link

 French police are hunting for a gunman who shot dead four people, including three children, at a Jewish school in the city of Toulouse, prompting President Nicolas Sarkozy to put the region on its highest terrorism alert.

More than a 100 officers were dispatched to the area on Monday to search for the gunman, who is also a prime suspect in the killing of three soldiers in two seperate shootings last week.

As thousands held vigils for the latest victims, a police source told the AFP news agency that the same weapon and the same stolen scooter appeared to have been used in all three attacks.

All three attacks were carried out by the rider of a powerful, dark-coloured scooter, using a .45-calibre weapon, who witnesses described as calmly shooting his victims at point-blank range.

In carrying out the killings outside the Ozar Hatorah school on Monday, the shooter opened fire with a 9mm calibre weapon, which jammed.

He then produced a second weapon, a pistol of the same .45 calibre as that used in the other attacks, and chased children into the school to continue his spree.

Possible pattern

Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland, reporting from Toulouse, said that people were particularly concerned by the sense that a pattern of killings was emerging.

 "It would seem to be a huge coincidence otherwise; over the space of eight days you have three attacks, all of which involve an attacker on a motorcycle wearing a black helmet and the same sort of gun. So the evidence is starting to stack up."

Patrick Rouimi, the father of a child at the school, told the AFP news agency that the attacker opened fire on a group of people standing at a spot where children were picked up for school.

"He shot at everything he could see, children and adults, and some children were chased into the school," Michel Valet, the local prosecutor, told journalists.

Nicole Yardeni, president of the Council of Jewish Institutions in France, told Al Jazeera that the children who were killed were younger siblings of those who attend the school.

"There is an eight-year-old, a six-year-old and a three-year-old that are dead and a 17-year-old that [attends] the school, that is between life and death at the hospital," Yardeni said.

"He was shooting at them, even catching them and shooting them in their heads."

'National tragedy'

Sarkozy rushed to the school, ordering increased security at Jewish and Muslim buildings around Toulouse, while his prime minister ordered officials to "secure" all schools and religious buildings.

France has Europe's largest Jewish community, estimated at up to 700,000 people.

Speaking after meeting security officials, Sarkozy said "exceptional security measures" would be taken in the Midi-Pyrenees region and that it was being put on "scarlet" terror alert, the highest possible level.

"It is a national tragedy," said Sarkozy, denouncing the "savagery" of the attack, and vowing to find the killer.

Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, described the attack as "despicable murder of Jews".

"It is too early to determine exactly what the background to the murderous act was, but we certainly cannot rule out the option that it was motivated by violent and murderous anti-Semitism," he said.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, the White House, and the Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat also issued statements condemning the attack.

They tried to hand me a newsletter but I refused.  I should have taken it, torn it up, and handed the pieces back to them.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2012/03/does-this-smartphone-make-me-look-stupid-meet-the-ladyphones.ars

It's too long to copy the whole thing, but an excerpt.

BlackBerry Pearl

First, the name. What does a lady love more than jewelry? Pedicures, maybe, if we had to throw a guess out there, or free money. But a cute little cell phone with a jewelesque trackball (that eventually turns yellow with age and exposure) will also do.

If you somehow managed to discount the name and aren?t sure the Pearl was, and is, targeted at women, here's an advertisement for the BlackBerry Pearl 3G, released mid-2010, where a woman engages in such hardcore pursuits as shopping, exercising, and getting ready for a party. (With 256MB of RAM, a 624MHz processor, and a wacky shrunken keyboard the likes of which customers have not seen before or since, she didn?t set herself up to do much else.)

The 3G version of the Pearl arrived on AT&T 18 months ago, priced at $149.99 with a two-year contract. (The UK version of BlackBerry's Pearl 3G page includes, in its HTML source, the search-engine-friendly description, "Carry your friends wherever you go. Share news, gossip and more.") The Droid 2, which launched a couple of months earlier with a 1GHz processor and almost twice the Pearl 3G?s battery life, was $100 (with a $100 mail-in rebate). If you want a lesser phone with a lesser keyboard with a prettier name and color, you must pay up, ladies. 

Kristen Chenowith is comedy gold.  The Adam and Eve costumes?  OMG.

Love the relationship with Crickett and Blake.  I am so glad they didn't make her the clueless woman.  I also am loving the interaction overall with the married couples.

Annie Potts, fabulous.  

It's all SO GOOD! 

I mean where do they keep this stuff...how long will a can of beans last before you die from eating them? 

http://tampa.cbslocal.com/2012/03/19/atheist-group-unblesses-florida-road/

LAKELAND, Fla. (CBS Tampa) ? A local atheist organization made a splash on Saturday when they symbolically washed away a blessing placed on a major highway into the county one year ago.

