This man thinks he knows what's best for you
-Headline of the day-
"Bush 'kills' Freedom of Information Act compliance officer."
Seems a little harsh -- glad I'm not that guy. Actually, the Decider only killed the position, not the actual office holder. When you're talking about George W. Bush, these distinctions aren't exactly obvious.
Not that that's the best news ever. Bush signed a law last year "enforcing better compliance with the Freedom of Information Act." FOIA allows citizens to access unclassified material -- which is a good idea, seeing how we own those documents and all.
But Bush isn't the biggest fan of transparency and open government. -- see that'd lead to crazy stuff like government accountability and having to be all ethical and legal and stuff. Can't have that. Better that you remain ignorant and let big daddy govt. worry about that kind of thing. You go ahead and get caught up on the latest reality shows.
So, in order to do you the favor of giving you absolutely no way of finding out what horrible crap the feds are up to, he budgeted no funding for the position. In other words, the office exists only theoretically.
Seriously, Bush is a dick. (Raw Story)
-We're the Saudi Arabia of snow-
Here's my life:
That little cross is me. We're getting 14 to 18 inches and, according to the weather agency, "roads are impassable in green county and the county has pulled plows off the roads. an official report of around 16 inches has been reported in brodhead...and an unconfirmed report of 20 inches has also been reported in brodhead." My sister and BIL live in Brodhead, which is just north of Rockford, IL. I'll call her up and brag about how nice it is here -- comparatively.
This is a spiral arm of the same storm that turned Tennessee into tornado alley yesterday, so you don't hear me complaining. Not much, anyway. Still don't like doing all that digging, though... (My Weather Life)
-Saw that coming a mile away-
Remember Ted Haggard? The Colorado pastor of New Life Church who got in trouble for a gay prostitute and crystal meth scandal? One of those guys who, like Larry Craig, isn't gay -- he just does really gay stuff?
Well, he underwent what's called "spiritual restoration" to pray the gay away and become a fine, upstanding follower of Republican Jesus. There's just one little hitch -- it's all horseshit and doesn't work. NLC's new Pastor, Brady Boyd, sent a letter to parishioners stating Ted has "recently requested to end his official relationship with the New Life Church Restoration Team and this has been accepted by them." Haggard's "restoration" is "incomplete," according to the letter.
In Haggard's favor is that he's come to realize that this whole "reparative therapy" thing is a tremendous waste of time. However, if he doesn't come out publicly and say so, he's still a hypocrite about this whole "let's all hate gays" thing.
The smart money's on "hypocrite." (Colorado Confidential, via Reddit)
