represents and not his performance, thus incentivizing minimal service and maximum turnover. And it is very often also the case that whatever is agreed between the prosecutor and the defense counsel is not followed by prosecutors after the plea is entered, or is ignored by the judges, most of whom are unregenerate ex-prosecutors.

Conrad is probably the only National Review writer who would sympathize with the accused, decry the size of America's prison population, or note the massive immorality of the prison-industrial complex. Coincidentally, he's also the only National Review writer doing 13 months in federal prison.

"Trend of employers asking for Facebook passwords questioned":

Beyond the examples of government agencies—particularly law enforcement officers and 9/11 dispatchers—“there is little to suggest that typical employers are bearing down on applicants to open up their Facebook pages,” Kauffman wrote.

He continued: “But as Valdes’ report ricocheted around the Web, his anecdote morphed into a trend, and the trend became a growing trend, and overnight, an Internet/media monster was born.”

Shel Israel noticed the monster. In a blog post on Forbes, he called it the great non-issue, pointing out that all of the incidents cited by the AP and others are more than a year old and, as Kauffman noted, mostly involve government jobs.

"Politicians Losing Their $#%!: The Megamix [NSFW]"

"As thousands prepare for rally, family confirms Trayvon was suspended over marijuana":

SANFORD, Fla -- . Miami Gardens teenager Trayvon Martin was suspended from school because he was caught with an empty plastic bag with traces of marijuana in it, the boy’s family attorney has confirmed.

Trayvon was killed while serving out the suspension in Sanford Florida, where his father’s girlfriend lives. A community watch volunteer who thought he looked drugged out and suspicious called police and later wound up in a fight with him.

The two scuffled and volunteer George Zimmerman shot Trayvon, killing him. He has not been charged.

The rally comes a day after an attorney in the case, Craig Sonner, took to the television networks to argue George Zimmerman’s side of the story. Joe Oliver, a former CNN anchor and a friend of Zimmerman’s appeared on television Sunday to give his friend’s side and speak of the now notorious 911 tapes.

"That sounded like someone in dire need of help," Oliver said. "That sounded like George."

"Conservative group calls for Obama to replace actor as campaign video narrator."

Some call it Obama Derangement system. The only thing I can think of is that the right is so desperate to get a scandal going against Obama that this is the best they can do.

Michael Bay has announced that he's going to make a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie reboot.

In this re-imagining, the Turtles won't be four pet turtles mutated by radioactive goo, but aliens visiting earth. This announcement was not met with favorable fan reaction.

Most notable was the statement of Robbie Rist, who voiced Michelangelo in the 1990 live action film:

You probably don't know me but I did some voice work on the first set of movies that you are starting to talk about sodomizing.

I'm reading about the Trayvon Martin case, and I'm finding ABC News's coverage of the case representative of coverage as a whole:

Sanford Police have decided to release emergency and non-emergency calls placed during the incident.

"These a**holes always get away," Zimmerman says in a call to a non-emergency number.

Dispatcher: "Are you following him?"

Zimmerman: "Yeah."

Dispatcher: "We don't need you to do that."

An altercation soon ensued. A few moments later a torrent of 911 calls flooded in and Martin was killed by a single bullet. Zimmerman claimed self-defense and has yet to be arrested, stoking outrage and claims of prejudice against the police department.

The Associated Press covers, in part, the racial factor:

Zimmerman spotted Martin as he was patrolling his neighborhood on a rainy evening and called 911 to report a suspicious person. Against the advice of the 911 dispatcher, Zimmerman then followed Martin, who was walking home from a convenience store with a bag of Skittles in his pocket. Police have described Zimmerman as white; his family says he is Hispanic and not racist.

None of the major news organizations at this point have pointed out that Zimmerman called Trayvon "a fucking coon." The above linked ABC News story even goes as far as to beep it out of the 911 call, sans mention of Zimmerman's use of racial epithets.

UPDATE: There appear to be multiple videos on the ABC News link. Several of them do mention the language in question.

"Kim Dotcom seizures 'null and void'":

In an astonishing blunder, New Zealand’s Crown Law Office and its police commissioner have admitted to a ‘procedural error’ when they seized cash, cars and other property from Megaupload chief Kim Dotcom.

According to the New Zealand Herald, Justice Judith Potter of the High Court has declared the first restraining order under which the seizures were made to be “null and void” and having “no legal effect”.

So Kim might get his stuff back, we'll have a better idea next week. I don't know why, but I'm rooting for the guy.