The tongue-in-cheek protest on County Road 98 was meant to bring light to a bigger issue seen by the Humanists of Florida Association ? an issue of seeming conflicts of interest between several high-seated county officials and their faiths.

?If it were just some church blessing a road, that?s not a big deal ? churches can do what they want,? HFA director Mark Palmer told CBS Tampa. ?The point of [the demonstration] was to protest the co-mingling of church and state ? the government endorsement of religion.?

Their main point of contention was a billboard posted by the Christian Churches of Polk County and the Polk Under Prayer movement (PUP) that boldly displays photos of Lakeland Mayor Gow Fields, Polk County School Board Superintendent Dr. Sherrie Nickell, and Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.

?We simply want Polk County to realize that ? there are many different types of world views out there, and they need to open county borders to all of the people,? HFA president Ellen Beth Wachs told CBS Tampa. ?We understand that Christians have their way of life, and we?re not trying to take it away from them. But they need to realize that there are many other types of faith, and people of non-faith as well.?

Scott Wilder, director of communications for Polk County Sheriff?s Office, said that Judd had participated in a PUP-sponsored meeting of a more secular nature, but that he and other officials were not involved with the highway annointing ceremony.

?[They] attended a big public meeting of mainline churches ? to talk about what challenges face the county,? he said to CBS Tampa. ?It was a mainstream event.?

Added Wilder of the blessing ceremony, ?None of them had anything to do with it ? the sheriff, the mayor, or the superintendent.?

The blessing itself was performed on March 1, 2011.

?Mainly, we want this to be a safe haven for folks who want to raise their families,? PUP organizer Dr. Richard Geringswald told WFTS-TV. ?Asking God?s protection from ne?er do wells and evil doers.?

March 19, 2012 (Morning Edition) ? Two eras clash on Monday at the U.S. Supreme Court, when a law written in 1939 is applied to in vitro fertilization. At issue is whether children conceived through in vitro fertilization after the death of a parent are eligible for Social Security survivors benefits.

Two eras clash on Monday at the U.S. Supreme Court, when a law written in 1939 is applied to in vitro fertilization. At issue is whether children conceived through in vitro fertilization after the death of a parent are eligible for Social Security survivors benefits.

At least 100 such cases are pending before the Social Security Administration.

This test case was brought by a mother whose twins were denied benefits because they were conceived after their father died. Karen and Robert Capato were married for only a few months before Robert was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2000. Fearing that his chemotherapy treatment might leave him sterile, Robert deposited sperm at a fertility clinic before his treatment began.

Although he initially appeared to recover, by Thanksgiving of 2001 his condition had begun to deteriorate. Because the couple wanted siblings for their son, they made plans for Karen to use the frozen sperm to conceive a child after Robert's death.

Less than four months later, Robert died at the age of 44. Karen then resumed the couple's attempt to have another child. And in 2003, after a successful round of in vitro fertilization using her husband's sperm, she gave birth to twins.

As she had with her other child, she immediately applied for survivors benefits for the twins, based on Robert's earnings under the Social Security system. But the agency denied the claim.

The government concedes the twins are Robert's biological children. But the Social Security Administration says that it determines eligibility based on the inheritance laws of each state, and in Florida, where the couple lived, children conceived after the death of a parent cannot inherit property, unless specifically provided for in a will.

Karen Capato counters that under the 1939 Social Security Act, survivors benefits go to any child of a covered individual, and the word child is "plainly defined" as the biological offspring of a married couple. She contends that the section of the law dealing with state inheritance statutes only kicks in when the "biological parentage is disputed."

Last year, a federal appeals court in Philadelphia agreed with Capato, saying that "undisputed biological children of a deceased wage earner and his widow [are] 'children' " under the meaning of the Social Security law. The court noted that this was a case "where medical-scientific technology has advanced faster than the regulatory process."

The Obama administration appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, contending that the lower court had ignored more than 70 years of government policy dictating how to determine the eligibility of survivor benefits for children.

In its brief setting out its arguments, the government maintains that posthumously conceived children fall outside the class of children entitled to survivors benefits because "they were brought into being by a surviving parent with the knowledge that the deceased biological parent will not be able to contribute wages for their support."

The administration also makes a states' rights argument, contending that "child-parent relationships are generally determined by state law" and that nothing in the Social Security Act "suggests that Congress intended to depart from that approach."

Lawyers for Karen Capato reply that the Social Security Act is a federal program conferring federal benefits. They accuse the government of making an argument that "makes no sense at all" and indeed is "perverse."

