Nudity Encouraged, Helmets Required During Naked Bike Ride

On Saturday night, thousands of bikers in Portland, Oregon were expected to bike naked together to celebrate their World Naked Bike Ride.
According to The Portlander, the night, expected to begin at 10pm, was to be focused on raising awareness of “society’s gas guzzling ways.”
2010 saw an estimated 13,000 riders, which according to The Portlander, made it the largest Naked Bike Ride in the world to date.
FOX12 reports that nudity is legal in Oregon as long as a sexual act or attempted arousal is not involved. Additional police planned to station themselves along the route. Although nudity is legal, the police did ask that riders wear a helmet and shoes for safety.
Other biking events are taking place in Portland, Oregon for over two weeks during Pedalpalooza.
A Naked Bike Ride near Echo Park Lake in Los Angeles recently broke out in fighting between bike riders and the occupants of a car. Naked Bike Rides took place in New York and Chicago earlier this month.
Reports show that if the average American substituted one day’s worth of driving with riding per week, he’d cut auto emissions by 1,248 pounds of CO2, save over $800 on gas and maintenance, and burn enough calories to lose 19 pounds in one year. Nudity not required.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/19/naked-bike-ride-clean-transportation_n_879888.html

I don’t know what these people have against gel seats, padded bikers shorts and sun block. It seems to me that if you want to make a point, and bring attention to your cause a poster and a bullhorn might be a better way to go.  Riding a bike in the dark wearing only your epidural meat suit makes a statement that I’m not sure you’re trying to make. Perhaps the bouncing appendages of these riders are supposed to make us consider high gas prices, but I don’t think a thousand naked cyclists converging on me will necessarily bring the fuel economy of my 2008 Saturn to the forefront of my thoughts.   

Sony Movies Pulled From Netflix Streaming Service

(RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP/THE HUFFINGTON POST) LOS ANGELES -- Sony movies were pulled from Netflix Inc.'s online streaming service Friday because of what Netflix said is a "temporary contract issue" between Sony Corp. and its pay TV distributor, Starz.
Netflix notified its members in a blog post on Friday, when movies such as "Easy A" and "Grown Ups" stopped being available on its "Watch Instantly" service. They are still available to be rented as DVDs through the mail.
Starz said in a statement that "all parties are working diligently to resolve the issue."
A person familiar with the matter said Netflix's explosive subscriber growth triggered a clause in Sony's agreement with Starz that resulted in the stoppage. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.
Netflix has said that it ended March with 23.6 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada.
The temporary outage comes at a time when Starz is doing its best to show Netflix how much customers appreciate being able to watch movies from its studio partners, Sony and The Walt Disney Co., over the Internet.
Netflix' ability to stream Disney and Sony movies aided its spectacular growth, but its deal with Starz is up next year.
Analysts expect Netflix to pay handsomely to renew the deal. Earlier this month, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said it "wouldn't be shocking" if Netflix paid more than $200 million per year for Starz' service, far more than the estimated $30 million a year it is paying currently.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/18/sony-movies-netflix-instant-play-starz_n_879727.html

This is what it looks like when you forget to cross your “T’s” and dot your “i’s”.  I’ll bet there is a layer somewhere wishing he had a better paralegal at his side. 

McCain: "Mexicans behind Arizona fires"

PHOENIX, June 19 (UPI) -- Illegal immigrants from Mexico are responsible for starting some of the huge wildfires in Arizona, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., alleges.
At a Phoenix news conference, the right-wing senator claimed illegal immigrants light fires in the wilderness for warmth, to send signals and to distract border agents, CNN said.
"There is substantial evidence that some of these fires have been caused by people who have crossed our border illegally," McCain said. "The answer to that part of the problem is to get a secure border."
However, he offered no evidence to substantiate his claim.
Civil rights advocate Randy Parraz told CNN such unfounded allegations were "careless and reckless" and said McCain was trying to make rightist political headway with the wildfire crisis.
"It's easier to fan the flames of intolerance, especially in Arizona," Parraz said.
High heat, low humidity and steady winds have helped dozens of fires in Arizona consume more than 700,000 acres of land in the past three weeks.


Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/06/19/McCain-Mexicans-behind-Arizona-fires/UPI-68731308494420/#ixzz1PkL6aMAN

The key sentence here: “he offered no evidence to substantiate his claim.”  These guys work with the law all the time, and while a possible false claim like this may not be illegal it certainly boarders on bigotry.  What possible motive would Mexican citizens have for burning down the state of Arizona?  What a ridiculous claim from a ridiculously grumpy old man.  You need to retire John before you make any more stupid comments.  How do you know that some WASP didn’t go camping?  How do you know for example that it wasn’t . . . .  say . . .  Dick Cheney?  He’s not very good in the outdoors; I mean he did shoot someone in the face.  Isn’t it possible that he wouldn’t know how to put out a camp fire?  I think it was  Dick Cheney!  Read that sentence again John; that’s how ridiculous you sound.  Next thing you know; you’re going to blame Obama for the sad state of the economy. 

U.S. drops charges against Osama bin Laden

NEW YORK, June 17 (UPI) -- U.S. criminal charges against Osama bin Laden were formally dropped Friday, 13 years after he was first indicted and seven weeks after his death.
A judge signed an order based on a recommendation by the U.S. attorney's office in New York, ABC News reported.
The action officially closes the case against bin Laden.
The first indictment, handed up in 1998, charged bin Laden as head of al-Qaida with planning the bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Several superseding indictments added hundreds of individual charges.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Lewin recommended Thursday the government drop the charges. He sent U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara a presentation that included proof of bin Laden's death, including al-Qaida's public acknowledgement of the death.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/06/17/US-drops-charges-against-Osama-bin-Laden/UPI-27451308341260/#ixzz1PamJjCbn

Uuuhhhmmmm . . . . .  Really?  Is it any wonder why the rest of the world thinks we’re idiots?  Seven weeks?  Did it take that long for us to figure out he was dead?  Do we not trust our own Navy to verify they have killed the number one terrorist in world?  Oh wait; let me guess.  It was a full court calendar and it took that long to get a judge to close the case.  Are you kidding me?  Justice is supposed to be swift.  You couldn’t make an exception here and get this vermin off the open case files?    