Under the government's reading of the statute, say the Capato lawyers, a posthumously conceived biological child of a married couple is not entitled to survivors benefits, based on state inheritance law, but those state laws do not disqualify adopted children, stepchildren, grandchildren or even step-grandchildren.

 This whole thing just seems so sad to me. I can't imagine dealing with this after losing a spouse to cancer.

What I didn't know and just found out is that "typical" includes not using condoms.  The failure rate includes failure to actually use the method.  In fact, that's apparently the most common type of "failure."

I'm so whipping out that factoid the next time there's some dumbass "condoms don't really work" post.

Oh, and of course I'll provide a source.

http://pervocracy.blogspot.com/2011/08/condom-failure.html 

Plus this from Twitter:

Adam Schefter ? AdamSchefter Peyton Manning called John Elway this morning to tell him he's looking forward to coming to play for him.

Okay, 49ers...let's mend the fences with Alex Smith and move on.

First, I want to say that as I was reading it my tin-foil hat self was having panic attacks.  The thought of the government being able to just shut off bank accounts in an age when money is handled digitally made me think about burying my money in the backyard.   Seriously.  Also, given recent news, the whole suspending the Constitution stuff is scary.  Then, of course there's the idea that what we are doing to the environment could eventually make us all sterile.  I mean, set aside all of the other stuff in the book and these things alone were upsetting me.

And I also starting thinking about how we already have handmaids in our culture, they just aren't religiously affiliated.  We can "rent" wombs in India, for Pete's sake.  Crazy stuff.

I found the book fascinating and couldn't put it down all weekend.  Then I got to the end and was upset.  I felt let down with the ending until I realized that the Historical Notes in the back were actually part of the story and then I fell in love with the book.  It put an entirely different spin on the story for me.  I feel like it was a reminder that when you're looking at historical texts, you have to keep the perspective of the narrator in mind.  I think about Offred's account of her first experience with Nick and how she kept changing the story based on how she wanted to remember it.  We'll never know whether Gilead was suffering from infertility or just a perceived infertility because all we know is the account of one woman and the information she had available to her.  She was able to write history the way she wanted to or the only way she could.

It made me think about the Gospels and about how there are inconsistencies between the different writers.  Their accounts are all based on their experiences and the way they chose to remember the events (or the way God wanted them to).  But none of that matters because the overall message is what is important and that is the same.

What I took away from the book as the main theme was a critique of ideological extremism.  I was suprised that feminism (particularly radical separatist feminism) was shown just as negatively as the Christian fundmentalism/patriarchy in many ways.  While Gilead devalued women saying that they were merely vessels to have and care for children, many of the feminist characters (like Offred's mother) devalued men in the same exact way by saying they weren't necessary for anything other than the amount of time it takes for them to contribute half of a child. 

One ideology used the sexuality of women (sexual freedom) for its cause, while the other used the suppression of that sexuality for theirs.  But with both, a woman is still being reduced a sex object in many ways.

I think that the point was that any type of radical ideology, while it may be good or pure in theory and intentions, never turns out the way we want it to.  I think the Commander said it best - "Better never means better for everyone.  It always means worse, for some." 

I feel like some of the men in Gilead were just trying to make things better for everyone - the men who were viewing themselves as no longer wanted or necessary, and the women who were being abused and desperate/starving themselves/getting plastic surgery in order for a man to find them valuable (as the Commander said).  The men viewed radical feminism as harmful to women and were trying to protect them.

But in any type of ideological extremism, I often feel like two things are usually missing -  freedom and love.  I guess this is why, after reading the book, I found it sort of upsetting that people continue to refer to me as Ofadam and think that I would support radical ideology like this.  I feel like the fundamentals of Christianity, that the men of Gilead were conveniently ignoring, are freedom and love.  While I agree that some of the virtues (like chastity, modesty, and holiness) that they were trying to force on the women are actually good things, I think Scripture is clear that we should all have the freedom to choose to be virtuous.  And Jesus was also clear that love should be at the core of everything we do.  The Commander scoffed at the idea that their society was lacking love when Offred mentioned it.

I think that all of this is sort of depressing, because it shows no matter what type of good people try to do in this world, someone is always going to come along and pervert it for power.  Christianity or even fundamentalism isn't what is wrong with Gilead - it's the men that chose to take their agenda and use Christianity as a way to oppress others that are.  Even the holiest (IMO) and most beautiful ideas that exist are being used for evil in our world.

Anyways, thanks for the suggestion.   I really enjoyed the book and it gave me a lot to think about. But please stop calling me Ofadam, because that doesn't really make sense.

"The reason the economy is an issue in this race is because we have a government that is oppressing its people and taking away their freedom, and the economy is suffering as a result."

Also, below is what he said when he spoke at a public school in the Chicago suburbs.  He criticized Obama for dividing the country.    I canNOT believe they let an unelected CANDIDATE speak about his viewpoints without the other side represented.  I canNOT believe he didn't just speak about general things such as what it's like to run for PotUS / the process of voting.  I am so grossed out by it.  I am glad my district avoids such things-- they would never, ever have allowed this.

http://elmhurst.patch.com/articles/santorum-answers-student-questions-in-arlington-heights

Rise of the Single-Woman Voter

The fight to win over the nation?s fastest-growing voting group?and the most misunderstood.

By Hanna Rosin|Posted Tuesday, March 13, 2012, at 1:51 PM ET

Single women are the new swing voters
Andrew Burton/Getty Images.

When we last saw Don Draper, he was in bed with a woman he barely knew. And while in many ways that might seem like a typical day at the office for this guy, this woman was wearing his engagement ring. The same diamond ring that Lt. Don Draper put on Anna's finger all those years ago, and the ring that represents yet another one of the former *** Whitman's attempts to make a fresh start. That's what makes Don Draper such a quintessential American fool, and helps explain our obsession with him. Every American wants a clean slate, but nobody wants to lose what they've got.

Which is why every American's a sucker for the next scam artist who promises them a new tomorrow ? and Don Draper, as the greatest of scam artists, the one who never fails to seduce the rubes, is also the biggest sucker of them all. As Peggy said to Joan, shaking her head in disbelief, "A pretty face comes along and everything goes out the window." Don Draper knows how that works ? he's a pretty face himself, and he's built a career hustling in the dirty world of American dreams. But nobody falls for a con harder than a con man.

Mad Men is the most astonishing, revelatory drama of our time, in any medium or format, and it's coming off two of the most sensational seasons in TV history. Judging by the premiere episode, Season Five is on the same level. In other words, we're still in the prime of our Mad Men moment. And without getting into any of the details of what's happened or how long it's been since we last saw these characters, suffice to say, it's correct to assume they are as glamorously fucked as ever. This is still a world where people pick up babies while clenching lit cigarettes between their teeth. It's a world where pot is "tea," and business meetings mean martinis.

Season Four ended with the most shocking plot twist Mad Men has ever seen: Don impulsively gives that engagement ring to Megan, a secretary he's basically just met, after a trip to (where else?) Disneyland. As Mad Men viewers, we haven't spent much time with Megan, either. All we really knew was that she was a sultry young hipster from Montreal, which can only mean she's banged Leonard Cohen and inspired him to write at least one miserable love ballad. (My money's on "Famous Blue Raincoat.")

Many fans were horrified to see Don act like a starry-eyed sucker, instead of the cool customer we need him to be. It turns out this guy believes in Hollywood happy endings. He's not satisfied to sell the American dream ? he wants to believe. And if even Don Draper falls for his own promises, what hope is there for the rest of us?

One of the reasons Mad Men inspires such passion is that it's always a pleasure to knock a few back with these characters. We know too much to trust them, but they're likable ? as any long-con grifter needs to be. However, there's a new anxiety that lurks right below the bravado. Their world is changing, and some of the sharks at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce are adjusting more smoothly than others. Yet for all of them, survival means turning on the surface charm even when they're falling apart inside.

Early in the new season, a jazz band tootles away at the 1965 hit "The 'In' Crowd," and it's a stunningly understated bit of music commentary. Everyone on Mad Men wants to be in with the in crowd. And they're desperate to imitate anyone who can show them how it's done. Don Draper wins people over by coming on like the innest of the in crowd ? he's the guy who knows. On Mad Men, that's part of the Sixties scene ? this is a moment in American history where everybody wants some role in the Don Draper story. But the man is a masquerade, and that's the reason Mad Men keeps getting more fascinating. The secret of the in crowd is that there's nothing in there ? except more mystery.

This story is from the March 29th, 2012 issue of Rolling Stone.

I could not read The Road and I just started No Country for Old Men 

Also, did anyone catch the guys rant about how maybe if Jessica knew anything about fashion she would understand that what he designed was cutting edge and how he didn't expect women to get it anyway.  What a turd. 

Christopher Walken (or an excellent impersonator) reads Where The Wild Things Are.  Includes commentary.