Ron Howard Reveals Daughter Bryce Dallas' Childhood Obsession

He's Opie; no, Richie Cunningham; uhh, no -- he's an Oscar-winning director; actually, he's the father of that gorgeous Golden Globe nominee who is quickly becoming one of Hollywood's go-to leading ladies.
To each, his own Ron Howard.
As our televisual entertainment has evolved from scratchy images from impossibly-idyllic little towns up to the current senses-assaulting 3D blockbusters shown on screens the size of buildings, the affable Howard has been at the forefront, adapting his career -- and often leading the charge -- to each new level of innovation. A five decade actor/director who emerged from the days of black and white, it is perhaps appropriate that Howard is now passing the baton to a new generation in a project that celebrates the vividness of color.
Howard is teaming with Canon Cameras to produce a short film based on eight winning user-submitted photos [submissions are being welcomed through June 14th]. Called Project Imagin8ion, the film will find its narrative from photos that convey setting, time, character, mood, relationship, goal, obstacle and the unknown, which, as screenwriters know, are the basis for any screenplay. While he knew he wanted to be a part of it, given time commitments, he couldn't direct -- and so he called on daughter Bryce Dallas Howard to get behind the camera. It's a project he thinks she's ready for.
"She's produced a movie that Gus van Sant directed ["Restless"] and she's involved with scripts, writing scripts, not a lot of people know that she's moving in this direction," Howard told The Huffington Post. "And I sent the idea out to her and her writing partner and they were just immediately thrilled by the proposition and the experimental nature of it."
For the Howards, film is a family business -- and passion. Ron left his hit sitcom "Happy Days," to begin his directorial career around the time that Bryce was born, and soon enough, she was forgoing Barbies for film sets.
"Any time the kids were interested in coming to the set and hanging, I always loved it. And they all did in varying degrees. Bryce was the one who seemed to really enjoy it there the most," Howard remembers. "She was, at age 13, sort of like a PA on 'Apollo 13' and was running around giving people lunch orders and at ten she was helping the caterers clean up afterwards and hanging out and they'd give her a walkie talkie and she'd help out at the production office."

Story continues below

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/11/ron-howard-dallas-bryce-howard-work-together_n_875316.html

Doesn’t it make sense that someone as grounded as Ron Howard would have well grounded children?  Encourage your children to be whatever they want to be, support their dreams, and allow them to make their own mistakes.  We are only their guardians.  We do not decide who and what they will become, and while it can be quite frustrating we can only guide them.  We do not own them we are simply their Sheppard’s.  Our children are a gift that at some point we must give away. 

Alaska Investigating Possible Missing Palin Emails

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Alaska officials are investigating an apparent gap in the release last week of more than 24,199 pages of emails sent and received by former Alaska. Gov. Sarah Palin during her first 21 months in office.
The emails released covered Dec. 4, 2006, when Palin took office, until September 2008, or a few weeks after Republican presidential candidate John McCain tapped her to be his running mate. The state has yet to begin reviewing emails from that point until she quit as governor 10 months later.
The emails were released Friday to media organizations, including The Associated Press, who sought them under an open records request shortly after Palin was named the vice presidential candidate.
However, there are very few emails from her first – and very busy – month in office, as first reported by the Anchorage Daily News.
Only five emails from December were provided in the release, and the first email generated from Palin's Yahoo account appears Jan. 2, 2007. Another from an unidentified account just days earlier was included in an email chain between aides.
Linda Perez, the administrative office for Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell, said Tuesday she has asked information technology services to check their search criteria for the emails and come back with suggestions. She did not have a timetable for when they might be able to provide further information.
Palin and her staff were known to use private email accounts to conduct state business.
One high ranking Department of Natural Resources official, Marty Rutherford, sent Palin three emails to her government account between Dec. 4-6 before Michelle Fabrello, the coordinator for constituent relations, responded.
"I wanted to let you know that this is a `public' address for the Governor, it is not one that she has access to," Fabrello wrote.

Story continues below

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/14/sarah-palin-emails-missing_n_877051.html

 

You didn’t think this would be without scandal did you?  Did you?

Rep. Weiner gets an action figure

OXFORD, Conn., June 14 (UPI) -- A Connecticut company has created an action figure of embattled U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., that comes in both PG-13 and R-rated versions.
Herobuilders of Oxford said the Anthony Weiner action figure released Monday comes in a PG-13 version dressed in gym clothes with "Tweet This" printed on his shorts and an anatomically correct R-rated version "for adults only," the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.
The figures join other merchandise created in the wake of Weiner's picture-sending indiscretions on Twitter, including T-shirts, mugs and bumper stickers.
Paul Madison, founder of dating Web site SugarSugar.com, issued a public statement offering $50,000 to Weiner's private parts to serve as spokesman for the site.
"Despite vigorous efforts, Mr. Weiner has not responded to my ministrations," Madison said.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2011/06/14/Rep-Weiner-gets-an-action-figure/UPI-67761308065635/#ixzz1PP3wZV4b

I guess we should be thankful it’s not a bobble-head . . . . . .