I am literally flying in to DC for the day on Wednesday for a half an hour meeting in Arlington.  The meeting will be over by noon (the building looks like it's behind Arlington Nat'l Cemetery, close to a metro), and we don't have to leave downtown DC until 5.  I'll be with my department head, and we want to see the cherry blossoms, but that also means lunch is on the university.

Any suggestions?  I'm not looking to break the bank, but we can also go classier than a chain restaurant.   

Starbucks opened a juice store called Evolution Fresh in Bellevue Square ? the first shop in a chain of juice stores, although Starbucks won't say where it's opening next or how many it plans to have.

Now that Starbucks has covered the world ? or at least the United States ? with coffee shops, it is branching into Jamba Juice's territory.

Starbucks opened a juice store called Evolution Fresh on Monday in Bellevue Square ? the first shop in a chain of juice stores, although Starbucks won't say where it's opening next or how many it plans to have.

Customers can buy 16-ounce made-to-order juices there for $7.99, including a concoction of greens, ginger, apple and cucumber dubbed "Field of Greens" or a mix of coconut water, pineapple and cucumber.

The store has a "juice wall" with eight taps for a variety of juices, ranging from greens to beets to cucumber. An Evolution Fresh employee will blend each drink to order while customers watch.

The shop, which is next door to the outdoor Starbucks at Bellevue Square, sells salads, soups, sandwiches and bowls of grains and vegetables. Brewed coffee and tea also are on the menu.

It's named for a small California juice company Starbucks bought last fall for $30 million.

Founded by a creator of Naked Juice, Evolution Fresh squeezes raw fruits and vegetables at its juicery in San Bernardino, Calif., and sells them in West Coast stores, including Whole Foods and PCC Natural Markets.

Starbucks plans to sell the juice in its coffee shops nationwide, while opening more juice stores. The Bellevue store is opening just in time for Starbucks' annual meeting Wednesday.

When Starbucks bought Evolution Fresh, analysts questioned why it was jumping into an area that's been a challenge even for major player Jamba Juice.

Starbucks thinks it can do juices better.

"Jamba Juice, I think, drifted into an area of commoditizing their business and no longer standing for what the independents have done so well," CEO Howard Schultz told analysts.

 ********

$8?!?  How does that compare to Jamba Juice?  And if you are a "juicer", would you pay that much for a green monster or something similar?  Hell, I hope there's a goodly amount of rum in that puppy for $8.

Link

http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/11360197-418/convicted-nazi-death-camp-guard-john-demjanjuk-dead-at-91.html

1. Rush is on the Westboro Sucks Unity Horse.

2. "Even a blind hog can get an acorn once in a while" - need I say more?

3. Click on the link and listen to the ad that Rush rejected.

http://wonkette.com/467393/sad-unloved-rush-limbaugh-will-not-air-ad-from-only-friend-westboro-baptist-church

You?d think a guy in Rush Limbaugh?s currently rather unenviable position would take all the help he can get ? but apparently he is turning down sweet sweet ad $$$ just because it comes from the patriots of the God Hates Fags Brigade.

Westboro spokesman Steve Drain told Raw Story that while his organization has had their differences with Limbaugh, they were on the same page when it came to labeling Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke a slut.

?Even a blind hog can get an acorn every once in a while,? Drain explained. ?We?re not aligning ourselves with Rush Limbaugh because as we say on our website about him, he wouldn?t recognize Bible truths if it were a bottle of pills sitting on his desk.?

OK, which of you guys infiltrated Westboro, married all of its daughters, and became hilarious spokesman Steve Drain? And who among you came up with this actually funny ad (and intentionally so???!!!1!) from Westboro?

www.patheos.com

None of my references are going to be people i have worked with directly - more so just people that are/were in my building and know me and know my end results. Is this horrible? I know its not great but what else can i do?

Politico summary:  http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74163.html

Full WP article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-evolution-behind-the-failed-grand-bargain-on-the-debt/2012/03/15/gIQAHyyfJS_story_1.html 

Excerpt from WP:

What happened? Obama and his advisers have cast the collapse of the talks as a Republican failure. Boehner, unable to deliver, stepped away from the deal, simple as that.

But interviews with most of the central players in those talks ? some of whom were granted anonymity to speak about the secret negotiations ? as well as a review of meeting notes, e-mails and the negotiating proposals that changed hands, offer a more complicated picture of the collapse. Obama, nervous about how to defend the emerging agreement to his own Democratic base, upped the ante in a way that made it more difficult for Boehner ? already facing long odds ? to sell it to his party. Eventually, the president tried to put the original framework back in play, but by then it was too late. The moment of making history had passed.

@nfl

Peyton Manning's a Bronco: nfl.com/news/story/090? #manningwatch